Day 287: Recap!

Day 281: God's Grace and Forgiveness

Today we talked about God's grace and not taking it for granted. We talked about how we often used God's grace as a freedom to sin because we know He will forgive us and continue to love us no matter what. We focused on Ephesians 1:7, Daniel 9:9, Hebrews 10:17, Acts 3:19, and 1 John 1:19.

"God is loving and graceful, and will love us forever no matter what we don. However, let’s value our relationship with Him enough so that we will want to live our lives with Him, and devote our hearts to Him. Not take it back whenever we decide that we want to sin and give it back when we want our conscious cleared."

Day 282: This Temporary World

Today we talked about how fleeting this world can be and how we must not put our trust in the tangible things, but rather put our trust and faith in God. We talked about how at the end of the day when all else is gone, if we do not have God we have nothing. We can have everything we ever wanted or dreamed of, but if we don't have Christ we have nothing because He is our everything. we focused on 1 Timothy 6:6-8, 17-19, and Mark 8:35-37.

"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."

Day 283: Faithful God

Today we talked about God's faithfulness, how even when we are unfaithful to Him, He remains faithful to us. We talked about how committed God is to His people. We also talked about how God will not send us someone who is unfaithful. We focused on 2 Timothy 2:13.

"When we have our moments of being unfaithful, He doesn’t stop being faithful us, instead His love for us remains the same, because that is who He is. God loves us so much that instead of walking away from us, He forgives us, and works through it with us."

Day 284: When Everyone Else Leaves

Today we talked about how God is always there for us and that He will never desert us. We talked about how sometimes people walk out of our lives, and sometimes we feel like we are going through it alone, or fighting battles on our own. But God is always there, even when we don't think He is and when everyone else leaves, He's always there. We focused on 2 Timothy 4:16-18.

"God loves us way too much to leave us. He will never leave us to live life on our own or fight by ourselves. Every second of every hour of every day He is right there with us. God never leaves us or walks away from us, we walk away from Him, and even then He is still protecting us and giving us life."

Day 285: Living Well (Series)

Today we started our "Living Well" series, where we will explore what it really means to live well. Today we talked about what that means and how in order to live well we must live like Christ, love like Him and walk like Him. Living well means having a relationship with God and a solid foundation in Him. We focused on James 3:13-18.

"We cannot live well, or have a good life outside of Christ."

Day 286: Living Well Series (Part 2)- Winning At Life

Today we talked about winning at life and how exactly we do that. We posed the question, "Are we really winning at life if we are not living with Christ?" We talked about the many definitions the world has for winning but Christ has already given us the tools we need to truly win. We focused on 1 John 5:12.

"As long as we have Christ we are winning, if we define winning at life by how successful we are, we will never truly be winning."

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 more of the "Living Well" series!

Day 281: God's Grace and Forgiveness

Ephesians 1:7

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

Daniel 9:9

The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;

Hebrews 10:17

Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

Acts 3:19

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

1 John 1:19

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

You can obviously see a pattern in the scriptures we are talking about today. We are going to discuss God’s grace and forgiveness and how sometime we abuse this. Have you ever continued to do something that you knew was wrong but you kept doing it because you wouldn’t be held accountable for it? Or have you ever kept doing something to someone because you knew they would forgive you over and over again? We may not have done it to the people in our everyday lives but how many times have we done this to God. How many times have we interpreted God’s grace and forgiveness to mean that we can sin and live however we want because God will forgive us anyway? Grace is not a sin for all gift card. We do not get to live any kind of way just because we know God will forgive and that His love will cover our sin. The thing about having a relationship with God is that once we give our hearts to Him, we will do away with all the things that kept us separated from Him in the past. That is when we grow in our faith, and in our relationship with Him. If we are constantly sinning just because we know He will forgive us, it’s like constantly cheating on a spouse because we know they will not leave us. What I’m saying is, just because we know we will be forgiven doesn’t mean we have to hurt the people we say we love. We do this to God too often, we take a chance and disobey Him, because we know that at the end of the day all we have to do is pray for forgiveness and we will have it, because God loves us that much. But can we love Him enough to not sin? Can we love Him enough not to just use Him as a grace card that we can swipe when we need our conscious cleared?

When we think about it, when we live like this are we really committed to God. When we are willing to give up a relationship just for pleasure that will only last a minute, are we really in a relationship with Him? Did we ever really love Him? Last time I checked leaving or hurting someone you love isn’t easy. When we have a relationship with someone that we truly love, we will fight for it. We’re not going to give it up that easy, we won’t cheat on someone we truly love because we take everything into consideration. How bad we will hurt this person, what it may mean for the relationship. Why do we not do the same thing for God, why are we only in a relationship with Him to secure our spots in heaven, go to church on Sundays, and live however we please the rest of the week?

All this to say, if we are going to commit ourselves and our lives to God we have to really commit. We have to be devoted in this relationship to Him. God is loving and graceful, and will love us forever no matter what we don. However, let’s value our relationship with Him enough so that we will want to live our lives with Him, and devote our hearts to Him. Not take it back whenever we decide that we want to sin and give it back when we want our conscious cleared. When we know better we do better. Not knowing or being ignorant is no longer an excuse when we encounter God and give our lives to Him.

Response/Prayer Time

Respond in whatever way you feel led. Allow that response to guide your prayer. Examine yourself and see if you have been taking God’s love and grace for granted. Then talk to Him, confess, ask for forgiveness, and allow Him to change your heart and influence your life.

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 282!

Day 263: A Way Out

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

We all know what temptation feels like, and we know the struggle of resisting, but we also know the feeling of giving in. As Christians we are constantly tempted, there are always things calling us to sin, whether it be our past, someone asking to be told off or throat punched in a very non-christian way. We can only flip tables so many times when trying to go the, “What Would Jesus Do” method. Whether it be sins that we struggle with and people we are trying to let go of, or the big one, sex. Even those of us waiting for marriage know what the temptations of premarital sex look and feel like. However, I believe that in these moments, God is giving us a way out. Take a look that the scriptures above it literally tells us that God will show us a way out. He will not allow us to be tempted more than we can stand, even though it’s hard God knows we can stand it. I feel like He believes in us more than we do ourselves. He knows us more than we know ourselves, that’s why He’s God. While we’re battling with our flesh and going crazy, God is giving us a way out, looking at us a having faith that we will choose Him over our flesh. Many times we can choose Him because we are deeply rooted in Him and we know that He will always provide a way out, but for those moments of weakness. Those moments when we just decide to give in, when we let our fleshly desires, and urges take over. Those are the moments we tend to always be brought back to. We often find ourselves feeling like Paul when he said, in Romans 7:15, “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.” I have heard time and time again, “if God knows everything why does He allow us to sin?” I’ve even had that question before. Uhm, excuse me but God is not telling us to sin, nor is He leading us to sin, He has in fact provided a way out of it. When we sin it’s our own doing. We make a choice, not God, He gave us freewill so when we sin it is our choice. The same way it was Adam and Eve’s choice to eat the fruit from the tree. They made a choice on their own. God did not tempt them, He told them what not to do, they decided to go against what he said.

You ever try to blame your decision to sin on something or someone else? Like Adam and Eve, God deliberately told them not to eat from one specific tree, one tree they couldn’t eat from. Out of all the trees in the Garden of Eden there was one they were not allowed to eat of. The serpent came and tempted Eve, but the serpent did not force Eve to do anything, Eve decided to listen and decided to sin against God on her own, and so did Adam. But when God questioned them, they blamed everyone and everything but themselves, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the servant. I believe that even in the Garden of Eden God had a way out, there were countless other trees they could have eaten off of, why go to the forbidden one. Then blame anything or anyone else to take the heat off themselves.

*confession time* For a long time, since I was fifteen I have struggled with pornography. I was a seed that was planted at a very young age and took root around the age of fifteen and began to grow. It stopped when I became a Christian, but I always felt myself struggling with it, going back and forth with it. Wanting to let it go but sometimes finding myself going back whenever I had a moment of weakness, I tried to get help and the person I tried to confess to did nothing but judge me and throw it in my face every chance they got. However every time I found myself viewing pornography or something similar, I would find myself trying to justify it. ‘Well, I’m having a hard day’ or ‘I’m weak right now’. I realized that it was something that I never needed or had to do, it was something I chose to do. God always provided a way out, I just chose to ignore it. I had to learn to own up to my desire to please my flesh and when I learned to confess and be honest with myself that’s when things started to change. When I started being honest with God and saying, this is me, this is my flesh wanting to do the very thing I know I am not supposed to do. That’s when things started to change, because I began to realize that there is always a way out, no matter how hard it may be to take the road out, it’s so rewarding.

All this to say, there is always a way out. God will not allow us to be tempted pass what we can stand. I know it’s hard, this is something we can all agree on, but whatever you are struggling with, whatever is holding you back from God let it go. You are much stronger than you think, because your strength is found in the Lord. In those moments of weakness call on the Lord, stop and pray even when your flesh is telling you not to. Who you are in Christ is much stronger than you flesh and it’s worldly desires. Another thing, sometimes we fall, sometimes we are weak and we allow ourselves to fall into that temptation. But you get up, confess your sins to God, go to a brother or sister in Christ for prayer, trust that God has forgiven you and you move on. There’s no use of dwelling on it, or beating yourself up about it, move on. You can change the past but you can learn so you won’t make the same mistakes in the future. While you’re at it, make sure you forgive yourselves, A lot of times we condemn ourselves when God Himself doesn’t do it. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Proverbs 24:16 tells us that a just man falls seven times but he gets back up. So get back up and get walking, don’t dwell on your past or you shortcomings.

Reflection

1. Can you relate to anything that we discussed today?
2. Is there something that you have been struggling with that you need to confess to God and maybe a brother or sister in Christ?
3. Can you confess it to yourself first, meaning can you own up to it and be honest with yourself and God?
4. What is it? (this is not something you need to tell me, if you’d like to respond to me go ahead and I will pray with you, but confess to yourself, God, and someone you trust who can strengthen you spiritually).
5. This is very hard, I know it is, but if it is tugging on your heart and keeping you from fully giving yourself to God, release it, seek help, prayer and ask God to deliver you. This is serious.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers and responses to the above questions guide your prayer today. Just talk to God and confess everything to Him. Seek out someone to pray with and for you, if you’d like to reach out to me, please do not hesitate.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening, b sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 264!

Day 252: Compassion from the Lord

Isaiah 55:7

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. (NLT)

let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.(ESV)

I wanted to give two different translations because one breaks the scripture down in layman's terms while the other uses the word compassion. That’s what I want to discuss today, the compassion of God. But first let’s define the word itself.  

Compassion-a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

The ESV translations describes this compassion as mercy, so let’s define that as well.

Mercy-compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence; an act of kindness, compassion, or favor:

The door of forgiveness is always open. I started out with a vocabulary lesson because I need you to grasp this. I need you to understand, how God’s mercy has led us to where we are today. In the Scripture He is telling us that the door of forgiveness is always open. That when we turn to the Lord He will have mercy on us, or he will show compassion towards us. He’s saying turn to me from your wicked ways and I will have compassion on you.

I love that God says, all we have to do is turn from our wicked ways and He will have compassion on us and pardon us. He’s not telling us to be perfect or anything like that, He’s saying turn from your wicked ways, and I’ll handle the rest. When I look at the definition of compassion I am immediately drawn to the part of the passage that says, “Accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate suffering”. So when I think of compassion, I think of how amazing God is, He doesn’t want us to suffer, so He will pardon our sin so that we will not have to. I’m not sure if you know but living a life of sin, or a life away from God is a life of struggle. Sin carries such misfortune and shame. We as a people were  stricken by this misfortune since the fall (in Genesis when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the forbidden tree). God looks at us, His children and He cannot help to watch us suffer. Rather than watch us suffer He is stricken by the strong desire to alleviate our suffering, to put an end to our pain. All we have to do is turn from our wicked ways. What that means is turning from the very things that are killing us, turning from the things that causes our soul to struggle and toil within us. Until we turn from our wicked ways we will continue to suffer. However we do not have to. Sometimes we choose to suffer because we feel like we need to be punished. That’s the exact opposite of grace. I have come across people who feel that they deserve to suffer. Shame has gotten a hold of their heart and they feel that they are not worthy of compassion. They feel like they have to suffer their time to make it up to God. Shame and guilt has no home in our hearts. God does not desire for us to walk through life carrying the burden of guilt and shame. As a matter of fact He tells us to give those burdens to Him. When He said that He didn’t mean half of the burdens He meant all of them. We are not meant to carry some burdens. We’ll easily give Him the burden of worry, the burden of pain, but why is it so hard to let go of our guilt and shame? We act as if God cannot handle them when it’s really us who cannot handle it. So why not turn away from our wicked ways and give all of those burdens over to God.. No matter what you have done in your past, it is not God’s will that you continue to suffer.

All this to say, do not allow yourself to be condemned. KNow that the door of forgiven is always open, god wants to forgive us because He does not want us to suffer. We are not meant to suffer because of our past, if we’re going to suffer at least let it be about something in the present day and time. The compassion of God is beautiful and we cannot help but to be moved by it. He loves us so much. He wants us to live a life free of suffering and that means free of sin, so He will pour out His grace upon us, pardoning us, and allowing His compassion to spill out all over us. It’s compassion that got us where we are today. Without it we would continue to suffer in our sin and never knowing what life really is. We are not overcome by sin because Jesus overcame sin.

Response/Prayer Time

Continue this conversation and discussion. Respond in whatever way you feel led. Have a conversation with God, thank Him for His grace and mercy and walk with Him all the days of your life. Take the time to talk to and have a conversation with god. Pray in whatever way you feel led. If you feel the need to turn away from your wicked ways. If you’d like to give your life to Christ, I’d like to give you the opportunity to do so right now.

your life to Him.

If that’s you, 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 sins 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. 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 the decision to follow Christ, know that all the angels in heaven are rejoicing! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 253!

Day 104: Hurt By Love

Psalms 55:12-14

For it is not an enemy who taunts me then I could bear it;

it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal,   my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together;

within God's house we walked in the throng.

I know so many people who have turned their backs on love or closed themselves off to love because they have been hurt by people who said they loved them. They claim to be hurt by love, “if this is what love feels like I don’t want it.”

There is so much honesty in the scriptures above. David is saying, it’s not a stranger taunting me, if it were I could bear it. But it is my brother, my friend, my equal, my companion, that hurts me. We used to be friends, we used to talk, I used to be able to trust you, but at some point your love turned to hate. Many of us can relate to these words David is speaking so honestly, many of us have been in this position. It’s not the people be barely know or we don’t associate with much that breaks our hearts. We could bear that pain, but it becomes unbearable when it’s close to you. It’s the people we trust, the ones we love, it’s the relationships we’ve invested in that cause us the most heartache. When you love someone, in any way, you are emotionally attached to that person. When you trust someone, the worst thing they could do is betray that trust. It’s the people we care about most that cause the deepest wounds within us.

Another place many people experience the most pain is the church. Ironic, I know, but I have known so many people, myself included, who have walked away from the church because they we hurt so deeply by the people that claim to be Christ followers. A lot of this comes from hate, which is the opposite of God. I know people who lead ‘different lifestyles’ are often shunned by the church. The biggest group this happens to is the LGBTQ+ community. I have met too many people who have sought to come to Christ and been bashed by the church, and even gone as far to be kicked out of church. That is not the love of God. God loves ALL PEOPLE every single one of us, He loves. We don’t get to decide who should receive God’s love and who shouldn’t, we are not God. Too often this treatment comes from the church. The place that is supposed to be overflowing with love.

Church hurt is the worst hurt. It’s a place where we go for healing, fellowship, and place where healing takes place. But many times it is the opposite.

I can say from experience that these experience will make you want to give up on love completely. I remember going through a time when all of my “friends” who I considered family turned on me. They did so much prior to this, but they all up and left, walked out of my life, and shattered everything as they left. Not only did they do that but they continued to deepen the wounds as secrets and envy was uncovered and brought to the light. I felt like I was going to die. It felt like someone ripped my heart out of my chest and millions of people were trampling over it. I was so heart broken that I felt the pain physically. I could not stop crying. I would be okay for a second and I would just start crying. My heart was shattered. But… there was still a piece of me, a very small piece of me that knew that God’s love is not like this. It took so much for me to even come to terms with that. Because these people were church going people, they claimed to be Christians. If the church people can treat me like this and not care, can I really trust anyone to truly love like God? Questions I had as I went through this time. But God…

-Dyamond

Let me be the first to tell you if you haven’t heard, God’s love is not that way. God’s love cannot be tainted. God’ love cannot be reversed. God’s love is unconditional, it does not hurt. God’s love can heal the hurts caused by those who claimed to love you. God can take your broken heart and nurse it back to health with love alone. God shows us how we are to love, but He also shows us how we are to be loved. He loves us the way we should be loved, unconditionally. He will never decide one day that we are unworthy of His love, we are so worthy that He sent His son to die for us. Love should not cause pain, it should not hurt. When we truly know the love of God we will know how to love others, and ourselves unconditionally. We cannot know love if we do not know God. We cannot give love if we do not know the love of God. God is love, and God is perfect, His love is perfect. It will never hurt or harm you.

Psalms 147:3

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

You might have been hurt by people who said they love you, but God loves you so much more and He has the love that will heal that broken heart. You might have experienced it in the church, but God can show you what it truly looks like to receive Godly love. Know that God’s love is the greatest love of all. Love doesn’t and should not hurt.

Luke 23:34

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

God provides healing to broken hearts, and He also gives us the ability to forgive. We must forgive the people who hurt us the most, it is the only way we can truly move on, and even be healed ourselves. Once that wound is closed, there’s no need to keep opening it again with unforgiveness. The hardest part will be having to forgive someone when they never apologized or acknowledged what they did. Sometimes we have to accept an apology we will never receive. Once you forgive, let it go, it’s hard to forget, but let it go, do not let it affect your life any longer. God can and will free you from the pain, and bring you to forgiveness.

Reflection

1. Have you been hurt by people who said they love you?
2. Have you been hurt by the church?
3. How did it affect the way you receive and give love?
4. Have you been rejected by the church?
5. Do you believe that the love of God can heal you?
6. Do you think that you are able to forgive the people who have hurt you?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. If you have been hurt by love, or the church, or are going through having your heart broken, bring it to God. Every piece, lay it at His feet. Know that, no matter who you are, God loves you. He loves you so much. And you are so worthy of His love.

I love you so much, and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 105?

Day 65: Recap

Thank you everyone for continuously reading the devo, I hope you are growing in your faith and are challenged daily. Today, I'm going to change it up and do the recap differently than what I've been doing up to this point.


Day 58 - Put Up A Fight
Today we focused on Nehemiah 6 and how through all the opposition they received they still completed the work they set out to do. We have to fight for things we want, and know that if God has ordained it, nothing and no one can come against it.

Day 59- How Far Will You Go (Part 1) 
Today was the start of the three day series with the headlining question, 'How Far Will You Go?'.  We focused on Matthew 19:21-24. We talked about dropping and giving up everything to follow Christ. Considering He gave up everything for us. If God asked us to, would we be willing to give up everything?

Day 60- How Far Will You Go (Part 2)
Day two of this little series we talked about forgiveness, and how it is a long and bumpy road. The scripture we focused on today were Matthew 5:43-48. Can we allow ourselves to look past our own anger and pain, and truly forgive someone. In the same way God has forgiven us, can we forget about it and love them as if they never did anything? Harboring unforgiveness is a heavy burden to bear.

Day 61- How Far Will You Go (Part 3)
Today we brought our small series to an end with talking about loving each other. We looked at a few different passages today: Luke 5:18-19, Acts 4:32-37, Luke 10:25-37, and 1 John 3:18. How far we're willing to go to show someone else they are loved, whether that means going out of our way, sacrifice, or just being there with someone. Taking the example Christ gave us and modeling ourselves after that. When we learn to love like Christ and use that love towards others we are showing people what it means to know the love of God.

Day 62- The Cost of the Cross

I'll never know how much it cost, to see my sins upon that cross. The scriptures we focused on today were: Galatians 3:13-14, Matthew 22:42-44, and John 15:13. Today we talked about how much Jesus gave up so that we could be saved. The price He paid so that we would be free from our sin and able to be in a relationship with the one and only God. He took our place and died so that we wouldn't have to. Everything boils down to love, love kept Him on that cross.

Day 63- Respond with Love (Dealing with People)

We ended the week by talking about how sometimes people are hard to deal with, and just all around run and disrespectful, and sometimes we are those people. We jumped around with the scriptures today: Proverbs 29:11, 15:1, Luke 6:27, 22:48-51, Exodus 14:14, and Psalms 141:3. Sometimes we have to learn to bite our tongues and shut our mouths, when we want to go off on someone. We haveto learn how to respond with love. We have to respond with love, even to the most  grotesque things that comes our way. We have to let God handle the battle, as only He can.

I love you all, I hope you have an amazing Sunday, and start of your week. If you're on Spring Break like me, enjoy every second of it. Make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 66! Have an amazing Day or Evening.!