He is Holy

Reflect upon His faithfulness, be in reverence of His greatness, remember you are standing on holy ground.

Integrity

Integrity.  I wouldn't say I've always been a subject matter expert on this topic!  A work in progress, I am.  What I've leaned (mostly the hard way) is that integrity must be fought for daily.  Character must be guarded and protected.  It's a choice.  A choice to learn with diligence the truth of God's word for it is the instruction manual.  A choice to be guided by the Spirit.  A choice to humbly love myself and others with grace and forgiveness.  Daily choosing to live a life worthy of my calling.

Beyond Mediocrity

...whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these... John 14:12 NIV

Sometimes I read this verse and see a huge divide between what Jesus says my potential is, compared to the life I am currently living.  How about you?  I know for myself I can tend to discount my effectiveness due to my own insecurities and failures. But God is not deterred by our weaknesses.  It's only through our weaknesses that Christ's power can be made perfect.

What if we just started to live our lives believing what Jesus said about living a greater life beyond the ordinary.  In 1 Kings 19:15-21,  Elisha's ordinary life was was interrupted and the course of his whole life changed. Even now, God is always working behind the scenes, orchestrating little interruptions, waiting on us to accept his invitation to a life beyond mediocrity into something greater.  Small steps at a time.

Act

We will not be blessed by the Word of God if we won't put it into action.  If we don't have the intention to act upon the truth of His word, let us not expect payment of His promises.  #faithisaction

RIP

"RIP" to your old self
●Relationship ~ Know God, not just about God.
●Identity ~ Believe you are who God says you are.
●Progress ~ Go forward with confidence in what God has tasked you to do. 
2 Corinthians 5:17-21

From Grace to Power

Many of us know Romans 8:1, "There is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus."  I can't tell you how thankful I am for this promise.  But, if we keep reading on to verse 2 (shown in the picture), we go beyond grace and tap into His power.  As we walk daily with Jesus, we have the WEALTH of the LIFE-GIVING PRESENCE, and the ABUNDANCE of LIFE-CHANGING POWER!

Remember how Pastor Derick said those words a few weeks ago?..I can still hear the way he said it.... With, hope, purpose and strength behind each word:  Go!  Now!  Leave your life of sin! 

Because you belong to Jesus you absolutely have the Presence who gives you the power to overcome.  ♡

Reacting vrs. Responding

Recently I allowed a comment made by someone affect me to the point it changed my experience for the rest of the day.  Sometimes it is so hard to not let things like this dictate our mood and state of being.  The sobering truth is--the offending party is most likely oblivious to the fact they hurt me, and are going about their day...meanwhile I am allowing the offender to affect my joy, and influence how I treat others.  This is reacting.  Reacting implies no control; emotions take over and as a result we gossip, can't focus, make hasty decisions, etc.

Instead, I would rather respond.  Responding implies choice and with Godly choices, freedom takes over.  Choose to believe my worth in Christ = freedom.  Choose to take negative words and thoughts captive and discarding what is not the truth = freedom.  You get the idea :)

How Do You Think?

This week, I keep being drawn back to these words from Isaiah.  "Don't think like everyone else."  It's the beginning of a great passage that encourages us to make the Lord of Heaven's Army, holy in our life...to be in reverence and awe of Him and as we do, he will be our sanctuary!  Don't think like everyone else!   Wait on Him and trust in Him, he is a hiding place.  {Isaiah 8:11-17}

Girls, You are Life

Girlfriends:  It's a lie to think you're not good enough.  It's a lie to think you don't matter.    You are more than enough.  You are the most important being on earth.  God created you especially because there was no other living thing on earth that could handle the job of a woman.  And He said this is not good.  So he got to work and gave you life.  You have a specific job that no one else can do that is ordained by the Creator!  You are life!  Be life to those around you!

God Is My Strength

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Gods power and strength can not be reconciled or explained by our human understanding.  It is a guarantee that our bodies and minds will fail, which is why, I think, we become so overwhelmed when trying to do everything by our own strenth.  So... I strive to do life by his strength, not my own.

King's Daughter

Girlfriends:   God says... You are amazing and capable of great things.  You are beautiful today, just the way you are, no matter what size the label says.  You are strong and can endure what ever comes your way.  You matter to so many, to more than you may ever know.  You are always more than enough.  You have everything you need to be who God has called you to be.  Those voices inside your mind that contradict the above, are LIES from satan himself.  Remind that loser that he is in fact, a loser.   Go on about your day smiling and standing tall like the daughter of a king.

Step by Step

You go step by step,
He'll show step by step.
We must trust in the Lord even when we don't have all the details of the journey.  The details of the journey are less important to God than our faithful obedience and trust in him day by day.  God wants us to include him every day in every way, because he loves us and desires a relationship with us.  If we knew all the details to what he has in store for us, then we wouldn't  need him and the relationship would be lost, and we would miss out on the blessing of his presence in our life.

You go step by step,
He'll show step by step.