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2/21/2021 0 Comments

God's Promises are a Prompt to Pray (Week 24)

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​When I was in middle school, my mom bought me a decorative ceramic cross with Jeremiah 29:11 written in the center. Throughout high school and even college, the scripture verse became a source of comfort in the face of many unknowns.  “God knows the plans for my life, so I don’t have to worry,” I reassured myself whenever I had a hard day. That cross hung in my room until I moved out of my parents’ house. When I left home I made sure to pack the colorful keepsake as a reminder of God’s promise for my future.
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Jeremiah 29 is a message to the Exiles about their future in Babylon and beyond. Jeremiah tells them to build houses, marry, have children, and seek peace and prosperity in Babylon until they are restored to their homeland in 70 years. They are not just given the promise of restoration— they are given instructions on how to live as exiled people in Babylon. 
In Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Jeremiah 29, he explains, “Promises are given, not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage prayer: and when deliverance is coming we must by prayer go forth to meet it.” The promise for a hope and a future shouldn’t make us content, it should quicken us to seek God. The promise of Jeremiah 29:11 is a call to action rather than just a sentimental verse about our bright future. When we read beyond Jeremiah 29:11, we see another promise in verses twelve and thirteen: When we pray, He listens. When we look for Him wholeheartedly, we will find Him.

Here’s a prayer I’ve been praying in the troublesome days of our world. “Stir up my faith, God.”

We know the ultimate promise of God as believers is salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Bible says “all creation is groaning,” as we patiently await the second coming of our King. In our quest to follow God and know Him on a deeper level, it behooves us to read beyond the more familiar verses that have always brought us comfort and hope. Cling to the hope we find in Christ, but let that great hope also stir up our faith and prompt us to pray.

Recently I hung up that very same cross in my 4-year-old daughter’s room. When I hammered the nail to display the colorful keepsake, I couldn’t help but feel sentimental. The promise that gave me hope is now a display of hope for the next generation. When I read the passage that brought me hope for the future, now it beckons me to pray...
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Stir up our faith, oh God! May your promises prompt us to seek your face.
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About the Author

My name is Audra Powers and I'm a wife and stay-at-home mom to three young children in the high desert of Albuquerque, New Mexico. My hobbies include hiking, playing guitar and thrifting! I love writing about faith, family and living motherhood empowered.
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2/14/2021 0 Comments

Idols and Instruments (Week 23)

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​I love to create. I love to paint, write music, make new friendships and grow things. I love the children God formed in me, the business I get to build, and I love to make my home a welcoming place.
 
As image bearers, we were created to create. Our ability to make and build things is the evidence of the unique likeness of God that dwells within us. But everything we make has the potential to be either an instrument that enhances our worship of God, or an idol that robs Him of it. Our hands were meant to praise our Maker, not make things to praise. His first and greatest commandments make clear his refusal to share the adoration that’s rightfully His.

In Isaiah 44, the hope of God’s creation of Israel is contrasted with the worthlessness of idol construction and the foolishness of worshipping created things rather than the Creator.

Here the blacksmith painstakingly uses his God-given abilities and resources to construct a godless image and then bows down to it in utter blindness. The people worshipped figures of fake gods, then in chapter 52 would reject and disfigure the Real One. 
 
It’s easy to look down on Israel’s clinging to little statues until I realize how tight my own grip is on that relationship I formed, or the reputation I so painstakingly built. We create and worship our appearance, jobs, bank accounts, reputations, bodies, relationships, status, and possessions, calling it “The American Dream” instead of the idolatry that it is.  Idols are rarely as obvious as a household shrine or statue. In fact, the most dangerous ones are subtle and virtually undetectable. Like the blacksmith, we’re blind to the fact that we’ve become slaves to the things we created, serving them rather than using them to serve the true God. 
 
Isaiah 44:20 says the idolater feeds on ashes, misled by his deluded heart. He can’t save himself or even tell that what he is worshipping is counterfeit. But this chapter is tucked between others describing the coming One who would free us from the bondage of clinging to fake gods. He alone is able to search our hearts when we’re too blind to search them ourselves and can reveal where we’ve exchanged His truth for lies. He’s the God who answers by fire, consuming the idols that stand between us and Him if only we call out and invite Him.
 
God has created us with the capacity to serve only one master, and the freedom to choose who that master will be. One of the best ways to distinguish an instrument from an idol is to assess our reaction upon its removal. When an instrumentis taken away I can still sing an acapella song of praise. When an idolis removed, it causes distress because my made-to-worship heart is lost without its object of adoration.
 
Jesus wants to set you free today from anything holding you in bondage. Allow Him to show you any created things in your life that have become idols.
 
If the throne of our hearts is not intentionally and daily reserved for Jesus alone, we will allow the things we’ve built with our own hands to sneak in, absorbing all of our misplaced worship. But if we use this sacred ability to create for its intended purpose of glorifying God, we will hold in our hands instruments of praise. Works that give melody to our song of faith and intensify lives of praise and worship of the One True God. 
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About the Author

Hi, I'm Kelly Orlowski and I'm a wife, fully-time mother, and part-time seminary student. I live with my husband and four children in Franklin, TN. A former social worker, I am the founder of Lady Crew Apparel, and passionately fight against human trafficking. I love seeing hearers become doers, and reminding doers to keep listening. 

Connect with Kelly at her website wearladycrew.com

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2/7/2021 0 Comments

Returning to Obedience (Week 22)

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​When I was a teenager, a family member became entangled in a drug addiction. The struggle lasted for fifteen years, and tore our family in so many directions.
 
Until recently, I still held a lot of anger in my heart towards him. I knew how much God had loved and forgiven me. I knew how much God had loved and forgiven him. But to be honest, I was torn between wanting God to save him, but also feeling like he didn’t deserve it.
 
For years I tried to manufacture love for him, outside of complete forgiveness. After many years, I finally realized this family member had bigger demons he was dealing with. By the grace of God, finally, I decided to trust and obey. Once I yielded to Him, slowly but surely, God opened my heart to extend compassion.
 Have you ever wanted to run from what God was clearly asking you to do?
That’s where we find Jonah in this week’s reading— running in disobedience.
 
Every time I read the story of Jonah, I am reminded of myself. I can look back to several times when I did not want to be obedient to the Lord. Sometimes what He was asking me to do was outside of my comfort zone. Other times, like Jonah, I simply didn’t agree with what he was asking me to do.
 
Jonah loved God and was told to deliver a hard message to Nineveh: repent from their evil ways or God would destroy everything. Jonah tried to flee so he would not have to go because he not-so-secretly hated the Ninevites. However, God sent a great fish to swallow him whole.
 
Yes, God has His ways of getting our attention. While he was in the belly of this fish, Jonah prayed. God commanded the fish to release Jonah, and spit him onto the shore. Then, again, He commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh. 
 
After delivering God’s “turn and repent or be destroyed” message to the people of the great city, the people believed. The King declared a fast, and God had compassion on the whole city. You would think Jonah would be happy that they listened, after all he had been through. However, he was not happy because he did not agree with God’s compassion on them.

Like Jonah, obedience is the hardest for me when forgiveness is required. Unlike our fickle feelings, God’s love and compassion never fails. God never gave up on Nineveh, but He also never gave up on Jonah. He didn’t give up on my family member, or on me, and, friend, He won’t give up on you either.
 
Thankfully, God is forgiving and extends grace that is sufficient for each of us. If we stop and listen, He will point us in the right direction. When we realize His great compassion toward us, we are able to extend it to others. Return to walking in obedience, and open your heart to receive His compassionate love today and every day. 
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About the Author

Hello! I’m Brenna Kurz.  I am married to my best friend, Josh. We have two beautiful children, Evelyn (4) and Ethan (2). I enjoy working out, spending time with my family and traveling to new places. I have experienced the grace of God in many situations over the last several years and I'm passionate about sharing my story with others. I hope by sharing, I can help others better understand the love of God— that He is always good, faithful and how very important it is to have a community because you can't do life alone!

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1/31/2021 0 Comments

Glory in Our Droughts (Week 21)

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I struggle with change. Especially if I’m not expecting it.
 
Four years ago my family was suddenly faced with unexpected changes outside of our control. It caused a spiritual drought in my life. I was confused, hurt, and heartbroken. I felt like I was grasping for water.
 
For the first time ever that I could remember, I felt completely helpless. I found myself second-guessing every choice we had made. It seemed every time we would get through one change and feel like we were on level ground again, something else would come along that would shake us.
 
With each heartbreaking change, I felt myself take a step back from Jesus. Instead of allowing God to pull me closer and use this time to grow me, I pushed back.
I was just plain mad at God.
 
My spiritual drought lasted a year and a half, until I finally came to the end of myself. Eventually I ran out of strength, and turned to God to help me.
 
Looking back I can clearly see that this drought could have been more fruitful had I leaned on God from the beginning. Just like how in 1 Kings 17, Elijah used a drought to try to turn King Ahab and Israel back to God, and away from their wickedness. King Ahab was, up until that point, the most evil king Israel had ever had. Much of Israel had turned to worshipping Baal, the “god of the sky,” who they believed controlled the weather. So Elijah told King Ahab that there would be no rain for the foreseeable future, except at Elijah’s word.
 
For three and a half years Elijah prayed to God for no rain, hoping to make Israel and King Ahab realize their “god” was no god at all. God held back the rain, hoping His people would turn back to Him. Instead, the Israelites ran further away.
 
Elijah called the King and all his false prophets to Mount Carmel for a final showdown. Each side would build an altar, and on each altar would be a bull. Both sides would call to their god and whichever god answered by sending fire would be declared the “real deal.”
 
After a long day of calling to Baal, the prophets of Ahab gave up. That’s when Elijah stepped in, prepared his sacrifice, covered it with gallons of water, and prayed to the One True God to send down fire.
 
The fire came, and the people of Israel called out “The Lord — He is God!” Elijah had accomplished what he had set to do. The people returned to the Lord (albeit not for long).
 
Immediately after the people declared the Lord as their God, Elijah prayed for rain, and it came. The Israelites could have avoided three-and-a-half years of hunger, thirst, sickness and death had they only turned to Him sooner.
 
Droughts are bound to happen in our lives, but it is how we handle them that will matter. Will we allow God to use them to bring us closer toHim, or will we allow them to drive us from Him?
 
God allowed the drought for the same reason He allowed the Israelites to wander in the desert: to teach them to fully rely on nothing and no one but Him. 
 
Do you find yourself, today, in the middle of a drought season? Now is the time to lean in to Him. 
 
Don’t allow anger to drive you away, like I did. God used the three and a half year drought in Israel to bring the whole nation back to him. What will you allow him to do through yours today?

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About the Author

Hi! I’m Tara McGill. I am a wife to my amazing husband Jay. We live in the great state of Georgia where we raise our two children, Jayden (4) and Brooks (2). I enjoy spending quality time with my family and traveling. I am passionate about sharing Jesus and connecting women with other women who are also passionate about Jesus.

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1/24/2021 0 Comments

Roots and Fruit (Week 20)

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​As we drove onto the lush, shaded property, I was taken aback at first sight of the giant. I had never seen a tree like it before— its branches extending some 25 feet from its sizable trunk.
 
Despite being over four hundred years old, Angel Oak was, and still is, just as strong and healthy as ever. I took dozens of photos with my unimpressive point-and-shoot camera that day. The tree was utterly and completely awe-inspiring.
 
There’s a woman in the Bible who I’m reminded of when I think of Angel Oak. She, too, is a sight to behold. She is trustworthy, hardworking, secure and kind. She’s got all of her ducks in a row... she is utterly and completely awe-inspiring.
 
Her name? We’ll call her Mrs. Proverbs 31.
I can’t remember exactly when I discovered her tribute, tucked away in the center of my Bible, but from that day forward I knew I wanted to be just like her. I made my to-do list and set out to be the best Christian wife and mom I could be. But all my efforts seemed to produce was a life that was far from “abundant” (John 10:10). It was completely exhausting.
 
Being like Ms. P was a noble goal, but the truth is that I had missed the point completely.
 
In the same way, the day I visited Angel Oak, I had overlooked a key fact. Underneath the soil I stood on were miles upon miles of root systems. The existence of those unseen roots made everything that was seen so exquisite and awe-inspiring.
 
In the same way, if we read to the end of Proverbs 31, we find the not-so-secret secret to her admirable qualities: “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.”
 
Underneath the strong, successful, secure, smart, and sympathetic woman everyone could see was something greater— a root system which fueled her every word and deed: fear of the Lord.  This “fear” the author writes about is not the feeling of terror. When the Bible talks about “fear of the Lord,” it’s referring to an awe-filled reverence in response to who God is.
 
Ms. P rooted her life in Him. The Amplified version elaborates, “reverently worshipping, obeying, serving, and trusting Him...” As a result, her good works were not manufactured at the cost of her own exhaustion— they were simply the natural product of God’s work within.
 
Good works are meant to be the fruit of our relationship with God, not the root of it.
 
Friend, God wants to bless you, and make you a blessing to others. He wants the world to stand in awe “for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:3). God never intended for us to strive. He longs for us to rest in Him. This doesn’t mean we quit trying. It means we put our effort into the right thing: shifting from the shaky soil of self-reliance to fully trusting in Him.
 
Are you thriving in Christ, or striving in exhaustion? Are you positioning yourself to experience God, or are you focused on production?
 
There is freedom when we remain in Him. We don’t have to have to have all the answers. We don’t have to will ourselves to be better. We don’t have to put on a happy-Christian-mom “mask” and pretend like we have it all together. When we couldn’t do anything for ourselves, Jesus came with a rescue plan. He is the Author and He will be the Perfecter of our faith.
 
Find rest in that truth, today, friend, and “let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on him.” (Colossians 2:7)
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About the Author

​Hi, I’m Katie Gibson! My incredible husband Craig and I have been married for 13 years and live in North Atlanta with our three children, ages 12, 11, and 7. I'm a writer, author, and speaker. My favorite things include black coffee, small group, date nights, and the Atlanta Braves. I love using the power of story and the unchanging truth of the Word of God to encourage women to grow in their faith.

Connect with Katie at her blog at www.katiegibsonwrites.com


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