ReWaken

If we want more of God’s presence, then we have to be willing to live a life that invites His presence. Does this mean perfection? No, rather, consecration.

Consecration as it is used in the Bible, indicates an act by which a person or thing is set apart to a sacred cause or purpose.

God wants our lives to be consecrated to Him so that we can enjoy His presence and worship Him freely by His Holy Spirit within us. He also wants us to be consecrated so that we can be used as vessels of honor for His glory.

Jonathan McReynolds - "Make Room"

I find space for what I treasure

I make time for what I want 

I choose my priorities and 

Jesus you’re my number one

So I will make room for you

I will prepare for two

So you don’t feel that you

Can’t live here, please live in me.

Let us make more room for God's presence in our lives.

The state of our world right now is not exactly offering hope, but Jesus promises that He has more for us than what we are currently experiencing.

Jesus tells us in John 14:27, 

“I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again…”

and in John 16:33,

"...Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

He left us with a promise. A promise that He will return to earth for all the Father's children that we may appear in Heaven with Him forever. How can you look forward to Jesus' return without fear? Well, if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, then His Holy Spirit resides in you giving you the confidence and sweet assurance that you belong to Him and will indeed be in His presence soon.

I would love for you to dive into this episode with me because I believe it will encourage you to live your life from a grander perspective, confidently expecting the country to which you belong. 

"...They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:13-16

Are you trying to earn your way to Heaven?

I believe we sometimes struggle with freedom and we lose out on our joy because we choose to strive in our salvation rather than move in the grace of God. Your relationship with God was meant to be an adventure, an ongoing pursuit of who God is and who you are in Christ Jesus.

What if instead of treating our relationship with God as a 'get out of hell card' and trying our best to live right in hopes that we make it to Heaven, we actually pursued a living and thriving relationship with God on earth, a relationship that brings an unexplainable assurance and burning desire to spend eternity with the Lover of your soul.

Come with me as we dive into what this topic is all about.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

For the past couple of weeks, this has been my sustaining verse. On days when things seem slow and it’s hard to see my future in the midst of what’s in front of me, I have to remind myself that God knows the plans that He has for me; and even if it seems slow in unfolding and others may be running pass me, I must still trust His promises.

In this season, there are many unknowns and uncertainties and it can be very easy for us to get lost in those worries, trying to figure out what will be next. As a result, we lose sight of where we are now, and the faithfulness that is still required of us. Embracing this season doesn’t rob you of the next one but rather it positions you for it.

This episode will encourage you to embrace the season you're in while expectantly waiting for what God has ahead.

A portion of Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

The moment you surrendered your life to Christ, is the moment you entered the race of faith.

It’s a race comprised of many lanes with many different people, and you get to run in the lane God specifically designed for you. Often though, we focus on running in our own lanes that we forget that there are others running alongside us too. This means that we don’t have to run alone.

Proverbs 27:17 - “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

It is good to have someone else in your corner because in this race, we need strength and perseverance to keep on running and what a blessing it is, when there’s someone else cheering you on especially in those moments when you want to give up.

When Jesus was on earth, He had close friends with Him, because even God in human skin, acknowledged the importance of having others alongside us.

This episode will encourage you to embrace partnering with other runners in this race of faith so that you don't run alone.

I have been wanting to wish this season away, wanting for God to change my circumstances, wanting to like David said in Psalms 55:6 

"Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest." 

Yes, God, lift me up above all this: the isolation, the crisis, the lack of jobs, the distancing, the heartaches. Because God, I am tired. But the God I serve doesn't have to change our situation to make us better. 

Oh I would only be happy if... We have have all said that or at least thought that. But, the God we serve can make us happy in the midst of unhappy circumstances. 

This episode will encourage you to let Jesus Christ fill your soul with the kind of peace, joy and radiance that not even the happiest or the perfect of circumstances can give you. 

I remember wrestling with this thought about the word and what it means when I say I’m a Christian; and I will never forget when the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart and said, “It’s a race, it’s a new race of people, God’s people”. And that made me proud to say I’m a Christian because that means I belong to the family of God.

1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

This episode will encourage you to cherish Christian as an identity and not a mere label that we throw on or off whenever we please.

There is a song by Casting Crowns called Make Room and a portion of its lyric says, 

“Is there room in your heart for God to write His story? You can come as you are, but it may set you apart, when you make room in your heart and trade your dreams for His glory. Make room in your heart.”

We can make room in our hearts for God by setting aside those things that are distracting us. It could be an unhealthy relationship or friendship, the way how we use our phones and social media, unhealthy desires or patterns in our lives, ways of thinking, addictions to certain things and so forth.

This episode will encourage us to stay in tuned with God's voice in our hearts so that our hotline to Heaven, the Holy Spirit, is not interrupted.

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John 21:20-22

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them...

When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"

Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."

We, like Peter, often times look to the left or right at the next person, and before you know it, our focus is no longer on our lives, our blessings, or our purpose in Christ. 

This episode will encourage us to embrace what God is doing in our lives and challenge us to turn a new page in our lives, one free of comparison. 

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Walking with Jesus is not the easiest thing to do but, thankfully we have His Holy Spirit to guide us. We never have to sit and figure out this walk with Christ on our own. Philippians 2:13 says, "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." He not only gives you the power to serve Him, but He also gives you the desire! My friends, no matter how hard this journey gets, don't give up on Jesus because He will never give up on you. 

John 6:67-69,

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God."

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"Breaking The Cycle: Devotional for overcoming cycles of sexual addictions" by Ricardo Dixon

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