November 11

So often we relegate Jesus to be our genie in a bottle rather than our loving Savior. Our relationship is sometimes superficial and without the heartfelt love that should define the true nature of who He is. Do you want to be closer to Him? Then, think about a relationship that you’ve pursued. What were the steps you took to cultivate it? Let's take, for instance, a first date; you might go to dinner and begin chatting and telling the other person about yourself and then listen intently when they tell you about themselves. You don’t start it off by asking for something. You get to know them to see if you’re compatible. Even though you haven’t taken the time to pursue Him, you still ask Him for things. He has been pursuing you for your whole life, stop and let Him catch you. This life is not about what He can do for you, it’s about a loving relationship with Him.

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:18-19

November 10

Sometimes I’m surprised by my own actions! After going into the grocery store, I came out and began looking for my truck and spotted it. As I approached it, I noticed that there was something sticky on it and my church bumper magnet was missing. I thought the magnet had fallen off and left a mark. I began trying to get the sticky stuff off. It wasn’t coming off easily, so I left it and proceeded to put my stuff in the back seat. When I opened the door, I realized it wasn’t my truck! Oh my goodness! I had just opened someone else’s door! I shut it and quickly moved on hoping no one saw me! Thank goodness their interior was different, otherwise I may have tried to crank it up! I think God may give us moments of laughter just to help lighten the mood. We can get so caught up in worldly affairs that sometimes our hearts grow weary. Stop being so serious and take a moment to laugh.

A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. Proverbs 15:13

November 9

At some point, each of us has felt like we’ve had a target on our back. You know what I’m talking about! The days when you’re ready to leave your house, where just getting to that point in itself was a chore, you get in your car and spill your coffee! You finally get on the road, only to come close to death three times before arriving at your destination. Wow! You made it! Then, you wait for hours at the DMV just to renew your license and once you finally get everything handled, you go to grab your wallet to pay and realize, during the coffee fiasco, you left your wallet at home! Where was God in all this? He commanded His angels concerning you so you wouldn’t be harmed by those cars who wanted to smash you to pieces on your way there. The coffee spill and the wallet incident are just a minor inconvenience. You were unharmed, and that’s what matters. Praise God for your life!

"Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." Psalms 81:14-16

November 8

There is a teaching that I hear often, and it makes so much sense, and it is that we should never do ministry alone. I would stretch that a little further and say that we should never try to traverse Christian life alone. We need other believers to rally behind us and to hold us up when things get tough, and also to rejoice with us through our accomplishments and victories. The Holy Spirit is thick and strong when we link our shields together and have the power of Jesus flowing through us. If you are trying to make it through life and things get hard, find a few believers to stand with you to hold up your arms like Aaron and Hur did for Moses as Israel was fighting Amalek. When Moses dropped his arms, Israel would begin to lose, so Aaron and Hur held up Moses’s arms when he couldn’t do it anymore. I’ve felt this kind of power and know it’s real! The power of hell will not prevail!

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Exodus 17:11-13

November 7

Out of nowhere my tablet lost the connection to the keyboard. I can usually hit a couple of keys and it comes back up, but not this time! It was necessary for me to go into the settings and turn the Bluetooth back on in order to re-establish that connection. In the meantime, I couldn’t figure out what had happened; what in the world did I do to mess it up? I’m still not sure what caused the disconnection. Do you feel this way with God? You keep writing Him letters, but the keyboard is not communicating with the Receiver so He’s not getting them. What creeped in and caused that separation? If you're feeling this way, there is a simple solution, ask for forgiveness. You may begin by asking Him what sins you’ve committed that need forgiveness; then pray and turn away from it. Then your line of communication will be quickly re-established.

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Isaiah 59-1-2

November 6

Fellowship is so sweet, especially among believers. What had started out as a trip to Top Golf, a beautifully designed driving range, ended up at a bowling ally! Though it was still sporty, it was a huge contrast from elegance to, well, not elegance. The best part is that it didn’t matter! We were together, cheering on our strikes as well as our gutter balls, laughing and creating that unbreakable bond as the bride of Christ. We each functioned in a different capacity; some of us were good at bowling and others of us stunk, but loving one another was the common goal, and I would say, we did that pretty well! If the wedding supper of the Lamb is going to be anything like this, we are going to have a great time, and believe me, it’s going to be much better than bowling! This is just a snippet of what it’s like to do life with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Though it may not always be rainbows and butterflies, there will always be love!

And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." Revelation 19:9

November 5

God’s main teaching in the Bible is about love. It covers His love for us and how He wants us to love. Does yours measure up to the examples He gives? So much of what we are dealing with in the world today is because of the lack of real love. We use our infatuation for material things as a comparison and not true affection. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he gives us a laundry list of what real love should look like. Read the verses listed below and search yourself and see if yours looks like this. If it doesn’t, ask God to chip away the stone you have for a heart and replace it with a heart of flesh. Our time on this earth is too short to waste it by being arrogant, rude, irritable, or resentful. If you are not patient and kind, what you have may not be love. We all need a check-up when it comes to this, so let the Holy Spirit prick your heart and see if your feelings are true.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7