01-21-2015

Choosing Joy in Everything

“A Joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones” Proverbs 17:22

Recently one of my daily devotions was on Joy and it was incredibly well timed (aren’t they always?). In our fast paced, move from one thing to the next lives we can easily forget to focus on the moment and relish in the joy we have right now. We are often too busy looking for the next thing, that we don’t focus on where we currently are or what blessings God has put in front of us for us to enjoy.

I can be incredibly guilty with this. Instead of taking time to enjoy the sunset or taking a walk to breath in the fresh air I can find myself thinking about all I need to do, adding stuff to my to do lists etc. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the daily grind of life that we don’t see the joy. We need to make a conscious effort to choose Joy- it is there but if we are too focused on something else we aren’t going to see it. And that isn’t what God wants for us. Joy comes for the Lord. I know I need to work harder at having a heart full of joy in all I do. I may not want to do something but I am sure I make it worse when my attitude is worse about it.

In the Bible we are told to be joyful always (1 Thessalonians 5:16). That doesn’t mean sometimes. Yes, it is difficult but I think if we as Christians made a continued effort to find the joy in all circumstances our lives would be, not simpler, but more joyful. As we put our trust in Jesus, as we work to surrender to His callings I think joy is an outflow of that trust and transformation. In Galatians 5:22 we are told that Joy is one of the Fruits of the Spirit, it comes from belonging to the Kingdom of God (Romans 14:17- For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit). And then Psalm 30 reminds us that God’s anger is just for a moment but His favor is for a lifetime and joy always comes in the morning. Each day is a new day. No matter what happened yesterday, if it was less than joyful lets say… tomorrow is a new day. And we can choose to begin each day with joy no matter what.

Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: Bible, choosing joy, faith, inspiration

10-17-2014

Yay For Fridays! Bible Verse Edition

I decided instead of picking a bunch of random things I was going to share my favorite, go-to Bible verses. My problem is I have so many more favorites than 5. I am sticking to 5 but it was hard! 1- Philippians 4:6- “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.“ One of my all time favorite verses. I tend to have a worry problem and I know that is against scripture. So I mediate on the worry verses quite often to help me remember what God’s promises are and what He says about the issue. I also love 1 Peter 5:7-“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

2- Colossians 3:17- “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

3- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18- “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.“ I try to keep this as my life verse. It is so hard to remain happy and joyful in hard circumstances but this verse says it all, it is God’s will for us in Jesus and I need to do it. I also think when we try to focus on being joyful no matter what the circumstances the light of Jesus can shine from even the darkest days and we can help lots of people that way.

4- Lamentations 3:22-23- “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” I love this verse. No matter how much we feel we failed the day before, how much we think we screwed up, every day is a new day. It is a fresh start and we don’t have to let yesterday affect today.

5- Isaiah 40:31- “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.“ Another one of my life verses. God’s time isn’t our time and while it is a hard reminder He has it all figured out.
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Filed Under: Faith, Friday Favorites, Inspiration Tagged With: bible verses, faith, favorites, friday, inspiration

09-10-2014

I am Fearfully and Wonderfully made- Psalm 139:13

I think sometimes God wants you to really understand something and He keeps putting the truth in front of you until you realize it. He was definitely doing this this past week to me. I kid you not, the same theme has shown up in every single devotional I have read. Another one this morning where I just said, “man… God has made it extremely apparent to me that this is something He wants me to study more of and focus on.” and “You have got to be kidding me!” Nope He isn’t. He loves me and He knows exactly what I need when I need it.

God loves me simply because I am me! Let me stop and think about that for a minute. God loves me just because of who I am. Say it again s.l.o.w.l.y. He created me to be just who I am, He knows just who I am (including my issues and my problems) and He still loves me for me. Our worth for God is not based upon what we do but upon who we are in Him. Ephesians 2:10 says, “ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are His handiwork. Imagine a beautifully made quilt that has taken hours upon hours of work. That is nothing compared to what God has made all of us to be. He knows every little thing about us. He made us that way. So if you see a flaw God sees something He perfected just about you.

This weeks past Sunday school lesson that I prepared was on Psalm 139:14- “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” God didn’t make any mistakes with us. He made us to be beautiful and perfect in His image. We look just the way we are supposed to look. We are just where we are supposed to be. We may look at our lives and just see places where we could have done something different or should have made a different choice and maybe that is the case. But it may not be. God works in our lives in ways we have no idea about until we look back on choices we made further down the line. He may be working in your life with choices you made five years ago that you aren’t going to understand the reasons for until five years from now. And that is okay. God carefully made each and every piece of you from your hair and eye color to your temperament. He made you good at some things and maybe there are others you have to work at- but that is okay. He made you just the way He made you. There is no one else like you and there never will be anyone else like you. You fill a void in God’s plan of the universe that He created before time began. No one else can fill that but YOU.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”

We are all doing God’s work by living in the world and being a light to others. You may be a missionary, a business owner, a salesperson, a mom but you are no less important to God than anyone else. We are all alive because of Jesus.

Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: faith, God, perfect, you

08-02-2014

God Chooses Ordinary People

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. [emphasis mine]

Do you ever feel like with just a little bit more of this or a little bit more of that then you could amazing things? I do and I don’t think (at least I hope not!) that I am alone. Sometimes I look at my life and I think it is just so ordinary. I am not curing cancer, I am not running a huge company, I am not [fill in the blank]. But, as we see time and time again in scripture, it is in the ordinary that God does some amazing things. God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Sometimes we think it is just Pastors or people with seminary degrees that God uses, but that is not even close to the case. In the Old Testament, look at Joseph- he started his life as a slave. Look at Moses- he was a shepherd herding sheep. David was just a boy! Then in the New Testament, look at the Gospels. Who did God choose to be Jesus’ mother? An ordinary girl. One of Jesus’ Disciples was Matthew who was a tax collector! Other disciples were fisherman. What about Luke who traveled with Paul and went on to write one of the Gospels? He was a physician. All of these people were ordinary people going about their everyday lives who God choose to make a huge difference for His Kingdom. They just heard the call and obeyed. Look at Hebrews 11 for some more examples. The Bible is full of ordinary people with ordinary lives who were totally un-known and then the Lord used them in extraordinary ways.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 1 Corinthians 1:27

If you think God can’t use you just where you are then you need to think again. You may think you are a failure and have messed up so many times that God can never use you, but that is just not true. God can use your experiences to help other people and to encourage them. Yes, we are unworthy on our own but that is exactly why God uses us. We can’t do this on our own, which is why He sent Jesus for us. God uses our failures and trials for His glory. Our failures and trials and the fact that God loves us through it all shows of His extraordinary grace.

The Lord uses ordinary people for His purposes. God uses people who obey Him. All we need to do is submit to His will and follow. Is He going to call us to minister in Africa? I don’t know but I do know going to Africa isn’t more important than spreading God’s word to your neighbors and your children. Raising your children up in the Lord is raising up a new generation of Christ Followers. Ordinary people with ordinary lives has greater power than we can imagine as we seek to follow God’s will in our lives.

Filed Under: Faith, Me Tagged With: faith, god uses ordinary people