Category: Devotion

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Whatever path you travel, and wherever it may lead… go in Peace.

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A 365 Days Challenge Day #4

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God’s Abiding Presence

Where does God live? While it is true that God lives in a high and holy place as king of heaven, it is also true that God is near those who understand that they need Him. God hangs out with the humble. He spends His time with those who understand how destitute they are without Him. As a follower of God, you have the promise of His presence.

Where is God right now? He stands next to you and lives inside you. This means that He is always available. Your prayers don’t need to follow some formula to reach God. They don’t need to grow wings and fly into heaven. Before they leave your lips, God has heard you.

God is always listening, always attentive, always caring for and about you. This opens the door for you to share all of life with Him. You can share your thoughts, your friends, your plans, your dreams, your fears, your small talk, your deepest hurts, and your funniest jokes.
Making contact with God is as simple as saying, ” Here I am.”

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Lord God, I want to share with you today about…

Today I want to share my happiness, My unconditional love for you. My excitement to be able to pray in your name and know that I can count on you, that I can have such a wonderful friend. A friend that loves me for who I am. Someone that knows my feelings even before I speak, someone that truly knows my heart my wants and needs. Thank you for all you have done for me. I’m thankful. I’m dependent on you Lord.

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Forgive even if they are not Sorry

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A 365 Days Challenge Day #3

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Reconciliation

Think about how good it feels when a conflict is resolved, and friendship is restored. That’s what God wants for each of us.

When we iron out our differences with others and renew those friendships, we open the door for deeper intimacy with God in prayer. How do you patch things up? Follow the 1-99 rule. If the conflict is 99 percent your responsibility, don’t focus on the party’s mistakes; rather take care of your 1 percent. Most of the time, when you apologize for your role in the conflict, the other person’s heart will soften.

Sincere attempts to reconcile usually work, but sometimes they don’t. God doesn’t expect you to take responsibility for someone else’s unwillingness to apologize or forgive. Nor does God want you to invite an abusive person back into your life. But when you do your best to live at peace with all people, you will experience a new level of peace with God.

Lord God, as I take inventory of my relationships, help me to…

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Help me to forgive those that have hurt me, forgive and forget. It’s so hard sometimes for me to forget. I always keep my focus on the other person’s fault and forget I can only change and take responsibility for my part. Help me to live at peace not only with myself but also with those that has done me wrong.

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How to get in the habit of Making Room

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A 365 Days Challenge Day #2

The Habit of Making Room

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How do you build a relationship with God? Like a friendship or a marriage, a great relationship with God doesn’t happen all at once. You build it over time. It’s a daily process of investigating and celebrating who God is, and sharing the grit and substance of your life with Him.

To build a successful marriage, spouses must find time for one another, enjoying a walk in the park, a dinner at a restaurant, playing a board game, working on a remodeling project, or any of a hundred other activities. That will look different in every marriage. But, without that shared time, any marriage slowly dies.
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Building a relationship with God also involves taking time out for Him. That might include singing songs of praise, silently pondering God’s character, or pouring out your thoughts and feelings to Him. You might take a walk with God or invite Him to join you at work. The key isn’t so much in how you approach God, but rather in the habit of making room for Him in your everyday life.

Lord, I want to make room for you today by…

I want to make room for God by praying, reading and separating my time of daily devotion to Him. I’m challenging myself to get this done for 365 days straight. Building a healthy relationship habit  with God is what will help me reach my goal of a happy and longer life.
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Here Come New Ideas for A New Beginning

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A 365 Days Challenge Day #1

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How do you start fresh with  God? How do you close the distance between yourself and your Creator? It really is very simple: Come out of hiding. 

In the Bible we read the account of Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden fruit, realized they were uncovered, and hid from God. So God walked through the garden calling out, ” where are you?” God helped this couple after they stepped out into the light and said, ” Here we are.” Their honesty about where they were and what they had done opened the door for God to clothe them and promise them a Savior who would rescue them from their fallen condition. 

God comes into our lives asking the same question: “Where are you?” When we honestly face who we are and what we have become, the door is opened for us to have a genuine relationship with Him. You can’t dress up for God. He deals in the currency of honesty. Bring the real you to the real God and watch transformation take place. 

Lor God, help me to admit that I need you. I’ve been hiding for way too long. Love myself for who I am. I need to bee and feel alive for myself and do this for me and no one else.

God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the  chaos of my life. Psalm 51:10

 

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 (NIV)

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It’s No Surprise

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It’s No Surprise to God

One of the strongest and most persistent fears people experience is the fear that they won’t have what they need. We want to feel safe in every area of life. But we’re constantly attacked with the fear that we won’t have what we need—whether it’s finances, relationships, or the ability to do what God has called us to do.

More than any other command in Scripture, God tells us not to fear. God never promises us a trouble-free life, but He does promise us His presence and the strength (mental, physical, and emotional) we require to get through our troubles.

Several years ago, a friend of mine went in for a routine checkup and learned days later that her doctor feared she might have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the most aggressive form of the disease. More tests were needed, and she was told it might take two or three weeks before a confirmed diagnosis could be reached.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10

I asked my friend how she got through those weeks of uncertainty and if she was afraid. “Yes, I was afraid,” she said. “But I also knew that whatever the outcome was, it would be no surprise to God.” Then she said something else that might be of help to you. She told me she realized that if she worried for three weeks and then learned she had lymphoma, she would have wasted three valuable weeks of her life. And if she worried for three weeks and learned she did not have lymphoma, she would have still wasted three valuable weeks of her life. “Believe it or not,” she said, “I didn’t lose a minute’s sleep for those twenty-one days.”

When the tests finally came back, my friend learned she did indeed have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She had surgery and endured many months of chemo. I’m pleased to tell you that, ten years later, she’s in terrific health. And she didn’t waste three valuable weeks.

Trust in Him
What are you afraid of? No matter what you are going through, it’s no surprise to God. He’s not unsure of what’s around the corner or unprepared for whatever you’re going through. Put your trust in Him and be confident in His plans for your life.

From the book Trusting God Day by Day by Joyce Meyer. 
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One Good Choice After Another 

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One Good Choice After Another

Are you enjoying the life and blessings of God in your everyday life? Or have you made a series of choices resulting in disappointment, pain, or feeling that everything you do requires great effort and produces little reward? Don’t spend your time and energy mourning all the bad decisions you have made; just start making good ones. There is hope for you!
The way to overcome the results of a series of bad choices is through a series of right choices. The only way to walk out of trouble is to do the opposite of whatever you did to get into trouble—one choice at a time. Maybe the circumstances of your life right now are the direct result of a series of bad choices you have made. You may be in debt because you have made a lot of bad choices with money. You may be lonely because of a series of bad choices in relationships or in the way you treat people. You may be sick because of a series of unhealthy choices: eating junk food, not getting enough rest, or abusing your body through working too much and not having enough balance in your life.

You cannot make a series of bad choices that result in significant problems and then make one good choice and expect all the results of all those bad choices to go away. You did not get into deep trouble through one bad choice; you got into trouble through a series of bad choices. If you really want your life to change for the better, you will need to make one good choice after another, over a period of time, just as consistently as you made the negative choices that produced negative results.

No matter what kind of trouble or difficulty you find yourself in, you can still have a blessed life. You cannot do anything about what is behind you, but you can do a great deal about what lies ahead of you. God is a redeemer, and He will always give you another chance.

Trust in Him

If you have a situation that is too big for you to solve, then you are material for a miracle. Invite God to get involved, trust in and follow His directions, make one good choice after another, and you will see amazing results.

“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4:25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

From the book Trusting God Day by Day by Joyce Meyer.
Devotion · family · sunday devotion

Start building your trust #SundayDevotion

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Start building your trust in God day by day!

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Form New Habits

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17

God’s Word teaches us that when we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, He gives us a new nature. He gives us His nature. He also gives us a spirit of discipline and self-control, which is vital in allowing us to choose the ways of our new nature. He gives us a sound mind (see 2 Timothy 1:7), and that means we can think about things properly without being controlled by emotion. The way we once were passes away, and we have all the equipment we need for a brand-new way of behaving. God gives us the ability and offers to help us, but we are not puppets and God will not manipulate us. We must choose spirit over flesh and right over wrong. Our renewed spirits will then control our souls and bodies or, to say it another way, the inner person will control the outer person.

Without God’s help we have difficulty doing things in moderation. We frequently eat too much, spend too much money, have too much entertainment, and talk too much. We are excessive in our actions because we behave emotionally. And after the thing is done and cannot be undone, we regret doing it. But we can choose to form new habits, not doing something just because we feel like it, but instead doing what will produce the best result in the end.

We do not have to live in regret. God gives us His Spirit to enable us to make right and wise choices. He urges us, guides and leads us, but we still have to cast the deciding vote. If you have been casting the wrong vote, all you need to do is change your vote. Forming new habits will require making a decision to not do what you feel like doing unless it agrees with God’s will.

Trust in Him
God wants you to live out of your new nature, not your old one. Every time you put your trust in Him and cast the deciding vote to obey, His Spirit transforms you and makes you more like Him.

From the book Trusting God Day by Day by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2012 by Joyce Meyer. 

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#Devotion Sunday

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Please watch the video 🙂 

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“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭3:23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53:6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭9:22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” ‭John‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Romans‬ ‭10:9-10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭1:9‬ ‭NIV‬

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” John‬ ‭10:28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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Kids 1st Day of School praying with DAD

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Devotion · Family Share · photography

Leaving a Legacy for Your Child

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Leaving a Legacy for Your Child

The space shuttle Columbia – most of us didn’t know much about the amazing crew on the ship’s last mission until they were lost in that awful re-entry tragedy.

Now, we understand what truly outstanding men and women these people were – beginning with their commander, Rick Husband. Hearing from his family and friends, it quickly became clear that he was a magnetic follower of Jesus Christ. He quoted memory verses from Joshua 1 to prepare his crew the night before the launch. He prayed with his crew just before they met the press and boarded the shuttle. He molded his diverse crew into a bonded team.

And then there was the really touching thing he did for his kids before he left. He made 17 videos for his daughter and 17 videos for his young son, each one a “devotional with Daddy” for each day he was scheduled to be gone – it was Daddy with the Word of God and Daddy praying with them. Can you imagine what a treasure that has been for them?

He left them the kind of legacy God intends for every father to leave – a contagious love for Jesus, the teaching of God’s words and God’s ways, and a consistent life of Christlike love and purity.

The answer to, “How do you know that’s what a father’s supposed to be doing?”, is found in

Ephesians 6:4. It says, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

There are men who might say, “That’s women’s work.” There are men who try to delegate to their wife the spiritual leadership for which God holds them accountable. Throughout the Bible – beginning with Adam – God makes it clear where the buck stops when it comes to spiritual leadership in a family. It stops with the man.

And that’s not supposed to be a bad thing. It means that a man can leave a legacy for his children that can literally change their lives and last forever. That’s an exciting prospect! Rick Husband modeled this God-given assignment of being your children’s spiritual coach when he left God’s Word for his children along with hearing him talk with God on their behalf.

One reason some men haven’t stepped up to building spiritual legacy could be fear of failure. We men tend to only do things where we’re pretty sure we won’t look stupid. We ask out a girl only when we’re pretty sure she won’t shoot us down. We show up for a sport where we can look reasonably coordinated. And because trying to lead our family in praying and exploring God’s Word is unsure ground, we tend to shy away from it, or we hide behind the fact that we think our wife is better at it. But God doesn’t buy any of that. There’s only one way you can be a failure in being a spiritual leader for your family – and that’s by not stepping up! Just do it – however clumsy and unsure you may be at first.

When your children remember you, will they remember a praying man, a godly man, one who loved and lived by the words of God? It’s the greatest legacy you can give them. In the words of the psalmist,

“We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord” and will follow God’s mandate that men should “teach their children, so the next generation would know…even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God…” (Psalm 78:4, 6, 7).

We never know when our own mission on earth will end. Therefore, we can’t waste another day working on our spiritual legacy. The greatest gifts you will leave your children will not be in your will – they will be in your life – as you pass onto them your living faith in your living God!

Further study

Malachi 4:5-6
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Going Deeper

One thing I need to do more of to leave a spiritual legacy with my family is…

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
5And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
10And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
11And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not, when thou shalt have eaten and be full.
12Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
13Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you.
15(For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
16Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
17Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
18And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,
19To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the Lord hath spoken.
20And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, what mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?
21Then thou shalt say unto thy son, we were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:
22And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:
23And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.
24And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
25And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. Deuteronomy 6: 4-25
Info: Bible and Daily word with Ron Hutchcraft
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Giving Children to God 

EllyFilho1 Comment

It’s common to most every religious tradition – some ceremony or service where you dedicate or commit a new child to God. In some Christian traditions, it takes the form of baptism. Others have a brief baby dedication. The last baby we dedicated was our youngest child, and that was more than a few years ago. I held the little guy in my hands, but times have changed. I don’t pick him up anymore; I’d hurt myself. He picks me up – literally. He’ll greet me at the airport and pick me up off the ground and spin me around. That’s my baby. Yes, a lot of things have changed, but one thing never has. 
All three of our children grew up, but the transaction that took place that day we dedicated each of them to God is one thing that is still being repeated today. We cannot physically hold them in our hands anymore, but we can, and we must, keep giving them over to the One who gave them to us. The problem is that all too often, we actually try to keep them in our hands, don’t we?

There is no more beautiful “release your child” model in the entire Bible than Hannah; the woman who prayed fervently for years that God would bless her infertility with a child. God answered that prayer by giving her a boy named Samuel, who was destined to become one of the great leaders of Israel. In obedience to God, Hannah brought her young son to the temple to be trained for spiritual leadership. In part of her prayer in 1 Samuel 1:27-28, she says of this child for whom she had waited so long, “So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life, he will be given over to the Lord.”

Do you know how often we moms and dads need to tell God that? Every day for the rest of your life, no matter how old or young our children are. No matter how close to God or far from God they are. But be careful, we’re talking here about releasing our son or daughter to God, which means helping them become the person God created them to be, not trying to shape them into the person we want them to be. It means talking to God far more about your child than talking to your child about God, as important as that is.


For some of us who tend to be controllers, we have to make sure we’re not trying to “play God” ourselves in our child’s life. Parents who truly place their son or daughter in God’s hands can lay off the nagging, the manipulating, the meddling, and the criticizing. What we try to control we often end up crushing. Our job is to say to God each new day, “You gave me this child, Lord. Again, for this new day, I’m giving her; I’m giving him, back to You. I’m available for anything You want me to do to join You in what You’re doing in their life – whether You ask me to speak up, or remain silent, to apologize, to forgive, to sacrifice, or even change.”

A surrendered parent is a parent at peace – a parent who knows that this treasure God has entrusted to them has this day been placed again in God’s all-powerful hands. A God who knows the plans He has for that boy, for that girl – plans for good and not for evil, to give them a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). No matter how big your little ones get, remember whose they really are.

Further study

“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭1:27-28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” Psalm‬ ‭127:3-5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Going Deeper:

It’s been difficult to let go of my child/children in the area of…

In order for me to give my child/children completely to God, I need to…

  • Photography by Me (Eliane) Info taken out of the Bible credits to Ron Hutchcraft