Day 255: The Life You Are Called to Love

1 Corinthians 7:17-19

Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches. For instance, a man who was circumcised before he became a believer should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised when he became a believer should not be circumcised now. For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God’s commandments.

Today I want to talk about living the life God has called us to live in a different way than usual. As the body of Christ we are constantly being told that we are one body, one spirit, while that remains true I would like to point out the part of the scripture that says different parts make up one body. We are human, and we all have our earthly heroes, the people we look up to the most or who we aspire to be like. However, God is writing a story for each of us. Each of our stories are uniquely different because that’s how He wrote it. No one story is the same. What I’m getting at here is that we are called to live the life God has chosen for us, not for anyone else. We are called to live our story.

Live the life God has called you to live.  Not the life he has for anyone else or the life that anyone else is trying to make you live. Too often we compare ourselves with one another and try to live to lives we see others live. We see the lifestyle people live, or the career they have and wish we could be just like them. Or we try to mould our lives to look like there’s. There’s a lot of pressure on our generation to have it all together, to have this perfect lifestyle. But the truth is, God is still working on us, and we’re going to get there one day, the time just hasn’t come yet.  However, this idea of luxury and riches, brought strongly through social media is raising a generation of posers, who are not living the life they are called to live. But they are living the life, they are pressured into or expected to live. Whether it be family, friends, or fans. The only person’s expectations you are required to meet, the only person you are to please with your life is God. No one else.

One thing I have come to realize very recently; I am very inspired  by people’s stories or careers their journey that got them where they are, and want my outcome to be the same. However, I have come to the realization that their story is not my story. Even if God wrote theirs similar to mine it's very different. God has something different in store for me than He does for someone else. As an actress the question I get asked a lot is “who do you want to be like?”, while I can name a list of people who I admire, I had to realize that God has something different for me and my career than He did for them. Now I am still very inspired by these people but I will not aspire to be them. We cannot live someone else's life and if we try it's not called it called imitating. More like plagiarizing life. No story is exactly the same. Live the story God is writing for you. I promise it's amazing

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There is a common misconception that being a Christian strips is of who we are. For some reason people think that once you give your life to Christ you fall into this lifestyle like the rest. Where we all think alike, act alike, and don't have individuality. That's not the body of Christ, that's a cult. God made us who we are for a reason. He's not going to strip us of that. He will strip away the things that are not like Him to enhance who we are. He will strip away sin, pain, hurt, false identity. We are not giving up who we are; we are giving up who we thought we were. We are giving up our pride. We are giving up our sinful nature, in exchange for a lifestyle that is eternal. We are exchanging temporary for eternity.

All this to say, live your life. Don’t try to live anyone else’s life because God is writing your story and it is unique to who you are and who He made you to be. Don’t try to take over someone else’s story and pass it off as your own. It won’t work. Don’t feel like to are require to give in to the pressure or unreal expectations people put on you. It’s your life, follow Christ.

Reflection

1. Are you living your story or someone else’s
2. Have you tried to strip away who you are because you are a follower of Christ
3. Live your story.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about living the life He has called you to live, ask God to help you with your identity. I pray that you be found in Christ and that you realize and understand just who you are.

I love you, so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 256!

Day 212: Recap!

Day 205: Life Advice Part 1

We started the week off with some advice about life. Today we talked about knowing our weaknesses but also not being defined by them. We talked about how we can capitalize on our strengths and use that help us with our weaknesses. We focused on Philippians 4:13 and Romans 5:3-5.

" As human beings there are going to be times when we are weak, but in those weaknesses God is made strong. And it is through the power of God that we receive strength. "

Day 206: Life Advice Part 2

Today we talked about how God has given each and every one of us a life to live, and that life belongs to us, no one else. We talked about how we sometimes feel like we owe our lives to someone else or we let people run our lives. The only person who has the power to run our life is God, the only person we owe anything to is Jesus Christ. We focused on John 17:25 and Job 33:4.

"Don’t live your life allowing other people to dictate who you are and what you should do. You know who you are, you’ve found your identity in Christ. Live. This is your life. You get to choose how you live, and as long as your life lines up with the word of God you are good."

Day 207: True Colors

Today we talked about showing our true colors, and how that's not always a bad thing. We talked about letting our true colors show and making sure those colors are beautiful. We focused on Ephesians 5:!3 and Galatians 5:22-23.

"When people see our true colors let them see love and joy, patience goodness, all the fruits of the spirit. These should be our true colors. It’s not always a bad thing, it can be and actually is a good thing. Let it show, let it fly."

Day 208: Patiently Waiting (It's Coming)

Today we talked about patience and how there is a huge difference between waiting and being patient. We talked about waiting on God and waiting with a good attitude, and not getting impatient with Him. We focused on Romans 8:25.

"We must learn to wait with dignity. I know it’s hard especially when we stand in desperate need and we are praying to God with everything and in desperation, but even in those moments, trust His timing."

Day 209: Don't Cover Your Light

Today we talked about being a light to the world in the same way that Jesus is a light to the world. We talked about this responsibility to lead people to Christ with the light that we have in us through Him. We focused on Matthew 5:13-16, John 8:12, Galatians 2:20.

"Darkness is the absence of light, and if Christ is the light, and we are in darkness it means that we are living without Christ. However, when we submit our lives to Christ, and Christ is in us then we have that same light. So when Jesus tells us in Matthew that we are the light of the world, it’s kind of like a responsibility. If He lives in us we are lit by Him. The light we illuminate is the light of Jesus Christ."

Day 211: Love Is...

Today we talked about the definition of love. The liberal definition of love. We talked about the characteristics of love and how they are the characteristics of God. We talked about how God is love. We also talked about how love is forgiveness. We focused on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and 1 John 4:8.

"I think many of us get to this mindset because we are living by man’s standard of love, not God’s. When we live by God’s standard of love, all of this will be much easier. Life is better because we cannot help but love people, we cannot help but forgive. God’s love is the best kind of love."

Day 186: Turn Over a New Leaf

Deuteronomy 2:2-3

“Then at last the Lord said to me, ‘You have been wandering around in this hill country long enough; turn to the north.

We’ve talked a lot about staying put, and being patient and waiting on God before we move. But what about when it’s time to move what about when we’ve been in one place too long? When we’ve gotten comfortable and God is like, okay it’s time to go you gotta move on. I believe that this is what God is telling the Israelites, He’s like “You’ve been here long enough wandering around, it’s time to go you have to keep it moving.”

I’ve said this time and time again and I’ll say it once more. At this point in our lives, in our twenties, we are changing so much. It’s like we are constantly changing, constantly getting new revelations about ourselves and life, and making decisions. Old chapters are closing and new ones are opening and it’s scary. I would be lying if I told you it was all a breeze. Change is amazing, I am a fan of it, but that does not mean that it doesn’t scare the crap out of me, because it does.

This year has been full of change for me, recently the biggest thing I’ve done was decide to turn over a new leaf and close a chapter of my life to start a new one. I decided that I could not sit in the same spot anymore, this part of my life was done, I couldn’t sit in the same situation, I had to face my past and my fears. I had to decide to let go of a lot of things, and rather than allowing my past to continue to hurt me, let it inspire me. I made big decisions as to where I would live when I graduate, what I would do to survive on my own. The main reason this was done was because I felt God pushing me, telling me it’s time. That I have to step out on faith like I never have before and trust Him. One of my favorite quotes is from Viola Davis, and she says,

“Just jump afraid. Dare to do it, and maybe you land. Maybe it’ll be perfect.”

One of the biggest things stopping us from moving forward is uncertainty. If you are like me, you like to have a plan, security, you have to know what’s going to happen. You don’t like going into places blindly. I had to let go of that, because everything will not go as planned even if I do think I know what’s going to happen. I’ve learned to substitute uncertainty for faith. Meaning I might not know what’s going to happen but I trust in God’s plan. Sometimes we just have to leap, and trust God and trust me, the net will appear. God’s not going to tell you to jump and not catch you. He’s not going to tell you to move if He doesn’t know where you’re going.

What I want you to get out of today is, learn to close a chapter when it’s done. Don’t drag it out, I know starting new chapters and new things in your life can be scary, but it’s just as rewarding, it’s just as inspiring. It feels good to close a chapter and start a new one, It feels amazing because you know that God has a plan for you. You are trusting in that plan and depending solely on Him. This is kind of like finding our independence. We have to take leaps for ourselves. Parts of our journey will have to be walked alone and I don’t mean that in a bad way. What I mean is that we will get to a point where we start to make decisions and moves for ourselves. We don’t base our living on anyone else, or pleasing anyone but God. I’m going through that right now. We decide that we have to do this whatever ‘this’ may be, for ourselves, even if it means our friends and family don’t understand. We can’t let that stop us, nothing will stop God’s plan anyway. But this chapter is for us. It’s just something we have to do, and in the end we will be better for it.

God knows what He’s doing, just believe and trust in Him. He’s right there, He’s got you.

Reflection

1. Is there a chapter in your life that needs to be closed? Are you dragging it on?
2. Do you feel like you’ve been in the same place too long?
3. Don’t feel like it’s time to turn a new leaf?
4. What’s stopping you from moving forward?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about moving forward in your life and find comfort in knowing that He has a plan for you. He’s knows it’s scary but you just have to trust Him and move.

I love you, Have an amazing day. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 187!

Day 29: You're You, for a Reason

 

Often in the Christian faith we do not talk about being ourselves. We talk about giving ourselves up, we talk about being like Christ. We talking about changing our lives to look like Christ. But we never really talk about what it means to ‘be yourself’. I know we are supposed to give up our lives of sin in exchange for eternity through Christ. I know that we are all called to fulfill God’s plan. I know we have a purpose, but does that mean I stop being Dyamond. Do I stop being the goofy, laid back, weirdo I have always been? How do I find the balance between the human Dyamond and the Christian Dyamond? Truth is they should not be separate. - Dyamond

First off who we are as a human being and who we are as a follower of Christ should not be separate. We do not live two separate lives. I think there are many things stopping us from truly being ourselves. Especially us who are christians. The ultimately question is, am I allowed to have my own personality or does it conflict with my christian lifestyle? Do I have to give up my individuality?

Romans 12:4-6

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;

1 Corinthians 12:14-18

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are Christ’s body, and individual members of it.

1. We are not meant to be Christ-serving robots. Just because we give our lives to Christ does not mean we give up our individuality. God made us all different. He made us all different shapes and sizes, it's our DNA our psychology. We are all wired differently.  It’s the little things that make us who we are, and we must remember that God created those parts of us too, Every inch of our being was created by the hands of God, He knows us inside and out.  
2. Another thing that keeps us from being ourselves  is that we identity sin with self. Meaning that the moment we give our lives to Christ we are under the impression that every inch of our being is corrupted by sin. So if we want to be closer to Christ, we start to change our personal being. WE ARE NOT OUR SIN!!! Sin is what we do it’s not who we are. Who are we outside of our sin? That’s what we have to get to. When we push aside the sin, and insecurities, and bad habits, etc. Who are we? We sin because we are imperfect but we are not known by the sins we’ve committed. God does not call us by our sin.
3. Other people make us think that we are not enough, or that we need to be and do more. We see the lives of others and think we are supposed to look like them.

We cannot change who God made us to be, He made us the way we are for a reason. If everyone was walking around looking the same way, speaking the same way, life would be so boring. Sure we are all one body and we are one in the body of Christ but even the body has different jobs to uphold, the body has different parts that work together to funtion as a living breathing body. The foot cannot do what the leg can do, and the the eyes can’t do what the toes can do. As we are all individual we work together as the body of Christ to move forward. We all play a role in this life, and no matter what that role is, no matter how different it looks from the next person we have to be ourselves. We cannot be the legs and try to be the arms the next day because it feels like it’s not working out. God made each and everyone one of us individually. We must learn to be comfortable in the skin God gave us. We have to be ourselves, because no one else can be it for us. There’s no better you, than you. A lot of times we waste our time trying to be something else because we make assumptions as to who people perceive us as. We have to accept the person God made us to be, and be that. If your laid back, be laidback, if you’re more goofy than others, more stern or serious. Whoever you are, do not lose your individuality. Who are we when we are home alone, or hanging out with friends? Are we the outgoing type? Are we more quiet? what differentiates us from the next person? That’s what I’m talking about, when everything is stripped away will we still have our identity?

Keep in mind that being yourself does not mean being the sinful person we were before we came to Christ, or continuing to stay in those habist that separate us from God in the name of being ”Who we are”.

Reflection

1. Think about what it means to be yourself. What does that look like?
2. How has your personality changed since you've come to Christ?
3. Do you make assumptions about what people think of you?

Prayer Time

Today keep it simple, just talk to God about yourself, thank Him for making you the person you are. Ask Him to help you understand who that is, and to be comfortable in the skin He gave you.