July 29, 2019

July 29
Running with Jesus

Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

     Right before Jesus ascended into Heaven He gave us the great commission to go! He said go to your home towns, surrounding areas and then to the farther parts of the world. It is our mission to share the gospel.
     One of the hardest parts it seems is for us to talk about Jesus to others around us. Having Christ as savior is the most important thing man can ever posses yet we are so selfish and unconcerned for a lost and dying world.  We want Him to help us and scream for help but we act powerless to tell others.
     He tells us you will receive power to witness. Problem, we are like a lamp that has a cord but is not plugged in, useless! Daily we write our own agendas and leave no margin for witness, we don't even think that the person I am talking to today may be lost and we may be the last person they see on this earth! Witness has to be willful obedience to the Lord's last command to go. We text, email and talk about everything under the sun but never share the love of Jesus. And today Satan is trying to use laws to shut us down. But we must remember we are given power through the Holy Spirit that is in us to help us! So let's focus and tell one person about the love of Jesus today! Watch the power glow through you. As we do we become stronger.
               

Lord, show us that one soul who needs to hear God loves you and died for you. As we plan our day order it in such a way we can operate through Your Spirit guiding our every step. Thank You in advance for what You want to do in our lives today. Help us learn to run in Your Spiritual guidance! Help me start in my house and move outward.
 

      And for that one out there this morning that needs this, remember God loves you and sent His Son to die for you!   See all it will take is one push of your share button to empower you to reach all your Facebook friends with the gospel!

Tomorrow: He is coming back!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015

July 28, 2019

July 28

Running with Jesus  

Acts 1:4-5 “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”

     As the baby boomer and millennial generations living in a high tech world of electronics and mobility we do not like to tarry and wait.  We own more cars in households and have microwaves that give us instant mobility and food.  We use more credit cards accruing more debt than any generation because we do not like to tarry or wait. I have found myself in so many messes because I did not wait.  Getting ahead of God is one of the areas we struggle in most of the time.  Women are especially getting themselves into all sorts of trouble because we refuse to wait and force the issues.  This may be in purchasing or speaking and trying to fix things on our own time.

    God had a special work for the disciples to begin and had to wait on God to empower them for the task.  I have found when I wait upon God that He will do things in a much larger scale than I could dream or imagine.  When I was just beginning to grow in my walk I tried to get ahead of God.  He took care of this by laying me down and causing me to lay dormant for about 2 years.  I felt the call of God on my life as an 8 year old girl in GA’s.  I didn’t realize what He wanted to do in my life but I was tender to His voice.  At 16 I surrendered to full time service to live for Him.  I went on and married Mike almost 18 by 30 days.  We would be married for 9 years with 2 boys before He surrendered to preach and I saw God’s will begin to unfold.  We were young and didn’t know how it would all come about but from an 8 year old I can tell you there was a lot of waiting for doors to open. 

     What door are you waiting to open this morning?  Don’t give up on God and don’t be disappointed if the door you think needs to open doesn’t because the door He wants open will always work for our best and His glory!  So don’t get discouraged tarry and wait!

      Father, we pray as we learn to listen to Your Spirit guide us, You will empower us to wait upon Your Spirit.  We know that what You have planned will work for the good.  We trust You because You are the Spirit of Promise given to us after the work of Christ death upon the Cross.  We will not move until You say this is the way run in it.

Tomorrow: Empowered to witness, get excited God has places for you to go and things for you to do!

Keep those spiritual towers up!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015

July 27, 2019

July 27

Running with Jesus

Luke 24: 49 “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”

     Alas the day was coming, we have been running for almost seven months right along with Jesus and Dr. Luke, but we will soon be learning to run with Jesus not in the flesh but by the Holy Spirit just like God promised.  When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden man lost the relationship of God’s personal presence walking and talking with Him in the garden.  Man would be only able to go through a mediator; He used individuals, prophets, and priest.  Now as God promised He would send His Holy Spirit to dwell within man through the process of being born again.

     Today, many are churched in terms but have never been born again.  Being a member of the church is not the same as being born again.  If you are born again and the Spirit of God resides in you there will be a change in your life.  The new life has new desires that desire to do the will of your Father.  

     We will begin running with Christ into the book of Acts.  The church is being born and lives are being transformed and man once again will be able to talk personally with God and do the works of the Father.

Father, we are so thankful for the opportunity to have one on one conversation with You every day just like Adam and Eve.  Help us learn as we run to discern Your voice and hear You say this is the way run in it.  Father,  as we run through our days of business and crowded life styles, we are so thankful You will never leave us alone again.  We have You 24/7, can I get a Praise!

      So let’s keep running and don’t stop now because we have so many exciting things waiting for us to see in Acts!

Meet me tomorrow and raise those Spiritual cell towers and gear up to learn, we will tarry in Jerusalem so we can get empowered from on high!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015

July 26, 2019

July 26

Running with Jesus

Luke 24:45 “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.”

     After Jesus appeared in the upper room the disciples did not understand resurrection life and they doubted He was Jesus.  Jesus showed them the scars in His hands and feet and then He even ate with them. Then he opened their understanding of Scriptures.

     So many people will tell me they read the Bible but can’t understand it.  First of all you need to make sure you have truly been born again. Then I suggest you talk to God and ask Him before you read to open your understanding.  When God began to teach me I started by reading a children’s story book of the Bible in order to become familiar with all the characters of the Bible.  The Old Testament is woven throughout the New Testament.  I also took a notebook and wrote down things that guided me for that day.  God’s Word is our guide of how to live our lives.  As we learn to walk in obedience to His Word in John He tells us He will come and make His abode in us. Obedience to the little things will help you learn to handle the big things.  He may say forgive someone today.  He may say in everything give thanks and you have to learn to thank Him for even that difficult situation you are in. You will find every day He wants us to live in His presence and be a part of our lives.  You will find the Word of God will come alive and instruct you and you need a word from Him in and out of every season of your life He will be there.  The words will bounce off of the page and minister to your heart.  His words and mercy is new every morning.  I also have used  the devotional guide book “The Daily Bread” and a “Life Application Bible”.  They will give you insights into scripture that will help you apply to your daily life.  Life application is where you begin to live the abundant life of obedience.  Attending regular worship and especially Sunday School will help you grow in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  You will soon be like the man Jesus taught that found treasure in a field and sold all he had and went and bought that field.  You will find it to be your life source.  The disciple’s lives were changed in a dramatic way because they met the living Lord face to face daily.  You too will meet Him on the pages of the Word of God and you will never be the same.

Father, once again we cannot thank You enough for Your Word.  We ask that we will treasure the privilege of having so many copies in our homes.  Father help us share Your Word to encourage some soul today that needs a word of hope.  Father You tell us Your Word will not return void and that we don’t have to make excuses for the truth as we share it.  Also, we know that we will pass away and things will pass away but Your Word will never pass away it will endure forever no  matter how they try to stamp it out.  Thank You that when we feel we are sinking we have an anchor.  Thank you when we don’t want to run anymore You will renew our strength and we can press on.  Thank You when days are dark and dreary You are light for our path.  Thank You when the enemy tells us we are defeated we don’t have to listen to his lies and You lead us to walk in victory. 

Tomorrow: Power from on high, we will run over into the book of Acts.

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015

July 25, 2019

July 25

Running with Jesus  

Luke 24:36 “and as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”

     As I read this I could hear a line of music in my head, “days are filled with sorrow and care”.  The days we live in are definitely filled with sorrow and cares.  You can’t turn on the TV when something new will come on that is mind boggling.

     The disciples were gathered and discussing the events of the last few days.  They were sharing Jesus had been seen alive.  Then all of sudden there He was standing in the room with them and they were frightened. They thought they were seeing a ghost, but Jesus said, “Peace be unto you”.

     Peace we all desire. Do you need some peace of mind this morning, are you overcome with fear?  Cry out to Jesus because He is peace and can give you the peace you need.  We need Jesus to suddenly appear to us and He will if we allow Him to be involved in our circumstances.  God may not change that circumstance you have found yourself in but He can certainly calm you. 

     Satan uses fear tactics to keep us in a state of panic.  We must refocus the moment fear pops it’s ugly head up.  Fear comes to derail our faith and stop us from running the race of life with Christ and will be used to stop us from praying through our circumstance.  The disciples thought after the cross it was the end but found out it was just the beginning for the rest of their life.  So many times life looks like it is the end, the truth is regardless of what our eyes see and our mind thinks, we can still have peace.

Father, I ask You to calm that spirit in myself and my friends today that are wrestling with the spirit of fear.  You did not give us the spirit of fear you gave us the spirit of a sound mind, love and peace.  Peace speaker speak peace to our troubled soul this morning.  Help us to feel Your Spirit and arms of love wrap around us.

     Let’s rest In Christ this morning, let’s breathe!  Now as we go forward today we will walk in peace.  Focus on Christ and our ministry and leave the battle to Him.  You can’t win because we don’t wrestle with flesh and blood.  It is a war in the heavenly places going on so stop wresting with flesh and let the angels in heaven deal with it.  We are free, let’s go live for Christ.

Tomorrow: He will open our understanding.

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015