Focus Verse: ‘Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation].’ Isaiah 41:10 (AMP)

I was talking to a friend a while ago about one of her past relationships. After hearing some of her concerns, it was apparent that the relationship moved way too fast. When asked why she wasn’t willing to slow down, her response was one that was stemmed from fear.

Whenever our decisions are based on fear of missing out or what could or will not happen, we can be confident that God is not in it. Yes, fear is a normal emotion and God gave it to use to be used for protection from harm. But we have to be careful that our actions aren’t based out of fear.

Any promise and blessing from God can be received with faith. If it’s from God, we don’t have to be afraid that our mate will end up with someone else if we decide to pause our relationship to pursue His desires for our lives. If it’s from God, we don’t have to worry about someone else getting our job because we chose to operate in integrity during the interview process. If it’s from God, we don’t have to offer more than a house is worth in order to make our contract look more appealing to the seller. If it’s from God, we can have confidence that He is working everything out on our behalf, even if the circumstances appear to be the complete opposite of what we know to be true.

Fear involves believing, just in the wrong things. What are you believing? Declare on today that all of your decisions will be stemmed from your belief in faith and not fear.

Prayer: Father, You are the everlasting  God. You have all power in Your hands. Thank You for reminding me that You are working everything out on my behalf, even those things that I can’t see yet. Forgive me for allowing fear to drive some of my decisions in the past. I declare on today that all of my decisions will be driven by my confidence and faith in You. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!

Bible Reading: Joshua 1

I have been seeing this picture on social media a lot within the last few weeks. So many times as believers we will:

• drag our feet with doing what God called us to do,
• partially do what God called us to do.

Secretly hoping that God would change His mind. Sometimes even thinking that we can convince Him to do so with our logic and rational.

As I was reading Joshua 1, something stuck out to me, as soon as God stopped speaking in vs 9, Joshua started moving in vs 10. There was no pondering the directions, no questioning if what he heard was really from God, no trying to figure out when would be the best time for him to move. He didn’t try, like Moses, to convince God that He wasn’t the man for the job. God spoke, he moved.

Alternatively, in 1 Samuel 15, we learn about Saul and how he caused God to regret making him king because he did not fully obey Him. Saul was given clear instructions in verse 3 to attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belonged to them. He was not to spare anyone, all men, women, children, infants, cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys, everything was to be destroyed. We see later in verse 9, Saul spared Agag and all the best livestock, everything he judged to be good.

Have you, in the past, been more like Joshua or Saul? Think about the most recent instructions God gave you, where you fully obedient to them immediately? Have you ever given God a reason to regret His decision to use you?

Prayer: Most sovereign God, thank You for being my God. Thank You for the reminder that the only way to obey You is to do so immediately and fully and anything else is disobedience. God, I never want You to regret any decisions You make to use me. Allow me to have a heart like Joshua. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen!

Focus Verse: This was so that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grasp for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist [that is, in Him we actually have our being], as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children. Acts 17:27-28 AMP

Lately, God has been speaking to me differently from how He has in the past. It was kind of frustrating to me at first, because I had gotten so accustom to that voice and how He spoke, additionally, I had learned exactly what I needed to do to get to that place to hear Him clearly.

Leading up to the transition, I sensed a shift was occurring, but I didn’t know exactly where there would be a change. Honestly, at first I had mixed feelings about this shift, so many thoughts went through my head. I was angry, scared, confused. “Why are You not talking to me? What have I done to make You silent? Should I change my approach?” These were all some of the many thoughts I had. Imagine building a relationship with someone and you are consistently in communication, so much so, that you no longer have to question their motives or intentions, because you have grown to know them so well that their persona becomes second nature to you. When you first notice the change, it may not be as alarming, but then after a while, you start to question what’s going on. That’s the best way I can describe how I felt.

After I put my anger, fear and pride to the side and started to really look closely at things, I realized God never stopped speaking to me, He was just speaking to different areas of my life, in different ways than before.

Through this process, I was reminded of a few things. Although God never changes, the way He does things may. Just because He did it one way, in the past, or a certain way for someone else, doesn’t mean He will do it that same way for you, or the next time He does it. Don’t get comfortable in the way things have always been. When you do, you tend to overlook the very things He could be saying. Isaiah 43:19; Isaiah 55:8 When shifts like this occur, you really have to get in a posture to understand what is going on. Because of this you grow closer and deeper in Him. When you first started walking with Christ, what you used to do to develop your relationship, isn't alway enough to maintain it, as you go deeper. Click To Tweet I was reminded of just how much I really needed Him! Some of my most desperate prayers were simply, “Listen, God, real talk, I’m lost out here, and me not hearing You right now, coupled with the fact that I slick already think I know what I’m doing, really isn’t beneficial for any parties involved, so what we doing?” This caused me to consistently seek Him, to make certain I wasn’t getting in the way. 1 Chronicles 16:11

Everything God does is for a reason and with a purpose. I didn’t understand it at the time, but now I do, and I’m grateful for the process. Be open to how and when God is moving in your life so you are able to move with Him!

This morning’s devotional will come in the form of an audio. I pray it blessed you as we talk about confidence and how to regularly apply it to our life.

Focus Verse: Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: Hebrew 10:35-36

Focus Verse: However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. John 16:13

Have you ever had to sit in stop and go traffic? It can be exasperating, to say the least. With my new job, I have many stop and go traffic days, going to and from work. Because I live quite a distance from my job, there are countless routes that I can take.

One day, while I was sitting in traffic, my GPS was routing me to go one way, but I decided to take a different route. A route that I thought would be less congested allowing me to avoid having to stop so much. I mean anything was better than just sitting.

After making a couple of self-guided turns, I soon found out why my GPS selected the initial route. There was another traffic jam, but this one was worse than the one I was trying to avoid. My GPS was directing me to a route considering all circumstances on EVERY route. I was basing my guidance on what I could see on the route I was currently on.

We tend to make decisions based on what we can see or perceive to be up ahead of us. However, the Holy Spirit, our spiritual GPS, is our guide and is responsible for leading us to all truth and informing us of things to come.

Because roads and routes are always changing, in order for a GPS to work properly, so you get to the proper destination, it must be updated regularly. The updates are pulled from satellites in space. In the same way, the Holy Spirit gets updates from the Father in order to lead us and guide us considering every aspect of our lives. Even the things we can not see.

Just like we are willing to trust that the GPS is guiding us to the right route, we also have to believe that the Holy Spirit is guiding us according to the Father’s leading. Will you trust your spiritual GPS today?

Father God, Thank You for the Holy Spirit that You sent to help lead and guide me. Please forgive me for the times that I have disregarded the leadings of the Holy Spirit and went my own way. Help me on today to know that I can trust my spiritual GPS. In Jesus name, Amen!

Focus Verse: I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Ezekiel 36:27

Recently I got an iPhone. This is something that I thought would never happen because I was happy with my Android. I have other Apple products, so I am familiar with the Apple experience.  But I never thought it necessary for me to convert everything over, I was fine with my Android.

When it was time for me to upgrade my phone, there were no Android devices out that I was crazy about, so I decided to give Apple a try. In the first couple of day that I got the phone people would ask me how I was enjoying my phone. “It’s cool, I mean it’s just a phone,” was my response.

It wasn’t until I was preparing a blog post one day that my thoughts towards Apple started to shift. While working on the post from my laptop, there was a photo that I needed to include, but it was on my phone. Usually, when this happens, I would have to email the photo to myself. But not this time. Since all of my accounts are connected, the photo that I needed was already on my computer.

Dear friend, when you get connected to Christ, everything that you need, you already have. Our memory verse reminds us that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior He puts His Spirit in us. And when we remain connected to Him, we can rest assured that He will work in us to do His good pleasure according to Philippians 2:13.

Oftentimes we can feel anxiety about walking in our purpose. Especially when we consider our insufficiencies. But as we remain connected to the Father, we have to believe that we can trust Him and that the vision for our lives originated with Him. So our insufficiencies don’t stand a chance against His sufficiency.

Are you connected to The Father accessing everything He has placed in you in order to help build His Kingdom? Or have you subconsciously disconnected from Him, making it difficult to gain access? Today, I challenge you to evaluate your current connection status with The Father.

Prayer: Father, Thank you for reminding me how important it is to remain connected to You. It is my desire to walk in Your statutes. As I evaluate my connection status today, I ask that you search the innermost parts of my heart and reveal my true connection to You. It is in Your Son, Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.