Joy

Jesus came down for one purpose and one assignment: to redeem mankind. When He was buried in the tomb over 2,000 years ago, He had your name written on the palm of His hand. He knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb, and He had already chosen you. I can’t tell you that I understand it all, but I can tell you that I’m glad about it!

When Jesus was on the Earth, scripture tells us that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. He didn’t focus on what He was going through. He didn’t focus on the accusations, beatings and betrayal; He focused on you and me. He focused on the joy of our salvation! Jesus was thrilled that He got to come to us, and we should be thrilled that we now get to go to Him.

See, joy is a spiritual force. It can only be obtained by knowing the Father. Joy isn’t something you get when things are going good. It’s something that keeps you stable no matter what is going on around you. Jesus tapped into joy to through the cross, and He’s telling us that we need to tap into joy to through the trials and tests that we face as well.

Today, open your heart and receive the joy God has for you. Focus on the fact that He’s got you in the palm of His hand. Trust that He is working all things out for your good. Dwell on the truth that if God is on your side, there’s no enemy that can stand against you!

As you meditate on these things and the other promises found in His Word, faith will come. Hope will come. It will be easier for you to cast your cares on Him because you trust Him. Before you know it, you’ll feel that supernatural joy welling up in your heart and giving you strength! You’ll have an attitude that says, “I don’t know why I’m in this difficult situation; I don’t know what’s going to happen, I just have faith! I don’t why, but I just believe God’s going to get me out of this!” Other people will wonder why you have a smile on your face and a spring in your step, but you’ll know it’s because His joy is giving you the strength you need to push past the challenges and grab hold of the victory that God has in store for you!

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Written By Victoria Osteen

You Are Spoken For

Let that sink in. God is after you. He wants you. Yes, you the perfectionist, the shy one, the one who struggles with anxiety, who is ashamed of your past, who has messed up too many times to count. You, who loses his temper, the doubter, the lover of things, the one who does things in secret that you would never tell anyone about, the one who has had things done to you that has left you feeling helpless, hopeless and undesirable. HE WANTS YOU. ALL OF YOU. He sees you as you are- everything- past, present and future- and wants you. And not only does He want you, but He has given everything up to have you. Desire shown in action love. He is calling your name. He is holding His arms open to you, eyes on you, heart beating for you.

God’s way of pursuing us is by patiently drawing us to Himself. His love letter is laced together with beautiful, soul-stirring evidence that we humans are the object of his affection. He wants us to be his. You think that since you deserve to be punished for something you did that you know broke God’s heart, His response to you should be the same as what a human’s response would be – vengeance, shunning, disgust, anger. But that isn’t how He treats us. Never has been, never will be. The consequences are always there for our choices but God’s arms are always open as He waits for us to return to Him. James 4:8, promises us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.

As believers, we grow up hearing of how much the Lord loves us. We sing the songs at church, we read the verses. We know we are loved. And yet, how many of us actually believe it? Actually let it penetrate our lives, sink into our hearts and change us? How many of us live differently in light of that truth? But it’s one thing to be loved, and another to need that love; to put our hope, fulfillment and identity in their love. People will let us down. They can’t love us unconditionally as Jesus does because we’re imperfect people. We’re all learning what love looks like- and we can only fully know by looking at our Savior.

We have been called out of this world and its value system and invited in to God’s eternal kingdom. We belong to the One who made us, loves us, and knows what’s best for us. That’s why we will only be happy when we fix our hope and affections on his kingdom and all that is eternal. Many times being called involves a deliberate action on our part in which we step away from whatever is holding us back from knowing him more fully. He has called us out of darkness and into light (1 Peter 2:9).

My value is not based on what I do or offer, but it’s based on who He says I am. It’s based on the mere fact that I am an image bearer of Christ. I am His daughter, His bride, His chosen one. My value is based on Jesus. And I am priceless to Him. When we see that our value and worth come from Him alone, we are set free. No longer do we become devastated when things that we do aren’t perfect, or when we have seasons where we have to cut back and not do as much. We don’t have to earn anyone’s favor or approval. We don’t have to fear what others think of us, or try to prove ourselves. We are set free- set free to be who God created us to be. You are of great value. Worthy. Priceless. Whenever you doubt your worth, look to the cross, where Jesus died for you. What else shows you how much He treasures you!? He died for you, sacrificed His Son for you, gave up His life for you because you were worth it.

We aren’t of any great use to God. He can do whatever he wants; he doesn’t need us to be puppets, servants, or envoys to do his work for him. The only way anything happens for his kingdom is when he gives us the power and invites us to come alongside him and to be part of what he is already doing. God can use us, and he does all the time. But in and of ourselves we aren’t of any great use to God. However, we are of great value to him. Being of great value is different from being of great use.

Written By Robin Jones Gunn

Wall Of Life

As I begin my day this morning, I find myself reflecting on this quote by Christian D. Larson, letting the words soak into my soul. As I am tempted to see all the places I fall short, I remind myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. And neither am I. I am a work in progress. My prayer is that each day I am better than the last.

And as I read these words, something moves in me, and says, “Yes. This is how I want to live my life. This is how I want to write on the wall of life.”

 1. Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

2. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

3. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

4. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

5. To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best.

6. To be enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

7. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements of the future.

8. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

9. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

10. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, to strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Written By Christian D. Larson

Rest For Your Souls

You’re weary with the weight of the world. You look in the mirror and don’t love what you see. The loneliness in your heart threatens to break you. The feelings of singleness triple.

But in the back of your mind, in the pit of your heart, there is an echo – a still small voice. “My child – I am here. I give you that which only I can give, a peace that only I can instill. It is in My presence that your identity, your fulfillment is found. Rest in Me. Cast your burdens at the foot of the cross that I bore for you.”

We’re daughters, sisters, mothers, friends. We try to take on more than we can bear, but the beautiful thing is that we don’t have to carry them alone. Our problems, our secrets, our insecurities, our desires and longings.

Find the rest that you so deeply need in Scripture, in the written Word of God. Nothing comforts a weary soul quite like the gentle words of our King. He promises to bear the weight that we cannot, to meet us at the place we’re in, to walk beside us through our darkest valley’s.

To those struggling with the face looking back in the mirror, remember this: You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you (Song of Solomon 4:7). You are beautiful, so outrageously beautiful to our Savior.

To those on the verge of breaking, loneliness at your heels, hold fast to the promise that we will never walk alone; God has promised never to leave us, never to forsake us.

Seek Him for rest, and you will find peace that surpasses all understanding.

Written By Aysha Nicole

Yield To The Desires Of The Holy Spirit

But be holy in all you do, just as God, the One who called you, is holy. It is written in the Scriptures: "You must be holy, because I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15-16 NCV)

Holiness is one of the marks of a believer’s life. But we can never be holy by following rules because holiness begins on the inside of us. Oh, we could look holy and righteous on the outside all the while we could be full of jealousy, anger, and pride, etc. on the inside. Outward conformity can never accomplish God’s will because it doesn’t change the inner person’s thoughts and desires. The end result of following rules is hypocrisy because the inside of us doesn’t match the outside.

And Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day saying, "You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy -- full of greed and self-indulgence!... First wash the inside of the cup, and then the outside will become clean, too.” (Matthew 23:23-26 NLT) What Jesus was saying to those Pharisees is that the only way a person can become holy is by cleaning up the inside of the cup (i.e., a person’s desires and thought life) and not the other way around. And the only solution is to gain a new nature on the inside – a nature that desires to live godly and holy. I’m referring to new birth and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:6 (NLT) says, “If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.”

When you yield to the desires of the Holy Spirit rather than your fleshly desires you will experience the results of a transformed life!

Passover, Good Friday, and the First Blood Moon

I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all ….  I am the Lord.  The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.  No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt (Exodus 12:12-13).

Then Moses said…”Go…slaughter the Passover lamb.  Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe.  …When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down”  (Exodus 12:21-23).

…Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7).

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Joel 2:31).

What could Passover, Good Friday, and the first lunar eclipse of 2014 have in common? Think about it with me…

Passover begins at sundown tonight. It is a day set aside by God’s people to remember their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. Other than Creation and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, there has never been a more dramatic demonstration of God’s power than the event we refer to as The Exodus.

Passover remembers the time when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. When Pharaoh defied God’s command to let His people go, his mind had to be changed.  So God sent to Egypt a series of plagues one at a time, each giving Pharaoh opportunity to repent of his defiance: the water turned to blood, then frogs, gnats, and flies covered the land, followed by the death of the livestock, boils on men and animals, hail, locusts, and darkness. When Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and refused to let God’s people go, the final plague was sent. And it was the worst.

At midnight, God executed His final judgment on Egypt.  The angel of death went throughout the land and struck down all the firstborn.  From Pharaoh on his throne, to the prisoner in the dungeon, to the livestock in the barn, the firstborn died. The only ones saved from His judgment were those who placed the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their homes and remained inside. Israelite and Egyptian alike. As a result, Pharaoh repented of his resistance, and let God’s people go.

But Passover is not only a remembrance of the power of God to save His people from judgment and to set them free from bondage.  It is also a beautiful prophetic picture of another event that will be celebrated this week. 

Good Friday is a sacred, holy day that commemorates an event that took place 2000 years ago when Jesus Christ was not just crucified, but was sacrificed as God’s Lamb. On the actual day of  Passover. When you and I apply by faith the blood of Jesus shed on the Cross to our own hearts and lives, then the judgment of God for our sin passes over us, and we are not only saved from the penalty of sin, but saved from the power of sin.  We are set free from spiritual bondage.

On this year’s Passover day, in a unique way, God seems to be putting a sign of His blood on the doorposts of the heavens.  Because on this very day, the moon will turn to “blood” as it enters into a total lunar eclipse.  Could God be warning Planet Earth that judgment is coming, and giving us opportunity to repent before it does?  Could God be reminding you and me that the only salvation from His judgment is to take refuge under the blood of the Lamb?

I can’t answer those questions, but I do know one thing.  I want to make sure that I have been to the Cross, repented of my sin and rebellion against God, and claimed the blood of Jesus as my “covering.” I want to make sure I am safe--saved from God’s judgment whenever it does come, whether it comes this year on earth, or at death when I step into eternity and face a holy God.

This Good Friday, would you thank God for the Blood of Jesus by making sure you have applied it to the doorposts of your heart and life?

Written By Anne Graham Lotz

She Is Far Precious Than Rubies

Proverbs tells us that as precious as jewels may be, an excellent wife is worth even more. What could an excellent wife possess that makes her more precious than diamonds or rubies?

What are these indestructible jewels? What names do they go by? There are many, but a few are truth, holiness, knowledge, faith, obedience, hope, love, joy, humility, wisdom, prudence, fortitude, gentleness, patience, kindness, calmness, diligence (as in not lazy), discipline, and compassion. 

A good and godly woman is “more precious than jewels,” so we need to do some soul searching and find out where our character is lacking, what jewels are dulled due to neglect or are missing altogether. It is easy to end up feeling overwhelmed and discouraged.

A woman whose worth is far above precious jewels is a woman whose soul is dripping with the jewels of godliness. Pick one ornament and dedicate yourself to making it a part of your godly character.

So how do you train yourself in godly character traits?

1. Find it in Jesus

Your hope and confidence before God is Jesus’ holiness, not your own. You must first see that you lack the godliness God desires, and must see that Jesus’ righteousness is yours as a gift. Secondly, you must realize that your growth in godliness is also wholly dependent on Jesus. Your growth in these areas will not come about by mere will-power. You must look to Jesus and depend on him for all of this, working in the power he supplies.

2. Deal with them one at a time

Examine your life and see which jewel you would like to polish. Pick one at a time and then devote yourself to it by praying, studying and working hard and praying.

3. Pray about it – a lot

Did I mention that you should pray? Pray that God would send you encouragement. Pray that he would change you as you work on developing these Christ like ornaments for your soul. Pray for perseverance and wisdom.

4. Read all about you can about it

Read every Bible verse you can find, brainstorm with friends or look online for practical ideas. Find books that cover that particular character trait and read. When we read a book it is like having someone come alongside you to help, to teach, to encourage, convict and train. We can have the voice of someone long dead help us grow in our walk with Jesus. That is exciting and great grace.

5. Practice, Practice and Practice

We have all seen little babies learn to walk. It is not easy for them. They wobble, trip and fall but over time and with much practise, walking becomes second nature. When we start working on some of the character qualities described in Proverbs 31 it may seem awkward, slow and frustrating but don’t give up. Maybe you are going to work on getting up early, being more patient, speaking kindly or being more organized.  The more you put into practice the more second nature they will become. Don’t let a bad day (or even a bad week) get you down.

Written By Jen Thorn