The Wake-Up Call

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Pruning is the long, slow, steady path by which we learn the way to do our work through his working.

JESUS IS LIFE!

I AM AN UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNREPEATABLE MIRACLE OF GOD.

Jesus Christ is in us. He is the secret to the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Hope is not a good feeling about the future—that's just being hopeful. Hope is the person who holds the future.

There will come a day when we are delivered not only from the guilt and power of sin, but even the presence of sin.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Trust isn't built by falling. Trust is learned by leaning.

We must learn to go into the refuge-room of the presence of God, shut the door, lay down our weakness, and rise up in God's strength.

Our lives consist not in the big decisions and banner events dotting our calendars but in the little things we consistently do day after day after day.

It is one thing for the Word of the Lord to be bound in our Bibles and yet another for the Word to be unleashed in our lives.

We do not worship a book and yet without this book we know next to nothing about the God we do worship.

It is fitting that at the very moment Jesus was, quite literally, shedding his blood for us, he addressed God as Father, thereby modeling for us the new and living way that was being opened to all of us through the gospel.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

What word are you standing on today?

The substance of the Christian life: Consecration. Transformation. Demonstration.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.

A prophecy can touch down again and again, at different times and places, to different people in different circumstances, and each time, it can breathe the life of God afresh into the people in need.

When it came to holy things, I had been taught that, at best, my body was some kind of container to house my spirit and, at worst, it was evil. It never dawned on me that my body could have any role to play in discerning spiritual things.

Why does Jesus keep looking up? I think it's because he's looking to see the Father's heart about the person or situation. I think it is something we can learn to do too.

And while it is true God sometimes speaks in what appears to us, at least, in an audible voice, this is not the norm. He more often puts a picture, thought, or impression in our minds.

Our heart is the center of our being, our will, motives, and desires. So the question is, What is it that you are eagerly desiring?

God often simply wants to communicate with us because he loves us. He wants to encourage us, comfort us, and strengthen us. In this way, prophetic ministry is a love language to us, for us, and through us.

To know this story of Christmas is to know that darkness need not be a worry any longer because light has come.

We can attend Christmas Eve services for every single year we’re alive, yet if Christ is never born in our hearts, we’ve missed the story completely.

At just the right moment, through the birth of Jesus, we’re reminded that the good news of God’s plan and redemption has come into our story.

For a lamb to be worthy of sacrifice in the temple, there were certain conditions that had to be met. The lamb had to be spotless and unblemished.

Where are we looking to find our hope and assurance amidst the uncertainties and storms we see raging in the world?

Security and comfort aren’t always found in what we’re holding on to; it’s found in what’s holding us—the good news of this Christmas story, Immanuel, Christ with us.

Perhaps you feel unseen, overlooked, and stained from whatever sin that’s still sticking to you, or maybe you have been given a label from the world. Hear this: you have value.

God of wonder, just as a GPS guides our earthly journey, we thank you for being our Divine Navigator, leading us on the path of righteousness.

When you realize the length God has gone to reach you through the gift of Jesus, it’s more about what he desires to do within you and through you that matters most.

That is the power of light; it helps us find our way in the darkness.

God is not a God who plays hide-and-seek with his creation. The season of Advent serves as a reminder for us all that no matter how lost or on the outside we may feel, not only have we already been found, he’s with us this very moment.

Illumination minimizes the darkness, and the world is just a little less scary as a result.

For Mary to trust in an uncertain future, she had to look back at the certainty of a holy God.

Joy based on circumstances, status, or position can easily fluctuate and change. Joy that is rooted in the unchanging love of God is a joy that withstands.

The secret is this: trust him and be patient in the waiting.

It’s easy to focus on the pothole. But what if God is growing something right in the middle of the mess?

Mary, in this quiet and beautiful moment, didn’t understand the “how.” Not by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, she did understand the who that was behind it.

If the people in our nativity sets are wearing shoes, the truth is, none of them should have been—because holy ground was breaking out all around them.

Shame may have stepped into the story of humanity, but the arrival of Jesus into the world was the fulfillment of God’s promise and the coming victory over the Enemy.

Is there a song in your heart that needs to be sung today?

What stories of wonder are we proclaiming, and what are people saying about the work of God in and among us?

How many times does our doubt literally get in the way of the wonder that God has placed in our paths?

What if a waiting season is not a wasted season?

God has more wonder in his hands than we can ever realize. The question is: Are our hands ready to receive all that he has prepared to pour over us?

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19).

The wilderness teaches us a whole new order and a completely new and different way of life. We have been delivered from the empire of Pharaoh to the kingdom of God.