Beyond your expectations

Excerpt from Fearless, by Max Lucado

They didn't expect Jesus to come to them this way.

Neither do we. We expect him to come in the form of peaceful hymns or Easter Sundays or quiet retreats. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditations. We never expect to see him in a bear market, pink slip, lawsuit, foreclosure, or war. We never expect to see him in a storm. But it is in storms that he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention.

Jesus replied to the disciples' fear with an invitation worthy of inscription on every church cornerstone and residential archway. "Don't be afraid, he said Take courage. I am here."

We cannot go where God is not. Look over your shoulder, that's God following you. Look into the storm, that's christ coming towards you.

His call to courage is not a call to naivete or ignorance. We aren't to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings. We're to counterbalance them with long looks at God's accomplishments. " We must pay close attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it" (Heb 2:1). Do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus.

C.S. Lewis once wrote:

Faith... is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of the changing moods. For moods will

change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience.

God is calling. It is time to follow. We cannot be afraid. We have to be fearless and willing. God is working. He is there. In the triumphs he is there. In the struggles he is there. How do you expect Jesus to come? Well look again, because he is beyond your expectations, he can do more than we can imagine. We cannot settle for less than Gods best. Look again. Look beyond. Look to Jesus.

Why can't we feel this way all the time... We are God's creation. He thinks we are beautiful. We can make a difference. We are worth it. Live it. Love it. Believe it.

Fearless: p. 26

Fear of insignificance creates the result it dreads, arrives at the destination it tries to avoid, facilitates the scenario it disdains. If a basketball player stands at the foul line repeating, "I'll never make the shot, I'll never make the shot," guess what? He'll never make the shot. If you pass your days mumbling, "I'll never make a difference, I'm not worth anything," guess what? You will be sentencing ourself to a life of gloom without parole.

Even more, you are disagreeing with God. Questioning his judgment. Second guessing his taste. Accoding to him you were "skillfully wrought" (Ps. 139:15) You were "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). He can't stop thinking about you! If you could count his thoughts of you, "they would be more in number than the sand.

Why does he love you so much? The same reason the artist loves his painting or the boat builder loves his vessels. You are his idea. And God has only good ideas. "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago" (Eph 2:10)

RECHARGE in the RIGHT PLACE

I read this devotional today.It got my focus back to what gives me energy and what drives me. Even when I am busy, feeling like a chicken running around with my head cut off (as I am right now) and feel stretched in so many directions, I have to stay connected to my Father. If I don't make the intentional time to put God first I will lose sight of my goals, I will run out of battery. I want my light to keep shining, when it seems dim, it has to be recharged in the right place. I pray I have the strength to be that person God is calling me to be. But only with God's strength can I take those risks, challenge myself, and have that courage. God, go before me.

Heres the devotional :)

Disconnect!

January 4, 2010

by Kevin W. Mannoia

The batteries get weak and tired. Too much drain. Too many activities at once. Thankfully, they are rechargeable! All they need is a boost. A shot of new energy. So you plug them in. Soon they are ready to go again. Funny how we think our own lives work on the same principle. Drain – Plug in – Go again! In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Drain – DISCONNECT – Go. You see, when you disconnect, you allow for your sense of orientation to shift from doing, to being; from outside engagement, to inner reflection. And it gives God a chance to be heard over the din of your life. Disconnecting lowers the sound of your life so you can suddenly hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. That above all else will give you the reorienting boost you need to go again. Hopefully the last couple of weeks has been a good chance to disconnect. Let that be a time to renew and reorient your life around the new energy that comes from God’s presence.

Journey

Billy Graham says,

“The Bible is the road map for life, and while your pastor can highlight the best route to take, you learn how to navigate life’s twists and turns for yourself."

Interesting... this was one of my things to keep myself accountable to this year...

Guess it's time to navigate my journey every day :)

God is the best route. He is the only way I will get through... Living each day for his wondrous glory :)

Greater things are yet to come

With God, anything is possible.

Without him, I'd be nowhere. I'd be nothing

But I have hope, passion, love... because

Greater things are yet to come.

prayer big prayers

do not settle for less than God's best...

pray big prayers. don't just pray to be healed, pray to make an impact through your healing.

pray to change the world.

With God's power anything is possible.

God wants to do amazing things. Don't limit God. He can do the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

ACtive Prayer

“Prayer is first of all listening to God. It’s openness. God is always speaking; he’s always doing something. Prayer is to enter into that activity. Convert your thoughts into prayer. As we are involved in unceasing thinking, so we are called to unceasing prayer. The difference is not that prayer is thinking about other things, but that prayer is thinking in dialogue… a conversation with God.”

-Henri Nouwen

If we lived like this... how would it change every part of who we are? To make every thought intentional. To be open to listen to God, aware of his presence. We need to go to God with outstretched hands, hands that are open, not clenched tightly on our own ways but open so that we may be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Unceasing, never ending, intentional, and active.

“Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life”-Jonathan Edwards