shadow

love

Stand Firm in Your Faith

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”
Isaiah 7:9 NIV

What you stand firm in is where you place your identity. For Christians we can tell ourselves that our identity is rooted in Christ, but do we act that way? We need to remember that our actions speak louder than our words. What have you done lately to show that you are standing firm in your faith? Sometimes it’s not a “ready for battle attitude”, but instead it’s more of “circling back around to the truth.” After you feel like you’ve exhausted all other options, so now it’s time to pray. After you allowed anxiety and worry to consume you, you remind yourself of God’s love.

Reminding ourselves:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  2 Corinthians 4:8-10

We are human and sometimes we want to try to make ourselves happy or try to fix things ourselves. Standing firm is not in our own power, but in the power God gives us. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. The Holy Spirit is our super power! He is where our supernatural strength comes from. He is where our perseverance comes from… But only if we activate our power through Him.

If you are wondering whether you’ve been standing firm in your faith or in something else, I encourage you to ask yourself what is it that most people see when they look at you? Are you living as such that people can see Jesus in you, or are worldly worries and idols take over your heart?

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me

Psalm 51:10-12

This is my prayer for you today, friends.

Stephanie Miller

 

Photo Credit: image created via wordswag

Love Much?

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” 
John 13:35, NIV

Several months after my mother died, I found on the bush beneath her bedroom window the winter beauties pictured here. I brought them home and placed them in a bowl that had belonged to her mother. Among all of our Christmas decorations that year, there was none more beautiful than the “Empress of Winter.” Chinese tradition conveys that a camellia’s perfectly symmetrical form symbolizes the expression of long-lasting devotion.

Shortly after my mother’s death, someone asked me what one word I would use to describe her. “Devoted” immediately came to mind. Her children and grandchildren were her focus, and she always signed her cards to me …

Finding the camellias a few months after my mother’s death not only served as a timely reminder of her life-long devotion to her family, but they reminded me of my Heavenly Father’s eternal love.

Scripture tells us that because God loved us, “he gave.” He gave what was most dear to him—his only Son, Jesus (John 3:16). There was no price too great to pay as a ransom for our souls. He gave his all.

We find one of the most beautiful stories of devotion in Luke 7—the account of the sinful woman who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, then kissed and anointed them with expensive perfume. She expressed her worship in the presence of self-righteous Pharisees who thought her unworthy of giving such an extravagant gift. To them, the gift held far more value than the woman who gave it. They saw the breaking of the flask and the spilling of the precious oil as wasteful, but Jesus saw her heart—a heart broken and emptied—one filled with repentance for a wasted life. Jesus defended the woman and forgave her sins because “she loved much.” She had given him her all.

Jesus taught that the secret of devotion is to love much. In the United States, we see much love expressed on Valentine’s Day. Even before the last of ole St. Nick is packed away, all things “love” pop up on store shelves. This heart-shaped frenzy results in the exchange of 1 billion cards in the United States alone, 50 million roses sent, 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolates sold, and enough candy hearts made to stretch from Valentine, Arizona to Rome, Italy and back again. Now that’s a whole lot of love but not the “much” of which Jesus spoke.

Who are we devoted too? We’ll find our answers laced with actions. The more devoted we are to someone, the more we’ll give of ourselves in ways beyond disposable tokens given on holidays alone. We’ll empty our hearts. We’ll give our all every day of the year.

May it be said of us, “Because God loved, they loved much. They gave.”

Starr Ayers

Joy Bombs

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Psalm 16:11, ESV

If there was ever a need for joy in our world, it’s now. But can we really expect anything more than the resonant discord and blatant disregard for humanity that runs rampant in our streets and across our airwaves? It’s true the world with its plentiful array of extravagant resources can bring moments of happiness, but lasting joy—never.

The culpability for our lack of contentment doesn’t lie at the feet of fallen humanity. Can darkness bring forth light? The lack of contagious joy in our world rests at the heart’s door of Christ followers who fall far short of being the conduits of joy we’re purposed to be. If believers adopt the despondent mindset of fallen humanity, what hope do we have for joy to permeate our society?

Christians are called to be lights in the darkness, to exhibit joy in the midst of mundaneness and sorrow. A believer’s heart holds the one necessary ingredient for joy—the love of Christ. Joy issues from an overflow of that love. Galatians 5:22 mentions the attributes of a life filled with the fruit of the Spirit. Love and joy top the list. One does not come without the other, and joy never precedes love.

Earlier this year our women’s Bible study group enjoyed Margaret Feinberg’s study, Fight Back with Joy. We were encouraged to rate our level of joy on a scale of 1-10. It was a sobering assignment and hard to be honest, but God already knew … so why not. An honest assessment was necessary in order to lay hold of a deeper, more abundant joy.

Because true joy is rooted in our sense of God’s fierce love for us, we were challenged to find joy in the commonplace. To look for “joy bombs” that God drops into the ordinariness of our day—a butterfly, that morning cup of coffee, the hug of a loved one, rain pelting the window, flowers dancing in the breeze. We found joy bombs everywhere. We’re still counting.

How about you? On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your level of joy? I challenge you to experience a deep, contagious joy by looking for joy bombs throughout your day. Then to double the pleasure—pay it forward. Be a source of God’s love and drop joy into the life of another.

It’s contagious.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Starr