Conquering the Giant of Fear

When Moses sent the 12 spies into the Promised Land, they came back reporting there were giants in the land. This scared the people of Israel so much that they spent the next 38 years in the wilderness!

To receive everything that God has promised to you, you must defeat the Giant of Fear.  I’ve attached a link to an 18-minute video of me teaching about the 4 weapons you will need to use.

To watch the video, click on this link: Conquering the Giant of Fear
--Kent
www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com
www.makinglifecount.net
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How will God provide for you?

Does your situation look so desperate that it’s hard for you to imagine how God can intervene? Matthew 17:24-27 tells an amazing story about Peter catching a fish with a coin in its mouth. This story is recorded in Scripture for a reason—to show you that God can do the impossible to provide your needs.

Instead of writing this week’s devotional, I’ve attached a link to a 20-minute video of me teaching on this passage. I hope this teaching will encourage you to not give up hope, no matter how impossible your situation may be. To watch the video, click on this link: How Will God Provide for Me?

--Kent

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

www.makinglifecount.net

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Read over 150 Bible studies at www.makinglifecount.net
Does the future scare you?  Read The Sure Cure for Worry
Are you depressed or feel rejected?  Read Slaying Your Giants

Turning Points

George Foreman is the former two-time world’s heavyweight boxing champion and known for his powerful knockout punches. On his 19^th birthday, he got so drunk that he couldn’t remember what happened that night. The next day, he ran into a friend who had been badly beaten up. His eye was swollen and he had cuts and bruises on his face. George wanted to get revenge on the person who hurt his friend. He said, “Man, you look terrible! Who did that to you?”

His friend looked at him in disbelief and said, “Are you kidding me? You beat me up last night!”

George was stunned because he couldn’t remember beating him up. This was a turning point in his life. The hurt he inflicted on his friend jolted him so much that George never took another drink of alcohol after that. (George Foreman, God in My Corner, Thomas Nelson, 2007).

Although you might not physically beat up someone, have you ever verbally beat up someone? We can hurt others without realizing the damage we’ve done. Husbands and wives get into heated arguments and never realize they’ve shoved an invisible knife through their spouse’s heart. Without a turning point, it could lead them to the divorce court. Abusive parents scream hateful things at their children, never realizing how it has devastated them. Without a turning point, future generations could be affected.

Change doesn’t occur without a turning point. The only way to stop hurting others is for the light bulb to come on in our minds. Our eyes must be opened to the pain we have inflicted. The Prodigal Son didn’t change until “he came to his senses” in the pigpen. This was his turning point. He got up, and went back home with a changed attitude toward his father (Luke 15:17-20). Saul was on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians when he was struck down by a blinding light. This was his turning point. He changed from murdering Christians to preaching about Jesus (Acts 9:1-20).

Think back on your life. Have you ever had a turning point? Have you hurt your spouse, or your parents, or your children, or anyone, without realizing the damage you’ve done? It’s not too late to change. Today can be your turning point. Don't just say that you're sorry. Prove it with a change in behavior. 

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

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ACCIDENT OR DIVINE INTERVENTION? We have 500-600 people who receive this devotional via email. Occasionally the email service goes crazy and sends out one of the previous Devotionals without telling us. This happened earlier this week when a devotional from last May on “Rejection” was accidentally sent out. We have no idea how that happened, but maybe God wanted someone to read it.
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Read 150 Bible studies at www.makinglifecount.net
Does the future scare you?  Read The Sure Cure for Worry
Are you depressed or feel rejected?  Read Slaying Your Giants

10 Unusual Ways People Have Died

Call me weird, but I keep a file of unusual ways people have died. This morning I read about a man who had just pulled his car in a parking space when an abandoned apartment building collapsed and fell on his vehicle. If you had told him beforehand he would die that way, he would not have believed you. Here are nine more unusual ways people have died (These came from newspaper articles and are not urban legends).

·         A Brazilian man died when a cow fell through his roof and landed on him. His house was next to a steep hillside where the cow had been grazing.

·         A fisherman in Sri Lanka bled to death when a fish jumped out of the water and cut him on the neck with its fin.

·         A man in Iran was shot to death by a snake. He was trying to catch the snake alive and put the end of his shotgun on its head. The snake coiled around the gun and pulled the trigger.

·         A herdsman in Kenya was watering his livestock when he was stoned to death by wild monkeys.

·         A man at a Jets-Patriots pro football game was killed by a flying lawnmower. The entertainment at half-time was radio-controlled unusual-looking model airplanes. The flying lawnmower went out of control and flew into the stands where he was seated.

·         A man in Florida was sleeping in his bedroom when a sinkhole beneath his home opened up and sucked him in.

·         A man in London at his 100-year-old birthday party said, “Yes, I made it!” and immediately died.

·         Two passengers were dining on a cruise ship off the coast of France when a 26-foot high wave crashed through the glass windshield and killed them.

·         A man in South Carolina was jogging and listening to his iPod when he was hit from behind by a small plane that had lost its power and was making an emergency landing.

None of these people knew that death was just moments away. Have you ever thought about how you will die? Will you be cut by a fish tail? Shot by a snake? Killed by a flying lawnmower? Sucked into a sinkhole? Maybe your heart will just stop beating.

Life is short and death can happen at any moment. James 4:14 says, “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Will you be ready when your time comes? If not, please read “How can I know that I’m going to heaven?”

 

Have a great day. It could be your last.

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com
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Read over 130 Bible studies at www.makinglifecount.net
Are you worried about the future?  Read The Sure Cure for Worry
Do you want to defeat depression, unforgiveness, and rejection?  Read Slaying Your Giants

Leaving Your Offering at the Altar?

Jesus made a profound statement that most of us have overlooked.  He said, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering” (Matt. 5:23-24). Jesus is saying that a wrong horizontal relationship with man will block our vertical relationship with God.

Imagine a man taking his lamb to the temple to sacrifice as an act of worship. As he is about to hand his animal to the priest to place it on the altar, a thought pops into his mind. The worshipper remembers a disagreement he had with someone. His enemy stole some money from him, but he reacted in the wrong way by calling him hateful names. He realizes that he must forgive his enemy for wronging him, but he also needs to ask forgiveness for his hateful response.

Jesus tells him to leave his offering at the altar. Leave it there while he takes care of some business. There’s nothing wrong with the offering, so there’s no need to take it away. The offering is acceptable, but the worshipper’s attitude isn’t, and God is looking at his heart. This passage reveals that the Lord is aware of what we are offering Him, along with the attitude in our hearts, and also the personal conflicts we are experiencing.

The worshipper leaves his offering and walks three miles to where his enemy lives. He asks forgiveness for calling him those names and forgives him for stealing from him. His enemy returns the money, accepts his apology and they are reconciled, so he returns to the temple and finishes presenting his offering to God.

But suppose his enemy doesn’t want to be reconciled. Instead of being receptive, his enemy curses him out and slams the door in his face. What is the worshipper to do? God accepts that fact that he did everything in his power to resolve the difference. Perhaps his enemy will change his mind later and get right with him and God. The worshipper can now return to the altar with a clear conscience, knowing he did what Christ has asked of him.

Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” Notice 3 things:

·         “If possible.” This implies that the other person may not want to be reconciled. But it also means that resolving the conflict might be possible.
·         “So far as it depends on you.” This puts the burden of peace-making on you. It will require humility on your part because pride wants the other person to come to you. Quit waiting for the other person to make the first move. You take the initiative and start the process.
·         “Be at peace with all men.” Conflict creates friction, but reconciliation brings peace.

If you will make the first move, you will find that God will also make a move by blessing you! He will always bless the one who takes the initiative in peacemaking. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

Visit Kent’s New Bible Teaching website: www.makinglifecount.net

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Are you worried about the future?  Read The Sure Cure for Worry
Do you want to defeat depression, unforgiveness, and rejection?  Read Slaying Your Giants

Listening to God

Jesus said that when some people pray, they wrongly assume “that they will be heard for their many words” (Matt. 6:7). Praying doesn’t get better because it’s longer, just like sermons don’t get better because they’re longer. I’ve never heard anyone say, “That sermon was so good because it was SO long!” And I don’t think God says, “That prayer is so good because it’s so long! That person just talks and talks and talks and never expects Me to say anything back!”

Years ago when I worked for a Christian college in Georgia, I had an appointment with a lady who lived in another city to talk about some business concerning the college. After we met, she started talking non-stop (and I am not exaggerating) for the entire hour. I kept waiting for her to take a breath—to pause—to take a break between words—to ask what I thought—anything so I could get a word in edgewise, but she never did. Finally, after sixty minutes of me listening without saying a word, I had to leave for my next appointment. When I got up from my chair I said, “Well, it was nice talking to you!” 

God must feel the same way when we do all the talking but never listen. He wants to speak to us, but we must have open hearts to hear His voice. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 3:15). If you in a bad situation and don’t know what to do, God says if you will pray and ask for wisdom, He will always show you what to do. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God...and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

But how will you know when He gives you the wisdom? He will put thoughts in your mind and impressions on your heart. Sometimes He will give you desires to point your heart in the right direction. At other times, you will just instinctively know what you need to do. However, if you don’t expect Him to speak to you, you won’t receive anything from the Lord (James 1:7).

Remember that prayer is a dialog and not a monologue. Learn to listen to God and then do what He says.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  

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Are you worried about the future?  Read The Sure Cure for Worry

Do you want to defeat depression, unforgiveness, and rejection?  Read Slaying Your Giants

Trust in the Lord with all Your Heart

(This amazing true story comes from my new book, The Sure Cure for Worry (Chosen Books, 2013, pages 32-35)
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that God is in control when your world is falling apart. You must continue to obey God, even when what He tells you to do doesn’t make sense. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Max Wilkins is a pastor in Gainesville, Florida. Shortly after he surrendered to go into full-time ministry, Max applied at Candler School of Theology for seminary training. He had no money to attend graduate school but took the first step of faith by applying.

Max had two summer employment opportunities before fall classes would begin. The most promising was an assistant pastor position in a local church, which would completely pay for his first semester at the seminary. The other job was working at a church camp for only a penny per hour. The correct decision appeared to be obvious. The church staff job had to be the right choice. But after spending time in prayer, Max felt God pulling at his heart to work at the camp.

His parents tried to talk him out of it. “Son, you need to pray again. Obviously you didn’t hear that from God.” But Max could not deny that the Lord was leading him in a direction that defied logic. It would be financially impossible for him to pay for seminary with the money he would be making at camp.

Max faithfully fulfilled his camp duties and by the end of summer he had earned five dollars. Classes would be starting in two weeks. If he had listened to his parents and taken the other job, he would have had the money to pay for his first semester at school. But now that option was gone.

How could the Lord let him make a huge mistake like that? Max stormed down to the camp lake to have it out with God. Standing by the lake, he cried out, “Lord, you are the one who called me to seminary and to work at this camp. I am trying to be obedient to you, but I have no idea what to do now. This is your problem, God!”

At that moment he sensed the presence of someone nearby. He turned and noticed an elderly woman sitting on the lakeside bench. “Hello,” Max said. “Have we met before?”

“No, my name is Emily Ann. Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you.”
Max sat next to her and shared about his desire to attend seminary and turning down the assistant pastor job to work at the camp for a penny per hour.

“You want to go to Candler School of Theology?” she asked. “My husband and I happen to have some friends who are endowing a scholarship at that seminary. Please give me your contact information and I will tell them about you.”

Max wondered if she was making up the answer to his problem, or if she might be a little bit senile. After all, what are the odds that a person with connections to a scholarship to the very seminary he had applied for would come to that exact spot on the lakeshore at the precise time he was there praying? Max scribbled his address on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

When summer camp ended, Max returned home and found a stack of mail lying on his desk. He came across an envelope from the Sherman Foundation. Tearing it open, he read:

Dear Max, Our dear friend Emily Ann spoke very highly of you and your calling to ministry. We trust her implicitly. Based on her recommendation, we are pleased to award you an all-expense paid scholarship to Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Sincerely, Frank and Helen Sherman, The Sherman Scholarship Foundation

What looked like an incredibly stupid decision to work at the camp for a penny an hour turned out to be the correct decision! Because Max trusted in the Lord with all his heart and did not lean to his own understanding, God led him on the right path—and provided what he needed.

The scholarship not only paid for his entire three years in seminary, but also gave him a monthly stipend for living expenses! When you walk in obedience to God, He has ways of providing for you that are beyond your understanding. Are you trusting the Lord with all your heart and obeying what He is telling you to do? If you will, God will take care of everything else.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

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Are you worried about an economic collapse or that you won't find the right person to marry?  Read The Sure Cure for Worry

Do you want to conquer depression, rejection, or unforgiveness?  Read Slaying Your Giants