Day 29  Extravagant Dimensions of Christ's Love

And I ask Him that with both feet planted firmly on love, 

you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus

the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love.

Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length!

Plumb its depths! Rise to the heights!
Live full lives in the fullness of God.
                                                                           

Ephesians 3: 17-19 The Message

Whenever I get to some words in the Bible that I think are too good to be true, I stop and ask God for clarification. “Did you really mean that the “extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love” are really available to me?” 

Ephesians 3:20 tells us that He is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power at work within us. When we sincerely commit our plans to God, His power, i.e. ability, begins to work in us. He promises to cause our thoughts to align with His will for that particular day or situation. 

God wants only good for us because He loves us so much. It’s His desire that we come to Him and work with Him rather than trying to make things work on our own. He loves to help us avoid those things that are a waste of time, money and physical effort. He wants the very best for us because we are His children and He loves us very much. 

My husband and I commit our plans to the Lord every morning and every evening we review the day and thank God for His extravagant dimensions of love towards us. We love to think His thoughts and He loves to hear our praise—each and every day!

Proverbs 16:3 NIV

I Corinthians 2:9

Ephesians 3:20

Hi everybody!

My husband and I had such a great Saturday and I can't wait to tell you about it! First of all, I want to say that God caused both of our thoughts to become agreeable to His will--and that's because we committed our plans for the day to Him. (Proverbs 16:3 AMPC) Actually, we had no plans which often is the case for us.

I walked into my office to turn off the lamp and I had a thought, "I really do need to get a new lamp because this one really wobbles." Then the thought "Nebraska Furniture Mart" jumped into my thoughts. I quickly whisked it away because going to Nebraska Furniture Mart is a huge undertaking. It takes a lot of time and energy! I walked out of my office thinking, one of these days I'll just run into a lamp somewhere and I'll buy it.

Since we had no plans for the day, we decided to make plans. The forecast predicted rain so that eliminates enjoying the park and the lake we like to go to. I said to Dave, "Your turn to make a plan." A little while later, he came up the stairs and said, "I think we should go to Nebraska Furniture Mart and buy a new lamp for your office." 

I was amazed and I groaned all at the same time. I knew we were going to go, but I really didn't want to. But it was Dave's turn to choose so off we went. Here's what transpired:

We found a parking place right outside the door when the parking lot was jam-packed with shoppers all trying to do what we were doing. 

We walked the entire department and nothing came close in style and price that we were interested---I mean NOTHING! All of a sudden I spotted a lamp that I thought was worth going toward. I liked the style and when I looked at the price, it had a bit red CLOSEOUT ITEM tag on it. The price was ridiculously low compared to so many others that we looked at.

We called a clerk over and as he was writing up the order he said, "How would you like a new one instead of this floor model at the same price?" Of course! That was God's exclamation point at the end of our story!

Dave and I rejoiced to be on the same page and we enjoyed that everything worked out so simply. Something that would have taken lots of walking and lots of time and more than likely--lots of money became a fun and easy purchase. And now as I walk down the hall and see this lamp in my office, I am reminded of the goodness of God and the faithfulness to His promises. When we invite Him, He is so willing to come.

Psalms 119:68 NIV says, "You are good, and what you do is good." 

We say it this way:     "God is GOOD and GOOD is what He does!!"

Day 28  Our Seven Day Recap

Today I am sharing a brief summary of the last seven days. If this is your first time on my blog, I encourage you to go to archives and click on April. There you will find “Day 1” which is entitled “Developing A Successful Lifestyle.” This will help you to know where we started and where we are going.

On Day 22 we learned that there is something we can do on purpose so that we can walk in peace every day of our lives. What is that “something?” Pray Proverbs 16:3 Amplified Classic Bible at the beginning of each and every day.

On Day 23 I showed you how much God cares for every aspect of our day and He wants to give us the wisdom we need to be successful—and sometimes He uses people as His “delivery agents.”

On Day 24 we learned that God has a plan for each and every day and He is more than willing to give it to us so that we can flow through the plan step by step and enjoy great productivity.

On Day 25 we learned that God is waiting for us to come to Him. One of the reasons we don’t is we God is too busy to help us with our practical, daily lives.

On Day 26 I shared with you a truth directly from God,  He said, “I will be to you as personal as you want Me to be.” Wow! There it is for the taking!

On Day 27 we learned that God wants to provide for our every need—whatever it is. Selah…..pause and think of that!

If you haven’t put Proverbs 16:3 AMPC into practice yet, I pray that what I have said so far has motivated you. And to those of you who have made it part of your daily prayer, I would love to hear how God has been able to work in your lives.

God bless you all!

Karol

Day 27 Never Alone

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs

from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19 NLT

God has unending resources to meet your every need. Paul is telling us in the above scripture that he has been well taken care of by God. This same God wants to take care of you, as you put your faith in this promise.

We’ve been dissecting Proverbs 16:3 which says, “Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him…” It’s at this moment that we sense that God is with us and that we do not have to fear. When we have unmet needs, we can invite Him to come and meet those needs, whether they are spiritual (like peace, joy, etc.) or relational (having a new friend or a spouse, etc) or financial (a new job that pays more, the sale of property, etc.)—Whatever our need is, God wants to meet it.

You might say, “Can I really trust Him to take care of me?” It’s okay to ask that question, but the answer will come as you take His outstretched hand and step out in faith.  Ask Jesus to become your personal Lord and Savior. Tell Him you don’t want to live life without Him for one more minute. Never again do you have to struggle on your own because God wants to be right there with you. He’s willing to help you, comfort you, and provide for you as you invite Him into your life.

Come, Lord Jesus, be my guest.

Day 26 What?? How Can That Be??

And I will love them and reveal Myself to each one of them.                                                                John 14:21b NLT

Did I read that right?? He promises to reveal Himself to each of us—-personally?? One morning during my meeting with God He said to me, “I will be as personal as you want me to be.” 

Selah—pause and think about that.

Because you are reading this today, that is a word from God to you also. How personal do you want Him to be? 

Do you want His advice on that relationship problem that you are facing?

Do you want Him to help you with your budget and your finances? 

Do you want His guidance as you make decisions today? 

How willing are you to invite God into every area of your life?

I like that word “invite” because I understand that word. “Come on in, sit down, let’s fellowship together concerning my day, concerning this problem or concerning this situation. Come in—I am in need of Your help and I am willing to receive Your guidance. Even if you tell me something new or something I don’t really want to do, I will follow Your commandments (remember, commandments are instructions)….I will follow Your instructions because You love me and always want me to succeed. You know how to get me from A to B today. Father, cause my thoughts to become agreeable to Your will.” Every day I choose to say, “Come, Lord Jesus--be my guest.”

John 14:21-23  NLT 

Isaiah 30:19b

Psalms 73:24 NLT

Day 25 Are You Stuck?

Are you ready to make a lifestyle change? It might be changing your career, or moving to a different geographical location or even leaving behind a tormenting behavior so that you can live free and clear of that old life.

Who understands better just how to do that? The One that knows you the best and loves you the most of course! God is waiting for you to come to Him—to submit your plans to Him so He can plant His thoughts into yours. Right out of the blue you will hear yourself say,“Here’s what I think I should do…………” You will be speaking God’s thoughts and not your own, and you will amaze yourself. I cannot tell you the number of times that ideas popped into my thinking that I could never have thought of on my own. God wants that for all of us.

He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, 

and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.

Proverbs 16:3b Amplified Classic Bible

When we don’t have God’s wisdom, we are left to our own devices. Think back to the last time you moved ahead on your own! It didn’t work out so well, did it? God wants us to submit our situation to Him and say, “I’m stuck in a place and I could do this…..or I could do that….what do You think? Put Your thoughts into my mine so I will know what to do and how to do it.”

You will show me the way of life, 

granting me the joy of your presence 

and the pleasures of living 

with you forever.

Psalm 16:11New Living Translation (NLT)

Thank You, God!

Would you like to hear from God today??

Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.

For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].                                         

Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. 

The above three promises from God are taken from the Amplified Classic Bible:

Psalms 139: 16

Ephesians 2: 10

Proverbs 16: 3

In what area do you need success? If you are like me, you could make a list! 

Relationships

Overcoming illness

Handling finances

Career choice

All my daily decisions

Etc……………… 

You can find the Amplified Classic Bible on the “You Version” app on your phone or tablet or at www.biblegateway.com.  EnJOY!!

Day 24 Here’s How It Works

Last week my husband and I sat down to plan our six-day road trip. This particular trip is all about seeing family and friends, so we wanted to schedule everything in a way that would smoothly take us from one destination to the next. 

We began to brainstorm and nothing—-I mean nothing—— was working. Remember a child’s “dot-to-dot” activity—where you begin at No. 1 and just flow from one number to the next??  Dave and I were still stuck at No. 1. 

In times like this, we know enough to set it aside and start over another time. Dave got up to leave the room and in my frustration, I said, “God, cause our thoughts to become agreeable to Your will.”  As I looked at my scribblings on my paper, immediately I knew what to do first. I wrote it down and quickly the next thing came to mind. In the space of about 90 seconds, I had all nine things written down in perfect order.  When Dave came back into the room, I handed him the paper. He looked at it and said, “Where did you get this?” I replied that I had asked God to “cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will,”  and it all fell into place.

God is willing to be our Event Planner if we bring Him into our plans. He has the perfect layout for any situation. If we take Proverbs 16:3 AMPC off the page and put it into practice, we can eliminate all the frustrations of trying to make something work on our own. Commit your day to God and watch what happens. God desires to amaze you!!

Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. (Proverbs 16:3 AMPC)                                                                                                                                                                                

God bless your day!

Day 23 Thinking God's Thoughts

This morning I was in the kitchen thinking about what to have for breakfast. As I considered my options, nothing sounded good to me. Because of the words, “Father, cause my thoughts to become agreeable to Your will” are so familiar to me, they rolled right off of my tongue.

Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; 

He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will…. 

Proverbs 16:3 (AMPC)

Immediately I thought of peanut butter. My favorite breakfast used to be peanut butter on a honey wheat tortilla with frozen bananas—all rolled up and ready to enjoy. I had taken myself off of this treat in May because my summer clothes were fitting too tight and I figured that it was partly because of the peanut butter.

When I was lamenting about my clothes predicament to my daughter, she advised me about an app for my phone that would keep me disciplined. She had been using it and it helped her to take her unwanted pounds off. I gave it a try and it did the same for me. Now my clothes fit comfortably again. This morning when I asked God to “cause my thoughts to become agreeable to His will,” and the words “peanut butter” came to mind, my immediate reply was, “No, I can’t have that!” God was saying, “Yes, now you can but not just every morning.”

I am so glad that God cares about what concerns us. If we invite Him into our daily lives, He will come. If we ask Him to give us His thoughts, He will.

Psalms 138:8 NKJV

Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

I John 2:27 NLT

God bless your day with "God Moments."

Day 22 Adjust That Attitude!

Let’s continue now with learning how to stay in peace so we can be successful—one day at a time!

When we made Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, our spirit was recreated to be in unity with Jesus Christ. It sure would have been nice if our souls were transformed at the same time but—not so! That’s up to us.

On Day 19 I explained that our soul is made up of our thoughts, our emotions, and our choices. If all three are in perfect alignment with God, then we experience peace. If not, our thoughts, emotions, and choices take a collision course. We are all over the map and there is no peace to be found.

It’s up to each one of us to commit our thoughts, our emotions and our choices to God so that He can cause them to become agreeable to His will. I call that “recalibration.” Three words that define recalibrate are adjustment, alignment, and correction. When we adjust our thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes so they agree with God’s, we will experience His peace. 

There is something we can do on purpose so that we can walk in peace every day of our lives. 

“Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him….” 

My husband and I begin every day this way because we have learned when we are in sync with God, we experience peace—the kind of peace that establishes us in a position to be successful. How simple and how beneficial——and how motivating to do this each and every day!

Spend a little time thinking about an area of your life that needs to change in order to come into alignment with God's will. Make some notes in your journal using the following scriptures:

Romans 12:2 NIV

Philippians 2:5 KJV

Proverbs 16:3 KJV 

God bless your day! God bless your week! God bless your life!!

Karol

Day 21 Our Seven Day Recap

We have just completed 20 days of laying a foundation for developing a successful lifestyle. If you have just joined us, I encourage you to go to archives and click on April. There you will find “Day 1” which is entitled “Developing A Successful Lifestyle.” Begin reading there so you don’t miss a thing. 

When you are caught up, I encourage you to put in your email address and each new post will automatically be sent to your email box. I love this revelation so much that I will probably never quit posting about it. I want to help you be successful, just as God is helping me!!

On DAY 15 we learned that God has wonderful plans for us and He is waiting for us to invite Him to share them with us.

On DAY 16 we learned that hearing from God is really very easy—as long as we get our agenda out of the way.

On DAY 17 we learned that if we don’t commit our day to God, we will more than likely hit a dead end and get stuck there. Being stuck is not fun!

On DAY 18 we learned how to put our questions on “God’s Drawing Board” and let Him help us to think like He thinks concerning every question we have.

On DAY 19 we learned how to declutter our souls so that we can think straight and not succumb to our out-of-control emotions, which cause us to make wrong choices.

On DAY 20 we learned that decluttering is a constant exercise. It’s something that we practice every day. Remember those closets??

If you haven’t put Proverbs 16:3 AMPC into practice yet, I pray that what I have said so far has motivated you. And to those of you who have made it part of your daily prayer, I would love to hear how God has been able to work in your lives.

God bless you all!

Karol

Hi, everybody!

I had all these great intentions of writing to you while I was on our five-day vacation. I was going to demonstrate the use of Proverbs 16:3 AMPC while doing ordinary things like vacationing. It ended up that we were on the go most of the time. However, I did have one major example that I do want to share with you.

On the first day of our trip, I had the opportunity to pick up and harbor a major offense. (No, not with my husband!) It was like I was in a tug-of-war with this thing.  I knew better than owning it but it would not leave me alone. It was like my mind was on a continuous play--running the offensive words over and over as I tried to sleep. I fought it with all that I had and then finally I said, "Father, I commit this injustice to You. Cause my thoughts to become agreeable to Your will so I can be established in peace--and experience Your success." Shortly afterward, I fell into a sound sleep. When I woke up in the morning, I began to celebrate what God had done for me when I completely submitted to Him for His help. I was ready to begin a new day!

It's not the people who are the problem, but the enemy who used the people....Ephesians 6:12

Do not return evil for evil but instead extend a blessing.....I Peter 3:9 NLT

Father, help me to think like You think concerning this......Proverbs 16:3 AMPC

God always causes me to triumph......2 Corinthians 2:14

When I committed the situation to God, He took it from there......Psalms 118: 23

It's Time To De-Clutter Again!

Day 20 

On Day 19 I talked about “de-cluttering” our souls to get rid of fear, anger, confusion, frustration and all the things that cut us off from the peace of God. We can pray and submit our plans to God* all day long but if we haven’t emptied our souls of garbage thinking, we will not be able to enjoy the companionship of God. We’ll be too full of ourselves—our false imaginations, our selfish thoughts, and the memory of all past experiences that have gone wrong.

Have you noticed that our “closets” need attention on a regular basis in order for them to stay neat and organized? It is the same for our souls. For example, once we recognize a bad attitude over an injustice done to us, we can say, “No you don’t! I have no use for you!! Into the garbage you go!”

Then as you commit your plans to God, you will feel Him nudging you into the right direction all day long. Here’s an example for you—this morning I recognized a judgmental attitude on myself. In one word, that boils down to pride. Can we all say “Yuk—Yuk??” 

Instead of allowing that judgmental thought to take up residence in my soul, I pulled it out and showed it to God. I asked Him to help me not go down that path of criticism of others. A good friend stopped over and if I hadn’t gotten rid of that “garbage” thought, my judgmental words would have come up in my conversation. Instead, while we were visiting, we stopped to pray for someone and the presence of God was tangible in the room—to the point where we could hardly speak. 

Time to clean out our souls and then do a daily check to keep them clean. No fear—no pride—no selfishness—no anger—nothing except the presence and peace of God!

How It Works....

We have been learning how to apply Proverbs 16:3 to our lives. Think about these words:

Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. (AMPC)                                                                      

The other night we were sitting at an outdoor concert and enjoying the beautiful humid-free evening. All of a sudden I picked up my phone and clicked on my Weather App. I went to the radar and noticed lots of green, red and yellow just west of us. We decided to load up our lawn chairs and head for the car so that we wouldn't get caught in rain, winds and maybe even hail. We walked to the edge of the outdoor concert area--away from the buildings--to be greeted by some very dark clouds. We were able to drive into the garage just as the rain and wind started to come. 

We had committed our day to God when we woke up that morning and right in the middle of a very pleasant evening, I picked up my phone and went to that App. God was causing my thoughts to become agreeable to His will. He knew the storm was coming. 

And that's how it works!!

It’s Time To De-Clutter!

Day 19  

Allow me to give you another word picture. This time I am going to use the analogy of a "closet." Have you noticed over time that things can collect and become very disorganized behind those closed doors? The end result is called “clutter” and clutter causes dysfunction. We can’t find what we are looking for and we become frustrated. Let’s look at the opposite scenario. Remember right after you did a deep cleaning of the cluttered area? You knew just where to look for your desired item because it was in its designated place. Ahhhh….so much easier!

Our soul is the “closet” where our thoughts, our emotions, and our choices live. Fearful, selfish, and angry thoughts clutter up our souls. We stuff wrong thoughts and damaged emotions into our souls and close the door quick so no one can see what’s in there—not even us! If we don’t clean out our souls on a regular basis, it will be difficult for us to receive the thoughts that God wants to give us—directional thoughts, peaceful thoughts, successful thoughts—thoughts that cause us to make right choices. It’s in these choices that we are established and have success.

We pray the Proverbs 16:3* prayer of trust and commitment because we want to think like God thinks so that we can experience His peace. It feels so good to partner with God. We love His instructions, which are those thoughts that lead us securely into His perfect will.

Take a few minutes now and ask God to look into your soul. Allow Him to show you any “clutter” that needs to be removed. If something comes to mind, just know that God is revealing it to you and you can remove it by saying—

“I am sorry, God. I give you my ungodly thoughts, my damaged emotions, and the wrong decisions I have made. Help me to clean out this “closet” so I can be free to hear from You.”

God bless you as you spend time with Him today!

                                             ************************************************

*Proverbs 16:3 (AMPC)   “Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.”

You Can Get THERE....Part 3

Day 18 

(If you are new to my blog, you might want to go to the archives and click on “Day 1” for a complete understanding of living a Proverbs 16:3 life!)

On Day 17, I gave you a picture of Proverbs 16:3 (AMPC) using a maze from a child’s activity book.

We all have questions that need answers—ranging from easy to difficult:

What store is the quickest and most economical place to buy jeans for Johnny?

Should we put the kids on the traveling competitive team this fall?

Should I have a garage sale or just give our things away? 

Which stocks should I invest in?

Should we sell our house and move south?

Where should I look for a new job?

Is he the one I am to marry?

So many questions to be answered in the course of the day—questions on your job, for your home, and in your personal life. My husband and I have questions too, so every morning, we put them on what we call “God’s Drawing Board.” That’s our way of committing our plans to God and trusting that He will cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will so we will know what to do.

Ephesians 2:10 (AMPC) is the blueprint of our day, our week and our life. God knew that we would have many questions and I am sure He is very happy that we are now consulting the “blueprint” so He can help us get it right. Life is so good when we sail through the day and avoid all the dead ends—all the frustrations, all the delays, and all the indecisions.

Psalms 100:3

John 15:15 

John 13:16

You Can Get There....Part 2

Day 17  (Please read Day 16 first!)

Proverbs 16:3 (AMP) says that if we do the first part of the verse, two things happen. 

Our thoughts will become agreeable to God’s will. 

We become established and we succeed. (YAY!)

Okay, what’s the first part of the verse?? What do we have to do??  “Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him…..”  Another version of the Bible uses the word “plans.” Commit and trust your plans to God….

On Day 16 we talked about a child’s maze. At the beginning of the day, you are standing at the “You Are Here” spot. As you walk through the day you are searching for the simplest way to reach “The Finish Line.” If you are filled with dread and anxiety when you wake up, you may stand at or around the “You Are Here” spot all day. Or maybe you say to yourself, “I got this God. I know what I am doing.” 

You set out to do it and before you know it you hit a dead end. You turn around and go back and try another route only to have the same thing happen as you set out on your own. Do you recognize what I am saying? I sure do because before applying Proverbs 16:3 it was easy to waste time in a frustrating spot.

But not so much anymore! Now I try to make it a habit to begin each day in prayer-- committing my plans to the One who knows exactly what my day should look like. He knows the easiest, most productive ways of doing everything.

How sweet it is to close my eyes at night and say, “God, thank You for this most amazing day.”

Proverbs 8: 32-35 
Acts 2:28 
Psalms 119: 44-45                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

You Can Get THERE From Here

DAY 16

I picture in my mind a simple maze. You know-- like what you might find in a children’s coloring book. There is a place that says, “You are here!” You begin there and follow the pathway until you reach your “Finish Line!” This is a picture of our day. There is a beginning and there is an end. In between, there are many decisions to be made. On Day 15 we saw that God wants to partner with us so that we reach the finish line by the end of the day. 

When a child begins this maze, he or she goes the way that they think is best. That way may be the best way or it may be a dead end. When we wake up in the morning we have plans for what we want to accomplish that day—responsibilities, decisions, fun activities, etc. Proverbs 16:3 (Amplified Classic) says that as we “commit” and “trust” our plans to God, the Holy Spirit will guide us through the day, helping us to go the right way and not end up frustrated because of a dead end. You are “here” and you want to get “there” each day. As you offer your plans to God, He will cause you to think like He thinks—and He is always thinking about success. So if He plants His thought into your thought life, guess what you will be thinking about!!  That's right, you will be thinking successful thoughts.

I have been applying this biblical principle into each day of my life for over two years and I am amazed at how involved God has been in my daily life. He has caused me to avoid mistakes, pitfalls, and delays--frustrations, anxiety, stress. 

Sometimes we think hearing from God is way too hard, but it’s really not. My basic prayer is, “Lord, help me to think like you think today.” 

I encourage you to do this daily for thirty days and just see what happens. Picture the maze and you standing at the “You Are Here” spot at the beginning of your day. Make sure you are really saying, 

“These are my plans for the day, Lord. Walk with me today and help me to think      like you think, so that at the end of the day, I will say, ‘This has been an amazing day!”

Ephesians 3:20 AMPC

I Corinthians 2:10 NIV

Psalms 118: 23-25 NIV