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 355: That's Life: Series (Part 3)

Ephesians 5:11

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Romans 12:10

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

John 13:34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

As this series is almost coming to an end I want to discuss our lives as Christians. The Christian community does not always have the best reputation with the world, and I don't mean in a "He was persecuted therefore we are persecuted kind of way". What I mean is that there are a lot of people claiming to be Christians and love Christ while also spreading hate, being intolerant, and not acting in the way the Jesus did at all. Now I know that not every person who is Christian is this way, and the hateful Christians do not speak for us. Well they do, if we are not speaking up and doing anything. When the voice of hate is the only one you hear, it's pretty hard to believe that there is love. 

We are people who are called to love, we are called to spread the message of truth and share Jesus with people. As people of God we are called to live a life the resembles Christ in every way. We are called to love people and speak up for those without a voice. Somewhere along the line we have adopted the every man for them self idea and as long as we are doing well, everything is good. No, while we are not anyone's savior we are their way to the savior. It's hard to move forward when our brother or sister is stuck in a ditch. It's hard to overlook those who are hurting, or at least it should be. There are many people who are hurting and have been scarred by the church, and religious people who are full of hate and intolerance. As the world has changed this past year and sen so much tragedy and witnessed so much pain, now is the time to spread love. Life is loving people beyond what we see or agree with. I have seen people who call themselves Christians attack people of the LGBTQ+ community countless times. I can tell you right now that attacking someone into repentance and believing in Christ will never work I have seen racism in the name of Jesus. I have seen so many things take place that should not, done by people who call themselves Christians. We should not be living in a world where a church kicks someone out because they are gay. We should not be living in a world where pastors are more concerned with how someone is dressed for service or whether they have tattoos as opposed to their soul. We should not live in a world where religion and manmade rules takes the place of salvation and relationship. We are called to build a church and that means creating disciples, now I don't know if you noticed but the only one running with Jesus that was perfect was Jesus Himself. It is not our job to judge people it is our job to love them and lead them to Christ and He will do the rest. As we imitate the life of Christ we must learn to love like He does. We must learn to be compassionate like He is. We must learn to love people beyond their faults or whether or not we agree with their lifestyle or the choices they have made. One thing I know to be true is that Jesus was not intolerant. He was not arrogant, He did not walk around with a chip on His shoulder. Jesus is full of love and compassion and so are we. When Jesus came to save the world He did not ask every person what their  sin was and decide whether or not they could be forgiven or not, but He forgave them all. He did not ignore the sin or overlook it, He gave them a way out. 

What I am getting at here is, are we are people of God, the body of Christ living a life that will rebuttal what the world believes a Christian is or should be. Are we living a life full of love for His people, are we speaking up and stepping up when we see our neighbor has been wronged. Are we loving people unconditionally, or are we basing how we love someone on how great or small their sin is? People have told us that life is hard and life as a Christian person is harder but can we use what we have to make life a bit easier for our brother and sister? Can we use what God has given us to love the person who feels like they cannot be loved? Can we live a life that will go and pick the people up that have fallen. Can we live a life that lets God's people (that's everyone) know that we are there for them. Life is about being selfless, it's not a race to see how many people you can judge in a day or look down upon to prove you are better.  

All this to say, let's be a people that speak against hate with love. Let's be a people that will love every person whether we agree with their lifestyle or not. Also let's be a people that will stand up and show the world that their idea of Christianity is flawed. Let's do this by living like Christ, obeying His commands and loving people the way He loves them. 

Response/Prayer Time 

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Think about where you fit into this and pray for the body of Christ. Pray for the people who are hurting and take the time to commit yourself to living like Christ, and loving His people unconditionally. 

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow or Day 356!

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 350: Recap!

Day 344: Don't Lose Hope

Today we talked about holding on to hope. We talked about holding on to hope in a world that seems hopeless, and knowing that as long as we have Christ, it's not over! We focused on 2 Chronicles 15:7 and Isaiah 41:10.

"There’s so much going on in the world that will make us lose hope in many things, but don’t let what you see or what you’re going through at the present moment make you lose hope in the Father."

Day 345: Step Out of the Boat

Today had to be one my favorite days so far, we talked about how Peter just had the courage to step out of the boat. We talked about taking the first step and having enough faith just like Peter to step out of the boat. We talked about what it takes to get to our 'waking on water' moment. We focused on Matthew 14:28-29. 

"Too many of us are missing our “walking on water” moments because we are afraid to step out of the boat. We’re too focused on the fact that we might sink so in order to protect ourselves we stay in the boat where it’s safe."

Day 346: Live For Something That Matters

Today we talked about living for something bigger and better than ourselves. We talked about how we can sometimes be selfish with our gifts and our prayers but we talked about turning those prayers outward and expanding His kingdom. We focused on Mark 8:35.

"We pray for change but it never crosses our mind that God sent us to where we are because we are the change that we have been praying for."

Day 347: Fight For It

Today we talked about fighting for what we want and fighting for the things that we know are worth fighting for. We talked about how Jacob fought with angel for his blessing, even with a dislocated hip. We talked about how we should not let the pain stop us, but if it's worth it, we have to keep fighting and see the blessing that comes from it. We focused on Genesis 32:22-29.

"We have to hold on to the things we think are worth fighting for, even if it means we have to deal with the pain of holding on."

Day 348: What's Your Passion

Today we talked about our passions we talked about finding that one thing that we are so passionate about and the thing we know we are meant to do and be. We talked about how we often have this idea that being a Christian means we stop being who we are, meaning we have to give up the things we love and our personalities and even sometimes our culture. We focused on Philippians 1:6, Psalms 32:8, and Proverbs 16:3.

"God Himself can be telling us to take the path that leads us to our dreams but we are sometimes too concerned with thinking that because we aren’t doing it the religious way or because we aren’t doing it in a church we are sinning. God can use you wherever  and whenever."

Day 349: What Will You Do

Today we talked about what we will do and say in the face of adversity. We talked about how we will use our platforms, our voices, our lives to speak up when it comes to things like injustice, equality, peace, truth, etc. We talked about how all of these things starts with us, these changes that we want to see and implement starts with us. We cannot wait for someone else, we have to do it, whatever "it" may be. We focused on John 3:16, Matthew 5:14-16, Galatians 6:2, and Matthew 25:35-40.

"We often think that these are not our battles or our conversations. By overlooking the things that are causing the world so much pain how are we helping to heal. By looking over our brother or sister who is starving and struggling how are we doing God’s will?"

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to go back over your favorite post this week and share it with someone. Come back tomorrow for Day 351!

Day 344: Don’t Lose Hope

2 Chronicles 15:7
But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.
Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Before I say anything I want to start by saying, many times in life things are not over for us we just decide that it’s over. I want to encourage you all to never lose hope in Christ because that’s where everything we need everything we have to keep us alive is. If we lose hope in Him  then we have lost everything. I know that life is rough and can be rough and sometimes it looks like we have nothing and no one but there’s always hope in the Lord. There’s always something to hang on to. We just have to decide that it’s worth the fight, it’s worth fighting for. We have to decide that holding on to Christ is worth it all, when we decide that we will come to the conclusion that life isn’t over. It isn’t the end.
The scripture tells us that God is always with us, He is there for us. We should not fear we should not give up because He will uphold us. We just have to decide to hold on to. Many times it’s our decision to hold on to or let go of hope. Hold on to it if it’s the only thing you have left hold to the hold of Jesus Christ. If we’re hanging on to anything by a thread hold on to Jesus. He loves you so much, and even when it feels like you can’t hold on any keep holding because not only are you holding on to Him but He is holding you up.
All this to say, don’t lose hope. Hold on to Christ. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel and that light is Jesus. As long as we hold on to that. As long as we trust in the Lord and know that He will sustain us, He will deliver, He will reward, in our due time He will make sure that we reap. Just hold on to hope, don’t let it go. There’s so much going on in the world that will make us lose hope in many things, but don’t let what you see or what you’re going through at the present moment make you lose hope in the Father. He’s got you, just keep focusing on Him, trust me He will hold you us. He loves you so much and He sees you, He hears your prayers, He knows you.

Response/Prayer Time 

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. If this has struck you in anyway talk to God about it. Take the time spend time with God and have a conversation with Him.
I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and encourage them. Make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 345!

Day 336: Recap!

Day 330: We Have an Advocate

Today we talked about how Jesus is an advocate for us and how he is constantly rooting for us. We also discussed how we should be and need to be advocates for one another, praying for one another and lifting each other up. We focused on 1 John 2:1-2.

"...sometimes we have to plead someone else’s case. Sometimes we have to sit ourselves aside and go to God on behalf of someone else."

Day 331: The Truth About Loving God

Today we talked about how we really know we love God. We asked ourselves question about what loving God looks like and how we can make sure we are doing it. We talked about what a life loving God looks like. We focused on 1 John 2:3-6.

" Loving God is less about abstaining from sin and more about obeying His word, there is a difference."

Day 332: Loving This World

Today we continued with the theme of love and talked about choosing to love the world or God, but we cannot do both. We talked about how the world offers us something temporary and fleeting but God gives us eternity. We focused one 1 John 2:15-17.

"There is only so much the world can do for us. But when we choose to love God, we are choosing eternity, we are choosing everything by making one choice to choose God."

Day 333: Walking Away Isn't Easy

Today we talked about how if we really love something or someone it is very hard to walk away. We then went on to propose the question, if we walk away from God, whom we say we love, did we really ever love Him at all? We focused on 1 John 2:19.

"When we come to the understanding of who God is and everything He has done for us in our lives we will want to stay near Him for all eternity. Walking away is not an option because we come to the conclusion that walking away from God means walking away from life and that is not something we are willing to give up."

Day 334: We Are Because He Is

Today we talked about how different life would be without God, if it would be life at all. We talked about how everything we are not only depends on Him but it is because of Him. We talked about how we tend to look over or forget the little things, not acknowledge that God is responsible for even those things. We focused on John 3:16 and Revelation 22:13.

"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."

Day 335: This is True Love

Today we talked some more about love. We talked about how God teaches us what true love is by loving us first. We talked about how His love is so unconditional and so great that we will never be able to fully grasp the capacity of it. We also talked about how God has taught us to love other people the way He loves us. We are called to love. 

"Love can change people. Love can pierce evil. Love can heal or soften a broken and hardened heart. We need love, love is what keeps us going everyday. Love is our foundation. Life is so much better when we love...Love makes the world a better place."

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 337!

Day 317: Knowing God For Ourselves

John 14:6

Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

How many times have we used someone else’s faith as a crutch so that we would not have to submit our lives fully to God? What I’m asking is have we ever felt like our faith or our salvation was dependent on someone else? We have pastors, parents, and leaders who will lead us to Christ, but the only way to eternity it through Christ. We must have a personal relationship with God for ourselves. People can lead us to the water but they cannot make us drink. We can be led to Christ all our lives but if we do not make the decision to follow Him ourselves we will remain wight where we are.

The only way to God is through Jesus, the only way to eternity is through Jesus. No one else can

get us there. No one else can make the decision for us.  Many of us grew up in church or going to church, and many of us did not. For those of us who grew up in church or around church or having a common knowledge of the Christian faith, we had to at one point come to the conclusion that knowing about God and knowing God are two completely different things. We must gain a relationship with God for ourselves and that’s something no one else can for us. Our parents can drag us to church all of our lives but we have to make that decision ourselves. We have to come to know God for who He is, we must profess our own faith. We must repent for our own sins. Our parents, our mentors, our pastors, no one can do that for us.

How many times have we depended on the faith of others to get us by? We’ve depended on the prayers of others, and thought just because we go to church that we are okay. We are good because we grew up in the church and we know about God, We know about the bible. We got baptised when we were younger, we take communion and our parents dedicated us. We go to church every sunday, and we listen to a good sermon that will hold us over until next sunday so, we’re good right? No we are not we must come to know God for ourselves, our parents introduce us to our faith, but we make the decision to follow Christ. We make the decision to choose Christ every day of our lives. We make the decision to spend time with God in His word, growing in our faith, learning and knowing more about Him. These are our decisions, if God doesn’t make that decision for us, why do we put it on others to do it for us. Many of us are thriving because someone is praying for us, someone is going to God on our behalf, many say it’s the prayers of our grandmothers, but I know that it’s Jesus standing at the right hand of God interceding for us day in and day out.

What I’m getting at here is, no one can have a relationship with God for us. No one can submit our lives to Christ for us. No one can get on our knees and confess our sins to God and repent. No one can accept Christ into our lives but us. My mom would always tell me, “I can’t stand before God on the day of judgement for you, you stand before Him alone.” That struck me so hard because when I’m standing before God He’s not going to ask about how many times I went to church with my mom or how I had a relationship with Him through someone else. No He wants us all to have a personal relationship with Him. He is concerned with our hearts and how we served Him. We must do it ourselves. We have the power to walk away from a life of sin and dwell with Christ for all of our days.

All this to say, the only way to God is through Christ, not our parents, mentors, pastors, etc. If we really want to know what it is to truly live, we must get to know God for ourselves. We must have a personal relationship with God.

Response/Prayer Time

1. Are you depending on someone else to have a relationship with God for you?
2. Do you think that going to church and listening to a sermon is enough to have a relationship with God?
3. Respond in whatever way you feel led. Take the time to think about what we discussed today and talk to God about.

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 or evening! If you made the decision to follow Christ today, congratulations! Do not hesitate to reach and get plugged into  a church. Make sure you come back tomorrow for day 318!

Day 307: Live as Free People

1 Peter 2:16

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Let’s address the elephant in the room. What a statement, amiright? This statement is such a crazy thing to say when we look at it. On one breath it’s saying we are free, but right after it says we’re servants. Now most people don’t equate freedom with being servants, some translation have translated that word to say slave. We are slaves of God, yet we are free. When we think of our definition of freedom it means that we are indebted to no one. So how are we free but we are still servants or slaves? What if we looked at it as owing the man who sacrificed His life for us our hearts or our lives. What if we realized that Jesus gave up His life so that we may be free from the bondage of sin a death. Freedom for us looks like being given the opportunity to serve God with our everything. As crazy as the scripture sounds we are only free in Christ. We are not bound in Christ in fact we are the exact opposite. Sin held us down, held us in bondage, but Jesus came to give us life. He came to free us from those chains and free us from a lifestyle was was leading us to the grave and nowhere else.

There’s a song that says, “I found my life when I laid it down...I touched the sky when my knees hit the ground.” Freedom in Christ is giving up what we think we know and acknowledging that God God is in control. It is understanding that there is a whole world God has for us, that we cannot see if we are still stuck in our sin. Freedom is being able to experience the beauty of this world that God has created for us, and living the life God has planned for us. The human mind can only go so far, and seeing how far the human mind can go is crazy, but to think that the mind of God is greater leaves me in awe.

We are not free because we get to do whatever we want, when we want to do it. Sometimes the choices we make while free are the ones that keep us in bondage, there are people in prison serving real time for real crimes that attest to that. Just because we know we can do something doesn’t mean we should do it. Free will gives us the right to choose who we want to be but we must understand that every choice has a consequence whether good or bad. Humans are capable of doing astounding things, while simultaneously capable of doing some of the most grotesque things. We are free to choose who we will be, but as for us who follow Christ and have submitted our lives to serving the Lord we know that true freedom lies within God. There is no limit to freedom in Christ.

All this to say, while we are free to choose who we want to be, when we decide to follow Christ we decide to be servants in the kingdom of God. That in itself is freedom, we will do things and go places we never thought we’d do or go. Serving Christ is less about what we can’t do and more about the kind of life we can lie in Him. Living in Christ is so peaceful, so free, there is nothing like it. Freedom looks like living like Christ. True freedom is in Christ.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Think about what we discussed today and how you view freedom. Think about what your personal definition of freedom is and what it is to be free in Christ. How to they relate or differ. Bring it all to God in prayer.

Maybe you’ve never had a chance to experience this freedom in Christ, if you haven’t I want to give you that opportunity. Make the decision to follow Christ and live a life of freedom.

If you’ve never made the decision to live for Christ, or you want to rededicate your life. 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 or evening! If you made the decision to follow Christ today, congratulations! Do not hesitate to reach and get plugged into  a church. Make sure you come back tomorrow for day 308!

Day 300: Faith is Active

James 2:17

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James:2:20-23

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.

Yesterday we talked about faith, in the aspect that we must believe. We must believe in order to be saved. Today we are going to take that a step further and start acting on that faith. Faith when it comes to following Christ is an action word, yes we must first believe and confess then we must walk with Christ, all the days of our lives. We must have faith in who He is, and trust Him with our lives. We must put all of our faith in Him, knowing that He will do all that He said He was going to do in our lives. This looks like obeying His word, living by His word, and listening when He tells us to go. One of the prime examples of this is Abraham. We all know the story of Abraham and Sarah who had a child way past childbearing age. They were old, very old. But God promised that they would have a son, and they stood on that promise. We see parts of the story when they decided to do it their way but it didn’t work. See the thing about having faith in God is that we cannot decide to do things our way when we decide God is taking too long. We must stand on His promise even when it looks like it’s not coming through, trust me He will always come through. The only way life will work is God’s way, and the more we pour ourselves into Him the more evident that truth becomes. Abraham had a child but it was not the the promised child, the child God had promised was to come from Abraham and Sarah not Abraham and Hagar.

The turning point in this story is when Abraham and Sarah finally had  Isaac (the promised son), God tells Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. Without hesitation Abraham goes to do it. Now many may think, why would Abraham voluntarily kill his son? The simple answer is because God told Him to, as gruesome as it sounds. I think Abraham knew something that we take a while to grasp and understand. He knew that whatever God was doing it was so much greater than what He could ever imagine. Abraham knew that God gave Him Isaac and if God wanted Him back then He would have to send Him. Sometimes God’s plan doesn’t make sense to us, but it is some much greater than what we could ever think. I cannot say that Abraham was happy-go-lucky to do this. It does not say how he felt about this, but I can imagine that he was a bit troubled. The thing is, Abraham had faith in God’s plan whatever it may have been. “But what about the promise, he waited so long to have this child and then he’s just going to give him up that easy.” It poses the question, do we have faith in His promises or faith in Him? Are we putting our faith in the things that God says He’s going to do, are we putting our trust in His promises or are we putting our faith and trust in Him? I believe that Abraham’s faith was in God, not in the promise of a child because even when the promise was fulfilled He was willing to give it up because His faith in God was stronger. Abraham’s faith was more than words it was active, that’s the type of faith God calling us to have.

Reflection/Prayer Time

There’s a two part question we must ask ourselves, one being do we really have faith in God, do we trust Him with everything? The second question being are we trusting in the promise, or are we trusting in a God who makes and fulfills promises? Allow your answers to those questions guide your prayer, talk to God about it. Have a conversation with Him about your faith, ask Him to search your heart and teach you to have faith in 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 301!