Successfully Navigating Life

by Gregory A. Johnson

Life brings ups and downs, good times and bad times. Our emotions can be on the mountaintop one day and way down in the valley the next day. It can be like riding a roller coaster. How does one successfully ride this roller coaster called life?

King David faithfully declared that the Lord is the answer. In prayer, he tells the Lord, "You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever (Psalm 16:11, NLT).”

Jesus will show you the way of life. Get your Bible and read the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, noticing how Jesus lived his life. After you read them, read them again. Read them over and over again. Jesus came into our world to show us the way of life.

There is joy in the presence of Jesus. There is nothing like spending time with him in prayer, allowing him to renew and refresh our joy. Find you a quiet place today where you can be alone with him. He will revive you as you wait silently in his presence, meditating on him, his life, and his teachings.

How to Seek Good

by Gregory A. Johnson

Many people will be seeking many things today. Some will be seeking that which is good, and some will be seeking evil. Whatever is sought today will be found—whether good or evil.

When we turn on the news at the end of the day, or we pick up tomorrow’s paper, we will read many accounts of those who sought evil and found it. We will see that the fruit of seeking evil is death and destruction.

Have you noticed that there is not enough news about those who seek to do good? The fruit of seeking good is life-giving; it brings hope and joy. Oh, how I wish our news would be dominated by reports of those seeking good, and not evil.

Life is the fruit of seeking good. May we daily decide to seek good instead of evil; life is there for us and others if we do.

How do we seek good?

Three Choices That Will Start Your Day off Right Every Day

by Gregory A. Johnson

Each one of us has to make lots of choices today and every day. Those choices impact our lives and the lives of those around us.

If you struggle with knowing how to keep your life on the right path, here are three choices you can make every morning that will start your day off right:

1. Choose to trust God, knowing that He loves you and that there is nothing you can do to make Him love you any more or any less than He already does. His love for you is complete.
2. Choose to rejoice in the Lord because Jesus rescues you on a daily basis.
3. Choose to praise the Lord for His goodness toward you.

Beloved, make those three choices daily to start your day off right, and you will see your life will unfold as it is meant to, according to His perfect will for you.

Scripture:
“But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me” (Psalm 13:5-6, NLT).

Prayer:
Father, today I choose to trust in your love for me. I choose to praise you throughout the day for your goodness toward me, knowing that you will reveal it to me many times over. I choose to rejoice in my salvation because Jesus rescues me moment by moment. Thank you for drawing me to Him. Please drive me by your Holy Spirit today to make the right choices based on your Word. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

(The above is excerpted from the book, Be Encouraged: A Daily Devotional, Volume 1 by Pastor Gregory A. Johnson. Copyright © Gregory A. Johnson. All rights reserved.)

Know that you are loved,
gaj

Something Worth Repeating

by Gregory A. Johnson

I love the Lord’s salvation. The Lord is great!

The Lord’s salvation is not a random act because we sinned. The Lord planned to save us before the foundation of the earth was even formed. In His foreknowledge, He knew that His creation would sin, but He created us anyway. Why? Because we are His inheritance, and He desires to spend eternity with us. The Lord is great!

While we were still sinners, God put His plan into action and sent Jesus to die for our sins. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. He has given us the Holy Spirit to make us holy. The Lord is Great!

Top Ten Posts of 2015

by Gregory A. Johnson

Readers from 97 countries read and hopefully was encouraged by what I have written and shared in 2015.

I am always humbled by the number of people who take time to read what I write. I simply share what God lays on my heart, finding that God often allows me to be transparent, writing from a life that has experienced not only joy and peace, but also pain, hardship, hurt, trials, and tribulations on my journey as I follow Christ. I pray for the Spirit of God to encourage and inspire each reader as they read each word.

Please allow me to share with you the top ten posts read in 2015:

The Cross and the Empty Tomb

by Gregory A. Johnson

Not just during the Easter season, but each day, we are confronted with the cross of Christ and the empty tomb. What do they mean? Why are they so significant?

In the 1800's Ralph E. Hudson wrote the chorus to the sacred hymn, At the Cross: "At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day!"

• At the cross, we realize how much God loves us (Romans 5:8).  
• At the cross, we are justified and saved from God’s wrath (Romans 5:9).  
• At the cross, we are reconciled to God (Romans 5:10). 
• At the cross, we experience forgiveness of sins (Luke 23:34). 

The Best is Yet to Come

by Gregory A. Johnson

God is so good to his children, giving us a foretaste of glory that is to come.

Scripture declares: “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us” (Romans 8:23, NLT).

Life can be difficult at times, but God does not leave us to navigate our journey alone. He has given each Christ-follower the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit living within assures us of God’s constant and unconditional love for us and our future glory with him. The Spirit gives us tiny tastes of glory now, giving needed comfort, strength, and joy, reminding us that we are God’s children.

The Spirit living within also serves as a reminder that the best for us is yet to come. You see, if this is as good as it gets, it would be rather depressing, but we know that this is not as good as it gets. When we receive our new bodies, as promised, we receive our full rights as God’s children. Think about what this means for us:

• We will be in the presence of the Lord for all eternity.
• We will no longer be where sin is present.
• We will never be tempted again.
• We will never be lonely, depressed, or sad.
• We will not have to remember to take our medicine.
• We will no longer experience sickness, disease, or suffering.
• We will receive our perfect healing from the Great Physician.
• We will be held in the loving arms of the Lord.

Living in the Joy of the Resurrection

by Gregory A. Johnson

Becky was pregnant with our second child, and the doctor calculated that her due date would be April 1—April Fools' Day. Becky was adamant that our baby would not be born on April Fools' Day and throughout the pregnancy, she stood firm, prayed, and probably even tried to will herself out of that due date.

The closer we got to the due date, the more Becky proclaimed that our baby would not be born on April Fools’ Day. Well, it was the morning of March 30, and guess what? Nope, there was still no baby. Then that evening, Becky felt the first contraction. Was it a false contraction or was our baby coming? We waited a couple of hours and guess what? Yep, our baby was coming. I took Becky to the hospital later that night. She was in hard labor all night long and the next morning she gave birth to our precious little baby, Kelsey Ann. It wasn’t April Fools’ Day. It was March 31. And you know what fell on March 31 that year? It was Easter Sunday morning! I told everyone who would listen that Kelsey Ann was our little resurrection baby. Becky and I rejoiced!

Kelsey has grown to be a beautiful and intelligent young woman, and on every Easter morning, I remember the joy I felt the Easter morning she was born. She was not an April Fools’ baby. She was a resurrection baby!