I Choose Today

I Choose Today...

I Choose Today to be Renewed

I am encouraged by a friend today. When she was feeling emotionally and spiritually weak, she chose to fight against that by praying God’s Word over her situations. That is what we are supposed to do. That is what Jesus did. Jesus spoke the truth of God’s Word when met with His own physical weakness in the wilderness. Satan tried to use His weakness to get Him to sin. That is what the devil does, uses our weaknesses (emotional, physical, or spiritual) to get us to sin. My friend did what Jesus did. She spoke the Word of Truth over her problems, over being overwhelmed, over her struggles. What happened after Jesus spoke the Word against the devil? Satan left Him, then angels came to comfort and fed Him. God is our source of comfort, just like David expresses in the 23rd Psalms, “He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.” He gives strength; restores our souls. “Thank You, Lord, for renewing our strength and restoring our souls. Thank You for the comfort as we walk through stresses of this

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I Choose Today to be a Mirror

My hope and prayer is that my actions reflect God’s goodness to those who see me. I desire to represent God to those in my sphere of influence (even to those I interact with at the store, Starbucks, those I pass along in the street). I want them to see my face reflecting God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by seeing the God-Head’s countenance on my face, in my smile, through my eyes. How do I do this? How can I know and reflect Jesus? John 1:1 tells us how, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word. Knowing Jesus is knowing the Word of God! How awesome is that! Like any relationships, it grows with time and intentionality. For example, when I first met my husband, we spent all our free time together, getting to know each other, our likes, dislikes, tendencies, mannerisms, personalities. As the years have passed, we have intentionally made time for one another, take interest in what the other values and deems important, and we have grown together. Lasting relationships, like marriage, take spending time together, take intentionality, takes commitment, takes love.

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I Choose Today to Embrace New Beginnings

Does it sometimes feel like the hardest thing to do is start a project; a new path of a career or schooling; a step toward a dream, a goal, or a new phase of your life? The first step seems almost insurmountable because of the enormity of the tasks needed to finish or reach the goals you have set? Let me tell you a secret, God loves small beginnings. Zachariah 4:10 describes how God feels about stepping out in faith toward the adventure/calling for His people, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”  The Lord rejoices when He sees we are at the starting line of His plan being worked through His children. Even when those beginnings are small like setting a plumb line or setting up a website. My husband and I recently completed the process of finishing our very large basement area. It was my job to take lead in installing our flooring. I had to resource the floor which took time to get the best quality for the best price. That took time, but the work to actually install the floor

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I Choose Today to Exclaim!

Today, as I gaze out of my window and soak in the lush greenery of spring, I’m reminded of our journey exploring various ways of worship. This season, as all of creation awakens, provides a perfect opportunity to step outside and celebrate God’s boundless creativity, echoing the exuberant praises found in Nehemiah 9:5-6 (AMP): “Stand up and bless (praise, honor) the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. May Your glorious name be blessed And exalted above all blessing and praise.” [And Ezra said], “You are the Lord, You alone; You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host (the heavenly bodies), The earth and everything that is on it, The seas and everything that is in them. You give life to all of them, And the heavenly host is bowing down [in worship] to You.” Everything that exists — on earth, in the seas, and in the heavens — is a masterpiece of God’s creation. This alone is reason enough to exclaim in worship! So, let’s make today a day of exclaiming worship! Step outside, take in the wonders of God’s creation, and let it inspire your worship. How does nature speak to you about

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I Choose Today to Worship with Authenticity

In the last few posts, we have learned some Hebrew words, and their meaning, for worship: Towdah (תוֹדָה) – giving thanks to God for His provisions and blessings, and Avodah (עֲבוֹדָה) – we are also called to worship Him through our work and service, and  “Shabach” (שָׁבַח) – which signifies joyful and loud praise of God’s attributes and deeds, urging believers to openly express adoration and gratitude towards Him. Today, we are going to conclude our series with a Greek word for worship: προσκυνέω (proskyneō). This word conveys the act of showing reverence, homage, or worship towards God. This word for worship comes to us from the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. She was expressing her frustration about the place of worship for Samaritans being different than the Jews, basically asking who was right. Jesus, on the other hand, was explaining to her it is not a “where,” but the “who” is being worshipped (God) and the heart of the worshipper that matters. He explains in John 4:23-24, ”But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship

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