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Praise Him

March 15, 2013

Prayerwalking is a date, an appointment with my Personal Trainer for becoming a woman of discipline, strength, and prayer. He meets me as I’m stepping out the door. He accepts my praise and thanks and lets me worship him in silent, reverential awe. In the allegorical Song of Songs the beloved says of her lover, “How right they are to adore you!” (1:4). In adoration I come closest to experiencing heaven here on earth. It is perhaps preparation for my heavenly life, when I will fall down and worship him forever. Saint Augustine said, “Those who look for the Lord will cry out in praise of him, because all who look for him shall find him, and when they find him they will praise him.” These prayers of adoration allow us to find our complete satisfaction in God alone—his love, [ … ]

Spiritual Maturity

March 14, 2013

The closer your walk with God, the keener will be your receptivity to His Word. If you ignored the last three things God told you to do, why would He give you an exciting, deeper revelation? Instead, He’ll keep bringing you back to the last thing He said until you’re finally ready to respond.

Excerpted from Unlimiting God by Richard Blackaby

Daily Reflection: What is God telling you to do that you have been ignoring?

God’s Gifts

March 13, 2013

Two months earlier I’d broken up with Bob Gresh. Even so, I was driving his white Toyota Supra to run an errand. Although I could have borrowed a car from any number of other students on campus, I’d asked Bob because I was still manipulating my interactions with him, trying to find ways to stay connected to the very guy I’d walked away from.

“God, what’s wrong with me?” I muttered under my breath. My eyes caught the cool blue moon illuminating the freshly cut cornfield. I pulled the car over to the side of the road to think.

I laid my head back against the soft, maroon headrest and turned the car off. I quieted my mind to pray…but it stayed focused on the boy. His sports car. Our friendship. Treasured conversations. Memories of our dates.

I’d thought he [ … ]

Confidence in God

March 12, 2013

So, in order to start living a more significant life, assess where you are right now, where you want to be, and the confidence you need to get there. Real change is possible in our lives if we’re willing to move beyond our past mistakes and work through any present disappointments. We must also let go of our own limited expectations about the way God works in our lives and allow ourselves to be surprised by him. After all, if we’re focused on his presence in our lives and intent on pursuing our relationships with him in the midst of community, then who we were meant to be will emerge more clearly every day.

It’s never too late to change and begin experiencing the fullness of a life filled with joy and peace, a life built on the bedrock [ … ]

Financial Woes

March 11, 2013

Money was one of Jesus’s most frequent subjects. He challenged people to focus on God rather than their pocketbook. How can we worry about money when the Creator of all good things has promised to care for us?

Stock markets go up and down. People get hired and fired. Nest eggs sometimes get stolen by swindlers. That’s why Jesus told us to deposit our treasure—and our hearts—in heaven. No matter how iffy the economy, God is a sure thing. We can always count on his promises .

Excerpted from 99 Bible Promises for Tough Times by Randy Petersen

Daily Reflection: How can you remind yourself of God’s stability during financial woes?

Guarantee of Provision

March 8, 2013

I WILL WITHHOLD NO GOOD THING

I assure you that I will always be your protector and your provider. I’ll shine My light in front of you so you’ll know which way to go, and I’ll shower you with grace so you can stay on the right path. Walk with Me, and I promise I’ll never keep good things from your life.
FROM PSALM 8 4:11

WARRANTY NOTES: If something is good for you, God wants to give it to you.

Excerpted from God’s Little Book of Guarantees by Heather Kopp

Daily Reflection: How has God’s light guided you during your walk with Him?

Seeing with His Eyes

March 7, 2013

“Because of one man’s gift of encouragement, two men who might have been left behind, Paul and John Mark, were given the gift of a second chance. We are called to do the same. To believe the best about people rather than the worst. Despite their reputations, despite their questionable past performances. To look at people through the eyes of God and see what He sees.

Assets, not liabilities.

Beloved children in need of grace.”

Excerpted from At the Feet of Jesus by Joanna Weaver

Daily Reflection: Take a moment and reevaluate some recent assumptions. How can you treat other as God would, starting today?

The Virtue of Hospitality

March 5, 2013

“… a dear friend…went home to be with the Lord recently.   

Dottie Wicker’s  “glass door welcomed any visitor with time for a chat.  Toys lined the floor for the broods that accompanied young moms willing to stop by and receive a dash of sunshine in her living room.  Dottie had a lovely set of silver containers on the front table in her modest dining room.  What would an eighty- year-old woman hide in those treasured keepsakes?  Hershey’s Kisses—a promised treat for any little visitor (and sometimes their mothers).  She expected visiting children to follow just two rules at her house:  stay out of the formal living room and collect their Kisses on the way out.  She wanted them close to her on their visits, not rummaging through the candy jar. 

I hope to grow old as gracefully as [ … ]

Setting Fire to Your Old Life

March 4, 2013

“When we consider following God in a way that would disrupt our lives, we usually try to prequalify our obedience before taking the first step.  But the thing is, whether you’ll see God do greater things in your life doesn’t depend on having the equipment you’ll need for the journey ahead.  You can’t get too worried about whether you’ve read the right books or been to the right school or have the right connections.  Right now, the only equipment you need is a flamethrower (or if that sounds too dramatic, a box of matches). 

That’s because you can’t step into your new life until you first set fire to whatever is tethering you to your old life.  Before you can go forward into the life God has for you, you have to offer Him every part of the life [ … ]

Holy Fire

March 1, 2013

In ancient cultures, the most important thing a household did was to never let the fire go cold. In rural Korean cultures the same ancestral fire burned for centuries, and when they moved they took the fire of their forefathers with them. When your fire went out, it was thought, you lost your connection with heaven. Would that Christians were as careful about tending spiritual fire as these ancients were about natural fire. We are to nourish the spiritual fire, and we do that by prayer, obedience, mission, devotion, and study.

Holy fire is warming. In the words of the nineteenth-century New England poet Lucy Larcom: “If the world seems cold to you, / Kindle fires to warm it.” How many fires will you kindle today with the flint of faith?

Excerpted from Viral by Leonard Sweet

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