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Here is today's communion meditation.

Pressure can be therapeutic. Think of massage, it is pressure that we actually enjoy and it's therapeutic. 

I have found that during this season of the year God often slows things down. There may be some delays causing things to take longer than expected. God does this because his timing is perfect, and he is making sure that nothing tears or breaks. But time and pressure are very related, so whenever there are slowdowns, it increases pressure. But kind of like a massage this pressure can be therapeutic and turn into something that we actually look forward to. 

A good massage therapist knows how to find those tight restricted areas that you didn't even know were there. When they find those spots they may apply pressure, stretch it, and maybe even shake it a little to break it free and your job is to relax, be still, yield control, and let them work. I believe God does this same thing. He knows the areas of restriction in our...

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Here is today's communion meditation.

In my years of working with people in the gym I learned that eye position makes a big difference. It seems like a little thing but just a small shift in eye position can eliminate pain, increase strength, and improve balance instantly. In Ephesians it tells us that Jesus is the head of the body and everything connects to the head. Therefore, how our eyes and head are positioned impact the whole body. 

I have had people do a movement that was painful and then by simply lifting up their eyes the pain goes away and their strength increases. It is also very counterintuitive but one of the best ways to increase balance is by looking slightly up. When our balance gets threatened, we all tend to look down, which just makes our balance worse. When we lift our eyes, we become more externally focused and present which increases our balance. 

The same is also true in life, when our life balance gets threatened looking up can help us to...

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Here is today's communion meditation.

In 1 Samuel 1 is the story of Samuel's mother Hannah. Her husband had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children but God had closed Hannah's womb. Year after year Peninnah would provoke Hannah in order to irritate her because she didn't have any children.  It got to the point where Hannah was always sad, crying, and many times wouldn't even eat. 

Then one day Hannah stood up and went to the temple and poured out her soul to the Lord. The priest saw her and thought that she was drunk, but then she explained that she was pouring out her heart to God. 

Then the priest answered her, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” 

She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

Immediately her whole demeanor changed. She wasn't pregnant and didn't have a child yet, but she knew it was done and God had g...

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Here is today's communion meditation.

Sometimes we or people we are dealing with get into bad habits or patterns that begin to grow very powerful and become very hard to break. Thankfully, in these situations God can grant repentance. To repent means we have a true change of heart and turn around. When we truly have a change of heart the whole trajectory of our life changes. 

2 Timothy 2:22-26 says Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has ta...

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Here is today's communion meditation. 

Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

When I think of this path, I think of walking down a balance beam. It is easy to get knocked off the path to one side or the other, which is why it's so important to make quick adjustments. 

Jesus said this path is hard to find, but God didn't hide it from us, he hid it for us. I think the path is narrow because it means we need God's help to walk it out. Another key takeaway from this passage is that most people are on the wrong path, so following the crowd can lead us the wrong way. 

Today's communion is a time of gratitude that because Jesus we have God to help us find and walk out this path to life. And we are asking for his help to both find it and stay on the path. 

I am p...

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Here is this week's Yearly Cycle Update.

Part of the way these Yearly Cycle emails have evolved over time is observation. Observing what God is doing in my own life during different seasons of the year, and also paying attention to what other people are experiencing at the same time. God has patterns that seem to repeat every year at the same time. Lately I have done a lot of observing of people around us and it seems like many people are feeling overwhelmed. They are trying to step into new levels and continue growing, but as we continue to grow and expand it can often be challenging, overwhelming, and feel impossible. This is a season for miracles and when I woke up this morning, I felt like God was saying to remember that he has 2 hands. 

Recently I was thinking about how in the prayer we use every day in our Daily Communion Meditations we have 2 different times when we ask God to do things with his hand. First, we ask him to keep his hand on us today and help...

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Here is today's communion meditation. 

Earlier this week I was talking with one of our partners in the Abundant Life Blueprint and she was telling me how she has been practicing slowing down and connecting with God during the day. She was sitting down, praying, and getting still for a few minutes and her husband asked her what she was doing. She responded with... Powering Up!

The thought of powering up sounds a whole lot better than slowing down and waiting. When we slow down and connect with God it is like recharging our batteries and charging us up. A similar thing also happens when we pray in the Holy Spirit.. it powers us up. Jude 1:20-21 says But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. And1 Corinthians 14:4 says, “He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself

The Greek word that is ...

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Here is today's communion meditation. 

In Numbers 33 at the Lord's command Moses recorded the stages in the journey to the promised land and almost all of the stages say something like.. the people camped at a certain place then they left and went to the next place. 

I believe there are two very important insights in this passage of scripture. The first is the importance of recording our journey. A few months ago on one of our partners zoom trainings we discussed how to know if we are on track and the theme that emerged was recording our journey. I think recording our journey is one of the most important things we can do. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how to apply this into all of the areas of life, but here is a practical example. If you had a series of videos that documented your progress from 0 pushups to 20 over the course of several months how inspiring would it be to look back at all of your progress. We often get frustrated because we feel we ar...

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Here is today's communion meditation. 

Laughter is a great form of medicine. In my book Cracking Heaven's Code: God's System for Restoring Abundant Health I tell the story of Norman Cousins who was healed from a fatal illness by watching funny movies. He says that laughter is like a form of internal jogging that cleans out our cells. In Cracking Heaven's Code one of the main ideas is that lies we believe in our hearts are kind of like viruses that need to be cleaned out, and when God fills us with laughter and joy, it can cleanse both our physical bodies and also lies we are believing out of our hearts. 

In today's communion we are asking God to fill us with laughter and joy from all of the amazing things he has done for us. 

Here are some Bible verses on laughter to meditate on today...

Genesis 21:6: “And Sarah declared, ‘God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me.’”

Job 8:21: “He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and ...

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Isaiah 61 is the passage of scripture Jesus reads from the scroll when starting his ministry. The whole chapter is full of amazing promises. When I wrote my book the Miracle Year it was based on Isaiah 61, because it was a chapter that God truly began to bring to life for me. 

Today's communion is a time to meditate on Isaiah 61 and receive these amazing promises from God. 

Here is the full chapter of Isaiah 61...

The Year of the Lord’s Favor

61 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,

3  and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit ...