Happy Sunday! And a very Happy Birthday to one of our earliest supporters! August is a great month for birthdays!
I’ve been listening to Holy Water on repeat the last few days and have decided that I need to jump right in and start sharing all those great songs, so I narrowed down one last single from this week as my favorite. There were a handful of great remixes released: Elevation Worship realizes they have a truly unique song with Graves into Gardens so they released an EP of different versions; Passion put out an energetic electric remix of There’s Nothing That Our God Can’t Do; Rend Collective, and SEU Worship also gifted us with new covers of some of their most popular singles. But Mack Brock‘s new song is my favorite single of the week. Click below to listen for yourself.
August 9
9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)
These verses we read today are a continuation of the last three days where Paul points out that God sent His Son to save mankind. We were never meant to suffer the wrath of God. We were made to thrive in this world, God just gave us the guidance we needed to be decent human beings. Then He sent Jesus to set us completely free and fulfill the law. Jesus took righteousness to a whole other level, but at the same time He made it much easier to understand. Love everyone as you love yourself, treat others better than you would want to be treated, and love God and all He has created. And while I have mentioned this over and over again throughout this devotion, I do realize that loving your enemy is near impossible, loving those that wrong you is hard, loving those that are just mean and vile is difficult, but we have to do it anyway. And as Paul wisely instructs here, encourage one another and build each other up. This is why becoming a part of your church is so important. Find like-minded warriors who are fighting the good fight who will always be there to help push you forward and be motivated. And you can always reach out to me by email, I’m here for all of you in any way I can. I am proud of how far you have come with this devotion, hopefully keeping up with the reading plans, and doing some form of physical exercise every day. And even more importantly than how proud I am, Jesus is especially happy with all we are attempting to do.
Reading plan: 1 Thessalonians 5: 12-28
Deeper reading plan: Jeremiah 17, 18
Prayer and meditation: Pray for our country. Pray for love to conquer all. Pray that Christ infects our hearts and ignites a final fire of revival to sweep this land.
Fitness challenge: Rest
Worship: Spend today in prayer and worship. Get to church or get to a computer and watch church. America needs a revival like never before.
Common Sense Reborn 