DAILY DEVO: I write to encourage others, what do you do?

I had someone ask me "why do you send out daily devotions?"


Besides the fact that God has given me a love for writing devotions, God has given me a platform in which I can speak love and encouragement into people's hearts and lives.

Someone close to me once told me that they receive my devotions but rarely read them. At first that hurt my feelings but then God reminded me of why He has me writing...that if just ONE life is affected, it is worth it all!


We are commanded as Christians to encourage one another. Encouragement, in fact, can drastically change a persons life!


We all get distressed from time to time and need encouragement. If I write about comfort, you may not need comfort that particular day, but I promise you one day you will, and no doubt, you will rub shoulders with someone who is desperate for it.


Today's encouragement may not be for you at this time. But God knows the exact time and the exact person it is meant for. I don't have the power of knowing who needs what, but I do know that when I'm obedient in sharing encouragement from God's Word, He will build up the lonely, the depressed, and the hurting.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." -1 Thessalonians 5:11

Be an encourager! I write to encourage, what are you doing to build others up?

DAILY DEVO...know the truth from a lie

Armor is the most vital thing that any warrior needs to have in place prior to engaging in battle.


Protection is deemed necessary for the soldier, and the firefighter and even the goalie for the hockey team, but when it comes to the average Christian, we assume position at the front lines unarmed, with vital pieces of our protection missing!

"The devil...does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies." - John 8:44

The only power that satan possesses is in the lie. He has no power over us except what we allow when we fall for his lies. When we expose him and his deceit, we break his power.


It grieves me so when I see once godly warriors who use to serve God not give Him the honor due Him.


How does that happen?


It happens when a Truth was traded for a lie. Just this past week I've heard of two beautiful ladies who listened to the voice of lies and attempted to take their life. One life was ended, the other hangs on.


The lies of the enemy is very real and we must be sure to have all the armor intact so to not listen to the wrong voice. Satan has no power over you, or your mind or your soul. Dealing with the enemy is not an encounter with his power, it's an encounter with God's truth!

"You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free". -John 8:32

Be free. Know the difference between the truth and a lie.

DAILY DEVO...Taking God seriously.

It is estimated that there are over a half a billion practicing Christians in the world. Half a billion? But yet, it all started with just a small group of disciples. Twelve men who were sold out for the love of Christ. The things of God were not a part time hobby or a convenience to the early believers, it was their highest priority...

'The believers met in the Temple every day...' (Acts 2:46)

Every day?


They took church seriously! It is difficult for Pastors to "pack a pew" on a selected Sunday nowadays, so how crazy would it be if your Pastor asked you to come to church EVERY day?


I don't know about you, but my life gets busy, and I have hobbies and sometimes I even get weary. These and more are the reasons some of us give but are we that much busier than the original twelve?


Probably not. They had far less convenience than we do but yet somehow they found themselves in the Temple daily.


Lord, give us a hunger like that for You! We may not be able to go to God's House daily, but at the very least, we can daily go to His Throne!


Examine your faithfulness to God and His house today. We may not be the first 12, but we are just as needed in the Kingdom. May we make our relationship with Christ top priority!

DAILY DEVO...Grow down in order to grow up!

Our lives are like tomato plants! Yes, that is right, even if you don't like tomatoes, in order to "grow up", we must "grow down"!

If you have ever worked in a garden, or watched someone work a garden, you know that in order for a tomato plant to grow up, it needs help. It needs a brace, or a support to help it along. While the plant may be strong enough to hold the tomatoes, it isn't firm enough to hold them up and the more it produces, the more help it needs.


The same is true in our lives, especially our spiritual life. The more we grow in Christ, the more structure and support we need...

"Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong." -Colossians 2:7

Paul knew that as we grow, we need deeper roots to support us. This is why so many times we see people walk away from their faith so easily. Their roots weren't anchored deeply.

If we want to grow in our relationship with God, we have to let our roots go down first. Now that you see you are nothing but a tomato (spiritually), let's do what tomatoes do...grow down to grow up!

DAILY DEVO...What's trending?

Every day, millions of people use Twitter, a social media platform to tweet some thought or event. Users determine by their hashtags (#) what issues deem to have the most importance. The problem with Twitter and other social media like it is that the real issues in this world can be overlooked or minimized.


Today on Twitter, the top "trending" topics were #HarrisonFord with 460.9k tweets and #BlackOutDay with 148.8k tweets. I am sure to some these topics are noteworthy but what about some of the serious topics around the world that can no longer be ignored or hidden?


Topics like the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu warning or the ISIS threat, or the worldwide devastation taking place (360 in China killed by a quake or the dozens in Japan found dead near the peak of a volcano).


What is this world being transformed into?


While millions of Americans tune in at 10 pm to the TV series #Scandel, a show about adultery, murder and lies, only a small fraction of those same Americans will tune into #Jesus on Sunday morning at 10 am at the local church.


"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12:2


The world operates completely differently than God. If we want to see #Jesus trending in our world, we MUST allow #Him to #Transform our minds!


What is trending in your world today?

LACED WITH GRACE...a spiritual lesson from a roller coaster ride

Today I shared the following devotion with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE. Every day you can find inspirational devo's written by awesome Christian writers. I'm blessed to be part of the team. www.lacedwithgrace.com

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When I was younger, I loved the thrill and excitement of a roller coaster ride. The feeling of no fear as the amusement ride attendant buckled me in was awesome. Fast forward to today… you couldn’t drag me on a rollercoaster. I’m deathly afraid of the twists, turns and hanging upside down with nowhere to land my feet.


My husband, on the other hand, at the age of 54 absolutely loves the ride. Last summer, he went on every ride with our youth group from church when we took them to an amusement park. He even allowed himself to be buckled into a giant bungee cord that whipped him high in the air about 100 feet. He was all smiles and loved every exciting moment of the thrill, while I stood down below trying to capture it on camera, but the fear in me to even watch was more than I could stand. As he was thrust in the air, swinging back and forth, I squeezed my eyes closed and screamed in disbelief. My heart was pumping just as hard as his, if not more, and my feet never left the ground.


Do you know what the difference is between me and my husband at the amusement park? He is a risk taker and trusts the restraints to hold him in place, while I do not.


Taking a stand for Christ is similar, often times, defending our faith can be just as scary as riding a floorless rollercoaster. We trust God, but we wonder how we can convince the scaredy cats on the ground to take a leap of faith and enjoy the ride with us and God.


Look at how Elijah handled something similar…

“Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” -1 Kings 18:24

Elijah challenged a bunch of people who didn’t believe in God to prove that his God was real. You could say that Elijah was a risk taker when it came to taking a stand for God but he was also confident that God would come through for him and not leave him dangling. In fact, Elijah was not willing that anyone would be skeptical, so he poured tons of water on his wood, so it would be obvious that his God was a big God.


Some of us are like those looking towards the wet wood, skeptical in our faith. But, just as we can trust the restraints on a roller coaster ride to keep us intact and safe, we can trust God that He will keep us safe and land us on our feet if we would just take a risk on Him.


When is the last time you took a risk and took a bold, fearless stand for Christ?


PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me to be a risk taker for You! Ease my fear and give me a boldness to stand firm in my faith, to share with others that there is nothing too wet for you to light. Light my wood God, let it burn bright.” AMEN

LACED WITH GRACE...keep on swimming.

There are so many things in this world that I just do not understand. For instance, I do not understand how electricity flows thru the wall and makes a light turn on. I also do not understand how I can place a seed in the ground and after a short time, a beautiful flower blossoms.

Some things are just hard to understand, but yet, some amazing things come out of it.

Lately I have been thinking about some things in my life. As I have tried to make rhyme and reason out of some things, I have come to the conclusion that some things are just not for me to understand.

Instead, it is like the electricity that I can’t see…I have to just trust. Everytime I flip the light switch, it is an act of trust that the electricity waves that I don’t understand will make the room illuminate with brightness.

Not understanding but yet trusting makes me think of the children of Israel who were finally set free after years and years of slavery. As they began to march to their freedom, they marched straight to the Red Sea. As they looked around they saw impassable mountains on both sides of them and the sea straight in front of them. As they looked behind them, the Egyptian army was in hot pursuit after them.

No matter which way they looked, it appeared that they had come to a dead end. There seemed to be nowhere to turn. I am sure at this point, they were questioning what exactly was going on. How difficult it must have been for the children of Israel to understand why God would allow them to come this far, only to come up to a dead end.

But God understood even if they didn’t.

God knew exactly what He wanted to do. He had not made a mistake. He could see what they could not see. He opened up the Red Sea so they could walk through to safety. Years later, the Israelites looked back  and sang,  “Your road led by a pathway through the sea—a pathway no one  knew was there!”  (Psalm 77:19 LB).

Maybe you feel like you are up against a dead end! Or like there is nothing in front of you but raging sea waters. You may not understand but God knows and He already sees a path that we may not see. As the Israelites came close to the Red Sea, God opened up the waters and gave them direct passageway across to the other side. Not only did God make a way, but He even made it possible for the Egyptians to NOT have access across. As the Israelites crossed over, the waves came crashing back down, drowning out the enemy.

The closer we get to the water, and place our trust in Him, He will lead us safely across. We just have to trust Him and keep swimming!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your  own  understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your   paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

Some things are just not for us to understand. But we can still trust in the Lord and all of His ways! Are you swimming or are you drowning?

BLESSINGS, LAURIE

TODAY'S DAILY...what color do they see?

If you are on Facebook, you have seen the many statuses about "the" dress! Is it white and gold or is it black and blue? The color that you perceive it to be depends on your perspective and what kind of light you look at from.

The colors that people reveal depends on the perspective or what kind of light is being reflected. People who show their true colors reminds me of the pig story...

"A farmer brought his pig inside, he gave him a bath, filed his nails, splashed some perfume on him and tied a ribbon around his neck and sat him down on the couch. For a few minutes, the pig was presentable but as soon as the door opened wide, the pig flew out and jumped in the first mud puddle he found. Why? After all he was all cleaned up and looking good! It was because he was still a pig at heart, nothing inside had changed."

You can change your clothes, comb you hair and paint on a big smile while sitting on the front pew at church, but unless you have made a change inwardly, all you've changed is your clothes.
You see, it doesn't really matter what color that dress is, gold and white or black and blue, at the end of the day it's just a dress.

"God carefully watches the goings on of all mankind..." -Job 34:21

At the end of the day, our true colors will be what matters to God. If you act one way at church on Sunday but yet a different way Monday morning at work or school or on Friday night you find some mud to roll in, then perhaps you need a spiritual change of clothes, a change from the inside out!
True colors are always revealed, whether it's gold and white or black and blue, why not make your true colors count for the Kingdom!