How Great Thou Art

Devotion:  Psalm 48:1

I woke up on a Tuesday morning with this song running through my head.  What a powerful song!  I put on my bright pink shirt that says “Then sings my soul.”  My soul truly does sing and rejoice when I think of the greatness of God.

It is amazing what praising can do.  We were created for worship of the one and only true and living God.  He is so marvelous and wonderful!  The older I get the more my heart longs for Him.  “Tis  so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word.”  He put breath in our lives so that we might live Holy and set apart unto Him.

He is worthy of all our praise.  All the honor, glory and blessing belong to Him.  When we work, we work as unto Him.  When we sleep, we are restored so that we can be about His business.  When we fellowship, we do it as unto Him.  Everything we think, say and do should bring glory to our Creator, Redeemer, and Friend.

When we behold the sun, moon, and stars; we should acknowledge the greatness of our God.  Any time we see a sunrise or sunset, praise should pour out of our mouths.  He works everything together for our good and His glory.  Everything!  We struggle with the tribulations God allows into our lives.  We would prefer to be free of trials and tribulations.

God reveals Himself through many dangers, toils, and snares.  He uses them to train us in righteousness.  Just look up during the next storm and I’ll bet you will experience the greatness of your God.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, You are the greatest person in my life!  You alone are worthy of my praise!  I worship You this day and all the days of my life.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

 

 

Be of Good Cheer

Devotion:  John 16:33

Do you really believe God is working everything together for your good and His glory?  I often ask myself this question.  I know in my mind that He is faithful.  I also know that He will never leave me nor forsake me.  He is Emmanuel, God with us.  He says in Proverbs 3:4-5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.”

If all of God’s promises are yes and amen then why do I ever doubt that I will live to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living?  We’ve all prayed for certain people, certain circumstances that never seem to change.  However, we know that God hears and sees all that’s going on.

Christians are to stand out and be set apart.  God calls us strangers and aliens.  So many times we want to blend in versus being strange.  The joy of the Lord is our strength.  We can exhibit joy even when we are not happy.  Those two, joy and happiness are not necessarily synonymous.

Joy is the second attribute of the fruit of the Spirit.  The only attribute greater is love.  God is love.  Peace is third on the list of nine.  Am I exhibiting these in a world that’s upside down and full of the “It’s all about me” mentality?  I want to be full of good cheer to show the world I am a Christ follower by my actions.  When in the middle of doubt, be of good cheer.   When in the middle of despair, be of good cheer.  When in the middle of a struggle, be of good cheer.  God has overcome the world.

Prayer in Motion:

Jesus, help me to be of good cheer at all times.  You have overcome the world.  I choose joy this day.  I choose to walk in peace that surpasses all understanding.  I choose to receive Your amazing grace and love poured out on me.  Thank You, Lord.  I worship You.  In Jesus Name.  Amen

A Familiar Face

Devotion:  Genesis 32:30

Have you ever sat down beside someone who looks at you and says; “You look so familiar, where do I know you from?”  Then you spend the next five to ten minutes trying to figure out from where the person could possibly know you. Nine times out of ten you never figure it out.

So I must have one of those “familiar faces,”  because I hear this quite often.  I’m not certain if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.  Every person has their own traits, color of hair and eyes, skin tone as well as stature.   We are each fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.  We are all designed by God for HIs own glory.

Even though Moses talked with God and communed with Him as friend with friend, God hid him in the cleft of the rock and only allowed him to see His glory pass by.

So I wonder if Adam and Eve were allowed to see God’s face before the fall of man?  They would walk and talk with God in the cool of the evenings.  They knew his voice and He knew theirs.  It’s one of my many burning questions.  The Bible doesn’t tell us if they saw God’s face.  The Bible says, “No man can see God and live.”

Noah, Abraham, Issac, Elijah and many more all heard God’s voice.  God can do anything but fail.  People look at you like you’re crazy if you say, God said anything to you.  The Bible tells us, “My sheep know My voice.”  That’s precious too.  We should know His voice until the day we see Him face to face.  We will see Him as He is.  “Praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord.  Let the earth hear His voice.  May we rejoice and worship this One with whom we are already familiar.”

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, I pray that I will know Your voice so well that I won’t be surprised by Your face.  I thank You that I’m made in Your image.  In Jesus Name I pray.  Amen.

Ears to Hear

Devotion:  Matthew 11:15

My husband came to the entrance of the bedroom door as I stood in the kitchen.  I thought he said, “Fix me a bowl of milk.”  We do not have a cat so I repeated; “You want a bowl of milk?  I’m always telling him he needs to get his hearing checked.  He said, “Now, who needs to get their hearing checked?”

Ben had actually asked for a bowl of chili.  In our older years, our eyes grow dim and our hearing is not quite as clear as it used to be.  Most importantly we need to hear what the Lord is speaking to us.

We need to pray God will give us eyes to see him, ears to hear His voice and hearts to obey His Word.  We do not want to misunderstand God’s Word now or ever.  It’s always good to read Scripture in light of its context and then listen with the ear of a disciple.

When you misunderstand what someone says; never be afraid to have them repeat it.  Misunderstandings always lead to wrong information.  We need to hear clearly what the Spirit of the Lord is speaking to us.  There is so much noise and so many distractions to overcome in this world.  The enemy of our souls wants us to be distracted from hearing what God has to say to us.

Our God wants us to hear His voice and obey His whole council all the time.  Let us ask Him to help us overcome any outside noise`or competition that would keep us from hearing Him.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord, may I have ears to hear You both now and always.  Thank You for the blessing of Your Word.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Church that Throbs With Life

Devotion:  1 Peter 2:4-8

John Piper says about these verses. “Now that is a great encouragement: if there were a way never to be disappointed or a way never to be ashamed, wouldn’t you want to know that way? Peter says: the way is to trust that Jesus will be for you as God’s “chosen and precious cornerstone.” God says, “You cannot lose. You cannot be disappointed in having done this. You cannot be put to shame.” That is tremendously encouraging.”

Jesus was not accepted by His own Jewish people as the Messiah. Our Savior is fully God and fully man.  Being fully man; do you not think He suffered many disappointments through the people He loved?  Of course, He did.  He was the stone the builders rejected.

John Piper also states; “The key was Christ. He is the Living Stone which is the foundation of the church and his life is imparted to all the little stones—us believers—who are built into a temple that throbs with life.”  Oh, how I pray that is true of your church, that you throb with life.

I attend a church called The Factory in Concord, NC.  It’s a church that’s been in existence for 74 weeks as of today.  We hear the Word preached and taught by the power of God’s  Holy Spirit anointing upon Pastor Andy Williamson.  We are brought to God’s throne through worship and praise by a young man named Jacob Overstreet.  Our church throbs with life!

The Factory attendees are encouraged to go out in our community (the highways and byways and compel people to come in.)  We are exhorted to boldly speak the gospel truth to those God has given us.

Wherever you attend church, you are one of those little stones resting upon the Chief Cornerstone.  If your church is not already one that throbs with life; help it to become one!  You are the life-giving church, the bride of Christ.  You throb with life.

Prayer in Motion:

Oh God, I pray that I will throb with life in my church and in my community.  I want people to see a difference in my life!  You are the life Giver, Speaker, and Keeper of my heart.  Thank You, Jesus!  I love You!

Blessings For God’s Children

Devotion:  Deuteronomy 28:2

I was talking to my friend Carolyn Turner when she shared the most beautiful story about a big blessing from God.  She had some things laid away at Christmas time for her grandchildren.  She made the down payment and came back in a few weeks to pick up their gifts.

Carolyn noticed on her way into the store that the items she had previously purchased were on sale and the prices were significantly lowered from the time of her purchase.  She asked if she could have those reduced prices applied to her balance and the attendant said; “absolutely!”

But wait!  Are you ready for the rest of the story?  The attendant then picked up her information on file and informed her that she had a zero balance.   Carolyn said, “What?”  The attendant proceeded to tell her that every year there was someone who came in and chose several people to pay off the balance of whatever they owed on their layaway. Carolyn tried to get the lady to pay it forward because she could certainly pay her balance.  The lady said no, your card was chosen and it’s all for you.

I said, Carolyn, God was just trying to bless you for your faithfulness to Him. God blesses us many times when we least expect it!  Carolyn is one of the most humble, loving women I know.  God wanted to bless her on that particular day and He wants to bless you too.  There are many different ways He blesses; so be watching expectantly for them.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord, may I be looking for Your blessings!  I am so sorry for the many blessings I’ve missed because I wasn’t looking for them.  I thank You for every single one!  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

When is Jesus Coming to My Neighborhood?

Devotion:  Revelation 1:7

While driving my three-year-old grandson Zachary to preschool, we were singing “Peter, James and John in a Sailboat.”  After a little pause when the song was finished; I heard his little voice ask; “MiMi, when is Jesus coming to my neighborhood?”  Be still my heart!  How do I answer this one? I tried to explain how Jesus comes to live in our hearts.  I could see him looking down at his chest.  The next question was; “How does He get in there?  Do I open it up?  I tried as best as I could to tell Zachary that we can’t see Him now, we just trust that He is there.

There will be a day when every eye shall see Him.  Zachary wants to meet Him right now!  Oh how I pray He will invite Jesus into his heart at an early age.

Oh, that we lived with that kind of expectation as if it could be any day.  It actually could be.  We then sang; “The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the Book for me.”  He kept asking me to sing them over and over.  He’s the first grandchild to ask me to sing.  All the rest say, “Please don’t sing.”  I thought it was official I have a terrible singing voice.  Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose –  so is listening in the ears of the hearer.  LOL!

“Jesus is coming soon!  Morning or night or noon.  Many will meet their doom.  Trumpets will sound.  All of the dead shall rise.  Righteous meet in the skies.  Going where no one dies.  Heaven ward bound.”  I’ve been singing that song since I was a very young girl.

One day all will hear that heavenly trumpet sound, even the deaf will have ears to hear and blind eyes will see when Jesus steps out on a cloud to call His children.  Oh my goodness.  Every neighbor will see.  Have you told them about Him?  I have not.  Oh God, forgive me.

When is Jesus coming to your neighborhood?  Only God knows.  Are you ready to meet Him in the air?

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, may I tell everybody I know about Your return.  May I share and live out the love of Christ.  You live in my heart. You walk with me and talk with me and tell me I am Your own.

 

Blood Moon

.Devotion: Genesis 1:14

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly behind Earth and into its shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned (in syzygy), with Earth between the other two

A lunar eclipse is the same as a blood moon and is absolutely intriguing, to say the least.  God’s Word talks about blood moons.  Dr. John Haggi has done a series of sermons regarding this phenomenon in regard to end times.   I did not stay up to see the last one but my friend Zach Gudzan videotaped this moon in all its glory.  It was indeed beautiful!

Blood moons have always had significance to the people of God regarding the return of Christ.

^{Revelation 6: 12 “}I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;”… This happened after the sixth seal was broken in heaven.  In this chapter, the wrath of God is about to fall on this earth.

According to God’s Word, no man knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return; however, there have already been quite a few blood moons since Christ left this earth.  These happen for signs to God’s people to prepare for our Lord’s return.  Some do not believe the significance of these lunar eclipses.  They are so beautifully painted in the dark sky as our normally bright white moon is covered over.

Unfortunately, the blood moon when referred to in the Bible _ is not a good thing.  It’s almost like a curse or cutting off from God.  Grace removed, actually quite horrible.  The only good thing is with each one the return of Christ becomes more imminent.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, may we tell all the people we can, all the time we can, while we can about our Savior.  Before that last blood moon ordered by our Creator occurs; may we all be ready.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

How Do I Love Thee?

Devotion:  Deuteronomy 6:5

How do I love Thee?  Let me count the ways.  Do I love You Lord with every action and reaction through every word, and every deed?  Do I love You with every thought I think?

“My Jesus I love Thee, I know Thou art mine.  To Thee all my folly of sin I resign.  My gracious Redeemer and Savior art Thou.  If ever I love Thee, My Jesus tis now.”  Such a sweet old hymn.  I also thought of the hymn that goes like this: “The longer I serve Him the sweeter He grows.  The more that I love Him, more love He bestows.  Each day is like heaven, my heart overflows.  The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.”

I love the Lord because He first loved me. I’m blown away by His goodness and mercy that is new every single morning.  I want to love Him more.  I want there to be less of me and more of Him in all that I say and do.  I want people to know Him in a personal kind of way.  I want them to love Him more than anything this world has to offer.

I want to share Him openly with all those God has given me.  If I love Him more than anyone else including myself; that’s exactly what I will do, share my sweet Jesus with all those He has given me.

I love this Man Jesus who gave His life in exchange for mine.  He is love and truth and peace and joy!  He gives all of that freely on a daily basis.  He does not hold anything back from His beloved children.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord, I do love You with all my heart but I want to love You better.  Teach me what that means.  I want to love You more fully because You first loved me.  Thank You, Lord, for doing that without any stipulation.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

Always Choose Praise

Devotion:  Psalm 26:8

There is always something for which we can praise God!  Always!  He created us for worship first and foremost.  I don’t know about you but I need to practice praising Him now more than ever!  “My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine.”  There are so many attributes and characteristics of God that we forget to acknowledge.  “My lips shall praise Thee.  Lord, I shall bless Thee.”  “Lord, I lift Your Name on High.” “God is so good.”

If today’s verse is true; “He inhabits the praises of His people”; then why do we spend so little time engaging ourselves in praise to Him?  There are hundreds of His attributes and characteristics listed in His Word.  The Psalms are chocked full of God’s Wonderful Names.  I have a list of three hundred and sixty-five.  I won’t list them here but I’m almost certain there are at least that many more throughout His Word.

Here are a few of His Names. Abba, Adonai, Lord and Master, Advocate,  Almighty God, Alpha and Omega, Architect and Builder, Author and Finisher of faith, Blessed Hope, Bread from Heaven,  Bridegroom, Burden Bearer, Creator, Defender, Emmanuel, Ever-present, Faithful and True, Friend of sinners, Good Shepherd, Healer, Hiding Place, Holy Spirit, I AM, Intercessor.  Profess them to Him right now!  Out loud if you can.

These Names brings us to a place of worship.  I pray as you read these Names you didn’t just fly through them.  If you are in a hurry, please come back to them later today and ponder each one.  I promise You will experience the powerful presence of your Lord and Savior as you praise Him for who He is!  Be still and know that He is God.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, I worship You for being my Savior, my Emmanuel, My Creator, My Soon Coming King.  You are everything to me.  My heart, my flesh cries out to You; for You Lord are Holy!  I lift Your Name on High!  I love to sing Your praises! You alone are worthy of my praise.  I offer it up to you and pray that it is acceptable to You Jesus.  In Your Name, the Name above every Name, Jesus,  I pray.  Amen!