Ever realized you put off today what you should have done? Ever gotten to the end of a season and realized you missed your opportunity? Ever realized that you hoped for the moment to come rather than taking the moment you had? And now it is too late!
Well, that’s what I discovered over the Thanksgiving weekend. I also had the message that I needed to stop putting off and start doing. I may have missed getting to watch my daughter play soccer live and in person this past season because I was hoping for the next round and getting to go watch her play in nationals but I still got to see her and love her as she came home for Thanksgiving. The desire for my other daughter to get a car and kept asking me to help give her advice led me to ask her if she needed it soon or could it wait another week she let me know that based on life and classes sooner is better and so yesterday I made the decision not to miss out on my opportunity and have someone else be there for her. I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity twice and get to Christmas with two regrets for the year. So I decided to make the most of my time and am set to visit her.
Yesterday’s message at church was about “Making the most of your time” and “Walking in the dynamic power God gives to us”. I am to be the dad that my kids need and that means making decisions based on the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I am to be present so that I can share the hope of the glory in me that is Jesus with my wife and kids, not just other people outside my family. Yesterday’s message shared from Colossians 2 again spoke to me about needing to stop sitting on the sideline and getting into the game of being the dad my wife and kids need me to be!
‘For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those [believers] at Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen me face to face. [For my hope is] that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in [unselfish] love, so that they may have all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding [the joy of salvation], resulting in a true [and more intimate] knowledge of the mystery of God, that is, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [regarding the word and purposes of God]. I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive [but thoroughly deceptive] arguments. For even though I am absent [from you] in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, delighted to see your good discipline [as you stand shoulder to shoulder and form a solid front] and to see the stability of your faith in Christ [your steadfast reliance on Him and your unwavering confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness]. Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in [union with] Him [reflecting His character in the things you do and say—living lives that lead others away from sin], having been deeply rooted [in Him] and now being continually built up in Him and [becoming increasingly more] established in your faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing in it with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception [pseudo-intellectual babble], according to the tradition [and musings] of mere men, following the elementary principles of this world, rather than following [the truth—the teachings of] Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity (the Godhead) dwells in bodily form [completely expressing the divine essence of God]. And in Him you have been made complete [achieving spiritual stature through Christ], and He is the head over all rule and authority [of every angelic and earthly power]. In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but by the [spiritual] circumcision of Christ in the stripping off of the body of the flesh [the sinful carnal nature], having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God, [as displayed] when He raised Christ from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (worldliness, manner of life), God made you alive together with Christ, having [freely] forgiven us all our sins, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of legal demands [which were in force] against us and which were hostile to us. And this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross. Therefore let no one judge you in regard to food and drink or in regard to [the observance of] a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Such things are only a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance [the reality of what is foreshadowed] belongs to Christ. Let no one defraud you of your prize [your freedom in Christ and your salvation] by insisting on mock humility and the worship of angels, going into detail about visions [he claims] he has seen [to justify his authority], puffed up [in conceit] by his unspiritual mind, and not holding fast to the head [of the body, Jesus Christ], from whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth [that can come only] from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were still living in the world, do you submit to rules and regulations, such as, “Do not handle [this], do not taste [that], do not [even] touch!”? (these things all perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men. These practices indeed have the appearance [that popularly passes as that] of wisdom in self-made religion and mock humility and severe treatment of the body (asceticism), but are of no value against sinful indulgence [because they do not honor God].’
Colossians 2:1-23
So this week, I am going to make it count! This week I am going to make a difference! This week I may not be able to go back and make a difference in my younger daughter’s soccer season but I will make a difference to that one, my older one who is needing a car. This week I am choosing to live my life without regret! No regrets and making it count! I am going to choose to have no regrets and instead make the most of my time! How about you?
Let’s use what has already been established and rooted in our lives! God’s Word! Let’s allow our roots to dig deeper and grow deeper so that we can grow taller and stronger!
Let’s start our days with prayer:
- Pray for opportunities
- Pray for receptive hearts
- Pray for divine appointments
Let’s start our days taking time to seek God on our own behalf
- Get into the books of Matthew, Luke, and John and read the story of the coming of Jesus
- Think about our lives and how did we come to Jesus
- What took place to turn the light on, what happened to bring you to faith in Jesus?
- What’s happened since? How are you operating today?
- Know your testimony and be ready to share it!
Let’s live our lives in and as worship! Expecting God is going to do something great!
Scripture for Today:
Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].
https://www.bible.com/verse-of-the-day
HEBREWS 11:1 (AMP)
Do you remember when you got your first Bible? Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, and you can make a lasting difference in someone’s life by giving Bibles internationally and to your local community! Give a Bible tomorrow during Giving Tuesday, https://t.co/yvQCLhSmMS #GivingTuesday https://t.co/YwzAjcqE56
https://www.spirit1053.com/daily-verse/
Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing.
https://www.klove.com/ministry/verse-of-the-day/
2 Thessalonians 1:3 (NLT)
Your name, O LORD, endures forever; Your fame, O LORD, is known to every generation.
https://www.air1.com/ministry/verse-of-the-day
Psalm 135:13 (NLT)
Today’s Post from BeTheDads.com:
Where are you at? What are you going through? How are you dealing with it? Who is helping and who is hindering? Why? Choose today to invite Jesus into your heart! Choose today to invite Jesus into your life! Choose today to invite the Holy Spirit to be your comforter and your guide to help give you the wisdom and discernment you need for the day and help to correct and direct the path you are walking down today!
If you pray the following prayer with me feel free to let me know so I can pray with you and for you too. (If you don’t feel comfortable leaving a comment then you can always try email.
Let’s Pray!
God's story through my life from 2005 to eternity... 
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