Mornings With Jesus

Tell Him

“I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Psalms 34:1 NKJV

Learning to express our love for the Lord will take our relationship with Him to a whole new level! :) 

It can be easy to build a habit of doing devotions at a certain time, praying and thanking the Lord for various things during those allotted times, and that is awesome! 

However, what if we built a habit of being vocal about our Lord outside the parameters of our slotted Bible time? 

What if we told Him throughout the day how much we loved Him? Perhaps we express our love for Him during work, during our workout routine, during our commutes, our errands, our family time, what if we allowed others to see how much we love Him...

It doesn’t have to be anything extreme, but it could look something like this: 

We are out to lunch with our friends, and we take time to thank God for our meal, we take time to bring up God at least once in our conversation, perhaps thanking Him for His goodness in some manner...

Listen, we don’t have to be spooky. The more vocal we are about our love for the Lord, the easier it will be to share Him with others! :) 

It can be so easy to keep God confined to our devotion time only, our church time only, and never allow Him to shine through in other areas of our life.

If you are someone who has trouble in this area, start small. Start by giving God glory when someone compliments perhaps on a job you do...” Hey good job on that project the other day!” your response could be something like, “Thanks! Praise the Lord!” 

If that seems foreign to you or overly spiritual to you, then perhaps you struggle with expressing your love for Jesus in front of others! :) 

Don’t be discouraged! You got this!!!

Listen, Jesus endured the shame of the cross for you!

We are on this journey together! Loving God, loving people, and sharing the gospel with others! 

Start today, start by vocally expressing your love for Him throughout your day! 

You will be surprised how much more vibrant your relationship becomes! 

Remember until next time, What you make happen for others, God will make happen for you!

In Christ,

Joshua Scott  Zeitz 

Love never fails!

“Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away.” (1 Corinthians 13:8)

Today’s devotional serves more as a challenge than anything else. From time to time, I will crack open the Bible and turn over to 1 Corinthians 13 and read the whole chapter a few times over, allowing it to sink down deep. 

 Sometimes, especially in the midst of a project, or just the busyness of life, it can be easy to get tunnel vision. 

But as my pastor says, “People work is more important than paperwork.” - Pastor Jim Frease

1 Corinthians 13, often coined the Love chapter, helps me keep the why behind the what clearly in view. 

God is all about people! He loves you more than you will ever know! Did you realize that He is always thinking good things about you?! That you are His favorite! You are the apple of His eye! Only God can do that, have more than one favorite at a time! What an awesome God we serve. :)

I want to encourage and challenge you and me to keep focused on the things that truly matter. God is Love. Therefore, let us focus on loving Him and loving people today. Be sure to take some special time to reach out to someone today, encourage them, lift them up, let them know how special they are to you, to the Lord! 

We are living in crazy times. People all over the world are hurting, struggling, confused, and lost. Take some time today to be a light! 

Keep this in mind when you are out there spreading love:

God is love. 

Love is not God. 

Therefore when you Spread God, you will spread love. :)

How do we do this? By spreading the Word. Stick to the Bible. Always accompany your good works with the Good News! 

And remember, until next time, what you make happen for others God will make happen for you!

In Christ,

Joshua Scott Zeitz

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” (Isaiah 26:3)

In Acts 6:8-7:60, we find the story of Stephen. He was chosen by the disciples to be one of seven to serve on their behalf in the ministry. The Bible describes him as a man full of faith and power, who did great signs and wonders among the people!

Can I tell you what that equates to? He was full of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit!

In fact, He was so full of the Word, that the religious people, who tried to catch him up in various arguments, being jealous of him, were not able ever to stand against him. The Holy Spirit gave him the words to speak in every situation. 

Because of this, because they were not able to stand against him in words, they resorted to spreading malicious lies about Stephen. I love Stephen’s response!

You ever find yourself anxious, worried, and fretful over many things? I know I have!!!

What’s the cure? Sit at the Master’s feet! Allow His sweet Word to wash over you. Only then will you be fit for service and able to tackle whatever the day and the world throws at you. 

The need for doing things will never go away. There will always be another this or another that, but when we have the opportunity to sit at the feet of Jesus, to learn from Him, these are the moments we should never shy away from or negate in the name of “duty.” 

Jesus said Mary chose the good part, and it wouldn’t be taken away from her! What do you say we take some time today and learn from the Master? His Words are life and spirit and they will never be taken away!

We are saved to serve, not the other way around. Let the Lord wash over you today. Learn from Him.

There are opportunities all around us to serve others, and share the Good News! The Bible, consuming it on a daily basis, helps us keep an eternal perspective. Hence, it helps position us to be able and ready to share with others when opportune times arrive!

In Christ, 

Joshua Scott Zeitz

Let it Burn

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.”(1 Corinthians 1:27-29) KJV

Do you have a desire to make the Lord known to others? Do you want to be available when situations and opportunities arise to make Him known?

What a mighty God we serve! He allows us to play a part in His plan and it never ceases to amaze me how God can take the weak and base things of the world and confound the wise. 

I have had times in my life when I simply didn’t want to exist anymore. I wanted to give up, to die, to end it forever, and yet the Lord stepped in and rescued me! 

God is a rescuer! He is a redeemer! And He doesn’t just redeem us for the sake of redeeming us, although He could. Instead, He so desires to do life with us, to lead and guide us, to give us purpose beyond the pain!

That is a God who not only is able and willing to save but who saves to the uttermost! 

That’s amazing Grace! 

He doesn’t simply give us a new lease on life. NO! He gives us life! He doesn’t simply perform heart surgery, He does a heart transplant!

We don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve it!

In the sight of a holy God, our works, our deeds, our supposed goodness is as filthy rags, and yet He chose us! The base things of the world to present the glorious gospel to those around us! What a mighty God we serve!

So today, the challenge question is this: Are you available? 

Are you available, to not only be inconvenienced for the sake of the gospel, but also to share to the good news of what Jesus has done?

Listen, there is coming a time when the things we do will be tried with fire and only those things which have eternal value will remain. All the rest, our personal ambitions, successes, our castles in the sand, will be burnt up. 

Therefore I say, let it burn today! Let this be our heart’s cry right now:  Father, burn away the dross, the things that don’t matter, and let me love the things you love and hate the things you hate! 

There is coming a time when it will all be tried by fire anyhow. Why not start today! 

Today's encouragement is longer than usual, but hang in there! And most of all, be encouraged!!

In Christ, 

Joshua Scott Zeitz

“Hear my cry, O God; Attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, When my heart is overwhelmed: Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.”

(Psalm 61:1-3) KJV

"Fight in You"
by Joshua Scott Zeitz

I know that life’s been pulling.
I know that life’s been hard.
I know you don’t yet see it,
but you have come so far!

Don’t give up the fight!

Don’t give up the fight
no never lose sight,
of the Hope that is guiding you!
He put the fight in you!

The answer is YES!

He does delight in you!
He does reside in you!
Lift up your head from the valley,
YOU’RE COMING THROUGH!

Greater is He that’s inside of you!!!
Fear’s taking flight from the Light that is bright in you!
The Word is alive, and it’s quick, and it’s shining through!
Healing the hurt, and the pain, and the shame that’s been blinding you!

My God is Good, and His Grace has been hiding you!
His Love never fails, and His mercies are Tried and True!
You can trust in His wings!
They’ll put the flight in you!

Lift up your eyes,
open your heart,
He’s inviting you!

I pray that this spark
will ignite in you!

Don’t give up the fight!
Let Hope abide in you!
Let Jesus abide in You! 
He put the fight in you! 

In Christ, 

Joshua Scott Zeitz

“Am I now trying to win the favor and approval of men, or of God? Or am I seeking to please someone? If I were still trying to be popular with men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”

Galatians 1:10 AMP

When we seek the Lord with all our heart, mind, and strength, we should never be fooled into thinking everyone is going to now like us or want to be our friend! 

In fact, the opposite may very well happen.

God has placed eternity in the heart of every man, woman, and child, but not everyone wants to be reminded of that.

The gospel message, the message of the cross, the Good News that Jesus Christ came to earth, to die, for us, was raised from the dead, and now lives forevermore to make intercession for us, to give us eternal life, to give us Himself, is not something everyone wants to hear.

Not even Christians…

Sadly, many Christians see the gospel as something one hears in order to get saved, but then after that, it’s a message for the lost only....

In Christ, 

Joshua Scott Zeitz

Perhaps you have heard it said that God works in mysterious ways? While He certainly does things that we can't oftentimes explain, this is sadly used to describe a God that is out of touch and unreachable.

This just simply isn't true! In truth, we serve a God who wants to reveal things to us and through us and the way to get closer to Him is by adhering to His Word, by having a pure heart and a pure mind! 

Be encouraged today with this episode!!

Thanks so much! 

In Christ,

Joshua Scott Zeitz