Day 295 – We are more than Conquerors….We are Christians.

Today’s Reading: Romans 7 – 9

Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What does it mean to be a Christian?

It means you are loved with an unconditional love, flaws and baggage included; it means you accept this love along with the One who loves you. For accepting His love and He who loves you, nothing is required of you, but His life was required of Him for you. By Him you have been cleansed, released of the baggage and made whole.

However, being a Christian doesn’t take us straight out of this world. Be prepared to mess up. Be okay with the occasional oops. No matter what you do or how dirty you get in the process, there is absolutely no way of having His love taken from you. Once we accept the love Jesus has to give us, He loves us forever. We can’t undo what Jesus has already done. We shouldn’t beat ourselves up over our mistakes, instead we should repent of them and ask God to forgive us for sinning against Him. Then we can go to the person we hurt and ask for forgiveness from them too.

We are more than conquerors! We are loved and filled with love by the one who has already conquered the world. And if He is for us who can be against us? Nothing, and I mean Nothing, can take His love away!

Day 294 – The Struggle is Real.

Today’s Reading: Romans 4 – 6

Romans 5:2-5 “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

There is a tight rope being pulled between Hope and Struggles. Whichever side wins deserves the rejoicing of our spirit to the Glory of the One who created us. This truth can be a struggle in itself, but honestly both sides of the rope lead to the same place, Hope.

When everything is going great it isn’t hard to rejoice in the Hope we have. In these moments of goodness we fill so close to His Glory that we freely rejoice and speak of God as our own. Yet, when we are suffering, struggling with our today, a situation, a diagnosis, a death, whatever it may be, naturally, we turn inward, lose sight of God and go to dark places. But when we come too, oh when we come too, we have a choice to rejoice in the suffering and it will produce endurance and endurance will produce character and this character leads straight to Hope, exactly where we were before the struggle.

Everyone has struggles and my struggles are no worse than your struggles, but everyone hasn’t allowed the struggle to produce hope. Friends, the struggle is REAL, and that’s why so many get to the bad days and never move on. When we accept our suffering and actually fight our way to Hope we will glorify God and experience His Presence. And through our sufferings others will see Him.

I have my BAD days, I’m not always SMILING, but even on my BAD days I try to persevere, grow from the experience, and eventually experience His Great Hope!

Day 293 – Don’t be ashamed of the Gospel, live by Faith!

Today’s Reading: Romans 1 – 3

Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Jesus spoke some mighty words. Some being found harsh, but all out of love and truth. The gospel, the life and words of Christ are repeated 4 different times by 4 different men to reiterate the truth, to explain the way of salvation, and to give a very vivid example of the life we should exemplify.

Jesus showed no partiality. He came for all! Being born into humble beginnings, brought up in a modest family, and dying a shameful death, our life should look even worse. Instead, He gave us the greatest gift of all, eternal life leading us through eternity.

How then can we be ashamed?!

We are speaking of the living God, by His Word and His Truth. If it weren’t for the gospels and the faith that came through them my life would’ve ended long ago. Yet God saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. He stepped off His thrown, picked me up out of the muck, dusted me off, and saved me from utter despair. He gave me hope. He saw my differences and my challenges and He smiled. He knew my natural awkwardness and still found me worthy. He made me open and honest and told me to speak. I am not ashamed, I am honored, I am blessed, I am saved!

Day 292 – If you don’t set your anchor before the storm, when it hits, you’ll be driven to a place of no hope.

Today’s Reading: Acts 26 – 28

Acts 27:13-15,18-20 “Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land. And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. And on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.”

Each one of us will be hit by a storm at some point in our life. Some will be filled with rain, light wind, and a little thunder. Others will be more like a hurricane. When we don’t set our anchor before the storm we will be driven along the shore, tossed and turned, until we unload everything we have and end up losing hope of being saved.

My children have already experienced quite a few difficult storms in their life. They understand why we have focused on placing our anchor of hope in Jesus since they were born. One of our daughters, in particular, struggled with fears for the first 13 years of her life. We poured scripture over every worry, prayed the Word of God over her, spoke truth in her most anxious moments, and to no avail she would still work herself into a tizzy before becoming physically ill. But then something clicked!

One day we were outside chatting about our plans when out of no where she piped up, “You know what, Mom…I’m not afraid anymore.” Stopping in my tracks, I turned to look at her. “You know why….Because I finally realized God’s always watching over me and He will never leave me.” She got it. Her anchor is set in her heart and laid in the foundation of Jesus.

Day 291 – Even though we aren’t Sin Free we should strive to be Guilt Free.

Today’s Reading: Acts 21 – 25

Acts 25:8 “Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.”

By Birth we are sinners, all our life we fight against this baggage we bear, but as we go about sharing our Faith no fault should be found in us. It is hard for people to believe our testimony if we continue to break the laws of the land. We should abide by the authority over us wherever we are to prove respect, obedience, and to follow in the likeness of Christ.

Matthew 22:19-21 “Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Our Faith should be bold, our testimony true, and if and when we fall short, our plea for forgiveness out of deep humility. But when it comes to legality and we get put before a court of law to be tried, the only fault that they should find is the unwillingness to lay down our testimony of the work Christ has done in our life. Paul exemplified this truth to the courts that tried him for his faith. Many tried to find fault, but he was found guilty by none. And out of this, his faith was spread to many as they heard him repeat the same testimony over and over again.

As human sinners, we struggle with authority, we want to win the argument, but as we grow in Christ we begin to set aside the need for power and instead learn the ways of truth and spread faith. When someone tries to find fault in you, be found clean and humble, let them only find the Bold Testimony of Christ in your life.

Day 290 – The work God calls us to is greater than anything we can do to bring Value to ourself.

Today’s Reading: Acts 15 – 20

Acts 20:24 “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

As a child I remember watching the real “Mickey Mouse Club” and so badly wanting to be famous. I wanted to sing and dance, and let the world know who I was. It was a dream, a dream that eventually began to diminish. The closer my walk with the Lord the more I’ve actually wanted to be out of the spotlight and let Christ be the only light seen around me.

Daily, we should seek to fulfill the calling God has on our life because He has a specific purpose for each one of us. Our calling could be raising children, providing for our family, ministry, sharing the gospel, volunteering, missions, or whatever God has put on our heart to do.

Often we get all wrapped up in what the world tells us is greatest. The world tells us to value ourself, what we look like, what we have, how many friends we hangout with, where we go, and how important we are. It’s all about….Me….Me…..Me. We can easily turn from mission focused to me focused when we worry more about what others think instead of what God thinks. Our value in Christ is so much greater than our value in the World. As we seek the value of ourself the value of the work we are doing for the Lord lessens, but when we focus on fulfilling the call God, His value within us increases. This value is the gaining of lives for the Kingdom of Heaven, our family in Christ.

Acts 20:35 “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Seek the ways of the Lord, give all of yourself to His Kingdom work, and find the greatest value of all, your value in Christ.

Day 288 – We weren’t created to just exist, we were created to truly Live.

Today’s Reading: Acts 12 – 14

Acts 17:26-28 “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

The human race has gotten comfortable with “just being”. We enjoy being catered to by every other person and entity. As a whole we’ve got this feeling of entitlement.

But God didn’t create us with this mindset. He made us to take care of the earth, all of it’s living creatures, and to work the land until we grew tired. Then He gave us a day to rest. God brought His Son to this earth, born in a small manger (completely uncomfortable). As Christ’s brothers and sisters we are all God’s offspring, to be as Christ in this world.

Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

We are to care for one another as God cares for us. We are to share the gospel and not be complacent with just being saved. We are to live so much during the day that we come to a place in the night where we can rest. I fall into complacency every so often, and when I do I become completely useless. But when I LIVE, the Joy of Christ runs me until I become too tired to walk.

When we live for Christ, we live in a way that shines for Him. My life feels full and may nights feel full of rest. Recently, I caught myself just smiling as I sat on the couch at the end of a day. It felt great. And that was in the aftermath of a hurricane. Even though there was damage outside, I had people I loved around me, I witnessed neighbors being neighborly, a friend from another country was unexpectedly having to stay with us, and we were spending time together. It was beautiful, and we were fully living.

How are you living? Living for Christ will allow you to be Fully alive.

Day 288 – God doesn’t look at us as different, He sees us all as His children.

Today’s Reading: Acts 9 – 11

Acts 11:1-3 “Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

Peter, a disciple of Jesus, an apostle to the world, a born Jew, knew the law of Moses and knew that the Jews were God’s chosen people. But Peter missed the Big picture that the Jews were chosen that through them salvation would come to the WHOLE world. A vision came to Peter of a blanket of all kinds of food, clean and unclean, all different, by the law unable to eat.

Acts 11:8-9 “But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’”

Immediately, 3 men came to visit him, all Gentiles, and they asked him to come to them and tell them how to be saved. Peter went, ate with them and told them how to be saved, and the Holy Spirit fell on them and they were baptized.

Acts 11:17-18 “If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

We are all created different, even my twins are opposite in all fashions, but we were all created as children of God and for a specific purpose. We need to live in this way, not divided into different areas, but united by creation and salvation. Next time you feel the urge to see differences in this world, put on the lens of Christ’s love with the knowledge of His truth and be united by the one who has saved you and created you as His child.

Day 287 – God places compassion in the Heart of His children.

Today’s Reading: Acts 6 – 8

Acts 7:23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.”

When God is wanting us to act on behalf of another, He combines action and passion, empathy and the love of others, and places it in our heart. This combination equals His Desires in motion which makes up compassion.

Compassion led Moses to visit his brothers the Israelites and move on their behalf. At his own risk and the possible loss of his own life, Moses did the work of God. Out of compassion he eventually came back to Egypt and freed his people from slavery. Compassion lead Mother Theresa to live in the devastating conditions of Calcutta and share the love of Christ with those who no one cared about.

The placement of this same passion and action on our heart isn’t natural, we aren’t born with it, God must give it to us in the same way He gives us wisdom. When we act on the passion God places in our heart, not only is it a blessing to those who receive our compassion but it also blesses our own heart.

Doing the work God places in our heart allows us to experience more of the work of the Lord. We are able to feel what He feels and see what He sees.

The actions of Moses saved the lives of many and allowed him to deepen his own relationship with God. Allowing God to work in your heart will also deepen your walk with Lord. Compassion in action gives us a glimpse of eternity on earth.

Day 285 – If you want the best catch you better find the best guide.

Today’s Reading: John 21 – Acts 2

John 21:12 “Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.”

After Jesus had risen from the grave, He began to reveal Himself to the disciples. On one of these occurrences, the disciples had been cooped up in their homes, and probably trying to decide what to do before they ran out of food. Their prior work status had been fishermen, so they returned to what they knew best, pushed out the boat and began to hit the seas.

Over the next few hours nothing seemed to bite. The men were going to call it quits, but another man on the shore told them to go back out and try fishing on the other side of the boat. As awkward as this sounded they had nothing to lose. The disciples threw out the net and it was as though the fish jumped into the boat by the amount they were able to take in. There obedience led to abundance. God had given them the gifting and ordained their steps, however, at first they tried to do it all alone.

John 21:4-7 “Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” “So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.”

Jesus blesses each one of us with a gift, but if we try to utilize it on our own, it will never produce what He has planned for it. Yet, if we follow Him, Jesus will point us right to where we need to go and do our best work in order to Glorify Him. God has given me the ability to do a lot, but when I say yes to every need I’m not fulfilling the greatest need. However, when I seek Jesus’ way He is made known to the world. How is God wanting you to use your gifts, seek wisdom and Glorify Him.