Dec 18, 2025 – Great Ideas
Power – “God wants to amaze the world, and one of the ways He does so is by accomplishing great things through people who are weak and don’t have the natural ability to complete the task at hand (see 1 Corinthians 1: 25-29). Relax; don’t be afraid you won’t be able to do what God has given you to do. Step out in faith, and God will meet you where you are and give you His grace (undeserved favor and power) to complete the task. Through Christ you can do all things!”
Getting started in something new, at any age, does indeed require motivation and energy beyond what we can conjure up for ourselves. Any misspoken word (by friend or foe) or misstep (on our part) can create an opportunity to give up. Without much thinking, I can list about five reasons for me to take a step back from this next career move in front of me. I think I’ve mentioned in past blogs that I have a saying framed and hanging on my wall, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.” I came across it in an antique marketplace when Don and I were pursuing our last great idea. It was a helpful reminder to trudge on through the obstacles. How do we know the difference, though, between when God is building endurance muscles in us and when He’s closing a door because the idea was ours not His and He’s not going to bless our efforts?
JA – “When I entered the world, I came to that which was My own, because everything was made through Me. But My own did not receive me.” Wow. From where I sit, 2000+ years later, I so easily forget that Jesus (God’s “great idea” for our salvation) was (and still is) not received well by all. It didn’t stop His forward progress though. Young continues in Jesus’ voice, “Yet to all who received Me, to those who believed in My Name, I gave the right to become children of God. This gift of salvation is of infinite value. It gives meaning and direction to your life – and makes heaven your final destination.” Meaning and direction. That is what most of us continue to seek especially with new endeavors, but also when there seems to be nothing new on the horizon. This really points to the need to lean in to God, to ask for guidance, and to trust Him to open and close doors in His time and in His way because heaven is our ultimate goal no matter what side streets we take on the road to get there.
Streams – Romans 8:37 – “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Are you seeing the theme of the small group discussion today? If not, read Cowman’s thoughts about the verse: “The gospel and the gift of God are structured so wonderfully that the very enemies and forces that are marshalled to fight against us actually help pave our way to the very gates of heaven and into the presence of God. Those forces can be used in the same way an eagle uses the fierce winds of a storm to soar to the sky. This is also what God desires of each of His children. He wants us to be ‘more than conquerors’ turning storm clouds into chariots of victory.”
Often times I start these blogs telling about something that’s on my mind, trusting God to meet me there and offer guidance, but today (and yesterday) I started by just opening the first book in the pile not knowing what or if there would be a theme. God knew. I love how He speaks to me in this way; and, I hope you see it enough to want the same for yourself in whatever way is meaningful for you to communicate with God (through music or movement or art etc.)
Cowman continues, “Dear believer, after experiencing the terrible valley of suffering…. When you were struck with an injury and thought you had lost everything, did you trust God to the point that you came out richer than you were before? Being ‘more than [a] conqueror’ means taking the spoils from the enemy and appropriating them for yourself. What your enemy had planned to use for your defeat you can confiscate for your own use.” Cowman quotes selected writings and concludes today with, “The ministry of thorns has often been a greater ministry to humankind than the ministry of thrones.”
Prevail 352 – Jude 24-25 – “Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Larson tells of a time when she was “constantly self-aware and insecure. But then I remembered this passage from Jude and my heart came alive. I began to pray it with boldness, thanksgiving, and conviction. The more I declared this promise, the more courage rose up within me. And interestingly, significant new doors of opportunity opened up after I prevailed through that battle. The devil doesn’t know our future, but he sure sees our potential…. Your God-given call is a direct threat to the enemy’s plan. God’s got you. He’ll keep you. Stay in step with Him.”
JC – “An ongoing problem is like a tutor who is always by your side. The learning possibilities are limited only by your willingness to be teachable…. Ask Me to open your eyes and your heart to all that I am accomplishing through this difficulty. Once you have become grateful for a problem, it loses its power to drag you down…. Your thankful attitude will lift you up into heavenly places with Me.”
Ahhhh, Utmost – Chambers ends our discussion today on a sweet note as he starts with my favorite verse! Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” And boy is today’s devotion meaningful, at least to me. I’ll leave you with it, in its entirety, to determine what God may be saying to you:
“It is only the loyal soul who believes that God engineers circumstances. We take such liberties with our circumstances, we do not believe God engineers them, although we say we do; we treat the things that happen as if they were engineered by men. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, and that is to our Lord. Suddenly God breaks up a particular set of circumstances, and the realisation comes that we have been disloyal to Him by not recognizing that He had organized them. We never saw what He was after, and that particular thing will never be repeated all the days of our life. The test of loyalty always comes just there. If we learn to worship God in the trying circumstances, He will alter them in two seconds when He chooses.
Loyalty to Jesus Christ is the thing that we ‘stick at’ today. We will be loyal to work, to service, to anything, but do not ask us to be loyal to Jesus Christ. Many Christians are intensely impatient of talking about loyalty to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more emphatically by Christian workers than by the world. God is made a machine for blessing men, and Jesus Christ is made a Worker among workers.
The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us –‘I reckon on you for extreme service, with no complaining on your part and no explanation on Mine.’ God wants to use us as He used His own Son.”
New – One more comment from the group. Slawson speaks from Luke 13:15-16 about the ruler of the synagogue being angry because Jesus healed the bent over woman on the Sabbath. Slawson writes, “These men freed their animals from their stalls on the Sabbath because that is what they needed; He freed this woman because she needed Him. In that instant, He put to shame His accusers; They had no comeback. There will always be onlookers watching the Kingdom of God unfold who want to criticize, to bind, to judge, and to minimize. Celebrate what Jesus did for this woman and does for each of us. He calls to us, lifts up our heads, frees us, and defends us against our accusers.” Loyalty to Him, and His grace over us, frees us to serve Him calmly and confidently in whatever He calls us to do.
