Learn the Three Powerful Keys to Live LIGHT

There are three powerful keys to Live LIGHT. Each make a huge difference in our life. Gratitude, grace and generosity are game changing decisions to make daily.

Three Power Keys - Gratitude, Grace and Generosity are choices I make today.

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7

Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
2 Corinthians 9:11

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favouritism and is always sincere. James 3:17

Why three powerful keys?

I can show you all kinds of scientific research around gratitude and generosity. Everyone recognizes the benefit these are to our view of the world and our place in it. But what if we understand the Biblical word “Grace” as empathy? Then we have a slew of scientific research to go along with these three keys to Live LIGHT.

In my coaching, classes and books I spend a lot of time going through what the Bible says about these three and I’ve developed tools to help you work them into the day to day of your everyday. I don’t have time in this blog post to cover all I could tell you. So let’s look at how gratitude helps us overcome complaining.

Gratitude is the first of the the three powerful keys we need

Gratitude - among many other benefits - helps us stop complaining.

Complaining comes naturally for us - the fallen “us” - don’t forget we’re made new in Christ. In Genesis 3:12 our first father had the first complaint, “…the women you put here with me”.

What does complaining do?

When we complain, our brains release stress hormones that harm neural connections in areas used for problem solving and other cognitive functions. This also happens when we listen to someone else moan and groan. It’s as bad as secondhand smoke. It’s secondhand complaining.

Why are we told not to complain in Philippians 2:14 - 18?

v.15 - So we can shine in a dark world.

“How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Numbers 14:27

v.16 - So we can have an effective testimony

but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:15

v. 16b - So we honour our leaders

 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Hebrews 13:17

v.18 - So we can be joyful in all circumstances.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

6 practical steps have more gratitude and to stop complaining

1. Define what a complaint is.
Observations are not complaints. You can tell a complaint by how it makes you feel. Does your energy drop? It’s a complaint.

Psalms 19:12 Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.

2. Track what you complain about and how often.

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

3. Separate yourself - as much as possible - from chronic complainers.

1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord

4. Turn your complaints into solutions.

Ephesians 4:29 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.

5. Use the “but, I’m thankful for” technique.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

6. Change “I have to” to “I get to”.

Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Change your thinking, rewire your brain if you think you have a right to complain.

You have been redeemed from the curse. Quit toiling like you’re under it.

If you want help with any of the three powerful tools - gratitude, grace or generosity - I do offer coaching to help you work it into the day to day of your everyday https://revtrev.com/coaching

Does loving right really matter the most?

Here’s why loving right matters the most and why we keep in step with the Spirit in the day to day of everyday.

Loving right matters the most. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16

Life is short. Forever is real. Loving right matters the most.

What is loving right?

John tells us what real love is. In 1 John 4:7-19 he writes:

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.

So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.” 1 John 4:7-19 NLT

He goes on to say in 2 John 6 “And this is love-that we walk according to his commands”

Loving right matters the most - so keep in step with the Spirit in the day to day of everyday

Perfect Love

Let me tell you what I mean. John has told us that perfect love is love that comes from God and goes through us to others.

Perfect love is love that is complete. We get it from God and we give it to others. It’s that kind of love that casts out fear.

We need to understand we can’t love others the way God wants us to until we experience His love to us. We’ll grow tired in doing good if we try to do it on our own.

Do you want to see what I mean?

How do we love others?

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

That kind of love is agapeo love. Agapeo love is the decision to love. It means we don’t do it when we feel like it, we do it when we decide to do it. But that’s about all that depends on us.

How do you love everybody always like that?

How can we be patient and kind and not jealous or boastful or proud or rude or demand our own way or not be irritable or keep records of wrong, how to we never give up never lose faith, always be hopeful and endure every circumstance?

We only can with the help of Holy Spirit.

God helps us to love right

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. 2 Peter 1:3

People ask, Do I need the Holy Spirit to get to heaven? You need Holy Spirit to go to Walmart.

Loving right matters the most - so keep in step with the Spirit in the day to day of everyday

LIFE HACK

Erin Rollenhagen says whenever someone comes to complain about something to you tell yourself they are saying to themselves “I feel insecure over ____________ in my life”

What if you don’t know they blank? Ask Holy Spirit:

1. What are they insecure about?

2. How do I show them your love?

It deactivates confrontation and activates compassion. Love is patient and kind, it doesn’t demand it’s own way. Love is not irritable.

Do not argue with people who are are argumentative.

Loving right matters the most - so keep in step with the Spirit in the day to day of everyday

If you want help with this, check out how I can coach you https://revtrev.com/coaching

Is doing right better than knowing right?

Is doing right better than simply knowing right? Knowledge can puff us up, but love will build us up.

Doing right is better than simply knowing right.

Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them. John 13:17

Is it more important for us to be doing right than to simply know what right?

I think the statement “You know more than you do” is sadly ironic in a couple of stages in Christian journey.

New people on the journey often think they don’t know enough. It’s those of us further ahead in the journey’s fault they think that way. We’ve failed to impress on them that it is Holy Spirit who teaches them all things and will remind them of what Jesus taught His disciples. Holy Spirit is God and God is enough.

I’ve often said if I can teach someone to hear God and obey God, I know they’ll go far in their Christian walk. That tool and that decision will protect them, empower them, and transform them.

Sadly too many people - who have been Christians for a lot longer - never learned or implemented that tool and that decision. How do I know? Because in much of the western world Christianity is irrelevant. We got that way because we haven’t listened and/or obeyed God.

“You know more than you do” should be a statement with a bit of sting for those of us who have been along the way a bit longer. We’ve been so good at learning knowledge. We’ve emphasized “the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ”.

But that knowledge- His knowledge - was designed to be put into action.

Don’t believe me?

Do you know you spouse loves you by what they say or by what they say AND what they do?

The school our kids went to does service trips every year and every year Hindu and Muslim parents send their kids on these service trips. On these service trips the kids share the love of Jesus. The world needs more Hindu and Muslim kids sharing the love of Jesus. They may not “know” in that they accept and come to Jesus as their Lord, but they know just enough to love in His name.

I’ve found more people catch the Kingdom by living out the Kingdom than catch the Kingdom by learning knowledge about the Kingdom. So I celebrate when people practice most of the 10 commandments because even most of us Christians ignore the Sabbath one. I know as they live the Kingdom they are so much more open to becoming part of the Kingdom.

Isn’t that what we’re all to be about - our Father’s business?

If you want to experience more of the feeling that you’re walking with God in garden in the cool of the day, check out https://revtrev.com/coaching

How to be whole hearted and enjoy life

Can someone live whole hearted? Do you know what it’s like to live whole hearted? Most of experience it in different seasons of our life. Maybe when you were in school and had to get a certain grade? Perhaps it was when you were pursuing your spouse or awaiting the birth of a child? Maybe when something happened in life and all you could do was put one foot in front of the other?

Do you know we can live our whole life whole hearted? It’s best when our heats align wholeheartedly with God’s heart.

The Manifesto has the statement-

It’s amazing what happens when I align my whole heart - my emotion, my intellect and my action - with the Father’s heart.

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Colossians 3:15-17

Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Matthew 6:8

Our heart is the seat of emotions, the seat of our decision and the seat of our actions. We’re told to love God, trust God, seek God with all our hearts. That means we not only feel the emotion, we make the decision and take the action to live out what we do.

When we love God with our whole heart, trust God with our whole heart and seek God with our whole heart, we align our hearts with His heart for us.

In essence, we become more and more like Jesus.

It’s an amazing way to live.

Holy Spirit will help you live wholehearted.

I can help coach you to follow Holy Spirit’s lead. https://Revtrev.com/coaching

give thanks to God (Psalm 9:1)

You can see a video training for How to Live Whole Hearted on every page of https://revtrev.com It’s available in the widget in the lower left corner of every page.

Who are you mindful of today?

Are you mindful of what God is doing in the day-to-day of your everyday? We can call it abiding in Christ or keeping in step with the Spirit, but it also means we are mindful in the moment and aware of what God wants to do in it.

I live today mindfully

I Live Today mindfully.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. Colossians 3:1

I choose to Live Today Matthew 6:34, knowing faithfulness to God is multiplication. Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus said, “As you go…” Matthew 10:7-8

I Live Today mindfully. Colossians 3:1

It's Oliver Wendell Holmes who said, "Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good." I'm convinced the truer statement today is "Too many of us are so earthly minded we're no heavenly good."

We don't think enough about heavenly realities so we don't expect heaven to come to earth.

What I mean by that is this... Jesus told his disciples to make disciples by teaching them to obey everything he commanded them (Matthew 28:18). One of the things he taught his disciples that we ignore and discredit too often is this: he said, As you go (lit in the day-to-day of your everyday) heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, raise the dead. (Matthew 10:8).

I’m convinced miracles happen in the moment.

It’s up to me to abide in Jesus and has His words abide in me.

It’s up to me to keep in step with the Spirit and only do what I see the Father do and only speak what I hear the Father say.

It’s up to me to attentive to what He’s doing in the moment.

I will often, once he has my attention, pray a silent prayer “Lord, what do you want me to notice?

It used to be more common that I’d feel a wind over my skin and I’d automatically start that prayer. It never failed to show me something amazing.

I’d see a vision, or say something way smarter than I am. The prophetic takes awareness.

Are you willing to make space for God in the day-to-day of everyday? Choose to leave space, decide to make space. I share some rhythms that help at https://revtrev.com/coaching

Do you live hopeful?

Live hopeful? Life without hope is not living at all. Especially during this time of self-imposed exile for the good of the realm. In this part of the Live LIGHT Manifesto we look at how we can and must live hopeful at all times and in any outbreak.

I Live Hopeful Trustfully.

 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.Philippians 4:11-13

I live hopeful trustfully.

I choose to Live Hopeful Romans 12:12, knowing I can trust my good Father 1 Thessalonians 5:24. Jesus said, “Don’t get lost in despair…” John 14:1

I Live Hopeful trustfully. Romans 15:13

Hope is only as valuable as what it’s been placed into. We all know what it’s like to misplace hope...we’ve all experienced disappointment.

But hope that is well-placed on Christ alone, is the hope that can never disappoint. It’s also the hope that requires trust in the One who is worthy of trust.

The good news is the kind of hope that requires trust, always leads us to, and though, peace.

God has shown me that my life has had 3 stages. He taught me faith and hope and now is teaching more and more about love.

To learn faith, I had to trust God with the best of all I had. We put our family, friends and finances of the altar and followed a call of obedience in a move to New Zealand.

We returned to Canada as my Dad was dying of Bulbar ALS and I had to learn how to trust God with my pain to learn how to truly live hopeful.

When we went to the last church I pastored I felt God say, “I’m going to teach you how to love”. And I don’t think I’m done learning that. What I’ve learned so far is that I need to trust God with my identity and authority to love somewhat close to the way He wants me to love.

Trust is so critical in our walk. We need to know the One who is trustable and trustworthy.

How are you doing that in this time of self-imposed exile for the good of the realm?

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NLT

#LiveLIGHT #LiveHopeful