Raised to New Life

This week my small group read Colossians 3:1-17. I wasn’t able to make it this week to discuss my thoughts/notes on the passage, so I figured I would share what God revealed to me to you all! :)

“Since you have been raised…” (vs.1)
When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, He lifts us up to a place of honor. He has made us righteous, whereas without Him, we’d still be spiritually dead in our sins.

“…to new life with Christ,…” (vs.1)
Christ formed us in our mother’s womb and gave us life physically. Once we gave our life back to Him, we were spiritually given a new life that is in Christ.

“…set your sights on the realities of Heaven…” (vs.1)
Rather than focusing on the problems of this world and earthly reality, we should look to God and Heaven’s realities. I like how the verse talks of the realities of Heaven, because Heaven is often seen as a fantasy land rather than a reality.

“Let Heaven fill your thoughts.” (vs.2)
Not only are we to look to the Lord and shift our focus to Him, but we should also let our thoughts center on Him and Heaven.

“Do not think only about things down here on earth.” (vs.2)
God knows that we are going to have earthly concerns, but He wants our focus to be on Him and on Heaven (also see Philippians 4:8).

“For you died when Christ died and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.” (vs.3, 4)
I thought of these verses while listening to the song, “Where I Belong,” by Cory Asbury. It starts off with Cory praying to God that God’s presence is all that he longs for. Then he goes on to say, “here in the secret place…Here in the quiet place…My soul waits for You alone…And here I’ve finally found the place where we’ll meet, Lord, face to face…I’ve finally found where I belong in Your presence...to be with You.” I believe this is what the passage is talking about. Our soul longs for that real life that only God has for us. And He has this secret place tucked away, hidden for us so that it may not be ruined for us. He wants us to be able to enjoy His secret garden and delight in His presence! That’s how much He loves us!! :)

But before this gets too long I am going to end it here and continue my notes on the rest of the passage on a different devotional. I hope this devotional brings you comfort and gives you hope, knowing that we have been made new in the Lord. He loves us so much that He has tucked away a special place for us to meet with Him. In His mercy, He picked us up from our filthy state and made us righteous and beautiful in His sight. What a great God we serve!! Today, I pray we will remember our value to the Lord and let our thoughts center on Him. Let us not let worldly concerns hold us down and keep us from living the life God has called us to live.

May the Lord bless you and always keep you close to Him.

In Christ,
Shannon

“’Wonder of the World” – Rush of Fools
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3bt0OWcNCo&feature=related

Prayers for Jessie

Hi everyone!

I was recently notified that a family friend's 4 year old daughter, Jessie, is in the hospital. She was critically injured from the horse accident at the fair in Bellevue, IA. For those who do not know of this accident, here is a brief news article:

http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_f66869bc-8799-11df-b540-001cc4c03286.html

Her parents have been giving updates of her progress at:

carepages.com/carepages/jessiemack

If we could all be praying for Jessie's recovery and for her family to find comfort in the Lord's embrace, that would be great! After reading their updates, I know they are remaining hopeful and continuing to praise God through the pain they are currently experiencing. Their family is such an inspiration!!

Thank you to all for taking the time to read this!

Blessings,
Shannon

1 Samuel 2:1-11

The other day I was reading from 1 Samuel and I came across a few points I’d like to share…

The first chapter in 1 Samuel ends with Hannah giving her son to the Lord as to thank Him for blessing her with a son she had been praying for. Chapter 2 then starts off with her praising God for His goodness and faithfulness:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord! Oh, how the Lord has blessed me! Now I have an answer for my enemies, as I delight in Your deliverance. No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides You; there is no Rock like our God.” – vs. 1-2

Hannah praised God at probably the lowest point in her life. She had to give up the son she had JUST received – how devastating!! Can any of you mothers imagine what that must have been like? The point I want to make is that this is how we should be. We should never get so attached to anything (lifestyles, people, possessions, etc.) that we wouldn’t be able to give them back to the Lord. If you think about it, we wouldn’t have these things in the first place without Him.

Let’s take another look at the last line in verse 2 – “There is no Rock like our God.”
Hannah chose to stand on God as her Rock while she was going through this difficult time. And because she did this, her footing was secure and she was satisfied in Him! :)

Verse 6 goes on to say, “The Lord brings both death and life; He brings some down to the grave but raises others up.”

Hannah recognizes this Truth and, full-well knowing she was one of the people who God brought death to (in a way, as she felt sorrow, pain, and went through hardship), she still praises God for His goodness. I wonder if we could do this on a regular basis. I think about how often we have blamed God in the past when He brings us to a season of hardship. But is this really the best response? Wouldn’t we grow a whole lot more in our faith and build our character if we learned to praise Him during our pain and trust that He has our best interest?

I pray that we will learn to thank God in the midst of our storms – not because we are in pain, but because we know He will get us through the storms and bring us closer to Him as a result. May the Lord remind you of the strong Rock that He is and always help us stand firmly on His foundation.

God bless!
<3 Shannon

“Holy and Anointed One” – Skillet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLucwS41uDI