Tag: Jesus Christ

More Than Just Tradition

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I will never forget the Christmas after I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior. It felt like suddenly the whole world was celebrating the joy of Jesus with me.

Every store I shopped in became a worship opportunity and every coffee shop, a place to meditate on the wonder of the Incarnation. To me, all the stores that played Christmas Music became messengers of good news of God’s love for humanity.

Before that year, I knew the songs, felt Christmas cheer but I had no awareness of the very real power and awe of it.

Tradition is wonderful, personal revelation is life changing.

“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.‘” LUKE 2:9 -10, THE PASSION TRANSLATION

Wonder of Heaven

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Have you accessed God’s power today?

Hebrews 12:28 reminds us that, “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshipping him with holy fear and awe.” 

When we worship God and fill our hearts with gratitude, we open our hearts to be filled with the unshakable kingdom of God. 

A kingdom not of this world but one that heals it, changes it, transforms it. 

Worship fills us with the wonder of heaven and an awe for the one who left heaven to rescue a lost world. 

When we worship Jesus, He fills our hearts with His love and our lives with His power. 

My friend, may we be so full of heaven that it overflows into moments of awe in the mundane moments of our day and make them…heavenly.

Present Tense

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God IS with you.

Present tense.

He does not reside in the past although He will heal it.

He is not waiting to show up for you tomorrow. 

He is here with you.

Now.

Right where you are.

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Matthew 1:23 NIV

Jesus is the gift of God with us and the miracle of the present Presence.

God is with you and He desires to have a conversation with you all day long.

May you be filled with the presence of the present God through Jesus today.

When You Feel Like Giving Up

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When you feel like giving up, don’t.

There are gifts that only come from facing the hard things.

There is growth that only comes from holding onto God through the toughest times.

There is a maturity that only develops as you persevere when everything around you is uncomfortable, difficult, and hard.

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4 NIV

Don’t give up.

Hold on to Jesus and let perseverance complete you.

If you quit halfway through you will never know what God has for you.

He has a plan to complete you, to bring you to wholeness, to bring the parts that are broken and disconnected together knitted by His grace restored by His strength completed by His love.

Don’t quit.

Hold on and keep trusting.

You are worth it.

The Next Level

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Wednesday

Want to go to the next level in your faith journey?

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20,

“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.”‭‭‬ (‭NIV)

It is a good thing to live your life through Christ, it is going to the next level of your faith to let Jesus live His life through you.

His agenda, your body.

His purposes, your gifts.

His love, your hands.

The “next level” of following Jesus is not a stage of life to achieve, it is a vision-driven, mission-obsessed passion to let Jesus fully have His way in every area of your life.

And you don’t have to wait until you feel ready, you just have to give God persmission to begin.

 

 

Strong Love

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Tuesday

God will use the challenge you are facing today to show you how strong His love is.

How good He is.

How much He loves you.

How much He cares for you.

Faith in the Father’s love is what held Jesus to the cross, not the nails in His hands.

The Father’s love is not a weak thing. He is able to hold unspeakable pain and unquenchable peace at the same time.

In these uncertain times, fear roars ferociously to unseat our peace while the Father’s love meets us in the midst of chaos and brings His to us, Himself, His presence.

He is with you right now.

And He IS love.

“Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love.

Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world so that through him we might have life”.

1 John 4:8 -9

Don’t Do It

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Friday

“Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.”

Romans 12:2 MSG

Don’t worry about defining yourself within our culture.

Don’t limit yourself by trying to find a place to fit in it.

Look to Jesus and allow His unquenchable love to change how you see yourself, transform how you think about life, and impact how you treat those around you.

That’s it.

What You Want

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Thursday

We all have habits that we need to get rid of. However, there is a particular habit that Jesus is more concerned about breaking than the one you are thinking of: it is the desire to get your own way.

It is human nature but my friend, you have a new nature in Christ.

You are being recreated in Him – The old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17).

“Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭4:1-2‬ ‭MSG‬‬

When we struggle, we may think it is because God doesn’t love us. In reality, it might be that He loves you so much that He will use the stressful opportunity at hand to break the habit of the-only-way-I-will-be-happy-is-when-I-get-my-way.

God has more for you than that and He calls it freedom. 

 

Room for All

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Friday

God’s love is so expansive that there is room enough for you and room enough for every person you know.

The cross does not have a “Limited Space Available” sign on it.

Jesus stretched out His arms for all.

God has embraced you and placed you within the unearned luxury of His love.

“But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am.

And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste.”
1 Corinthians 15:10 MSG

Don’t let God’s grace go to waste.

Don’t let your insecurities dictate your obedience.

Don’t let fear hold you back from living and giving God’s love.

When you find yourself embraced in the center of God’s grace, you can’t help but reach out to those who don’t know that there is enough room in God’s love for them too.

Don’t waste a second.

Someone out there desperately needs to know it.

You Have What You Need

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Wednesday

God has not equipped you to do everything but He has equipped you with everything you need to do His will today.

Wherever you are, with what you are dealing with right now.

God has equipped you for today.

Don’t worry about tomorrow.

Forget about yesterday.

Be fully present today.

“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭13:20-21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What has God equipped you with to do His will today?