And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments;

this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning,

so that you should walk in it.

2 John 1:6

The costs of disobedience are always higher than the benefits of pushing through a closed door.

If the Lord has sealed off an opportunity or path,  it’s for your protection. The right response is to wait patiently and be faithful in your current situation.  In time, He’ll either open the doors or windows,  or redirect you to the path that leads to His will for His purpose.

When we give ourselves fully to the LORD we are entrusting Him with our  decisions and therefore allowing full control in our lives.  When we yield to the Holy Spirit we are saying, “Lord I am Yours and I know that You only want what’s best for me. Insomuch, I turn my life over to You and know that You reign now and always.”

As we read the Bible and grow in His word and Spirit…we are becoming smaller as He is getting Bigger in us.  We are allowing the Spirit to be nourished and thereby substantially growth will happen each day in our practice of obedience and love towards our Father.

When we leave Him out of the equation of our circumstances and choices…we are not depending on Him to guide us, lead us, inform us…and touch us deeply with His capacity of Sovereign and Supernatural Power.  The ability to let Him take control of our lives is a submission of yielding to His will and being obedient in the Word.

Meditate, pray…talk to Him.

Seek His face daily.

Spend time with Him alone.

Download His word into your spirit.

Trust in Him fully.

Make all supplication to Him.

Praise Him daily.

And, most of all…love Him with all of your heart, mind, body and soul.  And, know that He alone is LORD!

Amen~

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs3:5-6 NKJV

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (KJV)

11 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT)

Jesus Christ breathes “LIFE” into us. 

He is the God of lights…and life.  He encourages us.  He doesn’t minister fear or anguish.  When we follow Him and embrace Him and engraft His word in all that we do…we are walking in His ways and therefore able to encourage and uplift one another in His word and love.

Follow God…not man.

We are to encourage each other and bring His light into lives where we can…in Jesus name.

When we encourage and uplift we are proclaiming His glory and being a witness to His Sovereign Power and grace.

As Christians…we are to always have the bread of life in your homes.

We are to put the Gospel Armor on in place.  What is the purpose of that armor?  To stand against the fiery darts of the enemy, who seeks to destroy us.

When you have on the Gospel Armor you will be blessed and protected.

Partaking in encouragement of one another is one of the ways in which we show His glory while wearing the Gospel Armor.

Show your fruits by being in alignment with His will and doctrine.  When we shine His light it becomes an example and those who see it will wonder, “how do I feel that way?  How can I accomplish peace?”  Then the seeds and fruit will grow and those who seek His face will prosper and be blessed.

Today encourage someone along the way.  Give your heart as an example of His heart….a heart filled with love for all of His children.

Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and strength to do all according to His will while being a vessel of compliance for His purpose.

And, remember that “Faith comes by hearing the Word of the LORD” — so listen, hear and speak His word each and everyday of your life thereby assuring your ticket to Eternity and ripe rewards of the afterlife.

But, for now…here on earth, we still have work to do in His name.

Amen!

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Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God

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 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 

do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 

Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 

For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness,[f] if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 

And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 

For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

11:16-24 Romans

3 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God![a] Therefore the world does not know us,[b] because it did not know Him.

2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

1 John 3:1-3 (NKJV)

Father, Your love and magnificence amaze me.

Each day as the sun wakes and bathes the earth with its warmth comes yet another miracle in which You are whom You are.  You are in each and every moment of life and nature and love.

You hear our prayers.

You answer them according to Your will.

You are generous in applying provisions.

You are ever mindful of our needs and desires.

And, You know us best of all…and love us no matter what.

Our Father is worthy to be praised.

Shout and Praise Him!

Today I give thanks to the LORD for bringing my ninety-one year old cousin through a very serious surgery!

Thank You Lord!

Today I give thanks to the LORD for a diagnostic test that went exceedingly well!

Thank You LORD!

And I just want to give thanks to the LORD…because He is who He is!

There have been times where things didn’t turn out as I thought they would.  But, I gave Him glory and gave Him thanks.

Because…He knows things that we don’t and when things don’t turn out the way we thought or wanted, it’s for a reason.  A reason that we might not understand at that particular time…but one in which was according to His plan.

And, God’s plans are always the best plans…and there is always a “hidden rainbow” that will come out in time.  I know…because I’ve experienced it many times myself, or through friends, family and individuals.  And, from my past patients in the nursing home.  I’ve witnessed His glory over and over and over.

Look around and notice our Father in all that you do.  And then give Him thanks…no matter what…no matter the outcome…give Him thanks.

He gets all the glory, honor and praise.

And He gets the victory…always!  Amen!

 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 

1 John 3:24

Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.

Matthew 6:8 KJV

There are times while sitting quietly in my room just needing to be in the presence of the LORD without uttering a word or thought not realizing that I’m in need of anything other than His Spirit.

However, even in the quiet and still moments of my life, He is ever aware of my needs.  He as the scripture above brings to mind, knows what I am in need of before I am even aware of what it is.  Hence, when we pray…we may not have the answer we are expecting because it isn’t necessarily what we NEED, but it is what we “want.”  Our Father knows us so well…

When we contemplate things of past present and future, there is a fine line of repetition that will invariably scan across the landscape of our hearts…which is… “God’s hands of grace” and “His love” that enable us to be all that we are in His name.

As we honor Him and give Him glory and stay focused on HIM and all things above, we undoubtedly become soldiers of importance in His powerful and royal army.  We are able to sustain and uphold up things of which we encounter during the day, evening and wee hours of the morning, that is to say…each second of our lives.

Magnify His name as we go through out day…giving Him all the glory and honor always! 

Oh how sweet His love!

When we grasp the enormous meaning of the scripture above in Matthew 6:8…it should, and WILL bring a sudden and explicable feeling of JOY!

Serving Him.

Honoring Him.

Enjoying Him.

Going to Him for anything and everything.

Oh…Joy!

When we have finished our lives here on earth and enter into His Eternal Kingdom, what greater joy and reward than Our Father embracing us, welcoming us home, and saying, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant...”  Amen and Amen.   (Matthew 25:21)

He careth for you.  

1 Peter 5:7 

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The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD. 

Acts 3:19

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For we unto God a sweeet savour of Christ  1

1 Corinthians 2:15 

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“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” Psalm 84:1-2

Jesus walked off to spend time with His Father in prayer during His ministry on earth, many times during the day…and evening hours.  In fact, He had to replenish Himself with  prayer in order to be able to do His acts of healing and preaching.  He needed to immerse Himself in prayer, and commune with the Father to be able to fulfill that which was required of Him.

O’ Father…I give You my heart.

We should follow Jesus’ example for many things…but especially in prayer to the Father.  We all need to get away from the “world” in order to connect and speak from the heart to our Father.  He alone will provide the solid nourishment we need in order to survive, and will bring us His “breath of life” which is to say…His Word…in order to thrive.

O’ Father…give me my daily bread…

When we, like Jesus, devote our time and hearts to the Father things will happen in a positive way and our lives can be filled with purpose according to the Father’s will, and in His time.

O’ Father …how I long for You…

When we pray and do things for Him, it can become a “sweet devotion” for the Father.  When we offer up prayer, and devote our lives to Him, it can be one of mutual accord.  First, and foremost…to honor the Father and to show our love and obedience to Him…and second, it will please HIM enormously.

O’ Father…show me the way…

Sweet devotion for a “SWEET FATHER” who is devoted to us in love and grace.

Isn’t He worth your devotion and love?

Start by going off quietly somewhere today, and devote your time to Him, and Him alone.

You will have the best peace and feel the deepest love one can possibly ever experience, of this I am certain.

“O’ Thank you Father, for Your love, devotion and grace, for Your miracles throughout the ages, and for always being there for all of children, shine Your light and I pray that my devotion and love for You is pleasing in Your loving eyes, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 16:11

And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

Rev 8:4

“Thaw our hearts LORD, Wash us clean as Snow…”

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

Isaiah 1:18

As I gaze out into my backyard I’m filled with awesome wonder of God’s precious and breathtaking beauty.  Freshly fallen snow enshrouds my landscape and adorns the pine and fir trees.  The sunlight as it streams from the heavens above creates an illusion of “sparkling diamonds” glowing in the distance.

Even though it is a beautiful thing to behold I long for the Spring thaw and the beginning of life as it were.  And with these thoughts comes the spiritual awakening of senses, much the same as when we have the LORD with us.  Our connection with Him and our spirituality glows and keeps us “warm” no matter what the weather outside.

I already have my warmth and my beauty from within to without.  And, the best part of it is…it’s a year long, 24/hr 7 days a week, morning and night every second of the day warmth!

Ostensibly a heart that doesn’t know God can be like a “winter block of ice” it can be lacking warmth, and can be decisively difficult to break through.  But with GOD all things are possible.

A heart that is cold can turn warm, much like the Spring thaw that most of us experience in a good portion of the United States.  The heart can turn on a dime should the good LORD bring it to happen.  I’ve seen the hardest of hearts make a complete 180 so many times.  I’ve been blessed to witness many throughout the years.

God is our warmth, our sun, our connection to LIFE.

God is our sanctuary from the storm.

God is our constant surge of energy.

God is love.

God is everything.

And…God is everywhere.

He’s in the breathtaking beauty of a sunrise, the serene backdrop of a magnificent sunset.

He’s in the wind.

He’s in the yapping of a beautiful puppy.

He’s in the miraculous birth of a newborn child.

He is LIFE!

I am blessed to know Him and am blessed to know He loves me.  I pray all good things for His children, and I pray to those who don’t know Him yet.

The next time you’re looking at one of His immeasurable creations; whether it’s scenic beauty, or physical, remember He loves all of us.  And, to that we should thank Him and love Him back…

For now, I’ll go and look at my backyard again from inside my warm home.   Most important…I will embrace and give praise to Him for the “warmth of His Spirit” and His love.  Amen!

 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

(Psalm 51:7 KJV)