#first15devotional

You and I have every reason to live with the stresses and cares of the world save one: God dwells within us. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 says, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” We serve the Lord of peace. The Holy Spirit who dwells within us is wholly peaceful. And Galatians 5:22 tells us that he will bear the fruit of peace in our lives if we simply live in continual communion with him.⁣ ⁣ Circumstances begin to rob us of our peace the minute we choose to live as if God isn’t within us. Trials and tribulations will become all-consuming if we allow them to. You see, we are not to live with our physical eyes as our sole source of truth. God has granted us spiritual eyes and the ability to have faith in his faithfulness and goodness regardless of our circumstances. He’s given us the ability to choose to live with union with him as our foundation. We are not alone. We are never alone. The God who authored Scripture, knows all of eternity, raised Christ from the dead, and empowered the disciples dwells within us, always.⁣ ⁣ You will only live with peace in this life to the level that you live out of the union you have with God. In every situation, God is with you, ready and willing to lead you, empower you, sustain you, and fill you with peace in response to your trust.⁣ ⁣ John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Peace is our portion. And this peace is not given as the world gives, based on the fickle nature of man and the ever-changing opinion of the world. Heavenly peace finds its source solely in the unchanging nature of our good and loving heavenly Father. 🙋🏽‍♀️💁🏽‍♀️Click the link in bio @first15devotional to read or listen to today’s full devotional! #first15 #first15devotional #TrustGod | #StayFocused | #GetConnected #goodnight https://www.instagram.com/p/CVhMAXxAdpt/?utm_medium=tumblr

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” –Zephaniah 3:17⁣ ⁣ To exult is to be joyful or jubilant because of a triumph or success. You can have joy today because your God sees you as a triumph. You have been transformed. You are a new creation. You are what God has most desired in the earth. His chief longing has always been relationship with us, and by your faith in Jesus Christ you have given him what he has always wanted. God exults over you today just as you are. He longs for intimate relationship with you. He wants to give you ears to hear his “loud singing” that you might have the same perspective for yourself as he has for you.⁣ ⁣ In The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning says, “My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.” May you come to the awareness of how deeply you are loved by your God today. May you allow God to love what you have deemed unlovable in your own life. And may Zephaniah 3:17 be a foundation on which you experience the overwhelming joy that comes from God’s inexplicable love for you.Click the link in bio @first15devotional to read or listen to today’s full devotional! #first15 #first15devotional #repost https://www.instagram.com/p/CVFoUBig_23/?utm_medium=tumblr

Without solitude our faith will not stretch into the inner places of our hearts that so desperately need to be flooded with the light of glorious relationship with our heavenly Father. If you long to be loved, it’s in the secret place you’ll discover the wellspring of affections found in the heart of God. If you need someone to listen, it’s in solitude you’ll discover the always listening ear of your heavenly Father. And if you need a friend, it’s in time spent alone fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit that you will find a friend who will never leave you, forsake you, hurt you, or mislead you.⁣ ⁣ May you discover what you’ve been longing for in the secret place with God. May you pursue deeper connection with your heavenly Father through the wonderful discipline of solitude. 👉🏾Click the link @first15devotional bio to read or listen to today’s full devotional! #first15 #first15devotional #TrustGod #StayFocused #GetConnected #morningdevotional https://www.instagram.com/p/CU-DcjBAjdl/?utm_medium=tumblr

#repost @first15devotional To see the living God face-to-face is to have our spiritual eyes opened through the important practice of faith. The entirety of our relationship with God really boils down to faith. By faith we trust in him even though we haven’t seen him. By faith we believe the Bible is truly his word. And it is by faith that we enter into his tangible presence where our hearts are transformed and our lives changed.⁣ ⁣ Paul prays an important prayer at the beginning of Ephesians that I believe God desires for you and me today. Ephesians 1:17-18 says, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”⁣ ⁣ We need the eyes of our hearts enlightened. We need to develop spiritual eyes to see all that is available to us in God. We need faith to guide us into the deeper things of God.⁣ ⁣ Faith is a gift given to those who cry out to know God. It is a gift given by the Holy Spirit in response to our desperation for relationship. If you will seek out more in your communion with your heavenly Father, he will respond with an increase of faith. He will answer your call by carrying you into the depths of his endless love where you belong—where you’ve always belonged.⁣ ⁣ Click the link @first15devotional bio to read or listen to today’s full devotional! #first15 #first15devotional #TrustGod #StayFocused #GetConnected https://www.instagram.com/p/CThPnu9ggaQ/?utm_medium=tumblr

You can co-labor with God in his desire to meet the felt needs of those around you. God says in Deuteronomy 15:11, “There will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'”⁣ ⁣ The church in Acts brought about God’s desire to meet needs. Acts 4:34-35 says, “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.”⁣ ⁣ God longs to use you like he did his church in Acts. You get to work with God in seeing his longing to provide for people come to pass. You get to be the hands and feet of our Savior and co-labor with Christ.⁣ ⁣ Who do you know that needs God’s love today? What can you do to see God’s promises come to pass in the lives of others? Ask the Spirit to show you where and how he would have you minister today.⁣ ⁣ Click the link @first15devotional bio to read or listen to today’s full devotional! #first15 #first15devotional https://www.instagram.com/p/CRl7owFDwpz/?utm_medium=tumblr

Jesus made time for those in need. He wasn’t too busy to leave what he was doing, which happened to be ministering to a large group of people, to make time for a single girl. Jesus displayed the heart of the Father in going after the one. Throughout his ministry, Jesus consistently made time for people around him. Whether it was eating a meal with his disciples, going to the house of Zacchaeus, or spending time with little children, Jesus was there for those around him.⁣ ⁣ God is the same way with you and me today. Through the death of Jesus we have been given an opportunity to have conversation with God all day, every day. God’s desire is to make time for us. He counts our needs as important. Jesus’s ministry exemplified God’s heart to make time for his children.⁣ ⁣ This week as we are looking at what it means to not only be a hearer of God’s word but a doer, let’s ask God how we could be more like Jesus. In what ways could you make time for those around you today? Will you choose to spend time with someone in need even if it doesn’t fit in your schedule? Will you put those around you above yourself?⁣ ⁣ Click the link in bio @first15devotional to read or listen to today’s full devotional! #first15 #first15devotional https://www.instagram.com/p/CPf5zL0Fyw6/?utm_medium=tumblr

This week we’re looking at how we can not only receive God’s word, but experience more of God through being doers of his word. So, today let’s explore how we can follow the example of Jesus and be present for those around us.⁣ ⁣ Being present in people’s lives always requires sacrifice. It requires stepping outside of what will solely benefit you in order to live for the benefit of others. Philippians 2:3 teaches us, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Jesus counted you and me as more significant than his own life. He died so that we might live, and he calls us to do the same.⁣ ⁣ Luke 9:23 says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” John 12:24 makes it clear that in order to bear fruit in this life we must die to ourselves: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Choose today to be a doer of the word, and die to yourself that you might better love others.⁣ ⁣ You see, before people need your advice they need your presence. Before our need to be fixed we simply need to know we are loved and cared for. It’s in the giving and receiving of love that healing takes place. Being present creates space for them to thrive, heal and be transformed.⁣ ⁣ Who in your life needs you to be present for them today? In what ways has God been present in your own life? In what ways has he demonstrated his nearness to you? And in what ways could you be his reflection today?⁣ ⁣ Click the link in bio @first15devotional to read or listen to today’s full devotional! #first15 #first15devotional https://www.instagram.com/p/CPdVvsGlGW7/?utm_medium=tumblr

For the church to work as “one body,” its members must commit to loving one another as Christ has loved us. Church requires selfless acts of grace, love, honor, and respect. It requires sacrificial commitment. But the result is a glorious union founded on and fueled by the depth of God’s love.⁣ ⁣ And the world will come to join our family as we increasingly love one another. Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The world isn’t enticed by rules and regulations. And it assuredly isn’t enticed with drama, quarreling, bickering, slander, and division. The world needs real, loving relationship with God and his family. The world needs love.⁣ ⁣ May you be a child of God committed to the people of God. May you receive and give the grace of your heavenly Father to all those he has brought into your spiritual family. And may you love your brothers and sisters in Christ so that the world might know the love of the Father when it sees you.⁣ ⁣ Click the link in bio @first15devotional to read or listen to today’s full devotional! #first15 #first15devotional https://www.instagram.com/p/CPX_fyIFWaC/?utm_medium=tumblr