Thank God I'm Forgiven! How often I say that each week. Thank God I am forgiven! I am a sinner saved and transformed by grace. PTL! And He continues to mold and shape me more and more into His image because I continue to humble myself before Him and repent of all things that offend Him. Help me Lord to repent sooner and need to less and less as I become more like You. Yes forgive me! Thank You!
Good Morning Repentant, Faithful Followers of the Way! Jesus is the way and He died so you can be forgiven and spend eternity with Him. PTL! He formed you for such a time as this and is faithful to help you and all repentant sinners to grow in Him and like Him and to fulfill their created purposes faithfully. Contemplate that , PTL, and repent and believe the Good News! Amen!
I've been wrestling with God about some things I'm not even sure I can fully put into words. I know I'm made for more and to be more like Jesus and do more of what he created me to do, yet I resist and choose to live for self too often. Sometimes I do my own thing or move at my speed and not His. Forgive me Lord! Sometimes, I have a solid sense (or so I think) of His plans for me and us and then I rely on my own strength or move at what I perceive to be His pace when he just wants me to wait, abide and await His provisions and timing. Help me repent and move with You, yoked to You, for Your glory! Amen! He wants us to know and dwell in, He actually said He gives us, His peace beyond understanding. As we abide in His peace and love and presence, he will inform our prayers, prepare us, provide for us, protect us and then lead us to His perfect plans and purposes. Amen! Check out Sarah Young's devo for below about this. What's God saying to and expecting of you? What will you do about it? Let Him lead you to green pastures, still waters and His promised rest!
I then opened my I to We devo. This put into words much of what I am experiencing and some of my hurdles to peace and help to understand my need to team up with some people that are opposite of me and to wait on the Lord before plunging ahead. Check it out! I am sent and a doer. I rest by doing. I have a pretty keen sense of many things God wants to do in and through me, you and us. And too often I move alone or surge ahead because I am gifted and able to do so. Too often I get frustrated at the lagers and anchors that hold me back. Yet they are just the ones I need to stay on God's pace, They are often His provision for keeping on track and on pace to follow to His new things in His perfect timing. And sometimes I need to come alongside and encourage those lagging behind to get moving. Discerning the difference is a Holy Spirit helps thing as I abide, seek, humble self, wait or move with the Lord. Hope that makes sense? I know God has great plans for me, you and us that requires being filled with and following Him as His sent team of ambassadors and servants. If you think you may be lagging or shying away from something God has for you and us, talk to me and let us pray and reason together as we seek and want to follow well together. We do need God and each other always. What's your part? Determine to be Repentant, Faithful Followers of the Way and ask for help from God and others. Amen! Yes TGIF!
The Upper Room then reminds us to Trust God. I trust Lord but help my unbelief. Right? Unbelief shows up when we forge ahead, lag behind and do our own thing, presuming on God/ Forgive us Lord! Help us repent, trust and follow well! Amen! Thank You for forgiveness and help! Amen! And then the Our Daily Bread (both below) helps us to understand how to grow strong in God as we seek, wait and follow to His best together! help us Lord! I'm praying for you! trust and obey and know His peace ! Amen!
Sarah Young
I to We
UR:
Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33 (NIV)
I was going through a difficult and painful breakup. All my thoughts focused on the rejection and loneliness I felt, and as a result I began to suffer anxiety attacks. The pain and feelings of emptiness were deep, and I thought nothing could assuage those feelings. But then I attended a retreat sponsored by my local church and found Jesus. From that point forward, everything changed. Jesus transformed my life and gave me the assurance that I am not alone and that the way forward is to trust God.
Trusting God in moments of crisis challenges our faith. The cares of the world often generate within us an anxiety that prevents us from trusting God fully. The good news is that we, the children of God, know that Jesus has overcome the world. To trust is to believe that God cares and watches over us — that God is greater than any problem, illness, or crisis. God is the Creator of all. Whatever our situation, God loves us, God supports us, and God will help us see a way forward.
's Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for scripture that provides us the assurance that we can find refuge in you. Rekindle our faith to trust fully in your love. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
ODB
Growing Strong in God
Fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience. 1 Timothy 1:18-19
As a boy, I loved reading stories about pirates. How those adventures spurred my imagination! Now I live in an area where one of the most infamous of those pirates—Blackbeard (real name, Edward Teach)—had his headquarters. Shipwrecked in the waters off the coast here is Blackbeard’s ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge.
We can easily romanticize the wrecks and the high-sea adventures of history. The apostle Paul, however, wrote about a very different kind of shipwreck that provides us with a caution and an exhortation. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul warned his son in the faith to “[hold] on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19). What is this “shipwreck”? Two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, had in some devastating way departed from the true faith, and the apostle turned them over to Satan “to be taught not to blaspheme” (v. 20). Paul desired them to repent, but the consequences of their actions were dire.
Our faith isn’t static, nor can it exist in a vacuum. We must actively nurture and cultivate our relationship with God to grow strong and healthy in faith and good conscience. May we join with other believers, yield to God’s Spirit, and allow Him to work in us. We can avoid shipwreck.
By Bill Crowder
REFLECT & PRAY
How would you describe your relationship with Jesus? If you’ve drifted from Him, what’s the first move you can make back to Him?
Wise Father, may Your Spirit work in my heart to keep me close to You and growing in my faith.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to work with the young and troubled church there. Although Timothy was to aid the church in its struggles against false teachers (1 Timothy 1:3-7), Paul instructs him that he also needed to grow in his own faith (vv. 18-20). He was to “fight the battle well” (v. 18), most commonly referring to spiritual warfare (see Ephesians 6:10-18); “[hold] on to the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19), referring to trust in Jesus (see Titus 1:1-3); and maintain “a good conscience” (1 Timothy 1:19), keeping his actions commendable (see Titus 3:14-15). The journey of discipleship is lifelong. Actively nurturing our relationship with God helps us grow strong in our faith and avoid spiritual shipwreck.
J.R. Hudberg
Connection blogs:
- Devote Yourself to Waiting
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4
The nations that surrounded Judah worshipped an array of pagan deities, none of whom were concerned about those who worshipped them. Alone among these false gods, the One True God of Israel had compassion on His people and desired what was best for them. Among the people of the nations, it was hard to even imagine a God who acted on their behalf.
It is important for us to notice that God intervenes on behalf of those who wait for Him. Throughout the Bible we are commanded to wait for the Lord. It is precisely this waiting that allows Him to freely move in our lives. Those who wait, have submitted their desires to the One for whom they are waiting. They have chosen not to act until God acts. Rather than being a time of inactivity, waiting on God means intense focus that demands everything we are. As we cry out to God for revival in these days, it will mean devoting ourselves to waiting upon Him.
I wait for You Lord. My soul waits, and in Your Word I put my hope. I have set You before me always. Help me, Lord, not to run ahead… impatiently trying to do things for You without You. I have done way too much of that already. Teach me to patiently wait upon You so that I may then see Your amazing work on my behalf.
Praise the Lord, whose name is a strong tower to which the righteous run and find safety (Prov. 18:10).
Thank God for the safety he has brought to your life.
Confess any area in which your walk is not consistent with bearing Christ’s name.
Commit to living all your life under God.
Ask him to give you the courage that comes from knowing he cares for you.
Pray for those in your care to be under the strong tower of God’s care. Ask God to assure them of their safety in his strong and tender presence.
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayerleader.com. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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