Day 357: Recap!

Merry Christmas Eve!

This week consisted of two series. The Life is Funny Series and the That's Life Series. We talked a lot about life this week, how it is unpredictable and how it is more that just a struggle and ultimately the kind of life we want to lead. So instead of doing a normal recap today I have an assignment for you all, instructions if you will. Take the time to go over what we discussed this week, just a bit of a review, if something spoke to you specifically, go back to that day and reflect on it.

1. Make a list of all the things you want to do with your life. Goals, dreams, aspirations, plans, everything.
2. Highlight all the parts of your life you want God to work on.
3. What is your perspective on life? How do you perceive things? How does your perception of life affect how you live?
4. How do you want you live your life in a way that will serve God and His people?
5. Make a vision board or start making one, you don't have to finish it today,  to have if ready by new year. On this vision board will be what you want it to be, how you visualize your life going in 2018. What do you want out of life? What do you expect God to do in your life?
*Keep a loose grips on your plans because God might change them.*
6. Make a promise to live the life god has destined for you, not for anyone else.

Take the time pray on all these things. Take the time and ask God for direction and allow Him to lead 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 358!

Day 356: That's Life: Series (Part 4)

Matthew 6:33
 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Psalms 119:30
I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me.

Today's devo is not going to be long as it requires a lot of self reflection. The year is winding down and it's winding down fast. When we think about our lives we have to ask ourselves a few questions. What kind of life are we leading and does it mirror the life of Jesus, and is it according to the word of God. This week we have been getting  very real about life and the expectations that come with being a part of society. We have talked about leading a life based not the rules of society and gender norms. We have talked about how life is so much more than a struggle, we have to choose to see it in a different way. So I guess what I want to ask or talk about today is the type of life you want to lead. What type of life do you want to lead? I ask myself the same question. 

A huge part of being a Christian is choosing to live with God. It's making that choice everyday to walk with Christ and live according to His word, putting all things that are of the world away from us. We quickly learn that the core of this life is love. As we have talked about love and living this week, I want to ask a more detailed questioned. How will we live that will replicate the life of Jesus and being the person God has called us to be? What will we do with our life that will please Him? Are we going to love more, be more selfless, reach out to people? What are we going to do. to reach out to people? Can we live a life that does not abide by society's rules, man-made rules but by the law put forth by Jesus Christ. 

As we wrap this series up, essentially I want you to ask yourself, what is life? What is life to you, what do you see life as, what does it mean to you. This is a question that only we can answer for ourselves, no one else can give us the answer. Are we living the type of life we know is right and are we struggling to get there? Are we in a spot where we know we need to change our lifestyle, or continue to move and push forward. We must make a decision about the life we are going to lead and go ahead and do it. We cannot be on the fence about it, we have to decide. That's the challenge, to decide if the life we want to live matches the life we are living. If we want to live a life dedicated to Christ does the life we are living match the life Jesus lived? 

So take  the time to go over what we talked about this week. Take the time to access you life and the type of life you are living and the type of life you want to live. Talk to God about it, pray about it and make a decision. If you have never made the decision to follow Christ now is the time to make that decision. God loves us so much and He has a plan for each and everyone of us, we just have to choose to trust Him and His timing, and His plan. 

If you’ve never made the decision to follow Christ and you want to, or if you want to rededicate your life to Him, now is the time to do. Now is the time to make that decision. If you want to be brought into this magnificent promise of eternity, now is the time to make that decision. If that’s you if you want to make that decision, 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. I pray that you shine your  light on me and bring me out of the darkness and into your light. I love you Lord. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.”

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

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

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 357!

Day 354: That's Life : Series (Part 2)

Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 1"27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Galatins 1:10
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

We are continuing our series today of debunking some of the "that's life" myths that we have been conditioned to believe our entire lives. There are societal role sand rules that many of us in this generation have been learning since we were young. We are often told what girls and boys cannot do, and how we are supposed to live our lives based on who we are, based on 'rules'. Meaning we are expected to act a certain way if we are male or female, we are expected to act a certain way by what race we are, what our social standing is. These things have caused division in the world for as long as I can remember, and it has caused so many people to live a life based on societal rules instead of God's word. 

Growing up I was very much what many would call a tomboy. I love sports, I love playing sports, you would finds me playing basketball with the boys, or outside with my dad as he worked on his car as opposed to doing the things that was expected of a girl. I grew up with the title tomboy, and it never bothered me. I was told I was going to grow up to be gay because I wanted to play basketball and football and not be a cheerleader. This is the world I grew up in, the boys weren't allowed to be dancers or cheerleaders or anything close to what seemed to be feminine. Due to this I grew up with he idea that I would never be woman enough for this world, I don't fit into the societal idea of a woman, because I would rather where slacks than a dress. I despised the idea that a boy who loved ballet would be berated and insulted with offensive terms, that if you are gay or not should never have to hear. For many of us, this is the world we grew up in. We grew up in a world that told us that inner city kids are the bad kids, but if you were from the suburbs you were good. We grew up in a society that expects blacks, latinos, and hispanics to be criminals. They expect anyone of asian decent to be smart. You are smart and successful if you are white. These are not truths they are stereotype, this is what we have been told for generations, and there are so many more where that came from. What has happened is society has put us in boxes and tried to make it so that we cannot move outside of the area we are supposed to be in. Boys have been taught not to cry or show emotion they have to be tough because if they do they are weak. Now we have bruised and angry men walking around because of all the pent up anger. Our girls have been taught that they have a place in the world but it is not beyond being a housewife. That they must look pretty all the time, and know that they are the weaker sex. We have been taught these things and we are living in a world that bounds us to gender norms and societal rules based on things like finances and social standing. But when I read my bible I see something different, when I read my bible I see that God made us all equal. We are all one body, our money or social standing, or our talents do not make us any better or less than anyone else. Life is living the life Christ has given us no matter what anyone has to say about it. Life is taking a chance and stepping outside the box because God has called you to place that you are traditionally not supposed to go. Life is obeying the word of God and living by it, not obeying the rules set up by man. That's life, doing right by the word of God, and that means going against the stereotypes and societal rules that we have been conditioned to believe is true. God made us, man and woman in His own image, not a stereotype. 

I guess my question is, can we break these rules and stereotype that are not implanted in the word of God and focus on what God is actually telling us to do? I know we have grown up in this world that is so broken and divided but can we be the generation to mend it? Can we tear down the walls of division that causes so much strife between the people of God? We have each been given a life, and if we are too concerned with what the world is telling us to do, we will never get to what God is telling us to do. We cannot be preoccupied with living for man, God gave us this life, no one else. We must get to a point when we are more concerned with what God wants us to do and how He wants us to live than the rules that have been put in place by religion and society. What I'm saying here is that this is your life, and you do not have to live it like anyone else. If God gave you the gift to do something whether you are male or female do it. It doesn't matter what society says, God gave you a gift and you use it to glorify Him and Him alone. That is what living for Christ looks like. We are made in His image, don't let anyone try to take that away. 

All this to say, there is a life outside the boxes we are often placed in. There is so much more to life than living for other people. Living with Christ is so much better and living for Christ means living free. Break the stereotypes, live beyond what society expects. We talked a lot about society today, because the traditions we have grown up with have impacted this generation is a huge way and it is mot always good. God never intended for us to act as if anyone is lower than us or that we are lower than anyone.He made us all in His image and we are all one body. 

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to think about what we discussed today. Whatever you feel led to pray about today, pray about it. Pray that the world will come together as one. Pray for the division that is taking over our nations. 

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 355!

Day 353: That's Life: Series (Part 1)

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.

This is the start of another series leading to the end of the year. This series we are going to talk about life and uno the teachings that we have been taught for so long, that allows us or makes us see life one way and one way only. We often talk about how pain and suffering is a part of life. But as much as they are so is joy, peace, love, happiness, life is good too. We need to talk about that a bit more than we talk about all the bad things that can come out of life. Life can be rough but that is not all there is to it.

As humans we have become so overtaken with this idea of struggling through life. Fighting against something our entire lives to get to where we are. Proving that we are strong because we’ve been through something. People actually say that until you’ve experienced hardship you haven’t experienced life. We have become what seems like obsessed with the ideas of struggle. The more we’ve gone through the better the testimony. We have misconstrued what life really is. We have taught our children and we have been taught that life is a struggle. Life is hard. Prepare ourselves. Have tough skin. But what if I told you that that was wrong. What if I told you that struggling is only a small part of life compared to good. Pain is only a moment compared to the joy and happiness.

There is just as much peace as there is violence and evil. It’s in us. We have to change our perspective. Not of what we see but how we see things. We have to choose to hang on to that glimmer of hope. Life isn’t all struggle and pain. Trust me it’s not. For the moments when the pain and struggles ceases, why can’t life be butterflies and unicorns? Why can’t we enjoy life to fullest. There’s no one telling us we can’t .Life is beautiful. Life is a gift. Life is a blessing. Witnessing life is a privilege. 

There’s so much more to this life than that we overlook, because when we think about real life we only think about how hard it is. How brutal it can be. How it can chew us up and spit us out. Real life is actually beautiful and full of joy and love when we think about it. Real life is laughing with your friends until the break of dawn. Real life is taking a chance and going on that date with that person. Real life is the thrill of throwing your hands up on a roller coaster. Real life is watching your friends and family succeed and being just as happy for them as you would for yourself. It’s being able to travel across the world to climb a mountain or taste real Italian food. Real life is building up the courage to ask that girl to marry you. It’s being overwhelmed with emotion because you are so happy. Life is sharing moments, the beautiful moments the joyful moments. Life is seeing the smile on the face of someone you love because they've just accomplished something they've been going after for a while. It's seeing you prayers for people come to fruition. Life is all the little moments strung together to make up what we get to describe as living. Life is being vulnerable enough not to just cry when you’re in pain, but to cry because you are happy. Life is not being ashamed to walk down the street holding hands with your best friend because you are grateful God has blessed you with them. Life is telling your family and friends you love them. Life is hugging your family or friends. Or hugging the stranger with the free hugs sign. This may sound crazy to many of you.It sounds crazy to me as I write it. Because we have been conditioned and taught that life is hard. We’ve been trained to be tough so life doesn’t knock us down. We’ve been told since we were young kids in school that life is hard and it can get the best of us. But I want to undo all of that and tell you that you will get the best of life. It will not get the best of you.  

All this to say, we weren't prepared for the beauty of life, or the joys of life, because we've only been conditioned to be tough so that life can't knock us done. With that being said we don't really know how to enjoy life, we don't know how to relax or take a break because we want to be ahead of the game. I want to encourage your day to take a chance and see that there si more to life that being in a constant battle. God did not intend for us to struggle every moment of our lives. Believe or not He actually wants us to enjoy life. He gave us the pleasures of life to enjoy, give yourself permission to enjoy it. 

Reflection 

1. What is your perspective on life?

2. Do you find yourself constantly in the pattern of thinking of life as only a struggle?

3. What are some things you can do to change that perspective?

4. Are you rally living life to the fullest?

Prayer Time 

Allow you answer to the above questions guide your prayer today. Take the time to talk to God about life and thank Him for blessing us with a beautiful 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 354!

Day 351: Life IS Funny (Part 1)

Ecclesiastes 9:11

I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

1 Corinthians 2:9

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagine what God has prepared for those who love him.”

This is one of the last series of the  year, but for the next couple of days I just want to talk about how unpredictably funny life is. It’s crazy, I sometimes sit back and look at my life, and think, how did i get here? I never would have thought that I’d be in the pace that I am in this moment. But I am and all I can do is thank God for it.

The truth is life is very unpredictable, so unpredictable that it is funny. The things that God does in us and in our lives we could never imagine. Especially when we take a look back at where we were and who we used to be and see how far God has brought us, it leaves us with our jaws dropped. Because He is that good. He is a God of miracles and He works miracles in us. I guess the question I am trying to ask here is, did you ever think your would be where you are? Did you ever think that God could take you and make you into the person that you are? Did you ever think that god could enhance your life and your quality of living the way Eh has. We may not be the person we thought we were going to be at this moment in our lives but we are exactly who God wants us to be. We are exactly where He wants us to be and that is so much better than we could ever do for ourselves.

We all have plans and dreams and vision boards outlining our life and where we want to be in a certain amount of time. We have a plan, we know what we want and we think we know how we are going to get there. The thing about God is that HE knows  the end goal and He knows how we are going to get to where we want to be and it might not be in the time we thought or the way we thought, but when we get there we will know it was HIm. When we get there we can do nothing but laugh because we see how His hand was on us the whole time but better than that, how His plan was so much greater than our. His path is full of growth and love. God sees our plans and He sees our wants and desires and He is not ignoring them. Instead He is taking them and doing what God does, He is making them better He is making us better. He takes our plans and erases the path we thought we would take in exchange for the path HE already had picked out. Let me tell you, this path does not look like our but we will know that it is God’s. The funny thing about it all is that sometimes God’s path doesn’t look right to us. It doesn’t look like we are going in the right direction. When we’re looking at it from where are, sometimes it can look a bit crazy. But when we look back we see the bigger picture. We see the moments that needed to take place. The delays that needed to happen in order for us to get to where we were going. We see the little bumps that needed to be there to prepare us for where we were going.

This is why we put our faith in God. This is why we trust HIm with our life, because even when it looks wrong it’s right. Even when it feels wrong, as long as we are trusting in God it’s right. God’s path may be a bit harder and take a little longer but I can tell you that it is worth the wait. It is worth every moment. God has something so great for each and every one of us, there’s just some work that He needs to do in us as we make our way to it.

All this to say, we might know where we are going, but life is unpredictable. We might now know the next step or we might not know where our foot will land but we have to trust that God’s has a plan, and I can tell you that HE definitely does. When we get to that place that God wants us to be we can laugh in joy because we never would have thought we would be where we are and because we are so grateful that God is in control.

Response/ Prayer Time

Take the time to think about where you have been and who you were. Now take the time to see who and where you are. Thank God for all He has done in your life and just thank Him that His plans are so much greater than ours.

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 352!

Day 337: When the Heart Goes Bad!

John 14:17

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Today let’s talk about the heart, and the condition of it. Sometimes our heart can go bad. Not in a sense that sin has completely taken us over, which is one way a heart can go bad but in a sense that sometimes it’s too broken. What I mean by that is, we go on day by day without ever really addressing what is going on within us until it is too late. Our hearts become so broken and battered that we begin to think that there is no way out. Many of us know what a broken heart feels like, and sometimes that can seem to carry on for a very long time, the heart takes time to heal. It sometimes seems like the pain just keeps coming. We all want our hearts to remain healthy and fresh and we even get to the points when we try to convince ourselves that we are okay when we’re not. The truth about life is, sometimes it hurts, and that means our hearts will be broken. But the truth about Christ is He can put the pieces back together and make it stronger than it has ever been.

For those of you who have had your heart broken, you know what can come from it. There is so much pain that takes root, anger starts to arise, then bitterness, and unforgiveness, then hate. When our hearts are ruined because we cannot seem to get past the pain we throw ourselves into a deep and dark world of hurt. I know these things are hard to get over, I know it hurts, but somewhere we have to find hope that we will be okay again. That hope that I’m speaking about is only found in Christ. Christ is the light and the only way out of this deep, dark, painful tunnel. We cannot dwell in our pain it will get us nowhere. Facing the source of our pain is going to hurt in the moment but it’s part of the process of healing. We are in need of some healing to take place. We are all or have all been walking around with our heart’s light going more dim as we go.

I want to talk about how some of us are walking around with a rotten heart and it’s not completely our fault. Sometimes we put our hearts on the line and they get ripped to shreds and we continue to put our hearts on the line for others and continue to get hurt. Some of us are suffering from bitterness and guilt that is eating away at us. Some of us are holding grudges and harboring unforgiveness. Some of us can’t seem to let go of the things ruining us. Some of us are letting fear run wild in our hearts. I name all of these things because we are walking around everyday not dealing with what is really going on in our hearts. We can see everything in everyone else but we tend to overlook it in ourselves.

We live in a time where mental health has become more widely spoken about. But we also live in a generation that is told by older generations that we are too soft. We’re too emotional Therefore we hide our feelings we cover them up because we do not want to come off as week. Let me tell you right now, if no one else wants to deal with your broken heart, God will. If no one else wants to talk you off a ledge God will. There are too many people in our generation that are suffering because their heart has gone bad. Too many people are walking around like zombies because they do not have it in them to love anymore because they have been hurt so much. We are walking around with fake smiles trying to be okay because society says we have to be.  This is not the life God wants us to live. Yes we will go through seasons of pain, yes our hearts will be broken but God is a healer. It is not His will for us to harbor that pain or let it manifest in us. There is peace with the Father, there is healing with the Father. We get to a point where we begin to project our feelings onto God. We forget that the one who created the heart is the only one who can completely heal it.

All this to say, we have to check in with our hearts and be honest about what is really going on within us. There so much pain in each and every one of us, but trust God with your heart. He will protect it and guard it. God gave us feelings for a reason, he gave us emotions for a reason. He gave us tears for a reason. Do not allow your feelings and pain to be suppressed because of what someone else thinks. God cares for them. He sees every tear, He hears every prayer. Look for hope in Him.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Pour your heart out to God tonight, if any of this resonated with you talk to God about it and allow Him to heal your heart. God is a healer, he wants to give you peace, let Him do it.

I love you so much! I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 338!

Day 334: We Are Because He Is

Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."

John 3:16

For God so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Have you ever thought about what life would be like without God? It’s crazy to think about and even crazier to type. But when I think about things like that I am enlightened it is brought to my attention just how much god does for us and how much He loves us. Life would be so much different for everyone without God, life would suck actually. He was there at the very beginning and He will be there when it all ends. God exists outside of time. He wakes us up every morning, He is constantly fighting our battles and working things out on our behalf that we don’t even know about. God loves us so much that we can never wrap our minds around it completely. God is the reason we have life, he is the reason we exist. We are because He is. Many people can say they do not need God as they live on the breath that He has given us, as we live on a earth that He has created for us. Without God we literally have nothing, there is no way that we can live without Him.

As crazy as it may be to ask such a question it is important to come back to it every now and then because we sometimes tend to overlook the little things. We tend to forget just how good He is. Not because He gave us the job we wanted or the grades we prayed for but because He is the creator of all things. Because out of everything He created we are His most wonderful creation. Because He created the entire universe before creating man so that we can have something to live on. We forget about the “little things”. God holds the earth in place while keeping all the planets aligned. He gave us trees that would provide oxygen, plants and  herbs that would provide food and healing. He gave us animals and land, and gave us dominion over it all.

How much different would our lives be if God never sent His son to die for our sins? We would never have had a second chance at life. We would never have the opportunity to have a relationship with God and freely serve Him. If Jesus did not die for our sins we would die in our sin, never having the opportunity to spend eternity with God. In our imperfections and our flawed nature God sent someone who is perfect in everyway and unflawed without blemish to make sure that we will have a relationship with Him. God sent His son to complete us. He saw a people that could not survive outside of Him and made a way for us to be in constant communion with Him. That’s the god we serve. We serve a God that is in constant pursuit of our hearts and wants nothing but the best for us. God wants us to live the best possible life we can live and He made it possible for us. I don’t know anyone else who would go to such extreme lengths to save my life and more than that have a relationship with me.

As important as it is to continuously grow and move forward, it is just as important to stop sometimes and remember just who God is. It is important to remember that everything we are, everything we have become is because of God. the life we have is because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We must remember where we come from, we come from God, our identity, our life, our very existence is a result of a loving heavenly father. We are because He is.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed 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 335!

Day 327: Ride it Out!

Hebrews 10:32-36

32 Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. 33 Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. 34 You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. 35 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

Sometimes walking with Christ can feel like trying to swim or surf through a storm. It can feel like all you want is to stay afloat and not drown. I’m talking about those moments in life when the waves are crashing down on you and the winds blowing you all over the place, and you seem to have lost all control. Sometimes that’s what life feels like. It can be rough and sometimes because we walk with Christ things are a bit harder. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned was from swimming lessons. I grew up very afraid of water and whenever someone tried to teach me how to swim I would freak out when it was time to go into the deep end, even when my dad was holding me in his arms, telling me it was going to be okay, that he wouldn’t let anything happen to me. They would always tell me to stay calm. When I finally agreed to go to swimming lessons, my teacher would hold me up unto a certain point and then she let me go and told me to stay calm as I began to be afraid. She said, the more afraid you are the harder it is to learn. Freaking out wasn’t helping me in fact it was hurting, it made me sink faster. When I was too afraid to do things she wouldn’t let me get out of the pool, because she knew what I was capable of and she knew that I could handle it. I tell this story because sometimes this 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.

Verses thirty five through thirty six encapsulates everything that I want say, ”So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” God has brought us this far, even when the storms are throwing us every which way, He was the one that made sure that the storm never overtook us. I thrive off of faith in the Lord, not abandoning that trust because it has gotten me to where I am at this moment in my life.

All this to say, life vn feel like you're riding the roughest wave. But even if you can barely stand, ride it out. God’s got you, you’re going to make it out just fine, trust Him and know that He is holding you up.

Reflection

1. Have you gone through or are you going through a time in your life where you feel like the storm of life is throwing you all over the place?
2. What have you noticed about submitting to God as opposed to submitting to fear?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer, have a conversation with God about what we discussed. Whatever you feel led to pray about today, pour your heart out 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 328!

Day 326: Thanksgiving!

Psalms 28:7

The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.

Psalms 30:12

That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

So today is thanksgiving in America and as an old tradition that I’m sure just isn’t in my family, let’s call to mind what we are thankful. Let’s say how thankful we are for God, I want us to be reminded of how great God is. Bringing our attention to His goodness and thanking Him. I know that we thank God everyday, and we should be reminded of His goodness daily. But I just want you all, even if celebrating the holiday isn’t part of your tradition. Take the time to thank God and show your gratitude towards Him.

In everything we do we should glorify God, and I know our lives show how grateful we are. But there is something different about taking the time to thank God. There is something beautiful about acknowledging what He has done and what He continues to do. Some of my favorite moments are when I can just take in the goodness of God and just say thank you. Not with an empty heart but with a heart full of gratitude because I know that His hand is always on me. I know that He is the one who gets me through every moment of every day. We thank God because He has done so much for us, and just because a million thank you s would never be enough to thank Him for all He does, that doesn’t mean that we omit it. We are often caught up in asking God for things that we forget to thank Him. So, in honor of this American holiday, let’s do exactly that. Let’s take the time, not to ask for anything or push our own agendas let’s just take the time to thank Him.
With everything going on in this world it is important that we come together and be thankful for the wonderful things God has done. It’s so easy to pay ettentiin to the negative and see everything wrong. But I choose to see the goodness of God in all the craziness and evil this world has to offer. There’s so much to be thankful for. Let’s point that out today.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to pray and thank God. Whatever that looks like for you do it. Open your heart to Him and show Him how grateful you are.
I love you and I hope you all have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 327!

Day 312: What Controls You?

2 Peter 2:19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reflection

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

Prayer Time

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

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 313!

Day 308: Recap! (Kinda)

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

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

Day 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!