Daily 1198

Life-Giving, Not Life-Draining

Many people see God’s commandments as a life-draining set of rules that is unpleasant, unnecessary and unwanted. They are seeing them wrongly. Do you know how bridges are designed, built and maintained for our safety? By “rules.” Do you know how meals are prepared, served and consumed for our nourishment? By “rules.” Do you know how music is composed, recorded and performed for our delight? By “rules.” God has decided how things should work for our … Safety. Nourishment. Delight. God’s good design for all things in our lives and in our universe is not life-draining; it is life-giving.

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Daily 1197

Secure In Our Identity

When we are secure in our identity in Christ, we are free to have relationships that are not defined by comparing ourselves with others, but by caring for others. If our sense of personal worth comes from how God feels about us, treats us, and remakes us as His children, then we don’t have to prove ourselves in categories of better and worse, more and less, or ahead and behind in how we measure up against the people in our lives. Instead of ranking ourselves as better off than others or resenting others who we think are better off than ourselves, we can joyfully love and serve them as equal image-bearers of God.

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Daily 1196

Jesus Already Did That

This is the jaw-dropping reality of just how much you are worth: Jesus loves you, gave Himself for you and lives in you. Don’t you see? Your worth is not based on who you are; it is based on Whose you are. Your worth is not based on your performance; it is based on His. Your worth is not based on your making a name for yourself; it is based on the Name of the One who lives inside you. If you belong to Jesus, the old you is dead, and the life you now live carries a value that is not found in any personal achievement, accolade or attribute. You don’t have to prove your worth. Jesus already did that.

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Daily 1195

You Have Been Changed

God is at work… Through every trial and trouble. Through every problem and perplexity. Through every heartache and hardship. What is God doing during these times? He’s teaching you to look to Jesus, and transforming you to look like Him. When you face adversity, don’t give up hope, because God hasn’t given up on you. You may feel like everything is falling apart, but He’s actually putting you back together again so you can feel, think, speak and act like the person you were born to be. When you look back, you’ll find this to be true: your circumstances may not have changed, but you certainly have.

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Daily 1194

He Has Kept All Of His Promises

Great is MY faithfulness is not part of a proverb or hymn. Nobody would ever celebrate my ability to do what I should do or do what I say I will do. I’m both a promise-maker and a promise-breaker. A thousand times I have failed to follow-through on my intentions in keeping God’s expectations as I have followed Jesus. And a thousand times I have received in return… Grace. Mercy. Forgiveness. Encouragement. Renewal. Correction. Power. Motivation. Reassurance. Acceptance. Instruction. Hope. Love. I cannot say that I have kept all of my promises to God. But I can say that He has kept all of His promises to me.

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Daily 1193

God Is Putting Everything Into Place

Like a thousand-piece puzzle, your life often looks like a jumble of disjointed and disconnected fragments that don’t seem to fit together very well. But God is putting everything into place exactly where He wants it so you can be who you were made to be and do what you were made to do. He has a good reason for and a good result from everything He allows to come into your life. Someday all will make sense, all will be made right, and all will be made new when He completes the good work He has started in you. Take heart! When the last puzzle piece is put into place, you will see what God has been seeing all along.

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Daily 1192

Faith In Jesus Is Followed By

Faith in Jesus is followed by following Jesus in faith. Saving belief leads us to step off the throne, take off the crown, and let Jesus take over ruling our hearts and lives. We haven’t really put our faith in Jesus if we are indifferent to what He wants and resistant to what He says. That’s not trust. That’s a lack of trust. That’s mistrust. Real faith in Jesus makes us want to give up our sin and self-rule to follow His steps, His ways and His commands (although imperfectly executed) more fully over time. Why? Because we are confident that life His way is better than any other option, and that for eternal life He is the only option.

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Daily 1191

His Way Works

It is defined in different ways. It is pursued in different ways. It is measured in different ways. But what happiness has in common no matter how it is defined, pursued and measured is this: every single human being wants it. The message of the world is to “do what you want to do and be who you want to be” and this will make you happy. Only it … Does. Not. Work. The message of Jesus is “do what I want you to do and be who I made you to be.” In doing so, we will experience His joy, and our joy can be full no matter what else is happening in our lives. Want to be happy? His. Way. Works.

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Daily 1190

The Right Way To Count

Christians should count the various trials in our lives as joy. Not as defeat. Not as pleasant. Not as punishment. Not as meaningless. Not as insignificant. Not as a reason to complain. Not as a lack of God’s care. Trials can be many things, but they cannot be joy-stealers unless we let them. While it may feel like trials are breaking you today, you can be sure that God is building you up through them in ways that are going to be amazingly good in the days to come. Your faith muscle becoming stronger. Your deliverance becoming sooner. Your witness becoming louder. Your homecoming becoming sweeter.

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Daily 1189

In Return, We Give Him Glory

When we are unthankful, we rob God of something that we should be giving to Him.  Namely, glory. Ingratitude comes from prideful hearts that think we have earned what God freely gave to us, or we are entitled to what God hasn’t given to us.  To overcome this, we must… Trust God is at work for our good.  Realize we are owed nothing that is good.  Give credit to God for all that is good.  In doing so, we will burst with joy and gratitude as we see even a small sampling of the 10,000 things God graciously is for us, does for us and gives to us that we don’t deserve.  In return, we will give Him all the thanks and glory.

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Daily 1188

We See An Ever-Present God

You can look all around and conclude that God is absent or that He is present. May He give us spiritual eyes that see… Not just the beauty of a sunset, but the God who paints the sky. Not just the miracle of a baby’s birth, but the God who brings things to life. Not just the taste of a great meal, but the God who invented flavors. Not just the satisfaction of achieving a goal, but the God who empowers us to do so. Not just a lovely wedding, but the God who created marriage. Not just a great day, but the God who offers us eternal life. Shining through every good and right and true thing we see is an ever-present God.

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Daily 1187

More About Jesus

With what are we filling up our social media feeds, texts and emails, and in-person conversations? Speaking about our confidence in a political leader should pale in comparison to speaking about our faith in Jesus. More important than warning others with our conspiracy theories is warning them about the consequences of their sin. We shouldn’t talk as if our hope is in the hands of our government, but in the hands of our sovereign and loving Father in heaven. People desperately need to hear… Biblical truth. Good news of salvation. Grace-dripping words. Unshakeable promises of God. More. About. Jesus.

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Daily 1186

We Do them Unto Him

Being in a loving relationship with Jesus brings both gracious privileges and glorious responsibilities. On one hand, we are given endless blessings that will carry on throughout eternity. On the other hand, we are given important assignments to be carried out until completion. While it may seem like the privileges are more desirable than the responsibilities, this should not be so. Our assigned tasks are opportunities to proclaim, serve, please, model and glorify the One Who saves us by His grace. When we do the good things that Jesus has planned for us, we do them unto Him. That, in itself, is a privilege.

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Daily 1185

Shine His Light In Your Heart

Darkness isn’t just the time between dusk and dawn; it’s also any time you are facing the unknown.  This is especially true of those seasons of suffering when the light at the end of your tunnel is nowhere to be seen.  It is during those times that you must not give up hope.  For even on those dark days when you can’t see what is up next, what step to take next or how anything good will come next, hope remains. Jesus is still there and Jesus still cares! Ask Him to give you the faith and inner strength that is needed to endure. And though the outer darkness may yet linger, the Son will rise and shine His light in your heart.

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Daily 1184

Our Motive, Our Mission

Our motive. Our mission. We need to communicate these two things to others when we show them love through the way we treat them. First, we need to let them know that the good we do for them comes from appreciation for what God has done for us and anticipation of what God will do for us. It is from the overflow of what we get from Him that we give to others. Second, we need to let them know that we do good works because a good God has commissioned us to go in His Name to share His love with others. Let us credit Him by telling people this… God has done good to me. God has sent me to do good to you.

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Daily 1183

It’s Something We Are

It’s not Sunday church clothes. It’s not a cross necklace. It’s not a t-shirt. Being a Christian is not something we put on and take off depending upon the place we are at, the position we are in, or the people we are around. We should strive by grace to speak, act and live in the same manner at all times, not picking and choosing when we let our Christianity be seen. People will know that we belong to Jesus not because of what we have on, but by how we love on those around us. 24/7 we are imperfect image-bearers of the One living in our hearts. Our identity is not something we wear, it’s something we are.

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Daily 1182

He Intends To Set Us Free From One

The enemy of your soul doesn’t care about you. His only interest in you is as a victim. He wants to “steal and kill and destroy,” and a primary way he attempts to do this is by leading you astray. How? By making sin look attractive, and obedience seem restrictive. He wants you and me to believe that sin isn’t sin, that sin is worth it, that sin isn’t that serious, and that sin won’t cost too much. Jesus leads our lives to deliver us from sin and deliver to us abundant life now and eternal life later. When He calls us to follow Him in loving obedience, it is not because He’s a tyrant; it’s because He intends to set us free from one.

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Daily 1181

Exemplify And Encourage

You are greatly influenced by the people you invite into your life. You start to act and speak and think and live and become like them. The question is: are you becoming more like Jesus by becoming more like them? It is important that we carefully choose who we allow to get close enough to us to begin to change us. While we should love and serve people who are far from God, we should not take our cues for how to live from them. Instead, we imitate those who are imitating Jesus. As much as possible, surround yourself with people who exemplify Him and encourage you to become more like Him.

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Daily 1180

Jesus Is My Life

Christian is the adjective that should describe every category of our lives. We are Christian family members, Christian friends, Christian workers, Christian movie-goers, Christian neighbors, Christian drivers, Christian shoppers, and across all categories, Christian mistake-makers. Flawed, but forgiven. Imperfect, but improving. Unworthy, but unfinished. Knowing Jesus… Has changed, is changing and will change who we are and what we do as we grow to trust Him and be like Him more fully in more areas of our lives. A question we need to ask ourselves is this: Do I live as if Jesus is my life or just a part of it?

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Daily 1179

We’re Too Busy Not To Spend Time With Him

Admit it, some days are a blur. We wake up and it’s a nonstop rush throughout the day to not fall behind. You know what the cure is for being overwhelmed, worried and frustrated about the many things on our schedules? Making the right choice to spend unhurried, undistracted time with Jesus today so He can refresh us, reorient us and ready us for what He knows is coming next. It’s the most important part of our day, and it should have the most intentional part of our schedule, because it’s the most influential part of our lives. We’re not too busy to spend time with Him; we’re too busy not to spend time with Him.

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