Relax, Everything is Coming Together!

Can you believe it? Another year is just about over and a new one is right around the corner! My thoughts begin to swirl as I focus on the upcoming holidays and how I want to "do them right" this time. It's at these moments I get a little 'antsy' and anxiously determine to do next year what I did not get done this year. 

Thankfully though, by God's grace His Holy Spirit reminds me it's not in the doing that makes a perfect life worth living but its in being His Beloved at the center of His will.

I want to focus on that. Not preparing the moistest turkey (even though I hope it really is juicy!) or the most elegantly decorated tree or perfectly chosen and wrapped gifts, but on Jesus' unfailing love. 

Yes, I am going to relax - God's got this!

“I, Jude, am a slave to Jesus Christ and brother to James, writing to those loved by God the Father, called and kept safe by Jesus Christ. Relax, everything’s going to be all right; rest, everything’s coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way!”

‭‭Jude‬ ‭1:1-2‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!” 

Jude 1:20:21 MSG

God's Great Power

Each week as my daily routine of work, commuting, household chores, and ministry commitments unfold, I often feel tired and sometimes overwhelmed.  I think about all the things I have to complete and haven't done yet and where will I get the resources and energy to accomplish everything I have on my mental to-do list. It can be exhausting!

It is at these times that I forget about how God's great power lives in me. For instance, I once led a life of drug, alcohol and physical abuse. I was alienated from my family and I was far from the Lord. One day though I prayed to God that He would resurrect me from the grave of my sins because in me I had that same Spirit that raised Lazarus from the grave. I also believed, in spite of my sin, that the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lived me as well. So, I asked God to do for me what He did for Lazarus and for Jesus. And he did. By His great power He raised me, and He saved me, and He restored my soul.

Now, even though the dishes aren't always done and I could use a few extra hours of sleep, I am an overcomer and I have God's great power living inside of me to do the most important thing, and that is to know, to love and to live for the Lord Jesus Christ!

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”


Ephesians 1:17-21 NIV