Mountains Move!!!

Everyday, God's grace and faithfulness amazes me more and more!!! When we think things are impossible... He shows us just how possible HE can make things!


I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt... you can say to this mountain "Go and throw yourself into the sea," and it will be done.
Matthew 21:21

When you place your faith, your trust, indeed your life in the hands of Christ Jesus, you'll be amazed at the marvelous things He can do with you and through you; so trust God's plans. With Him, all things are possible, and He stands ready to open a world of possibilities to you... if you have faith.

Remember, no matter how big your challenge, God is bigger. Just place your faith in Him, and then, with no further ado, let the mountain-moving begin!!!

Prayer

Dear Lord, Your faithfulness is complete and perfect. Even when I am not sure where You are leading me, I know that Your son has died for my sins, and I know that I am protected. Great is Your faithfulness, Lord!!! Help me to be faithful to You, today, tomorrow, and every day of my life. Amen

Live Purposefully

After this week of revival at church, I am praying that I will continue to have true revival in my life. This has been such an awesome week!!! I know that the only way I can continue in this spirit and way of life, is to continuously seek God and to seek His desires and purposes for my life... I MUST die to me and let HIM have complete control!

I hope you enjoy this devotion as much as I did:

Life is best lived on purpose. And purpose, like everything else in the univers, begins in the heart of God. Whether you realize it or not, God has a direction for you life, a divine calling, a path along which He intends to lead you. When you welcome God into your heart and establish a genuine relationship with Him, He will begin - and He will continue - to make His purpose known.

Each morning, as the sun rises in the east, you welcome a new day, one tht is filled to the brim with opportunities, with possibilities, and with God. As you contemplate God's blessings in your own life, you should prayerfully seek His guidance for the day ahead.
Discovering God's unfolding purpose for your life is a daily journey, a journey guided by the teachings of God's Holy Word. As you reflect upon God's promises and upon the meaning that those promises hold for you, ask God to lead you throughout the coming day. Let your Heavenly Father direct your steps; concentrate on what God wants you to do now, and leave the distant future in hands that are far more capable than your own: His Hands.

Sometimes, God's intentions will be clear to you; other times, God's plan will seem uncertain at best. But even on those difficult days when you are unsure which way to turn, you must never lose sight of these overriding facts: God created you for a reason; He has important work for you to do; and He's waiting patiently for you to do it. So why not begin today?

When we realize and embrace the Lord's will for us, we will love to do it. We won't want to do anything else. It's a passion. Franklin Graham

You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

A Prayer

Dear Lord,
Let Your purposes be my purposes. Let Your priorities be my priorities. Let Your will be my will. Let Your Word be my guide. And, let me grow in faith and in wisdom, today and every day.
Amen

A Woman's Tears

This was sent to me as an e-mail. I have received it before, but it has been awhile. I don't think anything sums up a mother's feelings and being better than this:


A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman," she told him. "I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will." Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?" "All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say. The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, "God, why do women cry so easily?" God said: "When I made the woman she had to be special." "I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort." "I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children." "I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining." "I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly." ""I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. "I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly." "And finally, I gave her a tear to shed." "This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed." "That tear holds more then men could understand."

" If a man was to shed her tear it would look enormous."

"For a woman's tear is full of unconditional love, power, sacrifice, beauty, pain, and compassion."

"All ten fold of what a Man is able to feel."

"And that is, my son, why I made her as close to being Supernatural."

"She's my gift to the world she's an Angel on Earth. "
"Love her and praise her for there will be no other here on Earth that will Love you like I do than your Mother.""You see my son," said God, "The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair." The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."

I LOVE todays verse!!!  I have gone to  this verse so many times it is not even funny! I constantly lose my glasses, keys... you get the picture.  When I slow down and depend on someone else besides me, He always comes through.  He's always there, just waiting on me to ask for His help for the small things as well as the big things in my life!!!  Thank You Lord!!!

Today's Truth
"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6 NIV)

Friend To Friend
I memorized today's verse as a little girl in Christian school. However, as is typical of God's Word, the meaning of the verse deepens each time God applies it to my life. Just two weeks ago, God reminded me again how much He really does care.

Rushing around on last minute errands prior to a trip, I needed to drop a pre-packaged delivery envelope into the nearest UPS collection box. To my dismay, the receptacle I drove to was a FedEx drop box instead.  As I kept driving, my mind tried - without success - to come up with the next closest UPS box.

This problem may not rank high on your personal list of frustrations, but that particular day's schedule and my patience were seriously overloaded. Crying out to God, I asked what to do. In the very next second, I passed a convenience store where a big, brown UPS truck sat idling in the parking lot. The driver congenially accepted my parcel, and I pulled away humbly worshipping the God who cares about the tiniest details of our lives.

Just twenty-four hours later, I approached my travel destination only to find my directions slightly amiss. Deciding to pull off onto a quiet side street to check the map, I began making the corner and immediately knew something was seriously wrong with the car. Carefully guiding the car to the curb, I parked and got out to investigate the problem.

Imagine my shock when I noticed a rear wheel was coming off of the car! The five lug nuts normally holding it onto the car were completely missing. Lying on the pavement behind the car, I could see from underneath a separation between the wheel and axel. My mind whirled with the possible scenarios. Just ten minutes before, I had been driving fast in thick traffic on the Interstate. Worship again flooded my soul as I knelt before the Lord and thanked Him for taking such good care of me.

While the world chants: "Don't worry, be happy," we Christians should practice a much more appropriate principle: "Don't worry, God cares!" God knows and God really does care about the little and large things that touch our lives.

Let's Pray 
Lord, thank You for caring about every single detail of my life and for taking care of them all. Help me to trust You more and turn to You more quickly for help in every situation. In Jesus' Name, Amen

Now It's Your Turn

1. How has God taken care of you this past week? 
2. Read 1 Peter 5:6-11. Who is trying to rob you of joy (vs. 8)? Describe the picture the verse creates in your mind. You can resist him by humbly asking God for help (vs. 6) and worshipping God (vs. 13). 
3. Make a list of the troubling situations in your life. Read Philippians 4:6-7 and follow the directions. Enjoy the resulting peace!  

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Just a little something that all of us should remember... we are perfect in His eyes, just the way he made us!!!

October 15, 2008
I am God's Workmanship
Sharon Jaynes

Today's Truth
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10 NIV)

Friend to Friend
When my son was in elementary school, he created some works of art that had a striking resemblance to that of the world-renowned artist, Picasso.  However, Picasso's paintings are worth millions of dollars and my son's are only valuable to me.  What makes a work of art valuable?  Its value is based on the artist who created it.  You, dear friend, are a piece of art created by God Himself.  King David described it this way:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16).

A woman was and is one of God's most magnificent creations.  In fact, she was His grand finale.  After He fashioned Eve, creation was complete and He took a rest!   God has placed in our hearts a love for beauty and a desire to be beautiful. Let's go back to the beginning of time and reflect on our magnificent beginnings.

 After God created the sun, moon, stars, earth, waters, creeping and flying animals, he created man.  But something was missing.  For Adam there was no creature suitable for him.  This is the only time God said any aspect of His creation was "not good."  He said, "It is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18).

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.  And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.  And the man said, "This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." (Genesis 2:21-24 NASB)

While God created the world and all it contains, He did something a little special when He made woman.  The NASB translation says He fashioned Eve.  He didn't simply make you -- He fashioned you with extra special care and meticulous detail.  You are a thing of beauty, a sight to behold, and one of His most spectacular masterpieces - a work of art, a valuable original, a one of a kind.

Let's Pray
Dear Lord, Thank You that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Forgive me when I complain about Your masterpiece -- my nose, my hips, my complexion, etc. I praise You for the intricacies of the human body.  The fact that my heart beats without my telling it to, my lungs inhale and exhale without my instruction, and my reflexes react automatically.  Yes, I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen