by Dona Hake

John 15:5   The Voice 

“I am the vine, and you are the branches.

If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit.

Without Me, you will accomplish nothing.”

What a beautiful  scripture to keep fresh in our hearts.  Without Him we can do nothing, and yet with Him ALL things are possible!  All means all, and that little word with three letters contains big possibilities.  Whether we are trying to do things for Him or the things that involve our daily accomplishments, it would do us good to know that we are pulling ALL of our strength and wisdom from His resources.

I can remember once putting some fresh batteries into a flashlight.  I checked and checked to make sure all the batteries were in the right position and secure.  It made no sense to me that there was no power.   I was absolutely positive that I had them in correctly.  My husband opened it and examined it and sure enough one of the three batteries was in the wrong direction.  Sometimes that is how it is for us.  We can seem to have all that we need, yet one thing is out of place and there will be no power.  When we are connected to God, He assures us that all things are possible as we stay hooked up to His divine ways and purposes!   As we continue to abide in Him, we will bear much fruit.  God bless you.

Devotional for Tuesday, March 21, 2017

by Dona Hake

I have seen  individuals walk through great adversity, and touches my heart when I see them choose to  exhibit characteristics of extreme compassion, and they have a beauty in character…their soul is at rest.    They chose not to quit or be bitter but instead they made a decision to stand back up in their weariness, and they took hold of God’s courage.   What a blessing it is to see such victory, and such testimonies as these can bring courage to our hearts.    These are believers that  endured because they chose to look at Christ, and not their circumstance.   They looked at Christ instead of what the world’s answers were.  They looked at Christ instead of their own ability.   The Lord has shown us in His scriptures that we need to hold fast, and continue to look to Him  that we may have enduring strength.

Trials can cause us to be stronger people if we permit them to.   As we press in and keep our eyes on Him and seek His wisdom we will see that our patience is being worked and perfected by Him.   Many times in this life things do not go the way we plan  but we must  take courage and try again.   Keep looking to Jesus, permit our soul to take rest, and He will renew our strength.

Proverbs 24:16

“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again…”

Hebrews 10:36

“Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.”

Let us live a life of pressing into God that we can walk and run in His enduring strength. Continue to do His  will, step out in new paths that He shows you, and patiently endure that you may receive the blessing of what you are hoping for!  Today I encourage your heart to keep looking to Christ, and live in His rest.

Devotional for Monday, March 20, 2017

“His Command To Save Us”

by Dona Hake

I feel so blessed that I had the opportunity to visit North Wales two different times.    It was such a sweet memorable time in my life.   I can remember the day that I knew in my heart that I was to go on this trip yet I had such a fear of flying.     This fear almost kept me from doing God’s perfect will in my life.   What a joy it was to get on that plane to fly with absolutely no fear in my heart.   This was such a victory for me.  May we always reflect on testimonies in our life in which the Lord delivered us from fears or anything that would hold us back from doing His will.  God desires that we are totally free to serve Him, and that there is nothing on this earth to keep us from doing His will and accomplishing His purposes.

There was one thing in particular that I really looked forward to when we arrived in North Wales and that was getting the opportunity to visit the beautiful old castles.   As I walked through these medieval buildings I wondered about the lives that were protected when battles were fought behind those walls.  They were strong and mighty walls that were built with the purpose of protection.  

Psalm 71:3 (ESV)
“Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,

Matthew 7:12 (MSG)

I love how this says to “grab the initiative and do it for them.” It is so easy to think about how we feel we should be treated yet do we take hold of the initiative to be thinking about the feelings of others around us? May this remind us to stop and take initiative to do the right thing when we see what the right thing is!

With the help of God’s love, He can show us the needs of people around us. Many times we just need to stay aware of what God is seeing, and be aware of many times our lives can sadly become self-centered.   May we be sensitive and aware of the needs around us. I think it would be a good habit to ponder our words before we speak them, and think about our actions. Think to yourself, “Is this how I would want to be spoken to or is this how I would want someone to act in my presence.” 

by Dona Hake

Today I am sharing  from Psalm 116.  The psalmist begins the chapter by exclaiming, “I love the Lord, for He heard my voice…”   He proceeded to say that he knew God’s ear was toward him and then he said, “I will call on Him as long as I live!”     I love how the psalmist exclaims that he just knew that God heard his voice.    Many times people experience the struggle of believing God  hears their  voice simply because they are not seeing the results to what they are praying about.   Oh that we would believe that our Lord hears us, and my we learn to wait upon Him, and know that His ways and timing are perfect!

“Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord

I believe this chapter in Psalms can serve to remind us that in any trying circumstances we absolutely must call on the Lord for our help, and we must purpose to remind ourselves of His love and care over us.  As he said, “Return to your rest, my soul for the Lord has been good to you…”   We too need to remind ourselves of these truths that our souls may be calmed.   As we walk before the Lord in the land of the living, let us rejoice in His mighty works He has done in our lives!

 Today let us ask ourselves the question if there may be times that we practice selective hearing with the Lord, and we do not even realize we are doing this.  Sometimes bad habits such as this can happen quicker than what we would admit to ourselves.  There are times we can all identify where we are reading the Word or hearing the Word of God, and our spirit has been pricked by the power of the spoken Word of God. We just know it was God specifically dealing with our heart yet we walk away and do not take heed. We may go home from church and proclaim what a good word our Pastor shared yet not take heed to it, and apply it to our life. This is indeed a form of selective hearing and lack of being a doer of the Word.   We need to be very careful and cautious over our hearts that we are not guilty of this. I found several translations of John 10:27 enlightening so I will share them with you for your meditation.

“My sheep respond as they hear My voice; I know them intimately, and they follow Me.” (The Voice)

A farmer or a person that loves to do vegetable gardening totally understands the importance of diligence to maintain a healthy and thriving garden. After of summer of diligently weeding and tending a garden or crop, the harvest is going to come. Once it comes one may desire to freeze or can the abundance of their fruits. Whatever the choice of preserving it, it must be done, and there is no time to waste. It is such a blessing to pull a vegetable out of your freezer or a canned veggie or fruit in the cold of winter. Oh the joy of enjoying the fruit of our diligent, hard working hands!

 Proverbs 21:5 Amplified Bible