Day 349: What Will You Do

Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Galatians 6:2

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Lately I feel God has been challenging me in many ways and I want to bring those challenges to you. I think as the Body of Christ we are being challenged to do more and be more. Not in a sense that we aren’t enough but that there is always something more to be done. 

We are constantly talking about how the world is corrupt and we want world peace and we need someone to help. Well I have news for you. We are that someone to help. We are that someone to make a change in the world. We are the spark to the fire. God calls us the light of the world for a reason. Not so we can sit in darkness s d hide our light. But so that we can bring light into the darkness. Let me tell you that the world is becoming darker and darker everyday. With that being said the body of Christ must grow brighter and stronger everyday. We must be the change that not only we want to see but the change that this world needs. There’s is so much going on in the world and we are looking to everyone else to fix it. We are looking for politicians to fix this when what our people need is Prayer. What our countries need is for the people of God to show them that all hope s not gone. That there is a God and He is still sovereign and He is always listening. 

While we are waiting for celebrities, politicians, and city and community leaders to speak up and do something. My question to the body of Christ is what do you say? What will you do? How do you treat people? I ask myself these questions as well. It starts with us. Equality, justice, peace, truth. It all starts with us. What will we do when we see injustice happening? What will we do when we see people falling and persecuted? What will we do? We often think that these are not our battles or our conversations. By overlooking the things that are causing the world so much pain how are we helping to heal. By looking over our brother or sister who is starving and struggling how are we doing God’s will. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is  in Matthew 25:35-40 when Jesus says,35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

So again I ask, What will you do?  

I know that when God saw His people falling and being destroyed by sin, He sent Jesus. That’s what He did. He did something for His people and because of that act of grace and love we are here today. He sent a savior to save the world and Jesus sent us. Jesus gave us a mission to go out and make disciples. 

Response/Prayer Time 

Take the time to answer the questions proposed today. As the year begins to wind down we are talking about putting our faith into action and serving Christ in all the ways we can. Talk to God about what that looks like for you and ask Him what He wants you to do and where He wants you to go. 

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 350!

Day 346: Live For Something that Matters

Mark 8:35
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.

Lately I have been feeling challenged to do more, to live for something more than just me. In a sense I feel as if I have been living in my own little bubble of faith. It's just me and my prayers for my life and the people connected for me. Forgetting that their is a whole world out there, an entire nation of people that God has sent me for, but I am too consumed with my life to see them. I am too busy praying for what I want that I overlook that the fact that there is more than just me. Yeah, I read my bible and pray every morning and before I go to bed, but when I think about it, my prayers are very much directed inward. God help me, help me reach my dreams and goals, help my family, my friends, But what about the other dreamers, what about the families that have no one to pray for them. Being a Christian is more than just praying for God to help us live a righteous life, but it's about praying for those that don't even know they have the opportunity to live a righteous life. It's about living a life like Jesus, one that seeks out the broken just to heal them. Reading the word of God not just so it can transform my life but sharing it so that it can transform the lives of others.

If we as the body of Christ will turn our prayer away from ourselves, and towards the people of God. If we will turn our prayers towards the broken and the sick, and the tormented. If we will take our eyes off ourselves, our religion, our denominations, church attire, and the number of church services we have in a day. If we turn our focus towards the bigger picture, we will discover an entire world of people that have yet to come in contact or know who Jesus is. We will find that there are people begging for prayer. There are people begging to hear the word of God, but are we too consumed with our own small circle to see that it can go further than where we are. It needs to go further than where we are. This means that we have to put ourselves on the back burner, we have to set our needs and wants aside because the needs and wants of God's children is greater. The needs of the person with no food is greater than our need to go out and hang with friends at an expensive restaurant. Our needs or want for the latest pair of Jordan's or whatever it may be becomes pretty small when we see that someone is walking around with no shoes on their feet and no clothes on their back. Our needs and wants become pretty small when we think about the needs and want so of others. We are walking around boasting in a life that we live while we walk past our brother and sister that only wants a glimpse of what we have. There's too many millionaires and billionaires in the world for millions even billions of people to be starving, living on the streets, and living in toxic and harmful conditions. There are too many church leaders and ministers for there to be people walking around as broken as they are, sometimes from he seats of our churches. God didn't give us what we have just for us. We are here for something much greater much bigger than ourselves. Like a doctor has the ability to heal, they know that if they do not use their knowledge to do their job someone's life will be on the line. If a surgeon has the ability to fix someone's heart but does not do so what is the use of them being a surgeon on the first place if they are not going to do what they have been educated to do (I've been watching a lot of Grey's anatomy lately).

No matter how big  and great we think we are, God sent us here for something much bigger ad greater. We all want to matter and we all think we matter and we do. But at the end of the day God is less concerned with how much you mattered to the people that adored you. We are seeking this adoration from people instead of seeking approval from God. We are living this life that is shaped to elevating ourselves. There's no use of getting to the top if when we get there we left everyone at the bottom to die. Why are so consumed with this idea of being adored so much that we are willing to overlook the people that actually need our adoration. We are willing to walk pass the person that maybe all they needed was for us to smile at them but we are consumed with the number of people smiling at our presence. There is nothing wrong with being adored but when we think about what are we adored for, and is it all about self gain?

I had to learn to look away from myself so I can see the world God ha placed me in too help heal and save. We are constantly asking God to save and change the world. We all want world peace, we want the broken to be healed, so we pray. We pray and ask god to do it, and when we don't see a change we pray again and this cycle continues. But did we ever think we are the answer to those prayers? Did we ever think that nothing is happening because we aren't doing it?  Did we ever think that the very task or mission we are trying to put off on God He has put on us?  We pray for change but it never crosses our mind that God sent us to where we are because we are the change that we have been praying for. But we think that asking God to do it is enough and having faith to do it is enough. It's not when the mission is ours. It's not enough when He's telling us and equipping us to do it. Let's not neglect our mission because we are so consumed with ourselves and our small little world.

All this to say, when we look away from ourselves that is when we will realize that God sent us here with a mission and it is more than just our lives involve. We will have to be the least and last sometimes. We will have to sacrifice, the question is are we willing. It less about being able and more about being willing. God wouldn't give it to us if we didn't have the ability but do we have the will? That's the question. Do we have the will to live for something that will not necessarily make us great but will be greater than us. There's a reward, a satisfaction, a fulfillment if you will in living for something outside of self. That's why giving our lives to Christ completes us.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to reflect and respond on what we discussed today. Have a conversation with God about what we talked about. Ask yourself if you are willing to take on the mission God has for you.

I love you all 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 347!

Day 343: Recap

Today, take the time to go back over what we discussed this week. Whatever spoke to you the most dive a little deeper into it. I’m not doing a day by day Recap today. Today as you finish going over this week take the time to pray on that subject. But also take the time to pray for you me country. Take the time to pray for those affected by the fires in California. Also take the time to pray for those in Libya. People have been taken from their homes and sold into slavery, we need to pray for those people. A lot has gone on this week from politics to natural disasters, and college students everywhere preparing for and everything finals week. Life our people up in pray. Today pray for our nations and our people and our leaders.
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 344!

Day 340: A Good Support

3 John 1:5-11

5 Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God. 7 For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers. 8 So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth. I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us. 10 When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church. 11 Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.

Psalms 133:1

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!

As the people of God were traveling and preaching they would not accept anything from unbelievers. Therefore it became the duty of the believers to support the apostles as they came to town. However a certain someone was telling the people not to give anything to them, and if they did they were put out of the church. But before that the scripture says that by caring for the traveling teachers we are being faithful to God. By providing for them and giving them what they need we are pleasing God. It does not please God that we let His people and our brothers and sisters in christ starve or sleep outside when we have a bed or at least extra room for them. There’s a couple of things I want to discuss today, one being the importance of support within the body of Christ and also unity in this body.

It is so important that we as a people support one another and not let division drive us apart.  If anyone should support anyone it should be the body of Christ. If no one supports us we should support one another. There needs to be unity in the body of Christ. Our support system needs to be strengthened. It’s a part of being selfless and walking in humility like Christ. We must think of others, it is also another example of loving your neighbor. There are many ways in which we can support each other that extends far beyond lending a helping hand or giving someone food. When we think of things like being generous we often only apply that generosity to people who are less fortunate than us. But what if we applied that generosity to our brothers and sisters in christ? What if we started showing up for one another and being there for one another? What if we just decided to cheer each other on? We all need a good support group and the body of Christ should be just that. It’s more than being a cheerleader for each other, but it’s not just praying and loving from a distance either. As an artist one of the most amazing things to see is artists supporting other artists. Art in any form is a profession often looked down upon by many, but we are a thriving community because we support one another’s work and art. We believe in one another when no one else does. Can the body of Christ be like this. The body of christ thrives because we are all together. We are one body moving through life together. We thrive because we lift one another up, we are there for one another. We cannot count on the world but we can count on one another. We are doing the will of God when we decide to support one another. This is why unity within the body of Christ is so important.

The scripture talks about how Diotrephes would kick anyone out of the church when they helped the travelers who came to preach the gospel, because he wanted to be the leader. We cannot allow division in the body of Christ. We cannot allow people to come in and try to stop us from being there for one another. We stand as a united front, when one falls we are all there to strengthen and pick them back up. When one is in need we are all there to help and give where we can.

It reminds me of the church in the books of Acts when the believers sold their positions and brought them to the church so that no one would be in need.

Acts 4:32-35

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

All this to say, be supportive of one another. Not just in church, but in life. Go support that friend at their show, help with that fundraiser. We must be cheerleaders for one another, being a support group from heaven. Take the time to be there for someone else, support isn’t a one time thing, it’s continuous.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Whatever is on your heart talk to God about it. Pray for unity and support within the body of Christ.

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 341!

Day 324: God Wants the Best for Us

2 Peter 3:9 
“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”
‭‭There is a common misconception that God want us all to perish. That God made hell for us “sinners”. That holds no truth whatsoever. It is not God’s will that any of us should perish. I remember a pastor saying to the congregation, “God does not send us to hell, we send ourselves there.” When we decide that we want to live in sin and not walk with God according to His word, we condemn ourselves. We do that ourselves, that’s not the work of God.  If God wanted us to perish and die in our sin why would He provide a way for us to be freed from the life of sin. It’s says right there in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That’s the God we serve. A God who wants the best for His people. We serve a God who does not delight in punishing us but delights in blessing us and drawing us near to Him.
I think sometimes when we read the Bible and we see that there is punishment for our sins we interpret that as God just wanting to punish us. We tend to see God as this mean old grandpa in the sky casting damnation upon everyone. When in truth He is a loving father who only wants the best for us. He is a caring father who will correct us when we are wrong. He will put on the right path when we go astray. He is not sitting on a throne judging and condemning us, but the exact opposite. He is sitting on a throne with Jesus at His right hand loving and leading us. God calls us to repentance not to point out our sin and judge us for it but He brings us to repentance so that we may have a relationship with Him. 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. God could condemn us, He could smite us for all of our wrong. But He doesn’t because His Love for us is so much greater than His anger. His love covers our sin. It is His love that gives us grace.
God wants us to have a good life. He wants us to enjoy our lives with Him. Sometimes we think that sin is fun, but that fun only lasts a moment. God wants to give us eternity. He wants to shower us with His love.
All this to say, God wants only the best for us. When we decide that we want to live apart from God we are throwing ourselves into the lake of fire. God wants to save us, He is not like satan walking among the Earth to see who he can destroy. But God sents His son to walk the Earth to save us from destruction and damnation.
Reflection
1. Have you ever vied God as a mean old grandpa?
2. Do you think that it is God’s will for us to perish?
3. How has God changed how you view who He is?

Prayer Time 
Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today. Whatever is on your heart talk to Him about it. Take the time to dedicate your heart and life to Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 325!

Day 323: All in a Day's Work

2 Peter 3:8

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.

I remember when I first heard and read this scripture I was so discouraged. I was discouraged because what I took from it was, that I would be waiting all my life to receive a blessing from God. I thought that I would have to wait until I was nearly dead. However that is not the case, yes we have to patiently wait for God and trust in His timing and sometimes that means waiting longer than expected. One thing we must know is that God’s plan and timing are perfect.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I grasps true clarity of this scripture.  When I took my eyes off myself and put them on Christ I gained an understanding that wa beyond me. God does so much in a day that it’s like a thousand years. That’s mind blowing when you think of it. God does so much in a day that it can be spread out over the span of a thousand years. Crazy! The saying, “God is working or God is busy.” has a new meaning. He is literally always working and doing things, He’s keeping the earth in it’s place. To start things off there’s approximately seven billion people on the Earth, 7,000,000,000. That’s a big number, He wakes us all up every morning. God wakes approximately seven billion people up every morning. Different regions, continents, time zones. It’s mind blowing! Let’s think about this, how many battles has God defeated before they even got to us. How many times has He spared us and we didn’t even know. Stopped attacks from reaching us that we never even knew about. God is fighting battles for us that we never see. His walking before us and defeating enemies we didn’t even know we had, and that’s just the supernatural.

God is constantly moving in our lives and we see that everyday, He is answering our prayers, listening to them, and blessing us all at the same time. He always has His eyes on us, God is always watching out for us.  He knows every move we will make before we make it. He knows where each of us are going at every moment.  

This is one of the most humbling scriptures I have ever read. Sometimes we can get so busy and so tired and exhausted and start to complain. Yes we are human and the more stress we put on ourselves and our bodies, the more exhausted we will be. Sometimes we have to just thank God for everything He’s done. Even in our exhaustion and even in our times of stress, we cannot automatically fall into this world of complaints because God is so much greater than it all. We also get to points in our lives when we are so proud and excited for the things that we do for ourselves that we tend to forget that it’s really God doing and the doing. 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. All of this goes to show just how great God is. We will never understand the magnitude of His greatness. We can never completely wrap our minds around His glory.

All of this to say, God does so much for us, more than we can ever imagine and it’s all explained to us in this small verse. God is great.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Rest with this scripture, meditate on it and just take the time to thank God for who He is and all He’s done, is doing, and will continue to do in our lives.

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 324!

Day 322: Recap!

Day 316: This Beautiful Romance 


Today we talked about having a relationship with God and how it is a special kind of relationship. We talked about how it is similar to a marriage, and how God is committed to us. We also touched a bit on our commitment to God. We focused on Ephesians 5:25-27 and Isaiah 62:5.

" God doesn’t want a casual relationship with us, He wants a marriage, He wants us to be with Him for all eternity."

Day 317: Knowing God for Ourselves

Today we continued the theme of having a relationship with God, but today we talked about getting to know God for ourselves. We talked about when it comes to entering into a relationship with God and giving our lives to Him, that decision is completely on us. We talked about how we cannot depend on anyone to grasp salvation for us, we must receive it for ourselves. We focused on John 14:6.

"We have to come to know God for who He is, we must profess our own faith. We must repent for our own sins. Our parents, our mentors, our pastors, no one can do that for us."

Day 318: Light Up My World

Today we talked about how the word of God lights up our lives, how it livens our spirits and our world. We talked about how the word of God is like a lamp on dark path and it guides and instructs us through life. We focused on 2 Peter 1:18-21

"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."

Day 319: So Will I

Today was inspired by Hillsong United's song, 'So Will I' we talked about how all creation reveals the glory of God. We focused on Psalms 19:1-4. We talked about how if the earth worships God we will also, and of Jesus gladly chose surrender so will we. 

"Everything reveals a bit more about who God is, it tells us a little more about His love for creation and humanity."

Day 320: When God Blocks

Today we talked about how sometimes God is the one blocking our paths and closing doors. We often blame it on the enemy but sometimes God stands in the way of what we are trying to do because it is not what He wants or has planned for us. We focused on Numbers 22:21-34. 

"Everything is not the devil’s work, God works a million times more than satan."

Day 321: Half Empty or Half Full

Today we talked about perspective we talked about being content with we are and where God has us in our lives. We talked about how sometimes we are so focused on having the glass full that we miss what God is doing right in front of us because we're too busy looking at the glass as half empty. Therefore constantly trying to fill it. We focused on, 1 Timothy 6:6 and Philippians 4:11.

"Sometimes we are so focused on getting to next place and getting more than we already have that we miss God. We are overlooking what God is doing right now because we are so concerned with what He is going to do or what we want to do."

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 323!

Day 320: When God Blocks...

Numbers 22:21-34

So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, 23 Balaam’s donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls.25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again. 26 Then the angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all. 27 This time when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down under Balaam. In a fit of rage Balaam beat the animal again with his staff. 28 Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam. 29 “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!” 30 “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?”

“No,” Balaam admitted.

31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him. 32 “Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the angel of the Lord demanded. “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me. 33 Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.” 34 Then Balaam confessed to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I didn’t realize you were standing in the road to block my way. I will return home if you are against my going.”

Sometimes we blame the devil for what God is doing because it doesn’t go the way we want it to. Whatever ‘it’ may be. We tend to think that when things don’t go the way we think they should then the devil’s hand is in it. Sometimes it’s God’s doing. Sometimes God is the one putting a block in our path. Sometimes God is the one stopping us from doing the very thing that we think is right. That’s what’s going on here, God is stopping Balaam from doing the very thing He is telling him not to do.

To give a bit of background of what is going on here, Balaam is approached by the King of Moab telling him to come curse the people that have just arrived from Egypt. God’s like, “No Balaam you will not go and curse the people I’ve blessed.” So Balaam relays that message to the king he’s all like, “God said no, go home I can’t go with you.” So the king sends his people more than before, and the king is like, “Please don’t let anything stop you from coming, I will pay you good money, just come.” Hold on, let’s unpack this. So Balaam is obviously a man of God and the king knows this, instead of honoring the fact that Balaam is listening to God, the king says “Don’t even let God stop you from coming, I will give you a lot of money”. As if his money is greater than God. Some of us have people in our lives that do not care about our relationship with God. Meaning they do not understand what God means to us so they are in a way trying to tear us apart from Him. Don’t let that happen to you. God is greater. Don’t allow the people God is trying to block you from, block you from God.

Back to the story, Balaam tells the king's people that he has to see what God says. So God is like, “Since they came to get you go ahead, but only do what I tell you, nothing else. On his way there God tries to stop him by sending an angel to block his path, but only the donkey sees him. This is the part I want to get to. Sometimes we miss the signs, we don’t see what God is putting right in front of us, and sometimes refuse to listen to the people or things God uses as vessels to warn us. The donkey saw the angel in the road and stopped every time. Each time the donkey stopped, Balaam who was trying to get to where he was going got angrier and angrier because the donkey was putting a dent in his plans. How many times are we like this with God’s people. When things don’t go our way we get into a bad mood, taking it out on everyone else as if it’s there fault. But if we open our eyes and see what God is doing we will understand that sometimes God is the ery one blocking our path. Sometimes He is the one who stops is from going into our own destruction. Everything is not the devil’s work, God works a million times more than satan. We as humans tend to give the credit to satan because we don’t  like what God is doing. Sound familiar?

All this to say, God is always working on our behalf even when we think He’s not. When God blocks something in our lives allow it to be blocked because when God closes a door please believe He’s opening another one for us. When God blocks something in our path it is never without reason. He knows what He’s doing.

Reflection

1. Have you ever felt like God was stopping you from doing something but you continued to do it anyway?
2. HOw many times have you found yourself blaming the devil for something God is doing?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Take the time to reflect on what we talked about today and respond in whatever way you feel led.

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 321!

Day 315: Recap!

Day 309: Don't Anticipate, Live!

Today we talked about how we sometimes focus so much on anticipating how life is going to go or what's going to happen that we forget to live. We forget to live the life God has given us. We have to focus on living life while we still have it because it's not permanent. We focused on 2 Kings 20:1-6.

"God reveals the plan as we go, so that way we cannot pick and choose and anticipate what is to come. Live life like we don't know what is going to happen because we don't and that's the beauty of it."

Day 310: Proving Your Faithfulness

We talked a lot this week about where our focus is. Today we discussed how sometimes we are too focused on proving to God how faithful we are and forgetting the being faithful part. We talked about how no matter how God is less concerned with sacrifice and more concerned with our hearts. We focused on James 5:12, 1 Samuel 15:22, and Proverbs 21:3.

"Having a relationship with God is so much better than having on a mask of Christianity."

Day 311: Guard Your Heart, Don't Block It

Today we talked about how sometimes we confuse guarding our heart with blocking it. Meaning we build walls to protect ourselves making our hearts unreachable. We build walls not letting anyone in or not letting anything out. We talked about how God want to love us and send people who love us but always teach us how to love, and we cannot do that if we are too guarded. We focused on Proverbs 4:23 and Ezekiel 36:26.

"We cannot allow what has happened to us in the past influence how we love people in the present and the future."

Day 312: What Controls You?

Today we talked about how we are slaves to whatever controls us, and we proposed the question what is controlling us or what are we allowing to control us. We talked about how we should not be controlled by worldly desires but our desire live like and be with Christ. We focused on 2 Peter 2:19. 

"God is not here to constantly feed our desires, yes He will give us the desires of our hearts but first He wants a relationship with us."

Day 313: Don't Pressure Yourself 

Today we talked about how we as Christians and just people in general put too much pressure on ourselves. We put too much pressure on ourselves to be perfect, or to always get it right. We talked about the beauty of being a follower of Christ is that even though we are imperfect Christ completes us with His perfection.  We focused on Romans 8:1 and 1 John 3:20.

" If God, who created us and knows everything there is to know about us and knows what we are going to do before we do it, if He finds no reason to condemn us, let’s not do it to ourselves."

Day 314: The Pursuer of Hearts

Today we talked about how God is in constant pursuit of our hearts. We talked about how God want to be in a relationship with us, that He wants to be in communion with His people. We talked about how He took drastic measures to have a relationship with is. We focused on Luke 19:10, Genesis 3:8-9, and Psalms 23:6a.

"God is always loving on us, the way He loves us is unfathomable to the human mind we can never completely wrap our minds around it. And He wants us. He wants our hearts He wants us to love Him, and He wants to live in unity with us."

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 316!

Day 308: Recap! (Kinda)

We're doing the recap a bit differently today. Take the time to go back over what we discussed this week. Whatever spoke to you the most or whatever you feel led to, take the time to reflect. As we reflect today I want to bring your attention to Day 305 when we talked about trusting in the power of prayer and praying in faith. Tonight America needs of prayer, Texas needs our prayers. As another mass shooting has taken place just a month after the last mass shooting. Both together have claimed the lives of hundreds of people. Today a gunman walked into a church and opened fire killing 26 people. So tonight we pray, tonight we lift up those people and we pray for the families. We pray for healing for those hurt and affected. We pray for peace in our world and we pray that even through the evil in the world we will always see the goodness of God. In the midst of all the hate we will love. We love you Texas and Vegas, and you are in our prayers.

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 309!

Day 304: When It's Out of Our Control

James 5:7

Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.

I love the analogy of a farmer waiting for the harvest, or the rains to come so the plants can grow. I know this scripture is about patience but what I get from this is that the farmer is not worrying or stressed about when the harvest will come. One because they know that it will come in due season, but also it is something that is out of their control. That’s what I want to discuss today, we as humans sometimes worry about things that we cannot control and we stress ourselves out for no reason.  We get to the point of worry or stress where we can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t focus, can’t do anything. That is not healthy, worry does nothing but make the situation worse. I can tell you that worrying is never the answers, worrying has never fixed a problem.

How many times have you been worried in the past month about things that are out of your control? What about the last week? One thing that God has taught me is to always trust Him, His timing, and His plan. I used to worry about everything, the smallest things to the biggest things until I realized that there is no reason for me to worry because God already has it figured out and also why worry when there is nothing I can do about it. Let’s not stress ourselves out and go into early menopause or mid-life crisis because we spent all of our time worried about things that we can literally do nothing to change. All we can do is wait on God, like the farmer patiently waits on the harvest. When we spend less time worried about things we spend more time focusing on God. When our focus is on God we don’t have time to be stressing about what He’s already taken care of. When was the last time worry helped you through something? It never really helps all it does is give us unnecessary anxiety.

Recently I had an audition for a showcase that will be happening in Los Angeles. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s when actors get the chance to perform for multiple agencies, manager, casting directors, etc. As someone who is from Los Angeles and is planning on moving back after college this was a big deal for me. A huge deal! So I prepared for my audition, more than I’ve ever prepared in my life for an audition. I prayed, had everyone else praying and I went in there and did it. In my opinion, it was the best audition I had ever done. I walked out of there confident. We wouldn’t know if we were in the showcase for another week, so that week was a struggle. I had to continue to pray, not that I would get into the showcase but that I would not worry or stress myself out waiting for the results. I came to the conclusion that whatever happens it would part of God’s plan and two I had no control over what happened next, all I could do was have faith in God. A week later I got into the showcase!

-Dyamond

All this to say, sometimes we are so worried about the things going on in our lives, the results we are waiting on, or the things we are praying for that we forget to have faith in God. Don’t let your worry get in the way of you focusing on God. He’s got in all under control even when it looks like everything is going crazy, God’s got it under control.

Reflection

1. Do you ever find yourself worrying about things that are out of your control?
2. How has worrying helped?
3. How has choosing to have faith in God and His planned helped?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your pray, if you have a tendency to worry and be anxious ask God to free you from that.

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 305!