Today’s Readings:
Isaiah 55
John 1
Galatians 5
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
Isaiah 55:10-13
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
The Spirit of the Lord says,
My grace is sufficient for change. My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness, so don’t cover or try to hide your weakness. Be authentically you. Be transparently you. People will love you for it, and I will get the glory for showing up and coming through. This is the way forward. This is what authentic living in Christ looks like. I’m not looking for perfect. I’m not looking for know-it-alls, do-it-alls, or be-it-alls. I’m looking for YOU, the real and authentic you. You bring something that no one else has and no one else can. Just be you, and do what I call you to do. In those places, times, moments where you are extended beyond your ability or understanding, just acknowledge that and ask Me for help. I will show up.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:14-17
This life was not meant to be so hard. When you trust in Me instead of in you, when you care about what I think instead of how you look to others, life is pretty sweet and pretty simple to live. I’m calling you to radical authenticity. I’m calling you to live and be transparently, unapologetically you. I’m calling you to seek Me in truth and purity, with a heart of earnest longing and sincere affection. Can you see how light and airy that lifestyle feels? Can you touch that kind of easy living? Life isn’t a show, and it isn’t a stage. Life is walk around, be around, do around living. You can glide through it when you’re not wearing extra layers to hide the true you. You can move and glide and walk gracefully when your eyes and your heart are trained on Me. My grace is here for an easier way of life.
My grace is here for authentic, unhindered living. You have to drop the masks and the walls and the extra personalities that are not you. You have to drop the fear of man and this halfway trusting Me approach. As you drop all of those defenses, all of the coping mechanisms, all of the walls and the veneers, as you reach out in purity and in truth for My hand, My ways, My guidance and My truth, the way of life will feel much lighter, exponentially lighter. It will feel like you have the grace to float simply and easily with unhindered purpose and vision to the tasks, people and work to which I have called you.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25
I have made life to be beautiful. It’s your approach that is making it so hard. Strip away all that is not the essential you. Fix your eyes on Me, and watch how simple, beautiful and effortless life can be. This is life in the Spirit. This is a picture of what is possible when you live life in the Spirit, filled with faith, having banished fear. It is beautiful, and My grace is here for this kind of living.
How to Respond
- Sit with the Lord, and ask Him to reveal to you the places and ways you are hiding behind facades, fearing man more than God and covering up the most authentic you. Ask Him for help in shedding those and pursuing Him in purity and in truth.
- Pray, Holy Spirit come. I invite You to search me and to reveal to me any way that is not true, any way that does not honor who You created me to be, any fear of man that I am allowing to overpower Your voice and Your call in my life. I desire to be the most essential, most authentic, truest me. I desire to release concern for what others think and walk fearlessly in the sound of Your voice and the call You have placed on my life. I want to walk and live in Your easy grace, not in the complicated way that I have grown accustomed to living.
- Declare, the Lord is inviting us to radical authenticity and transparent living. He is inviting us to a lifestyle of faith, grace, purity and truth. He is inviting us to reject the fear of man and reach out instead for His hand.
- Decree, I choose to release all of the layers and facades that I have put on and allowed to cover and hide the true me. I choose to reject the fear of man and all concern about what others think of me. I choose to reach out in purity and in truth for the loving and grace-filled hand of the Lord my God. I desire to walk in His grace and allow His grace to show up in every area that I am lacking, weak and in need. I choose to put my trust and faith in the Lord my God, because He has asked me to and because He is faithful.
For more encouragement from Glory & the New Wine, check out the post from this day in 2022: Get Excited, Justice Is En Route
And in 2021: Get Your Hopes Up
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