Tag: embrace

Do More Than Just Endure Today

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There are two things that will keep your thinking clear and your hearts filled with God’s divine love: giving God glory and giving God thanks.

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”    

Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬ NIV

You can know God and still get stuck in a mental habit of worry and fear.

Jesus died and rose again so that you can break the power of old mental habits and create new ones with His power.

When you make gratitude and worship your daily bread you are fortifying your spiritual life and strengthening your mental one.

It is the difference between enduring and embracing your life with Jesus in it.

God knows where you are and what your world looks like.

Replace your worry with worship and fear with gratitude.

Gratitude for what you have instead of dwelling on what you are afraid of losing.

What are you grateful for today?

How will you worship Jesus today?

New

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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

What does God do in you through Christ? 

He creates “new” in you:

A new mentality.

A new habit.

A new hope.

A new attitude.

A new love.

A new life.

God is presently re-creating you.

You can confidently let go of “what-ifs” and embrace the possibilities with Jesus of “what is”.

That doesn’t mean you’re perfect but that you are present and open to living new, now.

May you live fully in Christ today and discover the wonder of the new things He wants to do.

Are you caught in the doldrums of “what ifs”?

What “new” does God want to do in you? 

Guard Your Heart

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Monday

Some seasons are harder than others.

Sometimes it seems like having a hard heart is easier than feeling the pain of a soft one.

But heart is meant to feel, not be numb.

Your heart is made to process the pain.

When you harden your heart instead of processing the pain, you lock the pain inside with no way out.

My friend, don’t harden your heart.

Push through the hard season but don’t do it by hardening your heart.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4:23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Guard your heart, grow your heart and fill your heart.

Don’t just get through today’s struggle, process it.

Feel it, embrace it and let it work all the way through and all the way out.

Take care of your heart.

Pull up the weeds of bitterness and resentment and if needed, ask Jesus to tend to it.

How is your heart?

Glory and Gratitude

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There are two things that will keep your thinking clear and your hearts filled with God’s divine love: giving God glory and giving God thanks.

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”    

Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬ NIV

You can know God and still get in a mental habit of worry and fear.

When you make thanksgiving and worship a daily necessity you are fortifying your spiritual life and strengthening your mental one.

It is the difference between enduring and embracing your life.

It is replacing with worry with worship and fear with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for what you have instead of dwelling on what you are afraid of losing.

Jesus died and rose again so that you can invite God into those places.

What are you thankful for today?

How will you worship Jesus today?

You Are Not Rejected

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made-by-god

There are other moments of rejection that give you soul scars. Moments that become memories that hide in the silence and shadows of your heart. They feed into the fears of “not worthy” and enable the core insecurities of “not enough”.

God’s Word brings light to the shadows and His voice to the silent places in your heart.

Jesus came to bring to completion the Word spoken in Isaiah:

“For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41:9,10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus came to complete it,
to reclaim you,
to reconcile you to God,
has chosen you,
pursued you,
paid for you,
cherishes you,
will not abandon you.

Whispers of rejection will remind you of past rejections. They will taint every relationship and interaction you have.

You fear rejection but Jesus came to empty that word of its crippling power.

He is the God who says to you:

“I have chosen you and have not rejected you.” (NIV‬‬ version)

“I’ve picked you. I haven’t dropped you. Don’t panic. I’m with you.” ‭‭‬ ‭(MSG‬‬ version)

“You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you;” (‭NKJV‬‬ version)

Jesus will whisper this truth to you every day, in every way He can until you will believe it, embrace it and live in it.

YOU ARE HIS.
YOU ARE CHOSEN.

Reread if necessary.

Love and Faithfulness

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This morning, I want to remind you to be faithful to what God has asked you to do.

I want to remind you that faithfulness and love can be your top priority.

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:3-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What if your behavior was driven by kindness and completed by uncomplicated faithfulness every day?

Not out of legalism but out of love.

Not to earn anything but to embrace everything God has already given you.

It is better to be faithful in a few things than unfaithful in many.

What would your life look like if you finished what you started?

What are your “few” things you are working on?

Uncomplicated Faithfulness

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This morning, I want to remind you to be faithful to what God has asked you to do.

I want to remind you that faithfulness and love can be your top priority.

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:3-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What if your behavior was driven by kindness and completed by uncomplicated faithfulness every day?

Not out of legalism but out of love.

Not to earn anything but to embrace everything God has already given you.

It is better to be faithful in a few things than unfaithful in many.

What would your life look like if you finished what you started?

What are your “few” things you are working on?

Be Present

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God has called you to live your life not perform it.

Your life is not about you being perfect, it is about letting Jesus work in you as you are fully present in your real life.

He created you to be alive and active, to get tired, frustrated, give, take, learn, fail and grow.

Your real life is filled with broken people, challenging circumstances and difficult decisions. It’s different than you thought it would be and guess what,  Jesus is doing a new beautiful thing in you right in the middle of all it.

Jesus does not ask you to deny reality, He asks you to embrace it as He embraces you.

Because in the middle of all of it, Jesus is doing a new beautiful thing in the middle of you.

 “Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”

1 Peter 4: 12-13 MSG

May you be free from the narrative of  “perfect” to live fully in God’s present work in you and be empowered to face the reality of  your life as you walk in His unique, personal, powerful expression of grace and purpose today.

Regrets

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“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. (‭Psalm‬ ‭139‬:‭1‬ NIV)

God knows you and loves you.

He knows your strengths and weaknesses. He knows every regret you have ever had and why you have it.

More than that, God knows how you can grow from it.

God can change your regret into a gift.

God can turn a memory of disappointment into a moment of discovery, a revelation of wisdom, a catalyst for change.

You don’t have to repeat the past. You don’t have to live with regret.

In Christ, you are a new creation and have His power within you to change, to transform, to grow.

Useless regrets are the ones you don’t learn from.

May there be NO useless regrets in your life.

May you learn from every one.

May God use every one of them to set you free to be who He has created you to be.

What regret can God transform into a gift today?

Next Level

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Jesus came so that you can do more than just do the best you can to make a good life. He saved you, healed you and wants to empower you to live an adventure with God.
“But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise!
A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!
Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death.
But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.”
Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭22-23‬ MSG
May your day be interrupted by divine appointments and your heart filled with the delight of a new adventure with God.
May you be ready and willing for Him to use you to make a difference in someone’s life today.
Move on from focusing on what you don’t want to do and be set free to embrace the adventure of living in what God has for you to do.
May the adventure begin!