Day 19: Finding Balance

In our twenties, many of us are still in college, grad school, working, some of us are married, some of us have children, and some of us have careers to keep up. We seem to be very busy all the time, and we are constantly trying to balance everything in our lives. We want to make time for everyone and everything, while still being responsible and handling the things that need to get done. We are trying to find stability, and get all of our ducks in a row, and sometimes everything spirals out of control and we don’t have a handle on anything. I have been there but I have found that for me, the key to having a balanced life is prioritizing. Figuring out what is most important to me, what should come first. I have also learned, the hard way, that when God is our number 1 priority everything else in our life seems to fall in place. This does not mean that everything is going to be a breeze it means that we will worry less because we know God has it under control. We know that God is holding us up and together.

Matthew 6:33-34

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The first step to living a balanced life is to keep God first. As the scripture says above we must seek first the kingdom of God. Christ should be our top priority, nothing and no one should come before Him. Anything we put before God is an idol. God says we should have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3) After the first step everything else will fall into place. This does not mean we stop working towards our goals and the things we want out of life, as the scripture says 'Faith without works is dead' (James 2:17). This means we keep God first and trust Him with our life, and everything will fall into place.

1. Make a list of your priorities, without thinking about it, just write the first thing that comes to mind. When you are done, read over that list. What is number one?
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Now write a second list of priorities, writing God as number one if He wasn’t already. How different would your life look if God came before everything and everyone?
   
   

Many times trying to balance life, and work, and family, and relationships can lead to a world of stress, and anxiety. We want to make sure that our spiritual lives are good, that we have a social life, and spending time with the people we love and care about, and then we want to take care of ourselves.Then we have school and work, children to take care of, we try to make sure that everything is taken care of. This will drive anyone crazy. We put so much pressure on ourselves to have everything together, and perfect. We tend to worry about the things we cannot do anything about. We want our lives to run smoothly, and the way we planned, I’m sorry but life is a bumpy ride it never goes how we expect.

1 Peter 5:6-7

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

The best advice someone ever gave me was to live for today because tomorrow's not promised. We have to take life day by day or even moment by moment because at any time life can change drastically. God has us taken care of, He knows where we are going, and when we seek His kingdom first, we do not have to worry about what will happen tomorrow or the next day, we just have to keep waking up and taking those steps of faith to get to the place God has for us.

Reflection (sort of)

• Slow down, step back and breathe, you are okay. Everything will be fine.
• Realize that we are unable to balance life on our own, our grip isn’t strong enough, but God can help us. He can keep us balanced even when we feel like we are hanging on by a thread.
• Seek God first. Everything else will fall into place.
  
  

Life is hard, but God makes it so much easier.

Prayer Time

Ask God to help you prioritize, and balance your life. Talk to Him about what it means to seek His kingdom. Be honest with Him and remember that prayer is just a conversation with God.

Day 14:God's Love

1 John 4:8

God is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away

We cannot know what true love is until we know God, because God is love. Without God we do not have the capacity or ability to love correctly. Once we get to know Christ and understand His love we will realize that love is the one thing that will never fail. God’s love never fails. I know this can be hard to believe at times. In our early twenties most of us have had our hearts broken a couple of times by now, and it feel like the worst thing ever. It’s terrible, but God loves us right through the pain He picks up the pieces and put our hearts back together again. God doesn’t break hearts, He repairs them.

Thinking about how much God loves us brings me so much joy. I love knowing that at every moment of my life for all eternity I can turn to God because He is the one person who will love me through any and everything. He loves me through my rebellion, my sin, my pain, my happiest moments, my lowest moments. He loves me in whatever state I am in and I find so much peace in that, so much joy. I did not understand what it meant to be loved unconditionally until I experienced God's love. I'm hit by a wave of emotion whenever I think about it and I just have to tell people, that God's love is greatest, there is no greater love than His.

-Dyamond

Throughout the entire bible God’s love and compassion for His people is not only talked about but experienced by the people over and over again. It never stops, it’s continuous, nowhere in the bible does it say that God ever stops loving His people.

By far one of the greatest examples of God’s love is Jesus Christ. God didn’t want to be separated from us, and sin caused that separation. He loves us so much that He cannot help himself. He went through drastic measures, very drastic, just so we can be reunited with Him and have a relationship with Him. So that we can love Him, be loved by Him, and love others.

John 3:16 (the scripture we started learning at 2)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

This scripture alone shows just how much God loves us, but it’s not this only scripture. The entire Bible is like sixty-six book love letter from God to us, his people.

But let’s go through the steps. We all know that the fall separated us from God. Adam and Eve decided to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree and ruined everything for all humanity. 😜Throughout the Old Testament we see the people falling from God and God having compassion on them and forgiving them. The Israelites in the wilderness, it took them 40 years to get to the promised land because they kept turning on God. We see how sin separated the people from God daily.

Fast forward to the New Testament when God sends Jesus. Here’s where it gets drastic, God chose a virgin woman, Mary, to carry the Messiah. A VIRGIN!!! TO CARRY A BABY! The Holy Spirit comes upon her, and a child is conceived in her womb. Mary was due to be married to Joseph, who knew for sure that the baby wasn’t his. But an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. When it was time for Jesus to be born, he was born in a manger, a dusty dirty manger. Not only that, but in Nazareth. Nazareth was where all the thugs were, this place did not have a good name, back then that was probably the worst place to live, but the greatest man to walk ever this earth (past, present, and future) came from there. They had to flee because King Herod was trying to kill Him. He wasn't even a full toddler before people were coming for His life. Fast forward thirty three years, Jesus, who was a carpenter before He started his ministry, would become the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. He would die the worst and most painful death known to man. He would have thorns stuck in His head, be beat all night, his skin would be ripped from his bones. He would be mocked and spat on, punched in the face, by the very people He was there to save. He would have nails hammered through His hands and feet, and sphere stuck in His side. He would die on a wooden cross between a thief and a murderer. He would take on our sin, and carry it to the grave. Jesus became sin and died so that we wouldn't have to. God would have to turn His back on His own son because God is a spirit and he cannot dwell in the same place as sin.  Jesus would be buried in  Joseph’s tomb and stay there for three days. But the best part is that HE ROSE AGAIN, and He lives today. He was dead, for three days, and He was resurrected. He conquered, death, sin, and the grave!!!

God did all of this because He loves us. Jesus gave up His life because He loves us. He could have come down off that cross when people were mocking and ridiculing Him, but love kept Him there. Our need for salvation, and God's desire to be close to us kept Him there.

That’s true love, God’s love is bigger than our sin, it’s bigger than our flaws, bigger than our mistakes, it’s bigger than us. But one thing is for sure is that we can always turn to God’s love. It’s not going anywhere, and I know that we can find peace and security in knowing just how much He loves us.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Use today to rest in God’s love. Go over the scriptures, and stories spoken about today and rest in the love of God. Fall inlove with Him all over again. Go through today knowing that no matter where you are in your life, or what you’ve done, where you’re from. God loves you, I cannot stress that enough. Every day of every hour, every second of the day God spends it loving us. Rest in that.

Justin Bieber Purpose

Day 12: Purpose

Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is the meaning of my existence? Is there a reason? Why am I the person I am?

Questions we have all asked ourselves and probably still ask ourselves. In order to answer those questions we have to look past the shields on our eyes. We have to look past, what our purpose will lead to. We have to look past the success it will bring, the wealth, and what we can get out of it. It’s so much deeper than that. There is a reason behind everything we do, there is always a motive, whether we admit it or not. We don’t just walk for the sake of walking or speak for the sake of speaking. There’s always a reason rather big or small, it's still a reason. So what’s the reason for our existence? What are we here for?

Isaiah 43:7

Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

The answer to those questions are right there in the scripture, we are created for the glory of God. We glorify God by living in relationship with Him, being faithful and committed to Him. God made us in His image, therefore we cannot fulfill our purpose apart from Him.

It’s easy to get lost in trying to find our purpose. We often go looking for meaning in our lives, and once we think we’ve found it, it seems to slip away from us. We can sometimes get lost in the complexity of life and forget about the simple things. We often confuse our goals with our purpose, we all have that one big dream that we want to reach, and once we get there we will have fulfilled our life’s purpose. But that’s not the case at all, it’s the reason behind what we do. What is our motive? If our very existence is to glorify God, everything we do will point to Him. The way we live, the way we treat others, how we carry ourselves, it all points to God. We will use our gifts to honor Him. We use what He’s given us, to bring Him glory. This doesn’t mean that you will be a pastor, or a worship leader, or work in the church.  Wherever God has you, whether you’re an artist, a doctor, lawyer, business person, scientist, engineer, musician, mathematician, teacher, pastor, worship leader, singer, etc. Whatever you do, do it to glory of God. When we are in a relationship with God and our foundation is in Him, our hearts are in the right place. Everything we do we do because we want to honor God. Our motives change, our outlook, and our perspective changes. We now have a reason to do what we do and we give it our all because we want to give God the best.

I always thought that glorifying God meant that I had to give up my passions, and dreams, to be a minister. I was under the impression that I had to drop everything and live in the church. I thought that I could not be a Christian and an actress at the same time. I realized that God gave me the gift of acting, He gave me the ability to entertain His people, and I will use it because He gave it to me. I will use it to glorify Him.  I was constantly trying to find a way to glorify God in everything I did. Trying to force my faith into every part of my life.  I realized that when I started to live in relationship with him I did not have to force my faith into my work. It is who I am, it is the life I live, so it shines through no matter what I am doing. Because Christ is my life, I can do nothing outside of Him.

-Dyamond

Matthew 7:16-17

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Reflection

1. Does your life glorify God?
2. In what ways can you use the gifts God has given you to glorify Him?

Prayer Time

Just respond to God in prayer. Stripping away all the distractions. Reread the scriptures, and tell God what is on your heart. Remember that this is a conversation between you and God, be honest with Him.

Day 10: Believing in Ourselves?

What does it mean when we say we believe in ourselves, do we believe that we can reach the dreams we aspire to reach or do we depend solely upon ourselves to get us there. If the answer is the latter than we have it all wrong. We cannot get anywhere without God. He is the source of our very being, we cannot breathe without Him. And if we can't do that on our own how are we going to get through life on our own? The simple answer is that we can't. 

I grew up being taught by teachers to always believe in myself, to trust myself, to believe and you can achieves. They told me, whatever you set your mind to, you can do, just believe. You can imagine my disappointment when I wasn't a big Disney Channel start with my own television show by the time I was 14. They just told me to believe in myself, to believe that I could do, focus and you will get there. My family taught me to pray. As I got older my perspective begin to change, and I found the source of my problem, pride. I felt like I could do everything on my own, I didn't need help from anyone I had myself and my dream and that was all I needed. I was going to make it to the top and everyone was going to know that my success was self-made. I prayed occasionally when I felt like I really needed God to get me what I wanted. I cannot tell you how wrong I was, when my focus began to shift off myself and focus on God, and entire new plan was revealed. When my vocabulary changed from, I can to God can, my life started to change. I began to realize that I was not meant to take on the world, I cannot go through life alone. I thought I could, and that was the very thing that broke me, because my pride had been built up for so long that it took me a while for me to believe that God could even do things for me. I was that person that always had to know what was going on, and where I was going, but when I put my faith in Christ all of the changed. I began to understand that my plan may look easier than His, but His is way better.

Philippians 4:11-13

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Paul is writing to the Philippians here, and he’s saying, I know how to be content. I know what it’s like to have a lot and to have nothing at all, And he goes into the last statement by saying I have learned the secret of facing this. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. In other words, he’s saying I cannot be content on my own, I cannot face these life struggles, and the sustain the blessings you give on my own. I’m running on your strength God, I need it to survive the good times and the bad times. I need you to live!

I think we love the idea of believing in ourselves until we need someone else to depend on because depending on ourselves is no longer working. That’s when we turn to God, when we can’t handle it anymore. We must learn to stop using God as a tool. We tend to find the place in our lives where God “fits” and keep Him there because that’s where and when we need Him the most. Often times we use God to get what we want, or we try to put Him on a leash. Almost as if we are saying, "okay God I will let you take me so far, but I got it from here. I don't need you anymore I can handle it now, thanks for the ride." As I've mentioned before, we have to let go of what we want for ourselves and trust that whatever God is doing, it's better. I think the problem with believing solely in ourselves is that, in our eyes, we become invincible. We can do anything, and go anywhere because we believe we can, we start to believe that we are untouchable. Some places we aren't meant to go and some things we are not meant to do, at that point in time.

If we believe that we can can do all things through Christ, then it is possible. It's called faith. But when we decide that we can do it alone, apart from God that's when we  start to stumble. There is nothing wrong with believing in your abilities, but remember who gave you those abilities. We are here by the grace of God, we are not here on our own doing, we are here because God wants us in the place and position we are in. We can believe in ourselves all we want but without Christ we have no power, we cannot do anything without him Our hope is in the Lord not ourselves. It is through faith that we are given the strength to live, that we are given the ability to be better than who we were. As we take the focus off of ourselves and put it into Christ, we will find ourselves doing things we never thought we would do. We will find ourselves in positions we could only have ever dreamed of being in. When we give ourselves up to Christ, what we get in return is beyond us. We must choose to give up trusting in ourselves and trust in God and the outcome will be a million times greater than what we thought we could do on our own. Life is just so much better with Christ.

Reflection

Today just shift your focus from self to God. Make that slight change in your vocabulary to choose to trust God over self.

Prayer Time

If this message spoke to you today, or it didn’t as much. Talk to God about it. Talk to God about how you are feeling. This is just a conversation between you and Him. You can write it down, or you can speak. However the spirit leads you, just let the Holy Spirit guide your prayer today.