Richard Ellis Talks

God calls us to serve Him. But we'll tire out fast if we try to do it all on our own! When we take our eyes off Jesus and start working in our own strength instead of relying on Him, we lose His power and "peter out" pretty quickly. He wants us to depend on Him -- to fix our eyes on Him -- in order to accomplish what He's asked us to do.

When it comes to learning how to stay on the path God's carved out for us, Scripture helps light our feet every step of the way. When we study what the Bible says about how to address the sins and struggles of this life, we can use it to avoid pitfalls and keep from stepping off the God-honoring path of righteousness. And as His Word "lights our feet", we "light the world" by letting Him shine in us and through us and draw others to Him.

 

Scripture teaches us about the covenant, or the promise God made with His chosen people, Israel. That covenant would eventually go on to be shared not only with all the Jews, but also with all the Gentiles, because Christ came to die for all. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become God's children forever, and He pledges to take care of us -- just like He took care of Israel.

When it comes to "finding happiness", the only thing that will ever make us truly happy is to understand that God loves us as much today as He ever has and ever will -- and there's nothing we can do to change that! When we comprehend the depth of His love for us, we naturally begin to respond by loving Him and loving ourselves. And when we've done that, we can begin to love others the way He first loved us.

Though this world is filled with evil, God's given us the ability to overcome it through the power and protection of His Holy Spirit. He's chosen to dwell in us so that we may become more like Him and able to fight against darkness. And once the Spirit lives within us, there's nothing that can ever separate us from Him!

The world teaches us that how we love others is dependent on how they love us first. But Jesus teaches us that how we love others is dependent on how He first loved us! When we have a healthy relationship with the Lord, and we fully grasp and accept His love for us, we can't help but love others with the same kind of selfless and unconditional love He showed us first.

Unforgiveness is a heavy burden. And when it comes to our "exes", the bitterness we sometimes carry around has the potential to haunt us for the rest of our lives. God tells us that we're not only to forgive our enemies -- we're to love and pray for them, too.

It's easy for the devil to draw people into his lie that this life is all there is. But the reality is this: there's eternal life after this temporary one, and for those who follow Jesus, Heaven's waiting on the other side. Until then, God's commanded us to fulfill His purpose here on earth -- but as long as we hold out hope for the reality that's to come, we'll have the strength to carry on until the day He calls us home.

Sometimes we feel like failures, flops, and fiascos...but God sees us as worth fighting for! When He gave His Son, God went all in to save us. In return, we've got to go all in and give Him our lives -- no matter the cost.

 

We can track our genealogy to people who lived generations before us, and we can often see how the choices they made then continue to impact our lives still today. But how many of us have realized that we can track our "spiritual genealogy", too? The obedience we show to God now makes a difference, not only to other believers around us, but to those who have yet to believe -- for generations to come. The question is: whose life will be changed by the way you live yours?