Saturday, September 16, 2017
by Dona Hake
Psalm 18:2 (ERV)
“The Lord is my Rock, my fortress, my place of safety.
He is my God, the Rock I run to for protection.
He is my shield; by his power I am saved.
Praise the living God! How awesome it is that we can proclaim the Lord to be our rock, fortress and our place of safety! He IS the Rock on which we stand, and we know that as we stand upon that Rock we shall not be moved.
Today I want you to reflect upon how your Lord rescued you from the place of darkness and brought you to the place of freedom. Jesus cleansed us of our sins. Forgiveness is ours, and as we continue in the race set before us He has provided for us strong footing for He is the Rock on which we stand. He promises to give us everything we need as we stand upon this solid Rock.
Before I knew Him as a teenager I can still remember whispering a prayer before my eyes went shut each night. “God…there just has to be more to this life than this…” I just could not believe within my heart that there wasn’t more. I can remember what it felt like to not understand why I was even here. Tormented in my soul I would keep uttering this prayer, and then I met Him face to face at the last closing moments of a week long crusade I had attended. Each night my heart struggled as I fought to surrender my all to Him. What a fool I was to think that my ways were better and higher than His. I praise God that in that time in which my heart was overwhelmed and filled with anxiety that He led me to the Rock that was higher than I! Let us rejoice in our salvation, and never forget how He delivered us and set our feet upon the Rock that never moves!
Psalm 61:2 (KJ21)
when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to
the rock that is higher than I.”
Friday, September 15, 2017
by Dona Hake
“It is because of the Lord’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed,
There is nothing so loyal and beautiful in this life like the love of our Lord. Whether we deserve it or not, He sheds His love toward us and He is a faithful God. I want to look closely at this scripture ….”Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness.” As I was meditating on this my heart is resting not only on the word faithfulness but the word great. When something is great it is unusual or considerable in degree, power, and intensity. Just as His peace surpasses our understanding I believe His faithfulness also surpasses our comprehending. His faithfulness is beyond trying to measure. Oh how great is our God!
In another translation this verse says that His loyal love is enduring and it is inexhaustible. As He shows His love to us, it should challenge our hearts to love the same way. He desires that the love that flows from our hearts to be loyal, enduring and inexhaustible. After all, we were created in His image therefore He is well able to instruct us and empower us to love as He loves.
There may be people in your life that you find very easy to get along with, and yet there are those that may seem to drain you of your energy. Allow this scripture to challenge your heart. Seek to draw upon the love from above that never runs out of energy and it endures anything. God’s tender love within us promises never to fail no matter what things look like in the natural.
Remember every morning you wake up that He is seeking new ways to show His love to you. Everything about God begins afresh each day, and His compassion is NEVER limited. Everyone of us has a day ahead of us and each of us will face different challenges. Know this, the God of all love is able to help you endure and conquer anything. Praise Him for His great love and compassion!
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
James 3:7-12 (Phillips)
“Beasts, birds, reptiles and all kinds of sea-creatures can be, and in fact are, tamed by man, but no one can tame the human tongue. It is an evil always liable to break out, and the poison it spreads is deadly. We use the tongue to bless our Father, God, and we use the same tongue to curse our fellow-men, who are all created in God’s likeness.
Blessing and curses come out of the same mouth—surely, my brothers, this is the sort of thing that never ought to happen! Have you ever known a spring to give sweet and bitter water simultaneously? Have you ever seen a fig-tree with a crop of olives, or seen figs growing on a vine? It is just as impossible for a spring to give fresh and salt water at the same time.”
Sweet and bitter water, blessing and curses simultaneously coming from the same mouth ought not to happen. Oh how our words apart from our Lord’s wisdom and love can really get us into trouble not to mention how damaging it could be to our testimony for Him. Words spoken apart from God’s wisdom can cut deep into the soul. Words that proceed from an angry heart can be mean and spiteful. God desires that our words and actions be the fruit of all that He is. Wisdom is knowing what is true or right coupled with His judgment as to what action to take.
I believe that James was stressing the seriousness that we be consistent with our words and actions. Again let me mention the words of James….“Blessing and curses coming out of the same mouth- surely, my brothers, this is the sort of thing that never ought to happen!” These are strong words that James spoke but yet they are true.
May we ponder the thought of the impossibility of bitter and sweet water flowing from a spring simultaneously. Oh that the Lord would help us by the power of His Spirit to be careful to speak only truth and love filled words. As we purpose to keep our words in line with what we believe, we will be examples of consistency in God’s ways. Our judgments will be pure and we will have discerning hearts.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
by Dona Hake
Psalm 55:22 (AMP)
Monday, September 11, 2017
“I must calm down and turn to God;
he is my only hope.”
Psalm 62:5 (AMP)
“My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him”
Sunday, September 10, 2017
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.”
Oh that our true delight in this life would be to do all that our Father wants us to do. This my friends is His will for our life here on earth. There is great reward for being diligent in embracing the Word of God and being about His business for the Kingdom of God. As you daily follow Him and purpose to put His teachings first and foremost in your life, He has promised that your life would be prospered. It is then that we will stand as trees along God’s riverbank seeing an abundant of growth and prosperity in our life. and 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 purpose to be used by Him and to be willing to bless those He puts in our path as we live and abide in Him. As we proclaim His Word many will be blessed and nourished from the fruit that our lives bear.
Proverbs 10:21 (NIV)
“The lips of the righteous nourish many…”
May we purpose to meditate upon His Word continually and think about ways to follow our Lord more closely. Let us speak His Word and do His Word that we may nourish those that are needy in spirit. I love that He has promised that our life would bear fruit all the seasons that we live, and all that we put our hand to shall prosper!
Friday, September 8, 2017
Devotional for Friday, September 8, 2017
“The Name Of the Lord Deserves To Be Praised”
by Dona Hake
Psalm 42:8 (CEB)
“By day the Lord commands his faithful love;
by night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.”
This scripture reminds me that from the time I awaken till I lay my head down to sleep that I should simply praise His Name. As I ponder this I think about all that we could possible face in a day’s time. There will be those days that we will encounter difficulties or difficult people that make it hard to keep praise to Him in our hearts. These distractions and difficulties can tend to distort our focus on Him. The Lord desires that there is an offering of praise proceeding from our hearts no matter what is going on around us.
” From dawn until sunset
the name of the Lord
deserves to be praised.”
Things not going the way you planned for your day? Circumstances? No my friends….NOTHING can keep us from offering praise to the Living God! From the rising of the sun till it’s going down our Lord’s Name is greatly to be praised!
Romans 8:39 (The Message)
“I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way
that Jesus our Master has embraced us. ”
Thursday, September 7, 2017
“Watch your words and hold your tongue;
you’ll save yourself a lot of grief.”
Have you ever walked away from a conversation and the thought crosses your mind… “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 the words that proceed from our lips.
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 but if we are not guarding our tongue our words could also hurt someone, and cause them to possibly be upset with us. Words can destroy relationships or words can heal and strengthen a relationship. Today I encourage you to watch over your words. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you keep a check on your words that they be full of love, truth and mercy ministering grace to the hearers around you.
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
by Dona Hake
Leaning and trusting 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. Today I encourage you to meditate upon these three words. REVERENCE, OBEDIENCE AND TRUST IN YOUR LORD.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
by Dona Hake
If one lives solely for the joy that this world has to offer their desire and lust for things will never be satisfied. The Lord knows us inside and out, and He knows that He is the only one that can satisfy every need in our life. Only Jesus can satisfy the thirst of our souls. It is understandable when an unbeliever is trying to be satisfied by the things this world has to offer but oh how sad it is when a believer tries to serve the Lord yet draw upon the poisonous temptations that this world has to offer. He wants us to come to live in that place of drawing only upon His wellspring of life. Let us read in the book of John where Jesus explained to the woman at the well the meaning of the true spring of water that only He gives.
“Jesus answered her, All who drink of this water will be thirsty again.
When you feel life’s problems and this world draining you of your strength and peace, stop and drink of His water that will strengthen and refresh your soul. Guard your heart at all times that you are not seeking to meet your needs through anything but Him. 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 to you!
Today I encourage you to lift your eyes and heart to Him. Permit Him to pour His refreshing life into you. Oh that our cups would spill over that we can refresh and lift up those around us!
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!