Devotions

Have you ever had a day when things didn’t go as you planned but only got worse? You start recounting the steps you made, looking for your mistake. You can spend a lot of time looking yet find nothing. Then you end up thinking “Things didn’t go well because I was wrong all the time.”

Let’s shed some light on that!  You were not wrong!

That is a plan laid out by the devil to stop you. You remember in James 1:5-6 the author said “…if anyone lacks wisdom let Him ask of God…But you must ask in faith…”

You say, “I did that, but it didn’t work? Why?”

Because you still have “you” on your mind. Faith is having confidence in God’s ability to do what He said He would do.

In this day and time there are so many ways to stir up your faith.  You can turn on your TV and find ministers preaching and teaching God’s Word 24/7. You can Google “Word of Faith” websites and be astounded at the choices available to you.  What about all those CDs DVDs, MP4s or MP3s you purchased with great teachings on them? Did you buy them to just sit on a shelf? The same excited faith that caused you to buy them in the beginning will rise again when you turn on your device, insert the message and listen.

As you hear, your faith will rise, doubt will leave and God’s answer will come. Then what looked like a giant in the beginning will now only be a grasshopper.

Prayer:  Father in Heaven, I’m so glad You gave me your Word.  I refuse to let the devil move me. I have many ways to hear and receive Your word and I will begin using them today. I expect Your promises to be fulfilled in my life.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

Jesus gave us ONE commandment:  love one another.  That’s it! Love one another.  What about all the other commandments you might ask.  Simple:  if you love you won’t kill, if you love you won’t steal from one another, if you love you won’t commit adultery, if you love you won’t tell lies on each other. Paul said in Galatians 5:14, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s the only commandment Jesus gave us.  Don’t burden yourself down by thinking you have to do this, you must do that…a list of do’s and don’ts that are daunting.  Jesus made it is easy:  love.  That what He did. And God never asks us to do something that He hasn’t already prepared us to do. Roman 5:5 (NLT) And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His Love. So, choose to love today.

If you read the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt in Exodus 12, the night before they were supposed to leave God told them to take the lamb, kill it, roast it and put the blood of that lamb over the doorpost and when He saw that blood He would stop the destroyer from going into that house.

God said when you eat that lamb, I want you to get all your clothes and everything packed up ready to go.  They did just that.  That was their act of faith.  God never does anything until you do what He’s telling you to do…. that is your act of faith.  He told them don’t sit down and eat the lamb, eat it standing up, eat it ready to go.  So, what are you wanting God to do for you?  Have you done your part?  Are you ready…. are you set?  Then GO!

God blessed Adam to have power over everything on the earth. When Adam disobeyed God the curse came on Adam AND over everything on the earth. God put Adam in charge of everything, but Adam released the curse. Where did it come from?  FEAR!  “I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid.” (Genesis 3:10)

Fear releases the curse. Because of Adam’s actions there is a curse in the earth. Sickness and disease come from that curse.  God did not create cancer, He did not create arthritis. He did not create heart disease.  God created man and blessed him and told him to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, have dominion and spread this thing wherever you go.

When you’re dealing with sickness and disease, you’re dealing with something God did not create. But because of His great love for you, He is the antidote…. Exodus 15:26 “I am the God that healeth thee.”

We all blow it, make mistakes! What do we do?  There’s a quick fix…. it’s called “confession.”  You don’t have to beg God to forgive you, you don’t have to do penance, you don’t have to do 100 sit ups, 50 push-ups and run a marathon.  All God requires of you is to confess it!  Why? He WANTS to get you back on track. Why? Because He is love, and He wants you to know He loves you. He doesn’t want you walking around under a cloud, depressed, always beat down in your mind, thinking you are horrible, ugly, bad and worthless. God doesn’t want you smiling at everyone in the streets while inside you are depressed, and your mind has no rest. Don’t beat yourself up over something God can easily fix. He is love, and He is madly in love with you!

God’s love for me  (Agape love) is not measured on how I feel or how I act.  It is measured on a promise!  And that promise is from God.  It says “I love you not for what I can get but because I choose to love you.  I love you because I promise to love you.”  What assurance, what peace, what joy it is to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is nothing you could possibly do that is bad enough for God to break His promise and not love you!

“God is not like people. He tells no lies. He is not like humans. He doesn’t change his mind. When He says something, He does it. When He makes a promise, He keeps it.” Numbers 23:19 (God’s Word Translation)

I’m sure no Christian will ever say to another believer, “Well God doesn’t love me.”  No, that goes against our “Christian” nature BUT how often do we say it to ourselves? What are you saying on the inside of you?  Our mind “says” things that nobody else can hear but who are you talking to?  Your mind is talking to your spirit.  Your spirit is trying to get over to you that God loves you, but your head is saying, “remember what you did yesterday, remember how you said that.”

FORGET IT!  When that comes up, if you are ever in a place where you are either reminded of what you did wrong …do you know what you do? Out loud so your mind can hear it, your spirit can hear it and Satan can hear it say, “Father I just remembered I did that and I repent. Thank you that the Blood of Jesus has cleansed me from all sin.” “I thank you for being my Father that loves me!!”

We all come to church and praise God in his Sanctuary.  But that isn’t all.  Paul said your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost (I Corinthians 6:19).  He came to abide in you. So, when you’re praising God, don’t just praise Him because you’re in a location.  Praise Him because He’s in you!  You are the sanctuary; you are His home here in the earth. Glory to God!  You need to think about that ALL the time.  Don’t just wait until you come to church to praise the Lord.  Praise Him wherever you are.  You are His sanctuary.

You can see everything that He has created.  Praise Him everywhere you are.  It makes no difference what you are going, driving down the street, waiting for an eye examination, raking the leaves in your backyard…praise Him! Before I got smart and hired a gardener, I’d be cutting the grass and praising God the whole time…. The grass got cut real quick.  But if I went out there feeling bad and forgot about praising God, I’d be out there all day!  You want things to go by smooth?  You want things to go by quick?  Praise God.  Let him inhabit your praises. No matter what you are doing, your attitude should be one of praise.