“The Quiet Heart”
I recently had a gentleman sitting behind me at a stop light, and he was in a convertible. He was angered because I did not make a left on a yellow light. Since this is a dangerous intersection, I decided to wait for the next light. He yelled nasty things at me and sat there and mumbled under his breath till the light changed. It was so sad to me to see someone that allowed such a small thing make him so angry. Yet anyone of us could fall prey to such a thing if we do not make a decision to hold fast to the peace of God, and maintain a quieted heart.
I don’t know about you but I am bound and determined to embrace peace in my heart and allow nothing or no one to snatch it away from me.
Proverbs 14:30 Amplified Bible“A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life
and health of the body…”
I pray that you too will think about pursuing living one moment at a time and enjoy the stillness of His perfect peace each and every day.
“What God Will Not Give”
2 Timothy 1:7 (AMP)
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of
Many times my heart cringes when I hear people think that when bad things are going on in their life that it is sent from God. It is as though God has some split personality, and we are on the end of whatever mood He may be in. This is not true for our God is the giver of ONLY good gifts, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Today I want to declare to you that there is something that God will NEVER give to you, and that is fear! The truth is that He is not the author of fear, but instead He has given us the spirit of power, love, and a calm well balanced mind. We can keep our mind focused, disciplined and have self control with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Let us be reminded today to stay focused on all that He has given us through His love for this very special journey on earth. It is Him that can help us to remain disciplined and self controlled for the God given work He has for us. I want to leave you with this precious quote:
“If the Lord be with us,
we have no cause to fear,
His eye is upon us,
His arm over us,
His ear open to our prayer.”
Andrew Murray
“God Sees the Big Picture”
Today I am hoping that we be reminded to allow God to search the “pieces” of His specific will for our life that He may work through us. As we live each day may we remain humble and allow Him to work and fit the pieces together that are in His plan, not our custom made ideas. It is a comfort to know that God is the Master Planner and within His plan will always be perfect timing. Young or old, we can all get a bit impatient with God’s timing, and we need to be cautious of this. I always love when my Granddaughters ask how long something may take and if I say it will be in about five minutes, and I get this…”Grandma, that will be forever!” Makes me grin every time. How many times do we react to God the same way.
God wants you to know that He has a plan for your life and He works in your life as you permit Him to. As we stay humble, He will work out all things according to His plans and purposes.
Romans 8:28 (DRA)
“And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good…”
“God Is Able”
2 Corinthians 9:8 (HCSB)
“And God is able to make every grace overflow
to you, so that in every way, always having
Ephesians 1:2 (Amplified)
May grace (God’s unmerited favor) and spiritual peace [which means peace with God and harmony, unity, and undisturbedness] be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Wisdom From Above”
“Heavenly wisdom centers on purity, peace, gentleness, deference, mercy, and other good fruits untainted by hypocrisy.”
God’ wisdom will always be full of these fruits. Wisdom’s fruits are pure, peaceful, and gentle.God’s wisdom will always be respectful and merciful. It will never be touched with hypocrisy for it is pure, real, and it has been tested. God’s wisdom or ways do change due to circumstance because it is not consistent with His character.
When we ask God for His wisdom He desires to bless us with His pure thoughts and how He sees to do a task or speak a word to someone. He desires to bless us with His good judgments. I encourage you today to seek wisdom before every task. Get God’s mind in all you put your hand to. As you ask God for His precious wisdom, believe by faith that it is going to flow into you, and flow forth from you as pure fresh living water.
“Iron Sharpens Iron”
As I was driving the other morning my heart was inspired by hearing a gentleman share how he wanted to continue contributing to his country after he returned from serving our country in battle. I want to share his story with you, and what it spoke to my heart.
As we love and stay in fellowship with one another, we will surely grow as we watch one another grow in our faith. We must make a decision that no matter what we walk through that we are going to continue to fight the good fight. Look forward to hearing the testimonies from your brothers and sisters in Christ that are fighting the good fight, and you will be sharpened by their victory. Today let us look forward with courage in our hearts, purpose and be deliberate in continuing to serve our Lord with great determination that we can inspire others to live a life of worthy purpose.
“The Water Only He Can Give”
Only Jesus can satisfy the thirst of our souls. Jesus explained to the woman at the well the meaning of the true spring of water that only He gives.
John 4:13-14
Amplified Bible
“Jesus answered her, All who drink of this water will be thirsty again.
But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never, no never, be thirsty any more. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto (into, for) eternal life.”
When you feel life problems and this world draining you of your strength and peace, stop and drink of His water that will strengthen and refresh your soul. Know that it will continue to nourish you,and it has no end. As this scripture translation says, His water “shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling, continually…” This gives such a beautiful image of His living water within us. It truly is the life flow from which we can draw upon whenever we meet uncertainty and overwhelming problems. God is gracious and He ever lives to pour forth that living water onto us!
“…A Time To Every Purpose…”
As we commit our lives to the Lord, and seek Him first in all that we do, we will find His loving hand in every area of our life. His Word proclaims that He will perfect ALL that concerns us so we need to be able to understand the time in which we live as individuals. I encourage you to seek Him today for His plan for you. Today is a new day, it is like no other, and He wants to use you like never before!
James 1:4-6(ERV)
“If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good.
You will be all that God wants you to be.
Do any of you need wisdom? Ask God for it. He is generous and enjoys
giving to everyone. So he will give you wisdom.
But when you ask God, you must believe. Don’t doubt him.”
Today I want to encourage your heart that every day that you live, and as long as you have breath in your, God has a purpose for you. He has desires, and His planning and timing are perfect. As we purpose to seek His purposes, He promises to fulfill them!
“May We Never Tire””
What you sow, you harvest. Those who sow seeds into their flesh will only
harvest destruction from their sinful nature. But those who sow seeds into
the Spirit shall harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. May we never tire
of doing what is good and right before our Lord because in His season we
shall bring in a great harvest if we can just persist.”
As this scripture says, “May we never tire of doing what is good and right.” The Lord knew that we would be tempted to grow weary or the Spirit would not have led Paul to write such powerful words.
Many times we may purpose in our heart to do the right thing and we make a decision that we are going to keep on doing that good thing, and then it happens. It seems that the devil knows how to bring discouragement our way in what ever manner he can. Unfortunately many times it could come through the words of others.
Today I want you to meditate and confess,
strengthen my heart as I look to Him in my moments of discouragement. In Jesus Name.”
God bless you as you continue to do that which is good for His glory and His kingdom.
“Rooted and Grounded In the Love of God”
Presently my gardens at home are just being established. The flowers are taking root, and they all look so pretty, yet their enemy lurks to rob them of their life and blooming potential. There are weeds that grow and spread with absolutely no assistance. Without the diligent observance of the condition of my flowers and pulling of the weeds those pretty flowers will not thrive and bloom where they have been planted. I am reminded everyday that I must be diligent or the weeds will rob the life from my flowers that are trying to grow.
Our lives speak and reveal what is rooted in our hearts. As we tend to our hearts in all the areas that the Lord commands, we will value the fruit of the deeply rooted good things He desires to work and produce in us. We have got to watch over the condition of our hearts just as we do a garden. I can remember a few years ago when I bought this one particular flower for my garden and I never dreamed of it’s potential. One little flower probably about 7 inches high ended up so huge! As I cared for it and it took root, and it turned into a bush with tons of beautiful flowers!
Today I want you to think about the love of God in your heart. How well do you tend it? Can you see that you are growing in the love of God or are you at a standstill? Quite honestly no matter how old you are in the Lord, this is a question we should ask ourselves on a regular basis. We have heard the quote “Bloom where you are planted.” It is important to know in your heart that you are staying connected with the Living God, and permitting Him to prune you when He sees fit. As you seek Him, you are watering and drawing upon His strength alone, and you will be rooted and grounded in His love and all that He is.
“And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living
within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of
God’s marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all
God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his
love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so
great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it.
And so at last you will be filled up with God himself.
Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to
do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely
beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.”
May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love! Seek to know Him more, to love Him more, and to serve Him in a greater way today.
This is a good way of teaching the kids to forgive each other(Matt. 5:7). I like the power of this gentle scripture and lesson… Thanks!!
thank you Lisa for sharing. I am blessed that this was a blessing to you!
Ralph &I are really enjoying your devotional together.
So glad this is blessing you both!
Oh, what a wonderful reminder! I want to break the magnifing glass of worry and trust God for each step I take.
It is interesting Selena how the more we worry the bigger and more magnified things get in our minds. Oh how important it is to trust our God for the smallest of things! Thank you for sharing!