Fixate PHX

by Fixate Phoenix

Christianity Spirituality Religion

To Behold Him Rightly

Revelations 4:9-11 ESV Matthew 16:13-17 Psalm 24 John 19:17-27 Matthew 5:8

Advent: Love for the Searching Heart

Matthew 1:18–25; 2:1–12 Isaiah 47:13–15 How to Find the Love of Jesus in the Searching of Daily Life God searches for you just as much as you may be searching for Him. If your eyes are open and your heart is open, He speaks profoundly, no matter who you are or how far you are from Him. From the beginning of time, His purpose has been you. Everything written, remembered, and spoken about is designed to get you to see that it is all for a relationship with you. No matter your background, upbringing, history, or current standing, He draws all things to Himself, and all creation groans for the coming of the Messiah. There are two kings and two kingdoms in this story, just as there are two kings in your story. These contrast each other as they fight for control of the outcome and for control of the hearts of people. Kings we swear loyalty to in the fallen world will only fail. The choice of following the true King comes down to choosing the manger over the palace, the stable over the crown, the child over the man. These pictures do not make sense, but that is the beauty of it—to choose something that relinquishes control and makes your life a life about Him.

Advent: The Joy of a Shepherded Soul

Luke 2:6–18 How to Return to Joy This Christmas Season Jesus’ birth is about the good news of great joy to all people, regardless of circumstances. The shepherds were in some of the least desirable circumstances, seemingly trapped in an “unholy” lifestyle and distant from God in the eyes of those upholding the laws of religion at that time. Yet Jesus’ life begins with a new era being ushered in—that he would come for all people with news of great joy from heaven. Jesus’ birth is a reminder that God longs to find you and invite you into the joy of knowing him, even if you feel you can’t find him or ever experience joy based on the past or present. Our shepherd reveals joy at the time we least expect it, in the places we aren’t looking for it, and in the activities of our lives that we think are outside the bounds of what we assume he can engage in. As he comes close, he then invites us in closer. True joy is not just knowing that Jesus brings joy on earth; it is drawing close enough to him to experience the joy of his Spirit in my day-to-day life through relationship. Information leads to transformation when I understand that the promise of Jesus is uncovered in the proximity of my life to his word and Spirit. Joy is the key to unlocking peace in your life and the goodwill of godly, redemptive purpose that you find yourself in every day. I am freely given and then freely receive the joy of the Spirit of God, walk in the peace it brings, and understand I am now a carrier of goodwill to all people. True maturity is growing in my faith from fearful to joyful, in order to walk in the fruit of peace and goodwill.

Advent: Being a Light of the World

Matthew 3:1-12 NIV Mark 10:17-22, 46-52 NIV Isaiah 11:1-5 NLT

Sunday Therapy Pt 5: Significance

Luke 15:1–24— How to Make Sense of Significance That Will Never Make Sense. 1 – Significance is rooted in what you believe and accept as truth about your condition and your foundation. Your conditions will always be changing, but your foundation doesn’t. The coin was lost, then found… the sheep wandered, then was found… the son squandered, and then reclaimed his place. The foundation of your significance in God is not your ability; it’s Jesus’ sacrifice in finding and reclaiming you by His shed blood on the cross. God doesn’t just renovate you—He longs to reveal the value that has been there all along. 2 – Significance is birthed in union with God—not in your performance, behavior, or current state. He lifts wandering sheep, He finds misplaced silver, He restores rebellious sons—and He calls all of it joy. Significance is when you find that no matter your circumstance, you can be found and embraced by God. And when you experience the embrace, there is a joy, love, and celebration of you as being worth whatever it took to bring you back to His arms. 3 – If you have any questions left on being insignificant to God, the prodigal son story is designed to eliminate all doubt. The prodigal isn’t a story about rebellion; it’s a story about revelation. He lost one-third of the estate… but not one second of his Father’s love. Significance is fully discovered when I bring everything that makes me feel insignificant to my Father’s feet and into my Father’s house… and He trades me a robe, ring, sandals, and a fattened calf. Lament #1 — “The Condition vs. The Foundation” Pray this: “Jesus, I confess I’ve let my condition tell me who I am instead of the foundation You placed me on. I’ve wandered, been misplaced, or wasted seasons and believed those moments defined me. Today I give You the conditions that convinced me I lost my worth. Remind me again how significant I am to You.” Make a list of areas you feel you have wandered, misplaced, or squandered your significance to God. When you develop the list, breathe slowly and read out each thing, and after, recite this prayer over each individually: “Remind me of my foundation in You… not my condition rooted in brokenness.” Lament #2 — “The Father Who Runs” Pray this: “Jesus, I confess I’ve feared that if I came home dirty, empty, or ashamed, You might hesitate instead of run toward me. I’ve rehearsed unworthy speeches instead of expecting a Father who celebrates me and treats me as significant. Today I give You the distances, the failures, and the fears I’ve carried.” Make a list of all the reasons why you feel you don’t belong to the Father or in the Father’s house. After you make this list, take a moment, whisper them to Him, then imagine Jesus running to meet you. Develop a picture in your imagination. When you feel Him close, say: “Thank You for running to me again, Jesus… would You teach me to believe in Your love.”

Sunday Therapy Pt 4: Purpose

Ezekiel 37:1–14 Genesis 2:7 Finding Purpose in the Spirit of God 1 – No one else and no thing else can breathe upon your heart to bring about the Creator’s miracle-working life except the Spirit of God. Without the breath of the Spirit your life will become dry, and your existence will feel as if it is trapped in a foreign land… for you were meant to co-labor and redeem that which was fallen, and anything apart from this sensitivity in the Spirit of God will be missing what it means to walk as Jesus once walked. Your life is about finding the breath, sensing the wind, and walking in the Spirit. 2 – Your purpose is simple… learn how to be breathed on, and breathe on others. Ezekiel had the breath of God but did not know the power it possessed until the Spirit of God commanded him to breathe it on others. You have to get close enough to the Spirit in order to understand how that Spirit works… and its main uses are to build, strengthen, and call forth others to rise in the Spirit of resurrection life. It’s in all things, it’s for all people… you must train your spirit to breathe His Spirit. 3 – You come to life when the pursuit of His Spirit becomes your life. You find your place when His Spirit occupies the right place in your heart. You walk in your purpose when you recognize that you are but dust if not for His Spirit breathed into your soul. All weakness, hindrance, distraction, darkness, and even death is temporary when you grab hold of the revelation that the power of His Spirit allows you to walk as He did, and do as He has done. “I will put my Spirit within you; you will come to life; I will place you in your own land.” Laments 1 – Lord, where did I lose the sense that my life has holy purpose? Where did I quietly agree with the valley and start believing I’m just surviving in exile instead of sent as an army filled with your Spirit? Show me the places where my bones feel dry, my calling feels small, my story feels cut off… and teach me to pray, “Ruach of God, breathe on my purpose again.” (Repeat this prayer 10 times slowly while breathing deep.) 2 – Holy Spirit, where have I confused purpose with power, position, influence, or money? Make a list of the places you have chased being important more than being imparted-to; where you have wanted status more than Spirit, increase more than intimacy. Invite the Spirit to expose where you’ve measured your purpose by what you have instead of who you carry. Recite this prayer slowly: “Father, remind me my purpose is to rhythmically allow your Spirit to breathe on my soul… and in this place train and teach me to breathe on the dry and dead parts of others around me.”

Sunday Therapy Pt 3: Love

John 13:1–15 — 31–35 How to walk in the broken, bleeding, and washing love of Jesus 1 – Love washes what you never could, breaks and pours itself out in a way you could never repay, and then turns around and tests you to see if you have fully understood that you are called to do the same. Love in its fullness is not just the receiving of the gift of Jesus, it is the washing of the grime of sin. Trusting our Saviour wants us to know he doesn’t just pay the cost, he removes that which makes us feel unworthy of the cost he paid. Don’t lift the bread to your lips if you won’t let the water touch your wounds. We take communion, and we are washed. 2 – The spectrum of people in this story shows a love that transcends barriers, exceptions, and stereotypes we place on it. He washes Judas’ feet right before his betrayal… he washes Peter’s feet right before his denial… he washes the disciples’ feet and takes communion right before all abandon him except John. Meaning it doesn’t matter if you betrayed, denied, or abandoned… there’s a God who washes, and a God who invites you into communion with him. He didn’t just wash the “faithful few”; he washed the ones who would fail him by morning. Your failures… can. be. washed. 3 – “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.” It’s impossible to walk in the love of Christ if that love is not allowed to wash away all the things we don’t love about ourselves, all the ways people robbed us of love, all the misconceptions and failed promises we have about love, and all the times love has failed. When love washes you, it washes the way that you love others, forcing you to act in a way contrary to the flesh and only credited to his Spirit… a washed love washes us and will not allow us to not wash others. Lament Pray this prayer: “Jesus, I admit I have often believed your cross paid for me, but still lived like the parts of me I hate are beyond your washing. I’ve taken communion while secretly agreeing with shame, acting as if I’m too much, too dirty, or too broken for real, daily love. Teach me today the love of your washing grace in the dirty parts of my humanity. Teach me to come to the one who longs to forgive and to cleanse.” Take a minute or two and in a silent whisper name the things you are giving to Jesus today to cleanse. After you give him those things and run out of things to name, center yourself and slowly repeat the phrase, “show me your ways of love and washing today” for another minute or two. Pray this prayer: “Jesus, I confess I have chosen ‘safe’ people to love while you knelt before a betrayer, a denier, and friends who would abandon you by morning. I’ve held a towel in my hands but kept score in my heart, deciding who is worth my time instead of loving as one who’s been washed. Teach me the gift of being washed of my dirt is the grace, forgiveness, and ability to wash others of theirs.” Take a minute or two in silent reflection and whisper the names of people you are choosing to forgive and wash their feet. After a moment of silence, ask the Lord if further behavior is being asked of you as a sign and symbol that you have been washed and are willing to wash others.

Sunday Therapy Pt 2: Belonging

2 Samuel 9:1–8 2 Samuel 4:4–6 How to Belong Even If You’re Questioning Your Place 1 — The Baggage Your Name Carries Does Not Mean You Don’t Belong His father and grandfather were the failed kings of Israel. His name and image were forever tarnished before he ever stepped into independent personhood. God can redeem what you lost and bring you into being found by only His goodness and His grace. It’s so much easier to hold onto why you don’t think you have a place than to trust that God will bring you into a place that only His power could. Belonging is rooted in what you believe about yourself before you are ever invited to sit at the King’s table. 2 — Your Deformities and Deficiencies Do Not Mean You Don’t Belong The areas in which people have hurt you that weren’t your fault can easily become the reason we never re-engage with life in God and with others—because we think it’s easier to be alone and protected than in a group and exposed. No one gets to dictate whether you belong or not besides you. There is always a seat open at the King’s table; you have to decide if you’re okay with it having others sitting around it. Stay in the pack. Run towards the roar. 3 — You Don’t Have to Believe What Your Circumstances Have Said Over Your Life Belonging is all about having faith that He works all things for your good. The thing he wasn’t proud of (his family) was the very thing that gained him access. His name meant “from the mouth of shame.” He described himself as a “dead dog,” yet in one single day he found himself at the King’s table—with his fortune, title, and status restored. Don’t let the outside defeat the inside, because God can change the outside faster than He can change your inside.

Sunday Therapy Pt 1; Safety

Genesis 32:22-32 HOW TO FIND SAFETY FOR YOUR SOUL 1- SAFETY FIRST COMES WHEN I REALIZE I CAN ONLY GET IT FROM GOD. OFTENTIMES IT IS AFTER YOU HAVE WRESTLED WITH EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE THAT YOU START TO SEE WHAT HE WAS DOING ALL ALONG TO KEEP YOU SAFE. When God wrestles you, it’s not to destroy you — it’s to drain you of everything that’s been pretending to be Him, and then reveal who he has been all along. 2. Safety is understanding what Godly protection is.. That we all will walk through wounding as a way to reveal that thinking we can win without him will always produce losing over the long haul. We must learn that our safety will never come from our power, only his. I’d rather walk with a limp and know who I am, than run fast and not know who I am or where I am going. Safety is about staying close to the one who has the power to protect, sustain, strengthen, and bring peace. 3. Safety is the trading in of the old name you built, for the new name Jesus blood purchased. God can’t rename and redefine what you won’t acknowledge and give to him. Jacob didn't need new circumstances; he needed a new identity. Oftentimes we pray for God to change our situation, but God first starts with who we are and what we believe internally, before he handles the circumstances of what we face externally. 4- You can limp your way into peace if God’s walking with you.. and the wound that hurts you can also become the evidence that He held you, and protected you. The limps and scars are the safety of a God who seeks to show you; he alone is your salvation.. And for a life with a testimony of you wrestled, you survived, and you found safety in God.. this is where true fruit comes from. Lament time 1- WHERE HAVE I SOUGHT PRETEND SAFETY INSTEAD OF GOD? What have I grabbed for—control, success, image, relationships, money—to feel safe? What do I fear losing that secretly rules me? Prayer: “Lord, drain me of every counterfeit refuge. You alone are my safety.” Breathe in: “God is my refuge.” Breathe out: “I release control.” 2- WHAT WOUND / LIMP AM I RESISTING THAT GOD IS USING TO PROTECT ME? Where has He “touched my hip”—shut a door, slowed my pace, humbled my strength—so I’ll stay close? How have I been trying to run again instead of rest again? Prayer: “Jesus, I receive the mercy of my limp. I would rather walk slowly with You than sprint without You.” — Lay your hand on the place that hurts. If its mind or heart touch your head or chest.. and pray for his healing power to restore you.

Tent to Temple pt 4; A Doctrine of Dependency

1- I GIVE NOT BECAUSE GOD NEEDS FROM ME, BUT RATHER TO SAY THROUGH MY SACRIFICE, “I TRUST YOU GOD..” 2- I give as a reminder im the steward of the masters talents, not the master of my own fate. 3- I GIVE FOR THE ROOT OF SELFISHNESS AND GREED TO BE DESTROYED IN MY HEART… AND FOR IT TO BE DESTROYED IN THOSE WHO ARE TO COME FROM ME AND AFTER ME. 4- I give because if he does not have the attention of my money, he does not have the full attention of my heart. 5- I GIVE BECAUSE THE NEEDS OF GODS HOUSE ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE WHO PROFESS TO BE GOD'S PEOPLE Proverbs 3:5-6 MATTHEW 23:23 MATTHEW 19:16-22 NEHEMIAH 10:28-39

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