Tag: shifting focus

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What Is Your Top Priority?

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I love the way the NLT bible puts this verse. KEEP AWAY from ANYTHING that MIGHT take God’s place in your heart. This verse shows how important it is to keep God first above everything and to protect ourselves from the world’s distractions or maybe the distraction is even ourself! God’s proper place of order is ABOVE ALL, including our spouses, kids, jobs, or *place something or someone important to you here*. Has there been something you’ve been putting first before your relationship with God? What is your first priority? What way can things be put in proper order? Too much of a good thing can become idolatry. Start with a small amount of time and go to your quiet place and spend time with God. Get an accountability partner if this is something you struggle with. A little encouragement can go a long way!

Also, a really awesome book to go along with today’s devotion is- God’s At War by Kyle Idleman.

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Walking With God Is Intentional

What do you go to for comfort when you’ve had a bad day? Food, your warm fuzzy blanket, a beer, a shopping spree at hobby lobby, your friends, the gym, even your spouse?

When something happens, who is the first person you want to talk to? Do you talk to Abba or do you call your spouse or best friend?

When you wake up in the morning, what is the very first thing you do? Do you talk to Abba and ask what is on his agenda? Do you spend time with him and put on your armor for the day?

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].”

‭‭MATTHEW‬ ‭6:24‬ ‭AM

What is taking away from your time with God? Are you putting anything before him?

Ask Holy Spirit to reveal it to you.

I often hear how “busy” we are and how we “don’t have time” for God. Walking with Christ is intentional and choosing him and his way should be apart of our life every single day. I don’t care if you ask him what kind of bread you should get, he is just happy to spend time with you.

When I first started walking with God… he wasn’t first in my life. My whole life and everything in it was completely out of wack. I chose many things, and people, that I thought would complete me. Things I thought would help fill the void that I constantly felt. But really, when we focus on him and die to ourself, is really when we start living.

“Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭9:23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If you are trying to follow someone you don’t know, I can understand that it can be scary…

But, the only way to get to know him, just like anyone else, is by spending time with him. Once you focus on Abba, things begin to fall into place. Things you didn’t have strength to do, he gives you the strength for. He shows you what pure love is and how to love those who need it the most. He shows you the perfect plan for your life. God gives you purpose. If we could just stop, and really focus on what’s important, God, life here on earth would be so much better.

If I can just encourage you to dig a little deeper, or if you don’t know God at all to talk to him like he’s your best friend, I assure you that you won’t be disappointed.

“In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jeremiah‬ ‭29:12-13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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Why Is God Taking So Long!?

As I was preparing myself to be married and move to Louisiana, I knew God had a purpose for Brad & I at the church he had been attending. We had gotten conformation that this is the place Abba wanted us to be at. I had served in two ministries at The River while I resided in Michigan, The Awake Café (coffee bar) and The Nursery. I was unsure when I left what exactly what my plans were when I arrived here in Louisiana. I just knew that I wanted to follow God’s will, no matter what it entailed.

Brad and I continued to pray persistently…

Even when it felt like we were never going to get an answer, we knew even if we couldn’t see that things were being set up for us, they were, and that God would reveal to us his perfect plan in his perfect timing. We often thought, “Should we be doing something?”. We continued to ask Abba to prepare us for what he had already spoken over our life. We often sought out advice from elders to seek out wisdom. Waiting is hard at times, but we trusted Abba and his plan for our life.

I went through a lot of change and growth before arriving here. I endured many trials, including looking at surgery just two days before our wedding (NOT TODAY SATAN). I will write about that in a later post. What kept me going were Abba’s promises. Declaring them over myself and our life daily! We know as Children of God, we have authority! When we speak The Word of God, it moves mountains and shifts our focus on what is truly important, Abba!

God’s plan has been slowly revealing itself the longer we are here and let me tell you, it’s a lot bigger than I thought! I know that I can makes as many plans as I want, but his plan and purpose always prevails. “We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but GOD ’s purpose prevails.-Proverbs‬ ‭19:21‬ ‭MSG‬‬

If you are in a season of waiting I encourage you to… “Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds. Exult in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord. Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.-1 Chronicles‬ ‭16:8-11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Seek guidance and accept correction, this makes you wise! “Take good counsel and accept correction— that’s the way to live wisely and well.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭19:20‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Know that God has a time for everything!

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:1, 11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Read his word.

spend time with Abba, he loves you.

& DECLARE his word over your life.

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Identified By Our Actions

Hey everyone,

Sorry it has been such a long time since I have wrote last, but, I was getting married and moving across the United States to Louisiana with my Husband!

This is very brief, but here’s what I have been reflecting on the past couple days…

I really have been stuck in Matthew 7 lately and today this real stuck out to me:

“A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:17-20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have been looking at myself and realizing how I am a walking billboard for Christ. It recently hit me, with moving to a foreign place, that when people see me, what kind of fruit am I bearing? When an unbeliever looks at me, do they see me or do they see Christ’s character?

I began to look back at all the wedding planning and How stress slowly crept in towards the end. The stress began to overwhelm me and I wasn’t reflecting Christ’s character. However, when Brad and I had our ceremony, many people came up to us afterwards and told us how anointed it was. (It was such a beautiful thing to hear on our wedding day. The biggest blessing is to know that Abbas presence was apparent even to those who don’t know him.)

So how much fruit are you bearing? When unbelievers look at you do they see Christ’s character or you?

“But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

‭‭GALATIANS‬ ‭5:22-23‬ ‭AMP‬‬

For me, I need to be constant even through trials. What kind of fruit are you bearing in stressful, uncomfortable, and emotionally strenuous situations you may encounter?

It is a big responsibility to be a follower of Christ. No one said it was easy. However, I know that as long as my roots are founded in him and I ask, he will give me all the wisdom and strength and tools I need to reflect his character.

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Let’s Get Serious

One of the hardest things for us to do is really look at our hearts. The tendency of the human heart is to always see that what we are doing is right. What we are doing is always justified. The more I grow into a deeper intimacy with The Lord, the more I realize that I need to take this walk seriously.

I watched a Sermon given by Francis Chan that stirred up conviction, emotion, and a deep passion inside of me. A deeper passion then before…

He talked about the earth, how we are literally…right now…sitting in a ball of water, but the core is molten hot lava, moving at 1,000mph, revolving around the sun. & the sun being at the perfect distance, the earth being tilted at a perfect angle, just for us to live. Have you ever walked outside and been like “Wow, this is beautiful.”? When you walk outside, when you just look around, you can see his beauty all around you. God created beautiful views for us to view, for us to be in awe, for us to be memorized by. He also created us. He said, “I need one of you” & placed us here at the perfect timing to fulfill the purpose he has for our life.

Y’all God can do whatever he pleases, whenever he pleases…

If Jesus came back today, would you live differently?

Would you spend more time pursuing him?

Would you get up in the morning to read scripture even though you’re tired?

Would you stop watching that TV show because it’s profane and shows nudity?

Would you talk to him more?

Would you pray for someone when Holy Spirit told you to?

Would you give up your human flesh comfort just to be with him in eternity?

I feel, at times, I waste a lot of time on things that are useless to the Kingdom Of God…

I feel, at times, I live for myself instead of him.

I feel, as though, I could love deeper, forgive easier, and spread the truth of his word, more than I do.

We all have convictions that have stirred up in our heart. We are all working on things. We will never reach the depth of Abba’s love here on earth, so in turn our relationship with him should never stop growing either.

Since I’ve been walking this journey with God, I have been fed many lies. However, because I knew the truth of God’s word, I was able to speak that. I think what I enjoyed about Francis Chan’s sermon is how passionate he is in his relationship with God and how he repeated over and over, how he doesn’t want you to take him at face value. He wants you to read the truth of God’s word yourself.

I cannot stress how important it is to just be in his presence. How important is for the first thing for you to do in the morning is acknowledge who is breathing life into you this very moment. How important it is to talk to him, to read his word, and to praise him through every circumstance. Oh and don’t stop there, this is something you should do all day and all night long. How weird would it be if you had a friend, family member, child, spouse, someone whom you loved being with you all day, everyday, and not talking to them or hearing what they have to say? We get so caught up in the things of this world, that we do this!

God wants us, as brothers and sisters, to join together and hold one another accountable in our relationship with him. (James 5:16, Galatians 6:1-2, Matthew 18:15-17) This world tells you that we need to be independent and do it all on our own. Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15:5-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The best thing you can do for yourself is follow God. Pursue his heart. Stop caring what the world thinks and follow Him. It can be uncomfortable at times, it can be a struggle, but it is so much more rewarding. The love he has for us is so much greater than anything we can ever ask for. He is everywhere and in everything you do. The more you are aware of him in everything you’ve done or will do, life here on earth will change drastically for the good.

Be intentional in your walk! Spend time with him! He loves you so much! Take life seriously, you never know what tomorrow will bring. Let God take over ever part of your heart, evening it’s uncomfortable. He brings so much more than we could ever bring ourselves.

Below is the link to the video I watched by Francis Chan…the passion he has is beautiful….

https://youtu.be/GQYJXBXRpZQ