Thoughts for the Journey from Bill Myers

As an author and film producer, Bill Myers’s work has won over 70 national and international awards including the C.S. Lewis Honor Award. His books and videos, which include Eli and McGee and Me, have sold 8 million copies. His most recent book, The Jesus Experience - Journey Deeper into the Heart of God, explores how he went from a burned-out evangelical to someone head-over-heels in love with his Creator. www.billmyers.com

CHOOSE WHO TO LISTEN TO

The devil is called, “The Accuser of the Brethren.” In fact the very term, devil, means ‘slanderer.’ 

So who believes the slanderer’s accusations? God? Hardly. After Christ’s great sacrifice, God no longer sees what’s wrong with us. He only sees what’s missing. So

who is left to believe the slanderer? Just us. The accuser accuses us to us.

Don’t listen to the lies that hate you, that want to destroy you . . . that want to steal Christ’s glory by lessening what Jesus did for you on the cross. Instead, listen to God’s great love. A love that adores you, that’s on your side, and that longs to always, always forgive you.

“. . . for he (the devil) is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44

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Thoughts for the Journey from Bill Myers

As an author and film producer, Bill Myers’s work has won over 70 national and international awards including the C.S. Lewis Honor Award. His books and videos, which include Eli and McGee and Me, have sold 8 million copies. His most recent book, The Jesus Experience - Journey Deeper into the Heart of God, explores how he went from a burned-out evangelical to someone head-over-heels in love with his Creator. www.billmyers.com

GOD LOVES YOU MORE THAN YOU

Christ’s love for us is so intense that at least eighteen times in the Bible we are referred in one way or another as His Bride. Not His groveling servant, not His fearful slave, not even His wife. But His Bride. He looks upon you and me with the same passion as a bridegroom does for his bride on their wedding day. Think on that.

The Creator of the Universe is over the moon in love with you. The Bible even says He sings over you. The next time you attend a wedding, pay attention to the bride as she enters, but also sneak a peek back to the groom’s expression and remember . . . that is exactly what the Lord feels for you every second of your life. Good days, bad days, it makes no difference. He’s crazy in love with you. So much that He even let people kill His Son just so the two of you could be together.

Now that’s love!  We’ve heard the verse below so many times it may have lost some meaning. But pretend it’s the first time you’ve ever come across it:

“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son…” John 3:16

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Thoughts for the Journey from Bill Myers

As an author and film producer, Bill Myers’s work has won over 70 national and international awards including the C.S. Lewis Honor Award. His books and videos, which include Eli and McGee and Me, have sold 8 million copies. His most recent book, The Jesus Experience - Journey Deeper into the Heart of God, explores how he went from a burned-out evangelical to someone head-over-heels in love with his Creator. www.billmyers.com

GET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CROSS

The cross is not the end of our experience with God, but the beginning. Instead of groveling at its foot, get over yourself (and your failures), embrace Christ’s full forgiveness and move forward. God is not mad at you. He got mad at Jesus for you. Now He delights and sings over you. Don’t be shy, or snub Him by only accepting part of His gift. Drink His forgiveness to the dregs. And when you fail? Confess it, take another gulp, and get back to your feet. No time outs and standing in the corner for bad behavior allowed. That only trivializes Christ’s sacrifice by indicating you still have to suffer a little because His work wasn’t quite enough. It was. And is. Even when we fail.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

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Burying the Lies

by Marcia Lee Laycock

I squirmed with frustration. My husband had control of the remote and he was flying through Netflix like he was on some kind of speed drug. I’d get half way through reading the information and whoosh it would be gone.

Finally he asked, “What about this one?”

“Fine,” I said, more from a desire to stop the annoying process than to see the film. 

I settled back in our new recliner and hoped the movie was descent enough that we could watch it all the way through. The title filled the screen. 7 Days in Utopia. Never heard of it, but one of the main actors was a favourite so it looked promising. A movie about golf. Hmm ... well, we’ll see.

It engaged us enough that we kept watching. Then the final scene ... the main character was about to make the putt of his life. Would he redeem his career or choke again? The camera followed the tiny white ball across the green. Then the screen went black. Then a website link appeared – www.didhemaketheputt.com

What?

So we took the bait and followed the link. The author of the book appeared and began to talk about the movie, about how the main character had been believing lies about himself – that his identity and worth hinged on the game; that if he failed at golf he failed at life.

Then the author asked what lies we were believing. I gulped. I’d had a frustrating week – issues with my publisher, a writing block that looked like a solid steel wall, a project I had prayed about that still sat in limbo. I started listening to the lies: Nobody wants to read your work. You’ll never get that project off the ground. That idea you think is so great? It’s lame. You should just quit – stop banging your head against the brick wall. Nobody cares. Anger had been boiling inside me and it was starting to spill over into other parts of my life. 

The author invited people to bury a list of those lies, as the character in his story did, then make a list of what is true. He invited us all to recognize that the most important things in life are to see God’s face, feel His presence and trust His love. 

Refocusing on those essential things brings everything else into perspective. The lies fade. The truth shines through: I am deeply loved by a God who is all powerful; I have been given all I need to accomplish all that God wants; if I never publish another word  (or win another important game, or close another business deal) God will not love me any less than he does right now.

“My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare” (Psalm 25:15). 

****

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. Her second novel, A Tumbled Stone was recently short listed in the contemporary fiction category of The Word Awards. Marcia also has two devotional books in print. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded here.

Her most recent release is the first book in a fantasy series,

 The Ambassadors

Visit Marcia’s Website 

To sign up to receive her regular devotional column go to The Spur

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A Thrill a Minute

Today's guest devotion is by Loree Lough, from: His Grace is Sufficient…Decaf is Not © 2011 Summerside Press

A Thrill a Minute

"Why would people gain the whole world, but lose their lives?" Mark 8:36

As a kid, few things excited me more than hearing my parents say, "We're going to the amusement park!" Back then, I was an adventure junkie; the bigger and scarier the ride, the better I liked it. I'm not sure when—or why—it happened, but one day the thrill turned into fear, and these days, I can't hang curtains unless the chair I'm standing on is guaranteed not to reel and rock, not even a smidge!

            

Dreaming about becoming a published author reminds me of a roller coaster ride. The "big idea?" That was me, in line, waiting to belt myself into the car. Each tick-tick-tick as it climbed to the top of the first hill? "Stage One, Story Development." Next tick? Setting, then character development, point of view, conflict, dialog. The ups and downs earned titles such as Edits and Rewrites and Second-guessing Myself. The last hill—the steepest and most terrifying of all: Typing "The End." And then, that final stomach-churning plummet down, down that had me holding my breath doubled my heartbeat as I hit the SEND key.

            

Afterward? I got right back in line, of course, and waited as editors and agents sifted through people-tall stacks of mail. I stared at the phone and watched the mailbox. I read email, but "We'd like to offer a contract!" wasn't among any of the messages.

            

So I got back into line. Again. And I buckled myself in. Again…despite what my published author friends told me about novels that didn't sell, despite the years they'd written them. They complained about small publishing houses that were gobbled up by bigger ones, and mid-sized companies that went belly-up. They groaned when editors took extended maternity leave after telling them how much they believed in their stories. Bookstore chains folded, distributors stopped distributing. Agents culled their client lists, and the editors not on maternity leave were pulling double-duty, making that painful wait between Send and Reply take twice as much time as before.

            

I couldn’t help but ask: "Is my dream worth all this agony?"

            

I said a loud and resounding Yes.

            

And whatever your dream is, Yes should be your answer, too. Because—whether part or all of your dream comes true—you will have yet another reason to glorify God your Father, who used every up and down moment you endured to prove His love…

            

…and thrill you with the exhilarating gift of His grace.    

Today's Prayer: O God in heaven, I know that you want me to be a conduit of Your grace, so that Your loving kindness can flow from me into the lives of those near me. Use me, Lord, to pass on the simple truth: Though we have not—cannot—earn it, Your love knows no bounds. Hallelujah!  

With 81 books (3,000,000+ in circulation), Loree Lough’s novels consistently earn 4- and 5-star reviews, such as From Ashes to Honor, a 9/11 story (First Responders series) and Love Finds You in Folly Beach, South Carolina. She splits her time between her Baltimore home and a cabin in the Alleghenies…where coffee enables her to correctly identify “critter tracks.” Visit her Website at www.LoreeLough.com

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