Stay Where You Are

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Good morning, Lord

Father in Heaven, I seek You first-the knowledge of Your limitless love in Christ and endless power. Build my trust and my passion. I take up my cross and follow...In Jesus' name…

Memory verse: Ephesians 2:6 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

Verse of the day: Romans 14:11

11 for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,    and every tongue shall confess to God.”

Daily Reading: 2 Samuel 16-18 Luke 17:20-37 

Stay Where You Are

Luke 17:20 “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. 22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them.”

Jesus says, “Do not go out and follow them”. The International Children’s Bible says, “Stay where you are.” I like that.

When times are not good-when our hearts are heavy-when we can not see beauty or success-this is when the ‘kingdom’ Jesus taught about is so very important. His kingdom we cannot see but we can feel it. Stay where you are.

Psalm 23:1 says, “The lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” this says that God supplies all that we truly need.

When my mind is centered on God, when I am fully conscious of Him, I have all I need for my heart to be full.

Later, in Psalm 23, it says, “He restores my soul.” This tells us that we will have times to recover from. Bad stuff-hard times-not all times will be good but we always have what we need to be restored-not anything from the world-but from His invisible kingdom-inside us-inside the body of Christ.

Times get hard and things painful. In the garden, Jesus said, “I am sick to death.” With Him as our example, it is OK to feel that way and say it but what did Jesus do? He stayed where He was and finished what He started-just as He taught.

Don’t try to squirm out from under a ‘rock’ by your own power. Know that God has given you all you need-His kingdom in Your heart with all that He provides-to get to to the end of this hard time.

Trust and He will see You finish and restored.

...because He loves us, He will do it…

Father in Heaven,

Hallowed be your name. I want to get deeper in Your kingdom. Give me understanding for today. Forgive me for looking into the world for solutions. Lead me away from doubt.

Restoring God and gentle Father,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen