Today is a Day of Promotion

Today is a Day of Promotion

As a writer, I have joined several Christian author sites. They have lots of information on promoting books, from the how to get published to the how to pound the pavement to sell. There are book marketing strategies shared everywhere. There are sites that will also tell you for X amount of dollars your book will be seen everywhere. All the information gets a little overwhelming. There is one site that prays for its members daily. I have thoroughly enjoyed that site and have made some new friendships through it. All in all I find promotion to be a hard thing to do. So for the most part I’ve just let the words in the devotional book promote themselves. At any rate, books, especially fiction, must be promoted and it requires time, finances and effort. If you are willing to promote your work, the book will sell. 

Even as believers, we seek to be promoted. We often look for ways to be seen, how to move up the ladder and the best way to win friends and influence people. It’s the nature of the beast of humanity to want to be seen, acknowledged and believed in. But when we stop and pray, look to God, and let Him do the leading, we find real peace. Instead of climbing the “corporate” ladder, we spend more time kneeling on the carpet of faith and God moves. Instead of following a set of guidelines, we follow the Lord and He leads. Instead of self-promotion, we seek to glorify the Lord and He works all together for our good. 

God speaks to my heart: Today is a day of promotion. I AM promoting you. But this is like no other promotion you’ve ever known. I am promoting you from mundane to magnificent. From ordinary to extraordinary. From self-motivation to Spirit-inspiration. That feeling you have that you are being taken out of situations you always relied on is Holy Spirit orchestrated. The uncomfortable, unsettled, untracked road you find yourself on is taking you out of your ordinary self-promoted ways to My ways. You are going to learn that you can do all things – but they will be done through Christ who strengthens you. You will no longer lean on your own understanding or rely on your flesh, because the flesh profits nothing in My Kingdom. Instead of weeping over weaknesses and losses, you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace. All the weakness you feel in your flesh will be replaced by My Spirit, which will guide you, strengthen you and give you real purpose. If you will let Me, I will take you beyond the worldly circumstances, both good and bad and create in you a clean heart and a right spirit. You were made for Me, you were made to show forth my glory. I am bringing you closer to Me and you will become more Christlike as the world’s plans just fall away. You are Mine and I paid the ultimate price for you so glorify Me in your life and I will give you honor at the right time. Promotion to Kingdom living is the most wonderful promotion a believer will ever have.

Oh beloved, are you losing your grasp over one thing and another? Have you been lamenting the losses? Rejoice! Have you been worried that you won’t be seen, you won’t be heard, you won’t be loved or cared for? Our God is going to promote you to the most intimate position of fellowship with Him. As you lean more and more on Him, other things will fall by the wayside. But Christ in you will increase as you decrease. What a promotion! What a divine lifestyle! How great is our God to help you see the things of this world grow strangely dim in the Light of His glory and grace! Yes, you will still make a living, but now you are making a life in Christ. Yes, you will have relationships again and fellowship and purpose. But the purpose of promotion is to get you to the place where you can hear Me clearly, allow Me to mold you into My servant and give you a brand new life full of wonder and joy in Me alone.

God loves you and He’s for you. Don’t despair over things that are no longer in your grasp. Rejoice in the Lord and let Him have His way. God’s ultimate goal is to promote Christ in you so that you no longer live but Christ lives in you. This is real Kingdom living, promoted by the Lord Himself to live a life of love, joy, peace and more as you live in the Light of His Word and live totally dependent on Him. 

I Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Isaiah 43:21 The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.

Psalm 9:1 I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.

Are You Headed for the Wedding?

We are up and getting ready to pick up the granddaughter and head to a wedding. A couple of our friends are tying the knot today at the end of an annual biker’s new year ride. We are excited to witness the festive occasion. They have been blessed to find one another when they really weren’t even looking. That’s how God does things. We don’t always know exactly what we want or need, but He provides anyway. In fact it’s pretty wonderful how He surprises us with His love and care and His mercy and grace. All wrapped up in the Savior, we are united with Him.

We as believers are headed to a wedding as well. It’s going to be wonderful! We know the wedding is going to happen, but we don’t know exactly when. In the meantime our Betrothed is preparing everything for us. Nothing will be left undone. Nothing will be out of place. We will be completely fulfilled in Him. He too found us when we didn’t even know what we needed. While we don’t know what all it means to be with Christ in heaven forever, we do know that when it happens it will be perfect.

Life is a lot like a wedding. We prepare as best we can for it, but life’s greatest gifts can’t be worked up or paid for. Those special things like true love, best friends, church families and our beloved human kinfolks are all so wonderful. But in spite of all those wonderful relationships, we know we are still waiting for the ultimate moment of togetherness when God swoops us up like a Bridegroom and takes us away forever to our home of homes.

We are celebrating a new year today. This may be the very year He returns for us. That would be fine with me. I don’t know everything about Him yet, but I know that when I see Him face to face I’ll never be disappointed. Life here is rough sometimes. Rejection, panic attacks, health issues, family problems, job loss and more. We find ourselves less than we want to be. We also tend to define ourselves by the worst of moments.

Yet Christ sees us as we will be. He sees us through rose colored glasses – for we are covered by the Blood of the Lamb. We are able to remain faithful while waiting for Him to come get us for we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. We also have the mind of Christ so that we know what to do, how to live and what the Word says with clarity. If we were the only one He would have made all these provisions for us. If all we had was the Word of God it would be enough for His Word says “in the beginning was the Word…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Oh beloved! My prayer for you this New Year’s Day and for the entire year of 2014 is that you would learn to abide in the Lord always. Along with that I pray that you realize the awesome wonder of living a life in Christ. That you would seek His heart to be more like Him. That you know what the hope is of His calling. That you would realize the spiritual aspects of life on earth in a greater way than you’ve ever known. I also pray that as you face your weaknesses you will know that’s where your real strength lies – for He is your strength. When you face moments when you forget how to sing that you will remember He is your song. When you don’t know what to do or where to go, you will fall restfully into His arms in faith. I pray that you will let Him make you what you can’t be on your own and that you will allow Him to pour Himself into you - body, soul and spirit. Let Him make this new year all about Him and hang on as He takes you beyond your wildest dreams!

If you know only one thing about your Bridegroom beloved, I pray that you will know how deep and wide and long His love is for you and that you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is for you always. Happy, spiritually joyful and prosperous New Year to you for you are His beloved indeed.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

Ephesians 1:17-19 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.