| ............ | A Word In Due Season April 2023 04/03/23 NEW LIFE Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:12 "The flowers appear on the earth ..." King Solomon, who was the wisest and wealthiest man of his day, wrote these simple words. Even with the vast knowledge and wisdom that he had concerning the complicated things of life, he was still moved by the simple but miraculous works of God. He took time in his writings to acknowledge the miracle of the new life of the season, for he wrote, "The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the Earth." Solomon knew that regardless of his own wisdom, he did not have enough knowledge or ability to create a flower on his own. Neither could his vast riches grow them. They came only by the hand of the Creator of Heaven and Earth and the seeds that He provided and gave life to. Spring is my favorite time of the year because when it comes it covers the earth with new life. It is always so amazing to watch God's marvelous handwork in action as the season appears. It truly fulfills its name for everything that has been dormant for a season springs up with new life. The things that once looked dead begin to come alive and in a matter of weeks the leaves on the trees and the grass in the fields turn a rich green. The atmosphere that was filled with the cold gray of winter changes into warmth and the vibrant colors of spring appear. The earth resurrects itself into the new life that God ordained for it. This has happened century after century in obedience to the voice of the Father God who spoke to all of the life on the Earth and told it to bring forth after its kind. God spoke this scripture to me at a very special time in my life. It was a season when I thought all hope was gone. I was in a valley of utter despair and could not see my way out of the darkness. Yet several years later, I am a witness that God can cause "the flowers to appear" again. He changed my darkness into light and caused the roses to share their fragrance with me again. He made the rains to cease and commanded the sun to shine. In the midst of a cold dormant season, He surrounded me with His love and caused new life to spring up within me. I look back now at that terrible season in my life and wonder why it was so hard for me to believe for deliverance from it because God is always so faithful. I do not know where you might be today or how bad you may be hurting inside. We all have our own battles that we must wage and valleys that we must go through. I may meet you on the street or in a church service and not recognize that your heart is full of pain. You have hidden your disappointments so well in the deepest chambers of your heart that I cannot see them. Yet, I want you to know that regardless of how deep you have hidden your pain, God sees and God knows. The Lord understands just how bad things are in your life, but He also looks beneath the sod and sees the dormant flowers that are hidden in the darkness. He is aware of the good and beautiful things of your life that you have forgotten about or possibly did not even know existed. In His time, He will call them forth. He will bring new life to your soul and cause the flowers of your heart to bloom again. Even in your worst trial, the Spirit of God within you will be like an oasis of living water, and He will refresh you and keep you together for the moment that He has ordained. The Lord has a beautiful season prepared for you, so trust in Him. Regardless of how cold, how dark, or how discouraging the terrible season has been, when God speaks His Word nothing and no one will be able to keep the flowers from appearing in your life. +++ 4/4/23 CONFIDENCE THAT HE WILL HEAR Scripture: I John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." This is a simple guarantee that we can gain an audience with God. Prayers that touch the heart of God are not accidents. If we want God to hear us, we must first listen to Him and then pay close attention to what He says. The Apostle John said that God would listen to the words that we are saying if the petitions that we are presenting to God are lining up with His desires. Prayer that finds answers are not just a bunch of empty words. They are petitions that seek to satisfy God's will for our lives, accomplish the purposes of His Kingdom, and are based upon His written covenant. So, in order to receive answers to our prayers, we must search the scriptures and find out what God has said about the matter. If we fail to do this, our prayers become idle chatter. Our prayers must become effective. James 5:16 says, "The effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much." Prayers that are effective are in accordance with God's will. When the Disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus told them to address the Father in Heaven, give honor to His Name, and then declare, "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done." These words concerning God's Kingdom and His will were to be spoken before any petitions were made for daily needs such as bread, forgiveness, direction, and deliverance from evil. There is a confidence that is gained when you know that you are seeking to complete God's will, and this confidence will birth faith within your soul. In turn, that faith will link with Divinity and clothe you with power to receive. One of the first things that I ask when I begin to pray and commune with God is that His Holy Spirit help me pray according to God's will. I remind God that my spirit is willing to do His will, and also confess that my flesh is weak. I tell Him that I need the guidance of His Spirit as I pray so that I may fulfill the scripture above and acquire the confidence that I need in knowing that God is hearing me as I speak. Many times, I am amazed at the words that follow after I pray these words as the Holy Spirit guides my thoughts and directs my prayers. I may have started out in the flesh with my own agenda to express my immediate needs, but as I yield to God's Spirit, He opens my heart to understand the true will of the Father. The Spirit of God then prompts me to pray greater things that agree with God's will and His Word. As this communion with Heaven transpires, great confidence comes. I know that my words have reached God's throne, and that if He has heard the prayer that His Spirit has prayed through me, He will answer accordingly. +++ 4/5/23 SECRET FAULTS AND SINS Scripture: Psalms 19:12-13 "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins." King David recognized his own shortcomings and self-deception. He knew that there were probably secret and unconscious faults within his heart that he did not recognize. He was also aware that there were presumptuous sins that he knowingly committed. The Living Bible quotes David's words by saying, "But how can I ever know what sins are lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. And keep me from deliberate wrongs; help me to stop doing them." David humbly asked God to deal with him in both of these areas of secret faults and presumptuous sins. David's words were not just part of a song that he composed. Instead, they were a desperate prayer that was motivated by his desire to please the Lord in every respect. David wanted the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart to be acceptable in the sight of the Lord who was his Strength and Redeemer (Psalms 19:14). David was just as concerned about the inside of his heart as he was about his outward actions. He knew that his character would be revealed, and his soul judged, not only by the transgressions that he committed openly but also by the secret faults that were hidden in his heart. His desire was to be innocent in the eyes of God as well as blameless before men. David's words should also be our prayer, for we too should do all that we can to walk in truth and in integrity before God and men. David asked the question, "Who can understand his errors?" or "How can I know what sins are lurking in my heart?" It is often hard for us to know the sins and darkness that may be lurking within our own hearts until God speaks to us or someone close to us calls our attention to our lack. They may point out our poor attitude, our disrespect to those who deserve our honor, our lack of faith that is displeasing to God, our unthankfulness, our failure to forgive, or a multitude of other things that we do not even consider to be great sins. David asked God to search his heart. At another time, he told the Lord, "Point out in me anything that makes You sad" (Psalms 139:24 - Living Bible). We must ask God to do the same for us. We recognize our outright and presumptuous sins and are convicted of them, but we must depend upon the Lord to reveal to us the unknown errors and secret sins of our heart. This is the only route around the great gulf of transgressions; our only escape from committing secret sins. +++ 4/6/23 PROMISE OF HIS PRESENCE Scripture: Colossians 1:27 "Christ in you, the hope of glory." In the heart of each and every person there is a void space that only God Himself can fill. It is a dark and empty place where insecurities, loneliness, doubt, and fears reside. We have an awareness of this void, but we may not be able to explain it. We just know that there is a longing that lingers within our souls for something and a search for someone beyond ourselves. This place remains empty until we find God and He moves in. Helen Keller was a woman who was blind and deaf. She had never heard of God and did not know the name of Jesus. Yet, when her teacher was finally able to communicate to her about God and Jesus Christ, Helen Keller said, "I knew He was there, I just didn’t know His name." The Spirit of the Lord was hovering over Helen Keller's heart and making her aware of God's presence. This was like the situation that the Earth was in when the Spirit of God began to hover over the Earth in the first chapter of Genesis. The Earth was dark, void, and without form until God spoke and caused light and life to come. God's Spirit hovers over our dark and void spirits in the same manner, drawing us near to the heart of God. At some point we face a moment of accountability for our lives and are forced to make a choice. We either surrender to the Holy Spirit and are persuaded to receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord, or we deny Him. If we receive Him, we are born again and translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into His glorious light (Colossians 1:13). When this new birth occurs, God comes to live inside of us. He totally fills the void place within our being with His presence and for the first time in our lives we feel complete. This is a marvelous mystery that our minds cannot comprehend. Most of us never fully perceive the depth of the meaning of this wonderful promise; that the almighty God has come to live on the inside of us. If we could only understand the power of God's presence within us, there would be a greater release of His power through us. Boldness and confidence would replace the fears and insecurities in our life. Faith would fill the void where doubt had been. Light would dispel all darkness, and we would become so full of God and His purpose for our life that there would be no room for loneliness and despair. Our focus would be on the presence of Christ within us, who is the hope of God's glory. +++ 4/7/23 BEAUTY FOR ASHES Scripture: Isaiah 61:3 "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes." Jesus emptied Himself of His royalty and left His throne in Heaven so that He could come to this Earth to minister to the needs of people and eventually die for them. This was His heartbeat and strongest desire. When He came, He preached good tiding to the meek and He set the captives free. He went about doing good to all people, whether rich or poor. He healed the sick, raised the dead, restored sight to the blind, caused the lame to walk, and did many other mighty miracles. When Jesus went back to His throne in Heaven, He asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to continue and maintain His work. His Spirit still works in the Earth today, restoring beauty for the ashes of our lives. I went through a very solitary and dreadful season in my life many years ago because of bad decisions on my part. It was a short season, but it seemed like a lifetime. and I thought that it would never end. I felt like all was lost and I could see no way out of my dilemma, but God, in His mercy, rescued me. While I was in this lonely place of despair and discouragement, I learned something about ashes. The place where I was living had the most healthy and radiant roses and their fragrance was indescribable. I wondered how this could be because they were never cared for in any special manner. Later that winter I discovered the secret to their beauty and success. The ashes from the fireplace were placed upon the roses throughout their dormant season of winter. God spoke hope into my heart through the roses and let me know that He could take the ashes of any experience and use them to create something beautiful in our lives. Jesus sees your hopes that have been burned up in the fires of life and your colorful dreams that have turned to gray ashes. He knows your pain even better than you do. He sees the spirit of sorrow and mourning that is holding you in bondage and knows the heartache and heaviness that has stripped your spirit of its life. He sees the hopelessness of your situation. Jesus also sees your body that has been ravaged by sickness, disease, and abuse. The Lord understands your despair and discouragement. He searches out every matter and leaves no stone unturned in your life. Whatever the Lord sees, He is faithful to take care of and able to restore its radiance. Jesus speaks good tidings to you that will set you free and restore all that the devil has taken from you, whether it be financial, spiritual, or in your relationships. He can exchange every ugly thing from your past and make it into something beautiful. His Spirit will do a supernatural work that cannot be explained. He applies the oil of His joy to your heart so that you can be healed, and your soul can be fully restored. The Lord also gives you a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness because He loves you and wants you to be blessed beyond measure. Jesus left you with His Word so that He could build faith in your heart and turn your life around. Your miracle is waiting for you, but you must reach out and receive it by faith. You can be sure that when you offer the Lord Jesus the ashes of your life, He will be faithful to give you something beautiful in exchange. +++ 4/10/23 FAITH IN GOD Scripture: Mark 11:22 "Jesus answered and said unto them, Have faith in God." Jesus instructed His followers to "Have faith in God." He then proceeded to tell them to, "Speak to the mountain to be removed and cast into the sea." He said, "If you do not doubt in your heart, then you will receive those things which you say." Jesus made it very plain that we must first have faith before our confessions of faith will come to pass. Yet, we tend to complicate and reverse His instructions. Instead of developing our faith in God, we base our faith in our own abilities and presume upon God to honor our confessions. We have developed our formula and even titled it "name it and claim it." Yet, God is not obligated to bow to our presumptions. According to Romans 10:17 faith does not come by hearing our own words. It comes when we hear what God is saying to us. In other words, if God "names it," then we can "claim it" because we know that He is speaking His will into our lives. I John 5:14-15 says, "This is the confidence that we have in God, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us; and if we know that He hears us, we know that we have whatever we ask of Him." If you are in a place of adversity right now and are facing an enormous mountain of difficulty, do not try to cast it into the sea with your own words and confessions. Find out what God is saying about your situation. Faith is not of yourself. It is a gift that God instills in your heart (Ephesians 2:8). The father who requested healing for his son in Mark 9:24 had to ask God to increase his faith. He cried out to Jesus, "I believe, but please help me overcome my unbelief." The faith that is created by God's Word is the faith that will bring your destiny into being. When God speaks, His voice will give light to your vision and life to your faith. His Word in your ear will drive out doubt and unbelief and His Spirit will empower you. The Lord says, "It will not be by your might, nor by your power, but by My Spirit" (Zechariah 4:6). When you make true confessions that are in line with God's Word and in agreement with His will, His Spirit will tear down the great mountain that is in your life by crying, "Grace, grace unto it" (Zechariah 4:7). Do not lean upon your own strength but have faith in what God has spoken to you and then allow Him to use that faith as you speak to your mountain. +++ 4/11/23 TRUST GOD'S LIGHT Scripture: Psalms 119:105 "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Life is a wonderful journey with God as our guide. He covers the earth with His presence and with each step that we take, He goes before us. He makes the crooked ways straight and gives light to our path. He never sleeps, slumbers, or takes vacations. He is with us and will always be with us even until the end of the world. The Lord's hand is not shortened so that He cannot touch us, His ears are not deaf to our voices, and His eyes are not dim to see the things that surround us. He knows everything about the road that we are taking and He also knows what lies ahead. We want to know what the future holds and desire that our way be flooded with light. Yet, even though God may give us a glimpse into the future, He most often gives us a lamp that only sheds light to our feet and to the next few steps that we are to take. He speaks into our lives and illuminates our spirits through His Word. He leads us down the pathway one step at a time, gently taking us through valleys and strengthening us as we push our way up the mountains. The Lord is there speaking to us when we must cross the rivers or the dry barren deserts. He is in our midst when things are calm and is also there when the storms of life are raging about us. God has a Word for every season of our lives. He carries our burdens, shares our sorrows, and His love and compassions never end. He laughs with us and cries with us. The Lord also celebrates when we celebrate, and He hurts when we hurt. He meets us at our present moment and gives us encouragement and hope in our journey. A few years ago, I had to make a crucial decision that would affect the rest of my life. It was the hardest decision that I ever faced and it took months for me to come to a final conclusion. I sought the Lord, I followed His Spirit of peace, and I walked in all the light that I had at the time. God's light seemed to be a small circle around me and I could see nothing outside of the circumference of that circle because of the darkness that surrounded me. I had God's answer, but I could not see the end results. It was a very sad time because I did not know what the future held or if I would ever find joy again. After the decision was final and my commitment was made, the enemy began to sow doubt in my mind. He tormented me with thoughts in an effort to draw me back to his plan. Yet, God is always faithful and gives light within our being. As I sought the Lord, He reminded me of the light that He had shown within my heart when I was making my decision. His light had guided me through the darkest hours of my life and His Word had been my lamp. He had spoken to me through His Word and the devil was simply trying to put that light out with doubt and confusion. When I realized what was happening, faith arose within my heart and the peace of God assured me that I was going in the right direction. I returned to His place of light. The circumstances had not changed but I disallowed the breath of Satan to blow out the light. I continued to walk in the light that I had experienced when I sought for God's answer. I set my heart to believe God and trust His Word and promises although I could not see their fulfillment at the time. Years later, I know that I made the right decision. I wonder now how it could have been so hard for me at the time. I also wondered how I ever allowed myself to doubt to take the reins of my heart. Yet, I have come to realize that there are dark shadows in every valley of decision. The harder the decision, the darker the shadows. Out of my experience, I want to encourage you to lean upon God as you journey through life. There will be many decisions that you will have to make. In order to make the best choices for your life, you must allow God and His Word to be a lamp to your feet and you must trust in His everlasting light. +++ 4/12/23 WHEN GOD SEES THE BOW Scripture: Genesis 9:13 "I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the Earth." A rainbow exists opposite of the sun as a result of the sunlight shining through the raindrops or mist in the air. The first rainbow occurred after the flood of Noah's day when God made a promise that He would never again destroy the entire Earth with water. God declared that in the future a rainbow would accompany the clouds. He also said that He would look upon the rainbow and remember this everlasting covenant that He made between Him and every living creature that is upon the earth. Today, a rainbow is still a glorious sight and reminds us of God's covenant with the Earth. The rainbow declares that a storm has not only come but that it has passed and that the danger is over. It speaks of beauty and reminds us that we had nothing to fear because the sun was always behind the clouds. The storms of life can be very frightening in the natural and in the spiritual. In the natural world, there is wind, darkness, and water to contend with. There is the uncertainty of the duration of the storm, the path that it will take, or the destruction that it will leave behind. A spiritual storm can be just as devastating as that of a natural storm. It can be very intimidating as it separates us from the light and surrounds us with darkness. Every imaginable thing can happen because we have no control in either type of storm. Yet, it is in these great storms of life that we learn courage and develop faith for the future. In the midst of the wind, you discover an assurance in your trust in God that you never knew existed in your soul. When the waters are raging around you, you come to understand that His covering over you is complete and that He is all you need. In the darkness, you find that God’s light is always there. Though hidden for a season, it never disappears or fades away. And you also experience of the glory of the rainbow, the reminder of God’s everlasting covenant with you. Often, we focus on the storm that hit our lives rather than rejoicing in the things that it taught us. There were many positive results of the storm that left us with a different kind of beauty. A fresh rainbow with its various rays of color has unexpectedly appeared in our lives. It is a phenomenon that we cannot explain. Yet, it is something that all Earth can rejoice in because those about us are able to see the change that the storm has brought within us. The new colors in our lives could not have been produced without the struggle of the wind, rain, and darkness. The greater the storm the more vibrant our new colors. The greater the conflict, the greater our victory. The new inner strength in knowing that God has seen us through the storm has created a firmer confidence in Him. So never be anxious about the impending storm but always remember that God has set a bow in the clouds that surround you. You have nothing to fear because God is watching the storm and He will remember His covenant with you. The Lord will not forsake you. He will deliver you and paint a rainbow in your life that you cannot easily forget. +++ 4/13/23 DOERS OF THE WORD Scripture: James 1:22 "Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." A cartoon showed an elderly couple sitting at a counter in a diner. The gentlemen spoke to his wife and made mention of the older couple who were sitting at the other end of the counter. With a hint of criticism, he told his wife, "That's probably what you and I will look like in about ten years or so." She responded to him saying, "You do realize that's a mirror at the end of the counter, don't you?" The man could not see himself as he really was and truly thought that he was in much better shape than the reflection that was peering back at him. Little did he realize that his age and everything that comes with aging had caught up with him, even his poor eyesight. Many times we are like this gentleman and do not see ourselves as we really are spiritually. We cannot see the lack that has occurred in our soul because it has come upon us so gradually. We have become lukewarm in our spirits, and as we look at others, our criticisms define our own deficiencies. Even though we faithfully attend church and read the Word, the Apostle James tells us there is more. He said we must not only hear the Word, we must also be doers of the Word. In verse twenty-seven, James expounds on this subject and defines true religion by saying that it is to "visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and to keep yourself unspotted from the world." He said that if we are only religious and are not doing the Word or taking care of these matters, we are deceiving ourselves and our religion is vain. James declares that we are like a man who looks at himself in a mirror, but goes away and forgets what he has seen. If the woman in the story above had not corrected her husband, he would have continued his life with a wrong assumption of his current state. He needed someone to point out the errors of his thinking. So, it is with us. As we look into ourselves, we need God to enlighten the eyes of our understanding and help us to know what areas we need to change. God is very eager to help us, for we are the body of Christ. It is Christ within us that is the hope of God's glory on the Earth and He wants us to be useful in His Kingdom. We are His hands to help, His ears to listen, His eyes to help guide, and we are His shoulder for others to lean upon. As we start each new day with our devotionals and Bible study, let us be reminded that we are to freely share what we have freely received. Then let us ask God to lead us to those who need His help so that we can become not only hearers of His Word but also doers of His Word. +++ 4/14/23 GOD IS FAITHFUL Scripture: Deuteronomy 7:9 "Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandment to a thousand generations." God is always faithful to keep His Word. When He tells you to do something or go somewhere, He waits for your obedience to carry out His instructions. As you move in that direction, He makes the crooked way straight and opens the path before you. He leads you through green pastures and beside still waters. He provides every need for the journey and anoints you for the mission. He never fails to honor His covenant but He also does not do anything on your behalf until you step out in faith. Obeying God's voice and following His commands may not always be easy, but it will always be possible. God may not share His master plan with you or accomplish it in the same manner as He did in the past, for God is creative. His ideas are fresh and He is big on doing new things. His ways are past finding out. If God tells you to go to the other side of the lake, His presence will go before you. He may calm the waters so that your ship can cross the lake safely like He did with His Disciples or He may roll back the water and allow you to cross on dry ground like He did with Moses and the children of Israel. Then again, He may cause you to walk on the water. You just need to be ready to flow with His plan. Arthur Blessitt, the gentleman that walked across this nation and many others carrying a large cross, made this statement about obedience to God. He said: "If God says to do something or go somewhere... I get on a plane. If there is no plane - I get on a train. If there is no train - I get on a bus. If there is no bus - I walk. If I can't walk - I just fall in that direction! In the walk of faith, you will find that God does not act until you move. He does not dry up the sea until your feet touch the water. He will not calm the storm unless you are making your way across the lake. And you will never walk on the water in faith if you do not get out of the boat. You must never allow doubt to pollute your faith. Instead, you must act on God's Word. "Whatever He says unto you, do it" (John 2:5). The Lord is God, He is faithful, and He will keep His Word. +++ 4/17/23 REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE Scripture: Luke 17:32 "Remember Lot's wife." Jesus warned His Disciples as He emphasized the importance of being prepared and ready to leave everything. When He spoke these words, He was referring to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which was a city that God destroyed with fire and brimstone because of its wickedness. Before God destroyed it, He shared His intentions with His faithful servant, Abraham who pleaded with God not to destroy the righteous with the wicked. Because of Abraham's intercession, God spared Lot, Lot’s wife, and their two daughters. However, when the angels came to deliver Lot and his family, Lot lingered (Genesis 19:16). Yet, God is merciful and even though Lot hesitated, God remained committed to His covenant. The angels came and physically took Lot and his family out of the city and gave them instructions, "Escape for your life, and don't look back." The angels did all that they could do and took Lot and his family as far as they could. It was now up to Lot and his family to heed the words that were spoken to them. Genesis 19:26 records a very sad ending, "But Lot's wife looked back from behind him: and she became a pillar of salt." Lot's wife had difficulty letting everything go and leaving it all behind. Her heart was still in Sodom and Gomorrah. Instead of fleeing for her life with her husband and daughters, she trailed further and further behind until the effects from the destruction of the city finally reached her. She was incased in salt and became a pillar of bitter remembrance instead of a testimony of deliverance. Like Lot's wife, you may have people, situations, and memories that you need to walk away from. Regardless of the pain and abuse that you may have suffered in the past or the temptation that is now pulling at your soul, God wants you to walk away from all of it. As you leave it behind, God will work His deliverance in your life. He will make a way of escape for you, free you from bondage, and give you a new start. But the Lord can only take you so far. Each hesitating step hinders God's work. As He instructs you to "Escape for your life, and don't look back," you must make the choice not to dwell on the past and all of its hurts or give in to the present schemes of the devil. God has good plans for you, so focus on the future. Become a testimony of the Lord's deliverance rather than a pillar of bitter remembrance. +++ 4/18/23 HIDING GOD'S WORD IN MY HEART Scripture: Psalms 119:11 "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee." The Word of God is a powerful weapon against the devil and is called the Sword of the Spirit. It provides a great advantage over the enemy who comes against our soul who is the father of lies and has no strength against the Spirit of Truth. Satan has no choice but to flee when we resist him with the Word of God because he knows that the sacred Words of God never return void to God. They always accomplish what God sends them forth to do. When God speaks light, darkness must flee. When He speaks love, anger and hatred fade away. When He speaks joy, mourning is turned into gladness, and when the Lord speaks comfort, loneliness is forgotten. Even the physical storms of life obey God's Words and dissipate when He speaks peace to them. God's Words are Spirit, and they are Life. They bring hope into every situation and are more precious than silver or gold. His Word has been tried in the furnaces of fire and proven to be faithful in every situation. We know that Jesus took time to hide the Word of God in His heart. From His youth, He listened and gave heed to the doctors and elders in the temple. Jesus memorized the Word of God and when the devil came to tempt Him, He simply drew from the treasure that was within His heart. With every temptation, Jesus responded with a scripture. God's Word was His confidence in the day of battle and kept Him from sinning against God and jeopardizing His own divine destiny. If Jesus felt that it was important to hide God's Word in His heart and found it to be a tremendous help against the devil, we should spend more time and effort in trying to understand and memorize God's Word for ourselves. The devil will tell us that it is impossible to memorize the Word and makes it sound like an overwhelming mental challenge, but it is so simple. We do not have to memorize entire books or chapters of the Bible at one time. Instead, we can start with one scripture verse a day. If we learned one verse a day, we could memorize 365 scripture verses a year. Isn't that an amazing thought? The challenge of memorizing one scripture a day or 365 scriptures a year is within our reach. I encourage you today to begin by reading one chapter a day from the book of Proverbs. There are thirty-one chapters in the book of Proverbs, which is one chapter for every day. Read the first chapter on the first day and then follow through reading the other chapters until you complete the month. As you read, meditate on one verse that captures your heart. Memorize that verse and hide it within your heart as a precious treasure. Each day, review what you have memorized the day before. Let this process become a habit in your daily life. You will later find that the precious words that you have hidden in your heart have become the words that will keep you from sinning against God in the time of your temptation or help you make it through life’s battles and storms. +++ 4/19/23 CHISELED BY TRIAL Scripture: Proverbs 11:2 (Amplified) "When swelling and pride come, then emptiness and shame come also; but with the humble - those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by trial and renounced self - there is skillful and Godly Wisdom and soundness." A famous sculptor once said that when he begins to work, he does not see a "large mound of nothing." Instead, he envisions a definite form within the material that he is working with. He then chisels away the excess little by little until the desired image manifests itself. Do you remember when you were young and thought that you had the answers to all of life's questions? You had life so completely figured out that you made confident statements about how you would handle your affairs. Your children would be perfect and would never act like other children. You would live at the top of the world and never struggle like your parents did. You would certainly never get out of shape physically. The pride of youth swelled within your heart because you thought you were in total control of life. However, along the way, things began to change and you discovered that you were not quite as smart as you thought you were. You began to face the same problems with your children, finances, and health as those whom you had criticized. When the responsibility became yours, you found that life was not as easy as you had thought. It seemed that you could not get ahead because you were facing one trial after another, each bringing you into another place of emptiness or shame. You could feel the blows of the sculptor's chisel as it continually brought you to a lower state. As the chisel cut into your very being, you wondered if God had totally forgotten you. Please know that God has not forgotten you or forsaken you. He is simply in the process of changing you and bringing you to the conclusion that He is smarter than you are. His ways are higher than your ways. Like the sculptor, the Lord does not see a 'large mound of nothing" when He looks at you. He sees His image inside of you and wants that image to be manifested to the world. Thus, God takes the trials that the enemy means for evil and then by special design He uses each one to chisel away the pride and other impurities that are within your heart and soul. Each blow of the chisel causes you to renounce something of self and release that portion to God. As you humble yourself and surrender all that you are ... to become all that He wants you to be, He forms you into the image that He has designed. He then fills you with skillful and Godly wisdom. +++ 4/20/23 BY FAITH Scripture: Hebrews 11:8 "By faith Abraham when he was called to go out ... went out not knowing where he was going." There are two sides of faith. There is believing and then there is taking action on what is believed. Faith is never fully realized until there is action, for "faith without works is dead" (James 2:17). When God wanted to create, He did not just believe it to happen. Instead, He spoke words in faith and His verbal actions caused the worlds to come into existence. In every instance where Jesus wanted to heal, deliver, or redeem mankind from sin, He took some sort of action. He prayed, He spoke words of deliverance, and even gave up His own life on the cross. Both the Father and the Son's faith were proven by their actions and there were everlasting results. Abraham believed God when God called him to leave his country and kindred and to go to a land that God would show him. It was a land where God was going to bless Abraham and make him a blessing on the Earth. Yet, Abraham could not just believe. He had to get up and leave. Abraham had no idea where he was going or how long it would take to get there. He also did not know the challenges or battles that would come up along the way, but he faithfully followed God and his faith was counted unto him as righteousness. Like Abraham's life, our own lives will not reach their intended destiny or fulfill their purposes by accident. There must be an action on our part for us to be able to accomplish our visions. We can hold big dreams and enormous visions in our heart, but until we act upon them in obedience, they will remain dormant. Sadly, many times we fail to follow through with actions because we are unsure of the future. Thus our hopes and dreams never come to pass. Look at the important events in your life and you will realize that you had to leave your present place and be somewhere else at a particular time for that event to come into being. You had to accept an invitation to meet that special person who changed your life. You had to go on that certain interview to obtain the job that became your lifetime profession. You had to respond to a call from God to enter the ministry or go to the foreign mission field. You had to reach out in faith to win a soul to Christ or pray a prayer over the sick for them to be healed and delivered. In every case, it was a journey of faith and you had to be at a certain juncture to complete God's will for your life. God is calling you. His call may be a simple request or a life changing demand upon your life. Your faith may be challenged as you stare into an unknown future like Abraham did. You may have no idea where the path will take you but you can rest assured that God will not send you forth without going before you. His Word will speak to you and His Spirit will guide you every step of the way. Trust God and believe to receive Abraham's promise for your own life. Follow God as He leads you out. He will bless you and also cause you to be a blessing in all the Earth. +++ 4/21/23 A BREATH AWAY Scripture: Genesis 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." God formed man from the dust of the ground and endowed him with everything that he needed to be able to live and function as a normal being on this earth. Yet, it was only when God breathed His supernatural breath into man that man actually became a living soul. The simple breath of God is full of life and power and when He breathes upon anything, it is eternally changed. Even the dry bones came alive in Ezekiel's vision as the winds of God breathed upon them (Ezekiel 37). Nothing is impossible with God. When God passes by His glory follows Him, and when He speaks everything within the sound of His voice obeys. That includes the Earth, the Heavens, and the entire universe. At His Word, darkness becomes light, the seas roll back like a scroll, and the storms cease. With His Word, He sent manna from Heaven to feed the millions of Israelites as they journeyed through the wilderness and caused water to come from a rock to quench their thirst. When the breath of His Words go forth, the dead rise, the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear. His mere presence protects those who trust in Him. He stops the mouths of the lions and disallows the fire to consume those in the fiery furnace. No weapon formed against His mighty Words can prosper because the breath of God has no limitation. As you think about these thoughts, ask God to breathe upon your situations that seem dead or hopeless. His breath will give your circumstances new life and hope. He has promised to perfect those things that concern you, regardless of what they are. He has said that you could cast every care upon Him. Casting your care upon Him means that you have to let go of it and allow it to leave your hands. He has promised to receive your burden and take care of your needs. He will breathe provision into your financial situation, hope into your relationships, health into your body, and life into your spirit. Trust the Lord to resurrect and restore all things that concern you. He is the creator and almighty God. You can depend upon Him, and He is only a breath away. +++ 4/24/23 THE CHALLENGED WORD Scripture: Luke 8:12 "…then comes the devil and takes away the Word out of their hearts." Jesus told a parable to His Disciples to explain in the natural what happens in the spiritual realm. He said the Word of God is like a seed and our heart is like the soil in which the seed is planted. When the seed is sown, the devil comes immediately and attempts to steal it from our heart. If our heart absorbs the seed, the devil then tries to destroy its fruit through other means. The devil will bring persecutions, the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things to choke out the seed of God's Word. The devil is vehemently against the Word of God because he knows that it is full of power, for it will not return to God void, but will accomplish what He sent it forth to do (Isaiah 55:11). The greatest of saints were challenged in their belief in the Word. The Apostle Peter had a wonderful revelation that Jesus was the Son of God. This revelation was so great that Jesus told Peter that He would build His church upon it. Later, Jesus warned Peter that the devil was going to sift him as wheat to try to destroy Peter's faith. When Peter was challenged, he declared that he did not know Jesus and even denied that he was one of Jesus' Disciples, but his faith prevailed, and his witness became even stronger. Joseph was given a Word from God in a dream but faced many challenges. The seed that had been planted inside of Joseph's heart had to endure being separated from his father, the rejection of his brothers, the pit, the prison, and the temptations of Potiphar's wife. Joseph survived them all and saved a multitude of people. Jesus, Himself, had to protect the Word that God the Father had spoken over Him when He said, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased." The devil challenged Jesus, face to face, in the wilderness in attempt to steal the precious seed by saying, "If You be the Son of God," but Jesus knew who He was and did not fall prey to the evil devises. Jesus declared that it has been given unto us to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a wonderful opportunity, but we decide what kind of harvest we receive by what we do with the Word that God sows into our heart. Matthew 13:8 tells us that our potential to produce fruit from the Word ranges from having no fruit, thirty to sixty-fold fruit, or one-hundred-fold fruit. It will not be any easier for us to receive a harvest than it was for Peter, Joseph, and Jesus. Jesus told us that we must take heed how we hear the Word. We must allow the Holy Spirit to break up the hard ground of our heart so that we can receive the good seed. Then we must guard the garden of our heart where the Word has been planted. The devil will challenge us, but we must rid our lives of anything that would attempt to choke out God's Word and destroy our faith. The fruits of our harvest will depend upon our faithfulness to protect God’s Word that He planted in our heart. +++ 4/25/23 TRUST IN THE POTTER'S HANDS Scripture: Jeremiah 18:4 "And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: So he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it." From the very beginning, the potter had an image in his mind of the vessel that he desired to form. He chose a particular piece of clay, but as he began to work with the clay, it was ruined in his hands. Please note that when the clay became marred or ruined, it was in the hands of the potter. There were several possibilities of why the clay was marred. There may have been air bubbles, hard pieces of unpliable clay, or foreign objects like pebbles that worked their way to the surface as the potter applied pressure to the clay. As the air bubbles or foreign material came to the surface, the potter had to separate them from the clay, which caused void places in the clay. If these void areas had not been dealt with, they would have weakened and destroyed the vessel being created. The clay may have simply refused to yield to the potter's will as it spun around on the wheel. Whatever the case, the marred clay had to be crushed and reworked. Yet, the potter never became discouraged, as he patiently made it into another vessel that seemed good to him. Sometimes we may feel like the crushed clay and wonder, "What's next?" We thought we were on our way to victory and happiness but found that as God forms us, hard areas of pride and things foreign to His perfect plan began to expose themselves in our lives. Our emotions, self-esteem, and our very lives are marred by situations and circumstances beyond our control. We find our hopes and dreams failing. Then, as God begins to separate us from things in our lives, void places appear within us, and we find that we are not as complete as we thought we were. We may even begin to strive with our Maker and question His work, challenging Him as to why we are not like others. Like the scripture in Isaiah 45:9, we may ask the Lord, "What do You think You are making?" Like the potter who knows what he is making with the clay, God knows exactly what He is trying to fashion with our lives. In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, "I know the thoughts or plans I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." From the very beginning, God envisions a plan and a purpose for our life, and He forms and molds us into that destiny. As He forms us, there may be pressures and personal disappointments, but we must remember that we are always in the Potter's hands. These are the same hands that were nailed to the cross. Even though He must mar and crush us in the present, we can trust the nail pierced hands of the Lord to mold us and make us into the vessel that He desires for the future. +++ 4/26/23 PLAIN PATHS Scripture: Psalms 27:11 "Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path." One of the greatest privileges of being a child of God is that we can depend upon the Holy Spirit to lead us in our daily lives. King David leaned upon this knowledge and cried out to the Lord in several of the Psalms, asking for direction. He pleaded with God to lead him in the way of truth and righteousness, not just for his own benefit but also for the sake of the Lord's Name. He understood that his actions were a reflection upon his Heavenly Father and that they either brought honor or dishonor to His Name. For that reason, David prayed that the Lord would teach him His way and lead him in a plain path. Jeremiah 10:23 said, “It is not in the way of man to direct his steps,” and The Prophet Isaiah said, “The Lord God would lead us in the way that we should go” (Isaiah 48:17). Yet, just as hard as we try to follow God's will and complete His purposes, the enemy seeks to divert us through deception and circumstances. As a result, we often fail to stay on the straight and narrow path. Most of the time, it is not a matter of blatant disobedience or rebellion on our part, but that we just miss the still small voice of God. The consequence is that we fail to be in the right place at the right time. And because we are not in the place where God wants us, we are not able to either be the blessing or receive the blessing that He has designed for us. The devil tries to use these places in our lives to bring confusion and discouragement. He knows that if he can cause us to depart from the leading of God's Spirit by just one degree, we will eventually be way off course. Several years ago, I was to follow my husband across town to an unknown destination using separate vehicles. I knew part of the route, but just as we got to the critical point to change directions, my husband suddenly changed lanes and exited the loop we were on. Just as he changed lanes, a large transport truck separated us, and I was forced to continue in the direction that I was going. After the truck passed, I saw my husband enter the interstate highway. He was now on the third rung of the freeway above me and heading East, while I was on the bottom level heading South. Our paths crossed, but he was above me. My heart wanted to panic as I saw him fade into the distance. Because of my limited knowledge of the freeway system, I had been rerouted by circumstances beyond my control. I knew, however, that I could trust my husband, and I had an assurance that he would stop and wait for me. I knew that he was more concerned for me than I was for myself. I turned around and went back to the place that we were separated, made the correct exit, and eventually joined my husband. God knows that we face dilemmas in our spiritual life. He sees our panic and confusion when we realize that we are out of His will because we have been cut off by deception or circumstances. He watches for us to make a deliberate effort to return to Him. Then when we do return, we find Him waiting patiently on the plain path. He is our loving Father who is more concerned about us than we are for ourselves. So, like the psalmist prayed, let us yield ourselves to God and ask Him to teach us His ways and lead us in a plain path. +++ 4/27/23 GIVE NO OPPORTUNITY Scripture: I Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour." Just as we are on guard for our safety in the natural, we must be the same in our spiritual welfare. The Apostle Peter said that we must be sober-minded or well balanced and temperate. We also must be watching for our adversary and cautious at all times, for the devil is like a fierce hungry lion who is ready to devour his prey. He roams about just looking for opportunities. In the natural, if we were to receive a word that a lion or some other danger was lurking in the darkness and waiting for a chance to attack, we would take every precaution to protect ourselves. We would lock our doors and be very vigilant if we went out. Yet many times in the spiritual realm, we leave the door to our hearts wide open without regard to dangers that are near. I used to work in an office that had two doors that had access to the street. I was alone there for as long as eight hours of the day, so I always locked both doors. One day, when it was time to go home, I could not find my keys. I finally discovered that they were still in the lock on the outside of the door. The phone was ringing when I unlocked the door to come in that morning and in my haste, I had shut and locked the door from the inside but had left the keys on the outside. The keys had a large wood carved fish attached to them. They were very visible to anyone who may have wanted to enter, as they dangled in the lock all day. When I thought that I was safe, I had unknowingly left myself unguarded and subject to the opportunity of harm. Life is like that many times. We shut and lock the doors of our hearts on the inside and are unaware that we have left the keys on the outside. We think that we are totally protected but instead, we are vulnerable to spiritual attack. The Apostle Paul told us not to give any opportunity to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). We must guard our hearts above all things and be established in our faith. We cannot harbor sin, hate, jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, or anything that is contrary to God's Word because when we do, we allow it to dangle as keys on the outside of our hearts. These things give opportunity to the devil and are an open invitation for him to come in. We must remember that the devil is a fierce enemy, and we must remain vigilant concerning his strategies. He walks about looking for a chance to devour hearts that are vulnerable. We cannot allow ourselves to be naive or negligent in any area of our lives. We must make sure that when we have shut and locked the doors to our hearts that we are still holding the keys. +++ Copyright © 2023 Mary Padgett Ministries. All Rights Reserved www.widsonline.com |
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