Day 60

Do you feel like your hope is gone today?

“When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!” Romans 4:18 The Message.

God had promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations not because he was obedient to the law but because he had a right relationship with God which came by faith. Abraham believed God without doubting. Aren't you amazed that Abraham’s faith never wavered even though he and Sarah were almost 100 years old. I, on the other hand, believing God has promised me in His Word certain things in my life have found my faith wavering so often. I’ve often asked myself why my faith is not always as strong as Abraham’s was and found myself praying, “Lord, help my unbelief.”

Many times it is so hard to see beyond our pain and struggles when we are living in the middle of life’s circumstances. It would be so easy to stay in bed with our heads covered up wouldn't it? There have been many days in my life that I felt like doing just that, but I knew I would be giving into the wiles of the devil so I fought against it. We can’t rejoice in our circumstances many times but we can rejoice in our Lord who lives within us giving us strength and hope. Romans 5:3 says, “Moreover—let us also be full of joy now! Let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing the pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance”. In verse 5 it reads, “Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.”

We have such a wonderful heavenly Father whose love has been poured out in our hearts and lives within us. He loves us too much to allow us to stay in the status quo. He wants to grow us, purify us, correct us when needed but His promise is that we will come forth as pure gold if we endure to the end.

Remember His promise to work all things together for our good. His discipline or testing comes out of His perfect love for us. We must learn to trust His purposes even though we might not understand them. Will you choose to believe God's promises to you today?

Day 59

Love God With All You've Got!

"Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love Him with all that's in you, love Him with all you've got!" Deuteronomy 6:5 (The Message).

We are coming to the close of February, the love month when we tend to focus on our sweethearts, our spouses.  We would be upset if that special one didn't acknowledge their love to us.

I began to wonder what our expression of love to our Lord might look like.  How do I show Him that I love Him everyday?  What can we all give Him as an expression of our love for Him?  Here are some ideas and I urge you to continue the list and show Him unique demonstrations of your love for Him in the days to come:

· Get to know Him in a deeper way as you daily read His Word.

· Pray that Word back to Him from the scriptures.

· Serve others in His name and for His glory.

· Strive for holiness as He is Holy.

· Share His love with others.

· Obey His direction for your life immediately.

· Keep your vows to Him.

Commit to loving Him with all that's in you.  After you make your list post it close to your quiet time space as a reminder and add to the list daily.  He is worthy of our love and praise.  Why don't you find a new way to express your love for Him today.  Maybe you've never just said to Him how much you love Him.   Why don't you just whisper it to Him in the quiet of the moment right now.

Day 58

Are You Operating in the Soul or the Spirit?

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ"  1 Thessalonians 5:23.

At one of our ministry Retreats we talked about  the difference between the spirit, soul, and body.  It was a lesson God has been teaching me over the last few years.  His design is that we follow Him from our spirit which if connected to His Spirit helping us to not operate from our soul (flesh).   Take a step back into your spirit man, and ask God what He sees in your life today.  Once He shows you, how will you respond?

Our spirit can identify the spirit of others we come in contact with.  The spirit of another person is never our enemy.  They may have a sweet spirit that we can easily respond to, or their soul may have been well fed and catered to over the years.  So how will you choose to respond if that happens?  I can tell you I would often respond in like spirit and it  never was a good senario.

I remember a man who came into my work place a few years ago and he seemed to be angry at everything I did.  He didn't like it that I was having to take his BP again (which by the way was sky high) or that I was asking him some of the same questions he had just answered in the Dr's office.  He just seemed to mad at the world.

Finally I felt impressed to ask him why he was so angry.  He immediately broke down into tears.  He began to share the many things that he ha been through in the previous year.  It was like watching a pressure cooker releasing steam and when he was done he just sat in a heap of self pity.  

If I had responded to him out of my soul, we would have been in conflict.  Instead, we were able to share positively.  I sensed that something was behind all his anger and God was able to minister healing to him as we shared.  I am very aware that it could have gone a lot different than that.  I could have pushed him over the edge with that question but thankfully the nudging I had from the Holy Spirit was correct and I had a chance to be a listening ear.  Sometimes that's all someone needs, to be heard.

Prepare yourself now to operate out of your spirit connected His Holy Spirit when you face someone who may be angry, argumentative, or accusing.  Choose how you will respond before hand.  If you choose the right approach you might just be able to help someone else defuse and take a look at themselves.  You will feel better and hopefully so will they when you operate out of the spirit.

Day 57

What is Your Determined Purpose?

“For my determined purpose is that I may know Him—that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, [perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person] more strongly and more clearly” Philippians 3:10

Ask God to turn the smoldering flame of your passion into a flaming fire as you go out into the world with the intent of bringing God glory through your passion. Allow the passion that God has given you to minister to those you come in contact with. We are to comfort others as He has us!

I think of Paul before his Damascus Road experience. His passion was to kill Christians. He had studied under the best teacher in the world…Gamaliel. He had the head knowledge but it wasn't until he encountered Jesus on the road that he truly became passionate about the things of the Lord. He became fervently devoted to preaching and teaching about His Lord because of his own personal experience.

I was satisfied for so long with my salvation experience and the knowledge I had obtained over the years about God, but it wasn't until I experienced God that my longing to know Him in a deeper and more intimate way caused me to be passionate about that relationship with Him. Once I began to hear His voice from the scriptures and my time with Him, it became such a passion that I was no longer satisfied with the ten minute time I had been having, I found myself thirsty for more of Him. It became a joy to know Him more fully and learn to trust His love and acceptance of me no matter what I did or did not do. He loves me regardless and I can trust His love. If I fail in some way He doesn't love me less. That has changed my whole perspective of what love is. He totally completes me!

My life verses became like Paul’s as taken from Philippians 3:10-14: Verse 10 states: “For my determined purpose is that I may know Him—that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, [perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person] more strongly and more clearly” Amplified. I encourage you to read the other verses and make it your determined purpose to know Him more fully.

Prayer: Abba Father, I pray you will turn our passions into Yours. May we become more deeply and intimately acquainted with You. We worship today on our faces at Your feet. Give us boldness to share with others the difference You have made in our lives, just like a blazing fire. We love and adore You Lord, Amen.

Day 56

What Is Your Passion?

Hosea 7:6b, “Their passion smolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire” NIV.

Recently, in my travels, I noticed a large transfer truck with peppers of all kinds painted all over it – bell peppers, hot peppers, and red peppers, yellow and orange peppers. The words “Passion for Peppers” was also painted on both sides of the truck. You sure couldn't miss the message it conveyed.

I began to wonder what it would be like to have our passions printed all over our vehicles or on our person as we traveled through life. What is your passion in life? Has it changed over the years? Probably so, I know mine has.

What does passion mean anyway? Funk and Wagnall’s Dictionary defines it as: “Intense or overpowering emotion; an eager outreaching of mind toward some special object; fervid devotion”. So what is on your mind most of the time or to what do you devote most of your time? Maybe that is what you are most passionate about.

Your passion can come out of your own sense of shame or pain. You might be fervently devoted to anti-abortion issues, or mental illness, or autism, or drug addiction, or a hundred other things by which you have had personal experience. You don’t often have a passion for something unless it has affected you in some way. I know I wouldn't have a heart for the families of prodigal’s/prisoners unless I had walked through it myself. I wouldn't have empathy for those afflicted by mental illness had I not experienced it in our family.

Our passion may come out in words or actions, but it usually does come out. If we give ourselves to our work people may see that as our passion. If we think and participate in sports all the time, that may become our passion. If we give of ourselves to a particular cause that likely comes from a passion. Something doesn't usually become our passion unless we have experienced it or been touched by it.

Examine your heart and pinpoint your passion. How are you living it out on a daily basis? How are you using that passion for God’s plan and purpose to touch and influence others you come in contact with throughout your day?

Day 55

 A Spiders Web
“They weave the spiders’ web.” Isaiah 59:5
Don’t you just hate to run into a spider’s web? As I took my little dog outside before bedtime the other night, that’s exactly what I did. Right there on my front porch a big spider was busy weaving his web. When I ran into it the spider came running down to see what big prey he had entangled. Thankfully, the spider’s web can not hold a human but it made me think how much Satan just waits to trap us into his web of sin.
As we are first tempted we can pretty much get out of Satan’s grip but the more we yield to the sin the more entangled we are and it appears there is no escape. For the fly, moth or other insect it is virtually over because you can watch as the more they fight the more the web entraps them and immediately the spider comes down, injects them with his venom and moves in for the kill.
I kept forgetting to go back out on the porch to sweep away the web. We know the web is so fragile it can be swept away with a broom but because of my neglect I continued to run into it each time I went out the front door. All I needed to do was sweep it away but I didn't
While talking with a Mother one night we talked about how we could see our prodigals entangled in Satan’s web, but I wondered later if we could see ourselves in the same type of entrapment? We think, “Oh, I’m, not indulging in any major sin” but if we don't tear it down we keep running into it time and again.
As you examine yourself remember God has made a way of escape from any temptation. We are not as helpless or hopeless as the fly or moth is but we must tear down the strongholds that so easily beset us. Jesus has died to set us free and in Him we can be free indeed.
Take some time now to pray for your prodigal who may caught in their own web of sin. Your prayers can hopefully help them to see the trap Satan has set for them. and avoid getting themselves entangled in the web he spins. Pray that the Holy Spirit will draw them to Himself and reveal the Truth. Sweep away the web through intercession for them.

Day 54

GET BACK UP AND TAKE THE NEXT STEP

“If we endure, we shall also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us” 2 Timothy 2:12

My husband and I recently went on a walk in the hottest part of the day. Not wise! Thankfully I had taken my bottle of water. We walked four miles and toward the end I felt my feet dragging on the pavement. It was like I just couldn’t get up enough energy to take the next step. All of a sudden a song came to mind that I had heard at a conference. It is entitled, Get Back Up and Take the Next Step by Melissa Greene.

I know that you, like me, have often felt you could not take the next step. You are tempted to lie down, pull the covers over your heads and pull away from the world. As one of our loved one’s says, “Sandra, life is too hard”. Yes, sometimes it is and the enemy wants us to believe that nothing will change, but God says, Get back up and take the next step even though the road is hard and rugged. The difference is, He promises to walk with us. Can we hold on to that promise in the thick of our painful circumstances? That is the question.

I think of the word, endurance. Funk and Wagner’s Dictionary defines it as: “The capacity or power to endure; ability to suffer pain, distress, hardship, or any very prolonged stress without succumbing; patient fortitude. The act or experience of enduring or suffering; to tolerate, put up with. To endure is to bear with strain and resistance, but with conscious power; endure conveys a fuller suggestion of contest and conquest than bear”.

After sharing with a wife whose husband is incarcerated, I am grieved because I don’t have the answers for her. I can’t imagine the struggle of financial pressure she endures each day as there never seems to be a light shining at the end of the tunnel. It has been eight years since her nightmare began. We try to be there to listen as she shares her heart and the frustrations she faces. Her children don’t understand why they can’t have what the other children have or go to fun places on vacation like others do. She struggles to put food on the table and comes home weary from working, sometimes two jobs’, to face the struggles her children are having.

So when I get down on my circumstances I see faces like her’s and others we minister to and I know my struggles to take the next step pale in comparison. What does God promise to those who endure? The crown of life! Endure to the end my friend’s. This life is a short period of time compared to what God has for us IF we endure. I want all He has for me, how about you. I must keep reminding myself to get back up and take the next step, not looking into the future but doing it TODAY. After all, that’s all we have, today, what will you do with it?

In 2 Timothy 3:1, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come”. He tells us that the difficulties will come. We all have them but it is how we walk through that matters. Keep your focus on Jesus. He was in difficult places in His walk on earth but He always kept His eyes on His Father doing only what the Father would have Him do. He was our ultimate example; let’s choose to follow His example. He never questioned why, He prayed for His cup to pass, but regardless He wanted the Father’s will, not His own. Whatever you are facing today I urge you to get back up and take the next step.

Sandra Kearns