Prayer is a weapon that few of us remember we have. It is relational, not transactional. It is our direct connection to the Father, which was only made possible through Jesus.

Prayer is a personal relationship with God, not a group relationship. If the only time you pray is in front of people, you are not engaging in the personal aspects of prayer.

If you find prayer daunting and don’t know where to start, Jesus gave us the blueprint.

Jesus followed four steps (Matthew 6:9-13):

The first step is praise. We want to enter into His throne room with shouts of praise, declaring the might of His name rather than praising ourselves.

The second step is repentance. When we focus on who God is we can’t help but recognize our own sinfulness and confess it to Him.

Thirdly, we ask. We bring everything before Him (Ephesians 6:8). We bring our hurts, our excitement, our shame, and joy. We lay it all at the feet of Jesus and ask for His heavenly counsel and intervention.

Lastly, we yield. We simply say that His will is better than anything we desire. If the things we want are not His will, we surrender them and seek the things He has for us.

Prayer is powerful, and we have to use it. God hears our prayers (Psalm 66:19) and knows us (John 10:14). If you never speak to God in prayer, do you expect Him to recognize your voice?

It can be difficult to be honest with God about the hard emotions. We keep the anxious thoughts to ourselves and try to act as if everything is fine.

We’re afraid of what He might say, or worry about how there might not be an immediate answer from Him, or think we may offend God.

But He already knows every thought that we have! 

When we are honest with God, it strengthens our relationship with Him (Psalm 62:8; 2 Corinthians 12:9). It might feel intimidating when speaking to our holy God, but we must not forget that He is also our loving Father!

He cares for you and wants to hear about every feeling we have, whether we are joyfully singing His praises or crying out about how we are upset with Him.

Throughout the Psalms, David cried out to the Lord in his pain, using words like “anguish,” “crushed,” and “forsaken”. (Psalm 55:4, 22:1, 38:8).

If the man after God’s own heart can have this raw honesty with Him, surely, we can speak to Him about our broken spirits truthfully.

Jesus lived as our perfect example, showing us all the ways we should live, including this vulnerability He had with God (Matthew 27:46).

Modeling our lives after Jesus includes the fact that we should be honest with our Father about all of our emotions. 

As you spend time in prayer today, do not try to hide how your soul is hurting or your doubts from God. He wants to spend that time with you and work through it with you (Philippians 4:6-7).

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.."

On behalf of Jesus' authority, He commands his disciples to go to all nations and make disciples, teaching them to observe everything He has commanded.

There was no power or dominion on earth that could stand against them as the authority of Christ was with them.

The Great Commission extends far beyond the eleven disciples and the early church. In fact, all believers must submit to these final words in Matthew's Gospel.

As disciples, we acknowledge that Jesus possesses all authority, submit ourselves to His Lordship, and obey what He has commanded. A life that desires to glorify God cannot remain indifferent toward people who do not know Christ. God's love for the lost should move us toward the lost.

It is a call for the people of God to live surrendered lives for the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel.

Children in elementary school are often asked to walk in lines to travel around their school. Sometimes, there is even an opportunity to be appointed as the "line leader.'" It is an honor to be chosen as a line leader because you have been entrusted to lead and to'set the tone. If the line leader is breaking the rules, the rest of the line will likely follow. A line is only as good as its leader.

Children of God are asked to walk in a very specific "line" that goes down a set apart path, the narrow path. (Matt. 7:13-14) However, we are not meant to be the line leaders. (Gal. 5:25)

Colossians 1:10 urges us to walk in a manner worthy of The LORD. This isn't possible if we are leading the line. Our flesh is weak and the desires of our flesh go against the Spirit.

Verse 11 reminds us that we should ask to be strengthened with His glorious might. (Col 11l) He is the only one worthy to be our line leader.

(Romans 8:5-8) One’s life is only as good as its leader. Our strength comes from His power. His power and His glorious might have dominion over everything we face.

We endure with patience and joy when He is supplying our strength.

Whether pursuing good things or bad, we aren’t able to endure fruitfully without God. Allowing Him to work through you will bring you fulfillment in whatever you do!

He supplies us with strength when we spend time in His word, pray throughout the day and view everything as an opportunity to serve Him. Rely on His strength by letting Him lead the line of your life.

Transitioning into a new season can be very fun and exciting, but it can also be overwhelming and stressful. Everything in our life can look different like our environment, lifestyle, responsibilities, and even our emotions. We often try to push through these seasons of transition relying on our own strength and wisdom to carry us through.

Isolating ourselves like this can result in us falling short and becoming discouraged, which then encourages us to return to what's familiar or comfortable. We could be completely halting the season of transition God called us into!

The good news is God never wanted us to navigate these seasons alone! He is waiting for us to invite Him into these seasons of transition so He can help us through them. We must let Him go before us, laying out a path for us to follow so we are certain we are following God's will for our life in a season that can feel so uncertain.

3 Fundamental Truths for A Season of Transition

1. God is our Comforter During a season of transition we have to remember we are not alone! As we go through this season of transition, God is always with us and he is there to comfort us as we go through a season of transition that we can ultimately glorify Him in! (Deuteronomy

31:6)

2. God is unchanging

Everything can change in a season of transition, and during all that change we will so often look for even the smallest resemblance of stability. A lot of things we can look at as "stability" can often be idols in disguise. These idols distract us from the clearest foundation of stability in our life which is God! We have to replace the time we put into these idols with time with God. (Hebrewws 13:8)

3. God is our strength

It can feel impossible sometimes when you are going through these seasons of transition, asking ourselves so often, "How am I ever going to get through this?" God can give us the strength we need to push through, we just have to come to Him and ask for help. He will help us get up and navigate what can feel like an impossible place to be in, filling us with joy and energy as we go through it. (Philippians 4:13)

Everyone perceives the world through a unique lens that is specific to each person. However, God’s Word shows us that there is a singular lens that serves as the blueprint for our own worldview: to see the world as Jesus does.

Just as two photographers might capture the same scene in vastly different ways, God uniquely created us for specific purposes, each with our own distinct way of perceiving the world.

Oftentimes, a photographer will approach a scene that they’ve captured before differently because they learned from past experience.

This is also true with how we view the world. We will often approach scenarios differently because of past experiences or knowledge that changed our perspective. As Christians, we are a new creation in Christ, free from condemnation (2 Corinthians 5:17)! He is a gracious God and his mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

With this new viewpoint, we are called to follow in His ways and bring Him glory (Matthew 5:16, 1 Corinthians 10:31).

When Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us, He saw through the same kind of lens that we face the world through every day. He knows exactly what we are going through and how easy it is to get out of focus. We must remember to keep our lenses fixed on the things of God, as Jesus did.

The Bible provides us with a list of themes to keep our thoughts set on:“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Jesus viewed people spiritually, not just outwardly.

We must ask the Lord for spiritual discernment to see people the way He does.

Living with a lens that is out of alignment with God’s Word can lead to missing out on the calling He has for your life.

God created us with freedom to make our own choices in life. We must choose daily to live with our lenses rightly focused on the things above (Colossians 3:2).

By viewing others through a focused lens, we shift our priorities from earthly concerns to eternal ones. This perspective allows us to see people as image bearers of God who need the Gospel. When we take the time to see someone spiritually, we have the opportunity to extend the love of Christ to those around us.