Walking in Obedience

 

God’s requests are often steppingstones to the most fantastic blessings and incredible experiences of our lives. Obeying God in small or seemingly irrelevant matters is an essential movement toward His greatest blessings. God’s blessings for obedience will often be unexpected, like Peter’s amazing surplus of fish—and his transformed like (Luke 5). When you obey God, He'll make you a blessing to other people. Finally, obeying God allows Him to demonstrate His power in our lives.

 

~Pastor Charles Stanley, intouch.org 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

 

Think On The Things of God

 

Sometimes the worries of the day can get you down. It can change your attitude in the blink of an eye. And despite being a follower of Christ, sometimes the worries and doubt just gets to you. Then you beat yourself up because you know that’s not how it’s supposed to be.

 

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Philippians 4:8 NKJV

 

God has provided a way out. We are told to change our way of thinking by thinking about good things. Some of you can do this easily. You think about all the good things in your past and present. And you find your mindset and attitude changes for the better.

 

Years ago, I did this and could think of good things, past and present. But there came a time, when no matter what I thought, I just couldn’t do it. No past or present good thing came to mind, despite being able to do this in the past. But I came up with a solution and I’m going to share it with you.

 

While I could not think of good things in my life, I could think of the good things of God. This is what I came up with.

 

God created the heavens and the earth (Whatever things are true)

Jesus is the Son of God (Whatever things are noble)

God is just (Whatever things are just)

Jesus is pure (Whatever things are pure)

God is lovely (Whatever things are lovely)

Jesus died for my sins (Whatever things are of good report)

 

When my thoughts turn negative, I think on these things. They are a part of my foundation in my Christian faith, so they will suffice. I am sharing with you all, in case, you too, struggle with replacing bad thoughts with good. Please use them.

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

 

Christ As Treasure

 

Behold in this single picture the conduct of a true Christian explained! He is what he is and does what he does in his religion because he is thoroughly persuaded that it is worthwhile. He comes out from the world. He puts off the old man. He forsakes the vain companions of his past life. Like Matthew, he gives up everything (Matthew 13:44), and, like Paul, he counts all things to be loss for Christ’s sake (Philippians 3:8). And why? Because he is convinced that Christ will make amends to him for all he gives up. He sees in Christ an endless treasure. He sees in Christ a precious pearl. To win Christ he will make any sacrifice. This is true faith. This is the stamp of a genuine work of the Holy Spirit.

~From Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew [Updated Edition]: A Commentary by J. C. Ryle

On Seeking God

 

 

When we seek Him with our entire being, then the [e]nemy has very few places where he can interject his deceptions. If my mind is engaged in worship, and my hands are engaged in service, and my emotions are directed to God, and  my thoughts are engaged in thinking what is good and right and pure, then just where can the [e]nemy get in? There are so many benefits to seeking the King. He truly is our All in All and the answer we need. . . . He is in utter control whether we see it or not.

~From Daily Devotions for Kingdom Seekers, Vol. 1 by Dennis Jernigan

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Allow God To Change You

 

Resolutions and commitments to change our behavior won’t work. Allowing God to change our heart – and the subsequent outworking of that change affecting our behavior – will transform us. Striving is the counterfeit of yielding. Religion attempts to transform us from the outside-in and does not work. The kingdom operates from the inside-out, and it does work, bringing about spiritual transformation.

 

 

~From God Hunger - Meditations For A Life of Longing on YouVersion

 

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed! 

 

Surround Yourself With Truth

 

 

Truth is a weapon, but it is also a defense against the lies of the enemy. Satan is the Father of lies, and he works in the realm of deception. Therefore, it's important that you, as Paul wrote, have "your waist girded with truth" (Eph. 6:14).

 

The enemy can't handle the truth. Hold fast to the truth when lies are hitting your mind. Tighten the belt of truth when it seems the enemy's plans are overtaking God's promises in your life. Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life, and standing on His truth when you've done all you can do will eventually cause the devil to flee.

 

~From 101 Tactics for Spiritual Warfare by Jennifer LeClaire

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Your Impulses May Lead To Regret

 

 

Satan likes to play on our emotions. He wants us to follow through with our impulses and do things we will later regret. So, when we’re making decisions, we can’t rely on our feelings to always steer us in the right direction.

 

~Joyce Meyer, Joyce Meyer Ministries

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed! 

Battle Your Toxic Thoughts

 

What is a recurring, toxic thought that you need to start taking captive today? Call it what it is—a lie. Find a verse that will blast that lie. When you think that thought, capture it and speak the verse aloud. Do this as often as you need.  

~From Reset Your Mind: Overhauling Toxic Thoughts Devotional on YouVersion

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A Gentle Reminder

 

 

 

The Bible doesn’t tell us about the sins of David to weaken our sense of moral alarm, but to put all of us on notice. The failures of others should cause us to be more aware of our own weaknesses and need for the grace of Christ. Only in the knowledge of our weakness will we be dependent on the strength of our God. — Mart DeHaan

The Bible, O Lord, is just like a mirror
That shows me the need of my heart,
For in it I see an accurate image,
A portrait of me—every part. — Hess

The Bible is a mirror that reflects how God sees us. 

 

~From Our Daily Bread Devotional on YouVersion 

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Jesus Will Set You Free

 

Jesus came to set the captives free. We are living in a spiritual battlefield. If you feel like you have been taken as a prisoner, then remember who is all powerful and came to set you free. The chains of bondage can be broken. The deep lies of Satan’s deception can be broken. The strongholds can be loosed. You are a child of God. Claim your spot in the kingdom through Christ. There is freedom, don’t give up in seeking the freedom that Christ offers.

 

Heavenly Father, I pray for those that are struggling with spiritual warfare. I pray that you could give them freedom, victory and wisdom. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

~From Spirit Renewal Daily Devotions by C.L. Griffin

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

 

Do It Heartily For The Lord

 

 

For Christians, life is to be lived Coram Deo – before the face of God, in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and to the honour and glory of God. It is only this kind of life that is bound to the ultimate reality of God and freed from the fleeting praises of man. 

 

~From the Sermon on the Mount Devotional on YouVersion 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Speak The Truth In Love

 

If something is true but saying it to someone will needlessly hurt their feelings, I need to be quiet. (Notice I didn’t say I need to lie and tell them something they want to hear! No, I need to say nothing.) If something is true but I know that my reason for saying it is to belittle someone or make them feel guilty, I need to be quiet. If something is true but I promised to hold it in confidence, I need to be quiet. If something is true but I know that my reason for saying it is to cause a rift between two people, I need to be quiet. If something is true but my motive for speaking the truth is to make myself look better by comparison, I need to be quiet.

If something is true and I just feel in my heart that saying it will do nothing but make me feel good, in a sinister sort of way, I need to be quiet. Bottom line? More often than not, I need to learn to keep it shut. How about you? I think I have enough duct tape for the both of us. 

~From Keep It Shut: What to Say, How to Say It, and When to Say Nothing at All by Karen Ehman

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Your Past Doesn't Matter

 

 

You can make yourself better, but only Christ can make you new. And if ever there was someone who became a new creation, it was Paul. What exactly does new mean, though? If we look at the original Greek in 2 Corinthians 5, we see the word kainos, which means, “recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn.” (Strong's Concordance G2537.)

So often as Christians, we talk about being restored…but restored just means we’re just an improved version of what we were before. This verse here in 2 Corinthians tells us that no matter what we’ve done or how we’ve lived, in Christ, we are brand new.

What does that tell us about Paul? When he chose to follow Jesus, his history against the church was wiped clean, though it doesn’t mean there weren’t consequences (like having to build trust and demonstrate the authenticity of his newness to a multitude of believers). But in God’s eyes, there is no before—only now and evermore. 

 

~From Philippians: Living What Really Matters by Teresa Swanstrom Anderson for Get Wisdom Bible Studies on YouVersion 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Believe Jesus

 

 

 Command 38 – Believe in Jesus (Mark 16:16, Luke 9:35, John 12:36, 6:29, 20:20, 14:6)

 

Believing in Jesus is an action word. When Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” he is the truth you need to follow, he is the way that you’re meant to go. His way is the pedestrian crossing of life.

His ways, his commands, his directions are the way to go; his truth is the truth, his way is the way and his life is the life you should be living – his life is the way you should follow. “Any man who wants to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” You need to follow Jesus, to believe in Jesus; you don’t get saved by just believing that Jesus was the son of God – you get saved by practicing what Jesus taught. It’s very important for you to realize, and I’ll say it very clearly here, to believe in Jesus is to obey Jesus. So, I encourage you to learn to obey him.

 

 

 ~From The NARROW WAY: The Fifty Commandments of Jesus – A Devotional by Matthew Robert Payne

 

 Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

 

You Are A Work In Progress

 

 

When you read “Be ye holy, for I am holy,” do you feel dismayed, sad, and/or disheartened? Do you feel like there is no way for you to ever be holy? That every time you think you have a handle on sin, you slip up? Do you ever feel like giving up? Don’t. Do not give up.

 

There are two things I want you to remember. The first is this scripture, Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. You mess up, you sin. Stop and repent. Confess to God, repent and Jesus will forgive you. If you are in Christ Jesus and for the most part, are walking according to the Holy Spirit, you are not condemned. You may feel convicted, but you are not condemned.

 

The second thing is you are a work in progress. Philippians 1:6 says being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Jesus has begun a good work in you. You are putting off the old man and putting on the new man. That takes time. But do not fret. As long as you abide in Christ, stop the sin, confess and repent, Jesus will continue His work in you. So don’t stop and don’t give up. Jesus is working on you and won’t stop until He is back.

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

 

God Does The Impossible In Your Life

 

 

“I’m afraid I will miss God.”

I find this statement to be one of the most common concerns among the most selfless and tender Christians. On the surface, this fear of “missing God” sounds noble, but time has taught me that the enemy pounces on it, then uses it to entrap people. It is his ploy to make everything about our performance rather than our trust in God’s grace. It changes the focus to our ability to follow rather than His ability to lead. 

This makes our Christian walk fear-­driven rather than love- and faith-based. The enemy of our souls knows that every daughter of God wants to please her Father. Satan perverts our godly desire to follow God’s leading by questioning every move we make until confusion traps us in inaction. 

Listen, Jesus is not trying to trick you. He would not tell us to follow if it was impossible. His ways are simple, but they are not easy. The enemy knows that one way to stop the pure-hearted is to freeze them with the fear of making a wrong move. He knows that the immobilized cannot follow. 

Lovely one, answer me this:

Where can you aim and not come in contact with Him?

Where can you reach and not touch something that declares His existence?

Where can you look and not see the fingerprints of His majesty?

Look up and you discover His wonder in the stars.

Look down and see His glory in a flower.

The mountains’ heights remind us that He is our Rock of refuge.

The ocean’s roar declares His undeniable might.

The wind awakens our souls to His unseen presence as it whispers, “There is more.”

We are promised that if we will but seek Him with all our heart, he will be found by us. 

Consider Abraham, Sarah, Moses, King David, King Solomon, Paul, Peter, and Thomas, who all missed God and yet they all were in the plan of God even after messing up. Why would any of us imagine it would be different for us? Don’t imagine, lovely one, that you have messed up the plan of God for your life; you are not that powerful. . . . I actually believe that if your heart is pure, it is impossible to miss God. Why do I think this? He is just too big of a target.

 

~From Godmothers with Lisa Bevere on YouVersion

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

 

Use Your Shield of Faith

 

 

Faith produces. We can put a demand on our faith to create a shield—a force field, if you will—against the wicked one’s attacks. Put another way, faith is a substance that creates a shield against enemy attack. . . . Our faith is based in the hope of God’s protection and deliverance.

 

This fervent faith—faith based purely on God and His Word—is a shield that is able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil one. . . . Faith is what activates or energizes the rest of our armor. If we don’t believe our armor is effective, it won’t be. If we don’t put on our armor by faith, we’ll run into war ill-prepared to absorb the enemy hits.

 

When you are in the midst of a battle, find scriptures that relate to your specific situation and let them produce the faith that builds your strength to hold up your shield.

 

 

~From 101 Tactics for Spiritual Warfare by Jennifer LeClaire

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Affirmations Of Your Faith

 

 

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Hebrews 4:14 NKJV

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17 NKJV

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 NKJV 

When you are feeling doubtful or feel little faith, remember these verses. And affirm your faith. Repeat after me:

I am a believer and not a doubter. I hold fast to my confession of faith. My faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Jesus is the Author and the Developer of my faith.

 

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Being A Follower of Jesus

Jesus said of those who follow Him:

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29) What a great statement of hope and comfort this is to us! We can know the voice of the Lord. As we follow His voice and do what He says, we’ll never perish, and neither will we ever be snatched out of His hand.

“But,” you may say, “how can I be sure that the voice I’m hearing is truly the voice of God?” There are five identifying hallmarks of God’s messages to us. They’re a means of determining whether the voice we’re hearing is truly the voice of God. If you have a question about whether a message is from God, line it up against these criteria:

1. The message must be consistent with the Word of God, the Bible. God will never tell us to engage in any activity that’s inconsistent with holy Scripture.

2. The message will usually be in conflict with the mainstream of conventional wisdom. We must recognize that most of the world is moving in a direction away from what God’s Word says to be true. In most cases, God’s message stands in sharp contrast to what the world around us has to say on an issue. But when God speaks to you, He calls you to His way of thinking and seeing. In the New Testament, this mindset is called the “mind of Christ.” Ask yourself, Would Jesus do this? If not, don’t do it.

3. The message will clash with fleshly gratification and basic human lusts. We must recognize immediately that any counsel is not of God if it urges us to gratify the flesh, without any thought for the consequences. God gives us messages that please the Spirit of God within us, not our lusts and sinful desires.

4. The message will challenge one’s faith to rise to a new level. A “measure of faith” has been given to every person, and our faith is to grow. We grow in faith when we hear from God, obey what He says to do, and then acknowledge God’s faithfulness to His Word in our lives.

5. The message will call for personal courage to do what God has said or to change what He has said to change. If you’re being asked to move against the tide of conventional human wisdom and act in contradiction to your fleshly nature, you’re going to feel as though you’re taking a risk in obeying God’s message to you. Any time you take a risk for God’s purposes, you’re going to need courage. And the Lord tells us that, if we’ll have courage, He’ll strengthen our hearts (Ps. 31:24). His voice leads us not into timid discipleship but into bold witness (1 Cor. 16:13-14).

Take time to make certain that you’ve truly heard from God on a matter and that you’ve heard clearly and precisely. Above all, make sure He’s finished with all He has to say to you on a point before rushing off to obey Him. Make sure you have all the directions, assurances, insights, and details He desires to give you. Then, subject the whole of God’s message to the points discussed in this lesson. 

~From Charles Stanley, intouch.org

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

God's Plan For Your Life

 

 

God’s word teaches us that God gives us the desire and the ability to fulfill the purpose He sets for our lives (Phil. 2:13). He will lead you to the good works designed for you. When the timing doesn’t seem right, or this fruit-bearing seems to take too long, recall the words of Paul who said, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9) 

 

~From God's Plan For Me Devotional on YouVersion

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God's Holiness

 

The awesome thing about God's holiness is that even in spite of bad things happening due to sin, the lies of the enemy, and our willful disobedience, God is able - in His holiness - to take even our greatest failures and make something beautiful from them. He is able to take what (the devil) meant for evil and use it for GOOD in our lives! That is awesome!

 

~From Daily Devotions for Kingdom Seekers, Vol. 1 by Dennis Jernigan 

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Your Life With Jesus

 

 

The message of Jesus’s death and resurrection demands something of us. Jesus continues to call people—He calls you and me—to follow Him and live, even if it costs us everything. Christ’s death and resurrection should give us confidence in the salvation He offers. Listen carefully to the message proclaimed by Jesus’s earliest followers: What God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. (Acts 3:18–21) 

 

~From Multiply by Francis Chan, et. al.

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!