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Encouraging Men Along Life's Journey January 28, 2013
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God In The Marketplace
GETTING THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES - Our Broken World
"Do not rejoice over me O my enemy. Though I fall, I will rise, though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light to me." Micah 7: 8
Let's face it, we live in a broken world. Bad things happen to both good and bad people. We also live in a world of imperfect people. Unfortunately, we are one of those people. We all make mistakes, we make bad decisions, and sometimes we do all we can to do the right thing and we still find ourselves being broadsided by a storm not of our making.
The broken world we live in allows us the opportunity to approach everyday occurrences in a broken world manner. Such things as greed, selfishness, pride, and lust for the things of this world, enter into our hearts and minds and end up affecting how we think and act. We can also get caught up in over indulging ourselves in the good things God intended for us to enjoy and bring us pleasure. We know we should not allow this to happen, we know the danger, but we push the limits. We walk on the edge of the cliff with loose rocks believing we will escape the danger. With the best of intentions, we make the wrong decisions. We end up sliding down the cliff.
Why do we do this when we know it can bring disaster? We are human, we make bad decisions, we get caught up in the entanglement of consequences of a broken world.
To the degree we entangle ourselves in this broken world, we find ourselves straying away from the principles God has laid out for us. John tells us that anyone who loves the world and it's ways does not love the ways of God.(1 John 2:15). James 4:4 tells us that whoever is a friend of the world(it's ways) is an enemy of God(His ways), For all of us who live in this world, we face the possibility of succumbing to those things that end up bringing us difficult times. We get the wrong ideas, make the wrong decisions, and take the wrong approach to resolving the issue.
In my business of building and developing real estate, the world is full of good, successful business people who now find themselves in difficult straits. Five years ago we knew the bubble in the real estate market could not last forever. But we pushed the limits. We went past the reasonable, common sense thing to do. Instead of pulling back, we took the approach of just one more deal. That one more deal never ended until it was ended for us. We knew it was coming but we didn't really believe it would happen to us, at least not this bad.
It is what we do with the storms in life and how we handle them that reveals a lot about ourselves. Many times we find ourselves feeling all alone, having to deal with the circumstance all by ourselves. Other times, we remove ourselves from others and choose to tackle these bad moments on our own efforts.
"But be of good cheer, Jesus overcame the world."(John 16:33) There is Someone waiting on the sidelines concerned about our situation. But more than concern about our circumstances, He is concerned about us. He is someone who in His very being is compassionate and loving. He wants to be there with us to bless us with his wisdom. He holds all the keys to resolving all our situations. He is both willing and able to come stand along side of us and walk us through the valley of our difficulty.
If we will only swallow our pride of doing it our way and by ourselves and turn to Him.
Because we live in this fallen world and because we are human, there will be bad decisions, the bubble will burst on our business. No matter how hopeless our situation, how difficult the struggle, God will be there and give all He has to bring us through one way or another. God knows each and everyone of us individually and he knows all about out circumstances. He even knows our hearts are a mixture of all kinds of emotions, ideas, and want to's. But regardless of how bad our financial problems, how painful our family situation, or how empty our life is right now, God understands and wants to bare this difficulty with us.
God offers His wisdom on a way through the storm.
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EVENTS
Lead Like Jesus
Dowd YMCA
January 29, 30
ABOUT US
CEO Ministry offers men the opportunity to grow in their relationship with Christ. Each CEO accepts the responsibility to grow personally as a man of God, to lead each member of his family to Christ and to live by the ways of God. The CEO also accepts his role as a leader in the marketplace to practice the principles of God and to lead others to follow. The goal of CEO Ministry is to have men commit to these values, and in so doing, be a man that is living a life of significance.
Sincerely,
Jack Fallaw
CEO Ministry
Encouraging Men in the
Marketplace and Home
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Recommended Resources
CEO Devotional Library
NEW NEW !
**THE TRUE MEASURE
OF A MAN
Richard Simmons 111
** LEAD LIKE JESUS
Ken Blanchard
THE HARBINGER
Jonathan Cahn
NOT A FAN
Kyle Idleman
**LOVE WORKS
Joel Manby
HALFTIME
Bob Buford
A PASSION FOR PRAYER
Tom Elliff
DON'T WASTE YOUR LIFE
John Pipe
Interested in a
Small Group?
CEO Ministry is interested in beginning small groups for businessmen in local areas. These groups meet weekly and
allow participants to discuss and network. Email Jack Fallaw at
jack@ceoministry.com to sign up or
find out more details
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