Tag: grace

How I Now Live

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I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Galatians 2:20 NIV

Your life as a Jesus follower is not about what you are capable of doing, it’s about what Jesus is capable of doing through you.

Your body is His to use, your mind is His to fill, your heart is His to heal.

His mission is your mission, His vision is your vision, His power is your power.

This life is no longer yours, it is His life lived through you.

I have learned that Jesus will take all the life you are “able” to give Him and live through it.

My friend, surrender all you can today, then all you can tomorrow.

Jesus will receive it with joyous love.

He will embrace it with strong arms of grace.

He will take you to places of faith you couldn’t have even imagined the first moment that you surrendered your life and chose to live by faith in the Son of God.

You have more life now than you did then.

Today is a good day to surrender all the life you have to Jesus… again.

Unless you have never done this, in that case, today is the perfect day to surrender your whole life Jesus for the first time.

Are you living by faith in the Son of God or faith in yourself?

What do you have to surrender?

How does the Son of God want to live through you today?

Fight For It

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When He gives you a new revelation of His relationship with you, He will empower you to experience it.

When God gives you a new vision for your life, He will equip you to live it.

But new visions and new revelations will always come with a fight.

Whether it is the resistance of your flesh or the stubbornness of old mindsets, you will have to fight for what God has shown you and He will arm you for that as well.

“He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭18:34-35‬ ‭NIV‬‬

My prayer for you today is that you would know His love as He pours His strength into you.

I pray that you would know His peace as you lean on Him.

I pray that you would rest in God’s grace as you walk by His guidance.

I pray that you would trust Him with the future and focus simply on the task before you.

I pray that you would be released from the restlessness within you as you receive a new determination to go forward in faith.

You are stronger than you know because you know where your strength comes from and whose Right Hand sustains you.

You have been equipped to change.

Pick your weapons and fight for it.

Hope Endures

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“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”        2 Peter 1:2-3 NIV

God’s divine power through Jesus has given you everything you need to live the life God made you for.

That doesn’t mean it will be easy.  

If it was easy, you wouldn’t need God’s power to do it.

You will need Him.

You will need His power to keep going in spite of the obstacles, the setbacks, the failures, and the frustrations that you will face this year.

Good thing you have Him.

The promise is made.

Hold on to Jesus.

Hope endures.

Happy New Year.

Quiet Strength

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A great life requires quiet strength.

A strength that gets up when it is tired.

Does the right thing when it doesn’t feel like it.

Holds on when it wants to let go.

Pushes through when it would be easier to quit.

It isn’t pretty.

It is strong.

It has scars.

Quiet strength doesn’t stop.

“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.”

Colossians 3:12- MSG

It is the kind of strength that Jesus demonstrated every day as He walked with mankind and made His way to the cross.

The life that God has called you to live requires a quiet strength and a steely determination.

You can’t do it without Jesus and He doesn’t ask you to.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”  Ephesians 3:16 NIV

The quiet strength of God defies logic and grows in what seems to be an impossible place.

Don’t give up.

Stay faithful.

Right Now

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God’s love for you is for right now. Not later. Now.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, God’s love cuts right through the business of life and breathes into you the very heart of it- His heart, His LIFE.

“For right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:

Trust steadily in God,
hope unswervingly,
love extravagantly.
And the best of the three is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 MSG

Don’t wait for tomorrow to trust.
Trust today. 

Don’t wait until tomorrow to hope.
Hope today.

Don’t wait until tomorrow to love.
Love today. 

Steadily.

Unswervingly.

Extravagantly.

Right now.

Held in the Hand of God

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A pencil in the hand of a master writer is a tool to tell a powerful story.   Your life, in the hands of the loving God who sent His own Son to redeem you, is a story of grace that He is writing every day.

The most powerful thing you can do today is to surrender completely and allow Him to use your life to be an instrument of hope to those around you.

My friend, you are chosen, held, directed and purposed in the gentle hand of God to be used by Him, right where you are. 

What story of grace is Jesus telling through your life today?

Not Perfect

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“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

I am so glad I don’t have to pretend to be perfect.

I am glad that the more I embrace my weakness, I am given the key to walk confidently in God’s strength, power, and peace.

Not by willing myself to be strong but by laying down the illusion I have to be.

Not by working for God’s approval but by resting in His love.

Not by memorizing words but by allowing the grace of God to permeate every fiber of my soul.

Are you done trying to be perfect?

Good.

Now may you truly rest in the abundance of God’s amazing, all encompassing grace delivered to you wrapped in the love of Jesus.

When Nothing Is All You Have

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”Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:3 NIV

When you wake up tired.

When you are facing the day wondering how you are going to get through it.

When you feel like you have nothing left to give.

That is when Jesus said you are blessed.

Why? Because when you know you have nothing, you are ready to receive God’s everything.

Because you are covered by grace.

Life with Jesus isn’t about how much you have or how much you can do.

It is about coming to Him with empty hands and letting Him fill them with His love, mercy, strength and power.

My prayer for you, dear friend, is that you let go of trying to be strong enough and embrace the grace available to those who know they have nothing without God.

What is Your Take?

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“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”  

2 Peter 1:2-3

All relationships have to be give and take in order to be healthy.

This includes your relationship with God.

Your “give” to God: to journey with Him and hold nothing back.

So what is your “take”?

Your “take” is to partake of God’s promises, dwell in His presence and walk in His power in every area of your life. 

This taking is not a selfish act, it is a trusting one.

How is your relationship with Jesus today?

What do you need to recieve from Him?

What is He asking you to give?

Us vs. Them

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Thursday

There is no such thing as “us” and “them”.

There is just us.

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭5:31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

One who has been touched by grace will no longer look on those who stray as “those evil people” or “those poor people who need our help”.  Nor must we search for signs of “love-worthiness”.  Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are.

– Phillip Yancey

We are all in need of the grace and mercy of God…everyday.

Give some to yourself today and give some to someone else too…I guarantee they need it.