Jesus, the most important person in the world, calls you His friend. The God of the universe knows you by name; and yet, He still calls you His friend. Imagine that, friends of and with God!
This should do two things. One, it should make you feel great! Wow, He thinks that much of you to call you His friend. Remember, He is calling you a friend. He thinks that much of you. Pretty special, huh?
Secondly, it should cause you to stop and think, “How am I treating this friendship? Do I take it for granted? Is it all about me and what I want?” If your human friends were like this, what would you do? I doubt you would tolerate it much.
It’s been said, “All responsibility without joy will crush a person and turn Christian service into slavery. All joy without godly fear will make the servant shallow and immature. We enjoy intimacy and carry responsibility, and we must keep them in balance.”
We are His friends and should rejoice in that truth, but Jesus also said this friendship carries with it a responsibility to listen to and follow Him. Your friend is calling you to walk with Him. Does it matter where He’s taking you? Enjoy the relationship and take the next step in your friendship with Him, even if it’s uncomfortable.
“S”et Free Nowww

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Heb. 3:13).
I wrote about this yesterday. So the natural question is, did you? What? Did you listen to Jesus when He said to encourage someone? You know, the above verse is a command. If we want to please Jesus, we are to encourage each other daily and that means today.
So again, did you? Being close to Jesus means when He takes a step, we take a step. When He says encourage, we encourage. This isn’t only your pastor’s job. All our names are included in this passage, not just theirs’.
Don’t wait for the pastor to do it. You can make Jesus smile by encouraging the person He lays upon your heart. You can be the Spirit’s instrument to encourage them while it is still called today. This can help them see through a tough situation to draw closer to Jesus. It’s a win:win situation as you both draw closer to Jesus and put a smile on His face. Because this is true, just do it!
Go ahead…right now…listen to Jesus…then text/email/call/Facebook the person who pops into your mind. Just do it! You both will be glad you did.
Set Free Now“WW”

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Heb. 3:13).
I recently sent encouraging notes through various electronic means to people I sensed the Spirit putting on my heart. Though it’s not the reason I did it, it sure was encouraging to hear their responses. One person said it came at just the right time. Their life was starting to get fairly hectic and needed a boost to stay cool. Another said it was nice to know someone else was seeing their life change. My note was also encouraging them to keep going forward.
We live in a very real rough and tumble world that can discourage us to the point where we wonder if it’s really worth living for Jesus. We have the power to give each other the strength to keep walking with Jesus!
When the Spirit puts someone on your heart to text, email, call or Facebook do it! And do it Today as often as He puts them on your heart. Your encouraging words, the sound of your voice and/or the warmth of your presence just might be what they needed to see through the deceit of discouragement to keep walking with Jesus.
Set Free Now“W”w

I read the following this afternoon by AW Tozer, “You have been forgiven, so act like it!” It’s very powerful and can be taken a couple of ways.
Scenario one is that you don’t have to walk the same way you’ve always lived. You’ve been forgiven and changed by Jesus. You have a new mind and a new nature, so choose to walk with Jesus in victory today. Scenario two is that if you fall, you’ve been forgiven. So get up! This means both spiritually and emotionally.
I’ve had a pretty hectic few days where the enemy has been pushing back super hard to the advances the Lord has been making in my life. I wish I could say that I’ve stood my ground in every battle. I haven’t.
For some reason, though I know about and believe in God’s grace and mercy, I still have a hard time accepting His hand up again and get back to walking with Him emotionally. It usually takes a while to get over the very real feeling of being separated from Him. I need to get over it. I’ve been forgiven, so act like it. Re-attach spiritually as well as emotionally.
You’ve been forgiven, so act like it. Keep walking in victory. If fallen, get up completely. I thought you might need to hear what I did.
S“E”t Free Nowww

“Accept one another as Christ accepts you.” (Romans 15:7) How does Jesus accept us? He sees right through us you can this fish.
We have no idea how much damaged the sin nature caused before it was replaced with Christ’s. Jesus does. We have no clue as to all the lies that snuck in before we started filtering life through God’s Word. Jesus does. We don’t even understand all the sinning we’ve done or are currently doing! Jesus does. There is nothing hidden in the nooks and crannies of our hearts or brains that He can’t see.
Despite all this, He accepts us, which means He draws us to Himself in friendship knowing all that He knows about us. Let that sink in. He knows all the stuff we can’t or don’t even know exists within us and yet still wants us close to Him.
His arms are open wide for us to come near to Him. Everything you need in life is found in Christ. It’s not Him who keeps us at arms length. Draw near to Jesus and let Him meet your needs at even the deepest levels.
S“E”t Free Nowww