This isn’t just another day of life. This is something remarkably special. This is day 1 of the 4th and final quarter of 2019. You stand on the cusp of something – on the cusp of your potential – and God wants to know if you will step INTO it. Will you step into the life he is offering you? Remember, God is offering you a BIG Life. Scripture says “I long for you to enter this wide-open spacious life. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively.” What does this mean … live BIG! And today is an opportunity to do exactly that. But most will miss it and believe it’s just an ordinary Tuesday sandwiched between an ordinary Monday and Wednesday. Will this day go unappreciated and unrecognized as the pure gift and tremendous opportunity it really is? Will you make your God look at you and say “Gosh I’m glad I gave that girl life!”

Here’s my wish for you … Today, may you be led by what is IN you instead of what is around you. Around you are all sorts of distractions and drama. The invitation to mediocre living is everywhere. But you don’t have to go through life downbeat, down cast and down in the dumps. DOWN isn’t the direction you should be looking or heading. Here’s how I know … because of what is IN you.

The title of today’s devotional is “Straighten Your Crown”

As a follower of Christ and daughter of the King, the very Spirit of God is IN you.

Romans 8: 9 says “You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.
A few sentences later in verse 15 it says “You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.”

God’s spirit is in you. Do you get that? His spirit is IN you. The mountain moving, sea parting, chain breaking, prison wall shaking, master of the winds and waves, creator of the Universe, IS IN YOU.

The enemy wants to beat you down and remind you of your failures and shortcomings all so you forget who is in you. He trips you up with an obsession over your weight, your money, your job, your house, your image … all so that you fail to recognize what is most important and what is truly powerful. God’s spirit lives within you. If you’re obsessing over the size of your butt and the pooch of your belly, then you forget about the power inside of you. Hey if you’re upset about your butt or your belly, your house or your job, then woman DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ALREADY! You have the ability to change anything you want to change. If you don’t like it, girl get to work on it. Don’t sacrifice your power.

I know I certainly have sacrificed my power at times and failed to recognize the most powerful thing in the entire universe living right inside of me. Every single time that sacrificed power came as a result of a focus on my problems instead of my power. You can be powerful or pitiful but you can’t be both. Why would we ever choose pitiful? Oh dang girl, pitty NEVER looks good on you. But power coming from the spirit of the Almighty living within in … you can rock that!

Because of his spirit living in you, you should no longer settle for defeat. You should no longer wake up expecting nothing great. You should no longer be okay with mediocre. Not when the spirit of the almighty is in you. Oh heck to the no!

This is why you should be excited. This is why you should get fired up about the new day of life being offered to you today. This is why you should anticipate seizing every opportunity that comes your way and being fully capable of slaying your obstacles, overcoming time and time again, and being more than a conqueror. BECAUSE GOD’S SPIRIT LIVES IN YOU. You are not controlled by the flesh. Your feelings no longer have to run the show. You are not a slave. You are a daughter of the king and quite honestly, princesses receive good things.

As you go through your day today, remember this truth: nothing you come up against could possibly match the power of the spirit of God within you.

You are not helpless, you are not hopeless, you are not stuck. And if you feel any of these things it is a result of the enemies lies and you bought them. Don’t buy what he’s trying to sell you. A real life princess should never settle for the peddlings of the defeated one. The same power which created this entire universe is now living inside of you and I believe that means you are POWERFUL. The same power which raised Jesus from the dead is within you, that means life and healing are inside of you. The same power which shook the prison walls and broke the chains is packed down deep within your soul, and that means nothing can possibly hold you back. The same power that turned water into wine is inside of you, that means you have the power to change. You don’t have to be the same woman stuck in the same old patterns and habits. You can change now. Why? Because the spirit of God can change EVERYTHING, and it’s living in you.

Oh girl, don’t forget what is in you. What is around you is just details. That’s just conditions and circumstances. Those pale in comparison to the very Spirit of God dwelling in you. That spirit does not make you a fearful slave of life, just waiting and wondering what could happen next. No, this spirit brings you into the family, places a crown on your head and says YOU BELONG!

Girl, straighten your crown. Life just knocked you around a bit, but you’re still a daughter of the king. He has claimed you. He has saved you. And his power now lives within you.