Get out of God’s way today and tell Him you’re willing to empty your plate. What has He asked you to do to conquer the sins in your life or share His name with the people around you? This year, I will make room for Him, so He is free to use me for something miraculous.

Scripture tells us that when we believe and put our faith in the person and work of Jesus and commit all that we are to him, He gives us new spiritual life with Him. It's out of our relationship with God that love takes root and results in spiritual fruit.

Whether you're the goal-setter or the goal-forgoer - keep this truth in mind. In every fleeting day, hour, minute, second - God has not changed. Take this verse, Hebrews 13:8, scribble it on a notecard and place it somewhere you'll see. Maybe on your bathroom mirror or the bedside table. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

When we look at Jesus life, we see that his strategy was not nearly as complicated. He gathered amongst the religious and the non-religious alike, eating good food and sharing intentional, meaningful conversation for hours on end. I challenge you to look at how you use your meals to reach others around you

The beautiful news about Christmas is that God loved us so much He wasn’t willing to leave us in our tragic and desperate state. He chose to rescue us with the gift of His Son, Jesus. The incarnation means that God the Son took on flesh so He could rescue us. At Christmas we celebrate a God who chose to give us mercy, forgiveness, and grace when He would have been perfectly just to pour out His wrath on us. Accepting both the bad and good news makes the birth of Jesus, our Savior, even more glorious.

Everything becomes sacred and everything becomes opportunity for thanksgiving when we slow down and look closer. A pile of dirty laundry - the reminder of another day passing and another day that God has not left us or forsaken us! Floors that never stay clean - the reminder of many friends and family who have gathered near! The list goes on.

Remember, the Lord commands Israel. Oh wandering Israel, quick to forget what the Lord has done! But, oh wandering church, quick to forget what the Lord has done! Be careful, lest in your financial success, your honor student son or daughter, your promotion at work, your "healthy" marriage - be careful not to forget the Lord your God!

Paul is clear that he didn't just share the good news message and move on, He actually loved the Thessalonians enough to share his very life with them. After reading this verse again, I was reminded that the gospel which means “good news” is not cheap news. It cost Jesus his life and I believe in most cases, when we share it with others it should coincide with sharing our lives with them as well.

I need to be washed by the cleansing blood of Christ, I cannot be clean on my own, just like River cannot! It's as simple as coming to God, admitting you're a sinner, asking for forgiveness and believing Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead. It's not about "doing all the right things," it's about putting your faith in the only one who could, Jesus. Come, and be clean!

If we truly want to be used by God, we need to be willing to answer his call at a moment's notice. Oftentimes we must be willing to let our schedule's be interrupted, our tasks be put off, our "me time" infringed upon.

Relationships, even healthy ones, are messy. Sometimes they require us to downshift, slow down and come alongside someone in their place of need. Other times, healthy relationships challenge us to hit the gas and throw it into overdrive. That challenge looks different for each one of us, but the truth remains the same. Life is not meant to be lived alone!

For those of us who follow Christ, our lack of ability to perform should also lead us to awe. Not because we change colors, but rather because that reminds us of how great a Savior we have! Our insufficiencies are made enough by His sufficiency. Our failures, able to be redeemed by His great mercy and grace. Our sins, removed as far as the east is from the west by His blood shed.

These verses ring true in the current climate of our culture where so many leaders and institutions, both christian and non christian, are claiming to be the foremost source of help and hope for the future. The Psalmist goes on to remind us where our ultimate help and our hope should rest and even gives a list of reasons why!

Brothers and sisters don't give up praying for your unbelieving friends and family. There are no traits that disqualify someone from grace. God’s sovereign grace can step in at any point in a person's life and draw them to himself! It’s not our job to estimate the probabilities of where grace should succeed. We serve a sovereign God who knows all things and there will never be a day where he is uncertain of the ones he has called to salvation.

There is freedom in letting people be people because that is God’s way. People were never supposed to be our number one priority. God always was. He designed us to have Himself first in our hearts. No wonder we feel hurt & frustrated, we aren’t putting first things first! In light of God’s wisdom we see people are faulty and they can’t be our joy or satisfaction. Not only that, when we love God first, we can love others better because we aren’t expecting them to be God to us.

Here’s the thing. Some days, our spiritual taste buds might not be working. But its important we don’t stop tasting anyway. Even when prayer and devotions are not enjoyable, or not instantly meaningful, they still nourish us. And they still taste worlds better than any other book, movie, or social media feed we could be consuming – we just might not know it right away. When we struggle to focus, or feel rushed, we still need to take time to feed our souls. The taste will come.

I am willing to bet there are spiritually, physically and emotionally weary people in your community that you can help or encourage in the grocery store, on the roadside or walking down your street. Step out in faith and lend a helping hand. Who knows how God will use your brief encounter to impact someone's life for eternity!

In Acts 2:42 it says that the church was devoted to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to eating with one another and to prayer. Believe it or not, the fellowship of believers was kind of a big deal to the early church and I believe it's a big deal to God. God desires his people to regularly come together in relationship, companionship, gratitude, worship and mutual encouragement in Christ.

Our greater need is always spiritual. God is not concerned with the things we often are. In fact, He says not to worry about earthly things, like what we will eat or drink or wear (Matthew 6). God is most concerned about the eternal.

We can use the perspective gained while on the mountaintop to help us through the trials of the valley but the mountaintop is not where we live. Enjoy the mountaintop! Learn from it and appreciate the perspective it gives you, but remember it’s in the valley that we live and grow.