Dependency

John 15:5 (NIV)

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

We live in a world that prides itself off of self-sufficiency and success. There is so much pressure weighing on every individual to be a self-made man or woman, to be independent and successful by the world's terms. It's so easy to get pulled into the mindset that we have to carry the weight of the world on our own, that we have to build ourselves up and provide for ourselves our own strength, our own prosperity. We crave that feeling of independence and accomplishment so that we can take pride in ourselves and what we've done. But God calls us to do something radically different. He calls us to live in a state of complete dependency on Him, to live with a humbled Spirit that is desperate for His presence. Jesus boldly states in His word that apart from Him, we can do nothing. We cannot thrive. We cannot prosper. We cannot grasp the purpose we are meant to fulfill in our lives without Christ being central. Only when we remain in Christ and allow the presence of His Holy Spirit to abide in us will we be fruitful and prosperous according God's will. And God's will is unfathomably greater than any of the world's standards to which we used to be enslaved. There is freedom and prosperity in being submerged in the presence of God. There is a deep and fulfilling purpose to be cultivated in a life in Christ if we would only come and abide in the Father's presence and open our hearts for God to come and abide in us as well.

Bring to God any way in which you are struggling to provide for yourself. There are so many things that can burden us with a sense of urgency to act on our own and preserve ourselves. My prayer for you is that whatever urgency you may feel to be self sufficient would be replaced with a deep dependency on God, knowing that He will provide for you, He will make you prosperous according to His will, and He will unfailingly fill your life with purpose. I pray that you would come to the Father today and know what it is to have your desperation satisfied with His presence.

I pray that this word would deepen your hunger for God today and your dependency on Him. I hope you all have an amazing day! :)

Madelynn

Immersed

Ephesians 6:16 (NIV)

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

 

I love the comfort and sense of security that comes with reading about the armor of God in His word, especially the shield of faith. So often I feel like things are out of my control, like I'm being attacked from every side, and my only source of protection is my faith in God. My soul rejoices in knowing that in Christ we are more than conquerors against the forces that threaten us everyday. However, as I was reading this, I struggled to understand one word: extinguish. How can a shield extinguish a fire? Doesn't a shield merely deflect whatever hits it? As I began to study more into the armor of God and how it parallels with the actual armor of Roman soldiers at that time, I found that Romans soldiers used shields that were covered in leather and often soaked in water so that it would extinguish the flame-tipped arrows the enemy would fire at them in battle. And then God pressed on my heart why this random historical fact that I had stumbled upon was spiritually significant. Just as the Roman shield was soaked in water so that it would extinguish the fiery arrows of the enemy, so our faith that shields us should be so fully immersed in the Living Water that is Christ so that when the devil wages war on our souls, his flaming arrows that are designed to seer and scar our hearts will not only be deflected but extinguished and rendered useless so that the his detrimental fire cannot spread elsewhere. God knows that we are going to be attacked, and He knows that we are not strong enough on our own to defeat the forces that are pressed against our hearts daily. That is why He equips us with a steadfast faith in Christ, who is the life water for our souls, who not only satisfies us and nourishes our hearts but also unfailingly guards our hearts from all of the attacks of the enemy. It is when we completely immerse our souls in the true living water that is Christ that we are more than conquerors against the enemy. It is then that we will not be shaken but rather empowered and emboldened to go throughout the battles we face everyday with confidence that our hearts are guarded with this impenetrable shield of faith.

 

Open up to God about how you feel you are being attacked and the daily battles you face, and bring to Him whatever burdens are pressing on your heart in this moment. If you feel God stirring in your heart, commit yourself to being fully immersed in He who is the Living Water, and ask God to come into your heart and guard your soul with this steadfast faith He has equipped you with. Let your spirit be emboldened by the security that comes with being submerged in Christ and the ultimate protection that He brings.

 

My prayer for you is that today your faith would be completely submerged in the Living Water that is Christ and that you would have confidence in the protection God provides. I hope you all have an amazing day :)

Madelynn

Well Done

Matthew 25:21 (NIV)

 

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'"

 

Over the past few weeks, I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve my mom in new and challenging ways. On the Saturday before Christmas, my mom was taking pictures for a 50th wedding anniversary where she caught her heel on a mat outside of the reception and landed hard on her arms on the concrete. She has broken her left hand and her right arm, which means that most of the time I have to be her hands for her. And when you think about all of the things your hands do, it's pretty challenging to be someone else's hands while you're trying to juggle everything your hands need to be doing as well. But at the end of everyday as I finish helping her, my mom tells me, "Madelynn, you are such a good daughter." And I rejoice. Not because I am proud but rather because my heart is satisfied in knowing that my Heavenly Father is using me to bring joy to my mother's heart, and that she is well pleased with God at work within me. And every time she says those words, my soul turns restlessly within me with longing expectancy for the day when my Heavenly Father will look at me and say, "You have been such a good daughter. Well done, good and faithful servant." Just as I am having to be the hands of my mother to serve her, so I am also called to be the hands and feet of God. God calls us each into motion so that we may take the few things he has given us and faithfully go out and serve Him to bring Him all the glory. God has set each of us apart to live lives that glorify Him as we shine His light in our lives to those around us. And as the Father sees us living in His light and purposefully moving as His hands and feet He is well pleased with us. And He calls us to join Him in this satisfaction, to share with Him the sweet joy that comes with God's delight in us allowing Him to work through us.

 

Humble your heart before God and talk to Him about anything that is pressing on your heart in this moment. Allow His Holy Spirit to stir in you a passion to serve and live faithfully for God. Ask Him to come into your heart and guide you in new ways to be used by Him so that He may receive all the glory, honor and power, for He is so worthy. Cherish that your Father is well pleased with your heart and with how you are allowing Him to work in you and through you. Let your soul be satisfied in that sweet picture of standing before God one day as He says to you, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

 

I pray that this would bring you joy and satisfaction as God stirs a fresh passion within you. I hope you all have a marvelous day! :)

Madelynn

Transformation

Ephesians 4:22-24

 

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

So many of us feel chained to our old way of life, the things we've done in the past that haunt us throughout our days. We become so consumed by what we once were and the actions we regret, and we begin to think that our past defines us. We try so hard to put death to our old selves and our ghosts of the past, but we struggle with replacing it with something new and better, and often end up running right back to the things that we tried to cast off in the first place. It becomes a vicious and consuming cycle that only ends up hurting us more than giving us the healing we so crave in the aftermath of our pasts. But here God calls us to something greater, something far more fulfilling. He calls us to completely cast off our old, corrupted ways of life and to be completely transformed into a new creation in Christ. As we are freed from our past and made into a new creation, we are also made to pursue a new and greater purpose in life: to be a mirror of the masterpiece that is Christ. We are created into new beings to reflect the righteousness and holiness of God so that all may see and enter into the beautiful state of transformation that comes with surrendering our lives to Christ. God is good; He is our Restorer, our Healer and our Father who comes to not only break the chains of our old selves but to transform us and recreate us into new beings with a deeper purpose in life that will never leave us empty and unsatisfied but rather fulfilled and sustained in Him.

 

Humble your heart and come to God with whatever may be burdening you from your past. Come to Him with raw honesty and abandonment, for God loves to hear your unveiled prayers. If you feel God pressing on your heart, ask Him to come in and break the chains of your past self that hinder you and to transform you into a new creation set apart for a greater purpose in Christ. Cherish this moment and the joy that comes with restoration.

 

I pray that you would find incredible joy today in knowing that you are a new creation in Christ and that you are so loved. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

 

Madelynn

The New Has Come

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone the new has come!


As I reflect on all that has happened in this year of 2012, so many emotions fill me, but I am overwhelmed by a sense of victory. So much happened in 2012, much to rejoice over and much to mourn over. In the hardships I endured, I discovered a darkness I never knew existed, and for quite a while, it consumed me. I was broken, beaten down and shaken to the core. And my prayer was that God would restore me. And He has. He has taken my old, broken, beaten down self and renewed my spirit into a new and wonderfully restored creation of His. For that I am grateful beyond words. I look back and marvel at how my Father bent down and picked up the shattered pieces of His daughter's heart that were strewn across the threshing floor. And I rejoice because a victory was won over the darkness that threatened me this year. My Father entered the heart He restored and fought against the war that was waged against my soul, the war that my flesh was too weak to fight on its own. And He was and still is everyday victorious. I could look back on this year and say that it was a horrible year because of everything that hit me. But I can confidently say that this year was truly an amazing year all because my Father reigned victorious in every battle, because He healed all my battle scars and made me a new creation set apart for His purpose. For that I rejoice because I have found worth in the restoring love of the Father. And I rejoice because everything I went through this year brought me to that place of restoration, of renewal and of peace in my Father's perfect purpose.

I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on everything you've gone through this year, good and bad. Bring whatever darkness that is still weighing on your heart to God, and open up your heart to Him. Be honest with Him about the battles you're fighting, for He longs to hear from you, His precious child that He created. If you feel God's spirit pressing on your heart in this moment, invite Him into your heart and ask Him to restore you, to renew you into a new creation set apart for His purpose, and to fight all the battles that your flesh cannot handle, for He will reign victorious. Let your soul be overwhelmed in the satisfaction of this moment, and rejoice, dear child, for the new has come!

Let this message of restoration in Christ be embedded in your heart throughout 2013. I pray that He uses you in powerful ways this year to bring Him glory and to fulfill His purpose for your life. I hope all of you have a Happy New Year filled with new beginnings and adventures with the Lord!

Madelynn

Unshakable

Psalms 16:8

 

I have set the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken.

 

As we go throughout our days, we are thrown things that cause us shake and that threaten our sense of security. We work so hard to preserve that feeling of safety, to stay strong and grounded on the foundations we have built up for ourselves. However, as soon as a storm hits and the ground beneath us begins to quake, detrimental cracks are made in our unstable foundations and we begin to shake and sway in the presence of our overwhelming circumstance. It's so easy for us to give way to the shaking world around us, to fall and just give up. But we don't have to be conquered by our circumstances, we don't have to be shaken in our storms. The Lord stands before you right now with His arms open, patiently and longingly waiting for you to run to Him and take refuge in his presence. Once we run to Him and embrace His unfailing love, He remains at your right hand, constantly sustaining and protecting you. As we root ourselves in the concrete, unbreakable foundation of Christ, we become unshakable through every season of life. Knowing this empowers us in the darkest nights and the strongest storms, and emboldens us to push through our circumstance with complete trust in the unshakable rock that is our Savior.

 

Come to God with all your burdens, with all the things in your life that are causing you to anxiously shake and sway. Be honest and unveiled with Him about what you are going through, for He desires for you to openly communicate with Him. If you feeling God pressing on your heart, cast off all your anxieties and run to Him to embrace His presence. Commit to making Him the foundation of your life, and take confidence in knowing that He will empower you so that you will not be shaken, no matter how severe the storm may seem. Rest in the security that comes with abiding in the arms of your Father.

I pray that this word would sustain you and empower you today. I hope everyone has an amazing day!

 

Madelynn  

Our Rock and Fortress

Psalms 71:2-3 (ESV)

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.

In the constant chaos that is life, we so often seek to be rescued from our storms. As we are torn apart by the things we are thrown in life, we cry out to anything and everything that could give us refuge, even if only momentary. We struggle against the raging waves in our souls for so long that we began to continually, deeply crave for solid, safe ground to stand on and find sustaining refuge in. These storms are daily struggles each of us battle in different ways. While our storms may vary in type and intensity, we all share one common thing in the midst of our chaos: the need for a secure refuge. We seek refuge in so many unstable things in this world, and we become blind to the sweet truth that God is the only true refuge, the only one who can pull us from our storms and root us in His solid foundation. No matter how chaotic and crazy our storms and struggles may seem, none are too big for our God to calm. His loving hand is outstretched towards you; you only have to reach out and embrace His saving grace that will ultimately be your refuge. Once we come to trust in the Rock that is our Lord, we will not be shaken, but rather grounded in the all sustaining power and love of Christ.

Bring to God any storms you are struggling against in your life, and open up to Him about the damage that has been done to your heart. If you feel God leading you, invite Him into your heart to calm the storms, to be your refuge and your healer. Rest in the the sweet security the Lord our God provides in His loving embrace, and take confidence in that he is the unshakable Rock of Refuge.

I pray that this would bring peace to your heart today, and that you would find a sustaining joy in this message. I hope your all have a wonderful day :)

Madelynn