Appointed Days

Good morning, dear child of God.

Wake up. Stretch. Rub the sleep from your eyes. Say out loud, “Good morning, Lord. I am here. What do You have for me today?”

Wake up, O Sleeper! Arise and shine for the Kingdom of God is at hand. The harvest is ripe, and the workers are few. We have work to do. We have recruiting to do. We have love to give away.

So, welcome to the first day of the rest of your life. Let us give thanks to God, for He is good and His steadfast love endures forever.

God has said that we are His handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Meaning, long before you or I were even conceived, God knew us and had a plan for our lives. It means that He already apportioned to each one of us the abilities, gifts and talents we need to accomplish the tasks at hand.

It means we need to stop hitting the snooze button on our spiritual alarm clock. We, who bear His name, have been designed by God to live now, love now, be fully alert now, and making Jesus known to those in our circle of influence.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Christ follower, it’s time to wake up!

Will you pray with me?

Jesus,

Your mercies are new every morning!
Today, may Your children’s eyes be opened to the reality of Your resurrection. Because Your resurrection speaks life to the dead.

I believe, Jesus, You are the Resurrection and the Life, and because I believe, I get to live in You, through You, and for You forever. Because my faith is grounded in Your Living presence, my life and work have purpose.

And, dear Jesus, what about the cherished ones who are praying along? Lord, You know each heart and mind. For each and every person participating right now, You know if they believe or they don’t believe that You are the true and living Son of God. You know if they are convinced by faith, or not, that You are the Resurrection and the Life. You desire that each person created in Your image knows You as the way, the truth and the life. So Lord let these dear readers be moved by Your Spirit and emboldened with faith to take up their cross and follow You.

May we not waste our days worrying and watching the sky for Your return to take us home. Rather, may we be found fully participating in the task You have assigned us to do. May You find us gathering in Your harvest.

You are good. You are alive. You are love. You are coming.

Wake us up, Lord. You say, “Arise and shine!”Remind us who we are in You. And spark Your renewed life and purpose in us for Your glory and fame, amen!

Who’s with me?

Eyes on Jesus and Shine,

Lisa

Something more to ponder with Jesus:

““Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭60‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

““Get out of bed, Jerusalem! Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight. God’s bright glory has risen for you. The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, But God rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks over you. Nations will come to your light, kings to your sunburst brightness. Look up! Look around! Watch as they gather, watch as they approach you: Your sons coming from great distances, your daughters carried by their nannies. When you see them coming you’ll smile—big smiles! Your heart will swell and, yes, burst! All those people returning by sea for the reunion, a rich harvest of exiles gathered in from the nations! And then streams of camel caravans as far as the eye can see, young camels of nomads in Midian and Ephah, Pouring in from the south from Sheba, loaded with gold and frankincense, preaching the praises of God. And yes, a great roundup of flocks from the nomads in Kedar and Nebaioth, Welcome gifts for worship at my altar as I bathe my glorious Temple in splendor.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭60‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭54‬-‭58‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭58‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge: “What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands. “On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You’re like lambs in a wolf pack.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭MSG‬‬