encouragement and wisdom for the journey : a devotional

Whether or not you feel unstoppable, we invite you now to slow down and let our unstoppable God do more than you can ask or imagine, through His immeasurable power (Ephesians 3:20-21). Stop the spinning events of the day, take a deep breath, and consider the 5 themes of this devotional that describe God’s character and our reasonable response:

God Is Unstoppable Pursuit Unstoppable Love Unstoppable Power Unstoppable Faith

Don’t stop now, let’s get started,

&Jeannie BlocherDirector of Spiritual Impact

Amy StaffordPresident, Body & Soul Fitness

UnstoppableUnstoppable God

Starting LineWhen the Crazy Kicks In

RunSpring Up

RivalsWarrior

You Will Make a WayWitness

Love Won’t Let Me DownNot Backing Down

The Great UnknownBelovedNo Limit

Never Stopped LovingYou Can

When We PrayUnstoppable Love

ImpossibleUndefeated

Unstoppable (Phenomenon Remix)Awesome God

IncreibleSawa

Matty MullinsElevation WorshipJason CastroFrancesca BattistelliSanctus RealTim TimmonsCitizen WayHannah KerrMallary HopeJordan FelizHillsong Young & FreeBlancaMatty MullinsJordan FelizBeckah ShaeJeremy CampMatty MullinsTauren WellsJesus CultureMeredith AndrewsTauren WellsSoul Glow ActivatorR-SwiftMiel San MarcosTembalami

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god IS...God can be described in so many ways. God is love. God is Creator. God is mighty. God is able. God is enough. God is more…than we can ask or imagine. God is unstoppable! Matty Mullins sings: “I can’t move this mountain on my own, but you can. Even when I’m knocked down in the storm, you stand. And when I cannot carry on, you will carry me. Yes, You can.” These lyrics are from a song titled “You Can”, and they are words of power and hope. God is all-powerful and our one true hope. God is enough, and according to Ephesians 3:20-21, His power is at work within those who believe. Is there an obstacle that you need God to move? Are you carrying a burden that’s too heavy for you? Ask God to do more than you can imagine today. He is able. GOD IS!

FIll In the BlankWhat is the first word or phrase that comes to your mind to complete this sentence? “God is…” What you think of reflects where you are in your understanding of God and your closeness to him. Did you think of something like ‘God is good,’ or ‘God is mighty?’ Or did you think of something like ‘God is way beyond me—I don’t understand God at all?’ We are all on a journey to know and understand God better—and sometimes there are bumps in the road we are jogging on. There are questions. There is mystery—things that are hidden, that we cannot understand right now, but that will someday be revealed. Isaiah says this about God: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6). If you are struggling to figure out who God is for you personally, begin to seek him and call on him in prayer. And, pay close attention to the lyrics in our Body & Soul songs like “Unstoppable God” by Elevation Worship. “Unstoppable God, let your glory go on and on. Impossible things, in Your name, they shall be done.” Stay on the path and keep jogging—the next phase of your journey is about to begin as you think of God as unstoppable!

ready, Set, go!Imagine a front row seat at the track. Runners take their places on the starting blocks. Everyone holds their breath. With surging amounts of adrenaline, the runners take off with visions of crossing the finish line first. Regardless of their motivation or their fitness level, their bodies eventually show signs of fatigue. The ones at the front of the pack show lesser signs, but weariness takes a toll on every human body to some degree. We read in the book of Isaiah, that even youths shall faint and be weary…but the LORD…does not faint or grow weary. Imagine that – God never gets tired! (Isaiah 40:28, 31) God pursues us, desiring to have true relationship with us. His pursuit of us is unstoppable, and He never gets weary. No matter where you are in the race, God is pursuing you. “Don’t lose heart…when the road looks long and you don’t know if you have the strength to make it…run into the arms of love” (“Run” by Sanctus Real).

UnStoppaBle pUrSUItThe song “Love Won’t Let Me Down” by Hillsong Young & Free talks about our pursuit of God and God’s pursuit of us. “When I was searching, your love was never far. You made a way to get me. You were the whisper leading me to your heart. Forever I belong to you—now I see clearly, my God, you are for me. You won’t let go. Your love won’t let me down.” Now that’s pursuit! We begin searching, and sometimes we don’t even know that what we are searching for is God—but because God is always in pursuit of us, he draws us to himself. He loves us that much. As the song says—he whispers to us and leads us to his heart. Not only does God pursue us, he is “for us.” What a thought! God is on our side. He fights for us. He cheers for us. He carries us. His love won’t let us down. The Bible says in Romans 8:31b: “If God is for us, who can be against us!” Sometimes we slow down and or even stop in our pursuit of God— but God’s pursuit of us is unstoppable. Let’s make the decision today to be on a focused quest for God so that our pursuit of him is also unstoppable!

Share love StorIeSDo you remember your parents or grandparents sharing their life stories with you? Did they tell of joy and love? Maybe they shared stories of heartache or love lost. Perhaps you remember when newspapers contained more human-interest stories rather than article after article of tragic events and disasters. In his song “Unstoppable”, Matty Mullins sings about “living in a broken world…blinded by the hurt…I want the world to know love unstoppable, anything is possible…in the darkest times”. Everyone needs to know of this unstoppable love that rises above this broken world. Stories have the power to change our perspective and change the world in which we live. Let’s be generous with our love stories and love extravagantly, sharing stories of God’s unstoppable love with everyone we meet today.

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 MSG

UnStoppaBle, everlaStIng loveThe Lord says: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3b). These words were spoken to the nation of Israel in ancient times, and they are still true for us today. God’s love is unchanging through the ages, unstoppable and everlasting. It is this amazing, unconditional love of God that flows over us when things seem impossible and overwhelming in our lives. When there seems to be no way out of a situation—God’s love can make a way. Mallory Hope sings about it in her song “You Will Make a Way”: “This mountain’s climbable, this river’s crossable. Nothing’s impossible; you will make a way. Through every circumstance, I’m held inside your hands. Day after day, you will make a way.” Take comfort in this—in God’s unfailing kindness, he will hold you in his arms and walk with you through every circumstance of your life, covering you every moment with his unstoppable love.

power that’S UnStoppaBle

In the Scriptures, we read about God’s power that shut the lion’s mouth, defeated

Goliath the giant, turned ocean into dry land, opened the eyes of the blind, calmed the storm, walked on waves, and “rose and left an empty tomb.” Meredith Andrews sings of these miraculous acts of Jesus Christ

in her song “Impossible”. Jesus demonstrated God’s immeasurable and unstoppable power! Ephesians 3:20-

21 promises us that this same power is at work within us. Sounds impossible, yet God’s promises are true. Jesus is quoted in John 14, verse 12: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do;

and greater works than these will he do”. Plug into this unstoppable power by connecting

with God through prayer, Bible study and music. Believe Him and

anticipate miracles!

UnStoppaBle prayer power

It’s time for unstoppable prayer power! If we take even one moment to look around us at the state of our world and our society we know for sure that we need to reach out with unstoppable power for change! And where is the best place to start?—with prayer power! Don’t get caught saying “I wish I could do more— all I can do is pray.” Instead say with power in your voice— “I will pray, starting right now, and that is the best thing I can possibly do in this situation.” Say it with conviction— mean it, believe it! Then do it—and do it continually. Live out the words of the Apostle Paul: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18). You can be powerful in the warrior-work of prayer. Hit your knees and get started now—Tauren Wells puts it this way in his song “When We Pray”: “All the world starts changing when the church starts praying. Strongholds start to break, oh when we pray.”

take Up yoUr ShIeld oF FaIthFire extinguishers have expiration dates and periodically require inspection and recertification. In an emergency situation, a reliable fire extinguisher is a vital life-saving tool to have on hand. Life is full of unexpected, dangerous events that call for tools that can protect us and preserve our lives. Faith is one of those tools, and it should be inspected periodically to make sure it’s in proper working order. The writer of Ephesians describes our faith as a shield in chapter 6 verse 16: “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one”. How tragic it would be if we needed a fire extinguisher and the only one we had was expired. Hannah Kerr sings a song titled “Warrior” and proclaims “You’ll never stop me. I’m a warrior. When I fall down I get stronger. Faith is my shield. His love the armor.” We all fall down sometimes and need strength to get back up, and we all need armor for protection. Take up your shield of faith and allow it to defend you against flaming darts. It’s even better than a brand new fire extinguisher!

UnStoppaBle FaIthIn “The Great Unknown”, one of our songs this session, Matty Mullins bursts out in this declaration: “I wanna break out, take me away from what I know. Show me a life that relies on You alone. I wanna live loud and speak with a love that overflows. I wanna walk by faith and strength that is not my own, into the great unknown.” I so much want this to be the cry of my heart, too. I want to be more adventurous— because I am not naturally that way. I want to embrace change when the result is unclear. I want to be willing to walk into the great unknown, but I know I cannot do it on my own. I can’t have faith in myself, or even in those I trust to lead me new places. I can only step into the unknown because I have faith in my unstoppable God who knows what is unknown to me, and loves me from the inside out. So, I will choose to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). What about you? Will you put your faith in the one and only God who loves you with an unstoppable love and knows what is best for you?

Would you like to have unstoppable faith?We all get weary and have doubts. You are not alone if you feel this way. This world tends to break us down and overwhelm us every day. We want to have unstoppable faith, but even when we do, if that faith is not placed in the right thing, everything comes crashing down. If you are ready to place your faith in someone who is actually unstoppable, now is the time to say yes to God. Give him all your failures. Admit all your mistakes—things you did that you should not have done, and things you did not do, but should have. Lay it all at his feet. God is also a God of unstoppable love. He loves you just as you are, with all your broken and bruised places. He is waiting to draw you into his arms and welcome you into his everlasting family.

And God has shown us unstoppable love in a every tangible way. He sent his Son Jesus to die for you, in your place. He does not ask you to be perfect; he knows you’re not. He just asks you to believe how much he loves you, trust in Jesus and receive his gift of eternal life.

Take a step of faith to ask God to take control of your life, and allow him to guide you to a new life in his love.

Admit your faults and mistakes - things that have made you feel unworthy of his love. His love reaches out to you, just as you are.

Accept God’s grace and forgiveness. He offers this grace to you in a supernatural way. He does not ask you to earn it. He knows you don’t deserve it; he offers it as a free gift.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and it is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works so that no one can boast.

The following is a suggested prayer:

Dear God, thank you for loving me with your unstoppable love even when I feel unlovable. I am taking the step of faith to believe in you. I open the door of my heart and accept you as my Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me life that is everlasting. Take control of my life. Make me the person you want me to be. Thank you for your grace and your love.

You can be assured of this supernatural grace if you put your faith in God and allow him to take control of your life. He loves you so much that he sent his son to cover your mistakes and open the door to everlasting life. God’s son Jesus bridges the gap between you and God. Choose, by faith, to believe that Jesus is the only way to ensure your eternal life in heaven. Once you have made this decision, your new life will start and you will begin to experience the faithfulness of God, even in hard times.

1 John 4:9,10 “This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

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Devotionals written by: Amy Stafford & Jeannie Blocher Art design by: Rebecca Gilbert - JoyArtandDesign

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