Tag: Encouragement

Daily Promise – October 10 – Because of Jesus, you are free from all condemnation

Romans 8:1 KJV

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.


Promise #283: Because of Jesus, you are free from all condemnation.

This is a wonderful promise that we can all take to heart. There is therefore now NO condemnation! Many of us struggle with feelings of shame and condemnation every day. This Scripture tells us that because of what Jesus did, we do not have to live under condemnation any longer.

However, when you read the KJV Bible translation of Romans 8:1, it seems like there is a bit of a disclaimer to the statement ‘There is therefore now no condemnation…” The disclaimer is …for those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For me, when I was a younger Christian and read this verse, I felt that if I somehow was walking after the flesh, then I would be subject to condemnation.

I truly believe that the heart of this verse is better translated in the ESV translation of the Bible which says in

Romans 8:1-2…
1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ESV

Notice that after the promise of no condemnation there is a period. The disclaimer (for those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit) is not there. I truly believe that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ there is therefore now NO condemnation…period! The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Hallelujah!
Photo by Barry Adams

Jesus is the ultimate model for every person

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 2:5, NKJV

What does it mean to be just like Jesus? 

The world has never known a heart so pure, a character so flawless. 

His spiritual hearing was so keen

He never missed a heavenly whisper. 

His mercy so abundant

He never missed a chance to forgive. 

No lie left His lips,

no distraction marred His vision. 

He touched when others recoiled. 

He endured when others quit. 

Jesus is the ultimate model for every person.

~ Max Lucado

 

Verse of the Day – Under His Wings We will find Refuge

VERSE:
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you
will find refuge …
— Psalm 91:4
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Psalm+91:4

THOUGHT:
Life is filled with many uncertainties. You never know when
something unexpected is going to happen. You have no idea when the
next disaster will strike. In a world filled with hate and
terrorism, none of us has a clue when the next horrible atrocity
will take place. So what do we do when we can’t be sure of our
circumstances? We take shelter under the wing of the One who is
above all circumstances! We take assurance in our Father who has
promised to bring us to himself no matter what may happen today …
in our world … and to our bodies. Our lives are hidden with our
Father because we’ve been joined to Christ. He is our Refuge! His
wings are our shelter!

PRAYER:
Father, what words can I offer that are sufficient to thank and
praise you for your deliverance that is greater than death? You are
the Alpha and the Omega. You are the God who was and is and is to
come. You are my Abba Father, who has adopted me and made me your
own. I place my trust, my hope, and future in you and I will not be
afraid. I find my refuge under your wings! All praise to you in the
name of Jesus. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20111009

Daily Promise – October 9 – The Pathway to real Freedom

1 John 1:9 KJV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Promise #282: If you confess your sins, I will be faithful to forgive and cleanse you.

God is faithful. God is just in all that He does. God promises to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All that He requires is that we trust in His goodness and risk exposing our heart by confessing our shortcomings to Him. When we confess our sins, we are vulnerable and honest before our God and Father.

When we confess our sins to God, we openly declare that we are relying on His mercy to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and that we can’t do it ourselves. It takes faith and trust to live a transparent life before God, but that is the pathway to real freedom. When we keep things in the dark, those things have power over us and will keep us enslaved in one form or another. When we bring things into the light that lurk in the shadows of our heart, we experience new found freedom over those things.

The amazing thing is that God is not surprised by what we confess, for He knows us better than we knows ourselves. He does not judge us when we open our hearts to Him, but rather the opposite happens.

In Psalm 103:14-15 the NIV Bibles says…
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

When we are vulnerable and honest before God, compassion rises up in His heart towards us because He understands our frailities. Confession of our sins is for our benefit not God’s. He has already dealt with the issue of sin that once separated us through the shed blood of Jesus… once and for all!

He wants us to be completely free! Free from a guilty conscience and free from condemnation and the accusations from the enemy! So if there is anything that is keeping you from experiencing the intimacy of being with your Papa God, be assured in knowing that if we confess our sins to Him, He will be faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness! ~ Barry Adams

Daily Promise – October 8 – He exchanged His life for our life

John 1:16 KJV

And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

Promise #281: I have blessed you in Christ with one outpouring of grace after another.

I love the Amplified version of this Bible verse…
For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift. AMP

In Jesus, God the Father has blessed us with grace upon grace, heaped favor upon favor on us and blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven (Ephesians 1:3). Words cannot express the wonderful, bountiful outpouring of love and blessings that God has given us through the free gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that we would be able to tangibly grasp the unshakeable inheritance that is ours in Jesus Christ today. He exchanged His life for our life and made the way for us to be partakers of His divine nature and beneficiaries of all His blessings. Thank you God for your amazing grace and every good and perfect gift that comes from your hand (James 1:17)!

Verse of the Day – Sometimes the greatest of all wonders wrap their tiny fingers around our own and capture our hearts

VERSE:
Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you —
majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
— Exodus 15:11
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Exodus+15:11

THOUGHT:
With whom do you compare the incomparable? How do you grasp the
infinite with a finite mind? When the quintessence of majesty is
the God you contemplate, how can you ever speak of majesty about
anything else? God exhausts our superlatives. God’s glory bewilders
our imaginations. God’s greatness exceeds our wildest dreams. He is
beyond what we can know or believe. Yet the Wonder of all his
wonders is simply this: he limited himself to a baby, swaddled by
loving parents in strips of cloth, and placed in a feed trough
because there was no room for them in the inn. Sometimes the
greatest of all wonders are not the ones that require our biggest
and best words. Sometimes the greatest of all wonders wrap their
tiny fingers around our own and capture our hearts.

PRAYER:
I do not know how to understand your incredible love for us, yes
even for me. How could you enter our world in baby Jesus? Like the
Magi, I bow and worship you, Lord Jesus, and our Father who sent
you. Who is like you, O God? Nobody is even close. Yet for some
reason known only to your grace, you have brought us close. I
praise you for your majesty and I praise you for your manger. To
your glory, precious Jesus, and in your name, I offer this praise.
Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20111007

Daily Promise – October 7 – We are God’s Offspring

Acts 17:28 KJV

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also
of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Promise #280: Your life comes from Me because you are My offspring.

Today’s promise comes from a passage in the Bible where the Apostle Paul is debating with some Greek philosophers on Mars Hill about the existence of the one and only true God. In the midst of his conversation, Paul tells that God is so involved in their lives that they actually live and move and have their being in Him.In Colossians 1:15-17 it says this about Jesus…
 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. NIV

Every neutron and electron, every strand of DNA, is held together by the very life of the living God. In Ephesians 4:4-6, it says that there is one God and Father of us all who is over all and in all and through all. No matter if all of mankind acknowledges this truth or not, it does not change the unshakeable fact that our God is the very fabric in which the universe is held together. There is no denying it.

I have always found it interesting that when Paul was speaking to the Greeks, he quoted one of their own poets that said that ‘we are all God’s offspring’. The truth is that God created every person who ever lived. He is the very author of life. Whether we realize it or not, we are all God’s offspring through creation and it is His eternal plan that every person on the planet would become His children through redemption by the free gift of Jesus Christ!

Related articles

How long?

“How long must I stay with you?” 

Mark 9:19

How long?

“Until the rooster sings and the sweat stings and the mallet rings . . .”

How long?

“Long enough for every sin to so soak my sinless soul that heaven will turn in horror until my swollen lips pronounce the final transaction:

‘It is finished.’”

Jesus bore all things,

believed all things,

hoped all things,

and endured all things.

Every single one.

~ Max Lucado

Verse of the Day – Can you trust what you don’t see?

VERSE:
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you
do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of
your faith, the salvation of your souls.
— 1 Peter 1:8-9
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1+Peter+1:8-9

THOUGHT:
Can you trust what you don’t see? Of course! What kind of
question is that? Our lives depend on what we cannot see — things
like gravity and the air we breathe, just to name two. Faith in
Jesus is as natural as faith in each of those things. The problem
is that our hearts are skeptical. We find it hard to believe that
anyone divine would love us so much. Our experience says, “If it
seems too good to be true, it is.” That skepticism is just the
twisted form of the response God longs to see from us:
“inexpressible and glorious joy.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve
tasted both. I prefer joy over skepticism!

PRAYER:
What joy fills my heart, Father, when I anticipate what it will
be like to be in your presence — to have you wipe each tear from
my eyes and to have you introduce me again to those I love and to
those I’ve only known by reputation. Please never let me outlive
that sense of anticipation and never let that hope dim in my heart,
no matter what else may happen in my life here. In Jesus’ name I
pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110930

Back – but sick with the flu

Update as of 10-6-11:

We are back in town,  but both have the flu. Bear with us as we heal. Will be back posting as soon as possible. Be blessed. Sharon & Erick

======================================================

9-30-11

We will be away from the computer for a few days, so I posted the Daily Promises, without the devotionals attached, through October 3.

I will post the devotionals later.

Please browse through past messages for encouragement, strength, and inspiration.

Be blessed, and know that God loves you, and is just waiting with much excitement to give you a wonderful day, every day.

Sharon

Agape Love

“Love is patient and kind.”

1 Corinthians 13:4

Agape love cares for others because God has cared for us.

Agape love goes beyond sentiment and good wishes.

Because God loved first, agape love responds.

Because God was gracious, agape love

forgives the mistake when the offense is high.

Agape offers patience when stress is abundant

and extends kindness when kindness is rare.

Why?

Because God offered us both.

~ Max Lucado

Daily Promise – September 29 – You have an everlasting inheritance

1 Peter 1:3-4 KJV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

Promise #272: You have an everlasting inheritance reserved in heaven for you.

There are many uncertain things in this world that we live in but our everlasting inheritance is NOT one of them. Our God and our Father has secured an inheritance for every one who has received the free of gift of His Son’s life that is incorruptible, undefiled and will never fade away.No matter how unstable things become around you, you can bank on this promise to be unshakeable! Because of the abundant mercy of the Triune God, we can hope in a special place in heaven that is reserved just for us! It is more certain than the ground that you are standing on right now.

Father, we thank you for your abundant mercy expressed through the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus! When times get tough and the near future looks bleak, may we lift up our eyes to see the amazing future that is in store for us and may we be filled with hope knowing that you really are a faithful Father!
Photo by Barry Adams

‘Honey, I love you in an abstract way’

By Jon Walker

This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other. (John 13:35 MSG)

True love is never in the abstract. ‘We’ll never carry out our mission of being witnesses to Christ from behind pulpits or within Bible studies. We’re commissioned to “go therefore” and fill the earth with the presence of Christ so others may “observe” what He commanded us — to love one another as He loves us (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB; John 13:34).

We are to take our unseen and eternal fellowship, our oneness with Him and each other, into the seen and temporal lives of others.

To “observe” something, it must be seen. As others observe us, watch us “being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, intent on one purpose; not merely looking out for our own personal interests, but also for each other’s interests (Philippians 2:3-4),” they will naturally wonder where such uncommon attitudes come from.

And we have opportunity to say, “This is the attitude that ‘is in Christ Jesus who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant, being made in the likeness of men’” (Philippians 2:5-7).

In a fallen and self-oriented world, both that attitude and practice are particularly uncommon and profoundly noticeable. The witness of the reality of Christ and His love through our authentic and loving relationships is a living testimony that the world must deal with. Jesus’ personal and sacrificial love creates a safe place, a refuge, an opportunity to “be” that every person needs.

This devotional is based on my book, Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship’.

We now have free small group study guides posted for each chapter from Costly Grace. The study guides are available at http://www.gracecreates.com/free-stuff/.

‘Honey, I love you in an abstract way’ is a post from: GraceCreates Jon Walker is the author of Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ and Growing with Purpose. He has served on staff at Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries and is currently the managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Devotionals and the Ministry Toolbox. Contact him at questions@gracecreates.com. This article is copyrighted 2011 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

Jesus is the Center

For me to live is Christ [His life in me]

Philippians 1:21 AMP

Jesus is the way.

He is not only the Way to God, but He is the Way into all that God has for us.

He is the Way into our devotions,

to our Bible reading,

to our prayer life,

to our ministry,

and to all that we do for Him.

In reality, we do not do our work for Him,

but He does His work through us.

With Jesus in the center of our being,

we are no longer victims of our expectations,

circumstances,

and the things we can’t control.

We discover that it’s okay if people don’t meet our expectations,

because Jesus is our expectation.

Schedules may be good,

but they don’t produce life within us because

Jesus is our life.

–Don Lessin

Verse of the Day – Glory in His Holy Name

VERSE:
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the
LORD rejoice.
— 1 Chronicles 16:10
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1+Chronicles+16:10

THOUGHT:
What is your glory? Do you glory in your accomplishments, your
wealth, your status, your looks, your piety, your humility …? In
the old hymn “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” we confess, “My glory,
all the Cross.” That’s what Christians mean when we “glory in God’s
holy name.” Our full understanding of God’s holy name has been
greatly expanded by Jesus. He taught us to not only reverence the
name of God, but also to call him Father. Any other cause of joy,
any other basis for boasting, is a passing illusion. For those
whose hearts seek the LORD, glory is found in reverencing the holy
name of the Father who gave up his precious Son so we could be his
children. He loves us that much. Incredible!

PRAYER:
You have blessed me in so many ways, Father. How can I ever
begin to thank you properly? I confess that I sometimes seek
notoriety and glory for myself even though I know it is fleeting
and often it is only the false flattery of those who want something
from me. But deep in my heart, dear God, I know that my true glory
is found in the adoption covenant you signed with your grace. Thank
you! Words cannot capture my appreciation, but please know that I
look forward to being eternally grateful for all that you have
done. May the glory be yours in heaven and throughout the earth,
both now and forevermore. In the name of Jesus I praise you. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110929

Verse of the Day – Christ died for sins ONCE for ALL

VERSE:
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous, to bring you to God.
— 1 Peter 3:18
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1+Peter+3:18

THOUGHT:
It sounds so simple and straightforward, doesn’t it? Kinda like
the newspaper headline about someone dying we don’t know. Just
cold, hard facts! But we know differently. Underneath this
statement of grace lies the broken heart of God, the sacrifice of
heaven, the brutality of supposedly religious men, and the
searching love of our God who would not abandon us to the cruel
“Deathmaster.” For those who knew animal sacrifice, with its high
personal cost and animal sacrifices, this verse is more than a
headline: it is a “graceline.” Once for all — no more sacrifices
needed. Bring you to God — no more distance, no intermediaries
between God and us. Jesus is heaven’s open door and God’s open
heart saying, “Come home; we’ve been waiting for you.”

PRAYER:
What words, O gracious Father, can I use to express my
appreciation for your sacrifice and grace? I have none sufficient
to say what I feel. But even in this realization, I know the gift
of your Spirit ensures that you hear my words and my heart. Every
good and lasting thing I have comes from your grace. Please receive
my undying love and my heartfelt praise for all you are, for all
you have done, and for all that you will be. In Jesus’ precious
name I pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110928

Daily Promise – September 28 – We are more than conquerors through Him

Romans 16:20 KJV

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Promise #271: I will soon crush the evil one under your feet.

In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us to ask our Father to ‘deliver us from evil’. Jesus wouldn’t have told us to pray this way unless He was certain that His Father would answer our prayer to be saved from evil.

We know that in this world, we will have trouble in life because we live in a fallen world. Hurting people hurt other people and the cause and effect of a fallen humanity causes many evil things to happen. However, that does not mean that we are in subjection to the prince of the power of air. In James 4:7, the Bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

In Romans 8:37, Paul says that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. As Paul continues to write the book of Romans, he goes on to say in today’s promise found in Romans 16:20, that the God of peace will soon crush the evil one beneath our feet. No matter what circumstances you are facing today, be encouraged that our God and Father will soon give us an eternal victory and crush the evil one beneath our feet! …So rest in this amazing promise and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Photo by Barry Adams

Daily Promise – September 27 – He will keep us from falling

Jude 1:24 KJV

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling,
and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Promise #270: I will keep you from falling until you joyfully stand blameless in My presence.

One day, each one of us who has called on the name of the Lord will stand before His presence. Today’s promise encourages us that we have nothing to fear on that glorious day. Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, and our Elder Brother, will present us before His Father completely faultless (blameless) on that holy day. The NLT Bible says that Jesus ‘will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.’

I love the thought that when Jesus presents us to God, He will do so with exceeding joy! The Amplified Bible describes it as… triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight]. It will absolutely thrill the heart of Jesus to present us blameless before His Father on the day that we will see Him face to face!

We have nothing to fear about our future. Jesus has promised to be faithful to keep us from falling and will one day present us completely blameless before His Father and our Father in triumphant joy with unspeakable, ecstatic delight! Hallelujah!!!!!!
Photo by Martin Smith

AuthorBarry Adams

Verse of the Day – join us in going to the great celebration of grace and salvation at his return!

VERSE:
The inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, “Let us
go at once to entreat the LORD and seek the LORD Almighty. I myself
am going.”
— Zechariah 8:21
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Zechariah+8:21

THOUGHT:
This Messianic message from Zechariah anticipates the day of the
LORD’s redemption. Many different peoples, from all over the world,
will come looking for the great mercy of God. God’s people will
have one key phrase on their hearts: “Let’s go seek the presence of
God. I’m going; why don’t you join me?” As believers, we know Jesus
has come, has died, and has been raised from the dead. We know
Jesus is returning with salvation for all who truly know and follow
him. Let’s ask others to join us in going to the great celebration
of grace and salvation at his return!

PRAYER:
Loving Father, I seek your presence daily in my life. Without
your guidance, love, holiness, and truth, I would be lost and
confused. Knowing that my destiny is with you, I look forward to
seeing you face to face as your child. Please lead me to those who
do not know you, but who are seeking you. Give me eyes to see them,
ears to hear their cry, and wisdom to know how to share your grace.
Use me to prepare them to meet you at the great Day of Redemption
that is coming with your Son. In the name of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110927

Verse of the Day – What difference does it make if we praise him?

VERSE:
You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest
heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on
it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything,
and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
— Nehemiah 9:6
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Nehemiah+9:6

THOUGHT:
Our praise is pretty irrelevant to everyone and everything but
us, those closest to us, and amazingly to God. In a universe so
vast, so much bigger than Nehemiah could have imagined, what is our
small voice and our song of praise? The billions of stars and
innumerable creatures of the immense seas all cry out that our
Creator is LORD. God will receive the worship of the angels and all
the heavenly beings. What difference does it make if we praise him?
To the universe, to be blunt, it doesn’t matter. But it does to us!
It matters even more to the LORD, who longs to be our Father and
wants to bring us into relationship with himself.

PRAYER:
Holy and amazing God, you alone are Lord — Lord of all creation
and Lord of my life. You are praised by all you have made. Your
works cry out and declare your creative genius and your loving
kindness. Father, I want to add my heartfelt praise to the chorus
of creation, the voices of the angels, and the praise of many who
have come before me. You are truly worthy to be praised. I gladly
offer you my words, my songs, my heart, and my life. In Jesus’
name. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110926

Daily Promise – September 26 – God will bring comfort to you

Psalm 23:4 KJV

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Promise #269: When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will be with you.

Today’s promise is a much loved verse from the often quoted Psalm 23. Most times, we might quote this verse at a funeral service or at another time of extreme loss and of course this verse is fitting for those occasions. At the end of our lives, it is comforting to know that God will never ever leave us.

However, I do want to ask you to think of another application of this promise… Jesus told us that except a seed falls in the ground and dies, it abides alone (John 12:24). The principle of the Christian life is a continual letting go of things, allowing them to ‘die’, only to see them resurrected again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whether those things are dreams or desires, the principle of the cross (death, burial, resurrection) is a resounding theme in the daily Christian life.

In that context, when you are feeling like God is asking you to surrender something dear to you, when you are in a sense walking through the shadow of death for something that you have hoped for, be comforted in knowing that God is very close to you in those times of surrender and His staff and rod will bring comfort to you. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy is coming in the morning! (Psalm 30:5)

~ Barry Adams

Carry a thankful heart for every “yes”

Each of us should carry a thankful heart for every “yes”

we receive from God as an answer to prayer.

We can also be thankful He doesn’t say “yes” to prayers

that are not in agreement with His will—

prayers that are based on our wisdom and not on His;

that would bring leanness to our souls;

that would put us in the wrong place;

that would make us ineffective;

that would bring us into wrong relationships;

that would cause our hearts to cool;

that would keep us from His highest

and rob us of His best.

~ Roy Lessin

I know not by what methods rare,

But this I know, God answers prayer.

I know He gives His pledged word

Which tells me prayer is always heard,

And will be answered soon or late,

Though often it is hard to wait.

I know not if the blessing sought

Will come in just the way I thought;

I leave my prayer with Him alone,

Whose will is wiser than my own,

Assured that He will grant my quest,

Or send an answer far more blest.

-Unknown

 And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. 1 John 5:14 AMP

Daily Promise – September 25 – God wants each and every one of us to run into His arms every time we need to be comforted!

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 KJV

3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Promise #268: I will always be close when you need My comfort.

We all need comfort. When we scraped our knee playing in the backyard, we needed the comfort of a mother or a father to simply hold us and reassure us that everything was going to be okay. When we experience extreme disappointment or the loss of a loved one, words fail… What we need is comfort.

In today’s Bible passage from 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells us that God is the Father of mercies (compassion) and the God of ALL comfort. Our God and Father is the source of ALL comfort and He wants us to be comfortable coming to Him to receive comfort whenever we need it.

Since we were created to receive comfort, we will seek it out somewhere. If we don’t receive it from God, we will receive it from other things… Food, material things, false comforts, etc. God wants each and every one of us to run into His arms every time we need to be comforted! As we receive the comfort from His loving arms, we will then be able to be an expression of that same comfort to other people when they need a comforting shoulder to cry on.
Photo by Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man

VERSE:
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men
spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
— 2 Peter 1:21
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=2+Peter+1:21

THOUGHT:
Where did Scripture come from? What is the basis of our faith in
the Bible and the Gospel? Peter wants us to realize that the
prophets of ancient times didn’t bake up their own private recipes
for their prophecies. Instead, they could only move and respond to
what God was doing in them, not what they themselves wanted to do
or say. They were human, but their message was God’s word because
the Holy Spirit moved them to speak and guided their words. This
makes what we have in Scripture from the prophets more than
precious: we are given the very words of God! (cf. 2 Timothy
3:16-17)

PRAYER:
Almighty God, thank you for inspiring ordinary people to give us
your extraordinary message in common, everyday language. Thank you
for delivering that essential message to us in the Bible and
preserving it through times of persecution, hardship, and
opposition. Please use those same Scriptures to ignite a whole new
revival in my heart and throughout our land. In the name of Jesus I
pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110925

Daily Promise – September 24 – When we are feeling the farthest away from God, He is actually the closest

Psalm 51:17 KJV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.


Promise #267: I will not reject the sacrifice of a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

I am so thankful that the sacrifices that God accepts are those of a broken and a contrite heart. Psalm 34:18 says… The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. NIV When we are feeling the farthest away from God, He is actually the closest. He does not abandon us in our times of crisis and struggle for He has promised to save us even in our darkest time.

King David wrote this Psalm after it became public knowledge that he had sinned with Bathsheba. His illegimate affair caused a world of hurt and pain for many people. It was at David’s lowest point, that he had a revelation of God’s love and kindness and mercy. Perhaps David expected God to reject him for his sin? Perhaps he was surprised to feel God’s nearness in the midst of his darkness?

Whatever he felt, he knew that God saw his broken heart, and God knew that David was truly sorry for his sin. For many of us, when we sin against God, we run in the opposite direction of Him assuming that He will turn away from us. The opposite is true! When we are our lowest point, He is very close to us and He promises to save those who are crushed in spirit.

~ Barry Adams

Without wood a fire goes out

Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies
down.
— Proverbs 26:20
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Proverbs+26:20

THOUGHT:
Ol’ Smokey The Bear said: “Only you can prevent forest fires!”
Basically, that’s what the Wiseman says about gossip. We can turn
down the heat, douse the fire, and let the quarrel die. How? By not
supplying juicy morsels of gossip, by ditching the urge to spread
destructive innuendo, and by refusing to keep alive an ugly rumor.
Without gossip, the bitterness of a rivalry can dissolve and
relationships can mend.

PRAYER:
Forgive me, O God, for the times I have kept gossip alive or
have entertained the conversation of a gossip. Please bless and
heal those whom I have wounded with my participation in gossip.
Give me the strength to say only what is helpful to bless others,
the courage to mend the relationships that I have damaged because
of reckless words, and the wisdom to know how to discourage those
seeking to spread gossip. In Jesus’ name I ask it. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110924

We have Put on Christ

“As many of you as were baptized into Christ

have put on Christ.”  Galatians 3:27 NKJV

You read it right. We have “put on” Christ.

When God looks at us He doesn’t see us; He sees Christ.

We “wear” Him.

We are hidden in Him;

we are covered by Him.

As the songs says,

“Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”

Presumptuous, you say?

Sacrilegious?

It would be if it were my idea.

But it isn’t;

it’s His.

~ Max Lucado

Daily Promise – September 23 – He will renew our youth

Psalm 103:5 KJV

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.


Promise #266: I will enrich your life and renew your youth like the eagle’s.

Eagles like most birds, go through a molting process where they shed their old feathers and grow new ones. This process is necessary in the rejuvenation of the eagle so it can continue to remain strong. In Psalm 103:5, King David tells us that the Lord will satisfy us with good things and will renew our youth in the same way that the eagle renews his feathers.

No matter how old we get, our God and Father promises to continue to renew our inner being so that we will have a spring in our step, a sparkle in our eye, and a sense of awe and wonder about life. May each one of us hold fast to this promise and not dread our future, but look forward to the renewing process where our youth will be renewed just like the eagle’s!

~ Barry Adams

The Same Hands

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 21:4

Someday God will wipe away your tears.

The same hands that stretched the heavens will touch your cheeks.

The same hands that formed the mountains will caress your face.

The same hands that curled in agony

as the Roman spike cut through will someday

cup your face and brush away your tears.

~ Max Lucado

 

Related articles

Daily Promise – September 22 – He will surround us with safety and give us peace

Psalm 4:8 KJV

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:
for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.


Promise #265: I will give you a peaceful sleep surrounded by safety.

There are many things in this world that cause us to be afraid and not feel at peace. As a result,  many people struggle with sleep at night because of the numerous anxious thoughts that they have circulating in their minds.

Jesus was able to sleep on boats in the midst of storms. He is the Prince of Peace and has promised to give His peace to us. In John 14:27 Jesus says… Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. NIV

His encouragement to us today is to not be afraid. He will make us to lie down in peace and have a restful sleep surrounded by His abiding sense of safety. For all those who struggle with geting a good night’s sleep, I pray that this promise would become a tangible reality for you today.

May you go to sleep tonight not dreading a night of tossing turning. May the tangible presence of the Prince of Peace surround you and envelope you with His love so that you can feel truly safe and you can have the best sleep of your life!

~ Barry Adams

Daily Promise – September 21 – God will renew our strength

Isaiah 40:31 KJV

31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Promise #264: If you wait for Me, I will renew your strength.

When we think of waiting, whether it is waiting in a car for a friend, waiting in a doctor’s office for an appointment, or waiting in a check out line, we might tend to think of waiting as being a time of inactivity or passivity. After all, while we are waiting, we aren’t actually doing anything… or are we?

When we wait for somebody or something, we are actually in a posture of submission to somebody or something. For example, if you are waiting in a car for a friend, you have positioned yourself to be vulnerable to however long your friend takes to come into the car. When you are waiting in a doctor’s office, you have given the doctor and his/her staff the power to choose when your next in line for your appointment.

While we may see waiting as inactive, it is actually the opposite in many cases. For me, a self-described ‘type A personalty’, waiting can be very difficult at times. The longer I wait, the more I begin to scream on the inside for something to happen! For me, waiting isn’t passive or inactive, waiting for me is one of the most active things I can do.

In today’s promise, we read that if we wait on the Lord, He will renew our strength. When we choose to humble ourselves before Almighty God and acknowledge that it is His will and direction that we are looking for, we are positioning ourselves to wait for Him to give us the guidance we are looking for. When we wait on Him, we are honoring Him and choosing not to ‘lean to our own understanding’ as mentioned in Proverbs 3:5-6.

Waiting on the Lord is one of the most active things we can do. It can be difficult at times because we are not in control of when and where God will move. We simply wait for Him to do what He wants to do, but the promise that you and I have today is that when we wait for Him, He will be faithful to renew our strength!

~ Barry Adams

tHE oLD mAN wITH hIS fEET iN tHE bUCKET « Women’s Window

tHE oLD mAN wITH hIS fEET iN tHE bUCKET « Women’s Window.

I wonder if Jeanne even knows what a great gift she really has for reaching out and touching lives in such poignant ways–through simply expressing what touches her.

I am honored that she has come into my life. That she shares the gifts that God has given her, and enriches my life each and every day.

I am going to my 5oth high school class reunion next week, and I am having somewhat of a hard time because I have difficulty just being me around anyone other than my husband. It’s not that I don’t like myself, the deep down inside of me. It’s just hard to be that vulnerable and not be afraid of what others will think.

I was the president of my class, and back in 1961 a girl class president in a little country community was a big deal (well, at least it was a big deal for me, since I was the first girl president EVER in our school which was established in the late 1890’s.)

Still, reading this message from Jeanne let me know that I am not only ok being me, I should just be the BEST me that I can be. And that will be good enough. God made me this way. He will use me this way.

Thank you, Jeanne, for again sharing a beautiful way to observe our purpose in life and giving me the courage to let go and just live the life I was intended to live. Just by being me.

 

Do you remember when? If you don’t, you missed a lot!

How’s This For Nostalgia?

Do you remember when…..

All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?

And wore tennis shoes, not $200 Nike’s!

It took three minutes for the TV to warm up?

Nobody owned a purebred dog?


When a quarter was a decent allowance?


You’d reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?

Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?

You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped,

without asking, all for free, every time?

And you didn’t pay for air?

And, you got trading stamps to boot?

Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner

at a real restaurant with your parents?

They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed…

and they did it!

When a 57 Chevy was everyone’s dream car…

to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races,

and people went steady?

No one ever asked where the car keys were

because they were always in the car, in the ignition,

and the doors were never locked?

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends… and saying things like, ‘That cloud looks like a… ‘?

Playing baseball with no adults to help kids

with the rules of the game?

Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals

because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger…


And with all our progress, don’t you just wish, just once,

you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace,

and share it with the children of today.

When being sent to the principal’s office was nothing

compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?

Basically we were in fear for our lives,

but it wasn’t because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.

Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!

But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.

And our summers were filled with bike rides, Hula Hoops,

and visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.

Didn’t that feel good, just to go back and say,

‘Yeah, I remember that’?

I am sharing this with you today because it ended with a

Double Dog Dare to pass it on…

To remember what a Double Dog Dare is, read on…

And remember that the perfect age is somewhere

between old enough to know better and too young to care.

Send this on to someone who can still remember Howdy Doody

and The Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger,

The Shadow Knows, Nellie Bell ,

Roy and Dale,

Trigger and Buttermilk.



How Many Of These Do You Remember?
Candy cigarettes…

Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside…

Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles…

Coffee shops with Table Side Jukeboxes…

Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum…

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers…

Newsreels before the movie…

Telephone numbers with a word prefix…( Yukon 2-601). Party lines…

Peashooters…

Hi-Fi’s & 45 RPM records…

78 RPM records…

Mimeograph paper…

The Fort Apache Play Set…

Do You Remember a Time When Decisions were made by going…
‘eeny-meeny-miney-moe’?

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, ‘Do Over!’?

‘Race issue’ meant arguing about who ran the fastest?

Catching The Fireflies Could Happily Occupy An Entire Evening?

It wasn’t odd to have two or three ‘Best
Friends’…

Having a Weapon in School meant being caught with a Slingshot?

Saturday morning cartoons weren’t 30-minute commercials for action figures?

‘Oly-oly-oxen-free’ made perfect sense?

Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?

The Worst Embarrassment was being picked last for a team?

War was a card game?

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?

Taking drugs meant orange flavored chewable aspirin?

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?

If you can remember most or all of these,

Then You Have Lived!!!!!!!

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their

‘Grown-Up’ Life..

I Double-Dog-Dare-Ya!

Verse of the Day – We will see God face to face

VERSE:
Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return; renew our
days as of old.
— Lamentations 5:21
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Lamentations+5:21

THOUGHT:
When these words were first spoken, they focused on God’s
restoration of Israel back to its place, its prominence, its life,
and its Temple. Yet from our vantage point, this prayer can be ours
as well. Restoration can mean Christ’s return which brings us home
to God. On that day, every barrier standing between God and us will
fall. Our mortality will be swallowed up in victory. We will see
God face to face and get to walk with him in the cool of the day as
his perfect children. May that day come soon!

PRAYER:
Holy and awesome God, I know a huge gulf stands between your
perfection and my limitations. Yet, dear Father, I believe you have
spanned that gulf with your grace. While I wait for that perfection
to dawn in all its fullness, please empower me for my battles with
the Evil One and deliver me from all spiritual harm and attack.
Until the day I see you face to face, please accept my
all-too-limited and human praise for all you have done to save me.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110921

Verse of the Day – Our seeking God longs to be sought!

VERSE:
[The apostle Paul said,] “God did this so that men would seek
him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not
far from each one of us.”
— Acts 17:27
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Acts+17:27

THOUGHT:
Our seeking God longs to be sought! God placed his fingerprints
all over the universe and then gave us places to find life and
meaning. He had a purpose in this plan: he wanted us to seek the
One behind it all. He is never far away from us, but he longs to be
sought and found. When we seek after God, we are not only blessing
him, we’re also living out our life’s key task.

PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, I long to know you more completely — as the
old hymn says to Jesus: “Beyond the sacred page, I seek thee Lord.
My spirit pants for thee O living Word.” Loving Father, I ask that
your presence would be recognizable in my daily life. I truly want
to get to know you, even as I am known by you. In the name of the
Savior I pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110920

Daily Promise – September 20 – God’s heart is for the underdog

Isaiah 58:7-8 KJV

7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.


Promise #263: If you help the poor, your light will shine like the dawn.

God’s heart is for the underdog. He protects the widow and the orphan and has chosen the poor of this world to inherit His kingdom. In today’s Scripture promise, God tells us that if we feed the hungry, give the poor shelter and clothe the naked, then His favor and His blessings will shine on all that we do.

The NLT version of Isaiah 58:8 says… “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.”

What a glorious promise! If we look after those who can’t look after themselves, then God will look after us in every way possible. Our wounds will quickly heal, the light of our godliness will lead us forward and the glory of the Lord will protect our backs! God’s heart is for the underdog. In every way, we too are underdogs that God protects and provides for. May we see the world through our Father’s eyes today and see the many opportunities He presents to us so that we can be a blessing to others.

Lord help us today to see the needs around us and be a manifestation of your love, life and provision to those who are in need. Thank you that as we help others, your love and your glory will keep us safe too.

~ Barry Adams

Prayers

Posted: 19 Sep 2011 03:32 AM PDT

The great and mighty things that God wants to show you

are often the answers to prayers that you have prayed.

Keep on asking,

keep on seeking,

keep on knocking—

answers will come,

doors will be opened,

promises will be fulfilled.

Call unto me, and I will answer thee,

and show thee great and mighty things,

which thou knowest not.

Jeremiah 33:3 KJV

~ Roy Lessin

Daily Promise – September 19 – God longs for our heart

Proverbs 3:9-10 KJV

9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.


Promise #262: If you honor Me with your firstfruits, you will overflow with abundance.

Today’s Scripture passage is a wonderful picture of abundance and overflow. The kingdom of God does not work like the kingdom of this world. In God’s kingdom, it is more blessed to give than receive. In His kingdom, we can never outgive the most generous person in the universe for God loves to pour back into us far more than we could possibly give to Him.

Why does God want us to give of our firstfruits? Does God need our money? Absolutely not! The Bible says that the entire earth is the Lord’s and all that it is in. God has no need of our resources whatsoever. What our God and Father longs for more than anything else is our heart …and Jesus told us that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also (Matthew 6:21).

When we honor God with the very first and best of what our hands have created, we are acknowledging that He is the source of all our blessing. When we choose to trust in His present and future supply of all our needs by giving to Him of our firstfruits, I believe it blesses His heart and moves Him to provide for us even more. It is wonderful to live in a kingdom where we don’t have to provide for ourselves, for we have a Father in heaven who knows all our needs and He delights to give us His kingdom!

~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – Be appropriate, encouraging, and uplifting to others

VERSE:
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but
only what is helpful for building others up according to their
needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
— Ephesians 4:29
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Ephesians+4:29

THOUGHT:
The goal in Christian communication is not just clarity. Neither
is the goal just to be understood. The goal is not even just to be
truthful. The goal is to be appropriate, encouraging, and uplifting
to others based on the needs of that other person.

PRAYER:
Tender Shepherd, give me a heart that is pure so that my words
may be pure. Give me a heart that is kind so that my words may be
kind. Give me a heart that is full of joy and encouragement so that
I may share these with those you bring to my path and with whom I
share conversation. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110919

Verse of the Day – Value others above yourselves

Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Read at Bible Gateway

Read all of Philippians 2

Hard to do sometimes, especially if others are giving us a hard time.

However, we are called to love the Lord our God with all our

heart, soul, mind and strength,

and our neighbor as ourself.

It goes along with “Do unto others as you

would have them do to you”.

With humility that comes from our Lord,

we can look at others with the

right attitude.

YSIC,

Sharon

Daily Promise – September 18 – Do not repay evil for evil, but rather be a blessing instead

1 Peter 3:9 KJV

9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing;
knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.


Promise #261: I have called you to inherit My blessing.

In this Scripture passage, the Apostle Peter is encouraging us not to repay evil for evil, but rather be a blessing instead. If we are living with an orphan perspective, we will have to scratch and claw for everything we get in life. When people do evil things to us, we will need to respond in the same way back to them. The life of an orphan is lonely and scary. He or she is left to their own devices to manage life.The life of a son or daughter however, is quite different. They know that they are loved beyond imagination and are safe from harm. They live in the reassurance that they are blessed beyond measure and that they have a rich inheritance of blessings yet to come. In Ephesians 1:3, the Bible says that our heavenly Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven. The life that we are called to live is a life of abundance and blessing.

That is why when someone acts in an ‘orphan-like’ way to us, even a brother or sister in Christ, we don’t have to respond in a similiar way, but with blessings. May each one of us be so filled with the revelation that we have been called to inherit a blessing, that we become an absolute outflow of blessings to others!

~ Barry Adams

Brian Wilson was activated today

Brian Wilson was activated today, and pitched an amazing 8th. Praise the Lord, for the wonderful way He is working through the Giants team. We are still praying for them, and all teams, that they will not be injured.

When you get a team as dedicated to showing their appreciation to God, they will come under attack from the pd(pitchfork dude).

More and more players are acknowledging their reliance on help from our heavenly Father. Isn’t it great!

Related articles:

https://sharinhislove.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/giants-brian-wilson-why-he-crosses-his-arms-at-the-end-of-a-game/

https://sharinhislove.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/faith-in-the-game-crossing-over-%E2%80%94-by-brian-wilson/

MEMO FROM GOD:

Effective immediately, please be aware that there are changes you need
to make in your life. These changes need to be completed in order that I
may fulfill my promises to you to grant you peace, joy and happiness in
this life. I apologize for any inconvenience, but after all that I am doing, this seems very little to ask of you. I know, I already gave you the 10 Commandments. Keep them. But follow these guidelines, also.

1. QUIT WORRYING
Life has dealt you a blow and all you do is sit and worry. Have you
forgotten that I am here to take all your burdens and carry them for
you? Or do you just enjoy fretting over every little thing that comes
your way?

2. PUT IT ON THE LIST
Something needs done or taken care of. Put it on the list. No, not YOUR
list. Put it on MY to-do-list! . Let ME be the one to take care of the
problem. I can’t help you until you turn it over to me. And although my
to-do-list is long, I am after all, God. I can take care of anything you
put into my hands. In fact, if the truth were ever really known, I take
care of a lot of things for you that you never even realize.

3. TRUST ME
Once you’ve given your burdens to me, quit trying to take them back.
Trust in me. Have the faith that I will take care of all your needs,
your problems and your trials. Problems with the kids? Put them on my
list. Problem with finances? Put it on my list. Problems with your
emotional roller coaster? For my sake, put it on my list. I want to help
you. All you have to do is ask.

4. LEAVE IT ALONE
Don’t wake up one morning and say, “Well, I’m feeling much stronger now,
I think I can handle it from here.” Why do you think you are feeling
stronger now? It’s simple. You gave me your burdens and I’m taking care
of them. I also renew your strength and cover you in my peace. Don’t you
know that if I give you these problems back, you will be right back where
you started? Leave them with me and forget about them. Just let me do
my job.

5. TALK TO ME
I want you to forget a lot of things. Forget what was making you crazy.
Forget the worry and the fretting because you know I’m in control. But
there’s one thing I pray you never forget. Please don’t forget to talk to
me – OFTEN! I love you. I want to hear your voice. I want you to include
me in on the things going on in your life. I want to hear you talk about
your friends and family. Prayer is simply you having a conversation with
me. I want to be your dearest friend.

6. HAVE FAITH
I see a lot of things from up here that you can’t see from where you
are. Have faith in me that I know what I’m doing. Trust me, you wouldn’t
want the view from my eyes. I will continue to care for you, watch over
you, and meet your needs. You only have to trust me. Although I have a
much bigger task than you, it seems as if you have so much trouble just
doing your simple part. How hard can trust be?

Related articles

Daily Promise – September 17 – He wants to carry our burdens

Psalm 68:19 KJV

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation. Selah.


Promise #260: I carry your burdens every day.

The NIV Bible translations says Psalm 68:19 this way… Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah NIV

I am thankful that our God promises to save us continually and to daily bear our burdens. When we feel the weight of the world on our own shoulders, may this promise encourage us that we are not called to carry the burdens ourselves. May we always be reminded of Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11:28-30 that says…

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. KJV

If you are carrying a backpack full of worry and anxiety today, why not cast every care in that backpack on God because He really cares about you! (1 Peter 5:7)

~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – Our strength is found in Him

VERSE:
Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
— 1 Chronicles 16:11
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1+Chronicles+16:11

THOUGHT:
After restoring the presence of God to his people through the
Ark of the Covenant, David and Asaph gave them these verses as a
song to perpetually remind them of the importance of seeking God
because … our strength is found in him … our grace is from his
loving presence … and our hope is in seeing him face to face and
knowing him even as we are known by him. We must look to the Lord
and not seek our own way or follow our own path.

PRAYER:
O Lord, I know you created me uniquely as you fashioned me in my
mother’s womb. Yet I know I can never have the freedom or
creativity in my life that you long for me to discover, unless I
first seek you and your strength. Please bless me with the
assurance of your nearness as I seek you with all of my heart and
use my abilities in creative ways to bring you glory. In Jesus’
name I pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110917

Day 83: Being a Warrior « ASPIRE. MOTIVATE. SUCCEED.

Day 83: Being a Warrior « ASPIRE. MOTIVATE. SUCCEED..

Wonderful message of encouragement. There are many out in the world who go through these feelings of depression. God sees us all, and knows what we need. The main thing we need is to “Not Give Up”. He knows how much we can bear. May we who are honored to follow Jesus, live our lives in service to others. We never know who needs the arms of Jesus through our human arms.

Daily Promise – September 16 – God will keep us safe in His everlasting arms

Deuteronomy 33:27 KJV

27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:
and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.


Promise #259: You will find safety in My everlasting arms.

God is our eternal refuge. Just think of that for a moment. There will never be a time in all eternity where you will ever be unprotected. You can feel safe and secure knowing that your God and Father will carry you in His everlasting arms forever!

When our children were little, I absolutely loved holding our kiddies in my arms. It felt so good to me and I think our children enjoyed the safety and security of that feeling too. If as fathers, we were meant to be a foreshadow of the true Father, then I would imagine that God would feel the same sense of satisfaction and contentment when He holds us in His big strong arms.

In Psalm 27:1, David declares … The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? NIV. The reason David wasn’t afraid of his enemies was because he was completely aware that He was being protected by the everlasting arms of God Himself. May we all be encouraged today of this tangible reality. We will find safety in the everlasting arms of our Papa!
Photo by Carl Dyck

Verse of the Day – Who are you trying to please?

VERSE:
[Jesus said,] “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I
hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but
him who sent me.”
— John 5:30
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=John+5:30

THOUGHT:
“So who you tryin’ to please, anyway?” These words of my dad
still ring in my ears. His point? There are only two we MUST
please: (1) our Father in heaven, because all praise and honor is
due to him, and (2) ourselves, because we want to know that we’ve
done the best we could do and been the best we could be. But I
guess I’ve learned over the years that I can’t begin to do the
second of those very well without seeking the first one. Don’t you
hope that someday you reach the place where you can join Jesus in
saying with absolute assurance: “I seek not to please myself but
him who sent me!” The closer we approach that reality, the more we
realize that we can’t do anything of eternal significance on our
own. Only when we live to honor God do we find the significance and
have the impact that our lives were made to have.

PRAYER:
Almighty and Righteous Father, I know that without you I can do
nothing that is of lasting significance. I have tried my own way
and failed. I have sought my own good and seen my success
short-lived. I want to live now, today and the rest of my life to
please you. As I do this, I am confident that you will provide what
I need and that you will empower me to do what you would have me
do. In Jesus’ name I thank you. Amen.

Daily Promise – September 15 – God will keep us from evil

2 Thessalonians 3:3 KJV

But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.


Promise #258: I will be faithful to give you My strength and protection.

God is faithful. He will never leave you or forsake you and He has promised to protect you from the evil one. In a world that is full of broken promises, this is something that we can know and rely on. The NIV Bible says 2 Thessalonians 3:3 this way… But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. NIV

You can rest in the fact that you are safe and secure in your heavenly Father’s love. His Word is His bond and He is completely faithful to do all that He promises. May faith rise up in our hearts today to believe that God is who He says He is and that we are who He says we are!

We don’t have to defend ourselves from the onslaughts of an orphan world system because He has promised to defend and protect us! …After all, He is our Dad and that is what fathers do!
Photo by Martin Smith

Verse of the Day – Show respect for the elderly and revere your God

VERSE:
Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly
and revere your God. I am the LORD.
— Leviticus 19:32
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Leviticus+19:32

THOUGHT:
In an age where respect is little known and even less practiced,
showing honor for those who are older is often overlooked. Yet in
this place, by the LORD’s own word, showing respect for the elderly
ranks right up there with reverencing God. But then we shouldn’t be
surprised, since God made honoring parents the very first
commandment (in the Ten Commandments — Exodus 20) directed at our
relationship with others — the first four commandments were
directed at our relationship with him!

PRAYER:
Holy and Eternal God, thank you for my parents in the flesh and
in the faith. Please give those who have been my spiritual mentors
a special blessing. Without their guidance, I’m not sure where I
would have ended up. Help me as I grow older to not only mature,
but to also gain the character that will be needed by those whom
you have placed before me to influence. May we, young and old
alike, restore dignity and respect to our relationships before you
in our generation. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Reach out and touch someone’s life today

Wanted to share some input that a neighbor gave me today. A few days ago we were talking and she was all upset and depressed because she has lost her house, her wealth, her friends, her community activities from the old neighborhood, and has had two divorces, and is now living in an apartment.

The Holy Spirit prompted me to say to her, “God had you where He wanted you in the past, but He has you right where he wants you, now”.

She gave me this big hug and stood holding my hand, and said, “You don’t know how much that statement meant to me. My therapist doesn’t understand at all how I feel, but the way you said it made me know that you knew what to say in that moment.”

I told her, “I know it was the Holy Spirit prompting me as to what to say to you, ’cause in myself, I wouldn’t have known what to say.”

Just knowing that we minister to others and are being used by God to touch someone else’s life, is such a rewarding and warm, humbling feeling.

So I encourage all of us, to reach out with the Holy Spirit’s guiding, and touch someone today.

YSIC,

Sharon

God loves to decorate

“Do good to me, your servant, so I can live, so I can obey your word.”

 Psalm 119:17

God loves to decorate.

God has to decorate.

Let Him live long enough in a heart, and that heart will begin to change.

Portraits of hurt will be replaced by landscapes of grace.

Walls of anger will be demolished and shaky foundations restored.

God can no more leave a life unchanged

than a mother can leave her child’s tear untouched.

~ Max Lucado

Where would we be without Jesus?

By Roy Lessin

Without Jesus’ words we would be witnesses with nothing to say;

without Jesus’ authority we would be ambassadors with nothing to do;

without Jesus’ love we would be servants with nothing to give.

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.

Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.

For apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5 NLT

Daily Promises – September 14 – God stoops down to make us great

Psalm 18:34-35 KJV

34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.


Promise #257: I will train you for battle with My shield of salvation.

The Bible says that we are to fight the good fight of faith and to put on the full armor of God so that we can stand against the enemy. It also says that the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. There is no question that there is a battle going on in the spiritual realm and we are called to take our stand and resist the enemy.

In today’s promise, King David paints an intimate picture of how God Himself trains him for battle. I really like the NIV Bible translation of Psalm 18:34-35…34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. NIV

What a picture of intimacy! Even in the midst of preparations for battle, David speaks of God that gently trains him and sustains him and even stoops down from heaven to make him great. No matter what battle you are facing today, be comforted in knowing that it is God Himself that will equip you to fight the good fight, for the battle belongs to the Lord.  He will stoop down beside you, give you His shield of victory and His gentleness will make you great!

~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – Be of one in spirit and mind with Jesus

 

 

Philippians 2:1-2

[Imitating Christ’s Humility] Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

Read at Bible Gateway

Read all of Philippians 2

 

Daily Promise – September 13 – He will be the voice behind us

Isaiah 30:21 KJV

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying,
This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Promise #256: I will be the voice behind you, guiding you in the way you should go.
Have you ever come to a fork in a road and not sure which road to take? I know that often when I have gone hiking, there inevitably comes a time on the trail where it splits off to the right and then left and I am not always sure which path to take. Wouldn’t it be nice if at that exact moment, you had a trail guide standing behind whispering in your ear what to do?

In today’s Bible promise, God is saying that He is right behind us and He will tell us the way we should go. What a comforting thought to know that we are not left on our own to figure things out. God has committed to walk with us and to at times carry us on our life’s journey. Sometimes when I struggle to hear my Father’s direction, I wonder if it is because there is so many other thoughts swirling around in my brain that I just fail to hear His still small voice?

Experts say that we all have tens of thousands of thoughts chattering in our brain on an average day. Perhaps all that noise is drowning out the gentle, quiet whisper of our heavenly Dad who is standing behind us, willing to tell us where we should go if we will only quiet our mind to listen? This is why I think it says in Psalm 46:10 to ‘be still and know that I am God’.

The next time you need to know what path to take, why not quiet yourself (to the best of your ability) from all the chattering and opinions that swirl in your thought life and listen for the still small voice behind you? God has promised to be there and He has promised to be the voice that will direct you in the way you should go.

~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – First seek the counsel of the Lord

VERSE:
But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the
counsel of the LORD.”
— 1 Kings 22:5
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1+Kings+22:5

THOUGHT:
This verse is from the wonderful story of Micaiah the prophet.
Jehoshaphat knew not to trust the counsel of false prophets. He was
adamant that before they went into battle with anyone, God’s people
needed to first seek the counsel of the Lord! This should also be
our approach to life. So often we ask God to bless what we’ve
already decided rather than spending time in prayer, fasting, and
Scripture seeking our Father’s will. Let’s not rush our decisions.
God has promised that he would lead us with his Spirit; let’s not
rush the Spirit’s input, or even worse, ignore it and then ask God
to bless us anyway!

PRAYER:
Holy and Almighty God, ruler of all nations and Sovereign over
all creation, please guide my decisions as I seek your will and
your glory. I want my life, my family, my work, and my ministry to
be lived in your will. I want to be your servant and not seek my
own way and my own glory. Thank you for sending your Spirit to help
illuminate your Word and lead me and to equip and empower me to
serve you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Giving a Gift can Change You!


Is there someone in your life you always seems to rub you the wrong way? Years ago a friend shared three ways to get past the tension and even become a friend to someone you have trouble with.
  1. Pray for them, for God’s blessing and influence.
  2. Do something nice for them.
  3. Give them a gift.  (Even better, do not tell them it is from you.)
There are many verses that speak to these truths;

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Romans 12:20  (the burning coals are a gift, a nice thing.)

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”  Matthew 5:44

 

In stead of avoiding, we engage.

By faith we do the right thing, even if our “feelings” tell us not to and our heart is not in it.

As we invest in people, we begin to value them differently, and only good can come from that.

So take action and see what happens.

Think about it, pray and do something nice.

Bless someone who does not deserve it this week!

(This message is from Planet Ichthus Christian Gifts. I thought it was a great sentiment.)

Fret buster #97

September 12, 2011

Fret buster #97

My son, My son, why are you striving
You can’t add one thing to what’s been done for you
I did it all while I was dying
Rest in your faith, my peace will come to you.

-Keith Green

“My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” John 14:27

We do not fret about self-preservation, for we know “we are immortal until our work is done.” We may live from hand to mouth, but it is God’s hand…it is blessed so to live.” –Vance Havner

 But none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from the Lord Jesus. Acts 20:24 AMP

Before you even call out to God, He will answer you

Isaiah 65:24 KJV

24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

Promise #255: Before you even call out to Me, I will answer you.
Have you ever felt that God seemed a million miles away sometimes when you prayed? I think all of us have struggled with the feeling that our prayers seemed like they were bouncing off the ceiling at one time or another. I am not sure why we sometimes struggle with these feelings of being distant to God when we pray. Whatever the reason, it is a time where we can exercise our faith and demonstrate that we believe God despite our perceptions (Hebrews 11:6).

Even though we go through these times of feeling isolated and distant, the truth is that God is not distant when we pray. God is closer to us than we could possibly imagine and today’s promise from Isaiah 65:24 is an encouragement that He will answer us even before we pray the prayer! In Matthew 6:8, Jesus affirms this promise by telling His disciples that their heavenly Father knows what they need before they even ask Him for it!

My prayer for each one of us today is that faith will rise up in our hearts when we pray to our heavenly Father because we know that He is fully engaged with us and is ready to answer even before we call out to Him!

Our God is an awesome God

VERSE:
Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all
blessing and praise.
— Nehemiah 9:5
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Nehemiah+9:5

THOUGHT:
God loves to hear our praises and songs of adoration. He longs
to hear us call him Abba Father and King of the Ages. But better
than all the praise we can muster and higher than the highest
sounds of angels is something higher still: the very name of God.
Let’s make a commitment to revere and hold as holy the name of our
glorious God!

PRAYER:
Almighty God, Father of compassion and Creator of the Universe,
I praise you for exerting your will on our world. Now, dear Father,
please make your will clearly demonstrable in my life as I seek to
live for you so that your name will be exalted. In the holy name of
Jesus I pray. Amen.

Daily Promise – September 11 – God is not far from you

Acts 17:27 KJV

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him,
and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Promise #254: Reach out and you will touch Me for I am not far from you.

The Apostle Paul was speaking to a bunch of philosphers on Mars Hill in Athens when he made this statement. This Bible verse is part of a discourse where Paul addresses a statue to an ‘unknown god’ and proceeds to tell all the listeners about who God really is. I really like this verse and the next verse in Paul’s proclamation of the gospel in the NIV Bible…

Acts 17:27-28
27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Paul tells these dear pagan folks that God is so close to them that they can actually just reach out and they can touch Him for ‘in Him we live and move and have our being’.
The truth is that the universe does not contain God,
God contains the universe!
In Colossians 1, the Bible says that Jesus is the glue that holds everything together. Every proton, every electron, every atom… all held together by the very presence of Jesus.

As you ponder this promise today, may God give you the awareness of the nearness of His presence to you. He is not far off in a distant land, but closer than you could possibly imagine for in Him we live and move and have our being. So reach out today and encounter the love of your Father that is with you wherever you go.

~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – God sees trouble and grief

VERSE:
You, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it
in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of
the fatherless.
— Psalm 10:14
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Psalm+10:14

THOUGHT:
Those who take advantage of people who are powerless, who are
down on their luck, or who are in compromising situations, need to
know that God sees their actions and will hold them accountable.
Those who are in distress must keep their faith in God, trusting
that he sees, cares, and will send his help at the right time.
Those of us who fit neither category need to be working for the
deliverance and blessing of those who are facing difficulties and
hardships.

PRAYER:
Gracious God, please bless several people I know who are in
times of real distress and heartbreak. Please use me to minister to
them. But please, dear Father, fill them with your Spirit so they
will have the strength and courage necessary to endure. Bless them
with deliverance that is clearly from you, so that all will know
your grace and give glory to you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Daily Promise – September 10 – Your old life has ended

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Promise #253: Your old life has ended and now everything is new in Christ.

Just think of this promise. Everything of your old life has ended and all things have become new. In this Bible passage, the Apostle Paul isn’t talking about our natural life but our spiritual life. When we received the free gift of Jesus Christ into our lives, there was a transformation that happened on the inside of each one of us.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead gave new life to our spirit man and we became baptised into the body of Christ. At that very moment, everything of our ‘old nature’ died, and a new life began. While this is a wonderful picture of our salvation, many of us still struggle with remnants of our old ways seemingly still alive and well in our soul.

Old thought patterns, familiar false beliefs, etc. seem to dominate our minds. The truth is that while these struggles are real, in actual fact, they are but just residue from our former life. The only power that they continue to hold over us is the power that we give them by agreeing with these thoughts. That is why we are called to not be conformed to this world any longer but transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:1-2).

May today be the day when our inner man, a new creation in Christ, rises up and declares the truth of who we truly are! May God give us the courage today to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and rise up and receive our destiny as a joint-heir of Jesus. The truth really is that our old life has ended and all things have become new in Jesus Christ our Lord!

Verse of the Day – Fix our eyes on Jesus

VERSE:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning
its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
— Hebrews 12:2
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Hebrews+12:2

THOUGHT:
Who is your hero? I’m not asking for the Sunday school class
answer, but the person you most actively admire! It is hard to “fix
our eyes on Jesus” because he is not here where we can see him like
other heroes. But he was the ultimate adventurer and trailblazer.
He faced the horrific penalty and shame of the cross, taking away
our sin! He did it so that we could have a hero that death and sin
could not destroy, mar, or taint. He did it so that we could be
confident that if we follow in his footsteps, the trail he blazed
wasn’t just for him, but for us, too!

PRAYER:
Holy God, forgive me when I chase what is false and let my focus
shift from Jesus as my ultimate hero. I want to honor and serve
him, having his life come alive in me, so that others may know the
confidence that comes in having Jesus as their Lord. Words cannot
express my gratitude to my Lord for his sacrifice and the horrible
price he paid for my sins. Neither can words express my jubilation
at his trailblazing victory that assures that I will someday be
with you forever! It is in his name, Jesus Christ, that I pray.
Amen.

Verse of the Day – Seek to Know Him

VERSE:
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who
comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those
who earnestly seek him.
— Hebrews 11:6
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Hebrews+11:6

THOUGHT:
Our relationship with God is built on the atoning sacrifice of
Jesus and our acceptance of that sacrifice through obedient faith.
That faith trusts that God not only exists, but that he also
personally cares about us and our desire to know him. He eagerly
longs to bless those who seek him. What we find when we seek him,
however, is that all other blessings pale in comparison to knowing,
and being known by the eternal, immortal, and only true God!

PRAYER:
Holy God, I do seek to know you better. Please make your
presence known more powerfully in my life and in the life of your
Church. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Daily Promises – September 9 – God has a poor memory

Hebrews 8:12 KJV

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Promise #252: I will forgive your sins and then forget them.

God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient. He is all powerful, He is everywhere and He is all knowing. Yet the God who created the heavens and the earth with just the sound of His voice has decided to have a poor memory when it comes to our sin. In today’s promise, God says that He will forgive all of our sin and then forget them.

The One who is limitless in every way, has chosen to intentionally forget every mistake, every failure, every time we have hurt Him and others because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I wonder if I actually live each day in the knowledge that God has forgiven me so completely that He can’t even remember one time when I have sinned.

As Paul the Apostle said, “Do we keep on sinning that grace abound? God forbid!” However, if we allow the full weight of this promise to seep deep into our hearts, we won’t be continually re-counting our sin over and over in our own minds and perhaps in our prayers. Because of our Father’s great mercy, He chooses to forgive and then forget. Let us embrace the words of Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 today and choose to forget the things that God forgets…

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. NIV Bible

~ Barry Adams

We can’t surprise God

“A person is made right with God not by following the law,

but by trusting in Jesus Christ.”

Galatians 2:16

God is not stumped by an evil world.

He doesn’t gasp in amazement at the depth of our faith or the depth of our failures.

We can’t surprise God with our cruelties.

He knows the condition of the world . . . and loves it just the same.

For just when we find a place where God would never be (like on a cross),

we look again and there he is, in the flesh.

~ Max Lucado

Daily Promise – September 8 – Simply because He loves us

Ephesians 2:4-5 KJV
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;)

Promise #251: I made you alive in Jesus simply because I love you.

Today’s promise is the very core of the gospel message. Because Father God is rich in mercy, He has loved us with a love that is immeasureable. He has set a value on each one of our lives that is beyond our comprehension. In His great kindness, God saw fit to make us alive in Jesus Christ even when we were His enemies, dead in our sin.

By the unmerited favor of our God and Father and by the sacrifice of our savior and Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved from eternal separation from the Godhead. The motivation for such a great salvation is simply the love that God has for us. We don’t know why He decided to love us and sacrifice all that He had to gain our love, we just know that He does.

My prayer is that not one of us would miss the incredible simplicity of God’s heart for humanity. His motivation to save us was rooted and grounded in His love and great mercy. Period. He is not looking for servants, but sons and daughters. That is why Jesus died for you and I.  So that you could be part of His family. May we all be in awe today of the salvation that has been so freely given to each one of us.

~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists

(Note: The Bible is very clear in different passages warning us not to seek out mediums or spiritists. Even Astrology, Ouija boards, palm readers, ghost hunters are considered to be in those categories. So we should be aware of anything that would be in defiance of God’s Word.

Defile means:
1. to make foul, dirty, or unclean; pollute; taint; debase.
2.  to violate the chastity of.)

VERSE:
Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be
defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
— Leviticus 19:31
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Leviticus+19:31

THOUGHT:
Our world has a re-emerging fascination with the occult and the
world of demons and witchcraft. It’s easy for us to react in one of
two dangerous ways: to downplay the reality of these things or to
dabble in them as matters of entertainment or amusement. God wants
us to know that these fascinations are dangerous because the evil
entities behind them are real and when we involve ourselves in
them, they defile us. God alone is God and is to be worshiped
without rival by his people.

PRAYER:
Holy and magnificent God, thank you for breaking the power and
hold of evil powers through Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
Please deliver those whom I know and love that are entrapped in one
way or another with a fascination with false gods and deceiving and
destructive spirits. Empower your Church with your Spirit; please
cleanse us and make us a holy people, undefiled and ready for your
service. In the name of the Lord Jesus I pray. Amen.

Overflowing

“My cup overflows with blessings.”

Psalm 23:5 NLT

Is an overflowing cup full?

Absolutely.

The wine reaches the rim and then tumbles over the edge.

The goblet is not large enough to contain the quantity.

According to David, our hearts are not large enough to contain the blessings that God wants to give.

He pours and pours until they literally flow over the edge and down on the table.

The last thing we need to worry about is not having enough.

Our cup overflows with blessings.

~ Max Lucado

Related articles