Day 349: What Will You Do

Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Galatians 6:2

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Lately I feel God has been challenging me in many ways and I want to bring those challenges to you. I think as the Body of Christ we are being challenged to do more and be more. Not in a sense that we aren’t enough but that there is always something more to be done. 

We are constantly talking about how the world is corrupt and we want world peace and we need someone to help. Well I have news for you. We are that someone to help. We are that someone to make a change in the world. We are the spark to the fire. God calls us the light of the world for a reason. Not so we can sit in darkness s d hide our light. But so that we can bring light into the darkness. Let me tell you that the world is becoming darker and darker everyday. With that being said the body of Christ must grow brighter and stronger everyday. We must be the change that not only we want to see but the change that this world needs. There’s is so much going on in the world and we are looking to everyone else to fix it. We are looking for politicians to fix this when what our people need is Prayer. What our countries need is for the people of God to show them that all hope s not gone. That there is a God and He is still sovereign and He is always listening. 

While we are waiting for celebrities, politicians, and city and community leaders to speak up and do something. My question to the body of Christ is what do you say? What will you do? How do you treat people? I ask myself these questions as well. It starts with us. Equality, justice, peace, truth. It all starts with us. What will we do when we see injustice happening? What will we do when we see people falling and persecuted? What will we do? 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. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is  in Matthew 25:35-40 when Jesus says,35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

So again I ask, What will you do?  

I know that when God saw His people falling and being destroyed by sin, He sent Jesus. That’s what He did. He did something for His people and because of that act of grace and love we are here today. He sent a savior to save the world and Jesus sent us. Jesus gave us a mission to go out and make disciples. 

Response/Prayer Time 

Take the time to answer the questions proposed today. As the year begins to wind down we are talking about putting our faith into action and serving Christ in all the ways we can. Talk to God about what that looks like for you and ask Him what He wants you to do and where He wants you to go. 

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 350!

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

1 John 5:12

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God's Son does not have life.

Are you winning at life?

What does winning at life look like to you?

I’m sure we have all heard these concepts of “winning at life”. Buzzfeed had probably posted articles about how to win at life, buzzfeed also probably posted a quiz, that most of us probably took, about how to know if you are winning at life. When we think about this idea of winning at life, do we think of it as just something tangible. Are we thinking about winning at life as beating our enemies, or just being better than everyone else? How does it look to win at life? What doe sit mean? First let’s define that word, to win. What does it mean, according to my dictioanry.com app on my iphone, there are quite a few different meaning of the word. All the definitions are centered around success: to finish first, to succeed by striving or effort, to gain the victory, overcome an adversary. The slang definition is to be successful or competent and be acknowledged for it. These definitions are sometimes how we as people define ourselves. We always have to be first, we have to be the best. We have to prove that we are the best and the winners by constantly working hard. The last one hits close to home, we all want to be recognized for our success. We want to be acknowledged for winning at life. Often times we put up an image, most times on instagram, to make our lives look successful, and they might be. But how successful are we if we do not have Jesus? Are we really winning if we do not have Christ in our lives?

I can tell you right now that winning at life does not look a certain way as a matter of fact it lives a certain way. How we live determines how we win. What I mean is that we cannot win at life if we are not living in Christ. The very man who gave us life, how can we live apart from Him. To take that even further how can we win at life if we do not live in Him. It took Jesus to come from His throne in heaven to not only teach us how to live, but also it took His life so that we can have life. Before Jesus came we were dying in our sin, we were losing this game of life. Jesus gave us the tools we needed to win. Theres is only one way to win at life and His name is Jesus.  John 14:16 says. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

The idea of winning at life is the idea of pushing hard to earn it, but with Jesus we didn’t earn it, He gave it to us. All we have to do is believe, all we have to do is give our hearts to Him. True winning is when we are truly submitted to christ, that’s how we win at life. We give our hearts to the man who gave up everything for us. Winning at life is still having life in eternity when everything of this world fades. When all else is gone and we still have Christ to hold on to, that’s how we know we’ve won at life.  See 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. Because we are not always going to be or feel successful.

All this to say, winning at life is declaring our victory in christ, not in the world. Jesus gave us the tools we need to win at life, and we cannot live apart from Him.

Reflection

1. Are You winning at life?

Prayer Time

Take the time to talk to God about what we discussed today. Have a conversation with Him about what it looks like to win at life. Thank Him for Jesus, take the time to thank God for giving us a savior who has given us eternal 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 287!

Day 166: It Was Impossible

Acts 2:24

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

John 10:17-18

For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

I think one of the most important things mentioned here is, Jesus telling the people, you aren’t taking my life, I’m laying it down for my people. You have no authority over me, it is by the power given to me by my Father that I am even able to do such a thing. Jesus is making it clear that they can do nothing without His consent. They cannot take the life of the one who gave it in the first place. He is laying it down for His people. They thought they were doing Jesus harm when they killed Him, they thought they were winning when they nailed Him to the cross. They thought they were on top when He refused to come down off the cross. But little did they know, it was all part of the plan. They can’t do what God won’t allow. It was predestined that Jesus would die for humanity, but also be raised in three days.

Moving on to the book of Acts where Paul says it was impossible for Jesus to be held by death. Jesus is greater than death, and He defeated it when He died. He cannot be held by it. He is too mighty and too powerful. Jesus defeated the power of death when He took on the sins of humanity and died with them. It looked like death had won the battle but at the end of the day, Jesus was the only one to rise from the grave. He was the only one released from the grave. Death belonged there, life didn’t. When Jesus walked out of that tomb, death wasn’t with Him, He walked out with all life in his hands. It was impossible for Him to be defeated. Here’s the thing about this amazing story, Jesus defeated death for us. The same way He took our sin away from us, He defeated death for us. What I’m saying is, we alone cannot defeat the power or pangs of death. We alone cannot do it. Jesus came and took on our invisible battles, He came and fought a fight that one, we could not win, and two, a fight that we could not see we were losing. When Jesus came, humanity was dying in sin. Humanity was not doing too hot, we weren’t really upstanding citizens. Humanity needed a savior or we would die in our sin, never really knowing what it was like to have a relationship with God. Death was on our heels and we didn’t know it. Jesus came as a person who could not be defeated or swayed by the enemy, but He came to defeat the enemy. He came to fight an enemy that we weren’t equipped to go into battle with just yet. Jesus fills that gap for us, What the people didn’t understand is that Jesus was fighting for them. Jesus was standing in the gap for the people, He was saving them, protecting them from something much bigger than what they could see. They were worried about Him sitting with sinners, and healing on the day of Sabbath, but they were blind to the work He was doing to fix our corrupted souls. They were blind the things He was doing to make sure we were not consumed by death. They didn’t see what was really going on.

This is why I believe with every ounce of my being that we are in constant need of a Savior, we cannot walk through this life alone it will beat us up and down every which way possible. It was impossible for death to hold Jesus, that’s why He took a death that belonged to us. Jesus completes us, we cannot be held down by death or sin because He has already defeated them on our behalf. He has given us a way to eternity, by being the way.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to read through the scriptures and just think about how Jesus has filled in the gaps for us. Meditate on His word, and thank Him. Talk to Him about whatever stood out to you. Just take the time to pray and spend time with Him 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 167!

Day 98: Let's Talk About It- "Why We Serve God"

As we close out the “Let’s talk about it series” I want to bring it back to the root of why we do things and why we serve Christ in the first place.  I know we all have amazing stories of what lead us to Christ and how we got to know HIm for ourselves, and the moment we decided to give our lives to Christ. We remember the feeling of how it felt to know that you were now on a journey to eternity. It is important that we know why we serve God, and why we love GOd, and why we have chosen to live this life with CHrist. I have been asked this question a couple of times and have learned that it isn’t as complex as I made it.

Genesis 2:7

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

It is the breath of God running through our bodies. If it were not for him we would be lifeless creatures. He literally blew life into our nostrils and gave us a reason to live. God is the air we breathe. We are God’s greatest work of art, He formed us in His hand. He shaped and molded us. He gave us life, literal life. It comes from Him. God is the giver of life.

1 John 4:19

We love because He first loved us

God loves us so much. We respond to His goodness with love. We live our lives knowing that we are loved by the most magnificent being in all of creation. God loves us unconditionally, we didn’t do anything to receive His love and there’s nothing we can to for it to be taken away. God never needed a reason to love us, he just does.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, He gave his only son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

This is an example of how great God’s love is. He sent His own son, His child for us. He made His son, Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Because He loves us so much that He cannot bear to be separate for us, He is in constant pursuit of our hearts. So He made a way for us to be cleansed and forgiven and the opportunity to live an eternal life, through Christ. He wants a relationship with us, and Jesus is our direct line to Him. He made a way for us to have a constant connection to Him. God is just that great.

There are so many reasons as to why we serve God, and why we choose to life this lifestyle and continue to make that choice everyday.

God is love

God is Faithful

God is merciful

God is gracious

God is unfailing

God is patient

God is the giver of life and everything in it.,,

The list goes on.

For me I have learned that I am nothing without God. I don’t exist without Him and I cannot live apart from Him. I have seen God’s faithfulness first hand, and I have learned to trust him more and more with my life. God is the only person who has never let me down. God is the only person who is constantly there for me even when I didn’t acknowledge His presence in my life. I need God every second of everyday. But I also want Him near me every second of everyday, I’m clingy when it comes to my relationship with God, I have to be under Him always. I have to or I won’t make it. There's nothing I can do without God and there is nothing I can’t do with God. Most importantly, I love Him. I love God with every piece of my being, I love Him so much and I know that it will never add up to how much He loves me. I fell in love with God, and I fall deeper for Him everyday. He is my everything.

Reflection

1. Why do you serve God?

Prayer Time

Take the time to thank God for who He is. Take this time to honor and give reverence to God. Just thank Him, talk to Him about what He means to you. Praise God, just honor and glorify Him. He is worthy.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone, share your story with someone today, and make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 99! Have an awesome Day!.

Day 92: Who...?

Romans 8:31

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:34

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Before I say anything I’d like to say that, Christ is on our side. He is rooting for us, He has our best interest at heart. He is constantly going to God on our behalf, he is praying for us, He is watching us and making sure that we are okay. He’s dodging bullets for us and giving us a second chance day in and day out. I think there is sometimes this misconception that God knows we are going to fail, and therefore we have to talk ourselves back into good graces with Him. But that is not true, we are freely offered grace, we have been gifted with a life payed for by the blood of Christ. There is one person in this world able to condemn and He doesn’t, he stands at the right hand of God, praying for us, protecting us, sending people to help us. He gave us the Holy Spirit so that we can walk a life that is free, without condemnation.

Intercede- to act or interpose in behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, as by pleading or petition:

When we are in difficult times Jesus is intervening on our behalf, He’s like our fighter pilot, as my pastor put it. He is shooting attacks down before they even get to us. There are so many attacks that never reach us because God is shooting them down and intervening before they even have a chance to get to us. And if they do get to us, He makes sure that they will not destroy us. God is our protector, He is everything we need. We serve an untouchable God. I'm reminded of Daniel in the lion's den and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire.  

Daniel 3: 16-25

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.  And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.  Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics,[e] their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.

 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

Daniel 6:16-22

 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”  And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.  Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.  As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

This king thought he was the most powerful man on earth, but He could not touch GOd's children, even when he threw them in the fire, and the lion's den. God was right there with them protecting them. God is untouchable.

I love that the question is asked, “Who is to condemn” and “Who can be against us?” It’s like a parent asking, “who dares lay a hand on my child?”

If Christ is not condemning us, no one has the right to do so, not even ourselves. We have to understand that, we have to know that God is bigger than anyone, and when we have Him on our side, there is no one that can come against us. People will try and sometime they will succeed in scratching us, but they cannot penetrate the love of God, or blood of Christ on our life.

We must walk in this confidence knowing that we are not condemned, there is no one on this earth able to do so. No one. Even when we fall, even when we mess up, when we repent God’s love covers our sins. Our sins cannot condemn us, our hearts cannot condemn us, our family, our pastor’s, our friends, no one.

The main point here today is pretty straight forward. It is us understanding that no one can come against us when God is for us. No one can condemn us when Christ himself chooses not to do so. When Paul asks “Who is to condemn or who can be against us?” I believe that they are both rhetorical questions, as we are well aware that no one is able to do these things but GOd.

We are so blessed to serve a God who is watching our every step making sure that we are always in good hands.

Reflection

1. Have you been subject to condemnation?
2. Do you believe that as long as God is on your side that no one is able to come against you?
3. Do you see Christ as a protector?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Thank God that He is always for us. Thank Jesus for standing at the right hand of GOd interceding for us, every second of every day. Find hope and peace in the fact that we serve an untouchable God.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 93!