Jesus Calling Dec 9th

Blink - Revive

So many people want to live a risk free life, but that is not what God wants. He wants you to follow Him no matter what! If He wants you to go out on a limb with Him, then its the safest thing you can do. Wanting to live risk-free is almost a sin because you are defying His authority and saying you only believe when you feel comfortable doing what God is leading you too. And that is wrong. There is going to be a time in your life when you're going to have to choose between two paths and you're best choice is the path He wants you to take, and there is no reason to be scared if God is pointing you that way because He will be with you ever step of the way. Let Him be your focus so that you can enjoy the walk with Him.

Psalm 23:4 NLT

Even when I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me.

Your rod and your staff

protect and comfort me.

Psalm 9:10 NLT

Those who know your name trust in you,

    for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.

John 12:26 NLT

 Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.

Jesus Calling Dec 8th

I encourage you during this Christmas season to notice the people who go unnoticed, who have little to no family, who are living on the streets. Put your cup holder full of spare change in the salvation army buckets on your way to Christmas shop. Take the time to buy a hot meal for someone you see sitting on the street corner. Make a Christmas card for them. Tell them about Jesus. 

There are tons of opportunities sitting in front of us each and every day to share Jesus, and many of us over look those. God is opening doors for you, don't just walk past them.

Jesus in Disguise - Brandon Heath

You and God fit together like a puzzle: you need Him and He can fulfill you. He did not make you to be able to live on your own and make due by yourself. He made you to need Him everyday to keep living. He made it just so that He is the only one who can complete you is Him. There are many lost people in this world who have an unfilled void in there heart and it is because they do not know God. They search for many earthly solutions, but they are all bad and get them no where. We have to reach out to those people. Go to Him with what you need and He can provide for you and bless you. Praise Him for He blesses you in your time of need.

Philippians 4:19 (NLT)

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 2:2-3 (NLT)

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Jesus Calling Dec 7th

Today's devotion really spoke to me as a whole; like I've done in the past, today I wish to share with you the whole thing for you to read for yourself.
This definitely describes a lot of my days, and I'm sure that is true for a lot of us. We often forget that God is with us even while we are doing the dishes, taking the trash out, doing our work, eating, sleeping, watching tv; He is always right there. He knows every last think about us and nothing goes unnoticed by Him.

"I am with you in all that you do, even in the most menial task. I am always aware of you, concerned with every detail of your life. Nothing escapes My notice -- not even the number of hairs on your head. However, your awareness of My Presence falters and flickers; as a result, your life experience feels fragmented. When your focus is broad enough to include Me in your thoughts, you feel safe and complete. When your perception narrows so that problems or details fill your consciousness, you feel empty and incomplete. 
Learn to look steadily at Me in all your moments and all your circumstances. Though the world is unstable and in flux, you can experience continuity through your uninterrupted awareness of my Presence. Fix your gaze on what is unseen, even as the visible world parades before your eyes" (Young 358).

Hebrews 11:27 (NLT)
It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NLT)
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Jesus Calling Dec 5th

He Reigns - Newsboys

This devotion really relates well to the experience I had last night that I wrote about below this post on my blog. 

Remember that His Presence is above all else. He is always hovering right with you. He wants you to learn and know that He is with you in all circumstances.

An example of this is in Genesis, when Jacob runs away from his brother and he dreams of Heaven and angels. He then realizes that God was with Him the whole time, and he didn't even know it. 

That is a prime example that relates to me last night and can relate to all of us every day. When you feel far away from God, call out "Surely the Lord is in this place!" Calling out to God is the best way to remind yourself that He is always right there.

Psalm 31:20 (NLT)

You hide them in the shelter of your presence,

    safe from those who conspire against them.

You shelter them in your presence,

    far from accusing tongues.

Genesis 28:11-16 (NLT)

¹¹ At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. ¹² As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.

¹³ At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am theLord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. ¹⁵ What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

Valuable Lessons and Experiences

So, I know I didn't write about Jesus Calling today, but other than the fact that I just didn't have time, there might be another reason. Me sharing this.
This evening I had a truly amazing experience. I had to play for a Clarinet Class here at App, in other words, I had to play with a piano accompanist in front of other clarinet students. It has been a long while since I've played by myself in front of other people in this type of setting. So I was super duper nervous. I got to the music building to practice for a few minutes before I met to rehearse one last time with my accompanist. I got there and I started to get way nervous. I go in the practice room, warm up, play through my piece once on one reed, then once on another, decide on my reed, try to stay calm, and play through again. Then I thought of this horrifying memory of the 7th grade when we had to play a solo in front of the entire band class and I hyperventilated during mine and couldn't even finish. Following that an array of all the terrible things that could go wrong went through my head. So I stopped practicing. I went and sat down. Pulled myself together and waited for my accompanist to get there. So he gets there, and we go to rehearse. The piece kind of fell apart 2 or 3 times and I thought I was going to lose my mind and I was just going to crash and burn and be embarrassed. 
We get to the recital hall right after the first person finished their piece. I look at the list and I am 4th. So I sit and wait. I say to myself "God please please help me." I gather myself and walk up there for my turn. Once I stood up from my seat to walk up there I felt this overwhelming peace and love that I've only felt that strongly a few times in my life. I realized that I had just entrusted this task to God and that I was no longer in control. And it was the coolest thing ever!! I went up there confidently, warmed up, tuned, and took off. All the things I had messed up in rehearsal didn't happen. I didn't even mess up! I could feel God holding on to me the entire time all the way to the very last note! Once it was over I smiled really big at the audience and bowed and walked off with confidence knowing that God was and is always there. Once I took my seat in the audience I just sat there thanking God for that totally amazing experience and asked Him to help me apply that all the time in everything that I do! I could not stop thanking Him!
That was a very valuable lesson for me. It was really neat to see that God really can take over if you just trust Him. It was honestly one of the coolest things ever in my life! And I realized that I've got to start applying that to every aspect of my life.

Jesus Calling Dec 3rd

Love Has Come - Mark Shultz

Do not be alarmed when your mind is filled with worldly distractions and temptations or when you give into a weakness of yours. Do not be discouraged when that happens if you cannot get out immediately. You have to seek the Lord's Peace. This is the evil one trying to unravel your relationship with God. You will find yourself fighting the evil one in your mind, at which point you must call out "Jesus help me!" Saying is name is much more powerful than the evil one will ever be. It will be God fighting the evil one instead of you. You must just trust Him.

His name is very powerful, it has the power to bless you and protect you. When the world ends, every knee will bow and every tongue will proclaim His name. People who have used His name in vain will crumble and fall. Those who have praised His name and trusted Him will be filled with immense Joy. That is what we are to look forward to.

Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

1 Samuel 17:47 (NLT)

And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”

Philippians 2:9-10 (NLT)

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor

    and gave him the name above all other names,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

1 Peter 1:8-9 (NLT)

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

Elevation Church

Hey Guys!
I know I've not blogged today and yesterday, but I've just been so short on time in the mornings lately.
Today I would like to share with you the sermon that I heard this morning at the Elevation Church Extension at App State. It was a really great message and I encourage everyone to take the 37 minutes to listen to it.
http://www.elevationchurch.org/sermons/banneryears/part4
It is about putting God first. I know I do this blog most days and a lot of those of you who read it think that I am just totally in the right place. A lot of that is right, but I still have struggles every single day. Hey, I'm in college, so many temptations and distractions here.
I struggle daily with putting God first. I pray as often as I can. But I mean I get distracted really easily. Some days are just rough. And if we work more at putting God first, then everything else will be blessed and fall into place.
This sermon really laid it out well to hear and think about.