Greet the Day with Joy and Jesus

The gift of a new day. Can anything be as normal and yet exciting. Do you face the new day with fear and trepidation? Are you worried about some unexpected crisis? When you meet with Jesus each morning, those fears can disappear and the trepidation can be replaced with expectation.
Don't you love Psalm 118:24? "This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it." View each day as an adventure. Expect God to give you a surprise. Instead of trying to program the day according to our will, let God shape the day according to His Will. You have received a precious, unrepeatable gift. Trust Jesus to be with you each moment. Lean on Him and thank Him for His presence in you life. Remember Lamentations 3:22-23:

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.”

New mercies every morning! Greet today with joy and Jesus!

Whatever Today Brings, Jesus is There With You

As your day begins, you have only a vague idea of what may happen. Yes you have plans and schedules and chores but you cannot be certain about how your day will turn out. Only God knows your future.
Although we don't know what will happen today, we do know that Jesus will be right beside us. He will help us with any difficulties and rejoice with us in our victories. Don't you love the promise of Romans 8:38-39? "For I am convinced that neither death, not life, no angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, no depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
You heard that right: nothing outside ourselves can separate us from God's love. But we can separate ourselves. We can choose to ignore or reject Jesus' love. That's why it is so important to spend a few minutes with him at the beginning of each day. We get back in touch with our master. We pray for ourselves and others. We praise and glorify His name. When we fail to spend quality time with Jesus, we will be unprepared for what the day brings.
I love how The Message paraphrases our scripture in Romans: "I'm absolutely convinced that nothing ... nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable ... absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us."
"Embraced by Jesus." That's what my heart desires. As long as I'm held close to my master's heart, anything and everything that happens to me or around me is not going to change the fact that I'm loved by God.
We don't need a map for the road ahead. We have the one who made the road, who made us, and who will never abandon us. What is there to fear? We know that Jesus is there with us.

Thank Jesus BEFORE You Have an Answer

Jesus loves to hear our prayers. He wants to know what's on our minds, what's troubling us, what we need. Jesus longs to answer our prayers.
Today the devotion from "Jesus Calling" makes the suggestion to thank God for the answer to our prayer even before we see it. Instead of constantly repeating our request ... and instead of focusing on what we want but don't have ... let's begin offering prayers of thanksgiving before God gives us an answer. Matthew 21:22 assures us, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
Having a thankful heart is the "believing" part. We are so certain that we will receive an answer from Jesus that we can thank Him ahead of time.
As I John 5:15 makes plain, "And we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him." We can thank Him because we already have what we asked for. We can acknowledge and be grateful that Jesus is setting events in motion that will bring about an answer to our prayer. We can be grateful that He is working behind the scenes to give us our heart's desire. Colossians 4:2 tells us, "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." 
While we wait for God to act, we can start asking if we need to change our perspective, if we should take some action, if we can be more receptive, so that we will be ready to recognize God's answer when it comes.
The answer may not be what we first expected. God may say "Wait;" He may even say "No;" or He may do something totally amazing, beyond what we imagined. But we will see the answer more clearly and accept it more willingly, when we have already been thanking Him for answering our prayer.

Practice Trusting Jesus in the Good Times

As we grow in our ability to lean on Jesus for all our needs, we find that when we've learned to trust him when things are going well, it will be easier to call on Him when we face a crisis. Jesus calls it 'laying up treasure.' Here's what He says in Matthew 6:20-21: "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." 
Some of us have discovered that putting money in a savings account is a "habit:" the more we get used to adding to our savings account on a regular basis, the easier it becomes. In much the same way, the more we make a habit of trusting Jesus, the easier it will be to go to him for help when we really need it.
It is also much like a friendship. We are more likely to go to a friend for help than a stranger. If we are not strengthening our friendship with Jesus when the sun is shining, then He will be more of a stranger than a friend when the dark clouds start building up. If we have treasure in heaven, we won't be bankrupt when disaster strikes.
Jesus never fails; He never turns us away. What a blessing to know that we can always count on God's help. Psalm 56:3-4 teaches us, "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose work I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid ..."
Are you laying up treasures in heaven? Try trusting Jesus in the good times and just see how much easier it will be to trust Him in the bad times.

Jesus says, "Hold up a minute."

Are you someone who tends to rush ahead with your own plans instead of waiting to hear what God wants? Do you make decisions and then go back to get God's approval? Guess what ... we're all in the same boat.
I've made plenty of wrong turns; rushed into things before finding out what God's choice might be. Yet, praise Jesus, He has always found ways to clean up my messes. He is faithful even when I'm not. He doesn't abandon me, even though I run off in the wrong direction.
Are we willing to take the advice of Psalm 27:14? "Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord."
Jesus simply asks us to wait. Why do we find that so hard? We put ourselves into stressful situations when we fail to wait for God's timing. My prayer is to learn to wait patiently until I'm certain I've heard God's OK before making any more life-changing decisions. I know my life will be so much better when I know I'm within His will. Life will be more enjoyable when I make the journey with Christ at my side ... not behind me, trying to catch up. I only hope in the future I pay more attention when Jesus says, "Hey, hold up a minute."

Can Hope in Jesus Overcome Depression?

The 'Jesus Calling' devotional today claims: 'Hope in Me, and you will be protected from depression and self-pity.' Will the golden cord of hope bear the weight of your despair? Can hope in Jesus really overcome depression? I believe there is reason to think so. I can affirm from my own experience that hope brought me out of a troubled time in my life.
Nearly three years ago, right after I moved from Hawaii to San Diego, I experienced a 'dark night of the soul.' Near my birthday in March, I started feeling disconnected from the world around me. I had no friends in the area. I wasn't reading my Bible. I had stopped going to church. I lost my sense of purpose. My days were almost surreal. Other people seemed happy ... but why? Life seemed meaningless.
Thankfully this period of depression was short-lived. I connected with old friends. I began attending a good church again. I found new purpose and direction for my life. I started to hope that tomorrow would be better than today. Jesus led me out of that spiritual desert to a place of refreshing water and tender care.
Depression is often a soul-sickness. Despair may mean we've forgotten that Jesus offers all the help we need. Purposelessness can be the result of losing our connection to God.
If you struggle with depression, try looking outside of yourself ... to Jesus and to friends. Focus on others: find a way to serve someone else. Believe that Jesus is only a prayer away. Start reading the Psalms. Be encouraged by Romans 15:13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You can find a purpose for your life again if you trust God to supply it.You can overcome depression if you ask Jesus to give you hope.

All of Heaven and all of Earth Praise Him

Today's devotion talks about the joy in praising God. Adoration of God comes in many forms: a child's prayer, a song, a sermon, a bird's flight, the earth's delight in the creator. I'm reminded of Psalm 148, that great song of praise. Christ said if the people did not worship God, then the very stones would cry out.
I'd like to share a wonderful demonstration of the reality of Psalm 148. Louis Giglio puts together the sound of pulsing stars with the songs of whales in a beautiful chorus of praise. If you haven't seen this video before, I encourage you to view it now.

http://youtu.be/7zWKm-LZWm4

Even though God has all of heaven and all of earth to give him glory, he still seeks your praise and thanksgiving. We have an opportunity to join in with the rest of creation to give him praise. Fill those spare moments of your day with a word of thanks or an offering of praise.