I hope you had a super 4th of July celebrating our freedom with your family and friends.
My mom reminded me on Wednesday that we owe the freedom to celebrate, the freedom to go on a picnic together, the freedom to live in the US to our brave men and women in uniform.
If you or a loved one is serving or has served-THANK YOU!
Our devot. for this weekend is 4th of July themed!
I pray it and the song are a blessing to your weekend!
The devot. for today is a reminder that our country was founded on Biblical principles.
Now, not all who signed the Declaration of Independence were Christians, but many did indeed
believe in God as Lord, Creator and the Divine.
Thomas Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time."
I pray that the resources below are a blessing to your week! I have the devot. from https://www.dayspring.com/ and simple instructions on how to find it (as it's not a Read and Share devot. like I usually send), an interesting article on our Founding Fathers and their religious beliefs and a song to round out of patriotic theme.
I pray you and your have a very blessed week as we celebrate our national freedom and also our freedom in Christ. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, for those who have trusted Him, we can be assured a home in Heaven, be free from enslavement to sin and need not fear hell or the grave.
Jesus said in John 8:36, "If the Son (referring to Himself) therefore shall make you free, (reference is to the spiritual) ye shall be free indeed."
We are continuing our series on "Blessings." This devot. is entitled, "A Prayer of Blessing: Learning to Hear God's Voice."
Do you ever wish that God would use an audible voice to speak to you when you have a decision to make, are uncertain of which direction to go or what would be the most God honoring choice you could make? Or are you like my mom and wish that the Lord would send a little bird down from Heaven with a little note attached saying, "Please do/don't do __________" Signed, The Lord.
You know, we can hear the Lord's voice, not in an audible voice, but He does speak: through His Word, the Bible, though Godly counsel (from folks who have trusted Jesus as Savior, walk with Him daily and you see a changed life, they aren't hypocrites and they follow God's Word closely),
through the doors the Lord opens or closes in your life for your own good (even if they don't seem so at the time.
The order I have given to you is the way you should be listening for His voice.. God never goes against His Word or character and He in incapable of lying (Numbers 23:19), so His Word can be trusted.
I don't know how many times I have been reading God's Word, a verse will capture my attention and I will think, "God is using that verse to speak directly to my heart on a matter.
I needed to hear that today and that know what I am to do based on what God says in this verse." Sometimes it means I need to keep praying about the situation; sometimes it confirms that I am already doing the right thing, or that I shouldn't proceed any further, and instead back away and walk in the opposite direction for my own good.
Sometimes that Scripture verse will come back to my attention through something a godly person will randomly tell me, a sermon I will hear that Sunday or another verse I read that week that is my reminder from God concerning what I felt He already told my heart through His Word.
God will speak to us through His Words, folks, but are we ready to listen?
I pray the devot. is a blessing, encouragement to your heart and that you learn something valuable as you walk with the Lord this week!
The song link I have included has become a favorite of mine and I pray it blesses your heart as it has mine.
I found this devot. in my Inbox and it was another Read and Share devot.
The title reminded me of something someone said this me this morning- that her life (how good it was, the blessings she had) were all because of Jesus, and she wouldn't be able to make it without Him. Amen!
Pray the devot. and song link is a blessing to your weekend!
the devot. on blessing our children/the children/young people in our lives that we can influence for the Lord and also encourages us to pass on our faith, a godly legacy to the next generation.
In we read of an incident in 1 Timothy 1:5 where a mother and grandmother's faith had such an influence in their son's/grandsons' life (Timothy) that he came to faith in Christ himself and became a preacher (2 Timothy 1:5).
Now to clarify, when I say "pass on the faith", I am not applying that a child or young person can go to Heaven by acquiring your faith or just faith. Salvation comes through receiving the Lord Jesus for ourselves, in a personal way, through faith in Him (not ourselves or someone else's faith-Ephesians 2:8-9), not by "osmoses' as my youth pastor said to my youth group when we were teens. Receiving Jesus Christ as Saviour and having a personal faith in Him as to be personal, not acquired through someone's else faith.
But at the same time, if we are walking in a godly manner, following Jesus and reflecting Him,
we can encourage others who have trusted Jesus to do the same.
Paul encouraged young Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."
Again Paul said in Philippians 4:9, "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."
We must not keep our faith in the Lord Jesus to ourselves if the next generation is to make it through life. Pray the devot. blesses and inspires you to live out your faith in front of the young people in your life.
utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DaySpring%20Daily%20Devotion%202018-06-01&utm_term=DaySpring%20Daily%20Devotion (Used by permission. Taken from https://www.dayspring.com/)
This weekend is Father's Day. Father's Day can be a fun, special day for some, but it can also be a very hard day for others (and I want to be sensitive of that). Maybe some of you do not/did not have a positive relationship with your dad. Maybe he wasn't in your life as you were growing up. Or maybe you had an awesome dad and he is no longer living. With these situations in mind, Father's Day may be a day you would rather not think about.
But I want you to remember one important and eternal truth this weekend: When you received the Lord Jesus to save you, God became your Heavenly Father instantaneously! One of my favorite Bible verses is Galatians 3:26, "We are the children of God, through faith in Jesus Christ."
You were adopted into God's family, became one of His children by faith in Him the moment you received Him! John 1:12, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power (the right) to become the sons (children) of God, even to them that believe on his name:"
Romans 8:15, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." When we receive Christ as Savior, He gives a brand new start in life. He adopts us and we can call Him "Daddy" (which is what Abba means).
Psalm 68:5 states "A father of the fatherless, and a judge (He is a defender) of the widows, is God in his holy habitation."
I remember my mom saying to me several times that it was easy for her to trust Christ as Savior and see Him as her Heavenly Father because of how gentle and kind her own father was. But maybe your perception of God isn't this way. Maybe it's hard to trust God in everyday life because of the past.
Numbers 23:19 says of God's character, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" Unlike we who are mortal, imperfect, sinful human beings, God always keeps His promises and His Word, "For all the promises of God in him are yea, (yes!) and in him Amen, (means 'so be it')......." 2 Corinthians 1:2
This weekend reflect on the very real truth that God is your Heavenly Father who is always there for you.
I have several links below that can apply to anyone, not just the guys/dads.
The first link is about a father (or father figure-uncle, brother, grandfather) passing along a godly legacy to the next generation. The 2nd links is some ideas on making Father's Day a good day for dad. Third link is on God as our Father. Fourth link is a song that is timely and the fifth link is a deviation from Father's Day:) Thursday was Flag Day and I wanted to touch on the
