Living Water

It is so beautiful here in Chicago! It's 55 degrees outside! I'm loving it. Thank You, Lord, for this taste of spring!

I love water. All day, every day I have to have water around. You cannot tell me that a nice glass of ice cold water is not the best drink in the entire universe. Can. Not. I will go into restaurants and say "just water" and it's not me being cheap. It really is what I prefer. Hands down.

It's something about water that truly quenches my thirst. Everything else I drink, I have to wash it down with a glass of water afterwards. It's like my throat is not satisfied until some water splashes through.

The Word says that our belief in Christ gives us the benefit of living waters. These living waters enable our spirits to thirst no more. These waters satiate our souls to the very core. There's something about Jesus that makes your spirit satisfied. After tasting of His goodness, you don't want anything else.

We can't be selfish with what we've found, though. We can't just keep it all to ourselves.

There's a world around us that is trying any and every thing to try and quench their inner thirst. They're turning to drugs, sex, money, alcohol, their jobs, their loved ones, their hobbies, other gods, the internet... they're looking all over for anything that will ease their soul's cries.

But they won't find satisfaction until they drink from the living waters of Christ. And we have an unlimited supply!

Take some time to 'quench the thirst' of someone around you today. Make sure you pour out some of the living waters that flow through your soul. What you pour out could very well cause someone to tap into their own constant supply of God's satisfying goodness.

Verse of the Day: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:38

Give Me the Truth

One thing I can't stand is a liar. Someone who lies gets no love from me. White lie.. big lie... It's all the same to me. The fact that someone can knowingly tell an untruth is deplorable to me.

I can't tell one for the life of me either. Even when I've tried in the past, my insides get all twisted, my pulse races, and my throat closes up. I have to tell the truth.

Now, I may avoid the truth, or try to lead the conversation away from the truth, but I cannot tell a lie.

God hates lying even more. He is The Truth. (John 14:6) So, anything that is the opposite of that cannot have any place in His presence. He has a place to send all liars - a place no one really wants to go to. (Revelation 21:8) Yet, our world is full of lies.

Lying brings bondage. It brings stress. It breeds distrust. Lying usually leads to other darker sins. The snake lied in order to get Eve to sin. Eve repeated that lie to catch Adam up. And we know where that got everyone.

In truth we find freedom, we find hope, we find security. Truth allows us to trust. It keeps us at peace, and it causes us to be able to connect with others.

Some truths are difficult to swallow. There have been many truths that have caused me a bit of pain. But, I'll take the painful truth over an easy lie any day.

Is honesty your best policy? Do you strive to stay honest and truthful? As God's children, it is our top priority to stay in the Truth.

Verse of the Day: The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Proverbs 12:19

Heavenly Places

Last night and this morning I've been meditating on heaven. Jesus told us,

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2, 3)

This is wild! Did you catch that? God's house is big enough to hold mansions! That's a BIG house!

Even with all of that space, Jesus still wanted to go back and take some time to prepare a spot for us to come and be at home.

Think about how you prepare for guests. You clean up the room... put out the good sheets, towels, soap... arrange little knick-knacks... you put a special gift out to make them smile.

Jesus is doing that right now for us! He's picking out the spot that He knows we'll enjoy... He's arranging things just so... He's pulling out His best items... He's preparing gifts to make us smile... Isn't that amazing? Doesn't that make you feel special?

Jesus is in heaven right now prepping for your arrival.

God has blessed us to be able to experience a life here on earth that is out of this world. Then we have the privilege of going to spend eternity with God in His own house... where He's given us our own place to live and be happy. We are truly His children.

So happy I'm one of His children!

Verse of the Day: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14: 3)

Thanksgiving Friday!

Happy Friday!

Here in Chicago we've gotten some snow. It's not really sticking by me, but at least it looks like February out here.

This week I am so thankful for the power of prayer. Prayer is simply conversation with God, but it does so much! Prayer reminds me of who I am in Christ. Prayer brings peace to my spirit. It gives direction to my footsteps. It allows me to hear from the Lord. Thank You, Father, for giving us the privilege to come to you directly and have talks with You!

I'm also grateful for support. Be it from family, friends, co-workers, teammates... God has blessed me with support on every side. And, even if those faithful people do somehow fall away - I can remain confident that the Lord will never leave me or forsake me! I'm never alone. Thanks, God. That's an awesome feeling.

Finally, I'm thankful for this blog. I know that you all are blessed by reading it, but just know that I'm blessed by writing it! This blog is keeping me disciplined, it's forcing me to dig deep into the crevices of my faith, and it's allowing me to use my gift for my Father. Thank You, Lord, for blessing me with a gift that I am able to use for your glory!

What are you thankful for today? Send up some thanksgiving!

Verse of the Day: Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Psalm 95:2

Total Surrender

I'm back! I apologize for yesterday. Now, for some Morning Ti...

When Jesus called the disciples to follow Him, they gave up their entire lives to be with Him. They left family, friends, jobs, hometowns... Everything was dropped with no questions asked in order to follow the Savior. As a result of their surrender, they went on to lead lives that witness the miraculous work of the Messiah, they were able to work miracles themselves, and they turned the entire world upside down with their evangelism.

We too are disciples of Jesus. Yet many of us answered His call only to hold on to everything we liked and selfishly wanted. Jesus may not be calling for us to give up families and jobs now, but He does want us to give up our will for His.

Many of us selfishly choose to still participate in sinful behavior after we've accepted Jesus as our Lord. We choose to ignore the wants of the Father deeming them 'unattainable' or something that we'll work on later. We continue to turn a blind eye to the Bible's commands self-righteously claiming that we're doing the best we can or even pulling God into it saying that He knows our hearts.

We cannot just accept Jesus as our Savior, stay the same, and expect God to be pleased. Jesus Himself said that you can't serve to masters. And when you refuse to give up your will, when you continue to allow sin to remain in your life... you're trying to serve two masters.

As Christians, we are no longer the masters of our fate. We no longer have control over our lives. When we commit to Christ, we place our lives in His hands and give Him permission to do what He wants.

Today let's remember that we've given our lives to Jesus. He's the Captain of our ship. He's the Master of our domain. He's the Conductor of our symphony. Our will has to die. Our desires have to take a back seat. It's His way.

As we allow Him to lead, guide, and direct us, He will take us places that we could never even imagine. Too many of us are still stuck in the ordinary because we refuse to let Jesus take us to His extraordinary. Let's stop thinking we know what's best and allow God to take us to the miraculous.

Verse of the Day: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24

Ttyl...

I'm kind of in a press right now... Have a deadline for work and way too much work. So, no Morning Ti today. The least I could do is leave you a verse of the day to think about, and I'll be back later. Hopefully for some Afternoon Ti?

Verse of the Day: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25

Weak Spots

I did a post a while ago about old demons. I was talking about how the devil uses the same thing with some of us to get us snared in his trap and off of our purpose.

With all of the coverage of Whitney Houston's funeral and my spirit's tug to send up prayers constantly on behalf of her daughter, I couldn't help but think of how the enemy works. Seeing all those people of faith, hearing their testimony of Whitney's drive, grace, and talent... you could not help but be moved. You could not help but mourn the spirit that was snatched away.

We all have our weak spots. We all have a place where we struggle. It may not be drugs, but it might be pride. It may not be an abusive relationship, but it may be fornication. It may not be alcohol, but it may be gossip.

Whatever our weakness, the devil is looking for any opportunity to make us fall. He's looking for any spot where he can get in and take over. He's constantly searching for a way to cut us off. (John 10:10)

As believers, we have to remain vigilant against the attacks of the enemy. We have to constantly stand guard against his attacks. We have to feed our spirits the Word of God, spend time in fellowship with the Father, and walk out the revelation He gives us. We have to recognize when the enemy's coming our way. We have to choose to walk away from sin.

I know how difficult it can be to live right. Sometimes it seems so easy, so 'harmless', so trivial... Yet, no matter what the sin, it pays in death. (Romans 6:23)

I'm glad Whitney knew Jesus. I know, despite her struggles, that she is in heaven. We all can learn something from her story. The enemy is no respector of persons. If he can get one of us, he's going after us all. We have to stay on the wall, saints. We have to remain anchored in the Lord. We have to stay under the covering of the blood of Jesus.

Verse of the Day: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour... 1 Peter 5:8