Daily Readings at Southeast

  Goodbye to Your Old Self "To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."  EPHESIANS 4:22–24 ESV Take a moment to read Colossians 3 right now. Let its words become a part of your anthem—especially verse 10: “Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:10 ESV) That’s right. Saying goodbye to your old self does not simply involve leaving behind old behaviors or past mistakes or an old season of life (though that is part of it). It’s also about putting on the “new self” that God has created you to be. It’s time to embrace your transformation! Ephesians 4:23 NIV says we are to be “made new in the attitude of your minds.” Has the way you view your past, your worth, and your future now been redefined? Has your mind...

  Go Live "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7 ESV No matter what, we can hold on to this truth: God is good. He wants to walk with us in our suffering. We can trust Him, as He has a deep love for us. He has wonderful plans for us! As we go about life, we can be held down by things that plague us from our past or current situations we just can’t seem to get through. Imagine looking ahead in your life, and ask yourself this: Will things that are on my mind now still be affecting me then? Today, release to God anything that is stealing joy from your life. Then listen to what He is trying to tell you. He may be calling you to get deeper help through therapy or to receive more support by joining a small group. We can spend too much of our lives stuck ...

  Make God Your Focus “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”  MATTHEW 7:24-25 ESV Where do you turn for peace when you’ve had a hard day? In today’s world, it’s easy to find refuge in other people—friends or family members—or even worrying more about what other people think of us than what God does. Worrying about others’ opinions of us is one sure way to lose our peace fast, but if we want to give our hearts peace and rejuvenation, we can always turn to God on our hard days, knowing that He is the Rock on which we can build the foundation of our emotions, our feelings—but especially our faith. Bringing your soul to God and putting Him and His thoughts toward you first in your life can truly help you find the peace you need. And fostering your relationship w...

  Trust in the Restoration Process "Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby, goodwill come to you. Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart."  JOB 22:21–22 ESV Picture a box. Inside contains everything you carry . . .everything you don’t want to give up control over—all your fears, worries, and anxieties. All things from your past that continue to be unresolved, people you have not forgiven, things God called you to do but you decided not to do—you knew better and went your own way instead. Friend, the key to open and set free everything held captive in that box is to give it over to God and fully have faith that He will lead your life. You can trust Him in what He’s doing. How? , you might ask. The first step to trusting God is to know who He is. If you know God’s character—if you know He is loving, faithful, and unchanging (Psalm 100:5; Hebrews 13:8)—then it’s easier to trust Him with what’s in your box. You can say “yes!” to the callings and ...

  Imperfect But Loved "God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  GENESIS 3:5 NIV Back in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a beautiful garden where all of their needs were met, and they didn’t know anything about evil. They were in perfect harmony with God and each other. There was no conflict, just one simple command from God: Do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But the serpent slyly tricked Eve, and she ate the fruit of the tree, and after that Adam did too. They then knew of both good and evil. However, God still loved them, despite their disobedience. As you take a look at your own story and that of your family, you can see that we are all products of imperfect people. We can often feel, too, past wounds that never healed but were maybe just sealed up or buried. As our own eyes open to knowing what’s good and what’s evil, God can help us stop generational pains as He shows us...

  Never Too Late "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  PSALM 118:24 ESV You may be reading this devotion thinking, I’m too old or too set in my ways to start something new now. Or you may be thinking that too much time in your life has passed, and now it’s too late to make any changes or start anything new. Friend, take refuge in Psalm 118 . . . today is a new day! It’s never too late to begin again. It’s never too late to receive healing, restoration, and the gift of being made new by your Lord and Savior! He’s there, waiting with open arms for you to come on in. You can do the things He’s placed on your heart . . . He will make the next steps clear for you and direct you to take them. No matter how much time has passed, we can make the active choice right now to make any changes in our lives that we need to make. Each day brings about new opportunities, and it’s up to us to make those moves! Philippians 4:13 ESV reminds us: “I can do a...

  Restored "After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."  I PETER 5:10 ESV This is a little story of how this devotional came to be. When I was at a church retreat and singing worship music, God gave me a beautiful vision. He kept telling me to go up and share this vision with the others there. I sat there nervously for a while, then decided to obey His calling. So, I raised my hand to share, stood up, and walked to the front of the room. I asked the women in the audience to close their eyes and imagine this scene with me. “Picture yourself as a wooden dresser being made by the Lord—so beautiful, created of new wood, maybe with some artistic carvings,” I said. “But over the years, you end up getting some dings, you’re painted over a few times, and because of life’s wear and tear, you end up looking like something that’s been put along the side of ...