Christian Meditation Challenge Day # 5 : Giving God Your First Fruits

DEVOTIONAL

How is your thought life lately? Do you find yourself constantly thinking negatively towards anything that you face on a daily basis? Do you always “prepare for the worst” or expect the worse to happen when faced with uncertainty? Do you doubt the power of positive thinking in Christ and how it can transform your day, even your life?

Romans 12:2 tells us to “Be not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

In order to keep your thoughts and emotions aligned with Christ every day, it is important to pay attention to what you are thinking about and why you are thinking that way. God does not want you burdened with negative thoughts and emotions that are detrimental to both your spiritual and physical health.

The power of the tongue may be powerful, but the power of your thoughts is just as vital! Are you starting your days with joy and expectancy? Not only does God want us to align our thought life with Him, He also wants us to start each day anew by spending time with Him each morning. Giving Him your first fruits will not only keep you in a peaceful state, but will also prevent your mind from wandering or being restless. You will be able to stay focused on Him. Before starting today’s meditation, try doing a mental inventory. What about your internal life can you change today? What are  you feeling in your body? Where are you feeling it? Take a few deep breaths imagining your breath penetrating the feelings and releasing them from the body.

Open My Eyes Christian Meditation

Christian Meditation Challenge Day # 5 - Discover the Healing Power of Christian Meditation: 

Christian Meditation Challenge Day # 4 : I Forgive

DEVOTIONAL

Hebrews 9:14 – “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” When is the last time you have forgiven yourself for any mistakes or wrong turns that you may have taken in your life? How patient are you with yourself when you are learning and growing in Christ? Do you give yourself permission to be freed from anything holding you back? Even if it’s YOU that’s holding you back, why are you standing in your own way?

In Psalms 55:22, we are told to “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” Learning how to forgive yourself and giving all your troubles to the Lord helps you to experience freedom from emotional turmoil. This very important attribute will in turn allow you to forgive others with an open heart as well.

Forgiveness and thankfulness go hand in hand. The real test of thankfulness is when you are challenged to be thankful while in the middle of a not-so-pleasant situation. It is when you are in an uncomfortable position that God helps you to build your character for the things He has planned for you. It is simply a matter of changing your perspective! So what are you thankful for right now?

In today’s meditation, you will experience what it feels like to forgive yourself and surrender your worries to God. You will also learn how to be thankful and see the positive in any situation you may currently be in.

Christian Meditation Challenge Day # 4 - Discover the Healing Power of Christian Meditation: 

Christian Meditation Challenge # Day 3 : You Are Not Alone

Devotional

God said in Hebrews 13: 5, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” When we go through times of hardship we often possess the mindset that we are all alone. We may even believe that God doesn't care about us or that he is punishing us. When we begin to feel this way, we have lost our perspective about life and God's love. God said that he sticks closer to us than a brother.

Psalms 139:5 says that God is in front and in back of us, and He has hemmed us in. Unfortunately, too often we equate good circumstances as positive and bad as negative. Yet this is erroneous thinking. We must understand that circumstances are just that, circumstances. They are what they are. This doesn't disregard the fact that some actions or choices that we make can cause frustration, distress, and pain. However, as long as we look at our discomfort and ignore the real truth that God love us even in the midst of our pain, we will forfeit our peace and joy replacing it with fear and anxiety.

The focus of today's meditation is God's love for us regardless of our circumstances and our impropriety. In fact, hardships help to give us a greater opportunity to surrender, and depend on the Lord. Each one we pass through strengthens our trust in God and helps us to grow in character, grace, and greater self-confidence. No matter what you are facing you can trust God. He loves you and He has not forsaken you.

Today's meditation Eliminating Stress and Toxic Emotions will allow you to nail your cares to the cross and hopefully leave them there, having full assurance that God loves you, cares about you, and is in complete control of your life. Can you rest in Him and trust Him today?

https://thechristianmeditator.com/christian-meditation-challenge-day-3/

Let The Holy Spirit Toil The Soil For Jesus to fix Your Heart

The Holy Spirit is the ONLY one who can renew her heart … plowing up the unfertile ground and softening what disappointment has hardened. He alone can pluck out the root of regret and burn away the weeds of shame. He alone can pour forth living water into dry and desolate places. She is not a child of barrenness or lack. That is not her heritage! She is in Christ Jesus! Her joy is full in Him. Let the fruit of the Spirit spill forth from her lips. Let the abundance of grace show forth in her life. This is a time to bring glory to the Lord of the Harvest. This is a time to share the bounty of the King!  

 

Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

(Ezekiel 11:19-20)

Christian Meditation Challenge # Day 2 : Releasing The Past.

Devotional

Have you regretted a lot of things in your past? When you think about your actions in the past, does it make you cringe at the thought? Do you sometimes wish that someone invented a time machine so that you could go back in time and correct of all your mistakes? Do you think that having a chance like that would make your life so much better to deal with it than it is?

Isaiah 43:18-19 – “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of the old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

God does not want you dwelling in the past and being ashamed of your journey thus far. Whether good or bad, He has allowed all of those past experiences and trials to occur so that it could bring and prepare you for where you are right in this moment!

 He wants you to enjoy your present and future without letting the stains of the past sabotage what He’s trying to do for you right now. Remember, the present is a gift!

To prepare for today’s meditation, I want you to start mentally letting go of all that plagues you about the past. Imagine those things being lifted from your mind and being wiped clean. Expect the beautiful peace of God to pour into your heart and spirit!
Christian Meditation Challenge Day #2- Release The Past

Christian Meditation Challenge # Day 1 : Control Negative Thoughts.

Devotional

LORD, CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART

Psalms 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me.” What is weighing you down? Is it finances, family problems, your job, illness, addictions, or emotional issues?

All of these issues have the potential to taint our spirit and bind us down with heavy chains. They are blotches of darkness and dirt on our white robes. The psalmist understood that in order to break free from the bondage of this world, we need to look within ourselves. Often that means asking some tough and revealing questions. Is my heart clean? Is my spirit right?

And if not, what is it that I am harboring within? The source of most of our problems is fear manifested or masquerading as anger, worry, uncertainty, hopelessness, and unbelief. If we truly trusted God at his Word, we would turn all of our issues over to Him and leave them there. We would rest in the assurance that if God is for us, he is more than the whole world against us. Before today's meditation, Controlling Negative Thoughts, take a few moments to examine your heart. Ask God to clean and purify your heart of any attitudes that may be creating the wrong spirit. For the spirit of God is joy, peace, love, patience, and faith. Use these as your measuring stick.

           https://thechristianmeditator.com/christian-meditation-challenge-day-1/

Christian Prayer Challenge # Day 2 : Purifying Our Hearts

Dear Father in the Name of Jesus,

This is the day the Lord as made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!

So often we want to ridicule, judge, blame, and put down others without taking a deep look into our own hearts. Jesus stated it simply when he said, “First pull out the mote from your own eye, before you attempt to pull the speck from your brother’s eye.  Without a pure heart and spiritual vision that is undergirded by love, how can we clearly see or even know God’s will? Even Jesus asked the disciples, “Who made me a judge or ruler over you?” Father, forgive us.

Even within the church, Father, there is so much negativity and hate. Yet Jesus tells us, there is none perfect but God. For this reason, Christ taught mercy, for none of us knows the heart of another. Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin, throw the first stone."

Heavenly Father, we have all been guilty of these sins. But if we are to be victorious, before we can lead others, we must rule over ourselves.  Our spiritual journey is our own responsibility. It is before God that we stand or fall, and make an account for how we have lived our own lives.

Whether we have been hurt, wronged or disappointed, the way we choose to react tells more about us and the condition of our hearts, than it does about our brothers and sisters, for all they did was reveal what was already there.

2 Corinthians tells us to purify our hearts of all that contaminates our bodies and spirits perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. Repentance is more than an act of salvation, because we need to die daily to the mindsets and behaviors that bind us to the principles of this world.

Heavenly Father, today, we come to you with a heart of repentance asking you to forgive us, once again, for the hardening and waywardness of our hearts. Father, in the name of Christ, break up that fallow ground and replace it with a foundation of love, power, and truth.

We invite the Holy Spirit into our minds and hearts once more, washing away all darkness that has tainted our robes of righteousness. For we know that when we are confident towards God, we can ask for anything, and God, you will grant it.

In this time of universal turmoil, we need your power to pull down the strong holds of evil. We desire to decrease so that a larger portion of your spirit may live in us and through us.  Holy Spirit, we need you like never before if we are to stand and do the works of Christ. Without you, our work is in vain, and we may coward in fear and defeat.

Father, we thank you for rising up a strong, powerful, and spiritual army to desecrate the works of the enemy. The Bible tells us that is not by power, nor by might, but by my spirit, says the Lord.  Heavenly Father, I want more of you in my life. I want to experience you in bigger and greater ways. I desire to enlist in your army and to fight this fight of faith.

Father fill me now to overflowing. Search my heart, oh God, and if there be any wicked way in me, cleanse me, transform me, and restore me to wholeness as well as holiness. Prepare me for the battle that is to come. Just as you encouraged Joshua, I will be courageous, and I will not faint. Your perfect love casts out fear and it can never fail!

Thank you, Father, for restoring me to wholeness in the precious name of Jesus! 

This is my prayer and declaration for today! Amen!