Luke 7:23
Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me

It is sometimes very difficult not to be offended in Jesus Christ. The offenses may be circumstantial. I find myself in a 'prison-house' a narrow sphere, a sick chamber, an unpopular position—when I had hoped for wide opportunities. Yes, but He knows what is best for me. My environment is of His determining. He means it to intensify my faith, to draw me into nearer communion with Himself, to ripen my power. In the dungeon my soul should prosper.

The offense may be mental. I am haunted by perplexities, questions, which I cannot solve. I had hoped that, when I gave myself to Him, my sky would always be clear; but often it is overspread by mist and cloud. Yet let me believe that, if difficulties remain, it is that I may learn to trust Him all the more implicitly - to trust and not be afraid. Yes, and by my intellectual conflicts, I am trained to be a tutor to other storm-driven men.

The offense may be spiritual. I had fancied that within His fold I should never feel the biting winds of temptation; but it is best as it is. His grace is magnified. My own character is matured. His Heaven is sweeter at the close of the day. There I shall look back on the turnings and trials of the way, and shall sing the praises of my Guide. So, let come what will come, His will is welcome; and I shall refuse to be offended in my loving Lord.

- Alex Smellie

The Lord make his face shine upon you.
Numbers 6:25 NIV

When you study the life of Christ you realize that for Him prayer wasn’t an energy drainer, but an energy giver. And it can be the same for you when you come to see God’s face shining upon you as you talk with Him in prayer.

When you’re with a critic who wants to argue, you lose energy. But when you meet with your best friend, you gain energy, and Jesus said, “I have called you friends” (John 15:15). Have you ever noticed how people in love sometimes speak to each other in baby talk? It’s immensely intimate and private—and it’s off-putting to a third party. But we do it because it is the tenderest language we know.

Jesus’ prayer life demonstrated this intimacy. He called God “Abba,” an Aramaic word much like “da da” or “mama.” (Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and some portions of the New Testament are written in Aramaic rather than Greek.) “Abba” was a Jewish child’s first word, because it was so easy to say. Somehow when Jesus was with God, the tender love that an adult offers to a child to give him strength is what He received from His Father. And you can have that same experience. It’s why Paul wrote: “You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when He adopted you as his own children.

​Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.’ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are His children, we are his heirs” (Romans 8:15-17 NLT). Your highest goal in prayer should be intimacy with God.​

http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/seeking-gods-face-in-prayer-2

Don’t be so easily discouraged when trying to hear God’s voice. Just because when you’ve prayed, you opened your Bible to a page that seems to be naming every single Israelites - does not mean that Jesus doesn't love you, that God doesn't care about your situation, that He doesn’t have plans to prosper you. No - He just wants you to seek him.

Press in. Have a little faith! As small as a mustard seed - that’s all you need. Imagine if Joshua’s army gave up marching on the first day. Joshua hadn't told his army how long God had told them to march for. They could have easily given up. But instead they pressed in. And God worked His wonders. Lean in. And watch God work His wonders.

Matthew 7:7
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Acts 17:25-28
Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from Him!

- Rebecca Ng

We read many stories about people successfully overcoming obstacles as part of their comeback process. A person goes from hurting to healed, from sorrow to joy, from loss to gain. These stories are powerful and encouraging. But what do we do when an earthly comeback is not possible? What do we do when a loved one has died, or a business is gone, or a divorce is final? What do we do when the reality is that our situation will not resolve in this life?

For an answer we can turn to the story of Elijah and the widow in 1 Kings 17:8–24. When the story begins, Elijah had been camping out east of the Jordan River, where each day God provided for him. In time, however, God told Elijah to travel to Zarephath, where a widow would take care of him. This widow wasn’t rich. She had one son, and their food was also running dangerously low.

“All I’ve got left is a handful of flour at home and a little cooking oil in a jar. I’m going to use these little scrubby sticks I’m collecting to build a fire when I get home. I’m going to use these last scrapings of my oil and flour to bake one last tiny meal for me and my son. 

Have you ever been there? At the end of your rope? How crazy does it sound that when we are at our absolute lowest, God asks for something from us? He invites us to give him our last meal. Do you know what that meal represents? It’s our full trust. When we are at our absolute lowest and weakest, Jesus invites us to hand him everything we have left. He invites us to give him our little, whatever our little is. When we give away our little, we place our full confidence in him.

When Jesus is enough in our lives, we focus on what we have, not on what we don’t have. We bless God and don’t curse him. We gaze intently on God and run to him, not away from him. We believe God and don’t doubt him, even though we don’t understand our circumstances. We ask him to take the half of us that’s left and make that everything he wants us to be. When we have no comeback, the comeback is that Jesus is enough.

How has Jesus revealed to you that He is a firm foundation in the midst of the storm? How has he revealed to you that he is enough?

1 Kings 1: 13 - 14
Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.

- Louie Giglio devotional

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.”
Eph 3:20 NKJV

If you only have a thimble-worth of capacity and you’re standing on the edge of a vast ocean, you have access to a lot of water but you won’t get much of it because your capacity is so small. If you have the capacity of a bucket you’ll get more than a thimble, but once the bucket is full the ocean can do you no more good.

If you have a barrel you’ll get more than a bucket, but once the barrel is full you will still only have taken advantage of a miniscule part of the ocean. The idea is to offer God the biggest container possible. Offer Him all of you so that He can accomplish what He wants to do in your life. And no matter how successful you may be, you still haven’t maximized all that God wants to do in you and through you.

Paul puts it this way: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” When you give your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within you. That means if your life has been a failure thus far, He can turn it into a success. And if your life has been successful thus far, He can take you to a higher level of success. That’s why you should begin each morning by praying: “Lord, I make myself totally available to You this day; work through me to accomplish Your will.” That’s a prayer God will answer.

- taken from http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/give-god-your-all

A consistent trait of the Israelites was their tendency to turn away from God. Over hundreds of years there was a to-and-fro between who they worship was directed to or who they placed as sovereign in their lives. Good kings would come, restore the temple and worship, and then the proceeding king would take reign and idolatry would be the norm again.

I read the words of this journey in my bible and in myself feel frustrated with the Israelites and start to think prideful thoughts- "I would never do that! Turn away from God, no way! I am following Jesus to the end!"

However, the more I reflect and examine my heart, I see a trend as well. I see that I can choose​ ​to turn my heart away from God when it suits me. When I am confronted with different choices and situation in life and chose not to listen to Holy Spirits promptings, I turn my heart away from God's way to my way.

​​​It can be subtle but disobedience and self-idolatry can make its way into our hearts.
2 Chronicles 29 reads about Hezekiah purifying the temple. At 25 he restored the temple of God to what it was intended for- Worship. But it wasn't just the temple that was restored, the people of God were restored to their true God.

We need to place God as sovereign ​​in our lives through simple acts of obedience. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit- where God, through Jesus Christ, dwells when we become believers. By positioning our hearts daily towards God and choosing to listen to the Spirit's promptings, we become more Christ- like and build upon our expression of worship and adoration to the King of kings and Lord of lords.  

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Psalm 51:10 NIV

"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."
Matthew 12:34 NIV

-Sandra Iliev

During our days, sometimes we are so overwhelmed by our work and feel overwhelmed or exhausted by it. If we have joy and peace in your heart, we have received our reward from God but if we feel otherwise, we need to assess our heart and mind to discern if what we are doing aligns with God’s will for us; whether it keeps us in an ongoing relationship with God or pushes us away from it.
 
God is faithful. He knows each of our needs and His will for us is that we will experience His goodness and loving kindness all the days of our lives. In our good and bad days, Jesus is still God, a good God. Our circumstances will never change His identity: as our God and our fortress in days of trouble. Let us take time every day to approach His throne of grace to examine our hearts. Have our lives be occupied with things we should take care of or have we been preoccupied with things that God never intends for us to be preoccupied with?
 
My prayer for us is that may God give us strength and wisdom to get them done well, the things we should be occupied, for His name’s sake. May God touch our heart and grant us wisdom to enable us to cast all our preoccupation to Him, to experience Him as our good God and protector in day of our trouble.
 
Nahum 1:7
The Lord is good. He is a fortress in the day of trouble. He knows those who seek shelter in Him 

- Jenni Wang

A lot of Christians exalt the great men and women of God of the past to such heights that they forget those people were just as human as everyone else. “It’s impossible to be like that today,” they say. “Ordinary Christians aren’t supposed to even try to be like that. It’s impossible!”

That’s a lie! The apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter 3, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (verse 10), and “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (verse 23). And that includes whom? Not only you and me, but the saints and the apostles and everyone else except the Lord Himself.

That means it is possible to become more like them. So if you think that you’ll never amount to anything for the Lord because you’re too bad, that isn’t so! Regardless of your faults or failings or supposed limitations or whatever, you too can be greatly used by the Lord if you want to help further His kingdom and are willing to do things His way.

God can use even you - weak and bad as you are. And when He does, you’ll give Him all the glory because you will know that whatever good you accomplish is only due to His working through you. Jesus, please help us to remember that we can’t be righteous, but that you can, and that we can put our lives in your hands and have you lead and guide us.

Jeremiah 33:14-16
The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous branch sprout from David’s line; He will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.

- Anonymous

God’s been sharing some deep truths with me about prayer. Our relationship with God is our prize, our end goal, right?

I heard Jamin Goggin say at a recent conference - ‘The Christian life is not about being a good person, it’s about knowing a good person - Jesus.’ In Matt 7:22,  Jesus said that not everyone will enter the kingdom of Heaven. ‘Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and in you name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Emphasis added).

Prayer is simply knowing God by being in communion with Him - not just communication, but communion. Jesus lived in communion with his Father, not just when he spoke to God, but also whilst he was teaching, preaching and healing. And he wants us to have the exact same relationship with the Father. John 15:4 says ‘Abide in me, and I in you.

Skye Jethani in ‘With’ says ‘this call to dwell or abide is an ongoing state of being, not just a invitation to chat once in a while.’ Nothing is to big or too small to talk to God about - from kingdom come to daily bread. Prayer is not about being presentable. It’s about presenting ourselves to God. -Jamin Goggin. And the things that distract us in prayer are the things that God wants us to talk to him about - that person, that dream, that worry - lay it all before Him.

James 4:8
Draw closer to God, and he will draw closer to you.

​- Rebecca Ng