by Dona Hake

It is when we are full of God’s courage that we feel we are able to accomplish anything with His help.  The opposite of courage is discouragement.  Discouragement has the power to paralyze someone from moving forward.  It has the power the keep us unmotivated to move forward and tempt us to  wallow in the past.  Today we will look at how we must guard our hearts against discouragement.

Abraham Lincoln wisely said,

If your heart is in a place of discouragement, I want to encourage you today to look up and know that He is well able to pull you out of that place and bring courage back to your heart.  Release your care and hold fast to His loving hands and you will be made courageous!

by Dona Hake

work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan.”

As we believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ He invites us to live according to His plan for our lives.  When we lay down our own ways and thoughts about things, that is when God is able to work us through the good and the bad.   There are four words to this scripture though that are the key and the secret to God working freely in our lives.  Those words are “when we love Him.”  As we love the Lord with all of our heart and soul, it is then that He is able to orchestrate everything in our lives to work for the good!

Loving God should be our lifestyle.  As a believer, loving Him should come as natural as breathing to us.  We should not have to think about it for the more we know Him and His ways, we should be overwhelmed at His love for us.  Loving Him should be a part of every detail of our lives.  Looking to Him should not just be when we are in trouble but we need to be looking to Him when every thing is perfect as well.  It is as we have a burning love within our hearts for Him that we will see how He will beautifully weave a tapestry of many wondrous things in your life.  God desires that His love be shown to a dark world.  As we love Him and walk in His presence, His joy will overflow for all to see.

“A joyful heart is the inevitable result

of a heart burning with love.

Today I just want to impress upon you to make sure you are building and strengthening your heart with God’s Word.     As we fill ourselves with God’s Word, it is preparing us with the strength and wisdom we need as we face the demands of the day.   Life can drain us of our strength yet if we are keeping ourselves full of His Word, we can rest assured that our hearts are protected and ready to stand.  Are you storing God’s Word in your heart?  

God promises us that as we are faithful to keep His Word that He will always back us up no matter what situations we face.  As we are diligent to  put His Word  into our hearts, we are making deposits of great value.  We are accumulating a treasure within us.  This treasure cannot be compared to any wealth on this earth.  Nothing or no one can take it from you for it is hidden deep within you.  You can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if a situation arises that you are well prepared.  You are prepared to stand against any temptation that would tempt you to  leave down your guard and sin.

them in my heart so that they would

hold me back from sin.”

I encourage you to value His Word and deposit into your heart for it is then that you are truly guarding your heart with all diligence.

by Dona Hake

This proverb counsels us not to worry if we do not totally understand everything as it happens.  Instead, let us take heart and fear not for God is on our side and He will cause us to rise victoriously and cross the finish line.

This scripture exhorts our heart to be reminded to never try to figure things out too far ahead for we do not know all that God has in store for us in our journey.  It causes us also to be mindful that we should be casting all our care upon Him because as He cares for us, all will be well with our soul as He works His beautiful plan in our life.

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.

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 for our day.  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.

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.”

Draw upon that power and all that He has so graciously given you to live your day!

Let us declare today that the Lord IS our  Rock and our Redeemer! As Redeemer, Jesus restored us back to fellowship with the Living God of this Universe! We can be cleansed of any sin, and we no longer need to live in guilt of past or present mistakes. At any given time in our day we are free to run to Him for the forgiveness and help that we need.

As we look to Him as our Rock, we no longer stand in places that shake or can be moved but we can stand on that which brings us strength and security. I loved the one definition of rock that I found.  It said to be lulled in security and hope.  When one is lulled they are soothed and quieted.  I could not help but to think of times when my sons were little, and they would come and just be comforted as I held them tightly and prayed over them.  We too can run to Him in those times that we are shaken and our soul will be quieted.     As we sit as His feet we can be assured that He will calm us from our anxieties and strengthen the faith in our heart.

Psalm 37:7

Amplified Bible

Devotional for Thursday, August 4, 2016

“We Were Chosen For a Purpose”

by Dona Hake

   To know that there are no two fingerprints alike seems to be impossible yet that shows what an amazing God that we serve!  Oh that we would reflect on how special we are to Him.   He made us each uniquely and for a specific plan and purpose for such a time as this!   It seems that our culture is constantly dictating what is and is not success and it almost seems impossible to get away from it.     The voice of this world is constantly whispering in our ear to conform to it’s standards.  If you do not know who you are in Christ, this voice will tug and pull at your heart.

There may have been times you have wondered why you are here.   Know that He has things for you to do, places for you to go and purposes to accomplish.  Along with this thought you can absolutely be assured that as you give Him your life, He is going to work all His plans out in His way and His timing.

Psalm 138:8 (ESV)
“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever…”

As we look for the Lord to work through us in unique and wonderful ways, let us be reminded that we are required to surrender our life wholly to Him everyday of our lives.  We must give up doing things the way we think they need to be done and seek how He desires to work in you.

“Surrendering to the Lord is not a tremendous

sacrifice, not an agonized performance.

It is the most sensible thing you can do.”

Corrie ten Boom

by Dona Hake

Psalm 111:10

“To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living; all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight. He will receive praise forever.”

Leaning 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.  We must remind ourselves that our peace cannot come from merely understanding something inside and out.    It is in the realm of faith that much is happening by the hand of our Lord and it is beyond our understanding.

I can remember when one of our sons was a little boy.  There was a particular time he was having a very hard time trusting my judgement on a particular thing.  I can remember sharing with him that he just needed to respect my judgement and not try to figure it out.  I began to share with him that there will times in life that we will face things that we do not understand.  I was stressing to him to trust me as a loving mother and authority in his life.  He received that instruction with a humble heart and learned from that.  

As we entrust our lives into the loving care of the Lord, He will in His timing give us understanding and we will learn and grow from situations that we walk through.   We just need to trust and obey.  God is good all the time…ALL THE TIME God IS good!