Daily Devo...Giving thanks for the night

TODAY'S DAILY...

I love to see a grateful heart. It sometimes is my motivation to do more for someone. But truly, is it really my place to reward gratitude?

God notices the grateful heart. Remember how He took a praise-singing shepherd boy and made him a king?

1 Corinthians 11:23 "On the night He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God."

It isn't often you see word...s like "betrayed" and "thanks" in the same sentence. Or even in the same heart. Even in the darkest hour, Jesus gave thanks.

? for today...how easily do you give thanks?

It's easy for us to be grateful for the light but Jesus teaches us to also be grateful for the dark.

Whatever or wherever you find yourself...give thanks. God will notice and He will crown you with blessings

Daily Devo...Daddy knows best.

To trust when we cannot even trace God is the ultimate test of our willingness to follow God. All of us have times when God asks us to step out into the unknown, to take a leap of faith, to go out on a limb.

? for today...what is God asking you to trust Him for?
Psalm 31:15 says, "My times are in Your hands."

Whatever you are facing today, God has already seen your circumstance from beginning to end. Trust Him today, for His ways are greater than our ways.

Daddy knows best.

  

Daily devo....Joy down in my heart

TODAY'S DAILY...

"I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart...where? Down in my heart...where? Down in my heart to stay."

The simplicity of our childhood, like this song, often escapes us as we get older. As a child, things seem simple, no worries, no burdens to carry, no hard decisions to make. Just joy.

As we get older, we equate joy with our situations. The harder life becomes, the l...ess joy we have. But deep inside each of us there is joy, some of us just push it further down.

Psalm 28:7 "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped."

Joy gives us strength. It helps us through pain. It gives us hope. It reminds us Who were living for.

? for today...how deep is your joy?

LACED WITH GRACE...The Peace of Christmas

Today I have shared a devotion with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE entitled "The Peace of Christmas". Please join me over there today...Click the following link:

http://lacedwithgrace.com/devotion/christmas/peace-christmas/

THANKFUL THURSDAY...Do it continually!

Hello friends. I want to greet you with special Thanksgiving greetings. All year long, we meet here or over at my friend Iris's place to express our thanks and gratitude. Whether we do it once a week or just on this special day set aside, I must ask myself and ask you...Is it enough?

Giving praise to God is one of the best ways to express our thanks to God for all of His blessings but yet so many of us do not take the time to do it on a regular basis. I know, I know, I am preaching to the choir as most of you reading this today are regular Thankful Thursday readers and supporters. But I seriously have been pondering this thought, what kind of "thanking Him" routine do we have?

Is saying "grace" before we eat enough?
Is saying a bedtime ritual enough?
Is even expressing our top ten list at Thanksgiving enough?

In Hebrews 13:15, it says this...

"By Him therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."

Continually, you say? That does not mean just once a year or even once a day! It is implying that we offer thanks repeatedly, without interruption. David sums it up well in Psalms...

"His praise shall continually be in my  mouth. At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee because of Thy righteous judgements." (Psalm 119:62)

When is the last time you or I found ourselves up giving God praise at midnight? I can barely open my eyes to see the way to the bathroom, let alone, open my lips.

God is desiring for His children to develop a lifestyle of praise, offering thanks and praise for all He is and all He does, at ALL times. Continually.

Today is Thankful Thursday and I have had the privilege of hosting with my friend Iris for several years now. Due to some health issues going on within my family, this will be my last time to host TT  for a short while. I will be back and until then, I will continually be thanking Him!

TODAYS DAILY...If only!

We like the idea of change. Something appealing about starting over. Most people think if only they could move, life would be better. Or only if I had a mate or if only I had friends or if only, if only, if only.

A survey showed that 80 percent of American women ate dissatisfied with their appearance. If only we could look like Hollywood, if only, if only....

? for today...can we really change who we are, can we reinvent ourselves?

Changing ourselves requires a lot more than just changing our looks. We can change our looks, we can change where we live but we cannot change who we are in the inside. Only God can do that.

Jeremiah 17:9 says "The Human heart is the most deceitful things, and desperately wicked."

Woah...seems to me the only change that matters at the end of the day is the change God makes in us, anything else is really irrelevant. If only. If only we would ask God to change us!

LACED WITH GRACE...Whose plan is it anyhow?

I shared the following devotion with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE today....

No-one likes last minute changes. Whether it is the carpool schedule or a vacation cancellation, making changes really can mess us up.

It not only inconveniences us but last minute changes just messes up our plans.

As a pastors wife, I see it all of the time. Just change the order of service on Sunday and watch who all will get messed up because of your change. It will throw the worship team off. It will mess up the plans of the ushers. It may even throw the preaching off alittle bit.

But not all of our last minute changes is bad. In fact, sometimes changes that are unexpected can be good for us. Problem is that WE want to be in charge of the changes in our lives. God sometimes will make a last minute change in our life that may seem out in left field, but when He makes the changes, everything will always fall into place.

As a young woman, I had a dream to buy a house in a certain historical part of town. For years my dream did not happen until one day, God opened a door and my husband and I were able to purchase what we deemed our "dream" house in the historical area that we wanted. We thought we had everything that we ever dreamed of. We had each other. We had 2 sons. and now we had the house we would raise our kids in and retire in. Life was great!

Until a few years later, when God opened a door for my husband to take a job transfer with his company. 800 miles away from our dream!

I remember thinking, "How could God make these last minute changes?"

God does that sometimes. Nothing is last minute to Him though, every change and every detail is a very well thought out plan on His part. Even though we plan, we sort, we organize...God has a much bigger and more organized plan than we ever could. Sometimes God uses our life circumstances to change our plans so that He can use us in different situations.

Psalm 118:8 “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

So, don't worry if plans get changed...whether you are the one who plans the schedule or the one who sings the Sunday morning special, trust God to use the last minute changes for something even better.

It is ok to make plans...but trust Him when He chooses to change them.