Year Reflection

I just want you to take the time and reflect on what this year has been like for you. Think about the person you were at the beginning of 1017 and the person you are now. How have you changed? How have you grown, in your faith and as a person? What has this year been like for you? The ins and outs the ups and downs . What's new? Now what do you want for this coming year, how do you plan to dive deeper into your relationship with Christ? Just take the time to reflect on your year, whatever that means to you.

Now I just want to take the time to thank everyone who has been consistent throughout the year, everyone who has read the devotional and kept it going. This has been such a humbling experience for me and I have grown so much. I cannot believe it's coming to an end. Thank you so much, it means so much to me. Thank you so much. I love you and go have an amazing 2018! Be the person God made you to be and don't apologize for it! Thank you! I love you so much! Thank you!

Day 365: Direction: God Will Always Make a Way

*I know Sunday's are usually our recap days but in light of this being the last post of the year, here is the last part of our direction series.*

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Okay so today is officially the last devotional of the year and it is by far the hardest one I have had to write. It is more emotional that I thought. However we shall proceed with today's devotional in which we will talk about not worrying about things and not worrying about stuff that is not even here, because God will take care of it all. There is no need to worry about anything because God has it all under control. We often spend too much time worrying about the future when we don't even know what it holds. We spend our time anticipating what will happen and being anxious for no reason. the moment we have is a gift and many times we overlook it because we are too busy looking into the future trying to figure out something God has already figured out for us. So why not live right now, there's nothing we can do about tomorrow until it gets here. I am a firm believer in crossing a bridge when you get to it. Meaning I can prepare all I want, I can get ready to walk the bridge I have never seen, but nothing can prepare me for exactly what will happen when I get to the bridge and when I get on it. I cannot try to cross the bridge when I am miles away from it, that just makes no sense. I have to cross it when I get there. With that being said, we are often trying to live in the future because we are so worried about what it holds that we are dismissing the journey to get there. 

I want you to go into the new year into worrying about what the future holds but having faith in who holds your future. Not worrying about material things but latching on to something and someone far greater than what money can buy us. Know that no matter what happens God will always make a way. In fact He has already made a way, He already has it figured out. Our job is to not try to do His job but trust in what He is doing. God cares so much for us and He will not leave us out to dry. Enjoy the journey to bridge before you get there, and when you do get there walk with God over it. 

Response/ Prayer Time

Take the time to respond on whatever way you feel led, take the time to pray about what we discussed today and pray about whatever is on you heart tonight!

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and enjoy your New Year. 

P.S.

There will be another reflection post later on tonight. 

Day 364: Direction: We Can't Do It Alone

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Today's devo is going to be quite short and straight to the point. We are talking about direction as we head into the new year. Today we are talking about taking God's direction because wherever we are going and whatever we are doing we cannot do it alone. We have to lean on God and trust Him because He will take us places we didn't know we would go, but places that we didn't know we had to go. God will lead us on a path that we must follow Him to get through successfully. Through life we cannot succeed or do anything without Christ. We cannot walk by ourselves and think that we are going to get anywhere. We cannot abandon the way of the Lord and think that we are going to get somewhere our own way. That is not how it works, the more we lean on God and the more we trust Him and put our faith into Him, the more He reveals His plans to us.

Sometimes people think that in order to fully live our lives and do what we want to do and live how we want to live that we must abandon the way of Christ, because for some reason we think our way is better than His. I want to let you know that we are not in control of anything, we are not in control of our own destiny, God is, and trust me it  is better in His hands than ours. I know we all want to be independent and we want to do things our way or not at all, but trust me God's way is better. We can try to live our life on our own and try to walk this path on our own but it will not work. The main message I want you to take from this is that we need guidance from God and direction from our Heavenly Father because we cannot do this alone. We cannot live this life on our own. We thrive because of Christ, we live because God blew His breath into our bodies not because our mother's age birth to us. We are living because God says that we can live, and we are thriving because He wants us to thrive. If we cannot even breathe without God how are we going to walk through life without Him. We need Him even for the smallest things in life, we cannot take a step without Him. The mistake we make is thinking that we can. 

All this to say, seek guidance and direction from the Lord, He knows what He is doing. Give Him a chance and trust Him with everything, He won't let you down. I can promise you that. 

Reflection

1. Have you tried to walk through life on your own?

2. What do you need God's direction for?

3. Do you believe that God's plan is greater and bigger than yours could ever be?

Prayer Time

Take the time to pray about what we discussed today. Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Ask God for guidance and clarity as you continue to follow Him. 

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 365!

Day 363: Direction: The Next Step

Psalm 25:4-5

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 31:3

Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

With New Years quickly approaching, and this year currently ending, this the time that people decide to make changes int heir lives. Everything from New Years Resolutions to deciding where to move or stay, many of us are entering a new chapter in our lives and closing the previous chapter. There's nothing more refreshing than starting New Year, to start with new goals, or continue those goals that you set for yourself this year. Many times we look at the New Year as another chance a new opportunity, to maybe get something right that we didn't before, to get rid of toxic habits or just vow ourselves to be better people. Whatever it may be we must seek God for direction. We are taking another step in our lives and we need to seek God so that He can guide us where we need to go.

Life is about progression, we move forward as time continues to move forward. As we walk as we continue to move forward we must make sure that we are following Christ in every way possible. The further we go the narrower the road might get or the harder it make be to make the decision to take the step that God has been preparing us to take. I feel like God prepares us for what He is about to do in our lives. He is taking us step by step to where He wants us to be. If you know that God is preparing you for something and you know that He leading you and guiding you to a certain place, please do not be afraid to step with Him. Do not be afraid to walk with Him. I don't know what your next step is but God does and that's good enough. For some of us taking the next step in our lives can be scary and intimidating, but what if God has been preparing you all year for this? What if we take a chance and believe that the dreams we have aren't just figments of our imaginations but they are tangible and God is taking us to meet them? What I'm saying is, take the next step of your life with Christ, don't try to do it without Him. Take the next step not just to follow your dreams but to grow closer to our Lord and Savior. To be more than we were before. To have a chance to grow in our faith and therefore grow in every other area of our lives. Take a step with Christ so that everything will fall into place, we are not going into this next year worried about the same things that worried us this year. So that we can start a new chapter in our lives with more faith in God, and a deeper understanding of who He is. But most importantly take a step with Christ because we love Him, because we don't want to walk through this life or any other life without Him. The next step includes growing closer to God, and whatever He has planned for you. Trust Him, and trust that where He is taking you is exactly where you are meant to be, because it is. 

All this to say, take a step with Christ, even if you don't know where your foot is going to land. Put the fear aside and push towards the destiny that God has set before you?

Reflection

1. What is your next step?

2. What is stopping you from taking that step?

3. If there is anything stopping you from taking a step with Christ, put it aside and know that God is taking you where you are meant to be. 

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayers. Take the time to talk to God about direction and ask Him for guidance as to where you are going and where He wants you to be. 

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 364!

Day 362:See It Clearly

Matthew 7:1-5

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Matthew 15:14

Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

Many of us know this verse, it's the staple verse for not judging people. We go to this verse because it tells us that we might be just as bad as the people we are trying to judge. We have to take care of ourselves before we can ever think about taking care of anyone else. While that is the direction we are going in today, I want to look at it from a different perspective. On order for us to lead people on a path of righteousness or lead people anywhere, we must see that path clearly. We must be able to see the path clearly for ourselves but also for the people following us. For the people who are looking at us to help them, we must know what that path looks like. I'm not saying that we must be perfect, I'm saying that before we can lead anyone else we must know the path for ourself. it is a dangerous thing to lead  people blindly. It's a dangerous thing to pretend that we are leading people towards Christ when in fact we are walking towards Christ ourselves. 

As people of God we are called to make disciples to lead people to Christ in any way we can. There is common road we are walking on and that path leads us to Christ. Many people are looking at us as an example of a Christ follower whether we know it or not, and many people are taking the steps we take to get closer to Christ. With that being said, the life we live matters. The way we walk, the way we talk, how we treat people, how we love is like a domino effect we show people the way to Christ. Now if we have the make up of a Christian but we are walking away from Christ, someone who is just coming to their faith or taking an example from our walk with Christ, they will be lead astray. What I'm saying here is to take care of ourselves before we try to take care of anyone else. We must make sure that we are right in our walk before we try to lead anyone else. As rewarding as it is to lead people to Christ, it is more important for us to make sure that we have a solid foundation in Christ before we can lead anyone else. We must make sure that our eyes are clear before we can look into anyone else's. I love the analogy of taking something out of the eye, because if we have something blocking our vision or getting in the way of what we can see, we will not be able to see anything clearly enough in someone else to diagnose it. 

All this to say, we must make sure that we are living a life that is pleasing to God. It is less about trying to live a life that others will want to follow and more about leading a life that God has called us to live. It's not our job to play God, but it i our job to serve and obey Him. When we are living the way God has told us to live, trust me, everything will fall into place. 

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to reflect on what we discussed today, examine yourself and ask God to examine your heart. Take the time to pray and talk to God about whatever is on your heart. 

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for 363!

For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our si

Day 361: Limitless Love

1 Peter 4:8
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.


The year is winding down pretty fast, and the devotionals as we head into the last few days of 2017 will be a lot about self-reflections nd direction. Taking the word of God and allowing it to influence how we live, how we speak, and everything we do. One of the greatest messages the bible teaches us is love, to love God first then love people. God loves us with an unconditional love, a love that covers our sins and a love that forgives. A love that would send His son to die on a cross for us. God commands us to love one another. Love is the one thing that has the power to break down barriers, stop hate, the power of love is greater than many of us will ever realize, because when we speak of the power of love we speak of the power of God because He is love. The power of love is evident when we are reminded of a perfect man name Jesus who hung on a cross in order to save humanity from our sinful nature. That;s the love that covered a multitude of sins. With the way things are going in the world right now, not just in America but everywhere we turn, we can see that this world needs love, if we need anything we need love. We need to love one another, we need to love our enemies, we need to love ourselves. Love is what we need. We need to be drowning in love and pouring buckets of it on our peers. 

One thing I want to point out is that Jesus love was unconditional, it was almost as if He did not care about what people had done because He was willing to forgive them. He came with he purpose of redemption, so even the people who nailed Him to a cross would in some way take part in the salvation He had to offer. Love didn't care about what they had done in the past, all that mattered was now and how we are going to live in the future. Jesus healed countless people who were considered sinners, and hung out with people who were said to be the worst types of sinners. Now most would think that a man like Jesus would  have nothing to do with such people. But no, those are the ones He came for. He came for the ones that people described as hard to love, the ones no one wanted to go near. He came for the one outcast by society and the ones who were said to be the biggest sinners of all sinners. His love extended to even them, the same way it extended to the ones who considered themselves righteous, and blameless without fault. I want to challenge you to love people the same way. 

Love people earnestly, compassionately, unconditionally. As we start a new year walk in love. Walk in unconditional love. Extending the same kind of love that Jesus extended to us. Let love overcome. Let love allow you to forgive. I know that many of us have been hurt by people and betrayed and people have just done things to us that make us not want to love them, or forgive them. But let the love that is in you be bigger than the anger and stringer than the grudges we hold so often. Think about how much Jesus loves us and how much we have done to hurt Him, yet He would die on a cross for us all over again if He had to. Let's love that way. A crucifixion type of love, that the very people that nail you to a cross you will pray to God for their forgiveness. That's how we should love people. It's also how we should love ourselves. God made us worthy of love, why do we so often act like love is not for us. Why do we think we cannot love ourselves. You are love and you deserve to be loved. 

Response/Prayer Time 

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Have a conversation with God about love! 

I love you! I hope you have a wonderful day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 362!

Day 359: Be Like John

John 3:1-6

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

John 3: 11

 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Many of us know who John the Baptist is, we know of Him and we know the work He did before Jesus. John was the one to come before the Messiah to prepare the way for when He got there. John preached a message of repentance, he came baptizing the people who repented of their sins. One thing that John made sure that everyone knew was, he was not the Messiah. In fact the Messiah is much greater than him. He is only preparing the way for when the Messiah comes. John came to start something that Jesus would come to finish. 

What I'm getting at here is, John was not Jesus, and he made sure that everyone knew that. John did not try to be Jesus, instead he did what he was sent to do, the same way Jesus did. I here many of us talk about how we are not perfect, and how we are not Jesus. First of all we are not called to be Jesus we are called to be like Him. We are called to mock the perfect man and get as close to perfection as possible. If we were all called to be the Messiah then God would never have sent His son to die on a cross for us because we could have saved ourselves. Instead we were sent a savior because we were and constantly are in desperate need of a savior. We ourselves are not the savior. With that being said, we may not be Jesus but we can be John. 

We can prepare the way for when Jesus comes. We can live a life dedicated to Him, leading His people to Him everyday. While we are on Earth I believe that we can take an example from John as well. We are not the Messiah but we are as close to the Messiah that people will see before Jesus actually makes His return. This does not mean that we are physically baptizing people everywhere we go, although some of us may end up doing that. What that means is being a Christ example. Being a person that follows Christ, ad lives off of His every word. We can be the people that preach a message of repentance, and grace, and love letting people know that their is something greater to life. Their is something bigger than ourselves, and understanding that even at our greatest moments Jesus is greater and He will do more than we can ever do. But in the meantime, while we are waiting for His return, let's prepare the way for the Messiah when He returns in the same way John did. 

Reflection

1. What life lessons can we learn from John the Baptist?

2. Are you living a life that points to Christ?

3. If you were the only bible that anyone ever read, or the closest thing to Jesus anyone ever sees, what would people see?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Have a conversation with God about what we talked about today. Whatever is on your heart today, pray about it. 

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 360!