November 17

Some days are just made for praise! God doesn’t have to do anything to be worthy of your praise. He doesn’t owe you a thing! He is worthy because of who He is. Your wants and needs being met, should not be required of Him for you to give Him the praise He deserves. He is the giver of all creation! Are you not just in awe of who He is? Oh, if we only understood the magnitude of our mighty God, then we might give Him all of ourselves, all of our praise, all of our worship, and be completely undone because of Him. Do you not realize what kind of being it takes to create each of us individually, with our own mind, body, and spirit? His magnificence is beyond our capacity to understand, and yet He has given us a glimpse of who He is through Jesus. Jesus says that if you’ve seen Him you’ve seen the Father. Spend some time worshiping Him today, He deserves it!

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (5)And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Isaiah 6:1 & 5

November 17

I can almost taste the pumpkin pie right now! Thanksgiving is just around the corner and all the festivities surrounding this holiday are in full swing. Oh, but wait, what am I saying? We’re already in full swing for Christmas, and Thanksgiving is not even here yet! Candy canes, Christmas trees, and twinkle lights are already on full display! What happened to my favorite holiday? Have we forgotten it? Now, I know this is not a biblical holiday, but neither is Christmas! I love that we all pause with our families and speak out loud the things we are most thankful for. God has blessed all of us who live in the United States with freedom and plenty, but we sometimes take that for granted. That’s why we should never overlook this important holiday, and keep it centered around God and our thankfulness to Him for all He has done for us. Let the festivities begin!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalms 100:4

November 15

Most people may not realize this, but as a real estate agent, you work for months without pay. It can take quite a while to match a buyer with their perfect home. Then, once they are matched, you are still about a month and a half away from payday. It’s not a job for the faint of heart, and sometimes it takes selling a home a couple of times before a contract actually sticks! But when it comes, it is oh so sweet! It’s like that with most things you work hard for. Christianity seems the same way; loving Jesus is not hard, but loving people for Jesus can sometimes be. We work hard to love the unlovable, reach the lost, and bring the word of His saving grace to the world, all while trying to maintain our faith in Him ourselves. It is a fulfilling life and the payoff will one day lead us into His very presence. I can’t think of a better reason to keep doing what I’m doing. I hope you feel the same way.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24

November 14

The Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing, but what do you do when anxiety sets in and your nerves are in overdrive? You’ve prayed for peace, but it seems distant. The things you’re dealing with may be overwhelming you because you know that you need to carefully consider your steps and use wisdom, but at some point it changed from wisdom to worry. I wish I could give you some kind of exercise that would help you alleviate your uneasiness, but you need to consider that you may be lacking trust. Do you trust that God has your best interest at heart? We must remember that for those who love God, all things work together for good. The root cause of anxiety is fear. Your best bet is to take whatever is causing your fear and set it at the foot of the cross. Trust that Jesus will carry that burden and that His plan will prevail no matter what your circumstances are.

Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalms 55:22

November 13

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Ikea on a Sunday, but that’s a crazy place! You know immediately what kind of day it’s going to be when you pull in and can’t find decent parking in that giant parking lot. People turn off the world when they go in there; standing in the aisles, stopping abruptly, and running into others with those uncontrollable carts. It’s as if they are the only ones there! That store has anything and everything you need for a house except for the outer walls and the roof; maybe not the toilets, I didn’t see any of those. A lot of times I think we throw out our consideration for others when we get into a frenzied place, all bets are off and people become less than human. Though we may have the tendency to jump in and follow the behavior of the crowd, we still have the image of Jesus to uphold. Remember who you are! You are royalty and should behave as such.

for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Galatians 3:26

November 12

Do you recognize patterns in your life where you can see the hand of God working? He has a well laid plan for each of us, however most people don’t see it or understand it. Some of our trials may be used by God to set us on His path. Be careful though, the devil will lie to you and get you to think that no possible good could come from this, which will end up being true if you believe those lies. Most don’t see how He could use it because of the pain they are suffering right now. It’s like you're in a tunnel, but you can’t see the light at the end of it. You’re straining hard to see that light because you still have hope, but you forgot to take your sunglasses off. If you're going through something right now, God will send someone to counsel you; it could be a human who’s been through a similar trial, or it may be the Holy Spirit; either way, you’re in good hands. Receive His counsel.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:26-27

November 11

So often we relegate Jesus to be our genie in a bottle rather than our loving Savior. Our relationship is sometimes superficial and without the heartfelt love that should define the true nature of who He is. Do you want to be closer to Him? Then, think about a relationship that you’ve pursued. What were the steps you took to cultivate it? Let's take, for instance, a first date; you might go to dinner and begin chatting and telling the other person about yourself and then listen intently when they tell you about themselves. You don’t start it off by asking for something. You get to know them to see if you’re compatible. Even though you haven’t taken the time to pursue Him, you still ask Him for things. He has been pursuing you for your whole life, stop and let Him catch you. This life is not about what He can do for you, it’s about a loving relationship with Him.

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:18-19

November 10

Sometimes I’m surprised by my own actions! After going into the grocery store, I came out and began looking for my truck and spotted it. As I approached it, I noticed that there was something sticky on it and my church bumper magnet was missing. I thought the magnet had fallen off and left a mark. I began trying to get the sticky stuff off. It wasn’t coming off easily, so I left it and proceeded to put my stuff in the back seat. When I opened the door, I realized it wasn’t my truck! Oh my goodness! I had just opened someone else’s door! I shut it and quickly moved on hoping no one saw me! Thank goodness their interior was different, otherwise I may have tried to crank it up! I think God may give us moments of laughter just to help lighten the mood. We can get so caught up in worldly affairs that sometimes our hearts grow weary. Stop being so serious and take a moment to laugh.

A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. Proverbs 15:13

November 9

At some point, each of us has felt like we’ve had a target on our back. You know what I’m talking about! The days when you’re ready to leave your house, where just getting to that point in itself was a chore, you get in your car and spill your coffee! You finally get on the road, only to come close to death three times before arriving at your destination. Wow! You made it! Then, you wait for hours at the DMV just to renew your license and once you finally get everything handled, you go to grab your wallet to pay and realize, during the coffee fiasco, you left your wallet at home! Where was God in all this? He commanded His angels concerning you so you wouldn’t be harmed by those cars who wanted to smash you to pieces on your way there. The coffee spill and the wallet incident are just a minor inconvenience. You were unharmed, and that’s what matters. Praise God for your life!

"Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." Psalms 81:14-16

November 8

There is a teaching that I hear often, and it makes so much sense, and it is that we should never do ministry alone. I would stretch that a little further and say that we should never try to traverse Christian life alone. We need other believers to rally behind us and to hold us up when things get tough, and also to rejoice with us through our accomplishments and victories. The Holy Spirit is thick and strong when we link our shields together and have the power of Jesus flowing through us. If you are trying to make it through life and things get hard, find a few believers to stand with you to hold up your arms like Aaron and Hur did for Moses as Israel was fighting Amalek. When Moses dropped his arms, Israel would begin to lose, so Aaron and Hur held up Moses’s arms when he couldn’t do it anymore. I’ve felt this kind of power and know it’s real! The power of hell will not prevail!

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Exodus 17:11-13

November 7

Out of nowhere my tablet lost the connection to the keyboard. I can usually hit a couple of keys and it comes back up, but not this time! It was necessary for me to go into the settings and turn the Bluetooth back on in order to re-establish that connection. In the meantime, I couldn’t figure out what had happened; what in the world did I do to mess it up? I’m still not sure what caused the disconnection. Do you feel this way with God? You keep writing Him letters, but the keyboard is not communicating with the Receiver so He’s not getting them. What creeped in and caused that separation? If you're feeling this way, there is a simple solution, ask for forgiveness. You may begin by asking Him what sins you’ve committed that need forgiveness; then pray and turn away from it. Then your line of communication will be quickly re-established.

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Isaiah 59-1-2

November 6

Fellowship is so sweet, especially among believers. What had started out as a trip to Top Golf, a beautifully designed driving range, ended up at a bowling ally! Though it was still sporty, it was a huge contrast from elegance to, well, not elegance. The best part is that it didn’t matter! We were together, cheering on our strikes as well as our gutter balls, laughing and creating that unbreakable bond as the bride of Christ. We each functioned in a different capacity; some of us were good at bowling and others of us stunk, but loving one another was the common goal, and I would say, we did that pretty well! If the wedding supper of the Lamb is going to be anything like this, we are going to have a great time, and believe me, it’s going to be much better than bowling! This is just a snippet of what it’s like to do life with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Though it may not always be rainbows and butterflies, there will always be love!

And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." Revelation 19:9

November 5

God’s main teaching in the Bible is about love. It covers His love for us and how He wants us to love. Does yours measure up to the examples He gives? So much of what we are dealing with in the world today is because of the lack of real love. We use our infatuation for material things as a comparison and not true affection. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he gives us a laundry list of what real love should look like. Read the verses listed below and search yourself and see if yours looks like this. If it doesn’t, ask God to chip away the stone you have for a heart and replace it with a heart of flesh. Our time on this earth is too short to waste it by being arrogant, rude, irritable, or resentful. If you are not patient and kind, what you have may not be love. We all need a check-up when it comes to this, so let the Holy Spirit prick your heart and see if your feelings are true.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

November 4

Most of 1990 I was pregnant with a baby boy. Up until the day he was born, I had no idea that I could love another human to the depth that I love him. He’s now a grown man and that love has never faded, not even for a second. I equate my love for him to that of the love Jesus has for us. At no point in my life have I changed my mind about sacrificing myself for him, so I can see why Jesus submitted to being sacrificed for us. He did whatever He could to save His beloveds from a future of torment. As my son's future begins to unfold, and he begins to lay everything down for Jesus, all I can do is pray hard for God to use him in a way that He might be glorified through him. Don’t worry about your children, God loves them more than we do. He loves them enough to sacrifice His own Son for them and for us, which is something I could never do. That’s amazing love!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

November 3

Where does your joy come from? I find joy in the simple things that God has given us, like watching the birds and squirrels as they move through the trees, the smell of fresh cut grass, and the sparkle of the water as the stars dance across the sky. I also find joy in knowing that my eternity is secure in Jesus. Life can be hard, and at times, causing us to want to give up, but we have a commitment to keep and must keep going for the sake of our Savior. It was many years between King David’s anointing as a boy and his coronation. Those years were spent preserving his life as he ran from his enemies. God never let him be overtaken by the one who wanted to kill him, but strengthened him for the mission to be accomplished. David’s perseverance is something to be commended and is an example for us to follow as we try to make it through this life. Find your strength in God alone!

My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt. Psalms 71:23-24

November 2

Have you ever thought about why the disciples didn’t believe Mary Magdalene when she brought the good news of Jesus resurrection? I wonder if it’s because she had been possessed by demons at one time and had a credibility issue. I’ve watched a young drug addict come out of recovery full of the excitement, his hopes were dashed when he had a relapse and had to go back into treatment. This takes us back to the parable of the unclean spirit where the house was swept clean, but the spirits found no place to go, so they came back with some of their friends to take possession of it again. The difference between this young man and Mary is that her faith would have her completely immersed in Jesus with no chance that her home was found empty. The disciples should have believed her. I guess they just needed to see Him for themselves.

"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation." Matthew 12:43-45

November 1

Oh, the joys of living in an old house! It was three o’clock in the morning and we were enjoying our sleep except that it had gotten a little chilly. My husband got up and turned on the central heat, which during the night before, seemed to be on its last leg; it had made some weird knocking sound. A little later, we woke up to the smell of smoke, like burnt toast! It seemed to be more than just dusty coils. The house has two units, this one was specific to our bedroom. As a precaution, I moved to the living room on the opposite end of the house. If we had smoke detectors, I’m sure they would have been triggered! Whatever it was, didn’t burn the house down. My question to you is, do you stay in a burning house or do you get out? This world is on fire, but right now we only smell the smoke. If you haven’t secured your eternity with Jesus, it might be time to take out some insurance.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

October 31

Do you ever want things to change so badly that you feel it’s your only hope for a peaceful life? I know there are those who live in turmoil every day, who are hopeless to the point of giving up, and the light at the end of the tunnel seems dim or non existent. I have good news for you; this is only a season. Whatever has you down, God can use it for His good. I realize that some things are ongoing and you feel like you’re being held captive in your misery like a makeshift prison, but God can still use it, and it’s still just a season. Use this time to fill up on God’s word, make it your habit to immerse yourself in Him and strengthen your communication and prayers. The Holy Spirit is a mighty counselor and will minister to you. Remember Joseph and how powerful he became. God strengthened him and trained him during his captivity. God will do the same for you if you let Him!

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. Genesis 41:14

October 30

This is the time of year things start cooling off here in Florida, if we’re lucky! But then, we complain about being cold. Can you blame us? We go from ninety five degrees down to forty five, then back to ninety five  in one swoop; our blood never has time to adjust. This is the one time when lukewarmness might be good. However, there is a time when lukewarmness is unacceptable and it has to do with our commitment to Jesus. You can’t speak from both sides of your mouth. You either love Him wholeheartedly or not at all. If you try to stay neutral, ride the middle of the road, that’s not commitment and He will have nothing to do with you! As a matter of fact, the Bible says that He will spew you out of His mouth. There are no gray areas, no politically correct position concerning Him. Do not deceive yourself into believing you can love God and love the world at the same time. 

"'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelations 3:15-16

October 29

When the kids were young, they were free spirited and untamed. There were four of them and together the world was theirs to conquer! It wasn’t that often, but occasionally they would get into trouble; when they did, we did not spare the rod. As much as it hurts us to discipline our children, it is absolutely necessary! Children that aren’t corrected, learn at a very early age that they can rule over their parents, thus the parents become a slave to them rather than them being submissive. If we don’t teach them to submit to our authority, how will they ever learn to submit to God? As adults, our submission to childhood chastisement should mirror our obedience to God. As children of God, we can expect His correction; it’s part of our training so that we might share in His holiness. Discipline is painful for a moment, but it will produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. Hebrews 12:9-10