Day 344: Don’t Lose Hope

2 Chronicles 15:7
But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.
Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Before I say anything I want to start by saying, many times in life things are not over for us we just decide that it’s over. I want to encourage you all to never lose hope in Christ because that’s where everything we need everything we have to keep us alive is. If we lose hope in Him  then we have lost everything. I know that life is rough and can be rough and sometimes it looks like we have nothing and no one but there’s always hope in the Lord. There’s always something to hang on to. We just have to decide that it’s worth the fight, it’s worth fighting for. We have to decide that holding on to Christ is worth it all, when we decide that we will come to the conclusion that life isn’t over. It isn’t the end.
The scripture tells us that God is always with us, He is there for us. We should not fear we should not give up because He will uphold us. We just have to decide to hold on to. Many times it’s our decision to hold on to or let go of hope. Hold on to it if it’s the only thing you have left hold to the hold of Jesus Christ. If we’re hanging on to anything by a thread hold on to Jesus. He loves you so much, and even when it feels like you can’t hold on any keep holding because not only are you holding on to Him but He is holding you up.
All this to say, don’t lose hope. Hold on to Christ. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel and that light is Jesus. As long as we hold on to that. As long as we trust in the Lord and know that He will sustain us, He will deliver, He will reward, in our due time He will make sure that we reap. Just hold on to hope, don’t let it go. There’s so much going on in the world that will make us lose hope in many things, but don’t let what you see or what you’re going through at the present moment make you lose hope in the Father. He’s got you, just keep focusing on Him, trust me He will hold you us. He loves you so much and He sees you, He hears your prayers, He knows you.

Response/Prayer Time 

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. If this has struck you in anyway talk to God about it. Take the time spend time with God and have a conversation with Him.
I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and encourage them. Make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 345!

Day 339: Take Care of the Planet

Genesis 1:26

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 2:15

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Let’s talk about the Earth and how we treat it. This is a subject that’s not usually covered on the list of things to talk about in church or bible study, but it is very important. Preserving our planet and taking care of it is important. God gave us the responsibility to keep it.  He gave us dominion over the earth, let’s not neglect and make sure we take care of it. Because it is our home until we leave it one day to be reunited with Christ in heaven, but until then, we have a duty to take care of our home.

I’m not sure why it’s looked down upon to take care of the planet or care about the earth. When God created everything He had us in mind. So when He created us He gave us dominion over all the things of the earth. If being called a tree-hugger is what we have to endure because we want to take care of what God has blessed us with then so be it. I want to talk about this one because it is important and two because we tend to forget that even the earth is a gift from God. It is something He created and gave to us. Why are we not taking care of it? This land is our home. It is where we get our source of everything we need. God created man from the earth. The land we work is how we once got food, it is where we got our crops. This land holds the ingredients to sustain life. The trees provide oxygen, just as God intended. Our food comes from the earth. The waters hold fish that we can eat. The animals that walk the land is meant to be our food. I know the new thing and healthy choice right now is to be vegan and live a plant-based life, but if we do not take care of our planet even that will be impossible. Earth is our source of sustaining life while we are still here. It cannot do that if we suck it of all the life it has left.

There is so much we can do to eliminate the problems with our earth. The earth needs a little bit of love, now we may not be able to correct every problem with the planet but we can do our part to make sure that we keep it healthy. Things are not the same as they were back in the days of the bible but we can definitely take examples from how they lived and incorporate them in our lives today. We can do our parts to recycle, use natural products, reserve energy, making sure our water is not contaminated. There are so many countries, and states living with contaminated water. There are so many landfills fills with things that could be recycled. Our oceans are filled with trash and plastic, gallons and gallons of oil has been spilled in our waters contaminating the waters. Our animals are sick with diseases from farmers who only want to make a profit, therefore making the people sick. This is not what God intended for His people, for the earth He created. Over time things have become more about making a profit as opposed to actually sustaining and taking care of the planet, and that’s what’s destroying it. As the times change we must remember that God gave us dominion over the earth, and it is our job to take care of it. He trusted us with His masterpiece we shall not let it be destroyed.

All this to say, part of our lives as a Christ follower is to take care of what God has given us. To be responsible for the gifts He has blessed us with. Many times these gifts are more physical than we think. With that being said, the earth is a gift God has given us.

Reflection

1. Do you believe that we as Christ followers are responsible for taking care of the planet?
2. What is something you can do to make sure that you are doing your part to take care of the earth?

Prayer Time

Take the time to pray for our planet. Pray for all the disasters that have taken place around the world. Pray that we as a people will band together and take care of the planet God created and blessed us with. Take the time to pray for those in Libya as slave trade is still happening and for those in California who are affected by these fires.

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 340!

Day 329: Recap!

Day 323: All In A Day's Work

Today we talked about how God does so much in a day that in our eyes in would amount up to a thousand years. We talked about how God is constantly moving and even though we may have to wait a bit longer His timing is nothing less than perfect. We focused on 2 Peter 3:8.

"It’s really God that’s giving us the means to take care of ourselves. We have to set ourselves aside to see and understand how the glory of God is constantly being played out in our lives."

Day 324: God Wants the Best For Us

Today we talked about how God only wants the best for us. We talked about the common misperception that God is some mean old man in the sky that wants us all to perish. Spoiler alert, it's not true. We focused on 2 Peter 3:9.

"He calls us to repentance so that anything blocking us from Him can be removed and we can have freedom to dwell in His presence."

Day 325: Patience My Love

Today we talked about seasons inspired by the Hillsong Worship song 'Seasons" off their later album. We focused on the lyric, "If you are not done working, then God I'm not done waiting." We focused on Psalms 27:14.

"Sometimes we act as if God is only making us wait because He can, we act as of God is making us wait for no reason at all. But have we ever considered that the reason we are still waiting is because God is not done working?"

Day 326: Thanksgiving!

So today was thanksgiving in America, so we talked about taking the time out not to ask for anything but to thank God. We talked about how important it is to sometimes just stop and thank God for all the wonderful things He has done and He is doing. We focused on Psalms 28:7 and Psalms 30:12. 

"There is something beautiful about acknowledging what He has done and what He continues to do."

Day 327: Ride It Out 

Today we talked about waves and surfing, and what that means is we talked about how living life can sometimes feel like trying to surf a storm without falling off your board. We talked about how sometimes the storm can be very strong but we have to ride it out. We focused on Hebrews 10:32-36. 

"Life is scary, sometimes those waves are bigger than we thought, but even in those moments of fear we have to ride them out. God knows what we can take and we cannot just walk away because we are afraid, but we must endure, we must endure because we know what’s on the other side, we know what it will all be worth in the end."

Day 328: It Makes No Sense

Today we talked about walking in the light, and how if we are going to walk in the light with Christ we cannot have an ounce of darkness in us. We talked about how we sometimes hold on to darkness because for the longest time it was all we knew. We focused on 1 John 1:5-7.

"It makes no sense for us to claim that we walk in light when we are still living in darkness. We must let go of anything keeping us in the dark and know that God is taking us on a beautiful journey and we cannot get to where we are going in we cannot see, spiritually and physically."

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone, go back and read your favorite devo from this week. Make sure to come back tomorrow for Day 330!

Day 326: Thanksgiving!

Psalms 28:7

The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.

Psalms 30:12

That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

So today is thanksgiving in America and as an old tradition that I’m sure just isn’t in my family, let’s call to mind what we are thankful. Let’s say how thankful we are for God, I want us to be reminded of how great God is. Bringing our attention to His goodness and thanking Him. I know that we thank God everyday, and we should be reminded of His goodness daily. But I just want you all, even if celebrating the holiday isn’t part of your tradition. Take the time to thank God and show your gratitude towards Him.

In everything we do we should glorify God, and I know our lives show how grateful we are. But there is something different about taking the time to thank God. There is something beautiful about acknowledging what He has done and what He continues to do. Some of my favorite moments are when I can just take in the goodness of God and just say thank you. Not with an empty heart but with a heart full of gratitude because I know that His hand is always on me. I know that He is the one who gets me through every moment of every day. We thank God because He has done so much for us, and just because a million thank you s would never be enough to thank Him for all He does, that doesn’t mean that we omit it. We are often caught up in asking God for things that we forget to thank Him. So, in honor of this American holiday, let’s do exactly that. Let’s take the time, not to ask for anything or push our own agendas let’s just take the time to thank Him.
With everything going on in this world it is important that we come together and be thankful for the wonderful things God has done. It’s so easy to pay ettentiin to the negative and see everything wrong. But I choose to see the goodness of God in all the craziness and evil this world has to offer. There’s so much to be thankful for. Let’s point that out today.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to pray and thank God. Whatever that looks like for you do it. Open your heart to Him and show Him how grateful you are.
I love you and I hope you all have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 327!

Day 318: Light Up My World

2 Peter 1:18-21

18 We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, 21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.

We all have that one thing or that one person that just lights our world up. Making us feel good and cozy on the inside, we all have that one thing that makes us feel like no matter what it going on everything will be alright. No matter how I’m feeling when I come in contact with this person or this thing everything is fine. There’s something for all of us that just lights our world up, you might not be able to point it out now, but you know what it is when it comes up. That’s how the word of God lights up our life. It’s a light to our path, there’s something about walking with God and knowing that no matter what He’s always with you that lights up our world. He comes and turns everything upside down in the best way possible. God is just so amazing He lights up our world. Sometimes I can’t help but be taken away with how great He is. I can’t help but fall into His presence and worship Him, because He brings so much into my little world and life. God improves our lives so much, and improves who we are as people. No one can light up our life the way God can, He provides a light brighter than every light on the earth. He provides a joy that we can get nowhere else. The word of God is what will lead us to eternity. We listen to the words of the prophets and we still have faith in this beautiful book written thousands of years ago because it never failed. This word came straight from God, He used people to show us a way that was and is better than ours. His word gives us the opportunity to have a relationship with Him and live a life lit up by Him. He lights everything up in our life. God is the one person that no matter what is going on in our lives we know that as long as we have faith in Him we are alright and the proof is in His word. The beauty of this cannot be described in words.

His word is like a lamp to our path, as the scripture says. God’s word is direction for our feet. He lights up every step that we take, He directs us and leads us where we need to go. Everything we could ever need, the answer is in His word, if we are looking for direction it can be found in His word. If we are looking for a way out of darkness the answer is in His word. The beauty of God’s word is that it gives us so much, a while ago I heard someone say the acronym for the Bible was, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The word of God has the tools that we need to survive, and by survive I mean so much more than just getting by day-to-day.

All this to say, the word of God has provided us with a way to sustain while here on earth, it has instructed us to live while we are still here but to look forward to what is to come. When we read the word we see the countless wonders of God. We come to know the magnitude of God’s love for us, knowing that someone loves me enough to continuously pursue my heart and send His son as a sacrifice lights up my world. None of this will be known without the word of God. That is why it is so important for us to read Gods word and dive into it, because it is through His word that we gain an understanding of who He is. It is through God’s word that He is able to light up our lives.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Has God lit up you life? How? Take the time to thank God for His word and thank Him that in the midst of darkness He brings light, and that He is constantly lighting up our life with His love and goodness. Take the time to praise God for all He’s done and more than that just who He is.

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 319!