Good Morning Very Loved, Forgiven, Purposeful Perseveres! Oh Yes! Pronounce that out loud over you and us with much joy and thanksgiving! Your are very loved creations of God--His masterpiece! When we confess and come to Christ in repentance we are forgiven--always! We were created for God's purposes and when we come to Christ, we are gifted and enabled to complete them. We come just as we are and grow into who we were created to be and now able to do all the great things we were created to do. Our part is to stop, repent, trust God, choose joy and persevere in faith, on step at a time, as we complete our assignments until He calls us home. The Good News is that we are able to do so because God is with us working all things together for good and guiding our steps, providing all we need each day, and empowering us to complete our assignments well. That just blows my mind sometimes! Praise God. Trust and follow well. Choose joy and be blessed and a blessing today!
You know we were all one way and now another and as we run our races well we will grow into other ways as we journey to become more like Jesus. He has something good very day and stage of our lives. He sees you. Loves you. Is with you every step of the way from cradle to grave and has so many great plans for you. Rejoice! Yesterday I again had the pleasure of visiting our 103 year old member Doris Hausman. What a joy! She is still worshiping and serving our Lord as she can with what she got where she is at. That can be you everyday as well. Yes she is in a wheelchair in a nursing home but that doesn't matter. She knows and loves Jesus, prays all the time, brings joy to staff, residents and visitors and allows God to love through her. And that is all we need to choose to do as well. Does she have hard days? Sure, even hard hours, BUT she is able to repent when she grumbles and has a pity party, praise and refocus on God and choose joy as she allows Him to comfort, forgive and lead her to her next assignment. That's all God requires of us as well. Choose joy, trust, obey and be used as you are where you are with what you got. Live and love like Jesus! Period! Turn off the noise of circumstances. Choose joy and allow God to use you. That's Jesus' easy yoke that brings many blessings alive. Here's a photo from yesterday with daughter Sally. Notice Doris always carries a Jesus doll with her and even sleeps with Him as a reminder that he is with her always. He is with you always as well! remember that!
Today this song came to my mind as I read Charles Stanley devo. More Love. More Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q539OrgDxk0.
As we continue to work on becoming who we were created to be and doing more of the things we were created for more better, we need God and His power. Still yourself today. Worship with this song and receive His love, power and strength to fulfill your purposes today and for the rest of your life. He is with you, for you, and cheering you on! And wanting you to choose more too. Hammer down!
Here are our devotionals for you today to contemplate with God and some friends. What's God saying to you? What do you need to repent of? Who might you help with refocusing and choosing joy? Who might help you? What is one thing that will help you to take the next step of faith? Do it! What is something measurable that God is revealing for you to do and what will you do about it? More of Christ and less of me! When I am weak, He is strong. Father, give us willing hearts, moving feet and more of You, more love, more power, more of You in our lives and more of You overflowing to others today. Come! Have Your way with me! Use me well and grow me into all You have planned for me! Thank You! I love You and rejoice to do what I can with what I got for Your glory! Bring more alive! Thank You as we seek to become more like Jesus and ask in His name for His glory. Amen!
We are learning to live and love like Jesus more better! PTL! Rejoice I say! More love and more power are available to you today--everyday! Rejoice and cry out for them and receive them with joy as you go, follow and love well!
Charles Stanley:
ODB: read Isaiah passage. What's God saying to you? Let go, let God and move forward with him!
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Jill Price was born with the condition of hyperthymesia: the ability to remember in extraordinary detail everything that ever happened to her. She can replay in her mind the exact occurrence of any event she’s experienced in her lifetime.
The TV show Unforgettable was premised on a female police officer with hyperthymesia—to her a great advantage in trivia games and in solving crimes. For Jill Price, however, the condition isn’t so much fun. She can’t forget the moments of life when she was criticized, experienced loss, or did something she deeply regretted. She replays those scenes in her head over and over again.
Our God is omniscient (perhaps a kind of divine hyperthymesia): the Bible tells us that His understanding has no limit. And yet we discover in Isaiah a most reassuring thing: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions . . . and remembers your sins no more” (43:25). The book of Hebrews reinforces this: “We have been made holy through . . . Jesus Christ . . . [and our] sins and lawless acts [God] will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:10, 17).
As we confess our sins to God, we can stop playing them over and over in our minds. We need to let them go, just as He does: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” (Isaiah 43:18). In His great love, God chooses to not remember our sins against us. Let’s remember that.
By Kenneth Petersen
REFLECT & PRAY
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What regrets do you harbor in your memory and play over and over again? How can you give them to God and release the past?
Dear God, thank You for forgiving and forgetting my sins.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
God’s people in Israel and Judah were unfaithful. They’d stubbornly refused to repent and return to God (Isaiah 43:22-24). He’d warned them that He’d use foreign nations to punish them for their covenantal unfaithfulness (7:18-25; 10:3-6; 39:6-7). Against the backdrop of their severe chastening, He reminded them that as His chosen people, they had an unbreakable bond with Him and assured them of His unfailing love: “You are precious and honored in my sight, and . . . I love you” (43:4). God said He’d rescue, redeem, and restore them once the disciplining was complete (vv. 5-21). In His grace and mercy, He’d remove their guilt and forgive their sins (v. 25). This forgiveness wouldn’t be based on what they deserved but on who God is: “I do it because of who I am. I will not remember your sins anymore” (v. 25 nirv).
K. T. Sim |
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TWFYT: What's the most important thing for you to do today? Will you do it?
UR: What can you give as an offering to God and blessing to Him and others, just as you are and where you are right now? Receive His sufficient grace as you journey forward in Christ!
Paul wrote, “[The Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” - 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
Every Christmas I get a little depressed. In this season, Christians do many things to make life brighter for others. But I can’t do the majority of them since my age prevents me from driving or doing much physical activity.
One Christmas, however, I kept hearing the song “The Little Drummer Boy.” It changed my focus from what I can’t do to what I can. The lyrics of the song explain that the little drummer boy couldn’t buy a gift or do something brave for the Christ child, so he didn’t think he had anything to offer. But then he realized one thing he could do: play a song for Jesus.
So I quit thinking about what I can’t do and started concentrating on what I can do. I can pray; I can be cheerful and friendly to those I meet at the senior center; I can celebrate Jesus’ birth at my church. Sometimes God helps us to do things we don’t realize we can. And God will honor even seemingly small actions if they are done to glorify God. So like the little drummer boy who played his very best for Jesus, we can do our best and honor God with our service.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear Lord, help us do our best for you in whatever ways we are able. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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