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We Are Family

“…You received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God..” from Romans 8:15-16

We have many identities, many ways of understanding ourselves, many ways of relating to the world. We use our identities to help us navigate through life.

We identify ourselves as individuals, as parts of our families, as part of our neighborhoods, schools, communities and countries. We identify ourselves by our age, ethnicity, economic and social class, gender, identity, and orientation. We identify ourselves by our religions, and or intellectual thought traditions.

These identities help us form and shape our relationships and give meaning and purpose to our lives.

Paul’s breakthrough came when he embraced his core identity as a child of God. He understood that he was God’s beloved. He understood that all of his neighbors were as well.

We are family. We are brothers and sisters, siblings in the family of God. Recognizing this as our core identity changes everything.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

#60secondsofhope #Devotion #inspiration#dailydevotion #dailyinspiration #dailymeditation #discipleship #freedom #holyspirit #Romans8

#family #personaldevelopment #positivemindset #dailydevotional #positivity #growth #identity

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Don’t Be a Slave to Fear

“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear..” - from Romans 8:15

In the Apostle Paul’s teaching, the gift of God is the gift of freedom. We are no longer slaves to our anger and bitterness. We no longer have to stay stuck in cycles of abuse, despair, and dysfunction. More than anything, we are no longer slaves to our fear.

Paul previously known as Saul spent most of his previous life living in the fear of not being good enough or faithful enough. He was a super zealot living in fear of God’s rejection and condemnation because he could never get it right. And he was obsessed with making everyone else live in his fear.

We don’t know what his thorn in the flesh was, that thing he prayed about time and again that didn’t change or get better. We don’t know what he felt like as an unmarried childless man in a society that valued those things. Embarrassed? Ashamed? We don’t know.

We do know that his certainty of God’s radical love and acceptance freed him from all these. He knew that knowledge and experience would free us as well.

Let us never be slaves of fear again.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

#60secondsofhope #Devotion #inspiration#dailydevotion #dailyinspiration #dailymeditation #discipleship #freedom #holyspirit #personaldevelopment #positivemindset #dailydevotional #personalempowerment

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The Power of We

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” - Acts 2:1

There is great value in our personal reflections and in our private devotions. We see over and over in the Gospels Jesus slipping away for a little time for himself, to pray, reflect, and rest.

Nevertheless, the story of Pentecost reminds us of the power of community, the power of we. When we come together for prayer and fellowship, for study, worship, and service, we experience God in a different and richer way than we do all on our own.

Togetherness is seldom very easy. The story of Acts is the story of people from around the world, with different cultures, languages and personal histories being together in one place. It’s the story of the Holy Spirit giving them the ability to understand one another.

Organized religions are at their best when they create spaces and places for us to come together, to connect, to relate, to praise, pray and serve. The power of God shows up when we show up together.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

#60secondsofhope #Devotion #inspiration#pentecost #dailydevotion #dailyinspiration #religion #dailymeditation #discipleship #positivemindset #dailydevotional #personalempowerment #Acts2 #community

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Holy Fire: How We Live Life with Passion and Purpose

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” - Acts 2:3

The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives enables and inspires us to lead lives filled with passion and purpose.

We no longer get up just because we woke up. We live each day with appreciation as we embrace connection with the world around us and those that dwell therein.

As we breathe in peace, we breathe out our anger and bitterness and fear. As we breathe in love we breathe out our guilt and shame and regret. As we are filled with appreciation and gratitude greed and lust, envy and jealousy vanish.

Seeing the world through the eyes of faith we are filled with hope as the vision of a new world filled with justice and wellbeing becomes the world we are determined to work towards in any and every way we can.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

#60secondsofhope #Devotion #inspiration #love #faith #dailydevotion #dailyinspiration #religion #dailymeditation #discipleship #positivemindset #dailydevotional #personalempowerment #Acts2 #meaning #purpose #calling

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Don’t Let Anyone Weaponize Your Religion

“But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.” - Acts 16:19

The owners of the slave girl were mad about the loss of money. So, they wanted to punish Paul and Silas. They needed the authorities and the crowd to do their dirty work for them.

But the crowd wouldn’t have cared about some already rich folks losing some money. Therefore, they appealed to the crowd’s religion

and nationalism. Their motives had nothing to do with piety and/or cultural pride. These were just their best tools for moving the crowd. So that’s what they used.

Not every argument made on religious grounds is made for good purposes. We have to be as concerned about the truth of the intent, and the truth of the impact as we are about the factuality of the argument.

We cannot allow anyone to weaponize or religious beliefs against others. Any argument that causes us to degrade, demean, injure or harm others goes against the truth of God’s love.

At that point we become the servants of the idol gods of power and money instead of the God of Love.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

#60secondsofhope #Devotion #inspiration #love #faith #dailydevotion #dailyinspiration #religion #dailymeditation #discipleship #positivemindset #dailydevotional #personalempowerment

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My Daily Prayer

Dear God, I’m Trusting You. I refuse to be afraid anymore.

I will follow the pathway before me as you guide me. I will walk through the doors that you open and not fret any doors that remain blocked or locked.

I’m trusting you to connect me with the people, and resources, and to bring me to the places where I cannot only survive but thrive. I trust you to restore what has been damaged and replace what has been lost.

I’m not only trusting you to bless me, I’m trusting you to allow me to be a blessing to those who encounter me, that I will be a light in the darkness, that I will give hope to the hopeless, that I will filled with empathy and understanding. I will live and move and speak in kindness and compassion.

I will be relentless and determined in the face of adversity and disappointment. I will do the work. When possible I will join together with other like minded people to do the work I cannot do on my own.

In all these things I pray that Your spirit sustains me in your faith, in your hope, and in your love. In Your name I pray. Amen.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

#60secondsofhope #Devotion #inspiration #prayer #dailyprayer #love #holyspirit #faith #dailydevotion #dailyinspiration #dailymeditation #discipleship #positivemindset #dailydevotional

#personalempowerment

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Understanding and Being Understood: A Gift of the Spirit

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them…

When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.” - Acts 2 verses 4 & 6.

We come from different backgrounds. We’ve had different experiences. We bring with us our own personal histories, our cultural backgrounds and cultural assumptions.

These differences make it hard for us to relate and connect to each other. These differences fill us with fear and suspicion. These differences make it hard for us to understand one another. These differences keep us divided.

The Holy Spirit enables us to come together and close these divisions. The Spirit teaches and enables us to speak in a way that allows us to be understood and to listen in a way that allows us to understand.

Effective communication is the Gift of the Spirit.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

#60secondsofhope #Devotion #inspiration #dailydevotion #dailyinspiration #Acts2

#dailymeditation #discipleship #positivemindset #dailydevotional #holyspirit #communication

#spiritualgifts #personaldevelopment

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Why Love Is the Greatest Spiritual Gift

“ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.But the greatest of these is love.” - 1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith is a powerful gift. It is the certainty of an outcome that we feel deep down in our bones when we don’t have sufficient proof or evidence. It is the substance that gives us the tenacity to keep going.

Hope is a powerful gift. Sometimes we don’t have confidence in the outcome, and we are filled with lots of doubts. Disappointment and failure are distinct possibilities in our minds. But hope gives us the energy and inspiration to keep moving forward. Hope makes us try.

Love is even more powerful than both faith and hope. Love keeps us going when we don’t have faith. Love keeps us going when we don’t have hope.

We may never see the arc of this universe make the long awaited bend towards justice… But love causes us to bind up the broken hearted, and welcome the stranger. Love gives us the determination to feed the hungry, care for the sick, and remember the imprisoned.

When our faith is a departed and our hope is gone, love is everything we need.

#60secondsofhope #Devotion #inspiration #dailydevotion #dailyinspiration #prayer #praise #dailymeditation #discipleship #positivemindset #dailydevotional #holyspirit #hope #faith #love

#spiritualgifts #personaldevelopment #1corinthians13 #1Cor13

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