Author: debo

Make time to quiet yourself before God. This is a discipline that is so powerful and so undervalued. Never underestimate what God can do when you are quiet before Him…on your couch, in a coffee shop, in the front seat of a pickup, or in a rocking chair. Have a place that becomes your place. I had a Jesus chair by my fireplace in our former home that was “my place”. I can’t wait to set up my secret place with Jesus in our new home. It is so important to develop that intimate relationship with the One who loves you most. You will begin to know God’s voice more and more and be more sensitive to His leading. We know that what we value, we make time for. Value your time with God enough to schedule it into

your day. As the leadership team at AGF, we value the time we get to build into the lives of those who call AGF their church home. We want to continue growing numerically, but are continually aware that by building BIG people who know His voice, God is building a strong church body that can change our world, one life at a time. It takes discipline, but boy oh boy is it worth it. When we practice daily disciplines, it becomes easier to love God, love people, and lovie life. So make time for some quiet time with God, be still in His presence and breathe in the discipline of stillness.

As you make your spiritual life a priority, a wonderful discipline to develop is to take time to schedule a daily appointment with God. That time can include worship, prayer, reading, listening and writing in a journal. Many of us are good at all of the above…. except listening! We do our talking, and then we are out the door. That doesn’t work well in human relationships, and it doesn’t work well with God! When we listen, we can hear the whispers of heaven. His still small voice can speak volumes of hope into our soul. When we hide in the secret place, God will tell us secrets, maybe of areas we need to adjust, maybe of ways to pray to prevent negative situations, and sometimes of things to come. We can learn to hear the voice of God above all other voices. We can become more familiar with His voice, because we are His sheep. If hearing God’s voice is valuable to you, make time and space to listen to Him. Make a God appointment every day!

There are so many choices and voices that speak loudly into our lives. One area of daily discipline that we can all get better at is hearing from God. He does speak to us through His Word, so that means we need to be reading His Word to hear His voice. We can also have an inward knowing, in our spirit, to give us specific direction for our life. Not too often does anyone hear an audible voice, but our God is creative! He spoke through a donkey and a burning bush before, so He can speak to us. In my own life there have been times when God has spoken to me through the voices of my kids. Knowing the voice of God is so important to living a victorious Christian life, and shutting out the chatter of the world. One of the most important things to teach our kids is to know the voice of God. There are so many voices that try to convince them that they are not enough, or that they are not who God says they are, that we need to help them learn to recognize the truth found by hearing God’s voice. It’s a great discipline to think about what we are thinking about, and choose to only think on the truth of who God says we are.

Here are three things that often are a big factor in deciding to renew commitment to faithful church life. The weekly discipline of serving and worshipping in church regularly with your family and friends, adds so much to life. Where we are planted is where we will grow, and that is what daily disciplines help us accomplish. We grow in God in church. Remember this: 1) Church is a fun place to be. Serious spiritual work is done here, but it is a life-giving, joy-filled environment. 2) Those who are involved in church life get the best benefits of Christian community, because they work hand in hand…side by side other believers. 3) You will get recharged, refilled and restored, each time you serve or attend a service, so you can be a blessing to the people in your world all week long. We hope you make the choice to worship with your church body, every week. Come on Sunday, get involved in a small group during the week, and get your kids and youth to services that build a good foundation for life. You are a vital part of the body of Christ. Every joint supplies, and that means if you have a place to fill, that fits perfectly, because God sets each person in the body that he wants them to be planted in. Get your roots down deep.

Daily disciplines help us stay filled up so that we can live in the overflow. Its human nature to get serious about something when it is screaming for your attention. We don’t have to only study up on healing when our own body or someone we love faces sickness. Lets be full of the Word on the subject of healing so that we can live out of the overflow of health. It works in every area of life.

My husband actually spoke on living life in the overflow in church, and I wrote this poem/psalm during service.
Overflow Living
A well on the inside, a river that flows
Brings refreshing and blessing where ever it goes
A little splash here, and a bucketful there
A spirit filled life, overflows everywhere
From the heart’s abundance, your mouth will speak
From you life’s overflow, you’ll strengthen the weak
You’ll lift up their hands, and encourage their hearts
Overflow living is a great place to start 09/17/06

My prayer for you is that you can have the daily discipline to get the obstructions out of your life. Freedom in Christ is when water flows freely. Kinks hold us back! Let’s be “kink free” in Jesus’ name!

Yesterday we talked about kinked hoses. Kinks in our lives come in many forms – irritations, wounds, hurts, frustrations, wrong choices, bad influences, even having to deal with people who aren’t easy to love can cause kinks. Kinks cause us to be bound up. To remove a spiritual kink, you begin by walking in love and forgiveness. Walking in love and forgiveness is a daily discipline that can enhance, revive and restore relationships. When we believe the best in others, and make godly choices, life gets better. We realize that we can’t change others, but we can change ourselves. The disciple of love and forgiveness helps us do the most important thing which is to trust God completely! By receiving God’s love and giving it out we will have more than enough to give away. If we want more than a trickle in our river of life, we have to fill up and stay full of the love of God, and then let it flow out to others.

Intro:
Daily disciplines take daily discipline! Hi this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. I know that is a heavy revelation, and any time we talk about disciplined living, people get uptight. Don’ get uptight, you are disciplined in many of the things you already do! You have living water flowing through your life, and the spiritual disciplines you have will make your life more meaningful throughout your life. Here is your daily eword.

Have you ever had a kink in your garden hose? We have hoses that are very flexible at our house, and it seems like I am always “unkinking” them. You have to follow the hose back to where the kink is, “unkink” it, and then go reset the sprinkler. It can be very frustrating.The same thing can happen with irrigation pipe. If something gets in the way, it doesn’t matter how much pressure your pump has, the water will not push out the clog so the water can flow freely. If we want the water to run freely, there can be no obstructions.

The Bible has all kinds of references to water – from us drawing from the well of salvation, to the rivers of life that flow from our inner man. Water represents life, and the flow of the Holy Spirit for us. Sadly, many people live with their hose kinked. They have all this water available, and it can’t get through. Maybe a trickle comes through, but not the over and abundant flow that God has for each of us. If we want the overflow, kinks have to be removed. Daily disciplines help remove the kinks from our hose, and let the water of life flow freely through us.

How committed are you to finishing your race strong? When we determine to do whatever it takes, we will accomplish what we set out to do. After a sermon series called Frame of Mind that my husband preached on fighting the good fight of faith with the right frame of mind, I wrote this poem.
FRAME OF MIND
In the great fight of life, we more than overcome
With our eyes on the Savior, we will fight until we’ve won
Whatever comes against us, we know God lives within
To make this fight a good fight, to be a fight we win
In the great race of life, we’re committed to the end
With our eye on the finish, we won’t break and we won’t bend
In this great life of faith, we’ll be faithful, strong and sure
We’ll keep our eyes on Jesus and we’ll live a life that’s pure
We’ll be keepers of the faith, we’ll guard what’s true and right
We’ll represent God well, living upright through the fight
We have this frame of mind, that also was in Christ
He willing laid down, both his will and his Life
He’s received His prize, now we stand, and fight, and run
Looking unto Jesus, we’ll complete what we’ve begun!

Be encouraged today to run the race, fight the good fight of faith and finish strong!

I love the Summer Olympics, and am so sad they are already done for 4 more years.
I hope your summer is going great and you are having a really great time, enjoying the outdoors, and getting stronger physically everyday. Good fitness starts right now. The good habits you establish when you are young give you a better chance of including fitness in your life for your entire life. So have you been outdoors, playing, shooting hoops, kicking a soccer ball, running around, playing football, playing baseball, going swimming or playing volleyball? Why not take time to get outside everyday and do something that makes you more fit! This summer the Olympics will be happened in Rio. You know the athletes that made it to the Olympics have practiced hard. Those athletes have trained their very best and aimed for excellence in their sport. They have learned that perseverance is necessary to fulfill their dreams of greatness, so that they can be and do all that God has for them. I hope you know that too! I hope you go for God’s best in your life.
GOING FOR GOLD
We are running our race
With the goal in our sight
We’re mighty and strong
Serving God, day and night
We are aiming real high
We are making a goal
With our eye on the prize
We are GOING FOR GOLD!
I hope that you know God’s dreams for you are Olympic size! He has a good plan for your life, to give you a future and a hope. Are you preparing for greatness? It is important not only to be strong on the outside, but to be even stronger inside, knowing that God’s power is working in you! Make it your goal, to GO FOR GOLD fro God!

Have you ever heard anyone say, don’t set your expectations too high, because you’ll be disappointed? I’ve heard that said before and that statement makes me sad. I love making big goals, and having high aspirations. I want to aim high and go for excellence in life. You’ve probably also heard it said, if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time. I think we as Christians need to set a high standard in the world. Not only should we have integrity, character and good manners, I think we should be a cut above at our jobs, in industry, and in the marketplace. We have the God of the universe living within us, and we sometimes settle for so much less than God’s best for us. One statement I hate hearing is….”it’s good enough”, or “it’ll do.” To me those statements mean we’re not going to do any more than we absolutely have to do. We want to just get by. Our standards should be much better than that! I also hate to hear anyone justify their actions by saying, “Everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn’t I?” Our standard becomes what others are doing, not what God’s Word tells us to do, or God’s standard of excellence and righteousness. I want to encourage you to have high aspirations…dream big, believe big, achieve big, for our Great Big GOD.