Daily Reflections With Jesus

On Tuesday 9/1/2020 I was struggling to get up and have any energy to face the day or have a quiet time. So, I decided to worship and sing scripture instead of just sitting, reading and praying. I thought I might fall asleep if I had done that. My bible was already open to Matthew and resting on my music stand so I pulled it closer to me as I sat on the couch and started turning the pages until I found Psalms. As I am flipping through I landed on psalms 8 and 9 and lo and behold a small white moth flutters off of my page. I have no idea where it came from, how it got in my bible or even how it survived between pages. The day before I had been in Psalms before turning the Matthew but still it didn’t make any sense. After the brief shock I moved on and didn’t put thought into it until later in the day. I walked outside around 4 to take Alsie (my guide dog) to the restroom and realized that there was a white object that had moved from my room number to the part of the wall closer to my door. For the last week I noticed there was something white resting right next to the number 4 on my room number. I had wondered what it was but again didn’t put much thought into it because it wasn’t bothering anything. It stayed there for 2 days and didn’t move. I then realized on day 2 that there was another white object resting eye level on my door frame right where I open my door. I thought it was strange but didn’t put much though into it again. Neither moved for another 2 days. Then Monday I realized that the object that was on my door frame was gone. I had wondered what it was or where it went but again didn’t put much thought into it. I had no idea what it was because it was just white. It almost looked like someone had placed a piece of chewed gum on my door frame and room number. Well the next morning, Tuesday morning I was flipping through my bible and a moth flutters out of it like I stated above. Later that day I realized that the white object that was on the number 4 has now moved closer to my door. Curious and knowing it is not a piece of chewed gum I pull out my phone and take a picture of it. I had never seen anything like it. It has wings, a fuzzy head, horns and claw like fingers. I inquired about it to friends and come to find out, it is called an “Angel Moth”. My thoughts then flashed back to that morning when a moth flew out of my bible and realized that it was the “Angel Moth”! I was lost for words and didn’t know what that meant! Did I just have 2 “angels” perched at my door for the last week? Why would a moth fly out of my bible on Psalms 8-9? Why was one of the moths on the number 4 of my room number for 4 days before it moved? Maybe I am reading too much into this but I don’t think I am. I don’t believe in coincidences and I don’t believe it was just random that all of this happened. If anything, it makes me feel special that the Lord would assign 2 “angels” to watch over me regardless if that’s what it represented or not.

That is what I took from it. This is what Psalms 8 and 9 says.

Psalm 8
For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.

1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 9
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.

1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
3 My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have upheld my right and my cause,
sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.
7 The Lord reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.
13 Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation.
15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
16 The Lord is known by his acts of justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.[c]
17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
all the nations that forget God.
18 But God will never forget the needy;
the hope of the afflicted will never perish.
19 Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
20 Strike them with terror, Lord;
let the nations know they are only mortal.

Blessings Abundantly,

Taylor

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

“He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” – Matthew 13:31-32

The mustard seed is the smallest seed known to man, yet it grows to be the largest tree. Why would the Lord use this type of seed to represent heaven and our faith? I believe that He did this to show how dependence on God truly creates the greatest victory in life. In life we have to start out small and allow the Lord to grow us. The more we depend on the Lord the stronger we become. If He used a larger seek for His analogy, like the avocado seed, then the understanding of dependence on the Lord would be taken away. Sometimes size gets in the way of our willingness to depend on Gods guiding. We begin to rely on ourselves and take situations into our own hands. Though this seed is much bigger it doesn’t produce a tree like a mustard seed does. We need to surrender our plans and instead take up Kingdom plans. When we start small but have big intentions we allow the Lords hands to do the guiding. Even with the smallest of faith, miracles can happen and blessings are birthed. Don’t underestimate the power of faith and trust in the Lord. Though the mustard seed is small, when in combination with the Holy Spirit it does not always remain small. It takes perspective. Start small and allow the Lord to grow you. Continue to rely and depend on the Lord no matter what you are going through.

Dear Jesus thank you for another day filled with opportunities to see your beauty. Thank you for the thunderstorm I was woken up to at the same time as my alarm. Thank you for filling my lungs with your breadth and allowing me to face another day. God, I ask that today my eyes would be focused on you. That every encounter I have people would see you and not me. I pray that you would revive your people and give them a heartbeat for you. That we would walk in sync with your beating heart. Jesus, thank you for your faithfulness in all that you do. Thank you for sending your spirit and for filling me every single day. God, I pray that my faith in you would remain greater than faith in myself. If I ever lose sight of that Lord please remind me. God you are worthy of all praise! You are worthy of it all! In you I can do all things! In you I can tell the mountains in my life to move and command the storms to cease. In you nothing is impossible. So, Lord, today and every day no matter what I go through, whether it be good or bad I will face everything and rejoice and leave false expectations about reality behind. You get the glory no matter what! In your holy and precious name, amen!

Blessings Abundantly,

Taylor

Daily Reflections With Jesus

Today I decided to do something different for my quiet time. I decided to pick up my guitar and spontaneously worship. I opened my bible to pick a passage to read and sure enough the page I randomly opened my bible to was Psalms 18:2. That was the passage I reflected on yesterday. I guess the Lord wanted me to continue to reflection on this passage and remember that he is my stronghold, my fortress, my rock, my salvation and strength. He is so good and faithful over the years. He never changes! Praise the Lord! 

So, here is part of my spontaneous worship from 7 o'clock this morning. I pray that it blesses you like it blessed me. 

Lord God, I praise you that you are enough for me. I praise you that you always meet me where I am at and always have my back. Thank you Lord for always listening to me and showing me that you are here. I pray that you would help me to surrender any insecurities that I may be holding onto today. God I give you everything! Today is the day that YOU have made so I will rejoice and be glad in it! You can have my heart and my emotions. Everything I do is for your glory. Everything I do is for you! I pray that I would have patience for myself and give myself grace. I declare that today will be a productive and positive day. I declare that by the end of today I will have stories of your faithfulness throughout it. You are such a good good father! I pray that no matter the troubles that may come my way or the feelings I may face, that you would continue to get the glory and praise. No matter what I go through or feel, whether it be good or bad, I will Face Everything And Rejoice and leave False Expectations About Reality behind. Today and every day, YOU gets the Glory no matter what! In your Holy and Precious name, Amen!

Blessings Abundantly,

Taylor

Daily Reflections With Jesus

Psalms 18:2

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

Fortress- a person or thing not susceptible to outside influence or disturbance.
Horn- in this passage it means strength
Stronghold- A stronghold is a defensive structure: Psalms 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. misgav; properly, a cliff (or other lofty or inaccessible place); figuratively, a refuge: defense, high fort (tower), refuge.

I was flipping through my bible this morning after praying and came across this passage. I thought it was fitting for today. I am exhausted! It has been a very busy week of work and the only thing I dreamt about last night, was work. Only to wake up and have to work again today. I am just tired. But this passage refreshes me. The Lord is my strength, in other words, He is my caffeine for the day. Which I was just praying for before came across this passage. I prayed “Lord please give me strength for today, be my caffeine and help me be productive.” I love how the Lord takes our words in prayer and confirms them in scripture. I know the Lord hears my prayers, there is no doubt!

Until this morning I didn’t actually know what a stronghold was. I always thought of a stronghold as a negative thing. Like when you are going through inner healing and you are breaking off strongholds in your life. But strongholds are not always negative. According to the definition above, a stronghold is a defense structure, inaccessible place, fortress (not susceptible to outside influence or disturbance). When God is our stronghold we are untouchable, out of reach from the enemy. When He is our fortress we are protected from the world our distractions. Wow, I never understood this!

Today I am choosing to take refuge in Christ and allow him to be my stronghold. Today, I choose to allow Christ to be my fortress. Why wouldn’t we allow these things in our lives when they are here to protect us. The enemy may be at bay in your life but he is right there ready to attack as soon as our walls or defenses go down. He is just sitting, lurking, and waiting. Waiting to make his move. So, I choose to rest high in His fortress with Him as my stronghold, not susceptible to outside influence or disturbance. Every day we each have a choice. What are you going to choose?

Lord God, thank you for waking me up this morning. Thank you for the sunrise I get to watch as I sit on my patio. Thank you for your blessings that are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness! Lord right now I place you as my foundation. I claim you as my stronghold and fortress. I pray that your blood would cover me and protect me from the schemes of the enemy. I praise you for the productive day that I am going to have today and for always having my back. God today no matter what I go through, no matter how overwhelmed I may feel, I ask that you would help me to keep you as my center and my focal point of everything I do. I pray that I would be a light to my students on the other side of the computer screen and that they would feel your love as I teach them. Help me to have patience for myself and for them today, Lord! Today and every day I will face everything and rejoice and leave false expectations about reality behind. You get the glory no matter what! In your holy and precious name, amen!

Blessings Abundantly,

Taylor

Daily Reflections With Jesus

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

So many times in the past I struggled with comparison. Wondering why God didn’t make me more like “this or that”. Being a twin, this came up in my mind frequently. It was later in life when I realized that the Lord made me perfect the way I was. That He equipped me with the appropriate gifts for the purpose and calling that He had on my life. It was so eye opening knowing that though I wasn’t like my sister, it was okay. I love how there can be billions of people in the world yet we all have a different specific calling on our lives. We all have been equipped with specific gifts or quality traits to help us reach that calling and no one can take that from you. There is always hope because though we are all very different it is the same God who called us, created us and equipped us! You are called, fashioned and created for a purpose even if you do not know that purpose yet. In the right time the Lord will reveal it to you! Do not lose hope.

Father God, you are so beautiful, fun and creative. I praise you that there is not even 1 person on this earth who is exactly the same. I praise you that you didn’t just create human kind but you fashioned and uniquely created us. You made sure that no one was exactly the same, not even Identical twins. I thank you Lord that though we are all very difference your spirit in us is what brings us together in unity. I ask Lord that you would continue to bridge generations, races, and nations together as one. That we would set aside our disagreements and agree on the one true thing that matters. You Lord! That you would raise up a people who knows there identify in you and isn’t afraid to live out in the gifts and callings you have placed on their lives. I lay aside any insecurities today and pray that your spirit would guide my thoughts and actions. I thank you Lord for your faithfulness to your word and praise you always. God today no matter what I go through, no matter how overwhelmed I may feel, I ask that you would help me to keep you as my center and my focal point of everything I do. I pray that I would be a light to my students on the other side of the computer screen and that they would feel your love as I teach them. Help me to have patience for myself and for them today, Lord! Today and every day I will face everything and rejoice and leave false expectations about reality behind. You get the glory no matter what! In your holy and precious name, amen!

Blessings Abundantly,

Taylor

Daily Reflections With Jesus

James 1:21-25

21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

So often in life we get so consumed with our busy day to day lives and get caught up with the world view of what is right or wrong. So caught up to the point when we read scripture we feel uncomfortable because it convicts us. But James in this passage says take off the moral filth and instead accept the word planted within you, which can save you. There is power in that. Taking off what we have grown accustomed to in our world and instead putting on the truth of God. The truth that may make us feel uncomfortable and challenge us but ultimately leads to life. Nothing in this world can lead to salvation. Nothing in this world can lead to true joy.

James is calling us to not only listen to Gods teachings but to live it out as well. We cannot do one without the other. James even says in chapter 2 that “faith without works is dead.” You cannot merely read the world and expect fruit. You have to read the word and live it out. It’s the same thing in this verse. When we look into the perfect law but don’t live it out it’s like looking in the mirror and forgetting what you saw. It has no purpose, no meaning. God doesn’t want us to simply survive. He wants us to thrive and live with purpose.

He has given us everything we need to be completely filled and to completely live. We just have to make the choice to take of what we know through the worlds views or standards and instead choose to put on what God says and accept his standards. It’s not easy and it’s not always comfortable. Gods word convicts us. The world doesn’t.

I had a dream a couple of weeks ago and the “church” was being represented by several people including myself. We were standing in jail cells. God was on the other side of the bars. He kept saying “why are you still in there? The doors are wide open! You are not prisoners anymore. Just come out of the cell! Why are you choosing to be imprisoned when I have already set you free?”

I felt like the Lord was telling the church this same message that James is sharing. God has already given us salvation. He already laid out the law. We know the difference between right and wrong from a biblical standpoint. So, why are we (the Church) continuing to live as captives in a world that we are already set free from? The door is wide open my friends! Just step out of the jail cell and accept the word planted within you, which can save you.

Lord God I praise you and thank you for today! I thank you that you are opening up my eyes to see your truth. Lord right now I take off any worldly moral filth that I have put on and instead replace it with your truth and life. God, I repent for growing idle in a broken world and accepting that it is what it is. Lord right now I take that off and ask that you would increase my dependence on you. That I wouldn’t merely read your word but I would live it out no matter where I go. Lord I praise you for what you are doing and going to do today. I ask that your light would penetrate the darkness in the lives of those around me and that you would receive the glory, honor and praise today. I pray that no matter the troubles that may come my way or the feelings I may face that you would continue to get the glory and praise. No matter what I go through or feel, whether it be good or bad I will Face Everything And Rejoice and leave False Expectations About Reality behind. Today and every day, God gets the Glory no matter what! In your Holy and Precious name, Amen!

Blessings Abundantly,

Taylor

Daily Reflections With Jesus

Colossians 2:12
“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”

Something I love doing is breaking down a scripture and really understanding what the words mean. When God speaks to us what is He really say to us.

Holy- dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred.

Tenderhearted- easily moved to love, pity, or sorrow.

Mercy- compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.

Kindness- the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

Humility- a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness.

Gentleness- the quality of being kind, tender, or mild-mannered.

Patience- the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

God has called us to be all of these things and more. Just as we put on cloths every day He wants us to put these traits on ourselves. It can be messy sometimes because we are human, but He wants us to continue to clothe ourselves with them. He never said it would be easy. When I think about the word “to clothe” oneself it makes me think of me personally. I have always looked at this verse and thought it meant that I put on these traits so that I can offer these things to other people. But what if I was missing a piece. What if God wants us to clothe ourselves with these traits so that we can demonstrate it to ourselves in order for us to offer it to anyone else? Just like we have to love ourselves before we can allow someone to really love us. Every day you have to clothe yourself with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience because you are just as much human as any other person. God wants this for you as much as He want this for someone else. So, I challenge myself and you today. Show yourself some love and have patience. Remember that you are not perfect and no one expects you to be. God chose you and calls you His holy people. He didn’t mess up when He said that. He didn’t say everyone is holy except you. No, he said YOU are my holy people whom I love! So, embrace that today and clothe yourself!

Lord God you are such a faithful father! I thank you for today and for your mercies that are new every morning. I thank you that you have never given up on me. That you always chase after my heart and that you know me better than anyone else. I thank you that you continuedly show yourself through the little things in my life and that I can always count on you to have my back. God, I ask that you would go before me, behind me and beside me and to be a light unto my path. I pray God that your peace would overflow in my life and in the lives of those around me. I pray that no matter the troubles that may come my way or the feelings I may face that you would continue to get the glory and praise. No matter what I go through or feel, whether it be good or bad I will Face Everything And Rejoice and leave False Expectations About Reality behind. Today and every day, God gets the Glory no matter what! In your Holy and Precious name, Amen!

Blessings Abundantly,

Taylor