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4.24.16

Posted on Apr 24, 2016 in Devotions, Uncategorized |

Devotional for Sunday, April 24, 2016

“Are You On Track With God?”

by Dona Hake

“I feel like I’m on track!” Have you ever said that? I love the feeling that I know I am doing the right thing and all is flowing smoothly. Nothing bothers me more than feeling like I am wasting time or I do not have purpose in what I am doing. God desires to lead and guide us each and everyday of our lives. He also desires that we seek Him first, and that we purpose that His Spirit is leading us.

Galatians 5:16 CEV

“If you are guided by the Spirit, you won’t obey your selfish desires.”

Many times we can fall to the weakness of following our own way or our own selfish desires. We can also be guilty of knowing the Lord’s direction but trying to make things happen in our own ability. As we trust Him for answers and direction He will always be faithful to direct us and keep us on track.

Have you ever heard the saying spoken when someone is needing to make a decision…”Maybe you just need to sleep on it.” I have had times where I have received answers to a particular need or leading in what I needed to do during the night. The Lord has a beautiful and tender way of quietly speaking in the quietness of the night.

Psalm 16:7 (ERV)
“I praise the Lord because he taught me well.
Even at night he put his instructions deep inside my mind.”

So today I ask you, are you on the right track for your day? It is a good thing to know that the Lord our God is leading us i as we purpose to do His will!n the way that we should go! I praise God that He so tenderly desires to come along side of us in this life that we can know we are going the right direction as we purpose to do His will!

4.19.16

Posted on Apr 19, 2016 in Devotions, Uncategorized |

Devotional for Tuesday, April 19, 2016

“Jesus-Our Blessed Assurance”

by Dona Hake

Yesterday I shared about Thomas’ reaction to hearing that Jesus had appeared to the disciples. Poor Thomas just happened to miss the whole surprising event. I am very sure that he had to be disappointed. I can only imagine the joy and emotions that had been stirred among the other disciples, and he missed it. Don’t you just hate when something super exciting happens, and you just happened to miss the whole thing cause you decided to be somewhere else. On top of it all Thomas doubted that they even saw Jesus.

He saw Jesus suffer and die on the cross and now his friends are saying that He was right there in the same room speaking with them. I am paraphrasing Thomas’ reaction…”Unless I can touch His nail scarred hands and see where the sword pierced His side, I am not believing this whole deal!” A week later Jesus walked through the same room with locked doors. Thomas was there this time and Jesus totally knew what Thomas needed to see. As Jesus showed His hands and side, Thomas’ reaction…”My Lord, My God!!!”

My heart is just stuck on this story because it just touches my heart and stirs me to realize how often we too struggle with doubt and unbelief. The scripture that immediately follows this story is:

John 20:30-31

“Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this scroll. But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name.”

The Word of God should be held very precious in our hearts. It is God’s love letters to us that we might keep our hearts stirred and full of faith that we might believe and have life in His name. It is stories like this that should cause us to see ourselves in these same situations and cause our hearts to ponder our faith and challenge our hearts. I encourage you today to love the Lord your God with ALL of your heart and everything that is within you, therefore you will live in the abundance and joy and the overcoming faith that He intended for you! Oh what blessed assurance we have in Him!

4.5.16

Posted on Apr 5, 2016 in Devotions, Uncategorized |

Devotional for Tuesday, April 5, 2016

“His Lovingkindness Is Toward Us!!!”

By Dona Hake

If you go to bed with a mind full of anxious thoughts and worries, you will most definitely awaken with those thoughts. More than likely they will be even greater and magnified. The Lord does not want us to greet our day with the thoughts of yesterday nor the worries about our tomorrows. It is not in His plan that we carry the burdens of life for His desire is to give us His rest. He desires that we start each day afresh and new looking toward Heaven expecting new mercies and His wonderful grace. We should awaken with great expectancy in our hearts of what He wants to do as we serve Him. I love how the Psalmist asks the Lord to cause him to hear of his Lord’s lovingkindness first thing in the morning.

Psalm 143:8 (AMP)

“Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning,

for on You do I lean and in You do I trust.

Cause me to know the way wherein

I should walk, for I lift up my inner self to You.”

Our Lord desires that we cast each and every care upon Him for He cares for us. I encourage your heart to hold fast to the fact that we were not made to worry and stress. God created us to rest and rely upon Him for everything. As you look to Him today, expect good things for His lovingkindess is toward you!

The psalmist writes in Psalms 42:8 that the Lord commands His lovingkindess toward us in the daytime and at night His song shall be with us! Let us trust to experience His lovingkindness as we awaken and hear His song minister peace and rest to us at the end of our day. Let us remember to lean on Him not only for His strength and wisdom but for the balance He can bring to our lives. Thank Him as He unfolds His plan for your day. Lift up your soul to Him and allow Him to touch you because He loves you so much!

3.28.16

Posted on Mar 27, 2016 in Uncategorized |

Devotional will be published soon!

“Being Confident In Him”

Posted on Feb 6, 2016 in Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

If you can I would like you to read the following aloud so your spirit can be built up and refreshed by these words…

Every morning Lord, Your mercies are fresh and new to me.

Your grace is sufficient for I can not live life apart from Your ability.

Your joy brings me strength as I seek to walk in Your presence.

I thank You Lord that Your love keeps my heart, and Your patience

promises to help me to be longsuffering with all those around me. I

thank You Lord that my youth is renewed like the eagles as I wait upon

You each day. From the windows of Heaven comes an abundance so

big that I open my hands and they are filled to the full and Your

blessings overflow around me. Lord, I thank You for Your

forgiveness cleanses my heart in my time of need. It teaches me how

to rise above offense and forgive in those times when I am called upon

to do so. There is not one thing I face today that is too big for

You God for Your Name is great and You are greatly to be praised!

This is just a few of the many wonderful things that I bring you to meditate and confess this morning for we serve our living God, and He desires that we remind ourselves of who He is and what He is able to do. He wants you to set your mind on things above and not on the things of this earth. Is there anything too hard for our God? Do you feel at times that your life, and it’s problems are too hard for God? Let us be confident today that we were fearfully and wonderfully made and no matter how young or old we are…He has a work for us to do today.

Philippians 1:6 (JUB)

“…being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun

a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

God is not a God that starts things and leaves them unfinished.He is the one with diligent and mighty hands that are well able to continue the great work He began in you. All we have to do is keep our hearts and eyes on Him, and trust Him with all of our being!

“We Will Not Be Moved”

Posted on Jan 18, 2016 in Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

To reach a great height a person needs to have great depth.
Anonymous

“…but the root of those who are right with God WILL NOT BE MOVED.” Proverbs 12:3 May we stay aware that the roots of our heart must continue to grow deep in Him. This is a continual process of feeding and maintaining our strength through God and His daily provision for us. This does not happen just by going to church once a week, it is a lifestyle of living and drawing upon the Almighty God. We have a vital part in the process of our growth in Him. Yes, we live by grace but we must do our part by staying spiritually strong and remaining obedient to Him. If this is your heart’s desire to be greatly used by Him know that He is ready to take you there as you apply your heart to His commands!

Jeremiah 17:7-9

Amplified Bible (AMP)

“[Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies

on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads

out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when

heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious

and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.”

This tree that Jeremiah speaks of is the man who has totally trusted on the Lord God above. This tree thrives on the waters it is planted by. Notice the scripture says that THE HEAT WILL COME and SO WILL THE YEAR OF THE DROUGHT. In our lives we too will face times where the heat is on yet we can know that because our roots of faith are strong, we need not fear nor grow weary nor do the waters of His river run dry. In the year of drought we can be free from care for we will NOT stop yielding fruit. Praise the living God that has promised to sustain us!

Proverbs 12:3

“…but the roots of the righteous can’t be disturbed.”

“…and the Truth Shall Keep You Free”

Posted on Dec 23, 2015 in Devotions, Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

It says in Ecclesiates 3:8 that there is “a time to love and a time to hate…” There are times in which we are called upon to hate what God hates. Every day of our life we will be presented with opportunities to make choices, and God wants us to choose His way, and His way is always truth. May we never forget that our Lord detests any kind of falsehood. God desires that our hearts be sold out completely and committed to His Word. May we never ever think that we can pick and choose when we are going to walk in truth. May our hearts desire to know that we are saturated in His Word. May we be determined to walk in a way in which we never waver but stay true to every precept He has given us to live by.

It is as we are with strong conviction about living His Word in our lives that we will take strong stands against falsehoods that would try to pull us down and weaken our convictions. Falsehood is lack of conformity to truth or fact.

Psalm 119:163 (CEB)

“I hate, I absolutely despise, what is false,
but I’m in love with your Instruction.”

Psalm 119:163 Good News Translation

“I hate and detest all lies, but I love your law.”

The truth that our Lord spoke of that will set us free will keep us free as we determine ourselves to never compromise the truth. May we decisively proclaim in our words and actions that truth holds a high value in our hearts, and we will guard and protect it no matter the cost. I have heard it said that “The thing you compromise to keep you will eventually lose.”

These are powerful words that are all so true!

Today Lord we ask that You would give us discerning hearts for we well know that the devil can come as an Angel of Light. He can try to confuse us in order that we walk away from our strong convictions. We thank You Lord that Your grace is able to keep us strong and deliberate in our walk. We ask that Your Word would grow deeper and deeper within us as we proclaim that we love Your law with all of our hearts. In Jesus Name! Amen.

“The Sweet Fragrance of Christ”

Posted on Dec 20, 2015 in Devotions, Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

Today I want to share with you about fragrance. Fragrance is anything having a pleasant scent or aroma; something sweet-smelling; sweet-scented such as a fragrant rose. This past summer I noticed we have an abundance of honeysuckle bushes around our property, and there were days as I walked around the yard with my dog that I was amazed at the beauty of their sweet smelling fragrance. If there is a beautiful fragrance in the air, it makes one just want to stop and enjoy it or you may try to figure out where the smell is coming from. God’s Word speaks of His paths being fragrant with His attributes, and as we walk in His Word, we too will give off the beauty of that fragrance. Let’s read this scripture from the the Living Bible…

Psalm 25:9-10 (TLB)

“He will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to him.
And when we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and his truth.”

Today I want you to meditate upon the truth that as you humbly turn to Him, He will teach you His ways, and you will desire to walk in the paths that will cause a wonderful fragrance of Christ to emanate to those that know Him and also those that do not know Him.

2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (TLB)
But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, he has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume.
As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us.”

I believe that this fragrance will cause people to seek out the Lord. It will expose to them their lack, and it will draw them to Christ. May we release our faith that the Lord is using us everyday to reach people whether they know Him or not. Many times we may never know how God is using the testimony of our love, deeds, and prayers that we offer up on behalf of people.

Lord, we thank You today that as we humbly look to You in all of our ways that You will teach us how to walk in Your paths. May that fragrance touch the hearts of even those that seem hardened and unreachable. We thank You for we know You are able to do above and beyond all that we dare ask or think as You permit us to be used as You desire! In Jesus Name, amen.

“He Anoints My Head With Oil”

Posted on Dec 3, 2015 in Devotions, Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

The past two days I have been focusing on God’s peace. Yesterday I shared specifically about the undisturbed mind. Anxious thoughts can surely rob one’s peace. Anxious thoughts can be like a fly that has picked you to torment. He may keep flying around the room, then buzz a bit around you head, land on you, and then fly away just long enough…but then he is back. Sometimes this is how anxious thoughts are when we are not taking them to the Lord. Oh yes, we have prayed but there are certain cares that you have not completely given over to Him. Your mind may seem at peace, and then out of no where you feel troubled again. That thought that you are trying to give to Him seems to keep showing up. It is times like these that we are not totally releasing all our cares to Him. May we examine our hearts in this matter, and ask Him for His help. In His presence, He desires to minister to our soul, and rid us of any torment we are in. May we permit Him to anoint our heads with oil which will indeed permeate our soul with that peace that passes all understanding.

Psalm 23:5 (Amplified)
You have anointed and refreshed my head with oil;

I have an image in my mind of a troubled sheep standing submissively under the gentle hands of the shepherd. He begins to pour fresh oil down over his woolly forehead, and he gently rubs it through the sheep’s thick wool, and it penetrates into the skin. He is assured that his sheep will be protected from torments that come from a particular pestilence. The shepherd well knows and understands how his sheep can be troubled by such tormentors as the nose fly. These little flies buzz about the sheep’s head attempting to deposit their eggs on the damp, mucous membranes of their nasal passages. If they succeed the worm-like larvae work their way up into the the sheep’s head. It is then that the intense irritation cause extreme inflammation with extreme torment and pain for this poor sheep.

I think of the daily cares that can swarm around our heads and torment us as well. Many times we are tempted to worry about things before they even happen. We try at times to put things out of our minds yet thoughts that are not dealt with eventually take root and get bigger. We must purpose ourselves to daily stay under our caring Shepherd’s loving hands. As we do we will abide in His place of refreshing and restoration of our souls.

Lord we thank You this day for being a kind and loving Shepherd. We thank You for Your watchful eyes for You see our soul, and You know when are hearts and minds are anxious. Thank You for reminding us by Your Spirit to cast all of our cast over to You. We praise You today for the power of Your restoration and peace that You desire to bring to us. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“The Wonderful Power In the Blood”

Posted on Oct 20, 2015 in Devotions, Uncategorized |

by Dona Hake

Today I want to encourage your heart to think about the blood that purchased your redemption. Oh that we would remember and give thanks to Jesus for the supreme sacrifice as He gave His life that we would be set free from the bondage of sin. Do you remember the day that you were born again? I can remember it like it was yesterday. As a new believer in the Lord Jesus I experienced the miraculous feeling of heavy weights falling off of me. Everything was different, and my eyes were opened to the light of His glorious love. I love returning to that memory because it was truly the most miraculous thing that ever happened to me. Let us read a portion of the beautiful hymn written by Lewis E. Jones.

“Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the precious blood of the Lamb.”

Lyrics from “There’s Power In the Blood”
by Lewis E. Jones

I love this old hymn because it challenges my heart to remember that Jesus did what no one else could do for me. Today I encourage you to remember that your heart is whiter than snow because of what He did at the cross. Because He lives we can face our today and every tomorrow in the strength and power of all that He is!

Psalm 103:12 (CJB)
“He has removed our sins from us
as far as the east is from the west.”