Show Up Filled Up

From Hopeless to Miraculous; What Do You Have to Give?

Sometimes seemingly hopeless circumstances are the PERFECT circumstances for Jesus to reveal Himself as our miraculous Provider…and sometimes? We just might have a part to play!

Matthew writes about this scenario in chapter 14 👉🏽 after a LONG day of miraculous healings, the disciples remind Jesus that they are in a remote place & that it’s getting late. There are close to 15,000 people present so they tell Jesus to, “send the crowds to the local villages to buy food for themselves.”

I find it fascinating that these first-hand, eye-witnesses to His miracle working power resort so quickly back to logic! (I confess that I can SO relate!😬)

Jesus’s response, however, kicked that logic to Kingdom come when He simply replied,

“That isn’t necessary - you feed them.”

Mt. 14:16

I can only begin to imagine their replies…

”Wait, what? You want US to feed over 15,000 people? How? With what are we supposed to feed them???”

Y’all, there is SO much to unpack in this passage, but a take away question for today is this:

❓What has God given you in private SO THAT YOU may provide for others in public?

The only way we can show up filled up is to spend time with the One who is our Bread of Life, the One Who longs to spend FaceTime with us morning by morning so He may give us an well-instructed tongue to fill & sustain the weary.

He promises to reveal great & hidden things you do not know, so that you can show up filled up with the Truth of His Word, ready to feed the spiritually hungry people you encounter each day!

🙏🏽 Holy Spirit, lead our spirits to make time in The Word of God a priority, so that our words might match His & become like manna to whomever we speak.🤩

#hope #jesus #help #devotional #holyspirit #bible #god #hopewriter

#MiraculousProvision #GodIsOurProvider

#FaithOverLogic #trustingod #breadoflife #oneyearbible

#godstiming

January 22 One Year Bible Readings

Genesis 44:1-45:28 | Matthew 14:13-36 | Psalm 18:37-50 | Proverbs 4:11-13

What We Love, We Love to Think of…

What we love, we love to think of.

It doesn’t matter if times are good or bad, if we’re rejoicing on the mountaintop or wading through a valley season, our thoughts wander to, find comfort in & even rest on that which we truly love.

I sometimes think of our hearts as a “homing device”, (a mechanism placed in a missile that guides it toward its target.)

We need be careful, however, to not let it be led by emotion, for then the target becomes something less than satisfying.

I can’t say that I can back this with a verse, but I believe there’s a Divine design for our hearts to long for home 👉🏽not a house, but a warm place of security, enveloped in unconditional love & a peace that’s tangible, but inexplicable.

When the Israelites were in Babylonian captivity, they sat beside the river banks & wept. I can almost picture the weeping willows that probably swayed in the breeze behind them while the ebb & flow of the water matched the sorrow in their hearts.

The writer declares, “If I forget you, Jerusalem…may my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I fail to remember you, if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy.”

As I read the last line, I wondered:

What is MY greatest joy?

We too have a Jerusalem awaiting our arrival with walls of jasper, 12 gates of pearl & golden streets as transparent as glass! (See Rev. 21!)

My old pastor exhorted us to think about eternity daily because it lifts our vision & recalibrates our hearts, reminding us of home eternal!

When we DO “remember Jerusalem”, (eternity w Jesus):

-all of the cares of this world

-the unresolved issues

-the shaky things far beyond our control, begin to fade.

It’s easy to “forget home”…

May we all have hearts that long for Home…much like the Israelites, may we remember that we reside as foreigners in this land of the lost! May our lives become a homing device thats leads others to know The One Who makes The Way to our eternal home in heaven!

Father, may our tounges stick to the roof of our mouths if we forget You! Use sadness & hardships to remind us of our need of You! 

Holy Spirit, be the homing device in our hearts that keeps our thoughts, eyes & hearts heavenward! 

#vision #oneyearbible

When Jesus is your Life, Death is not your Enemy

When Jesus is your life,

death is not your enemy.

I think Paul would’ve said that👆🏽

Facing death on any level doesn’t feel good because it means loss. But according to the words Paul penned from prison, our pending death will be a win-win situation if Jesus is our life this side of heaven!

Paul writes this to the Philippians:

“…everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die.

They didn’t shut me up;

they gave me a platform!

✨Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger;

dead, I’m his prize.✨

Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.”

(Philippians 1:21-24 MSG)

Y’all, if we KNOW Jesus as our very Source of life, even death cannot conquer us because it will simply become an open door to ETERNAL life with our resurrected King!

The enemy knows that in the end, he loses, so he will do whatever it takes to tempt us to think otherwise!

We ARE conquerors in and through Christ! When we accept His gift of salvation & let Him be Lord of ALL areas of our life, death loses its sting!

Death of self (-ish ambitions), leads to life in Christ WHILE we live on this earth! And physical death ushers us into eternal life in heaven!

Bottomline?

We are positioned in a win-win situation, so regardless of WHAT we face, lets remember WHO we will face when we die. Death is not our enemy when Jesus is our life!

#OneYearBible

September 28 One Year Bible Reading

Isaiah 57:15-59:21

Philippians 1:1-26

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 24:9-10