9/21 Days of Prayer

At the time Jesus spoke these words He was surrounded by the people who caused the pain and anguish He was immersed in. He was in more pain than any of us could ever possibly imagine, and He forgave them in the middle of it. He didn’t wait until He rose from the dead 3 days later, He forgave them quickly.

There are two powerful lessons we can learn from this verse in Luke:

1. Forgive the people that have hurt you the most.
2. Forgive people as quickly as you can.

If you are struggling to forgive someone that has wounded you, today is a great day to forgive them. Your future is too great to let the pain from your past hold you back another day. Today is a great day to start the process of forgiving and forgetting. We don’t forgive because the person deserves forgiveness necessarily, but because we ourselves have been guilty and have also been forgiven.

(Take a moment to talk to God about the pain or the person you need to forgive.)

8/21 Days of Prayer

As much as we need to roll up our sleeves and take action to see our dreams come to pass, we must also remember that we desperately need God’s help in our lives to accomplish those dreams. If our dreams can be accomplished on our own, then our dreams are too small. The call God has on our lives is too big to ever accomplish on our own.

A lot of us only call on God when we are experiencing problems or major turmoil in our lives, but God wants to be involved in every step along the way. He is present in every moment, every single day. God’s strength is so much greater than your strength. God can do more with 10% of your strength surrendered to him than you can do with 100% of your strength on your own.

7/21 Days of Prayer

We’ve all had dreams that we have talked about with a loved one, but there comes a time when your dream has to become more than words in order to become reality. There is a point we all reach that requires taking steps on our part in order to make our ambitions come true. Pursuing a dream is never comfortable, but neither is hedging. Dexter Yager said, “You will never leave where you are until you decide where you would rather be.”

What steps can you take today to see the dream in your heart come to pass? Remember the journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. If you wait for the stars to align then you might never start at all. You don’t have to travel miles towards your dream in a day, but ask yourself what step you might be able to take to keep moving forward.

6/21 Days of Prayer

Most of us grew up hearing the golden rule, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” Most people agree that if we all lived by that rule the world would be a better place, but the Bible raises the standard. This verse in Philippians 2:3 tells us to treat others better than we would want to be treated. We are not only to reciprocate kindness but to go above and beyond.

How different would the world around us look if every day we decided to treat our spouses, our kids, our families, our friends, and our co-workers better than we want to be treated? What would happen if we extended that effort towards people who didn’t know God? I’d propose to you that this type of whole- hearted kindness could help someone encounter Jesus for the very first time.

5/21 Days of Prayer

When I worked at the fire department, I worked an entire morning with a booger in my nose. The guy I was working with saw it but neglected to tell me it was there! When we got back to the station a friend of mine nonchalantly commented, “Sparks, you have a booger in your nose.” I asked the guy I was working with, “Why didn’t you tell me?” He responded, “I just thought it was funny.”

The truth is we all have “boogers.” We all have things in our life that we can’t see. These flaws come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes. Unlike a booger, some of these blindspots can cause major setbacks and impact your destiny.

We need people in our lives who will see our blindspots. Community Groups are an amazing way to connect with people and develop authentic relationships that will point out the issues in our lives that we can’t see. I want to challenge you as your pastor to make Community Groups a priority this semester. Don’t just sign up – go! Make going weekly your goal.

4/21 Days of Prayer

Hide and seek was one of my favorite games growing up! When you were the seeker, you had one goal: to find who was hidden. Finding the person that was hiding was always an exhilarating feat. The Bible tells us, “seek first the kingdom of God and all of these things will be added to you.” If I’m being honest, there have been times in my life that I have found myself searching for things outside of God’s Kingdom. “Seeking first the kingdom of God” isn’t as complicated as you may think. In fact, you are doing so as you read this devotional. By going through this content, you have carved out some time to seek God. I am so proud of you! The goal is to continue to make this time a priority in your life after these 21 days are complete.

Take 15 minutes every day to seek God. Spend 5 minutes in worship, 5 minutes in God’s Word, and 5 minutes in prayer. When we take time out of our day to focus on God, we are doing exactly what Matthew 6:33 encourages us to do.