Courage to Change | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Video Devotion

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This story is a radical case of self-examination and courage to change. I hope it empowers you to shift from victim to change agent.

Game Plan:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any grievous way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting!” Psalm 139:23-24, ESV

Time Out:

Facing blitzes well begins with a long-term perspective, but you must get “nitty-gritty” personal with a willingness to examine yourself and change.

Trials, failures and losses are all opportunities to ask yourself these questions:

  • “How do I need to change?”
  • “How can I adapt?”
  • “How can I improve or mature as a person?”
  • “How can I approach and behave better in relationships?”

 

The husband in this story would seem to have been justified to blame and condemn his unfaithful wife. Yet, their reconciled and improved marriage offers some validation of his gutsy and humble approach. Humble yourself. Examine yourself. Take your responsibility. Be the first to change. You can’t change other people anyway.

Facing blitzes in life requires you to get “nitty-gritty” with yourself and be willing to change.

Go Deep:

If this message rubs you the wrong way or makes you squirm a bit…it’s a signal that humility might be your deficit. God loves to respond supportively to people, but He is looking for a broken and contrite spirit. Broken and contrite means we have humbled ourselves and are truly sorry to God for our flaws of character and offenses toward Him and others. If you want to demonstrate courage and learn what needs to change in your life, start by asking God to search, examine and guide you to change.

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Think and Act Long Term | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Video Devotion

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Need some help and inspiration to keep the long run in view? Check out this single mom’s example and some eternal perspective that impacts the here and now.

Game Plan:

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” I Peter 1:13-16, NLT

Time Out:

Are you ruled by your feelings? Do circumstances swing your moods and reactions? If so, you are going to have a hard time behaving in a way that improves relationships and leads to good outcomes. A long-term view is such a huge help in the face of trials and disappointments. Eternity is the longest time horizon, but it’s much easier to grasp if you dwell on the person who defines eternity and personally came to offer our salvation.

Start with the end in mind. When you die, will you be with God forever or not? Think…and act long-term.

Go Deep:

Start with the end in mind. When you die, will you be with God forever or not? Christ has graciously offered salvation to all who accept and trust in Him alone. That future with God is also our present. It calls us to a new and free way to live…obedience and holiness…no slavery to selfishness and ugly consequences. To put all your hope in Christ for salvation leads to self-control and actions of love, rather than reactions of selfishness or fear. Think…and act long-term.

 

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Preparing for Life…NFL Style | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Video Devotion

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Does life seem way too complicated to prepare for its many options? If so, check out what NFL teams do and then look at the one person who can simplify it all.

Game Plan:

“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8, NLT

Time Out:

Preparing for the myriad twists, turns and blitzes of life can seem a lot more nebulous than what NFL players and coaches prepare for each week. Yet, our lives are way more important than football games. Here’s the only crystal clear approach to the unpredictable array of challenges and circumstances you will face… prepare for life by deepening your faith in the Lord and developing His character in yourself. Trust, hope and confidence in Christ come from examining His life and words, learning about His eternal Kingdom and adopting His character of humility, love and servanthood.

Life will blitz you. How you prepare before the blitz will be the key to how you handle it when it hits.

Go Deep:

Prepare your life strategy:

  • To develop a Long-Term View, aim your life toward Heaven and Christ’s reign in your heart.
  • To Be Willing To Change, make it your daily prayer and goal to “conform to the character of Christ”…humility, submission, love, sacrifice, patience and servanthood.
  • To Focus On Others, ask God to use you to bless, lift and encourage others. Then get ready for the tough battle against your selfishness!

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God is with You in Crisis | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Video Devotion

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Nothing makes us more vulnerable than tragic and painful stuff that happens to our children. Here’s inspiration from parents who have faced the nightmare of critical injuries to their daughter.

Game Plan:

“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” John 11:33-37, ESV

“Hear my prayer, LORD, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping.” Psalm 39:12, NIV

Time Out:

When something terrible happens do you sprint to God? Is He your first and only refuge? Consider the way Jesus wept when he experienced the sorrow and loss of two sisters when their brother Lazarus died. Consider the emotions gushing from the Father in Heaven when His son was betrayed, arrested, tortured and crucified. God feels your feelings deeper than you. Faith in Him is the answer to every tragedy and every fear. His love transcends fear.

Go Deep:

Find a quiet spot and have a conversation with God…for at least 15 minutes. Ask Him to help you feel what Jesus felt when Lazarus died and what the Father felt when Jesus died. Thank God that He raised Jesus to eternal life. Thank Him that His love, His presence and His power are available to you. Decide to sprint to Him in any challenge.

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Raising Marriage from the Dead | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Video Devotion

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Have you had it with your marriage? You’re just so done with trying and hoping? Time to give up and just let it die? Maybe this story and remembering how big God is will be just what you need.

Game Plan:

“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 NLT

Time Out:

When people betray us, the pain is like a fire in our gut. When we are unfaithful in our marriage, the guilt and the consequences are huge mountains. We ask, “Will these painful consequences ever end?” “Will my spouse ever quit throwing this in my face?” “Are trust and love dead forever?”

Are you bitter or hopeless? Does the pain and discouragement still overwhelm or dominate you? If so…maybe your only medicine is God. Only He is bigger than any circumstance, able to forgive any sin, able to raise His Son from the dead.

Go Deep:

Do you believe God is real? Do you believe He created the world? Do you believe He raised Jesus from the dead? So why don’t you believe He can forgive you? Why don’t you believe His love is enough for you to forgive your spouse? Why don’t you believe He can raise your marriage from the dead and heal you both?

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Quarterbacks & Receivers…Investors not Consumers | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Video Devotion

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Have you been waiting for your spouse to apologize? Have you been hoping he or she would treat you better? Have you been hoping your kids would quit frustrating or disappointing you? You probably need this message.

Game Plan:

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” Philippians 2:3-4, NLT

Time Out:

Have you built up a list of expectations that’s way longer for others than yourself? Do you think you deserve better than this? Are people letting you down? Here’s a wakeup call: ARE YOU LIVING LIKE A CONSUMER? Relationships are to be invested in, not consumed from.

Go Deep:

Ask God to kill your pride and selfishness. Admit. Apologize. Ask forgiveness. Invite God to help you become an investor. Change your mindset. Set some new expectations and high standards. Decide to demonstrate more kindness, more gentleness, more consideration and more honesty wrapped in love. Be an investor, not a consumer. Be first to apologize. First to forgive. First to compliment.

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Throwing the Perfect Pass | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Video Devotion

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Do you often get disappointed by people? Are you frustrated with certain people? Have you gotten lazy or fallen into some negative habits in how you speak to the people you love, and to people in general? Maybe its time to raise your standards…for yourself, not others.

Game Plan:

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”   Ephesians 4:29 NIV

Time Out:

Are you a person of high standards and high expectations?  OK.  But, are your standards and expectations mostly about how other people treat you?  The key to great relationships and thriving in life is to demonstrate high standards in how you speak to and treat other people.  It’s way more successful, and less frustrating, to build your expectations around what you can control…how you consider, speak to, encourage and build up other people.

Remind yourself every morning to be an investor in relationships, not a consumer.

Go Deep:

Go to the notes section of your phone or laptop, or get a pen and paper out. Write down three standards for how you want to treat and speak to people. Remind yourself every morning to be an investor in relationships, not a consumer. Stop expecting perfection from other people. Expect more from yourself…more kindness, more truth and more encouragement

Stay Connected:

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Drop Desire for Dignity | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Videvo

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You probably have some lingering pain or bitterness over being snubbed or disrespected.  This story and message is about how to break free from the pain and chains of having to please, impress or get the credit in life.

Game Plan:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”   Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV)

Time Out:

If the only perfect man in history didn’t get any dignity when he first left this world, perhaps we should let go of our desire for “dignity”.  Do you strive to get credit, significance and approval?  Does it bug you when you don’t get what you think you “deserve”?  Consider what Jesus, God Himself, gave up and endured so that we could be rescued and healed by His love.

If the only perfect man in history didn’t get any dignity when he first left this world, perhaps we should let go of our desire for dignity.

Go Deep:

Have a talk with God and attempt to adequately thank Him for what Jesus sacrificed and endured for you.  Think about each of the areas in life that you complain about.  Decide to drop your self-centered quest for credit, dignity and praise.  This is all about humility.  As you humble yourself, you will treat others better.  You’ll serve and lead like Jesus.  You are and will be significant in His eyes…the true audience that matters.

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Good at the Shootin’ Part (Unconditional Love) | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Videvo

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You know how good it feels to be accepted and affirmed when you don’t feel like you deserve it. There is a way to spread this good feeling…and it’s not by wanting or begging people to treat us like that. Read on about how you can be revolutionary.

Game Plan:

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another…if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:10-12, 19 (ESV)

Time Out:

Some of us (like me) love pressure, competition and seeing how well we can do. And…some of us don’t like the pressure of competition, always being measured. Regardless of our style, when it comes to love, none of us want to continually have to earn our acceptance. Being loved, accepted and affirmed without condition is a most awesome and needed thing.

Are you able to step out of your own shoes and become the giver of that sort of love and acceptance? If you can, you will be a deep blessing to others. You’ll profoundly improve your relationships…and that will turn out well for you as well.

Go Deep:

The power to affirm, accept and love people in this unconditional way is beyond us. It’s supernatural. It’s God’s love. God’s track record proved His love for us by having Jesus sacrifice himself for us while we were still rebellious, selfish and proud.

Stop taking God’s love for granted. Think about how He initiated unconditional love. Decide who needs your affirmation, acceptance and love…regardless of how they perform.

Start with your spouse and your children. Be radical like God. Love and accept one another unconditionally, apart from performance and measurements.

A hug, a kiss, a note, an encouraging word, an “I love you”, or forgiveness…be creative, be generous.

Live that love today… an unconditional, relationship-based value system.

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Turning Pain into Gain | Facing Your Blitz Weekly Video Devotional

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Is there something unfair and painful in your past? Someone you’re angry at? This story can help you reframe your outlook and improve your future.

Game Plan:

But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”   Genesis 50:19-20 (NLT)

Time Out:

Life includes terrible things that have happened to us…even brutal things that people have done to us. Not many of us have it worse than Joseph, though. He modeled a powerful principle that can help us:

Never treat people like the enemy. Never view God as the one who gave you a raw deal. 

Remember that bad originates with Satan. God can still turn things for good when we avoid vengeance and trust God’s bigger purposes.

Go Deep:

Ask yourself: Who am I still blaming? Who am I mad at?

Let it go. Forgive them.

Set yourself free to fulfill your positive destiny?

Ask God to show you the good you can create despite, or even because of, the past.

Stay Connected:

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