Day 361: Limitless Love

1 Peter 4:8
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.


The year is winding down pretty fast, and the devotionals as we head into the last few days of 2017 will be a lot about self-reflections nd direction. Taking the word of God and allowing it to influence how we live, how we speak, and everything we do. One of the greatest messages the bible teaches us is love, to love God first then love people. God loves us with an unconditional love, a love that covers our sins and a love that forgives. A love that would send His son to die on a cross for us. God commands us to love one another. Love is the one thing that has the power to break down barriers, stop hate, the power of love is greater than many of us will ever realize, because when we speak of the power of love we speak of the power of God because He is love. The power of love is evident when we are reminded of a perfect man name Jesus who hung on a cross in order to save humanity from our sinful nature. That;s the love that covered a multitude of sins. With the way things are going in the world right now, not just in America but everywhere we turn, we can see that this world needs love, if we need anything we need love. We need to love one another, we need to love our enemies, we need to love ourselves. Love is what we need. We need to be drowning in love and pouring buckets of it on our peers. 

One thing I want to point out is that Jesus love was unconditional, it was almost as if He did not care about what people had done because He was willing to forgive them. He came with he purpose of redemption, so even the people who nailed Him to a cross would in some way take part in the salvation He had to offer. Love didn't care about what they had done in the past, all that mattered was now and how we are going to live in the future. Jesus healed countless people who were considered sinners, and hung out with people who were said to be the worst types of sinners. Now most would think that a man like Jesus would  have nothing to do with such people. But no, those are the ones He came for. He came for the ones that people described as hard to love, the ones no one wanted to go near. He came for the one outcast by society and the ones who were said to be the biggest sinners of all sinners. His love extended to even them, the same way it extended to the ones who considered themselves righteous, and blameless without fault. I want to challenge you to love people the same way. 

Love people earnestly, compassionately, unconditionally. As we start a new year walk in love. Walk in unconditional love. Extending the same kind of love that Jesus extended to us. Let love overcome. Let love allow you to forgive. I know that many of us have been hurt by people and betrayed and people have just done things to us that make us not want to love them, or forgive them. But let the love that is in you be bigger than the anger and stringer than the grudges we hold so often. Think about how much Jesus loves us and how much we have done to hurt Him, yet He would die on a cross for us all over again if He had to. Let's love that way. A crucifixion type of love, that the very people that nail you to a cross you will pray to God for their forgiveness. That's how we should love people. It's also how we should love ourselves. God made us worthy of love, why do we so often act like love is not for us. Why do we think we cannot love ourselves. You are love and you deserve to be loved. 

Response/Prayer Time 

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Have a conversation with God about love! 

I love you! I hope you have a wonderful day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 362!

Day 359: Be Like John

John 3:1-6

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

John 3: 11

 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Many of us know who John the Baptist is, we know of Him and we know the work He did before Jesus. John was the one to come before the Messiah to prepare the way for when He got there. John preached a message of repentance, he came baptizing the people who repented of their sins. One thing that John made sure that everyone knew was, he was not the Messiah. In fact the Messiah is much greater than him. He is only preparing the way for when the Messiah comes. John came to start something that Jesus would come to finish. 

What I'm getting at here is, John was not Jesus, and he made sure that everyone knew that. John did not try to be Jesus, instead he did what he was sent to do, the same way Jesus did. I here many of us talk about how we are not perfect, and how we are not Jesus. First of all we are not called to be Jesus we are called to be like Him. We are called to mock the perfect man and get as close to perfection as possible. If we were all called to be the Messiah then God would never have sent His son to die on a cross for us because we could have saved ourselves. Instead we were sent a savior because we were and constantly are in desperate need of a savior. We ourselves are not the savior. With that being said, we may not be Jesus but we can be John. 

We can prepare the way for when Jesus comes. We can live a life dedicated to Him, leading His people to Him everyday. While we are on Earth I believe that we can take an example from John as well. We are not the Messiah but we are as close to the Messiah that people will see before Jesus actually makes His return. This does not mean that we are physically baptizing people everywhere we go, although some of us may end up doing that. What that means is being a Christ example. Being a person that follows Christ, ad lives off of His every word. We can be the people that preach a message of repentance, and grace, and love letting people know that their is something greater to life. Their is something bigger than ourselves, and understanding that even at our greatest moments Jesus is greater and He will do more than we can ever do. But in the meantime, while we are waiting for His return, let's prepare the way for the Messiah when He returns in the same way John did. 

Reflection

1. What life lessons can we learn from John the Baptist?

2. Are you living a life that points to Christ?

3. If you were the only bible that anyone ever read, or the closest thing to Jesus anyone ever sees, what would people see?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Have a conversation with God about what we talked about today. Whatever is on your heart today, pray about it. 

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 360!

Day 296: Right By Who?

*Take note of all the questions asked throughout today’s devo*

Colossians 3:17

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

1 John 4:8

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

I’m the type of person that believe there is something good in everyone. I like to see the good in everyone, I feel like everyone is good in one way or another, no one is born evil. We are born into evil but that does not mean we are evil human beings. With that being said, there’s is a difference between just being a good person, and being a person full of faith following God. Sometimes we get the two confused, just because someone is nice does not mean that their heart is with Christ. We can all be good people and do right by everyone, but are we doing right by God? That’s the question. Do we let our good deeds take the place of living like Christ, and walking in faith? I think a lot of times when we think about our good deeds we think that it’s enough to please God. We think that God just wants us to be a good person, yes He does but being a good person and being a Godly person can be two completely different things. We can all be good people, but at the end of the day a person who is made good through giving their life to Christ is different than a person who is “good” but still living a life of sin.  Don’t get me wrong God is very pleased by our good deeds, but it all comes down to our heart. Is Christ in our heart? That question gives so much meaning to who we are and why we do things.  

I remember when asked if I was living right, or living for Christ, I gave  list of all my good deeds and how I was doing right by people and how that meant I was a good person. I talked about how I fed the homeless, how I’ve bought meals for people and given them money, how I offer free service or help when someone needs it. That’s great and all but does it compare to the life I am living in Christ? Am I doing right by Christ, or am I just doing right by people and hoping that’s enough? The scripture above tells us that whatever we do we should do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, if I am not submitted to Christ and I have not given my heart to him how am I glorifying Him? I can do all the good deeds in the world but if I do not have love in my heart none of it matters. If at the end of the day I do not have Christ, was it really worth it?

Sometimes we as Christians get too caught up in what we are doing as opposed to how we are living. Meaning we are more concerned with our image as a Christian rather than being a devoted follower of Christ. This is something I had to learn as well because I was so concerned with helping people, going out and talking about Jesus, and doing good deeds, but it was only to prove my faith. It was all to show that I’m a Christian. It was really self-serving. It was to make me feel good as a person. It had nothing to do with pleasing God or helping people. Especially our generation with social media, and this constant need to show the good we do for people. It’s all self-serving. Jesus was less concerned with how many people saw what He was doing and more concerned with how many were saved. We are so concerned with how people see us that we forgot that the only opinion that really matters is the one we are ignoring. God. But when we really get to know God and when we really began to live like Christ, it becomes less about good deeds and more about being a servant of God. It becomes more about serving an everlasting God whose love is unfailing. It’s about the one who sacrificed it all for us. It becomes selfless. It is less about our earthly kingdom and more about His heavenly kingdom and eternal glory. It’s about glorifying His Kingdom and walking in love. If we do not have love we have nothing. We cannot walk in love and outside of God. God is love, so walking in love means we are walking with God. Doing right by God means loving Him first, and loving His people. Submitting our lives to Him and allowing Him to lead us every step of the way. We have to walk through life with the one who provided it. Creator cannot exist without the creator. Our lives are meant to glorify Him, and if we are not doing that are we really living, and are we really doing right by Him?

All this to say, doing right by people is not the same as doing right by God. Our good deeds are not always what it takes to live like Christ. We cannot be saved by good deeds alone, it takes faith.

Reflection

1. Take the time to answer the questions proposed today?
2. Are you doing right by God, self, or man?
3. Note that when we are doing right by God we are living exactly how we are supposed to live, therefore we are doing right by ourselves and His people.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Ask God to search your heart and check your intentions. Take the time to listen to what He is saying to you today.

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 297!

Day 272: Chains of Freedom

We as humans have a bad habit of holding on to toxic things. We hold on to the very thing that’s killings us as if it’s going to save us. We sometimes find it very hard to choose salvation. We sometimes choose to be stuck in our chains even when we have to key to release ourselves. It’s like we’re running from what is freely given to us but we run towards the things that will cost us our life. Why is that?

Today I want to talk about this human condition. Let’s talk about it.

Ephesians 2:8-9

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Salvation is a gift from God, freely given to us. We just have to choose to accept it. We have to choose to accept Christ into our lives. This is often the hardest decision to make for us as human beings. It’s a huge life changing decision, but our lives will change for the better. However we sometimes find that committing to Christ is extremely hard. It requires us to live for someone and something other than ourselves. The thing about salvation and gifts is that we choose whether or not we want to accept it. Even though it’s free, we still think there’s a catch or there’s some sort of cost. No, salvation is free, Christ paid it all on the cross. Somehow, even with that knowledge we still seem to be on the fence about accepting God’s love and salvation. A lot of that skepticism has to do with Ephesians 4:22-24,

...throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Wait a minute! Hold the front door! You’re telling me that once I give my life to Christ or accept His gift of salvation, I have to change? That’s exactly what I’m saying. Surely we did not think that we could still go on living in sin, when Christ died so we wouldn’t have to...  Here’s the thing, change is scary. Stepping out our comfort zone, no matter how toxic it is, is scary. We seem to have gotten too comfortable in our life of sin. So when we finally come to Christ, letting go of it is hard. Because sin brings pleasure, and a false sense of freedom. However when we come to the understanding of who God is we see how toxic that lifestyle is for us. The sad part is, sometimes we just decide to live with the fumes because letting go is too hard. Why do we stay in the same situation we are in even though it’s killing us?   

Romans 7:15-17

I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.  But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

I have heard so many people say, “when you know better, you do better.”. While I agree with that 100%, I also agree with the fact that knowledge doesn’t change who we are. It changes what we know. We can know everything there is to know about God but if we decide that we aren’t going to change, that knowledge can only go so far. We can talk about much faith we have but if at the end of the day we have not laid our sins at the cross and let them go, does it really matter how much we know? Knowledge isn’t going to get us through those pearly white gates. Salvations will, a life lived in Christ will. It’s hard to let things go, sometimes sin is living in us and we don’t even know it, or we choose to ignore it. We don’t see it until we do the very thing we promised we weren't going to do. The problem with that is, we are trying to rid ourselves of our sin. That’s a paradox in itself, the sinner cannot free themself from sin. Which is why we need Jesus a perfect man, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says,

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The more we try to do it ourselves the more we will fall deeper into it. When sin lives in us, we act based on what it is our hearts, no matter how much we try to suppress it. Suppressing sin and actually being freed and delivered from sin are two completely different things.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All this to say, is we are sometimes constantly running from that which is free in order to run towards something that will cost us everything, even our life. Why walk in chains when we are free. We have to stop running back to the chains of bondage when life gets to hard for us. What I’m saying is, our chains are comfortable, and sometimes we find ourselves sadly running back to them. For some odd reason we view sin as freedom. We don’t commit ourselves to Christ because we want to be free and do what we want. Salvation is freedom, there is more freedom in salvation than anything. Sin gives us a false idea of freedom, it seems free until we have to give up our soul. Living in sin can only take us so far. It will give us fun and pleasure but at the end of the day it will have consumed our life, Leaving us empty and constantly wanting more. Sin will never fulfill us in the way that christ can. Salvation and eternity is free, don’t be so afraid of change that you die never knowing the freedom you could have had in Christ.

Reflection

1. Are you afraid of change?
2. Have you found yourself running back to your old like when things got too hard?
3. What’s stopping you from submitting your life fully to Christ?

Prayer Time

Allow your answer to the above questions guide your prayer today, and continue to respond in whatever way you feel led. Talk to God about what we discussed today, whatever is on your heart. Whatever is tugging on your spirit respond to it with prayer. Be honest 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 273!

Day 270: He Humbled Himself

Philippians 2:6-9

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,

humble-having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance.

My favorite part about this passage is when it says, He humbled Himself in obedience to God. Because Jesus is God in the flesh, He is the Kings of Kings, and God sent Him down to earth to be a servant. It says ‘though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.’ He gave up His throne in heaven, he gave up His divine privileges in order to be in and obey the will of God. Because of this wonderful act of humility we have received the gift of salvation. Because the king decided to give up His throne and die a criminal’s death on our behalf we are saved, we are set free. Because of this God honored Him. It says God elevated Him to the place of highest honor.

Sometime we are seeking honor without humility. What I mean is that we are often walking through life arrogantly and seeking honor in our arrogance. Honor comes from God and we cannot walk arrogantly before Him and think that we should be honored. If Jesus Himself who was fully God and fully man humbled Himself before the Lord, who are we to walk as if we are better than anyone. We do not require honor, as a matter of fact we do not deserve it. If anyone should walk in humility it should be us, we were dying in our sin until Jesus came. We could not get ourselves out of sin, and for that reason we should walk humbly and obediently before God.

A lot of times we’re seeking honor and glory from God over looking the relationship. Overlooking the fact that we must humble ourselves before Him. He is not going to honor us in our arrogance and conceit. He’s looking for people that will humble themselves before Him. Stepping off our high horses to serve Him and His people. When I think about this, I think about the fact that we are seeking worldly honor. That’s the problem, we are seeking honor from man and not from God. That’s where we go wrong. We try to elevate ourselves among man, and when we get it we act as if we are better than the next person or above someone else. We start to idolize this idea of importance, honor, or fame.

Something I constantly pray for is humility, because I never want to get into the mindset of thinking that I am better than anyone else, or too good to do the dirty work or even worse, that I don’t need God because I can handle it on my own. Everytime I get on my high horse God knocks me right back down to earth, because I want to live and walk in humility with HIm. If we do not humble ourselves before Christ we cannot grow. How are we going to survive if we cannot grow in Christ?

All this to say, if we want to walk with God and live like Christ, we must humble ourselves. Yes, we all have a specific importance, and a purpose but that does not warrant us to walk as if we deserve honor. We must take the example from Christ and humble ourselves in obedience before the Lord. Jesus gave up a throne, and took on the death of a sinner, so we can have salvation. When we think of that we can climb down off our high horse and serve the living God.

Reflection

1. Can you say that you are truly walking humbly before the Lord?
2. Can you remember a time when you were arrogant?
3. Do you think that we can grow in Christ if we are arrogant and boastful in ourselves?
4. Are you clinging to worldly honor?
5. Or do you want to be honored and elevated in Christ?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about walking humbly before Him, ask Him to search your heart and bring to your attention the things that are not like Him. Spend time with Him, confessing and glorifying 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 271!

Day 240: Recap!

Day 233: What About Us

Today we talked about checking in with ourselves and also checking ourselves. We talked about looking into our own lives and making sure we a good before we go trying to tell someone else how to live their life. We talked about how we often overlook ourselves in favor of someone else. We focused on Luke 6:42.

" Take care of your soul before you take care of someone else’s. We can’t talk to anyone else about their relationship with God when ours is either non-existent, complicated or on the rocks."

Day 234: Merely Vessels

Today we basically talked about humility and how we are merely vessels God uses for His. We talked about how we are not to get into our heads that we are the ones doing God's work. Rather it is God working through us. We focused on 1 Corinthians 3:5-7.

"No matter how much we plant or how much we water, until God does the increase, nothing will happen."

Day 235: God is Building Us

Today we talked about growing in Christ and how God is building us every day of our lives that we are committed to him. We talked about how the word for our spirit is like milk for a baby. It is what we need to grow in Christ. We focused on 1 Peter 2:2-5.

"Sometimes we don’t understand why He’s doing certain things in our lives, we don’t understand why things are going the way they are. We don’t understand what’s going on at that moment in time. But just hold on, keep longing for that pure spiritual milk, keep going and keep growing and when it’s all said and done, we will realize that He was building us. He was shaping us and moulding us."

Day 236: Foundation in Christ

Today we took it back to the basics and talked about building a solid foundation in the Lord. We talked about how a foundation in Christ gives us stability and the ability to build without falling down, no matter what comes our way. We focused on 1 Corinthians 3:10-13.

"Everything we are is in Him, we must find our identity in christ and follow Him all the days of our life. We must learn to depend on Him and trust Him in every area and moment of our lives, A life without a solid foundation is not a life that will get us anywhere. Lay your foundation in Christ and build on that, trust me, whatever you build will stand."

Day 237: God's Temple

Today we talked about how we are God's temple and we must learn to take care of that. We asked ourselves a lo too questions, one being is our temple a place where God dwells. We talked about the condition of our temple and keeping it "clean". We talked about how sometimes we can allow things to corrupt our temple. We focused on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.

"Sometimes we try to get around the parts of the bible we think don’t apply to us or shouldn’t apply to us. That’s not how it works, it’s all or nothing."

Day 238: Spirit Filled Life

Today was a bit of an expansion on what we talked about yesterday. We talked about the dangers of allowing sin to remain in our lives, no matter how small or no that big of a deal we think it is. We talked about how we must rid every sin in our lives that we know is there and not hang on the little things we try to let slide. We talked about getting rid of anything that will taint or put a hole in our spirit. We focused on 1 Corinthians 5: 5-8.

"Life isn’t just about “not sinning”. What kind of life would it be if it were. It’s about living for something and someone far greater than ourselves. Let’s not allow sin to take root in us, but weed it out and allow our spirits to dwell in Christ and the Holy Spirit in 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 ay 241!

Day 232: The Sheep and the Shepherd

John 10:26-27

But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Here, Jesus had just been told by the Pharisees, “If you are the Messiah tell us.”  To which Jesus responded, “I did tell you, you just don’t believe me… Then He goes on to say, you are not my sheep, my sheep listen to my voice and I know them. We cannot follow Jesus if we do not listen to His voice. We cannot be a part of His flock if we don’t listen to Him. We can be sheep, but we choose our shepherd. We choose to follow Christ or not, and those of us who listen to His voice, are His sheep. If we aren’t listening to Christ and following Him we are not one of His sheep.

Before I go any further into today’s devo I want to first explore the relationship of the sheep and the Shepherd. There are so many mind blowing parallels as to how our relationship with God is synonymous to the relationship between the sheep and the Shepherd.

While researching I came across a blog post that put it all in perspective and dug deep into the meaning of these relationships and why it is so relevant for us as followers of Christ. There were a few things that stood out to me that I’d like to make note of.

“Guidance for the sheep. The Eastern shepherd never drives his sheep as does the Western shepherd. He always leads them, often going before them. “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them” (John 10:4). This does not mean that the shepherd is always in front of his sheep. Although he may be usually in that position when traveling, he often walks by their side, and sometimes follows behind, especially if the flock is headed for the fold in the evening. From the rear he can gather any stragglers, and protect such from a sly attack from a wild animal.”

The shepherd is a leader and protector of the sheep. He goes before them showing them the way, but He is always right there beside them. He is making sure that nothing can harm them. He’s protecting them as they go, and gathering the ones that seem to be straying away from the herd or wandering off. Sound familiar? This is how Jesus is to us, always by our side, He has gone before us and shown us the way and He is constantly leading us through life. Jesus isn’t going to let us get too far away from the flock because He’s right there to make sure that we get right back on track, and if we do get lost, he will come looking for us to bring us back.

“It is very important that sheep should not be allowed to stray away from the flock, because when by themselves they are utterly helpless.“

We cannot navigate through this world alone, we need Jesus. We desperately need Him. Without Him we are like lost sheep, we are wandering through this world with no direction, guidance, or hope, we’re lost. All of this is found in Christ, so apart from Him we are helpless, as the quote says.

I think another important message to learn here is that in order for us to follow Christ and listen to His word we must trust Him. The flock trusts the shepherd with their life, everything they are depends on the shepherd, they have learned to trust their shepherd and listen to His voice. They will not follow the wrong voice either. I believe that as followers of Christ, if we do not trust Him, we are wasting our time. When we don’t trust someone we hesitate to listen to them, we question everything they do, we will not give them a chance to be a part of our life. We cannot have a solid relationship without trust.

Another thing to note is that it is very important who we choose to follow here on earth. I’m talking about churches and pastors, especially when we are new Christians and we are looking for guidance. Ask God for discernment, because it is a dangerous thing to be led by someone who puts up a facade that they are leading you to Christ but leading the entire church astray. Be careful who you listen to and who you let influence you. At the end of the day you follow Jesus, and if someone is trying to lead you away from Him, they are not for you, no matter who they are or what they seem to represent.  

Reflection

1. Would you consider yourself a part of Christ’s flock?
2. Have you ever been led astray by your own doing?
3. Has anyone ever tried to lead you away from Christ?
4. Check your surroundings, and the people you call your leaders, are they leading you in the right direction?
5. If you are a leader, are you leading God’s people toward Him?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Ask God to give you the spirit of discernment and talk to Him about whatever is on your heart today.

If you have been led astray for whatever reason, now is the time to come back. Now is the time to rededicate or resubmit your life to Christ. Surrender to Him, ask Him to make you new. Know that He is standing there waiting with open arms, you’re not too far gone for Him to reach. You’re not a lost cause, Jesus loves you and He wants you near.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 233!

Day 220: Unpacking Romans 12- Renew Your Mind

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Isaiah 55:7-9

Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

When we become Christians, everything changes about us, from the inside out. They say Christians are more attractive, but that’s not the point. When we become Christians, our lifestyle has to change and in order for that to change our mindset has to change, the way we think about about things and the way we view the world and people has to change. We cannot walk with Christ and still have the mindset of the world, it won’t work. The mind is very powerful, that’s why they used to have billboards and commercials, and posters in the classrooms when we were younger, telling us “the mind is a terrible thing to waste.” As corny as it was, it’s true, a lot of times we are ruled by our thoughts. Some of the greatest inventions and discoveries started as a thought. It also works the other way, many of the biggest crime Lords, and even serial killers started off with a thought. Our minds shape a lot of who we are, How we think says a lot about who we are. If we want to be like Christ we have to think like Christ.

One of the questions I always ask myself is,  ‘Is the glass half empty or half full?’ Just to see where my mind is. When we become a Christian we will almost always view the glass as half full. Meaning with Christ, it’s never over until He says it’s over, and as long as I have breath in my body, it’s not over. Christ has changed the way I view life, love, people, and the world. What I’m getting at here is, if our mind is not renewed our life cannot be renewed. If we are still moving and thinking the same way we did when we were in the world, how are we ever going to grow in Christ. A worldly mindset does not work in a Christian body. It just doesn’t, our thoughts have to be His thoughts. We must think like Christ in order to be like Christ. Move like Christ did and view the world as He did.  

I think when our mind is renewed by Christ we are more in tune with His voice and His will. We  become one with Christ meaning we can hear his voice more clearly, and we can differentiate between His voice and the voice of the enemy or even our voice. Also when we are in tune with Christ it’s almost as if every thought or idea of doing wrong is banished,

All this to say, when we submit our lives to Christ, we must also change our mindset. Allow our minds to be renewed by Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. When we grow our mind grows with us. So when we grow in Christ so our mind will also grow. These things are not separate. I’ll leave you with this scripture.

Matthew 22:37

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Response/ Prayer Time

Take the time to think about what we spoke on today. Respond in whatever way you feel led. There are no questions today, just take the time to have a conversation with God. Ask Him to renew your mind. Have an honest conversation 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 221!