A Prayer of Hope

A few months ago I wrote a poem to God as I was thinking about the sad divorce rate and many unhappy marriages. After reading it over tonight, I realized that in several ways this prayer can speak to many, if not all of us, including myself. It is my hope that this prayer encourages you and reminds you of the hope we have in the Lord when we put our trust in Him. (Note: This poem has been modified slightly since I initially was praying for married couples in general and not for our devotional group as a whole.)

“You, Lord, are all-powerful and can break down any walls we may have up and You can soften our hearts to hearing the Truth. Father, I pray that You would transform our lives. Right now we may be merely existing. I ask that You would heal any wounds we have from past hurts and get rid of any bitterness or resentment we may have toward one another. Lord, help us to forgive each other just as You forgive us time and time again. Help us to see our need for You so that we may turn to You for comfort and guidance on how to rebuild our lives and center them on You. I know that Your hands are on every situation even when the future appears hopeless. Thank You for handling situations that are too overwhelming for us to handle. You deserve all the glory and praise!

In Your Heavenly Name,

AMEN.”

God Bless!

<3 Shannon

“Healer” – Kari Jobe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvIEJ_PmqJ8

He Is poem

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share a neat poem with you that I recently read that I found very inspiring! May it encourage you and uplift your week :)

He Is…..

The First and the Last

The Beginning and the end

The keeper of creation

The creator of all

He’s the architect of the universe

And the manager of all time

He always was, always is and always will be.

Unmoved, unchanged, undefeated and never undone

He was bruised but brought healing,

He was pierced but eased pain,

He was persecuted but brought freedom

He was dead and brings life

He is risen to bring power
And he reigns to bring peace
The world can’t understand Him

Armies can’t defeat Him

Schools can’t explain Him

And leaders they can’t ignore Him

Harod couldn’t kill Him

Nero couldn’t crush Him

The new age can not replace Him

And Oprah can not explain Him away

You remind yourself that
He IS Life,

HE IS Love,

HE IS Longevity and He IS The LORD

HE IS Goodness, kindness, faithfulness

And HE IS GOD

HE IS holy and righteous

and powerful and pure

His ways are right,

His word eternal

His will unchanging

And His mind is on us

He is our savior, our guide,

Our peace, our joy, our comfort

Our Lord and He rules our lives,

I serve Him because His bond is love

His yoke is easy His burden is light

And His goal for us is abundant life.

I follow Him because,

He Is the wisdom of the wise

The power of the powerful

The ancient of days, the ruler of rulers,

The leader of all leaders,

His goal is a relationship with me

He will never leave you, never forsake you

Never mislead you, never forget you,

Never overlook you and

Never cancel your appointment is His appointment book.

When you fall He’ll lift you up,

When you fail He will forgive you.

When your weak He’s strong,

When your lost He’s your way

When your afraid He is your courage,

When you stumble He will steady you,

When your hurt He Is going to heal you,

When your broken He will mend you,

When your blind He will lead you,

When your hungry He will feed you,

When you face trials He Is with you,

When I face persecution He shields me,

When I face problems He will comfort me,

When I face loss He will provide for me,

And when we face death

He will carry us all home to meet Him.

He is everything for everybody,

everywhere ,every time,

And in every way.

He is your God

and that, dear friend, is who you belong to.

God Bless!
<3 Shannon

No Perfect People Allowed: When Life Disappoints You

This past weekend I heard a great message at church! The pastor spoke of the story of Moses when he led the Israelites out of Egypt.  The Scripture Pastor Jeff Manion used was Numbers 11.

Numbers 11 (verses 1-10)

"Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when He heard them His anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of  the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them. The rabble with them began to crave other food , and again the Israelites started wailing and said, 'If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!' The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. The cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down. Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled."

The first thing the pastor encouraged us to do was to try to put ourselves in the place of the people in the Bible. It is easy for us to judge the Israelites response to their trials and say we would not react the same way. But if we were really honest with ourselves, wouldn’t we have responded similarly? I’m pretty sure I would be complaining along with the others if I had to eat manna for almost 2 years!

Next, the pastor raised some key thoughts. He reminded us that the “land between” (when we are in the middle of a trial) is fertile ground for complaint. But he then encouraged us with the thought that the “land between” is also the place to be transformed. Trials often cause us to push ourselves and thus, strengthen our faith as a result if we turn to God and allow Him to change us.

The key issue in this story is TRUST.

Trust is the glue that holds any relationship together.

Pastor Manion went on to say that we don’t always get to choose what happens to us, but we do get to choose our response – which is a choice of the heart. When we pass through a season of difficulty, we have choices. However, often we have been choosing the same choice for so long that it no longer feels like a choice.

During difficult times, the Bible instructs us to choose joy.

James 1:2-4

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Lastly, he left us with a great piece of insight: Your trial is a greenhouse for your spiritual growth – the space you learn to pray.

So let us choose joy in the middle of our trials and invite God to transform our hearts. May we believe that God can redeem our situation, while trusting in His sovereignty, His desire to produce fruit in our lives, and know that He will fulfill His promises.

God Bless!

<3 Shannon

“Closer” – Shawn McDonald

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4PiNTeEkwo

Stand Up and Speak Out

I want to ask everyone a handful of questions.  Are there people in your life that you don’t share the Good News with?  Would you share the Good News with a complete stranger?  Would you go into bars, or into neighborhoods where you have never been before and share the Good News?

Where did Jesus spend a lot of his time on this earth?  That is right.. with sinners.

Today I want you to open your Bible to Ezekiel 2:1-9

“Stand up, son of man,” said the voice,” I want to speak with you.”  The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet.  I listened carefully to his words.  “Son of man,”he said,”I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation the has rebelled against me.  They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day.  They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people.  But I am sending you to say to them,”This is what the Sovereign Lord says!  And whether they listen or refuse to listen-for remember, they are rebels- at least they will know they have had a prophet among them. Son of man, do not fear them or their words.  Don’t be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions.  Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls,even though they are rebels.  You must give them my messages whether they listen or not.  But they won’t listen for they are completely rebellious!  Son of man, listen to what I say to you.  Do not join them in their rebellion.  Open your mouth, and eat what I give you.  Then I looked and saw a hand reaching  out to me.  It held a scroll, which he unrolled. And I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom.

Ezekiel was the son of Buzi, a Zadokite priest.  He was a ordinary person just like me and you.  He saw visions of God and felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him.  Ezekiel was to go to a completely new nation and bring news from God to sinners... unbelievers.  He was a stranger to that area.

Brothers and Sisters of Christ... Travel north,east,south,and west.  You are going to meet a lot of people who do not believe in what you believe in, but It is truly you who have to bring God to them.  No matter how hard it is... God will always be with you.  No matter what the people say or do... God will be with you, and  no matter how far you travel....God will be with you!

--- Be the light-----

God Bless 

Bobby C.

Definition

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday/ new year!  I just wanted to thank everyone who reads our devotionals.  I am beyond blessed to share my faith with all of you!  Please continue to leave comments, extra thoughts.  We put  up a couple local ministry websites around our area, but please tell us a couple ministries going on in your area?  We would love to post them on our blog to expand help as much as possible.

On that note I wanna jump into my devotional...

A student fresh out of college going into his/her first interview.....  A first date  between a man and a women... or just meeting someone new..  When someone is at the beginning point of any of these situations how does it usually start out?  Introduction? Defining who you are? 

 Do any of these ring a bell?

The point is that we live in a world of definition.  When we introduce each other or write about ourselves to others we say our name then usually what we do for a living in some sort of a way.  Is that what matters to this world?  Is job description what really describes who you really are?  God’s Word tells differently.

Go through the different books of the Bible(Romans,Corinthians,Philippians, Colossians, etc.)  Yes, there is introduction of who is writing, but it doesn’t just end there:  (Titus)  This letter is from Paul a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ... (2 Timothy)  This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.  The list goes on and on.  The apostles had  jobs other then Christ followers, but they didn’t have there job define who they really were.  They humbled themselves before the Lord.

I want you to open your Bibles up to Romans 1:5-6.  Let these words sink into your hearts.

“Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.  And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

Dear brothers and sisters of Christ are you willing to step out of what defines you and start being defined as a slave of Jesus Christ?  Are you willing to live as the Apostles did and pour your whole entire life out for your creator?  I pray your answer is yes.  If your answer is no, I ask why?  You... yes you are called by God to be like the Apostles and to tell everyone the Good News... To define yourself living for the Lord instead of living for yourself.

God Bless

Bobby C.