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Our weekly newsletter filled with news, updates, and inspiring stories of how God is working in the Bay Area.

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Fact:  We all want tomorrow to be better!

Too many of us have lost faith that today matters. We have lost faith in the power of God. Some of us have lost faith that we can change. We have lost faith that we can make a spiritual comeback.

As a result of that loss of faith, we have grown comfortable and accepting that God is done with us, that he is not with us, that he no longer hears or answers our prayers.

We need to believe that, regardless of what has happened previously in our lives and in our faith, that today’s choices can make tomorrow better.

God stoops down to make you great!

36 You protect me with your saving shield.
You have stooped to make me great.
37 You give me a better way to live,
so I live as you want me to.
2 Samuel 22:36-37 (NCV)

If we are going to believe that today matters, if we are going to make the choices today to make tomorrow better, then we must believe that God stoops down to make us great!  God stoops down to give us a better way to live.

He wants us to be great no matter what we choose to do in our lives. How many of us believe that truth about God?

To make today matter we have three decisions to make:

Expect more from God

“Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing.  Listen to my cry for help, my king and my God, for to you I pray.  In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”
Psalms 5:1-3 NIV

Do these words describe our prayer life?  The confidence, the boldness, the requests, the consistency, the expectations being placed on God to come through and answer them.

What are we requesting from God?  Is it big? is it life changing?

Are we using our mornings to cry out to God or is God being forgotten in the mornings only to be remembered later?

It takes faith to expect more from God, the more faith in God, the more the expectation for God to come through.

Why would someone not pray much or expect much from God?

We throw expectation out the door when we fear disappointment. We think if we don’t get our hopes up then we won’t have to be let down. However, if we are going to make tomorrow better we have to expect more from God and that he won’t let us down.

 Expect more from yourself

2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”
3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.
Haggai 1:2-9 (NIV)

The people were saying it is not time to build the Lords house. They were saying I don’t have the time to think about God’s house

When it comes to your relationship with God what do you expect from yourself?

When it comes to your relationships with your spouse, kids, parents and friends what do you expect from yourself?

Pay the price today

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)

Success doesn’t just occur one day in our lives. Every day of our life is preparation for the next.

  • What or who we become is a result of the price we are willing or unwilling to pay.
  • Are we willing to pay the price to make tomorrow better?
  • What price do we need to pay in our relationship with God so its better and stronger?
  • What price do we have to pay in our relationships so we are no longer alone, isolated, distant and stuck?

We all want tomorrow to be better, that’s why today matters.

Three decisions to make that happen:

1. Expect more from God– What big things are you going to ask God for with faith?

2. Expect more from yourself– Decide to not make excuses to serve/help others.

3. Pay the price – What will you give up so you can love people today?

Written by

Bay Area Christian Church

This was created by a member of the Bay Area Christian Church team.