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Day 21 Breathe (MCM)

July 21, 2024July 21, 2024 krisshetter

The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5-7

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6

What are you most worried about right now? What miracle are you waiting for? What frustrates you today that just won’t go away? Just breathe and praise the Lord.

A pastor I’ve heard a couple times starts out each sermon telling the congregation to first take a deep, deep breath. And slowly let it out. Re-focus on the Lord we came to hear about and worship. That’s the key – we may briefly take a deep breath but who or what do you turn back to? The same worry or fear? It reminds me of the old cartoons I used to watch as a kid. A mouse trying to run away from a cat but stays in one place with his feet moving a hundred miles and hour.

You may have heard that if you say the Hebrew name of God out loud it’s like taking a breath in and blowing it out. Try it – Yah…weh. God is pretty clever. It’s almost as though He wants to be an integral part of our lives. To be our very breath. He is the only God that lives inside His believers!

So, take that deep breath today. Say His name out loud. Praise Him that He is the Lord who provides. The Lord who reminds us He can guard our hearts from stress and thoughts that destroy. Release your burdens and don’t take them back. Praise God!

Click here to listen to today’s song: Breathe by Maverick City Music

Day 20 Nothing Left To Prove

July 20, 2024July 9, 2024 krisshetter

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21: 25

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made. Psalm 145: 8-9

If the New Testament verse sounds familiar today it’s because John 20 (yesterday) says something similar about the purpose of the Book of John – so people will believe. Today’s verse is slightly different. I love how the apostle John makes a point to say the number of miracles was so numerous the world couldn’t contain all the books written. Imagine how many books there are in the world!

Jesus kept proving over and over to the people He encountered and those that heard of Him that there was something different about this man. As modern day believers we need to grasp that the books in the Bible are just a glimpse of the God of the Universe. They are a taste to show us a few of the million reasons why we should believe and trust in Him.

The Bible is book about one being – God in three persons. Over centuries, He had prophets, kings, and disciples write the biography of Him. There is no other religion that follows a god who wants the people to know them like the God of Abraham, Moses and Isaac. No other god who refuses to let us go. Who sent, in effect, himself to be humbled and suffer and die for His people.

His mercy to all people is revealed as bountiful. He is giving us plenty of time to turn to Him and acknowledge all the miracles He has performed in the past and even today. So that we can live in love with Him for all eternity. How many more reasons do you still need to trust in Him?

Click here to listen to today’s song: Nothing Left To Prove

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.