Uncategorized Archives - Page 2 of 6 - The Abundant Life Center

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Posted on Feb 26, 2018 in Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

I love when someone shares what the Lord has done for them. Testimonies bring hope and refreshment to our hearts. Today while I was traveling I got to hear such an awesome testimony. I call it one of those “Divine Appointment” testimonies.

This woman had shared how she lived in Florida and she received a phone call on her cell phone from Pennsylvania. She did not recognize the number but she felt to answer it. The man on the other end was obviously confused and he said he was trying to reach a family member. He apologized and hung up and she felt prompted to call the police in the area in which the call came from. She felt a bit awkward but explained to them that she really felt something was wrong with this gentleman. The police arrived at this gentleman’s house and he indeed was in need of help. After a week in the hospital they diagnosed him with a life threatening blood infection.

Needless to say the family of this man were ever so thankful and this young woman’s simple act of kindness and going the extra mile very likely saved this man’s life. The testimony just really touched my heart. Everyday we need to be sensitive to opportunities that seem small yet they may be big to someone in need. Sometimes you never really know how that one word you spoke in due season could have sparked hope to a person’s soul. Let us be sensitive to the times that we are presented with opportunities to give a listening ear to a lonely person or just take the time to pray for someone because you felt prompted. These things are all part of ministering the love of God and just possibly setting someone up for a beautiful testimony of the Lord’s great work in their life!

~~~~~♥~~~~~

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Posted on Feb 20, 2018 in Uncategorized |

Devotional for Tuesday, July 25, 2017

“Clothe Yourselves…”

by Dona Hake

One of the very first things we do in the morning is dress ourselves for the day. Maybe you are going to work, and you are required to wear certain clothing. If one works on a construction site, there is certain safety gear that must be worn. Whatever the day or occasion we dress appropriately. Today we will meditate upon how our Lord has required us to clothe ourselves as His very own chosen. I believe the Lord desires that we are thinking about “clothing” ourselves in the many good things He desires. As you awaken in the morning ask Him to clothe you with the good things so you can be an instrument of Him.

Colossians 3:12 (CJB)
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people,

holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves

with feelings of compassion and with kindness,

humility, gentleness and patience.”

As we make a conscious effort to clothe ourselves in the fruits of who He is we will truly be blessed, and we will be a witness to those that do not know Him. Being kind, loving, gentle, and patient will always be easy when we are around those that are not challenging us. Face it, it is so easy to be nice to those that are treating us right, but difficult people can cause us to really get off track with our love walk. God’s way is always the higher way and as we react out of His love and purpose to remain clothed in His Spirit we will be blessed. Today let us be mindful that we are fully clothed in the goodness of our Lord!

Proverbs 11:17 (TLB)
“Your own soul is nourished when you are kind;

it is destroyed when you are cruel.”

Friday, January 12, 2018

Posted on Jan 11, 2018 in Uncategorized |

Devotional for Friday, January 12, 2018

“…But the Righteous Stand Firm”

by Dona Hake

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Posted on Dec 29, 2017 in Uncategorized |

Devotional for Saturday, December 30, 2017

by Dona Hake

Yesterday I shared about the story in the Bible where Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on the water to walk to Jesus. I want to emphasize again for you to just think about the courage it must of taken him to get out of the boat. His question to the Lord was, “If that’s you, tell me to come.” and Jesus proclaimed that yes indeed it was Him. Many times we will ask the same question when we fear stepping out in something bigger than us in this life. God may be speaking to your heart to do something and your prayer has been “Lord if this is you, I will do it.”

It is very important to know that when we are purposing to do God’s will that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is Him. Yet there can be those times that it seems a bit sketchy or too big for us to grasp how it is going to work out for the good. Getting out of our “boats” in this life could mean different things to each of us. All of us are at different growth levels and the Lord is molding and making each of us in His timing and in His perfect way. It is always important that we remember that the Lord requires our obedience to His Word and to His voice at all times.

Saying all that I have said, I want to remind you today that Jesus is the author and finisher of YOUR faith. He desires to perfect all that concerns you in this life. He is the one who gives you incentive for your faith and He is the one who completes your faith. He is your example and you must look to that example if you become weak in heart from the discouragement that may come to rob your soul of hope and purpose.

Hebrews 12:2 The Voice
“Now stay focused on Jesus, who designed

and perfected our faith. He
endured the cross and ignored the

shame of that death because He focused
on the joy that was set before Him;

and now He is seated beside God on the
throne, a place of honor.”

Getting out of the boat for you may be God speaking to you about changing to a different job, going on a mission’s trip, sharing the Word of God with someone…etc. Sometimes getting out of the boat for someone may be the need for courage to face a confrontation. No matter what it is, Jesus is right there on the water with you. He has been there and done it, and He will complete that thing that you desire to set your faith upon.

Philippians 3:13 Easy-to-Read Version
“Brothers and sisters, I know that

I still have a long way to go. But there is
one thing I do: I forget what is in

the past and try as hard as I can to reach
the goal before me.”

Maybe today is the day that you are planning to step out of the boat in an area of your life, and do something that you have never done before. If you know that in your heart, then it is time to STEP OUT!!!!! I encourage you to look to Jesus, and stay focused upon Him. Do not dwell on the past when you tried, and you were moved by the “wind and the waves” of this life. Jesus is there, and He will walk with you. God bless you as you walk with Him today!

Monday, October 9, 2017

Posted on Oct 4, 2017 in Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

There is so much power in simplicity. I believe this truth can be applied to every area of our live especially prayer. Many times we can seem to think that because our problem is so complicated that the problem must be prayed with complicated wording and thoughts. Do not ever judge a child’s prayer to be ineffective simply because they did not pray the words you might have said. God sees the heart and that is the most important thing of all. He desires that we keep our hearts clean, and humble before Him in order that we may serve Him without inward distractions.

I would like to share a precious prayer that I found the other evening while reading one of my favorite books on prayer. I want you to take note of how simple yet profound it really is.

“Help me to live this day quietly and easily,

To lean upon Thy great strength trustfully and restfully,

To wait for the unfolding of thy will patiently and serenely,

To meet others peacefully, and joyfully,

And to face tomorrow confidently and courageously.”

Anonymous

The beginning of the prayer is the asking to live the day quietly and easily. I loved this. I do not see this as a request for the easy way but rather that one’s heart would remain quiet in the midst of any confusion or difficulties that may be encountered. How beautiful it is to wait patiently as His hand directs His will in your life and on that path you will seek to be at peace and maintain joy as you live and work with those around you. How powerful this simple prayer is yet it will help you see your tomorrow with confidence and courage rather than dread and fear. Remember to simply pray and pray simply. God bless you!

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Posted on Jul 31, 2017 in Uncategorized |

Devotional for Wednesday, August 2, 2017

“Do You Delight In His Voice?”

by Dona Hake

Psalm 1 :2-3 (TLB)

“…but they delight in doing everything God

wants them to, and

day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking

about ways to follow him more closely.

They are like trees along a riverbank bearing

luscious fruit each season without fail. Their leaves shall never

wither, and all they do shall prosper.”

There is great reward for being diligent as we embrace the Word of God. I want to draw your attention to the first few words of these scriptures so I underlined them. The words that came to my heart as I pondered these underlined words was,

“Do I delight in His voice, do I delight

in everything He tells me to do?”

You see…many times our Lord will speak things to us that He desires us to do. The things that are a joy are easy for our hearts and minds to consent to and obey. But what about those things that are not so easy. Again I will share what this version says...“…but they delight in doing everything God wants them to…” Sometimes God may ask us do things that may be one of those tough pills to swallow. It may be reaching out to that person that is somewhat hard to deal with. Sometimes we are required to walk the extra mile of patience when it seems that there is not one ounce of it left within us.

I believe the more we seek to love and live for our Lord, we will delight in ALL that He instructs us to do whether we feel like it or not. As we daily follow Him and purpose to put His teachings first and foremost in our life, He has promised that our life would be prospered. As we stand as trees along God’s riverbank we will begin to see things grow and develop within us. It matters not how hard things around us may seem for our roots are receiving life giving strength from the living waters of our Lord.

Let us always be mindful that our fruit is not for us alone to survive in this life but rather to be a blessing to those around us. Let us delight to do what He is instructing us to do and purpose to be used by Him. Be willing to step out and bless those He puts in our path as we live and abide in Him. As we proclaim His Word and display His goodness many will be blessed and nourished from the fruit that our lives bear.

Proverbs 10:21 NIV

“The lips of the righteous nourish many…”

Let us meditate on the rich promise that our lives will bear fruit in all the seasons, and all that we put our hand to shall prosper as we live to delight in all that He asks us to do!

Friday, June 23, 2017

Posted on Jun 17, 2017 in Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

This is written in scripture and has become cliche…”It’s the little foxes that spoil the vine.” These eight words carry much truth and can be powerful to our souls if we heed to them. Something can be in full bloom, and looking beautiful and healthy, yet if a little fox if permitted to roam in the vineyard, there is going to be trouble.

I had an upsetting experience on yesterday morning. While preparing my oatmeal, I was pouring in some raisins, and one raisin fell on the floor. My German Shepherd was standing right beside me and gobbled that raisin up in no time. I immediately got on my iphone and checked for what I should do. For those of you that do not know, grapes and raisins are extremely toxic to dogs. It can cause kidney failure. I googled it into my phone, and I just felt I needed to give my vet a call. As soon as I told the technician that my 75 pound dog ate one raisin, she was quick to put me on hold and get right to the doctor. She came back to me, and said that I needed to induce vomiting on Aasha right away. The vet felt that as big as she was that the raisin probably would not affect her, but we were not taking ANY chances on it. I heeded to their advice and induced vomiting.

Now let’s look at the old saying, “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” I almost was not going to call but I just wanted to be on the safe side of the whole thing. My vet felt the same way. How could something so small be such a potential hazard? Yet it can be, and I have knew of a pet owner losing her dog to kidney failure from ingesting grapes. I have got to say that inducing vomiting on Aasha was extremely unpleasant for me to do. Honestly, I did not want to do it, but I love her too much not to have taken this measure. She looked at me with those beautiful sad eyes as she kept vomiting all over my kitchen floor not once, but five times. Even though it made me upset to have to do it, sometimes in life you just gotta do the right thing no matter how unpleasant it is.

Now, can we look at this and use it as an analogy of how the smallest of things can be poison to our hearts and minds. How many times do we feel we can afford one little thought, one little word to escape our lips. Seems harmless to us, yet that one little thought or one little word could be poisonous to our soul, and cause us great pain in the end. We must be aggressive with ourselves, and go to what ever measure we need to and rid of poisonous things in our life.

Today, I encourage you to guard the vineyard of your heart and mind. Guard it with all vigilance and care. It is those times that when all is blooming beautifully that we can be deceived and miss those “little foxes” that are assigned to destroy us. God is able to cause His wisdom, grace, and all that we need to keep our hearts guarded.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Posted on Jun 7, 2017 in Uncategorized |

Banked “The God of All Grace

Posted on Apr 25, 2017 in Uncategorized |

“The God of All Grace”

by Dona Hake

Psalm 84:11 (AKJV)

” For the Lord God is a sun and shield:
the Lord will give grace and glory:

no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

I love this…NO GOOD THING WILL HE WITHHOLD FROM THEM THAT WALK UPRIGHTLY. As we walk uprightly before the Lord our God there should be expectation in our heart everyday we arise. No matter what we face and how “dreary” our day may be, we can expect the Lord God to be our Sun and our Shield, and He desires to bless us with good things!

The closer we walk with the Lord we will begin to understand that He always knows exactly what we need and what we are going to face. Therefore His grace is always sufficient and right there for you when you need to draw upon it. Praise God that He is our Sun and our Shield, He is the God who is pouring out His grace and glory on all that walk uprightly before Him!

Friday, April 7, 2017

Posted on Apr 5, 2017 in Uncategorized |

Devotional for Friday, April 7, 2017

“Are You Single-minded?”

by Dona Hake

James 1:6-8 (The Voice)
“The key is that your request be anchored by your single-minded
commitment to God. Those who depend only on their own judgment are like
those lost on the seas, carried away by any wave or picked up by any wind.
Those adrift on their own wisdom shouldn’t assume the Lord will rescue
them or bring them anything. The splinter of divided loyalty shatters your
compass and leaves you dizzy and confused.”

I really love how this translation brings such great insight into the importance of being single minded. This scripture warns us of leaning on our own understanding and placing our wisdom above God’s. God desires that we be totally devoted in our hearts and minds to His wisdom only that we may be anchored with a single mind. Let us look closer to the one verse here in James…

“The splinter of divided loyalty shatters your

compass and leaves you dizzy and confused.”

The last thing I want to deal with as I set out to sail in my faith is the experience of spiritual dizziness and confusion. I want vision and direction before me that is guided and directed by the Lord Himself. There is great danger in not being single minded, and it can cause severe consequences. Just as a compass keeps you on track, being single-minded with all that God has for you will also keep you wise, discerning and very sensitive to the voice of the Lord in the midst of trouble. Your spiritual “compass” will keep you right on target and you will remain strong, steady, and focused in the midst of a storm. With God’s compass, there will be no wavering, and your path will be sure, and you will stay on course. Let us purpose to seek to be single minded by keeping ourselves full of God’s Word and drawing upon His wisdom.