Living Courageously..Craig Denison Ministries

 Living Courageously

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He’s filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and restored relationship with our Creator. May you discover this week that you were made to share God’s heart. And may you find joy and passion in God’s longing to use you in powerful and unique ways.

Scripture:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

Devotional:    

To live as an authentic disciple of Jesus is to live courageously. Jesus didn’t call us to a life of shrinking back. We’re not commanded to sit on the sidelines. He didn’t call us to to pursue comfort, stability, approval with man, or societal status. He’s called us to love unconditionally, give sacrificially, obey him unreservedly, and to live courageously.

In John 15:19 Jesus clearly says, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” To be of God and practice the things of God is in powerful, direct opposition to the things of the world and its ruler, our enemy. For this reason God offers encouragement to those who face trial—to those who live courageously. 1 Peter 4:12-14 says:

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

God is calling you to a life far greater and more important than comfort and worldly pleasure. He’s calling you to live by faith, believing that true blessing and true pleasure is found in him alone. He’s calling you to step out of your former ways and live in accordance with his will that you might experience fullness of life in him.

For this reason Scripture says in Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” In the midst of any trial you can have transcendent, tangible comfort in God. In this midst of any suffering or pain you can find rest in the loving arms of your heavenly Father. And in the face of great opposition you can choose to live courageously. Your God is with you. He will never leave you. Courage comes from acknowledging the reality and power of God’s nearness.

As we finish this week on sharing God’s heart, find courage today to boldly love others. Take time to receive God’s unconditional love and grace that you might share him with a world who desperately needs transcendent comfort and peace. Live courageously today and see heaven come to earth around you. Seek life and love in God alone. May your time of guided prayer be filled with encouragement from the Holy Spirit and the word of God.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the call of God to live courageously. Reflect on his promise to be with you always.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

"But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls." Hebrews 10:39

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4

2. Assess your own life. In what ways are you seeking worldly comfort over living courageously in God? What fears do you have about sharing God’s heart that are winning out over courage from God?

“And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” Luke 8:14

3. Go to God with your fears and receive encouragement in him. Take time to rest in God’s presence. Ask him for his perspective on that which hinders you from sharing his heart and living courageously. Journal his response.

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7

When you choose to respond to God’s call in faith, know that he will fill you with courage and boldness. The disciples were not naturally courageous people. Prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit they were weak, selfish, and cowardly. But in God, they were made strong. In God, they accomplished the impossible. In God, they were used for eternal purposes that bore fruit you and I are still experiencing. Decide today to partner with God in seeing his kingdom come to earth through your life. Decide to jump in and be an active part of the spiritual awakening happening all around us. Decide to get off the sidelines of the Christian life and share God’s heart with all those he leads you to. May your day be filled with boldness and courage in the Holy Spirit.

Extended Reading: Luke 8

Finding Purpose in the Waiting..Christine Perry

 Finding Purpose in the Waiting 

By Christine Perry

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” - Psalm 37:3 NKJV

Have you ever been disappointed in life? Has God's timing not lined up with your timing? You're not alone. In Psalm 13, David cried out in desperation, asking God how long He would forget him. He also asked God how long he must wrestle with his thoughts day after day. Waiting is not for the faint of heart. It takes faith and trust in God. Yet, waiting can save you a lifetime of regrets. Elisabeth Elliot said, "Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts."

Much of our lives involve waiting. When we are children, we wait until we can have more responsibility to drive, buy fast food, and make money. Some of us go to college, anxiously awaiting graduation. We work and wait to find our dream job. As singles, we often wait for marriage. If we marry, we often anticipate having children. And then, anticipate those children growing up. Life is a series of endless waiting. But waiting for our waiting isn’t wasted. 

The enemy wants us to grow discouraged. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy us (John 10:10, NKJV). He wants to steal our joy, kill our hope, and destroy our anticipation of a full life. Although waiting may feel mundane, our waiting seasons are vital. Isaiah 40:31 reminds us to wait on the Lord, not on another season of life, spouse, child, ideal job, or anything else. If we wait on the Lord, our strength will be renewed! Waiting on the Lord and putting our hope in Him will cause us to mount up with wings like eagles, to run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint. Where is our hope, and what/who are we waiting on? 

Our attitude and outlook reveal our focus. If we are miserable because we don't have what we’re waiting on, our hope is in people or things. If we’re content, our hope is in God. Satan's oldest trick is to convince us God is holding out on us. Look at Eve. She wanted more despite being with a sinless husband and living in paradise. Psalm 84:11 reminds us that God isn't withholding anything from us. Our greatest need, the forgiveness of our sins, has been covered! 

In Psalm 37:3, David said to trust God and do good. No matter what we may be waiting for, we can all trust God and do good. There is no shortage of things we can trust God for. To help us trust God, it’s important to look back on what He has done. We are human, which means we are prone to forget. But God never fails. David says, "Feed on His faithfulness." Why not take a sheet of paper and write down the ways God has shown up for us in the past, and how He has led us? He is for us. Because of Him, we are more than conquerors. Additionally, there is no limit to the good you can do and the people you can serve. If you don't know who to do good for, why not pray for others? Ask God for things on your friend's behalf as if you were asking for yourself (John 13:34).  

Intersecting Life and Faith 
There is no doubt waiting is hard to endure. But, God, in His mercy, will keep us busy in our waiting. One woman asked her pastor if she could visit sick church members in the hospital. After a few months, the pastor realized this woman was better suited to pray for those in the hospital. So, she ceased her visits and began praying. As this woman began to pray, the pastor realized the Lord was using her prayers mightily. He would then call this woman to pray, whether for someone's salvation, a need for the church, direction for members, etc. She would pray, and things would happen. Never underestimate the magnitude of what God can do with our willingness in waiting seasons.

A Prayer to Weather the Storm Well..Ashley Moore

 A Prayer to Weather the Storm Well

By Ashley Moore

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” - 2 Corinthians 2:14, ESV 

With tear-soaked eyes, I said, “When God gets us through this, I want to be able to say that we believed He would, and not regret how much I worried.” Too many times I had regretfully said the latter to my husband after God had proved Himself faithful. Too often I had hung my head in shame, apologizing to God for not just believing Him and worrying instead of trusting Him. When was I going to learn my lesson? 

Have you been there before? Maybe you are facing an unexpected move and you don’t know where your next home will be yet. Perhaps you have an upcoming deadline, and you aren’t sure if you are going to have adequate time to complete the assignment. Or do you have an unexpected expense and no plan for an increase in income? If you have been in one of these situations or something similar, then you know how easy it is to succumb to worry and doubt rather than remain hopeful. And you know how hard it is to think about praising God when all you can think about is your pain. But what would happen if we stopped taking the bait to spiral into hopelessness, and decided to use this as an opportunity to praise God and call others to follow Christ in His triumphal procession as it says in our key verse? 

All too often, I am guilty of desiring and praying for a quick fix. I want to skirt around the problem to the solution. And sometimes God does answer our prayers with a quick solution, but if you have been following Jesus long, you know that often God doesn't work on our timeline. Sometimes His answers are slower because He desires to do something inside us in the process. 

I know it's hard to surrender to the journey of sanctification. And sometimes it hurts to be shaped into the image of Christ. We don’t like it when God removes the things that bring us comfort and security. And we don’t like to see our sin exposed when He brings a trial our way. We aren’t fond of others seeing how we worry instead of trust. But what if that’s exactly the work God means to do in our hearts and lives with stormy seasons? Maybe He wants to bring all that up so He can transform us into people who weather storms well by depending on Him and not our false senses of security and comfort! So, the next time a stormy season strikes let's be people who praise God and remember we are following a triumphal procession. We can be confident this storm is ending in a victory that has been secured for us by Christ. Let’s claim His promises and peace during the storm. Let’s be the sweet aroma that spreads the knowledge of Him and victory everywhere this storm blows us, and let’s weather the storm well. 

Let’s pray:
Dear Lord, thank You that You are in charge of the winds and waves.
You know when stormy seasons roll into our lives, and You use these seasons to make us look more like You. God, forgive us when we resist this process in our lives because it hurts. Forgive us when we try to skip over the hard parts and only desire the solution to our problems rather than You. Thank You for understanding our humanity because You experienced it firsthand, and still You displayed obedience to the Father on our behalf! God, I thank You that You willingly give us Your righteousness as our covering. I pray that we would turn to You and draw near to You in our pain. Lord, will You shorten the time it takes for us to run away from our false sources of security and return to You? Lord, thank You that even now You don’t give up on shaping us into people who look like You. Help us weather life's storms well. In Jesus’s name, Amen. 

The Church What Is It All About..Dr. Charles Stanley

 The Church What Is It All About

Dr. Charles Stanley

Colossians 1:18-24

Church buildings are plentiful in our country. Locating one may be easy, but wisely deciding which to join involves more effort. God's Word gives us some specific instructions in this matter.

First, let's explore the original biblical meaning of the word "church." The term ecclesia meant a group of people who are called out of the world's system by God's grace for the purpose of assembling to worship and serve Christ. Ephesians 5:29-30 further specifies that believers are the body and Jesus is the head of such a fellowship. Under His leadership, we can enjoy the unity and purpose that He intended.

God's design for this sacred gathering involves worship, instruction, encouragement, evangelism, and ministry to those in need, both within the fellowship and outside its walls. A healthy, vibrant congregation is possible only when members rely fully on the Holy Spirit's guidance. The work of the church is to be done in His power, in humble, prayerful submission to the Lord.

To help you determine whether a church is following the design laid out in Scripture, here are some important questions to ask: Do they believe God's Word is infallible and inerrant? Is the church disciplining her people? Does the fellowship have some kind of missionary or evangelistic program?

Joining a congregation is an important decision, as a fellowship of believers is one tool God uses to mature and encourage His children. Those three questions can be helpful in discerning God's will. Listen for His Spirit to warn or direct as you prayerfully investigate your options.

The Difference Between Joy and Happiness..Whitney Hopler

 The Difference Between Joy and Happiness  

By Whitney Hopler

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” – Psalm 16:11 NIV

I’d planned a full day of fun activities for our family to enjoy together on Saturday. But on Friday night, everyone canceled, and my plans fell through. I understood their reasons: They were tired and wanted to sleep in, the weather forecast changed, and they needed to catch up on chores and errands. Still, I was unhappy the next morning when I woke up to an empty day I’d worked hard to plan. I thought about all the activities that were supposed to make this day happy for all of us. Going out together would have been much better than being stuck at home. Since I had extra time that morning, I decided to use it to pray and meditate. That unrushed time helped me pay closer attention to God’s presence with me. As I talked with God, I felt the embrace of his love. God met me when I was in the middle of my unhappiness. He didn’t magically change my circumstances, my fun plans remained canceled. God did something even better: He filled me with joy in his presence.

People sometimes use the words happiness and joy interchangeably. But they’re not the same concepts. Happiness is an emotion we can feel only in good circumstances. In contrast, joy is a strength we feel whenever we pay attention to God’s loving presence with us. Our happiness can slip away as soon as something goes wrong for us. But we can experience joy in every type of circumstance because God is always with us. God tells us in Genesis 28:15 NIV: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go…”. In both good and bad circumstances, God is constantly with us. There is nowhere we can go where God is not with us. Psalm 139:7-10 NIV describes that reality in a moving way: 

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” 

Matthew 1:23 NIV tells us that Jesus is “Immanuel,” a name that means, “God with us”. That’s good news! We have access to God in every situation – whether we’re feeling happy or not. We can connect with God’s love and let Him fill our souls with joy, no matter what type of circumstances we’re facing. The wonder of God’s presence is available to us even when life feels boring, stressful, or sad. We will always have to deal with circumstances that make us feel unhappy in this fallen world, but Jesus is with us as we go through every situation. He helps us overcome our challenges. Jesus promises in John 16:33 NIV: “… In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

We don’t have to let pockets of unhappiness discourage us. Spending time with God when we feel unhappy allows His loving presence to encourage and give us hope. Happiness is a temporary feeling, while joy is a lasting strength that can be cultivated. Joy is a “fruit of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5:22-23 NIV. We can ask the Holy Spirit to develop more joy in our lives. We experience more joy when we focus on time spent communicating with God’s Spirit. We won’t always be happy. But we always have access to joy because God is always with us! 

Intersecting Faith and Life:
As you reflect on the differences between joy and happiness, consider these questions: 

• What is one situation that you feel unhappy about right now? How can you find joy from God’s presence with you in the middle of it?
• No matter what circumstances you face on any given day, you can still cultivate joy. What is one way you would like to work with the Holy Spirit to choose joy daily?

Further Reading:

• 1 Thessalonians 5:16
• James 1:2-4
• Psalm 37:4
• Romans 12:12