Why I hate Facebook

5 reasons why I hate Facebook.

1.  Facebook promotes superficial relationships.  

I want to nurture authentic relationships not superficial ones.  The people on my Facebook that are authentic I will continue to text, email and call.  However, some people belong in your past - keep them there!  

2.  Facebook promotes low self esteem and cheap validation. 

Every time I updated my photo or uploaded a photo of my family, I felt like I was begging for attention and validation.  I don't need validation.  I know who I am and I know who my family are.  They are cute, adorable and so am I.

3.  Facebook steals my time.  
Minute by minute scrolling through people's opinions, food choices and photos steals time away from my husband, kids and my close friends.  I'd rather spend my time reading books that will IMPROVE my life.  Life is short and I'm quite sure I  won't wish I'd spent more time on Facebook when I'm on my death bed.

4.  Facebook promotes discontent.  
Every time I would see someone taking a cool vacation with their family or having a meal out, I am happy for them....and unhappy for me.  It makes me compare and I don't need to compare.  My life is awesome so why tempt myself by comparing my life to others. 

5.  Facebook uses me.
Yes, ultimately Facebook is the ultimate marketing tool and they use all my friends, interest and life to promote and make money.  I'm not going to be used for anything other than to serve out God's purpose in my life in the name of love and Facebook just doesn't fit into that theme.

Have anything to add?

God loved you first!

I have been listening to Rick Warren's podcast "What on Earth Am I here For?  Called to Be Loved" and I wanted to share Rick Warren's points regarding what we are called to do.

Our first purpose of our life is to be LOVED BY GOD.  Our first calling is to ENJOY A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.  That relationship that God wants you to have is to be His SON or His DAUGHTER.
1 John 3

God's love is wide enough to be anywhere - no place on the planet where God's love doesn't exist.

Because we are God's children, He will share His inheritance.  We have total access to God because He loves us that much.  We can go boldly to God anytime we want and talk to him.  We can go to Him with confidence in our time of need.  We are daughters and sons of God and we can ask for anything in Jesus' name.

When I stopped having a religion and started having a relationship with God, I could then experience peace in the mist of the pain.  That's the difference between having a "religion" versus having a "relationship".  Our God is a LIVING GOD, He is available 24/7 if we acknowledge Him and pray.  It doesn't mean He will give us everything we ask, because some of the things we ask for are not the best thing for us and we don't even know that because we can't see the bigger picture.  There are just going to be some things that happen that we can't explain that are negative life events, God promises to give us the "peace that passes all understanding" if we go to him with thanksgiving and supplication (earnestly asking for help).

Awesome power of Focus

10 steps of Godly goal setting.

1. Determine your position.  

Figure out where you are right now.  Where am I spiritually right now.  Where am I financially right now.  Where am I health wise right now.


Whatever you are going to do with your life - get on with it.  Every year is a chance for a new start.

2. Define your purpose

What do I want to be, do or have.  Get a target.  Get a clear, concise and compelling target.  Be able to picture it in your mind.  You won't reach a vague goal.  Being specific empowers you for goal setting.  Why do you want that?
a.  What do I want to be?
b.  What do I want to do?
c.  What do I want to have?

Make the decision and then solve the problems.  Fear will set in after you set the goal.

3. Discover a promise

Your fear will vanish if you can find a promise from God's word.  What promise can I claim.  Which of the 7,000 list of promises in the bible, can I claim?  The more you trust God, the more you make God smile.  He is interested in what you are becoming than what you are doing.  He is more interested in your character than your career.

Before you set a goal...ask these 3 questions.

1.  What is the reward?
2.  Why do I want it?
3.  How will I feel when I reach my goal.

4.  Write down why you want it and how you will feel when you have it.

God made us to be creative.  All creativity comes from God.  When you figure out the "why", God will show you how.  It's a principle of life.

When you figure out why you want to save your marriage, God will show you how.  If you want to become a certain person or have a certain career, God will show you how.  He's interested in your motivation and your heart.

You need to know why you are doing what your doing, when things get tough, you will give up.  Make the decision to move forward and God will teach you the how part of things.  This is where the "trust in me" part comes in.

5. Pray about it.

Mark 11.  Jesus says whatever you desire, pray and believe and you will have it.  God does something when we pray about our goals to test our desire.  God's delays tests our desires.  During the test you ask is this a whim or a wish a true desire.  They let you see how much you are really relying on God. It's okay to pray for success for your goals.  If you have a goal that will bring honor to God and will help other people, you better pray about that goal.  Make prayer a continual part of your process.  

6.  Diagnose the problem.

What are the obstacles that you need to overcome to accomplish your goal?  

Ask yourself two questions?

1.  Why don't I have this already?

2.  What are the barriers?  Financial barriers?  Educational barriers, I don't know how to do this?  They may be relational barriers, people don't want you do it.  Or, you have relationships you need to clear up or settle so you can let go of the past and get on with the future.

The biggest barriers you are going to have in your goal setting are emotional barriers.  They are emotional barriers inside of you that keep you from attempting more than you have ever thought of before.  It's hard for God to get you to think bigger than you have ever thought before.  You have to get beyond the emotional barrier.  Fear of failure?  Fear of success?

What's the best way to handle the problems?  Jesus said, in the sermon of the mount, "Don't worry about tomorrow, take life one day at a time".  That's how you handle giant problems.  You are going to face some big mountains you don't even know about right now.  How do you handle it?  One day at a time.

7.  Design a plan

Design a plan to overcome those problems.  

What's you know what the obstacles are, now you design a plan to overcome those problems.  How do I intend to get there?   Ask yourself how long will it take?  Any planning has 3 parts to it.  When you make a plan, for your business, your family it should have these 3 things.  1) steps.  What are the steps to get there 2) deadline 3) schedule - put it in your schedule.  Write it in your calendar.  On this date, I will have done this and on this date I will do this.

The way you spend your time and your money reveal your priorities. 5% write down their goals and they are also the highest wage earners.

8.  Discipline

Ask yourself, "where do I need to grow?"  The best goals are the goals that challenge you to grow.  Why is God so much more interested in your character than your goal?  You are just more important to him.  The growth in your life is much more important.  

9.  Depend on people

Success is never a one man show.  It always involve other people.  He made us to need each other and to be better together.  God wants us to learn and learn how to love.  Learning how to love others is the number one thing we are suppose to learn.  Rockefeller said the #1 skill he'd pay for in employees is the ability to get along with others.  

Ask yourself, who else can I involve?  Do you need someone to hold you accountable?  Ask them for support.  Ask for their input or advice.  God wants you to be involved in the goals of other people.  Most of the time if you have a need in your life, God will answer that need through a person not a miracle.  He wants us to rely on other people and be in fellowship with others.  He wants us to learn from others.  Other people's prayers will be answered through you.  We grow closer that way.  We can be selfish and isolated if we just have God answer our prayers.

10.  Deposit the price

There is always a price tag for reaching every goal.  There may cost time, money, your reputation or letting go of some things you like to do you may have to let it go.  Letting go of some things for the greater good of others is a what God calls you to do sometimes.

notes from Pastor Rick Warren, "The Awesome Power of Focus

Purpose of Christmas

Purpose of Christmas - Rick Warren

The 1st purpose of Christmas is to CELEBRATE.  - Session 1

GOD LOVES YOU.  God's love is based on who He is.  Not what you do.  John 3:16.  Romans 8:35-39.  Nothing can separate us from God.  NOTHING.  The 2nd reason to celebrate Christmas is GOD IS WITH YOU. God is with you all the time whether you feel it or not.  Hebrews 13:5 " I will never leave you and I will never abandon you".  GOD IS FOR YOU.  He wants you to win.  He wants you to succeed and give your life purpose and meaning.  John 3:17.  God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.  Don't condemn the world, point people to the way, the truth and the light.  Jesus didn't come to condemn it, he came to save it.   Jesus came to save us not to scare us!  "do not be afraid".

YOU DON'T NEED TO BE AFRAID.  God says I love you, I'm with you, I'm for you!  That's the good news of great joy!

The 2nd purpose of Christmas is SALVATION - a personal Savior. - Session 2

Statistics show 90% of people pray, this tells us that people recognize there is something bigger than ourselves.

What do you need to be saved from this Christmas?
traffic
chaos
busyness
spending too much money
shopping
inadequacies
family members

Salvation is 3 dimensional:  

1.  Save us FROM sin.  Sin is an attitude, it's a pride problem.  Sin is saying "I want to be my own boss, I don't want to follow God, I want to serve my purpose not yours."  We have these attitudes at different times of our life.  We all fall short of God's glorious standard.  EVERYONE.  Sin separates us from God.  Our sins are the roadblock between us and God, this is why our prayers aren't being answered.  That's why he sent Jesus as a savior.  Jesus came to set us free from our sins.  We need to be set free from ourselves.  We are our own biggest problems...our own reactions and inadequacies that cause us to do dumb things. Welcome to the human race!! Apostle Paul understands, Romans 7:24-25. Answer to our problem - Jesus.  We need a savior.  That's what Christmas is all about.

2.  Save us FOR a purpose:  Ephesians 1:11-12.  God has designs on us for glorious living.  God has a plan and a purpose for our life.  He's had it all along.  As our creator he knows what's best for us.  He saves us for a purpose he wants us to fulfill in our life.  We have to find out how make it come to pass in our life.  You can live at survival level, success level or the significance level.  We were made for more than success.  We were made for significance which comes from God.  Are you tired of living an unfulfilled life.  God longs for us to move from success to significance.  It's not about you/us!  Our culture says it's ALL about us...so this is counter-cultural.  You won't find satisfaction for living for yourself.  God did not wire us to live this way and we will always have a hole in our heart until we realize this.

3.  Save us by HIS grace:  We can't buy our way into Heaven.  We don't deserve to be saved.  Jesus, who is perfect, came to do.  He will give us His grace.  God gives us what we need, not what we deserve.  Grace says I'm going to take your problem and make it my problem.  God's Riches At Christ's Expense (GRACE).  Eph 2:8  "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God..."  God gave us the greatest gift.  He sent us a savior.

A Time for Reconciliation - Session 3

Celebration - Good news of Great Joy

Salvation - A Savior is born

Reconciliation - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace good will to men"

RECONCILIATION - Peace on Earth

Where do you need peace in your life this Christmas?

family

friends

taking time out to enjoy what's important

happy

focus on Christ and His birthday

everywhere

No peace in the world until there is peace in the Nations.  Communities won't have peace until peace in families.  There won't be peace in families unless there is peace in individuals and that won't happen unless we allow the "prince of peace" to come into our hearts.

What type of peace does Jesus gives us?  3 kinds

1.  Peace with God - Spiritual peace.  If you are trying to live without God, you are at war with God.  You need a peace treaty with God - you need reconciled with God.  Jesus came to be the bridge...the reconciler between you and God.  When you trust in JESUS, he will make all the conflict go away.  Come on home!  Have you made peace with God?  If you haven't, you need to...one day you will stand before him.  How do you make peace?  Not by promising to be perfect or saying you will never sin.  You make peace by faith.  Faith in God's grace.  Once you make peace with God, you get the 2nd kind of peace...

2.  The peace of God - Emotional peace.  This is the one you need on a daily basis.  Stress goes down in you life, not as angry, things don't bug you as much.  More patient, more joy, more forgiving.  You have the peace of God in your heart.   Phil 4:6.  You have two choices:  Pray or Panic.  Which will it be?  Worship or Worry - Your choice.  worry has never solved a single one of your problems, it doesn't change anything.  Prayer will change things though.  Pray about everything.  Tell God what you need and thank Him for all that He has done.  His peace will guard our hearts and our minds through Christ Jesus.

3.  Peace with others - Relationship with others:  End the war with everyone else.  Be a peacemaker.  2 Corinth 5:18-20.  He is committed to us the message of reconciliation.  God has given us a ministry and a message and it is reconciliation.  Be gracious to others.  Cut people some slack and don't hold them to such a heavy standard.  "Blessed are the Peacemakers, they shall be called the Children of God".  Matt 5:9.  If you know Jesus personally, you are going to be a peacemaker not a troublemaker.  Build people up, don't tear them down.  Love people the way Jesus loves the people.  Christmas is the perfect time to show grace to other people.  

Who do you need to rebuild a broken relationship with this Christmas?  Who do you need to reconcile a relationship with?

If you can't forgive someone, then you need Jesus, which is why you can't forgive.  You need to be filled with the love of Christ in order to let it go.  You are holding it in and it's hurting you.  Some of you are still letting people to hurt you from the past.  This is dumb.  The people of the past cannot hurt you any more unless you hold onto the hurt.  LET IT GO!

You are going to have to let Jesus fill you with His love, so you can love others the way He does.  Let him fill you with HIS forgiveness.  Until you truly feel forgiven, you can't forgive others.  You had some bumps, heartaches and hurts....it's all pointing at this moment right now.

God says:  You matter to me.  I love you, more than you ever know.  I have been watching and waiting for you to love me back your entire life.  I want you to know me.  I want the rest of your life to be the best of your life.  This is the good news of Christmas.  I love you, I'm with you and I'm for you.  I want to save you from your past, for a purpose and save you by my grace for all eternity.  If you let me do that, I will give you the peace between you and me and make you a peacemaker. 

Acts 10:35 - The door is open - if you are ready.

Jesus Christ is God's Christmas gift to you.

Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus, thank you for all the things you've done for me so far and will continue to do in the future.  Thank you for the peace you have given to me and allowed me to pass on to others.  Continue to build in me the peacemaker heart so that I may glorify you to everyone who I come into contact with. 

*notes from Pastor Rick Warren "Purpose of Christmas"