devotional365

If only we could order life the way we order gourmet coffee.  Wouldn’t you love to mix and match the ingredients of your future?  How about a grande happy-latte, with a dollop of love, sprinkled with Caribbean retirement?  Take me to that coffee shop!  Too bad it doesn’t exist.

The truth is, life often hands us a concoction entirely different from the one we requested.  Life comes caffeinated with surprises.  Transitions and alterations.   Some changes are welcome, others are not.

Remember the summary of King Solomon?  For everything there is a season.

• A time to be born and a time to die
• A time to plant and a time to harvest
• A time to cry and a time to laugh

Make friends with whatever’s next!  Embrace it.  Don’t resist it.  As Paul wrote, “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.”

Taken from Fearless

The Lord has anointed . . . me . . . to grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn . . . to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning. —Isaiah 61:1,3

This passage specifically says God wants to give consolation and joy—beauty instead of ashes—for those who mourn. But in order for Him to do that you must let go of the ashes of your past.

Some people have their loved ones cremated and keep their ashes in a box or urn. Eventually they may carry the ashes to a meaningful spot and throw them to the wind. It’s a way of letting them go—permanently.

That is what God wants you to do if you have been hurt in the past and are hanging on to the ashes. If you want real joy, let go of those ashes, allowing the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow them out of your life . . . permanently!

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2004 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

For even the Son of Man came not to have service rendered to Him, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for (instead of) many. —Mark 10:45

As the potter forms clay into vessels, some for honorable use and some for menial use, so God forms us to serve His purpose.

Regardless of how our position in life may look to others, we are all formed to serve the Lord in some way.

If God made you to be a helper, then help with all your heart. If you enjoy cleaning houses for people, then do so as if you are cleaning the Lord’s house. If you want to stay home with your children instead of earning extra income, don’t worry that God has called others to paying positions outside the home.

Do whatever the Lord puts in your heart to do—and enjoy fulfilling your God-given purpose.

From the book Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2003 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

It’s our duty to pull back the curtains, expose our fears, each and every one!  Financial fears, relationship fears, safety fears–call them out in prayer!  Drag them out by the hand of your mind.  Make them stand before God and take their come-uppance!

Jesus made his fears public.  Hebrews 5:7 tells us, “He offered up prayers and petition with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.”  He prayed loudly enough to be heard and begged his community of friends to pray with him.

The next time you find yourself facing a worst-case moment, verbalize your angst to a trusted circle of God-seekers.  Find your version of Peter, James and John.  The big deal is this:  you needn’t live alone with your fear.

Besides, what if your fears are nothing more than the devil’s hoax?  They could be his hell-hatched, joy-stealing prank.  Let’s not let him get away with it!

Taken from Fearless