Daily Devotion January 11

January 11


Numbers 6:24-26
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: 
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

What a great blessing for us to pray over each other every day.  When we think of our friends and loved ones, this is really what we want for them each day.  We know that they won't have that peace unless they are in a personal relationship with the Lord.  

When we are blessed by God then we have His favor upon us.  When He keeps us, that is a sign of the closeness that we have with Him.  He wants to draw us near to Him and protect us.  If we are close to God, then we know we will feel His face shining upon us simply because He is the light of the world.  God loves us and wants what is best for us.  He will give us the greatest sense of peace we will ever have.  Ever.

Perhaps we should go back to the old testament and use this blessing as part of of our prayer life every day.  

Daily Devotion January 10

Psalms 9:10

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

It is often the little things that make us realize what a big God we serve.  Just knowing that He is watching over us 24/7 should give us a real sense of peace.  Trust is something that I have always wrestled with when it came to dealing with other people.  But with God, there is no fear in trusting Him.  We've talked before about how He promises to never forsake us or leave us.  However, I just want to bring to mind some little things that may have occurred that proved that He is with us, even when we aren't thinking about it.

Have you ever got ready to go somewhere and then couldn't find your keys?  After 15 minutes or so you located them and got on your way.  Down the road a bit you come upon a wreck and realized that had you left when you planned that you'd have been in the middle of it?  Or have you ever lost something really important to you and just as you were about to give up hope, there is was?  Those times were not coincidence.  It was all God.  I can't tell you how many times in my life that God saved me from something or showed me something or helped me along the way.  I imagine you can say the same thing, too.

As you go through your day(s) be aware of those small things that God does because we put our trust in Him.  The good news is:  If God says he will do or not do something, you can rest assured it is truth!!

Daily Devotion January 9

Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

I spend a lot of time with little ones and what I hear often come out of their mouths is "I want."  I am afraid that quite often we are like them--always looking for something better, something more, I want this or that.  Sometimes we get really serious and say but "I NEED it!"  The truth is we have so much in our lives already that we should feel guilty to often ask for more.  I don't think this is something that only I have to deal with; I think many of us face this same issue.

God promised to provide us with food and clothing.  He didn't say we would eat the finest food or wear the newest clothing.  I have often repeated one of my seminary teachers who said "God promised to meet our needs.  But not our greeds."  I think this is something for us all to remember.

Whatever God provides for us at any time is what we need right then.  But even better than knowing that is the knowledge that He promises to NEVER leave us.  He says He will be with us no matter what.  All we have to do is bask in the light of this promise.  

Today, as we look online or see ads on the TV or in magazines, before we say, "Oh, I want that!" think about what you already have and therein be content.  I work on this daily.  If you pray for me, I will pray for you!!

Daily Devotion January 8

Isaiah 26:3

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Keeping our mind focused on God is one of the most important things we can do.  Sometimes in the midst of our very busy everyday lives, we find our mind more concerned with worldly things.  And while it is important that we do our jobs and meet our daily demands, we need to be careful not to become so consumed that we push God aside.  It is interesting to note that the more we stay focused on God the more peace we have in our minds and hearts.

Trust is not always easy for some of us.  However, the more we keep our trust in Him, the more peace we can feel.  I don’t know about you, but peace is something that I love to have.  So today let us each keep our mind on Him and rejoice in His peace!!

Daily Devotion for January 7

January 7

Proverbs 16:24

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”

We live in such a negative world.  Turn on the news—all negative.  Listen to people talk—more negative than positive.  Even among Christians we often hear more grumbling than we do praising.  We shouldn’t be that way.  We read in Proverbs that pleasant words (positive, encouraging, etc.) are sweet to the soul and health to the bones.

Have you ever noticed that when you are around a negative person that you leave feeling bad or depressed even if you were in a good mood when the conversation started?   We need to be careful that we are not the one who brings everybody else down.  When we speak words of affirmation; words that are uplifting, words of encouragement or just silly things, we contribute not only to the health of ourselves but the health of others also.

As you go through the day today, think on your words and let them be sweet as honey.

Daily Devotional for January 6

 January 6

Matthew 26:41

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

I recently heard that research shows most people break their New Year’s resolution by January 12, so today is about halfway to that breaking point.  Some never make it through the second day.  The truth is, for most of us, we think we can do whatever we set out to do but sheer willpower but that is not the case.  

Jesus had taken 3 of His disciples to watch and pray with Him at Gethsemane.  When He returned to them, he found them sleeping not just once but twice.  It was after the first time that He said verse 41 to them.  We sometimes think that these 3 men were slackers.  I mean, really, how could they not stay awake for Jesus?  However, Jesus knew why—their flesh was weak.

What about us?  How often have we felt in our spirit what we needed to do, yet our flesh just couldn’t see it through?  The flesh IS weak.  Rest assured that Satan will use every temptation, every opportunity, every little crack he can see to try to get us to do his will instead of the will of Our Father.  So, let us each take care today that we do not allow the flesh to take over and that we focus on doing what God would have us to do.

Daily Devotion January 5

January 5

Matthew 17:20 

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

What is your mountain that you need moved today?  Jesus said all we have to do is have faith that it will be removed and it will happen.  Most of us don’t need a physical mountain moved from one place to another, but we all have emotional or spiritual mountains in our lives.  According to Jesus, it only takes a small amount of faith, yet we often fail in even that small amount.  Believing that God not only can, but also will, move our mountains should offer a sense of comfort to each of us.  When you think back over your life I am sure there were times when you thought you would never survive a situation, but now you see that God was there all the time and took you through it.  The same is true for whatever mountain we are facing today.

God not only has the ability to help us in those trying situations, but He want to help us.  Today, have the faith that God can move whatever mountain is in your way and trust Him to provide whatever strength you need.