Today I am a bit overwhelmed with sadness. The news is FILLED with reports of evil things being committed…lies, thefts, rapes, murders and more. It breaks my heart to think of people living a life searching for self-satisfaction in sin. They are missing out on a joyful life with Jesus.
I am, right now, walking away from the tv asking myself…”What is YOUR part in this Tina? So you are sad. What are you going to DO about it?” Then…
My first answer would be to wallow in despair and hopelessness, but that will not do any good. I am definitely craving more “Jesus” so I could put more time into reading the Bible? That’s good, but does that affect the lost or the hurting? NOPE. Not unless I tell others where to find hope. Not unless it moves me to love more, with every interaction the Lord allows. Not unless I say something, do something. But what do I do? At a loss, I just opened a new prayer devotional. Wow, this verse…
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5
We do not always need to plan our own steps. We should tell God and HE can show us the way. I know that it is HE and not my virtue that makes me sad about the news. I know that it is HE who puts cravings for His Word in our hearts. HE makes me love others and want to help them. Everything is about Him.
So what can “little ‘ole me” do? Let God lead. Let God teach. Let God show me the way to love others more, how to pray for them more, deeply. He is a good, loving and patient teacher. It is unlike me to relinquish my former plans but I will do it for Him! I hope to be an encouragement to all who read the blog in the coming days, as the Lord guides me.
Dear God, You are the most important person in my life. All I want to do is serve You better. Forgive me for not allowing YOU to plan my steps. Forgive me for losing a bit of hope in this cruel word. Refresh me with Your love and wisdom to reach others for You in whatever way You think best. Write Your desires on my heart and I will do them. I love You! Amen
With love from the Father to you, have a wonderful, spirit-led day. God is able to make every single day hopeful when we walk in His way!
Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me— God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. Psalm 57: 1-3 NIV
Words fascinate me. (Yeah, I am a “word nerd!”) Take the word “purpose” for example. It can be both a noun and a verb, a thing and an action.
Purpose can be a noun, a thing. Ex: My PURPOSE (thing) is to read and understand the Bible better.
Purpose can also be a verb. Ex: I PURPOSED (action)to read my Bible every day.
David used purpose as a thing and an action, because he wanted and needed God.
David’s THING of purpose? Help. He wanted help from God because he was hiding out from enemies.
David’s ACTION on purpose? He purposed to pray. ( to get that help from God.)
It dawned on me while reading our verses for today, that David prayed on purpose. Don’t we all, though? We do not accidentally pray. We pray because we know who we are praying to has the power and faithfulness to help us.
In verse one, David cries out to God (on purpose) because he trusts God.
In verse two, David cries out to God (on purpose) because he knows God does all things for Him.
In verse three, David states what he knows God will do for him. All three of these verses speak to God’s intentions for us…to let Him be God and for us to trust His plan while we trust in Him, knowing how good and perfect He is.
GOD IS ALWAYS ON PURPOSE. HE NEVER MAKES ACCIDENTS.
It’s so encouraging to know that God designed us for a specific reason. His plans for our lives are not random or accidental, because He is perfect and makes no mistakes. We all have a holy purpose to act on, for God’s glory. That’s an amazing show of His love for us!
Dear Father, Please teach me to be more aware of Your perfection and my imperfection. Help me to be more prayerful in all I say and do. Direct my thoughts to pray in all situations, knowing You have my best in mind. Thank You for Your purpose for my life. Please light the way and lead me in Your perfect way as I seek You with all my heart. I love you! Amen
With love from the Father to you, have a great day!
Christina
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But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. Psalm 69:13
Here’s a little poem I jotted down this morning as I was saying “Good Morning” to Jesus:)
Good Morning, Jesus! How are You today?
Are You hearing lots of prayers being sent Your way?
Are You sad for all the loss some people have to bear?
Are You hugging them with peace and covering them with care?
Are You oh so happy to hear all the voices raised?
Will You hear this voice of mine and listen to my praise?
YES to all these questions, already do I know.
You are our faithful Savior to whom our prayers go.
You never cease to answer, every single plea.
But yet I’m still amazed You even answer me.
Jesus, Thank You for being my best friend and constant guide. Thank You for the way that You encourage and shower me with peace, when You have so many hurting people to listen to. Thank You for all the answers to prayer. Make me a better pray-er and better help to those who need it. Help me to listen more to them and talk less. You know how I can be:) Amen:)
With love from our Father to you, have a great Friday and weekend. Do not lose hope, as God is in control:)
I was reading my Bible recently when the idea of Jesus’ peace took hold of my mind. It is so wonderfully incomprehensible how invisible peace, from an invisible God and Savior can visibly meet our needs for peace during trials!
Have you known someone, who, even while in a terrible trial, praised the Lord? I have! Their faith amazes me! That’s visible peace!
What a witness to me that peace CAN be found in Jesus, no matter what. We may not face the same trials as each other, but we can turn our faces to the same Lord and Savior and He will meet whatever needs we have, for peace.
Jesus’ peace is a “One size fits all” peace! I say that because He is morethan enough for anything any of us face. God’s Word says so…so it’s true! Period. End stop.
Jesus said “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV
Because He has over come the world, overcome death, we know that He really CAN do anything. Right now, the world is in quite a state…pun not intended… but we do not have to be in a fearful state, personally.
God’s got this. Things may not be as we want and we may not feel our world is headed in a good direction, but…Jesus has left us His peace.
Though He has left us on earth , He has not LEFT us. The Holy Spirit is with us. Isn’t it so precious that the Holy Spirit lives in us to provide any and all guidance that we need?
Jesus cares that much. God cares that much. The Holy Spirit cares that much for us. (If I knew how to make a heart imoge here, I would do it!)
I can almost hear Jesus’ love in this next verse. Can you?
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27 NIV
That sounds like a great plan! Friends, I hope you have a great Monday, NOT being afraid, but peaceful. I will pray for that for you and myself, too. Remember…
God’s got us, all of our moments, our minutes. He also has our days, weeks, months and years in His hand. All we have to do is hold His.
Lord, Thank You so much for all the ways you encourage us to lean on You and not be afraid. Your peace is such a precious gift to us! We do not deserve and could never afford something so priceless. Though we may not understand how You can attend to all of us and our different issues or fears, we know You can. We love You and we will be witnesses of Your peace. Amen.
With love from the Father to you, have a great day,
Hello friends! After celebrating my first grandchild, Christmas, New Year and getting over a long Covid bout, I am healthy now and ready to write about Jesus again! I sincerely hope and pray your last month has been a healthy one. One note before we talk about prayer…I am so sorry, for those who have commented on my blog posts. I am not able to read your comments. I hope to get that resolved soon, with WordPress’ help.
So…Prayer...That little word is way more than it looks like at first glance. Think about it…prayer is not just a religious word, as some may think, not something you just say when someone is sick or hurting. It is something we are fortunate enough to actually do!
It is an action of love for God and others. (We get to ask God to help others or ourselves.)
It is an actual connection to the one true God! (We get to talk to God anytime!)
It is an enormous privilege which we can easily appreciate.(We get to thank God for His goodness.)
It is a resource we cannot do without. (We get to thank God for all He does for us.)
To get the most out of prayer, we can follow what God’s Word teaches us about prayer. (We get to practice what we read in the Bible.)
These are all undeserved opportunities. God gave them to us because He loves us that much. If we do not understand this, we cannot appreciate it.
It is obvious that David understood the privilege of prayer when he prayed:
“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my
heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord,
my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Psalm 19:14 NIV
Can’t you just feel his heart here in the words he wrote? Because David cares so much that God sees his pure intentions, he writes that emotional plea at the end of Psalm 19. Because God is so glorious, David can’t help but write songs/psalms about Him. Because he cares so much for God’s laws, he can’t help but pray to God that his words are acceptable.
Earlier, in verses7-10, can you also see and feel David’s heart as he describes God’s laws?
“Thelaw of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:7-10 (NIV)
There is so much earnestness in his words. That’s why I titled this devotion, “Hitting the Mark.” I am pretty sure I know I do not “hit the mark” all the time, when it comes to prayer, especially when I get busy. It’s worth thinking about whether we slow ourselves down enough to have pure intentions and total earnestness every time we pray. Do we get to the heart of prayer by praying with our whole heart? God will help us do this if we just ask:)
Dear Father, Thank You for giving us access, through prayer, to You and Your love and guidance. Help us to understand the precious gift You have given us. We want to worship and pray with our whole intentional heart that You gave us. Please be with those that are hurting or sick and give us opportunities to pray for and help them by loving them like You would. In your precious name we pray, Amen.
With love from the Father to you, have a great day!
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5: 8-9
Good morning, friends! I have missed writing, but it has been a busy season of life. Two daughters married since last April and a grandbaby is on the way, our first. My Dad has been staying with me for awhile too, which is another blessing! With all of these blessings, it is too easy for me to dwell on the busy-ness and move my alone time with Jesus lower on my priorities.
Yet, that time is needed more than ever, when I am busy, when WE are busy. Why? Because we may start to feel self-sufficient, which is NOT what the Lord intended. We are NOT enough, God is. We were not made to NOT need Him. He is our Father:)
We were also NOT made to listen to the enemy. He pats us on the back, figuratively, and tells us we can do things on our own, that we have made it where we are, on our own. Not true. Not a surprise really, that he tells us that, because the enemy thinks every day is “Opposite Day.” He tells us the opposite of what is true!
When we are busy, He lies! (He lies non-stop!) He attacks our thoughts, devotions, family time…anything that will take us a step from Jesus, and another step and another step. He tells us we can skip devotions just one day…or ten. We can make our prayers short, so we can get to our to-do list done first. We are allowed to skip reading the Bible, since we have been a Christian for so long and know the Bible well. Lies, lies, lies.
The enemy is in opposition to not just God, but US! Whatever He tells you is a well-crafted lie to draw us away from God. It may not appear to be a huge lie, but the little ones are often the most dangerous; because they are subtle and we kind of go along with them. Maybe we should pray about this:
Dear Jesus:
There are times I listen to the enemy’s lies. Would you please help me to recognize when I am being lied to? The enemy may use my busy-ness to let my relationship with You slide a bit. I may resent someone that hurt me and feel justified, because the enemy says so. I have been known to be a little jealous of others’ accomplishments, because the enemy told me I could never accomplish anything like that. Will You please nudge me when I get off track? Draw me back to where I was meant to be, leaning on You. Thank You for being my rock that never moves. All that I am and all that I accomplish is YOURS to decide and YOURS to guide and YOURS to get glory for. I love you! Amen
I hope you have a good week. I will pray for us, that we recognize the enemy’s words and schemes and are able to fight them with the Word of God.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
I almost cried during a recent prayer! At my daughter’s bridal shower, I was asked to pray. Uh-oh, why didn’t I plan a special prayer? Up in front of everyone, behind the microphone, my brain whizzed. With a quick prayer, “Help me, Lord,”
I began thanking Him for all He did that caused everyone there to be in that gathering place on that special day of Kellie’s shower. Words would not come at first, but then my heart grew in gratefulness as I thanked God for His immense goodness over the years. These people in the room were special!
He brought my two daughters and I through a seemingly impossible situation. He supplied the right friends at the right time. Right pastors, mentors, coaches and godly men appeared in their life. Right teachers taught and befriended them and prayed and watched out for them. Parents of kids they themselves coached and still coach, have taken them into their friend and family units with love.
These things were no accident. God knew they needed those angel friends. What more could a Momma ask for?
That’s why I almost cried…because of His goodness through all the days and years. Do you ever do that… sit and marvel at how God has carried you and provided what you needed? Then you know what I mean!
This moving experience reminded me to not just be grateful, but to proclaim it publicly, to share how glorious God is, so I am attempting to do just that. To Him be all the glory for whatever His plan is!
David’s words remind us to TELL of our thanks:
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy. Psalm 107:121-122
The phrase, ‘Thank offering’ made me smile! Praising Him is a sort of thank offering, isn’t it? You never know…someone may need to hear YOUR thankfulness to a loving God in word or in song. All I know is…it makes God happy when WE know that HE knows it all and controls it all and we are happy about that! He is so faithful:)
I hope you have a great day knowing God is faithful and working in your life. Sometimes it is hard when things do not go as we expect. He is there with us always, though. Isn’t He the absolute best? Love and prayers to you all!…Tina
In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comfort delights my soul. Psalm 94:19
Do you have a favorite comforter that you snuggle in, say for movies? Maybe you had a hard day and at the end of the day you look forward to relaxing in the comfort of your favorite blanket on the sofa? Our favorite things are things that are tried and true and work for us. They comfort us like a friend. The dog’s blanket or a towel or a coat won’t do when I am stressed or tired. As old as I am, I still like my own, soft, warm, comforting blanket to relax in.
In the same way, we can relax in Jesus’ arms. He is our greatest comforter! Always available before we even seek Him, He is ready to meet our needs. We can go to Him at any time and get the rest and comfort we need. All it takes is a word from us and we have His comfort at our right hand. His comfort is special and spiritual and soothes the soul. His warmth penetrates our hurts and stress and, if we let Him, He takes them from us. He replaces them with hope and love. Is there anything more comforting than His love? Nope!
We can call on God’s own Son! Does that thought blow your mind? It does mine. I can talk to the creator of the universe and His only beloved Son…and He hears and answers me!!! He does the same for anyone who calls on His name. It is that simple and that amazing. Just say His name…Jesus…and revel in the warmth it brings. Jesus is my favorite comforter!
Dear Jesus, Thank You for being there for me, even before I realize I need You. What a joy to know I can call on You and You will comfort me. Your grace and mercy to me are much appreciated. As I try to do the best I can here on earth, help me to do my best for YOU. You can call on me, count on me to do Your will. Remind me to use the comfort You give me to comfort others. I just love you so much! Amen.
With love from our Father, have a wonderful day and week. When you wrap up in a comforter or blanket next, remember the best comforter ever, Jesus. Love, Tina
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