AWAKEN TO CHANGE 40 DAYS DEVOTIONAL 2021

THE JOURNEY ONE CHURCH ONE DEVOTION 40 DAYS #Journey40Days

theJourney.cc Share What Impacts You #Journey40Days CONTENTS WEEK ONE...... 1 WEEK FOUR...... 51 Day 1...... 2 Day 21...... 52 Day 2...... 4 Day 22...... 55 Day 3...... 6 Day 23...... 57 Day 4...... 8 Day 24...... 59 Day 5...... 10 Day 25...... 61 Day 6...... 12 Day 26...... 64 WEEK TWO...... 15 Day 27...... 67 Day 7...... 16 WEEK FIVE...... 71 Day 8...... 18 Day 28...... 72 Day 9...... 20 Day 29...... 74 Day 10...... 22 Day 30...... 77 Day 11...... 25 Day 31...... 79 Day 12...... 27 Day 32 ...... 81 Day 13...... 30 Day 33...... 84 WEEK THREE...... 33 Day 34...... 87 Day 14...... 34 WEEK SIX...... 91 Day 15...... 36 DAY 35...... 92 Day 16...... 38 DAY 36...... 94 Day 17...... 40 DAY 37...... 97 Day 18...... 42 Day 38...... 99 Day 19...... 44 Day 39...... 102 Day 20...... 47 Day 40...... 104 CONTRIBUTORS...... 109 REFERENCES...... 110

ii INTRODUCTION

All of us have said, “Something needs to change,” at some point. You may find yourself saying it often! We are constantly looking for ways to improve our situation. Maybe you are desiring change in your marriage, singleness, school, job, finances, or in parenting. The real question is what have you changed? We truly desire change, but the problem is when we look to ourselves to change it. What can WE do to create the change we want? Is it a new spouse? A different schedule? A better job? A different major in school? Another self-help book? But we end up feeling like a failure when the change we are seeking doesn’t come. We are left still wanting something more. We scroll through social media and think that other people must have just stumbled upon the change they desired. “They are so lucky!” Is change something that we just stumble upon? Or is it something that we Awaken to? Join us for 40 days as we learn that change is all about following Jesus. Real, lasting change happens when we are following Him with our whole heart. Throughout these 40 days we are going to look at how every area of your life can be transformed through Christ spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, relationally, and even financially. The Gospel of Jesus Christ can change everything. You just have to be willing to Awaken to Change. I believe these next 40 days can completely transform your life. Though there is nothing magical about the number, the Bible reveals that God considers 40 days to be a spiritually significant time period in which people are transformed. In fact, in the Bible, any time God wanted to get His people ready to be used mightily for Him, He took 40 days to prepare them. If you are faithful and journey with us during these next 40 days,

iii I know God will bring the Gospel to life and help you Awaken to Change. You are heading toward an encounter with the living God that will overwhelm you with more joy, engulf you with more hope, and astonish you with more love than you have ever known before. But like any journey, in order to follow Christ, you have to take some faith steps. I am asking you to commit to the following faith steps as we go through this 40 Day journey together: 1. Participate in all six weekend worship experiences. Each week, the sermons will examine what it means to what it means to be awaken to change.

2. Read the daily readings in the 40 Days devotional. Set aside about 15 minutes at the same time each day to read the text, think about the principles, and allow God to change you as you gain a deeper understanding of how you were made for so much more. Every relationship takes time. Your relationship with Christ is no exception. Guard this time.

3. Join with others to discuss the week’s teachings. True transformation never happens alone, but by challenging each other to seek hard after God. If you are not currently in a small group, you can join one of our 40 Days Short-Term Groups. Visit theJourney.cc/ groups to find out more.

4. Memorize a simple Bible verse each week from the 40

iv Days devotional that will help you focus on accepting Jesus’ invitation. Each week you will be given a weekly Bible verse to memorize that fits the theme of the week. Write this verse down and hang it someplace where you will constantly see it. This will help you memorize and meditate on the verse throughout the week. Memorizing scripture may seem like a challenge, but I encourage you to take this opportunity to grow deeper in your walk with God through this key spiritual habit.

5. Sacrifice just one thing over the next 40 days as a statement to yourself and to God of your commitment to follow Him. Sacrifice helps you to clearly focus on God and allows Him the opportunity to really work in your life. This means that for 40 days, you will give up something from your everyday life that occupies your time in order to free you to spend that time with God.

You never feel more satisfied than when you are walking in God’s purpose for your life. My prayer is that over the next 40 days, God will use His Holy Spirit, His Word, the community of small groups, and this devotional to show you that you were made for more. I am asking you to commit to the following faith steps as we go through this 40 day journey together.

In Christ, Pastor James Hilton

v WEEK ONE THE SOURCE OF CHANGE

MEMORY VERSE Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1–2 NIV Everyone wants to change, but very few people actually experience change in life—but that is about to end for you. It’s time for defeat to end and for you to walk in wholeness. It’s time for you to live again, believe again. God can turn bondage into breakthrough, difficulty into destiny, obstacles into opportunities, and brokenness into beauty you just have to be willing to let Him work. Change is only as strong as its source. Your source for change is not a routine or program. Change is available to anyone who is willing to simply follow Jesus Christ! Jesus offers a totally new way to live, resurrection power flowing through you that transforms you completely. Awakening you to who God is, who you are to God, and all that God can do through you.

1 DAY 1 The Only Source for Change By Pastor James Hilton Read Hebrews 12:1–2 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 One of the greatest joys of pastoring at the Journey is that God has given me a front row seat to see profound life change in people’s lives. People whose lives have been awakened to change through the power of God. Yet, my heart also hurts when I see so many people still living in defeat and despair. People who are trapped by severe insecurities, gripped by constant fear, and overcome with guilt. When I hear their stories, they express they feel hopeless and stuck in defeat. They have tried to change, desperately clawing to be freed, but nothing seems to be changing. How did some people experience constant breakthroughs and others stay stuck in defeat? Why do some people change and others feel like victims, wishing that change will one day come? We will spend the next 40 Days answering that question. But, let me just give you the answer up front so you don’t have to turn to Day 40 for the answer. Are you ready? It’s your faith in what changes you that actually changes you. What you place your faith in to change, determines how you think about change, how you understand difficulties in seeking change, and, ultimately, what course of action you take to get the breakthrough you want. It’s critical that you place your faith in the right source to change you, or you will constantly feel defeated, trapped, and overwhelmed because change will never come. If your source for change is not powerful enough to actually change you, then it is not the right source. Change is only as strong as its source. Over these 40 Days, you will see that your source for change must be God. If God is not the source, change is just a wishful thought!

2 It’s your faith in Jesus Christ that is the source that awakens you to change. Jesus, Son of God, lived a perfect life, died for your sins, and was raised from the dead on the third day. This event becomes the foundation for change. Through Jesus Christ, you are given the invitation to live a new life with God. You can place your faith in Him to change you because “The One who calls you is faithful, and He WILL DO IT!” (1 Thessalonians 5:24 NIV) When Jesus died on the cross, He died to take away your sins, satisfying the demands of God’s law, so that you can live reunited with God. Jesus triumphed over Satan, disarming the power that Satan holds over people—the power of sin and death. Through Jesus, you are offered complete forgiveness of every sin and set free from the powerful domination of sin. You are set free in Jesus Christ. That freedom was secured for you when Jesus rose in victory from the grave. The same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that works through you to awaken the new life God destined you to live. This is not about adjusting your behavior or correcting your life so you can start living better. This is supernatural change through the power of God. Jesus offers a totally new way to live, resurrection power flowing through you that transforms you completely. Awakening you to who God is, who you are to God, and all that God can do through you. Are you ready to be awakened to change? Awaken Moment – Seven in the Bible is the number of completion. List seven areas you want God to completely change in your life over these next 40 days. Be honest with yourself and with God. Spend time praying for God to awaken change in these areas as you place your faith in Jesus Christ to be your source of change. “Thank you, God, that when you wanted to change me, you did not send more commands to obey or life principles to follow. Jesus, you came yourself to give me everything I need. Over these 40 days, open my eyes to see how you are the source of change. Awaken me to change through the power of Jesus Christ.”

3 DAY 2 Change comes through following Jesus By Pastor James Hilton Read Mark 8:34–35 Jesus loves people and that love is expressed in the invitation that He gives…“Follow Me.” That simple invitation of following Jesus is far more than just a casual offer to hang out. It is an invitation to allow Jesus into your life and follow Him. There is no special secret code or trick to real life change. Life change happens as you follow Jesus Christ. I know it sounds simple, but this is really the source of change. Change comes as you follow Jesus Christ. Faith to follow Jesus Christ not only saves you and secures Heaven for you, but it is the way God unleashes His power in you and awakens you to live a victorious life here on Earth. To follow Jesus, means He enables you to walk in freedom, throwing off the chains that have kept you from living in the fullness of life God created you to live. The call of Jesus was not about doing better and changing yourself. The call was to follow Jesus. Jesus’ primary concern is not about changing you. Jesus wants far more for you than just change. He wants you to—“deny yourself…follow me” (Mark 8:34). This is personal to Jesus because He personally loves you and wants to awaken you to new life in Him! There is a difference between changing and awakening. Change deals with what is external. It puts you in a new place, a new relationship, or creates a new look. But the change you need must be deeper to bring you what you really want. The problems you deal with and the issues you fight against are far more than just external issues that need to be addressed. The change you want can’t be found in moving to a new place, getting back to a new normal, escaping to a new adventure, running to a new relationship, or stopping certain behaviors.

4 You need something more than self-help hype, religious moral teachings, or the latest YouTube video promising simple steps to a great life. This is what makes the invitation to follow Jesus so incredible. Jesus wants to give you a new way to live – a life lived with Him, following Him. Don’t skip over this incredible truth…Jesus wants you! Not the cleaned-up morally good version of you, but the you who is broken, who is hurting, who has done things that make you feel unworthy of His love. The you who is full of fear, regret, shame and feels trapped. He wants you to follow Him because He wants you. As you follow Jesus, He changes you. It’s not a simple tweak. It’s not instantaneous. But when you keep taking steps to follow Jesus, you look back on your life and realize that He was changing you along the way. Change is not just a matter of bending your will to do what Jesus calls you to do, but a total redefining of life altogether. The focus is not on doing something, but on following someone— Jesus Christ. The change Jesus desires for us to experience is the eternal, abundant, and extraordinary life that can only be found in Him. Change is always personal to Jesus because He is the source of change. In following Jesus, you are awakened to the life that you have been looking for all along. Why settle for change when Jesus wants to awaken you to an entirely different life as you follow Him? Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: Jesus, teach me to keep following You. You are my source of change. I believe that as I follow You, You will change me. I have victory over destructive behaviors that at times I just cannot seem to overcome. Joy that is not determined by the circumstances that I experience. Peace that can endure beyond the stress of my life. Hope that is so rock solid that nothing can crash it. Love that fulfills every need I have for security and acceptance. Power to overcome all things through the strength You give me.

5 DAY 3 The Beauty of the Easy Yoke By Nick Reiherzer Matthew 11:28–30 NIV If you were to take inventory of your life right now, how would you say you feel on a day to day basis? Would you say you feel rested and easy-going? Or would you say you feel exhausted and overwhelmed? Yeah, not really a fair question, I know! I’ve been right there with you! The pace of our lives in this day and age is insane! Regardless of your stage of life, we’ve all got so many things going on. We’ve got responsibilities at home, work, school, and church. We’ve got family, friends, kids, and so on who, all want our time. And then there’s the unforeseen things, the heavy stuff. Betrayal of a friend or family member, being bullied at school, a lost job, a divorce, a cancer diagnosis, the death of a loved one, or a pandemic that shuts down the whole world. We’re already feeling pushed to the max with the everyday things in our lives, and then the unexpected happens, and we end up in a tailspin headed for a crash. So, how do we learn to live in such a way that our day to day life doesn’t have us so “weary and burdened” that we get taken out by the BIG stuff? Let’s take a look at what Jesus says about His yoke! If you’re anything like me, the first time you read this scripture, you thought, “Take my yoke upon you? Are we talking about eggs Jesus!? I don’t get it!” (For all you English Lit majors out there who just jumped out of your seats, I know it’s spelled yolk!) But all joking aside, I really didn’t understand what a yoke was, and until you know what it is, you won’t get the beauty of this passage. A yoke is a piece of equipment used to harness two animals together to pull a cart or plow a field. In the first century, it was also used to refer to a Rabbi’s (teacher’s) way of interpreting God’s word and His instructions for the way to live your life.

6 Simply put, a yoke is how you shoulder the weight of something. So, what exactly is Jesus offering here? What He isn’t offering is some way to escape from the responsibilities of your life. He’s not saying that life won’t be challenging or difficult. And Jesus knows all about the difficulties of life. Jesus knows what it’s like to be betrayed by a friend (Mark 14:10-11). Jesus knows what it’s like to lose someone He loved (John 11:1-44). Jesus knows what it’s like to be abandoned by His friends, bullied, and beaten, even to the point of death (Matthew 26:47-75, Matthew 27:1- 50). That’s why this passage about the easy yoke is so beautiful. Jesus knows this life is hard, so He’s offering a way to shoulder the load. He invites us to come, harness (yoke) ourselves to Him, and learn from Him and His way of living (yoke). He’s saying to us, “I know life is hard, I know things get overwhelming sometimes. But just keep your eyes fixed on me, keep yourselves harnessed to me, follow the way I do it, and I will help you carry the weight of this life.” When you choose to stay yoked to Jesus, “…you will find rest for your souls. For Jesus’ yoke is easy, and His burden is light.” This is so freeing! This is not an invitation to a set of rules and regulations or to a religion. This is an invitation to a relationship with God and a whole new way of living this life! Let’s stop trying to carry everything on our own. Let’s accept the invitation to follow Jesus and take on His easy yoke! Let’s give Him every moment of every day, let Him help shoulder the load, and let Him teach us to live free and light! Awaken Moment – Jesus invites you to come, harness (yoke) ourselves to Him, and learn from Him and His way of living (yoke). What would it look like over these 40 days to take His yoke upon you? What is something in your life that you could sacrifice over the remaining 40 days so your life is less busy and you have time to find rest for your souls? “Jesus, thank you that you are no stranger to the pain and struggles of this world. Thank you for your invitation to come and follow you and learn from your ways. Thank you that your

7 yoke is easy and your burden is light. Thank you that you are gentle and humble in heart. Jesus, I admit that I am weary and burdened at times. Forgive me for all the times I’ve tried to navigate this life without you. Today I’m choosing to lay my burdens down and to take your yoke upon me. Teach me to live as you lived Jesus. Restore my tired soul and help me find rest. I love you, and I choose to trust and follow you today. Lead me Jesus.”

DAY 4 The Decision to Follow Jesus is What Changes You By Pastor James Hilton Read Matthew 9:9–13 Jesus extended an open invitation to follow Him to every single kind of person imaginable—the good, the bad, religious people and far from religious people. He didn’t place a bunch of conditions on His offer. He just called sinful, broken people to follow Him. He knew that as they followed, He would change them. Jesus meets people right where they are, but loves them way too much to leave them there. In Jesus’ day, tax collectors where the worst of the worst and considered the evilest of people. Think extreme terrorist or racist thug of our day. But one day, Jesus looked at Matthew, the tax collector, and simply said, “Follow Me.” Those two words, spoken by Jesus, changed Matthew’s life forever. The change in Matthew did not come from being commanded to change. The radical changes that Matthew made came as he made the decision to follow Jesus. Jesus was extraordinarily loving to people who weren’t anything like Him. Jesus didn’t pretend they were okay and that what they were doing was not wrong. He made it clear that He knew they were sinners. But Jesus wanted them to know that He loved them even while they were sinners. He didn’t demand that they change first and then He would love them. Jesus was inviting those who were far from God to experience God’s love

8 by following Him. His love is what would actually change them as they followed Him. The truth is, when it comes to sin, we’re all bad. Deep down, we all know that if our relationship with God depends on how we keep His rules, we’re in real trouble. Something needs to change, but no amount of changing will ever be enough to take away the weight of our sin, our insecurities, and the guilt of our failures. Jesus changed all that with an incredible invitation—“Follow Me!” It is easy to lose sight of the relational nature of the Christian faith. The driving force behind why we change and how we can change is not a list of regulations, laws, or commands but rather a relationship with a living Savior. Change is more an invitation to be with Jesus than a process to be accomplished. By saying, “Follow Me,” Jesus is effectively pledging to be with us and committed to changing us. He is promising to walk with us through life—all of life, the good and the bad, the joyful and the sorrowful. He is committed to be with us because He loves us. When our relationship with God changes, we will change. Not because we have to, but because we want to. When we lose sight of the relational nature of following Christ, we begin pursuing a list of rules in order to feel better about ourselves. We seek to change in our own power to accomplish what we think needs to be done. In that moment, we lose our joy, our victory over temptation, and the very power to change. The source of change does not come from us but from following Jesus Christ and allowing Him to change us. The only people who resisted following Jesus were the people who thought they could change themselves. Yet, that is what kept them from experiencing His love and the power that could change them. If we are ever going to change, we have to admit that we don’t have the power to change ourselves. Without Christ, we are powerless to control our tendency to do the wrong things—things that we want to stop doing. But when we make the decision to start following Jesus, there is no sin, habit or problem that He can’t release us from. By following Jesus, He

9 radically transforms and changes everything! Jesus invites us to follow Him because He wants to be with us. As we pursue Him, He changes everything about us. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus meets us right where we are, but loves us way too much to leave us there. Can you hear Him…“Follow me!” Awaken Moment – Spend time thanking God that He meets you where you are, but loves you too much to leave you there. Confess to Him what you need to leave in order to follow Jesus. Take time to let Jesus know you want to follow Him and need Him to change you.

DAY 5 We need something more than just change By Pastor James Hilton Read Romans 10:9–13 The change we need must go deeper than what is happening to us or going on around us. What is ultimately wrong with us is that we are broken to the core of our being. I know that sounds harsh, but if you really want to change, you have to address the real issue of what is wrong. Jesus said it this way: “It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart” (Mark 7:15 NLT). The heart of our problem is the problem of our hearts. The heart is the place where our thoughts, feelings, and desires come from. When our heart is defiled, then every thought, feeling, and desire that comes from us will try to direct us to do the very thing we want to change and hate doing. Jesus revealed that sin is a power that has bent, mangled, and defiled our heart. From our defiled heart comes the desire to sin and then we act on those sinful desires. We don’t just sin; sin is what’s already inside us.

10 What’s wrong with us is more serious than the issues we recognize on the surface. Our issue is that our hearts are completely defiled because of sin. Sin has enslaved us. We don’t just need to change; we need to be saved from the slavery of sin. That is why Jesus came. He came to free us from the power of sin. But in order to save us from our own sin, Jesus had to die for our sin. In the greatest demonstration of love imaginable, Jesus humbled Himself to the form of a servant, dying for us on the cross. He stood in our place to pay the debt for our sin. We call this “redemption.” The death of Jesus paid the price for our ransom, releasing us from bondage of sin and death. By paying the debt for our sin, He also reversed its effects. He now has the power to invite us to follow Him so we can live again. His death and resurrection allow our hearts to be healed and set free from sin, so we can be free to follow and enjoy Jesus. Through Christ, God takes that which is broken within us and unleashes His power to makes us new. He wants to free us, so we can follow Him. His heartbeat is to be with us! But we must make a decision if we want to be with Jesus. Paul writes, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). Calling on the Lord for salvation is answering the call to follow Jesus. We have to make the decision to either try to save ourselves or allow Jesus to save us. We confess that we have sinned and need Jesus to save us. We believe in what Jesus Christ did for us by dying on the Cross. He provided the payment for our sins, so that we can be reconciled to God, trusting that Jesus Christ lived the life we should have lived in perfect obedience to the Father, and then He died the death we should have died so that we may be reconciled to Him. It’s taking our life, the good and the bad, and giving it to Jesus Christ, trusting that by faith He will redeem us. Jesus brings the change because we trust in Him as the source of change. Perhaps you have felt God calling you to come to Christ and to receive Him as your Savior. If you have not followed through with His prompting, you can do so at this very moment.

11 The act of responding to God’s call is as close as a heartfelt prayer offered to Him. “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” (Romans 10:9). Awaken Moment – “Dear God, I believe in light of Your Word that I have sinned against You and that I cannot save myself. I acknowledge my need of You in my life now and for all eternity. I believe that Jesus is Lord and that He died on the Cross for my sin and that You raised Him on the third day so that I may be forgiven of my sins and be raised to new life in Him. I now see that I am more sinful than I ever dared to believe, but that I am also more loved than I ever hoped to be. I repent of my sins and trust in what Jesus did for me on the Cross. I give my life to You. Thank You, Jesus, for setting me free to follow You. Amen.” If you just made the decisions of accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I would love to hear from you. Send a quick email ([email protected].) with the subject, “I decided to follow Jesus.” I want to celebrate with you and personally encourage you!

DAY 6 Decide to Follow! By Pastor James Hilton Read Hosea 6:1–3 This whole week we have seen that the power to change is only as strong as its source. When God becomes our source of change, then nothing is impossible. God does not want us to stay where we are any longer. We can make a decision to follow Jesus Christ and as we do, He is the One that brings the change. The prophet Hosea invites us to “Come, let us return to the LORD” (Hosea 6:1). It’s a tenderhearted pleading. We don’t have stay stuck where we are. We can leave where we are and return to the Lord.

12 The Hebrew term translated “return” is used more than a thousand times in the Old Testament. It is used more frequently than almost any term describing God’s desire for us. It’s turning off the current path we are on to follow the One who died for us. The problems in our lives began when we turned away from God, so let’s turn back. How? First, think about your life. The call to return to the Lord begins by recognizing that some things have to go. You’ve got to let God shine His light on your activities inside and out, so that what used to be attractive is recognized for the sin it really is. You must look at your life and see what are barriers to returning to God. Second, make the decision to turn away from those things. When you clearly see what sin has done, you run from it. You confess, “I’m wrong, God. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I want You.” Confession and repentance are so important that we are going to spend a week on each of these, but know for now that there is no deep intimacy with God without returning and there is no returning without confession and repentance. Finally, take steps to return to God. God awakens you to change, but change does not come automatically. You have to take steps to pursue God and follow Him. This is not just an emotional response to follow Christ, but an exertion of your will to move in the right direction. It is saying, “I’m living to follow Christ! I want to live every day in close connection with Him.” You become passionate about pursuing Christ because in Him, you find life. This is the passion behind Hosea’s challenge, “Let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). The phrase “press on” is a military term that describes the way a victorious warrior pursues to conquer the enemy. It’s intentionality and intensity. It’s a call for our enthusiastic, all-in, everything effort. Hosea is not casually saying, “Let us know God.” He is crying out for urgency, “Let us press on with everything we have so we may know the Lord.” In my life, God has used this truth more than anything else to awaken change in my life. I made the decision to start passionately following Jesus Christ, instead of merely seeking

13 to change. That simple shift in thinking changed the focus of my pursuit, and that is what has changed my life. When my focus is on changing me, I will always feel defeated and overwhelmed. But when I shift my focus to pursue Jesus intimately because I want more of Him, something powerful happens. My pursuit of Christ became personal to me. Jesus is no longer a lesson or theory, but the One who I want more than anything else. I want to experience more of His presence in my life and to know Him. Awaken Moment – On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to passionately pressing in with everything so you may know the Lord? Why did you pick that number? What needs to change to make it a 10? If Jesus is who He says He is, then make the decision to pursue Him. Change is yours in Jesus Christ. Stop being passive and making excuses. Commit that from this day forward you will fulfill the calling to follow Jesus with your whole heart. Live in expectancy! Live trusting that God will give you strength to overcome every obstacle you face. Live free and pursue Christ with all that you are. Jesus is worth everything and we get to live life with Him. Lord, open wide the eyes that I might see the true yearning of my life is to follow you. Begin to dismantle all the messages that have challenged and assaulted your design of me and my pursuit of you. May your invitation to life be forever before me. I accept the invitation to live pressing on with everything I have so I may know you, the Living God. I surrender every aspect and dimension of my life to you. I give you my spirit, soul, and body, my heart, mind, and will to follow you. I ask your Holy Spirit to restore me in you, renew me in you, and lead me to the change you have for me. I want to know you and experience the fullness of your presence in my life. I ask this in the name of Jesus.

14 WEEK TWO CLARITY TO BEGIN

MEMORY VERSE Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8 NIV Where do I begin? That’s the question I find myself asking so many times in life. I know I need to change in many ways, but the more I think about it, the more it all seems so overwhelming. Like staring dumbfounded at your out-of-control garage, you are paralyzed at the thought of the work it will take or not knowing exactly even how to begin. Often, we simply move on and ignore it in a moment like this, allowing the mess to remain and grow even more unwieldy. This leads to a cluttered pile of issues developing in your relationships, friendships, your character, and life. It continues to go unaddressed year after year, waiting for the moment where it all comes tumbling down. We know we need to change, but what we need first is clarity. The clarity for what exactly needs changing. The clarity for how exactly to begin. Clarity and hope for how this change can actually take place. This clarity for change starts with Jesus and who He is. God invites you to gaze upon His nature and His character. When you do, the fuzziness begins to fade, and you begin to clearly see all the ways you need to change. What’s even more impressive is He begins to show you there is hope for change. He shows you that, in Christ, change indeed is possible. Let’s draw close to Him this week, seeking the clarity for change we need to begin.

15 DAY 7 His Glory By Pastor John Sellers Read Psalm 147:5 and Isaiah 40:28 If you didn’t know what was going on, you might conclude that hundreds of people were in a trance or under a spell. As we walked up the path, everyone (and I mean everyone) was staring almost uncontrollably in the same direction. No one was paying attention to where they were stepping or who was next to them. Those concerns seemed to fade away because of what lay at the other end of their gaze. What could have that much power over people? What could demand that degree of attention? It was the first time I had ever visited the Grand Canyon. I had read about it and even seen pictures, but that didn’t prepare me for the experience. What lay in front of all those eyeballs was a mile-deep canyon, 18 miles across at specific points. As we explored, I quite literally could not take my eyes off of it the entire day. What is it about a giant crack in the ground that can cause this kind of reaction? The reality is there’s nothing else on earth like the Grand Canyon. The size, the scale, the beauty, is unmatched. Two things happen when we encounter something like the Grand Canyon. The first response is we are utterly captivated. Everyone has experienced this to one degree or another. In high school, when you saw that beautiful girl or good looking guy. At that concert, when you heard your favorite band play. At the football game, when the receiver made that impossible game- winning catch. In moments when you experience unmatched greatness, beauty, or perfection, it captivates your attention. Every eye in the stadium is on the same precise spot. Every guy is thinking the same thing. Everyone is lost in awe of the music being created. The word the Bible uses to describe this idea is the word “glory.” Glory is simply greatness on display. Glory is perfection held up for others to see and experience. For us, when we witness or

16 experience something glorious, we can’t help but be captivated by it. God is perfect in all of His ways and attributes. He is infinite in His power. God is perfect in His beauty. He is the very definition of love. What is even more incredible is that God loves to reveal to us who He is. He loves to display His glory for all to see. In comparison to God’s glory, our Grand Canyon experiences, great athletes, excellent musicians, and beautiful people are but a small glimmer or reflection. As we look upon the reality of who God is, His glory will captivate we. We can’t help but respond in worship and awe. Something else happened when I stood dangerously close to the edge of a rock looking down into the Canyon. I started noticing the winding trails about a mile down. As I looked more carefully, I saw these slow-moving specks that looked a bit like ants. These specks weren’t ants; they were people! Looking at something that huge in comparison to humans has a unique effect. Not only do you stand uncontrollably captivated, but you begin to realize your own limitations. You start to realize that the Canyon is Grand, and you are not. This second response is it becomes clear what you are not. You thought you were an incredible football player until you witnessed that astonishing play. You thought you were the best guitar player or passionate songwriter until you saw that artist play at such a high level. The same response starts to happen in us as we begin to understand who God is. We will see perfection, beauty, power, and love, unlike anything else. Not only will this blow us away, but it will also begin to show us the reality of our limitations and shortcomings. It will start to make clear to us the many areas of our lives that need to change. Each day this week, we will look at a different aspect of who God is. I invite you to join me as we gaze at His glory together. My prayer is that this will cause a more resounding response of awe and worship in you. Get ready, though, because it will also begin to show you how you fall short. Don’t allow this to discourage you or overwhelm you. The clarity for change will only happen in your life as you begin to understand who your God truly is.

17 Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: God, You are perfect in every way. Over these days, will You show me more clearly the beauty and power of who You are? Please lead me to worship You more deeply. Show me how You are calling me to change and give me the strength and desire to live out this change.

DAY 8 He Is Holy By Pastor John Sellers Read Isaiah 6:1–7 and 1 Peter 1:14–16 Imagine what Isaiah felt as he heard the voices of the angelic beings crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” The doorframes and walls were shaking from the sound. Here he was in the presence of the LORD, witnessing His glory with his own eyes. What an experience this must have been! Put yourself in Isaiah’s shoes for a moment. How do you think you would have responded? In Revelation, we are told the angels never stop saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” The reality described in the Bible is that angels proclaim this truth about God all the time. Why? This cry is a proclamation that God is perfectly Holy. The question is, what does it mean to be Holy? This word is a little tricky to define. Simply put, to be Holy is to be unique, rare, perfect, and complete. You could say to be Holy means to be truly whole, lacking nothing. To be Holy means no one and nothing can compare. We all know rare things are precious. The Cullinan Diamond, over 3000 carats, was cut into multiple priceless stones. The Mona Lisa is valued at over $600 million. We could keep going with the original Jordan’s, the first Macintosh computer, and more. These items have extreme value because they are rare and unique. When the angels proclaim that God is perfectly holy, they are praising Him for something simply mind-blowing. God is

18 perfect and complete in literally every way, which makes Him unlike anything else. He is eternal, with no beginning or end. God is perfectly moral, right, and good. He is all-powerful; there is nothing He cannot do. God is complete in knowledge; there is nothing outside of His understanding. He is completely beautiful, loving, and in control. If these things are right about God (and they are), then God is the rarest and most unique person anywhere. This means He is the most valuable treasure imaginable. There is genuinely no one like our God! If you came near a perfectly Holy God, what would you do? When Isaiah came into God’s presence, he was instantly overwhelmed with the truth that he doesn’t compare to a Holy God. He falls short of God’s holiness. Look what Isaiah did. He immediately fell flat on the ground and began to cry, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” Isaiah 6:5. Compared to God’s perfection, all the areas he needed to change became so clear that it nearly crushed him. As you draw near to Jesus and learn what He is like, you will see that He, too, is holy. Being God in the flesh, Jesus is the fullest expression of what it looks like for a human being to be holy. When you come close to the perfection of Jesus, just like Isaiah, your own failures and areas that need to change will become crystal clear. All of us fall short of the holiness of Christ. But this is where change begins. Will you have the courage to draw close to Him? As uncomfortable and humbling as this will be, don’t be afraid. The change God wants you to experience will only begin when you clearly see what needs to be transformed. In 1 Peter 1, God tells us to “Be holy because I am holy.” That seems impossible! How can imperfect people be holy like a perfect God? This is where the process of change gets so beautiful. The LORD told Isaiah that his guilt had been taken away, and his sins atoned for. The truth for us is we cannot be holy on our own. Jesus came and lived a complete and holy life on your behalf. Jesus atoned for your sins once and for all, and

19 your guilt has forever been removed from you. Now, when a Holy God looks at you, He only sees the perfection and completion of Jesus, your Savior! Because of Christ, God declares that you are holy. He gives you the ability and power to experience that holiness (wholeness) in your daily life. Walking with Jesus not only makes it clear all the ways you need to experience change, but He also gives you the status and ability to walk in that change. Awaken Moment – Ask God to search your life and show you where you need to change? What areas do you need to start seeking holiness as God is holy? Jesus, thank you for showing me what it truly means that you are holy. Your perfection and goodness blow me away. I confess that I fall short of that holiness in a million ways. Thank you for providing a way for my sin and guilt to be removed forever. Continue to show me areas I need to change and give me the power to walk in your holiness. Jesus, give me your holiness. I trust that you want to give me your holiness. I want to live more and more in your holiness as I follow you.

DAY 9 He Loves By Pastor John Sellers Read 1 John 4:7–21 This may be a difficult question to answer, but which person would you say you love the most in your life? Don’t write down the answer; that could go really badly. Chances are you thought about a family member like your mom, dad, husband, wife, siblings, or even a best friend. No matter which person you thought of, I bet you could come up with a long list of ways you have failed to love them at times. Isn’t it interesting that even with the people we find the easiest to love, we still don’t do it perfectly? When it comes to family, this is pretty clear, isn’t it?

20 With kids or parents, there’s a natural pull to love them. But all it takes is one word, one roll of the eyes, or one missed chore and the struggle to love gets real. Love isn’t easy. Countless songs, books, and movies have been created to describe, celebrate, and figure it out. Love is hard to define. Is it a feeling? Is it something that happens to you? Is it like a pit you fall into or a bed you fall out of? We all agree love is real. We all have some sense of what love is. And we all understand that we don’t do it perfectly. One instruction God gives is to love others as we love ourselves. Isn’t it interesting that when I asked which person you love the most, you most likely didn’t think of yourself? What God understands about us is that we naturally love ourselves more than anyone else. We find it so easy to love ourselves that we do it without even thinking about it. If I’m honest, I have to admit that I often fail to love others well because I love myself more than I do them. A description of love could be to take joy in working to serve, honor, and benefit someone. If this is a definition of love, then there is no one we do this for more than ourselves. Understanding this about us, God instructs us to love by finding joy in working with the same passion, intensity, and relentlessness for the benefit of others as we do for ourselves. I don’t know about you, but this is where I struggle. Love may be difficult to define, but there is one sure thing. When we draw near to Jesus, we will encounter love. Love finds its definition in God Himself. John states this in his letter when he writes, “God is love.” He teaches us that God’s love is shown most clearly in the work of Jesus. God showed His love to us by sending His only Son to live for us, to die for us, and to be raised to give us life in a relationship with Him. This is the purest picture of love. Jesus finds His joy in laying down everything, even His own life, for our benefit. We need to be reminded that if we want to discover what love is, don’t turn to a love song, a feeling, or a movie. Turn to Jesus.

21 When we come face to face with perfect love, it changes us. It will show us all the ways we fall short of perfectly loving others. One of the areas God wants to change is the way we love. John reminds us that we can only love others because He first loved us. Jesus is the example of what love looks like, and He gives us the power and ability to show love to those around us. This beautiful truth is something we will never get over. For all of eternity, we will be captivated and transformed by the perfect love of Jesus. He came for us while we were still sinners and gave His very life to give us eternal life in Him. Awaken Moment – As you draw near to perfect love today, where are you currently failing to show love? This is the area God wants you to experience change. As you draw near in your pursuit of Him, He will begin to transform your heart and actions to love as He has loved you. Is there a relationship that needs restoration? Who do you need to love? Today, make it a point to ask yourself—”What would love do?” Father, thank you for loving me even though I clearly don’t deserve it. Thank you for demonstrating your perfect love by sending your only Son for me. Jesus, thank you for loving me by giving your own life and comfort for me. Help me grow and change in my love for you and those around me.

DAY 10 He Forgives By Pastor John Sellers Read Ephesians 4:32 I love telling scary stories. A few years ago, I was at FOCUS, our Journey Students retreat, in a cabin with middle school guys. They begged me to tell them scary stories one night. I made them all, one by one, verbally agree they wanted me to do this. After five or six tales, many screams, and at least one or two guys in tears, we decided to settle in to go to sleep. That’s when one of them, hoping to get everyone’s mind off the scariness, said,

22 “Pastor John, will you read a story from the Bible?” I agreed, proceeding to read from Mark 5. It was the story of the man who lived among the tombs and was possessed by many demons. Needless to say, it didn’t have the desired effect! One of the most frightening scary stories involves realizing a killer is not outside our house trying to get in, but already inside. Scary, huh? What if I told you that, when it comes to forgiveness, it’s an area that has the potential to destroy us from the inside out. As we unpack this, we’ll begin to understand that God’s not trying to harm us when He shows us where we need to change. Instead, He is working to save us from things that are inside, plotting to destroy us. Forgiveness may be the most challenging aspect of following Jesus. This is because forgiveness assumes a level of hurt, harm, or damage that must be addressed. When we talk about forgiving a debt, there’s a specific amount of money that’s owed. The person forgiving the debt must personally absorb the cost of that amount of money. In other words, forgiveness always hurts. In life, forgiveness always involves a hurt, a wrong action, or a level of harm someone has inflicted on us. Forgiveness is more than just saying the words, “I forgive you.” To forgive is to agree personally to take on the harm that person inflicted. It’s choosing not to require them to make it right. Let’s just be honest. That’s difficult to do! It’s no wonder we often struggle to forgive small and large hurts. Instead, we harbor bitterness and anger toward the person who hurt us. We convince ourselves that holding on in this way somehow pays them back. Even worse, we can begin to allow that anger to shape our actions toward the person, causing a cycle of hurt and bitterness that grows and grows. This is the hidden killer that destroys us. Whether it’s within our marriage, family, friends, or even someone we don’t really know, harboring bitterness will only cause more harm to us and the relationship. How many marriages have ended because of this cycle of years of growing resentment? How many family relationships or friendships are dysfunctional because of this hidden killer?

23 This is where it gets beautiful! When we draw near to Jesus, we will encounter forgiveness that’s unlike anything else. Jesus is the perfect example of forgiveness. The debt of sin was eternal. It separated us from a holy God. When Jesus died on the cross, He took on that eternal debt and paid for it Himself, with His own suffering and death. Jesus removed the debt once and for all. When Jesus forgives us, He doesn’t merely say the words, “I forgive you.” Jesus Himself absorbed the hurt, rebellion, and failure for us. Isn’t that powerful? Jesus has shown us the perfection of what forgiveness is. Here’s where it gets even better. We are told to forgive as God in Christ has forgiven us. Because He loves us, God will clarify that this area of our lives needs to change. We need to be transformed in forgiveness because staying where we are now will destroy our relationships and happiness. What Jesus has done on the cross enables us to forgive others. Jesus paid an eternal debt for sin. So whatever harm, hurt, or injustice has been inflicted on us by someone else, the cross is big enough to cover that debt. Isn’t that incredible! As a follower of Jesus, we have the power to freely forgive because Jesus has already absorbed that hurt and pain on the cross. We experience a change in this area by setting our eyes on the cross every day, and reminding ourselves the damage inflicted upon us has already been covered by Him. Awaken Moment – Ask God if there is anyone––yes anyone— who you need to forgive. If so… 1. Identify who you are angry with. Who do you have imaginary battles with and you want to hurt them? 2. Write down what you feel that person owes you. Not what they did, but what you feel they took from you. Be specific; otherwise, we cannot truly release. 3. Cancel the debt. Quietly, in your heart, tell God that you are canceling the debt that person you are angry with owes you. Say it out loud, “You do not owe me any more for taking ____.”

24 4. Dismiss the case. When memories come up or feelings are stirred, remember the debt has already been cancelled. Every time you think of them and what they did, pray for them. Jesus, thank You for forgiving me so completely. I certainly don’t deserve it. Thank You that the cross paid an eternal debt for sin. Help me remember that, no matter the hurt someone inflicts on me, I can forgive them because the cross was big enough to cover that debt.

DAY 11 He Is Complete By Pastor John Sellers Read John 6:1–14 and Colossians 2:9–10 “It’s still missing something.” Have you ever said this? Maybe you were working on perfecting a recipe or decorating a room. Or perhaps you’ve said it about a painting you were working on or the truck you’ve been fixing up. We all know the feeling of having something so close to perfect but still missing one little thing we can’t quite put our finger on. This may step on a few toes, but have you ever had this thought about yourself? Have you wondered about your marriage, your career, your parenting, your relationships, your character, or even your personality? Maybe, in some way, you’ve felt that as much as you have grown as a dad or mom, you still have many flaws. There will be areas where we realize in any realm of life, although we may have come so far, we still have a long way to go. This is what is so unique about God. Every one of us is incomplete on our own, but God is perfectly whole. Before anything was created, God existed. He is the One who made everything in this universe. It all belongs to Him. God is so complete and whole that He literally does not need anything! He has no character flaws or areas where He needs to mature or grow. God is already

25 the perfect Father. In short, God does not need anything! He’s good. As God’s Son, Jesus doesn’t need anything either. He is fully complete and whole. In this broken world, Jesus was always showing how He could make incomplete things full again. You see, if He is already whole, He doesn’t need anything or anyone else to complete Him. This means that His relationships were never about getting something from people, but always about giving something to them. When thousands of people needed to eat and there was not enough food, this wasn’t a crisis for Jesus. He was able to take a small meal and feed everyone until they were full. And there were plenty of leftovers. When Jesus encountered a leper or a blind man, He could heal them on the spot. Jesus didn’t need His followers to make Him whole. Instead, He gave Himself to save them, heal them, provide them with life, and make them complete forever. When you begin to walk with Jesus, you will encounter Someone who is entirely whole. This will immediately start to show the ways you are incomplete. It will show you how you are trying to depend on your relationships with other people to fulfill you. It will show you the ways you lean on alcohol or other substances to feel whole. He will reveal how you seek success in an unhealthy way because you believe success will complete you. He will show you how you are trying to rely on your children to validate your own worth and value. But as we read in Colossians 2, Jesus doesn’t leave us there. Whenever He shows you an area where you fall short, He always wants to bring you into something better. Through Jesus, you are made complete. You cannot complete yourself. None of the things you rely on in this world can complete you. If you continue to lean on your spouse, friends, success, kids, or substances to make you whole, it will crush them and destroy you. They were never meant to do this for you. But because God is infinite and whole, He can give completion where you are lacking. He can fill you where you are empty.

26 Awaken Moment – As you draw near to the perfect Savior today, allow the clarity He brings to transform you. Begin to live in the truth that in Christ, you have been made whole once and for all. In Him, you no longer need to rely on other people or other things to validate you. In Christ, you are made whole and now, like Him, you can work to give life and restore brokenness in situations and relationships all around you. This is the change He brings. • Where in your life do you still feel empty? • What area in your life do you feel you fall short? Jesus, thank you for showing me that you do not need anything. Allow me to begin to address the areas that I need to change. I bring you what is empty. I bring you my flaws. Thank you for making me complete and whole. Please allow me never to forget this truth. Would you fill me with your power and presence so I can be a life-giver in my relationships? Fill me with your wholeness so I can work to restore the broken situation around me, in your name.

DAY 12 His Victory By Pastor John Sellers Read 1 John 5:4–5 and Romans 8:31–39 Each of us has felt the pull to do something, say something, smoke something, think something, or try something we knew was wrong or destructive. Even when we genuinely didn’t want to do it, the pull was still there. What’s worse, each of us knows the feeling when, no matter how hard we tried, we still gave in. As we deal with the aftermath of a decision like that, we are confronted with a feeling of regret. It’s the feeling of loss. Especially when it’s something we repeatedly fall back into; it begins to feel like straight-up defeat. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had much athletic ability. But I’ve been around people who are very gifted athletically.

27 Have you ever known someone who seems to win absolutely everything? Not only are they fast and skilled, but they seem wired to win. It’s like there’s a competitive gene God chose to infuse in the core of who they are. Does anyone come to mind? I could probably name a few of these people in our church right now, but I won’t. If someone does come to mind, go ahead and tag them on social media today and include a link to this devotion! Anyway, what happens to me when I get around these cutthroat competitive animals is I begin to see all the things I’m not. Not only do I feel the sting of defeat because they beat me, but I begin to see my own weaknesses. I am reminded I can’t jump that high, run that fast, make the birdie, throw that accurately, or make that shot. If I don’t fight to have a good sense of humor, the feeling of inadequacy can be crushing. Have you ever experienced this? Something similar happens when you begin to walk with Jesus. You see, Jesus is victorious. He only knows how to win. He accomplishes everything He goes after. Let me name just a few things Jesus has defeated. Not only did He fast for 40 days, but in the middle of it, Satan himself tempted Jesus with food, power, and more, and Jesus didn’t give in. Jesus stood up to Satan and won. We are told Jesus came face to face with every kind of temptation that people can battle, and He never gave in. Not even once! Jesus faced the opponent of sin and came through with the perfect win. There was a moment when those looking on thought He finally met His match, being executed and buried in a tomb. But, in an unexpected move, His body began to breathe in that cave. Jesus was raised to life again. He stared down death itself and won the victory with a solid right hook to death’s jaw on the third day. There won’t be a rematch, by the way. One day, Jesus will return and will bring the fullness of His kingdom into reality. Once and for all, He will put away sin, Satan, and death forever. We know the end of the story and, spoiler alert, Jesus wins. So here you are, beginning to pursue this Savior who never loses and never fails, but you do. As you get to know Him, you’ll

28 clearly begin to see the ways you regularly give in to defeat. Before you allow this to discourage you, remember, this is all part of the process. He will bring clarity to the places you need to experience change and transformation. Awaken Moment – Today, as you are reminded of the perfection and victory of Christ, what area of defeat is He revealing in your life? In what way are you giving in and allowing destruction into your life? Don’t ignore this. Give it over to the One who defeated it. The process of change always includes the clarity of areas you are falling short. If this discourages you, don’t give up. Stick with it over the next few weeks because we will begin to walk through the next steps in this process. For now, remember, Jesus didn’t win these victories just for Himself. He defeated them for you. He beat them so they would have absolutely no power over you. The invitation to follow Him is not an invitation to try harder. It’s an invitation to live in this new reality. Remember, in Christ, you are more than a conqueror, and nothing can stand against you. It will not be your power that brings a change. It will be the power of your Savior, who cannot lose. Jesus, I confess I live in defeat in many areas of my life. Thank you for revealing these to me. Help me begin to live in the freedom you have won for me. Help me to rely on your power and not my own this week.

29 DAY 13 His Purpose By Pastor John Sellers Luke 19:1–10 Have you ever been lost before? Maybe when you were little and got separated from your parents at the mall? Or perhaps you’re one of those people with no sense of direction, and you get turned around everywhere you go. When I was in 5th grade, I remember going on a canoe trip with our church. I was there with one of my best friends, and we were excited to go canoeing for the first time on our own. Neither of us paid any attention to the instructions at the beginning of the day. They told the group to stop at every spring along the way so the whole group could meet up before moving on. Needless to say, we didn’t see anyone else from our group for most of that day. We were two clueless preteens aimlessly paddling down the river on our own, without a care in the world. What was an adventure for us was a nerve-racking crisis for our youth pastor as he looked for two lost kids! I wonder if you’ve ever felt that way? Have you had the feeling there should be some direction or purpose to what you are living for? Instead, it feels more like you’re drifting wherever the current wants to take you. This is what I love about the transformation that occurs when we encounter Jesus. Jesus isn’t like that at all. He knows what His purpose is, and He’s always moving toward it. When Jesus came, He did so with a clear goal. This wasn’t the kind of thing where He said, “I’ll be born miraculously as a baby, and then we’ll kind of see where this thing takes us.” No, every action had a clear purpose. Even when those closest to Jesus didn’t know what was going on, He was still accomplishing this plan. People began to realize that everything He did fulfilled prophecies God had given over thousands of years. Jesus does not waste anything He does. So, what’s Jesus’ purpose? We see it in Luke 19 when He’s speaking to Zacchaeus. This man was known for corruption

30 and dishonesty. Jesus says salvation has come to him because He had come to seek and save the lost. The great purpose Jesus is working to accomplish is to pursue people lost in sin, like you and me, and save them. He did this by becoming the perfect sacrifice and being raised from the grave. He is still working for this purpose today. You can’t get near Jesus without encountering Someone who is all in for that goal. The question it will raise in you is this, “What purpose am I living for?” You can’t be around someone who’s driven to pursue a clear goal without it causing you to reflect on yourself. It could be your boss, your brother, or best friend. Maybe someone you know is consumed with launching a business or becoming a college athlete. And whenever you are around them, it causes you to examine your own drive, vision, and purpose. Well, Jesus is the most driven, goal-oriented One you’ll ever know. He’s relentless in His pursuit of the lost. He sacrificed everything to accomplish this goal. When you get near Him, you can’t miss it. Be ready. This will begin to show you where you are either living for something that doesn’t compare or where you are currently wandering aimlessly through life. An encounter with Jesus changes your purpose. Every disciple Jesus encountered had a similar experience. They saw Him, were captivated, and realized what they were living for didn’t compare. Then He called them to be a part of His purpose. Every time Jesus does this, He takes seemingly insignificant people, like you and me, and begins to use them to accomplish things beyond their wildest dreams. We see it with Isaiah. He encounters the Living God and falls to his knees in shame. But God removes his guilt and gives Isaiah an amazing purpose. He calls him to take the word of God to lost and dying people. This is the change Jesus wants to do in you.

31 Awaken Moment • Where does your purpose fall short of Jesus’? • What needs to be transformed in what you see as most important? He wants to join your story with His and do things through you that you would never dream of. Thank you, Jesus, that you gave everything for your purpose of seeking and saving the lost, including me. Thank you that you don’t veer off track when it comes to this goal. Show me where I am wandering aimlessly or where my purpose falls short. Help me to be transformed and to begin living for the greater that you have for me.

32 WEEK THREE TIME TO GET REAL

MEMORY VERSE Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Psalm 51:2–4 NIV It’s time to get real if we want to change. The most difficult thing about change is admitting we have a problem…we continue to sin. We actively choose sin over God on a regular basis. This leads to feeling guilt and shame constantly as we struggle with who we really are, what we are really like, and who we want to become. It derails us from the destiny that God has for us. Sin has us duped into thinking that the more hidden it is, the more protected we will be. But that is a false narrative. We only find true freedom when we awaken to the reality of what confession is all about. If we are ever going to change we have to get real about our need for help. Confession is the pathway to talk to God about our issues and let Him change in us what we cannot change in our own strength. If we desire to walk with God more closely, restore our relationships and enter a life filled with joy and wonder then we must awaken to the mercy shown by God through confession.

33 DAY 14 Broken & Aware By Pastor Jadner Lugo Psalm 51:1–6 One of the most incredible things about the Bible is that it gives us a glimpse into the lives of some of our heroes at their worst moments. Men and women who we would consider to be the most faithful are revealed to be deeply human, despite their greatest accomplishments. Failure over faithfulness abounds in the Scriptures. It is a picture of our deep sinfulness as human beings. No matter how hard we try, sin is always creeping at the door, ready to destroy. No other Bible character deals with this more than David. The king of Israel, once a shepherd in the fields tending to his father’s flock, is one of the most well-known people in the Bible. Whether you grew up in church or you have never stepped foot inside of a church, the name of David has renown. He fought off lions and bears to protect the flock entrusted to him. This would set the stage for him to eventually be chosen by God to be anointed the king of Israel years before he would take his rightful place on the throne. His greatest and most known accomplishment is, as a young man, defeating a giant facing the armies of Israel. His weapon of choice that he could be seen wielding? A sling shot and a few smooth rocks he found by a stream. But the weapon that truly made him dangerous? An unshakable faith in the Lord of Heaven. The Bible describes David as a man after God’s own heart. No one else in the Bible is described in that manner and I cannot think of a bigger compliment. But while his heart was inclined to the things of God, his fleshly and carnal desires still warred within him, making him prone to the same kinds of sinful decisions we make today. In Psalm 51:1–6, we see David, the king of Israel, lamenting sin on his own behalf. What sin was it? Just a good old case of sleeping with his friend’s wife, getting her pregnant, attempting

34 to cover it up, and eventual having his friend murdered because his friend had too much integrity to enjoy a night with his wife while the rest of the army is on a campaign. Yes, the man after God’s own heart basically created the foundation for an old Jerry Springer episode. David tried his best to keep his sin covered up. Unfortunately, that only makes things worse. David knew that. He was a man after God’s own heart, after all. But his shame and guilt only pushed him to hide his issues deeper and deeper. Fortunately for David, God wouldn’t leave him in a state of guilt and shame. Instead, like a surgeon, He cut away at David’s sin until it was removed. God will not let you hide in sin because He knows it will kill you. His love for you moves Him to deal with those issues and actions that are hurting you. God graciously sent the prophet Nathan to David, calling him to repent. After a year of denial and hiding, David finally broke. He confessed and was honest with himself, Nathan, and God about his sin. David’s confession is in these six verses. David’s two most powerful statements in this passage cover two things. First, David makes it clear that his sin not only goes against the people he hurt, but it goes against God Himself. For if God is holy and perfect, anything evil is a direct act of rebellion against Him. Second, though he was sinful from birth, God instilled faithfulness and wisdom inside of David before his birth for moments like this. So, what do you do with this? You might be telling little white lies, concealing major secrets, writing your own personal Jerry Springer script or contributing to someone else’s script. All of those things are bad and counterproductive to the life you want to live. God desires for you to be aware of your short comings. He doesn’t want you to hide them. He wants you to be real with yourself and present them to Him so you don’t make those same mistakes again. The steps to awaken change begin by confessing that you need to change. Recognize that you’re sinful and at times you will miss the mark in a big way. But in order to be healed and recover

35 from it, you have to go before the Lord your God humbly. You have to confess your failures to Him instead of hiding them. He will not leave you hanging. He knows we’ve all be prone to sin from birth, but His desire is to help us take steps away from sin and toward Himself. Awaken Moment – What have you been hiding that God has been trying to deal with in order to heal you? What do you need to confess before the Lord? Instead of just reading David’s words in Psalm 51, pray them to God and use His words as a psalm for your confession. “Lord, thank you for your heart. When we read the story of David, we see transparency in how he truly was a man after Your heart but also how often he messed up. God, I know that I mess up and sin. I easily turn from following you to follow what I want. Help me take steps to reveal my sin so that you would work it out of my life so that I can be more like You. Heal me and make me whole, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

DAY 15 Broken to Change By Pastor Austin Prince Read Daniel 9:20 Being broken because of sin is uncomfortable; it is unnatural. It goes against who we are as humans to admit there is something damaged within us. Think about when someone has hurt your feelings unintentionally with a joke or a slick comment. Did you want to admit you were hurt? Did you want to acknowledge that your ego, pride, or feelings were damaged during the conversation? Of course not, because confessing our brokenness and our hurt is the opposite of who we are. This is because of SIN. Sin is the brokenness we carry around daily. It hides and masks itself at times, so we make others think we are okay, but the reality is we lie. We push against the need to confess our brokenness and

36 build up walls of solitude, thinking that change will come if we just keep hiding. But no matter how good we are at hiding our sin, there is still One who sees it. There is One we can never hide it from, and that is God. In Daniel 9, we see Daniel praying for his people. Daniel sees his sin and sees the brokenness it brings. He sees his nation’s sin and remembers just how broken they are, living as aliens in a foreign land. In verse 8, he admits that he and his nation deserve open shame for their sin because he sees all sin is against God. Daniel sees that they are broken and wants change. As Daniel admits and confesses his sin and his people’s sin, he also cries out for God to work. He asks God to move, despite his sin and his people’s sin. Daniel is asking for mercy and forgiveness. He is laying down his faith on behalf of his whole nation. Daniel is not satisfied with being broken; he will only be satisfied in the change the Living God brings. “I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God,” Daniel 9:20. This is the real heart of change—confessing sin and brokenness before the Lord. When we cry out to the Lord and bring our pleas before Him, we take a step towards Him. The Sovereign King of Creation wants us to lay our brokenness before Him because He already knows it. Our sin is nothing that surprises God; our brokenness is never too dark or too bad for Him. The payment for sin by the death, the burial in death, and restoration in the power of life that Christ Jesus accomplished are greater than your darkest sins. Period! But here is the amazing part: our confession of sin to God is never empty. When we come broken before God and confess sin, our lives’ very atmosphere is changed. We no longer hide in our castle of brokenness; we invite the King of Glory to do what only He can do and bring the change. In verse 21–23 of the chapter, we see that God was ALREADY working in Daniel’s confession.

37 God had already dispatched His angel to remind Daniel that he is loved. God always moves when we cry out to Him in confessing our sin. That’s not a slogan or a catchy phrase, but a concrete truth for us to hold on to. We may not see it in the moment, but even when we don’t, we know God always goes before us and is always working. Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: Lord, thank you for hearing my confessions. Thank you for drawing near to me even when it’s hard and uncomfortable. Father, I ask that you build in me a lifestyle of confession. I cannot hide from you. Even when I’m at my darkest and even my worst sin, you see and hear my cries. Lord, I lay all my sin and shame before you. Father, please move in spite of my sin and wash me in the blood of Christ Jesus. Jesus, I am broken for the change only you can bring. Fill me and wash my sin away.

DAY 16 Broken to Glory By Pastor Jadner Lugo Read James 4:1–8 Have you ever seen the videos of dog owners who come home to their dogs and their house is ruined because of something the dog did? The garbage bag is ripped open with garbage spread across the house. The owner turns on the lights in the kitchen to see the dog covered in garbage with the garbage lid around its neck. To make matters worse, the dog has the guiltiest look on its face. The dog knows what he did. Even though it might have been fun for those moments when the owner wasn’t home, now it’s time to face the music. The craziest thing about those videos is that you almost never see the owner throw the dogs out of the house and disown them. I can’t help but feel like those dogs whenever I do something wrong. When I knowingly sinned, although I may have enjoyed it for those quick moments, later I feel like I’m covered in garbage.

38 I’m guilty and full of shame. The last thing I want to do is go before God covered in my garbage to show Him what I’ve done. I hate the idea of “facing the music.” After we sin, fear tells us that God no longer wants us. We convince ourselves that God will treat us poorly if we are honest with Him. Very often, we try to punish ourselves more than God tries to punish us, as if His judgment toward our sin isn’t good enough. But that is not the heart of God. God calls us to submission in James 4. Submission is the act of accepting the will and authority of someone else. Through submission, we are admitting that we make a mess when we try to act on our own behalf. What’s the will of God? That we who are believers in Jesus Christ would become more like Jesus every day through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit helps us resist Satan and the temptations, or garbage, he tries to convince is worth the trouble. Let us not be convinced by his lies, but instead, let his lies push us right into the arms of God who opens Himself up to us so that we would grow closer to Him. The best part is that we don’t have to be clean to run to God for help. He allows us to come as we are, garbage and all, but only if we truly want to be cleaned. Do we really want God to bring the change to the things in our lives that might be fun for a moment but leave us empty once it’s all over? Well, we must remember that we are not supposed to run back to the garbage. In fact, we should be broken that we had to run away from the garbage in the first place. The fact that we sat there for so long enjoying something that was never good should break our hearts. And that’s what James is saying in this passage. Let that break our hearts before God so that we remember that heartache when we are faced with the temptation again. Awaken Moment – What has become a destructive pattern that you can’t quit on your own? What do you need to bring into submission before the Lord? Physical posture has a profound impact on the spiritual environment of your life. Get alone and lay your face to the

39 ground before God. Tell Him and show Him that you desire submission to Him over the desire to play in the garbage and He will do what you least expect Him to do. While you are broken, He will raise you up, clothing you in the righteousness of His Son who already took the guilt, the shame and the garbage on Himself so that you would no longer have to punish yourself for your actions. Let yourself be broken by your sin so that you can be lifted up by the Lord. Lord, I fall before you on my face. Thank you that you have given me the power to resist the devil and the freedom to run into your arms. I submit my entire life to you. I surrender _____ (be specific and fill in the blank of what God is confronting you to surrender) and turn from it. I give this to you in submission. Remind me of the cross where Jesus already paid it all. Let me be lowly, so that at the right time, You will lift me up. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

DAY 17 Revealing for Mercy By Pastor Jadner Lugo Read Proverbs 28:13 I think one of the most difficult parts about my own shortcomings is knowing that I will eventually have to answer for them. Like the dog mentioned before, I don’t want to answer for my sin. So sometimes, when I spread the garbage around the house, it feels like it would be easier to clean up my mess before anyone else can find out that there was ever a mess in the first place. To everyone on the outside, it seems like you have your life together, but to yourself and more importantly, to God, you are far from together. Concealing the evil things we do only pushes the worst part of ourselves into darker places. The more we hide it, the darker those places are in order to avoid the revealing light. To make matters worse, no one gets hurt by it more than we do. We pay the price for our unwillingness to let God into the deeper parts of our lives.

40 As you read this Proverb, think about the ramifications of the sin we do not repent from. When we conceal the deepest and darkest parts of ourselves, when we cover it with more darkness rather than letting it be brought out to the light, we fail to prosper. Now, you may think that there are tons of people who openly sin and appear to have great lives and prosper. But imagine the true inner turmoil as they come to the understanding that their lives are a lie. Their happiness is wrapped up in little moments when they are committing cosmic rebellion against their Creator. They literally gain the world and lose their soul in the process. Remember, prosperity is rarely outward. True prosperity is found inwardly. It is found in peace, joy, hope, love…fullness of life. So, what’s the opposite of concealing? Confessing and renouncing. The goal is to bring our dirtiest little secrets to light so that they can be removed. Darkness cannot exist where there is light. That is why the very definition of darkness is the absence of light. Nothing terrifies us more than the thought of revealing this part of ourselves. Can you imagine how people would view you if they knew what you thought about when no one was around or what you do when no one is looking? We can’t imagine what our spouses, our pastors, and our friends would think. Even as a pastor, I know that isn’t a fun exercise to think through, but here is where the grace of God comes in. God is the only One that knows who dark side of us and yet continues to love us. Yes, even at our very worst, God reaches out to us to show us a love that is beyond what we could hope or imagine. Mercy is a beautiful gift from God for those who have had their sins wiped clean by the blood of Jesus. God was not merciful with Jesus so that He could in turn, be merciful to us. So, while confession, renouncing and repentance might seem painful in the moment, that pain does not compare to the pain Jesus endured on the cross for our behalf so that we could be extended mercy by God. When you think that God is looking to smite you for your sin, remember that Jesus already endured the wrath of God so that you wouldn’t have to. Do we deserve such mercy?

41 No! In fact, that’s why it’s called grace. But our deserving of it did not matter to God because to God, you were still worth it. Awaken Moment – Is there an area of your life that you are concealing that God wants you to confess? In what specific areas of your life do you find yourself trying to cover by saying, “It’s just …” or “It’s only …”? Lord Jesus, I ask your Holy Spirit to help me now remember, uncover, and confess my sins. [Pause. Listen. Remember.] You withheld mercy from Jesus so that through faith and repentance, you could show me mercy. I did not deserve it, yet you still called me worth it. Help me remember that as I confess my sins to you, knowing that by bringing it to light, it allows you to work in me. I know that whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. I come to confess and no longer make excuses or conceal my sin. I confess here and now that you are my Creator and therefore the creator of my body. I confess that you are also my Savior, that you have ransomed me with your blood. I have been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ; my life and my body belong to God. I present myself to you now to be made whole and holy in every way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

DAY 18 We are Sinful, He is Faithful By Pastor Jadner Lugo Read 1 John 1:8–9 Besides trying to conceal our sin to the people around us, one of the biggest dangers that our sin can bring is our ability to deceive ourselves. Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in making certain sins a normal part of our lives that we attempt to convince ourselves that we don’t have a problem. It’s like an addict being confronted by a group of friends about their addiction. Denial is the biggest issue as it attempts to give reason to steer away from the problem rather than dealing with it.

42 In these two verses, John makes it clear that deception is a big issue. As a Christian, the most difficult thing that we deal with is our fight to be perfect. Sometimes, we want to be perfect so badly that we try to deceive other people along with ourselves. The truth is that we are all sinful. We sin every day. We sin without thinking about it. It is what makes us human. At the deepest core of our being, we are sinners in rebellion against God. We cannot make it go away by avoiding it. We can only make it go away by dealing with it. John makes a great case for us to continue to confess our sin instead of doing everything we can to conceal it and convince ourselves that it’s not there. He tries to show us that just through confession, we see the Father’s heart on display. God is faithful. That means He doesn’t change His mind. It means who He is and His stance on this issue is unchanging, regardless of the circumstances or the sin committed. God is just. The sins that were committed need to be punished, but He doesn’t punish us for those sins. He already sent Jesus to the Cross for those things. God’s justice has already been served as God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus as He hung on the Cross. God will forgive. God doesn’t hold a grudge against us and the sin we commit. He does not let it determine the love that He has for us. God will purify. His desire is not just to hear all of the wrong things we’ve done so He can list them out to remind us of how bad we’ve been. God’s desire is to make us more like Jesus every single day. The process of purification might come through a refining fire that might hurt initially, but ultimately, it will make us better in the end. That is just the heart of God. While we are sinful, God is continuously faithful. He does not change who He is or what He does. So as we wrestle through trying to convince ourselves that we don’t sin or that we don’t have a problem, remember that our sins are not a problem for God to deal with and love us through. We need to confess to

43 Him and we will be better because of it. Awaken Moment – Is there an issue in your life that you are in denial over? Want to know the truth? Want to really know the hard truth? Ask your spouse, closest friend, parent, or a trusted leader what blind spot needs some attention in your life. Lord, thank you for being faithful even in the midst of my sinfulness. Help me understand the sins that I commit and to be increasingly aware of them. Bring them to light so that I would confess them to you so that you would forgive me and purify me in the way that only you can. I desire not to deceive myself, to know that the truth is in me, and most importantly, to know that you are with me. Help me grow in seeing that today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

DAY 19 The Power of Transparency By Pastor David Washburn Read James 5:16 It’s really difficult to admit when we are wrong. Have you ever experienced that moment in the middle of an argument where you realized, “Oh no…I’m actually on the wrong side of this,” but maybe you kept arguing anyway, just so that you wouldn’t have to admit it? That’s part of why this idea of confession is so foreign to so many of us. We are not used to even admitting that we have faults, let alone owning up to those faults. What is so beautiful and freeing about the Christian life is that we no longer have any reason to fear confession. God has declared us innocent by the blood of Jesus. Paul writes in Romans 8:33, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” Shame has no place at the feet of God! Amenand amen!

44 It is this kind of freedom that leads us to experience incredible intimacy with the Father. What is so amazing is that God offers us this kind of intimacy, not only with Himself but with other believers. While it’s not the same, it is like the intimacy we share with God because we come to a place where we can confess not only to Him, but to one another. This transparency with other believers is not just about intimacy. As the people of God, we should never be people who deal in secrets, but people of truth and light (Ephesians 4:25). We want to strive to be the same person at work on Wednesday as we are at church on Sunday. We aim for integrity. But no matter how hard we aim, all of us fail. Sin is less like a “thing that we do” and is more like “a condition that we battle.” We will have good days and we will have bad days, but our condition remains. How do we balance that fact with the fact that we are new creations in Christ? That our status with the father is FORGIVEN stamped in big red letters? It is in that very tension that we see our desperate need for transparency with other believers in our lives. One of the enemy’s greatest weapons in our lives is convincing us that no one else understands. Convincing us that we are alone and that no one can imagine what our particular struggle is like. Convincing us that the issues in our lives make us beyond repair and beyond redemption. These are lies. What we find in reality is that the moment we confess our sins to one another, we are met with knowing nods and understanding words. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that, “No temptation has seized you that is uncommon to man,” which is to say “What you are going through is something ANYONE could be going through.” And there are many who are going through it right now. We confess our sins to one another because God can use our confession to bring healing.

45 You are not alone in your fight against sin! Right now, right where you are sitting, wherever you are while reading this, I want you to say that out loud, “I am not alone.” Now I want you to take a good hard look at your sin and identify the area that you are struggling with the most. It may not take long; in fact, you may have heard the voice of condemnation speaking to you from the moment you read the first line of this devotional. Remember, God does not deal in shame. He deals in restoration. And now comes the hard part. I want you to think about someone who you can trust. I’m not suggesting you post a detailed list of your sins on Facebook for everyone to see, (that wouldn’t be helpful for you or anyone) but think about someone specific. They should be a believer first, and someone in whom you’ve seen God move. They don’t have to be a pastor or a leader. And I want you to reach out to them and have a conversation. And in that conversation, confess the sins that the enemy is using to speak condemnation over your life. I know this is a risk. I know you have questions. I know it will be hard at first. God is offering you healing. Will you reach out and take it? Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: Father, I confess that I want to be the hero of my own story. I don’t like admitting that I am weak or that I need help or that I am struggling in a particular area. Help me to be transparent, to be accountable to a friend. And I trust that you will fill in the details. Bring a healing, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

46 DAY 20 The Patient Heart of God By Adrienne Lugo Read 2 Peter 3:8–9 Pretty early in life, we learn that time is made up of hours, minutes and seconds. We don’t just learn that in school, we live life scheduled around time. We are confined to our schedules. We have work schedules, school schedules and even our days off have a start time and an end time. We have expectations with the timing of everything in our lives. We wait anxiously to get to the next phase of life. We might enjoy moments that are right in front of us, but there is this longing at the same time for future events to unfold. We ask questions like, “When will this end?” or “When will I ever get to what I want in life?” We get frustrated when our desires for the future are either delayed or unfulfilled in our eyes. We live in a world where we can have almost instant access to anything that we want. Want a quick bite to eat? Pull your car up to a drive through and you’ll have a burger in your hand in no time. Want to know the capital of Switzerland? Just ask Siri or any other robot assistant built into your smartphone. We don’t like time limits, so when we think about God’s timing, we naturally get frustrated. We want to limit God with our timing, but God doesn’t have poor timing; He doesn’t wait or rush like we do. We can’t apply our human expectations of time on the promises of God. God created time; He is not limited by it, He controls it. God’s timing and patience is rooted in love. He keeps His promises in His perfect timing. We may not always understand it, but He positions us right where we need to be. God is patient with us. Throughout this week, we have seen how God extends us mercy and grace. We have seen how He allows us to be broken by our sin, how it leads us to desire change and how we are called to confess it. He calls us to avoid concealing or ignoring our sin so that we can see His mercy on full display in our lives. He even

47 shows us that we don’t have to go through this alone and that we can bring people into our journey of repentance so we never feel like the road to Christlikeness is lonely. God wants to awaken us to change. All we have to do is be open with Him, confess our sins and He will forgive us. God invites us to do this time and time again because He is faithful. He doesn’t care about the countless times we make mistakes and He doesn’t care about how long it takes us to recognize we need Him. He cares about that moment when we put our faith in Him and don’t look back on the things that separated us from Him. The love-driven, patient heart of God gives us time. He invites us to take time and come to Him with everything. He invites us to come with hearts that are repentant and eyes that will focus on Him because He promises to guide us along the way. Awaken Moment – Take time today to ask God to guide you through confession. 1. Ask Jesus to reveal any area that you are hiding and need for Him to heal. Jesus comes to bring healing as we invite Him, and though we may not “see” Him or “hear” Him, He always comes. The important thing is for us to give Him permission to come into these wounded places, ask Him to examine your heart, and invite His healing love. 2. Submit that area over to the rule of Jesus. Freedom comes only as we bring these unsanctified and unholy places under the rule of Jesus Christ, so that He can possess these very places deeply and truly. We need to renounce the ways we have presented ourselves to sin, and re-present ourselves to Christ. “Lord Jesus, I confess I have been offering myself over to sin in this area of my life. I renounce it; I renounce my sins (Be very specific here) and give you rule over this in my life.

48 3. Give Jesus time to heal you. Many times, Jesus simply says, “Let me love you.” We need to open our hearts up to His love. As we do, it allows Him to come to this very place. Linger there and listen; ask for the healing grace of Jesus Christ over and over again. He comes, dear friends, He comes. Lord, you are perfect. Thank you for giving me time. I know you care about the big and little things in my life. Seeing your timing as perfect is hard and I don’t always understand your timing but I know you always fulfill your promises. I know that I can trust you because you are out for your glory and the good of those who love you. Continue to help me to stop leaning on my own timing of things but to lean into your timing. You are in control. Amen.

49 50 WEEK FOUR TAKING THE STEP TO CHANGE!

MEMORY VERSE “Repent of your sins and turn back to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19–20 NLT It’s one thing to say that you want to change, but it’s another thing to actually take the steps that allow the change to happen. That step to change is what Scripture calls repentance. It’s when you finally start taking steps of action to turn away from the sin that God is calling you away from to experience the wholeness that He is calling you toward. Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action. You awaken to the truth of what God says about what you have done and are fully persuaded to the core of your being that God’s way is better. You firmly decide to change by taking the steps needed to turn away from the sin and turn back to fully following Jesus Christ.

51 DAY 21 Why We desperately need repentance By Pastor James Hilton Read Acts 3:11–20 For change to happen there must be steps taken to actually change. I know it might sound obvious, but the enemy dupes us into believing that we can change without actually changing. We confess our sins, but then stop moving forward in repentance. For real change to happen our confession must lead to repentance. Repentance isn’t something that comes out of our mouth. It is a complete transformation of mind, attitude, and will that leads to action. Repentance is more than a repeated apology. Repentance really has no power to change us if we keep doing what we say we’re sorry for. It’s more than words; it is a complete turnaround of behavior and renewing of our mind. For a long time, the concept of repentance was scary to me. God was the Judge who demanded that you do good or else He would curse you, kill you, and even worse, send you to hell. You did not like God; in fact, you wanted to avoid Him, but you felt like you had to suck up to Him to not get punished. If you did something bad, then you better make sure that you repent well enough, long enough, and with enough tears to convince God not to hurt you. Repentance was about negotiating enough future good deeds to get back on God’s good side. If you were on God’s good side, then He would not hurt you and might even help you get something you wanted. What I discovered is that this isn’t anywhere near God’s heart. The truth is God does not need our repentance; we need repentance. God is perfect and all that He is, does, and will do is in complete, perfect goodness. God’s goodness is so good that He wants us to live every day in a posture where we can “taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him” (Psalm 34:8 NIV). God wants us to experience

52 the goodness in living life with Him and desires to bless us in every area of our lives. We can’t negotiate with God because there is nothing He needs, but in Him is everything we need. In Acts 3:19, Peter declared, “Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” God wants us to repent, not because He is out to get us, but because He is out to be with us. Times of refreshing come when we enter into the presence of God. The step we take to keep living every day in the fresh outpouring of God’s presence is through repentance. Repentance is an offer to turn away from what is destroying us, to be brought back into the loving embrace of a Good Father. God established commands as boundaries that would allow us to use the freedom that we have to enjoy the fullness of all that He created. The restrictions are given for the purpose of increased enjoyment in life. None of God’s commands are punishments. They are teachers that warn us and reveal the paths of freedom, discovered identity, and abundance in life. God gives us commands because He will never tolerate what can destroy us—He loves us too much. God wants us to experience fullness of life because He is the giver of life! As we live in God’s ways, the result is that we experience more of God’s presence and the joys of life in which we were created to delight. But the opposite is true as well. When we sin against what God says, we experience a loss of intimacy with God and an absence of fulfillment. We invite into our life a deadly power that begins to steal, kill, and destroy the life that Jesus bought to resurrect. That is why repentance is so important. It is a way back to “times of refreshing that come from the presence of the Lord.” Through repentance, we change our mind so deeply that it changes our personality from the core of our being. We turn back to Christ because we want Him. We want to live in His protection, experience His love, and receive grace to live like Him. What is biblical repentance? It’s the process of taking steps to turn back to following Jesus Christ. Remember that we are not

53 just believers, but followers! Follower assumes that someone else is doing the leading. When we lead ourselves, it always ends badly. This is why through faith we keep turning back to Jesus to lead us. Repentance is relational. It’s not about doing what is right or negotiating to get out of trouble; it’s about restoring the relationship as we keep following. It’s not just turning from something but toward someone—the God who loves us and the One in whom fullness of life is found. Is there any greater invitation? Awaken Moment – What is God inviting you to turn away from, so you can experience times of refreshing that come from the presence of the Lord? Take time to thank God that He is not reluctant or unwilling to draw close to you and allows you to experience a fresh encounter of His presence. God is ever ready to cover you with grace and radically transform every area of your life through repentance. Ask Him to reveal to you the joy of surrender and the refreshing that comes through repentance.

54 DAY 22 How Did We Get Here? By Pastor James Hilton Read Genesis 3:1–10 When we look at the world and at ourselves, we soon realize that neither one of them is the way they’re supposed to be. Not only is the world broken and messed up, but there is something broken and messed up about us. We know something needs to change. But why? How did we get here? The answer is found in the opening chapter of the Bible. The triune God of the universe—Father, Son and Spirit—existing forever in perfect contentment with one another, overflowed with love and affection. Out of that love, God moved to create life. He created a world where life flourished in abundance in relationship with Him. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.” (Genesis 1:1). Everything created was perfectly good. God was perfect. Creation was perfect. Humanity was perfect. Everything was perfect. There in the middle of Creation, life was to be lived within the unbroken freedom and shame-free fellowship that existed between mankind and God. Adam and Eve were created to find completion, unspeakable joy, and ever increasing satisfaction with God. They had unbroken fellowship with God, unparalleled intimacy with each other and undisturbed enjoyment of the creation that God had created. Nothing in their world needed to change. Nothing was broken or dying around them. Perfection and peace saturated the paradise of God’s Creation. Then everything changed. In one act, the good became bad. Humanity sinned against God. In that moment, you could almost hear the ear-splitting shatter of shalom—God’s peace—fall out of tune with the pitch- perfect harmony of His original Creation. Outright rebellion had been declared against the King.

55 How could this happen? God created humans with a free will. With that freedom of choice, we could choose to ultimately go against His desire. Adam and Eve used that freedom to elevate what they wanted over what God desired. They wanted to rule the world that God had created on their own terms. Suddenly, the sin we know all too well now started running like ice water through Adam and Eve’s veins for the first time in their lives. In that moment, they realized that something had gone horribly wrong. “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God” (Genesis 3:8). What a heartbreaking verse. In God’s presence, they had experienced joy, love, peace, and security. God’s presence was where life itself was found. But instead of finding life in God, they found death in trying to live life based on what they wanted apart from God. Now there was separation between humanity and God. Every desire for change is a desire to return to what was originally lost. A deep hunger to be reunited with God. Our souls, in other words, possess a dim memory of what it was like “in the beginning” to be united with God in a perfect world, and we miss it. That’s where the nagging dissatisfaction of our heart and desire for change comes from. The incredible news is that God uses that dissatisfaction to awaken us to our need to come back to Him. Instead of giving us what we deserve, He offers an invitation to return back to Him. Jesus Christ accomplished everything we need to be reconciled back to God. Repentance is the step of faith of returning, changing our minds, and taking steps to once again enter into the presence of God. Refusal to repent is to elevate what we want above what God desires. But when we repent, it leads to the restoration of experiencing communion with God.

56 Awaken Moment – Ask God to continue to work in the seven areas, you listed out from Day 1’s Awaken Moment, that you are seeking for Him to change. Our desire for change comes from God, so invite Him into those areas. You no longer have to hide those areas from God; spend time bringing what needs to be changed before God.

DAY 23 Changing your mind! By Pastor James Hilton Luke 15:11–24 In Luke 15, Jesus shares a story that reveals what repentance looks like. There is one incredible truth in this story that God has used in a powerful way to awaken me to change. Luke 15:17 says the son “came to himself.” It means he began to see something he did not see before. He recognized the sin in his life for what it was. That is the first big step to repentance: changing your mind to start believing right. The word “repentance” in the New Testament is the Greek word metanoia, which literally means “a change of mind.” If you don’t change the way you think, you’ll never change. In the previous passages, Jesus told us that God rejoices and loves a repentant heart (Luke 15:7 and 10). If you are ever going to awaken to change, you must realize that God loves you and wants to change you. He wants you to live in fullness of life. Jesus came to heal and restore everything about you so that you can walk in the new life He wants to give you. Through repentance, you come into agreement about who God is and what He says. You allow God’s perspective on reality to become your reality. It’s turning from what you believe is best for your life and trusting that God’s way is best. The only way you will awaken to change is by seeing that Jesus wants to heal every broken area of your life and lead you to wholeness. You can trust that God is good and wants what is

57 best for you all the time. You can believe that God wants to bless you and for you to experience fullness of life. You can live knowing that you are a favored child of a good Father through Jesus Christ. You can surrender your plans because God is always leading you to good places and spiritual abundance. The more you believe these great truths, the more you will seek repentance because repentance is what brings you into times of refreshing and healing. Don’t miss the importance of this! It is believing, right through a change in your thinking, that brings about right living. The Holy Spirit wants to reveal to you God’s love, grace, and power for you. As the Spirit brings a revelation of the goodness of God, it is meant to produces a response of turning to God through repentance. This young guy in the story is not turning to the father because he is afraid that he is going to be beaten or wants more money; he is turning to the father because he realizes the goodness and love of his father. You repent because you begin to get a clear view of God and what He wants for you. Right thinking about God shifts how you view change. The Spirit awakens you to the love of your Father to create a desire within you to draw near to Him. When you understand God’s grace, your righteousness in Christ, and how following Christ leads you to healing, everything changes! The Holy Spirit uses the revelation of God’s love to touch you in the deepest recesses of your heart and you begin to experience transformation from the inside out. You are awakened to the truth that Jesus Christ has absorbed all the wrath and punishment for your sin. You don’t have to live in condemnation and beg for God’s forgiveness because everything was paid for on the Cross. You also stop living as a victim, thinking you will never change and are trapped in your sin. Jesus Christ set you free from the power of sin and guarantees to demolish every stronghold in your life so you can experience breakthrough. The focus on repentance is not on what you have done, but changing your mind about how good God is and what Jesus has done for you. He wants you to know He is on your side, enabling

58 you toward your breakthrough with His love and power. He wants you to open your eyes to see what He sees when He looks at you—His beloved child. He freed you from every sin. He gave you resurrection power to overcome all things. Why would you not want to follow Him wherever He is leading? Awaken Moment – Is there any area of your life that you are afraid to allow Jesus Christ to rule over? If so, then why? Spend time repenting. Ask God to change your mind from living in fear of surrender to the joy of turning everything over to Jesus Christ. Ask Him to lead you out of whatever brokenness you led yourself into. He is faithful to do it…do you believe?

DAY 24 The Battlefield of One’s Mind By Tom Wycuff Read Psalm 51 Do you remember as a young child which day of the year was the hardest to fall to sleep? For most kids, the most arduous night to attempt to fall asleep would have to be December 24, right? Why? The next day is Christmas and we would finally be able to open all of our gifts and play with our new toys. I can vividly remember my mom tucking me into bed and urging me to go to sleep SO THAT Santa would come and drop off my presents. Now I realize with two small children of my own, that line from my mother was simply a manipulative ploy to try to get me to go to sleep so that my parents could enjoy some peace and quiet. Yet, little did my mother know, her strategy to get me to fall asleep saying, “the quicker you fall asleep Tom, the faster Santa will come and bring your presents!” actually backfired as my mind was now fully focused on all the new toys soon to be in my possession. The more I thought about the joy set before me in opening these gifts, the further away I moved from actually falling asleep.

59 One of the most powerful tools the Lord has created people with is their mindset. The reality is what one feeds and focuses their mind on, directly leads to their attitude and actions. One of the greatest examples that displays the power of our created internal mindset is the story of King David in Scripture. We read in 2 Samuel 11 that David is in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is the time of year when kings are to be off at war and David, though he is a king, decides he is going to sit this round out and stays home. While he is home, he sees a woman bathing and begins to think lustfully about what it would be like to get a closer view. Before long, his thoughts lead him to ask his servants to get this young lady and bring her to the palace. Though the woman is married, David’s mindset has drifted so deeply in lust he simply doesn’t care and ends up (1) sleeping with this woman, (2) getting her pregnant and then (3) arranges the murder of her husband to cover up his sinful actions. God brings a prophet to David to help him see the folly of his ways. When David realized the depth of his sin and foolishness he repents before the Lord and records this act in Psalm 51. This Psalm teaches us that repentance is more than forgiveness. Repentance is more than just saying you’re sorry and asking for God’s forgiveness. Repentance is the act of turning your mind from sin and then seeking to align it with God and His Word. David writes in Psalm 51:10 NLT, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.” Did you catch that? David is not only asking that God forgive and cover over all the stupid things he just did, but David looks to the Lord and asks Him to renew a loyal, submissive spirit within him unto the Lord. This is the essence of repentance. The process of repentance is not complete until one actively seeks to turn away from their sinful behavior by taking their thoughts captive and making them obedient and submissive to the will, plan and purposes of the living God.

60 How do you do this? Instead of fixing your mind on and feeding your mind all kinds of worldly, selfish, playful thoughts, take time to confess a desire to align all that you think under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and then stuff your mind with Scripture. Focus your mind on the goodness and faithfulness of our God. Begin to lift songs of praise that will invade your thoughts and take over your mind. Fight for the battleground of your mind for this is where the change of repentance will take place. Awaken Moment – Ask the Lord to reveal areas of your life where you have become comfortable with sinful thoughts only because they have not given birth to sinful actions…yet. Plea with the Lord that He would uproot those thoughts and protect you from giving birth to sinful actions as a result of those unchecked sinful thoughts. Confess those thoughts to God and one or two others who you trust. Then take some time to renew your mind on the reality that following Jesus is where your soul finds all that you crave and desire. Renew your mind that Jesus has forgiven you fully and that there is now no reason to hide anything from Him or anyone else.

DAY 25 Living in the posture of repentance By Pastor James Hilton Read James 4:7–10 I remember reading these words written by James as a college student and God used them to awaken me to change. I believe that God wants to use them the same way in your life. To really understand the repentance that James talks about, you have to know the difference between your position with God and your posture toward God. Through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you are completely forgiven of every sin, eternally declared righteous, and adopted as a favored child of God. That position comes by faith alone through what Christ alone has accomplished for you.

61 In Jesus Christ, your position with God is always secure. The security of your position in Christ is what allows you to now live in a posture of drawing near to God and empowered to walk in His ways. You can boldly approach God, yielding to what He desires so you can enjoy more of His presence. You can be confident that God will never forsake you nor turn you away because your position is secured in Jesus Christ. Your position in Christ does not make you perfect. You still struggle with sin. When you sin, you stop trusting God, start believing a lie that something is better or greater than the life that is found in following Jesus Christ. Sin is always born in deception. When your mind makes an agreement with a lie, your actions will follow. In that moment when you sin, you no longer come in a posture of surrender and trust towards God but a posture of turning from God. Jesus is still your Savior and your sin is already forgiven. Sin does not change your position before God or who you are to God. God loves you and through Christ, you are still a child of God! What you hurt in sinning is the intimacy of the relationship. Sin disrupts the enjoyment of your relationship with God. One of the greatest gifts my heavenly Father has given me in life is an amazing earthly father. My dad really is amazing. I have never known a day that my dad was not seeking my good, wanting what is best for me, and pursuing to love me. The only issue in our relationship has been on my end. At times, I have done some stupid things and hurt my dad. In those moments, I am still his son; the problem is that I have lost the joy of closeness with my dad. My position is secure as a son, but my posture has hurt the enjoyment of the relationship and having access to all that my dad wants to do for me. The only way to restore receiving the joy of my position as a son is to come back to him in a posture of repentance. It’s the same with your Heavenly Father. Jesus revealed that eternal life is to “know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life is not just life that goes on and on forever without end. Eternal refers to life

62 that is lived in fullness and abundance in knowing God. It is life with unlimited joy, unspeakable hope, and indescribable peace found in God’s presence. Your position of eternal life is secure in Christ, but your experience of eternal life comes as you live in the posture of following Christ. When you sin, you don’t lose eternal life, you lose the enjoyment of eternal life and having access to all God wants to do for you. The only way to keep receiving eternal life in your position as a child of God is to return to God in a posture of surrender. That is what repentance is all about. “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” (James 4:8 NLT) Through repentance, you agree with God about the things He points to in your life that were wrong and turn from those things in order turn back to Him. Repentance is not just a one-time event, but a lifetime posture that opens your life to receive in fullness what your position gives you access to. Your position in Christ is what prompts you to have a constant posture of taking steps to pursue Christ. Living in this posture of humble repentance gives you access to receive more of what God wants to give you (James 4:10). In drawing near, you are open to receiving His wisdom, guidance, security, power, and peace. Awaken Moment – Are you living in a posture of repentance? What do you need to turn from in order to draw near to God? “God, thank you that my position never changes because I am secure in Jesus Christ. I am drawing near to you because I want you to draw near to me. I am emptying myself in a posture of repentance before you because I want to be filled with more of you.”

63 DAY 26 What are you sorry About? By Pastor Austin Prince Read 2 Corinthians 7:8–13 Sorrow, we have all felt it. We have all dealt with it. Whether it is the loss of a marriage, job, family member, or even a friendship, sorrow has crept into our lives in these moments and plagued us. But have we ever stopped to think if our sorrow was for godly or worldly reasons? Looking at our sorrow through these two lenses can propel our lives in either a direction we want or one we do not want. I know what you are asking right about now, “How can I know the difference between these types of sorrows?” For starters, worldly sorrow is not life-giving. In better words, being sorrowful over whatever it is does not stir your affections for Christ, the Father, or even a godly life. For example, have you ever lost something you valued? How did it make you feel? Did it lead you toward godly living, or did it push you to misery and sin? I know for me, I have lost valuable friendships in the past. Relationships in which I poured a lot of energy and time. I can remember when I lost those friendships; my sorrow led me to anger and frustration. It made me bitter; dwelling and thinking of a loss did not push me to honor God; this is what worldly sorrow does. Worldly sorrow enters our lives and begins to destroy anything it can find. It goes after our views of God, healthy relationships, and even our joy. Worldly sorrow tries to distract us from the very life-giving joy Christ brings. The point is, worldly sorrow leads to sin. When we are hurting, that’s when we become the most vulnerable to the hooks of sin and the temporary peace and pleasure it brings. But the reality is, the sin only drags us deeper into the pit of worldly sorrow. But even in the depths of sin and despair, there is a great rescuer; there is hope in repentance.

64 Paul writes that godly sorrow leads to repentance. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2 Corinthians 7:9b-10 NIV). Repentance is a beautiful gift from God. It leads to faith, salvation, hope, justice, and peace with God. Repentance is one of those words we get confused about as Christians. We think it means feeling sorry for our sins. But when we feel sorry for something, the sin never gets dealt with. The sorry feeling festers into worldly sorrow, which leads to more sin. We see Paul clearly draw a line in the sand, “but worldly sorrow brings death.” Repentance means so much more. Repentance is a posture of surrender to Jesus. It’s an open invitation for Christ to come into our filth and deal with it for Jesus to work. But it is also a godly resolve to turn away from our sin. Better yet, repentance should be godly sorrow, which leads to open acknowledgment and drives us to run as hard and as fast as we possibly can away from sin and into the Father’s arms. Godly sorrow and repentance are so beautiful for us as believers in Christ Jesus. “For the Lord disciplines, the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrew 12:6). God corrects those He loves. God loves us so much that He does not want us to stay in sin. He cares for our good so much that He sent Christ Jesus, the perfect, holy Son of God, to come and pay the price to purchase us from the power of sin and death, which made those who believe in Christ Jesus sons and daughters of the Sovereign King of Creation. Praise be to God alone that He loves us enough to bless us with repentance. Our posture to God should always be repentance and submission.

65 Awaken Moment – Take extra time today to be still as we invite Jesus to bring healing through repentance. 1. Confront It – Confront what’s on the inside before you move to the outside. What are you being called to turn away from? Be ruthless with sin, you are after freedom; the longer you wait to repent, the deeper a hold the sin gets in you. “King Jesus, move through Godly sorrow. Bring the reality of my sin in my view. Make it known to me. Father, I repent over my sin and confront the sin of [be specific about the sin].” 2. Renounce It – If you intend to repeat it, your repentance is a fraud. By renouncing it you summon your soul to the posture that you do not intend to repeat it. If you don’t really renounce it, you’re not really breaking with it; which means, you’re allowing for the possibility that you’ll repeat it again. “Jesus I renounce [be specific about the sin]. I renounce choosing this; I renounce giving it a place in my heart and soul. I renounce every claim I’ve given to the enemy through this sin. I bring it before you, I place it at your feet, and I run away from my sin and into your loving kindness.” 3. Cleansing – Repentance restores intimacy with God. Cleansing allows you to experience times of refreshing that come from God’s presence. “Father, cleanse me with the blood of Jesus from every effect of [be specific about the sin]. I do not want to give the enemy a foothold in my life. I plead the blood of Christ over this sin and trust you for complete forgiveness. Thank you for the power You have given me to be set free from every sin. By the name of Jesus this sin no longer has power over me, I have been set free. Amen”

66 DAY 27 Flat On Your Back By Pastor David Washburn Romans 6:20–23 I don’t know about you, but I was a pretty precocious kid. I can remember clearly times when I was very young that my mother (as most mothers would) would holler at me, and in her most authoritative tone saying something like, “...Will you ever learn? For the last time, stay away from the stove! Do you want to get burned?” And from the other room, you would hear the incredibly wise words from my father, “Leave him be, I bet if he burned his hand he’d learn real quick!” Parenting styles aside, sometimes we learn or change direction because of sound advice, (like when your mother warns you about a hot stove) but sometimes we learn or change direction because we experience the natural consequences of our actions. How have you seen this play out in your own life? Think of a time when someone who had your best interests in mind gave you a wise warning. Maybe it was “Don’t invest in that,” or “I’m not sure these are the kinds of people you should be hanging out with,” or even “I wouldn’t jump off of that if I were you.” Specifically, think about a time when you didn’t listen to them, and it wasn’t until later that you found out the hard way they were right all along. You see, much more than our well-meaning friends or family, our Heavenly Father wants us to turn away from the things that will ultimately harm us. In fact, there’s a pretty big word for turning away from things which is what we have been talking about all week, this idea of repentance. “Repentance is an offer to turn away from what is destroying us, to be brought back into the loving embrace of a Good Father.” – James Hilton

67 I know that it might not seem like it sometimes, but regardless of what our situation might look like, God truly wants what is very best for us. Which means that there will be times when He gives us opportunity after opportunity to turn away from our own selfishness, or our addiction, or our anger and rage. Opportunity after loving opportunity to change patterns of behavior that are contrary to what He has shown us through the power of his Word; behaviors that are destroying our lives. But in His wisdom, He also knows that sometimes we never realize how hot the stove is until after we have already burned our hand. When we sin, when we show God by the posture of our hearts and the words of our mouths that we think we know better than He does, we grieve the very heart of God! Our Father does not want us to step into brokenness and hurt, but there will be times where He allows the natural consequences of our sin to enter into our lives. When we move away from God’s presence, we move away from God’s protection. Make no mistake! The purpose here is not to punish us, it is to open our eyes! The Holy Spirit uses moments where we have felt the full weight of our decisions, where we have experienced the pain of broken relationships, the loss of things that we hold dear, the stunning realization that we have been the cause of our own suffering to turn our eyes back to Jesus. A good friend once told me that sometimes God lets us fall flat on our back so that the only direction we can look is up. In those moments, the Holy Spirit is calling us to repent. To turn away from everything that caused us to take our eyes off of Jesus and to turn back to Him.

68 Awaken Moment – Cry out to Jesus today, in this very moment, and ask Him to move and work in your heart and in your situation. Father, I know that sometimes I don’t trust you. And that means that I run toward things that want to hurt and destroy me. Holy Spirit, give me the strength to move my eyes off of the desires of this world! I recognize that apart from you, I am not strong enough. I repent. I turn away from the desires of this world and ask you to create in me new desires for the things of God. I ask all of this in the healing name of Jesus, amen.

69 70 WEEK FIVE THE CATALYST FOR CHANGE

MEMORY VERSE God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8 Paraphrase from ESV & NIV Grace is not just what God does to forgive you; it goes beyond that. Grace is God’s love in action given to people who deserve the complete opposite. Grace enables and empowers you to live a life of freedom and obedience. It is the power of God moving and working in your life to awaken change. It sets you free from the power of sin and gives you the authority to live in victory. Grace changes everything!

71 DAY 28 Grace is God’s love in action By Pastor James Hilton 2 Corinthians 9:8 and Titus 2:11–14 Words are powerful because they give life to concepts and truths. But the problem is that words can become so familiar to us that they lose the power they were meant to express. Grace is one of those words. Grace is a word that has become so common that it has lost its awe-inspiring, can’t-believe-it to- be-true reality in which it is trying to express. This is why it’s time to bring grace back in a whole new way. Grace is God’s love in action given to people who deserve the complete opposite. It is all the ways God moves to love people who, even on our greatest of days, still fall horribly short. It’s more than a concept or theory. It is the actual expression of God’s love as God moves to save us, forgive us, redeem us, heal us, and completely change us. The only way to awaken to change is we must awaken to God’s grace. Why? Because change is not just hard, it is impossible if it depends on our power and our actions. We want change, but after the emotional scene of making more commitments and wadded-up Kleenexes. After the punched-out walls because we hate the part of us that keeps failing. After the second chance, third chance, fourth chance…four hundredth chance and yet, we still blew it again and again. We realize that we still have a hard time consistently enjoying and experiencing what God has supposedly done to awaken us to the change we so desperately want. We start to think that God may have been willing to save us on the front end, before He got to know the real us that always blows it. This is where so many followers of Christ get stuck. When you lose sight of what God’s grace is all about you lose out on any hope for real change. You can’t see past your sinful habits, addictions and failures. You start to settle for a life enslaved to sin instead of living in the victory that is yours in Jesus Christ. You

72 miss the amazing reality that you have been created in the image of God, overflowing with unlimited potential, fueled by God’s infinite resurrection power. You never awaken to the amazing transformation that God wants to do in your life because grace is just a concept. But when you begin to see, trust, and live in grace as the very action of God’s love working for you, in you, and all around you, it changes everything! You start to see the whole wonder of grace in each step that God is taking to save you. Grace is what expresses the love of Jesus Christ leaving the perfection of heaven to enter the brokenness of earth to save the most broken and hurting. Grace is Jesus Christ hanging on a Cross for every sin that you deserve and experiencing the very wrath of God that should have been poured out on you. Grace is the Holy Spirit moving into the slums of your life and working to powerfully transform you into an incredible masterpiece that will display God’s greatness for all eternity. Grace is God’s loving commitment to use all His power, wisdom, mercy, strength, and goodness to completely heal you and transform you into the person He destined you to be before the creation of the world. The Apostle Paul reveals that grace is the catalyst of change (Titus 2:11–12). Grace is the very power of God that is working to awaken you to say, “No” to all ungodliness and live following Christ. Grace is the width and depth and breadth of love reaching out to save the lost and heal the hurting. Grace is the onramp that brings you into salvation, the enduring work that maintains your salvation, and sustaining power that will complete your salvation. Grace gives you the confidence that God who began the good work within you will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns (Philippians 1:6 NLT) It is God’s love in action, establishing you into a living fellowship with Christ (1 Corinthians 1:9), raising you from death to life (Ephesians 2:1-6), sealing you as His own by the gift of His Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14), empowering you to overcome by providing for every need (Hebrews 4:15), strengthening you to pursue

73 Christ (2 Timothy 2:1), transforming you completely into Christ’s image (2 Corinthians 3:18), and resurrecting your body in glory so you never experience death (Romans 8:30; 1 Corinthians 15:47–54). The whole process of being awakened to change begins and ends with grace. The catalyst to change is not earning God’s approval, but living in God’s grace. Maybe the reason change has looked so impossible to you is because you have never really seen what grace is all about. Or maybe, you have forgotten the immense power of grace. Each day this week, we look at different aspects of how God’s grace moves to bring the change that we so desperately need. So, can I once again introduce you to God’s grace? Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: “Thank you, God, for Your grace. Don’t let me ever get over the power and wonder of grace. Give me a fresh revelation of your grace. Let me see that grace is your love in action that not only saves me, but is constantly working to completely transform me into the fullness of who you destined me to be.”

DAY 29 Grace that Forgives By Pastor James Hilton John 8:1–11 God’s love for you is not a feeling or emotion. His love for you is driven by action because He wants to be with you. It is hard to imagine at times, but the reality is that God really does love you. Not with some sentimental love but love that conquers all things to be with you. It’s His love that moved Him to overcome every sin that has kept you away from being with Him. If you ever wondered how far God’s grace is willing to go to love you, all you have to do is look at what Jesus did to bring you salvation by forgiving all your sins. God forgives sinners, not because He has to, but because He really wants to be gracious to you.

74 This point was played out one morning as Jesus was teaching in the temple. Suddenly, some religious leaders dragged a woman caught in the act of adultery in front of Jesus. These religious leaders wanted to have her stoned to death for her sin because that was the just penalty for sin. What Jesus does next only Jesus could do. He did not deny the sin of this women but challenged the sin of everyone. His point was that everyone has failed and been caught in the act of sin. Everyone deserved to die because everyone has sinned. After all the accusers left, Jesus stood alone with the woman. Jesus asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:10– 11). What, Jesus? She deserves to be condemned for what she did. But Jesus doesn’t excuse her sin and say, “Oh, she couldn’t help it.” Nor did He minimize it and say, “It wasn’t that bad.” He looked sin in the face in all its ugliness—and forgave. Sin deserves condemnation. Every sin deserves the righteous wrath of God to be poured out in judgment. But instead of giving you what your sin deserves, God forgives. But this is what makes grace so profound. God must judge sin. Forgiveness can’t happen through mere sentimental words. Forgiveness must come through someone paying the penalty for what has been done. If there is no action to pay the penalty for sin, then there is no justice. The justice that needed to be paid so that sin could be forgiven happened not through what you do, but what Jesus Christ did for you. When Jesus told the woman that she could go, it meant that He would go for her. Notice the setting of where all this took place; John says it happened in the temple. Under the law, the temple was where you would bring your sacrifices to pay for your sin. Every sin demanded the penalty of death. Jesus knew that the only way she could go away forgiven was if He would go and offer a sacrifice for her. The sacrifice He would give would be His own life. He would pay the price that needed to be paid so that every sin could be forgiven. He was

75 not overlooking her sin; He was looking at the cross upon which He would take the wrath and judgment that her sin deserved. This is God’s love in action. This is grace. God’s love meets us where we are, but it refuses to let us stay there. What Jesus said to the women He says to all who are willing to come to Him for salvation…”GO and sin no more!” Not because He is overlooking your sin, but because He is looking at your sin through the Cross. God’s grace is not a matter of lowering His standards; it’s a matter of transforming His people. Every time you sin, be prepared that the enemy will come like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day to accuse you and condemn you. In that moment, what do you place your trust in? Do you trust in your ability to work harder in order for God to want you again? This is where grace becomes powerful. If you trust in what you do, you will always feel condemned, worthless, and unable to change. The religious leaders turned away from Jesus because they felt they had to go and make up for what they had done. They had to work for their forgiveness. But this woman, even after all her accusers left and no one forced her stay around, she stayed with Jesus. She was the only one who knew she could not pay for her forgiveness. She could not do enough to be loved and forgiven by God. She placed her trust in what Jesus could do. When you blow it and the enemy drags you back to the temple to pay for your sin, remember what Jesus has done for you on the Cross to forgive you. You don’t deserve it and you can’t earn it; that is why it’s grace. It’s all God’s action moving in love toward you to remove the guilt and condemnation that sin brings. Don’t turn and walk away from Jesus in shame thinking you have to pay God back. Stay and rest in what Jesus has done. Then you will hear Jesus declare, “Neither do I condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:10–11).

76 Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: Thank you, Jesus, for what you did to forgive all my sins. I stand before you completely forgiven because of my faith in you. I am leaving my sin because I rest in what you have done to love me. Spend the rest of your time praising God and thanking Him that every sin has already been forgiven through the grace of Jesus Christ.

DAY 30 Grace that is Amazing By Shana Hilton Ephesians 2:1–10 Have you ever had one of those moments when you read a passage of scripture that maybe you have read before, but it just comes alive? It literally feels like it jumps off the page and gives your heart such joy. Such peace. Such awareness. As I read the truths of Ephesians 2:1–10, that is exactly what happened. Before Christ, I was dead. Shana Hilton, wife, mom, daughter, friend, was DEAD! I was unaware of my own sinfulness and how depraved I really was. I was unaware of my separation from my Heavenly Father. I was living a life apart from God just like everyone else on this planet. My sin was separating me from true joy, true peace, true satisfaction. But God…don’t miss that, my friends, but God. Not because of anything I had done, not because I was morally alright, not because I brought anything to the table. I had nothing to offer, nothing to give. But God, because of His mercy, because of His love, because of His grace, HE gave me life. Through grace, He raised me up from my sinfulness. He brought me out of death and into life with Him and we are His workmanship. He is the one who did the work. His work on the Cross. His death, His sacrifice. His offering of Himself saved me. My friends, it is not us. We did not make the change. He called

77 us to His own and He made the change. Do you hear and feel the freedom that grace brings? Just let that truth wash over you for a minute. It is nothing we have done, and it is nothing we can do. It is a free gift offered to us by the Savior who loves us and cares for us and wants to call us His own, His child, His daughter, His son. I have heard over and over again that there is nothing I can do to make God love me more and there is nothing I can do to make Him love me less. It is His grace. His full, abundant, all sufficient grace. His work on the Cross saved me from myself. His sacrifice of Himself, dying for my sins, saved me from the destructive path that I was heading down. I was running full force to a life of selfishness, anger, and bitterness. Living only for my own glory and not for the glory of the Creator. My path was leading to death. My path was leading to a tearing apart of my family and living a life trapped in addiction. My life was leading where countless others in my extended family had led without Christ: broken, alone, dissatisfied. But God…but God made the change. But God called me out of my sin and changed me, redirected me. God created a new life within me. God moved to love me…no wonder they call it Amazing Grace. His grace is amazing. His grace is life altering. His grace is all I need to bring the change. It is His grace that gives me the ability to love my family and continue to push hard for a good marriage. His grace is what teaches me to put the person before my point. His grace allows me to offer love when my kids are going crazy. It is His grace that I rest in to work out the faith that He has called me to. It is His grace that pushes me to share with others the goodness that He has given and the love that He provides. His grace has forever changed me. I am now a new creation. Bought with a price. Freed from my sin. Standing right before my Heavenly Father who loves me. Not for anything that I have done or could do but only because of what has been done for me. When I was lost, when I was a sinner, Christ died for me. What a glorious thing. What amazing grace!

78 Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: “Thank you, Jesus, for your gift of salvation. Thank you for your grace that saved me. Your grace that called me your own. Let me rest today in your goodness, in your love, in your peace. Fill me with your kindness, gentleness, goodness, peace, patience, love and self-control. It is all you, Father. You are the one who provides, who protects, who directs. Let me rest in who you are today.”

DAY 31 Grace that Lets you Sit Down By Pastor Eric Cunningham Luke 10:38–42 I’m not sure if you have heard this saying as of yet but I can still hear it echoing off of my room walls. It goes something like this, “There is a time and place for everything.” I have heard this saying in many different tones of voice and at many different times in my life. It often came when one of my siblings was being corrected or taught a lesson. I would take that opportunity to make some kind of joke or become a great distraction in the midst of their life lesson. In any case, my parents, grandmother, and so many others in the family told me this over and over again, “ERIC, there is a time and a place for everything.” That saying never really made sense to me when I was a kid. I believed there was always time for a joke and for playing in the day. However, that is not what they were getting at. There is an amazing short story in the Bible that involves a couple of siblings and King Jesus. This story can be found in Luke 10:38–42. Take some time, sit down, and read it. I promise you, it will bless your life. The siblings in this account are Mary and Martha. Both happen to be women who love the Lord. Now, these two sisters happened to approach Jesus with two very different priorities. Martha, with a hospitable heart, welcomes Jesus by getting right to work. She is preparing food and drink for Jesus, she is serving the

79 King, the man who came to serve and not to be served. These were all very GOOD things. If we saw Martha in action today, we’d definitely give her high praise. We’d call her hard-working, a hustler, someone who grinds, who is driven—long story short, Martha was not a lazy person. She would give any person a run for their money when it came to working hard. Luke does something quite interesting in this account. As if he were directing a Hollywood award winning movie, he zooms in on Martha’s sister Mary and in slow motion provides an Oscar worthy shot of Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet. That’s it, just sitting at the feet of Jesus. Everything Martha was doing in this story would be considered admirable by our standard today. Martha was serving, and that’s good, right? But Jesus, in common Jesus fashion, flips things upside down. He says to Martha, “You are DISTRACTED by MUCH serving.” What He was saying to Martha was, you are TOO BUSY serving to sit. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. After all, someone has to do the work, right? But what Jesus ends up teaching her and us is that serving Him should never take the place of simply being with Him. Because her priorities were backwards, Martha ended up feeling like Jesus didn’t care. If she had simply spent a few moments with Him before getting to the grind, she would have known that there was no way Jesus didn’t care about her efforts. Instead, she would have felt filled up with His encouragement. Let’s cut back to that award worthy shot of Mary who just so happens to be sitting at the Savior’s feet and listening to His teaching. Why was this so important? Why did Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, zoom in on Mary? It is easy. ONE THING IS NECESSARY—The good portion that Mary chose is what is necessary. That is what Jesus said. That one thing is to sit at His feet with full and undivided attention and devotion. To drink from His well that will never leave you dry or thirsting for a drink from any other well. Not the well of serving, not the well of approval, not the well of addiction. If you drink from the well of Christ, you will never visit another well again.

80 Martha was pressed to keep serving because she felt she had to earn the attention and devotion of Jesus. Mary understood that grace lets you sit down in the presence of Jesus because you realize you can’t earn what He wants to give. You seek Jesus not to earn something from Him, but because you find everything in Him. Grace is what allows us to sit at the feet of Jesus. Mary chose the good portion which is the GOD PORTION. It is my hope that we also choose the Good Portion. Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: Sovereign King, we wish to see Jesus. (John 12:21) We want to have the hearts of those whose only desire is to see your Son, to see the risen King. There is no greater gift than your Word and we only pray that because your Son is the Word. Salvation, hope, peace, comfort, and all good things come through Him. Those are all things we desire to have in our lives. So, Lord, we wish to see Jesus. Because that is our desire, we will sit at the table in your presence in front of your Holy, God-breathed Word until you give us a revelation of Jesus. We want and desire the good portion and that portion is Jesus. We love and revere you. In Jesus name, AMEN!

DAY 32 The Spirit gives you the grace you need to change By Pastor James Hilton Read Galatians 5:16 and Romans 8:8–11 Do you ever think “That’s just the way I am”? Do you believe that certain desires, actions or habits are just part of your personality, and will never change? This is one of the biggest lies the enemy uses to keep you trapped in sin. You will never change if you think that change is impossible. That is why this lie is so destructive. Change is possible! How do you know? Because God is personally involving Himself to accomplish in you what you can’t do on your own.

81 The grace of God is what God has done, what He is presently doing, and what He is committed to do in the life of every follower of Christ to make them whole. One of the greatest acts of grace is that God has given you the Holy Spirit to live in you. The Holy Spirit is the third divine Person of the Trinity, linked with, yet distinct from the Father and the Son. He is the very presence and power of God that lives in us as followers of Christ. The Spirit that lives in you is committed to changing you! The problem is that most Christ-followers have no clue what it looks like to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. If you want to change, you must learn to depend on the Spirit’s power. Galatians 5:16 GNB says, “Let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature” GNB. Salvation is instant, but living in that salvation is a process. The change that God wants to do in your life is a process of following the Spirit. Here is the tricky part: Paul does not say you won’t have those sinful desires. Spirit-filled people are still going to have sinful desires. But the Spirit is now giving you new desires and empowering you to pursue what God wants. Everything you do in life is driven by desire. Desire is not wrong; the question is what desires are you following. As you allow the Spirit to direct you, you will not satisfy your sinful desires. You have to understand that apart from the work of the Spirit, change is not only hard, change IS IMPOSSIBLE. You will never have the desire to pursue Christ and die to sinful desires on your own. This is why Paul says, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). In yourself, you do not have the ability to follow Jesus. You have no ability to change yourself because the only desires you have are to please yourself. Here is the good news of grace, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you” (8:8–9a). That “however” signals hope! The Spirit has enabled you with ALL the power you need to change. The flesh is the old nature, the old life, crucified with Christ. The flesh is the very thing God removed from you so that you could come alive to Christ.

82 Every Christ-follower is given the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the moment of salvation. The Spirit is now moving and working in you to make the impossible possible. The Spirit has empowered you to do EVERYTHING that God has required you to do. He has given you a mind to think the thoughts of Christ, hearts that love God and others, desires that push you to seek God above all other things, and a redeemed will to make the choice to make godly decisions. Is the war with sin over? NO! There is still is a battle with sin. You must choose to live by Spirit, but your old nature doesn’t go down without a fight. But now you have the power to fight. You are not fighting for victory, you are fighting from the victory that Christ has already secured for you. Maybe you’re wondering exactly how much power is available. In Romans 8:11, Paul says, in essence, “The same power that resurrected Jesus Christ from the grave is the same power that lives in you! The power available to change you is the very power that brought Jesus back from the dead.” The resurrection power of Jesus Christ is available to help you be the person God wants you to be, right now, this moment. We don’t need more power; we just need to live in the power that God has already given us. All the power to change comes through following the Holy Spirit. How? Get ready for some quick pneumatology (big word meaning doctrine of the Holy Spirit). The Spirit reveals sin so that we can recognize it and turn away from it. He gives us spiritual eyes to see the glory of Christ, so we live to passionately pursue Christ. He makes the truth of Scripture come alive to us so we understand its meaning and apply it to our lives. Then He creates new desires in us so that we begin to love and hunger for more and more of Christ and are changed from the inside out! The Spirit working is the grace of God, but we still must make the decision to follow what the Spirit wants. This is not willpower

83 or trying harder. This is faith working to experience the change that the Holy Spirit is empowering us to live in. If we give in to sin, the fault is not with the Spirit’s power but allowing our desire for sin to direct us instead of the Spirit. Awaken Moment – Declare over your life right now, ”I have been set free through Jesus Christ. Sin is no longer in control of me, I am controlled by the Spirit of God.” Say it again really loud! “Thank you Jesus for your Spirit that lives in me. Help me to live directed by your Spirit. Create in me greater desires for you. Thank you for the grace of your Spirit living in me.”

DAY 33 Grace is God moving; Faith is you moving By Pastor James Hilton Read Philippians 2:12–16 I hope you are ready for what you are about to read because I believe it is the turning point that awakens change. Will it be easy? No! Will it answer ALL your questions about change? NO! But I hope it will begin to connect the dots about how God really changes your life. The focus of change is always God. It’s a process of following Jesus. That is our goal. We want to encounter, experience, and know God through our relationship with Jesus Christ. The good news is that Jesus Christ accomplished everything to make knowing and loving God a reality. Not just one day in Heaven, but now. Grace is God’s divine, powerful, wise, incredible, over-the-top love in action. God is the One who always moves first in loving you, saving you, forgiving you, empowering you, and changing you. On God’s side, He has accomplished everything for you. His grace has forgiven you and empowered you to be changed into the perfection of Jesus Christ. Every broken area healed.

84 Every addiction unbound. Every sin overcome. To guarantee your change, the Holy Spirit has moved into your life and will transform you through the power of the resurrection. It’s all grace! Here is where it gets confusing and a lot of people miss it. What part do you play in changing? Some would argue that you need to “let go and let God” do all the changing for you. Others would argue that the beginning of salvation is all God’s work, but now that you are saved, it’s your responsibility to change. Maybe we need to ask a better question. How does God’s grace empower you to work as you work out what God has empowered you to do? God’s grace not only forgives you, but His grace empowers you to change through the Holy Spirit. Grace is what makes you able to do what you could not do in your own ability. But this change is not passive. To live in grace means that you live by faith. Grace and faith go together. Grace is God acting, whereby faith is you acting. God moves to give grace, but you receive and respond to God’s grace through faith. Faith is action on your part. Grace is freely given, whereas faith requires effort. Grace does not resist effort; it resists earning. Grace does not excuse sin; it empowers us to live striving and seeking by faith to do and be all God says. Paul knew the power of grace, but also understood the effort of faith. “But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out His special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by His grace” (1 Corinthians 15:10 NLT). Catch what Paul was saying. It was grace, but it was Paul empowered by grace to work. Through God’s grace, you have access to the power of God to change you. Through faith, you take hold of what God has empowered you to do. Change is a fight of faith. A fight to believe the truth that through Jesus Christ, God’s grace has empowered you to change, forgiven you of every failure, given you victory over every sin, healed you of

85 all brokenness, set you free from every addiction, adopted you as a child He loves, and resurrected everything that is dead. Through faith, you make every effort to trust enough to obey what God says and live surrendered to His will. You put on, put off, put to death, strive, and make every effort to live by faith in and through God’s grace. Grace is the catalyst of change and faith gives us access to the grace that changes us. God’s grace does not automatically produce obedient change. We’re told to obey, empowered by the Spirit to obey, and then we put faith every effort to obey. God is the One moving with love to give us everything we need to change (1 Thessalonians 5:23), but we must pursue grace through faith. God designed it so that part of the transformation process will be the deliberate, willed opposition to sins in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul encourages us to “work out our salvation” (Philippians 2:12). Why? Because “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him” (Philippians 2:13 NLT). We continually work to bring to completion what God has started. It’s actively pursuing obedience in the process of “straining” and “pressing on” toward the goal of becoming more like Christ. If we want to change, then we do it by continuous, sustained, strenuous effort of faith empowered by the grace of God. Killing the sin we hate so much can’t be overcome by waiting passively for the miracle of instantaneous change. We’re not waiting for a miracle to change. We are acting as a miracle of change. Our action is God’s action in fighting your sin. Our willing is God’s willing. Is it easy? NO! But it is worth it! Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: “Thank you for your grace that empowers me. I now live by faith trusting you and obeying you. Reveal to me the areas that need to die, so that I may live more in the fullness of Christ. Through grace I live to fight for change by faith.”

86 DAY 34 Deeper into Grace By Sydney Prince Read Galatians 3:23–29 and 1 Peter 2:24 When I was in high school, I truly believed that I wasn’t that bad off. I wasn’t having premarital sex, watching R rated movies, or sneaking out and going to parties. I was looking at life through a worldly lens, and through that lens, I looked pretty good! Teachers, parents, family, and friends always told me I was such a good person. It was like sin had a scale. There are the really bad sins and then the little sins that don’t hurt anyone. Having a lustful thought, wishing I had the life that others did, and telling a little lie didn’t seem to hurt anyone. And looking back, I realized that I was basing my position with God on what I thought was ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ I grew up going to church, but no one had ever sat me down and said “Sydney, even what you think of as the smallest of sins has a cost.” So, through today’s devotional, I want to be upfront and honest with you. No matter how good we think we are, we are all sinners and if we put ourselves up next to a Holy God, we are incredibly tainted. Isaiah 46:6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” We cannot do enough good deeds to outweigh the amount of sin in our lives. Isaiah tells us that even our righteous acts alone are like filthy rags. If you are keeping the law (or being morally good) as a way of salvation, it produces only death and destruction because of its curse. You may be feeling hopeless after hearing this, but it’s important to realize how much you need a Savior. And Hallelujah that your story doesn’t have to end there! It’s your utter incapacity to change you—not before, not now, not ever—that makes the grace of God so incredible.

87 Those scales that I thought God used to measure big sins and little sins, or the scales that proved to God that I was doing a good job or bad job—the truth is those scales don’t exist. There are no scales. You’re either totally accepted, loved and justified through Jesus Christ, or you’re not accepted, loved, and justified at all. It’s that straightforward. It’s either completely by grace or nothing at all. Trying to change in order to attract God’s attention or to get on His good side has never been an option. Striving for His honor roll by handing in a good report card is as ludicrous as trying to jump to the sun from your front door. Trying to earn God’s love does not work because God has already moved to love you. Grace changes everything! Because of our sin, Jesus, the Son of God, came to Earth. He took on flesh and lived a perfect life. He had no sinful thoughts, words, or actions. He was pure and blameless in every way. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24). Like it says in 1 Peter 2:24, Jesus took OUR punishment for us. Jesus paid to set us free from the penalty of sin, but He also set us free from the power of sin. The chains are broken! No longer do we have to live like slaves to our sin and shame. If we are followers of Jesus Christ, God looks at us and no longer sees a filthy rag. He looks at us and sees Jesus. What a beautiful picture of love in action. He loved us enough to take on our punishment, and not only that, but to give us everlasting life. This change of going from death to life is NEVER CHANGING. As children of God, there’s nothing we can do that could make Him change His mind about us. Grace allows us to know that God loves us with the same intensity on our worst of days. And He loves us with incredible love on our greatest of days.

88 I still struggle and sin, but because I understand the level of love that Jesus has for me, I WANT to obey His commands and live a life that is pleasing to Him. Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: Jesus, if I were to look back at my life, the amount of sin I’ve committed against you is overwhelming. But THANK YOU for paying the price so that I can be free from my sin. I no longer have to be a slave to constantly feeling shame because sin has NO hold on me. Lord, when the evil one comes to try and convince me that I’m not good enough, or that I need to do more to gain your love, I BIND those thoughts in the name of Jesus. The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy but the victory is mine in Christ Jesus. Thank you for carrying the weight of it all. In you there is life and grace that I do not deserve. Jesus, help me to live a life that is pleasing to you. Thank you for grace. I give my all to you. Amen.

89 90 WEEK SIX CHANGE THAT REALLY, REALLY LASTS

MEMORY VERSE Christ’s love compels us…that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:14–15 NIV The death of Jesus Christ is the most important event in the history of the world. Our hope for change is not based upon ideas or philosophies, but rather upon one man, Jesus Christ, and the one event, His death and resurrection. It is at the Cross that we are awakened to the love that has the power to produce lasting change. What will ultimately motivate us to change and create a passion for continuous change in our lives is a burning, passionate love for God. The Cross is where that love is ignited. At the Cross, we can reflect on how deep our sin goes, how much God does truly love us, and the lengths He will go to in order to change everything about us. His love changes everything. Nothing in us is untouched. Everything is changed!

91 DAY 35 The Only Place Where Lasting Change Is Found By pastor James Hilton Read 2 Corinthians 5:14–15 When Paul writes that “Christ’s love compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14), he is using incredibly strong language to describe what the love of Christ actually does in our lives. The word “compels” refers to a pressure, a force that shapes us. The pressure is applied not so much to control you as it is to cause you to move to action. It is motivational rather than a guiding force. The source of the pressure is the love of Christ. Christ’s love shown in His death for us is what radically transforms us. The love of Christ compels us, controls us, constrains us, moves us…awakens us! To do what? That we should no longer live for what we want, but live to follow Jesus Christ. It’s the love of Christ that changes us. It gives us the power and motivation to no longer do just what we want, but to surrender everything over as we live for Christ. Christ’s self-sacrificing love restrains us from self-seeking. The more we encounter and experience the love of Christ, the more it changes us not from the outside in, but from the inside out. The verb “compel” is also in the present tense, which emphasizes the continuous nature of the pressure upon Paul. The possibility that those who have followed Christ could revert back to just living for themselves is very real. Paul knew from personal experience of those who had turned away from Christ to follow their sinful desires. He knew that what we trust in to change we must be powerful enough to completely change us. Change driven by fear, manipulation, and guilt will cause us to start to change, but soon leave us giving up in exhaustion and frustration. Threats and commands will only change our behavior externally. Laws and rules can only tell us what not to do. Behavioral compliance to rules without heart change will always be superficial and fleeting. We will do it, but will hate it all the way. I have seen so many people try to change through

92 religion, guilt, and so many other tactics, but none of these can produce the change that we hunger for and desperately need. Maybe for you, it’s believing in yourself and having a determined attitude that you trust in to change you. Let me be as honest as I can; if you’re relying on willpower to transform you, let me save you a lot of money, time, and future counseling expenses— you’re doomed to fail. I know you have told yourself a hundred times that willpower, grit, and putting on a positive outlook is the key to lasting change, but they don’t stand a chance in the world we live in. You can’t convince your way into change. The sinful desires in you and the environment around you form a deadly combination that is far too powerful, addicting and stressful to overcome through sheer determination. The only way to lasting change is to discover what Paul found. What kept Paul walking in repentance, fighting sin and focused on passionately following Christ? What will keep us going as well when willpower, religion, and guilt is not enough? It is living with a constant awareness of the extraordinary love of Christ. The profound revolution that brings lasting change is seeing the love of Jesus Christ dying for you on the Cross. We love Him and desire to live for Him as we realize that He loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20). Only the power that comes through the Holy Spirit awakening you to the love of Jesus Christ can completely change you. The amazing love of God is the only power that God designed to really change you. God’s love for you creates a love for God in you. If you really experience God’s love in your life, then you will be changed and your behavior will be radically different. You obey, not to earn God’s love, but because you realize that you are fully loved by God. What God is after is not religious obedience or even a cleaned- up version of you. God wants you to love Him. Loving God is the fulfillment of all the commands. This love only comes from knowing that through Christ, you are completely loved and NEVER have to earn His love. Knowing you have been completely restored, accepted, approved in Christ’s love compels you to live for Him and deny all other things.

93 When Paul was awakened to that love, he was never the same. He endured hardships, betrayal, extreme difficulties, and withstood intense spiritual attacks. Yet, through it all, he discovered a love that allowed him to go forward while fighting the battles within him to turn from Christ and the battles outside him to doubt the goodness of God. He found the power that changed him was not in earning the love of God, but resting and living in the love of God. Awaken Moments – Take time and pray something like this: “Thank you, Jesus! I take heart in this truth of your love. I rejoice in your love. I am strengthened in your love. For your love compels me to keep fighting in faith, empowered by grace, and walking in obedience to all you have called me to do. Thank you that you loved me! Thank you that I am precious to you and you delight in me. What gives me confidence to know that truth is that you sent your Son to die that you might have me, and that I can have you (1 Peter 3:18). Open my eyes that I may see more of your infinite love.”

DAY 36 God’s love changes everything! By Pastor James Hilton Read 1 John 4:19 What will allow us to change more than anything else in life? The answer is straightforward, but powerful—Love God! It sounds so simple. But if it’s so simple, why do we get so far off track and so often? Because we allow something else in life to take the place of God’s love. We get caught up in pursuing more people liking us on social media, accomplishing the next thing, or just trying to satisfy our own wants. We get consumed by trying to do more things for God (prayer, Bible study, church attendance, etc.) instead of just focusing on God Himself. We let the busyness of the world, our own cares, and selfish desires crowd God out of the center of our lives.

94 If loving God is what brings change to our lives, how can we keep loving God when we are pulled in so many different directions? John gives us a radical answer in 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” Our love for God is started and sustained in response to His love for us. We can’t manufacture love. We can’t read about it and take “four easy steps” to love God. No, our love for God is always in direct relation to our awareness of His love for us. This is a radical concept: The more we understand God’s love for us, the more we, in turn, will love God. Once you see the goodness of His love, it now becomes the primary power behind your choices to live for God. Understanding and receiving the love of God in Jesus Christ not only does things for you—forgives your sins, makes you righteous before God, makes you a child of God—it also does a great work within you. The love of God changes every other love in your life. It is impossible for you to know the love of God and not have it change you substantially, essentially, and profoundly. How does God’s love change you? God’s love changes what you love. The more you see the love of God, the more you want to live the fullness of your life in His love. You begin to find joy in what brings God joy. You begin to hate what God hates. You embrace more and more of God; you dive deep into His Word and find joy with His people. You see evil and sin within yourself and in the lives of those you love, and it breaks your heart, so you pray against it. You fight against sin because you understand that sin grieves the heart of God. There are consequences for our actions, in this life and in the next, so you live loving God. God’s love gives you confidence. Unshakable confidence for you to come before Him, knowing that every sin is already forgiven. Boldly entering into His presence because you understand that He is a good, Good Father. When you sin, you run toward Him because you grasp that He does not condemn you, but desires to heal you. You live in contentment because as a son or daughter of God, you trust that you lack no good thing. Assured that no matter where you go, you are never alone, He is always with you. Always following where God directs because the hand

95 of the Good Shepherd always leads you to good places. God’s love gives you courage. You have courage to face your greatest fears knowing that His perfect love will always protect you. No one is ever written off because God uses your faith to heal the wounds of the worst of sinners and makes enemies into best friends. Facing your selfishness and pride, your greatest weaknesses and failures and running to God for mercy, to stand before Him forgiven, clean, pure, beloved and holy because of the Cross of Christ and not because of anything in you at all. You live in expectancy because God answers every prayer. Every day is lived with awareness that God is on the move and wants to bring the miracle through you. Understanding that you are a world-changer created by God to make a difference because He is working through you. God’s love frees you. Freedom, not to do whatever you want, but being enabled by the Spirit to do what you were designed to do. Free to follow Christ and experience abundant life and joy. Free to find to fulfillment as you feast off God’s greatness. Free to discover your identity, not in what you do, but what Jesus has done for you. Free to humbly love people because you have nothing to prove to them when you have the complete approval of God. Free to live in the fullness of Christ. Free to enjoy the grace of God in the wonder of creation and to see it all as a gift from your Good Father. Free to cast all your cares on Him. Free from worry, fear, and anxiety because God cares for you. Free from threats, guilt and rejection. Free to shout, dance, sing, praise, laugh, eat, surf, hike, whatever you do for the glory of God. Free to enjoy life because your enjoyment turns into praise for the greatness of your God. Awaken Moment – Take time to praise God for 10 ways that He has revealed His love toward you. Write them down, remind yourself of each of them this week, and allow the love of God to stir up a greater love for God. Pray that God would give you a fresh revelation of His love for you. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

96 DAY 37 Changing From Love, Not For Love By Kailey Simpson Luke 10:38–42 Have you ever felt unloved? Like you’re not enough? Or maybe you’re too much? Maybe you’ve given up on being loved and settled for being respected or isolated. Or maybe, you do feel loved, but only when you work for it—you polish your personality, make yourself valuable, and earn the “right” to be loved. If you’ve ever felt like this, you’re not alone. I have, too. And maybe, like me, there’s this little nagging thing in you that says, “This is not how it should be. Being loved should not be this hard.” And you’d be right! At least, kind of. Real, immovable, unmerited and unconditional love is impossibly hard on a human level, but it is the most natural thing in the world for God. And that’s the kind of love we were made for. God is love (1 John 4:8), and He gave us Himself. So, when we are His, we are wrapped, covered, and CONSUMED by love. There’s no earning. In fact, humanity already tried to earn it. They tried to keep up their end of a “love bargain” for thousands of years (the entire Old Testament), and they (we!) failed. That’s why Jesus came, that’s what the gospel is. But when we start talking about change, it’s far too easy to fall back into the trap of thinking the way we get love is to earn it. And maybe it doesn’t start off that way for us—maybe we start off by surrendering to a love beyond our wildest dreams, one that is out of our grasp and yet, somehow, utterly consumes us. But then, a month, a year, 10 years down the road, we might look up one day and realize that we’ve been toiling and working and earning, and somewhere along the way, we started to think our ability to change was the prerequisite to His love.

97 I’m reminded of the difference between Mary and Martha. Martha did all the right things, but Jesus could see her heart was “distracted” (v. 40), “anxious” and “troubled” (v. 41). These are words of a person who is working to earn something. Mary, however, rested at the feet of Jesus. They were both His followers. They both spent time in His presence. They were both dearly loved by Him. The difference, I think, is what they saw as their starting place. For Martha, her starting place was herself—what she could accomplish, what she could control, how she could change her surroundings (and herself) to be acceptable. She was working to earn the “prize” of love. But for Mary, the starting place was God’s love for her. She was so confident that love was already hers that she could bein Jesus’ presence without striving. She was consumed by love at the start, and transformation and worship flowed from there. Mary reminds us that love is the starting place, not a prize to win. A prize is earned. But God’s love is a force of nature, a reality that consumes us. We have to stop trying to domesticate God’s love into a resource or commodity that we think we can earn and then consume to satisfy our longings. We are still called to change. God clearly calls us to holiness (being set apart for a purpose), obedience, sacrifice and servanthood. But we find the power to change from love, not for love. We are most transformed when we start by confidently resting in love at the feet of Jesus. John’s gospel tells another account of Mary’s interaction with Jesus (John 12:3). This time, she’s found at His feet again, pouring out expensive perfumed oil and wiping His feet with her hair. It’s an extravagant, almost embarrassing, act of worship. And the scripture says, “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (v. 3). How easy is it for you to be still with the Lord? Physically, mentally, emotionally—are you able to surrender to love, or do

98 you feel a need to earn your position with Him? Does your life “smell” like an overworked factory or like a sweet perfume of extravagant worship? When we surrender to the reality that love is already ours, that becomes our starting place. We are free to learn restful worship, and that becomes the catalyst for change. And that change, our worship, fills the room like a sweet perfume—shifting entire atmospheres and letting others know, “Love is here, and He is where we begin.” Awaken Moment – “Father, your love is unfathomable. Deeper than I imagine, and absolutely perfect. I praise you and thank you that you made this love—yourself—our starting place. But Lord, I confess that the posture of my heart often doesn’t start there. I confess that I often try to earn a position with you by my own merit. Father, teach me to start from your love. Help me grow in awareness of your initiating love today, learn to rest in it, worship from it, and allow it be to my catalyst for change. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

DAY 38 Love Moves! By Pastor James Hilton Read Jude 17–25 I love God, but I don’t always feel “in love” with God. Those feelings of love come as I move to love God and pursue Him. I can’t allow my feelings to dictate my love for Him. I have to allow my love to dictate my actions. How do you do that? Jude gives us the answer, “Keep yourselves in God’s love” (Jude 21 NIV). You are to be actively involved in remaining in God’s love. God loves you. Keeping God’s love does not mean you are trying to earn it. God loves you completely and fully through Jesus Christ. Keeping yourself in God’s love is exerting all your Spirit- empowered effort to remain in God’s love. It’s your constant

99 awareness and pursuit of His love that changes you. As you keep yourself in God’s love, “He is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24 NIV). God will keep loving; the challenge is that you must keep yourself in constant awareness of God’s love and pursue Him in love. God’s love is what keeps us from stumbling and is the power behind the entire experiential process of change and victory over sin. It is becoming rooted and grounded in God’s love for you. As you give your heart completely over to dependence upon the love of God, God’s love empowers you to change and keeps you from stumbling. There are times when I don’t want to worship, pray, or fight off anger, lust, envy, depression, or a thousand other temptations that hit me like a punch in the gut. In those moments, I have to make a choice of pursuing God above what I want to pursue. I have to remember His love for me and allow that love to move me. That is the essence of keeping in God’s love. Love can never be passive. One of the tricks the enemy uses to keep you trapped is to convince you that your intentions for change are enough. You live with good plans and strong convictions, but you never actually do what God has directed you to do. That’s not change; that’s laziness! Laziness will never produce the change God wants to bring in your life. Love moves! You have a decision every time you sin. Sin is always a choice. It is a decision to allow what you feel to direct your life instead of allowing the Spirit that is in you to direct your life. It’s easy to become passive with sin when we just “let” ourselves react to life instead of keeping ourselves in God’s love. Sin always tries to lie to you, telling you that it’s no big deal and that it’s inevitable. This feels especially true with habitual sins or strongholds we have allowed the enemy to set up in our lives. When that desire for sin comes rushing in, it feels like it is going to have its way and you can’t stop it. In that moment, as soon as you make that agreement, you are going to stumble. But it is not inevitable. Through Jesus Christ, God’s love has completely

100 restored you, the Spirit lives in you and is empowering you to keep in God’s love. You have an option. You have to allow your love for God to take action in your life. You can’t keep in God’s love and have a passive approach to the action God has called you to take. Passivity exposes that you have chosen something or someone over God. It reveals that you are merely living on your intentions of loving God instead taking action to love God. You have lost sight of God’s love for you, which has caused you to start loving other things more than God. Stop just sitting there wishing for the day when your sin and struggle will magically disappear. God promises to keep you from stumbling as you keep in His love. This is the power of real change. Resist sin, fight your fleshly desires, and give your whole heart in love to God. Delight in God. Choose Him over everything else in life. Fill your mind with the promises of His love for you. Never stop talking to God, worshiping God, praising God, and allowing Him to be involved in every part of your day. Trust that God has completely given you all the strength you need to follow Christ and become who He has called you to be. Allow God’s love to be your strength as you crucify your self- fulfilling ways. Rest in God’s love for you, but never rest in your battle against the flesh and the devil. What is God asking you to do that you have been reluctant to do? Make a commitment to keep in God’s love and put aside passivity. Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: “God, I come to you now to be restored in you, to be renewed in you, to receive from you all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I receive your love for me and commit to keep in your love. I know that I will never drift into a passionate, deep, intimate relationship with you. I can’t be passive and keep in your love. With every effort, sacrifice, and purpose, I come to follow you. I give my life to you today to keep in your love, knowing you will keep me from stumbling.”

101 DAY 39 Let Jesus Love You By Mary Ellen Chandler Romans 8:1–11 As humans, we all have limits to our love in relationships. It’s in our DNA as sinners in need of a savior. Someone else gets the opportunity we wanted; the seed of bitterness gets planted. A friend confronts us; our defenses rise. We get hurt; walls go up. Even with our best motives, we still love to a limit. This is our natural posture. But have you ever stopped to realize that those of us who are in Christ have a loving Father who doesn’t operate this way? All too often we view God as a god who loves us, but doesn’t really like us. A God who gives us His attention, but we’re a child begging for it, as if He’s distracted in front of the TV during the last minute of the game. But today, let’s renew our minds in the truth of what God really thinks about us. When we take the time to meditate on the depths of His love and delight for those of us who are His children, it changes the very course of our lives and propels us into a daily stride of godly confidence. The stronghold of endlessly striving to earn God’s favor is broken, and we begin to walk free. I recently read a book that expounds on God’s love for His children. In the book, Dane Ortlund writes, “The posture most natural to [Jesus] is not a pointed finger but open arms.” When this is our perspective, we see Jesus for who He truly is. In Romans 8:1 (ESV), it says, “therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Did you read that correctly? No condemnation. As someone who is in Christ, it’s hard to fully believe that statement some days. I might read it as, “There is now less condemnation…” as if my standing with Jesus has improved, but His heart for me comes from a place of reluctance and irritation. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth! His love and approval for me isn’t based on what I do or don’t do.

102 But we fall short of the Glory of God, right? Of course we do. There are none who are inherently righteous. It’s not that we lose sight of that; it’s that we begin to live confidently in the reality that He has clothed us in His righteousness in spite of our sin. That’s the beauty of the Gospel—though we deserve death, we are declared innocent. Spotless. A New Creation. It’s as if our past, present, and future sin never happened. Therefore, there’s no need to collect ourselves before we come to Jesus because our sin and brokenness are precisely what qualifies us to come to Him. In Romans 5:20 NLT, it says, “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.” If we could grasp how deep and wide His grace extends, the internal scales of good deeds vs. bad deeds would be gone; the ceaseless anxiety of feeling like you’re never doing enough would be gone; your cycle of self-condemning would be gone. You would finally come home to true and lasting rest in the arms of the One who loved you and gave Himself for you. Christ already accomplished on the Cross what we couldn’t do for ourselves. All that’s required is for you to come to Him. If you are a child of God but you are suffering from the weight of self-condemnation, open yourself up to the One who gives rest to all who are weary and heavy-laden. Stop trying to earn His favor when the favor has already been given to you. Stop working for His attention when the attention is already on you. He wants what is good for you even more than you want it for yourself. He wants to love you, so let Him love you today! Awaken Moment – Take time and pray something like this: God, I come to you with all my effort and striving and I’m laying it down at your feet. Your love and grace compel me to let go and trust in what you have already done on the Cross. Thank you that your love for me is not based on my performance. Thank you that you can’t love me any more or less than you do right now. Empower me to live in the truth of who you say I am. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

103 DAY 40 Love Demands Judgment By Pastor James Hilton Matthew 27:35–50 It’s our last day of 40 Days, please don’t rush what we are going to talk about today. Get alone and carve out a time to just be still as you read. I have prayed hard for God to give you a fresh revelation of His love as you enter into His presence. I left one of the hardest subjects to talk about until this day. Not because it’s hard, but because I wanted you to see the climax of God’s love for you. Throughout these 40 days, we have seen that change is found in following Christ and what empowers that change is living in the love of God. But how do you know that God really, really loves you? This is where it takes us going to the deepest and most difficult subjects for our modern western minds to comprehend. The God of the Bible is a God of love and of justice. The struggle so many have is that if God is loving and perfect, then He should forgive and accept everyone. How can a loving God actually judge someone? We have been told that love is without judgment. But that is not what Jesus revealed. Jesus talked a lot about God’s love, but also a lot about God’s judgment. What Jesus revealed is that love demands judgment if it’s to be real love. Love without judgment is indifferent, uncaring, and detached; it really isn’t love at all. It is honest and confrontational. If God is love, then judgment must happen. God is completely driven by love in all actions, thoughts, and intentions. God’s wrath flows from His love and delight in His creation. Sin violates and contaminates all that God has made, creating a separation between Creator and creation. He is angry at evil and injustice because it is destroying peace and integrity of the creation that He deeply loves. This leaves us with a very difficult question—how can a holy, just, loving God forgive those who deserve His judgment? That question is answered in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before Jesus dies.

104 On this night, we find Jesus in utter agony, dismayed, and crying. But why? What is it that Jesus is wrestling with here that causes Him such anguish? He knew that He was going to the Cross. But the torture of the Cross was not what He is wrestling with. Jesus tells us precisely the cause of His torment—“Father, let this cup pass” (Luke 22:42). To understand His anguish and agony, you have to understand what he meant by “cup.” The Old Testament Jew was well acquainted with a number of metaphors for God’s wrath. Darkness, thunder, the winepress— such images captured the severity of God’s hatred and judgment of sin. But there was another symbol that Israel was quite familiar with—the cup of God’s wrath: “It is God who executes judgment…for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and He pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs” (Psalm 75:7–8). “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His wrath…” (Isaiah 51:17). The cup was a dreadful symbol of the deserved holy wrath of God being poured out on all those who oppose Him in sin. Every enemy of God would be judged for the sin they had committed. God can’t let sin exist and still be just and holy. But never had the total measure of God’s wrath, the eternal weight of it, His complete justice been poured out before. On this night in the garden, Jesus knew He would fully drink the cup of God’s wrath. It was with this understanding that Jesus was on the ground, sweating drops of blood. He knew that on the cross, the full measure of God’s wrath would be poured out on Him. Why on the perfect One? Because that is what He came to accomplish. The punishment of every sin that should have been poured out on those who deemed God worthless and had rebelled against His glory and goodness would be poured on perfect Jesus. On the Cross, the God of justice would judge sin.

105 But this is what is so amazing. Jesus rises from the ground and heads to the Cross. He goes because the God of love was also on the move to forgive every sin of everyone who will have the faith to call out to Jesus to save them. He would fight the greatest battle against evil, sin, and all the powers of hell to save you. On the Cross, the God of love would forgive sin. What does this tell us about the love and justice of God? It shouts that we are so deeply loved by the Savior that He was willing to swallow hell itself for us. It reveals that God is so holy and just that Jesus would die in judgment for our sin. When Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” on the Cross, He was actually experiencing the forsakenness and wrath we deserve. He was drinking the cup on our behalf! There on the Cross, God chose to pour out the much-needed judgment upon His Son, Jesus, instead of us. Because of His great love, Jesus freely and willingly took our place in bearing the penalty of death that each of us deserved. In doing so, He satisfied the justice of the Law for our judgment. Jesus Christ drank the cup so that we who trust in Him will never have to drink the cup of God’s wrath. Jesus Christ, and He alone, can save us from the wrath to come because He absorbed the wrath of God for us on the Cross. It’s at the Cross where love and judgment come together. It’s at the Cross where change happens because you see how much you are loved. It’s this love that compels us to now live for Christ!

106 Awaken Moment – Take time to slowly read these verses. Be still in the presence of God. Ask Him to show you His love and justice in the wonder of the Cross. Pray them back to God in praise and as a commitment to live in Christ’s love. • “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—.” Romans 3:23–25 NIV • “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”Romans 5:8 NIV • “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10 NIV • “Jesus Christ…To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,” Revelation 1:5 NIV • “Christ’s love compels us…that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14–15 NIV

107 108 CONTRIBUTORS

Pastor James Hilton – Lead Pastor and Teacher

Pastor Eric Cunningham – Sanford Location Pastor Pastor Jadner Lugo – Journey Students Pastor Pastor Austin Prince – Orange City Associate Pastor Pastor John Sellers – DeLand Location Pastor PAstor David Washburn – Deltona Worship Coordinator

Mary Ellen Chandler – Communications/Graphic Designer Shana Hilton – Guest Experience Director Adrienne Lugo – Journey Kids Director Nick Reiherzer – DeLand Worship Coordinator Sydney Prince – Commmunications/Social Media Kailey Simpson – Orange City Worship Coordinator Tom Wycuff

109 REFERENCES

This 40-day devotional is to be used for educational purposes only and cannot be sold or reproduced without prior consent from the Journey. Some ideas, thoughts, and material from the following books were used in the writing of this 40-day devotional: • Killing Kryptonite: Destroy What Steals Your Strength by John Bevere • Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges • Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan • Recovering Redemption: A Gospel Saturated Perspective on How to Change by Matt Chandler & Michael Snetzer • Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You by Henry Cloud • You Can Change by Tim Chester • Free to Live: The Utter Relief of Holiness by John Eldredge • Systematic Theology by Wayne A. Grudem • AHA: The God Moment That Changes Everything by Kyle Idleman • Gospel Transformation by World Harvest Mission • God is Good by Bill Johnson • Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters by Timothy Keller • Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just by Timothy Keller • Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Its Cure by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones • Downpour: He Will Come to Us Like the Rain by James McDonald

110 • A Call to Die: A 40 Day Journey of Fasting from the World & Feasting on God by David Nasser • Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist by John Piper • The Passion of Jesus Christ: Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper • Grace: The Power To Change by James Richards • The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) • The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, ESV, Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. • The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. These are identified by (NIV). • The Holy Bible: New Living Translation, Copyright 1996 by Tyndale House Publishers. These are identified by (NLT). • The Holy Bible: The New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Nashville Thomas Nelson These are identified by (NKJV). • Holy Bible: Good News translation, Copyright 2001 by Zondervan. These are identified by (GBN) Thank you Browns for allowing me the opportunity to stay at “Bethel” to write these 40 Days! Thank you to all the Journey staff that utilized their incredible gifting to help write this year’s devotional. It is a privilege and joy to serve together with you so that everyone is helping someone take steps to follow Jesus Christ.

111 theJourney.cc 40 Days 2021 – Awaken to Change