Simple Devotions

Category: Journaling His Word

  • Perseverance

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s the most profound piece of advice you’ve been given? Did you take it?
    View all responses

    What does perseverance look like to you?

    Maybe it’s a race your trying to run or working on a project till its done successfully.

    Both require endurance and self discipline to go through something that temps us to quit, to stop and say “I can’t or I’m tired and don’t want to.”

    However – we know if we don’t complete the task – we wouldn’t see the finished product, enjoying the end results.

    Like these examples this is how it can feel when you follow the Word of God.

    Even with good intentions I have fallen short where life gets complicated and I get stubborn. Had I stayed in a surrendered attitude just around the corner was a beautiful reward.

    Surrendering to Gods Will means we give Him our desired outcome, its when we don’t trust Him with it that life becomes hard again.

    In this life we will have all sorts of trials and troubles, but the only way to preserve is to do it with Him, which leads to eternal rewards.

    We must learn that it is better to live His way then trying to do it our way, and it only means saying

    “Lord lead me..help me to finish this race and may all that I do glorify you.”

    The Lord is good and He will help you.

    Lamentations 3:25

    In Christ love, amen.

  • battlefield for the mind

    John 16:33 Jesus is speaking about the times of tribulation and how the way is already prepared, how it plays out both good and the bad.

    It’s not something we get to change, it was done on the cross.

    However this is the hope of salvation and because we live in a sin filled world it will be hard, however the Lord prepared the way for us to overcome it.

    It is His will that we know He has defeated the evil one and has overcome the great conflict, therefore He does not want us to be intimidated and discouraged by the assaults of the serpent.

    He being Christ Jesus has won.

    We must learn this truth to accept the peace He supplies – He who made us all equal, He wants to bring together in one body – the body of believers of God’s son Jesus Christ the Lord.

    Putting away hostility toward each other at the cross.

    It is in Christ we have access to God the Father – through the Holy Spirit, this means we are no-longer stranger or foreigners living outside the will of God and with out hope.

    Because of Jesus we can be in one accord.

    We don’t need to look any farther then Jesus the son of God for peace of mind – there is no other who has laid down His life in love who gives forgiveness not earned.

    There is no other who has the Creator God divine authority to be our Lord and Savior. No other who will rescue us from this place.

    The battle today is over your belief system – your mind.

    So what do you believe is true, is it from traditions or is it reasoning of what you have seen or heard?

    The truth is Jesus will explain Himself in the Word (His Bible), He will reason with you – the real battle is will you believe Him or will you listen to the spirit of the enemy?

    What you believe and whom you believe will decide your own fate.

    Abiding in the Spirit of truth is peace and safety.

    Friends – Yes ! God loves His children and wants to save all, there is only one way – through Christ Jesus.

  • seek the Lord

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s the most profound piece of advice you’ve been given? Did you take it?
    View all responses

    My grandmother on her dying bed said these words from the book of Isaiah 55:6 to me..it was the best advice I’ve ever been given, and now I counsel you all to take it as well.

    Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

    To believe in the story of creation in the book of Genius and how this whole world became you need faith in the bible.

    To understand why you need a Savior who is the Lamb of God, The Word, Jesus, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Messiah you need to have hope and love and faith in the bible.

    To look forward to the coming of CHIRST in the clouds with great glory also a multitude of shining angels who will attend Him.

    You need to seek Him.

    When He comes, He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

    He will come to honor those who have loved Him, and kept His commandments, and to take them to Himself. In the clouds, not on the earth, not in secret.

    Those who sought Him, He will come for.

    He has not forgotten them nor His promise in John 14:2 there will be a relinking of the family chain.. a little longer and He will wipe all tears from our eyes. Our faith will be rewarded.

    No one knows the day or the hour, but of that day and hour only the Father knows, not even the angels of heaven know.

    Matt 24:36

    So don’t be deceived by those who say otherwise.

    Read Isaiah 55 – if you need to understand how to seek Him and then purpose to follow throughout the Word to know Him.

    Friends, a great tribulation is coming to the doorsteps of our lives, we have never experienced anything like this because the world has never known this and yet we are warned and admonished in His word to seek Him, as those in the days of Noah only eight souls believed and obeyed God’s word through Noah who preached 120 years in righteousness. He told them to seek Him, He warned the world of the coming destruction, but his message was rejected and despised. Just as it will be now..

    Don’t be caught unaware when sudden destruction comes.

    Seek Him and be saved.

    In Christ love, amen

  • established

    We had a big storm come through our area the night before- gust winds of 60 + mph, along with sideways rain which lasted for hours along with lighting and all the thundering.

    I was up until the lights went out about 3:23am.

    The noise and some caffeine in my system had me to wired to sleep, so I sat at the table and puzzled on a 2000 piece picture of a beautiful seaside mountain town with calm waters.

    As I was sitting there working on it, thinking about life and praying for God’s protection in the storm – clueless about what was happening right outside. Branches snapping off trees and large trees being uprooted. So when the lights went out, I headed to bed and the aftermath upon waking up was a big surprise.

    Right outside my bathroom window a completely uprooted tree on it’s side.

    It fell in such an unnatural way, by gravity it should have fallen on the house but instead it went down the opposite direction.

    Had this not been the case we would be under house repairs today.

    I had no idea this was happening during the storm.

    I was inside thinking about life, not knowing what was happening right outside.

    This is not the first the for me, there ‘s been many “near misses” so it’s become evident that sitting with the Lord is my safe place.

    Being so rooted in Him that when the storms come – you aren’t looking at what it is doing – but instead looking to Jesus is good.

    So yes being established in Christ gives meaning to my life.

    Friends if you have not already. Give Him your heart, your life and make Him your first choice. He is there for you!

    In Christ love, amen

    Daily writing prompt
    What is the meaning of life?
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    As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Col 2:6-7

  • losing sight

    Daily writing prompt
    How do you handle fear and self-doubt?
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    And I can personally attest to the benefits of trusting the Word of God to help me in times of uncertainty.

    But did you know the acronym for fear?

    “future events appearing real” – it’s not actually true, it has the appearance in our mind that it is- but it’s yet to happen.

    When I lose sight of this and forget that I have the answers, I am just like those who followed Jesus and yet witnessed great and mighty miracles He did only to forget this because trouble came.

    Instead of remembering the promises of Gods word, I get fixated on the problems in my life.

    Check out this example in John 6:15-21 Jesus walks on water.

    Do we understand why He did this?

    The men in the boat were in need of help and are focused on the problem at hand, but Jesus walks up.

    This is my take away, He showed them He was always near, and yet they forgot to ask for help from Him.

    They lost sight of what they just experienced at the hands of Jesus, He fed five thousand with five little loaves of bread and two small fish. John 6:9

    They forgot who they belonged to, they were focused on their problems not their miracle working Savior.

    I’m guilty of this, all of us are but the next time if we would stop with our self doubt and the fear – and instead pray for help – it could be as easy as Him walking up. But no matter know we are never alone, He is always near.

    We must not lose sight every time things go side ways. Problems are a part of life but in this life we have a helper, His name is Jesus.

    Instead of living on shaky ground – remember our Salvation is Jesus, He is the rock on which we stand.

    And that friends is how we don’t lose sight, we focus on The One who walked on water.

    In Christ love, amen

  • what is sin?

    Can you answer this simply?

    Was your first thought of what you’ve done or what others are doing wrong?

    The question is not “who does sin”- it is “what is sin” ?

    If I am right in how you answered, then you will soon be relieved to know that the Word of God explains simply what sin is. Especially for those seeking the truth.

    And if you don’t agree with the answers below, then I challenge you to bring “receipts” show me where the Word says otherwise.

    Because what I will share is not what the world believes ~ but what the Word says of the true children God who believe.

    God’s true children abide in Him, His Word and His Ways. 1John 3

    He makes them strong in the confidence of their hope and they are not ashamed before Him because His is their teacher.

    He is righteous and everyone who practices the act of right doing is born of Him. It is God’s will that all who love Him – are called children of God.

    In this respect we are to be like Him, not a “god” but Holy like Him.

    What is Holy? God is Holy.

    What makes a man Holy- God’s presence abiding in them.

    Surrendering daily to walk with Him – this gives hope to whoever seeks Him that they will be purified by His presence from a sin filled life.

    So, what is sin? What does sin do?
    Are you beginning to see the connection yet?

    Sin is lawlessness.

    God is the Law ~ read the 10 commandments. Exodus 20

    Now read where Jesus says which laws are important. Matt 22

    He says the first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Again, incase you missed this, He did not change anything from the original TEN ~ He fulfilled them.

    The first four commandments are how to love the Lord your God, the next six commandments are how to love your neighbor.

    And if you are being honest you already know you have not done this perfectly.

    We have all fallen short. Romans 3:23

    But Jesus.

    He did all perfectly and because of His strength, we can give our free will to Him, offer our lives in surrender to do His good will, and become stronger daily.

    Friends the only way to not transgress against God- is to abide with Him. This is the only strength we need to be concerned with.

    Make Him your first choice daily, He made you His ultimate choice.

    In Christ love, amen

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s a moment that made you realize you were stronger than you thought?
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  • feed on the Word

    It’s said “you can’t walk forward looking back” and while this is true I can’t help but look over my shoulder at how I used to live.

    Deceit; envy; lying and foul language was something which held me back for years as a young adult. It caused all kinds of drama and mistrust. Romans 8:5

    So I can say with certainty that getting rid of this type of living gave room for me to experience more goodness.

    My motivation is to not go back in darkness but live in the light of God’s living Word ~ which abides forever. 1 Peter 1:23

    When His Word at first was preached to me and it begin to transform my understanding, reaching me where nothing else could. It sounded like a sermon on Grace. <Video link>

    So reading the Word of God eventually became a daily habit.

    At first I’d read it to try and find out what I needed to do or what it was saying about me.

    Then I realized I was going about it all wrong, it was a love story about Him and all that He has done to save us. John 3:16-17

    It was His Word that called me to truth and clean living.

    To letting go of bitterness and shame.

    No more looking to be better then others but instead praying for them, as He did. John 17:20

    No looking for acceptance in others because Jesus accepted me, even with all my imperfections He became my new habit.

    His Word fed my soul and it changed my thinking.

    Every misplaced longing for love and acceptance was met by His Word. He showed me what it means to have loyalty and serve others as He did. He changed me, it was Him working out my salvation in me. Eph 2:10

    And then He served me the best news; I was forgiven and loved forever.

    He has taught me to stay close and feed on His Word daily.

    It grows you spiritually strong and when you feed on the Word of God ~ you will find out how good God really is!

    In Christ love, amen

  • write a letter to a stranger

    You don’t know me and I don’t know you, but the one who inspires kindness, goodness and love – He knows us both.

    He is the True Vine

    He came as God in flesh to perfect love and joy.

    He represents everything good, and even though the world’s hatred of Him happens – He would do it again.

    He died for salvations plan – He saves those who believe He says who He is.

    When He arose the Heavenly Father gave Him all power and He then gave us His Spirit- He gives us a helper to guide us in making good choices and finding joy.

    Even right now He is helping me to write to you – whom I don’t know.

    But He knows you.

    He wants you to know your sorrow will turn to joy, if you trust and obey Him. His words are given to you to overcome the world.

    He is your best choice. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

    His kingdom is not of this world. He came to witness of the truth of God – and when we listen to His voice and heed Him. We are saved.

    He is the Lord of Lords and King and Kings,

    He is Jesus Christ the Son of God.

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s a simple pleasure in life that brings you joy?
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    Friends this was something I loved doing and if you enjoyed this you can read more in the Word of God.

    You can also write a letter to another stranger or share this one.

    God Bless you.

    In Christ love, amen

  • no other way

    Soon this place we call home will not be habitual.

    Not a comforting thought I understand but it’s the truth.

    The signs are sure that life here on earth is wrapping up.

    You don’t have to agree but you should at least look around and consider what the world is doing, saying. Life on mars? No, thanks.

    If you are good at timelines and dates you should find this interesting, did you know that the 6,000 year anniversary of Jesus baptism is in 2027 or that His death and resurrection anniversary is in 2031.

    You may be wondering what this means, well if numbers play any role. The number six is biblically the number “of labor” and the seventh number means “completion or rest”.

    The book of Revelation talks about a 1000 year period or rest in heaven with the saints.

    This would be I imagine where a 1000 year of completion would likely begin but it’s just me piecing the puzzle together.

    Meanwhile, throughout the Word we are told to be ready for the day of judgment, no one knows the day or hour but stand ready.

    This book is the most under read book in the world today, but it has the lessons and keys to being ready.

    So how can we stand ready about what we don’t know?

    The best and only way to be ready is to trust and obey God’s Word.

    Trust the plan of Salvation – if you don’t know it, study to learn.

    Obey the Word of the Lord, not just the favorite memory verses or parts that you like, the whole of it.

    When we give our attention to any task, setting our minds to accomplish the thing we want – it happens.

    Do you want to see Jesus?

    Do you want enternal life?

    I hope you said yes.

    As we seek to learn and give our time in effort to learn about God, we are given new understanding.

    What this means is we are no longer living in vain for self because we became interested in the working out of God’s plans for our lives.

    By God’s Word we learn of His promises, and through His Spirit He changes our hearts by the testimony of what His Son Jesus Christ did for us.

    Because of this we learn to trust and obey His Word, how to walk His way, in His truth and into eternal life.

    All working together for our good.

    It is not by our strength or might but by every word of the living God.

    It’s the only way.

    In Christ love, amen

  • abide in Christ

    To paraphrase 1 John 2;28-29; 3 :1-9

    We need to have a confidence in the Son of God so strong that even in times of hardships and disappointment we can endure due to the hope we have in Christ.

    To abide in Christ means you look forward to His coming and can stand before Him unashamed. You believe in your heart that Christ is righteous and that learning to live by His standards makes you partakers of the truth of His word.

    The way to sin is by breaking the laws of God, as you know Christ came to die for our sins, not His, He had no sin. Because of this selfless love of His, we are given a path to follow after Him knowing that even when we fail, He will help us to make it right.

    He will still love us because that is who He is.

    To receive His love, is to chose to not continue living selfishly but instead draw closer to Him.

    These are the ones who love Him, those who abide with Him.

    But to keep living sinfully is to deny His ways, and chose not to abide in Him. This is because of the influence of the devil, who from the beginning has been sinning and influence God’s children to do the same.

    However if we are born of God~ there is a seed that grows as we nurture it with the truth of God’s word, it’s then His Holy Spirit which gives us power to overcome sin because of what Jesus Christ did.

    So abide in Christ – and live.

    In Christ love, amen