August Adoration: Day 14

One Who Fills the Earth with Mercy

"The earth , O Lord, is full of Your mercy; teach me Your statutes." Pslam 119:64

Your mercy covers me in sunlight and rain. Refreshes me with the cool breeze. All these things invite me to know You, point us to You, Your beauty. Your mercy is beauty. Given to us to enjoy and wonder. Giving us sunsets and rises that take our breath away. They are all Yours and they call us to be Yours too.

"Nature is mortal; we shall out live her. When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive. Nature is only the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol Scripture invites me to use. We are summoned to pass in through Nature, beyond her, into that splendor which she fitfully reflects." 

C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory"

These earthly splendors we enjoy on the daily, that we bask in and desire to be a part of, they are You, so our desire is truly You. 

Your mercy fills this place and calls us all by name. 

August Adoration: Day 13

God of the Impossible. 

"Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible." Luke 1:36-37

You are God of impossible things, You listen to our deepest desires and, in Your will, You call them back to us in promise. Elizabeth was barren and you gave her a son. And not any son, but John, the one they, "will have joy and gladness at his birth. For he will be great in the eyes of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb." [Luke 1:14-15]

I know my own deep desires of things that seem will never come, but I know even more the clear promises You have spoken over me. I go between confident belief that You will do what you say, and very little faith. BUT YOU! You remind me over and over again that you are faithful when I am faithless. Your promises endure even when my faith is lacking. Praise You, my God who never changes, always blesses in abundance and who works the impossible in our lives. I choose to trust You with the seeming impossibilities before me and know You are greater. 

August Adoration: Day 5

"This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life." Psalm 119:50

I come to You this morning weak. A night of restless dreams. My mind a battle ground where the enemy tries to gain foothold while I sleep. He wages war, seeking to convince me my fears are greater, more important and more real than my faith. Continually he tries to destroy what You are building out of me.

Whenever You build me up, he immediately tries to find ways to tear me down. But You, You are greater!

Your truth stands firm against his most well planned attacks. "This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life." I take comfort here, Your word gives me life. 

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity." Jeremiah 29:11-14

When I have become captive, You desire to set me free. You have a plan to give me a future and a hope. I will call out to You, even with my weak words, because I know You are faithful to hear me. 

You give me victory! 

August Adoration: Day 4

"the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; But you know Him, for He dwells within you and will be in you." John 14:17

You said you could not leave us orphans; and You kept that promise. You sent the Holy Spirit to be our helper, to lead us right to You. After You finished Your work on the cross you went to prepare a place for us, but You did not leave us alone. A God who keeps His promises is a God who can always be trusted. You dwell in me even when I do not "feel" You. A strong truth I needed to be reminded of today. Because You kept this, and ALL of Your promises, I can loosen my grip on the things I have been so helplessly clinging to and allow You to have full control of me. You are a God who never seeks control by overpowering, but rather, through love, tenderness, compassion, patience and an abundance of grace. 

Holy Spirit you speak to me even in the midst of my valleys of doubt. I was never left to fend off my demons alone, You were there speaking truth to lead me out. 

Praise God, Jesus came to the cross so You could abide with us forever, and for those words He spoke and speaks even now, " I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18

August Adoration: Day 3

"For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell." Colossians 1:19

It pleased You that in Jesus all the fulness should dwell. That I could come to Him and receive all of You. That in Him I would have the Father of peace, redemption, restoration, and joy. It pleased You to make a way for me, the feeble, weak, and foolish. To redeem me from my own rebellious nature and make me a new creation in Him. 

Praise You Father that through His resurrection I have FULL access to Your strength, peace, joy, direction, kindness, mercy and grace. 

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!" Romans 8:37

August Adoration

As requested by a facebook friend, I will share some of my personal August Adorations. I don't know if I will share every day, but I will share a few. I hope they encourage you and draw you closer to Jesus. 

Love, Jess 

{30 Days of Adoration}

Hello Friends,

As I had promised via my Instagram, I am finally getting to the post about "30 Days of Adoration". I read a blog on a regular basis from a woman named Sara. She blogs about her life and challenges as a mother to four children; children she wasn't able to conceive herself. The strength and hope she finds in Jesus and His word, and by adoring Him, is encouraging and uplifting to say the least. 

When I read her latest blog about hope, I was so burdened to share this awesome outline she had created to encourage others who hope on Jesus to adore Him and meditate on His word. 

So here I am, humbled, excited and ready to share with you this really cool thing you can do this month to draw yourself closer to our great God! I'm including the outline, and also the last few days I have written in adoration to my sweet Savior. I am a couple days behind, so bear with me as I catch up! I will continue to share my adorations this month and hope you will begin to do this and share yours with me!

I'm sad I did find this sooner, but am hoping that it will inspire us all to seek the heart of our Jesus with abandon and help us to carve out time to sit at His feet and "feed on His faithfulness" [Psalm 37:3-4] 

{Outline}

Love in Chirst, Jess

{30 Days of Adoration} April 3

Perfect Leader

"So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna with which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." Deuteronomy 8:3

Father, You humble us. Sometimes by circumstances we could never imagine having to go through and sometimes just by Your sweet kindness towards us. You teach us in every mountain top and every valley to trust You and You alone. Everything that comes our way is used to point us, direct us and lead us to Your loving arms. We alone live, because You spoke us into being, we only have the breath and life, and days of joy because You hold us up and You bless us. [¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ¹⁸ Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.] Glory to You, Lord!! Praise You, Father, who takes delight in Your creation. Delight in conversations, delight when we ask You for what You already know that we need. Delight in giving us what we as in Your will. Praise You that Your plan is always better than anything we could envision for ourselves. That Your thoughts toward us are always to give us a future and a hope. [Jeremiah 29:11] Lead me, Lord! 

{30 Days of Adoration} April 2

One Who Searches My Heart

"Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Romans 8:27

Father, You know me better than I even know myself. Constantly searching to know me, so that I might know You. Like a tender warrior, seeking to remove flesh and replace it with Spirit. Always looking to purify, redeem, renew. Even when we ask amiss, You lovingly and so tenderly intercede God's will be done. As we seek You, and You search us, we are changed. Conformed by Your searching and knowing what we need, that our best doesn't even compare to the thoughts and plans you have for us. When You put your finger on something in me, sometimes I resist handing it over, for fear of what I am giving up, but so foolishly I forget, that whatever You desire for me to surrender to You, You will replace with something above what I could ever image! I can trust that when You search and I allow You to some into the darkest places, I will be changed. Your light will forever change me. 

{30 Days of Adoration} April 1st

Definer of Love

"in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10

You are the greatest example of real love. You created us in Your image to do what You do and so often we fail. Giving Yourself, Your Son as a sacrifice, not only did You do this, You Lord, did it while we were still in sin, while we were at war against You. You loved us even then. The God of love not circumstantial, or conditional, You are the God of always love, never leaving, never giving up, hope never lost, true and pure love. Love that is never tired, even when we fail You more often than not. I'm so grateful You define what love is by not just words, but by life, by death, by resurrection. Not only calling us to do what You say, but to do what You do, to live like You lived. I'm thankful we were not left to define love by our flesh, with all of our short comings and selfishness. But that we can look to You, Father to show us the way to love one another. 

"Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, ² fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. ³ Let nothing be donethrough selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. ⁴ Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:1-11