The Feast of Booths
In the Old Testament, God commanded the Jewish people to hold a feast every year to commemorate their 40 years in the wilderness. Those 40 years of waiting for the Promised Land were difficult for the Israelites; even so, God was faithful in the waiting. For us today, it is also essential to celebrate and be grateful for who God is in the hard seasons of our lives.
The Lord’s Promises
Do you still believe in the Lord’s promises for you even in a world that is broken? (Genesis 6:5-8)
Following God’s Lead
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples it was better for him to go, because he would send the Holy Spirit. When we choose to follow God, we also can receive the Holy Spirit and enter into a life where he leads us to grow in our relationship with God. Following the lead of the Holy Spirit is a central part of receiving the fullness of what God has in mind for our lives.
The Value of Work Over Idleness
God calls us to steadfastness in our work instead of idleness. What is the value of work in your life? (2 Thessalonians)
The Confusion of Living for Achievement
Are you living your life focused towards your achievements and goals, or are you living your life focused on God? (Micah 6:8)
The Character of God
Just like getting to know a spouse or a friend, a big part of getting to know God is spending time with him and experiencing who he is personally. The Bible says that God is loving and faithful, that he’s always compassionate, and when we cry out to him, he is pleased to move in power on our behalf. If we invite God to show his character to us, we won’t just know these facts about God intellectually, but we’ll also get to see and experience him at work in our lives.
Drawing Near to God
Holiness and repentance can sometimes feel like heavy words. But in God’s eyes, holiness isn’t scary or heavy; rather, it’s an invitation to draw closer to him and to live a fuller and more beautiful life. This is a season to repent and lean more into the life that God is leading us into, so that we can experience deeper relationship and intimacy with him.
Seeking the Lord’s Presence Like Moses
Moses had this tent of meeting and found the presence of the Lord in the wilderness. Are you setting your time apart to find the presence of the Lord? What is your meeting tent? What is your wilderness.
There Is More
No matter where we are in our lives and in our walk with God, there is always more of Jesus available to us. We don’t earn more of God’s presence in our lives. Instead, as we spend time with God and invite him into every area of our lives, he is faithful to meet us and to share more of his goodness with us.
Getting Outside
How are you getting outside and and exploring different places outside of your normal routine like Jesus did? How are you blessing the people you meet in these places?
The Lord’s Assignment for You
What is the Lord’s assignment for you in this season? Are you willing to sacrifice what you have for the Lord and go where he is calling you to go?
God Our Father
Obey and follow the promptings of God our father and his inheritance can be yours.
Worship as Spiritual Warfare
In moments of hardship, our first reaction is often to plead with God for help. However, we can instead choose a different path, where we worship God and declare his goodness even in the midst of trials. Worship is not only an act of faith, but it’s also a way to invite the kingdom of heaven into our situation. When we praise God, we are agreeing with Jesus’s words: “take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
A True Heart of Worship
Worship is not just something we do on Sundays. It’s not just a matter of singing and dancing; it’s about honoring God with our whole being. As Jesus explained to the woman at the well (John 4:23-24), we must learn to worship God, not in any one specific place or way, but "in Spirit and in truth."
Living a Life Like Moses
Moses spent time with the Lord and built deep relationship with Him, but through Jesus the veil has been torn away and we too can have deep relationship with the Lord. How are you spending time withe Lord like Moses did?
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus opens by saying, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit.” One of the first and most critical lessons for us in engaging with the Spirit of God is learning to count ourselves as spiritually small and acknowledging that God is really big and really good. As we grow in humility, we learn to put the plans of God above our own plans, and we grow closer to God in the process.
The Preeminence of Christ
We are blessed to serve a God who is so much bigger than we can fully understand. Whatever we may face in life, our walk with God doesn’t hinge on how much we understand or how much we produce, but on trusting in how big he is and exercising faith in relationship with him. In order to keep growing in both our calling and in the knowledge of God, we must learn to make Jesus preeminent in every area of our lives, especially the areas that feel big or difficult for us.