Devotionals for the Heart: God wants to give you a good and perfect gift

God’s Good and Perfect Gift
A devotional by Karen Marstaller

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”—James 1:17 (ESV)

On the Friday before Easter, we remember the gift of salvation which God gave to us long ago.

His good and perfect gift was His Son—on a cross. His reason to give this lavish gift was simple: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV).

God’s gift wasn’t wrapped in pretty paper with a frilly bow on top. Instead, His present was covered in innocent blood with “Paid in Full” pounded into the palms of His hands with heavy iron spikes.

Yet, God says His gifts are good and perfect. He says they come straight from our Heavenly Father. He says that every one of His gifts have their source in the light of God’s presence. And if we look closely, we will see His perfect radiance in the gift of His Son, His perfect sacrifice for our sins.

One of our granddaughters wanted a watch for her birthday, so we ordered it for her. Delivery was delayed and she didn’t receive it when she expected it. She waited for many weeks, and when it finally arrived, she opened the box with a lot of pent-up excitement and anticipation. After charging and synching it to her phone, she eagerly showed us all the new capabilities she has with her new watch.

In a similar way, the promised Messiah came to us kind of like our granddaughter’s watch did. God pre-ordered the mission of Jesus numerous times in the Old Testament, but it was a long time for God’s people to wait. Then the New Testament begins with the illumination of a great star at Messiah’s birth (Matthew 2:2). After that momentous occasion, the gospel writers record the truth of the mission of Jesus—to bring salvation to people of all nations. How excited they must have been as the followers of Jesus went everywhere with Him to share the good news of God’s perfect gift.

But then Jesus was crucified.

Shock. Horror. Fear. Despair. It must have seemed impossible to accept that their Rabbi, their Master, was dead. They had believed He was from God and they had followed Him for three years. And now He was gone, and they feared for their lives.

But God wasn’t finished with His perfect gift. From the utter darkness that covered the earth at the death of Jesus on that Friday afternoon, to the early morning Light of God’s resurrection of His Son, the followers of Jesus were terrified and confused. But when Jesus rose again on that glorious Sunday morning, God’s good and perfect gift was revealed. Jesus Christ, God’s promised Messiah, conquered death, rose from the dead, and He is Alive!

Gone were the clouds of sorrow and hopelessness. The followers of Jesus discovered how to walk in the strength of their risen Lord. Fearlessly, they shared the glorious news of God’s gift. Their faith became rock-solid because now they knew Jesus was the Promised One, the precious gift from the “Father of lights.” They were able to boldly declare that the Lord God Almighty, the Giver of all good gifts, proclaims salvation for all who believe in His Son, and He is faithful to His promises.

So, we celebrate a despised and horrific cross because it leads us to an empty tomb. Our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is our perfect gift for every day of our lives, both on earth today, and then in Heaven for all eternity. Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord!

Let’s Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your good and perfect gift of Your Son, Jesus. Thank You for the Life and Light He brings to our lives, for His payment for our sins on His cross, and for Your promise of everlasting life to believers in Him. It’s all because of Your incredible gift of Your perfect Son, Jesus Christ. It’s in His name that we pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Forever” by Kari Jobe. Listen it here.

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Author Bio:

Karen Marstaller is a retired high school teacher who spent most of her career challenging creative students to write. Her heart is for her readers. 

She writes to encourage them, to make them laugh, to show them that life is a beautiful journey, and regardless of their past, to show them that there is joy ahead if they will just keep looking.

Karen and her husband live in central Texas in a sweet little home that they completely remodeled. They enjoy spending time with their family, which includes seven precious grandchildren.

Most of all, Karen writes in obedience to the command to love your neighbor, to offer a cup of water to those who are dying of thirst, and to comfort others with the comfort she has received.

You can reach Karen by emailing her at this address: klmarstaller@gmail.com

Jesus Christ is Alive forever!

Today is known as "Easter Sunday". It's a time to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (John 3:16) that gave us the gift of salvation (Romans 6:23) so we can be reconciled to God (Romans 5:10-11). It is proof that God loves you and He is in the restoration business of restoring souls. He doesn't want to live without you but it's your choice to accept His FREE gift of salvation, be saved and go to Heaven when Jesus Christ returns to take His faithful followers home to Heaven.

How can you be saved?

The Holy Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 (ESV): "Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."

That's all you have to do to accept Jesus Christ into your heart then you have to live for Him. What that looks like is spending time reading His Word (The Holy Bible), praying to Him, praising Him daily for all the good things He's done in your life, sharing your faith in Jesus with others, trusting Him, obeying Him and following Him all the way to Heaven. 

If you have not already, join a Bible-based, Holy Spirit-filled church where the leaders and pastors have Biblically sound theology and preach God's truth. Make friends with fellow followers of Jesus Christ too because God calls us to live in community with each other and lift each other up in prayer. We are not meant to do life alone.

Meanwhile, here's a song for your heart by Kari Jobe. It's about the fact that Jesus Christ defeated death, rose from the grave, is alive and will reign forever (Revelation 11:15)!

What Easter Sunday means for you

What does Easter Sunday mean for you?

It means that if you believe in God and accept Jesus Christ as your Risen Lord and Savior then you have the HOPE of gaining eternal life when your time on Earth is over and Jesus Christ returns to take His people home to Heaven.

I think that this Biblical truth is best described in this song "Forever" by Kari Jobe.

Enjoy this song and know that there is a God who loves YOU with ALL of His divine heart! :)

Music Monday: Kari Jobe's new album, "The Garden"

    

Kari Jobe
"The Garden" (Listen to the song here)
(Summary courtesy of MergePR)

It’s said for everything there is a season. Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. One by one, we experience these seasons throughout our lives. Our souls grow dark and weary in the thick of winter, and just when we think we can’t endure another cold night, we recognize the first signs of spring. Slow and unexpected, welcome shades of green break through the frozen ground. Sometimes our Creator uses His own creation to remind us that even amidst winter’s chill He is always at work. For it’s in the unseen where life’s most beautiful moments take shape. Worship leader Kari Jobe knows this to be true in her own life, and on her fourth album, The Garden (Capitol CMG), she invites listeners to drink of the wellspring of hope she’s found in the midst of unimaginable tragedy. 

Jobe has earned the right to speak from experience. She’s become a trusted friend to listeners throughout a career that includes more than 1 million albums sold, a GRAMMY® nomination, multiple Dove Awards and praise from the New York Times. She’s amassed 173 million career streams and is the most-followed female CCM artist on social media with a following that exceeds 3.5 million. Beyond the stats, Jobe’s timeless songs have carried countless listeners to the feet of Christ over and over again. Her voice has become a soundtrack to people’s lives, and The Garden is well-equipped to bring healing in the midst of pain.

While The Garden planted the songwriter back in the studio following 2014’s critically-acclaimed live recording, Majestic—which won a GMA Dove Award for Praise and Worship Album of the Year—the new album is also rooted in a series of personal transition and remarkable grief for the singer and her family. In the past two years, Jobe married her husband Cody Carnes and moved from her hometown of Dallas, Texas, to Nashville, where the couple bought their first home and had a baby. With due dates three months apart, Jobe and her sister, Kris, were excited to be pregnant at the same time. Yet, in the midst of happy life changes, heartbreak struck. Seven-and-a-half months into her pregnancy, Kris gave birth to a stillborn daughter, James Ivy. Jobe, four months pregnant with her son at the time, was devastated.

“It just shattered my heart. It was so, so hard,” Jobe shares. “It wrecked me—just the weight of unanswered prayers. I was trying to walk in peace when I didn’t feel peaceful and find my rest when my spirit didn’t feel rested.”

Aching for her sister, Jobe was simultaneously anxious for the safety of her own child. On February 18, 2016, a healthy Canyon Carnes entered the world. “It’s hard to celebrate life, but to be grieving with your sister,” Jobe admits, adding that knowing Canyon’s name ahead of time gave her strength through the remainder of her pregnancy after the loss of her niece. “God gave us his name even before this whole thing took place,” she says. “Canyon means a deep ravine for water to flow through. Canyons are formed through storms, so the fact that God gave me his name was so peaceful to me… I was thankful He gave me his name for that season.”

While the birth of her son was undoubtedly a milestone to celebrate, her sister’s loss weighed heavy on her heart. Yet, a reminder of God’s kindness came in a surprising way. As Jobe held Canyon in her arms, she stood looking out the kitchen window of her new home. And there in her backyard, she glimpsed the first signs of spring. When she and her husband purchased the house, a garden that resided on the property was overgrown; and though they knew it needed to be tended, they were advised to wait and see what it produced. The result was a breathtaking bounty of harvest. That day, Jobe made her way through the garden—a stark reminder of God’s faithfulness in all circumstances. Looking up, interwoven in the archway, she couldn’t help but smile as she saw what only God could produce: thick, green ivy lacing its way overhead, immediately reminding her of her niece’s namesake.

“Ivy is the most resilient plant there is. It can grow in the harshest of climates; it can grow in the harshest of situations,” Jobe explains, adding, “I’m standing in this garden. There’s ivy growing, and I just started to realize, ‘God, You’re moving in a way that is different than what I asked for, but You are moving.’ He’s at work and doing things we can’t see.”

The experience yielded the title track for Jobe’s new album and fresh healing for her soul. “Those seeds were planted years ago for it to be the way that it was that day for me, because it wasn’t just last year that they planted all this beautiful ivy. That took years,” she observes. “Something in my spirit started to rustle. Life was coming back. What felt dead in my heart was starting to wake up. It was like I’d been in this place of being numb in my walk with the Lord, but something just started blooming in my heart.”

Her unanswered questions began to grow into songs. As Jobe declared God’s goodness over her own circumstances, He began to transform her heart. “These raw things were coming out of my mouth, so I just started writing,” she shares. “I Will Sing,” written while she was still pregnant, became the first song she penned for this album. Jobe spent the next several months pouring out her emotions one track at a time, collaborating with friends, and eventually recording half of the album in Redding, California, and the other half in Nashville. She and her husband wrote together frequently, and Cody adds vocals on numerous tracks. In addition, Jobe co-wrote with acclaimed songwriters, including Jacob and Amanda Cook of Bethel Music, Brooke Fraser Ligertwood, Ben Fielding, Jason Ingram, Mia Fieldes, Martin Smith, Henry Seeley and Josh Silverburg, among others. In addition, she covered two songs that she claimed in the midst of loss: Jesus Culture’s “Miracles” and Elevation Church’s “Here As In Heaven.” Jeremy Edwardson (Jesus Culture, Bryan and Katie Torwalt), who helmed Majestic, produced the project.

While songs like “Fall Afresh,” “Heal Our Land” and “Closer to Your Heart” reveal congregational anthems like many of the offerings that have defined Jobe’s career, most of The Garden’s 14 tracks speak to hope in the midst of loss, peace in the midst of uncertainty and God’s presence in the midst of pain. “Oh The Power” vividly recalls another garden where suffering took place, the Garden of Gethsemane. “Jesus went to a garden in His last moments to have intimacy with the Father. It was like He wanted to be surrounded with something that reminded Him of when there was no sin and there was no separation from God,” Jobe says, referencing the garden where mankind began—in Eden. It’s a heavenly space she hopes to invite listeners into with her new album, which, on a sonic level, feels like an overarching narrative backed by a sweeping cinematic score, meant to be savored from start to finish.

“The garden is true intimacy with the Father, and it’s a place where He intended for us as humankind to be surrounded with His creation. There’s life in things that He’s created,” she offers. “I want to lead people into intimacy with the Father. It’s something that’s so important as we walk through stuff in our lives.”

Today, Jobe and her family continue to discover restoration through glimpses of God’s goodness. “The healing that He’s been bringing to my family and the way that He’s met us in our pain, it’s made me realize how many people are going through really intense pain and disappointments and trials,” Jobe offers. “There’s a lot of people who have lost babies or family members out of traumatic experiences. My eyes have been opened to that in a whole new way.”

She’s also viewing her platform in a new light since giving birth to Canyon. “I feel more of a maternal instinct now in my worship leading, even declaring things over people,” she shares, adding, “At the end of the day, my favorite thing now is just to be on the floor playing with blocks and reading books. Nothing else really matters. If I just became his momma and a wife, I’m fine with that. I just feel more settled than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

In the time leading up to The Garden, Jobe has experienced both indescribable joy and unimaginable pain. Life and death, side by side. Yet, through it all, she’s found God to be inextricably faithful because she’s learned to trust the Gardner and the beautiful, unseen ways He tends to our hearts.

“Everyone who’s seen something grow out of the dust realizes God was up to something in the midst of pain and questions. He never promised that it would be easy or that it would be pain-free, but that He would never leave us or forsake us,” Jobe offers, adding, “I’m more aware of His presence than I think I’ve ever been. God has surrounded us with things that will be life-giving if we take a moment to realize it. God’s always at work in our lives. He truly does go before us and prepares the way for the journey ahead.”

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Fill out the Rafflecopter widget below for your chance to WIN this album by Kari Jobe! *This CD giveaway contest is only open to people who are residents of the United States of America.

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Thankful Thursday: God Loves You

It's Thursday and I'm thankful that God loves you!

He loves me too. He loves ALL of his creation which means the flowers of the field, animals, lakes, beaches, the ENTIRE Universe, really!

The song "You Are For Me" by Kari Jobe is a beautiful reminder of the fact that not only is God for you, but He loves you AND is for you! Meaning when no one else is there to support or encourage you, God is on standby just waiting for you to call upon Him. I think that too often we "go to the phone" before we "go to the throne" which means we're quick to go to mere mortals to share our burdens instead of going to God who is Lord over all.  

Lately, I've realized how important it is to talk about my issues and concerns with GOD first, not family, friends, counselors, pastors or prayer warriors. Songs like "You Are For Me" remind me how important it is to trust God in every area of your life and to take your problems and praises to Him.

I love resting on the fact that God's got my back. I love being able to trust Him to direct the story of my life. He's my Best Friend, Redeemer and Savior. Each and every day is a new adventure with God. I love spending time reading His Word (The Holy Bible) and listening to songs by musicians like Kari Jobe who have a heart for Him.

I hope and pray that you will enjoy this holiday season.

May God bless you with His presence and His peace. *Philippians 4:7*

Love,

Alexis

31 Days of Prayer: Pray for the lonely hearts

Okay, I will be transparent today only because I hope it will help somebody.

Relationships have been on the forefront of my mind and in my prayers. Not just for knowing who my true friends are but knowing how to know when I've met "The One" as in the man God made with me in mind. Why? Because as a creative soul I am a hopeFUL romantic (because it sounds so much better than hopeLESS). I've seen my share of romantic comedies, read my share of love stories and even wrote a book that contains characters who are hoping for something or someone. So sometimes as a single lady, I do wonder, How do I know when I've met Mr. Right? 

I think today we need to pray for relationships. Not just for those in relationships--dating, engaged or married--but people who are single. 

We live in a relationship-themed world and it's not for the faint of heart. People want to know who you are dating then they want to know when you're getting engaged then they want to know if you getting married and then they're asking you when are you having kids! Do you feel the pressure to conform to society's standards? Countless movies and music are laden with themes of finding your true love, meeting the person you're meant to marry, having a family of your own and growing old with your soul mate. Honestly, the older you get if you're still single, you may start to feel like something is wrong with you like seriously as in maybe you're meant to stay single. 

Well, in a world where romance and relationships are on the forefront of society's mind as evidenced through movies, magazines, music, culture and our social circles, it's such a breath of fresh air to hear someone like Christian recording artist Kari Jobe who's beautiful, fun, talented and serving God with all her heart (clearly nothing is wrong with Kari)...it's refreshing to hear Kari talk about God's perfect timing for relationships. Today, Kari is in her 30's and she's still single but how she thinks about her singleness is so beautiful. Kari is trusting in God's timing and believes that when the time is right, she will meet and marry the man God made with her in mind.

Listen to what Kari has to say and continue to pray, trusting in God's perfect timing for your love story! :)

Introducing Kari Jobe

God is for you

Dear friends,

Thank God it's Friday! :)

Are you ready for the weekend?

Today, I'd like to share this beautiful message from Christian singer/songwriter Kari Jobe. It's called, "You Are for Me" and it's about how when you're at your loneliest, lowest point in life, look up to God because HE is still for you.

Enjoy!

Love,

Alexis

P.S._ Here's the video:

The Holy Bible says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Read more about it in Romans 8:28-31.