Your Journey

Our journey in this world should be focused on guiding others toward Jesus and away from the darkness that is pulling them in the opposite direction.

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  Colossians 3:16(NASB)

________________________________________

Let this be a time of worship to God.  Pray each prayer and add your own personal message to God.  Read each scripture as though reading it for the first time – listen carefully for the voice of God.  Listen to each song paying close attention to the lyrics provided.  These songs were carefully chosen.  Even if the music is not your favorite style of music, know that the musicians performing are sincerely making music to the Lord.  Try to feel the passion in their words and their musical expression.  Give thought to the message presented and confirm the truth therein by opening your Bible and taking some time to do your own personal study.  May you be greatly blessed.

________________________________________

Let’s Pray Together

Father God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, we worship and adore you.  Fill our hearts with that which is your will and control our steps as we celebrate your approaching kingdom.  We look to you for all our basic needs and thank you for all that you provide.  Please forgive us Father for all the mistakes we make along the way and soften our hearts so that we may forgive others.  Keep us safe from the enemy who wanders about looking to devour our souls.  Fill our minds with your wisdom and our hearts with your love.  We ask these things in the Holy name of Jesus.  Amen.

Your Journey

Have you ever been to a social gathering where you felt completely out of place?   Sometimes we aspire to someday fit in, and other times we are quite content keeping our distance. As we travel through life, we have to make choices regarding who we hang out with, what social circles we frequent, and precisely what direction our journey will take.  Our social engagements play an important role in shaping our lives and plotting our course.  As Christians, much of this world should seem misguided.  We should feel largely out of place.  In many respects, we should feel quite content keeping our distance.

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”  1 John 2:15-17 (NASB)

Your journey through this world will undoubtedly expose you to those who are passionately focused on gaining wealth, physical pleasure, and personal status that can be exploited and leveraged for power and dominance.  As a follower of Jesus, you should know all too well how misguided those who have this attitude actually are.  Those who are infatuated with the things of this world are traveling on a journey going nowhere.

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”  Colossians 3:2 (NASB)

As followers of Jesus, we are in large part attending a social gathering in which we are almost completely out of place.  Our mission is not to fit in, but to shine a light that illuminates a new direction of travel.  Our journey in this world should be focused on guiding others toward Jesus and away from the darkness that is pulling them in the opposite direction.

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.”  Philippians 3:20-21 (NASB)

Believers should not be running away from this world, they should be incorporating themselves in this world as ambassadors of the world to come.  We are travelers just passing through.  It is not our goal to slip by unnoticed.  Our journey through this world has purpose and deep meaning.  We look forward to the kingdom of heaven, but we can’t get there until our work in this world is done.

Let this song speak to your heart.

Where I Belong – Building 429

Sometimes it feels like I’m watching from the outside

Sometimes it feels like I’m breathing, but am I alive?

I will keep searching for answers that aren’t here to find

All I know is I’m not home yet

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

So when the walls come falling down on me

And when I’m lost in the current of a raging sea

I have this blessed assurance holding me

All I know is I’m not home yet

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

When the earth shakes

I wanna be found in you

When the lights fade

I wanna be found in you

All I know is I’m not home yet

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

All I know is I’m not home yet

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

Where I belong

where I belong

Where I belong

where I belong

Love is Why We Are Here

Your journey through this world is powered by love.  When we connect our spirit to the love that God provides, we are plugged into the ultimate energy source.  Jesus made it very clear that our love for God and our love for others are the most important aspects of our journey through this world.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  John 13:34-35 (NASB)

The love we show others is our calling card as Christians.  Love is the bright light we as believers bring to every situation.  Just as we all need water to survive, followers of Jesus Christ need love to complete their mission here in this world.  Everything we do should be an act of love perpetrated by a mind that has no other agenda.

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”  1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NASB)

This world wants us to believe that money, power, and fame are the primary indicators of success.  While there is nothing inherently wrong with money, power, or fame, they are truly empty and meaningless goals.  True success is a byproduct of love.  Genuine loving relationships are far more valuable than any worldly measure of success.

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NASB)

Keep in mind, every loving action must come from a loving heart or it is rendered null and void.  The reason you serve others is equally important to the service itself.  God cannot be fooled.  We can’t simply go through the motions of acting in a loving manner in order to appear faithful.  Our service to others has to come from a pure heart of love, not a desire for recognition.

Let this song confirm your spirit.

The Proof of Your Love – for King & Country

If I sing but don’t have love

I waste my breath with every song

I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise

If I speak with a silver tongue

Convince a crowd but don’t have love

I leave a bitter taste with every word I say

So let my life be the proof,

The proof of your love

Let my love look like You and what You’re made of

How You lived, how You died

Love is sacrifice

So let my life be the proof,

The proof of Your love

If I give

To a needy soul but don’t have love then who is poor?

It seems all the poverty is found in me

So let my life be the proof,

The proof of Your love

Let my love look like You and what You’re made of

How You lived, how You died

Love is sacrifice

Oh, let my life be the proof,

The proof of Your love

When it’s all said and done

When we sing our final song

Only love remains

Only love remains

Let my life be the proof,

The proof of Your love

Let my love look like You and what You’re made of

How You lived, how You died

Love is sacrifice

So let my life be the proof,

The proof of Your love

God is With Us

The love that flows through us comes directly from God.  As followers of Jesus, we are to allow that love to overtake our personal desires and seek the desires of God.  Our human nature often wants to go in the opposite direction of God’s plan, but the Holy Spirit lives inside of every believer nudging us back in the right direction.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  Galatians 2:20 (NASB)

When you allow your journey through this world to be powered by the love that God provides, your choices will be clearly evident.  When we trust God’s plan, we gladly turn from our personal path and follow God’s obvious path of love.

“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”  1 John 4:16(NASB)

When we rest in God’s love, our journey through this world is empowered directly by him.  Troubles may come, and troubles may go, but in all circumstances God is with us.  We can find comfort in the most difficult situations when we remain connected to God’s love through the Holy Spirit who is with us every moment of every day.  God loves you.  Everything you endure in your journey through this world is part of his plan to develop you into the fullness of your eternal spirit.

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3:17-19 (NASB)

Your journey began with God and it will end with God.  God will never leave you.  God is with you right now.  Keep your heart open to God and you will find your way out of any darkness that overtakes your journey.  May you be greatly blessed in your walk with the Lord.

Let this song fill our spirit.

God With Us – Terrian

Be not dismayed, fear not the darkness

Jesus is here, He walks beside us

Gracious is He, through all our weakness

Forever faithful, forever good

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

God with us, living inside

Emmanuel

Lift up our eyes, to the Maker of Heaven

He is our help, forever present

Faithful is He, He is our constant

Forever faithful, forever good

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

God with us, living inside

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

God with us, living inside

Emmanuel

No matter what, what storm may come

Our God is here, Our God is here

When fear gives in, when darkness runs

Our God is here, Our God is here

No matter what, what storm may come

Our God is here, Our God is here

When fear gives in, when darkness runs

Our God is here, His name

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

God with us (Us), living inside (Living inside)

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

God with us (Us), living inside

Emmanuel

God with us, mm

His name, Emmanuel

Thank you for spending this time worshiping God.

His door is now open to you.  You are in God’s presence.  Don’t leave without Him.  Keep Him with you throughout your day.

Go in peace.

All scripture references are linked to Bible Gateway so that you can read each verse in context.  Bible Gateway allows you to change the verse to your favorite translation and compare it side-by-side with multiple translations.  In addition, you can select to hear an audio version of any verse by clicking on the speaker icon.  Keep the Bible Gateway App on your phone so that you can visit the Word of God at any time during your day.

Biblical Direction