Therefore, prepare your minds for actions, be self-controlled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13 We just got done celebrating the birth of Jesus. His whole purpose for his birth was to be the sacrifice for our sins. He is our hope as we wait for His return. As we wait for His return, we need to keep our minds prepared. We need to be mentally alert. One stays mentally alert when we stay in God’s word, memorizing God’s word. We have to be obedient to God’s Word. We need to discipline in the ways of God’s…
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Letting Go of People-Pleasing
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? Mark 8:36 Are you a people pleaser? Do you care that people like you? Does it bother you if people don’t like you? People-pleasing can be a technique to feel that we belong, gain influence, or get others to fix a problem for us. Let’s get started! Read Exodus 32:1. Why were the people concerned? What did they want Aaron to do for them? What did they say about Moses? With Moses out of sight and out of mind, they reverted to their old idol worship ways. While Moses was…
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Letting Go With Help
a time to search and a time to count as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away; Ecclesiastes 3:6 Do you like to help others, even if you may be causing more harm them helping? Today let’s look at some ways to know when to help and when to let go. When someone comes to you asking for help or bail them out of a situation they have created themselves; what is the best option? This is a tool to use. Show compassion to them without being impulsive to act. Take time to validate the person’s stress, fear, or even panic…
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Satan’s Half Truths
There’s a right time to hold on and another to let go. Ecclesiastes 3:6 Satan uses Scripture to tempt Jesus by using half-truths to make God jump in and save him. However, we know this doesn’t work! Let’s read Matthew 4:5-7 and Luke 4:9-10. In what city does Satan tempt Jesus? How did Jesus get there? What did Satan tempt Jesus to do? It would probably be easy for Jesus to put Satan in his place. Jesus chose to go through the temptation, the pain, to choose to identify with our pain. He chose this to show us how to walk and live in victory…
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Only Jesus Satisfies
But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 What is your go-to thing to find satisfaction for a moment in your life? Mine is a diet coke or chocolate with caramel. You know the time in your life where things are just hectic and you are hungry, but you don’t have time to stop and eat. Or how about the times where you need time to stop, but it won’t. What is the one thing that you grab to help you through that time? That is what I am talking about. …
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May you ask
“you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” John 15:7-9 Do you know what your heart desires? Does it line up with God’s desires? In John 15:7, Jesus made an astonishing statement. You may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted. Is this the full access of a life abiding in Jesus means? Well, we have to remember the word “if.” The condition to having full access is tenaciously abiding. We have to remain in Jesus at all times. When we do this, our heart’s desire should be what God the father’s desires are. Look at John 3:22, “and can receive whatever we…
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Remaining In God-His Words Remain In You
“But If you remain in me and my words remain in you, . . . John 15:7 Do words matter to you? When people give you a compliment or a negative word, does it stay with you? Well, when we study God’s word, the bible, His words will remain in us. They take root and remain in us when we commit His word to memory when we sing His words, when we meditate on His words when we dig deeper to study His words when we hear His words through sermons, podcasts, and books. His words remain in us when we uplift others with His words. His word remains when…
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The Gardener
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.” John 15:1-3 Do you know God? Do you know who He is? Do you know what He is like? Jesus uses two metaphors in these first three verses. These metaphors reveal important things about who The Father and Himself are. Jesus states that He is the TRUE grapevine. Why do you think it is important that He states that…
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Mary and Martha: Part 1
“If any man is thirsty, let Him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'” John 7:37-38 Mary and Martha, two sisters who are very different from one another. They are two disciples. These two ladies show us much about pure worship and the kind of worship Jesus takes delight in. Let’s read John 10: 38-39. This is where we are introduced to Mary and Martha. What are your thoughts about Mary? What are your thoughts about Martha? How does Mary act toward Jesus? She was so hungry to learn more about Jesus. She…
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Eve
For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. Romans 8:20-22 The first woman created- Eve. She will forever be the woman first to sin, who ate the forbidden fruit. Eve was the final part of creation. Then God rested. Eve was made for Adam to be a companion. A helpmate. They were meant to complement one another where the other was weak. Their strengths…