Tag: journey

Take the Journey

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A pilgrimage is defined as a journey to a sacred place.

It is a choice to take a journey to a place and invite God to transform you as you go.

When you are pursuing a thriving relationship with God, you are not just on a pilgrimage, you are living one every day.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭84:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Every place you invite God into becomes a sacred place.

Your home.

Your job.

Your relationships.

The pilgrimage for a Christian is not to go somewhere that God has been but to allow God to be with you where you are right now. 

In your weakness.

In your frail humanity.

Into the reality of your life.

Jesus comes in and gives you what you do not deserve but cannot live without. He gives you His abundant love, cross-forged forgiveness, sustaining strength, perfect peace, deep joy, and unrelenting hope right where you are.

Where do you need to invite Jesus into today?

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.

Through All the Times.

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The longer you follow Jesus, the more you realize you need Him.

My college pastor said it was like this, “The closer you get to bright light, the more you see the flaws you have”.

It was good to know that the closer I get to God, the more I will see my imperfections and know more intimately my own flaws.

It was good for me to hear early on that in my walk with God I would never get to a point of “being an expert ” or “being perfect”.

Your life with God is a journey. 

It isn’t a skill to excel in, it is a relationship to have.

Through the good times and bad times, the easy times and the hard times.

Through ALL the times.

“Brother and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,”

Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ NIV

We tend to focus on all the things we are not, all the things we haven’t conquered, all the things we haven’t grown in.

All those things take your focus from God and put it on yourself.

So, forget it. 

Forget it all.

God didn’t choose you because someday you would be perfect. He chose you because He loves you and He is perfect enough for the both of you. 

Forget what is behind you even if it happened five minutes ago.

Love God for who He is and let Him love you for who you are: His kid. 

Flawed

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13313-john-wooden-quote-don-t-let-yesterday-take-up-too-much-of-today

Your life with God is a journey. 

It isn’t a skill to excel in, it is a relationship to have.

Through the good times and bad times, the easy times and the hard times.

Through ALL the times.

The longer you follow Jesus, the more you realize you need Him.

My college pastor said it was like this,  “The closer you get to bright light, the more you see the flaws you have”.

It was good to know that the closer I get to God, the more I will see my imperfections and know more intimately my own flaws.

It was good for me to hear early on that in my walk with God I would never get to a point of “being an expert ” or “being perfect”.

“Brother and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,”

Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ NIV

We tend to focus on all the things we are not, all the things we haven’t conquered, all the things we haven’t grown in.

All those things take your focus from God and put it on yourself.

So, forget it. 

Forget it all.

God didn’t choose you because someday you would be perfect. He chose you because He loves you and He is perfect enough for the both of you. 

Forget what is behind you even if it happened five minutes ago.

Love God for who He is and let Him love you for who you are: His kid. 

The Journey to a Sacred Place

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A pilgrimage is defined as a journey to a sacred place.

When you are pursuing a thriving relationship with God, you are not just on a pilgrimage, you are living one.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭84:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Every place you invite God into becomes a sacred place.

Your home.

Your job.

Your relationships.

The pilgrimage for a Christian is not to go somewhere that God has been but to allow God to be with you where you are right now.

In your weakness.

In your frail humanity.

Into the reality of your life.

Jesus comes in and gives you what you do not deserve but cannot live without. He gives you His abundant love, cross-forged forgiveness, sustaining strength, perfect peace, deep joy, and unrelenting hope right where you are.

Where do you need to invite Jesus into today?

Faith Journey

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This faith journey with Jesus is just that, a faith journey.

It is not a fear journey.

Faith and fear are both ways to walk into the unknown and I have a secret to tell you – every new day is unknown. You don’t know what will happen. It could go as planned or go completely different. Sometimes better different, sometimes not so much.

Are you living today in faith or in fear?

Fear will hold you back, faith will release you forward.

I’m not suggesting that you ignore your fear or be in denial of it. I’m encouraging you to not let fear decide or dictate what you do or don’t do.

Going to the next level on your faith walk is trusting Jesus with all the unknowns and allowing Him full access and full authority in the places of your heart that are ruled by fear.

He will begin right where you are today and walk with you every day after to show you how.

What do you do with your fears? Take them to the cross.

“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

It is a good thing to live your life through Christ, it is a better thing to let Christ live His life through you.

His agenda, your body.

His purposes, your gifts.

His love, your hands.

What fears are blinding your vision?

What do you need to take to the cross?

What are you trusting Jesus for today?

Today, surrender your fearful vision of what might happen and ask God to give you His faith-filled vision of what can happen through Him.

unexpected turbulence

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You have been redeemed by Jesus to live a God discovering, God serving, God-ordained life.
But that doesn’t mean it is easy.
There will be storms that you must go through.
There will be higher altitudes to climb to.
There will be unexpected turbulence along the way.
I dislike turbulence.  I have boarded the plane and taken off, I am heading to the right destination and suddenly everything begins to shake. It’s always unexpected, it always makes me feel afraid and I always have to talk my heart rate down as the plane passes through it and returns to normal.
Getting on board with Jesus’s plan for your life is an amazing journey and is totally worth it. But He doesn’t promise that your non-stop flight to heaven will be free of trial and turbulence.
You will experience something that will disrupt you, shakes you up and scares you. You may even begin to wonder if you will get to your destination.
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 the suffering season to experience more of His grace and power.  He doesn’t cause the disruptions but He will use it.  Jesus will use the disruptions to draw you closer to Him.
“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 knows where you are on the journey and what is disrupting it. He will be with you through it all, give you what you need to deal with it and through His power develop a deep well of hope that you can use for the rest of your life.

Awareness

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“But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13:11 MSG‬‬

If you are aware of anything today – be aware of God.

If you are afraid of anything – be afraid of getting so busy making a living that you miss making a life.

If you have to make a do to list – put living in the joy of the Lord #1.

Take care of what you need to take care of today but make room for God to interrupt, intervene and weave His perspective into each thing you must do.

Are you so busy that you are oblivious to God?

What does being aware of God’s presence mean to you?

How can you make that happen?

May the awareness of God supersede all else as you are embraced by a Savior who loves you unconditionally and completely.

Forget it

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The longer you follow Jesus, the more you realize you need Him.

My college pastor said it was like this,  “The closer you get to bright light, the more you see the flaws you have”.

It was good to know that the closer I get to God, the more I will see my imperfections and know more intimately my own flaws.

It was good for me to hear early on that in my walk with God that I would never get to a point of “being an expert ” or “being perfect”.

Your life with God is a journey. 

It isn’t a skill to excel in, it is a relationship to have.

Through the good times and bad times, the easy times and the hard times.

Through ALL the times.

“Brother and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,”

Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ NIV

We tend to focus on all the things we are not, all the things we haven’t conquered, all the things we haven’t grown in.

All those things take your focus from God and put it on yourself.

So, forget it. 

Forget it all.

God didn’t choose you because someday you would be perfect. He chose you because He loves you and He is perfect enough for the both of you. 

Forget what is behind you even if it happened five minutes ago.

Love God for who He is and let Him love you for who you are: His kid. 

Equipped

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

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

God has equipped you.

You have what you need to do what you need to do this day.

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

Sometimes the best you can do is take it one day at a time.

My friend, take this day and know that Jesus will be with you. He will even give what you need to glorify God in it. He will work through the heartaches and disappointments as well as through the unexpected joys and moments of relief.

I am praying for you today and thankful for the God of peace who will equip you with everything good for doing His will in it.

What has God equipped you to do today?