A 5 Day Devotional: "New Beginnings"

Hey friends! I’m so excited for you all to see what I’ve been working on for the past few months! So welcome to REVAMP week! Got a new segment dropping everyday this week & we can’t wait to show you what we’ve been up today. Segment Number 1 is our 1st ever collaboration! We’ll be collaborating with All Things Christian! If you haven’t heard of them, they're a faith based directory that plugs you with all different types of Christian content & creators! They’re actually doing a giveaway at the moment, so lookout for that! Find them on their Instagram & their website. Enjoy & keep up with our announcements on our Instagram.

Scroll down for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 & Day 5!

Devotional Day 1: New Month, New Beginnings.

We’ve reached August, which is a blessing in itself! This year has been challenging to say the least! It’s been a year of different twists and turns but regardless of these unexpected shifts God has continued to showcase his faithfulness. More than ever, I have been able to see his hand in EVERYTHING and any situation! Not because I'm being overly optimistic but because I've come to the realisation that God has a track-record, one that doesn't include failure but one which has a victory on the other side!

I wonder perhaps if this is what was meant by 20/20 vision!! That despite what trials we face, no matter what happened in the past. God is always on the move and he is ALWAYS doing more. This August I feel like God is saying to us, have confidence in me! Trust in my work! Rest in my finished work! If I’ve done before I’m going to do it again! God is asking us to let go of our fears, let go of our past and just jump into the now. Step into what he is calling us to do now. I know perhaps you’re reading and you may have completely written off this year and said something along these lines:

“ 2020 by far my worst year EVER”

“Can’t believe I’ve spent most of the year doing nothing”

“I’m going to tell my kids about how I was trapped in the house for 6 months in that year 2020”

“ they said 2020 was going to be a movie but they didn’t mention which genre”

Whatever your opinion towards the year so far are today I just want to encourage you that this is a month of new beginnings, new life and resurrection!! I am confident that God is going to do a new work in the life of each and everyone one of us! All we have to do is shift our perspective, focus on him and try to decipher what he’s saying to us in this new season!

So we all know that God created the world in 7 days, after this he rested! Subsequently, 7 signifies completeness in Gods eyes, but we know that after 7 comes 8! The 8th day was always a day for the new beginning. There is no doubt that number 8 was very significant for God because he chose the 8th day to be the beginning of a new week. So my question to you today is, what will you do with your 8th? Are you ready for a new beginning? Are you ready for a shift? Are you ready for revival? It may be small, but it's only just begun! So let go and let God do what he does best!

Perhaps you’ve been getting to know God during this lockdown period and you’ve heard a word from him to step out in faith and do something but fear is holding you back. Today friends, I encourage you to do it!! Today I encourage to just completely surrender it to God and say “ I have no clue what I’m doing but I trust you, God”.

This month of August I’m going to try to:

1. Put all my confidence in God!

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians‬ ‭1:6‬

2. Trust God in the small & begin doing whatever he’s called me to do! & Stop putting it off!!

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” Zechariah 4:10.

I can not wait to go through this journey together!!

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Devotional Day 2: The Small Beginnings.

Yesterday, we left on the thought of “ do not despise the days of small beginnings”. I believe it’s such a paramount thought, especially as we live in a society where “ living large” is the newest ideal, the small is often neglected, looked down on & deemed as “ very ghetto” ( not sure who says this but it’s the first thing I thought of😂). Today I’m here to challenge this norm as I wholeheartedly believe the smallest seasons, the season where we have nothing are the most important seasons because it’s entirely based on what you do with what is in your hands.

How I think of it is, if you can’t be faithful in the small how can you expect to be faithful in the big? If God can’t trust you with the small, why would he trust you with the big? Think about it this way, would YOU trust someone to look after your baby for a year if you hadn’t seen them do it for a day? ( not sure why I used this example because most of the people reading are probably years off having a baby🤣) . Personally, my answer would be no, I would have faith that’s perhaps you would be able to cope for a week at the most but without any real preparation feelings of fatigue, tiredness & hopelessness will inevitably creep in. Why? Because you simply weren’t prepared!

How do you get prepared? 

Well, I just think it’s the ability to utilise and cherish the small that makes a big difference! It prepares you for the bigger things, it builds on the experiences that you have. Let’s stick with the baby analogy, so typically the process for having a baby involves a pregnancy. During these 9 months, you prepare. You go to the required appointments, you plan the adjustments your life will take. You mentally prepare for this baby, so it’s not an ultimate shock when they come. I mean, of course, you can never truly understand what it entails until the baby comes, but preparation is still vital. Every single one of those months involves a sense of building upon the last month & progressing further. I’ve always wondered why God designed pregnancy for 9 months because let's be real if he wanted to he could’ve made it an overnight thing or even a same-day thing! I’m not here to put myself in the shoes of God, but what I can say is because it seems apparent to me that preparation is very important to him. 

I mean, one of the best examples of this is Jesus! He knew he was going to come but what did he do, he prepared the people. For years on end! He contained to prepare, prepare & guess what? Prepare even more! He tried to prepare the hearts of people, the minds of people to this idea. Even so, when Jesus came he spent a WHOLE 33 years on earth, preparing those around for the most important season of their lives. They waited, they waited and they waited for this amazing prophecy of the Messiah! Some even saw it with their own eyes but they didn’t believe it. They had perhaps lost hope that the Messiah would come but today I want to encourage us to continue to wait! To continue to utilise these small seasons. Embrace it! Delve deeper into what God is calling you to do! Do everything as if you’re doing it for God alone. Put all effort into everything you do & from there we’ll just begin to see God use us in crazy ways we could’ve never imagined. God is doing something in you during the waiting period. Call it character building!

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

Just remember every good thing in this life involves a sacrifice! We have a new life because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Are you willing to make a sacrifice?

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Devotional Day 3: The waiting period!!

We live in a society that HATES waiting, we’re so so used to everything being ready at our disposal! Literally next day delivery is more prevalent than ever!

• Waiting for more than 3 days for a delivery?

“Hmm, I’d rather not!”

• A video taking more than 20secs to load?

“Let me just find another one”.

• Waiting in line for a queue?

“Can’t lie I’ll just order it online.”

• Or waiting to get on a ride at the theme park?

“let me just get the fast pass.”

Everything is moving at a RAPID pace and as a result of this, I HATE waiting. I mean if I could get it faster then why wouldn’t I?

• Ready-made meals vs home-cooked food 

• Fast messages ( text messages/emails) vs slower post mails

• Fast fashion vs charity shop wear

• Talk-talk vs Sky ( there’s a right answer here 😂😂😂!)
  

I definitely know which one of these I’m picking! Of course, it’s for to be the most convenient option!! It might not always be right & might have serious consequences (as illustrated by the fast fashion example) but is it more convenient? Yes, 100%! 

Whilst these may or may not be over exaggerations, the point I’m attempting to reiterate is that due to what I have coined “fast culture” a spirit of impatience has been nurtured, a spirt that wants more and it wants it fast. A spirt that can’t stay with something unless they see the immediate fruits. A spirt that wants something and wants it NOW! 

Let me real with you, I’m all for the advancement of technology and how everything has evolved! Literally praise Jesus for this, because all the aforementioned things that pertain to this “fast culture” has made our lives so much better & they are a blessing in itself. However, the problem is I sometimes forget that unfortunately, God doesn’t work this way. I don’t ask for something & receive it in maximum 24 hours. Often times, it involves waiting, waiting and more waiting. Don’t get me wrong, an answer is ALWAYS received. It may not be ideal, it may not be when I wanted it but Gods promise still stands (Hebrews 13:5 - Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. ). That doesn’t change ever! He is always listening but he just decides when it’s best for a door to be opened or in some situations closed ( Matthew 7). We just need to shift our mindset, it’s this very shift of perspective that determines how we utilise the waiting period! 

I’ve already spoken a bit about the waiting period and how much I hate to wait but more than ever we’ve been put in situations where we have to WAIT. Practically for the entirety of 2020, we’re caught having to wait! Wait to hear when next we can go out or when next the borders are going to open when next we can see our loved ones etc. With this, the anticipation often gets too much & we tend to question whether God is on the move? If he’s still there if he still listens & perhaps we question if he stills cares!!

I want to encourage you that he is always on the move, no time with God is ever wasted & he is always listening !!! 

It’s funny, because I genuinely just imagine God with A POSTER, as in a MASSIVE BANNER saying.

“Do you know who you're waiting with ??????”

Attempting to reassure us and remind us that he’s always been a man of his word? That the best things come to those that wait! I mean the bible is PACKED with examples of people that waited! Jesus waited 30 years to start preaching! Abraham waited 100 years for Issac! Noah waited 40 days after the flood! David waited patiently and guess what? The Lord not only heard his cry but he turned to him!!

(Psalms 40:1) “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.”

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Like honestly with a track record of that calibre, I can confidently say there’s NO-ONE I’d rather be waiting with!!! There’s no-one I’d rather be waiting on!! The best bit about it is that God was and still is SO patient with us. Think about it, if I was in his position I would probably be thinking by now

“I can’t lie Jesus came a couple of thousand years ago now surely they should get it by NOW? READ THE ROOM people!!”

But no, that’s not the response of my God! Instead, he responds with this CRAZY amount of love, a love that is waiting patiently for each soul to come to him. He waits one second at a time, one day at a time. This is the beauty of it all! He’s always going to be waiting with us. He’s never going to get tired or weary! He’ll be waiting it out with us until the very end! Now for someone who hates waiting, there is just an overwhelming sense of comfort that I get from.

You might be reading this and thinking,

“Grace that’s great but I kind of already knew this. It doesn’t really make the waiting period any easier.”

This is why I have complied affirmations that I meditate on during the waiting period: 

1. Feeling alone in this? Remember who you’re waiting with!

2. Confused as to why it’s happening to you? AGAIN????? Think of what God is trying to do in you and through you during this waiting period. Perhaps it’s patience? Perhaps it’s a deeper level of reliance on God?

3. Feeling tired? Renew your strength in him!

4. Not sure what’s going on? Rely on Him!

5. Questing when it’s going to end??? Remember it’s only for a season, so steward this season well!!

These small shifts of perspective can make the absolute difference!! The more I meditate on them, the more  I see Gods hand in every season of life! This is why friends today, I pray that we continue to do life with God and trust him above all else. I know it’s so so hard, but today I’m believing God that together we entirely rest on the power of the Holy Spirit!! Utilising this period to do all that he’s called us to do!! Amen!!

Today’s Song, Scripture & Sermon of the day!!:

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Day 4: Renew. Restart. Rest.

Song of the Day: This is Amazing Grace

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

Part of the journey of going into a new season involves a new work being done inside of us! I love 2 Corinthians 5:17 because our dear friend Paul here is referring to the transformative power of Jesus. His ability to turn “ ALL” lives around, make everything brand new & to turn any situation around! I love that we serve a God that does discriminate! He gives us ALL the opportunity to become a new creation! All we have to do is believe, but the most interesting bit about this is at this lifts off the heaviest weight off ourselves! We don’t have to place our trust in ourselves to make ourselves new but in God!!! I just love this thought, because this process of “regeneration” is just a product of us resting in his finished work.

Honestly, if I think about my life before Christ it is nothing compared to now!! I mean don’t get me wrong I am nowhere close to who I want to be in Christ, but I just know that if I continue to take it one step, one day at a time fully trusting and surrendering my thoughts & actions to God. I will slowly become more and more like him! Paul reassures us that the old life has gone and the new has come!! Meaning that all that’s left for us to do is to live in the reality of the new life!

Easy right??? Nope, this is the hardest part of it all. The truth is I struggle with living it out. With living in the reality that I am made new in Christ. More often than I perhaps would let on, I let my past dictate my actions of today! I let self-condemnation creep in, whisper words of self-doubt, fear and insufficiency! I find it hard to fathom that someone would love me enough to wipe away ALL my sins and give me a new life if I simply believe?

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

I mean that’s Gods grace for you! It’s just the best and wildest thing ever. It’s the gift we never knew we needed!!!

It’s funny because I now realise that those tiny voices I hear are the voice of the enemy & it’s so important that when we do hear these voices we overpower them with the word of God. Think of it like this, turning down the negative voice & turn up the word of God!! That’s why I think it’s SOOOO important to do intentionally think of the 3 R’s ( renew, restart & rest) when we do get these thoughts.

1.Renew, we need to renew our minds. Fix our eyes on Jesus. Why? He is the author and the finisher of our faith! He perfects us, he makes us whole again.

“ Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:2

2. Restart. You get tired? Do you make a mistake? You give up? We have the opportunity and privilege to restart! Pick up from where we left off!! We can go again!!

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19

3. Refresh. Refresh ourselves in who the word says we are! What the word has to say about your situThe more we do this, the more we begin to see situations through his lens!

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The most reassuring thing for me is if he did it before he will do it again!! Today I pray that we all rest in Jesus & his promises💕

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Day 5: Ready, Steady, Go!

This is the final day of this devotional! It’s been a very exciting one for me! Just getting back into the habit of writing! Today I just wanted to encourage us all with the idea that now is the time! After every waiting period, there’s a “go time” but often this to time might be the HARDEST time! The period we all often neglect because we don’t necessarily feel ready or feel like it’s the job for us!

It’s only now, I’m realising that during the waiting period, during the times where I thought “God isn’t at work”, he was doing the greatest work! He was always vigilant! Always on the move & he was trying to teach me a lesson. For me to get something out of it I just needed to shift my perspective towards him!

I talk about “waiting” generically put I can confidently say I’ve had my fair share of different types of waiting periods. To name a few:

⁃ Waiting for an answer to a prayer ( particularly education-wise)

⁃ Waiting for an idea or the “go” in terms of Living Life Gracefully

Whilst there are different types of waiting, the commonality between every waiting period is that God is ALWAYS trying to teach me a lesson: perhaps a lesson of patience, a lesson of resilience or maybe even trust. Whatever it is, I can confidently say that with God no season is ever wasted. He uses the small! He values every season. He uses different seasons to remind us of the next season or so we can compete for his faithfulness throughout every season. Every season he preparing us for the next or a different season. In every “tough” season I’ve ever been through, God hasn't always revealed to me why I’ve been through that immediately but slowly and surely at the RIGHT time he reveals the purpose behind it all and that’s the beauty of it! He continues to teach me new dimensions of his love, his grace, his mercy & his favour.

I speak in the past tense, not because I’m not waiting for something at the moment ( trust me I always am) but just because there have been SOOO many things I’ve waited for God on and he’s answered me in ways that I’ve never imagined and EVERY single time the latter days after we’re so much better than the former days! I was able to take the experiences that I’ve learnt and used them for the next season in my life. So whether you were waiting for an answer to your purpose, an idea or even a prayer. He’s using every season to prepare us to be ready for the next season!

So perhaps you’re reading this and you’re confused about 2020, what type of “season” this is for you. Today friends, I encourage and urge you to trust God with it all. To not write off the year completely, but to trust him enough to see what he can do with the remaining 147 days of this year! I am confident that August God is already on the move. The beauty of life is there are so many aspects that compose what we call “life”. As there are so many areas of “life” God is doing different things in different areas. In one area perhaps he’ll be preparing you. This preparation stage will be the “get ready” phase! This phase is what I love to call character building. He is creating an endurance inside of you, a dependency on him alone.

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:3-4

The “steady” period is to ensure that you’re ready. Any final tweaks, adjustments or messages God wants to send to you he’ll do it now. He’ll maybe even use people or videos or anything to remind us that he's still with us and that we can count on him! This where I’ve found that the more I have a relationship with him, the more I can recognise the Holy Spirit at work. It could even be the smallest things, like seeing a bible verse multiple times in one day or a week. It’s these reminders that tell me to keep going and that I’m nearly at the end of this particular seasons. He uses seasons like this to stabilise us, to ensure we’re about to head in the right direction. This ensures the trajectory our next season will go through is in alignment with his plan.

In “The Go” often the most daunting period, this is the period he’ll align our plan with his! He’ll make sure we’re ready to leap of faith. To step into new territories. The only thing we need to do is surrender and trust wholeheartedly in him!

So whether you’re starting a new year of school, a new friendship or whatever it may be. Be vigilant! Trust God and through the process. He’s always beginning something new in us. It’s not going to start big, but if we can push through and preserve through the small seasons he’ll be able to use us more and more to influence more people for the kingdom of God! Today’s encouragement: Let Go & Let God!

This has been “New Beginnings”! Hope you all enjoyed xxxx