Are you ready? a devotional

“…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬ ‭(NLT)

In late 2022 I offered to review a new release “The Challenge to Trust on the Path to Peace” by Cindy Janecka and Cindy kindly sent me a physical copy of her book along with 2 extra copies that I gifted to friends. I skimmed through the book and completed a couple of the devotions in order to complete the review in a timely manner. As I read through I sensed that I would need to delve deeper and decided that 2023 would be my year of learning to trust God more.

Week 7

Although the devotion has been written as a 50-day journey I decided to focus on 1 devotion a week as I found that I had A LOT to unpack and think about. So day 7’s devotion (which was for me week 7) was the question “Are You Ready?” and I answered: ‘Lord I feel that I am ready and I thank You. ALL that I am, ALL that I have, ALL I long for, it ALL belongs to You so I trust that You have good and perfect plans for my life. If You take something away, I’ll trust. I’ll trust as You take and trust as You give. Trust as You work and trust as I wait.’ I began to imagine what life could look like if I trusted God more and I listed: spiritual maturity, contentment, peace, joy and walking in wisdom and understanding.

Brand new!

As I reflected on one of the verses at the end of the devotional I wrote:

I am transparent to You for You can see into the very depths of me.
What I thought was too embarrassing to reveal to You is now exposed to the Light,
but rather than face judgement I receive Your transforming grace.
Thank You God.
Jesus truly and deeply join me to You, graft me in deeper and deeper.
Through my faith in You I am a NEW creature.
I am reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit, hallelujah!
The old me has passed away for spiritual awakening
has brought to me a brand NEW life,
a brand NEW spiritual condition,
a brand NEW mental attitude,
a brand NEW emotional outlook,
and a brand NEW physical disposition.
Praise the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Praise the great I AM.
Praise the Alpha and Omega.
Let me forevermore praise the Lord for He has made me brand NEW!
Inspired by 2 Corinthians 5:16-17.

Challenged

But the next morning my resolve was severely challenged….I awoke in the early hours of the morning from a nightmare where I had experienced the HUGE emotions of abandonment, being ignored, rejection and I was severely let down by someone I love. I awoke really upset and spent time praying.
I felt that God wanted to deal with each of those issues and speak His Truth into them, I wrote:

Abandoned – LOVED, CHERISHED, ADORED.
Ignored – RESPECTED, VALUED, LISTENED TO.
Rejected – CHOSEN, ACCEPTED, CONNECTED.
Let down – SUPPORTED, ENCOURAGED, STRENGTHENED.

I prayed:
Lord, I thank You for the Truth that You will NEVER abandon me (Hebrews 13:5) for I am loved, cherished and adored by You.
Lord, thank You for being attentive to my cries (Psalm 34:15), You will NEVER ignore me for I am respected, valued and listed to by You.
Lord, I thank You for the Truth that You will NEVER reject me for I am chosen (1 Peter 2:9), accepted and connected to You. Help me to cease from offending You and keep me always on the path You have set for me, never wandering astray.
Lord, thank You for the fact that I can trust You for You will NEVER let me down (Deuteronomy 31:8), I am supported, encouraged and strengthened by You!
Let these Truths dispel the emotions racing through me and unsettling me I pray, in Jesus’s mighty name. Amen.

Are you ready?

I wanted to share this with you because I don’t believe I am alone in experiencing the HUGE emotions of abandonment, being ignored, rejection and being severely let down by someone. If you are struggling with those emotions then I urge you to allow God to speak His Truth into your life. I pray that you can know just how very loved, cherished and adored by God you are. That you realise that you are respected, valued and listed to by God, He hears every single cry that you utter to Him. That you can truly and deeply know that you are chosen, accepted and connected to God. And I pray that You will be flooded with blessed assurance that God will NEVER let you down for you are supported, encouraged and strengthened by Him.
If you are struggling then I would love to pray for you, please reach out to me.
Many blessings,
Keona