God Backs His Promises
Sometimes moving forward looks like simply showing up. How do we do this on those days when we feel weak and tired or at a loss for direction? We cling to truth and remind ourselves of the promises of God.
Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Proverbs 30:5
The theme for the She Lives Fearless Conferences this year is Cultivate. To cultivate means to nurture and help grow, to prepare.
As I’m typing this I’m recovering from a sudden stomach virus that took me out like a freight train. While I could hardly move and breathe, my husband turned on Fixer-Upper with Chip and Joanna as a distraction and I binged for hours. Their renovations always include the outside parameters and it’s amazing to me how a well-done landscape enhances the homestead. However, it takes a lot of work and sweat to prepare the soil before planting. When it comes to the actual planting of a garden or plants, the soil has to be in good form for the seeds or plants to grow and thrive. Sometimes it means loosening or breaking up the ground. And in Texas where their shows were filmed, that’s no joke. The land can be hard and the sun sweltering much of the year.
Cultivating our faith and relationship with God takes time, attention, and intentionality to let the good things grow. Beginning in Genesis, God gave man two clear instructions: to tend and keep the garden.
Genesis 2:15 (AMP) says this: So the Lord God took the man [He had made] and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
For our faith to grow we have to cultivate it in prayer, scripture, worship, study, and community. When we do this, our lives become fertile ground for a life we can live and flourish in every season through the strength of God. Knowing who he is settles the questions. Knowing who he is shows us who we are, and in that settled identity we persevere and live fearless as we journey through the plans of God.
He is before all things, and by him, all things hold together. Colossians 1:17
Take a moment today to let these truths from 1 Colossians 1:15-20 sink in about Christ:
He is the image of the invisible God.
He is the firstborn over all creation.
He is before all things and by all things hold together.
He is the head of the church.
He is the beginning.
He is the reconciler of all things.
He is the ultimate peacemaker.
This week: Ask God for fresh eyes to see the divine nature of Christ and what that means for you. What areas of God’s truths do you need to cultivate - let grow? How do we do this? Romans 12:1-2 is a good place to start.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. - Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)
This passage is a reminder that Christ is alive - present in our world, in our communities, and in us so that we may live fully, freely, and wholly!
