Day 1 – Devoted Daily Devotional

Living within you is the Christ who floods you with the expectation of glory! This mystery of Christ, embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it. Colossians 1:27 TPT

FIFTEEN.

That’s how old I was when I accepted Christ. When I think back to that little girl I remember vividly being so afraid of dying. Of being buried alive. I have no idea why I had this fear. I certainly wasn’t raised in a home where we watched scary movies and I didn’t have any other influences in my life that could have caused this. But that’s what plagued my mind at the age of fifteen. My girlfriend Joanne and I began walking together to school at that time, and I remember one day sharing this with her. It was then that she began to talk about Jesus with me. At first I wasn’t all that interested, but she persisted in inviting me to church, and she was so enthusiastic about it I finally agreed to go with her and her family. And that’s when everything changed for me. I was embraced by a wonderful church community and began my faith journey of knowing Jesus and following Him.

That was over four decades ago, and can I tell you after marriage and children, a big move, grandchildren and just life in general, I’m forever grateful for that decision all those years ago. Life as I had known it was never the same. I had come alive to a future that was fueled with hope and promise.

When I think of the phrase ‘this is living,’ it starts with the decision to follow Christ – but honestly that’s just the very beginning. It’s in the ‘coming alive’ to all God intends for us and ‘living it out’ that really truly matters. A decision is one thing, but to really embrace this life, to love God with all I am, to love those beside me, to intentionally care for my neighbor, to have my heart break over what breaks His, and to do something about it, now that’s really living. It can seem big and overwhelming but really it’s in the daily decisions we make to live wholly devoted to Jesus.

Beautiful girl, welcome to THIS IS LIVING. May we know Him, may we love Him, and may we follow Him with everything within us.

Love you dearly

Sharon xx

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, we pray for Your Holy Spirit to move during Devoted Conference. Jesus we need You. Jesus we want You. Jesus help us to follow You with all we are. This is our prayer. AMEN.