by Dona Hake

Psalm 111:10

“To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living;
all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight.
He will receive praise forever.”

In Proverbs 3:5-6 this word admonishes us to trust in Him and lean NOT on our own understanding.  This is so hard to do at times.  We live in an age where information is so easy to get our hands on.  Any information that we need is at our finger tips as we google in our questions and problems on our computers.  Quite honestly, I have found the more I know about things sometimes it can actually hinder my faith.  The tendency to trust in what man says above what God says about a particular thing can keep you from total trust in Him.

Leaning on God for all that we need is so vital.  Sometimes we want so badly to understand things that we are walking through and there are times we put too much focus on figuring things out.  I have found that simply obeying Him and knowing that I can trust Him to be in charge of my life keeps it simple enough.

I can remember when one of our sons was a little boy.  There was a particular time he was having a very hard time trusting my judgement on a particular thing.  I can remember sharing with him that he just needed to respect my judgement and not try to figure it out.  I began to share with him that there will times in life that we will face things that we do not understand.  I was stressing to him to trust me as a loving mother and authority in his life.  As we entrust our lives into the loving care of the Lord, He will in His timing give us understanding and we will learn and grow from situations that we walk through.   We just need to trust and obey.  God is good all the time…ALL THE TIME God IS good!

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by Dona Hake

Have you ever walked away from someone thinking, “Oh my…I can’t believe I just spoke those words!”

If you have lived on this earth for any amount of time and you are honest with yourself, you can raise your hand and say “yes, I have done that!”  I believe the more we ask God to help us in the area of keeping our mouth out of trouble, the more sensitive we will become to what words we speak.

1 Peter 3:10 (NASB)

“The one who desires life, to love and see good days,
Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”

From our mouth we can speak words that bless people yet our mouth could also curse someone.  Truth could proceed from our lips and nourish and build a relationship yet lies could come forth at any time and tear apart a relationship leaving us scarred  and beyond repair.

Today let us ask Him to keep us aware of the power that is within our tongue that we may speak words of life and good things to those around us.

Proverbs 21:23 (MSG)
“Watch your words and hold your tongue;
you’ll save yourself a lot of grief.”

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by Dona Hake

Philippians 4:6 (AMP)
” Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue

to make your wants known to God.”

As we run this race in life we must determine ourselves to lay aside anything that will weigh us down.  If we do not, we will not be able to maintain focus and our goal will seem impossible.  There are so many things that can hinder us yet the Lord tells us to simply give it all to Him.

Many times if I am in a troubling situation I can become consumed with just having to know that I am making the right decision because I don’t want to mess up.  If I am unsure, then I become preoccupied and the fear of making a mistake begins to haunt me.   One day recently I found myself once again in the position thinking “I just want to do the right thing.”  I felt the Lord sweetly ministering to my heart that the right thing to do in that specific moment was to simply cast my care.  He showed me that the casting of my care regarding a specific thing was EXACTLY the right thing for that moment and releasing the my care to Him was all I could do.

1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)
“Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties,

all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all]

on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and

cares about you watchfully.”

We all well know that after we pray there can be a time of waiting for the manifestation of the answer. Our hearts need to be at total peace regardless of what things look like around us.  I thank the Lord that He affectionately cares for us and we live under His diligent and loving Hand.

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by Dona Hake

The Lord desires that our faith be as a child.  He loves when we run to Him with our concerns and every big or small detail of our lives.  Little children are a constant reminder to me of honesty, and their desire to please.  As I teach the preschoolers at church I cannot tell you how many times one of the children will run to me and show me their latest bump or boo-boo.  Sometimes their boo-boo is so small I cannot see it, but believe me I try to show them that it matters!  Why?….because if it is important enough for them to bring it up,  I want to pay attention.

The children  also love to share with me their latest most exciting things that have happened.  One little girl tugged at my dress during worship yesterday and I leaned down and she whispered to me something funny her Grandpa did on their vacation.  It made me giggle yet these things are reminders to me of how God wants us to be.   She just had to share it because it was important to her at that moment!

Luke 18:17 (ERV)
” The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom

like a little child accepts things…”

Throughout you day take time to whisper prayers to Him about those things that concern you.  Let your heart be obedient to thank Him and praise Him for the good things that are happening to you.  As you remember His works and they thrill your heart, share your heart and tell Him.  He wants to hear about everything that is going on in your heart and mind for He truly cares about every detail of your life!

. “Any concern too small to be turned into a

prayer is too small to be made into a burden. ..
Corrie ten Boom

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by Dona Hake

One of the very first things we do in the morning is dressing  ourselves for the day and it’s occasion.  I am one of those planners so there are many evenings before I go to bed I lay my clothes out for the next day so my morning goes a little smoother.  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. 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.

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

it is destroyed when you are cruel.”

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by Dona Hake

I can remember like yesterday my Sunday school teacher with her flannel board teaching us how Jesus blood took all our sin away.  There was a flannel heart with black spots on it and then there was a pure white heart.  All I can remember as a little girl sitting there was that I wanted the pure white heart.  I wanted no parts of black spots on my heart and I wanted to understand how to have the pure white heart.

Thank God through His forgiveness, we can experience the pure white heart.  Along with forgiveness He desires to shed upon our hearts that we be merciful to those around us.

1 Corinthians 13:5 (ERV)

Love does not remember wrongs done against it.”

Today I am encouraging you to be merciful and forgiving.  God’s love is so powerful and it can help you forgive wrongs done against you.  If you are carrying a little  “book of accounts of wrongs done” to you.  Give it a pitch!!!  Let us enjoy the freedom that forgiveness brings to our hearts!  Today I leave you with this wonderful anonymous quote:

“Every person should have a special cemetery lot

in which to bury the faults of friends and loved ones.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free

and discover the prisoner was you”

(Unknown)

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by Dona Hake

I really enjoyed this past Easter weekend. It was so refreshing to meditate in a deeper way of what Jesus did for me at the cross. I tried to watch a few old movies about His life, works and His death and they ministered to me and refreshed my soul. Days of remembrance come and go but certain ones should be carried in our hearts everyday. Easter is not just a holiday that comes and goes it is your reason for living.

“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 can be 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.”

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by Dona Hake

Psalm 63:8 (VOICE)
” My soul clings to You;
Your right hand reaches down and holds me up.”

As I was praying this morning I started thinking about times that I ask the Lord for His Hand be upon me.  The beauty of the whole thought opened up to me and just sat and thanked Him for  how His wonderful Hand leads me and guides me throughout the day.  The work of His Spirit in our life should be met with expectancy every time we pray.

There are days that I feel His loving hand give me the push I need and it’s called courage.  Sometimes I feel Him tugging at my heart because I am about to miss something that is important mainly because I am preoccupied with something else.  Sometimes I feel His loving hand holding me back and keeping me from taking a step forward in the wrong direction.  I especially love when I can almost sense His hand across my mouth so I do not speak words that would offend or hurt others.  His loving and caring hand in our life is so sweet.

I hope you too are looking for His loving hand at work in your life!  Live in the expectancy of it and He will always meet you where you are and uphold you as you cling to Him.

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by Dona Hake

“Get off the fence!” is commonly used when you are being indecisive and not wanting to take a side on an issue.  Today as I was praying and meditating about this devotion I was thinking how we can also be “on the fence” in areas of our hearts regarding spiritual things.  As an example you may know certain truths and you try to apply them yet there are areas that you may struggle with deciding to just be obedient and committing your heart to act them out.

We must establish within us that the Lord wants all of us so He can fully work in us.  Yet the the devil will try to keep us spinning our wheels in particular areas of our life to keep us from going full throttle.  I think of one particular area where people think they can “back burner” things and that is the area of not forgiving people.  They may feel their heart tugged by the Lord to let it go and forgive and then for some reason the individual will find a reason to withhold forgiveness.

With every decision we make toward going forward in the ways of the Lord we must ask Him for His help.

Proverbs 16:3 (EXB)
“Depend on the Lord in whatever you do [Commit your acts/deeds to the Lord],
and your plans will ·succeed [be established].”

Today I encourage you to make good decisions as a result of desiring to please the Lord.  Some decisions especially in the area of our obedience to the Word can really challenge our flesh, but trust me, He will enable you to carry out His Word.  Entrust your efforts to Him and your good decisions will cause you to flourish in His Kingdom.

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by Dona Hake

The evil of this world continues to gain momentum and we must remain strong that we can rise above it’s pulling and tugging at our hearts.    I often think how hard it would be to be a young person and sort through all that is out there.  Really, it is only by the power of God that any of us can remain strong for He has promised to give us ALL things that we need that pertain to this life and living godly.  When God says ALL He means ALL.  Not just a high percentage but ALL, and that means He will cause us to lack in no good thing as we ask Him.

2 Peter 1:3-4 (PHILLIPS)

“He has by his own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life, in allowing us to know the one who has called us to him, through his own glorious goodness. It is through him that God’s greatest and most precious promises have become available to us men, making it possible for you to escape the inevitable disintegration that lust produces in the world and to share in God’s essential nature.”   We no longer need to strive to live a life pleasing unto to Him but rather draw upon Him as we come to know Him more intimately.  It is as this becomes so real to us that the scripture in Philippians 4:13 will explode with power within us!  

Philippians 4:13 (AMP)

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].   To God be the glory!!!!  

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