January 1:
Who Needs a Five-Year Plan
“I know the plans I have for you,” declared the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all you heart.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13
Let’s jump right in:
Where do you see yourself in five years? How are you going to get there?
You’ve probably heard these questions a time or two. Society seems to expect young adults to know exactly what we’ll do for the rest of our lives. And, actually, knowing what our future has in store is also one of the deepest desires of our hearts. We all want purpose—to live for something greater. We try to plan each tiny detail of our lives, and we want them to play our according to our timing.
Despite our best-laid plans, God has some ideas of His own for out lives. So, when we focus less on figuring out our own five-year lans and more on knowing and enjoying God, we being to see the future He has in store for us—His perfect plan—unfold.
God’s promise is clear—He’ll lead us to a place of prosperity and hope. This promise doesn’t include a blueprint or an answer to every question. It doesn’t include a specific date to expect restoration. He just said, “I promise.”
The your future is flooded with uncertainty, rest in God’s promise, knowing He is directing every step you take.
Pray with me:
Father, create in me the passion to seek Your presence above all things and to trust You with the unknown.
January 2:
Better Than Life
Because you love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will life up my hands. I will be fully satisfies as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Psalm 63:3-5
What satisfies your soul? You may be familiar with the cravings of your belly—but what about the cravings of your soul? Which is more important? The psalmist’s answer is clear: God’s love satisfies and permeates the soul deeper than the greatest promises of the world.
The word life in today’s passage refers to earthly abundance. Even on a mountaintop of success and satisfaction, where you could not imagine life getting any better, God’s love is still better. It’s greater than any career, any relationship, and even life itself. In fact, the key to living an abundant life is only found in the freedom, confidence, and joy that come from God’s love.
It’s easy to say, but do you believe His love is better than life? If you say you believe, do you prove your belief with your actions? Dwell on the Lord, and let your joy overflow into praise as you delight in His incomparable love.
Pray with me:
Lord, change my perspective when I don’t believe that You and Your love are the best things in my life. May I only seek to be satisfied by You.
January 3:
God’s Comforting Greatness
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?For everything come from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory.
Romans 11:33-36 (NLT)
How often do we find ourselves thinking we know exactly what’s best for us? Probably more often than we’d like to admit. Romans 11 speaks to our pride and foolish tendency to think we can figure things out on our own. It proclaims that God’s greatness, wisdom, and ways are far above our own. There is no greater wisdom or knowledge than that of the Lord, and everything on earth shows us this truth.
Understanding God’s greatness exposes our frailty and fickleness. When we humble ourselves by proclaiming His greatness, we set aside our pride and make space to learn from Him. When we declare the God is sovereign above all things, we can easily see His glory and grace. The more we realize that God is in control, the more readily we shift our trust in ourselves to trust in God—which provides far more comfort than trusting ourselves ever could.
We’ll never have all the answers, but we know the One who does. So we can walk confidently and joyfully through whatever comes our way.
Pray with me:
Lord, remind me today of Your greatness. Humble me, help me, and teach me to trust in Your truth.
January 4:
The Vine and the Branches
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
What is the first thing you do in the morning? Do you jam to music so loud that your ears ring for the rest of the day? Do you scroll through your social media feeds to see what you missed while you slept? Do you read tweets about celebrities, gossip, current events, and sports?
Most of the time, we wake up and walk into another day with the world at the front of our mind, only thinking about our own agendas. When we crawl into bed at night, it shouldn’t surprise us that we can’t seem to feel where God was during our day when we seek ourselves instead of Him.
Let’s wake up! We can’t sustain ourselves with our world’s media, music, and empty promises. Today’s verse reminds us that we aren’t the vine; Jesus is. We are the branches. We have to be connected to the vine—Jesus—so we can bear fruit, be fulfilled, and live abundantly. When we turn our focus from our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest saturated lives, we can see that apart from Him we “can do nothing.”
Pray with me:
Father, please keep me from allowing the world to consume me today. Let my heart yearn for Your truth, my ears listen to Your Spirit, and my eyes seek Your face.
January 5:
The Dwelling Place
One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
What do you desire above all else? What does your heart long for?
David longed to live in the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God’s presence, and to be surrounded every day by the beauty, glory, and wondrous mystery of Almighty God. This insatiable ache to meet Him daily, to know Him and His character personally, could only be satisfied by time in God’s presence.
According to Psalm 27:4, God created in us a desire to seek the “one thing” that satisfies: to commune with the Lord. When we gaze upon His beauty and behold His glory, we begin to live as God designed us too. The desire of our hearts is fulfilled.
David found a place for himself where he could know and enjoy God. Where is that space for you? Find your tabernacle today. Passionately pursue that dwelling. When you make that “one thing” the ultimate goal of your days, you will have no room to forget how good, great, sovereign, and beautiful our Lord is.
Pray with me:
Jesus, I want to know You more. Help me passionately pursue communion with You today.
January 6:
Like Father, Like Son
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
John 14:6-7
Do you struggle with understanding who God really is?
Actually, God gave us a pretty direct way to get to know Him: He gave us His Son. In fact, Jesus says so Himself. In John 14, He explains to His disciples that He was going to heaven before them to prepare a place for them there, and not to worry once He departed this world. The disciples immediately asked Jesus how to get to heaven, and Jesus replied that the way was through Jesus Himself. God sent Jesus into the world as a model demonstrating how believers should treat others. This is how we inherit the kingdom of God.
So by knowing Jesus, we can lay aside all our worries—about careers, about assignments, or about anything else in this life—because we know that He has prepared a place for us. We get the fullness of God Himself when we know Jesus, which is far more life-giving than anything we could ever imagine.
Pray with me:
Lord, help me seek Your son to know You more today.
January 7:
Past, Present, and Future
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sone, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
romans 8:15-17 (esv)
The gospel is the thread that connects our past, present, and future. Look at it this way: we were places to this world, but now we are adopted children with an assured hope that we will spend eternity in heaven. In Romans 8, Pail broke down how the gospel alters our state of being. When Paul said we believers are to supposed to “fall back into fear,” he was referring to out former state as slaves in fear of death and the penalty of the law. Instead, though the Spirit, we are adopted into and become part of God’s family.
As God’s children, all ties to past sins are severe and forgotten. Now, we can look forward to a future filled with an unshakable hope and a shared inheritance of Christ’s glory.
Since we are freed from our past, cared for in out present, and assured of our future; let’s live our faith boldly, love sacrificially, and treasure Christ greatly.
Pray with me:
Father, thank You for the gift of adoption into Your family. I trust You with my past, present, and future!
All the love,
Cheyenne
Break The Comfort Box! 