Opportunities

Each day, we have opportunities to grow in our relationship with God, exercise our faith in Him, or be persecuted & glorify Him with our response.

Opportunities

This week's devotions are written by my son, Bryant Forshee, Lead Student Pastor for Cross Church, Springdale, AR campus.

- Pastor Danny

"So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

(Colossians 3:1-2, CSB)

If you read this in the morning, ask yourself what your day looks like today. If you are reading this in the evening, look back at your day and ask: What did my day look like today? Was your day filled with lots of errands? Were you at work all day? What do your time and meetings look like today, or what did they look like today?

Throughout our days, we have opportunities to grow in our relationship with God, exercise our faith in Him, or be persecuted for our relationship with Him. Exercising your faith in God certainly grows your relationship with Him, and persecution often can as well, if you lean on God and seek Him more deeply through it, rather than being broken by it. The point is, these are all spiritual opportunities, and being on the lookout for such opportunities is an important part of Christian life. The question is: Will you take advantage of the opportunities given to you?

An example from my life recently was when my wife and I were at the gym, and a coach always led our class. At the end of the class, as Kyndall and I were cleaning up all of Tabor's toys and the workout equipment we used, I felt the Holy Spirit's nudge to talk to the coach about the most significant thing that has happened in my life: Jesus saving me. I will be honest. I was immediately scared, thought many negative thoughts, and tried to brush it off. But the Lord reminded me of some verses, and by His grace, I began a conversation with the coach about what he believed in, and we had a great discussion about Jesus. I left the gym with great appreciation and thankfulness for the opportunity that was put before me by the Holy Spirit.

Now, that was a moment where I took advantage of an opportunity that was presented to me. That is only sometimes the case. I have been given opportunities other times and have not taken advantage of them. Suppose you are honest with yourself and you either look back at your day or look ahead to your day: Did you take advantage of opportunities the Lord gave you, or do you plan to take advantage of those opportunities? You will see that there is an opportunity waiting for you today to exercise your faith, grow in your faith, or be persecuted for your faith and glorify God with your response.

Let Colossians 3:1-2 be your action plan today and every day, that you and I would be people who are seeking the things that are above, that we would not get bogged down with things of this world. When we are doing this, I believe we will see these Holy Spirit opportunities with greater clarity and faith, and we will step into these moments and grow in our relationship with Jesus as we walk in obedience to what He has called us to do.

So, what OPPORTUNITIES await you today?

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Podcast of the Week

Fallen Saints

Pastor Danny shares a sobering and difficult but very important message on maintaining purity and living righteously, especially in the area of sexuality, and especially for pastors and other Christian leaders. He discusses the grave harms that come to the Church when their leaders fail in this area, what genuine repentance looks like, possible paths to restoration and reconciliation in some cases, and other cases when a fallen saint cannot be restored to ministry.

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