trust More Fear Less: Day 4

Just a head's up I may not put a "My Thoughts" at the end of each devotions because a lot of them are so straightforward I have nothing else to say or add on it them.

Day 4

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

~Acts 1:8

Remember the followers' fear at the crucifixion? They ran. Scared as cats in a dog pound.... But fast-forward forty days.... Peter is preaching in the very precinct where Christ was arrested. Followers of Christ defy the enemies of Christ.... As bold after the Resurrection as they were cowardly before it.

Explanation? A resurrected Christ and his Holy Spirit. The courage of these men and women was forged in the fire of the empty tomb.

Trust More Fear Less: Day 3

Sorry guys I spaced on the blog thing because I had to wait three hours to get my nails done for prom tomorrow... so here is Day 3...

Day 3

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

~Psalm 56:3

How did Jesus endure the terror of the crucifixion? He went first to the Father with his fears. Do the same with yours. Don't avoid life's Gardens of Gethsemane. Enter them. Just don't enter them alone. And while there, be honest. Pounding the ground is permitted. Tears are allowed... And be specific... He knows what you need.

My Thoughts

This devotion is short, sweet, and to the point. I sadly don't really have anything to add because this passage says it all. You're not alone, you're allowed to cry, and God is more than willing to take your fears away.

Trust More Fear Less: Day 2

Day 2

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

~John 16:33

The Gospels list some 125 Christ-issued imperatives. Of these, 21 urge us to "not be afraid" or "not fear" or "have courage" or "take heart" or "be of good cheer." The second most common command, to love God and neighbor, appears on only eight occasions. If quantity is any indicator, Jesus takes our fears seriously. The one statement he made more than other was this: don't be afraid

My Thoughts:

Whatever we may be going through in our lives there is always someone who we can go to and just vent our problems to. That someone is Jesus! He knows exactly what we are going through and he knows exactly how he feel. Like it says in the scripture above he has overcome the world. That means he has over come all of our problems and obstacles in life, not just one or two of them but ALL!

So if having an amazing Savior by your side who can relate to us, who loves us, who died for us doesn't make you fearless... I don't know what will.

Trust More Fear Less: Day 1

Trust More Fear Less is a 40-Day Devotional by Max Lucado. This past Sunday everyone in the church building got one. So each day starting today for the next 40 days I will post the devotions for you guys to see, and tell you guys what I got out of it.

Day 1:

But Jesus spoke to them at once. "Don't be afraid," he said, "Take courage. I am here!" Then Peter called to him, "Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water." "Yes, come," Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.

~Matthew 14:27-29

When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god. When safety becomes our god, we worship the risk-free life. Can the safety lover do anything great? Can the risk-averse accomplish noble deeds? For God? For others? No. The fear-filled cannot love deeply. Love is risky. They cannot give to the poor. Benevolence has no guarantee of return. The fear-filled cannot dream wildly. What if their dreams sputter and fall from the sky? The worship of safety emasculates greatness. No wonder Jesus wages such a war against fear.

My Thoughts:

Being fearless is hard, at least it is for men. In Matthew 14:31 it tells us how even Peter doubted. This is where trust comes in. No matter how secure we may try to make our lives NOTHING is carved in stone, but the word of God.

You can go to college for 12 years to get this huge high paying job, but all that time in college means nothing if no one will hire you. You may spend your whole life saving every little penny you have, but it means nothing if you die before you can spend it.

No one but God knows what tomorrow holds, but we can know one thing for sure, that God has our absolute best interests in heart. It's okay to be scared sometimes, but it's not okay to put our fears before God. Trusting God to the absolute fullest isn't as hard as it seems. Just give your fears to Him and let Him do the rest.

A Reminder To All

I was reading Jude and it is a simple one chapter book that is a really good read. In Summary it tells what happens to those who are ungodly, and give examples of what happened to people who decided to do their own thing instead of following God. My favorite part in the chapter was Jude 1:17-22.

¹⁷But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." ¹⁹These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit

²⁰But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. ²¹Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²²Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

There is no need for me to explain any of this because this whole book, to me, is written in black and white. Follow God to heaven or follow Satan to Hell. Keep your faith strong and try to show other people to Christ so they can also have eternal life.

This book is a great reminder to why we are put here on this earth. Not our will but His be done!

Haggai 1:5-6

⁵ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

What does this scripture make you think of??

*Note* This is my opinion and interpretation... I could be totally off...

"Give Careful thought to your ways."

The Lord is telling us to basically think before we act.

"You have planted much, but have harvested little."

Why on earth would you plant a lot of crops and only harvest some of them? The crops you don't harvest will wither and will go to waste. Plus you wasted time planting seeds and preparing a field that just went to waste. In other words... don't be so wasteful

"You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill"

This makes me think of how greedy we are. We are hardly ever satisfy with what we have.

"You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

Are you doing what you're doing out of your heart? This one makes me think of tithing to the Lord. If we don't give back to the Lord what is his, then it is like us putting money in a purse with holes in it.

Closer To You... Video with Lyrics

Well it took me two long days, but I finished the video I talked about in my last post. This is my first attempt to put video pictures with music. All the pictures I found on Google Image except for two of them. I hope you enjoy watching and please tell me how I did.

I know the video has been down since like I posted it... I have been trying to find the site for html code and a website to upload it on... yeah well I found the website, but I can't seem to get the html format right... every site I try doesn't work... so for now I will post the link to the video on Tangle. If you know of a site that I can get my video into html form please let me know!