Sharing what God teaches us with others is how we grow. We are meant to share with each other. When we read the word of God we should be getting something out of it, it is a feast for our souls. Even if we read the same verse for an entire year God will still teach us through that verse or if we feast on a whole book or chapter He can teach us just as much through a verse as He does the whole Bible if we let him.
That’s the miracle that He is. He can sustain us on little or a lot, but we must always be looking to learn and to grow. It’s not about quantity but about quality.
What are we learning from? What we are trying to absorb? If we read just to read and don’t understand is it really helping us?
Seek God, ask Him for a verse or a chapter or a book and read it till He tells you to move on. Fall in love with the word of God and let it feed your soul.
We all need a place where we can go to refresh, a safe place to let go of all our worries and concerns and just feel restored.
The presence of the Holy Spirit is that place.
In God’s presence we can let go of everything (because he already knows everything) just let his presence refresh and restore us, energize us and renew our passion.
No matter what’s going on, how, stressed or busy we are, we need to make time for his presence.
Because the presence of the Holy Spirit is that place of vulnerability where we can be real and raw. We don’t have to hide anything because he knows everything and we can pour out our souls and be made whole in him.
God’s love can change our worst moment, a bad mood or the direst of circumstances. Just by allowing him to shift our perspective. If the apostle Paul can worship in prison and Steven can forgive those that are stoning him. Shifting our focus to God can change the atmosphere, our perspective and our attitude. Fixing our eyes on Jesus isn’t always about changing where we are at rather its changing our focus onto him.
So when we feel lost or stuck, unwanted or unworthy we can always turn to Jesus. No matter how long its been, how bad we feel, regardless of what is around us, his perspective can change it all.
So ask Jesus: What do you want to be for me now? How do you see this?
These are some of my favorite questions to ask God. Because I know I can always turn to him; trust him.
It’s easy for us to get into moments where we think we aren’t worthy to talk to him or to go to him. But he always wants to talk to us. Always wants be there for us and love us. He sees us at our worst moments and stills says:
I love you, come to me.
We can’t earn his love, favor or grace, but he gives it to us freely. We just have to allow him in, allow his love to wash over us, to change our view, our attitude and our perspective.
I am always asking God to reveal new things to me; especially when I read or watch something for the umpteenth time. This time it was Prince Caspian the second book in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
I never realized it before but Prince Caspian is symbolic of what happens to us when Jesus lives in us. Caspian is the son of the king and the rightful heir to the throne but he goes about obtaining the throne by seeking to restore peace between all and by not trying to do it all on his own. Instead he looks to Aslan, who represents Jesus for help and the counsel of others who have served Aslan.
We are the same. We are heirs to the throne of heaven with Jesus, because of his sacrifice. But the only way we can take our place with him is to believe in him and serve him.
When we serve God and others he lifts us up, higher then we could ever be if we tried to lift ourselves up.
It’s easy to become worried and anxious but does worrying or anxiety accomplish anything besides causing us stress. No.
We need to remember is there is a big difference between want and need but God always provides. As adults we all wish we could go back to a day before bills and responsibilities when all we needed was provided.
We can in a way. If we look to God to provide all our needs. He will. He is our heavenly father and he loves to care for his kids.
Don’t be discouraged about wants either. He loves to bless his kids. You’ll be amazed at the blessings he provides when we seek him and put him first instead of worrying.
Our focus should always be on him first before anything, he sets our mood and attitude if we let him. When we start our day with him and let him permeate our whole day, he provides all we need. Trust him and let him relieve all your stress. Don’t worry God’s got this.
Have you ever thought about how we greet other believers.
We are really good at saying a quick ‘hi’ or ‘welcome’ on Sunday morning. But do we ever ask how people are? Or do we just plaster on the fake smile hiding what’s going on in our life or let others pass by with the same fake smile hiding their own struggles.
We are the body of Jesus. We are meant to help each other.
The beauty of the kingdom of God is that’s its infinite and we don’t have to strive to bring his kingdom to this world.
When we accepted Jesus into our hearts, when we accepted his loving sacrifice, he came to live in us. When we allow the Holy Spirit to flow thru us and stop trying to do it on our own. Peace and joy can abound through us.
God’s presence is amazing and beautiful, peaceful and joyful all at once.
When we bring God into a situation he changes the atmosphere.
When we allow him to build his kingdom in and through us, nothing can hinder us, when we give him full freedom in our lives he gives us freedom.
When Jesus said he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, he did. He destroyed the temple and tore the veil so we can all experience his presence. When he rose from the grave he built his kingdom in our hearts, so that he can be everywhere and in all of us.
No matter where you are, if you have Jesus in your heart his kingdom is always with you. Share his love and peace, his grace and beauty, his peace and joy with everyone around you, because he is always with you.
Sometimes we can be worried about what we should do and what we shouldn’t do. So here’s my question. Whatever your doing or saying, can you do it with Jesus? Can you say it to Jesus?
I am not perfect and I can honestly say there are moments when I couldn’t say I would be proud to have Jesus with me when I’ve said somethings, or put my self first before others.
But the reality is that if we believe, then he is with us every moment. He’s with us when we brush our teeth, when we yell at the driver in front of us, and when we hold the door open for the next person.
He is always with us so why don’t we act like it.
Honestly I think we forget sometimes, but what if we lived are lives like we were never alone, like he was always with us, not as this overwhelming presence, but as our constant companion, someone who is always here to help us, to uplift and encourage us, so that we are never alone. To protect when we’re scared or intimidated, to love us at our worst and celebrate with us at our best.
See your life different, as never before, as never alone. But with Jesus always.
The enemy will taunt us with our worst fears to discourage us from becoming who God has intended us to be. The Return of the King movie depicts this when Aragon uses the seeing stone to fight Sauron by claiming his identity as the heir to the throne. Sauron replies by trying to scare him with the death of Arwen. The enemy’s biggest weapon is fear. Fear of what if, of what might happen. But you can’t put your trust or your faith in what if.
You can put your faith in Jesus and draw your strength from your identity in him. The enemy can’t have a hold on you, if you don’t let him. We fight fear with truth. The enemy says you are ugly, God says you are beautiful. The enemy says you are weak, God says he will be your strength. The truth of who God has made us to be is our strongest weapon, but we have to know it to use it.
Jesus modeled this in his forty days in the wilderness. The devil tried to temp him to take the shortcut, to compromise God’s plan to achieve his goals quicker. But Jesus used the word of God the truth to fight and reassert his identity.
When we die to our selfish desires and let Jesus live through us we become like him. Read the scriptures about Jesus, know who he is and what he said and did. Isaiah 61 is one of my favorite passage describing what Jesus came to do and be. Read it and let the Holy Spirit teach you who he made you to be in Jesus.
When we get hangry (angry, because we’re hungry) we get irritable and edgy, we snap at people for the littlest thing and react in ways we would not normally act.
But we are the same when we are starved for God, if we don’t get enough of God we get irritable, edgy and snap at people for the littlest thing.
We all have different degrees of hanger for God and we all display it a little different, but we all have the same issue we need more Holy Spirit in our life.
When you notice you’re not yourself, realize that you just need more of God and make a point of making him priority in your life. Take a moment and ask for his help and surrender your self over to him.
In the same respect, when you encounter people that rub you the wrong way, look at them with a different perspective. Ask God to show you how he sees them, because they just need Jesus in their life too.
When we know God, who he’s made us to be and feel completely loved, accepted and valued by him, we don’t need others to show us our value because we know our value comes from him and its priceless.
We are not meant to know everything or the answer to all of life’s questions, but we should know how to respond. Even Jesus didn’t always respond with words. Sometimes all people need is someone to listen, a shoulder to cry on or someone to cheer them on and encourage them.
We have the Holy Spirit with us all the time and he is the one with all the answers. But even his response is not always what to say but sometimes what to do or what not to do.
How to react to a situation can often make a bigger impact then words. That’s why building a deep intimate relationship with God is so important. So that in the hardest and most influential situations we can hear him and follow his leading.
Next time your in a situation and you don’t know what to do, ask the Holy Spirit and trust that he knows how best to react.
Even in the trials of life God has blessings for us. Jesus said:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
To find peace in the trials of life we have to keep fixed on Jesus, not our circumstances.
God always wants to bless us and provide all we need and more but if we get lost in our suffering we block him out.
It’s only when we fix our eyes on Jesus despite our suffering that he can be the peace beyond understanding for us and help us find joy.
Putting God first can seem overwhelming, but if we put him first we will find that he’s essential to our lives, like that first cup of coffee. Putting God first sets our day off right. Just shifting our focus to him can change our whole, mood, demeanor and mindset about the day. Even if it’s just a moment, that shift can change our whole day if we let it.
We can find hope in some of the worst circumstances, if we look for it.
Jesus is that hope. He can do anything, no matter how impossible we think a situation is.
Bart Millard of Mercy Me shares his story in the the movie I Can Only Imagine. His inspiration for the song that inspired the movie was his dad. Bart never believed his dad could change. But to his surprise, when he was at a low point, when his band looked like they had lost their chance at success, Bart went home to repair his relationship with his dad and found a changed man when he arrived. The one person he thought could never change, had come to believe in Jesus and become the father he had always hoped for.
God is always full of surprises and when we place our hope in him he does more then we can ever hope or imagine, even in the bleakest circumstances. What impossible thing are you asking God for?
I write a lot about God changing our perspective. But it’s truly life changing and I don’t want you to miss it. Years ago I received some new that really shook me. And a few weeks after. I heard the teaching posted below. It changed my perspective on everything. Brought me into a deeper relationship with God and gave me what I needed. Please check it out.
Seeing life from God’s perspective can change your whole view of life.
This verse doesn’t say rejoice when you feel like it or when you want to. But rejoice always, in the good times and the bad, rejoice. Because no matter what God is with us. Since he is always with us, we always have a reason to rejoice.
You may say but ‘you don’t know what I’m going through.’ You’re right. I don’t but God does. I’ve uttered those same words before a few worship service. But God has always changed my perspective by the end. Not always by providing that instant solution we have gotten so used to in our modern convenience world. But always by giving me his peace and promise that he will provide.
So whatever it is surrender it over to him and trust that he will provide and rejoice even in the storm.
“I could sing of your love forever” is a classic worship song from my youth. It’s one that I sing often, it’s kind of my happy song, whenever I’m having a moment of spontaneous worship this song often comes to mind.
It reminds me that no matter what. I could sing of His love forever.
He has never abandoned me, never left me and never stopped loving me, even in my darkest moments. He was there and He was there is my happiest moments. Whether I’m in a valley or on the mountain top I can always sing of His love, because His love never changes.
If this is challenging to you. Pray and ask him where he was during one of your hardest moment and one of your best. Listen and I know he will show his love in both moments. He’s always there. It’s us who sometimes choose to ignore him.
Yesterday I talked about having the faith in God to make the big sacrifices and that, that starts with conversation, with talking to God.
But there is so much more, it’s more then talking to him its about knowing him. I have trusted God when he has asked me to take big leaps of faith because I know him.
I know that he loves me and that he will not let harm come to me. I know that he has brought me through some crazy impossible situations and that he will continue to do so. Because I know him
I know that he is loving, kind and gentle, that he provides all my needs when I trust him and that he never leaves me.
Jesus made his sacrifice because he loves us and wants us to know him.
Take a chance and give him a chance to show you just how much he loves you.
Whether you put yourself where you’re at or God put you there don’t forget to stop look up and enjoy what’s around you. Often we become so focused on the end goal that we forget to enjoy how we got there. The journey is just as important.
Raising kids is a perfect example. If you just focus on getting them to eighteen and out of the house you will miss everything. But if we enjoy each moment with them, every smile and laugh, watching them learn and truly cherishing them. We will have joy each day, just by watching them grow.
That doesn’t mean their won’t be hard times or they wont make mistakes, but its those moments of joy that get you through the hard times and make it worth fighting through them.
What if God took that approach? To just get it over and done with, we wouldn’t be here. We are all God’s children and he cherishes each moment with us. He’s always there ready to teach us, help us and love us through each moment of each day. We just have to learn to enjoy the journey with him.
We don’t earn God’s love. All he asks is our faith, our belief in the sacrifice he made for us.
The apostle Paul before he met Jesus followed all the rules and regulations to try to earn his salvation. But once he me Jesus he realized it was all in vain.
God gives salvaion freely, it can’t be eaned by good deeds and following the rules, because we have all done something wrong in our life and we can’t make up for that to a holy and perfect God, but he can. Jesus being both God and man lived a sinless life and paid the price for us so that we could find righteousness through him. He did what we can’t, because he loves us.
Stop striving to earn salvation and accept what he freely gives.
Do your words and your actions reflect Jesus? If you looked in a mirror and a list of your characteristics appeared what would it say? Would you use those words to describe Jesus?
This may seem like a lot of pressure. No one’s perfect, right. But Jesus is
God doesn’t ask us to reflect Jesus on our own, but to die to ourselves and let Jesus live through us by listening to the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
Reflecting Jesus to others is not meant to be following a list of rules in the Bible, but listening to the Holy Spirit and testing what he is saying against the word of God given in the Bible.
Following Jesus is a relationship built by spending time in the word of God and in prayer getting to know the character of God. So that we know who he is, how he would react and what he would say. Then being a willing vessel to do and speak as he directs.
Reflect Jesus by knowing him, not by trying to imitate him.
It’s easy to get bogged down by the responsibilities of life and to feel sad, anxious, worried overwhelmed by the pressures of life or just by the state of the world.
You can look at the media and think what is there to be thankful for or to rejoice over.
But our joy doesn’t come from the world it comes from Jesus.
Joy because Jesus came to give us a better life that doesn’t always mean our circumstances change, sometime it just means he can be or joy in the storm.
When my grandma went to heaven to be with Jesus. I shed tears for how much I would miss her. But I found comfort in knowing that she is at peace and pain free in heaven. She’s having the best time of her life spending every moment with Jesus.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t do what she taught me to do.
Love people and show them Jesus.
She always had a smile on her face and she always knew how to make the mundane joyful. She taught me how to welcome everyone into my home as if they were family, how to be creative and how to put windshield wipers on, amongst other things.
There was always enough space for everyone in her home and at her table no matter who or how many showed up.
She taught me generosity and kindness in her heart and her actions. She always shined Jesus and I always want to do the same
She did what we are supposed to do. She welcomed everyone and shined Jesus to all. She had six daughters, three step children, nine grandchildren, six great grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren and she always had room for more. She always treated everyone like family and had so many more adopted in Christ-children.
Just as she did we should too, teach our children, our grandchildren and all around us about who Jesus is and what He has done for us and how that makes us all family.
It’s so much more then words, it’s our actions, our demeaner, our attitude. Jesus should be reflected in every aspect of our lives. So even if we don’t say a word He still shines through.
We are not meant to know everything or the answer to all of life’s questions. But we should know how to respond. Even Jesus didn’t always respond with words. Sometimes all people need is someone to listen, a shoulder to cry on or someone to cheer them on and encourage them.
We have the Holy Spirit with us at all times and he is the one with all the answers. But even his response is not always what to say but sometimes what to do or what not to do.
How to react to a situation usually makes a bigger impact then words. That’s why building a deep intimate relationship with God is so important. So that in the hardest and most influential situations we can hear him and follow his leading.
Next time your in a situation and you don’t know what to do, ask the Holy Spirit and trust that he knows how best to react.
When you love someone you want to spend all your time with them. That’s what I love about God. I never get tired of spending time with him and he never grows tired of me.
To have someone that you can always go to no matter what, whether your weak and tired or thrilled beyond belief. The one you love is who you want to share that with.
God is that one.
He is always there, always waiting, wanting to spend time with you. He rejoices in your successes and comforts you in your sadness.
It breaks my heart when I hear people say that God can’t use them, because they are too old, too young, too poor, too shy, too broken, too busy.
As long as there are people who don’t know Jesus, God can use you.
We all have something to share, God changed our lives some way some how and we can share that.
The old have years of experience to share, decades of how Jesus has impacted their lives, the young have faith that can move mountains, the broken can share how God healed them, the busy can invest in those that keep them busy and anyone can give.
I had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Henry Convington and his wife Annette of I Am My Brothers Keeper in Detroit, Mi years ago. So I was excited to learn more of their story when I saw the movie Have a Little Faith.
Pastor Covington life was a great example of the complete transformation that Jesus makes in our life. He was a drug dealer and addict until he hit his rock bottom and surrendered his life to Jesus.
Jesus is always there for us and he wants to take care of us but we have a choice. We can choose to live however we want and ignore him or we can choose to follow him and trust him to take care of us.
Pastor Covington hustled for what he thought he wanted and it almost cost him his life. But when he turned his life to Jesus instead of taking from people, God gave him the opportunity to give to others.
Don’t be afraid to do what God has asked of you, trust that he has you taken care of and will never fail you.
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. –Philippians 2:19-24
When we are in leadership we should be the example of how to serve others and how to put others before ourselves. We should be cheering on those that we are leading. Guiding them to achieve more then we have. How else can we grow if we don’t encourage others to go further then we have.
Paul saw the potential in Timothy and Timothy was sent to help the Philippians. The Philippians in turn were to lead others to learn about the gospel.
If you are a leader in anyway, as a boss, parent, mentor or coach. Your legacy should be that you taught others how to do what you do better then you do it.
Paul was a leader in the early church and he never lorded it over anyone, he lead by example and humbled himself over and over again.
What legacy will you leave behind? What will people say they learned from you?
Our worship should be ingrained in us, so much that everything within us cries out to God. Every fiber in our body should be yielded and shout out to him “you are HOLY.”
King David danced because he wanted everything within him to praise God. “Who decided that reservation is worship? God gave his everything for us. Why shouldn’t we do the same in our worship?
Photo by David Calderón on Unsplash
What will happen if you lift your arms. Will the world end?
If you jump for joy, will the ground fall out underneath you? No. God gives a firm foundation.
If you dance for joy. Will God turn from you in shame? No, he will dance with you!
I can go to him and ball my eyes out in frustration, scream, yell and be completely open, honest and transparent with him because he already knows everything I’m going through.
There’s comfort in being able to talk to him about anything and everything whether good or bad, whether I’m encouraged or discouraged when I come to him.
I know that after I have spent time with him that I will come out loved and comforted. Because he is always there for me know matter what. Anytime anywhere he is there for me.
So give God your stuff, all your junk, your frustrations and let him give you the peace that surpasses understanding.
In the movie I Can Only Imagine Bart’s dad was horrible to him as he was growing up and he left as soon as he graduated high school, to pursue his career in Christian music but just before his band made it big, he went home to patch things up with his dad and God answered both their prayers. Bart returned home which was his fathers prayer and his father had accepted Jesus and he finally had the dad he always wanted.
God answers our prayers but sometimes the timeline doesn’t always happen when we think it should.
My mom raised me as a Christian but I decided to abandon God for 6six years in my early twenties and live life the way I wanted.
This broke my moms heart. She prayed years for me to return to my faith in God. She watched for years as I made stupid, selfish choices all in the name of finding what I thought would make me happy.
But what I found instead was disappointment and a constant longing to feel loved, accepted, valued and wanted.
By worldly standards I had what appeared to be a good life on the outside, a good job with consistent promotions and a long term relationship. But in reality I had a job that pulled me away from friends and family and an emotionally abusive relationship.
I was miserable trying to find happiness on my own.
Eventually I hit rock bottom and decided to give my life back to God.
Keep praying for your family and friends, continue to love and support them and always keep the door open for them. You never know when they will make the decision to change their life.
You know those times when you just don’t know what to do, or where to draw your strength. That’s when we need God most. When we don’t know where to look.
He is the one that created us and he knows every little detail the good and the bad. But when we are at our worst; is when he is at his best. When we don’t know what to do but surrender to him. That’s when he can do his best for us. When we breakdown our walls of self sufficiency and the ‘I got this’ and let him lead. That’s when he can do his best for us. Because its not about what we can do but what he can do through us.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. –2 Corinthians 12:9-10
When you know God, sacrificing for him is easy. Putting others first, before yourself, giving of all you have and loving as he loved, comes easy because it’s him through us.
And we know that no matter how much we give or how empty we think we are he will fill us up and bless us all the more.
When we give out of him he fills us with his abundance and we lack nothing, because he always takes care of his kids.
I want encourage you to make the same decision I did years ago; to surrender your life to Jesus. It can sound scary and intimating but it is truly the best decision I ever made.
I lived for years trying to do everything on my own, striving to try to achieve what I thought I wanted. But even when I achieved some of my goals they fell short of what I thought they would be.
But when I surrendered my life to God he changed everything. He gave me love and the confidence to be who he made me to be. He gave me career opportunities I never would have picked for myself that turned out to be just what I needed and he picked the perfect husband for me, one that I never would of picked myself but is the perfect match for me. God has blessed me in so many other ways in my life in ways I never thought I needed or wanted but were just what I needed when I needed it.
When we try to achieve our own goals we are influenced by others that have the same thing, but when we let God guide us he has already prepared a path for us that we probably would never of expected but is better then we ever could of thought.
Give God your dreams, your desires and your life and let him bless you beyond your belief.
Everyone has a story to tell, everyone has a moment when they hit their rock bottom and cried out to God “I need you now.”
My moment was in 2008. I was in a six year relationship that was going nowhere, when I had a pregnancy scare. This woke me up almost out of a slumber. I realized I didn’t want this man to be the father of my kids, but I knew I wanted to raise my kids in church.
So I decided to go back to church.
I was terrified and convinced that I would be met with glaring stares and rejection but I wasn’t. Instead I was welcomed with open arms. My friends from the church I grew up in, never gave up on me, they were always there for me during the years I intentionally choose to ignore God. But when I choose to come back to church they welcomed me back with open arms and no judgement.
That is how God is, when we choose to say “I need you now.” He leaps for joy and runs to embrace us. He throws a party in heaven rejoicing over His child returning home.
Who or what do you turn to when you hit your rock bottom?
Why not, give God a chance to show you how much He loves you.
‘All I want is that you seek the lord and that you trust him.’ (Courageous 2011)
That’s all I ever want for anyone. Because in seeking Jesus we get to know his character, how much he loves us and that he can be trusted.
How many of us get our perception of God from others. We all have had our perception of God influenced by someone either in a good or bad way. But how many of us really seek to know him intimately, to learn his character for ourselves and make up our own minds instead of what others tell us.
That’s my hope with this devotional that we would see God for who he is and seek to know him more intimately and deeper then you even have before.
No matter what I always know that I can count on God. I know I can always run to him when I feel weak and exhausted, stressed or worried or in over my head, and he will be there to help as long as I seek him.
How do I know this? Because he has been there for me time and time again. On the days that I allowed stress to overwhelm me. He gives me peace, calm and perspective. When I feel weak he is my strength. He is always there for me even when I think I don’t need him he’s there.
Jesus gave his life to have a deep intimate relationship with us, so that he could be our everything. So he could lift us up when we feel burdened and give us relief from our troubles.
Eagles sore above the storm literally, they fly above the clouds, lifting up above the storms, to clear skies. God does the same for us, he lifts us up above the storms of life when we depend on him.
Many people will tell us, you have to do this or do that to live for God.
We are not meant to blindly follow man. We are meant to know God and follow Him. We are called to know the truth for ourselves to read the scriptures and come to the same understanding or not.
We are meant to direct others to God, so that they develop their own relationship with him. Not be there proxy.
When we attended a house church, each week the leader would ask. ‘What has God been teaching you this week?’ Various people would share, not always the same ones. Most of the time what each of us shared was connected. Sometimes we would help someone going through something and sometimes lots of were going through the same thing without even realizing it. But the focus of the group was always to seek God and to help each others do the same.
We all have the same goal. It isn’t about a certain teacher or teaching but about deepening our relationship with God and helping each other do the same.
In everything we do it should be about seeking God. Letting Him direct our words, our actions and development of a deeper relationship with Him.
It’s good to go to a counsel of believers, but we need to make sure you are seeking God for ourselves and not relying on the faith of others.
The one thing I always know to be true, beyond a shadow of a doubt is that I can always come to God for anything.
No matter how bad my day is, or what I have done. I can always go to him.
We can always turn our hearts to God. He is always there. He always wants to talk to us, be near us, comfort us and love us.
So no matter how your day is going just take a moment, close your eyes and listen to this song. Let his love melt over you and take a moment to love him back.
‘Just because someone stumbles and loses their way doesn’t mean their lost forever’ (Charles Xavier X-Men Days of Future Past 2014)
I was that person that stumbled and lost their way. But I had friends and family that we’re there ready and waiting to help me find my way back when I was ready. But it had to be my decision, my choice.
We can’t force people to change; because if we try and even if they seem like they are changing, its not really change. Because its not their choice. I know its hard to watch others make bad choices, but we can’t force them. Forced change is always worse; because they are still going to be opposing you on the inside or resenting you.
But if we present options and support. When they are ready, they may make a change and they will know who to turn to.
Praying for them is also a big part but our prayers should not be God please change them or make them see that I am right. But God help me to see them as you see them, help me to love them as you love them.
Most of the time in order for someone to change we need to change too. None of us are perfect and we all make mistakes even with the best of intentions.
When we lived in Tennessee our Pastor would say ‘come as you are and let Jesus mess you up.’ Isn’t that what we all did? We came to Jesus with our junk and mess and let Him change us. So why don’t we encourage others to do the same?
Who is Jesus to you really? Is he a man who walked the earth years ago, who had some followers and said some great things? Is he someone you claim to worship, but really know nothing about? What do you know about him? Do you know his character, his actions, his sense of humor? Who is he to you?
Jesus to me is the son of God, he came to earth as a baby to serve the people he loved, to sacrifice everything for the people he created because he loved them. He gave up everything for us and so I have no problem giving everything for him.
Because Jesus is the one I run to when I have a problem or bad day, bad mood or hard circumstance, but he’s also the first one I thank for all the great things in life. I seek him each morning and through out the day because days without him are tough and dull. He is my friend, my protector, my provider, my confidante and he uplifts my spirit and so much more. Jesus is my everything.
By Jesus living in and through us, God is love and to love him and others we must let him shine through us. He calls us to die to self so that he can live through us. So it’s not about us, its about him.
It’s not about striving and trying to do and be like him, but it’s through relationship with Jesus that we learn who he is and by surrendering ourselves over to him so that he can live through us. We are simply willing vessels.
Resting in the presence of God is what gives you the trust to walk on water.
You wouldn’t do something deemed impossible without some sort of faith in the one who asked you. But where does that faith come from.
It comes from spending time with God, from resting in His presence, from just being content to be with Him. Because you know Him, and you know His character. You can trust Him when He asks you to take those big leaps of faith that to others seem impossible.
Listen to this song and take some time to rest in His presence, and let Him lead you to walk on water.
We all want to be loved without conditions or expectations. So why would we assume God would want anything else?
Yes, we love God because of what he’s done for us, but we should love him for who he is.
When you are with the one you love you don’t need anything else, but just to be with them. Our love for God should be the same, because his love is the same for us.
He wants nothing more than to spend all eternity with us or he wouldn’t have given everything to make it possible.
Seek him for him and appreciate the joy of just his presence.
Often when we don’t feel ready to do what God calls us to. It’s then that we are ready, because it’s that insecurity in ourselves that makes us dependent on God. So it’s God working through us, not our own abilities, so we cannot boast in ourselves but in him alone.
One of my teachers when I first started preaching, reminded me that nerves are good when preaching, because it keeps us conscious of God, his will, his words, his power and his direction. If we were completely confident in ourselves. We would have no need for him. But it’s because we know our own imperfection and instead find our confidence in him, that we can shine him best.
Don’t let nerves hold you back from what you know God has called you to, instead use those nerves to depend on him and REFLECT God to others, not ourselves.
When the Israelites left Egypt they didn’t know where they were going. It can seem the hardest to trust God when we don’t now where He’s leading us, but even in the times of uncertainty he will give us rest.
To have good rest we need to have peace, but its hard to have peace when we’re uncertain. But that’s the beauty of God’s peace it surpasses understanding. We don’t have to know all the answers and he can still give us peace.
My husband and I have moved more times then the number of years we have been married, and we didn’t always know all the details but each time we knew it was God’s timing and that he had a plan and purpose for our move, even if we didn’t know what that plan was. Each time he gave us a peace about it.
Rest is part of that peace, when we trust God’s plan and his timing we can rest in knowing he’s got this. And that rest might be what we need in order to take care of what he’s got ahead for us.
The thing I love about worshiping God is that it’s an exchange. As you surrender yourself to Jesus and let the Holy Spirit envelope you; as you pour your life out as an offering he fills you up to overflowing more than you gave.
When we take our eyes off of God and begin to worry about this or about that we let God’s peace fade away. Worry never accomplishes anything other than to steal our peace and joy. So why would we choose to be miserable when we can choose to seek God and his solution. Because he does provide if we just trust him and look for his solution instead of our own.
If God asks you to give up something especially if its your worry, trust that he has something better. You can’t out give him; so stop worrying about what your giving up and starting focusing on what he’s doing in and through you.
God doesn’t see us the way we see ourselves, he sees us as beautiful messes. He see the beauty he created us to be, that is bogged down by the baggage we choose to carry with us. We are the ones that choose to walk around carrying all our hurts and pains, lugging around the baggage of our past.
Photo by Tommaso Pecchioli on Unsplash
But his burden is light.
God doesn’t want us to carry all that around with us. He wants us to lay it all at his feet.
Baggage can be many things worry, anxiety, past hurts and pain. It’s anything that holds us back from expressing the joy and love of Jesus.
One of the secrets of our marriage is that we don’t carry our baggage with us. My husband and I both go to God first before going to each other or anyone else, when we realize that something bothers us.
We ask God, why? Whether it is something someone said or did or even our own mood or attitude that we know is not from him. We go to God first and ask what the root cause of the pain is. Then after we’ve sorted it out with God we go to each other or the person that hurt us and talk it through, if necessary. Many times we’ve worked things out with God and don’t even need to talk to the other person.
We don’t have to walk around with all the hurt and pain of our past or even our present if we lay them at the foot of the cross. He is always with us, always accessible and always wants to help us.
Next time you feel someone poke an old wound or make a new one go to God first and find freedom.
