Friday, July 28, 2017
Devotional for Friday, July 28, 2017
“Loving The Truth of Our Lord”
by Dona Hake
Today I want to share with you about loving the truth. The Word is truth and it is light to our souls. God’s Word, His truth has been so freely given to us. It will strengthen, guide, and lift up our souls. On the other hand the lies of the devil will pull us down, and lead us into wrong paths. The devil loves to lie to us in order to create confusion and defeat in our lives. God is light and in Him there is no darkness, there never was darkness in our Lord, and there never will be. Oh that we would be quick to discern light from dark in our lives. May we learn to hate what God hates and love what He loves. In my walk as a believer I have found that the degree that I love His truth will also be the degree that I hate and despise the lies of our enemy. The more I love His Word, the more discerning I will be in all areas of my life. It is as one compromises the truth in their life that they will begin to accept and enter into compromise rather than reject the lies of the devil.
In Ecclesiastes 3 the writer speaks of an appointed time to love and an appointed time to hate. Know this…there are things that God hates, and because He hates certain things, we too should hate those things. We need to hate anything that could potentially pull us away from His perfect will.
Today I want to talk about lying and falsehood. God desires that our hearts be sold out completely and committed to His Word. May we never ever think that we can pick and choose when we are going to walk in truth. May our hearts desire to know that we are saturated in His Word. May we be determined to walk in a way in which we never waver but stay true to every precept He has given us to live by. May we never entertain thoughts of permitting ourselves to lie or live in the realm of being a pretender. Falsehood is lack of conformity to truth or fact. When we live to serve our Lord in truth our spirit will cause us to reject darkness and the lies of our enemy.
Psalm 119:163 (CEB)
“I hate, I absolutely despise, what is false,
but I’m in love with your Instruction.”
“I hate, I absolutely despise, what is false,
but I’m in love with your Instruction.”
Psalm 119:163 Good News Translation
“I hate and detest all lies,
but I love your law.”
Today Lord we ask that You would give us discerning hearts for we well know that the devil can come as an Angel of Light. He roams and seeks ways to devour us, therefore we ask that You help us be watchful over our souls. Help us to be discerning. We thank You Lord that Your grace is able to keep us strong and deliberate in our walk. We ask that Your Word would grow deeper and deeper within us as we proclaim that we love Your law with all of our hearts. In Jesus Name! Amen.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Devotional for Wednesday, July 26, 2017
“He Leads Me To His Rest”
Psalm 23:2-3Living Bible
” He lets me rest in the meadow grass and leads me
beside the quiet streams. He gives me new strength.
He helps me do what honors him the most.”
Today we are focusing on the word rest. Many times this word seems to be more associated with a time of refreshing ease or inactivity after exertion or labor. Rest is also relief or freedom especially from anything that wearies, troubles or disturbs one’s soul. I believe our Lord desires that we live in His place of rest.
May we learn to stop striving in our own ability and ideas of our own. His ways are higher and His thoughts are greater. I want to exhort your heart today to permit your Lord to cause your soul to live or abide in His place of rest. Permit Him to lead you to that Word that will strengthen your spirit. Allow those words of wisdom to bring light and direction to your heart as your are seeking Him for an answer to a problem. Today I encourage you to draw upon His strength just as you breathe without giving it a thought. It is His strength and rest that will sustain you that you can do His will that you have been assigned to do. This my friends is what will help you to do that which honors Him the most!
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Devotional for Tuesday, July 25, 2017
“Clothe Yourselves…”
by Dona Hake
One of the very first things we do in the morning is dress ourselves for the day. Maybe you are going to work, and you are required to wear certain clothing. If one works on a construction site, there is certain safety gear that must be worn. Whatever the day or occasion we dress appropriately. Today we will meditate upon how our Lord has required us to clothe ourselves as His very own chosen. 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, and we will be a witness to those that do not know Him. Being kind, loving, gentle, and patient will always be easy when we are around those that are not challenging us. 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. Today let us be mindful that we are fully clothed in the goodness of our Lord!
Proverbs 11:17 (TLB)
“Your own soul is nourished when you are kind;
it is destroyed when you are cruel.”
Monday, July 24, 2017
Devotional for Monday, July 24, 2017
“Our Lord’s Provision”
by Dona Hake
The Lord will provide! May we never permit this truth to become just a cliche to us that we speak. These words are loaded with power for it is true that we serve a God that is able to meet ANY need. There is not a thing in our life that we may be lacking that is too hard for Him to take care of.
Psalm 23:1 (AMP)
” The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed,
guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.”
Let us ask Him for our His Daily Bread, for He promises to fill us up to overflowing all that our spirit needs to be nourished, and this Bread sustains us for our day. We must never try to carry yesterday’s bread into the needs of another day. Recently I shared with you and cautioned you that you continue to grow in your faith. We should never try to live off of the fumes of yesterday’s faith nor should we forget that each day has it’s need of fresh Bread from heaven. Each day brings new demands and sometimes troubles, and it is important that we fill up and draw upon the spiritual nourishment He has for us. He WILL provide us with spiritual food for the specific needs of our day.
There may be days in which we can experience the pressures and difficulties of this life but remember to never be weary in well doing. David reminds us in this Psalm that the Lord desires to be our loving shield as well as guide and feed us. He longs to keep our hearts and minds at peace even as the battle may be going on around us.
Let us meditate on the Lord as our wonderful and loving provider. Praise the Lord for He will stay true to His Word and we will never lack any good thing. What is it that you need in the present moment?? I encourage you to trust your Lord for He WILL provide!
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Devotional for Sunday, July 23, 2017
“Guard Your Heart”
by Dona Hake
Our Good Shepherd watches over us, and there is the devil who roams about seeking ways he can set us up to fall and devour us. Our enemy watches for our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.No, we do not live in fear of the tactics of the devil, for we know by the Spirit of the Living God that He is the greater One and He lives within us! What a wonderful truth we have to hold fast to yet we must be wise and very diligent to make sure we are guarding our hearts at all times. We must be ever so careful to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are keeping our hearts guarded with our diligent input of God’s Word and prayer.
Proverbs 4:23 (AMP)
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and
above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.”
We see from this scripture that our heart is able to contain springs of life from which we can draw. God wants our hearts to be full of Him and His life giving presence. Sometimes I find my mind being preoccupied with things that are beyond my control, and oh how they can rob my peace. I can remember how the Lord once ministered to my heart so sweetly yet firmly that because I was preoccupied with the cares of this world that my heart was being left unguarded. I began to think about how diligent we are to make sure our doors to our homes are locked. We have passwords for our logins on different sites that we visit on our computers, and we are encouraged to make them so difficult in order that we are not hacked. We have become so knowledgeable in the realms of taking care of our bodies that we be healthy, and we try to follow a disciplined lifestyle. I ask you today, “Are you guarding your heart with that same diligence?” May we grow in our conviction of remaining diligent in keeping our heart guarded against that evil one that desires to pull us away from God’s perfect will.
Let us meditate on the advice from Paul in the book of Philippians. In this letter he wrote how we can keep the peace of God guarded in our hearts. This was his advice…
Philippians 4:6-9 Easy-to-Read Version
“Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask
“Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask
God for everything you need, always giving thanks
for what you have. And because you belong to
Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over
all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do
this far better than our human minds.
Brothers and sisters, continue to think about
what is good and worthy of praise.
Think about what is true and honorable
and right and pure and beautiful and respected.
9 And do what you learned and received from me—
what I told you and what you saw me do.
And the God who gives peace will be with you.”
When we purpose to think on good things we are being proactive in guarding our hearts, and keeping them in the peace of God. I know for myself that when my heart is full and I mean FULL of God’s peace, faith, and pure things I can face the problems of this life in His strength. Today I encourage you to watch over your heart and your thoughts. Make sure you are not walking about your day with a heart that is unguarded, for God desires to keep it with His loving peace.♥
Friday, July 21, 2017
Devotional for Friday, July 21, 2017
“Faith For the Moment”
by Dona Hake
Acts 17:28,
“It is through him that we are able to live,
to do what we do, and to be who we are..”
The Lord desires that faith in our walk be as natural as breathing. He desires that we live this life in Him just as we depend upon Him for our next breath. We need not labor to live for Him but rather we should press in to live and move and flow from His heavenly abundance, grace and strength. Let us continue to build our faith and be mindful that our dependency must be upon Him for every moment we live. The strength we received yesterday was for yesterday’s needs. Tomorrow is a new day, and we must look to Him for new strength and provision for the needs of today.
I want to share a quote with you written by Francois deFellelon…
“The comfort you find in a moment of faith will
be completely inadequate for the next.”
It is our human nature to get caught up in moments isn’t it? Some moments are so wonderful and just unforgettable. In this life we will be blessed to experience joys that are beyond our belief. There will also be those times in which we release our faith, and we just know heaven and earth has been moved for us. Oh the joy of those sweet victories!! But know this my friend, we cannot live off of the fumes of yesterday’s faith and victories.
Today I encourage you to reflect on the wonderful victories the Lord has blessed you with but remember that today is a new day with new demands, circumstances, and sometimes obstacles that are going to try to hinder or stop you. Look to Him with faith, new strength and grace for this day, and live and move in Him by faith as you serve Him fresh today!
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Devotional for Thursday, July 20, 2017
“By Your Light We Make This Journey”
by Dona Hake
Psalm 89:15 The Voice translation
“How happy are those who have learned how to praise You;
those who journey through life by the light of Your face.”
those who journey through life by the light of Your face.”
Yesterday we meditated upon our Lord’s righteousness going before us. As we let Him order our steps our ways will be established in all that we do. Today we are going to meditate upon the light of our Lord. Life on this earth is a journey, and by His light we make this journey as we live to follow Him. Some days the journey is smooth and some days the journey is just full unexpected things that try to hinder or distract us in our walk with Him. The important thing about the journey is knowing that He has promised to be right there beside us, and He would never leave us. Today let us think upon His righteousness goes before us, and the light of His wonderful face will enlighten our hearts!
When the journey gets rough we must purpose to keep our perspective. These are the days you may not feel like praising Him, and you have to command your soul to rise up from hopelessness and be encouraged. When you do this, you begin to praise Him regardless of what is going on around you. Therefore you are truly content and happy because you have learned how to praise Him even when circumstances are not conducive to singing.
We serve a God that is absolute light, life and love. As we stay in His presence there will be a fullness of joy. As we walk closely beside Him we can have absolute confidence that even though this world is dark, our journey will be illuminated by the light of His face as He goes before us. I love this awesome quote that reminds me to stick real close to Jesus at all times!
“The closer you walk with God,
the less anything can get
between you and Him.”
the less anything can get
between you and Him.”
May we meditate today on how we need to stay close beside Him at all times. May we recognize immediately anything that would come to distract us, and take our eyes off of Him. Allow the light of His countenance to illuminate your journey, and walk in expectancy of all the good things He desires to do for you today!!!
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Devotional for Wednesday, July 19, 2017
“Righteousness Shall Go Before Us”
by Dona Hake
Psalm 85:11-13 BRG Bible
” Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.”
May we continue to grow in truth every day that we serve Him. I love how this translation says, “Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.” As I meditated on this I began to think of a small child on the sands of a beach finding some big footsteps of an adult. Walking along, the child carefully places her feet inside the big footprint. So it is with us as we desire to cling to our Lord and follow Him closely. His footprints are established in truth and righteousness. They are rock solid, and as we purpose to walk within His footprints which is His perfect will we will always be within the borders of His will for our lives. There is great strength in knowing that His righteousness goes before us!
Lord, we thank You this day in which we can set our hearts to live for You and serve You. May we be mindful that we are living for Your truth and righteousness. Help us to be mindful of keeping ourselves in the way of Your steps and not our own. Even in those times that Your way may not make sense to us, help us to be mindful that Your ways are higher than our ways, and You understand the big picture of the work in our life. In Jesus Name, amen!
Tuesday, July 19, 2017
Devotional for Tuesday, July 19, 2017
“Let Our Eyes Be Fixed On Him”
by Dona Hake
I want to share a story that I have shared with you before, but it is a good one to bring you the truth of keeping your eyes on Him. I can remember a particular weekend over a year ago that I was taking care of my son’s two puppy dogs. It just so happens that they are with me again this week, so it was fun for me to remember this story once again!
It was a Sunday morning and I had to be get to church a bit early so I switched things up a bit to make things go faster, and save time. I strategically tried to feed three doggies, one parrot, and forty some beautiful fish. Well, I thought I had totally accomplished all the feedings, or maybe I thought wrong?
I was finally sitting down to eat my oatmeal and coffee, and our German Shepherd quietly laid on the chair and just kept her gaze on me. I thought it strange because she would usually head into our bedroom to sleep right after she had her run in the yard. I finished eating, and was cleaning up, and I turned around to find her positioning herself that I could not walk around her. She sat there and lovingly stared into my eyes. She was determined not to get out of my way until I got her quiet message. I said, “Aasha what’s wrong?” Her sad and concerned eyes spoke loud and clear! “You forgot to feed me!” Oh my gosh…here she was trying to tell me something, and I was not getting it. I felt so bad when I realized that I had fed everyone but her. The poor thing was not going to give up, and her strategy was to stay in my presence, and stare me down till I realized she had not eaten yet!
How many times do we have needs, and we get impatient with the Lord, and just walk away from His presence, and get into our own ability. Oh how important it is that we just stay in the Lord’s presence, and keep our eyes fixed on Him because He is our provision, and all of our needs are met by Him. My puppy dog knows where her food comes from, and she was not moving till I got the message!! Thank God He never forgets us! Today I encourage you to set your gaze upon Him, and do not look to anything but Him for each and every need you have.
“O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast, in the confidence of faith)…”
Psalm 108:1
“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firmly fixed, trusting (leaning on and being confident) in the Lord.”
Psalm 112:7
Monday, July 17th, 2017
Devotional for Monday, July 17th, 2017
“The Understanding of Our Lord”
by Dona Hake
Think about all that God is to us. We can look to Him as being the love of our life, He is Light, He is our Healer, He is our Provider… I could share so many things that He is to us but today I want today we are going to meditate upon the truth that He is our Understanding. When all seems dark or something may seem confusing I want to encourage your heart today to look to Him as the one that is able to give you the understanding that you need for the moment you are in.
The understanding of God is a wonderful thing but we must always be mindful that we are fearing and reverencing His Name. The fear and reverence for God is the beginning of His wisdom and understanding to be given to us. As we follow His guiding principles we will have good sense and be decisive. We will know exactly what to do in every given situation just because we know that He totally understands, and He is able impart that understanding into our hearts and minds. I would like to share a scripture with you from Psalm 111:10. The one translation from the Extended Bible says it simply, and that is “Those who obey and do his orders have good understanding.” I love the way this is worded simply because it calls God’s Word or His commands “his orders”. Are there times that you feel you can pick and choose from His Word? God’s Word is not like a box of chocolates in which you pick our your favorites or you bite into one, and dislike it and throw it away. God desires that we embrace all of His truth and make it ours to obey that we may live a blessed life. Today, let us reverence the Lord in every way possible. Let us readily hear from our Lord the orders for our day!
Lord, help us to be humble as we hear and read Your Word. May we draw close to You that we may hear Your tender voice as You desire to instruct us in the way. You are good, and may we see all of Your commands as good and profitable in our walk with You that we may grow thereby. In Jesus Name, amen!
Psalm 111:10 The Living Bible
How can men be wise? The only way to begin is by reverence for God. For growth in wisdom comes from obeying his laws. Praise his name forever.
How can men be wise? The only way to begin is by reverence for God. For growth in wisdom comes from obeying his laws. Praise his name forever.
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!