Let's pause season 2 here.  I've had a blast unpacking His Word with you!  I pray you have been blessed by something you heard or witnessed here.

2022 update: Just started a new webpage that will feature all-new content of various varieties: blogs, videos, and podcast-like audio @ www.JPBazemore.com.  Check me out there, or hit me up on IG @JPBazemore.  God bless!

Have you ever needed a spiritual "pick-me-up"?  I certainly have.  While praying for what to talk about this week, I stumbled on this verse in Psalm 90 that speaks to just that.  It happened to fit with an especially trying week I just had.  Hope these verses bless you!  All of our days with Christ and in Christ aren't easy.  Some of it can feel like down right affliction, stress, and the like, but there is encouragement in the word for every weary soul connected to Him.  I've noticed that prayer can be hard during these times too.  Psalm 90 offers several easy prayers we can pray when we're down, to see and experience the immediate impact of the Lord at work.  Sometimes we just need a gentle reminder that He's still there and still hears.

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Have you ever felt pressure to do something?  I watched a movie recently (the Experimenter) that talked about this very thing, how it is in our nature to obey, even when it is to malevolent authority (someone with evil intentions).  Naturally this has strong spiritual and biblical implications, because Scripture talks about this very same thing.  The only authority we should listen and bow to is Jesus, but it can be difficult to reserve that ownership and relationship only to Him.  We often assume other entities, people, and even ourselves have more power than is actually true.  Our directives outside of Jesus, by nature, are malevolent, even the ones we come up with for ourselves.  We must forsake all and bow only God, the Lord Jesus, and Milgram's experiment offers a lot we can learn from in how to do this.  The root of what his experiment teaches is truth from the Bible.

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Have you ever lost heart?  There's a million and one reasons to these days, pick one.  Paul has some sage words for us, that I think God is really speaking to hearts about.  He focuses on the eternal weight of glory to be gained and on the inner self being renewed.   He's somehow able to miraculously reconsider and recharacterize his troubles as being advantageous to his soul.  It is worth something, literally a type of earning potential spiritually.

Though his troubles are weighty, he calls them light.  Though he is afflicted, he takes heart in his soul being well.  If you find yourself (or a friend or loved one) troubled more often than not, this episode will bless you.  It's not always about God solving all of our problems, but in how He can guide us to manage them well, not with a change of heart but a change of mind.

Focusing on what is to come in the glory of Him is medicine all itself.  It's our preoccupied focus on what is in the present that makes us sick.

Be well today.  Think well.  Look to Him.

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Who doesn't love sports?  My favorite time to watch them is during the playoffs.  The stakes are high because everyone is working so hard to win that elusive championship.  Athletes train for years, decades, in preparation to compete at the highest levels.

What does this have to do with Scripture?  Paul makes an interesting parallel that we can learn a trove of wisdom from!  Walking with Christ is like athletics.  There's a huge level of dedication required.  What's more, there is a reward to be earned.  So it is with Christ.

I'll say that again, there is a reward for living and serving the Lord righteously, and it's about way more than just heaven.  Jesus already won that prize for us, but there is more.  That is why sanctification, clean living, and obedience is still important now.  That gets lost sometimes in messages and Christian rhetoric today.  Just like athletes, every day we serve Him really does matter.  It has an effect on us and those around us.

Are you living well?  Are you training in Him well?  You have a race to run and an eternal part to play in His Kingdom.  Press play to hear more.

I may do a part 2.  There's more to unpack.

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Are you going through a tough time right now?  God has some wisdom and comfort for us experiencing the winds and waves, the ebbs and flows of life.  The disciples in the Bible days never flew on a plane, but they often traveled by ship in dangerous conditions.  It's a familiar passage, but with fresh insights on the God of comfort and how He shepherds us, like a wise pilot through rough air.   He will get us there safely, from point A to point B.  We can and most importantly should trust in Him in transition.  It's usually a bumpy road, but in His hands we are safe.  It's just a little turbulence.

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Have you ever been tired and felt like you haven't really gone anywhere?

There are so many things  we can spend our time, energy, and resources on, but this passage is a simple yet important reminder that all the things we really need can be found in Him - we only need to draw near.  He carries the things that money can't buy, and if you find yourself in need today of anything, of everything, take a listen.  He can and wants to provide, and this is about way more than money.  It's actually a metaphor of provision overall - for physical needs, emotional needs, and spiritual needs.  Whatever it is, He can and will find a way.  Those ways will be made clear, so let us not cry over wasted energy, or whine over spilt milk.  Let us cease striving, and know instead.

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Have you ever struggled with God's timing or ways about doing things?  We all have, whether we admit it or not.  There's just something about the way God does things that equally draws and repels us.  There is some hidden insight I just discovered that you will want to hear, coming from Matthew 26.

Talking about surrender is a tough topic.  We all want things to be done a certain way.  Peter and the disciples were no different.  They walked with God and knew Him, but when it came to how He was persecuted and died, that is what they denied.  They did not know "this Jesus."  And before you think you do, consider how many times you've asked the Lord "why?"

If that is you, you'll want to hear this one.  Though it is a reality that many of His disciples will fall away, even for us today, God is beckoning some of us to stand firm in Him anyway.

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