Tag: presence

The Lord of Peace

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“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”      

2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NIV)

Is worry ruling your life?

There are a lot of things to worry about right now.

Some of them are things you worry about all the time.

Some of them are things that are brand new.

Either way, you can collect worry like it’s your job or you can run into the tower of God’s love for you.

A love so strong that it is not moved or changed according to circumstances.

A love so constant that it is not dictated by behavior.

A love so giving that it will never run out and a love so powerful it will not be stopped.

Out of all the decisions you have to make today, the most important one will be if you choose to hold on to God’s love for you or your worry.

May you be filled with God’s immutable love and your soul overflow with the peace of it.

Unplug

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You can’t know God’s will by looking from the world’s perspective.

You must unplug from it.

God’s will, His good, pleasing and perfect will for you isn’t difficult but it is very different.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what Godʼs will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How do you unplug from the world? 

Don’t look at your phone first thing in the morning.

Take the first thirty minutes of your day connecting with God instead of being distracted by text messages, emails, or news.

Unplug from the world and plug into the presence of God.

It is a wonderful way to start your day.

The Peace of His Presence

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Monday

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”      

2 Thessalonians 3:16 NIV

Is worry ruling your life?

There are a lot of things to worry about right now.

Some of them are things you worry about all the time.

Some of them are things that are brand new.

Either way, you can collect worry like it’s your job or you can build a tower of God’s peace around your soul.

You have peace with God through Jesus Christ and because of that, you can receive peace from God in and for every situation.

Out of all the decisions you have to make today, the most important one will be if you choose to hold on to God’s peace or your worry.

May His presence calm your heart and fill you with His peace today.

You Have It

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Monday

God doesn’t say, “it will be easy” nor does He say, “there will be no battles”.

He says:

“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭33:14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You will have to face difficulties, impossible situations, and fierce battles as you pursue God’s call on your life.

And through each one, Jesus is leading you to rest in the security of His love. To pursue the power of His peace. To find and capture the truth that is the freedom He has bought for you to live in.

No matter what is happening around you, you are not alone to deal with it – the Spirit of God is with you.

God’s promise is that His rest is yours. His peace is yours. His freedom is yours. It was fulfilled through Jesus’ death and resurrection and activated by your trust in Him.

You don’t have to earn it, you have to receive it.

Real Security

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It is exhausting to live your life grasping for security but not ever really holding on to it.

“A grasping person stirs up trouble, but trust in GOD brings a sense of well- being.”‭‭ Proverbs‬ ‭28:25‬ ‭MSG‬‬

It can be triggered by envy, fear or sometimes a sense of personal failure. It is always triggered by focusing on “me, myself and I .

It is based on the belief that you don’t have what you need or enough of what you need to be secure, so you keep grasping for it in relationships, personal accomplishments, financial security and so on.

The original Hebrew word used for “trust” in the verse above means “secure”.

You can live your life from a place of security instead of insecurity.

That security is found in the love of God.

Put down the worry and fear that is plaguing your life and lift your hands in worship.

Spend some time in the presence of Jesus. You will find more peace in worshipping God than you ever will by focusing on yourself and what you lack.

You do not need more of you (or a better you, a better relationship or more stuff) to be more secure- you need more of God.

You are His precious child. That doesn’t mean life’s journey will be easy, it means that He will supply you with what you need to live it.

You can stop trying to feel secure in who you are and embrace the reality of “whose” you are.  Your identity comes from Jesus, not your family or lack thereof, not from your accomplishments or shortcomings, not from your success or failures but from Him.

My prayer for you today is that you unfurl the grasping grip of insecurity and lift them up in worship to God. May you worship Him for who He is and be reminded whose you are.

New Grooves

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“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

Jesus knows how your mind goes, so your life goes.

He also knows that you have years of pathways laid and that your most frequent thoughts have deep familiar grooves they travel in.

What are you thinking?

What are your most frequent thoughts?

I’m not talking about the power of positive thinking, I’m talking about the power of Christ-like thinking.

In fact, there is an incredible statement in
1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV: “But we have the mind of Christ.”

That doesn’t mean that we are robots who all think the same way, it means that Jesus has given you access to His mind and how He thinks by the power of the Holy Spirit.

You have your own mind and think your own thoughts.

Jesus will help you make new grooves and new pathways as you learn to follow and trust Him.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:8 ‭MSG‬‬

When your mind is stuck on repeat and it is filling you with fear instead of faith, ask Jesus for help. Ask Him what He thinks about the situation. Ask Him to show you what He thinks about you.

When you are wrapped in the compassionate presence of your Savior, he will help you turn from the old roads of thinking and make new pathways based on God’s truth.

Make His way of thinking your new groove this year. 

The Connection Point

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One day when my son was about 11 years old, he came into our bedroom with his shoulders slumped and said, “The charger is broken- it won’t charge the laptop and it just died”.

My husband brought the laptop into our bedroom and the first thing he checked all the connections on the cord. A few minutes later, I noticed that he had put the laptop down and didn’t seem too worried about it.

“Did you fix it?” I asked.

“Oh, yea I did”, he said. “The connection just needed to be cleaned. It was just dirty. After I cleaned it, it connected just fine and now it is charging.”

It was that simple, a clogged connection.

On our way to church this weekend, Justin’s phone wouldn’t charge…for the same reason. He cleaned it out and it started to work again.

Your connection point to God is your heart.

Your heart is your connection place to God. It is where the power of God fills you and the grace of God heals you.  Your heart gets clogged and dirty from the wear and tear of life, with bits of small lies believed or big judgments perceived getting in the crevices.

Your heart needs to be cleaned often.

Forgiveness asked for and given.

Mercy asked for and given.

Tough love asked for and given.

When life seems like it’s just not working right, check your connection point to God and ask Him to clean it.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:23-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It is amazing what a difference it makes when your heart is clear and your connection with God is restored to full power. 

One Thing

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In our multi-tasking mounting pressure culture to juggle your life AND plan your future well, there is a prayer whispered from the heart of a king that reveals to us the secret of the One Thing.

He was the former bear wrestler, lion chaser, singing sheep keeper that faced the giant and beheaded him. This king who was the warrior worshipper prayed for this:

“I’m asking GOD for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long.

I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet.

That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.”

Psalm 27:4-5 MSG

It is the secret that David shouted out and the source that fueled his life.

He knew that ONE THING was needed above all others: to live WITH God every day. To enjoy Him, learn from Him and have a safe house to escape to when the world goes nuts.

David lived in the palace but longed for the Temple.

The ONE THING thing David longed for, Jesus made a reality. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:19  “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?”

Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, you are able to experience this kind of relationship with God everyday, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

May your day be rich and focused with this One Thing and may all the rest of life be filled by it.

Your Freedom is Worth It

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God doesn’t say, “it will be easy” nor does He say ” there will be no battles”.

He says:

“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭33:14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

No matter what is happening around you, you are not alone and you have God’s presence within you.

Rest in His love, power, grace, peace, knowledge, goodness and faithfulness.

Your journey to freedom is not going to be easy but it is going to be worth it.

Heaven

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Earth is not our home- heaven is.

What does heaven look like? What does it feel like? I don’t know. But I do know what the Word says about the atmosphere God creates and place where He dwells:

“Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His dwelling place.”

1 Chronicles 16:27 NIV

I may not have the details of what it looks like but I know that it is magnificent. More than that, joy and strength permeates the air and fills its rooms. Truthfully, wherever God is, He brings these attributes with Him. They are a part of who He is.

When I am feeling weak and my heart is heavy, I whisper these sweet words of invitation: Father, may your presence fill this space, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Where He is, strength abounds and joy lives.

Heaven is a real place and someday you will be there.

Until then, may you experience God’s presence here on earth and be filled with such peace and deep joy that it makes you homesick for heaven.