Casandra Martin

Creation tells a story. It is a story about a God who loves us, invests Himself in us, pursues us, sings over us, and longs to share His heart with us. Like all good stories, it has a beginning, a starting point, a place that helps us trace the most foundational truths of our own stories.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1

Beginnings are important. This is why God gives us this very first verse first. At the beginning of all beginnings, we find God. He is the source of all the good, all of the beauty, all of the power, all of the wonder, and all of the minute detail and awesome expanses that are to follow.

We tend to look at this beginning in Genesis 1:1 as singular, but in reality, it teaches us an important, continuing truth. Always begin with God. Recognize Him, seek Him out, invite Him in from the beginning and watch Him work. Beginning your day? Start with God. Beginning to worry? Seek His arms. Beginning a new job, task, or adventure? Invite Him in. Beginning to feel overwhelmed? Stop and listen for His voice. Beginning to feel sin’s sticky grip? Ask for His grace. Beginning with Him who was before the beginning is always the best way to start.

My Jesus Resolution today is to ask God to inhabit my beginnings. Too many times, I try to start out on my own. I go a little ways, run out of steam, and then wonder what went wrong. I want to learn how to step into God’s presence at the beginning – the beginning of every day, every hour, every project, every load of laundry, every friendship, every encounter, and every struggle. I wonder what stories we might be able to tell about what God created in our days, our relationships, our jobs, and our families if we learned how to invite Him in in the beginning.

Have you ever wanted to have a super power? Super powers allow heroes to step outside the boundaries of “normal” and do the extraordinary. In doing the extraordinary, they help those in danger, right wrongs, and change the world for good.

In His Word, God tells us that we have the ability to do something amazing. We can see the invisible.

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” – Romans 1:19-20.

God chooses to teach us about Himself, in part, through the physical world that surrounds us. The trees teach us lessons about His sheltering care. The flowers paint pictures of His attention and love of beauty. The heavens declare His glory and invite us into praise. God who is Spirit, invisible and set apart, reveals Himself in the living world. He allows us a glimpse of His heart. He makes His character visible so that we can learn about who He is and how to be transformed by His deep purpose for our lives.

My Jesus Resolution today is to look for the visible lessons creation has to teach me about our invisible God. He has tucked pieces of Himself in the corners, wide spaces, vast expanses, and small beauties of the world around me. He isn’t hiding His heart. Anybody can take hold of this super power. All that is required for me to see the invisible is a humble heart, a surrendered spirit, and open eyes. Today I am going to look for God. Join me?

This week much of the world has been enthralled with the birth of Prince George Alexander Louis, who now stands third in line as heir to the throne of England. Reporters camped for weeks in front of the hospital at which his mother was scheduled to give birth. Enthusiasts from around the world counted the days, cheering when she went into labor. Finally, on Monday afternoon amidst all this fanfare, the little prince made his appearance. Welcome to the world, little one.

It was a refreshing blessing to watch the world unite and rejoice in the birth of a baby. As I watched the crier announce the birth of the future king, I couldn’t help but be struck by the differences between this little one’s birth and the birth of another King two thousand years ago. No one lined the streets of Bethlehem in anticipation. No special rooms were reserved for the mother-to-be. There were no cheering crowds, souvenirs, or international media coverage. A mother, a father, a few animals, a manger, and one newborn King.

The King of Kings chose to come to an obscure Israelite town, in the middle of the night, to a young girl, in a stable, with no one but scores of angels watching. Humility cloaked him from the beginning. He settled in among the ordinary, among the nothing-special, in order to proclaim that extraordinary and beyond-your-imagination were now available to everyone.

My Jesus Resolution today is to be thankful for way that Jesus came into this world. His birth was a quiet event that shook heaven and stunned hell. No one imagined that God would wrap Himself in humanity in order to save man from himself. And the King is still doing what He does best. Quietly moving into hearts, lives, minds, and souls, taking up residence, and changing the world.

Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.” I love the confidence that flows from this promise. Commitment and trust open the door for God’s movement. God’s action will always bring God’s blessings. His movement ignites His purpose to take shape in our lives. His presence inspires the transformation that is at the heart of His desire for our hearts. When God acts, He brings the full measure of His goodness, grace, power, and faithfulness into our lives.

How do we learn to recognize and respond to God’s actions in our lives? It is easy to count the “big” blessings – the ones that warm our hearts, fill our lives with joy, and brighten our days. But I also need to learn how to search out the fingerprints that may be a little more difficult to spot. These are the blessings that are wrapped in inconvenience, are tucked in a difficulty, or are hidden in a hard circumstance. I prefer my blessings to be wrapped in sunshine and topped with a bow, but the blessings that most deeply shape my heart are sometimes found in the things that require me to look beyond myself and surrender. It takes time, perspective, and maturity to search out these blessings, but when we find them, we see God’s hand and His heart in a whole new way.

My Jesus Resolution today is to count the ways God is acting on my behalf. His movement should catch my eye, calm my soul, and provide me with direction. His fingerprints have the power to instill peace, provide safety, and assure me that I walk in the love of a God who never leaves me. His blessings should kindle praise, spark thanksgiving, and spur surrender. Today as I count, I am going to realize that I am just scratching the surface of the infinite ways God moves in me, for me, and with me.

Reality always looks different than it does on television. The roar of the fighter jets screamed in my ears. Soldiers stood at attention, guns aimed, suspicion written all over their faces. The borders were places of palpable tension as we crossed back and forth between Israeli and Palestinian controlled land. The Middle East is a powder keg. What seems remote on our nightly news is real, scary, and complicated.

We sat in a park overlooking the old city of Jerusalem. The Jewish tour guide traveling with us started by giving us a primer in the complexities of the Middle East peace process. Time passed as he outlined idea after solution to the questions of land rights, divine promises, and claim over holy ground. The more I listened, the clearer the answer became. No man made solution was ever going to completely ease the tensions that define life in this land. The only answer for true peace must be found in the person of Jesus.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” – Ephesians 2:14

We don’t have to go far from home to see the aching need for His peace. Our news, and its reality, is filled with the echoes, violence, tension, and stubbornness of hostility that divides us and calls us to suspicion and distrust. It doesn’t matter if the issue is prejudice, abortion, politics, defining marriage, or gun control. Education, discussion, and tolerance alone will never provide the deep and lasting peace we crave. Jesus is the only answer. Jesus is the only way to peace. Because Jesus is the only one who is powerful enough to break down the wall of hostility that divides us.

My Jesus Resolution today is to declare peace. The transformation that occurs when I surrender to Christ begins not with changing the world, but with changing me. The answer is not found in others learning to see my point of view, but in my eyes being made over with divine sight. There is an urgency in knowing that Jesus is the answer. How much violence, how much hatred, how much hostility could be remedied by the blood of Jesus if I had the courage to declare His peace to those who still see a wall instead of a cross?

Are you a procrastinator? Generally, I am not, but there are times when I find myself putting off what needs to be done and wrestling with gathering the gumption to tackle some big projects. Tomorrow always looks like it holds so much potential, while today finds me overwhelmed, over-tired, and over-committed. Someday becomes an anthem that soaks into the weary places in my soul.

In praying through the urgent and important things on my list, two words kept echoing through my thoughts – Today Counts. Here is a list of ten things that you shouldn’t put off until tomorrow.

1. Say I love you today. You don’t know when you will get another chance.

2. Forgive today. It isn’t worth carrying it around anymore.

3. Tackle a challenge today. The mountain isn’t going to get smaller if you wait.

4. Play today. A daily dose of joy is a powerful thing.

5. Tell someone “thank you” today. Gratitude has a way of changing your perspective.

6. Read your Bible today. God is waiting to reveal His heart to you.

7. Give something away today. Sacrifice frees your soul while blessing someone else.

8. Appreciate your friends today. A hug or kind word goes a long way.

9. Surrender completely today. Transformation is a decision away.

10. Sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ today. Here is a truth we all need to be reminded of every day.

My Jesus Resolution today is to make Today Count. Some things can wait, but the important things, the real things, the God things need to be woven into today. Jesus made every day count. His eyes were open, His heart was surrendered, and His focus was fixed on God. I want to be like Him. Years from now, I want to look back on my days and know that I made today count.

I’m drooling. The anesthetic that the dentist shot into my mouth is wearing off, but not quite yet. The dental work I had done this morning has a long history. When I was about 10 years old, I went through a phase when I decided to test the conventional necessity of daily brushing. I have definitely seen the light, but in the meantime, I have a few fillings to show for my foolishness and unwillingness to listen to my parents.

Today’s dental work is the direct result of those childish decisions many years ago. The filling I received back then had worn away and impacted the tooth in which it rested for so many years. While the dentist drilled, scraped, filled, and prodded, I thought about how an in-the-moment decision made years ago is still impacting my life.

Most of the time, we tend to believe that the choices we make are contained within the lines of the box that define this day on the calendar. We want to hang on to the idea that the world sells us that our decisions are ours alone and only affect us in the moment. The truth is that what we choose today has a ripple effect that can sometimes be felt years, even decades, later.

My Jesus Resolution today is to be mindful of my impact. The choices I make, even about little things, can have a profound effect later. The good news is that there is good news in that truth. What is true for negative, disobedient choices is also true for positive, surrendered choices. Deciding today to listen to Jesus, follow His way, and live in His purpose will not only shape this day, but has the power to touch the substance of my tomorrows.

Do you have a Bible hero? Someone in Scripture who inspires you, challenges you, comforts you, or prods you towards God’s purpose for you? The people who fill the pages of the Bible are flesh and blood, real people who walked, moved, lived, loved, sinned, struggled, fell, and got up just like you and me. Their stories are given to us so that we can learn what it means to live in God’s will, walk in His ways, and see His glory in the everyday routine of living.

Ezra is one of my favorites. Ezra 7:4 says, “For Ezra set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.”

Ezra lived at a time when Israel was struggling to refind its footing as God’s people. Coming back from captivity, they needed to plant deep roots in worship, seal their identity in God’s presence, and learn again what it meant to live in the promises and purpose of the Lord. So Ezra set his heart to doing three things that would not only come to define him, but help shape the people among whom he lived.

Ezra set his heart to study. He committed to saturating his soul with the power of God’s Word. He set his heart to doing everything God’s Word revealed. God’s law became his map, his guide, his lamp, his wisdom, and his path. He set his heart to teaching others. He made it his mission to connect the people around him with the God who had pursued them, loved them, redeemed them, and longed to make them His own. By choice, by diligence, and by example, Ezra lived out what it means to be God’s person in his time and place.

My Jesus Resolution today is to be like Ezra. I want to set my heart on God. I want Jesus to be the focus, the determination, and the deep desire of who I am. I want to immerse myself in His Word, allowing its life-refreshing waters to penetrate the hard places, fill in the broken spots, and heal the wounds left by my waywardness. I want to not only learn about Him, I want to live like Jesus. Walking in His footsteps leaves a trail that leads others straight into the presence of God.

“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17:20b

We have been on a seed hunt today. A little friend of mine needed a variety of seeds for a project, so we have been searching for seeds. Laying out the seeds that we found revealed a startling variety of color, shape, and size. It is amazing how God squeezes so much potential into the tiniest of seeds. Everything the plant needs to grow into maturity is packed into that tiny pod.

Seeds give me hope. They hold a promise of new life, fresh starts, and a future beauty on the horizon. They also remind me of God’s power and the way He looks at my soul. Jesus tells us that all it takes for the kingdom of God to flourish inside of me is faith the size of … a mustard seed. All of the beauty, power, fruitfulness, life, and potential of the kingdom is unleashed in me with faith as small as a seed.

My Jesus Resolution today is to hold a seed, dream, and then plant. God’s Word is pictured as a seed that falls on the soil of my heart. When it finds good, soft soil, the seed releases its transformational power and produces a crop that points straight to God. Allowing His seed to penetrate deeply into my heart opens the way for His purpose to blossom and grow in my life.

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:22-24

Psalm 118:24 is a favorite verse. It reminds us that God’s fingerprints are on this day, that He molded and shaped it for us, and that every moment is filled with His grace, provision, and presence. The context of this verse helps us see even deeper into the heart of God. Today’s joy is rooted in the day that Jesus went to the cross and the day that He rose triumphantly from the tomb. On those days God unleashed all of heaven’s power, grace, mercy, and purpose into today. All joy, all peace, all courage, and all hope flow from the marvelous things Jesus did for us.

Today is a day for rejoicing, renewal, remembrance, awe, humility, and joy. Jesus died for me. This amazing truth changes everything. Seeing the cross helps me count the cost of my sin. It reminds me to surrender to deep love, and stand in wonder at the lengths to which God will go to pursue me and make me His own.

Jesus lives! The empty tomb is a source of unending joy, amazement, and transformation. Because He lives, I can live, really live in all of the abundance and grace that God has stored up for me since before creation. The power of the resurrection is the power that fuels the purpose God longs to unfold in my heart.

My Jesus Resolution today is to rejoice. I can rejoice today because Jesus is my Redeemer. His sacrifice ignites today’s joy, fuels today’s purpose, and empowers today’s surrender. I want to be deliberate about going to the cross and empty tomb and spending a few minutes remembering, repenting, and rejoicing. Jesus died and Jesus lives. It doesn’t get better than that.