Jesus Calling: February 21st, 2025

Jesus Calling: February 21

    Trust and Thankfulness will get you safely through the day. Trust protects you from worrying and obsessing. Thankfulness keeps you from criticizing and complaining: those "sister sins" that so easily entangle you.
    Keeping your eyes on Me is the same thing as trusting Me. It is a free choice that you must make thousands of times daily. The more you choose to trust Me, the easier it becomes. Thought patterns of trust become etched into your brain. Relegate troubles in the periphery of your mind, so that I can be central in your thoughts. Thus you focus on Me, entrusting your concerns into My care. 

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

Colossians 2:6-7 NLT

Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ

6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. 

Additional insight regarding Colossians 2:6-7: New life in Christ starts and continues when we acknowledge him as leader over all we are and do. Then we must accept his leadership daily by being rooted, built up, and strengthened in the faith. Christ wants to guide us and help us with all our decisions and challenges.  You can live for Christ by 1) committing your life and submitting your will to him (Romans 12:1-2); 2) seeking to learn from him and more about him, his life, and his teachings (Colossians 3:16); and 3) recognizing and utilizing the Holy Spirit's power within your (Acts 1:8; Galatians 5:22).

Additional insight regarding Colossians 2:7: Paul uses the illustration of being rooted in Christ. Just as plants draw nourishment from the soil through their roots, we draw our life-giving strength from Christ. The more we draw our strength from him, the less we will be fooled or entangled by those who falsely claim to have life's answers apart from Christ.

Psalm 141:8 NLT

8 I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord.

    You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.

1st Peter 5:7

7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Additional insight regarding 1st Peter 5:7: Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, to admit your need, and to let others in God's family help you. Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God's concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, he will bear the weight even of those struggles. Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. Don't submit to circumstances but to the Lord, who controls circumstances.