Tag: faith

Your Call

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Friday
John the Baptist faithfully fulfilled what God had called him to do without looking to others in envy or for acceptance.  More than once John was asked if he was the Messiah.
He replied with this:
“A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:27-28‬ ‭NIV‬‬
John the Baptist knew who he was and he knew who he wasn’t.
Knowing who you are and who you are not is vital in carrying out your own God-given assignment.
When God lays a burden on your heart, it will always be bigger than you and it will be something only He can do through you.
Fear traps you in perpetual anxiety about all the things you can’t do and about all the gifts you don’t have.
Faith in Jesus sets you free to do what He has called you to do without looking to others in envy or for acceptance.
You are called to faithfully fulfill the assignment God has given you without trying to be someone you are not or function in gifts God has not given you.
Live your call.
Use your gifts.
Leave the rest to God.

By the Grace of God

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Wednesday.1

Good morning,

I wanted to remind you that you are saved by grace so that you can:

Love by grace,
Forgive by grace,
Grow by grace,
Give by grace,
Work by grace,
Eat by grace,
LIVE every moment of your life in the grace of God through Jesus.

“And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭11:6‬ ‭NIV‬

Let the grace of God be the fuel that drives your life today and every day.

Jesus died for it.

Unclinched Fists

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Tuesday

“I pray to GOD —my life a prayer— and wait for what he’ll say and do.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭130:5-6‬ ‭MSG‬‬

What does it mean to pray with open hands?

It means that instead of trying to hold on so desperately to what you are afraid of letting go of – you let it go and give it to God.

Trust God with it.

Present your requests, heartache, fears and hurts to Him and then let Him do what only He can do – the impossible.

Release your expectations of how you want Him to  answer while at the same time knowing that He will answer you. 

He is for you.

He wants to heal you.

He wants to  transform your life.

He wants to.

He will – if you allow Him to.

If you trust Him enough to say yes when He asks you to do the next hard thing.

That thing that you have been putting off but know is the right thing. The thing you don’t think you have the strength to do.

He will give you the strength to do it.

Go ahead – unclinch your fists of fear and give them to God.

Open you hands in faith and receive His stregth to do it.

What are you afraid of today?

How hard is it for you to leave the results to God?

Keep Us

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Friday

“Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.”    Matthew 6:12 MSG

Right with God, right with others.
Taking stock, taking responsibility.
Receiving grace, giving grace.
Living forgiven, living forgiving.
Everyday.
Jesus said to pray like this so that we could live like this.
Keep us, God, keep us.

Inexplicable Strength

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Monday
Inexplicably and when it seems completely impossible, God can and will give you strength.
Strength to get up.
Strength to take care of what needs to be taken care of.
Strength to make hard decisions.
Strength to hold onto hope.
Strength to hold onto Him.
He gives strength to the weary.
I know that many of you are facing situations that are draining your strength and leaving you feeling powerless.
It is okay to admit you are not okay.
That you are tired and feel powerless right now.
God does not ask you to “fake it until you make it”, He asks you to receive His grace for one more day.
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:29‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28‬ ‭NIV‬‬
What do you need strength for today? 
What does it look like to admit you need help rather than “fake it until you make it”?
I am praying for you today. I am praying that you find the strength to do what needs to be done, find your way into His rest, and walk forward in a power that is not your own.

Commit It

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Monday
“Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.”
Psalm 37:5  NKJV
When you commit your way to the Lord, you are putting the direction, the journey, the destination into His care.
Commit your path, your direction, your next step to God.
It is about taking action.
When I mail a letter, I’m taking action. I’m letting go. I’m trusting that the postman or woman will get it to where it needs to go.
You can’t mail a letter if you hold on to the edge of it.
Give your future to God. I know it is scary. I know you don’t know what will happen. I know you feel out of control. God has given you a specific kind of control: self-control. 
Use it.
Pry your fingers off the fears you have for your future and give them to Jesus.
Lay down the cherished dreams of a perfect life and roll those over to Jesus as well.
Your expectation of a perfect life without pain or heartache is not reality and doesn’t help you deal with it. Jesus will help you deal with the reality you are facing today.
Let go.
Trust also in Him. 
Focus on your relationship with Jesus and let Jesus focus on your future.
And He shall bring it to pass.
The phrase in English “He shall bring it to pass” is actually just one word in Hebrew,      “asa”, which means that God He will assemble, accomplish, create, and produce it. He shall attend to you, bring it about His way and ordain you to walk in it.
My friend, begin your week by committing your way – where you are going and how you will get there- to Jesus. He is trustworthy. He will show you how.
It is only when I commit my journey (and re-commit it hourly) to the Lord that I am free to focus on doing good where I am instead of being anxious about an uncertain future.

An Act of Faith

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Wednesday

“By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going.”

Hebrews 11:8 MSG

God has a rich inheritance waiting to be claimed by you today.

It is the inheritance of an unhindered relationship with Him. One where you are free to trust, risk, follow, and be used by God to bless others in ways you can’t even imagine.

Abraham left his country behind to go after His God-given destiny.

My friend, God is not calling you to physically leave where you are but I know He is calling you spiritually, emotionally, or mentally into a new place of faith.

To get where God has called you, you have to leave the place you are in.

He is calling you today by leaving the shelter of some strategic comfort zones that have been keeping you stuck right where you are:

  1. life as you know it
  2. habits that hold you hostage
  3. mindsets that mold your world

The good news is that for every comfort zone you step out of, Jesus has a promise for you to step into and His love to guide you.

God is calling you to an unknown place that will become your home. More than a new plot of land, it is a new way of life.

May your courage grow as you bravely choose to step out of your strategic comfort zones one “act of faith” at a time.

 

What “way of life” needs to go by the wayside today?

What habit is holding you hostage?

What mindset is holding you back from going after what God has called you to?

 

Don’t Let Fear Stop You

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Tuesday

“By an act of faith, he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents.”  Hebrews 11: 8 MSG

Fear will hold you captive in your comfort zone.

The only way to break fear’s hold is by an act of faith.

To go after all that God has called you to, you are going to have to move beyond the fear that holds you there.

Fear can be overwhelming when it is a general mass of unknown anxiety so you need to name it.  

What are you afraid will happen when you step out in faith?

Define it or one part of it.

Narrow it down.

Find the core.

But know this: facing the fear doesn’t take away the emotion of fear but it allows you to see what it is and lie behind it.

When you name the fear you disarm it of its power but it takes a while for your emotions to fall in line with your faith.

You may not know where your journey will end up but you can be sure that God will be there with you every step of the way.

God is calling you forward, don’t let fear stop you today.

Faith is choosing to trust God with the path, the detours, the disasters and yes, the destiny of where you will end up.

Courage is feeling the fear and stepping out in faith anyway. 

What is God calling you to do? 

What is stopping you from stepping out in faith?

What is the name of your fear?

 

The Impossible Dream

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Monday

By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said.  Hebrews 11:11 MSG

We are born dreamers.

As children, we see that world around us and dream about being a part of it. We dream about what our place in the world will be, what we will do, and who we might become.

The dreams revolve around us and what it will mean for us if those dreams come true.

As we grow up, there are some dreams that hold onto us more than we hold onto them.

It is those dreams that feel devastating when they shatter and remain unfulfilled.

We put them in the realm of impossible.

When the Lord told Abraham that Sarah would give birth, she overheard it and laughed (Genesis 18:11).  She laughed not because she thought it was funny but because she thought it ludicrous. The dream of having children probably died when she was in her 60s or 70s.  She had accepted her barrenness.

My friend, God often challenges what you have already accepted.

He will speak a word to you that seems impossible.

Something that seems ludicrous.

Something that you gave up on and now He is asking you to pick up again.

He is asking you to dream again but this time to dream it differently.

How? By placing your hope not in what the dream will do for you but in what God wants to do through you.

God asked Sarah to dream again. She knew she could not make it happen, she already tried. But somewhere deep inside she chose to trust God to do the impossible.

My friend, put your hope in God today.

And when He calls you to dream again, say yes.

 

What Your Faith Rests In

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Friday

“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 will falter because at it’s best, it is a human attempt to explain divine power.

When your faith rests in your own feelings, it will surge and wane like the waves of the sea.

When your faith rests on your past experience, it can morph into whatever you have experienced, good or bad.

When your faith rests in the Son of God it is like a solid rock upon which the waves of emotion break, the wisdom of men shatters and He becomes the foundation of truth that gives your experience perspective.

Don’t make your decisions based on how you feel, what others say, or what happened in the past.

Ask the Lord to lead you and He will. The One who died for you rose again and sits at the right hand of God will show you the way forward.

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 and bring you to a new level of faith that is not tossed by emotions but anchored in God’s unchanging love for you.