TODAY WE PROCLAIM CHANGE

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Today is a great day to acknowledge our sins to God and the iniquity we have hidden. Today we proclaim change.

Sin blocks our fellowship with God. It keeps us from experiencing His goodness.

As humans we often repeat the sins that have been forgiven. We feel discouraged because we have difficulties overcoming them and feel we have failed. We fear we have lost fellowship with God. Good news, God is a God of many chances.

This is the day we free ourselves. Ask God to apply His forgiveness one more time and receive His mercy, this time with conviction.

Confession spiritually cleans our hearts. This is the day we proclaim victory over our sins and enter fellowship with our Lord. We will no longer carry unconfessed sin in our hearts allowing it to keep us weak, discouraged, and miserable.

“Be Glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous; shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Ps 32:11)

Image – LAB Photo
Scripture – Bible.com
Reference – Charles Stanley, Life Principles Bible, Ps 32

Thank God For Daily Mercies

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Good Morning,

Thank God, His mercies are renewed everyday. Our actions are covered everyday. We do not have to worry about them piling up and being buried by them. We can repent of the day and know we are forgiven. Keep having good thoughts, and doing positive deeds, and for those moments when thoughts or actions don’t align with Christ, repent, ask for immediate forgiveness.

God’s compassion never fails. Today’s mercies cover this day, and faith that tomorrow’s unseen mercies will be sufficient for that day. Do not carry woes, anxieties, and concerns into the upcoming day. Release them, give them to God through repentance and begin each day believing in new mercies.

In faith we are strong.

Two passages of scripture sum up how God frees us.

  • Lamentation 3:22-23

“Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassion’s  fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

  • Matthew 6:34

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew‬ ‭6:34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Think about these passages as you go through your day. Before I retired I often thought of and recited them to myself, it is freeing and a reminder that God is ever-present, and covers us each and every day. Oh, and yes, I still recite them to myself and will as long as I am alive.

Mary and Martha as Archetypes

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Mary and Martha can be seen as archetypes. We possess both archetype personalities, that of Mary and Martha. Martha, who invited Jesus to stay at her and her sisters home, scurried around preparing the house and meal. She was practical and efficient. There is nothing wrong following custom unless it becomes a problem. She placed doing things before God. We need to be alert and recognize when we are distracted.

Mary broke custom to sit at Jesus’ feet. She knew that custom would adversely affect the result of spending time with Jesus. She later did not spare cost and poured expensive oil, spikenard, on Jesus’ feet to wash them and dried them with her hair, demonstrating intimacy and reverence.

While Jesus and his followers were traveling, he went into a town, and a woman named Martha let him stay at her house. She had a sister named Mary. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. But her sister Martha was busy doing all the work that had to be done. Martha went in and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are getting worried and upset about too many things. Only one thing is important. Mary has made the right choice, and it will never be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-41, ESV

Martha also sat by Jesus, but only after she completed her tasks. There was a level of trepidation involved in her steps. Jesus told her not to worry or be troubled.

There are several takeaways from this story. Mary made a conscious decision between the two options, to help her sister or sit at Jesus’ foot. Today take time to study this: living a Christlike life is a radical way of life. We can either sit at Jesus’ feet and experience his love for us and learn from Him like Mary, or scurry around busily like Martha and miss the calmness He provides that reduces and eliminates worry, anxiety, and fear. We have to make choices every day, do we take time to seek our Lord and Savior or stay busied secondary things. Matthew 6:33 tells us that Jesus is clear about our choices and shared, we should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

But Martha, though posed to follow custom when she noticed Mary was sitting down at the foot of Jesus, went to God in prayer. Jesus responded, do not worry or be troubled. The point is that Martha still loved Christ, still revered Him and called upon Him. Both knew and loved the Lord. We love the Lord as well. Our choices will determine if we acknowledge Him as being more important to us than life itself and not letting the ‘good part’ that cannot be taken from us or miss daily opportunities to spend time with our Lord. The things we seek before Christ will pass away, the Word of God will live in us and direct us throughout time. 

ReBlog – https://wp.me/p98Coa-vG
‭‭Images – Google Images; YouVersion.Bible.com
Scriptures – Biblestudytools.com
References/Resources – www.ucg.org. Beyond Today. Profiles of Faith: Mary and Martha-Lessons from Two Sisters.

Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.

Seek God’s Strength

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God reiterates throughout the Bible, seek me and I will give you strength. This is not a suggestion, but rather His covenant with you; He promises that He will be with you from everlasting to everlasting.

If you seek Him, call on Him in prayer, He will respond by giving you the strength to see your way through.

What should we seek?

1) Seek His mercy and grace.
2) Seek strength for His Service. His power is made perfect in our weakness.
3) Seek His Face, meaning Seek His presence.

God will never forsake us or leave us if we establish a reverential relationship with Him. He is everlasting in good times and harder times. The scripture says, glory in His Holy Name, think of this as sitting in the sun, in the grass on a warm day. It is during these moments that we rejoice in His presence because we feel His love and his warmth.  In the midst of this calm, we feel the strength of the sun just as we feel His strength. Visualizing this depiction of sitting with the Lord in the warm sun will revive you when you are in good times and when you are wary, questioning, and having difficult moments.

Remember this feeling when it seems God is not present. There are moments when He is quiet or we cannot hear Him. The warmth of His presence will see you through.

“Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”
1 Chronicles‬ ‭16:10-11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Look to the Lord for his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.”

Note: King David wrote 1 Chronicles.

ReBlog – https://wp.me/p98Coa-vK
‭‭Images – YouVersion.Bible.com
Scriptures – Biblestudytools.com
References/Resources – ReversingVerses.com/2012/11/29/1-chronicles-1621/

Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.

Worried and Troubled About Many Things

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“And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭10:41‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

How many of us stay busy because we believe it means we are doing the Lord’s work? I can raise my hand, guilty as charged. Luke 10 is about two sisters, Martha and  Mary. The two women learned that Jesus was going to visit their home. This immediately set an expectation that they had to ready the house, at least that is what Martha thought. On the other hand, Mary thought – what an opportunity. When he arrived, she perched herself at Jesus’ foot breathing in His every word, loving the feeling of his presence. Depending upon where we are in life, we will become a Martha or Mary. But, the Lord is not asking us to prepare things for or around him. The Lord does not want us to worry, or fret over the issues that surround us. He wants us to still ourselves, feel his love, and spend time in His Holy Presence.

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Like Martha we become distracted. We lose sight of the purpose, our dependence upon the Lord, and our desire to listen to Him, learn the practicality of the Word and then share the Good News. But, we are not wholly Martha, we also embrace the wonderment of Mary, waiting to serve, listen and learn.

We are told in John 15, the Lord is the true vine and God is the vinedresser. The vine cannot bear fruit by itself. In other words, we cannot bear fruit by ourselves. Without sitting at the Lords’ feet, we will wither. We need to be still and listen, and not become distracted by the things around us. The scripture reads, “He who abides in Me, and I in him bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” The Holy Spirit must dwell in us. It is His blood that flows through our veins, our heart, and our soul. The scripture further shares, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. Mary scurried about during the visit reading the house, preparing a meal, and doing all of the ceremonial things. Her sister Mary wanted more of Jesus. She wanted to breathe Him in, be a student of his Word and spend as much time as possible with Him; food was not important, a clean home was not important, spending time at the foot of our Lord was all that mattered. She knew she would be stronger for it, that sharing her story about what she learned that day with others would bear fruit.

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When we feel the urge to become busy rather than sit still, it is more than a tick, it is a red alert.

Mary and Martha clearly loved Christ; we can gain more from this story, we can look at this in the scope of Spiritual Warfare. When we feel the Mary-Martha tug, we should acknowledge that it is often the devil trying to distract us and delay us from spending time with the Lord. His purpose is to kill, steal,  and destroy. He wants to kill our relationship with the Lord, steal our time with the Lord and destroy our hope to reach heaven.

Like so many, I try to stay alert. I know spending time with the Lord every day is imperative, yet there are times when I become enveloped in the stuff around me. But as the scripture says, only one thing is needed, not the fluff and circumstance, only one thing, to spend quality time with the Lord.

In the end, we must ask ourselves when we are falling into oblivion, who do we belong to, where do we reside?  Do we respond to Jesus’ invitation like Martha or like Mary? Will we wither or bear fruit?

ReBlog –  https://wp.me/p98Coa-vy  copy and paste on your site.
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Images – Google Images

Scriptures – YouVersion.Bible.com

References/Resources – Finding Rest In a Busy World Devotional, Bible.com. Study – http://www.susannarjala.com

Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.

Where is Your Focus?

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“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:18‬‬

This scripture spoke to my inner being, reminding me that I can get caught up in the things of this world if I do not stay vigilant. It is easy to allow our carnal man to prosper. All of our senses are tuned into the shiny things of this earth that are constantly bombarding us. We are in a constant state of warfare; tug and war. Our choices are this world or the heavenlies.

We need to stay in tune and shift our focus. The battle rages throughout our lives. God gave us the freedom to choose how we live our lives. Earlier in life, I decided that my purpose was to reach the Kingdom, this meant that I needed to make decisions to walk away from some things, refocus, and galvanize others. in short, reaching my spiritual destination is the focus of my life.

Our eternal goal relies on our contemplation, prayer, praise, and worship, which guides us and makes us better. When we replace the object of the goal, then the things we formerly worshiped become benefits of our work and not the object of our work.

I’ve learned that focusing on things, as the end-all, is a form of idol worship; things, such as a new outfit, car, new apartment, home, ultimate vacation, and career ascension,  are temporal and lose their value over time, my focus is acquiring eternal life in heaven.

As sinners, we cannot fall prey to delusion and the idols of this world. Satan will use everything available to prevent the gospel from shining, from politics to morals, to seemingly innocuous music. Between Satan and our sin nature, we are constantly battling to live in the spiritual realm, we must always stay alert, as Christians, must focus on the Word to avoid the traps of the evil one while demonstrating the virtues of Christ in our daily lives. Focusing on the Good News prepares us for our eternal life while living on earth. It makes us better people, spouses, parents, friends, and God’s helpers. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go, guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it turn from it and go on your way. The path of the righteous is like the morning sun shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the[a] paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
Proverbs 4:13-27 NIV

Images – Google Images

Scripture – Biblegateway.com

Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.