modesty

MODESTY MAY 8TH
"But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy or of teaching?"I CORINTHIANS 14:6

Brilliance is not possessing knowledge. Brilliance is dispensing knowledge in a simple, applicable, and easy to follow manner. The possession of knowledge is useless. The simple communication of knowledge is brilliance. The application of knowledge is a new heaven and a new earth. The force and power of applied knowledge is beyond imagination. A temptation/test exists for students of the bible to flaunt knowledge. The temptation occurs when the disciple desires for people to lust over the disciple’s ideas about God instead of falling in love with God. Please cloak your brilliant insights about Christ with modest simplicity. By expressing thoughts modestly, you allow for others

to more easily connect with you and the truth (Jesus.) Christ’s heart in you wants to connect to others through the words, ideas, tone, and expressions He inspires through you.

Yikes! Lord help me to consistently and forever remind myself of this truth. Would your Holy Spirit bring me to a place of simplicity in every conversation. I pray that you would give me opportunities to speak in a way that causes others to fall in love with you and you alone. 

May 5th - Sensitivity

This reading was very encouraging.  "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."
PHILIPPIANS 2:3-4

The devotional reminded me that there are many types of leaders/leadership.  However not all leaders/leadership is effective.  The Apostle Paul encourages his readers to, "considers others more important than themselves" and to "look out for others personal interests."  This type of living is leadership.  This type of living demands that we limit our freedom and make room for others initiative, energy, and activity. 

"To effectively lead is to draw out the creative capacity of those who you serve"

Strength and Firmness

Lately, I have been through tough times. Struggling with problems and the things that bring me down has forced me to the ground, helpless. I haven't been living in Christ the way that he calls us to, but we must all go through pain and suffering in life. I think that in dark times, we realize that we need God because that is the one thing that we can count on no matter what. I am on a journey and God is there with open arms for me.

"Your journey through this world is a journey of hope that you, by Christ’s seed of faith in you, would trust your loving, good savior at all moments and in all places."

I need God's strength. And through trusting in him, I am healing. I pray that you would put your trust in God first whenever you are down. God bless.

Passion

"When you visualize and internalize Christ personally anointing you and putting his seal of adoption upon your life, freedom and risk-taking become a lifestyle as opposed to an abstract ideal...You exude peace, passion, goofiness, and fun... You live fearlessly, for you know that when you fail you fall into the arms of the one whom no kingdom, plan, authority, or power can stop or diminish." Amen!

My fear of the unknown has a tendency of holding me back from living the way I want at times. But this reminded me, we already know who wins. In Jesus we have guaranteed victory! When I dwell on that, the fear of the unknown diminishes and what is left is peace, passion, goofiness, and fun, which is a far better way to live.

someones gotta bleed!

SINCERE LOVE FOR PEOPLE APRIL 27TH

"Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread."
I CORINTHIANS 10:16 -17


"In order to reveal the heart of Christ, someone needs to bleed". During this unprecedented time, and with all of the uncertainty that lies ahead, I have struggled at times to remember my role as leader and what it means to be okay with bleeding. Someones gotta do it!!! We all find ourselves in leadership positions in our lives, and the call for us is to bleed in order for the heart of christ to be revealed. Why do I lack this desire to bleed sometimes? Because it is painful. 
The process always begins with intense pain but ends with joyful transformation. If you are called to lead, then you are called to be infused with the intoxicating wine of Christ. Drink the cup.You’ll hate the pain but find great joy in the transformation. Keep in mind – leadership without blood is dead.
I also enjoyed the line from another devo related to pain; "What are you choosing today? The pain of discipline or the pain of regret?". If i choose not to discipline myself to bleed now, the pain that I will experience will be the pain of regret, which is way worse than the pain of submitting myself to bleed on Christ's behalf.

"Leadership without blood is dead"..... - favorite lines from the devos this week....

I felt challenged by the following lines from the devotional this week:

April 27th - "Leadership without blood is dead."
April 28th - "What are you choosing today? The pain of discipline or the pain of regret?"
April 29th - "The restless call of the wild for you and every other soul is Christ's beckoning, "Come die with me."
April 30th - "How and when God will expose the source of your faith is life's most suspenseful and necessary mystery?"
May 1st - "Fear and condemnation are swallowed up by hope and acceptance."

Our Response to God's Control - Humility!

April 28th's devotional hit a little close to home.  With all that is going on, it is sometimes easy to think "I will pick up my cross" when this pandemic ends.........Really?

From Devo - Paul’s introduction to a relationship with Christ involved being abruptly confronted with the severity of suffering he would endure as a consequence to pursuing Christ. What vision does Christ need to give to you so that you would understand the painful realities that you’ll need to endure for your call?

God has not put His call on our lives on hold until COVID goes away.

From Devo - The clear preference for the majority of our world is that they would rather avoid the reward of pursuing Christ’s highest call for their lives because His path is at times agonizing.
Instead of embracing the pain of discipline for attaining their life’s deepest meaning and thrill, they settle both now and going forward for the scripture’s promise of a far deeper and destructive pain. . . 

God is in control and our response to His control may include suffering, discipline, and other painful realities that we must endure to live out His call on our lives.

-Reid

Humility

Humility/April 28^th

“When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.” (I Corinthians 11:32)

I really enjoyed this devo because it was just a solid reminder that committing to a life of following Jesus does not mean that we will become an uber-powerful person and never experience any pain. But rather a life of following Christ is a life of discipline, and the Lord disciplines us because he loves us. He humbles us! Humility has always seemed tricky to me, especially because sometimes I think I am humble but then get punched in the gut and realize that I am not humble.

The devo puts it nicely in that “Instead of embracing the pain of discipline for attaining their life’s deepest meaning and thrill, they settle both now and going forward for the scripture’s promise of a far deeper and destructive pain…”

On a somewhat different note, I watched the movie “The Princess Bride” recently (great movie if you haven’t seen it) and one of my favorite quotes from that movie is “Life is pain, anybody who says any different is selling something”

Lord, I thank you for your discipline and your love, allow me to fully embrace the pain of discipline. Amen!

Konrad

Sacrifice

"To surrender condemnation, self-hatred, and shame to Christ is to drop your nails and let Christ do His work . . . . and die for it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."

It can sometimes be hard to face the things that are keeping us away from Jesus, but without accepting them and sacrificing our mistakes to God, we can never move past them. Especially during a time of so much uncertainty, we must admit to God if we have doubted his efforts to comfort us because only in that way can we fully give our trust to God, and then God can lead us.

I hope everyone is safe and healthy, you are all in my prayers!

-Kendall

Destroy and Rebuild

This week's devotionals really made me think back about my journey of rediscovering Christ over these last two years. The Devotional for April 21st really hit my soul with the following words "To step through Calvary with Jesus is to enter into a transcendent, unique freedom. Your core has not been reshaped or trained or inspired to better living through Calvary, but instead, your core has been annihilated."

Have you ever looked up the word annihilated in the dictionary? If not, well it is a powerful word that is described with synonyms such as, "destroy utterly" and "obliterate". To those who have not been broken down, only to be rebuilt with the love of Christ, this may seem like a frightening process. We live in a world where people break our hearts, financial burdens obliterate relationships, and lies can utterly destroy trust. So why in the world would anyone want their core to be annihilated by God?  It is a crazy concept if you think about it. 

When I entered my relationship with Jesus for the second time I was broken and completely hopeless. I kept praying for God to "fix me". I remember screaming out "Jesus please please fix my broken heart!" It wasn't until I came upon Isaiah 64:8 in my bible study group did I understand being broken down by Christ: "Yet You, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand." What if fixing, editing, and repairing isn't at all what God has in mind for us when we feel broken. What if God wants to make you brand new? It's an exciting process if you think of the end goal. If you let yourself surrender, be returned to dust, God can make something really cool out of you. Instead of being afraid of the pain that comes with being returned to dust, I choose to pursue this brokenness in hopes I become something new and better than before. Maybe one day I'll become a cool vase or something on his potter's wheel. 

Sincere Love for People

The devotion yesterday (4/27) reminded me of a couple things: first is the saying "no pain not gain", and second is the song "Let Her Go" by Ophelia. Both of these things have a similar point: you only truly feel the reward of something if you struggle and work for it and feel the other side. It is interesting to hear these in a Christian context, as I never have really thought about leading through Christ in that way.

Trusting and Acknowledging the Author and Perfecter of Faith -- LOVE IT!

The studies this week reminded me that God is constantly moment by moment perfectly pushing me to whole hearttedly trust that He is good and that He is the author and perfecter of faith. 

Thank you Jesus that the scope of your "perfecting faith efforts" ranges from intimate/personal to cosmic/filling all space and time. 

Thank you for reminding me of the grand stage (every knee bowed and every tongue on heaven, earth, and under the earth confessing your Lordship!!!) that is always set when I acknowledge the beauty and power of your incredible sacrifice. 

You're so, so worthy of praise, honor, blessing, and power!

modesty

MODESTY                                                                                                                                                                          APRIL 22ND
"You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE

HUMBLE. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."1 PETER 5:5
The Bible talks a great deal about clothing. We are told to not worry about what we wear. We are told to adorn ourselves modestly, not drawing attention to ourselves. We are told that Christ Himself will dress us with Himself. We are told to put on the full armor of God. We are told that our sin is like dirty garments. The Apostle Peter tells us to clothe ourselves with humility because God is opposed to the proud. The question is never, "Will I wear clothes today?" The question is always, "What clothes will I wear?" We are to be clothed with the person of Jesus Christ. May the love of Christ be the inner garment of our heart. May a sincere love for people be our outer wares. May adornments of humility, sacrifice, and loyalty cloak our being. May the fragrance of passion, strength, discipline, and sensitivity exude from within us.

This week of devotionals were so uplifting and refreshing to my soul. This devo stood out the most this week. I could read this over and over and still be filled with joy and mercy as I feel Jesus tapping me on the shoulder and saying "what clothes will you wear today?". When I think of modesty initially, I always tend to think of literal clothes. Sometime I am reminded of modesty as being humble, but never has God given given me clear eyes to see that modesty can we worn as an inner garment and an outer garment. My deepest longing is for Christ to dress me up with Himself. That I would outwardly wear a sincere love for people while inwardly revealing a love for Christ in my heart. The hardest thing for me to realize in this moment is that is my choice to pick what I wear! I need to choose every day if I will wear the love and Life of Christ or if I will choose to put on the dirty garments of sin that reflect this world?

Lord, thank you for being the awesome God that you are. Thank you for revealing new things to me and for renewing my mind with your Word. I pray I would have the wisdom and discernment to choose daily to put on the garments that resemble you, and that I would fully reflect Christ with what I wear physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Amen.

Discipline

Discipline

April 20^th

“The challenge is that the fullness of your creator is not something that you acquire. It is freely and extravagantly given. What lacks is the discipline and resolve to commune intimately with the creator’s abundance.”

What an encouragement to have more discipline! That the purpose of discipline in spending time with the Lord is not to earn his freedom and love, but rather to bathe in it and “commune intimately with the creator’s abundance.” There are days where I struggle to maintain my discipline in my relationship with the Lord, and I am not losing the Love of God, but rather a chance to commune with God, which in my opinion, makes the love of God all more encompassing and deeper.

Lord, I pray that you give me the discipline to commune intimately with your love and abundance that you have already freely given to me. Amen.

Konrad

Anxiety

April 23rd - "When you anxiously await the coming of Christ, you are defining your present and future with freedom."

I find myself anxious about all the wrong things.  I found this particular line above encouraging in re-orientating my heart and thoughts to Jesus.

-Reid 

STRENGTH AND FIRMNESS APRIL 16TH
“We know that we all possess knowledge, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” I CORINTHIANS 8:1

"...your relationship with Him is not cream puff ideas of how to have a better day but instead an intense love affair that demands your body, heart, mind, and strength."

I love this verse and message because when we go through difficult times, it is so easy to feel sorry for ourselves and imagine that God has forgotten us to let us have to face those hardships. God has a plan for all of us, so much laid out for us in life that we have to push through barriers to experience. God is bigger than all of our problems, and if we trust in Him fully and surrender ourselves to Him, nothing can defeat us. If we face our struggles with excitement because it will bring us closer to God, we can persevere.

I pray that everybody is safe and healthy during these difficult times. I pray that the people that need social interaction to stay sane are able to still connect with their friends in alternative ways and feel fulfilled through that. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, I pray that we look for what God is preparing for the world.

Sensitivity 4/17

"'Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples. ' And he said to them, 'When you pray, say: Father hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" Luke 11:2-4

I'd never noticed the significance of the words YOUR and US in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus not only calls each of us into a personal relationship with Him, but calls us to be his church in living out the life of the Kingdom of God together.

This reminded me of one of my favorite quotes by author Donald Miller: "Life is not a story about me, but it is being told to me, and I can be glad of that."

As Christians, the primary goal of our lives is engaging with the abundant life God offers us as children of his Kingdom, not about building our own success, image, happiness etc. The great beauty in orienting our lives around "YOUR will be done" is that we get to watch the amazing way God tells His story in our lives. What a gift!

April 15th Passion Reminds Me of The Blog Experience

Each year I find myself inspired, refined, and mentored by reading the blog posts.  April 15th's meditation reminded me why the blogs have such profound impact so I've written out some highlights I have in my book from April 15th.

"For in team work and mentoring God's extraordinary testimony is expressed in the perfectly unique form of each team member, mentor, and mentoree."

"The way that God's word reveals itself with such diversity among His people blows my mind."

"You unique witness reveals Christ in you the Hope of Glory and it is stunningly beautiful."

Thanks for putting your time into the blog.  Your posts time and time again reveal Christ's work in you and Christ's person through you.

Sensitivty

Hey everyone, I'm so sorry I haven't posted yet, but I have enjoyed reading what you guys have shared.

Reading the verse for today, I never fully understood the meaning behind it. My family and I say this prayer before every meal, but I have always just wanted to say it and get it over with in order to eat my food, which sounds worse than I ever intend it to be.

“Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”LUKE 11:2-4

As I continue to read this verse over again, I find something new in it that I never saw before. This verse has helped me realize that while yes praying in time of need, God will listen, but it's more about the learning and acceptance of prayer. Prayer is like a phone call to God who listens to each and every word carefully and gives his children what they need rather than what they want.

This verse is also saying that if God is able to forgive us for our sins and wrongdoing, we should be able to forgive those we feel have wronged us, which is such an important aspect in life. To be able to let go of past grudges, we can be more connected not only to ourselves and those around us, but to God for following his path and his teachings.

With this verse, I feel as though there is so much to take from it and apply it to our everyday lives, especially in this time when we need to stay home, leaving us with our own thoughts about the past, present, and future.

-Alyssa Brown