Each day we expend ourselves, and are therefore in need of refilling. One of the number one reasons for stepping back from relationships, jobs, serving in the church or away from a church all together, is that they were always giving and never given in return.While this is very possible, we must ask the question, “Were you positioning yourself to be refilled?" Many times, when we do finally turn to God to help us, we ask for Him to do so on our terms. Or at the very minimum we want a prescription of action on how to get better. God is more than capable and willing to supply us with the rest, energy, and resources we need for life. We simply need to be still and recognize that He is God. When we take matters into our own hands, we become our own supreme being. God's desire is that we would seek Him for all provision and need.

Everything in life has a rhythm. God established the rhythm of life from the very beginning. Either the activities of your life are determining your rhythm, or you are determining the rhythm and assigning activities accordingly. At some point we have to make an adjustment. Life requires, by God’s design, rest. Our first step in finding sustainable rhythm is to prayerfully consider what is robbing us of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bandwidth, and remove some of it. To live at my best, I must make time to rest.

Each and every person's story is intimately connected to the story of Easter. We tend to credit the changes and adjustments of our lives over time to random chance .But what if there is a much larger plan at work? Looking at apostles Jesus asked to follow him, you might be led to believe that even their selection was somewhat happenstance. Through them tens of thousands of people in the surrounding area would be impacted. Each of these interactions began with Jesus' simple invitation of Follow me. Through the seemingly insignificant circumstances of life, Jesus is inviting us into a much greater story. God has been at work orchestrating the circumstances of your life, so that you would be right here, right now, and he is offering you freedom, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. He’s leaning gently toward you and invites you with a simple phrase that has changed our world and can change your life, Follow me.

Marriage is patterned after Christ's commitment to His church. Not the other way around. Some married couples have a weekly date night. Most do not. But what is the purpose of dating in marriage? A consistent and intentional dating life with your spouse can provide relief and refreshment to your relationship. However, if we only ever serve our spouse in order to gain something in return, we are sabotaging our marriage. True intimacy is impossible when strings are attached. Each of us must decide that we are going to give our absolute best to our marriages for God's glory.

Most people never think to use their singleness to prepare for the future. Scripture clearly instructs us to prepare ourselves in all areas of life. That means physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people are passively waiting on what will come next, especially in the area of dating. Instead of approaching life with a just winging it philosophy, make the most of the time God gives you outside of dating to become the kind of person the person you're looking for is looking for.

The Bible may not say anything specifically about dating, but it says a lot about everything that leads up to it. For Christians and Non-Christians alike, one of the biggest problems in dating is that we're looking for either fulfillment, or satisfaction. No person other that Jesus has to ability to offer either of those outcomes to us. We need to spend less time measuring our relationship status, and more time considering our Kingdom potential. Jesus told us that if we seek first His kingdom and HIs righteousness, everything we need would be given to us. Perhaps it's time to consider what we truly need.

Forgiveness is hard, we all know that. Forgiveness within a church family can be even harder. In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, found in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, Christ addresses God’s intended design for mercy within a gospel community. By rejoicing and remembering the enormous debt Jesus Christ paid for us, we begin to be more willing to forgive our debtors.

I love the story of Nehemiah, but it is completely unnecessary. Nehemiah had a good life in the palace. Why step out of comfort and step into Jerusalem’s mess? One simple reason…for the glory of God. The story of Nehemiah’s compassion and desire to seek the welfare of the people of Jerusalem reveals the character of God himself. Rather than allowing us to reap the disastrous conditions of sin that we have sown, Jesus takes action. Looking at our sinful condition, Jesus stepped out of Heaven and into your mess. Will we respond?

The story of Hosea is one of the most difficult callings, aside from that of Jesus, in Scripture. We encounter the prophet Hosea at the very end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel's existence. God calls Hosea to take a wife of whoredom. Unfortunately some preachers teach the story of Hosea and challenge people to be forgiving and loving like Hosea. The only problem with that is, we aren't Hosea in this story, we are Gomer. Jesus refers to himself as a bridegroom, making us, the church, His bride. Paul talks about this relationship as he’s encouraging husbands to love their wives. The purpose of marriage was not simply to populate Earth. It is to give us a glimpse into the great love that God has for us. To demean the marriage relationship will, and has, demeaned our reverence and respect for our relationship with Jesus.The God of Heaven created you specifically for relationship with Him. His glory on display through a loving relationship with us. We were distracted, selfish, and enticed to leave our first love. So the eternally faithful God of Heaven buys us back for the incomprehensible price of HIs own Son’s life.