“So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.” Colossians 3:5-9 NLT

No one likes to be told what to do, especially if someone is telling you to do what you can’t do. Most people will just accentuate the positive and live in denial that there is evil in the world and an enemy desperate to take them out. Jesus, however, never shyed away from telling people the truth. Real love doesn’t just say the nice things about a person but helps the person see the errant path he is heading down.

Despite the conviction that these verses can procuce, I do want to caution a lot of well-meaning Christians out there who feel it is their duty to use verses like these convict everyone out there. This used to be me when I was younger. Naive as I was, I put myself in a position of being better than everyone. Sure, I never saw it that way. I thought I was doing good. Thanks be to God He saved me from myself and taught me to love people toward Him. That didn’t mean not having difficult conversations, but it did mean that I was so aware of my sin that there was no way I could come from a place of judgement; instead, I learned to come to people out of a place of compassion realizing that I have my own struggles.

Since then, what I jokingly call my second conversion, I have also learned the kindness in verses like these. Nothing in the list above is really helpful at all. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I’ve tried all of them at one point and see now the destruction they caused my life. I now have a better understanding of what David meant when he said, ” I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:32). When you come to realize that God is trying to save you from heartache, loneliness, despair, and destruction, you begin to to trust in His goodness and kindness toward you and that frees you up to live the life you were meant to live in holiness. Holiness, these days, has been shoved in the background in a lot of Christianity and replaced with love and relationship, but how can you have a relationship with the Lord if you are constantly cheating behind His back. Holiness is not something that should cause you to constantly get down on yourself but should be something we pursue, because we know it brings us closer to the heart of God.

If you’ve been reading my devotional then you probably know what’s coming next so go ahead and spend some time confessing to the Lord the ways you have been cheating on Him in your relationship. If there are some things that you can’t seem to get rid of, confess them to a brother or sister in Christ you trust. Don’t hold back. Ask them to commit to pray with you and for you and to walk with you through your struggle. This is what the body of Christ is for.

Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ. And as Christ himself is seen for who he really is, who you really are will also be revealed, for you are now one with him in his glory!” Colossians 3:3-4 TPT

What an incredible concept! When you trust Christ and give your life over to Him, your life is hidden away in Christ, meaning that it is safe and secure. Though the world may crumble around you, and you may even feel like you’re crumbling, there is no need to worry about what your future holds. Your life is now in the securest place possible; it is safely locked away with Christ.

The old you is gone; it has been crucified with Christ. That is not who you are anymore. You are no longer a slave to your old ways. He is your life now. The truest thing about you is your new life with Christ. You’ve been given a new heart. There is no need to sulk in your missteps and wanderings; they have been crucified with Christ, and now your life has been resurrected in Him!

I know this all sounds great to some, but for many of you, you can’t get past your sinful life. You don’t think you deserve grace or even a new life. I get it. I’ve been there, but this is where your faith needs to wake up from its sleep. The faith that started you on this journey where you trusted Christ to save you is still alive and well. And athough this current life you live can be a struggle mixed in with some great moments, those great moments will someday be your total reality.

Take a minute to meditate on how Christ has changed your life. Gather all those moments up and let them be your new reality.

Hold on to this new reality, Friends. Things will get tougher. Hold on to the great moments you have with Christ in this life and know that there is more and a better life on the other side.

“So understand and be confident in God’s will, and don’t live thoughtlessly.” Ephesians 5:17 TV

Ever wondered what God’s will is for you?

If you are like I am, when someone seems to have an answer on what God’s will is for me I perk up, ready to listen. I am hoping that someone will tell me what I need to be doing specifically with regard to what career I should be in, or who I should marry, or some other big decision I need to make. Let me let you down easy. I don’t know what job you should take, or who you should marry, or what big decision you should make. The truth is we spend way too much time, energy and effort on things like this that hold some value only in this life but matter little, if at all, for eternity. God is way more concerned with who you are regardless of what job you take or who you marry. Whatever job you decide to take, He is more concerned with who you will be in that job. Whoever you decide to marry, He is more concerned with you will be in that marriage. Whatever big decision you are about to make, the real question is who will you be?

“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.” Colossians 3:1-2 TM

Jesus has secured a place in eternity for us yet we get too caught up in what happened today or might happen tomorrow. What causes us to get bogged down by life here on Earth so much? Maybe our view of eternity is off. Maybe the reason we don’t yearn for Heaven is that our view of it is way too limited and small. Maybe our view of God is too limited and small. In Heaven, we will encounter the One who created us face to face.

I came across this quote from Max Lucado that I hope you find helpful…

“John says someday God will wipe away your tears. The same hands that stretched the heavens will touch your face. The same hands who formed the mountains will caress your face. The same hands tht curled in agony as the Roman spike cut through will someday cup your face and brush away your tears. Forever.”

Friends, if we are going to make it through these end times which will get harder, we have to develop our heavenly perspective. We need to train our eyes to look beyond what is right in front of us and see through to what really matters. If we are going to develop an eternal perspective, we have to be able go beyond what we have experienced in our small, short lives and open ourselves up to the wonders of what the supernatural might be like in Heaven.

Spend some time asking the Lord to help expand your view of Heaven. Ask Him to give you a glimpse of the life to come. Take a minute to listen and watch where He might take you in your mind. It might even be helpful to write down whatever comes to mind.

“So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!” Romans 8:38-39 TPT

What a great comfort! No matter how much you feel you’ve blown it, no matter how grim of circumstances you find yourself in, you cannot be separated from God’s extravagant love. Jesus expressed the depths of God’s love for us when he layed down His life for us, even while we were still rebelling against Him.

Do you know God’s love? Maybe you can see it in others, but do you know His love for you personally?

For me, I have had to pray His love into me over and over. I had to open myself up to His love, actually open my heart to receive His love. I had some traumatic things in my past that kept me from receiving any love, much less the love of God Himself, and I let Jesus come in and heal me in those places. Today, I feel more loved than I ever have from the Lord; yet I long for more and I know there is more.

If you are honest with your yourself, to what degree have you received the love of God? Spend a minute asking Him what is keeping you from receiving His love. Then take some time to pray His love into your life. There is more!

The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zepahniah 3:17

If you’ve ever wondered what the heart of God was, this is one of the best verses to look at.

“The LORD your God is with you” – God is not absent in your life. You may be absent to God but he is present with you. You need the rid yourself of the numbness and doubt and wake up to His presence.

“He is mighty to save” – There is no sin that is more powerful than the cross. Whatever your’e struggling with, even if you’ve struggled with it for years, the Lord is strong enough to save you from yourself. Maybe you feel like the enemy has been owning you. He is also strong enough to save you from the enemy and, in fact, has already defeated him. The enemy is powerless against the might of our God.

“He will take great delight in you” – God not only loves you but He also likes you. He sees the best in you and enjoys who you are.

“He will quiet you with His love” – God can calm all your fears. Will you let Him?

“He will rejoice over you with singing” – What an amazing thought. God not only delights in us, calms us with His love, saves us, and is present with us but He sings over us. Can you hear the song He is singing over you right now? Have you ever stopped and listened?

This is God’s heart for us. Thanks be to God! He doesn’t do any of these things out of obligation or constraint, but he freely and willingly pours out His heart on us. Yet even though it’s free, we still have to receive it.

Spend some time reading over this verse a few times letting each line sink in. Then spend a full minute listening. Picture Him delighting in you, let Him quiet you with His love, and tune in to the song He is singing over you.

“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.” Psalms 46:10 TM

There are a lot of things that are competing for your attention. Your heart is under assault. Everytime you turn on the TV, browse through social media, listen to the radio, or surf the internet, there is a lot of bad news. It’s easy to give way to despair, but we have to protect our hearts and not let the fear and anxiety in.

We need to remind our hearts that the Lord in still on His throne, and He is still God.

Stop right where you are. Take a few deep breaths:

• Inhale – “The Lord is still on His throne”
  • Exhale – “I breathe out despair.”
• Inhale – “Lord you have my heart”
  • Exhale – “I cast out anxiety and fear.”
• Inhale – “He is still God.”
  • Exhale – “I rid myself of fear.”

Try this throughout the day. When you’re at home or at the office or stuck in traffic, stop and quietly speak these truths over yourself. Don’t let the enemy get a foothold in your life; resist him and expel the fear, anxiety, and depression. Fill you heart up with the truth. With all that’s coming at you, you might need to do this re-centering multiple times a day.

“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.” Romans 12:1 TPT

Sacrifice. The definition is, “the act of giving something valued for the sake of something else regarded as mor important or worthy. When you think of your Christian faith, would you categorize it by sacrifice?

I confess that I have realized that I have made my life way too comfortable. I may do a good job of attending Church most Sundays when I can and helping on the worship team and occasionally leading a Bible study, but I still find this verse to be convicting. I even spend some time in prayer and reading everyday, but I still don’t believe my life is a living sacrifice. I can hear Inigo Montoya from the Prince’s Bride saying, “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”

Not that this is a point system, or anything like it, but I do believe we were made to be set apart and living sacrifices for Him. And if I’m honest, I feel more like I just do the “easy” things for God, maybe taking a couple hours out of a Sunday or 30 minutes a day meditating on His word and prayng. When it comes to sacrificing my time to help someone out who may be hard to love, or sacrificing my status or pride by sharing my faith with others, or sacrificing my money to give to those in need, I feel like I’ve got some work to do.

When I think of sacrifice, I think of the disciples who literally risked their lives daily to preach the good news. I think of the community of believers in Acts who sold all their possessions to give to those who were in need, and I think of Jesus Christ who gave his very life, enduring the cross so that we might live through Him.

Maybe it’s time for us to rethink what it means to be a “living sacrifice.” Spend some time with the Lord and ask Him to show you what it means to be a living sacrifice. Take a minute to listen to what he says to you. Maybe take a day to meditate on sacrifice as you go about your day today.

“Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received!” 2 Peter 1:3 TM

How are you holding up? Do you feel like no matter what you do you can’t live the life God has for you? Many people feel this way. They blow it; then begin to believe they don’t have what it takes, so what’s the point in trying?

But the truth is that our ability to live the life that was meant for us does not come from ourselves; it comes from knowing Jesus intimately. Because of Him, you have what it takes!

I’m not sure where you are at today. Maybe you have drifted from from your faith and are aimlessly hacking your way through your life. The invitation for real life still stands. Don’t let your ability or previous failures keep you from pursuing it.

Accept the invitation. Spend some time in prayer, and ask the Lord to open your eyes and your heart to know Him more.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” – Jesus (John 14:1)

Something just dawned on me, that what Jesus is saying here is that you have a choice. You have a choice in the matter of whether you let your heart be troubled or not. I don’t know how I’ve missed this!

There is quite a bit right now in our world that could potentially cause you to despair. There is so much uncertainty that you could easily let your heart falter. I probably don’t even need to give you examples, but suffice to say, we are in troubled times; however, you don’t need to let it get you down. Jesus is offering a couple great solutions:

First, Jesus is calling you to make the decision to not let your heart be troubled by whatever it is, even if you’ve got a seemingly overwhelming amount of things stacked against you. He’s saying to make the decision to not give those things a place in your heart–don’t give any creedence to them. You don’t have to play the victim anymore, rebuke those thoughts.

He then goes on to tell us to trust in the Father and also in Him. How easily and quickly we forget that “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” Trust in Him to work things out for good (Romans 8:28). He has already overcome the enemy and the world! Just a few verses later in Romans, Paul poses a great question, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Spend some time with the Lord, and ask Him to show you where your heart might be troubled. Confess those things to Him and ask Him to rid you of those thoughts.

Remember, you have a choice in the matter.