1 Peter 1:3-4 NLT, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.”
Praise God for the living hope we have through our risen Savior, Jesus Christ! I pray the power of His resurrection would give you strength to live each day and that your heart would be filled with abundant joy and great expectation.
Luke 6:27-28 NIV, “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
I think most people can agree that showing love to difficult people is one of the hardest things to do. But nevertheless, God commands us to do good to, bless, and pray for those who have hurt us.
God doesn’t always remove difficult people, sometimes He allows us to walk through the difficult circumstances and learn to trust Him as we grow in love. He never promised us that sharing His love and light would be easy, but He did promise to counsel us, direct us, protect us and love us. So with God on our side, we will be victorious.
As you read these verses in Luke, someone in particular probably came to your mind. These verses have given us a reminder to say a prayer for whoever has mistreated us and trust God to work things out as we obey His commands.
Never under estimate the power of God’s love or the ways He is working to bring about good in your life or needed changes in the lives of others through your prayers. Remember, His plans are best, even when we can’t yet see the end result, so continue to trust God.
2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
Have you ever noticed that God’s idea of growth in your walk with him, is often different from what you expected? He has ways of stretching us that we most likely would not choose for ourselves. As we are changed into His image, there will be days where we feel closer to Him than others. We may battle doubt or wonder why God has allowed certain things into our lives.
The upward path in Christ Jesus will not be without challenge but it will also not be without His grace. His grace will be sufficient for our daily needs; in weakness, His strength and power are made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Photo by: Lukas Hartmann of Germany 🇩🇪
God understands our situations and the difficulties we face as we learn to trust Him. He forgives us when we stumble and is always willing to bring comfort to our souls. In His love, He applies the right amount of discipline we may need to get back on track (Hebrews 12:6). And He perfectly balances everything with patience and kindness.
God’s upward path leads us to spiritual maturity. It helps us to grow in love, character, courage and wisdom. When we choose to surrender to God’s way, we reflect His glory.
Maybe today you have been met with obstacles you did not foresee. Maybe God’s upward path has brought some unexpected circumstances your way.
Hold on to the hope we have in Jesus Christ…
Psalm 25:3, “No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame…”
As you continue to faithfully obey God, you are reflecting the glory of God, and changing into His glorious image. Take time out to remember His past faithfulness, and stay anchored in His enduring love.
May God’s joy fill your heart and His peace guide you, as you continue to pursue His best for your life.
Psalm 27:1 NLT, “The LORD is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?”
Life gets scary at times. It is quite simple to succumb to fear, and quite simple to find reasons to justify that fear. Personally, I feel like I have more reasons than I care to admit to be fearful. But I am thankful for this verse. It brings us comfort, but it is also a challenge, calling us to recognize the safety that we have in the Lord. Regardless of what life throws our way, we do not have to be afraid. The Lord is watching over us and He will protect us.
Fear often comes because of the unknowns that we face. We have many responsibilities and concerns. And there is actually little that we can control, compared to the things we cannot control. But in our humanness, we tend to feel better when we believe we are in control, at least until we find out otherwise.
We cannot always control circumstances, and we definitely cannot control other people, but fear has a way of showing up, provoking us to wear ourselves out trying to find a solution to every problem.
However, God in His love and faithfulness invites us to choose to trust Him instead of our own abilities. He wants us to ask Him to give us our daily bread (Luke 11:3). That means we should rely on Him to give us exactly what we need each day. Fear wants us to doubt God’s goodness and His ability to provide for us. But God wants us to find rest in Him and enjoy the green pastures He has prepared for us (Psalm 23:1-2).
Photo by: Pixabay
Lately, our world is in a state of unrest and things seem unsettling (a reason to fear). But whatever it is you are in need of, remember God’s invitation to trust Him to supply your every need (Philippians 4:19). Don’t allow fear to steal the security that you have in Jesus. May we be willing to lie down in the green pastures He has prepared for us and find strength in the joy He gives us.
Receive love, courage, joy and hope from our Lord Jesus Christ today. He is with you and will help you, so do not fear.
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
These verses always cause me to not only make sure that I am carrying everything to God in prayer, but to also make sure that I am praying with the right motives. When I am intentional about my asking, I am astounded by the peace God gives me and the answers He brings my way.
Asking puts things into perspective by reminding us that God is in control, cares about our needs and desires to walk with us through our daily lives. There have been times when God’s answers were different from what I prayed for, but I discovered that His way was best. He often chooses a path for us that excludes the quick fixes we sometimes hope for. His path usually involves slower changes that lead to spiritual maturity and deeper intimacy with Him.
It can be tempting to only want what is easiest but trusting God means surrendering to His plan and understanding that through His love and wisdom, we will receive the right answers with the best outcomes.
Happy New Year! I can not believe the holidays have come and gone so quickly and that we are already a little over two weeks into 2025. That shows us how quickly time passes by.
For the last couple of years, I have been taking Bridget’s advice to pray about a word or phrase for the year. In 2023, my phrase was, “live free.” In 2024, my word was, “persevere.” In my experience over the last couple of years, having a word or phrase has helped me to focus more on some of the lessons that the Lord wants to teach me. The interesting thing is that while I may receive a new word or phrase at the start of a new year, the prior words or phrases remain relevant. So, I can keep learning and growing from them.
Throughout 2024, I found myself persevering through many things and it strengthened my faith. Sometimes I felt weary, but remembering God’s word to me to “persevere,” gave me strength to keep going.
Around September 2024, I started praying about my word for 2025. Shortly after, the Lord started teaching me about the importance of receiving His peace. I realized that, although as Christians, we speak of God’s peace often, we must open our hearts and be willing to receive it, just like salvation. God offers it, but we must receive it.
“You cannot reach as far if your hands are closed. You cannot receive if your hands are closed. That is why God calls us to live with open hands.” -Doug Scalise
Then in the following weeks, I received encouragement from the Holy Spirit to receive God’s comfort, rest, and courage. Shortly afterwards, while walking up the stairs to the third floor at work one morning en route to my office, I received clarity that my word for 2025, is “receive.”
I am looking forward to learning to receive from God in this new year. The Bible tells us that giving is connected to receiving. Giving is not always simple, depending on what God asks us to give. So, receiving His strength and courage to give what He requires is important.
I pray that your 2025, will be insightful and that you would receive and experience the love of Jesus each day. May we all be willing to give what God requires of us in this new year so that we may grow in our relationship with Him and receive His bountiful blessings.
Thank you for your continued support of my blog in this new year. I am thankful for you. ❤️🙏🏿
Hebrews 10:36 NIV, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”
Drawing Closer to Christ 