Steadfast, Beloved

Week 11 Day 3; Discipline Mark 1:35 "now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Lately, I haven't been rising as early as I used to. The alarm goes off and I snooze for another twenty minutes.  Recently I have felt a greater need to rely on God's word in the morning. I don't want to end up back in a place before when I was comfortable to not seek the Lord. Now that I know the truth in which I have discovered, I never want to fall back into complacency. If I'm to imitate Jesus, I want to seek after God like He did. He went to a quite place. I have found when I listen to worship in the morning, although it's praises to the Lord, I can't hear His word. It was in the quite when Jesus prayed and sought what God wanted to say. I'm sure Jesus was a tired man, ministry isn't always easy. But it was in the morning when He gained His strength for the day. Applica

Week 11 Day 2; Discipline 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 " Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when i have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." I have refernced my experience with running for the past couple weeks. I remember the first time we began to run, we shared our heart and our vision for what this time would be for one another. We told each other that running would not be an outlet to change our figures or a competetion agaisnt each other. This set the pace for us to build frienships through something that was quite difficult for all of us. It was beautiful that no girl who cam

Week 11 day 1; Discipline 1 Timothy 4:8 " For bodily exercise profits for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promises of the life that now is and of that which is to come." At the beginning of our time in IGNITE, a fellow intern and I decided to start running three times a week. At first it was difficult to keep endurance, but as we kept it up I wass able to go furtherbthan before. I relate this a lot to my Christian walk. When I started out, being in the word of God was hard. It became something I would do when I wanted to feel good about myself. As I came through IGNITE, I was encouraged to rise early and truly spend time in the word. This came at a cost; I was never an early riser. God had to take the time to discipline me early in the morning. Soon enough, rising early wasn't a struggle anyme. If anything, I looked forward to it. Running was a great outlet for me to rise even earlier than I would have before. It taught me that I had to draw

Week 10 Day 5; Sacrifice Philipians 3:12-13 "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have appreheneded; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." We present ourselves as living sacrifices. We sacrifice our pride in knowing we are not perfect. We sacrifice our lives for the future things. Putting our past behind us and reaching for something greater is anything but easy. We lay down our own feelings and plans to seek something deeper. But in the end, I'm reminded that our burden is light. We don't have to carry the burden of always have a plan, or to know what God is doing. For some, it's harder to lay that control down and to be willing to go where God has called them to. But for me, it's the patience of attaining those things. I look forwar

Week 10 Day 4; Sacrifice Phillipians 3:11 "if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." This is a bold comment by Paul. He is so willing to relate to the dead to recieve the resurrection. This truly is an inspiring word and one I would have never have considered myself. How many times do I live comfortably withour ever thinking of sacrificing the things I hold dear. But Paul is willing to sacrifice his life, by any means. I'm sure Paul knew the weight of these words were this; "at any cost". How many times do I make promises to God, but never consider the cost. I ask for things to come but when they do I can barely stand. God has given promises to me and I trust and expect Him to bring them to pass. I want to be a woman of her word, especially in my word to God. He sacrificed His life for me, the least I can do is serve Him at any cost. Application: I will write down something I have promised to do, consider the cost, and exicute this by

Week 10 Day 3; Sacrifice Phillipians 3:10 "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." What stands out to me in this verse is "being conformed to His death." This means to experience the same suffering Christ suffered for us. I don't believe that means dying on the cross like Jesus, but rather to take up our on cross. There are certainly many things we must sacrifice to walk with our cross. We might be persectuted by people, but through this sacrifice we know Him. We will give us the same power of His resurrection to us, that we may be conformed to His death. We will have fellowship with the Son, because we endured the same persectution for His name sake. No sacrifice is too great becaue He is always worthy. Application: Today I will I will write down this verse three times and memorize it to my team when we meet at night.

Week 10 Day 2; Sacrifice Phillipians 3:9 "And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." Our freedom is not free. It came at a cost; a sacrifice through Jesus Christ. Through the greatest sacrifice I can recieve freedom and righteousness. Something that I will never be able to understand is the amount of ignorance I can fall into. There are many men and women who sacrifice their lives daily to protect their country. Most don't even know why other than the fact they love the people at home. We can send as many people we like to the front lines to protect us today, but only One could save us from eternal damnation. This is a gift we by no means deserve and so many times I am ignorant of this freedom. When street evanglelising in Xela, Hassan, our translator, told me this "We can pray for people all we want but we need to go deeper and get straight t

Week 9 Day 1; Sacrifice Phillipians 3:8 "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ." Obedience is greater than sacrifice. This world has nothing in of itself hat it could possibly offer me that is greater than to follow Jesus. If I'm honest though, I sometimes find myself with built up pride in what I gave up for the Lord. To proclaim those words show how selfish I really am. I don't always sacrifice because I want to honor God, but to impress people, or even myself.  It's only a loss because of the state of heart I chose to give something up. It's a loss because I limit what God could do to challenge me and to show something new to me. But through God's word I can know and be challeneged to have conviction agaisnt certain things. So I may know God's heart by His sacrifice through Jesus Christ.

Week 8 Day 4; Servanthood John 15:15 "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." Our God is a big God. He is a God of different identies, yet He remains the same. This week we have seen how God is our master, teacher, and now our friend. He doesn't just want us to be His little minions, but instead our friend. He doesn't just want out service, but to build a relationship. He's like a close friend as you get to know each other, you find out more about them. He wants to share His plans wiht us as we grow deeper into who He has called us to be. I know I can trust Him in every situation because He is also my trusted leader. I don't have to be concerned where we go because He is my constant protection. Application: Today I will ask/write in my devotion for God to reveal characteristics of Himself to me.

Week 8 Day 3; Servanthood Matthew 20:26-28 "Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." It amazes me that the Son of God, all authority came to our cursed world, just to serve us. How can we stand and say He isn't a loving God. The greatest love story of all creation is also our greatest example. If Jesus' purpose was to serve, that should also be my heart. In an earlier IBS I expressed how it can be hard to serve others if we don't receive praise. I find comfort that our God wanted to relate to us that He became human and felt our same emotions. I'm not sure if Jesus ever felt insecure if He never received praise, but I do know that He gave all glory to His Father. He was the highest, yet He dwelt with the lowly. As Austin has s

Week 8 Day 2; Servanthood Luke 17:7-10 "And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, afterward you will eat and drink'? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do." It's so easy to look down upon your authority when it doesn't seem like they appreciate you. Are they wrong to not praise your work? After all, you most likely went looking for them instead of the way. We have done what our duty was to do, but as humans, we need assurance. It's so encouraging to look upon staff who jump in to help whenever they can, knowing

Week 8 Day1; Servanthhood John 12:26 "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor." We can so easily serve in the name of Jesus with our actions, but God looks at the heart. Jesus expalins here that if we are going to serve Him, we must also follow Him. This means allowing yourself to relfect not only Jesus' life, but also His heart. People and glorifying our heavenly Father is His ministry. At the cross God's name was elevated through Jesus' service to the world and to the Father. God was able to honor Jesus in heaven because of His obedience. During high school, it was always my desire and joy to come to church early and leave late to help with set up and tear down. Through the years, I got to develop relationships and began leadership. I felt honored to have the privleage to serve while getting to teach underclassmen. Even with this leadership role, I was still under auth

Week 7 Day 5; Adaptability 1 Corinthians 12:14-15 "For in fact the body is not one memeber but many. If the foot should say, " Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?" God has each given His children spirtual gifts. No one is alike-each man is unique. So many times it becomes hard to be content in what God has given or hasn't given us. That's exactly where the enemy wants us. He wants too come into the body and divide. We need to stand firm on he promises God has given us and unite agaisn't division. Many times I have looked to other members of the body and have desired to have the same heart and talents as they. Little did I know this girl had the same convitctions and desires as myself. Instead of looking down upon myself or others, God created a unique opportunity to be encouraged and built up by this friendship. This is what the body should look like- not breaking other or ourself down, but building up the c

Week 7 Day 4; Adaptability Romans 15:1 We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. It's so easy to get caught up in what we do others. We can so easily allow our pride to tower over service. I am a wicked person; there is nothing I can boast of. I can't save lives, I can't take care of others, I can't truly love someone with my whole heart. So, why do I allow myself to think that my service to another is essential? God freely gives us His power, love, and strength; but it came at a cost. The cross. Only in the cross can we boast in what Jesus did. If we learn to surrender our free will to Him, He will in turn use us by His power, love and strength. Then we can boast in what He did through our services. It's hard to kill off pride when I'm excited to work for another, but I need to learn to humble myself and allow God to continue to break my heart for others. After all, Jesus did bear our burdens, not for Him