gifts

Kiss Fear Goodbye (Here’s Why)

Pop quiz: Does God want us to “play it safe” in our lives? Does He want us to avoid all risk in our jobs, goals and desires?

Remember your answer as you read this devotional from The Great Rescue Bible (NIV). You may change your mind. -Adam Forrest

Does God Want You to “Play It Safe”?

Your Dad is the King of all. There is no reason to fear.

[READ]
Jesus told a story of two people who illustrated what it looks like to live as a child of the King: “It will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money” (Matthew 25:14–18).

In this parable, two of the three servants went for it, trying to gain as much as they could with what they had been given. They could have lost everything by not playing it safe. But they knew the heart of their master and decided to take a risk. Jesus made it clear that they were the ones who were living the way he wanted.

[THINK]
God is not a “play it safe” God. Do you have the kind of approach to life that says, “I’m gonna go for it, even if I fail, because God’s gonna catch me if I fall”? Child of the King, if God puts something on your heart, go after it. Do what you can to make it happen, ask for his help and guidance, and trust that he’s going to walk with you every step of the way.

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On Counting our Blessings: The “One Thousand Gifts” Book and App

 

Does gratitude come easy? Not for me. That's why Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts book and mobile app captured my attention. Let's start with the book.

 

Seeing and Receiving our Blessings: Ann Voskamp's Book One Thousand Gifts

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As the summary of One Thousand Gifts reads, Voskamp's book shows readers "a way of seeing that opens [our] eyes to ordinary amazing grace." I roundly concur. (At time of writing, I've read about half of Voskamp's book.)

I'd like to share one of my favorite parts from One Thousand Gifts. Voskamp describes how things change for her when she begins to literally count her blessings…

 

Excerpt from One Thousand Gifts
 

Across the backside [of the scrap paper], on a whim, a dare, I scratch it down: Gift List. I begin the list. Not of gifts I want but of gifts I already have.

  1. Morning shadows across the old floors
  2. Jam piled high on the toast
  3. Cry of blue jay from high in the spruce…

They are just the common things and maybe I don't even know they are gifts really until I write them down and that is really what they look like. Gifts He bestows. This writing it down – it is sort of like … unwrapping love…

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