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 316: This Beautiful Romance

Ephesian 5:25-27

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

Isaiah 62:5

For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Marriage is like the realest of all levels of relationships. When you get to the point of marrying someone, everything is different, you have a made a conscious decision that you want to be with this one person for the rest of your life. That’s a big choice, so when you get to that point you must be sure. It’s the second best and most important decision you will ever make in your life. When you get to the point of wanting to and eventually marrying someone, you made it. You did it, you’ve reached the diamond package of relationships. It’s real, you’ve survived the ups and downs, you’ve gone through the awkward moments, saying “I love you” has become normal. You no longer try to figure out who will say it first, but instead try to figure out who can say it more. No more trying to impress them, they know you and you know them. They can see straight through you and you for them. You made it. You have to be completely and truly in love with someone to commit yourself to them for the rest of your life. To want to wake up next to the same person, do life with one person, spend the rest of your days with one person. It’s serious, when you get to the point of marriage there is no turning back, hopefully. You know all about this person, you know their deepest and darkest secrets, you know them inside and out, their pet peeves, their cute quirks, you know what buttons to press and which ones not to press. Most importantly you love this person and more than that you are in love with this person and you choose them everyday. You get happy when you’re around them. You cannot stay mad at them no matter how hard you try.  You see something in them that no one else sees. This is the person that you do not want to live without. What if I told you God felt the exact same way about us? He calls the church His bride. What if I told you that this life with Christ is less than a casual relationship and more like a marriage? We are in it for the long-haul. However there isn’t a ‘til death do us part’ in this marriage, it’s eternal.

Our relationship with God is the realest and best one we can ever have, It is the most beautiful relationship anyone can have, God loves us so much, and I can never stress this enough. He is committed to being with us, He is committed to His people. God doesn’t want a casual relationship with us, He wants a marriage, He wants us to be with Him for all eternity. Our relationship with God, just like a marriage is a two way street. Both parties must put in in order for it to work. This raises the question, are we committed to God the way He is committed to us? Are we willing to spend our life and all eternity with our Heavenly father. God is in, it’s like a groom waiting at the altar for His bride. Are we going to walk to Him? How many times have we stood God up at the altar? How many times have we walked away from the best thing that could ever happen to us? There is no reason to be afraid to have a relationship with God. We hesitate sometimes because we are afraid of this commitment. That’s not just for our relationships here on earth but we sometimes allow that fear to creep into our relationship with God. Let me tell you that nothing can beat being in a relationship with God. We tend to walk away from things that are good for us, sometimes out of fear that we will ruin it. We cannot ruin something that God has planned from the beginning, we can run but we do not have the power to ruin it. Why run away from this beautiful romance though?

When we talk about this beautiful romance, what I mean is that God goes above and beyond for His people. He wakes us up every morning, He gives us everything we need before we can even ask. He is constantly fighting our battles so that we do not have to. He makes sure that we are always protected. He is with us in every moment from the best to the worst moments of our lives. God gives us more joy and peace than anything or anyone in the world. He gives us truth and helps us to grow every day of our lives. God is constantly pouring into us and making us better. It’s hard not to fall in love with someone like that. Someone who has been and will always be inlove with us. It’s hard to walk away from that, it’s hard not to want to serve the one who gave us everything for us. The one who moved heaven and earth to find us and have a relationship with us.

All this to say, falling in love with God is the best thing that can ever happen to us. We must not look at our relationship with God as something casual but more like something special. A relationship that tops all relationships. There is nothing like it at all. This is the one relationship we need in order to have other successful relationships. It’s more beautiful than anything we can ever imagine. If Jesus proposed, how would you respond?

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Thank God for this beautiful romance, If you have never had a chance to enter into a relationship with God and that’s something you want, now is the time to make that decision. If you feel it pulling on your heart, respond today.

f that’s you if you want to make that decision, pray this prayer with me,

“Jesus I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sins and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. I pray that you shine your  light on me and bring me out of the darkness and into your light. I love you Lord. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.”

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! If you made the decision to follow Christ today, do not hesitate to reach out and get plugged into a church. I love you and make sure you come back tomorrow for day 317!

Day 302: Jesus Doesn't Care About Status

James 2:1-9

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

THe scripture above is pretty self explanatory, but it shows the difference between how we as humans think and how God thinks. It shows how we as humans see people versus how God sees His children. The goal is to see people the way God sees them, to see them through a filter of love as opposed to judging them with our eyes. How many times have we judged someone based on their appearance or statue? How many times have we treated someone different because they looked different than us, or came from a different background? Let’s be honest, I am guilty of it, and when I think about I think of how wrong that was. God does not show partiality, He treats us all the same. He loves us all the same, it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, it doesn’t matter where you came from, what color your skin is, you are still a child of God. He does not care about our status. Do you think Jesus was thinking about status when He died for us, He died for all of us. HE died for every human being so that we all may have life. He didn’t come for just you or just me, He came for all of us. Every single one of us, that means we are all equal in His eyes, He did not care about our status or our background, He cares about us, His people.

I know many of us have judged people but also many of us have been judged by people and I can tell you it doesn’t feel good to be treated differently because you're not rich enough, you didn’t come from the right neighborhood or your skin isn’t the right color. God made us all equal and He doesn’t love us because of what we have, where we come from, or the color of our skin, He loves us because we are His children, He loves us because He is God and God is love. God’s love is unconditional, and that is how we must learn to love people.

The bible tells us time and time again to love our neighbor as ourselves, but if we are showing partiality, how are we loving our neighbor as ourselves. If we are passing judgements on people based on how they look how are we loving our neighbors like ourselves? We cannot dishonor God’s people and say that we love them at the same time. We do not get to decide if someone is worthy of our love, if we are walking this earth like Christ, everyone is worthy of our love. Everyone deserves to be loved. Loving people is not about us, it is about the other person, people need to know that they are loved. They need to know that beyond their looks, beyond their condition or situation, beyond their past, they are loved. Sometimes we make love selfish, love is the most selfless action their is. Can you imagine how that poor man must have felt when He was treated less important because he wasn’t wearing gold or nice garments? The honest truth is we have been all three people in the story. People make assumptions of who we are based on what they see and we have done the same thing. Let’s stop things cycle and start to walk, live, and love like Christ. When we are full of the Holy Spirit there is no room for anything that is unlike Christ.  

All this to say, if God is not judging anyone, what gives us the right to judge people. Show no partiality.

Reflection

1. Recall a time when you have been the person who was judgemental or the person being judged.
2. Looking back how do you feel about that?

Prayer Time

Take the time to ask God to search your heart and remove anything that is unlike Him. If you feel the need to repent by all means do so. Then take the time to pray for God’s people, pray that we will be a people that loves beyond what the eyes can see, that we will not judge people but love them.

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 303!

Day 298: Act on the Word

James 1:22-25

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Growing up my mom could always tell when we weren’t listening to her. It was less about how we reacted to what she was saying and more about how we acted based on what she was saying. When we acted in a way that we were not supposed to or did something and it went wrong she would always say it was because we weren’t listening, and I’d say, about 100% of the time she was right. She would say, “Everything I’m saying to you, goes in one ear and out the other.” Meaning, we acted like we never heard a word she said.

I share this because I believe that it is important for us as Christians to do more than just hear the word. We must act on it, we must do what it says. Living like Christ is more than just reading the bible, it’s living it out. We are walking, breathing bibles. How can we call ourselves Christians if we are not living by the word of God. We cannot have the word go in one ear and out the other, we must be doers of the word. We read the bible, but that’s not enough. Atheists read the bible. We must allow the word of God to take root in us, we must allow it to influence the way we live. Hearing the word of God is great, but how are we going to put it into action. The bible isn’t just some fun book to read, although it can be (read the old testament), it is a life instruction manual. It tells us how to live, and how to love. The word of God is everything we need to know how to live.

Too often we act as if reading the bible is enough. We read every morning, we pray and we’re good, we’ve spent our time with God for the day. It is so much more than that. We take the word of God with us wherever we go because it is in us. It has take root and manifested within us. We do not sit Jesus on a shelf once we are done with Him that’s not how it works. God is with us in every moment of our lives. He’s right there. We cannot read the word of God and not allow it to take root in us and change the way we live. We cannot forget the word of God as if it has no impact on us. We must be a doer who acts not a hearer who forgets.

All this to say, the word of God is meant to be lived. It is meant to influence the way we live. We cannot be just hearers of the word, we must be doers as well.

Reflection

1. Are you a hearer and a doer of the word
2. Have you had a moment in your life when you thought that reading the bible and hearing the word was enough?
3. At what point did you decide to be a doer of the word?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Take the time to search yourself and submit your heart to the Lord. Take the time to talk to God about allowing His word to influence the way you live.

If you’ve never made the decision to live for Christ, or you want to rededicate your life. If you want to be brought into this magnificent promise of eternity, now is the time to make that decision. If that’s you if you want to make that decision, pray this prayer with me,

“Jesus I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sins and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. I pray that you shine your  light on me and bring me out of the darkness and into your light. I love you Lord. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.”

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

I love you so much. If you made the decision to follow Christ today, congratulations, this is the best decision you will ever make. Do not be afraid to reach out and get plugged into a church. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 299!

Day 293: But Wait...There's More!

Ephesians 3:20

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Malachi 3:20

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

Recently I had a realization, that no matter how big I dream, no matter how grand my plan is for myself and my life, God will always top that. It’s mindblowing to think about. Most people who know me know that I’m a dreamer, and I dream big, not only that but somehow someway all of my dreams are going to come to pass. It’s crazy when I sit and think of all the things I want out of life, and I’m reaching for the stars, I get a revelation that even in those moments God is bigger. Meaning He has a bigger vision, and a grander plan. That makes me trust Him even more. It pushes me to lean into His will a little more. God can do far beyond what we can ever think, or ask. That’s just a testament of how great God is compared to us, He expand our dreams, expands our faith, and expands our expectations. Simply because He is that good. I mean we’re talking about the guy who created the entire universe and everything in it.

When God blesses us, He really blesses us. It’s like a proud parent showering their child with gifts. God will go above and beyond for us, because He loves us that much. Sometimes we are waiting for God to move in our lives, waiting on promises, and when they do come to pass God makes the wait so worth. It’s a beautiful thing when we expect things from God. When we are waiting for Him to move miraculously in our lives, because He goes beyond our expectations. Over the summer I was really struggling with how we were going to pay tuition this year. I have struggling with this my entire time in school, and this times it seemed close to impossible. My family was going through so much financially, I couldn’t find a job, no one was willing to give me a loan and no one was willing to cosign. I found one person to co-sign and it got denied. Everything got denied. So I just kept praying and kept trusting God. I did not know how it was going to happen but I knew it was going to happen. But here’s the thing, I was expecting God to provide a loan approval, or enough money to start the payments. I called financial aid to see what they could do and they all told me there was nothing they could do. So I prayed some more and emailed the president of the school. Three days later I got an email saying, they would increase one of my grants. But wait...there’s more, they gave me a scholarship that would cover the rest of my tuition for not one but both semesters! I started screaming and broke out into tears, I was not expecting that but God went beyond my expectations and did something I did not even think of. Then I got offered not one but two jobs. I didn’t know how I was going to take care of myself financially, but I have four on-campus jobs. But wait...there’s more, I didn’t think I would get a refund check, but I went to the financial aid office and they had one there waiting for me, so now I don’t have to worry financially. God just keeps on blessing me, and it’s beyond whatever I could think or imagine.

-Dyamond

I think many times  it depends on our faithfulness, God will bless those who are faithful. He is looking at the ones who are constantly faithful to Him, and obeying Him. God sees that and He rewards the ones whose hearts stay with Him. This is not to say that we should only serve God for a blessing, but that faithfulness definitely pays off. Yes it pays off in eternity but it also pays off while we’re still on earth. We all have something that we want from God, continue to be faithful and wait what He will do. I’m a living testimony of what happens when God is faithful to us and we are faithful to Him.

All this to say, don’t underestimate God. Keep dreaming big and expecting God to move in your life and He will do more than you could ever imagine.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Just take the time to thank God that He is faithful. Take the time to pray and be grateful for who He is and what He does. Reflect on the times where you have seen Him move in your life. Reflect on the times when maybe you weren’t as faithful to God but He remained faithful to you. Take that with you as you pray today and pray however you feel led. Have a conversation with Him, if you need something tell Him, tell Him your greatest hopes and dreams and watch what He does.

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 294!

Day 286: Living Well Series (Part 2) - Winning At Life

1 John 5:12

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God's Son does not have life.

Are you winning at life?

What does winning at life look like to you?

I’m sure we have all heard these concepts of “winning at life”. Buzzfeed had probably posted articles about how to win at life, buzzfeed also probably posted a quiz, that most of us probably took, about how to know if you are winning at life. When we think about this idea of winning at life, do we think of it as just something tangible. Are we thinking about winning at life as beating our enemies, or just being better than everyone else? How does it look to win at life? What doe sit mean? First let’s define that word, to win. What does it mean, according to my dictioanry.com app on my iphone, there are quite a few different meaning of the word. All the definitions are centered around success: to finish first, to succeed by striving or effort, to gain the victory, overcome an adversary. The slang definition is to be successful or competent and be acknowledged for it. These definitions are sometimes how we as people define ourselves. We always have to be first, we have to be the best. We have to prove that we are the best and the winners by constantly working hard. The last one hits close to home, we all want to be recognized for our success. We want to be acknowledged for winning at life. Often times we put up an image, most times on instagram, to make our lives look successful, and they might be. But how successful are we if we do not have Jesus? Are we really winning if we do not have Christ in our lives?

I can tell you right now that winning at life does not look a certain way as a matter of fact it lives a certain way. How we live determines how we win. What I mean is that we cannot win at life if we are not living in Christ. The very man who gave us life, how can we live apart from Him. To take that even further how can we win at life if we do not live in Him. It took Jesus to come from His throne in heaven to not only teach us how to live, but also it took His life so that we can have life. Before Jesus came we were dying in our sin, we were losing this game of life. Jesus gave us the tools we needed to win. Theres is only one way to win at life and His name is Jesus.  John 14:16 says. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

The idea of winning at life is the idea of pushing hard to earn it, but with Jesus we didn’t earn it, He gave it to us. All we have to do is believe, all we have to do is give our hearts to Him. True winning is when we are truly submitted to christ, that’s how we win at life. We give our hearts to the man who gave up everything for us. Winning at life is still having life in eternity when everything of this world fades. When all else is gone and we still have Christ to hold on to, that’s how we know we’ve won at life.  See as long as we have Christ we are winning, if we define winning at life by how successful we are, we will never truly be winning. Because we are not always going to be or feel successful.

All this to say, winning at life is declaring our victory in christ, not in the world. Jesus gave us the tools we need to win at life, and we cannot live apart from Him.

Reflection

1. Are You winning at life?

Prayer Time

Take the time to talk to God about what we discussed today. Have a conversation with Him about what it looks like to win at life. Thank Him for Jesus, take the time to thank God for giving us a savior who has given us eternal life.

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 287!

Day 283: Faithful God

2 Timothy 2:13

If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.

This scripture had me shook when I read it. I brings me to the question when someone asks, “Who is God?” One thing we can say is He is faithful. It’s who He is, cannot be unfaithful. Have you ever met someone that is faithful even when the other person isn’t. He’s faithful even when we aren’t faithful to Him. What?! God is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to Him. Where else are we going to find this kind of commitment? We are all looking for commitment in relationships, but we’re overlooking the commitment we already have. God is committed to loving His people and that means being faithful. He is committing to sticking to and following through on His word. God is here to stay and He will never leave. This is the type of commitment we are looking for but we are looking for it in the wrong places. We have someone who is going to love us eternally and unconditionally. We have someone that is going to remain faithful no matter what, someone who will never break a promise and always follow through on His word. Why are looking everywhere else to find it? More importantly, why is so hard for us to be faithful to Him?

I know many of us have been in relationships, but how many of us can say we will stay in a relationship with an unfaithful person? I know for a fact that I would not, and that’s why I’m not God, However there are many things I am willing to work through but there’s only so much of being unfaithful that I can take. However God is not the same, He is constantly working through it with us. When we have our moments of being unfaithful, He doesn’t stop being faithful us, instead His love for us remains the same, because that is who He is. God loves us so much that instead of walking away from us, He forgives us, and works through it with us. How amazing is that? That we have someone who will always be there. No matter what, we can always know that God is there for us. That no matter what we can always depend on Him. That’s beautiful! It’s amazing. One of the greatest example of God’s love for us and His want to be in relationship with us is Jesus. He sent His only son to die on a cross so that we may be saved and that we may have a relationship with Him. If that’s not love I don’t know what is.

The last thing I want to say is that God will not send us someone who is unfaithful Sometimes we are looking for someone to be faithful and love us unconditionally but we have not come into the knowledge or understanding of God’s love and faithfulness for us. Before we can fall in love with anyone else we have to fall in love with god. Before we have a relationship with anyone else we must have a relationship with God, because God teaches us how to love as well as be loved. God has someone for all of us, but don’t settle. God has someone that will be faithful to us and love us the way He loves His church. But in the meantime rest in God’s love and faithfulness.

All this to say, God is faithful. He is the most faithful person be will ever be in a relationship with. Let’s focus on being faithful to Him, and committing our lives and heart to Him.

Reflection

1. Have you ever been unfaithful to God?
2. Why do you think it is so hard for us to be committed to God and faithful to Him?
3. How do you feel knowing that someone loves you and will be committed to you forever, despite the things you do or go through?

Prayer Time

Take the time to thank God today, before anything just offer Him a prayer of thanksgiving. Tell Him how much you love and appreciate Him. Then pray in whatever way you feel led. But today I want you to thank God for who He is and what He has done for us.

Day 282: This Temporary World

1 Timothy 6:6-8

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.  After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content

1 Timothy 6:17-19

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.  Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.  By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

It is a beautiful revelation to understand that this physical world is fleeting and temporary, and putting our trust in it is useless. It’s great to come to the understanding that we brought nothing into this world so we can take nothing with us. Sometimes I just have to sit and remind myself that although there are many things I want out of this life, I will only put my faith and trust in God. I sit back and look at all the things I have from the clothes in my closet to the money in my bank, and I realize that one day i will be gone and the money I made will stay here, the clothes, the iphones, everything will stay and my soul will depart to be with the Lord. So I’ve learned to invest more into my soul. I’ve learned to be content with what I have and live with God. Now I am not saying that it is a sin to want to make money, or like to look good, what I’m saying is, do not be defined by what is in your bank account, or what type of clothes you wear. I say this because we are living in a generation that is consumed by image, money, and status. Everywhere I look someone is talking about how their only goal is to get up and get money. There is so much more to life than just making money. We can make all the money in the world, but at the end of the day if our soul is not saved how do we sleep in peace? If our soul is not saved does any of it matter?

Mark 8:35-37

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.  And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

We’ve all heard the saying that money doesn’t buy happiness, and I believe it can. But it cannot buy joy, that only comes from God. It cannot buy salvation, the clothes will make us look good but it will not keep us content. These are only things that we can find in Christ.

I grew up very spoiled, I had everything I wanted. I had over a hundred pairs of shoes in my closet, my drawers and closet was bursting with clothes. I grew up rarely hearing the word “no” when it came to getting what I wanted. Although my mother taught us to never find our identity in what we have and always be generous to others. We were made to get together toys and clothes we no longer used and give them to kids less fortunate than us. However I still developed the arrogance that came from all the things I had, I found my identity in what I had. The latest Jordans, or the most expensive bags. That was until I lost it all and realized that my identity is in Christ alone. Even without the riches and the clothes and things, I still had Christ. I had to come to the complete understanding that this world is fleeting, everything is temporary and when it’s all gone, who am I?

-Dyamond

All this to say what will it profit us to everything if we do not have Christ? We cannot walk through life very long trying to fulfill ourselves off of worldly possession and tangible things. Now I’m not saying that we are to walk around denying ourselves the joys of the world. What I’m saying is, do not be defined or identified by the joys of this world but let your identity be in Christ.

Reflection/Prayer Time

1. If you lost everything, who are you?
2. Where is your identity found?
3. Really think about these questions and search yourself before answering them. Do not be afraid or shy away from whatever you find but rather turn to God in prayer. Allow these questions to guide your prayer.

I love you and I hope you have a magnificent day! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 283!

Day 280: Recap!

Day 274: The One He Left the 99 to Find

Today we talked about the measures Jesus took just to save us. We talked about how He would be willing to leave the 99 to find the one that was lost, to find to one that had strayed. We talked about how great His love is for us that He would do something like that. We focused on Luke 15:3-7.

"He loves us so much that instead of replacing us, which He can do if He wanted, He leaves the ninety-nine to find us. "

Day 275: More Than Exist

Today we discussed how we are to do more than just exist and "get by". We talked about how God wants to live our life and enjoy it, He gave us a life for a reason. We talked about how sometimes we are so focused on making life "worth living" and overlooking the fact that every moment is worth living. How we should not wait for life to be perfect before we start living. We focused on Ecclesiastes 18:5, 3:11-13, and11:9.

"What I’m saying is, life is beautiful, enjoy it, be happy. Don’t get stuck in going through the motions. There’s more than just getting by. Why only stay afloat when we can swim."

Day 276: Good to Everyone

Today we talked about being good to everyone. We talked about how we are not to live our lives seeking revenge on the one's that have hurt us or done us wrong, but we are to love and be kind. With everything going on in the world we can use some kindness. We focused on 1 Thessalonians 5:15.

" Treat others how you want to be treated not how they treat you, There is something so freeing and beautiful about not seeking revenge but loving people through the pain and doing good in evil situations."

Day 277: Less Talk More Prayer

Today we talked about how easy it is to gossip but more beneficial to pray. We talked about how prayer can change things while gossiping lips do nothing but spread things. One works and the other doesn't. We were challenged to pray for people, and not talk about them, and actually pray when we're saying we're going to. We focused on Psalms 34:13, 1 Thessalonians, 5:25, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, and Galatians 6:1. 

"It’s easy to gossip and talk about people but how much better would it be if we talked to God about them, If we prayed for them. We can easily go to a friend and talk about how bad someone is doing and have it change nothing but what about when we talk to God about it."

Day 278: Patience With Everyone

Today we talked about patience with other people. We talked about how one of the fruits of the spirit is patience and that it is one of the many ways in which we are called to love our neighbors. We focused on 1 Thessalonians 5:14.

"If we took the time to encourage and take care of one another, being patient would not be an issue. But the problem with that is taking time for someone else is taking time away from self. When we think about it,  impatience is a pretty selfish trait."

Day 279: Hold On to What is Good

Today we talked about how we are to hold on to what is good. We talked about how there are certain thing sin our lives that stick with us forever. We talked about taking hold of the good things and doing away with all the bad and evil things that life has to offer. We focused on 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

"Even if we do hold on to things that are bad for us, or the things people have done to us to hurt us, we eventually come to the realization that it is not good for us. So  we let those things go. However the things that are good tend to stick with us forever, and that’s the beautiful thing about life. We are so often under the impression that we as humans remember the bad things over the good, however that is not always true. No matter how angry we are at someone, and we may not want to admit it, there is so much good we see in them."

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to go back over you favorite subject for the week, share it with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 181!