Day 341: Crazy Love!

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Romans 13:10

Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

1 Peter 4:8

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Has love ever caught you by surprise? Like have you ever been overtaken by love and didn’t realize it until something happens and you know only love could make you do something like that? They say love makes you do some crazy things, that can be both good and bad. But today we want to talk about the good kind of crazy love.

Love will take you by surprise sometimes, and sometimes it’s unintentional. I cannot stay mad at anyone, even when I try I cannot hold a grudge against anyone because my love for whoever it is is greater. I have too much compassion and it’s all Jesus’ fault. He made me like this. He did this to me. It may sound funny, but I’m serious. Sometimes I just want to be mad, like give me time to sulk and get over it. Just let me be angry sometimes, I’ll get over I just don’t want to get over it at this exact moment. But then I’m reminded of the scriptures and how Jesus loves us and forgives us, and how we are called to love one another. I’m reminded that love covers the multitude of sins. I’m reminded that love forgives, and does no harm. I’m reminded of all these things and I start to ask myself what would Jesus do. Then the next thing I know I’m praying for that person, because I love them so much. Because God loves them so much and God loves me, and His love is within me. I cannot help but to love His people the way He loves them.  

Our hearts are set up a certain way, they are set up in Christ, they have been captured by the Lord. This heart in me, that heart in you has been purified by the Holy Spirit and made new. This heart God has complete ownership over. Therefore we love like God and live like Christ. That means we love even when we do not want to. It means that the love we have in our hearts will catch us by surprise, and sometimes that’s how we know it’s genuine because we aren’t even trying to love but it happens. We aren’t even trying to live like Christ but our hearts have been captivated by Him so it just happens. That’s that crazy kind of love I’m talking about. It’s crazy because sometimes we don’t want it, but we cannot help it. Sometimes we love people so much only to have them not love us an ounce back. It’s the crazy love that says even though you sin against me and nail me to a cross I will ask God to forgive you while you are in the act of killing me.  That’s the love that is in us and we wonder why we can do no harm to our neighbor even when they harm us. We wonder why we have so much compassion for people even when our mind tells us they don’t deserve it, the heart does something different. We have to follow our hearts, because God is in our hearts. When our hearts are full on God, everything that comes out of them will be just like Christ. Yes, that will catch us by surprise sometimes but it is the best feeling ever! It is great to know that God is so good that He makes us good as well. God’s love towards us is so unconditional that we learn to love people without condition. It’s beautiful.

All this to say, walking with God will have us loving people even when we want to do everything but that. But love is the key to living. Love is the key to peace. Love is everything we need. God is love.

Reflection

1. Has love ever caught you by surprise?
2. If yes to the above question, elaborate.

Prayer Time

Take the time to talk to God about love. Thank God that He loved us first. Thank Him that He teaches us how to love and how to live. Whatever is on your heart talk to God about it.

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 342!

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 312: What Controls You?

2 Peter 2:19

They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

Control- to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate, command

How many times have we wanted something so bad that that very thing started to control our lives? When we need something or want something and it’s all we can think about, it’s our motive for living? What is directing you or commanding your attention. What is something in your life that seems to have a hold on you, that one thing that controls your life? Is it God or is it something else. In other words, what are we living for? That’s a huge question because it will determine how we are living, and how we treat others. Sometimes we are controlled by so many other things than God and it will take us down every path but the right one, it will lead us everywhere but where we are supposed to be.

I have seen this generation be controlled by money, status, luxury, the need to be liked, fame, acceptance, we are in constant search of purpose yet we are looking in all the wrong places. We as humans are often controlled by our desires. We are controlled by what we want and that’s where we go wrong, because some of us will stop at nothing to get what we want even if God Himself is telling us to stop. That’s why we must get to a point where we want God more than we want anything else. Where our desire for God is stronger than anything. That is when we will start to allow God to be in control and that is when things will begin to fall in place. It is only when we give our lives to Christ and surrender our desires to God that we will be moving in the right direction. There’s nothing like being attached to our worldly desires, that will get us caught up.

How many times have you felt like you couldn’t stop something, especially because the sensation of it was too good. Sin can have a strong hold on us, because for so long it’s all we know and it feels good. Or at least it feels good for the moment. See sin is a quick, temporary, pleasurable fix, it’s like a drug, that’s why we’ve found ourselves going back for more. Even when we knew what was right. This make look different for everyone but those desires to sin are hard to shake, and can have control over us like nothing else. That’s why we see the Israelites turn away from God so many time, because in the moment the pleasure of sin feels feels so much better than the desire to do what is right. We are controlled by our desires and that leads us to be controlled by sin. This is not to say that every desire is a sin, sometimes we are controlled by our need to succeed or be perfect or be a good person. It’s how we go about obtaining the things that we desire. Do we take them to God or do we allow them to take over our life and take our eyes off the Lord. Anything that takes our focus off of God is not good for us.

What gets you out of bed in the morning. What keeps you going day by day? Whatever your answer is to that question is the thing that controls you. I have heard many people, myself included, say that things other than God keep them moving. Some people say how their kids are the reason they get out of bed, their career, their needs to get money. While there is nothing wrong with being motivated by outside stimuli however, when all of that is gone can we still function? Can we still live and move, or do we need another outside stimulus to keep us going? See the thing about living for God is He is permanent, He’s going to always be there. 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. He wants our hearts. He gives us what we have but also has the power to take away. God gives us a reason to get up in the morning, therefore He is the reason we open our eyes. He is the reason we have breath. No one but God did that. God gave us a purpose a reason to live, but too often we find ourselves trusting in the path and not God, we focus on the gift more than the giver.  Meaning we are more focused on where we are and how we are going to get there as opposed to trusting in God and His plan to guide us wherever He wants us to be.

All this to say, do not be controlled by desires for worldly thing rather allow our desires for Christ be the center of our lives. Allow Christ to be at the very core of who we are. Allow God to be in control and we will never be empty as the Holy Spirit will always dwell within us. God is constantly pouring into us, and He has everything under control we just have to surrender to Him.

Reflection

1. What are you controlled by?
2. How have you let your desires controls you?
3. Is you desire for Christ greater than you desire for anything or anyone else?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide you prayer. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today. Let God lead you and take you as far as He wants you to go, just be with 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 313!

Day 305: Trust In the Power of Prayer

James 5:13-18

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

I think sometimes we underestimate the power of prayer, or we doubt while praying. Why do we turn to prayer as a last resort, and why do we still worry or why do we doubt if we pray. When we pray we are having faith that God will answer us, that He hears us and that He is going to answer our prayer. Sometimes we allow what we see to make us doubt what God can do.

I love that the answer to all the questions in the above scripture is prayer. Whatever is going on in our lives we should pray. If we’re sick, upset, happy, in and out of season we should constantly be in prayer, Sometimes we allow our situation to dictate our prayers lives. I think all of us have been there. When we are in trouble, when things are falling apart we are in constant prayer. But when things are going good for us, when life is treating us right, why is our prayer lives reduced to close to nothing? Our situation changes the way we pray and what we pray for but it should not affect our prayer life at all. The truth is it’s sometimes easier to pray when things in our lives are out of control because we need God to fix them. We need God to deliver us and bring us out of the hard times. But what about the good times. When things are going good, praise God. There’s nothing like taking the time to thank and praise God for what He has done, for who He is and how He has moved in our lives.

Many times we feel ourselves praying to God for the same things over and over again, as if we want to make sure that He hears us, or has heard us. There’s nothing wrong with constantly praying for something, but at what point is that constant prayer bred from doubt. What I mean is, when we pray do we really believe that God can do it. Are we praying just to pray or are we praying in faith? Some things takes a lot of prayer, and sometimes we are doubting God. There is no use of us praying if we are going to doubt and worry anyway. This is something God has taught me, don’t pray and worry, don’t pray and doubt. It defeats the purpose of prayer. We must pray in faith and trust in the power of prayer, and that means trusting that God hears us and He is going to answer us. This does not mean that we will always get the answer we want. It means that we are trusting God and His plans.

When talking about Elijah Peter says before anything, “Elijah was as human as we are…” I think that is meant to encourage us, yes we are human, so was Jesus, and Paul, and John, and Peter, and Timothy, and all the Apostles, but when they prayed God moved. That is because they prayed in faith knowing that it was not by human hands or human power but it was through the divine power of God that these things were done. Yes, we are mere humans but we serve an almighty God who can do anything! The scripture goes on to talk about how Elijah prayed that it would not rain, and it didn’t rain for three and half years, exclamation point! Then when he prayed for rain it rained! This is the power of prayer, something that seems so simple yet so hard for many people is one of our most powerful weapons. Prayer changes things, God moves when His people earnestly pray to Him, having faith that He will answer. Elijah did not talk about how it should stop raining or how it needs to rain again, no He went straight to God in prayer and asked. That’s what we as the body of Christ must learn to do, we must learn to talk less, pray more, and watch what God does.

All this to say, do not doubt the power of prayer and what God can do. Do not pray and worry but trust in Him.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led, and pray. Pray about whatever is on your heart, allow the Holy Spirit to fill you, and just pray.

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 306!

Day 295: When It Seems Impossible

Luke 18:27

But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

Many of us have been in positions where we felt like whatever we were going through was impossible to get out of. It seemed like not even God could help. I’ve been in that position multiple times in my life. I feel like sometimes when we are going through rough times that things seem to get worse before they get better. They seem to continue to fall out of control the more we try to hold them together. But through it all we still try to worship God, we still give God our all because something tells us, that little small voice let’s us know that God’s got it under control. It doesn’t mean that it’s easy, or that it gets easier it becomes bearable. Until God comes through it’s bearable. We endure, we stand on His promise waiting for Him to move. Waiting for Him to bring us through this mess. I know sometimes it’s like, “Alright God, where you at? I’m hanging on by a thread.” Even in those moments God knows exactly when He’s going to step in. He knows how strong we are because He gave us that strength. These moments are a test of faith, strength, and endurance.

Romans 5:3-5

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

How many of you have gone through something and come out different than before? You come out a completely different person. You come out better than you were before. God sustained us, He taught us how to endure in those hard times and stand on His promises, and trust Him. He’s building us, and like a diamond take an immense amount of pressure to become beautiful, sometimes we need to be pressured. Sometimes we have to be broken so God can rebuild us. As the scripture tells us above, problems help develop endurance, and that endurance builds strength of character, and that strength of character gives us hope in a salvation through Jesus Christ. God is molding and shaping us into the people He wants us to be and that will not always be easy, nor will it feel good but it will be worth it. He’s showing us how to lean on Him and trust in His sovereign power and lean into His faithfulness.

All this to say, when it seems most impossible that’s when God will step in a show us just who He is. That’s when God will step in to take care of His children. One things for sure is that He will never leave us. He will not walk away from us in our moment of need. He will not walk away from us at any moment. Just know that whatever you’re going through, it’s not impossible. It’s building you, so until God steps in stand. Endure, know that He’s watching you and He knows your strength, He built you, He loves us so much.

Response/Prayer Time

I don’t know what you’re going through, I don’t know what struggles you have face or what you are facing in this moment. But give it to God, open your heart to God, even if it’s broken. Stand on His word, lean on Him and trust Him, He has everything under control. Talk to God about what we discussed today. Spend some extra time with Him today.

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 296!  

Day 291: Waiting for "The One"

Matthew 6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In our twenty’s we are coming to the age when we are either in long term relationships, dating, engaged, or married. The topic of relationships comes up a lot. Whether we are talking about the type of person we want to be with, the type of relationship we want, or even thinking about settling down and starting a family. Whatever it may be, I think it is time we have a mature conversation about this subject that seems to be glossed over so much. This is something that has constantly been coming up in my conversations recently. Everyone is looking for that one person we can spend the rest of our lives with, however when we are in Christ we are waiting for that person. We are waiting for whoever it is God has for us, and trust me there’s someone out there that God has chosen specifically for you, and you have been chosen specifically for someone else. God is great, on top of everything He does, He’s also the ultimate matchmaker. It’s great, it’s beautiful. There is so much peace in knowing that we do not have to go out looking for the right person because God already has them picked out, and whoever this person is will be far beyond what we ever expected. However there are a few questions I would like to pose and a few points to make.

Are we seeking a relationship with God more than we are seeking a earthly relationship with someone? We can get so caught up sometimes in wanting to be with someone, liking someone, or just wanting to be in a relationship that we forget about the first relationship we need to be in. In order for us to have a good and stable relationship with anybody else we must have a good and stable relationship with God. Sometimes we are going after people that are no good for us, we are going after people that we are not meant to be with, because we are more focused on them than we are on God. That presents a problem The scripture tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to us. There’s a pattern to life and it always involves keeping God first and then watching everything fall into place. So if we want a relationship if we want that person that God has for us, we cannot look outside of Him. We must be so wrapped up in Christ that our significant other has to find Christ to find us. What I’m saying is, Jesus is our first love and will always be our first love. Before we fall in love with anyone else we must fall in love with Him first.  

Genesis 2:18

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I love the scripture in genesis as it ends with the statement, “I will make him a helper fit for Him.”  Sometimes we settle for people that do not fit us, We settle for people not just because we’re lonely but because they have what we think we want. They have the whole package according to our standards. But what about God’s standards? What about His plan? We must get to a point where we are not willing to sacrifice our faith for pleasure. Where we are so rooted in our faith where we don’t want to be near anything that could jeopardize that. I was recently talking to a friend about what I want from a relationship, and the first thing is they have to love Jesus, I want someone that will love me, but love Jesus so much more, and that’s not something I am willing to sacrifice. No matter how attractive they are, or how many standards they meet, I am not willing to sacrifice my faith for a relationship with someone. I would rather wait and move on God’s timing. He knows the plan, He knows when we are going to meet that person. God knows the exact moment it will happen. But in the meantime, while we wait, let’s work on our relationship with Him. Let’s work on fitting into the will of God before trying to fit someone into our will.

While we wait god is molding and shaping us into the people He has called us to be. He is taking out the things that should be there, and teaching us to walk like Christ. Leading us down this road called life. God has work to do on us before He sends the person He has destined for us to spend the rest of our lives with. He isn’t going to send us into this relationship with baggage, He won’t allow us to ruin what He is putting together.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

One of my favorite things to talk about is love, Not just romantic love, but love in general, because it is so beautiful. Love is so powerful. I just love, love. I think it is the best thing we have. Because God is the best thing we have and God is love. With that being said, we are talking about love in a romantic way today. God teaches us how to love properly, He teaches us how to love people, and ultimately how to love our significant others. The scripture above is a definition of what love is, before we get into a relationship with anyone we must know what love is, we must know how to love. Love requires patience, kindness, forgiveness, it is not conceited, envious, or boastful. When we read the above scripture we see just how beautiful love is. This is the way God wants us to love our partners. The way He has called us to love any and everyone.

All this to say, God has a special someone out there for all of us. Let’s not let our loneliness or want to be in a relationship blind us from what God is doing. Some of us may have to wait longer, but no matter how long the wait is, it will be so worth it.

Reflection

1. Are you waiting for the person God has for you or are you settling for what you want?
2. What is your perfect person? Describe them, ideally what and who would they be?
3. Are you willing to sacrifice your faith to get that person?
4. Are you seeking a relationship with God more than you are seeking a relationship with someone else?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the aboves questions guide your prayer. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today. Then pray for your future spouse, whoever it is God has for you, pray for that person, even though you don’t know who they are yet. Trust me someone is out there praying for you too.

When you have the chance listen to the song Dear No One by Tori Kelly. It’s a beautiful song about waiting on who God has for you.

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 292!

Day 282: This Temporary World

1 Timothy 6:6-8

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

1 Timothy 6:17-19

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

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

Mark 8:35-37

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

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

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

-Dyamond

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

Reflection/Prayer Time

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

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

Day 269: Exposing Darkness

Ephesians 5:11-14

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.  It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.  But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible…

This statement might be familiar to some of us, but I remember when I was younger, a way my mom scared the truth out of us or stopped us from doing things we knew we weren’t supposed to do was by saying, “What’s done in the dark will come to light.” Every time she said this to us I would freak out, like I would have a few mini heart attacks. Thinking about all the things she would find out, I started freaking out about things I hadn’t even done, but I was convinced that I would get in trouble no matter what. This was a life lesson, it kept me an honest person, and someone who was willing to clean my closet before all the skeletons fell out. God knows what we are doing when no one else is looking. He sees the things we do in the dark that we try to hide from everyone else. The difference between God and my mom is that I could hide things from her, there’s nothing i can hide from God because He is all knowing. He. Sees. Everything.  

God is calling us to live an honest life before Him. He’s calling us out of darkness and telling us to take no part in it, as a matter of fact shine a light on it and expose it. Here’s the  thing about darkness is, it is only the absence of light. That’s literally the definition. So simple yet so profound. Seeing that Jesus is the light, He is telling us to only take part in things that are of Him. Taking part in darkness or living in darkness means we are living outside of the will of God. We are trying to navigate through life without our Savior. When we shine a light on the darkness that was once our lives, we begin to see clearly. Christ can now clean up the mess that was our lives. There’s no use of trying to walk through darkness because we will never get to where we are trying to go. In darkness we have no direction, no vision, nothing. There’s too much in front of us that we cannot see causing us to fall and stumble. Christ wants us to expose that, all of it. Now I know when we think about our sin being exposed our minds go to humiliation, but Christ is not in the business of humiliating us, in fact He would rather be humiliated so we wouldn’t have to. He was humiliated for us. He wants us to bring our sin to Him so He can clean us off.

The scripture says, once we were filled with darkness but now we have light from the Lord. What that means is God gave us direction. He gave us salvation, He sent His son so that we would no longer have to navigate in the dark. When Jesus came He did not come pointing at people and embarrassing them for their sin, but He offered forgiveness, He gave us a way out. He turned us away from a life that was leading to death and gave us an eternity. But here’s the catch, the people had to be willing to accept Him, the had to be willing to accept His forgiveness and walk in this light that He has given us.

Sometimes we are so consumed by our sin that it seems nearly impossible to give up. We tend to hold on to the very things that are killing us as if they could save us. We have been walking in darkness so long that the sight of light doesn’t give us hope, instead it irritates our eyes so we turn away from it. What I’m saying is that sometimes darkness feel too good to us to give up. Everything that feels good isn’t good, I think we can all agree on that. We know this, we know that the things we are doing is not okay because we are trying to hide them from God, so why do we continue to live in darkness as if it can be overlooked? It poses the question, would we rather God expose us for our sin or would we rather come to Him and confess? Lay it down at the cross and accept salvation. I don’t know about you, but the latter seems to be the easier road to take. Jesus doesn’t judge us, He died so that we wouldn’t have to live in darkness. He gave us His life to do away with darkness, why would we go back to it after we’ve been set free?

There are some things in our lives that are so hard to let go of. We all that one thing that stays creeping up on us. As I’ve stated before, that thing for me was pornography, I could go to church, read my bible everyday, pray all day, and still be struggling with pornography. Even when I thought it was gone, it came creeping up again. Sometimes us Christians are walk 95% in the light. What I mean is we sometimes have a closet with a few skeletons lying around, making appearances every now and then. We just tend to overlook them as if they’re not there. What I’m saying is, there’s corners in our lives that could use some light.

All this to say, walk in light and when I say walk in light I mean walk in Christ. Do not be consumed by sin. When we invite Christ into our lives we must allow Him into every part of our lives, so that He can drive out darkness in every corner and crevice of our lives.  There is nothing we can hide from Him no matter how hard we try, so there’s no use in trying. There is always room at the cross to lay down our sins and expose the darkness in our lives. Sin was defeated by Christ, darkness was defeated by light. So if we want to defeat the darkness in our lives we must shine a light on it. If we want to get rid of the sin in our lives we must accept Christ into our hearts and give Him every part of us. Letting go of anything and everything that is unlike Him.

Reflection

1. Are there things in your life you are overlooking because you can’t seem to let them go?
2. If so, what are they?
3. Take the time to respond to what we discussed today, in whatever way you feel led.  

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about whatever is on your heart, if you want to confess to Him take the time and do it. This is between you and God, whatever is on your heart release it. If you want a way out, here is it. If you want God to shine a light on you so that you are no longer walking in darkness take the time to tell Him. If you want to make that decision to accept the Lord as your Savior or rededicate your life to Him, now is the time to do it.  

If you want to make that decision today, pray this prayer with me.

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

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

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

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! If you made a decision to follow Christ, congratulations! Get plugged into a church and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or prayer requests. Im praying for you on your journey. I love you, be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 270!