“His Love For Us Is Deeper Than the Sea”

Posted on Aug 26, 2015 in Devotions |

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 can happen in a day and to be quite honest sometimes we may encounter difficulties or difficult people that make it hard to keep praise to Him in our hearts. The distractions and difficulties can tend to pull us away from focusing on Him. The Lord desires that there is an offering of praise proceeding from our hearts no matter what is going on around us.

Psalm 113:3 (CEV)
” From dawn until sunset
the name of the Lord
deserves to be praised.”

I think the secret to this whole thing is that we ask Him for a greater understanding that He really is with us all the time, and He promises to never leave or forsake us. No matter what happened today or what you have to face tomorrow…NOTHING can keep you from offering praise to the Living God! So today, think about the great oceans and their depth…His love for you is deeper than the deepest sea!

“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. ” Romans 8:39 (The Message)

“He Restores Our Soul”

Posted on Aug 25, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Over the past few days I have covered that our lives are a gift from Him, and He desires that we be a gift to those around us. I shared as well that we should be looking to Him that His beauty be upon us, and that we should stand strong and press into His will. Today we will look those times in which our soul needs restored. We all well know that there are times that we miss the mark, yet our Lord is there to take our hand, and lift us back up to our feet again. He understands our weaknesses, and He desires that we seek Him for restoration, and not permit the devil to torment us with guilt.

There is much torment in feeling guilty. It kind of feels like a prison because you are no longer free from the inside out. Memories and thoughts of the wrong you may have done seem to have voices, and they continue to haunt and remind you of what you think is irreparable. If you have received Jesus into your life, you can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and you can partake of His wonderful forgiveness. Let us treasure within us how wonderful it is that the Lord will forgive us when we mess up, and He will always cleanse our hearts. As we humble ourselves to Him admitting our wrongs and shortcomings, He will bring His mercies and forgiveness to you, and bring you back to that place of feeling clean again.

Let us look at David in the Psalms. His plea to God was for restoration of his heart in a time in which he majorly messed up and his heart was heavy with guilt and anguish.

Psalm 51:7, 8, 10

“Remove my sin and make me pure.”
Wash me until I am whiter than snow!
Let me hear sounds of joy and happiness again.
God, create a pure heart in me,
and make my spirit strong again.”

Today let us treasure the power of love and forgiveness, and look to the only One that can bring restoration to our souls. He is the only one who is able to cleanse. I love how verse eight says “Let me hear sounds of joy and happiness again.” This is what restoration is about. When we experience freedom from guilt we are able to experience the joy that was robbed by our sin and guilt. Only God is able to create within us a pure heart, pick us back up, and cause us to continue on in His will. Thank God for the power of forgivenesss!

“Press Into the Will of Your Lord”

Posted on Aug 24, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

His mercies are new every morning ,
His grace is sufficient,
His joy is our strength,
His love keeps our hearts,
His patience promises us a heart of longsuffering,
Our youth is renewed as the eagles as we wait upon Him,
He promises to never leave us,
and in His presence is abounding joy.
From the windows of Heaven comes an abundance
so big that we cannot even begin to contain it.
Any sin, no matter how big or small is forgiven
when we take it to Him with a repentant heart.

These are facts about the living God that I am sharing with you to cause you to reflect on how great He is! Is there anything too hard for our God? He is great and greatly we should praise Him each and everyday! Do you feel at times that your life, and it’s problems are too hard for God? Maybe you feel there are times that you are such a mess that maybe He sits and scratches His head wondering what to do with you. Oh, there is nothing to hard for Him! When problems and issues get out of hand in our lives we can certainly feel overwhelmed by them, but let us return to what will build and encourage our faith and our hearts. No matter how difficult your life seems God is able. Paul spoke with confidence in Philippians.

Philippians 1:6 (JUB)

“…being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun

a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

God is not a God that starts things and leaves them unfinished. He is NOT a procrastinator, He is the one with diligent and mighty hands that are well able to continue the great work He began in you. All we have to do is keep our hearts and eyes on Him, and trust Him with all of our being.

Lord, we praise You and thank you that You are great and greatly to be praised! There is nothing that is too great for You, and today and every day we wish to be mindful of that! Help us to be confident in the fact that there is not one thing that will go unfinished in our life as we press in, and serve You with our whole heart. We thank You for that good work that You continue to perform in us!

“May His Beauty Be Upon You”

Posted on Aug 23, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

In Psalm 8 verse three, the Psalmist makes mention of how he considered and saw that the heavens were the work of God’s fingers. He then said “the moon and the stars, You ordained and established.” We marvel at God’s magnificent creation, yet He promises to do great things in and through us as we serve Him in our life. Yesterday we looked at the fact that our life is a gift from God, and also He desires that our life be a gift to those around us. He created us with wonderful things in His mind, and He promises to enable us to do all that He desires.

Acts 17:28 (CEV)
“…and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are.”

He enables us to live this life by His power. He helps us to be the person He desires us to be. Today I want to encourage your heart to just let Him do things through you today. I found one of the definitions for the word ~let~ to be interesting in light of the scripture I am going to share with you.

Let: to grant the occupancy or use of

Now let us read this scripture from the Psalms..

“…And ~let~ the beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands—yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it.” Psalm 90:17 Amplified Version

“You Are a Gift”

Posted on Aug 22, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Your life is a gift from God and you are a gift to people around you. God saw a plan for your life before you were even born. When He created you within the womb of your mother, He saw purpose, He saw a future for you, and He has wonderful plans for you to fulfill.

Psalm 139:14 (GW)

“I will give thanks to you

because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made.

Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.”

Now I want to add to this thought that those that are in our life are also a gift. No…I did not say they are perfect, but God created them with a purpose as well. God has put family and friends in our life to love us, help us and walk along side of us during the good and the bad times. He has put people in our life to help us to do His will, and encourage our hearts.

I thank God for all my precious family members, and my friends, and especially my church family. I think the more you go on you realize that the real gifts in this life are not those that come in boxes with beautiful bows but those precious people that He has called along side of us to do His will, and help us when we need help!

Today I encourage you to stop and give thanks for the life and breath that He has given you. If you do not know you purpose, then simply ask Him. He is faithful to bring us answers as well as direction and instruction. Also, stop and think about all the special people that are in your life…now give thanks to God for them!

” I Run In the Path “

Posted on Aug 21, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Yesterday I had such a beautiful day with my Granddaughters! We spent the day at the river with a picnic lunch, taking short walks, and playing in the playground. I love being with the fun sized people for it almost always happens…the Lord will use what they say, and bring truth to my heart from His Word. The photo I am sharing today is one I captured of them running together. The scripture I have chosen for the inspiration for this devotional is from Psalm 119:32 (NIV)

“I run in the path of your commands,
for you have broadened my understanding.”

I am thinking about the carefree spirit of a child when I look at this image, for the Lord desires that we be carefree for we are to cast our cares upon Him. As we lean our ears toward Him and heed to His Words, we will continue to learn, and grow. Along with this thought I think about the times that we may know that the Lord is trying to correct us or stop us for our own good. There may be times that we are quick to hear and obey, but how many times do we just act like we did not hear, and we just go about doing something our own way, and we end up in trouble?

As the girls and I were walking yesterday along the river they both decided they wanted to find some gems from the river to take home to remember their special time. It was so precious seeing them pick up rocks and shells, and squeal with excitement over their beautiful finds. One of the girls yelled for me to come over, “Grandma, look, look!!!! Look at this beautiful rock!!!!” In her hand was a piece of beautifully colored glass, smoothed the whole way around, but it did have one sharp point. I reached down and explained to her that it was indeed a pretty color but it was not a rock, it was a piece of broken glass. I began to explain how careful we need to be, and she immediately handed it over to me so we could get rid of it.

How many times does the Lord try to warn us that the “pretty thing” we are about to touch or handle is dangerous to our soul, and we better put it down? You see, the Lord desires to broaden our understanding in every area of our lives, so that we can indeed run in the path of His commands. Let us keep our hearts humble everyday that we too can let go of anything that could be harmful to our souls.

“Being Consistent With His Decrees”

Posted on Aug 20, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Oh that we would consistently reflect the Lord’s ways! The psalmist wrote this, and he spoke his heart’s desire to reflect all that was right and good that he could represent God according to the decrees he knew. We too should desire this. The Amplified version of this scripture shares the secret to doing this in four words. We need to truly hear, receive, love, and obey His Word.

Psalm 119:5 (AMP)
“Oh, that my ways were directed and established

to observe Your statutes
[hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]!”

Have you ever heard something, and it went in one ear and out the other? We have all been guilty of that one. Yet, God wants us to be cautious that we do not do that when we hear the living Word of His truth. May we hear it, and take hold of it, and receive it to be our very own revelation. As we hold fast to it, love, and obey it, we will indeed reflect His decrees. Let us be faithful to read and study His Word. It is as we meditate and reflect upon the Word that it will grow within our hearts.

“I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways.”
Psalms 119:15 NLT

Lord, we ask you to help us to remember that as we are here on this earth, you desire to live in and through us. We are Your vessels, and we long to radiate and reflect Your life, light, and love in all that we do. Keep us humble Lord, and show us those things that would hinder us from reflecting You fully. We thank you for Your great and awesome works that you plan to do through us. Lord, “You are good and kind and do good; teach me Your statutes.” Psalms 119:68 (Amp.)

“Who’s Side Are You On?”

Posted on Aug 19, 2015 in Devotions |

Psalm 54:4-5 (VOICE)

“But see now! God comes to rescue me;
the Lord is my valiant supporter.”

God desires to help us strategically win and He promises supernatural strength to us as we lean upon Him in our day of battle. Thank God that in our time of trouble He desires to rescue us for as this scripture says, He is the valiant supporter. The word valiant means: boldly courageous;brave; and stout-hearted. Even if one is alone in the natural they really are never alone if God is on their side! It is so wonderful to know that the Ultimate Strength is standing with us, and He is on our side.

Today, we are not only looking at God being faithful to rescue but we must always be sure that we are in deed on God’s side. Let us always be careful in the midst of a situation or life’s battle that we are thinking like God, and acting according to His Word. It is all too common for people to look for opinions from others in their time of trouble. People can be well meaning with good intentions but that by no means is an indication that their opinion should lead you in your decision making. May we know that we are listening for the still small voice, the RIGHT voice in our time of trouble. We need to concern ourselves with the knowing that we are standing on the side of God in all matters. Here is a powerful quote by Abraham Lincoln that fits perfectly with our devotion today. In the time of battle and the concerns of it, he spoke these words….

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side;
my greatest concern is to be on God’s side,
for God is always right.”

I want to encourage you today with the truth that it is always important that you are totally loyal to the truth in every area of your life. When we are dwelling and remaining loyal to the truth, this is where we will always find an abundance of strength, help, and wisdom from the Lord our God. There may be times as well that people, especially in friendships can be more loyal to their friendships or relationships than to God’s Word. What do I mean by this? Well, in those times that someone you love dearly asks you for your opinion, are you afraid to state the truth or are you afraid it will upset them? Any relationship that is truly God ordained should be able to withstand, and grow from their friend or spouse speaking firmly and lovingly to them.

Father, help us to stay aware that we are always abiding in your truth. We know that You are all truth, and that brings us strength in our day of trouble. Help us as well to have the courage to speak the truth even when it may not be the most popular thing to do. Help us to be mindful to stay on Your side, the side of truth, and cause us to speak truth in Your Spirit of love.

“Taking Every Though Captive”

Posted on Aug 18, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

I can remember last year an individual sharing an image of a church sign that they saw. This was on Facebook, so it was open for comments and opinions, and boy did this image get some heat! The church sign said…“We need to get rid of some of our knowledge so we can make room for belief.” There was a lot of carnal reaction to this quote, and it was due to people trying to understand it apart from spiritual understanding.

You see, there are people that exalt their knowledge and opinions above everything, even the Word of God. I have heard of individuals that exclaim that they have no need for God. This is so sad to think that they are living and being guiding by their knowledge and philosophies, and living in their own ability. Today I would like to share a scripture with you along with this quote.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (AMP)

” [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)…”

We live in a day in which information and knowledge are quickly accessed. This can be an excellent tool but let us be ever so careful that we do not trust in information and knowledge above what the Word of God says about any given situation that we are facing. I can remember a very long time ago talking with an individual in the medical profession. This individual loves the Lord yet she shared that sometimes the knowledge of the medical field can actually stand in the way of her faith at times. Sometimes that which we know and understand in the natural can hinder us from believing in that which we do not see.

If someone tells you that there is no hope for your situation because of this, that, and the other…what are you going to believe? God’s Word is the highest authority for EVERY SITUATION, and as we choose to keep it in our hearts as such, we will surely be more than overcomers. I encourage you today to seek Him to help you identify wrong thinking and attitudes that would serve to keep you from thinking His thoughts, and believing before seeing. Look to Him to help you take each and every thought captive, and keep your eyes on the true knowledge of God which is His Word.

“Keeping Our Minds Renewed”

Posted on Aug 17, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Yesterday, my husband shared such an awesome message on “Mindsets”. It was truly an amazing time in the Word of God, and I look forward to hearing part 2 next Sunday! Oh, how our wrong mindsets can set us up for problems, and hold us back from God’s perfect will.

Recently, I had my Granddaughters on the sofa with me, and we were talking about walking in God’s love, and what that meant to them. I opened my Bible to 1 Corinthians 13, and read. What blessed me was there are no bright colorful pictures in my Bible to entertain their eyes and minds. They both were cuddled closely, holding tightly to my arms, and their eyes were glued on me as I talked to them about how God loves when we love. We began discussing how wrong thoughts that are in our minds will always cause us problems. I was so blessed when my oldest Granddaughter spoke up and said,

“Grandma, when you have bad things in your brain, bad words are going to come out of your mouth. You need to erase those bad things so there are only good things in your brain!”

My heart was touched to hear her speak such simple words yet they were so profound. Today, may I encourage you to keep bad things out of your brain in order that there is only room for good things! I believe it is a wonderful thing to strive for, and it will keep our hearts right with God. It will also be a guard over our tongues that we may express good and edifying things to everyone around us!

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Devotional Archives

6 Responses to “Devotional”

Lisa Viands says:

November 8, 2013 at 5:05 pm

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!!
- Dona Hake says:
  
  November 8, 2013 at 11:15 pm
  
  thank you Lisa for sharing. I am blessed that this was a blessing to you!
Selena Neely says:

November 18, 2013 at 3:07 pm

Ralph &I are really enjoying your devotional together.
- Dona Hake says:
  
  November 18, 2013 at 3:29 pm
  
  So glad this is blessing you both!
Selena Neely says:

November 19, 2013 at 12:50 pm

Oh, what a wonderful reminder! I want to break the magnifing glass of worry and trust God for each step I take.
Dona Hake says:

November 20, 2013 at 2:41 am

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!