God as Our Guide through Life..Craig Denison Ministries

 God as Our Guide through Life

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

As children of the Most High God, we have been granted access to unconditional, tangible, and perfect love. All we need we have in relationship with our Father in heaven. He longs to reveal himself to us as a loving, real Father. He longs for us to live in the fullness of restored relationship with him. He longs for us to experience his vast and limitless affections. May we grow in our understanding and experience of God as our good and loving Father this week as we look at what it is to be his child.

Scripture:“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” - Proverbs 3:5-6

Devotional:

You were not created to carve out your path through this life alone. Your heavenly Father longs to be a guide throughout all the twists and turns of life. He longs to shepherd you to greener pastures and calmer waters. He longs to protect you and provide for you. He longs to lead you to a life with more fullness of joy, peace, and purpose than any life you could ever discover on your own.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Allowing the Lord to be established as your guide begins with a commitment to trust. God cannot lead where you will not follow. Unless you live life with your heart postured toward continual obedience, you will fail to follow your Father into all the wonders he has in store for you.

Psalm 32:8-9 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” We must cultivate a continual hunger for the Lord’s instruction and counsel. God’s plan is not to guide you as a horse or mule where you live your life without purpose or understanding. He longs to teach you and reveal his will that you might live under his leadership and influence.

We are created to be children of the Spirit and the word. We are made to both hear the voice of our Father and live according to the perfect direction of Scripture. John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The Holy Spirit desires to speak to you directly about your life. He longs to guide you in and out of every circumstance by tugging on your spirit and speaking to your heart. And he longs to give you revelation you need from the words of Scripture he divinely inspired. God has given you ample opportunity to be perfectly led. He’s provided all you will ever need to go through life with him as your guide. All that’s left is for you to trust him, keep your heart open to him, and follow him obediently in response to his faithfulness and love.

Take time in guided prayer to ask for his guidance. Ask the Holy Spirit to transform you into a child who is quick to listen and follow his leadership. Ask him to give you revelation through his word that you would be a child filled with understanding. May you encounter the desire of your Father to lead you well today.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on God’s desire to guide you by his Spirit and word.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” >John 16:13

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” >James 1:5

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” >2 Timothy 3:16-17

2. Ask the Lord to transform you into a child quick to obey and follow his leadership. Ask him to give you great understanding of his word that you might live in accordance with Scripture.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” >John 10:27

“For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” >Isaiah 30:19-21

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” Psalm 32:8-9

3. Ask the Lord about any situation in which you need guidance. Wait on him and listen intently for a response. Pay attention to what you feel peace about and what disturbs your spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to a passage of Scripture that will give you understanding about what you should do. Pay attention to any passages or verses that come to mind.

Listening to the Lord is all about receiving in faith what God already wants to give. Our hearing is by the grace of God and not any merit of our own. God speaks to each of us perfectly. One child of God is not given more opportunity for God’s guidance than another. God longs to shepherd each of us. He longs to speak to each of us. All that is required of you is to make space to listen and receive. Ask the Spirit to teach you how to listen and hold onto what he is speaking. Make space in your daily life to have dialogue with your Father. And follow his perfect leadership into the abundant life Jesus died to provide for you.

Extended Reading: Psalm 5

Are You up for a Fight?..JESS CONNOLLY

 Are You up for a Fight?

JESS CONNOLLY 

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV)

Until I was 15, I was a docile wallflower.

Picture me as the classic middle child, shrinking behind the success of my older sister and the sweetness of my younger one. I didn’t make excellent grades or terrible ones. I didn’t have hobbies but also didn’t pitch any fits. I never picked a fight and usually did everything I could to avoid being corrected or called to account.

And then everything changed.

At age 15, I became known as the family member most likely to start hard conversations. I began asking intense and thoughtful questions that demanded answers or serious consideration. Provocation and challenge became my favorite tools for engaging with others.

What was the shift?

At 15, I met Jesus. I walked down the aisle at a church event and prayed some honest words to the God I had genuinely believed in but had yet to put my trust in. And everything immediately changed, as if the tiny, invisible strings that held my mild personality in place were cut, and I was set free to be the fighter God made me to be.

It seemed to me that if He was real, if all His words were true, there was so much at stake to be contended, defended and obtained.

So here are the serious questions: Who are we fighting? Who or what are we fighting for? And … are you up for a fight?

I’ve settled on the truth that I’m fighting the enemy of my soul, not other humans, and I want to be fighting for the good of others and God’s glory.

The most recent battle I’ve been engaging in on behalf of myself and my sisters in Christ is in the area of body shame. I know that our enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy, (John 10:10) but this passage from 2 Corinthians gives me so much encouragement about our capacity to fight in the name of Jesus.

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Our weapons — the Word of God and worship — have the power to demolish the arguments that set themselves up against God’s knowledge. In this case, God's knowledge is that He made our bodies good, loves them and purchased our freedom on the cross of Christ.

And our opportunity is to walk into the combat with full confirmation that our side wins.

Whatever your current battle is, here’s an important reminder:

You were born for a fight — but know your enemy. Remember that the warfare might look more like worship than yelling, and always hold fast to the truth that the contest is over — Jesus wins in the end. Amen?

Father, help me to fight in a holy way — against the enemy and not people. Give me courage and faith to believe that You win. It’s my honor to engage in spiritual battle for my good and Your glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Seeing Obstacles through God's Eyes..Dr. Charles Stanley

 Seeing Obstacles through God's Eyes

Dr. Charles Stanley

Joshua 2

Jericho was the first city that the Israelites needed to conquer in their quest for the land of Canaan. When Joshua sent a pair of spies to check it out, he probably didn't realize that he would receive a glimpse of God's impressive behind-the-scenes activity.

God wants us to look at every obstacle through the lens of His unlimited strength and resources. Anything that appears to block His plans is an opportunity for Him to demonstrate His sovereign power. Just because we don't see anything happening, that doesn't mean He's inactive.

Always remember that God is at work on the other side of our obstacles, arranging the details and bringing His plans to fruition. When the spies returned to Joshua, they reported that the people of Jericho were scared to death. Having heard about the Jews' deliverance from Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea, they were gripped by fear of the Lord.

The stage was set for the conquest, yet by that point, Joshua had done nothing. Sometimes we think we need to be involved in the solution to our problem, but God is not limited with regard to whom or what He can use to accomplish His will. In this case, He worked in the hearts of the enemy by instilling demoralizing fear.

For Christians, great obstacles need not be reasons for discouragement. Although much of the Lord's activity is silent and invisible, we can be sure He is dynamically working out His will for our lives. When the pieces of His plan are in place, He will move us on to victory.

He Will Quiet You with His Love..Betsy St. Amant Haddox

 He Will Quiet You with His Love

By: Betsy St. Amant Haddox

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. - Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV)

A month after my husband of nine years left me, I went on a women’s retreat to Colorado, led by Staci Eldredge with Ransomed Heart Ministries. The first few days, I was numb—numb to the March snow piled around me, numb to the new reality of single motherhood waiting for me back home, and numb to the boiling storm inside my heart begging for release. But the Lord didn’t let me stay numb long. After days of fellowship, comfort food, corporate worship, intense workshops, and a ton of quiet time alone with the Lord and my raging thoughts, He broke through.

My husband didn’t love me anymore, but my Bridegroom did.

Once I was home and the power of those emotions faded, a dear friend mailed me a card that I still have to this day in my dresser, some seven years later. It simply contained the verse from Zephaniah 3:17, reminding me of God’s love. He wouldn’t let me forget. He still loved me.

After that, encouragement piled in from all sides. Text messages, gift cards, surprises in the mail, offers to help mow my yard or prepare my house to sell. Eventually, these efforts faded as time went by—understandably so.

But you know what never stopped? The hearts.

I began to see hearts everywhere. In the rocks under my feet, in the celery in my soup, in the crack in the table, in the crumb from my bread, in the dirt on the carpet from my shoe…literally anywhere and everywhere. And they usually came during a rough time—days when I felt the most lonely or unwanted or unlovable.

At first, I thought it was just me seeing something out of nothing. Why would God intentionally send me hearts? There was no Scriptural evidence that He would do that. Then I started realizing that if I believed in God’s sovereignty, then He was absolutely in control of whether or not that heart appeared in that cloud or rock or in that bowl of soup. And He was absolutely in control of whether or not I saw it.

One day I was pumping gas, and my tears were about to spill over. It’d been a hard day. I had a bad case of the “it’s not fair”s and was feeling completely incapable and unforgotten. I glanced down and there it was—a giant heart in the oil stain on the pavement. I started giggling-crying. I was seen. I was loved.

God loves you, too. And He’s not limited to predictive or expected measures of demonstrating that love. We know that ultimately, God demonstrated His love for us through His Son, Jesus, on the cross. Through His death and resurrection, we know God’s love.

1 John 4:9-10 (ESV) In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Romans 5:8 (ESV) but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You might not see hearts, but maybe you see something else. Maybe you sense or remember God’s presence the most when you feel the wind on your face. Or when you sink into a hot bath. Or when you see a butterfly or a particular flower in an open field.

His options for expressing love are limitless. Why not ask Him to open your eyes to the love around you? Pour into His Word. Bask in His presence through prayer and worship. And find Him in the unexpected.

A Prayer for Love..Emma Danzey

 A Prayer for Love

By Emma Danzey

1 John 4:7-8 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

God has called us to love Him and to love others. In 1 John 4:7-8, He so kindly reminds us that we are to love each other because love is from Him, and when we love, we show that we have been saved by Jesus and know Him. This is way easier said than done when God does not answer our prayers how we would like, when people in our communities are challenging and negative, or when we just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. However, the Lord has invited us to love others. We have the opportunity of a lifetime to live lives out of the love of Jesus by His Holy Spirit.

This song from 1991“They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love,” written by Peter Scholtes, expresses how the world looking on will know that we are believers in Jesus by the way that we love. In a world full of divisions, hate, and chaos, we have the opportunity to share love, peace, and unity. This does not mean that we do not stand by the hard truths found in the Bible, but we live lives and share God’s ways with others from places of compassion and kindness.

Let's Pray:

Dear Lord,
You are Love. Everyone who lives in love lives in You. Help me to walk in love today and each day. Give me Your power to choose to walk obedient to this command. When others are challenging to want to love, give me the grace and the endurance to love them well anyway, as You have loved me. Thank You for Your great love to die on the cross for my sin and raise Yourself to life again. I am overwhelmed by Your great compassion.

Jesus, would you help me to remember that You loved the world and gave up Your life so that anyone who believes in You will not perish, but have eternal life? (John 3:16) You did not send Your son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. (John 3:17) Where I desire to condemn others and believe that they are too far gone to love and witness too, rearrange my thoughts and reshape my heart. Where I want to be the judge, help me to allow You to speak the truth through Your word and change hearts by Your Spirit. Remind me of the love You have poured out on me to be called a child of You.

God, You say in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 that love is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud. It does not dishonor others, it isn’t self-seeking, it isn’t easily angered, and it does not keep a record of wrongs. This is a tall order for a sinner like me. Help me to rely on Your Spirit to live out this kind of love in my life. Grant me the ability to show supernatural love in situations that come my way. May the ways that I speak and live point to Your gospel truth.

Ephesians 4:14-15 says, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

 Lord, help me not to stay a baby in the faith. Help me not to waiver because of the opinions around me. Part of love is sharing truth. You say that telling truth in love is a sign of a mature believer in Christ. Jesus, help me to love others well. Give me Your strength to not worry about people pleasing but to be truly loving by sharing Your Word with others. In a world that thinks love is acceptance and tolerance, show me how to be authentic and genuine in love and in sharing Your truth in a kind way.

Thank You God for loving me. Help me to live from a place of love so that others may know that You’re the Savior of the world who loves them and gave Yourself for them, as You did for me. Amen.

United in Mind and Thought..Emma Danzey

 United in Mind and Thought

By Emma Danzey

1 Corinthians 1:10 says, "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought."

I Appeal to You Brothers and Sisters
In this passage of 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul is addressing a challenging issue among the church at Corinth. He uses the word appeal. This word carries weight. We normally think of appeal used in the context of legal cases or a serious plead. However, Paul is using this verb to bring up the topic of unity. There were, unfortunately, divisions among the people of God. They were split over church leaders. Paul begins his message with a plea from the Lord to the men and the women.

In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
There is no true power in anything that we say or do if Jesus is not in it. Paul makes the point that he is bringing a message in the name of Jesus. He is coming with a word from the Lord. People can have many different opinions, but ultimately, we too should be seeking what God says through His Word. If what we want to share is not in agreement with what the Lord already has said, then it is not from Him. We cannot claim that we are carrying a message from God if it does not aline with the Bible.

1 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

That All of You Agree with One Another in What You Say and That There Be No Divisions Among You
Divisions seem to be everywhere. The enemy has been loving the chaos He has set forth among the believers of today. If people want their positions more than Jesus, they miss the point. God calls us to agree with one another in what we say and not to let there be any divisions among believers.

Unfortunately, we know good and well that divisions have happened and continue to happen due to sin and the work of the enemy. However, we are called to stand up and live in unity among believers in Jesus. We are called to be discerning and wise. We will not agree on a lot in this world, but we are called to agree with one another in Christ. Jesus is the way, and we are exhorted to keep the main thing the main thing.

But That You Be Perfectly United in Mind and Thought
Humanly speaking, we cannot accomplish perfect unity of mind and thought. So what did Paul mean? 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, “The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ.”

When we as the church body all have the Holy Spirit, we have access to the mind of Christ. We can think and live like Jesus, not our sinful flesh, through the power of His Spirit in us. This means that barriers that would naturally stand in our way no longer matter. We can come together in perfect unity of the gospel. We can stand arm and arm next to people who are different from us but who place their faith in Christ, believe His Word, and have His Holy Spirit. There is nothing we can do to force unity; all we can do is surrender to the work of the Spirit and live our lives in a way that models it and welcomes oneness to other believers. By the power of the Living God, we can be one church with one mission serving under our one Savior.

Intersecting Faith and Life:
How is God appealing to you to be more unified in the body of Christ? What divisions are in your community of believers? How can you move towards being perfectly unified in mind and thought?

Further Reading:
Acts 4:32
2 Corinthians 13:11
Galatians 3:28

A Wealth of Fatherly Affections..Craig Denison Ministries

 A Wealth of Fatherly Affections

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

As children of the Most High God, we have been granted access to unconditional, tangible, and perfect love. All we need we have in relationship with our Father in heaven. He longs to reveal himself to us as a loving, real Father. He longs for us to live in the fullness of restored relationship with him. He longs for us to experience his vast and limitless affections. May we grow in our understanding and experience of God as our good and loving Father this week as we look at what it is to be his child.

Scripture:“Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.” Psalm 36:5

Devotional:

Being the child of God gives us an open invitation into the endless affections our heavenly Father has for us. There is no end to the wealth of his love. There is no limit to how deeply and tangibly we can experience his heart. Through the sacrifice of Jesus we can live our lives totally and completely experiencing the love of the Creator and Sustainer of all.

Psalm 36:5 says, “Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.” When you look across the horizon as far as your eye can see, picture the arms of your heavenly Father stretching even farther than the faintest speck of blue sky. When you see the clouds in their immensity and wonder, picture the enormity of your God’s faithful love toward you.

So great is the wealth of affections your heavenly Father has toward you that he would send his pure, blameless Son as payment for the sins that have kept you from experiencing his love. So great was his desire for you to know his heart that Jesus gave his life, creating a bridge across the vast chasm of sin that separated you and the Father.

1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Most of us wander through life looking for any source of love we can find. We give ourselves to people, jobs, society, and wrongful expectations trying our hardest to satiate an insatiable need to be loved. Only in making time to receive God’s perfect, tangible, and transformative affections will our need to be loved finally be satisfied. Only when we look to the cross as a continual reminder that we are fully and forever loved will we stop searching for affections from a world that will only ever reject and disappoint us.

Your heavenly Father longs for you to experience the wealth of his affections today. He longs to guide you into a safe place of simply being loved by him. This broken and needy world has taught us to shield the wounded places of our hearts from any outside contact. We’re taught to just get over our wounds, pick ourselves up, and let our scars be signs of our inner strength. God wants to take your wounds and heal them with his perfect love. He wants to take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it into real, eternal good. He’s waiting right now to love you and make you whole. He’s waiting right now to satisfy the deep longing to be loved you’ve carried with you all your life.

Take time in guided prayer to truly encounter the love of your heavenly Father. Wait on his presence and open your heart to him in response to his love and faithfulness. He will shepherd you to green pastures and still waters if you make time and follow his leadership. May you experience the wealth of affections your heavenly Father has for you as you pray.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the wealth of affections your heavenly Father has for you.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” - Isaiah 49:15-16

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” - 1 John 4:10

“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” - Luke 15:20

2. What wound are you carrying that God longs to heal with his love? What past experience has affected you for too long? What part of your heart have you kept shielded that God longs to speak to today?

3. Ask the Lord to guide you into a transformational encounter with his love. Ask him to help you receive all the love he has to give you today. Take time to wait on him and rest in his presence. Don’t leave this place of rest until you feel satisfied and renewed.

May Ephesians 1:3-10 stir your heart to pursue the depth of affections your heavenly Father has for you throughout your day today:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Extended Reading: Ephesians 1