Don't Fall

"For only a few cents you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted. So do not be afraid: you are worth much more than many sparrows." - Matthew 10:29-30

I always had faith since I was a kid. I probably didn't pray very much and one hour of church on Sunday was a big deal for me, but I considered myself a person of faith anyway. When I turned 16, I experienced a special call from God, but with time, I went back to being lukewarm, not actively working on my relationship with God, putting other things first. About a year ago, something changed and I began to really feel like I needed Him more and more. One day, as I prayed kneeling down in my room, I felt the presence of God, of the Holy Spirit surround me and my eyes watered up with tears. I found myself crying, not out of sadness, but out of love… God was letting me feel His love for me, and it was something so amazing that I was scared I would fall again and go back to my old ways of hardly praying and being lazy with my faith. The thought of cooling off from God scared me and hurt me so much that instead of kneeling, I completely bowed down to the ground and asked Jesus over and over again to please not let me fall as my tears fell on the floor. When I lifted my head up again, I grabbed my bible and prayed to God to show me a passage that would tell me what to do, how to keep on following Him… and when I opened the bible to a random page, I got my answer… my finger landed on these two verses… for a few cents, two sparrows can be bought, but not one of them falls without my Father's consent… He's got every hair of my head counted…I shouldn't be afraid of falling because I am worth so much to Him.

And you are worth so much to Him as well. Don't let Spiritual laziness or life distractions keep you from knowing this incredible love of God and how much you mean to Him.

Today's Prayer:
Jesus, I want to get to know You better but my life gets in the way. Sometimes I am too busy or I am just too weak. Help me to overcome these distractions and start giving You the room You deserve. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Stumble and Get Back Up

"For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of calamity." - Proverbs 24:16

I know what it feels like to let God down. To one day feel like you're so close and you're on the right path… and then the next you've stumbled and it hurts. You fell down and committed the sin you swore you weren't going to. Maybe it's an addiction you're fighting. Maybe it's the way you're treating someone. Whatever it is… it's separating you from God and that guilt, that shame is tearing you up inside. One day you feel worthy of the Lord and the next you convince yourself you shouldn't even go to church on Sunday.

There's good news here and it's that you're human. Jesus fully understands those painful weaknesses and that's why He came to save us. This verse in Proverbs is amazing… the just man falls seven times… if you saw someone make a mistake seven times, you would brush them off, wouldn't you? God doesn't. To God, the only thing that matters is that we get back up. You can sin one hundred times in a day and if by the end of the day, you turn back and try again for God, in His eyes you are just. The only thing that separates the wicked from the just is that the wicked stay down and give up.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your unconditional love and mercy. I thank You that You don't judge us as harshly as we judge ourselves sometimes. Whenever I stumble, and You know I do often, please be there to lift me back up. In Your Name we pray, amen.