The Abundant Life Center

by Dona Hake

Have you ever felt forgotten?  Maybe there has been a time that you are walking through some rough circumstances, and you just wished someone would inquire how you are doing.  I think we can all honestly say that we have walked through such times.  I have heard people speak at times when they are going through a very rough time, and their words are revealing that they even wonder if God sees what they are walking through.    Today, let us meditate upon the fact that our Lord NEVER takes His loving eyes off of us.   

May we never lose sight and purpose to keep our hearts and minds renewed in the fact how much God loves us, and He is concerned about the smallest of details in our lives.  As we keep this fresh in our minds we will be strong in this truth as we walk through difficult times.

Luke 12:6-8  (NLT)

“What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins?

Yet God does not forget a single one of them.

And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.

So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”

I have been watching my sparrows come to my feeders every day, and it has been a joy watching them feed their little ones.   Honestly though  they can be aggressive little things.  They are pushy with the other birds, and they seem to want to take it all.  They almost seem to be perfect little analogies that we can learn from.   Even though we have faithfully seen our Lord’s provision we still have times that we are fearful of our future.

When we get into fear of our future or we feel we are facing things alone, we too can act irrationally, pushy and try to work through things in our own ability.  God has His eye on the sparrow and He does not forget one of them.  Out of all the parts of our body the writer speaks of the hairs on our head.  When is the last time you tried to count the hairs on your head?   I would say that God is really keeping track of us if He has our hairs counted!

 Let us be reminded that God knows and sees every detail of our life.  He sees our concerns and worries and as we look to Him, He will take care of us.  I just want you to remember that many times our prayers are answered differently than what we expected.  All is good in the hands of God!

Psalm 138:8 (KJV)

“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy,

O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”

Have you ever have something happen to you that was above and beyond what you ever dreamed?   We have all had those times we have heard…”This is just too good to be true!!!”   These are experiences that serve to bless us with a special memory that lasts a lifetime!    Sometimes experiences such as these are hard to articulate as you try to share them with others.    Times such as these are marked with great joy!

Today I was reading Psalm 139:1-6 and the last words are what really stuck out to me.  “…too glorious, too wonderful to believe…”   These words explain the acts and nature of our loving Heavenly Father.

Psalm 139:1-6  Living Bible

” O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought.  You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say before I even say it.  You both precede and follow me and place your hand of blessing on my head.  This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe!”

What an awesome thought to ponder.  God examines and knows our hearts.  As we trust Him as our Great Physician  we can put our life in His hands for we know that He is the Lord that is able to heal and keep us.    He knows our whereabouts at all times and every thought is known whether it becomes words or not. We are all on a path and He knows the footsteps of each of us.  He is there when we succeed and He stays by our side  if we  fail.   His loving hand holds us tightly and He  remains our faithful friend even when we feel we do not deserve to be loved.   He sees our future and understands what is ahead.   He sees the things that we have no clue that we are going to face, and He promises wisdom and direction.     This is just way too glorious and wonderful to believe but it is true…He is so wonderful!    To God be the glory for all the good things He has done!

By Dona Hake

 One day I can remember that  I was trying to sort through my different Bibles and favorite books, and  I pulled out a slip of paper from one of my Bibles, and on it I had written the following scripture:

Psalm 42:8 (AMP)

“Yet the Lord will command His loving-kindness

in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be

with me, a prayer to the God of my life.”

Sometimes when I am reading there are words that just come alive and jump off the pages and I love writing them down and reading over them again. When I write scriptures down it was because something very special stood out to me and spoke to my heart.

 As I found this paper it reminded that God is good and He speaks to me through His Word. It is important to remind ourselves of  the truth that God IS good and this truth can be fresh and new every morning. At the end of a day He has a song for your heart. Even though there may be things in your day that you encountered and they seemed to rob you of your joy, He brings a song to your heart as your lie down to sleep.     Today I encourage you to think about the goodness of your God!

Oh that we can see ourselves free to be who God has made us to be. Can we dare to just be ourselves and permit Him to mold and make us for His purposes. God desires that we be comfortable with who we are and not try to be someone else. I was particularly inspired for today’s devotional by the following quote:

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make

you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

God help us to see more clearly how we are to live and move in You that we may be free to be who You created us to be!

by Dona Hake

Psalm 139:1-6    Easy-to-Read Version

“Lord, you have tested me,
so you know all about me.
You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts from far away.
 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know everything I do.
 Lord, you know what I want to say,
even before the words leave my mouth.
 You are all around me—in front of me and behind me.
I feel your hand on my shoulder.
I am amazed at what you know;
it is too much for me to understand.”

His precious love  surrounds us, and He knows every detail about us.  The God of Heaven and Earth formed you in the womb, and He knows all about you.   He knows your heart, your soul, and the deepest of your emotions.  How precious and wonderful is this to ponder in our hearts!  What blessed assurance we can hold fast to in knowing that we can serve a God that totally understands us inside and out.  Even before words leave our mouth He knows what we are going to say.    There is no escaping His loving knowledge about us.

The Amplified version says in verse three “You sift and search out my path.”   He knows every minute of our life and every breath we will take, and the path we walk is “sifted” and seen with His loving eyes.    As we remain humble before Him there is freedom in knowing that He who sees all will direct our path.    There is sweet peace and protection in knowing that He sees everything before us and behind us.

As we start our day let us remind ourselves to allow Him to search our hearts and speak to us.  We should be amazed as we meditate upon how awesome He is.    This is a thought that should keep us humble before Him in every area of our life.  As we do this, we will live in peace and freedom in Christ!

by Dona Hake

Our words can build people up or our words can tear people down.  One word has the power to encourage, yet an unkind word has the power to tear a heart down.  When I think of people that always seem to speak words with grace I think of those individuals that seem to know how to speak exactly the right thing .  They seem to know not only the perfect words but their timing is just as proper.  As I looked at  Colossians 4:6 ,  I found two translations very thought provoking.

 “Be gracious in your speech.

The goal is to bring out the best in others

in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.”

Colossians 4:6  The Message

 “Everything you say should be kind and

well thought out so that you know

how to answer everyone.”

Colossians 4:6 GOD’S WORD Translation

Today let us look at setting a goal  of our words being that of bringing out the best in people.   There will be times that we will encounter people that  do not feel good about themselves.  Sometimes this is because of things they might be enduring, they may be feeling low, and not feeling self worth.  As we exercise observation of people while we are in conversation we may be surprised how the Lord may provide an opportunity for us to build them up.

 I believe as we purpose to think through and observe people carefully before we speak, we may be surprised how the Lord desires to use our words to build them up.    As we couple that with seeing others through God’s eyes we too will see them in a different light as well.  Let our words be encouraging, full of His grace that our words are instruments for a good thing!

Proverbs 18:4 (TLB)

“A wise man’s words express deep streams of thought.”

by Dona Hake

I can remember as a little girl thinking how everything took too long. Small children almost seem to think that waiting for anything can be an eternity. Many times it is just hard for them to accept the whole concept of how every thing has a process and takes time.

One day when our oldest granddaughter was about three years old, I was teaching her to make banana bread. She thought it was the neatest thing ever to walk through every part of the process. She saw me crack an egg and she wanted to crack an egg. Apprehensively I handed her the egg hoping it would be a good experience. She managed to crack it properly and did rather well. With each step she grew more and more in love with the whole process of preparing the bread batter. She kept stirring and stirring and eventually it was time to pour in the pans an pop in the oven.

 Philippians 2:13 (ERV)

“Yes, it is God who is working in you.

He helps you want to do what pleases him,

and he gives you the power to do it.”

by Dona Hake

I love when someone shares what the Lord has done for them.  Testimonies bring hope and refreshment to our hearts.  As we share the wonderful works that the Lord has done for us we will be encouraging the hearts of those listening, and even strengthen their faith.   I can remember hearing the testimony that I am going to share with you, and this is what I call a Divine Appointment.   I love those times in which you know that the God of Heaven and Earth is orchestrating where we are and who we end up speaking to.   You never know how He desires to use you!   I hope this testimony encourages your heart…

This woman had shared how she lived in Florida and she received a phone call on her cell phone from Pennsylvania.  She did not recognize the number but she felt to answer it.  The man on the other end was obviously confused, and he said he was trying to reach a family member.  He apologized and hung up and she felt prompted to call the police in the area in which the call came from.  She felt a bit awkward but explained to them that she really felt something was wrong with this gentleman.  The police arrived at  this gentleman’s house and he indeed was in need of help.  After a week in the hospital they diagnosed him with a life threatening blood infection.

Needless to say the family of this man were ever so thankful that this young woman’s simple act of kindness and going the extra mile very likely saved this man’s life.  The testimony just really touched my heart.  

Everyday we need to be  sensitive to opportunities that seem small yet they may be big to someone in need.   Sometimes you never really know how that one word you spoke in due season could have sparked hope in a person’s soul.  Let us be sensitive to the times that we are presented with opportunities to give a listening ear to a lonely person or  just take the time to pray for someone because you feel prompted.  These things are all part of ministering the love of God, and just possibly setting someone up for a beautiful testimony of the Lord’s great work in their life!   I pray that your eyes will be opened for divine opportunities to be used by Him today!

by Dona Hake

The thing that inspired me with seeing my birds fly to safety was that they were already safe on the deck of my home. There was no way for my dog to get to them there.  The deck has no stairs and she cannot get to them even if she tried.   They were in a high place, and safely protected and were not aware of it.  

Today we are going to meditate upon the high places of God.   I am thinking about the safe places that God has for us to hide and dwell in the Spirit.  When we abide in Him there is a place of refuge and everything will be okay. By faith we must believe that He has provided a way of escape and our hearts can rest and be at peace even when turmoil is all around us.

Psalm 27:5 (TLB)

” There I’ll be when troubles come.

He will set me on a high rock”

When unrest visits our soul, it is a beautiful thing to know that we have a God that has a plan of escape for us. As He hides us under His wings we can be assured that He is well able to get us through any battle in this life. Today I especially am desiring to reflect on His wonderful peace as a place of refuge. His peace exceeds all our thoughts about any matter and it will guard and shelter our hearts and minds!

Philippians 4:7 (CEB)

“Then the peace of God that exceeds

all understanding will keep your

hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.”

by Dona Hake

 I know when I stay focused on God’s grace flowing through me that I can do anything He requires me to do.  It is then that I experience that wonderful blessed feeling of working wholeheartedly for it is God’s strength that enables me to do all He asks.   It is then that I know that I will indeed reap from the good and diligent work of my hands.   Yet there may be times that we are all tempted to lose heart in what we are doing.    The Word of God says in Galatians that if we do not “lose heart and grow weary”  we shall reap.

Galatians 6:9 (AMP)

“And let us not lose heart and grow weary and

faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due

time and at the appointed season we shall reap,

if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.”

It is when we lose heart that most of us can identify and will express words like “I just feel like I am going through the motions.”  It is usually at this time we could feel   drained in our  attempts even to do a good thing.  Most certainly at times like these our mind will begin to develop an unhealthy attitude and this is a sure guarantee that the Lord’s hand will not be able to bless what we are doing.  I think it is always important to remember  even when we step out in an attempt to do a good thing by no means gives us the guarantee of smooth sailing.

As we establish in our hearts and mind what  the will of the Lord , we must keep our eyes on Him.  It takes courage and strength to persevere in this life and as we continue to focus on that which He has instructed us to do we shall reap!  Today I encourage your heart to ask Him to help you work with a diligent heart and hands.   Ask the Holy Spirit to warn you when you are tempted to negative thoughts that would give place to weariness.   God is able to bless the work of our hearts and keep our hearts strong as we do His will, in Jesus Name!