Abide In His Love

TODAY’S VERSE

“As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you: abide in my love.”
John 15:9 (DARBY)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
Where do you abide? According to Merriam-Webster, “abide” means, to continue in a place, to sojourn. In this situation, Jesus is referring to continuing in a certain state of mind. This gives us a lot of choices. It is not uncommon to find ourselves in a negative situation like fear, anger, disgust, bitterness or doubt but we don’t have to stay there. If that is where we want to abide, that is our choice. Instead, Jesus is advocating His love as a place for us to abide. He points to the love that His Heavenly Father has for Him and says that is like the love He has for us. He suggests that we abide in this kind of love. What a picture. You can see the love that God the Father has for His son. You can feel the love bonds. And as you read about Jesus, you can sense that Jesus has the same kind of love for us. Is there a better place to abide? Is there a better place to call home than the loving arms of Jesus? Today, find your rest in Him. Find that peace that passes all understanding. Abide in Jesus and the incredible love He has for you.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for Your love. Thank You that I can abide in that love, experiencing all the peace, joy, and faith that comes with it. Help me abide there today.
AMEN

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God’s Grace

TODAY’S VERSE
“Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?” Galatians 3:5 (The Message)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
How is it we come humbly to Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and then later think that we have to earn His favor? Paul reminds us that Christ has lavishly provided us with His own presence and works things out in our lives that we could never do by ourselves. And He does it because He wants to! We live under the grace of God. We live because He has given us everything we need for the Godliness He requires. God has already changed us into His likeness. His Holy Spirit has given us His Spiritual DNA. All we have to do is grow in Him. Today, accept the fact that when you received Christ as your Savior, He became alive in your heart and there is nothing else you have to do to make that a reality. It already is. All you need to do now is to love and trust Him. Accept His deep, deep love for you and completely trust the fact that you are His child and He is pleased with you.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for the reality of Your love. Thank You that I can live in the full knowledge that there isn’t anything I need to do or could do to get You to love me any more than You do right now. Help me live each day with the realization of Your grace alive in my heart. I pray this in Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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Confess

TODAY’S VERSE
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
Proverbs 28:13 (NIV)

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
James 5:16 (NIV)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
Confession is good for the soul. If done right, it is a tremendous spiritual discipline. As a counselor and Pastor I have heard many “confessions” in the form of remorse, sadness, guilt and fear. As a person struggling with my own “sinful” nature I have had the blessing of sharing with others, those “sins that so easily beset me.” There is something about cleansing our heart that gives life. Of course sharing our sins with Jesus Himself is first and foremost. In I John 1:9 John shares, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus listens with a never ending love and forgives with His matchless grace. And yet, even with His forgiveness in our hearts, there can be that false suspicion that if people knew the truth about us, they would reject us. So instead of admitting any shortcomings we put on a mask of “Christian perfection” so everyone knows that we have reached the mark and are Grade “A”, quality number one! But who put that kind of false standard on us? God? No. This false standard is manmade and evil. We need to be transparent with each other. We need to admit to those who we trust and are mature in the Lord, our struggles, shortcomings and outright sins, so we can receive prayer, understanding and wisdom. This is what it means to bear each others burdens. Today, let go of those “sins” that are eating away at your soul. Find someone you can share it with. Ask for prayer and help. Confess to Christ and Christ will forgive you. Confess to a trusted friend and they will lovingly embrace you and restore you to joyful living.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, You know my sins. I confess them to You. Yet You know my struggles, my fears, the masks that I have put on. Help me confess my struggles to my Christian friends that I might put down this heavy burden of pretence and live in the freedom of forgiveness and fellowship. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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Today

TODAY’S VERSE
“Give us today our daily bread. – Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:11, 34 (NIV)

“This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalms 118:24 (NLT)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
Have you ever noticed how much time we spend on tomorrow? You know, worries, fears, apprehensions; so we plan, connive and obsess  about things that may never happen at all. It is amazing, though, how much God emphasizes that we should live for today. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus told us to thank God for our “daily” bread. He also said not to worry about tomorrow but to put our focus on today. It was that way with God’s children in the wilderness. God gave them enough food for one day at a time. He told His people, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.” God provided what they needed for that day, and then they would have to trust Him for the next. That is how He wants us to be. Now there isn’t anything wrong with planning. Jesus, Himself shared about the value of planning before you build a house or go to war. Planning can be a virtue, but Jesus insisted that with all our planning about tomorrow, we include the caveat, “If it be the Lord’s will.” Why? Because God wants us to trust Him! He wants us to experience Him and all His love for us, each and every day. We can only do that if we live each day focusing on God and His will for us. Today, live as if this is the “day that the Lord has made”. He has, you know. He has made this day just for you, so rejoice and be glad in it!

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for this day. I pray that I may live it to it’s fullness. Help me discern your will and to be obedient to do it. I pray this in Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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Forgiveness

TODAY’S VERSE
“But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”
Mark 11:25 (NLT)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
Forgiveness can be difficult. It is so hard to forgive some of the offences against us. But we must remember that forgiveness is a very important part of our spirituality. We go to church, we pray, we read the scriptures. This is all good, but Jesus is making it clear, the true test for real Christianity is to forgive others. That is because all of Christianity is built on forgiveness. Where would we be without the forgiveness of Christ? In “Steps To Freedom In Christ”, Neil Anderson shares the following six important elements to forgiveness. 1. Forgiveness is not forgetting rather forgetting is a long-term by-product of forgiveness. 2. Forgiveness is a choice, a decision of the will. We can’t wait until we feel like forgiving or roots of bitterness could begin to fester in our heart. 3. Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person’s sin. Do we have a choice? The only thing we can choose is whether we will live with the consequences in the freedom of forgiveness or the bondage of bitterness. 4. We forgive from our heart. It is not a head exercise. It is a painful awareness of what we are forgiving and an emotional choice to forgive the way Christ forgives. 5. Forgiveness is choosing not to hold someone’s sin against him or her anymore. This is really hard. We want to hold on to bitterness and anger, but that is not forgiveness. We must give the situation back to God and let go. Let God deal with those who have hurt us. 6. Finally, do not wait until you feel like forgiving. If you do, you will never get there. Make a hard choice to forgive, even when you don’t feel like it. Today, let go of the unforgiveness that is eating you up inside. Choose to follow God and let Him help you forgive.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You know the pain I harbor in my heart. Forgiveness seems so far from my grasp, yet I know that You have commanded me to forgive. Help me to forgive those who have offended me like You have so graciously forgiven me. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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All About Grace

TODAY’S VERSE
“We know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
Galatians 2:16 (NLT)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
What happens? When we first become a Christian, we revel in His forgiveness. We knew that it was only His grace that could ever clean and forgive us from our past sins. And yet as time goes by we get sucked into believing we somehow “earned” His forgiveness. We live as if God’s love was conditional and we were good enough to earn it. And so we begin to play a game of hiding our sins, pretending to be “perfect” instead of perfectly forgiven. The authors in the book “TrueFaced” write, “As we try to hide the sins we can’t control, we are unwittingly inviting blame, shame, denial, fear and anger to become our constant companions. A theology of more right, less wrong behavior creates an environment that gives people permission to wear dozens of disguises and masks. It triggers and complicates the chain reaction of unresolved sin, causing us to lose hope.” This leads to us trying to “please” God and others by trying to be something we aren’t. We play a role of “perfect pleasing Christian” instead of being grateful and trusting God for our full forgiveness. It is our trust in His sacrifice and forgiveness that pleases God, not some sanctimonious pretence of being righteous. It is our trust in what God means when He says that we are a “new creature” in Christ. We trust in the reality that we are different, we have received a new heart, a brand new identity that is in a process of being changed more and more into His likeness. Today, let us live by faith. Faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and trust in the fact that we are saved by grace not works. Today trust the love that God has for you and rejoice that your name is written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life.”

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, if you were to judge me according to my sins, I would never be able to sit here, praying in Your presence. Instead, You have lavished Your unconditional love upon me. I am forgiven! I am a new creature. I am loved. Thank You for Your grace. Thank You for my new identity in You. In Jesus’ name I pray.
AMEN

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Life of Love

TODAY’S VERSE
“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.”
Ephesians 5:2 (NLT)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
We spend so much of our life looking for a cause to believe in. Something that we can excel in by using our gifts and passions. Something that will give our life significance. And yet, as we search for that certain mission, the answer lays right before us. Paul writes and says, “Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.”
What better cause is there? What could give us so many options and allow us to use our own giftedness and passion? What could possibly give more significance to our life than loving the way Christ did? There are so many people that need love. There are so many people that your presence in their life would make all the difference in the world. Paul said it this way in I Corinthians 13. “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
Today, ask God to help you love those that He leads you to.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, help me live a life filled with love. Thank You for Jesus who loves me so much. Might I follow His example in loving others.
AMEN

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Contentment

TODAY’S VERSE
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
Philippians 4:12 (NIV)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
These have always been hard verses for me to live. Paul was able to write them with confidence because he poured out his life as a sacrifice for Christ. I look at my life and see so much to improve on. Today, I met someone who exemplified these words in a powerful way. Her name is Onix. She is in her mid-forties and has been in a wheelchair most of her life. She did not let that stop her from graduating from Moody Bible Institute and becoming a youth leader instructor and gifted Sunday School teacher. She has always been a vibrant witness for Christ. For the last five years she has needed the help of a ventilator and has been bed-bound with only partial use of her hands. She taught herself how to talk so she could continue to witness for Christ. A few years ago she started to paint using her mouth to hold the brush. She glows as she talks about what she has learned about God through this and the opportunities she has to share her faith. Her faith is contagious. Her attitude is amazing. I pray that I will be able to pattern my life after her faith. Today, let us thank God for our circumstances. Let us live out the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, forgive me for complaining. Forgive me for my lack of faith. Help me live content in the fact that I am Your child and You know all about me and my circumstances. Help me to see life through your eyes and trust Your never ending love for me.
AMEN

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Come To The Waters

TODAY’S VERSE
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”
Isaiah 55:1-2

TODAY’S MESSAGE
What an invitation. What an opportunity. What a heart felt plea from God to each and every one of us. Given a free will, we can choose what we do with our lives. We can decide who we want to follow. We can choose to fill our life with things that will never satisfy. But God loves us so much He pleads with us to wake up, to consider our priorities and choose life. In an allegory, God calls every person who is thirsty deep in their soul, to come and drink His waters of spirituality. He can quench our thirst. Knowing that we are spiritually bankrupt, He says buy what our soul needs from Him and charge it to His account. And then in what I think is a deep cry out to our materialist society, God says, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” God loves you and desires that you live your life in His abundant grace. Come to Him today. Take all that your soul needs. Feast on His love and care for you. Let your soul learn of Him and grow. Come today, to His waters and never thirst again.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for Your love for me. Thank You for Your grace. Thank You that I can come to You today and drink of Your love, mercy and grace. Thank You for loving me unconditionally so that I will never thirst again. My soul delights in You.
AMEN

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No Fear

TODAY’S VERSE
Let all who fear the LORD repeat: “His faithful love endures forever.” In my distress I prayed to the LORD, and the LORD answered me and set me free. The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear.
Psalms 118:4-6 (NLT)

TODAY’S MESSAGE
How much of your time is spent in fear? Not much you say. Okay, how much of your time is spent in defending or protecting yourself? How many thoughts are spent planning and plotting every detail of your life in order to make everything seem just right. Why? Because you fear that others may think poorly of you. One way or another, fear plays a large part in our life. In today’s passage the Psalmist has found an answer for his fear. When he was in distress he prayed to God and God set him free. Because of God’s loving intervention the author no longer feared. Rather, he meditated on God’s love and learned to trust in that love. Isn’t that what you and I need to do? Today, when fear comes to us, let us do what the Psalmist did. Let’s pray to God and let Him answer us. He will, because His love endures forever.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, help me overcome my fears. Instead of being fearful, help me to trust in Your faithful love. I give my life to You and ask You to guide me, protect me and set me free from the bondage of fear. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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