rinodattilo.com

God’s Plans for You ~ revisited

rinodattilo — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:45:15 +0000

In Sundays message I shared this passage with you along with a message called “Brooding God”. The simple message was this, God has a plan for your life and He is brooding over you like an eagle broods over its nest. As I was looking through my devotional book by Dick Mills, I ran across what he wrote on this passage so I simply thought I would share it with you. It’s worth the read.

Also, if you missed Sunday’s message, just click on the link below and you can hear it for free, yes free!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares

the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm

you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

In other translations the Lord assures us in a variety of ways that He has good things in store for us: “plans for peace, not disaster”; “thoughts of peace and not of hurt”; “intentions of prosperity, and not suffering”; “to make you happy and not to harm you.” It is your welfare I have in mind,” He assures us, “not your undoing.” In a world full of bad news where the mood of pessimism is strong, it is good for us believers to hear from the Lord Himself that He has good plans for us.

God has promised us a hope and a future. This age is not the post-Christian-era, as some are saying, because we are assured of a future. There are yet chapters to be written in the history of the Body of Christ.

One writer says of God’s plans for His people that it is His purpose to give them literally an end and hope. End is like “happy ending” or “reward.” He is the covenant God of unchanging grace. His plans concerning His people are always thoughts of good, of blessing. There is not a single item of evil in His plans for His people; neither in their motive, nor in their revelation, or in their consummation. All is good, all is blessing.

This verse can be claimed by you for your personal comfort and encouragement. God’s plan for you are good plans, giving you so much to look forward to. You have so much to live for! Instead of despair, you have hope. All because of Him!

Dick Mills, Spirit-filled Devotional Volume 1

Sunday’s Message:

Have Yourself a Little Whine Session w/ God

rinodattilo — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:39:58 +0000

“Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.” (Psalms 6:8–10 ESV)

The sixth psalm is one of seven penitential psalms (6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143) of the early church. In a strict sense, however, it is not a penitence psalm, for there is no confession of sin or prayer for forgiveness. The psalm is really one of lamenting or what maybe even whining or crying. I like that, and that it is in the Bible, especially of a great king!

Now, I don’t know about you, but there are times that I am really whinny! I don’t like the way things are going, I don’t like how I feel, etc ~ you get the picture, and I just boohoo to God. Oh it is not prayer, it is whining, pure and simple. But something happens in the middle of my personal pity party, just as it did to King David here in this psalm. He starts out in this lament of life and ends empowered by God’s spirit! He goes from thinking God doesn’t care to know He does and that he, David is victorious.

The point is this – don’t miss it. David did not whine to people. David did not share his frustration with others, no, he took them to God! And that is really prayer. And when you and I pray, God just changes things. So, go to God, even if you are doing nothing but whining, He can handle it and change you!

Much Love,

PS: Feel free to leave comments if you like

Receiving what you Give

rinodattilo — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:01:17 +0000

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”” (Genesis 12:1–3 ESV)

The Bible is filled with a principle of sowing and reaping. Look at what God tells Abram, my paraphrase: “Whoever does you good, I will do good to them. Whoever does bad to you, I will do really bad to them! And you and your family will be blessed!”

Don’t you just love that? Chew on it a bit and see what the Holy Spirit says to you.

Just a few other thoughts ~ free of charge of course ~ and by the way, it not all about money …..

“The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.” (Proverbs 11:18 ESV)

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV)

Faith

rinodattilo — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:40:52 +0000

Saw this quote today ….

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s forthcoming attractions.“ Albert Einstein

Reminds me …

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)

Opportune Time

rinodattilo — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:50:25 +0000

“And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”
(Luke 4:13 ESV)

I’m just saying ….. after Sunday’s message on goals and resolutions – this passage of scripture hit me as I heard it. This is Luke’s account of the temptation of Christ. The devil pulled out all stops to make Jesus fail at his goals and purpose. Then, after pulling all his tricks, what did the devil do? He made the decision that the time is not right, so he pulled back and waited for a new opportunity.

As you have set your goals for “new habits”, can I tell you that the devil will try to wreck them for you. He doesn’t want you to succeed in getting stronger spiritually and he will attack in all sorts of ways. Then when you made it through the first few rounds and the pressure is off – don’t fool yourself. He is just looking for the opportune time. So ….

Don’t let your guard down.
Don’t get comfortable because you “feel” good.
Stay focused and tenacious.

Much Love

Great Worship

rinodattilo — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:28:02 +0000

From time to time I will post albums that I love to worship by. This being my first I would like to post this one from Bryan & Katie Torwalt. We are already doing the worship song Holy Spirit in service and it is just anointed. So you can get your copy from Amazon or iTunes store. You will love it!

Happy New Year

rinodattilo — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:02:17 +0000

Well, here we go on one of my New Years goals, to update my blog and keep it current. It is not all that easy to do. It seems that time flies faster and faster as the years go by and more and more things or people require my time. Still, I believe that this blog can be a useful time for me, in discipline, and for anyone that wants to read it – that is my goal. So, as we start off the new year, I begin with my favorite new year theme, goals. No, I am not going to share all my goals with you. I guess because some like to come up to me and tell me when I am failing. But I have learned, I may fail at some of them, but I succeed at some too. So, some are better than none.

So, I would like to take this time to encourage you to a better you. Below are just a few ideas to help you along. I pray that God’s richest blessings be yours this 2012. Reach high, dream big.

Common Goals We Can Improve:
• Fellowship (Church Attendance)

• The Word (Bible Study, Devotions, One Verse a Day)

• Giving (Tithes, Offerings, Missions, Time)

• Worship (Heart of Worship before God & Song)

• Relational (Building Relationships with Others & Accountability)

• A Better YOU (Health, Rest, Spouse, Parent, Friend)

• Read More (Historical, Spiritual, Recreational)

• Learn Something New (Join the craft group!)

• Get Out of Debt (It is possible! See Dave Ramsy’s Website)

• Get Organized (I hear the groans