Your Estimate of You

A SPECIAL PRAYER FOR OUR MILITARY ON THIS MEMORIAL DAY
Lord and Holy Protector,
you called Abraham and Sarah to leave their homeland
and to journey away from their own people.
Yet you kept them safe wherever they went.
Protect our children, our husbands and wives,
our mothers and fathers, and our friends and loved ones
who now must leave to fight in this war.
Walk by their side and calm any fear.
Be their companion and guide their thoughts;
Encircle them with your light, and keep them from harm;
And when their service is ended, lead them safely home again.
For you, O God, are our shelter in every storm
and our refuge in times of danger.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

FAITH:

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Romans 12:3

With pride as our teacher, we become arrogant and our sense of worth get overinflated. Under inferiority's tutelage, we belittle ourselves into thinking we're insignificant to God and other people. But Paul exhorts us to have a sane or "sound" estimate of ourselves. And we can have such an estimate only as we accept God's view of us.

Pulling all this together, we can draw out four statements of application.

First: Realize you were prescribed before birth. Realize that God made you. You are not just a product of chance, but rather a work of art from the mind of God. He has placed His signature on you with the indelible ink of His image. Nothing about you or the days of your life---even before you had taken your first breath---has escaped the loving scrutiny of your heavenly Father.

For Thou didst form my inward parts;
Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Thy works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from Thee,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.
Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Thy book they were all written,
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Psalms 139:13-16

Second: Remember that the growth process is still going on. At times we become frustrated with our slow growth and open the door to self-defeat: "I'm no good....I keep making the same mistakes....God is probably sick of me." But Paul tells us, "Hold on. Get your eyes off of yourself, and stay confident in the fact that God is at work in you---even if you don't see it.

FOR I AM CONFIDENT OF THIS VERY THING, THAT HE WHO BEGAN A GOOD WORK IN YOU WILL PERFECT IT UNTIL THE DAY OF CHRIST JESUS. Phil.1:6

Third: Refuse to compare yourself with others. 2 Corinthians 10:5b states: "We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Our feeling of inferiority thrive on those renegade thoughts we allow to pass through our minds uncontested. They can run by so quickly sometimes that we are not even aware of thinking them. To get control of them, we must train ourselves to constantly stand guard at the door of our minds with the truth. Inferiority never rests. It will seize every opportunity we give it to continue brainwashing us with its doctrine of wothlessness. It boils down to this: Will you submit to the lliberating truth of Christ, or will you submit to being held prisoner to the lies of inferiority?

Fourth: Respond correctly to your shortcomings. We all have defects, scars, or shortcomings that we mujst learn to deal with. Paul provides us with a personal glimpse in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 into how he handled one such problem.

7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

From this we can discern three things: first, we can feel the freedom to pray to have these things corrected. Second, if the Lord chooses to leave them with us, we must learn to accept our shortcomings as a way for God to display His power in and through us. Third, Paul points out that the news of shortcoming is not all bad. For it is often in our areas of weakness that we see most clearly the reality of the Saviour's work in our lives.

Feeling of inferiority that have built up over the ears are difficult to overcome. But it can be done! We must resist the pull to place our self-worth, and the worth of others, in the same values the world buys stock in. To do this, we must follow God's advice in Romans 12:2 to renew our minds in His truth. As members of the Body of Christ, we must help one another sensitively and faithfully apply the God-provided truths about our worth. by Chuck Swindoll

Because of our relationship with the Holy Spirit, we can be assured of competence.
John 14:16-17
16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper[a] to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he lives with you and he will be in you.
John 16:13-15
13 But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words, but he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is to come.14 The Spirit of truth will bring glory to me, because he will take what I have to say and tell it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take what I have to say and tell it to you.
Romans 8:26-27
26 Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain.27 God can see what is in people's hearts. And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way God wants.

FRIENDS:
Father, What a precious gift You have given me. Your Holy Spirit abides within me and will be with me forever. You are the Spirit of Truth who reveals everything to me. O Lord, help me to always look to You for wisdom. I am dependent on the power of Your Spirit to guide my life and bring honor that I may in turn bless those You have allowed into my life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

FOOD:

Five Minute Ice Cream
Serves: 4
Hands-On Time: 5 Minutes
Total Time: 5 Minutes
What you need:

1 (10 ounce) package frozen sliced strawberries
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar

What you do:

Combine the frozen strawberries and sugar in a food processor or blender. Process until the fruit is roughly chopped. With the processor running, slowly pour in the heavy cream until
fully incorporated. Serve immediately, or freeze for up to one week.

FUN:


CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT THIS DUDE LOOKS LIKE WET? HA HA HA