Day 348: What is Your Passion

Philippians 1:6

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

Psalms 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you

Proverbs 16:3
Commit you work to the Lord , and your plans will be established. 

One of the biggest misconceptions in Christianity is that when we accept Christ into our lives we  completely give up who we are, our personalities, our passions our dreams, in order to serve God. We think we have to turn into these bible reading, church going, scripture memorizing robots, but we don’t. Instead we surrender, we surrender our lives to Him and we give up a life that we thought was good and accept a life that is great because of Him. I’d like to point out that God have us those gifts and dreams and the personalities. He made us who we are for a reason. We can’t just neglect that. 

Today I want to talk about how we are often very passionate about something but instead of going for it we hesitate because we want to make sure that it’s right for us. Overlooking the fact that God created us for this specific purpose, whatever it may be for you. 

We all have something that we love so much, a gift that we cannot help but use. We have that one thing that we want to do. The one thing we know we were made for. Why do we hesitate when it comes to going after it? God gave us the gifts we have. He put those desires and passions in our hearts. We aren’t all going to be pastors and worship leaders. Instead we are supposed to use the gifts we have been given to expand His kingdom. We are to do what we were put on this earth to do. Whatever it may be. If everyone was meant to lead a church no one would have a church to grow or go to. We are the church the church is in us, we have to stop looking at it as a building. If everyone was me at to be pastors who would we have to use the gift of science and medicine to heal and protect us. Who would govern our countries and nations? If we all tried to do the same thing life would be pretty boring and we would all go crazy. 

The question I want to ask you today is, what are you passionate about? What is the one thing you know you were made for.  It’s not usually something we have to find because it’s already in us. We are born with it. So what is it? What is the one thing you cannot live without doing? The thing that you don’t always want to do but you need to do, because you know that if you don’t do it you are wasting not only the gift God has given you but you are wasting your life by trying to do something else. 

When we submit ourselves to Christ we do not lose who we are in fact, it is the opposite, we find ourselves. We are more secure with who we are. We become less hesitant and more sure. Don’t let people scare you with their religion and rules. If you have a solid relationship with God and you know that your life lines up with Him completely and you are obeying His commands you are good. You are a gift and you have a gift. Use it. Too many Christians are stagnate because they think following their dreams is a sin. Sometimes it can be a sin not to follow our dreams. Many times God Himself has given us the desires and the dreams we have because He knows where He wants us and the path that He has for us. 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. He will use what He’s given you for His glory. Don’t underestimate how God can work and where He can work. 

Reflection:

What are you passionate about? 

What is the one thing you know you were made to do. 

What is stopping you from following your dreams?

Prayer Time:

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Have a conversation with God about you dreams and passions. Make sure that everything you are, everything you want lines up with who He is. 

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 349!

Day 347: Fight For It

Genesis 32:22-29

22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. 23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 “What is your name?” the man asked.

He replied, “Jacob.”

28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel,[a] because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.

“Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

This is one of the most interesting and compelling stories in the bible, and I want to just break it down and look at it in a more literal context today.

Jacob wrestled for a blessing, even when he was in pain he would not let go until he received what he was fighting for. Jacob’s hip was out of socket, his hip! I’m not sure if you’ve ever hurt your hip but it HURTS. It’s hard to stand and even harder to walk. If you’ve ever broken a bone or dislocated anything you know the kind of pain it is. It’s hurts so much. Let’s think about this for a second, this man's hips was out of socket and even then he would not let go because he did not want to miss his blessing. He kept fighting with a dislocated hip, he had to push his limits physically to receive what he was fighting for. Even a dislocated hip could not make him let go of the angel because the angel had something he needed and wanted. Not only did he fight with a dislocated hip but he had already been fighting all night long. I can imagine that he was tired and exhausted, and the pain really didn’t help that. This was so impressive to the man he was fighting that he had to know his name. He had to know who this man was.

When we think of this in context we have to realize that Jacob fought for what he wanted. Jacob refused to let go even when he was in pain. I can’t imagine how much pain he was in, but what he was fighting was so much more important that he could deal with the pain another time. What I’m saying here is, we have to fight for what we want. 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. We sometimes think that the things that bring us pain are not for us. We think that because we have to endure the pain to get to where we are going that it’s not for us. Pain isn’t always an indication of something going wrong, pain can be good at times. We can have growing pains, healing pains, enduring pain. We cannot let the pain stop is from fighting on make us let go of the things we are holding on to. Because most times the things we want are beyond the pain, we have to deal with it to get what we want. Sometimes we have to fight even when we are sweating and tired, exhausted and in pain. The harder it get the more valuable the fight and the reward becomes to us.

What I want you to take from this is, there are things worth fighting for and things that we must let go of. Find those things that are worth fighting for and fight. Fight with everything you have and when you want to stop fighting keep fighting. When people tell you stop fighting, keep fighting. Fights aren’t easy, they aren’t going to be soft. No, fighting hurts, you have to take hits and keep going, if you get knocked down you get up.

There are too many people that give up too easily. We are so easily influenced and swayed by our circumstances. I know that life can hurt, and I know that when we are reaching for something it seems like every battle comes up against us. But please I beg you don’t allow your pain to make you stop fighting. If anything let it fuel you. Let that pain be worth it, let it mean something.

All this to say, if you’ve found something worth holding on to, fight for it. Don’t let go, even if it hurts. If you know that this is for you, if you are holding on to God’s promises, and you know that HE has something for you, you fight for it. SOmetimes we even have to fight for the things God wants us to have.

Reflection

1. Can you relate to what we discussed today?
2. What are some things in your life worth fighting for?
3. What are some things you have to let go of?
4. What are the things you have to let go of in order to continue to fight for what you want?

Prayer Time

Allow the answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about what we discussed today. Whatever is on your heart at this moment reveal it to God.

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 348!

Day 89: Dare to Dream.

We are all called to different things in this life, some of us are called to be pastors and missionaries, and work in the ministry or the church, but not everyone is called to do that work. That doesn’t make you less than anyone else it just means that God has a different plan and path for you.

Proverbs 18:16

A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.

Proverbs 16:3

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

Too many times in the church I have seen young people swayed away from following their dreams because it was something outside of the church, it meant walking into worldly places, or it meant that we wouldn’t spend every waking moment in the church. I know this from experience. We grow up being told to chase our dreams and follow our hearts. When we come into the church, those words are changed to ‘find your calling’. We then must find out what it is that God wants us to do in this world. But honestly many of us already know the answer to this question, but we start to doubt because sometimes it doesn’t look holy enough. We start to put pressure on ourselves to find a job in the church and forcing ourselves to love doing it. At least we will look holy.

I will be the first to say that just because we are Christian does not mean we will have a career in ministry. Not all of us are meant to spend every minute in the church. Some of us need to be in hospitals, police stations, law firms, on sets and stages, in space, in the classroom, in business meetings etc. Christians actually need to be on the frontline of every outlet. Why do we suppress our passions, and those dreams burning inside of us. The problem with that is, when we decide to do something other than what God has called us to do we are going against His plan. We make our lives so much harder when we think we know it all. It’s so simple. God has given us all different gifts and talents, yet they all come from the same God. If everyone thought their calling was to be a priest the tabernacle would have never been built. If everyone thought they were kings, we wouldn’t have an army. God uses us in the areas we are in to build His kingdom and bring honor and glory to His name.

Our gifts will make room for us.  God didn’t give you the ability to play an instrument for no reason, play it to His glory. Just like david, his ability to play the harp put Him in the position to later become king.

I think the key to following our dreams is committing our ways to the Lord. Making sure that whatever we do, we do for the glory of God. Yes sometimes our gifts will take us away from the church but they won’t take us away from God. I think when we truly find our calling and do what its is we were put on this earth to do, that is when we will know a deeper level of intimacy with God. When we live the life He has planned for us, and not a life we think will please Him.

We know what the people on the outside are saying about the type of life we should live. But what does God say, and what do you say? I think many times as Christians we place ourselves between a rock and a hard place because we believe our passions, our dreams, the things we love the most are the things that will separate us from God. But that is not so, if God has given us the ability to do something, just taking that gift and using it is a way to honor Him. Our dreams do not separate us from God, if anything they should bring us closer to Him.

When I struggled with stepping down from being a youth pastor to return to acting the main thing I worried about was, will this interrupt my faith. I had that mindset because I was so comfortable where I was, I was safe within the walls of the church, but my spirit was slowly dying because I knew that  God wanted me somewhere else. The moment I committed to go back to acting, everything seemed to fall into place. Because I know that this is the life God has chosen for me, and I have never been closer to God than I am now.

-Dyamond

We must dare to dream, dare to go outside of the box of christianity, dare to do something outside of what religion has told us is okay. Sometimes we have to rebel in order to be in God’s will. That means applying for med-school, writing that song, majoring in science instead of theology. We have to rebel against religion and tradition. I think we all know where we want to to go in life, we all have dreams and we know what we are good at, know that those gifts will make room for you.

Another thing we must realize is that we must not have selfish ambitions. We are servants of Christ, we might be serving in a different way, never the less we are servants. That’s why the scripture tells us to commit our ways to the Lord. Commit those dreams, and goals, and passions to the Lord and watch them flourish.

Reflection

1. What are your dreams?
2. Do you believe that you can follow Christ and follow your dreams? Why or why not?

Prayer Time

Talk to God about following your dreams, find comfort in knowing that the things you are passionate about are the things that God has put in your heart. Ask Him to help you commit you ways to Him and remain humble. Talk to God about whatever is on your heart.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Share this with someone, and make the choice today to commit your ways to the Lord and follow those dreams.

Make sure you come back tomorrow for day 90!

Day 32: Going Through the Motions

Ask yourself, Why am I a Christian? Why do I serve God? Why did I give my life to Christ?

How many times have we gone to church just because we did not want to feel bad for not going? Or because, that’s how we were raised? How many times have we prayed because we’re christian and that’s what we’re supposed to do. Or read our bibles just to get our time with God “out of the way.” How often to we get set in the routine of being a Christian? Go to church every sunday, bible study once a week, read the bible for at least an hour everyday, pray before we go to sleep to secure that our conscious is clear. Then repeat. I know that I am very guilty of these things. Sometimes we get to a point where we start to serve God out of obligation and nothing else. We feel like doing things for God takes the place of doing things with God or spending time with Him. We go through the motions because we feel like we have no other choice, we feel forced to serve God, so we stick to a routine that we think will please Him. Serving god is so much more than a routine.

Psalms 51:16-17 (MSG)

Going through the motions doesn’t please you,

   a flawless performance is nothing to you.

I learned God-worship

   when my pride was shattered.

Heart-shattered lives ready for love

   don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

How we look as a Christian means nothing when it’s just a facade, and that’s what going through the motions is. We put on the mask of a Christian, instead of the lifestyle. To cover up what’s really going on inside of us, we do what we think will please God, and what will make us look like a Christian. We go out of our way to prove our commitment to our faith. But are we really committed if it’s just a mask, something we can take on and off as we please? The problem with going through the motions is there is no growth, only stagnation. We stay in one place but we look like we’re moving. We’re doing a lot of 360 turns and ending up right back in the same place, and that’s “good enough” for us, because we’ve learned to imitate growth.   

What’s the use of going to church if we leave the same? Why read a bible if it doesn’t change our hearts, or influence our lifestyle? Why pray if it’s only to show how good of a Christian we are? Why not have a real relationship with God? Why not pour ourselves into Him and give Him all that we are? We are His children, there’s so much more to gain for serving Christ. There’s so much to learn, so much He wants to give us. But we stay at the surface level by just going through the motions. That doesn’t please God, perfection (as if we can attain it) doesn’t please God. What God wants is our hearts, He’s wants our honest selves, a heart that even when it’s broken is willing to worship. It’s in those moments when we choose to go a little deeper than just going to church, or skimming through the passages of the bibles in our laps, that we learn that worship isn’t something we do it’s who we are. When we choose to serve God because we love Him and want to know Him and want to have an intimate relationship with Him, that’s when we stop going through the motions. That’s when surface-level worship halts. When it’s not about an image or looking good, but it’s about being in need of a Savior and wanting one. We all know we need God but when we want Him, that’s when that thirst in us is quenched. We have to want God more than we want air.  

Reflection

1. Take a look at your life, how it is right now. Are you going through the motions?
2. What do you think keeps us at this ‘surface-level’ worship?
3. How can that be changed?
   
   

Prayer Time

Depending on your answers to the previous questions, how might God be speaking to you right now? Talk to him, and listen to what He might be saying to you. Talk to God about whatever resonated with you today. Be honest with Him, and remember that prayer is just a conversation with Him, make sure you listen as well.

Day 17: Loving People

I’m pretty sure we can all agree that love is not only beautiful but powerful. Love is more powerful than anger, pain, and definitely more powerful than hate. Love is a necessity and a want. I love talking about love because I just love, love. Since I’ve become a christian my desire to love people has gotten stronger. I find myself in positions all the time where I can’t help myself, I love you. I can’t hold grudges, it doesn’t sit right with me to stay angry, or waste my time hating people. I’m just a sappy love ball, I can’t help it and I love it. I’ve found that since I’ve experienced the love of God and understood what it means to be loved by God, I want everyone to feel this type of love, so why not give it to them?

-Dyamond

We all  deserve love, and I’m not talking about love in a romantic way, (we will get to that subject later in the year I promise). No matter who  you are, what you look like, what your social or financial status is,  where you came from, what you’ve done in your life. You deserve to be loved, unconditionally. Love doesn’t give up or end. Loving someone unconditionally means no matter what happens, there is nothing someone can do to make us stop loving them. That’s how God loves us, He never stops loving us, There’s nothing we can do to make Him love us more or less. He can’t help Himself, he loves us, even before we loved Him. Some people will never love God but He still loves them. It’s the same with loving people, sometimes we have to love people even though we know they will never love us back. We have to love people while at the same time, knowing it will never be reciprocated. That’s unconditional love, we don’t love just the people who love us, we love everyone. In the same way Jesus loved everyone He came across, it did not matter if they were Jews, Gentiles, Samaritans, tax collectors, thieves, murderers. Whoever they were Jesus came to save them too, He went into the houses of people who were considered criminals and outcast. Jesus love is unconditional to all people, and therefore as we live like Christ we shall also love like Christ.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Mark 2:1-12

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

This passage is one of my favorites, and not for the obvious reasons. I want to focus on the four men in this story. These four men were the reason the man who was paralyzed got healed. They went out of their way to make sure this man got to Jesus.  THe could have left Him there when they got in the first time and said “we tried.”shrugged and walked away. Instead the did something so loving that Jesus had to honor their faith in the situation. These four men were carrying a paralyzed man on a bed, and when they could not get in through the door they went to the roof. When they got to the roof they put a hole in it, as hole big enough so that the man could fit through it. Then it says they ‘let down the bed.’ They did not drop it, they let it down, gently, making sure that he was safe. I’m not sure how long it took for the men to do all of this, but all I know is that they saw a need and met it. They knew that this man could not get to Jesus alone, so they took him. They went through all that trouble because they knew Jesus would heal him, they had faith that He could and would be healed.

Sometimes loving people is having faith for them. Sometimes we have to go out of our way for people, not because it makes us look like a good person but because we are here serve and love others. Sometimes love means sacrifice, we have to put ourselves on the line for others. We have to love people who we don’t agree with, we have to love the people we don’t want to be around all the time, we have to love the people who do us wrong and hurt us. Loving people isn't always pretty, but it is so much better than carrying around the burden of hate.  

1 John 4:20

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

How can we hate our neighbor who we see everyday, and profess to love God, whom we have never seen. Loving people is more that just a phrase, it’s an action word. We are always so quick to say, “I love you because I have to.” But just like anything else love is a choice. God chooses to love us, even when we give Him reason not to. We must simply choose love over hate, we must choose to love people, Now I know that some people are hard to love, but just imagine how hard we are to love, and how we still get love. Not only do we deserve love, and want love, we need love. The worst feeling in the world is to feel as if no one loves you. We go through stages in our lives sometimes where we feel like everyone hates us, or that we have been cut off from the world. We need love, we need to know that someone will always be there, that in our lowest points. We need to know that no matter what we do we will always be loved. If we know that, that is what we need as human beings then we should be giving that love to our neighbors.

Mark 12:31

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves, the first is loving god with our heart, mind, and soul. As Christians our entire foundation is build on love. We talked earlier about loving ourselves, and we love ourselves so much, more than we'll ever know or admit. What if we take all the love we give ourselves and shower someone else with it.

If we do not love as Christians, can we truly call ourselves Christian? As I mentioned before, some people are hard to love, some people cannot accept love, some people just are not loving. The way we love people should never be impacted by the way they love others, or the way they accept or refuse love. When you love someone, there is nothing they can do about it. When you love someone you cannot control it, you love them rather you agree with them or not, whether you get along with them all the time or not, you just love them. The same way God loves us, is the same type of love  we should have towards His people. We must learn how to love people with no strings attached, no conditions, no forfeiting, none of that. I love you, end of story and there’s nothing you can do about it.  

Reflection

1. Love looks different to everyone, we all give and experience love in different ways, what are some of the ways you have experienced love?
2. What does loving others look liek to you? It’s different for everyone, but how do you love?
3. How do you love the people that are hard to love?
4. Just for fun, if you know them, what are your love languages?

Prayer Time

Respond to God, and talk to HIm about what it means to love His people. Ask God to help you see others through His eyes. Love on as many people as you can. Ask God to show you how to love unconditionally. Remember that prayer is just a conversation between you and God.