You Can Do This

This morning, on Jan. 1, 2021, a word of encouragement.

In 1 John 4:4, John writes, Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Here’s the punch line of this verse.

Jesus is in You.

The Spirit of Jesus is in You.

You are not on Your own.

Worship will help you draw on Christ’s strength in you.

All of this adds up to this truth.

You can do this.

You can do 2021.

No matter what may come, you can do this.

Because Christ is in You, you have His…

  • Courage
  • Patience
  • Perseverance
  • Endurance
  • Ingenuity
  • Heroism
  • Capacity to bear suffering well
  • Capacity to find joy in each and every moment
  • Trust in the Father
  • Power to do the will of the Father
  • Power to minister compassionately to others when you yourself are in pain

Yes, John said that we are “little children,” and I have never felt more like a child swinging at a big bully than I have this year.

The punches I landed felt like they left no dent on the trials that came my way.

I’m confident you may have felt the same at times.

But we’re not just children. We are children with the God of the universe backing our act.

We can do this. You can do this.

Why? Because you were raised right, or you’ve got more natural stamina because of your hard knocks, genetics, or heritage?

No. Those things will help us not break down as often as we might without them.

But this is the truth we stand on, and you can stand on in 2021.

Jesus is in You.

You can do this.

He that is in You is greater than anything the world will throw at you in 2021.

I’m praying for you as you read this, that you will know, deep in your bones, that this is true.

Grace and Peace fill you,

Dan +

 

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Sheltering Mercy: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms

Sheltering Mercy, along with its companion volume, Endless Grace, helps us rediscover the rich treasures of the Psalms—through free-verse prayer renderings of their poems and hymns—as a guide to personal devotion and meditation.

The church has always used the Psalms as part of its prayer life, and they have inspired countless other prayers. This book contains 75 prayers drawn from Psalms 1-75, providing lyrical sketches of what authors Ryan Smith and Dan Wilt have seen, heard, and felt while sojourning in the Psalms. Each prayer is a response to the Psalms written in harmony with Scripture. These prayers help us quiet our hearts before God and welcome us into a safe place amid the storms of life.

This artful, poetic, and classic devotional book features compelling custom illustrations and foil-stamped hardcover binding, offering a fresh way to reflect on and pray the Psalms.