Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dr. Charles Stanley is the founder of In Touch Ministries and pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia, where he served more than fifty years. He is a New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy books, including Every Day in His Presence. The In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley program is transmitted on more than 3,600 television, radio, and satellite networks and stations worldwide in more than seventy languages. The award-winning In Touch devotional magazine is printed in four languages and sent to more than one million subscribers. Dr. Stanley’s goal is best represented by Acts 20:24 (TLB): “Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God’s mighty kindness and love.” Because, as he says, “It is the Word of God and the work of God that changes people’s lives.”

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30 Life Principles

Thomas Nelson

Contents

1: Our intimacy with God — His highest priority for our lives — determines the impact of our lives.....................32: Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him..................................................................................83: God's Word is an immovable anchor in times of storm.............................................................................134: The awareness of God's presence energizes us for our work.......................................................................185: God does not require us to understand His will, just obey it, even if it seems unreasonable.....................................236: You reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow................................................................287: The dark moments of our life will last only so long as is necessary for God to accomplish His purpose in us.....................338: Fight all your battles on your knees and you win every time.....................................................................389: Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees..............................................................4310: If necessary, God will move heaven and earth to show us His will...............................................................4811: God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we obey Him.................................................................5312: Peace with God is the fruit of oneness with God................................................................................5813: Listening to God is essential to walking with God..............................................................................6314: God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him...................................................................................6815: Brokenness is God's requirement for maximum usefulness.........................................................................7316: Whatever you acquire outside of God's will eventually turns to ashes...........................................................7817: We stand tallest and strongest on our knees....................................................................................8318: As children of a sovereign God, we are never victims of our circumstances......................................................8819: Anything you hold too tightly, you will lose...................................................................................9320: Disappointments are inevitable; discouragement is a choice.....................................................................9821: Obedience always brings blessing...............................................................................................10322: To walk in the Spirit is to obey the initial promptings of the Spirit..........................................................10923: You can never out give God.....................................................................................................11524: To live the Christian life is to allow Jesus to live His life in and through us................................................12125: God blesses us so that we might bless others...................................................................................12726: Adversity is a bridge to a deeper relationship with God........................................................................13227: Prayer is life's greatest time saver...........................................................................................13728: No Christian has ever been called to "go it alone" in his or her walk of faith.................................................14229: We learn more in our valley experiences than on our mountaintops...............................................................14730: An eager anticipation of the Lord's return keeps us living productively........................................................152

Chapter One

Our intimacy with God — His highest priority for our lives — determines the impact of our lives. Genesis 1:26

Life's Questions

At the beginning of any journey, you must set out in the right direction to reach your destination. That's why this study of Life Principles starts with God's wonderful purpose for bringing you into the world. To find the life that's worth living, you must understand that you're a special, beloved person and that God has a specific, wonderful plan for you that will give you all the love, fulfillment, significance, and power that you're looking for (see Rom. 12:2).

Have you wondered what motivated God to design the universe or why He created you? It was love—pure and simple. Even before the beginning of the world, God loved you and wanted to have a close, personal relationship with you that would bring great joy, fulfillment, and power to your life (see Eph. 1:4). Therefore, Life Principle 1 is: Our intimacy with God—His highest priority for our lives—determines the impact of our lives.

What the Bible Says

Read Genesis 1. What did God create before He formed the first man (1–25)?

Why do you think God created all of these things before He made people?

Why do you think it was important to God to ensure that everything was good (4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25) before He created mankind (see James 1:17–18)?

* * *

The word good in the Old Testament also means well-pleasing, appealing, proper, pleasant to the senses, useful, profitable, or a general state of well-being and happiness. Everything good that comes to you is from God (see James 1:17).

* * *

When God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness" (26), what do you think He meant? Why would He want to create someone in His image?

What jobs did God give mankind to do (26–28)?

How do our responsibilities relate to the fact that we bear His image?

* * *

The word image in the Old Testament also means a likeness, model, semblance, or shadow. This is what you have in common with God and why you can know Him more deeply.

* * *

What It Means

Do you wonder what God's will is for your life? He created you in His image for one reason: to have a deep, intimate relationship with you. God created the world with everything that you would ever need so that you could know and love Him. That means that neither ability, beauty, intelligence, money, or anything else will ever define your life as successful in God's eyes. It all comes down to how strong your relationship is with Him.

Life Examples

Read Genesis 3. What do you suppose life was like in the garden of Eden before Adam sinned?

Why did Adam disobey God (5–6)?

In Genesis 3:10, Adam said, "I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." Is there anything that you hide from God? Why are you afraid or ashamed to show that area of your life to God?

* * *

When Adam and Eve covered themselves, they did so with fig leaves, which produced sap that would have greatly irritated their skin and made them even more uncomfortable and miserable.

* * *

What was the punishment for Adam's sin (15–19)?

Did their lives become more or less effective after they disobeyed God?

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