ChickChat

  2021 in Review   Every year comes with lessons, but I think this year especially we are learning to come back from the struggle that overtook us in 2020. We are trying to make sense of our new normal and regain some of what we lost in the process.    As 2021 ends, I’m reminded of a song we used to sing in church a long time ago – “ as I look back over my life, I can truly say I’ve got a tes-ti-mony. ” For me, this year has been a process. I didn’t really begin to unpack any lessons from this year until these last few months. The fog of it all has started to lift and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I can see the light. The hope that I have clung to has pulled me out of the darkness and kept me focused on Christ.    I challenge you to sit down in the next day or two and make a list of what you have learned in the last twelve months. But not just what you have learned but make a list of the things that God has done in your life, reflect on His goodness, and rejoice in His

  Merry Christmas   For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 NIV What are you looking for this Christmas? Maybe you’re trying to process a difficult decision or life event, and you’re in need of a Wonderful Counselor. Perhaps you’re feeling like you’ve reached the end of yourself, and you’re looking for a Mighty God. Maybe you aren’t able to be with your family this Christmas, and you need an Everlasting Father. Or maybe your thoughts are waging war, and you’re in desperate need of the Prince of Peace.    So often, the holidays come and go before we’ve had a chance to focus on the true reason for Christmas … but it doesn’t have to be this way.    Christmas marks the beginning of God’s process to restore our relationship with Him through a New Covenant. The world waited thousands of years for God’s promised Savior, and then, finally,

    Anticipating Christmas For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 NIV   What are you looking for this Christmas? Maybe you’re trying to process a difficult decision, and you’re in need of a Wonderful Counselor. Perhaps you’re feeling like you’ve reached the end of yourself, and you’re looking for a Mighty God. Maybe you aren’t able to be with your family this Christmas, and you need an Everlasting Father. Or maybe your thoughts are waging war, and you’re in desperate need of the Prince of Peace.    So often, the holidays come and go before we’ve had a chance to focus on the true reason for Christmas … but it doesn’t have to be this way.    Advent serves as a season of anticipation and reflection leading up to Christmas. Translated from the original Latin, Advent means important arrival, approach, or coming . It’s a

  Day 21: “Pure Hearts”   “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalms 51:10 NIV (See also Matthew 5:8)     Those who are truly “pure,” then, are those who have been declared innocent because of the work of Jesus and who are being sanctified by His refining fire and His pruning.   Being pure in heart involves having a singleness of heart toward God. A pure heart has no hypocrisy, no deceit, no hidden motives. The pure heart is marked by transparency and an uncompromising desire to please God in all things. It is more than an external purity of behavior; it is an internal purity of soul.   The only way we can be truly pure in heart is to give our lives to Jesus and ask Him to do the cleansing work. God is the one who makes our hearts pure – by the sacrifice of His Son and through His sanctifying work in our lives.   “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.” Psalms 51:10 NLT   David felt that it wa

  Day 11: “A Glorious Inheritance”   “[I always pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him [for we know the Father through the Son]. And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people),” Ephesians 1:17-18 AMP   Paul prayed that the Father would grant the Ephesians the spirit of wisdom and that He would give them revelation . But these are not so they may see into the lives of others, have the ability to predict events, or do what we commonly think of as “prophet stuff.” He wanted them to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation simply so tha