Today's Devotion

Divine Provision

"Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son."  Genesis 22:13 NASB

I'm not sure if you have read Genesis lately, but this story has been on my mind for many days now.  God has been telling me lately that He has already made provision.  I have been praying on many things, my move, my issues at work, lost relationships, and just where my life is going.  I'll tell you, the enemy should have patted himself on the back for the discord and confusion he spread in my life.  But I digress, because God has already given me a way of escape from all of this; all I have to do is remain in faith and keep trusting God for my manifestation.  Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that God knew us before He formed us in the womb.  He already knew everything that was going to happen to us--He knew the mistakes we would make, the friends we would choose, the relationships we would batter, and how life would go for us.  Psalm 139:16 reminds us that all of our days have been recorded.  So God ALREADY knows!  He already knows.

Our power lies in our remaining in faith until the thing we are waiting for manifests.  In the passage surrounding today's scripture, God told Abraham to take his promised son Isaac to be sacrificed to him.  Oh I pray I had Abraham's obedience!  But I guess I can get it after waiting for the promise to manifest like Abraham did with Isaac.  He took Isaac on the 3-day journey to the region of Moriah as God directed.  The key in these scriptures lies in Abraham being willing to sacrifice his only son--his son of promise--to God BUT holding on to the promise that God would provide.(Gen 22:8)  Some chapters back, God told Abraham his descendants would be like the sands on the beach and the stars in the sky--innumerable (prior to Ishmael).(Gen 15:5)  So he knew God would have to make a provision, He had to provide something.  And likewise for you--if you are believing God for anything, you must stand in faith on the promises of His holy word to come true for you. 

Don't allow the enemy to keep you crippled because of sin in your life.  Repent, turn away from it and go back to the Lord like the Prodigal Son!  Don't allow the naysayers in the crowd to tell you death has come to what you are seeking God for, only believe, like Jesus instructed Jairus in the healing of his daughter. (Mark 5:35)  Keep asking God, pray unceasingly for your breakthrough.  Don't let diagnosis after diagnosis tell you restoration of healing is unattainable, be like the woman with the issue of blood and grasp the hem of His garment!(Mark 5:28)  Trust God and stand in faith on the promises of His word.  God already made provision for you before you were formed in the womb.  Before your mother even knew she would have you, God has already provided for you.  Even when Job lost everything, he stood firm in his faith and God restored EVERYTHING he lost twofold.  Trust God and praise Him in advance to usher in your breakthrough!

Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided."  Genesis 22:14 NASB

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Today's Devotion

Time to Lift Your Anchor

"Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken."  Psalm 55:22

I know I have used this scripture before, but it is so appropriate.  For many days now it has been on my mind how often we let our regrets keep us anchored in the past.  I thought for a while of all the things I regret, most importantly, moving back to South Carolina.  But then I quickly remember how God allowed me to restore my relationship with my father, connect with and minister to my cousin and other family members, share my story (the part that so far has been written), experience true love (even if it was short-lived), and just grow in leaps and bounds.  My past few years have been like the pressure that carbon goes under to become a diamond, and I know I will shine once God is through with me.  I am sure every one knows what an anchor is, but for clarity's sake, I'll define it here:  An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current.  (Thanks Wikipedia!) 

Many times in life we need an anchor and should be led of the Spirit to the correct ones.  The most important anchors include our faith, the Word of God, and His Spirit that all serve to keep us grounded in the truth of who God is and what plans He has for us.  However, there are times when our own negative meditations on the effects of past choices and decisions serve to sever us from our lifeline, our anchor in God.  We become so focused on what should, would or could have been had we not made that choice or on the more popular, 'I wish I'd never ____ (fill in what you wish you never had done, experienced, said, etc).  It is when we focus on the problem instead of finding the solution, through the heavenly direction only the Father can give, that we lose hope.  We become submerged, much like an anchor, into the miry clay that forms our past.  We take that same clay and build homes there, and reside in the pains of lost loves, lost jobs, failed families and relationships, until we are shaken to the core by a divine intervention.

Ships only drop anchor when they are at a port.  Usually in most cases, the porting of said ship is a temporary thing.  We are to revisit our past only for the purpose of forgiveness (be it ourselves or others) and to understand the lesson that God was teaching us.  Notice that when the ship's time to depart has come, the anchor is reeled up and the ship leaves to go to the next destination.  Do not allow your regrets to keep you bound to the place that God has already made provision for you to leave!  Your provision is in the death and resurrection, the extension of God's grace to you that insured your life.  Jesus died so that you can let go and go to the next place, the place He has prepared for you!  God promises to sustain you.

"Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:"  Psalm 37:5 NIV
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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Today's Devotion #2

Testifying on God's Behalf

 

So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.  Acts 8:25

 

I think its public knowledge that I had a kidney transplant.  But what many people don't know, and what I only found out at my 3 year appointment this year is how it was done.

 

God is amazing, and when He calls you for His own personal use, He will make it crystal clear that you know and cannot doubt it.  So I'm not sure if you know, but I had a transplant January 7, 2009.  Prior to that, I was diagnosed with kidney disease in February of 2006 after God saved me then.  I was scheduled for a routine kidney biopsy that would only require me to stay in the hospital overnight.  Nothing about that morning was normal; see I had never been sick.  But by God, my doctor ordered additional labs only to discover my dangerously low platelet count.  Had he done my biopsy, I would have bled to death.  But God saved me for a reason.

 

Fast forward to right before my transplant.  I didn't have to experience the debilitation of dialysis, which is miraculous in itself.  I was worked up and ready for transplantation within 4 weeks of my education class, which was another miracle.  I did not have to wait years for a kidney like most people do; I had friends and family volunteering to save my life.  All of this overwhelmed me at how fast things happened.  But I decided to pray Gideon's prayer (casting out a fleece, Judges 6:17) that if it was His will for my life, that I have peace and provision to cover me with my surgery. You see, I had only been working for about 2 months, did not have enough leave nor did I have money saved for the expenses that would arise.  I went into my surgery that morning with this indescribable feeling of ease and comfort, as well as 8+ weeks worth of leave to cover my time out for recovery.

 

Fast forward again, (smile) to now.  I have had 3 wonderful years of life and only now did I find out my brother was not a match for me.  Yep, he wasn't!  He got one set of DNA from our parents and I got the other.  Other than being a blood relative and us having the same blood type, it was wrong!  But God saved me!!!  He took my brother's kidney and had it functioning within 30 minutes of being removed and placed in me.  Most kidney transplant recipients go back on dialysis until the transplanted kidney begins to work...didn't have to do that either.  God took an imperfect situation and decided to save my life with something that should not have worked!!  I have had no rejection bouts, no major illnesses, and no other diagnoses related to the surgery.  I've prospered in every area of my life and I still live!  So I have to do my part and testify on His behalf.  I must share with people the awesomeness that is God, Yahweh, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rophe, and the list of His names goes on and on.

 

God calls us all to share our testimony.  Yes we have different callings in life, but we are all to share the word of God with someone in need.  You never know what car accident or penny falling from the sky He saved and preserved your life from.  Be willing like the Apostles, to step out in faith and be used by God for something greater than yourself.  When you operate in the boldness and fearlessness that comes with trusting in God, you never know what can happen!  Share your story and bless somebody else!  Love you!

 

If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.  1 John 5:9 NASB

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Today's Devotion

Are You Qualified for a Miracle?

 

She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."  Matthew 15:27 ESV

 

For a long time, I wondered what it was that determines if a person receives what they are praying for.  I thought if I prayed enough, God would give me what I was asking for.  In some cases, it was my prayers that got the return on my investment.  I thought if I sowed enough seeds and paid my tithes regularly that God would give me what I was asking for.  In many cases, I didn't get those things.  I thought if I went to church all the time, God would surely answer my prayers and give me what I wanted...nope that wasn't it either.

 

In the scripture above and the scripture that follows, the one key to receiving her miracle was the woman's faith.  It wasn't her nationality, because for her it was the wrong one--she wasn't a Jew.  It wasn't how much she prayed, because even after doing that, she still pleaded with Jesus to deliver her daughter.  It wasn't begging, church attendance, tithing, nope, it was her faith that caused her miracle to come at that instant.  I now look back at the miracles I have received in my life and I recognize it was my inability to accept that God would not bring forth the thing I was asking for that caused me to get it.  In every single situation that I had a miracle or act of God in a major way, it was because I refused to back down and I stood in faith on the word of God.  It gets hard as I have experienced in some recent situations, to keep standing when what you see does not change.  It gets hard to believe God for that relocation and new job (smile--me, lol) when every interviewer tells you that you are not exactly what they are looking for or that you make too much money.  It gets hard to believe God for that healing when your doctors add new medicines or you get an unexpected diagnosis.  It is hard to believe sometimes, but that's when you pray, you sow, you give, and you fast, as professions of your faith. 

 

But I want you to know that you have to press through anyway.  You are qualified for your miracle simply because you believe in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  You are qualified regardless of family history, regardless of what some pessimistic hater says, regardless of your own past performance.  God qualified us, just like the Canaanite woman, to receive a miracle without cause.  The only investment you need is your faith.  Keep believing, keep stretching and exercising your faith because God is sure to perform on your behalf.  The only thing you need watch out for is God's answer to your prayer; God promises to provide a miracle whether you are healed right now, healed later, or healed when He calls you home.

"Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once."  Matthew 15:28