5 Day Devotional
DAY 1 - YOU WERE DESTINED FOR GREATNESS
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:26-27 ESV
When God created man, He made no mistakes. Why is that? Because when He created you, He created you in His image. Every time you look in the mirror it should be a reminder that He created you to be like Him.
When God created you, He made you for greatness. He created you to have dominion, conquer, and create just like Him. Every limiting factor in your life can be overcome by submitting your life to the One who made you.
There was a man who bought a Ferrari with an inheritance he received. One day this expensive Ferrari broke down on the side of the road. He was frustrated and confused about how his luxury vehicle could break down like this. As he looked up, he saw an old mom-and-pop mechanic shop in the distance. He quickly got to the shop and they started working on the vehicle. The problem? They weren’t equipped to fix something so complex, so instead of fixing it, they made it worse. Even more frustrated and ready to give up, the man called the dealership. They picked up the Ferrari, brought it to their shop, and fixed it in no time. Why? Because they were the ones who designed it. They had EVERYTHING necessary to bring this once-broken vehicle back to peak performance.
Today is the perfect day to bring yourself into the dealership. Surrender yourself to the One who created you and allow Him to prepare you for greatness.
DAY 2 - PUT SIN TO DEATH
“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:11-14 ESV
There must come a moment in your walk with Christ when you make a firm decision to get rid of sin. Anyone who minimizes the impact of sin does not understand the destruction that follows it. A great Evangelist named Tiff Shuttlesworth says it this way: “Get rid of sin before sin gets rid of you.” Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.
The good news is that Christ gave you dominion over sin. When you accept Christ into your heart, you receive heaven's power to crush the power sin has over you. His desire for your life is not that you would be stuck in sin, but that your life would be used for righteousness. Don’t let pride, fear, or even temporary fulfillment keep you from heaven.
God’s grace is not a license for us to sin, it is a supernatural power to overcome it. The day you get saved is the last day you have to sin. If or even when we do sin, we need to be like David, quick to repent and turn it around. We need to learn to love what God loves and hate what He hates. When we begin to daily read the Bible, pray, surround ourselves with godly people, and establish a life around God, suddenly things change.
Remember: David defeated Goliath but lost to Bathsheba. Our real giants are the ones we haven’t killed yet!
DAY 3 - RESPOND IN FAITH
“In your strength, I can crush an army; with my God, I can scale any wall.” Psalm 18:29 NLT
Every circumstance in our life can be met with great faith or fear, and it is up to us to decide which one it will be. Challenges can become our greatest lessons and even blessings when we learn to respond in faith: faith in God’s plan, faith in God’s Word, faith in whom we know God is asking us to be, and faith in what we know God is asking us to do.
We all have situations that we face, and while the context and details differ, our response across the board has to be the same: faith. Don’t reject the challenges just because they require you to make sacrifices and put aside your comfort zone. Sometimes the best moments in this earthly life are when we feel like we couldn’t possibly do the things or fulfill the roles that are required of us. But the beauty is that what we can’t do in our natural strength, the Lord God Almighty will do through us in His supernatural strength. A willing vessel can do great things when yielded to an all-powerful God. When we put “self” aside (our needs, our comforts, our preferences) and focus solely on God, we operate at a different level and live a life beyond ourselves.
What we often see as limited resources, God sees as unlimited potential. Be brave. Whatever you are facing today, you are not facing alone. God specializes in turning what seems terrible and like it’s going to destroy us: into unforgettable moments, character-refining opportunities, and life-changing testimonies. If God calls you, He will equip you. You are not alone or forsaken. Flip the narrative. God doesn’t want you to hate your life and challenging moments, but He will use them to improve your life. In every situation, choose to respond in faith and to keep responding in faith.
DAY 4 - TAKE CARE OF FEAR
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NLT
To be all God has called us to be, we must take care of fear in our lives. I find it very interesting that the Bible firstly refers to fear as a spirit, and secondly, it reveals that God did not give it to us. This is important. We should not want anything that is not from God. God only gives us good gifts (James 1), which means that the opposite, bad gifts would be from the enemy. I do not want anything from the enemy of my soul. He wants to steal from me, to kill me, and to destroy me (John 10:10). If God has not given me a spirit of fear, I do not even have to put up with it!
The spirit of fear in this verse often looks like cowardice which manifests itself in us by a shrinking back or timidity from moving forward in the things of God. I am sure at some point in your life, you have experienced a fear that made you want to cower and hide. You may have even felt disabled from the inside out. That is what fear does if we allow it to. But I want to bring your attention to the title Paul uses here to describe fear - a spirit. As believers, we have the greater One living on the inside of us. He is the same One who has total authority over any other spirit and has given us the power to cast off spirits. That means we should deal with fear the same way we would the spirit of infirmity: cast it out!
You have authority. No more will you be crippled by the enemy. Today is a new day for you in Jesus' Name. The Name of Jesus is so powerful - the Name holds ultimate power because it's the Name that died for us and then resurrected three days later. The Bible says that every knee will bow to that Name one day. Why are we bowing to the things that have to bow to the Name inside us? Fear has to go! You are not meant to be held back - you are made to push through, see mountains move, and do great things for God. So we now recognize that fear is a spirit and not from God. So what, then, is from God? The Word tells us the answer is power, love, and self-control.
Power: This power is the power to encounter danger and trials but to bear up under them. Power to triumph instead of tremble. Power that gives us the push to overcome.
Love: The Bible says in 1 John 4:18 that "perfect love casts out fear" - the love of God in our hearts does not tolerate the spirit of fear. When you have an encounter with the love of God, you begin to recognize who God is and who He is not. Fear torments, but love builds and encourages. When you discover God's love for you, you will not be held back by a fear that has no trace of God anywhere. Love not only exposes fear for what it is but also brings confidence in God's more excellent way of living.
Self-control: The state of our mind matters throughout our life. The stability of our mind is often determined by what is influencing it. A mind that is focused on God and His Word is a mind that is full of peace and perfect clarity. If we do not want fear to intimidate us, we need to only feed ourselves with faith and Truth.
Over and over in His Word, God reminds us that there is a way we can live if we would believe in Him. Stop entertaining fear - fear in any form, for that matter. Our lives as Christian women should be marked by power, love, and self-control. Fear is not from God, and it is not for you.
DAY 5 - NOW IS THE TIME
“But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” 1 John 4:4 NLT
Greater is He who is in you than in this world. You have all that you need on the inside of you to live a life that is successful, blissful, and fulfilling. There is no stronger team than you and God. He has designed you and created you for such a time as this. You are not an accident, nor is your timing here on earth. There is a call on your life to use the time you have to do something great for God.
When God looks at you, He sees the potential that He has placed inside you. Do not allow that potential to be choked up by the cares of life or people's words. It is time to live a life beyond you. Beyond what you think about yourself, beyond what you think your limitations are, and beyond what you have been living.
Today is the day to step into this more excellent way of living. To take God at His Word and to see great things begin to unfold. Please do not wait until Monday or for someone else to do it for you. Do not wait for another second. You have everything you need.
You are what this world needs, and you are who your family needs. You can be all God has called you to be by simply deciding what you will be. Armed with the written Word of God and the power that comes from His Spirit inside you, there is no battle too hard or mountain too high. His grace is upon you to do what He has asked, and as you spend time in His presence, His joy will fill you and carry you.
Do not look to your left or right; keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Do not allow temporary distractions to knock you off course. God has a more excellent way for us to live, and it is time to live it.