"His Will Be Done"

Day #112 - 'A Woman of Faith' Devotional
Verse: "Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven." Matthew 6:9-10 KJV

A piece of the most familiar prayer in the Bible, the Lord's prayer, where He is teaching His disciples how to pray. Prayer is important, but also what you pray for is important. We want the Will of the Father to come forth on earth, so we need to pray that His will be done. Prayer itself isn't just selfishly asking for things you want from the Father. He desires prayer to be a daily, even moment by moment conversation with Him... where we can intimately share our hearts with Him.

God does indeed have BIG plans for our lives, but if we continue to choose our own desires and ways ahead of His, then His plans are altered a little bit... sometimes a lot. He makes His plans clear to those who diligently and intimately seek Him, and His ways. We need to humble ourselves, pray and seek His face, which means we need to turn from our wicked ways. (2 Chronicles 7:14 -- "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.") When we can do these things, God will hear us, and will answer our requests according to His will. He desires us to be free of sin, and to walk in COMPLETE healing. He does indeed have BIG plans, as it says in Jeremiah 29:11-14, "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed. God's Decree. I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you— God's Decree — bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it." (The MESSAGE)

So seek Him today, and find out what BIG plans He has for you!!

BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING!

"His Plan for You"

DAY #93 - 'A Woman of Faith' Devotional
Verse: "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes." Romans 1:16 NLT

God has BIG plans for you... whether you believe in Him or not. He was, He is, and He always will be! We have the choice to follow His plans, or to follow the desires of our own heart and will. If we choose to go our own way, we will miss out on some pretty GREAT things... yet, if we surrender and choose to live according to His will and His plans for our lives we can be GREAT for Him! In the Bible it says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'." Jeremiah 29:11

'Plans to give [us] hope an a future' -- what a PROMISE that is. How many of us are/were searching for HOPE and to know our FUTURE... how many of us are just seeking to have a FUTURE? God can be the HOPE, and He can and will lead us into a future of greatness. Not in our own self-righteousness, but greatness through Him, the blood of His Son & the power of His Spirit.

We can be thankful that "[God's] love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on [us]..." (JesusCulture - 'One Thing Remains' by Brian Johnson, Jeremy Riddle, Christa Black Gifford)


"...But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!" Joshua 24:15 NIV 

BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING!

"Your Very Bright Future"

DAY #59 - 'A Woman of Faith' Devotional
Verse: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you." Jeremiah 29:11-12 NKJV

Our future's so bright we gotta wear shades... (I was thinking of this statement before I read the devotional this morning, but it's in there too.) How bright our future is, probably differs from how bright we see our future to be. Do we walk forth in positivity and optimism, trying to think the best; or do we dread a terrible tomorrow? Concentration Camp survivor Corrie Ten Boom had this to say, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." Super true. God's got it all in His hands, and He knows all that we can and will face, but it depends on the choices we make, as to how it will all turn out. We need to truly trust Him with our futures, not worrying about the day and time Jesus is coming back, but we need to use our future telling people that He is coming back. We need to share the GOSPEL message -- which I hope that I do here on 'Fresh as a Daisy Devotionals & More...'. (Thanks Jer' for the reminder of how important it is)

GOSPEL MESSAGE simplicity - -
We are ALL sinners - Sin results in Death - God loved the world so much, He sent us His Son Jesus - Jesus came to earth to teach, train, equip, and mentor - Jesus did the work of the Father, praying, healing, performing miracles, teaching of His Father's love - Jesus died ONCE & FOR ALL for our sins, so that we didn't have to die - He rose again, to live with His Father in Heaven - Jesus intercedes for us to the Father - We are commissioned to do the work of the Father, trainging, teaching, equipping, praying, healing, performing miracles, but most importantly sharing His story, 'History' not fiction (the gospel) - Jesus will come back for believers - We as believers get to live eternally in Heaven with Him. (If we do not believe, then we will have eternal death, as we haven't accepted the FREE gift of Salvation).

**If you have never prayed the 'salvation prayer' before or experienced the peace that is spoken of above, then here's your chance today. The only thing you are giving up is things that aren't going to last long anyway -- which if you don't give up, will only make your own life not last as long as it could (which is eternally). --- You've already made the first step known - admit to God that you are a sinner, because after all - all of us are sinners. (Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God") After that you need to believe that God is God, and that Jesus is His Son. He sent His Son to die for us, so that we as sinners didn't need to be condemned to death. (Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, bu the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.") Then do as we did above, and Confess your sins to Him and ask for forgiveness -- and then confess aloud that JESUS IS LORD. (Romans 10:9-10 "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.") We need to daily ask for forgiveness, because we are human and we will always mess up in some way or another. God is willing and able to forgive us, and welcome YOU into His family. I don't like to write out a prayer anymore to say word for word, as this important step is something that you need to tell God in your own words. Just tell Him what's in your heart - you're a sinner, you want to believe in Him but it may be hard, you want Him to forgive you of what you've done, and you want to choose life with Him through His Son Jesus. It's as simple as that. **


"Yesterday is just experience, but tomorrow is glistening with purpose -- and today is the channel leading from one to the other." ~ Barbara Johnson (author)

BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING!

"Seeking His Blessings"

DAY #47 - 'A Woman of Faith' Devotional
Verse: "Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you." Psalm 37:5

The verse just before this one (v.4) is also important - "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:" (NIV) "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart... Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." (NKJV) WOW! Can you imagine the blessings that God has in store for you, if we delight ourselves in Him, commit our way to Him, and trust in Him. Sounds fun and exciting, but to seek His blessings is not what we should be doing in life... we should be seeking Him, the giver of those blessings first. Matthew 6:33 says, "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (NIV) We need to stop ourselves from seeking revival, seeking healing, seeking blessings, seeking protection, seeking created things, etc first... we need to seek the Reviver, the Healer, the Blesser, the Protector, the Creator, etc. God desires us to seek Him above all else, and then ALL those other things shall be added unto us.

"When our dreams come true and our plans prove successful, we find it easy to thank our Creator and easy to trust His divine providence. But in times of sorrow or hardship, we may find ourselves questioning God's plans for our lives" ('A Woman of Faith' Devotional. Day #47. ©2007 Freeman-Smith, LLC. Nashville, TN. 37202)

It's not easy to trust God in good and bad times, but it sure is rewarding. God never gives us tests that we cannot pass. In our own mindset we can seem to be a failure, or we can fail by the wrong choices we make, but His plan for this world is that we all 'pass'. He has BIG plans for all of us. (See Jeremiah 29:11)

 God is still God, and always will be God. All (small 'g') 'gods' have all passed away, or will soon pass away. We need to put our hope and trust in things that last, and God is something that has been, is, and will be forever and ever. We can't just trust God on Sundays, and give Him parts of us. We need to trust God with EVERYTHING... finances, health, provision, protection/safety, workplace circumstances & co-workers, our homes & family, daily circumstances, emotional moments,  relationships & friendships... EVERY area of our daily lives (inside and out). But we cannot always expect immediate blessings for obedience and trust. Sometimes God desires us to wait on Him for the answer. If things come too quickly we will start to think we can gain in our own strength. But when we wait on the Lord, He shall renew our strength... (Isaiah 40:31) And in just a few verses after today's verse it says, "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." (Psalm 37:7) 

We need to stop any immediate thoughts of jealousy or envy - - wicked people of the world might be seeming to succeed, but the Lord will take vengeance in time. We also cannot become jealous or bitter towards fellow Christian brothers & sisters who are receiving blessings - especially blessings that we are desiring or that we think we are deserving of. We need to celebrate with them in their joy, for they have been found faithful in the eyes of the Lord. We need to step forth in love, and not judgement and bless them in return as well. God can and will do things for us, but we need to be in the right place with Him.

Lessons learned today...
#1 SEEK GOD FIRST (& His kingdom)!
#2 DELIGHT yourself in the LORD
#3 COMMIT all that you do to Him...

BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING!

Day 3: October 3rd, 2009 -- 1 Peter 1:3

Written by M. Hall
Please feel free to agree or disagree with points made, and feel free to comment if so desired. If you would like, you could write your own thoughts on the verse of the day, and include that in your comments below. Thank you and may you be Blessed!! =)

“[Praise to God for a Living Hope] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”- 1 Peter 1:3

WOW! Thank you Lord! A new birth, a new life… Who doesn’t love NEW things?

Let’s look at the same scripture, found in ‘The Message’ translation; “What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all -- life healed and whole.” (1 Peter 1:3-5) How amazing is this truth? God is watching over our future. He promised that it will be a great future, Using the New Century Version, “’I say this because I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.1. Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.’ You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Call on Him and He will listen. Search for Him, and you will find Him. How easy does that sound? God has great plans for our lives, but we have to step out. He has given us a choice and also the power to choose. Choose God and you will have a hope and a future. In our last “Points to Ponder” we learned that we can call God our “Abba Father” (Romans 8:15), and in this verse we see that God is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see what that makes you? You are a brother of Christ, whether you are a man or a woman.. So many women have taken the mind-set of ‘feminine power’, and choose not to be called ”sons of God’, or the “brother of Christ’. But as we were reminded in one of the sermons in a service in Rwanda, women should be able to call themselves ‘sons of God’, if men can call themselves ‘the bride of Christ’. What a shame if you are missing out on one of your greatest blessings, because of ‘feminine power’.

Take a stand and stand for what you believe. There is a statement I’ve heard and even spoke to the children in Rwanda, ‘If you don’t stand for what you believe, you will fall for anything.” (Malcolm X) Sometimes when you take that stand, you even have to stand alone. This is a truth that needs to be shared with the next generation. The VeggieTales have even discussed this issue in Rack, Shack & Benny, where Junior sings, “Stand up, stand up for what you believe in. Believe in God, He’s the One who’ll back you up. He’ll stand with you, He’ll stand with you.” You are not standing alone, you have God standing beside you, and also a “great cloud of witnesses”. (Hebrews 12:1 NIV) When I came back from Rwanda, I missed all those little faces, but I knew that I had an impact while I was there. God had given me charge over those children, but He also gave me charge over the children back at home in the daycare and at church. During one of our devotion times at work, we shared the verse found in 1 Peter 5:9, “Stand firm in what you believe.” (NIrV) The children all told me what they believe to be true about Jesus, and that is that He is God’s Son, He did die on the cross, but He did rise again. They are happy to know that Jesus lives in Heaven with God building us a big house, but also that He can live in their hearts. Our devotion that day stated “If you stand firm in what you believe, no one can change your mind. You know that what you believe is true.” (The One Year Book of Devotions for Preschoolers, c.2004 Crystal Bowman. Tyndale House Publishers Inc. October 1st Devotional) Each of us, no matter our age, needs to remember that truth. “Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

As the season of autumn is upon us, we see the trees and leaves changing colours, and falling to the ground. Isn’t it good to know that unlike the trees, Jesus never changes He stays the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) The trees are dying in autumn, just like Jesus died. But just as Jesus lives again, the tree has new life in the spring, and once again new buds will grow into fresh green leaves of life. We thank God for the new life that He gives us, and He even compares us to trees. (But that’s another lesson all on it’s own)

PRAYER: Father of Life, we thank you for loving us so much that you shared your Son Jesus with us. We weren’t part of the blessed ones to see Him on earth, but we know that what we read in Your Word is truth. He is alive! Help us to share this simple truth with others. Help us to stand firm with no fear, and share Your love and the love of Jesus with the world. People need the Lord, and we have to be walking Bibles for some of them. Help us to be the examples and positive influences in other’s lives. Help us continue to die to ourselves, and live with you as we grow in our walk with you, like the trees of autumn and spring. Help us Lord, to love others like You love us. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!