Submitting to God is the first part of this recipe for success. What does that look like in your life? It’s about putting God’s plans, purposes, desires, and instructions above your own - your personal plans, purposes, desires and habits are subordinate to His = SUB mission. When you do this, you operate under His power and protection - that’s why the devil will flee when you resist him. If you want to be free, then begin with God. #freedom #submittogod #resistthedevil #disci

Our anger is not a fruit of the Spirit. Yes, we all have to deal with it, but we don’t have the right to make anyone else deal with it. Even when someone’s actions raise an angry reaction in us, we don’t have the right to blame them for our reactions. We have the command to forgive them - to extend grace to them. It’s really that simple. Our job is to love and forgive - God does all the judgment. #dontjudge #loveoneanother #forgive #shalom #yourjourneytobeingwhole #dailydevot

Some versions of the Bible use the word “abide” instead of remain, and both are important. It’s about holding on when the going gets tough, or staying with Him when life is tedious or boring. Jesus tells us to do this right after He said that He is the vine and we are the branches - so it’s also about seasons: barren winters, awakening springs, productive summers, and harvesting autumns. Think about the seasons of your life and how they fit in to this metaphor - did you remai

This is our faith. When we don’t understand, When we feel lost and alone, When we don’t know what to do next, When we don’t know which path to choose, When all seems lost, God will make a way! He has always been, is now and always will be FAITHFUL. He is always with us and will never leave or grow weary. Put your faith in the One who saved you and loves you completely - let the Lord heal your broken places and lead you on the way! #yourjourneytobeingwhole #shalom #dailydevoti

I’ve been meditating on God’s faithfulness this week and remembering What my pastor taught last week about justice and mercy. God requires us to act justly (be fair and honest), love mercy (be kind and compassionate and love doing it), and walk humbly with our God (to reflect God’s character in how we act). But in God’s economy, His system, mercy wins. We tend to think of the Lord as mean and we tend to seek justice when ever we are wronged. But God doesn’t do justice against

Our God is faithful. Sooooo faithful!! He never gets tired of helping us, listening to us, blessing us, walking with us, Protecting us, Providing for us, Fighting for us, And loving us unconditionally. This is the kind of faithfulness that we aren’t capable of - no matter how hard we try, our humanity limits us. But God has no such limits! Why do we limit Him with our thoughts then? Try to walk more closely with Him, Listen more closely to Him, Praise Him, Love Him and share

I get so much comfort from this simple verse. I have walked some long stretches of my life alone, but not really. There were many years when I felt so so lonely for companionship that I ached. But the Lord was with me and helped me to walk in companionship with Him. It took some time for me to “feel” like I wasn’t alone, but then I never was again! I didn’t just read about God being my perfect Father or my friend, or believe it in theory, it was and is my reality. Now, I’m bl

Take some time to think about this - it’s true because the opposite of love is selfishness, not hate. But if you go deeper into dying to self, it’s all about our redemption. I read this passage in The Message and it sheds more light on Galatians 2: “I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with h

How many times have you experience damaged or lost relationships because of pride? It’s tragic when someone (maybe even you?) chooses their fragile ego over a precious relationship. There is no place for it in the church, yet it’s still there, lurking in the shadows. Im not talking about working hard to accomplish something and being proud of yourself for persevering - as long as you acknowledge your need for God, I don’t think that’s sinful. But believing that you’re right a

Keeping our heart is an important part of our walk with Christ. It’s really easy to let little bits of unforgiveness, pride and envy to clutter up the corners. If you don’t do something about it, it grows and darkens up the light that you shine. The way you speak and interact with others won’t reflect your faith and love of Christ. Instead, you’ll do more to discourage and demoralize others, because: “Out of the abundance of the heart speaks.” Matthew 12:34 You must do the wo

What a great visual! Can you imagine what it would be like if you went through a day and kindness was coming from you everywhere you went and with everyone you encountered- both directly and indirectly? This is a challenge we should all take on! #justdoit #BEkind #theywillknowusbyourlove #shalom #yourjourneytobeingwhole #dailydevotional

How many times have you identified yourself by what you do for a living, what you have or have accomplished… or have failed to accomplish ? Do these things matter? Yes, but they don’t identify you! Have others labeled you? Made you feel “less than” or not good enough? Or, perhaps they’ve put you on a pedestal and made you feel like you’re better than they are. If this is how you see yourself, you’re missing the truth. You are who God says you are, not other people - even you

People are always watching and evaluating others. Even if we don’t do it consciously, we all do it - especially to Christians! We want to see how they handle the adversity of life - what we do when the going gets tough. Do they see you react in fear and lash out or do they see you respond with patience and grace. They are attracted to God by the way they see you act, not by any of the things you say. When they witness the peace of God that surpasses all understanding it kind

Pastor David @stockpics said this yesterday and it really got me to thinking… He mentioned a few examples - like when the Israelites were stuck with the Red Sea in front of them and Pharaoh behind them, and God said “Stand still!” But I kept thinking of the activity of waiting on the Lord. I’m usually the “active” waiter - I keep myself busy with all kinds of tasks (productive and nonproductive) while I’m waiting. I want to be ready when the time comes for whatever I’m waitin

Dad’s have an amazing amount of power and responsibility. Understanding that we all also have a Heavenly Father who feels that same weight is important. It means we all can lean on Him when we need help or strength - whether we’re a dad or mom, or not - and that He will help us because He always wants what is best for us. And just like our kids, we don’t always know what is best for us - but God does. Do you rebel? Do you question His wisdom just like any other kid? Of course

Most people are familiar with this passage from 1st Corinthians, even nonbelievers. Another thing that most people believe is that the opposite of love is hate. I think that the opposite of live is really selfishness. Love is all about someone else - being patient, kind, humble and honoring towards them. Love is a powerful force that has the other person’s back and never gives up. In fact, Jesus said that nonbelievers would judge Christians by the way they lived others… #love

I have a few rules that I’ve learned not from the Bible and the hard way. This is one of them: Never make a decision based on fear. I have been walking by faith and not fear for a very long time. Many people say I’m courageous- and sometimes I am, by the grace of God. But I didn’t understand how deeply rooted some of my fears were until I learned this one the hard way - more than once. The consequences were very difficult, even traumatic, but the lesson has been learned. Now

Faith and trust in God is always harder when you don’t see how or why something could possibly be used for good or to actually be for the best. We don’t see the end from the beginning- but God does. We don’t see how all the dominoes will fall in the years to come because of this one thing, but God does. When you pray and ask for His help and His blessing, it might not always look the way you think it should - in fact, it almost never does. But He loves you more than you love

We learn that we are perfected in our weaknesses - that God isn’t just present in them, but that He is working in them. He says “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9 We also learn about the power of our testimonies to help others. If they don’t see our humanity, our weaknesses and vulnerability, then they might not feel like Jesus can love and save them too. When they see His strength in our weaknesses and His healing in our stories, then the

My very favorite worship song is a modern hymn, They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love. It’s been my favorite since I could read and I have had it memorized since the second grade. I knew then, as I know now, that my life would be dedicated to helping the Church understand this message. “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my discip