30daysofpraise

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Day 10 Jireh

July 10, 2024July 10, 2024 krisshetter

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:9-11

For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us. Isaiah 33:22

Have you ever wondered why we need a constant intercessor in our lives if Jesus came and did the work of forgiveness for sins on the cross? Why, if I’ve been forgiven, do I need someone to keep taking my repentance to God? I’ve been reading Dane Ortlund’s book, Gentle and Lowly: The heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers. In the margin on one page about intercession I wrote, “Good question!” The answer, written out in subsequent pages was beautiful and revealing. But it’s these short examples which solidified the answer:

Think of an older brother cheering on his younger brother in a track meet. Even if, in that final stretch, the younger brother is well out ahead and will certainly win the race, does the older brother sit back, quiet, complacently satisfied? Not at all — he’s yelling at the top of his lungs exclamations of encouragement, of affirmations, of celebration, of victory, of solidarity. He cannot be quieted. “

Picture a glider, pulled up into the sky by an airplane, soon to be released to float down to earth. We are that glider; Christ is the plane. But He never disengages. He never lets go, wishing us well, hoping we can glide the rest of the way into heaven. He carries us all the way.”

When Jesus calls himself our shepherd He means it for life. Once He gathers us up into His flock he doesn’t stop caring for us, feeding us, protecting us, and cheering us on. We go astray from God’s Law looking for better grass and He calls us back. He provides everything we need until the sun goes down on our life and we are united in heaven. He is continuously bringing us before the Father with joy.

This is a love more than most of us can imagine. He loved us while we were still sinners – because that’s what we still are every single day. And He keeps rinsing us off and standing beside us before a Holy God. He is enough for us. Because He is all we need to stand before God, we can believe we are enough too.

Click here to listen: Jireh

Day 9 Another In The Fire

July 9, 2024July 9, 2024 krisshetter

for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”  Hebrews 13:5-6

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed.  Deuteronomy 31:8

According to studies, about 40 percent of Americans reported regularly feeling lonely in 2010. But loneliness isn’t just about how many friends you have or if you are around family. It’s also not about solitude, which many people enjoy and seek at times. More recent research tells us that loneliness is more about the quality of those relationships.

My friend Andrea and I recently embarked on a volunteer discipleship program where we connect with people who see posts about Jesus on-line through PeaceWithGod.net. People from all over the world can connect with Christians and ask all manner of questions about our faith. If they so desire, they can take a free discipleship course that goes deeper into our relationship with God. After just two days of volunteering, I realized a sad truth – people are desperate to be seen and feel connection.

God seems to have blessed us with this innate desire to be in communion, not only with other humans, but with the Creator, Himself. We feel alone when those connections are broken or maybe have never come to fruition. And for some reason we tend to pull away from the one source of never-ending, lavish love Jesus gave us a glimpse of while here in the flesh.

We turn to fleshly desires to quench this need. Food, sexual pleasures, escapism, alcohol, drugs, shopping, hobbies – all distractions from the fountain of life. They all stand between us and God.

Friend, if you are feeling lonely or abandoned by those who should love you come to Jesus. He is the other one in the fire of life protecting you. He wants to shower you with love and bring you into His glorious light. You need only believe that this God sent His son to die for us and re-unite us with Him. He’s waiting in the battle you face right now to give you His peace, give you His joy.

Click here to listen: Another In The Fire

Day 8 Honey In The Rock

July 8, 2024July 7, 2024 krisshetter

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:26-27

By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; Psalm 65:5

There’s been a few times in my 36 years of marriage when we experienced serious financial loss. The first time it was devastating. I felt lost and unsure of our future. It was hard not blaming and feeling angry. I wasn’t a woman of faith at the time so I turned inward to chastise myself over and over and then outward condemning anyone associated with the loss. I dwelt over it, turning the situation around in my head during endless, sleepless nights. Each time I drove past the business project in which we had invested the scab was re-opened and for days I would feel those same feelings all over again.

Fast forward many years when my husband’s business and another investment came under dramatic assault due to Covid restrictions and fear. We saw all that we had built potentially crumbling beneath us. This loss was potentially greater, effecting our retirement and even our home. This time, however was different.

I frequently found myself at peace. Sure, I’d get scared. I’d worry about the stress my husband was under. This time I had someone to tell me there was a purpose to the plan. To tell me He would give us the manna and the honey because He is the Lord who provides.

We have two choices to make when difficulties attack our lives. We can turn to our emotions and fears or we can turn to Jesus. When we allow our fears to take over, we get angry, we blame, we get depressed. For people like me I wear myself out alternately beating myself up (you shouldn’t have taken that vacation last year! That money could help us now!) or obsessing over how to fix an unfixable problem. For some they withdraw from the world all together feeling hopeless.

When I finally learned, and most of all believed, that God is who we turn to satisfy and squash our fears I experienced freedom. He is a miracle worker. He can bring water from a stone. Turn water into wine. No matter what we face in the coming years we need to remember to seek God for all we need. Pray, praise and trust then repeat.

I’m having some issues with the webpage provider correctly linking the songs from the button below. So try clicking here: Honey In The Rock.

Day 7 Thank God I Do

July 7, 2024June 25, 2024 krisshetter

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.  Philippians 3:20-21

Those the Lord has rescued will return.
    They will enter Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
    and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 51:11

The last five years or so have been a hard road for many of us. We have the ever-looming backdrop of the COVID years which still seems to find its way into many of our conversations. Businesses ruined, relationships lost, precious time with loved ones taken away, social and educational interruptions — the effects will be us for some time. But that was just a moment in time, really.

Sickness, depression, death, loneliness, financial struggles, relationship pains have been with us since the beginning of our time outside Eden. We so easily can live afraid. Some do. They don’t leave their homes or they pull back from others afraid of being hurt or damaged even more.

As a Christian we are not immune to these trials. According to Jesus we should expect more problems when we put our trust and faith in the Lord. We end up bucking the systems, cause rifts in our families and friends when we don’t just “go along.”

But as this song reminds us, thank God we have Him. Thank God He gave us the Holy Spirit to comfort us, to guide us, and to counsel us. He creates a “new self,” sloughing off our old self – transforming us one day completely into crown wearers. Giving us the hope that so many don’t have that on that day we will walk into heaven singing in gladness and joy because all our pain is gone, forever.

In the meantime, we can rest in God’s daily provisions for our life, our daily bread. He holds us close in His hands. He is our safe place, our hideaway, our anchor, our saving grace, our constant.

Day 6 All of My Days

July 6, 2024July 5, 2024 krisshetter

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.  Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. Psalm 143:10

According to a University of California Irvine study, it takes an average of 23 minutes after having been distracted to get back to the task at hand. Now imagine if that “task at hand” was to stay on the narrow path laid out by Jesus in His famous Sermon on the Mount – “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.” Keeping our mind and body focused on the goodness and mercy of God. On how much He loves us. And responding to Him throughout our day in obedience and gratefulness.

There’s never a moment, not ever, that the Lord of all creation has forgotten you. He knows every single thing about you. He has plans and blessings for you; not just for your earthly days but for all eternity.

How often do we, however, forget about God? We aren’t desperate for Him. We don’t think to ask Him to help us. Worse yet, we don’t think He will help us. We get distracted by all the flashing billboards along that narrow path luring us to take the off ramps and spend a little time (or a lot) seeking pleasure or life that fits in so nicely with the rest of the world. Every off ramp leading us further away from His loving arms.

Each time a friend, a pastor, a word here or there, or the Holy Spirit nudges us back to the path you have to wonder, how much time did we waste that could’ve been spent doing His will. Serving someone He wanted us to bless? Or even strengthening us for future trials?

23 minutes each time we are distracted. Add up all those times we chose not to go to church, not read our Bibles, not go to Bible study, not choose the narrow path. I know for me that adds up to a lot of days. Thank goodness for His free flowing mercy!

I spent a lot of years being distracted by the world. But I am forgiven. I’ve joined up with the narrow path. We need to keep our face lifted to the God who loves us all of the rest of our days. Won’t you join me?

Day 5 Gratitude

July 5, 2024July 5, 2024 krisshetter

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  Ephesians 1:3-4

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens…. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8: 1 & 3-4

Have you ever had someone do something for you that was unexpected and thoughtful? A few months ago, I was so sick with the flu I could barely walk from my bed to the bathroom. A friend of mine heard how sick I was and that day left a care package of healing teas at my door. It was a loving, unsolicited gesture — wanting to help nurse me back to good health

When I hear this beautiful song by Brandon Lake I am overwhelmed by God’s unwarranted love and care for me. I’m a sinner from way back. I’m a backsliding sinner. I will probably manage to say or do something today that I shouldn’t. Yet, the God of the universe, the Almighty One, still loves me and sees me and provides for me. He loves you too, fellow sinner.

His love is freely given. His offer of salvation is crowned upon us without us having to lift a finger. We need only to believe. No trying harder. No paying a fee. No list of things to accomplish. No shame. Just a heart that says, “I believe you and I want to have you as my Lord.” After that He infuses Himself with us through the Holy Spirit. The free gift of an ever present counselor, comforter and guide who reveals God’s will for our life.

How can we not get emotional over something so staggering, so loving, and so unexpected? We throw up our hands and praise Him over and over for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ who died to cleanse us of the stain of sin. We shed tears knowing how much we don’t deserve this love yet are showered with it each day.

All I can say to that is Hallelujah and Amen!

Day 4 Your Love

July 4, 2024June 25, 2024 krisshetter

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

In God’s Big Book of Life He constantly demonstrates He has a plan, an order of all things. All one needs to do is picture the cosmos, see the structure of our solar system, recognize we have everything we need here on this Big Blue Ball to sustain and enjoy life. He loves His creation so much that He promises to never leave us, never forsake us. He sent His son to bring us back into a relationship, bringing order into our lives.

He created an order for marriage, for our sexuality, roles for both genders, for how we treat others and so much more. It’s all there in that big book called His Word or the Bible. Yet for 1,000s of years we humans take our gifts of a free will and a big brain and buck against His order of all things. We are the only created beings that do this.

A tree, as a tiny seed, doesn’t decide if it wants to become a tree. It doesn’t decide where it will grow, or even what type of tree it will be. No, its very essence is to live according to how it was made by God. The same for all plants and animals. A bird doesn’t stress and ponder how to make a nest or even if it wants to lay eggs. It seamlessly moves to God’s plan and rhythm.

Believer or not, all humans seem to instinctively know when they aren’t in sync with God’s plan. Some of us may recognize we push to the limits of the natural order. While others may blame everyone else for not conforming to their plan for the world. But we all feel that friction when our marriages struggle, when we act sexually immoral, or when we are constantly unkind and ungenerous. That friction is God reminding us He is the creator; He is the keeper of the order of all things.

It’s taken me awhile but I finally decided I want to stay right in the middle of God’s love at all times. I want my life to be ordered such that I never leave the comfort, joy and peace that He promises when we stay close to Him. Because the thing about God is if you want to live outside His order, He will allow you. And you will experience a friction that maybe you just can’t understand.

No, I want to be right in the middle of His love. Not following my own will but His. Not sitting on the fence straddling between two worlds. Right in the middle.

Day 3 For the Love of God

July 3, 2024July 3, 2024 krisshetter

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:3-5

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

I’m currently training to be a discipleship coach. Part of coaching new believers is to help them write their testimony or story about how their belief in Jesus as their Savior has changed them. It’s that portion of our testimony that brings a commonality to a conversation with a non-believer and provides a bridge to the Gospel.

So many Christians seem to think “sharing the Gospel” is taking a stranger by the hand, looking them earnestly in the eye, and then, like the church lady on Saturday Night Live, asking, “Do you know Jesus?” No, the Gospel is shared every time you tell your friend, family member or yes, even a stranger, how you too struggle with a problem in life and how you rely on the strength of your faith to get you through it. How you know, even when you have sinned, you are loved and seen and forgiven.

People can debate you all they want on scripture but you sharing your faith in Jesus can’t be disputed. And I have found it’s rarely even scoffed at when shared gently, with honesty, and most of all out of love.

The love of God, which I share with those willing to listen, is what has set me free from guilt and shame. It has set me free from constantly grasping at being “a good person” – not really knowing how to do that or what that person should look like. Resting in the love, strength and wisdom of God, the encouragement of the Holy Spirit and the teaching and mercy of Jesus, I am free, free indeed.

Where would I be, where would any of us be, without that type of freedom? We would be mired in our past anxiety, worries, fears, shame, and sinful desires.

Hallelujah to God who loves us so!

Day 2 Fresh Fire

July 2, 2024June 25, 2024 krisshetter

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tonguesas the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:2-4

The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out. Leviticus 6:13

Where I live, the threat of devastating fires is always with us. During certain months I feel my mind and body change in alertness to puffs of smoke on the horizon or that distinctive smell of vegetation burning somewhere. But fire in all its frightfulness offers so much goodness in its flickering flames.

It’s fire that changed man’s way of life by providing warmth, a new way to eat, and a comfort in throwing light out to scare away all that darkness brings. Fire is a powerful, God-given element – both dangerous and life sustaining.

Throughout the Bible we see fire used by God to consecrate covenants, protect the people of Israel at night, to burn up sacrifices, and to pass judgment. The New Testament refers to God as a “consuming fire.”

For non-believers they face the lake of fire. But for believers we are given the fire of the Holy Spirit. This fire doesn’t consume but rather refines. On the day of Pentecost, the fire placed in the disciples just days before by the resurrected Jesus draws a huge crowd in Jerusalem. And because of the power of that fire, thousands were saved and also given that fire.

I want to live with God’s ever-burning fire in me. Not a tiny spark or a flame but a wildfire. A fire that speaks with the confidence of knowing the Holy Spirit is really doing the talking. A fire that hungers and thirsts every single day for the Lord’s will.

This song is one I heard a few years ago and inspired my series aptly called Fresh Fire. Not too long ago it was also recorded by Brandon Lake and Maverick City Music. It brings you to your feet saying “Yes! Me too!” I especially love the line – “A man on fire doesn’t care what he looks like, what he sounds like.” As daughters and sons of God we don’t need to fear man, only God. And God calls us to be full of fire with His message of love and salvation to those all around us.

Day 1 Way Maker

July 1, 2024June 25, 2024 krisshetter

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

My Christian journey has had long stretches of a lazy attitude toward God. I realized I was trying the straddle the line between darkness and light. The worlds of my will and His will. However, within the last 10 years, I’ve begun to grasp the amazing and wonderous facets of our Holy Creator.

I discovered God is the giver of love. He provides. He comforts. But best of all He is the giver of light. The light that guides us on this narrow and frequently challenging path Jesus laid out for us. He is the one to hold tightly to so we are blessed with every day and not-so-every day miracles.

He is a promise keeper since time began. We can trust Him when the Bible tells us He will keep watch over His sheep who know His name. I read recently that there are more than 2,000 promises of God in scripture. Conservatively, Jesus alone fulfilled at least 300 of those prophecies or promises made by God through the prophets. That is who He is.

I recall a day I heard this song playing on a random Christian playlist. I was sitting in my “She Shed” working on a Bible study. I stopped what I was doing and listened intently to the words. As tears of joy and gratefulness touched my cheek, I threw up my hands in worship. Singing loudly for all the heavens to hear, I wanted the Lord our God to know not only that I love Him but how much I appreciate all He has done and is doing in my life and yours.