Prison Break: PSA  

Tuesday

Penal
Substitutionary
Atonement

........there was a penalty to be paid for my sin
........Jesus took my place on the cross
........Jesus reconciled me.

What for?

our sins, our infirmities (Isaiah 53:4)
peace, healing (Isaiah 53:5)
intercession (Isaiah 53:12)
sins, justification (Romans 4:25)
love (Romans 5:8)
bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18)
sins of the world (1 John 2:2)
redemption (Galatians 3:13)

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Prison Break: Commitment  

Wednesday

Lives full of Commitment and yet we are not really committed to anything. Sometimes life becomes the list of responsibilities and has no clear purpose. Do you ever find yourself living in the line between a life that serves God and a life that longs to be accepted by everyone around you?


I do. It is hard to stick to the identity I want. I want to be a follower of Christ and yet I have all this stuff I hold onto.


Luke 9: 57-62 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." And He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God." Another also said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home." But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (emphasis mine)


How do we do it? How do we make the commitment? How do we stop hitting the easy button and fall back on our old patterns? How do I make the first thing on my mind the Kingdom of God?

Today, when I ask myself who I am, I am going to answer and say a Christian.
Today, when I ask myself what I am going to do, I am going to answer Serve God.
Today, when I ask myself how am I going to live, I am going to say Following Christ.

and

Tomorrow, when I ask myself who I am, I am going to answer and say a Christian.
Tomorrow, when I ask myself what I am going to do, I am going to answer Serve God.
Tomorrow, when I ask myself how am I going to live, I am going to say Following Christ.

Hopefully with a little accountability from the Body and lots of prayer, my patterns with change and I will stop living in the in between and I will choose to commit to who I truly am in Christ.

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Awakening: Confidence  

Saturday

"Your failure doesn't define you."


People that inspire me are the ones that step out in faith not knowing the outcome. They are contagious people. The ones you want to be around in hopes that some of their genius will inadvertently fall on you. Maybe if you rub shoulders or give a side hug their energy will actually be absorbed. After having coffee with them I go and do something I haven't had the courage to do in months. These people are defined by their faith.


I have a friend who loves Africa. She is leaving for Kenya in 8 weeks and is taking her entire family. She started making plans to go the minute she had stepped off the plane from her trip to Uganda. She didn't know the details, she just knows she needs to be serving in Africa. God has pulled her entire trip together. I know Kenya will change her life and her boys and her husband. I admire her journey. I admire her faith to stick through the struggles of the last two years. I admire her focus. And, I admire her days of unbelief when she calls for prayer and support.


I will hold each moment of her journey that she shared with me. Not because the journey was perfect but because she believed that God would answer the desires of her heart. Janell will always be defined by her faith. Not by the trips she takes or doesn't take. But simply because she trusts in the One to fulfill His promises to her.


I challenge you to find someone that lives a life confident not on their own strength but in the power of God. They are contagious and if you are ready, it will change your life too.


Hebrews10:35-39 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the
will of God, you may receive what was promised.
FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE,
HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.
BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH;
AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.
But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

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Awakening: Believe  

Friday

Do you know what hope means? I'm not talking about the wishing or good luck type of hope we throw around. I mean real Hope. Hope is an expectancy or longing. It is also the person/thing you center your expectations on. Hope is God, hope is faith in God, expecting God to answer.


Sometimes it can be hard to hang on to hope. It is all too easy to see the "what if". It is easier to have a back up plan just in case the expecations aren't met.


Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.


I don't know why it is so hard to trust. I don't know how to believe any more then I do at this moment and yet when I look back to yesterday, I have more faith today. I often hang on to the idea that God knows I will have times that I doubt and times I don't believe or trust or expect in Him the things that I should. I am a work in progress.


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Awakening: Adapt  

Thursday


It has recently come to my attention that I live a very safe life. Truth be told, I have done everything I could think of to create a safe life. The suburban house wife, the mini van and the all important, if not physical, symbolic picket fence.

I didn't have a lot of safety as a child. As an adult most of the decisions I have made have been to make my life "better" then what I had. Sometimes I treat my Christianity as a stepping stone for the "better" life. Isn't that what it is? A place for good morals, happy children and good marriages.

What I didn't realize is that my picket fence isn't keeping out all of the bad. Instead it has kept me in a very safe "better" life than what I had. It isn't the "best" life that God has called me to live. How does my picket fence life show the power of my God?

God has been calling me to change. Change radically. To fall in love with Him dramatically. To respond with a faith that trusts Him with my life. I love my life. I love my husband, my kids, my home and all the treasure I have stored up in it. There isn't anything wrong with safety and security. I am scared of every step that calls me out of my safe place. Stronger than the fear, I have a desire to know what is outside this fence of mine. I am curious to see what God has beyond this "better" life of mine. I want to grasp the thing called "Christianity" that brings me first to my knees and second into following His plan.

How are you responding when God calls you to change?

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