Each of us wakes up each morning in the mercy of God (although we seldom acknowledge Him).  He gives us the air we breath, He literally holds all of creation together in His power.  There is a decision to be made each morning, and it is made again continually throughout the day – “Who am I living for, and where is my joy found”?  Ok maybe that’s two questions, ha ha, but the answer (hopefully) is the same – God alone.

In the presence of God, there is a fullness of joy, no sin, no disease, no conflict.  We are all on this side of eternity however, and still must contend with sin on a personal level, even though it has ultimately been defeated through Christ.  So how do we fight?  It begins the same way we came to God – repent and seek the forgiveness and comfort of Christ and the cross.

Our daily battles are not rooted in our “will” not to sin, but from fighting from a stance of victory, our faith that Christ has already won the battle.  We root our soul’s affections in the promises of God in scripture, such that the lies and trappings of the world are clearly seen by us as infinitely less valuable than knowing and obeying Jesus as Lord.  Much more could be said, but I said I would try to keep these short!  I hope you all are encouraged with this scripture:

1 John 5:3-4 – “³For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith.”

If you’re like me, you struggle with wanting to treat your relationship with God as you do your other relationships.  Specifically if you do something to offend your friend, your apology will often be mixed with attempts to DO something to “make things better” or “make things even again”.  With God this is impossible, because our sin against Him is INFINITELY offensive because He is perfectly holy – yet we still often try.  I myself have “bargained” with God, but that is not what He asks of us.  God simply asks us to humble ourselves before Him, ask forgiveness, and cling to the cross trusting that the price for ALL our sin, yesterday, today, and tomorrow were paid for on by Christ.  Because Christ’s payment was full – His righteousness became ours, God’s love towards us is not in any way dependant on us. His love towards us is the same love He has towards His own Son, always, every moment of every day.

Be encouraged today with a section of scripture I find myself in probably more than any other:

Lamentations 3:22-24 –
²² “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
²³they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Men,

I hope you all have had great weekends.  Colossians 3:2 says that in seeking Christ, His Righteousness, and His Kingdom, we should continually set our minds on the things above.  In my own life I have found that one of the most beneficial parts of a personal quiet time with the LORD in the mornings is that I can take away one piece of truth about God that I can chew on the rest of the day, and attempt to apply that in my own life.

To that end, I’m going to try to share a “Word for the Day” with all of you, with the hope that God would cause growth in all of us.  So this will serve two ends, you all will be my accountability that I am digging into the Word each day, and you all hopefully will be blessed by God’s Word, perhaps in a different way than in your own quiet times.  I’ll try to keep these short because we’re all busy, and I want this to be something we can carry with us throughout the day.  Hope God is richly blessing you where you are today.

Todays WFTD:

A Fullness of Joy –

Many of us have grown up with the idea that Christianity is more about what we “cannot” do vs. what we are free to do.  Likewise, if you polled most of the world, their perspective on happiness and joy would most likely be skewed towards some idea of a “perfect” family / house with a white picket fence, and a 200″ Home Theatre.  Solomon, a King of Israel, we see in the Book of Ecclesiastes owned more than we will ever own, had more opportunity for earthly pleasure than any of us could hope for in 100 lifetimes, and concluded that it was all pointless.  In the end, the point of life is to point to God (His worth).  Jesus has said that only in knowing Him is there true joy.  What areas of our life have we sought joy apart from God, and what do we need to turn over to Him in prayer?

Psalm 16:11 (ESV) –  “You make known to me the path of life;in your presence there is fullness of joy;at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”