Jesus Calling July 31

Trust. (Verb) to have confidence in; to have hope in; to rely on; to believe.
That is what our relationship with God is built on. (That and His everlasting Love for us.) We have to hold up our end of the deal though. We have to trust Him with all of our being. We have to trust Him with every last detail in our life.
When we start getting stressed, we need to trust even more. We cannot get mad at ourselves, we are only human. We are going to get overwhelmed with what is happening around us because the world is such a busy place. But we have to remember that God is in our hearts and He won't let us down! He will give us Peace in our times of need! He is with us always! We have to slow ourselves down, ignore the speed of the world. Spend quiet time with Him. That is the only way you will make it through the stressful times.

James 5:13-15 (MSG)
Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out.
Matthew 28:18-20 (MSG)
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

Jesus Calling July 30

God created the beauty of the earth. It is so vast that we cannot even begin to grasp the creation or creator of the breathtaking features. God created these things to make Himself known. All these things with such intricate detail, a rose, a sand dollar, the ocean, the sunrise, forests, the grand canyon, the human brain. So many people don't even realize that God created these things, it never even crosses their mind. And that saddens God. Instead they take the beauty of the feminine mystique to their own benefit of making money, selling products. God created the female. People use that in the wrong way. They advertise skinny women, dressed in skimpy clothing, with 15 layers of make up, smoking, doing drugs, committing adultery (an sexual action or thought out of marriage. Thoughts most definitely count as well.). That is not how God created us. That is how humans have twisted it. And we get judged by others for not fitting into the mold that the world has created. It's a sin. Why can we just all be ourself, without those things? ...the world won't let us. We just have to do our own thing separate from the world, we have to live by God's way.
God adores His children who find peace in the nature, knowing He created it. That right there is a door to His Presence. We have always had the connection with Him through nature, even before we knew Him and He saved us. We were awed by the nature around us. Know that He created that beauty of nature carries with it the job to share with others. Shout it out to the world! The earth is bursting out with His Wondrous Glory! Tell the world!

Jesus Calling July 29

God is supposed to be the center of our lives. Sarah Young describes this as a boat on an anchor. God is our anchor, we are the boat. How long do you allow the rope between yourself and the anchor to be? The shorter the better. That way you have less room to float astray. Keep your relationship with God on a short rope. To do this, have quiet time every day with Him, sit and listen to the peaceful sound of nothingness and in that you will feel and hear His Presence. That's all it takes is to sit still for some time everyday, focusing solely on God. I know that is hard to do and hard to find quiet time in this busy world, but you have to make time. If you don't, then you will drift away from God. Pray constantly. Just talk to Him, He is your best friend. Don't let go of Him, because He is never letting go of you.

Jesus Calling July 28

Sarah Young's words this morning were just so powerful that I cannot begin to summarize, because that would take away from the beauty and power of the message God is sending us through her.
Here is the passage directly from "Jesus Calling":

"Let My Love seep into the inner recesses of your being. Do not close off any part of yourself from Me. I know you inside and out, so do not try to present a "cleaned-up" self to Me. Wounds that you shut away from the Light of My Love will fester and become wormy. Secret sins that you "hide" from Me can split off and develop lives of their own, controlling you without your realizing it.
Open yourself fully to My transforming Presence. Let My brilliant Love-Light search out and destroy hidden fears. This process requires time alone with Me, as My Love soaks into your innermost being. Enjoy My perfect Love, which expels every trace of fear."
Psalm 139:1-6, 23-24 (MSG)
1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I'm an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I'm never out of your sight.
You know everything I'm going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you're there,
then up ahead and you're there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can't take it all in!
23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I'm about;
See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.
1 John 4:17-18 (MSG)
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

Those words are so beautiful. Everyone needs to take them to heart. Everyone has some flaw, some sin that they struggle with. No one is perfect. This applies to everyone. God can fill you with His love and light and run out the dark places that reside in you. Staying connected with God is so important, because without Him we can fall into bad habits of sin. Sinful habits as simple as judging one by their looks or using harsh words towards one who has hurt you.
Take these words and apply them to your life. Spend quiet time with God daily. Take the next step.

Jesus Calling July 27

God is our connection to Heaven. We are constantly connected unless we let go. He will never let go or leave our side. Heaven is our hope, it gets us through the toughest of times. Without that hope, the journey will be long and difficult. When we are connected with God and the hope He provides, we are traveling on the pathway to Heaven. When we recall that the ultimate destination is Heaven, then what we are going through is a much smaller deal. That allows us to jump right over it with the help of God. Through this we should learn to keep a constant focus on God and our final destination, Heaven.
Romans 12:11-13 (MSG)
Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Jesus Calling July 25

We need to be more attentive to the sounds around us. God speaks through everything around us, "sights, sounds, thoughts, impressions, scriptures." (Sarah Young "Jesus Calling" 216)
God is limitless. He can communicate with us in anyway He wants to. He has all the power in the world. We have to do our job though, and that is to listen and look for Him in things around us. When we wake up and set our goal for the day as searching for His Presence throughout our day, then we will learn how much He really is in the nature around us. We can then connect with Him that way. Not only can we find Him in the beauty of nature, but also in sad things. He can take the unfortunate things in our lives and turn them around into something absolutely amazing! And that is truely one of the coolest things God does! When something bad happens in your life, He could use that time to bring a new influential friend to help you out or He could use that time to present you with a new job or home or any opportunity. God works in amazing ways, ways we do not fully understand as humans. And He always does things you do not expect!

Romans 8:28 (NLT)
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Jesus Calling July 24

In order to open the door to the Lord, we should constantly be thanking Him. He has given us freedom to choose our ways, but even though we have that freedom, we should exercise that freedom towards thanking and serving God in all situations and God alone.
In order to thank, we have to trust. If we have trouble thanking, then we should work on building up or trust first. Once that trust is strong, that allows us to thankfully grow closer to God. To build up our trust in Him, we should say "I trust you, Jesus!" in all situations. Say it aloud! If others here, awesome!! That is an opportunity to share your faith! Go for it!
We should constantly be saying "I trust you, Jesus!" and "Thank you Jesus!"
We can never thank enough, we have been given far more than we'll ever deserve. Getting into a habit of that practice will make you more aware of the many blessings we get every day from Him. Getting into that habit will tremendously help you when difficult times arise. You will be stronger in your trust in God and you will make it through just fine!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (MSG)
Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.