Tag: experience

I Desire

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Monday

I’ve learned that my desires are not good taskmasters but they do make great idols.  They also make flawed foundations for a relationship with God or anyone else.

I’m not saying that your desires are bad, in fact, I believe that the Lord puts loads of good desires in your heart: the desire to love and be loved, to connect and be connected to,  to cherish and to be cherished.  What I am saying is that if the focus of your life is getting your desires met that you will be miserable and probably not even know why.

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”‭‭

Psalm‬ ‭37:4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Which side of the comma are you living in?

Take delight in the Lord,

or

And he will give you the desires of your heart?

Delight, desires.

What you focus on determines how you experience your life.

When you are focusing on delighting (joy, great enjoyment, and pleasure) in the Lord, the world will seem like a wide-open space for you to experience with someone you love.

When you focus on the desires of your heart, the world can seem like a small closed space in which you can only see what you don’t have and experience and envy what everyone else seems to have.

Living on the delight side of the comma means that your focus is on your relationship with God and being delighted in Him, by Him and with Him and trusting Him with the rest.

There is sweet freedom found in delighting in your relationship with God while letting Him hold all your desires to do what He may. He is a good Father and knows you more than you know yourself.

How are you delighting in the Lord?

What is making you miserable?

What side of the comma are you living on?

Faith

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“So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy), but in the power of God.”     1 Corinthians 2:5 AMP

When your faith rests in the wisdom of man, it falters because at it’s best, it is a human attempt to explain the divine.

When your faith rests in feelings, it surges and wanes like the waves of the sea.

When your faith rests on experience, it morphs into whatever you are experiencing now, good or bad.

When your faith rests on Jesus and what He has done for you, it is the rock upon which the waves of emotion break, the wisdom that confounds the wise and the truth that gives your experience perspective.

Stop worrying about how you feel, what others say or what happened in the past.

Put your faith in Jesus and who He is.

He is bigger than your fears, knows what to do with your worries and is working behind the scenes to bless you.

May today be filled with the promise of the finished work of Jesus in your life and bring you to a new level of faith that is not tossed by emotions but anchored in God’s unchanging love for you.

What do you need to trust Jesus with today?

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.

Unexpected Turbulence

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You have been created to do more than just make a good life.
You have been redeemed to live a God discovering, God serving, God ordained life.
But sometimes you hit some turbulence on the journey.
You are on the plane and heading to the right destination but that doesn’t mean that the ride itself is easy.
If you are a human living in this broken world – it’s not easy.
Something happens that disrupts you, shakes you up, scares you. You begin to worry if you will ever get “there”.
I want you to know that Jesus knows what is shaking you up and what is disrupting your journey. He knows your journey will not be easy and that turbulence will happen.
What I love about God is that He uses those times to draw us closer to Him.
You may think that freedom in Christ means that there will be no suffering. It doesn’t work that way.  Jesus paid for your freedom by suffering not so you would never suffer but so you may use suffering to experience more of Him.
The Bible doesn’t promise a non-stop flight to heaven free of trial and turbulence.
“And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:2-4 NIV
Jesus promises that He will be with you on the journey, whatever it brings, especially the turbulence.
My prayer for you today is that instead of the turbulence shaking you up, you will use it to let God work perseverance into your character and give you a deep hope as you journey with Him.
I am praying that you will join Paul and not let the suffering shake you but that you would glory in it because suffering seasons work the truth of who God is in you in ways that smooth sailing never will.

Unquestionably

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wisdom-quotes-freedom-is-found-when-we-embody-self-love-and-self-acceptanceDon’t let anyone or anything con you into believing you are a slave again.
Don’t believe the enemy’s lies that you have no choice or power to say NO to old habits, old thought patterns, old temptations, or old addictions or that you have no hope of changing, growing, and transforming.
When the Son sets you free, you are free. 
You are free from the power of sin and it is not your master anymore.
So then why does it take so long to learn how to live in this freedom? Why the struggle? 
It is because while your spirit has been released from the contract of sin and is legally free, your flesh has been well trained by its former slave master.
The flesh has the old habits, temptations, and thought patterns grooved into it through experience and years of practice. 
It takes time, experience and perseverance to create the new grooves of freedom. 
Just as a bird is made to fly, a child of God is made to live in freedom.
However, it is up to you to claim your freedom and learn to walk in it.
It is up to you to learn how to fly with the wings of freedom God has already given you.
“So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free”.  John 8:36 AMP
What old lies are sapping your strength today?
 
What old habits need to be left behind?
 
What new freedom do you long to live in?
Today is a good day to live in freedom…unquestionably.
May your mind be clear, your heart encouraged and your determination to live in the freedom that has been bought for you by the blood of Jesus be fierce in you today. 

Feelings and What To Do With Them

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Feelings are the colors of the soul and a part of being human.

Feelings are a gift.

They are indicators and gauges, letting us know where we are emotionally and what is going on inside.

Feelings are not based on truths but perceptions and you can not base your life on them.

They are a gift for you to experience, not a guide for you to follow.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭4‬ NIV

Feelings will ebb and flow, change and shift but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

He is the truth you can build your life on and the guide for you to follow. He is the rock that will not be moved and the faithfulness that does not fail.

What you feel is valid and real. They are real feelings. Feel them, then look to Jesus and ask Him to show you what to do with them.

What feelings are you experiencing?

Do they line up with the truth of God’s Word?

What is Jesus guiding you to do today?

Be Loved

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You are loved.

You are loved every day of your life and will be loved every day until your death and then beyond into eternity.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You Are Loved.

Because of the cross, nothing can separate from the love of your Heavenly Father and therefore nothing should separate you from it.

Not fear.

Not shame.

Not worry.

All of these were taken and paid for by Jesus so that you can live in the glorious freedom of being a cherished child of God.

So that you can experience your life like a child who feels safe and secure: explore, enjoy and play.

You have nothing to fear and nothing to prove.

So explore.

Enjoy.

Play.

Beloved, live loved today.

How You See

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Perspective is powerful.
Perspective impacts everything:
Your attitude.
Your thought life.
How you see others.
How you see yourself.
Jesus talked a lot about seeing your life from God’s perspective.
He said,
“Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:22-23‬ ‭MSG‬‬
When you live your life from heaven’s perspective and look to Jesus for help to do it, you can be filled with hope, vision, and fulfillment.
When you live your life from earth’s viewpoint and look to those around you to help, you can be filled with depression, disappointment, and dissatisfaction.
Jesus is the light of the world and it is his desire to fill your spirit, soul, and body with the uncontainable light of his love. 
That is why he came to earth as a babe. This is why we celebrate Christmas – to not just remember it but to experience it every day. To experience life with him every day.
What perspective are you viewing your life from?
How do you need Jesus today? 
How can I pray for you?

God’s House

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In the old Testiment, God’s house was the temple. It was a place to leave the world outside and enter into His presence.

A place to experience His love and mercy.

A place to hear His Word and ask for forgiveness.

A place to get your priorities right and your perspective adjusted.

A place to for Him to meet with you.

It was a place where the sacrifice could be made so that the people of God could enter into His presence and more to point, that His presence could enter His people.

In the New Testiment, Jesus became the sacrifice for sin and the Holy Spirit is given to all those who believe it. The house of God moved from a building to a heart…yours.

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Now it is your heart that is the place to leave the world outside and enter into His presence.

A place to experience His love and mercy.

A place to hear His Word and ask for forgiveness.

A place to get your priorities right and your perspective adjusted. It is the place that God meets with you. To live in and love in, to live with and to love with, to experience life with you everyday.

You have invited him into your heart, now invite him into every aspect of your day and watch your life be filled with overflowing worship.

Experience Him

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Whenever you feel lost and unsure of how to start up again, go back to the basics.

2 Peter 1:5-9 in the Message Version has a beautiful way of looking at building a sturdy foundation through your daily experience of Jesus:

Begin again, go back to Basic Faith – the first step, the abandoned sin, throwing of oneself upon the mercy of God and walking forward into the unseen with the belief that you are not alone to develop…Good Character– staying true to what you believe in the little things and letting those small choices of integrity overflow into the big things as you grow in…Spiritual Understanding– the moments you can’t explain, but know are true that help you walk in…Alert Discipline– not allowing time, tiredness, busyness, past baggage, old excuses erode right habits, receiving grace and energy from God as you endeavor to live in…Passionate Patience– being able to expectantly wait for one thing while wholehearted working for another. Choosing to focus on being obedient, not on the results of being obedient while walking in…Reverent Wonder– the awe of knowing God’s power combined with the wide eyes of a childlike heart and living with…Warm Friendliness- the smile, the hug, gentle knowing atmosphere of those who are confidently walking in their purpose while loving those other’s with God’s…Generous Love– being able to love those closest to us without fear or conditional embraces as well as the ability to love those we barley know with an authenticity that only comes from intimately knowing God.

“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

May you experience Jesus and know Him today as your loving Savior, close Friend, trusted Counselor, reliable Guide, powerful Redeemer, hope Giver, grace Maker, and sovereign Lord.

Experiencing His love and working it into all the different parts of your daily life is what changes it…it is what changes you.

Have an amazing Wednesday, my friend!