Tag: new normal

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(7) All My Devotion: Having Done All To Be Strong (Armor part 2)

Having done all to be strong

Ephesians 6:12-13 (Bible in Basic English Version)

For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens. For this reason, take up all the arms of God, so that you may be able to be strong in the evil day, and, having done all, to keep your place.

Have I done all to keep my place? Have I really done all? First I need to have a deepened awareness of who my enemy is. My enemy is nothing human, my enemy is everything in the spiritual realm of evil. Satan and his advocates are the spirits of evil coming against the spirits of the heavenlies. This gives a whole new meaning to holy war doesn’t it? Yes, this is the reason I “take up all arms of God”, to be strong in my place in God because the days are becoming more and more evil but these verses in Ephesians help me keep my place with God and accept His protection and His provision. Ultimately, this spiritual battle affects me, yes, but this battle in the heavenlies and on earth belongs to GOD not me. We are the reason God battles Satan. This is the greatest love story ever told! That He (Christ) laid down His life in battle to save YOU and ME. Even death could NOT conquer Him (Christ).

Prayer

Lord, help us to remember who our real enemy is and who our ONLY advocate is. Teach us to “take up ALL arms of God”; this is where the victory is won, in YOU Lord! As times here on earth seem so dark, help us to remember You are the Light that the darkness can NOT overwhelm. I pray that we remember, You have already laid Your life down for us so that we may live for eternity!!! Thank You Lord! In Jesus name, Amen.

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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 6 Maintenance plan Day 7 Seize the day

“so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:15-16‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Here we are at the end of our journey. We have conquered much, these past few months together. We have fought for our minds to embrace a truth about who God is to us, who we are to Him and why that matters. Taking our eyes off of what we see in this world while we long for the unseen treasures of eternity.

As you have probably discovered, there is no generic formula to get from the beginning of your time here until you pass on through to eternity. You are a unique, designed being, on a set course, for an eternal destination.

Where we spend eternity will be determined by who we put our trust in. We can put our trust in The One who designed and created our inmost being, before we were given, on loan, to our mother’s womb, or we can live our lives with no creator in mind at all. Whichever we choose, time ticks and eternity awaits our last tic on the clock because nobody makes it out of here, alive. We are not promised tomorrow. We cannot change the past. Today is meant to be seized with eternity in mind.

I leave you with some real questions. Where will you spend eternity?
How will you spend your daily 1440 minutes as you walk out the timeline given to you that disrupted eternity?
Do you know who God is to you?
Do you know who you are to God?
Do you know that where you spend eternity is anchored in those last 2 questions?

Only you can answer these questions honestly. If you do not know where to start, start with the Salvation prayer then by reading the book of John, Acts and Romans, in the Bible. I recommend the, The @YouVersion Bible App has a permanent spot on my home screen.
http://bible.com/app , so you can pick a version of the Bible that is easy for you to understand and memorize.

Salvation prayer:
Lord, I admit that I am a sinner. When I have sinned and when I sin, I sin against You only. I believe that You were born to a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified for no crime but for my sin to be erased, that You died and rose from the grave, conquered sin & death on my behalf, that You are in heaven preparing a place for me; and I believe that You are coming back for me, to be with You, for all of eternity. I confess to You Lord my sin ( confess whatever comes to mind) and I believe that my confessed sin is erased at the cross where You willingly laid down Your life for me. Lord, I believe Your word is an echo of Your heart and I will study, meditate and keep it in my heart and mind, daily. Amen.

“Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:18‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:14-16‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Maintenance plan – Seize the day
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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 6 Maintenance plan Day 1 Remember

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103:8-12‬ ‭CSB‬

The maintenance plan to embracing or seizing the day rests on whose hands you place your day, your life and your reactions in. Have you or do you remember the acronym K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly)? We overthink and complicate things by rehearsing and agonizing over a past we cannot change as well as worry about a future that has not arrived yet.

I read somewhere that around 97% of the things that the average person worries themselves sick about never even happen. I found the information when I was struggling with severe panic and anxiety attacks. One of the application exercises I did, per my counselor’s suggestion, was write down the last 10 things I remembered that triggered a panic attack. Then write down what the actual outcome was. In my own writing, one hundred percent of what I was running through my head, DID NOT happen. I just sat there staring at it in disbelief. Almost trying to convince myself that I was wrong, it must have been much worse but it was not worse. In fact, everything worked out in one way or another with minimal issues. All of those scenarios had workable solutions that I learned to adjust to and live with. I still struggle from time to time with anxiety but the majority of the time I can practice that simple exercise in my head and it helps me put things in perspective. In fact, one of my coping phrases that came out of that season in my journey is this: “Everything is going to be okay. It may not be the okay I planned for but, ultimately, it will be okay.”

Lord, I know You are with me, that You want what’s best for me. I believe if You allow something or someone to come into my life or leave, it is for a purpose. My days are numbered. I do not want to waste my day on anguishing on a past I cannot change or a future I have not seen yet. I choose to seize the day rather than to have the day seize me. Amen

“For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass — he blooms like a flower of the field; when the wind passes over it, it vanishes, and its place is no longer known. But from eternity to eternity the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear him, and his righteousness toward the grandchildren of those who keep his covenant, who remember to observe his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103:14-19‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Maintenance plan- Remember
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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 5 Focus Day 1 My God

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:1-4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Who is God to me? Have you ever really pondered the relationship you have with God or the depth of it? If someone were to ask you who God is and why do you believe in Him, do you have an answer? I pray you do, and if you don’t, I pray that you study His character, His integrity and His heart, until you sense His heart beat as you lean against His chest. I pray you feel the very breath in your lungs from Him as you sense His cheek against your cheek. I pray that He becomes the safe place that you run to instead of thinking He’s an angry God that you have to run from, every time you mess up.

My God, our God is the uncreated one who created every living thing with a few simple sentences. But for us, His beloved, He formed us with His very hands and breathed life into our lungs. We are His image bearers with His very fingerprints engraved in our skin as He shaped us ever so delicately before placing us in our mother’s womb. How precious the thought and care He took to design each of us. No one, no not one, will love me, like my God, my Creator and my Savior. My God created the light to consume the darkness before He would allow me to be here. My God has been providing an environment for me to thrive in long before I got here.

Lord, I pray that we do not miss the details in which you brought us to life to have a relationship with You. That every detail of the preparations You made to provide us everything we need for an abundant life here, while on this temporary journey. How much more do we have to look forward to, when we get to heaven? Heaven, where sin and death are defeated for all of eternity. Help us, Lord, keep our eyes on You and what you have created so that we have that hope, that light inside of us to share with others. Amen.

“All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1:3-5‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Focus- My God
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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 4 Nothing Wasted Day 7 Clocked into Purpose

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:10‬ CSB

It all looks good in verses, sermons and devotionals, but how do we clock into purpose? We can not apply what we do not know and or if we do not understand the why behind the do, or the how behind the apply.

Be careful, as we grow in Christ, to not be condescending towards someone who is not where you are yet. Be in tuned and always remember the wretch you were before you point out others wretched behavior.

I’m going to break it down; the how to clock into purpose steps. This is simple but it is a process. Everyone’s process is different. The first goal is to commit to never stop taking these steps through the process. The second goal is to allow yourself to be shaped and molded by the process rather than try to reshape the process to make it more comfortable. It’s okay if it’s uncomfortable. This is where the learning takes place.

Clocking into purpose will be familiar because it aligns with how God designed you. Your sinful nature, also known as the flesh, will fight you every step of the way to fulfilling your purpose, so be ready for the fight. Just remind yourself to be on the right side of the fight for your purpose.

Here are the steps:

  1. Know who God is to you.
  2. Know who you are to God.
  3. Know why that matters.

These 3 simple steps will take the entire span of your life, while you’re on loan here, to master, but it will give you the confidence for and about eternity.

Next week we will discuss 7 areas to focus on to help us define who God is to us, find our identity in who He says we are to Him and learn why that matters in the process.

Lord, we are a mess without You. Thank You for the process. Thank You for taking my messy self and making something beautiful out of my mess. Help me focus on getting to know You and me better so that I understand the quality of life that my relationship with You brings to me and those around me. Amen.

“All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1:3-5‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Nothing wasted- Clocked into purpose
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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 3 Day 7 Grief: New normal

“King David longed to go to Absalom, for David had finished grieving over Amnon’s death.”
‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭13:39‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When we lose someone we love or a season comes to an end that brought us much comfort and joy, we grieve. How we grieve matters. Avoiding grief will catch up with us eventually. If you are reading this and have not read Days 1-6 of week 3, I highly recommend doing so now. Do not avoid the process of grieving.

Before you go thinking that I do not understand loss, let me share a few of my most painful losses. At 4 years old, I watched our home burn to the ground with all of our belongings in it. Shortly after, my parents divorced. At 9 years old my father was murdered. At 10 years old my mother married my first of many abusers. I have lost people I loved to suicide, I thought that I could have saved. I have had 2 miscarriages. I lost my grandparents, my mom and my father figure within 5 years of of each other. I lost my best friend of 40 years unexpectedly to a heart condition (she was 50). I have lost relationships I thought would never end. Friendships with people and families had come to an abrupt end with no conversation as to why. I have known great success and great loss to the point that I feared being homeless.

In all of that pain that I experienced, of losing so much, I realized how temporary anything but God is. I have accepted that death is inevitable for anything or anyone that carries breath in their lungs. Death will take me by surprise but it does not have to take me down to the point of losing my life before my time is up. There is no way to escape death. We will experience it ourselves one day and will likely experience losing someone we know and or love to it. The most hopeful thing I’ve ever been offered is an eternity beyond this life; an eternity with the one who created me and loaned me to earth for a time; an eternity with no more tears, no more sadness, no more sickness, no more broken relationships and no more death. We are all on loan here from the moment of conception to death. Maybe that’s why the two greatest commandments are:

  1. to love God with all of your heart, all of your mind and all of your soul. 2. To love your neighbor as yourself. With those two commandments the goal is to know our Maker’s voice when He calls us home. We want to treat everyone kindly while they’re on loan to us because we never know when their time is up.

In my opinion, birth is a sign of God’s gift of life while death is reminder of the timeline most of pay no attention to. As a believer in God, I can accept the timeline He gives me because I know it doesn’t end here. Therefore I must tell others that are still here about eternity and share this hope with them.

Lord, death is the most painful part of life, this side of eternity. Help us honor the living and the time our loved ones were on loan to us. Help us process grief in a way that brings honor to the ones we say goodbye to, for now. Amen.

“Then David got up and he washed himself. He put on clean clothes and special oil that had a good smell. He went into the Lord ‘s house to worship him. Then he returned to his own house and he asked for food. They gave it to him and he ate it.”
‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭12:20‬ ‭EASY‬‬

#jointhejourney #writer #journey #author #khoward #k4gsus #beautifullybroken #nobodymakesitoutalive #devotional #seizetheday #week3 #grief #acceptance #newnormal

Grief: New normal