I can’t help but wonder what it is that God is organizing, implementing and aligning for you at this very moment. We know that since before time God has been busy creating all of what we know to be right now. He envisioned you before you were born, and he’s been hard at work the whole time precisely coordinating and orchestrating your life. Here’s what I know though, this masterful orchestration, this divine coordination…doesn’t always look pretty! In fact, most of the time, what God knows to be coming together so perfectly, and so beautifully, usually looks more from our perspective to be a complete disorganized mess.
The scripture verse(s) we talk about today include: Acts chapter 18 and Romans 8:28
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xoxox
Sarah Elizabeth
Our Faith Your Day Declaration!
Jesus, thank you so much for loving me in the way that you do! You designed me on purpose for a purpose. I want to live to my full potential today, with a mindset that honors you and a soul that seeks to know you better. Jesus I know that you are the way, the truth and the life, and I ask you to guide me and reveal to me what it is that you want to show me here, have me experience here, and learn from this season. Help mold me and shape me into the best version of me. I will live today as your vessel ready to receive your word, respond to your promptings, and pour out your overflowing love to those all around me. Please allow your thoughts to become my thoughts, your ways to become my ways and your will to become what I truly desire. Jesus if you are in it I want it and if you are not I don’t! I choose to faith this day of life! I am so grateful to be your girl! In Jesus name Amen!
Welcome in my beautiful friend! I love December, I love the anticipation of Christmas, the excitement at school, the snow, cozy evenings and weekends at home, Christmas music…all of it! It really is the most wonderful time of the year! One thing in particular that I find myself doing each December is looking back, taking time to reflect upon the year that is quickly coming to a close. I like to look back on goals that I set for myself last January, think about all of the things that have happened over this year, and feel so much gratitude for all that God is doing in my life. You may remember me talking last January about my word and mantra for 2023. This year my word was Align and my mantra went like this: Today I ALIGN my choices and actions to the destiny of purpose God made me for. I will pursue righteousness and love, faithfully seeking opportunities to bless and serve others. I choose to live today full of gratitude, bubbly enthusiasm and vibrant joy savoring the now, patiently trusting as God aligns what’s next. This morning I spent a bit of time reflecting on my mantra, thinking about how it has been serving me over the past 11 months, and the last line of it really caught my attention. I choose to live today full of gratitude, bubbly enthusiasm and vibrant joy…savouring the now, patiently trusting as God aligns what’s next.
My sister, today I want us to chat about how God is so very busy in the background of your life, preparing and transforming things to come! I’ve titled this week’s episode of the faith your day Devotional podcast: A Straight Path From Crooked Lines.
Let’s take a moment to declare how we will live today as a daughter of the king…Jesus, thank you so much for loving me in the way that you do! You designed me on purpose for a purpose. I want to live to my full potential today, with a mindset that honors you and a soul that seeks to know you better. Jesus I know that you are the way, the truth and the life, and I ask you to guide me and reveal to me what it is that you want to show me here, have me experience here, and learn from this season. Help mold me and shape me into the best version of me. I will live today as your vessel ready to receive your word, respond to your promptings, and pour out your overflowing love to those all around me. Please allow your thoughts to become my thoughts, your ways to become my ways and your will to become what I truly desire. Jesus if you are in it I want it and if you are not I don’t! I choose to faith this day of life! I am so grateful to be your girl! In Jesus name Amen!
I can’t help but wonder what it is that God is organizing, implementing and aligning for you at this very moment. We know that since before time God has been busy creating all of what we know to be right now. He created Heaven and earth, the sky, the sea and all that resides in and on it. He envisioned you before you were born, and he’s been hard at work the whole time precisely coordinating and orchestrating your life. Here’s what I know though, this masterful orchestration, this divine coordination…doesn’t always look pretty! In fact, most of the time, what God knows to be coming together so perfectly, and so beautifully, usually looks more from our perspective to be a complete disorganized mess. How can that be? How can God be hard at work on so much good, when all we tend to see is what’s wrong here and now.
Today we are going to be looking in the book of Acts and taking a look at the events of chapter 18. In this chapter we meet a married couple named Aquila and Pricilla. We also zoom back in on Paul who is on a mission to help spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Ok before we dive in to chapter 18, can we just take a moment to acknowledge some crooked lines becoming straight here. Just a little recap that Paul was actually once named Saul, and you might remember Saul as the man who persecuted Christians, and was present at the stoning of Stephen who was martyred for his faith. Saul would have been seen by all of us as an evil man, a man who hated the idea of Christ’s word, and love and promise of eternity going out to people. Saul was not the picture of a Christian Missionary that we would have painted…but that’s why we aren’t in charge here my girl! God could see in the background. Where we saw evil, he saw potential, where we see a man who was headed in the wrong direction, God could see a man who would lead countless people on the right path, and show them the way to Jesus. While Saul was persecuting, God was busy at work creating a straight path from some very crooked lines. So when we zip on ahead to Acts 18 and meet Aquila and Pricilla we are also meeting up with Paul the converted, the Christian, the beloved child of God. You see Aquila and Pricilla had just fled Rome because the Emperor Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. It’s at this time that they meet Paul in Corinth. They got to know Paul and connect with him, because like them by trade Paul had been a tent maker. It’s in Corinth that Paul brings them to know of Jesus and this sets them on a new course. We can see this all as a random chance encounter, but from afar we can see how God’s hands were in every detail here…so much so he even had given them the common connection of tent making. Had Aquila and Pricilla not had to flee Rome (what would at the time have appeared to be a tragedy for them), then they never would have met Paul and given their hearts to Jesus. But this is just the start. Eventually they end up in Ephasus where they meet Apollus, who was a very educated and articulate man, a teacher, scholar, and lover of Christ. Apollus had been baptized by water, but never had had the Holy Spirit enter his heart yet. It’s his encounter with Aquila and Pricilla that lead him to become a vessel of God’s Holy Spirit. From there Apollus is credited with spreading the Good news and teaching people about Jesus who then would take this good news and the love for a new found saviour home with them to further spread Jesus across Asia. You see the tiny seed that started as a man who hated everything to do with Christ, became a convert who was passionate for the Lord, and impacted numerous lives in a ripple effect that radiated far and wide. We would have never seen that coming…and that’s because we would only be able to see the scribbly, crooked and messy lines, that God somehow works to align into a straight path to purpose.
God has a detailed process and intentional timing for everything, and my dear he is working in the same way in your life too. Romans 8:28 says that God works all things together for the good of those that love him. So my sister I ask you…do you truly love him, do you love him enough to trust him with your past, your present and your future. Do you trust him to take what seems so messy, and broken from your past, to work it into something incredible for your future. You only see what is wrong, but he sees how your wrong turns can be rerouted towards your straight path of purpose. Do you trust him enough to believe that even though your present might feel mundane, or unexciting, or overwhelming, that he’s got you right where he wants you, bringing you into alignment with with his plan for you. Do you trust him enough to let go of the future you are envisioning in exchange for the potential he sees. Will you open your hands to him, and ask him to work with all that you have to give. Ask him to work with your shame, your guilt, your frustration, your excuses, your reluctance, your bitterness, your resentment, your impatience. Ask him to work all of it for good. My friend, if he can turn a Christian killer into a Saint…then he can use your broken, messy and crooked lines to paint a clear picture of who he has created you to be. Keep in faith my friend, keep moving forward, keep trusting, keep taking the next right step…because it’s when you look back one day, that you will see exactly how he was straightening and aligning the path you are walking this whole time. If you feel like it’s not good yet, that’s because He’s not done yet. He’s put divine purpose over your life, and he’s going to get you there, one crooked line at a time!