Faith Like This…

Can you imagine “amazing” Jesus? 👉🏽That’s what a Roman officer did!

He wasn’t even a Jew. He wasn’t raised in the faith. He didn’t know the Torah & yet he probably heard rumors of this carpenter who could

🙌🏽 heal heal lepers,

🙌🏽 make the blind see

🙌🏽 and the deaf hear!

So when the officer pleads with Jesus to heal his servant, & Jesus agrees to come to his home, the man confesses this:

“I’m not worthy to have you in my home.

Just SAY THE WORD FROM WHERE YOU ARE and my servant WILL BE HEALED…”

When Jesus hears this, He is amazed!

Turning to those who are following him, Jesus declares , “I tell you the truth. I haven’t seen faith like this in all of Israel!”

I don’t know what you are facing today that seems impossible, but I am praying that as you read this, you would be encouraged to have FAITH LIKE THIS!

Jesus is the same yesterday today & forever!

He longs to be your Healer

Redeemer

Reconciler

Provider

Shepherd

Rock

Manna for today…

You name it & He is the Source of anything & everything you will ever need.

Just call on His name, confess like the Roman officer that you are not worthy of His grace, but that you desperately need Him to be your Savior!

Invite Him to reside inside & “say the Word” as He leads you as Lord, watching with great expectation how a “faith like this” will move mountains in your life!

#faithlikethis #faith #healer #hope #truth #word #jesus #bible #devotional #encouragement #christian #thesiftedlife

What will you leave behind in 2022?

It’s New Years Eve AND it’s a Saturday which means MOST of us have time to ponder this question👇🏽

“What will I leave behind in 2022 so I can live a life of unhindered purpose in 2023?”

It’s a serious question to consider BEFORE setting goals.

Goals are super important, but I don’t think that we begin with goals…

Goals are not just about achieving something.

Sometimes, most times, they require us to leave something behind.😬

Living a life of intention takes work. I like to call it, “The Sifted Life”, & here’s why:

The word, “intent” literally means, “to sift”.

If we are going to lead a life of intention & purpose, we need to sift our lives, allowing harmful, hurtful & unproductive

👉🏽things

👉🏽relationships

👉🏽& habits

fall away SO THAT we can focus on what remains => that which is helpful, important & productive!

Living an intentional life of purpose takes work, so what will you leave behind in 2022 so that you can enter 2023 unhindered by the things that rob you of productivity & purpose?

P. S. I’m leaving behind over-thinking & over-planning!💯

#goals #2023goals #goalsetting #2023 #purpose #intention #intentionalliving #intentionality #visionboard #vision #sift #thesiftedlife

Never Make a Vow Unless it’s to Never Take a Vow (but even then you’ll probably fall short…)

Vows are a funny thing…most times they feel like the righteous thing, but alotta times I think they're a religious thing that leads to trouble.

In recent years, Markel & I removed “always & never” from our vocabulary when the topic is people AND we are careful with our yes’s and no’s. If you think about it,  the ONLY Unchanging One is our ALWAYS-faithful, Alpha & Omega God!

I read a story this morning about Saul & his son Jonathon. The Israelites are in a losing battle against the Philistines. Saul camps on the outskirts, while Jonathon does something about it.

He leaves the army with his armor bearer. The Lord leads Jonathan (with an earthquake to boot!) to single-handedly turn the tide of the battle!

Exhausted at day’s end, he eats some honey, not knowing he’s breaking a vow his father had made.  Earlier in the day, Saul placed all of the warriors under oath that anyone who ate anything before evening would be cursed.

When Saul hears that someone didn’t obey, he rushes into another vow-that whomever broke the oath would be killed.

When he discovers that it was his own son, he hastily takes a 3RD OATH that if Jonathan doesn't die by day’s end, may God Himself kill Saul dead! WOWZA!

Jonathan’s death was spared by the pleas of the people, but it’s super ironic that Saul had to break HIS vows to spare his son from the consequences of breaking Saul’s own vow…🥴

I asked Markel this morning if there is any statement that is always true when it comes to people & he got me! He said people will always die. 😳 Let that sink in…the always-truth about people is that we all have an expiration date.

We all will always die, but that binary moment will be affected by a decision we make while still alive.

Will we utter the words that are inherently true about us? That we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior!

We will NEVER make our way to eternity with a holy God unless a Redeemer pays our debt 👉🏽 & that’s Jesus!

So there you have it…one always & one never about people that will always be true.

Holy Spirit, guard our mouths so we do not hastily say yes or no. May we be slow with our words & ONLY speak irrefutables when they align completely with Your Truth! 

#oneyaerbible #siftedwords #thesiftedlife

May 13th One Year Bible Readings

1 SAMUEL 14:1-52

JOHN 7:31-53

PSALM 109:1-31

PROVERBS 15:5-7