Thursday, May 30, 2019
One Thing You Can Count On!
“One Thing You Can Count On!”
By Zach Wood
Hebrews 13:8 NIV
Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday and today and forever.
As I drive to and from work each day, one thing I take
notice of is the gas prices.I like to
keep an eye on them often.As we drive
around from town to town and going various places, I often do the same.I like to keep an eye on where gas may be the
cheapest and it’s just interesting to see the fluctuation of prices.
As I was driving home today from work, I chuckled and
thought to myself, “Wow, these gas prices
just fluctuate constantly!”And they
do, often.I thought about how so many
things around us each day change from one moment to the next.It seems we cannot find anything these days
that stays the same.Things are
constantly changing and it’s very hard to keep up with.
I don’t mind sometimes when things change, but I do like
consistency in many things.It’s nice to
know when some things will remain the same and kind of creates a comfort zone,
so to speak.As I continued thinking
through these thoughts, I thought about how crazy things are in the world with
a continuous cycle of change.It really
does seem things are constantly changing and it just doesn’t provide a feeling
of security.Technology is one of the
biggest things that change.What’s new
one day is old and obsolete in no time!Crazy!
I am so very thankful to know that God never changes.No matter what is going on each day of my
life, I can count on the fact that God’s love will always remain within
me.He will never love me less and I
don’t have to do anything to make Him love me more.His faithfulness is always present.I never have to be concerned that He will
abandon me.He is always there.When I’m having a bad day at work or at home,
He’s always there to comfort me.
There is such a comforting feeling to knowing that God
remains the same no matter what is going on around me.I don’t have to worry about His love and
faithfulness fading away.With all the
changes that happen around me daily, it’s a peaceful feeling knowing that I can
rest in His presence.
I hope you can be comforted today knowing that God loves you
no matter what.With all that changes
around you, His love won’t abandon you and He will remain faithful in the
coming days.Rest assured you can count
on God’s love to pour out on you every day of your life.
One thing you and I can always count on is the great love
and faithfulness of God!
Monday, May 20, 2019
Trust In The Midst Of Confusion
“Trust In The Midst Of Confusion”
By Zach Wood
John 14:1 NLT
Don’t let your hearts
be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.
Ever had someone tell you that you were going to do
something together or go somewhere and, at first, it totally confused you?But then the person said, “I know you don’t understand, but just trust
me.”You probably followed,
wondering what in the world was going to happen.You were a little hesitant and perhaps your
heart was pumping fast, but you still followed close behind and waited to see
what would happen.
There are many situations in which we become frustrated
because we don’t “get” something and it takes a while for us to finally figure
out what is happening or the leader/teacher doesn’t explain fully for a certain
period of time.Why?Perhaps the person wants us to completely
trust in their leading and not trust in our own understanding.
It is definitely hard to follow when we don’t get what is
going on in life.There are a lot of
times we don’t get what’s happening and it causes frustration.At first, we may have a really bad reaction
and get angry at the person who is holding information back from us.They have reason for it and won’t let us in
on all the info until later.Often we’re
like, “Hey, don’t leave me hanging!”It’s not fun when we don’t know all the
details.We feel troubled and
unaware.
If you’re anything like me, things can “throw you” when you first feel troubled and unsure of what’s going
on.I often don’t like when things
suddenly change.It depends on the
situation, but often I don’t adjust well.I have to stop and think and ask God for strength to adapt to the
newness, whatever that might be.I don’t
like to be troubled by things unaware.It can be very confusing at times when life throws me curve balls.
Jesus tells His men not be troubled.He wants them to trust in Him.He doesn’t want them to fret because He’s got
everything under control.It is hard to
trust in the midst of confusion, but He tells us to fully rely on Him and
trust.
I have learned in the past years that it’s vital to trust
even when things seem to not make any sense.He is always working in ways we cannot see and we just have to trust
Him.
If you are struggling in life right now and in the midst of
confusion, hang in there!Trust in
Him!Don’t give up!Don’t throw in the towel.Trust in Him and He will not let you
down.Hang tight just a little
longer.Don’t be troubled.Let Him lead and see what awesome
opportunities He has for your future.Trust Him in the midst of your confusion.
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Seeking Him Above All Else
“Seeking Him Above All Else”
By Zach Wood
Matthew 6:33 NLT
Seek the Kingdom of God
We all seek a lot of different things in life, don’t
we?
We seek to find a good paying job.
We seek to find a good house to live in.
We seek to find a good school for our kids to attend.
We seek to find a church that we can call home.
We seek to find good deals on products that buy.
We seek attend a great college where we can further our
education.
We seek to find a mate whom we can spend our lives with.
We also seek a lot of other things in life.The list could go on and on as to what we
seek to find each day of our lives.Sometimes, we look and look for days, months or even years to find a
good deal on whatever it is we are hunting for.It always seems we are seeking something.We are always on a hunt for either something
better that we want or getting something we need.We want to bargain shop and get the best
deals for the lowest prices.My wife and
I are totally like that!We thrive on
finding great deals and good bargains!
I cannot help but to think about all the time and energy
that we put into seeking different things in life and often how little time we
really invest seeking the Kingdom of God
Jesus teaches on the importance of seeking the Kingdom
of God
I want to seek God’s Kingdom more than anything.I am trying each day to do this, in whatever
ways I can.I want to find ways that I
can seek Him and praise Him in everything I do.He gives me everything I need, so why wouldn’t I seek Him
ultimately?This is my heart’s
desire.Seeking Him above all else.We all need to make it our desire to seek Him
and His Kingdom above everything else that matters in our lives.He needs to come first, always.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Loving God, Loving People
“Loving God, Loving People”
By Zach Wood
Matthew 22:37-39 NIV
Jesus
replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.’This is
the first and greatest commandment.And
the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Last week, I was reading a YouVersion Bible App devotional
by Danny Gokey and he made a statement that was simple, yet so profound.He shared, “So many times I think we overthink our calling and over complicate the
Gospel, when really our purpose in this life comes down to two simple things;
loving God and loving people.”
It was so powerful and spoke volumes to me!The more I thought about this statement, I considered
how we so often do over complicate things every day of our lives when it comes
to being a light for God.What if we put
this concept into practice from the time we get up in the morning to the time
we go to bed and focus on nothing else but this?What would our lives really look like if we
simply focused on loving God and loving people?What if that became our sole mission every day?
This concept has challenged my thinking in the past week and
I continue to consider how I simply need to put this into practice as I live my
every day life.Loving God is actually
pretty easy for me to do.Even though I
often don’t understand Him, I love Him very much.However, loving certain people is difficult
for me.It is easy for me to love people
who are easy to love, but very hard at times to love people who are not nice
and who have treated me badly.
Think about this passage and how important it was for Jesus
to share it.We need to not only love
God with all our heart, but we must also love others.We cannot say that we love God and then treat
others like trash.It just doesn’t work
that way.We absolutely must do our best
every day to love others, regardless of how they treat us.And, that is hard!
What would our world look like if we made it our passion
every day to love God and love others?We don’t need a seminary degree to do this.All we need is a willingness to love and
respect not only our Father, but also others who we come into contact with.Let us not over complicate the calling God
has given to each of us.We all have
different abilities, gifts and talents for sure, however, we all have the
ability to love God and love others.This is something we can all do, regardless of our education.
Loving God and loving others.It is not a hard concept to grasp, but it is
a challenging concept to live out.Why
don’t we make it our mission and passion to fully love God and love others as
we live every day of our lives?
Who is with me?
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