Overcoming : Morning Devotional [Video]

Deuteronomy 31:6
New International Version (NIV)

 

⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Life's unexpected, unplanned circumstances can leave us breathless.  Shocking situations come up that leave us feeling helpless - causing us to stagger from the impact.  Sometimes we're stuck, unsure of how to get over, around, or through a crisis.

As believers, we can trust that our best recourse is to hold tightly to Jesus' hand while we wait for his perfect will to unfold.  If we're open to it, God can use trials to bring spiritual renewal and redirection for us instead of devastation.   Every precious momemt spent in His word and in prayer will help solidify that process of bringing peace, affirmation, and guidance, while replenishing our joy in Christ.

God can supply just what we need to be restored.  The power of his love for us means that he knows exactly what it will take for us to get through a trial and move on to life more abundant.  Trust him.  He promises to guide and protect us all.

Micah Stampley- The Corthian Song (Full Version)

 

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In Christ Alone - 2012 Year-end Reflection Series [Video]

Submitted by: Mark Harvey

Source: http://kids4truth.com/Devos/Home/20121128.aspx

"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Luke 19:10

Context: Luke 19:1 - 10 

In Bible times, Jewish tax-collectors were hated men. Do you know why? They were considered to be traitors – because they worked for the Roman government. They were considered to be thieves – because they cheated their own countrymen out of money that was not rightfully supposed to be taken. Maybe you have heard a song about Zacchaeus, who was a Jewish tax-collector during the time of Jesus' ministry. Zacchaeus may have been rich, but he was hated by his fellow-Jews, and he was not a happy man. His riches and his job did not make him happy. If Zacchaeus believed that quitting his job as a tax-collector would help him be friends again with his countrymen and help make him happy, he might have tried it – but he must not have thought that, because he did not quit collecting taxes. Instead he decided to try something unusual: He decided to listen to what Jesus had to say.

Zacchaeus was not a tall man. In fact, he was such a short man that he could not see Jesus above the crowds of people who gathered around Him. So Zacchaeus climbed up into a tree to get a better look. This might have been humbling for such a rich man, to climb up into a tree like a little child trying to see over the crowd. But maybe Zacchaeus was used to being mocked by his fellow-Jews, anyway, or maybe he just wanted to see Jesus so much that he didn't care what people might think of him.

This little man was open to Jesus' message. He was learning a lot about himself and how short he had fallen of God's glory. The Bible says that we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. From his place up in the tree, Zacchaeus was getting a glimpse of his own sinful heart.

Suddenly, all eyes were on Zacchaeus. If he was able to hide before, there was no possible way of hiding now. Jesus had looked up into his tree and told Zacchaeus to come down. Jesus was inviting Himself to Zacchaeus' house for supper. What was this little sinful man's reaction? Zacchaeus got down out of the tree joyfully and took Jesus to his home. The Jewish people were not happy about Jesus' decision to dine in the home of Zacchaeus, of all people – a cheating, stealing, unpatriotic tax-collector!

Neither Zacchaeus nor Jesus seemed to mind what the people were saying. For Zacchaeus' part, he had learned that he was a sinner, and he was sorry for what he had done. He stood before Jesus and told Him he had decided to give half of everything he owned to the poor, and he promised Him to pay back four times the amount of anything he owed to anyone he had cheated. After promises like that, Zacchaeus would probably not be a rich man anymore, at least not for a long time! The Bible does not say he stopped collecting taxes after that, but he was a saved tax-collector after that, not a cheating or traitorous tax-collector. And best of all, Zacchaeus was a joyful man after that.

Jesus wasn't listening to the people's complaining, either. When Jesus heard Zacchaeus' testimony of faith and repentance, He said, "This day is salvation come to this house"! And Jesus did eat with Zacchaeus and his family, even though the people said He was eating with sinners. Jesus said He had "come to seek and to save that which was lost." Maybe the people did not think they were sinners who needed saving, but Zacchaeus knew for a fact that he was lost and needed to be saved from his sin. Because this little man humbled himself and placed his trust in the only Savior of lost sinners, he was gloriously saved.

Jesus did not come to help those who think they can save themselves;

He came to help those who know – by faith, through grace – that He is their only hope for salvation.

Jesus came to seek and save sinners who need His salvation.

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Faithful God - 2012 Year-End Reflection Series [Video]

posted by: Gillian Wells

Proverbs 3: 5 & 6

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding;

In all your ways take notice of Him and He will make your paths straight.

This has been a Scripture that has always been close to my heart. For the past year, God has put in front of me lessons of faith - teaching me what it means and how to exercise it. Building my faith has been a delicate process and I continue to stumble, dust myself off and walk on. I can look back on the year and recount when and how God has answered my spoken and unspoken prayers. What have I learned for the year 2012? That God is a faithful God. That is how He teaches me about faith - by example.

http://youtu.be/dbNK50T35wY

 

 

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Best is yet to Come! - 2012 Year-End Reflection Series [Video]

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 NIV

Good morning family,

 

Hope this finds everyone well and blessed as we close out 2012!  The above was the text that God had led us to as we started out 2012, and we can say that He has done a new thing-many new things-this year that we have witnessed with our very eyes!  He is amazing....But He is not done! As we turn the page on 2012 let us look forward with expectancy to what is ahead in 2013.  One of the ways we have seen God move this year is through healing and prayer.  We are asking for prayer for Mom Sparks who is currently hospitalized and undergoing chemotherapy.  We are praying for healing, for her strength  to be renewed, and for her mind to be filled with the peace of God.  Please take time today to stand in the gap for our sister and the Sparks family.  Thank you to all those who sent in year end devotionals, it is so encouraging to see how God has been faithful to you this past year.  May we continue in giving thanks as we enter a brand new season, remembering and believing that with God, the best is always ahead of us!

 

To God be the glory!

 

Michael 

Psalm 124

 ^1-5 If God hadn’t been for us
    —all together now, Israel, sing out!—
If God hadn’t been for us
    when everyone went against us,
We would have been swallowed alive
    by their violent anger,
Swept away by the flood of rage,
    drowned in the torrent;
We would have lost our lives
    in the wild, raging water.

⁶ Oh, blessed be God!
    He didn’t go off and leave us.
He didn’t abandon us defenseless,
    helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.

⁷ We’ve flown free from their fangs,
    free of their traps, free as a bird.
Their grip is broken;
    we’re free as a bird in flight.

⁸ God’s strong name is our help,
    the same God who made heaven and earth.

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Victory Today is Yours - 2012 Year-End Reflection Series [Video]

But thanks be to God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:57

The ANTHEM - Planetshakers

Verse 1:
Hallelujah,
You have won the victory.
Hallelujah,
You have won it all for me!

Verse 2:
Death could not hold you down,
You are the risen king,
Seated in majesty,
You are the risen king!

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