October 21

The glory of God will shine through during the darkest moments. He is powerful and mighty, magnificently beautiful, unchanging, reliable, always present, all knowing; He is more than words can describe. He is our comforter when we are weary, our counselor when we need direction, our peace when the world is in turmoil, our steady rock and foundation, our justice when the world is unjust; He is our everything. He is all of those things and more; we are the beneficiaries of His steadfast love, though we are undeserving, He says we are deserving, because of our faithfulness to our Savior. Our Savior covers us, cleanses us, and hides our sin, making us holy and blameless, as we come before the Father, and bow down at the foot of His throne; because of Him, we are not consumed. If you haven’t made Him the center of your life, today is a good day to start!

"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Revelation 4:8b & 11

October 20

I have a trusted friend who, when things get rocky, is by my side praying and encouraging me. There are things that we only tell one another, mostly because no one else would believe us. Sometimes when we are making a big decision, that will change everything, the enemy will viciously attack. So, I told my friend “The attacks have weakened me to the point of giving up. I’m waiting on an answer from God.” Before I hit send, I get this message from another friend captioned: “Wanted to share this revelation God gave me today.” What! Are you kidding me? I gave up striving and He sent me an immediate answer! Not only that, but the content of His answer was in the same format, through another human, that I hear His message daily. God saw the urgency in my heart to hear from Him and sent that message right on time! I must now move forward with the plan He gave me!

The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." The LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Exodus 14:14-15

October 19

My husband built two duplexes. It had its challenges, but after they were completed, there were four beautiful new homes. As a small part of the process, I did the final cleaning. You would think that because they were new that there wouldn’t be much to do. There are no dishes to wash or laundry to fold, but the dust and construction debris make it quite an undertaking. That is similar to the life of a new Christian. You get to start over with a new eternal life, but there is still a lot of cleaning that needs to be done. I am not saying your not good enough the way you are, it’s just for your own well being and peace. It doesn’t hurt for you to unload the weights from your past that chain you down. Even as an old Christian we must continually rid ourselves of hurt and sin from our past. The key is to live a free, unrestrained life in Jesus. You do that by asking for forgiveness and forgiving others.

to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

October 18

After moving off the lake, where I had to be concerned about my dogs getting eaten by an alligator, I moved into the woods. Now my concerns are coyotes, bobcats, and owls. My dogs are very small, so they could become a tasty morsel for any predator. I took them outside and there, lurking in the trees was the mysterious, but not so wise, owl. He was not very wise because he let us know he was there by coming in for a closer look and making a blood curdling scream when he landed in a tree right overhead! He eyeballed our every move while I rebuked his demonic hunger. I grabbed my pups and carried them in the house to avoid any further exposure. We must become aware of the schemes of our enemy too. He will do anything to try and tear you apart and cause you to stumble and turn from God. Stand strong and do not let him pierce your armor. 

What armor? Your helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, belt of truth, shoes of peace, and the sword of the Spirit. If you armor up with the essential gear, the enemy doesn’t stand a chance!

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:13

October 17

I made my appointment and gathered the things I needed to renew my drivers license. You would think that my old license would suffice to prove my identity being they are the ones who gave it to me in the first place. The only thing I really care about is getting rid of that dusty old picture that makes me look like “The Church Lady!” I don’t know what I was thinking when I wore that floral print jacket! It’s such a dreaded day and the people at the counter don’t really care if I have better things to do than sit around for who knows how long waiting for them to hurry up. All I know is that it’s against the law for me to drive with an expired license and you can bet I’ll need it to show the kind officer who pulls me over for a violation. It’s just one of those things we have to do. Not only that, but the Bible makes it very clear that we are to follow the laws of the land even if it seems dreadful!

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. Romans 13:1-2

October 16

We all have struggles! Some weeks are worse than others. It’s during those really hard times that we learn to rely on the power of prayer and the broken heart of God. He sees our pain and wants to touch us and fix it, but He waits. He waits until we’ve given up our self reliance and completely turned it over to Him. He waits until we can no longer stand on our own, our knees buckle, and we are crumpled before His throne. He waits until we call on other saints for assistance so the power of the Holy Spirit will be increased. He waits until He knows we’ll know that He’s the One who defeated our foes and blew away the clouds of darkness that were covering us. Oh, what a relief to once again see the sun shining and feel its warmth. The relief didn’t come from anything we did, it came from Him! We will never be defeated because the King, our powerful Warrior is on our side!

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37

October 15

Even on a nice day, the sun can be blistering hot in Florida. It was a good day to enjoy an early breakfast and an art fair. Though it was crowded, the art was quite interesting, so we didn’t mind dealing with the people or the heat. Within that crowd was a man with a microphone and a speaker spreading the gospel. He walked through the street offering a flyer on how to have sins forgiven. From what I could see, no one took him up on his offer. We were either in a sea of Christians or the mass of those who will be left behind. He was doing his part even though it seemed more obnoxious than helpful, but there must have been someone there who needed to hear his message and who would only receive it if it was blaring. Everyone has a part in spreading the good news; I admire his tenacity. If only we all had a portion of his boldness to go out and bring others into the Kingdom.

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16