Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.

                          Psalm 139:13–16 MSG

Key Verse – Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out; you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

 – Reflection:

                            Believing We Were Made

Scripture says we’ve been fearfully and wonderfully made, but the enemy doesn’t want us to see ourselves that way. He puts up distorted mirrors to change our self-image. When we look in the distorted mirror, even though we’ve been forgiven and redeemed, all we see are our mistakes, failures, and times that we didn’t measure up. The person looking back at us in the distorted mirror is guilty and unworthy. That’s not who we are.

Where do we go from here?

If life has treated you unfairly, we’ll see ourselves in that distorted mirror as a victim, defeated, with nothing good in our future. But the truth is that God has beauty for those ashes. What was meant for harm, He’s turning to your advantage. What’s the problem? You’re looking in the wrong mirror. As long as we’re letting that distorted image define who we are, it will keep us from rising higher. Get rid of that mirror and go to God’s Word. Let Him define your image. If we see ourselves the way God sees us, it will begin to heal a damaged self-image.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank You that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in Your image. Thank You for not letting us know that we are not any of the negatives that the enemy tries to use to distort the image of who we are. We believe nothing can hold us back from becoming all You created us to be. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

– Scripture:

                 Where Is Your Heart At?

I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful believers in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ. How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind and had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago, he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

                                 Ephesians 1:1–6 MSG

Key Verse – Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.

– Reflection:

In our nonprofit, we teach basketball to the youth; the guys that come in are just learning basketball. I think of it as the beginning of my walk with Christ. You may not know how to do everything the first day or even the first month, but if you keep showing up, you will eventually learn to complete a layup and play defense against an offense correctly. Well early on my walk with Christ the toughest thing for me was prayer, I couldn’t understand how saying words into open air would allow our father to hear me. Now I can pray in front of people and even write this blog to go out to others hoping to encourage you guys to come an walk with Christ. It is an amazing journey ahead of us if we only listen to the words written in our hearts by our Father.

Where do we go from here?

It is not expected for anyone to start a nonprofit or pick up a sport they know nothing about. I am sure, though, that there is something that you are great at that you could possibly help someone out with. Do that and watch how your life begins to change. I had a cousin doing a lot wrong by the Church today’s standards, but he found out that if he made the smallest change in himself, he could make a difference. Those small things make GOD smile and pour out his blessings on us.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank you for all you have done in the lives of those we have touched together. Allow us to continue on this path together. It is a blessing to perform small things for great people. You honored us with your son, so allow us to honor you with our love for you and the work you provide us each day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

 – Scripture:

              Faith to Believe

And so I arrived in Jerusalem. After I had been there three days, I got up in the middle of the night, I and a few men who were with me. I hadn’t told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with us was the one I was riding.

                          Nehemiah 2:11–12 MSG

Key Verse – I hadn’t told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with us was the one I was riding.

 – Reflection: 

When Nehemiah heard that the walls and gates of Jerusalem had been torn down, there was nothing he could do about it. He was a cupbearer to the king of Persia, living in exile a thousand miles away. But suddenly, God dropped a desire in Nehemiah to rebuild those walls. It didn’t make sense to his mind. He didn’t have the staff, the resources, or the experience. But with the desire came a new boldness, a confidence, the faith to believe in what seemed impossible. He went to the king, and amazingly, the king sent Nehemiah and supplied him with the materials and funds to do it.

Where do we go from here?

Notice that God not only puts desires in you, but He puts the favor on you so you can see that desire come to pass. When it’s a destiny desire, there’s a force breathing in your direction, pushing you forward, opening doors, and causing people to be good to you. You’re not stressed over how it will happen; you know it will happen. Get ready for where God is about to take you.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank You for never giving me the desire to do something without the power and favor to do it. Thank You that I don’t have to make it all happen alone or manipulate people to help me. I will keep You first place and watch You work out Your plans for my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 – Scripture:

                    If the Son Sets You Free

Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.” Surprised, they said, “But we’re descendants of Abraham. We’ve never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, ‘The truth will free you’?” Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient who can’t come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through. I know you are Abraham’s descendants. But I also know that you are trying to kill me because my message hasn’t yet penetrated your thick skulls. I’m talking about things I have seen while keeping company with the Father, and you just go on doing what you have heard from your father.” They were indignant. “Our father is Abraham!”
Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would have been doing the things Abraham did. And yet here you are trying to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth he got straight from God! Abraham never did that sort of thing. You persist in repeating the works of your father.” They said, “We’re not bastards. We have a legitimate father: the one and only God.”

                                John 8:31–41 MSG

 – Reflection:

We cannot mature in our faith without community. We just cannot. The process of maturing isn’t simple and isn’t smooth. It’s one of getting off track and getting on again and again and again. We need help with that. We’re designed to be together. We’re built to need one another. To “grow up healthy in God, robust in love,” we need community. We need to want to do the things that our savior did in being in the community and seeing the people; that way, we will know for ourselves what the community needs. Not listening to someone who hasn’t even been to your community, but get out there yourself. Go see family, see them, and remember what your city or town was like before you moved away. Help honor where you came from; if we all can do this, it will make for a better community that will move the needle more for change than just talking about it. Christ got out in the community and sacrificed his life to move the needle of his community, which, in a sense, has moved across the world today. We all want to do the work that has been placed in our hearts, let’s do what Jesus did start small and connect with one another to make the change necessary for the Kingdom.

Where do we go from here?

Do you have a sense of the true identities of your brothers and sisters in the community? Get serious about learning. Get intentional about allowing God to show you. Begin creating small groups. In those small groups; speak on things that will help the group honor the WORD. When you meet next, have each person bring a favorite story or verse from Scripture. Read them. Talk about them. They’ll point to something true. If someone loves the story of Caleb, for example, they’re likely designed and built to be brave, bold, and faithful like Caleb. And his community must help him do just that.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, help guide us in the ways that made you do the work you were called to do and aid us in those same abilities. We know things are not going to be easy, and know that anything worth having is worth working for. Allow us the strength to honor you and the Father with the work necessary to bring change in this world. In your name, Jesus, we pray and say Amen.