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Showing posts with the label Devotional

LOVE Is EVERYTHING!!!

The longer I live and the more I grow as a Child of God the more I am convinced that at the core of everything we do, say, and be, LOVE, has to be our motivating and most important factor. It is more important to be driven by love than anything else. We find this truth throughout scripture. Jesus told the disciples that the greatest commandment is to LOVE the LORD your GOD with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and to LOVE you neighbor as yourself. We find in 1Corinthians 13 that LOVE is the greatest of all. Everything we do and say must be driven by LOVE. I don't know about others but I know that I am always growing with God's help day by day in LOVE and learning how to LOVE not as the world define it but as God defined LOVE because HE is LOVE. For some reason all this week my mind has been meditating on LOVE, God's Way. I have been thinking and hearing about God's LOVE towards us and the truth is we cannot begin to fathom or even understand His undying,

Thankfulness!!!

What difference do you think it made when the Pilgrims invited the Native Americans to that first Thanksgiving dinner? What happened after they thanked God, who supplied the fish, the deer, and the corn -- and even the Native Americans who helped them survive? Did life become significantly easier or the winters less cruel? No. But the attitude of gratitude that was cultivated kept those Pilgrims' eyes fixed upon the many blessings they enjoyed and upon the one who provided them.   FROM THE BOOK Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! Psalm 136:1 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesu

Trials & Temptations

"You just have to play the hand you're dealt." "Keep a stiff upper lip." It's the advice we get and give when times are tough. Others would have us pretend that "it's not as bad as all that. " But sometimes it is! So how can we remain hopeful when troubles surround us? When we recognize that God is in control!   FROM THE BOOK Evil does not spring from the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the earth. People are born for trouble as predictably as sparks fly upward from a fire. Job 5:6-7 (NLT) We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28 Our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over,

FORGIVE!

Sometimes the most difficult people to forgive are ourselves. "If only" hounds us, robbing us of peace and piling on the guilt. We carry around 1,001 hurts and bear so many grudges, filling us with bitterness. Oh, to be cleansed and freed - to forgive and be forgiven!   FROM THE BOOK   "Come now, let us argue this out, " says the LORD. "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool." Isaiah 1:18 He has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12 You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, fo

LOVE!!!!

So many singers sing about it. So many writers write about it. Poets long for it, and heroes die for it. What is this thing that the world needs now? Love! As human beings, we all need to love and be loved. God made us to experience love, and God, the source of love, can fill our need for love as no other person or idea can.     FROM THE BOOK   Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God -- for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 1 John 4:7-11     If I had the gift of prophesy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about every

The Word of God

All of us long to hear a good word - a word of comfort, a word of encouragement, a word of love. We bloom in the environment of positive words, while harsh words cause us to shrivel. Sometimes we say we are tired of words, when in fact we are tired of empty words, of broken words. We long for a life-giving word that will not fail.   FROM THE BOOK God is not a man, that he should lie. He is not a human, that he should change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? Number 23:19, page 172 The word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are. Hebrews 4:12, page 1210 The grass withers, and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people. The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:7-8, page 713   GOD'S PROMISE Keep on asking, and you will be g

Doing What’s Right

Everyone who is a child of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world-our faith. ~1John 5:4~   You get impatient with your own life trying to master a habit or control a sin and in your frustration begin to wonder where the power of God is. Be patient. God is using today's difficulties to strengthen you for tomorrow. He is equipping you. The God who makes things grow will help you bear fruit. Dwell on the fact that God lives within you. Think about the power that gives you life. The realization that God is dwelling within you may change the places you want to go and the things you want to do today. Do what is right this week, whatever it is, whatever comes down the path, whatever problems and dilemmas you face-just do what's right. Maybe no one else is doing what's right, but you do what's right. You be honest. You take a stand. You be true. After all, regardless of what you do, God does what is right: he saves you with His grac

Godless Living

Their thinking became useless. Their foolish minds were filled with darkness. They said they were wise, but they became fools. Romans 1:21-22   Since the hedonist ( Definition: 1. the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good. 2. Devotion to pleasure and self-gratification as a way of life .) has never seen the hand who made the universe, he or she assumes there is no life beyond the here and now. He or She believes there is no truth beyond this room. No purpose beyond his own pleasure. No divine factor. He has no concern for the eternal… The hedonist says, "Who cares? I may be bad, but so what? What I do is my business." He's more concerned about satisfying his passions than in knowing the Father. His life is so desperate for pleasure that he has no time or room for God. Is he right? Is it OK to spend our days thumbing our noses at God and living it up? Paul says, "Absolutely not!" According to Romans 1, we lose more than stained

True Biblical Prosperity

I just wanted to share this article that was written by my husband Pastor Justin Cohen and printed in the Philadelphia Daily News.   Printed in the Philadelphia Daily News 2003     Beloved, I pray that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers." III John 2 (NKJV).     An often quoted scripture, but often improperly. The "Prosperity Gospel" as it is sometimes referred to, has used this one scripture out of context and used it as a pretext to teach an unbalanced view of the Kingdom of God and created an entire faction within Christianity that is focused on money and selfishness.     The Bible warns us that there will be those who are "…men of corrupt minds destitute of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself." I Timothy 6:5 (NKJV)     So what is true Biblical prosperity?     The answer to that question lies in the correct understanding of the word "prosperity" and the correct explanation

Yes It Is!!!

Did you know that your obedience is directly connected to your love!!! Just think about... The deeper our love is for an individual the more we want to and the more we yield ourselves over into doing the things that pleases that individual. Children are notorious for this. They will often do anything to please the adults in their lives especially their parents because they have such a pure, unconditional love for them. How about when you first start falling in love with that special someone --- weren't you willing to do just about anything for that person because you loved them so much. Well you may be wondering where I am going with this ... Ok, here it is! We ought to love God so much that it's not a problem or issue when it comes to obeying Him. We know that everything that God has ever wanted us to do is always for our own good -- never for "bad". God is a good, Father. He will never lead us astray. He made us, He will never tell us to do something that will cause

This Is Wonderful!

Radical Reconstruction   Rejoice and be exceedingly glad , for great is your reward in heaven , for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:12   In the Sermon on the Mount… what Jesus promises is not a gimmick to give us goose bumps nor a mental attitude that has to be pumped up at pep rallies. No, Matthew 5 describes God's radical reconstruction of the heart. Observe the sequence. First, we recognize we are in need (we're poor in spirit). Next, we repent of our self-sufficiency (we mourn). We quit calling the shots and surrender control to God (we're meek). So grateful are we for His presence that we yearn for more of Him (we hunger and thirst). As we grow closer to Him, we become more like Him. We forgive others (we're merciful). We change our outlook (we're pure in heart). We love others (we're peace-makers). We endure injustice (we're persecuted for righteousness' sake).     It's no casual shift of attitude. I

Devotional

Guard the Gateway The devil, your enemy, goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to eat. Refuse to give in to him, by standing strong in your faith. 1Peter 5:8-9 You've got to admit, some of our hearts are trashed out. Let any riffraff knock on the door, and we throw it open. Anger shows up, and we let him in. Revenge needs a place to stay, so we have him pull up a chair. Pity wants to have a party, so we show him the kitchen. Lust rings the bell, and we change the sheets on the bed. Don't we know how to say no ? Many don't. For most of us, thought management is, well, unthought-of. We think much about time management, weight management, personnel management, even scalp management. But what about thought management? Shouldn't we be as concerned about managing our thoughts as we are managing anything else? Jesus was. Like a trained soldier at the gate of a city, He stood watch over His mind. He stubbornly guarded the gateway of His heart.... If He did, shou