21 DAYS OF PRAYER
JANUARY 6 2026:
DOING OR BEING?
Mark 3:13-15
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve – designating them apostles that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
Devotional:
Maybe you noticed right away the priority and emphasis Jesus placed on the lives of those twelve disciples he called. (Maybe my highlight helped). Their priority was to be with him. They were called to him, and then because of that calling they were sent out. And in our modern Christianity we have often reversed those priorities.
As a Pastor I have referred to myself and others like me who have vocational ministries as being “called.” We are called by God to fulfill the ministries he has called, equipped, and released us to do. And yet in Mark 3 we see an exciting truth! Every born-again believer has a calling on their life. And it is the same for all of us whether we have been a follower of Jesus for one week or 50 years. We are all called to be with Jesus. That is the primary and first calling on our lives no matter what we do vocationally.
I am part of an exciting small group that meets monthly in a friend’s home. We are currently studying John Mark Comers book, Practising the Way. John Mark Comer defines a disciple (or "apprentice") as someone whose goal is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did. The ‘doing’ that a disciple accomplishes should always flow out of our ‘being.’ As we are with Christ, he is formed in us, the Holy Spirit who lives in us, then manifests Christ through us.
John 15:4; (Jesus) Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. It is much easier to be busy for Jesus than to be with Jesus. I am sure you can testify that spending time with the Lord is often our intention but the follow through is challenging. Even today as I am writing this devotional, I was feeling the pressure of finishing this one and the other four that need written as well as everything else that is on my to do list today! I almost skipped the time I set aside over lunch to wait on the Lord with no agenda but simply be with him. But I overcame the temptation to do instead of be with him, and I took the time to ‘be still and know that he is God!’ That must be my first and most important priority because it is my primary calling. To be with Jesus. He isn’t impressed by my skills or the ministry that I accomplish. He isn’t exceedingly glad if I'm stressed and burning out for him and his kingdom. What he delights in is being with me.
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In Luke 10 Jesus visits the home of his friends, three siblings named Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. The Lord shows up at their home and brings a big entourage with him. They have traveled and they are hungry. So Martha, who is an amazing hostess starts preparing a meal for the Lord and his group of friends. As she is bustling about in the kitchen, she notices her sister Mary sitting with the disciples, listening to Jesus’ teaching. Martha is frustrated. She rebukes both Mary and the Lord and commands Jesus to make Mary help her. The Lord’s response is so telling. Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. ONLY ONE THING IS NEEDED. To exchange the one thing for many other things, even in service to the Lord means we’ve missed everything.
Have you fallen into the trap of doing at the expense of being? Our actions determine what we believe is needed and by default what is most important to us. Intentions only count for so much. What you make the time for, what you guard as a priority and schedule as non-negotiable is where your heart truly is. But your heart can change. Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How do you increase your desire and spiritual hunger for God’s presence? By being with him. Your desire for him will grow as you spend time with him.
I am wondering if we need to make confession part of our prayer during these 21 Days. I have confessed from time to time over the years that I have replaced being with doing. That I have lost God in the move of God, or I have been so busy accomplishing kingdom ministry that I have neglected the King! Like Martha I’ve been busy in the kitchen when my only priority should have been fellowship and communion at the feet of Jesus. Listening, learning, and being with him.
The good news in all of this is amazing. The king of glory, the Word, our Savior and soon coming king Jesus Christ – has called you to himself because he loves you and wants to spend time with you each day. He knows how hectic your life is. He knows that there are days, sometime more than not, that you are tired. It’s amazing what a few minutes in his presence will do. He comes and he refreshes our souls, revives our spirits and speaks peace to our minds.
I am not trying to guilt you into making time, or condemn you because, like me, you struggle with the pressures and time restraints that come daily. Let’s challenge each other in two things:
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Pause throughout the day and be aware of his nearness and presence. Acknowledge him and ask him to reveal himself to you. Give him 20 seconds of praise and gratitude. Let Holy Spirit know you are grateful for his guidance and presence in your life. This is one of the ways we can be continually in prayer. If you do this throughout your day you will find yourself abiding in his presence and communing with the Lord during the activities of the day.
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Make appointments in your calendar and day planner to spend with him. I would certainly encourage significant blocks of time where you can wait in his presence, devote yourself to meditating on his word and listening for him to speak. But you can also block of shorter periods of time to read, pray, and be with him throughout your days and weeks. And barring an emergency, keep those times holy. Don’t allow distractions to pull you away (I suggest not bringing your phone with you). God will draw near to you when you draw near to him. I guarantee it!!
He is waiting. His calendar is blank, waiting for your appointment with him.
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Blessings
Pastor Jay
JANUARY 7 2026:
THE KNOWING THAT COMES IN STILLNESS
Psalm 46:10
Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Devotional:
I am sure you have heard this verse before. It is often quoted, rarely practised. The context of Psalm 46 is the sustaining and present help of God who is with us in every circumstance. Verse 7 sums up the chapter; The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
No matter how intense the storm that rages around us, no matter the tragedy we face or the intensity of the battle we are in, God is there, his presence sustaining us, his power surrounding us, his Spirit overwhelming what is overwhelming us.
This is a promise that is repeated time and again in scripture. And if you are like me, my history with the Lord testifies to this truth as well. But if we are honest, with every new battle and every new trial it is easy to lose sight of these promises. We become so entrenched in our circumstances they become the focus of our lives. Even when praying and seeking the Lord we can focus more on the mountain and the problem than we do the Lord. When we talk about the problem and focus on it instead of our God, we literally pray ourselves out of faith. And anytime we let the problem or the battle become bigger in our minds than our God we will be defeated.
Friend, 2026 is the year Jesus wants our anchors to be so rooted in him and the promises of his word, that no matter the power of the storm that blows round about us we will remain firmly secure in him. But how do we do that?
Well, the Psalmist gives this wonderful strategy that we can apply during the battle. Be still, cease from your activities, cease from your striving, cease from the fight, and know that He is God.
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The word translated ‘be still’ is from the Hebrew Word to let drop, abandon, relax, refrain, forsake
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to let go
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to refrain, let alone
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to be quiet
How many would attest that this is not our natural response when turmoil is all around us. Our normal response is to problem solve, fight back, find a way through, panic, give into fear etc. etc.
God’s solution is very different. Be still and know that he is God. This is very similar to the strategy Moses revealed to the people of Israel when they were in fear with an ocean before them and the enemy behind them.
In Exodus 14: But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.
When we can’t control a situation we’re facing, fear takes over. We need the peace of knowing God works on our behalf at all times. Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “...the Lord your God is indeed God.”
So how do we learn to “be still and know” this when facing our biggest battles?
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Focus on what you do know.
To be still and know that he is God often must start by focusing and declaring what we do know. It is the unknown that puts fear into our hearts. When we are in a battle, we don’t know how things will turn out. The uncertainty of the outcome can paralyze our forward momentum and cripple our faith. It’s important in those times to remind ourselves what we do know instead of renumerating what we can’t predict. So, we remind ourselves that God hears us when we make requests, and he will give us what we ask for (John 5:15).
We know that God is in control. We know that he is working this out for our good and his glory when we love him and are called according to his purposes. Do what King David did when all was lost and his friends were turning on him and is family was abducted. Scripture tells us he strengthened himself in the Lord his God. I am sure that included declaring the unchanging truths about God’s goodness, faithfulness and love towards him.
2. Be still means to be untroubled and trust God.
Being still and know that he is God takes a whole new level of trust. Don’t you love the honesty of the Bible. Remember the story of the dad who brought his son to Jesus to be healed and set free? He had faced so many disappointments that when Jesus finally comes on the scene and declares that this breakthrough is possible to all who believe, the dad cries out, “I do believe Jesus, but help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-25)
God was not surprised that you are struggling with trust, ask him to help you to be still, to trust and know that he is good.
3. Be still and know means we are at peace understanding that God’s ways are not always our ways
As high as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. Isaiah 55:9
It’s hard for us to believe that God has a bigger and better plan than we do when we are faced with loss, suffering, and sorrow. I like what the prophet Isaiah declares that God’s ways are the distance between heaven and earth. That tells me that not only are his ways infinitely higher but that there are answers that will only be revealed in heaven. But for now, being still and knowing he is God is acknowledging that he is God and I’m not, and I have to trust his higher ways.
4. Rest in God’s presence and recognize his love for us.
He loves you! His love was manifested on the cross when he gave everything for you.
Romans 8:32; 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Psalm 36:5-8 (read this slowly and personalize it). Your love, O Lord reaches up to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among people find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delight!
Find scriptures like the two examples we just read, repeat them, speak them over yourself and ask Holy Spirit to reveal the depth of love the Father has for you.
5. It won’t be easy, but God is with you.
Let’s go back to Psalm 46 and read the first few verses together. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever- present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way, and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though it’s waters roar and foam and mountains quake with their surging. Verse 7. "The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
I don’t think anything else needs to be added to the power of that word. If you are in a storm and a battle rage all around you, be still and know he is God and he is with you and he is fighting for you!
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God bless,
Pastor Jay
JANUARY 8 2026:
ENTRANCE INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD
Psalm 95:1-3
Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
Devotional:
Today I want to revisit the principle we learned on January 1 on praise leading the way and continue to expand on it. Psalm 95 gives us a wonderful blueprint that leads us to the presence of God. It is in his presence where we communion with him and discern his voice. Let’s spend a few minutes breaking out this beautiful Psalm.
It starts with praise. Praise is what opens the door to fellowship and communion with the Lord. Psalm 100:4;Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Praise is how we enter the gates of the house of the Lord. Did you notice that praise is expressed? We sing praises, we shout out loud, we give thanks and extol with music and songs.
Numerous times scripture reveals that the entrance into his presence is by praise and thanksgiving.
We thank him for what he has done. We praise him for who he is. Verse 3 – For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
In recognition of the greatness of God the only appropriate response is worship.
Verse 6-7; Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. .
In his teaching, author and Pastor Derek Prince made the distinction between praise and worship this way; Praise is utterance and worship is primarily an attitude.
Praise includes singing, shouting, playing of instruments. It is expressed with our voices, with our words. When scripture encourages us to worship the language used includes bowing down, kneeling, lying prostrate, bending our knees, bowing our heads. It speaks of reverence, submission, humility. Praise is utterance and worship is an attitude of the body.
Verse 6-8; Come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Praise leads us to the gates of the Lord, and our response is worship and submission, and then the Lord draws near to us.
As we wait in his presence, unhurried, spending time with him we sense his nearness, the beauty of his presence fills our senses. What we know theologically about Him and the revelation that leads to worship becomes experienced. Proper theology is important. Having an understanding of his nature, character, and what is important to him should all be of the upmost importance to us. But to only know about him and not experientially know him is to stop short of the ultimate goal – communion with the Lord, experiencing him by being in his presence.
And it is when he draws near with his presence that he speaks. He is our shepherd and we are the sheep of his pasture. Jesus said his sheep know his voice and he calls us by name. God wants to make himself known and he wants to talk with us. His desire is to direct our lives and commune with you and me. Scripture makes it clear that anyone who is a follower of Jesus is someone God wants to commune with, talk with, and speak to. If this is true why do so few people experience this? It seems as if God speaking is a rare thing that may only happen occasionally over our lifetime. But that is not the case. I don’t believe it is because God is silent or hearing his voice is only for the super spiritual. I believe it is because we don’t make the time and our usual pattern of prayer doesn’t allow for communion.
When we think of prayer and praise and worship, as two distinct events. We have our time(s) of prayer, and we have the time set aside to praise and worship. Psalm 95 gives us a template that includes praise, worship, submission and prayer as one. If you make praise, worship, and waiting part of your prayer life you will discover that the Lord is always speaking.
Maybe what I am going to describe is a picture of your prayer practises. We come before the Lord and we praise him and give him thanks. We worship and acknowledge who he is. Then his presence draws near to us. And in that moment, we start to bring our requests and our needs before him. I understand why we respond that way to his presence. We think to ourselves, He is here. Almighty God is here and I have burdens and needs. I need a miracle and I have his attention, so I’ll start to ask. But think about how absurd that is? We are sitting in the presence of the wisest, kindest, most powerful person in the universe and what do we do? We talk.
I encourage you to add one step into your prayer practise. Can you guess what it is? When Jesus draws near with his presence instead of rushing into all the things we need to ask and seek him about, pause and wait. Ask him to speak. Ask him to reveal himself to you. Cultivate listening and let Him initiate the conversation. Let him speak to you about what and how to pray. If we can learn to access is presence and make room for him to speak, imagine how many more of our prayers would be answered. We would be praying from a place of listening to his prayer strategies, his agenda, and his will.
Just as we can learn to be still and know that he is God, we can learn to wait in his presence until he speaks.
The book of Acts is an account of how the first church functioned. That church was alive with the life of the Spirit. Holy Spirit wasn’t just in their midst to heal the sick, work miracles, confirm the word of God and manifest his presence. He was in their midst to direct his church. We see a clear example of that in Acts 13:2; While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
In a time that was set aside to worship and fast and pray, the Holy Spirit spoke to them. How did he speak? It was likely through a prophetic gift. But who does scripture give the credit to? Holy Spirit. This church was so in tune with the voice of the Lord that no matter the source or the setting, they knew it was Holy Spirit directing them. It is when we are worshipping and praying God shows up and speaks. When we make room for him he will guide and direct.
Over the years I have unfortunately seen decisions made, direction taken, and ministry happen in the church without the direction and power of Holy Spirit. There was no prayerfully seeking the Lord or waiting on him to answer.
I heard someone say once that it’s a sad situation when a church can exist week after week, year after year and Holy Spirit never needs to show up because he is not really invited.
I hope that isn’t true of Calvary church! I hope that isn’t true of your life, your marriage, the decisions you are making for your family. God wants to speak, direct, heal, inform, reveal, make whole and see his kingdom come his will be done in your life and family as it is in heaven.
Psalm 95 reveals keys that if we apply them to our prayer practices, we can confidently know the voice of the Lord speaking and directing our lives.
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God bless,
Pastor Jay
JANUARY 9 2026:
DESIGNED WITH INTENTION
Mark 16:17
And these signs will accompany those who believe
Devotional:
You have a purpose! You have a mission. According to Ephesians 2:10, you are a masterpiece. You are God’s handiwork. The verse goes on and clearly states that you were created (as a masterpiece) to do good works that God has already prepared for you to do.
The Bible wasn’t written in English; it was translated into English from the original text. Ephesians was written in Greek and going back to the original word and it’s meaning will help us to grasp what Holy Spirit was saying when he was speaking through the Apostle Paul.
Handiwork originally meant poem, or something that was crafted by the hands of someone. What powerful implications that has for us. We live in a world where almost everything we have is ‘manufactured’. Made as carbon copies in a factory line with tens of thousands just like it. Even the art we hang on our wall is usually a copy of an original.
That’s why there is such a premium on artisan shows and stores. What is created and put on display or sold is hand crafted, one of a kind. We have artisans in our congregation who make and create a variety of different things. Whenever Jackey and I receive a gift from them it is so special because it is literally the work of their hands. The other day our daughter shared a photo of our granddaughter Florence, and she was wearing the hat and mittens Jackey had crocheted for her. I was so excited. She was wearing something Gigi had spent time and effort making just for her!
You are not a factory-made clone. You are not an assembly line copy of anyone else. You are hand crafted by a God who lovingly created you with your strengths, your talents, and even the areas you are not so gifted and talented in. They are all part of the master plan God has for your life, his church, and the world. Your design came from the heart and mind of a perfect Creator.
Ephesians 2:10 goes on to bring context to your design; “You were created (designed, redeemed, born again) in Christ Jesus for good works God has prepared in advance for you to do.”
The original Greek reads, “in order that we might walk in them.”
You were designed and created by God for good works in order that you might walk in them. You were specifically designed for a specific purpose that God has prepared for you.
Are you living with your design in mind? Are you fulfilling the purposes for which God lovingly and carefully designed you to fulfill?
Everything created has a purpose beyond simply existing. Design carries with it intention.
One of the most detrimental beliefs that has permeated the western church is the idea that we are saved (created in Christ Jesus or born again to use the language of Jesus) to be forgiven and go to heaven. It’s true, but we have left out of our daily conscience all the decades, years, months, weeks, days and hours that we are given in between. You were designed by God with the intention of accomplishing what you were designed for.
Are you living daily for the good works Jesus wants to flow through you each day? You were designed for them. In creating you in Christ and putting good works in advance before you God is setting you up to successfully fulfill your purposes, your destiny, and to please him.
The verse at the beginning of our devotional today is so encouraging. God’s supernatural signs and gifts will accompany you as you walk intentionally each day with your design in mind. The criteria is that you believe. You believe that his supernatural enabling will walk alongside you as you live out your daily life. Think of how empowering putting the truth of Ephesians 2:10, Mark 16:17 together is. You will never be faced with a good work God has called you to that you won’t be able to meet. When your natural abilities or wisdom fall short, you have the supernatural gifts of Holy Spirit accompanying you to provide what you can’t provide naturally.
You are naturally supernatural because Holy Spirit is accompanying you. There is another truth that is encouraging and it is found in Matthew 10:41-42; “41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
Even the smallest act of kindness done is rewarded. So whether you are praying for an unsaved loved one, encouraging someone with a text, welcoming a stranger, or laying hands on the sick and demonstrating the power of the kingdom of God – you are fulfilling the purpose for which you were designed! God is placing those good works opportunities in our path every single day. You are being set up by the Loving Designer who made you for those very purposes. The only way we can fail is by not seizing or seeing what he has put right in our path!
Can we pray today and ask the Lord to specifically reveal to us those moments and opportunities that he has prepared for us? You could start to journal and write down the times he has spoken to you and you have responded, or a need or opportunity has been placed in front of you and you seized it even though it took some level of sacrifice and faith, the Lord came through! I think if you journal (not for the sake of pride) you will start to see that you really are a vessel through which Jesus shines!
Pastor Jay
JANUARY 10 2026:
GOD WANTS TO STRETCH YOU
Matthew 9:16-17
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will bust, the wine will run out and the wineskins ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Devotional:
I have good news for you today. God wants to stretch you! He wants you to see with new eyes and understanding that some of the more difficult things you have been facing are tools in his hand used to prepare us. He is preparing us for the increase and new blessings he has prepared for us.
Jesus illustrates this by using the metaphor of wine skins. Living in a hot climate with no refrigeration fermenting grapes into wine was the only means of preservation. This was accomplished by allowing the fermentation process to take place in containers made of animal skins. New skins were used because they were still soft and stretchable and as the juice fermented it would expand and stretch the animal hide. If an old skin was used it had already reached its stretching limit and over time would become brittle. You can imagine the disappointment when someone would wake up one morning to find the skin cracked and all the wine leaked out and wasted. All the time and effort wasted with nothing to show for it, and that wineskin no longer useful.
In a time of his ministry when Jesus wasn’t conforming to the comfortable patterns of the religious establishment people came complaining and accusing. Why aren’t you doing it the way we’ve always done it Jesus? Well Jesus knew that his had come to fulfill the old agreement between God and people, and he was establishing a new agreement. And the Lord knew that the way things had been done would never work together with the new grace Spirit filled life he had come to bring.
The new thing he had come to reveal would never fit into the old wineskin of religion. And you and I can take heart in that. As much as we become comfortable in our walk with him, and the level of revelation and purpose we have been walking in, there is more. Our verse for the year Isaiah 54 speaks of the wonderful promises God desires to pour into our lives. But expanded capacity and preparedness is needed to contain all the new blessings, promises fulfilled, and purposes he wants to release to us in 2026.
He can’t pour in the new until we are prepared to contain the new! He prepares us by removing from our lives the things that crowd out the new. Sometimes what got us here won’t get us where he wants us to go. He removes from our lives some of the distractions and priorities that can block a greater flow of his blessing. I believe some of you are feeling the subtraction work of the Spirit in your lives. He is convicting you of things you’ve never felt convicted over. Old attitudes, patterns of stinking thinking, negativity, or deep-down struggles that are hidden from others, but you know have held you back are coming to the surface and being exposed by his light. He is speaking to someone today about a relationship that is unhealthy and is drawing you away from greater obedience to him. That can be very painful. We become comfortable with people and things even when we know they are not good for us. It can even be harder to identify when we are settling for the good instead of his best. I know he is speaking to some of us about not settling for anything less than all he desires for us.
I know he is speaking to me about my time. Letting go of some ‘time wasting’ habits that he wants to redeem and fill with his purposes. Come on friends, let’s be honest. We all could say I don’t have time, I’m too busy, my schedule and energy is maxed and I can’t handle another lecture on making more time for things of the Lord! Imagine if we retrained our brains to break the addiction of endlessly scrolling through our media accounts? We are addicted to flaking out with endless scrolling. God can break that addiction over your life and replace that old wineskin with a new one that desires something fresh and new from the Lord.
This is what I have come to know about the Lord. When he subtracts from our life it is for the purpose of multiplication. In math we normally put addition and subtraction in the same category. You take 1 away and you add 1. Not so with God. When he subtracts, he doesn’t only add, he multiplies. When we let him remove form our lives, we discover that what he has removed is replaced with exponentially much more than what he required of us. Only hindsight allows us to see that what we fought so hard to keep, was keeping us from the greater thing(s) God was fighting so hard to bring to our lives!
Some of us are facing trials and circumstances that are difficult and painful. Could it be the Lord is stretching your wineskin because he has greater fulfillment and purpose for you? He is preparing you and getting you ready for blessings that previously you couldn’t contain! Promises that you couldn’t carry and purposes you couldn’t handle. As you have let him stretch your wineskin you have the expectation of new wine flowing into you!
Whether it by subtraction or by stretching we must trust God in the process. Even when he disciplines us, even when he tells us no it is because his desire for us is so much greater than our own desire to maintain what is comfortable and what we know.
It’s human nature not to want the pain and process of being stretched. Sometimes the Lord will override our unwillingness to yield and allow circumstances to come into our lives that force the stretching and preparing process. Love is the motivator. His desire to bring promise fulfillment and bless us is greater than any desire to let our gravitational pull to staying comfortable keep us from his very best.
If I am being completely honest, I like my wineskin. I am comfortable in the revelation I have, the intimacy I share with the Lord, and the outflow of his life through me. I’m good, I can camp out here for a while. But I have served him long enough to know when it is time to yield to the faith stretching, character building, next level preparation he wants to put me through. I have also served him long enough now to be grateful (even glad) that he is putting me through those seasons because I know what is on the other side!
I shared with the staff in staff meeting this week that the word I sensed the Lord speak over my life for 2026 was increase. I was even vulnerable enough to let them know that as much as I was excited for that word I also cringed a little. I know there will be a cost for the fulfillment of that. What got me to the end of 2025 won’t be enough to handle the increase the Lord wants to manifest in me, through me, and for me in 2026. So Lord, let the stretching commence because the longing of my heart is for more of him. My desire is to be positioned to receive the fullness of the blessings and promises he has intended for me in the coming year
How about you? Are you willing to let the stretching begin?
Pastor Jay
JANUARY 11 2026:
THROW OFF EVERYTHING THAT IS SLOWING YOU DOWN
Hebrews 12:1
“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,”
Devotional:
What keeps you from living a life of obedience? Yesterday we looked at our capacity being stretched so we can have more of the Lord and the good things he desires for us. Sometimes it is more than the discomfort of the stretching that keeps us from pursuing him in a deeper more intimate relationship. It could be disobedience is keeping you from his very best.
Do you struggle with a particular sin or habit? What about an attitude or fear that keeps you from pursuing him and running the race of faith?
If you can identify something then it is probably true as well that you have prayed repeatedly asking the Lord to give you victory to overcome that problem. If that is true of you then you know you are not pleasing the Lord and typically we are not happy and at peace with ourselves either.
Hebrews 12:1 tells us to throw off everything that hinders. Another translation states it like this; lay aside every weight….That is a good translation because the things I just described feel like weights. They become heavy and burden our souls and weigh down our minds and souls.
This is one reason why Hebrews 12:1 puts the responsibility on us to lay aside every weight. In his book Sparkling Gems from the Greek Rick Renner explains the words lay aside or throw everything off.
The Greek word is apotithimi, a compound of the words, apo and tithimi.
Apo means away and the word tithimi means to place or to lay something down. When these words are put together it gives a picture of someone who is laying down while at the same time they are pushing it away from themselves, beyond their reach. This word implies a deliberate decision to make a permanent change of attitude or behaviour.
Laying aside the sin and attitudes that are weighing us down, slowing us in our race of faith and even keeping us from God’s very best promises will not happen accidently. We must decide to change. It is a decision of the will.
The word that can be translated Hinders/weight is a word that describes a burden or something so heavy that it stops a runner from running like they should. If you have ever competed in track competitions, I can almost guarantee that whether it is a sprint or long distance running, you have never competed in a snow suit or even long pants and shirts. Why? You strip off everything that carries excess weight to make running easier. This is the picture Hebrews is painting. Take off everything and remove it from your life that would make your run of faith more difficult.
Rick Renner writes, “This sends a strong message to us! If we want to please God, satisfy ourselves, and do something significant with our lives, we must choose to remove anything from our lives that would hinder those objectives.”
This is living with purpose. This is desiring every promise, every purpose, and everything the Lord has ordained for us. An athlete doesn’t become unweighted by accident. Through diet and exercise, through discipline and maintenance, and choice of clothing while competing it took intentionality to achieve that goal. The process demands attention, diligence, discipline and sacrifice.
Holy Spirit is urging us to take a good look at our lives and remove everything that weighs us down. Don’t for another day of this New Year carry the weights and burdens from 2025. Lay them aside. Walk in obedience.
Do you have a bad habit or wrong attitude that binds you? Determine today to put it aside and walk as far away from it as you can. Ask Holy Spirt to give you the strategy to do that.
It may require accountability with someone. Honest discussions will be required. You may have to seek professional counselling or ask a Pastor or trusted mature Christian friend or advisor to walk with you. Once you make that decision however you will find yourself running the race of faith with much more ease as you press on to the victory.
The sacrifice will bring you into the promises! It is worth it my friend.
Pastor Jay
