Father
Every Day
Every day we wake up and have a choice! God gives us Freewill whether we will choose to start the day with him or not. Our choice!
I continue to be reminded with a fresh outlook on getting into his Word and allowing God to speak to me that my day is much, much better. I am more focused and the daily discipline of looking at scripture, keeps my thoughts more aligned with God throughout the day.
Here’s a few quick tips to help:
1. Pick the time and place in advance where you will read your devotion and allow Gods Word to speak to you. Even if you start with 5 minutes and do it consistently you can build great habits.
2. There will be things and people that will try to distract you and get you off the path. There is an enemy named Satan and he wants to steal, kill and destroy your life. If he can throw curve balls at you and you swing, he’s got your eyes off the main pitch.
3. If you miss a day, pick it back up the next day. Don’t beat yourself up and just quit, keep fighting the good fight! Gods grace is sufficient for you and he loves you too much to give up on you.
Tell your friends and family about your journey with Jesus, you just might inspire them to start doing the same thing! God is so good, all the time!
Tomorrow
Great scripture here in James 4!
We are not guaranteed tomorrow! Enjoy this day as a gift from God and his beauty all around you. Find 3 things to be thankful for. I’ve always tried to do that when I want to get too far ahead of God and do it myself and operate in my limited strength instead of Gods amazing power!
Our life is a mist….the Bible reminds us……here for a little while (in terms of eternity) and then gone….God wants us to make our time count when we are here! Lord Jesus help us serve you with our actions and our words!
God gives is the definition of Sin here- “if anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them”. Ouch. That’s kinda close to home. Once God reveals himself and what he wants us to do it’s up to us to act and move….
I’m sure glad God is in control of my life and I will give him full surrender every day!!
2 Ears to Hear
Every time I read James Chapter 1 I always am reminded that God really wants us not just to hear people but intently listen to them!
1- Quick to Listen- a lost art in our culture. We are always thinking what we can say next and not letting others fully speak….people love to be heard!!
2- Do what the Word says- James reminds us not just to listen to Gods Word…..actually live it out in the flesh and just do it! Now that’s application!
3- When we examine Gods Word and obey it- He says we will be blessed at what we do! Family, Career, Ministry, whatever you put your heart to!
I’m glad we serve a God of Grace who’s mercies are New everyday!!
God Bless you!! Have an amazing week!
Focus
Every day we wake up and have a choice. What are we going to think about first. What is our mindset going to be like for the day?
We are all human and have negative thoughts come in our mind all the time. We have a choice if we are going to listen to our negative self talk or not. What we feed our mind with absolutely affects our behavior and how we are going to act and speak.
Hebrews 12:2 reminds us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”.
We are to gaze on Christ and try moment by moment to ask ourselves, “what would Jesus think about this” or “how does this look to Jesus”?
It re-focuses us on what’s important and what’s eternal. It re-aligns our heart and gets us centered back to our walk with God. We have to be intentional about it. Our natural thoughts are to waver and go the opposite direction. We have to pray and ask God for help moment by moment. It’s a battle we all face!
I want to encourage you today to focus on Christ and his goodness. Remember all that he has done for you in your life and believe by faith that he’s not done with you yet!
5 ways we can come near to God
Have you ever felt far away from God and wonder what in the world happened? As most of us have heard, God has not gone anywhere, its us who have moved. Moved in what way? The one thing that gets in our way that we never see coming. It happens when we least expect it. It happens inside the church and outside the church. In a culture where we are encouraged to stand up and fend for ourselves. What we are talking about is “Pride”. First of all, if you think you have never struggled with this, you are just too proud to admit it. We all struggle with pride in one form or another.
The key verse in James 4:6 says that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”. Pride is actually one of the things that God hates. I am not just making that up. Check out Proverbs 6:16-19. The Bible shows us here that there are 6 things God hates and 7 that are detestable to him. The first one is “haughty eyes” or pride. Pride says that we are really fine without God. We don’t need him for our life and can fully take care of things ourselves. No thanks God. Pride keeps us away from God.
So, how can we come near to God? I would like to give you 5 ways that the brother of Jesus, James, gives us to bring us closer to God.
1. Submit to God. (NIV) Humble yourselves to God (NLT)
Verse 7 “So humble yourselves before God.”
Whichever version you like its pretty clear what we are to do. By nature, we don’t want to submit to anyone, especially someone we can’t see. So to submit or humble ourselves to God is an active step of action. When we are submitting to Him we are giving up our control over our lives and asking God to take over. Take the reigns Lord, sit in the drivers seat, I will be the passenger.
2. Resist the Devil
Verse 7 “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Notice we are submit to God first, then we are able to resist the devil. There is an order to this for a reason. We don’t have enough strength or power to do this on our own. The devil has been doing this for much longer than we have. He is a master liar and hates us and any plans God has for us. All the more reason we should allow God to fight the battle for us.
3. Wash your hands & purify your hearts
Verse 8 “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”
We are to be cleansed from our sin. Ask God to forgive your sins and wash you clean from the guilt and condemnation that can stain your heart. Just as we shower to clean our physical body, we need to cleanse ourselves spiritually come into his presence.
4. Grieve, Mourn & Wail.
Verse 9 “Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.”
Don’t be afraid to go have a good cry. We are allowed to express real grief for the past sins we have committed. In fact, God’s Word wants us to do that with a freedom that your creator gave us.
5. Humble yourselves before the Lord.
Verse 10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”
When we take the posture in our heart of humbling ourselves before God, he lifts us up. He brings us to a new place with him. He knows our heart and the true cry of our heart. Either we can humble ourselves or we can wait until our circumstances humble us, pick one.
Remember, we were created by a God who wants us to have a real love affair with him. To put him first in our thoughts, ways, actions and life choices. He wants to spend time with him as a father loves spending time with his children. When we practice these 5 things, we are assured to discover a deeper relationship with Him.
Brian's Stephens Blog 