Tuesday, Auguat 22, 2017
Devotional for Tuesday, August 22, 2017
“He Directs the Humble In Heart”
by Dona Hake
Proverbs 25:9 (The Voice)
“With justice, He directs the humble
in ALL that is right and He shows them His way.”
1 Peter 5:5 (Amplified)
“For God sets Himself against the proud
(the insolent, the overbearing, the
disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—
disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—
[and He opposes, frustrates, and
defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.”
defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.”
In each of these scriptures I want to draw your attention to the words I have underlined. Oh how precious the Lord sees the humble heart!!! When He sees our hearts are humble He promises to direct us in ALL THAT IS RIGHT. I love when I know that I am doing exactly what is pleasing to my Lord. Let us rejoice in the truth that a humble heart receives grace, favor and abundant blessings. What powerful scriptures for us to remind ourselves of the truth that we must seek to be humble at all times.
In 1 Peter 5:5 it was written that God actually sets Himself against the proud in heart. Whenever we exalt our opinions or experiences against God’s Word, we are positioning ourselves to have our hearts rooted in pride. God hates pride, and He resists it. God is totally unable to lead and guide the heart that is stubborn and proud. The heart that cannot be led by God will ultimately end up on a wrong path. The one that lacks in humility does not receive His wisdom and cannot walk in the ways of the Lord until true repentance comes to his or her heart. Our God has equipped us with His Word to hide in our hearts. This will help us guard our hearts from permitting that which would cause us to be proud and exalt our opinion against His Holy Word and ways.
Lord, we ask You today to help us be mindful of the condition of our hearts and our thoughts. May our hearts be troubled when we begin to think too highly of ourselves, and seek to put our opinions or experiences above what Your Word says. Your Word is the highest truth, and we ask You remind us to stay in a place of humility. We delight in knowing that You are drawn to the humble in heart. Show us Your ways of humility, and cause us to grow in it. In Jesus Name! Amen.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Devotional for Monday, August 21, 2017
“You Were Meant To Make A Difference”
by Dona Hake
God has appointed each of us with an assignment while we live here on this earth. Let us never compare how our Lord desires to use us with how He chooses to use someone else. His eyes are searching for are the man and woman that looks to Him, and seeks to have a pure and humble heart.
The man or woman that desires the pure heart will not dare to permit sin to hinder their walk. They desire with all of their heart to fulfill their God given assignment. They will quickly run to their Lord for the forgiveness, and as they make the choice to humble themselves He will quickly lift them back up. This is the beautiful heart that He so desires to work His life through! You are here to make a difference, and I think that is an exciting thought!
No matter how young or old you are, I want you to listen. Today you can make a difference in someone’s life. This is a brand new day, it is as a clean slate, and God has a “to do” list for you. He has loving words He desires you to speak, godly actions to do, prayers to pray, etc. He desires that our lives be busy, fervent, and excited about His will for us. He desires that you be excited and zealous over the assignment He placed in your heart.
Many times people can be discouraged and depressed about their lives simply because they are comparing themselves to everyone around them. If you feel you have not succeeded in something, then take hold of God, and ask Him for strength to stand up and try again. May I encourage you today to look at yourself, and know that God made you in such a special way for special reasons and purposes.
Psalm 139:14 CJB version
“I thank you because I am awesomely made,
wonderfully; your works are wonders —
I know this very well.”
wonderfully; your works are wonders —
I know this very well.”
The psalmist is proclaiming how awesomely he was formed by the hand of a loving God. Oh that we would do the same, and see ourselves as awesomely made and fashioned by the Master’s hand. As He made you, He had special things in mind, and it is up to you to believe how special you are, and seek how He desires to use you in this life. Trust Him to fulfill those plans and purposes. Seek to express all those God given qualities that may be at rest within your soul. Do not permit fear of failure to hold you back. I want to leave you with one of my favorite motivational quotes. This quote challenges my heart every time I read it.
“Creativity has been built into every one of us;
it is part of our design.
Each of us lives less of the life God intended for us when we
choose not to live out the creative powers we possess.” Ted Engstrom
Thursday, August 17,2017
Devotional for Saturday, August 19, 2017
“His Lovingkindness Is Toward Us!”
By Dona Hake
Yesterday I exhorted you to never cease giving praise to our Lord. Today let us look at another wonderful thing to give Him praise for, and that is His tender lovingkindness. I love this scripture from Psalm 42:8 that says our Lord commands His lovingkindess toward us in the daytime and in the night His song shall be with us! Let us meditate upon how we end our long days. Many times are days are so full of demands and activity. We go from one task to another, and we need to always be mindful that we are in the moment with our Lord. If things are going good…praise Him. If things are not going good…again I say, praise Him! Pray often and make it a habit to continually cast the smallest of cares at His feet. If you do not, you will end your day weary and burdened.
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. I will share with you this wonderful scripture which happens to be the first Bible verse I ever memorized.
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 and in the evening His song shall be with you!
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!
Friday, August 18, 2017
Devotional for Friday, August 18, 2017
“The Lord Our Provision”
by Dona Hake
Today let us meditate on our Lord, our Provision. The Word of God tells us that if we seek we will find. Our loving God loves when we seek Him. Even though He knows EXACTLY what we need, He desires that our hearts exhibit our need of asking Him. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, and one of the things He said to ask for was His daily bread. This is the bread and sustenance that comes only from above! Let us look at two translations that I felt were excellent.
Matthew 6:11 (DRA) “Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.”
Matthew 6:11 (VOICE) ” Give us each day that day’s bread—no more, no less—”
There is a Contemporary Christian song that I love and the other day I listened to it a little bit closer than I have before. A handful of the lyrics really stood out to me and really ministered to my heart for each moment with God is a fresh encounter. He desires to speak freshly to us by many things around us. The lyrics the young lady was singing went like this… “He moves mountains that we did not know were even there…” What an awesome thought! I think of mountains that I have faced in my own life. He helped me faced them. He gave me His grace and strength to stand in faith till they came down and were leveled by His Word. But that song really made me wonder how mountains has He moved before I even noticed them. Our loving God knows our every need, and His Provision is more than enough. He makes are crooked paths straight that we make walk firmly and not stumble!
Today I encourage you to meditate upon the fact that God is faithful to give us the “bread” we need to get us through one day at a time. That bread will sustain us, and keep us nourished in our spirits. Thank you Lord for daily bread …no more, no less….we thank You that Your bread that You sustain us with is alive and living and all so powerful! Lord, you ARE our Provision.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Devotional for Wednesday, August 16, 2017
“Let Our Praise Never Cease!”
by Dona Hake
Psalm 145:1-3
“I will lift my praise above everything to You, my God and King!
I will continually bless Your name forever and always.
My praise will never cease—
I will praise You every day;
I will lift up Your name forever.
The Eternal is great and deserves endless praise;
His greatness knows no limit, recognizes no boundary.
No one can measure or comprehend His magnificence.”
I love this portion of scriptures! The Psalmist’s words shows us a heart that exhibits a love for God more than anything. Oh that our praise for the Living God would never cease as we remember His greatness knows no limits and recognizes no boundaries. May our thanks and praise to Him be fresh and new each day. Let us never forget all that we are blessed with. It is so easy to take the blessings of our Lord, and people for granted. We must be purpose that we live with hearts that are full of thanks especially to our loving God and the loved ones and friends in our life.
Today I am encouraging you to think about how wonderful and good the Lord has been to you. Day in and day out He faithfully meets us as we open our eyes each morning. He is always there for us throughout our day. Even when we fall and mess up, He is faithful as we turn and repent to Him. He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us, and renew a right spirit within us.
Let us think about His wonderful and divine attributes…His grace and mercy recognizes no boundaries and they are new each morning as we face new challenges. He is a God of goodness and grace…oh praise Him for His wonderful greatness today!!! No, we will never be able to totally comprehend His greatness, but we can always continue to offer thanks and worship to Him for all that He is to us! Give thanks to the Lord for there is no measure of His magnificence!
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Devotional for Tuesday, August, 15, 2017
“…But a Word of Encouragement”
by Dona Hake
Proverbs 12:25
“Anxious hearts are very heavy, but a word
of encouragement does wonders!”
Today I want to encourage you to seek opportunities to lift up hearts that may be heavy. As we ask the Lord for such opportunities He is sure to bring them in our path. We live in a time where it is plain to see that many have anxious and heavy hearts. I love those God given opportunities when I can lock my eyes with someone that looks grumpy or depressed, and try to get them talking. People like this need our loving smiles and encouraging words. My friends, this world needs desperately that which we possess by the Spirit of the Living God.
The Lord lifts us up and faithfully ministers His strength to us. Day by day He pours forth an abundant supply of joy and strength. Let us be ready to give it to those around us as He provides us opportunities. God wants us to be givers not hoarders of all the blessings He has imparted to us. His mercies are new every morning, let us live to bless and share His life from which all blessings flow. Let us be vessels that water and bless the parched hearts of this world. By watering others we water ourselves!
Proverbs 11:24 Living Bible
“It is possible to give away and become richer! It is also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. Yes, the liberal man shall be rich! By watering others, he waters himself.”
Monday, August 14, 2017
Devotional for Monday, August 14, 2017
“Never To Be Separated From His Love”
by Dona Hake
Romans 8:39 ERV
“….nothing in the whole created world—
will ever be able to separate us from the love God has shown
us in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Apostle Paul wrote some very powerful words didn’t he? Think about it. There is not one thing in the whole created world that can separate us from His perfect love. What a powerful truth to meditate upon! Let us look at what the word separate means, and I think this will bring you an even deeper revelation of this scripture. To be separated is:
Separate: (defined)
to keep apart or divide, as by an intervening barrier or space:
to put, bring, or force apart; part:
to set apart; disconnect; dissociate
Now let us look at how nothing can separate us from Him in light of some of these definitions. No matter what we face or how hard the devil tries to discourage us we can not be kept apart from the presence of our Lord, and His life giving love. There are no barriers strong enough to keep us from Him. There are no forces great enough to overcome the power of His love! We will not be set apart from Him!
May our hearts be dedicated to this inseparable love. Every day we purpose to set time aside to eat, sleep, work and play. Let us be ever so diligent to carve out moments during the day and dedicate them to sit in the presence of the One that promises that He will never leave or forsake us. Talk with Him about how you feel and what you fear. Ask Him about everything that concerns you. He is bound to you by His love! Do not go by feelings and do not go by what you see. He is ALWAYS with you and nothing can separate you from Him. Praise Him because of His inseparable love for you!!
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Devotional for Sunday, August 13, 2017
“Walking In God’s Integrity”
by Dona Hake
Today we will meditate upon how our integrity which comes from following the Lord will guide us through our journey in life. First I would love for you to read this short quote as we think about our Lord guiding us in the ways and path of integrity.
“God shall be my hope, My stay, my guide and lantern to my feet.”
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
If God is our hope, He is always ahead of us. Our eyes are fixed on Him with great confidence and expectation. When we see Him as our stay, He is always all that we need in the present. He shall be the loving Anchor of our soul, and we shall not be moved. When He is our guide, He is the ultimate compass that moves in the greatest of accuracy. As He is our lantern to our feet we will be moving in His divine direction with great illumination all around us. I believe this is living and moving and having our total being in Him. As we do this, we will live by the integrity of His precepts that He has commanded us to walk in.
As we practice living, breathing and moving by the Spirit of the Living God, we will be a people of great honor and integrity. From the depths of our being there will be a passionate desire to please Him and do the right thing. Oh the beauty of walking in the integrity of our God!
Proverbs 11:3
New Life Version
“The honor of good people will lead them…”
New Life Version
“The honor of good people will lead them…”
We thank you Lord that Your integrity shall guide us, and Your integrity will also draw people to You! We praise You for being our Hope, our Stay, our Guide, and the Lantern to our feet that we may exhibit integrity in our lives.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Devotional for Saturday, August 12, 2017
“Being Passionate for God’s Word”
by Dona Hake
When one is passionate they exhibit a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for a specific thing. I want to share a portion of Psalm 119 in which the psalmist expresses his passion about God’s commands in his life.
Psalm 119:130-142 The Voice
“When Your words are unveiled, light shines forth;
they bring understanding to the simple.
My desire for Your commands
left me waiting, open-mouthed and panting.
Acknowledge me and show me Your grace
as is Your habit toward all those who love Your name.
Guide my steps in the ways of Your word,
and do not let any sin control me.
Rescue me from the torment of my human oppressors
so that I may live according Your decrees.
Let Your face shine upon Your servant,
and help me to learn what You require.
My eyes shed rivers of tears
whenever people fail to keep Your teaching.
You are good and just, O Eternal One,
and Your rulings are right.
You have set out Your decrees in justice,
and they can be trusted.
and Your rulings are right.
You have set out Your decrees in justice,
and they can be trusted.
I AM OVERWHELMED BY MY PASSION
because my enemies have forgotten Your words.”
Do you have such a passion in your heart today for God’s Word? Have you ever thought how you would live without it? I remember the movie about the precious saint Corrie Ten Boom entitled “The Hiding Place.” Oh what a love for the Lord and His Word she and her sister had. When they were going into the concentration camp they were bound and determined to take in their little Bible into that place of fear and darkness. How precious it was as they clung to their most precious possession. It meant everything to them for their life was sustained by the living Word of their Lord. They prayed that they would be able to get it passed the guards without it being noticed. The Lord was faithful to provide a distraction which created the miraculous way to protect their Bible It was amazing to see them pray before they hid it under her coat, and the beautiful little Bible made its way past the darkness and evil of that place. You see, she and her sister were passionate about their loving God and His Word. They well understood that all they needed would come from His love and provision.
God desires that we be so passionate and loving about His Word. Let us look to His Word with longing in our heart for it is our Bread of life…the Bread that truly sustains and strengthens us to do His will. Today let us be reminded to cling to His precious Word no matter what this life brings our way.
Friday, August 11, 2017
Devotional for Friday, August 11, 2017
“How Does This Minister To Your Heart?
by Dona Hake
I saw this image on social media this morning, and I wanted to share it with you! Here is an image with simple yet powerful words. I will share with you what my heart received from this.
This challenges my heart to seize the opportunities the Lord puts before me, and never get comfortable in my self made “safe place”. The only safe place I should abide in is Him…under the wings of the Almighty God!!! No man made comfort zones allowed!
We live in a time in which we are offered so much to make our lives easier and convenient…things that are saving us time. Do not get me wrong…I love modern conveniences yet it seems the more conveniences we are blessed with the less time we seem to have. It may be that we are filling that extra time with things that are not as important as we think they are. Sometimes the more we have the more we overlook our simple sweet blessings. Sometimes the more we have, the more we want. So where am I going with this thought?
We must all guard our hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to remind us that we do not enter and “park” ourselves in our self made comfort zones. Those places we call “happy places” or those things we desire that draw our hearts away from our Lord. We owe our every breath and life to Him.
The Lord has created each of us, and He is desiring that we be His mighty vessels that carry life, light and His love into the “oceans” where there are the weary, needy, and without Him. Today I encourage you to look at this image and permit the Lord to speak to your heart in a very special way.
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!