Day 329: Recap!

Day 323: All In A Day's Work

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

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

Day 324: God Wants the Best For Us

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

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

Day 325: Patience My Love

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

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

Day 326: Thanksgiving!

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

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

Day 327: Ride It Out 

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

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

Day 328: It Makes No Sense

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

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

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

Day 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 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 299: It Takes Faith

One of the most important aspects of being a Christian is faith, if we do not have faith how can we serve God. How can we believe in a God we have never seen without faith. Faith is a key ingredient to having a relationship with God. We must believe in Him.

Romans 10:9-10 says, 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.

When many people refer to Christianity, they refer to it as ‘the Christian faith’ or we even talk about it as our faith. I do not believe that that is without reason. Following God take faith, it takes us believing first in God, and His word, and standing on His promises. Faith is choosing to believe in the things that are not seen. But if we want to get technical let’s get a dictionary definition.

Faith: confidence or trust in a person or thing.

Belief that is not based on proof

The trust in God and His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

As Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. That being said our faith is our proof of the living God, and God’s faithfulness to us is proof that we are not crazy people out here believing in a spirit that we don’t know is real. No we believe in a living God, the same God who created the heavens and the earth, the same God who spoke to Moses on a mountain top, we believe in the God who made it rain manna, the God split the red sea, the God who sent His son to die for our sins so that we can have a relationship with Him. That’s the God that we believe in, because we choose to believe. Out faith is not based on proof it is based on the goodness of God. The proof is all around, one thing that blows my mind is that God created the earth the way it is on purpose. According to science (which God created as well), Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life. If Earth was smaller an atmosphere would be impossible, like Mercury. If earth we larger it’s atmosphere would contain free hydrogen like Jupiter, making it impossible to live on in both cases. Also if earth were further away from the sun we would freeze to death, if it we closer to the sun we would burn up. God placed us exactly where He wanted us to be and made us the right size. Aside from the scientific facts, our most powerful tool in our relationship with God is faith. Faith enables us to pray, it enables us to trust in His word, faith allows us to have that relationship with God.

Our faith is based on the signs and wonders, the miracles that we have seen in our lives. The moments where there was no other answer but, “there is a God”. This is what we know to be true, and if we want to take it further, science proves His existence. What I’m saying is, as Christians we live a life that is based on faith. #FaithBasedLiving We put our trust and confidence in God because time and time again He has shown us His faithfulness. I know we have all had moments in our lives where things didn’t go as planned they actually went better. We’ve all had those jaw-dropping moments that left us speechless, and eluding to the fact that God did it. What I’m saying here is if  we are going to serve God we must have faith. Without faith we can do nothing. If we do not believe in a true and living God how are we going to expect Him to do something in our lives. Better yet how can we expect to have a relationship with God if we do not have faith in Him. We talk about faith a lot, but we’ve never talked about it in this context. The basics of Christianity is faith. We start a relationship with God by declaring that we believe. Faith is what bridges the gap between man and God.

Often times I am asked, “What do I have to do to become a Christian?” The simple answer is have faith. Have faith that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that He was resurrected three days later. Not just saying these things but believing them in our hearts. We must have a heart full of faith in God, it’s what allows us to draw closer to Him, it allows us to have a relationship with Him. Faith allows us to persevere.  It is everything we need in order to serve God.

All this to say, faith is the answer. It is the foundation of our lives as Christians, it all starts because we choose to believe in the living God and we make that decision daily.  

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Have a conversation with God about faith, and thank Him that He is so faithful and wonderful.

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 300!!!

Day 293: But Wait...There's More!

Ephesians 3:20

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Malachi 3:20

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

Recently I had a realization, that no matter how big I dream, no matter how grand my plan is for myself and my life, God will always top that. It’s mindblowing to think about. Most people who know me know that I’m a dreamer, and I dream big, not only that but somehow someway all of my dreams are going to come to pass. It’s crazy when I sit and think of all the things I want out of life, and I’m reaching for the stars, I get a revelation that even in those moments God is bigger. Meaning He has a bigger vision, and a grander plan. That makes me trust Him even more. It pushes me to lean into His will a little more. God can do far beyond what we can ever think, or ask. That’s just a testament of how great God is compared to us, He expand our dreams, expands our faith, and expands our expectations. Simply because He is that good. I mean we’re talking about the guy who created the entire universe and everything in it.

When God blesses us, He really blesses us. It’s like a proud parent showering their child with gifts. God will go above and beyond for us, because He loves us that much. Sometimes we are waiting for God to move in our lives, waiting on promises, and when they do come to pass God makes the wait so worth. It’s a beautiful thing when we expect things from God. When we are waiting for Him to move miraculously in our lives, because He goes beyond our expectations. Over the summer I was really struggling with how we were going to pay tuition this year. I have struggling with this my entire time in school, and this times it seemed close to impossible. My family was going through so much financially, I couldn’t find a job, no one was willing to give me a loan and no one was willing to cosign. I found one person to co-sign and it got denied. Everything got denied. So I just kept praying and kept trusting God. I did not know how it was going to happen but I knew it was going to happen. But here’s the thing, I was expecting God to provide a loan approval, or enough money to start the payments. I called financial aid to see what they could do and they all told me there was nothing they could do. So I prayed some more and emailed the president of the school. Three days later I got an email saying, they would increase one of my grants. But wait...there’s more, they gave me a scholarship that would cover the rest of my tuition for not one but both semesters! I started screaming and broke out into tears, I was not expecting that but God went beyond my expectations and did something I did not even think of. Then I got offered not one but two jobs. I didn’t know how I was going to take care of myself financially, but I have four on-campus jobs. But wait...there’s more, I didn’t think I would get a refund check, but I went to the financial aid office and they had one there waiting for me, so now I don’t have to worry financially. God just keeps on blessing me, and it’s beyond whatever I could think or imagine.

-Dyamond

I think many times  it depends on our faithfulness, God will bless those who are faithful. He is looking at the ones who are constantly faithful to Him, and obeying Him. God sees that and He rewards the ones whose hearts stay with Him. This is not to say that we should only serve God for a blessing, but that faithfulness definitely pays off. Yes it pays off in eternity but it also pays off while we’re still on earth. We all have something that we want from God, continue to be faithful and wait what He will do. I’m a living testimony of what happens when God is faithful to us and we are faithful to Him.

All this to say, don’t underestimate God. Keep dreaming big and expecting God to move in your life and He will do more than you could ever imagine.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Just take the time to thank God that He is faithful. Take the time to pray and be grateful for who He is and what He does. Reflect on the times where you have seen Him move in your life. Reflect on the times when maybe you weren’t as faithful to God but He remained faithful to you. Take that with you as you pray today and pray however you feel led. Have a conversation with Him, if you need something tell Him, tell Him your greatest hopes and dreams and watch what He does.

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 294!

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 288: Living Well Series (Part 3): Our Living is a Result of Our Loving

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Ephesians 5:2

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

2 John 1:5-6

I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

John 12:34-35

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Recently I was listening to a podcast of Chad Veach he said sometime that really struck me and inspired this series. He said, “Your living is a result of your loving.” When I thought about that, it made so much sense to me and it actually shined a light on how we as Christians are living. Are we loving people the way god has purposed us to. Our entire faith, our foundation is built on love, so how we love is ultimately a result of how we live. So few words, yet so profound.

Over and over throughout the bible there is a common theme, love. God loved us, we love Him, and we love people, in that order. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus’ response was love. Love God, love people. In those two commandments we obey the law. Love impacts the way we live, it impacts who we are, and how we see people. When we come into the knowledge and understanding of God’s unconditional love towards us, it changes our lives, and ultimately changes how we live. 1 John 4:8 tells us whoever does not love does not know god because god is love, so there is no way we can walk with God and live according to Him word if we are not walking and living in love.  

I’m not sure if you’ve ever hated anyone before, but I have and I can tell you it impacts the way you live, it breeds nothing but bitterness, anger, frustration, revenge, and disappointment. It was when I learned to love that my life began to change for the better. Walking in love means walking in and with God all the days of our lives. Meaning we are full of forgiveness, humility, patience, joy, peace, kindness.  

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

I propose the question, how are we loving? Are we loving God and loving people? What I’m getting at here is are we loving the way we say we are? Because how we live will show it. I can save for myself that I do always love the way I should. Sometimes I can treat people better. Sometimes I can have a bit more patience with people, with God, and myself. I’m not perfect, none of us are; but we serve a perfect God. A God who is constantly teaching us, molding us, and correcting us. So even when we aren’t loving the way we should we can turn to Christ and take an example from His life. That’s how it should look. When we truly walk in love we are walking in the light of Christ. When we walk in love we inhabit all the fruits of the spirit. When we walk in love, loving our neighbor isn’t that huge of a task. We as must learn to allow how we love dictate how we live. Meaning we must submit our hearts to Christ and allow Him to teach us how to live and walk in love. Over and over the Gospels tells us to love God and love people. If we break that down a bit, when we truly love God it will change the way we live. We will live a life devoted to Him because we love Him. We will seek His face and live according to His word because that what love does. We will not walk away from someone we love, we will not want to live apart from the person we love, so loving God automatically impacts the way we live. Anything that separates us from God we will do away with it because we love Him so much we cannot bear to be away from Him. That’s good living. Then as we love God, we love His people,  we begin to see the world through the lense or filter of God’s love. Meaning we begin to treat people the way Jesus would. Loving people the way we love ourselves means doing what we would do for ourselves and even more. How we love one another is a result of how we love God. We cannot know what love is until we know God’s love. Sometimes we are loving people the wrong way because we have yet to experience God’s love. God not only loves us but He teaches us how to love.   

All this to say, love changes the way we live. Living well means walking in love, and walking in love means walking with the Lord. Living well is a result of how we love. Are we loving the way we should? Love gives us a different outlook on life, a new perspective. Living well is loving well.

Response/Prayer Time

Respond in whatever way you feel led. Talk to God about living well by loving Him and his people. Have a conversation about what that means.  

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 289, to continue the series!