The Abundant Life Center

by Dona Hake

Matthew 6:33-34

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and then all these things will be given to you too.  

So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow

worry about itself. Living faithfully is a large enough task for today.”

As Jesus was teaching upon the subject of seeking God’s kingdom first He was making a contrast between heavenly values with earthly values.  He was explaining that our first loyalty need to  be to those things that do not fade away.  Earthly verses Heavenly…this is a choice that our hearts have to make to serve Him wholly.   He told them, “You cannot serve two masters.  If you try, you will wind up loving the first master and hating the second, or vice versa.  You must choose.”

Jesus exhorted the people not to worry about their lives.  “Don’t worry about what you eat or drink, and don’t worry about what you will wear tomorrow.”    He pointed their eyes toward the sky and brought their attention to the fact  the birds do not store food for winter nor do they plant gardens.  They do not sow or reap yet they are always fed because the hand of His loving Heavenly Father feeds them.

“And you are even more precious to Him than a beautiful bird.

If He looks after them, of course He will look after you. “

Even today He desires that we do not consume ourselves with the worries of today or tomorrow for He knows exactly what we need to get us through each day.  Praise Him first and seek Him for every need in your life.  As we put Him first, He will see to it that all your needs are met!

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by Dona Hake

Today I want to encourage you to ask God for His help in every area of your life.   Allow no area to be untouched by His loving and powerful hand.     The Word says that if we seek Him early, we shall find Him.  This is referring to His wisdom and may we be reminded that we can not live apart from His divine wisdom.

May we always keep ourselves in a place of knowing that we can do nothing apart from His help.   It is only Him that can give or provide for us that which is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy our needs.    As we pray for His help we can rely on Him as we depend upon Him confidently.  Today I leave you with a simple yet precious prayer that is special to me.

“Help me to live this day quietly and easily;

To lean upon Thy great strength trustfully and restfully,

To wait for the unfolding of Thy will patiently and serenely,

To meet others peacefully and joyously;

And to face tomorrow confidently and courageously.”

Anonymous

Asking Him to live  quietly and easily is not referring to wanting everything comfy but rather that we flow in His peace and strength no matter what we face.  As we lean upon Him, He will show Himself strong.  As we meet each day looking up to Him, He will unfold His will to us as we go throughout our day and He will be faithful to explain the details of it’s course.  Know that He not only gives us the confidence and courage to make it through this day, but He will strengthen our heart for another one in the power of His Name!

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 PLEASE NOTE!!!!  This is Sunday, May 4th’s devotional.  I

failed to get the devotional for Saturday, May 3rd sent out until

8:00 pm this evening.  If you are looking for Saturday’s devotional,

scroll down below this one!  Blessings to you!

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“LIVING BY THE GOLDEN RULE”

by Dona Hake

Matthew 7:12 (PHILLIPS)
“Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them.”

We have heard this referred to as the “Golden Rule” and it  truly is golden.  It can serve to be exceptionally valuable to us as we exercise it with our loved ones, friends and even strangers that we come in contact with in the course of our day.

How often I see rudeness in the marketplace and I am taken back that people can treat each other so wrong and it just does not seem to bother them.  Sad, isn’t it???   In the news almost on a regular basis you hear of bullying is schools.   Students treating a student cruelly and unfairly for some reason or other.  All of this is summed up in the fact that there are those that  think it is okay to be mean and hateful and they do not care how their actions are possibly devastating someone.

I believe the Lord desires that we are constantly keeping our hearts in check that we are treating people lovingly just as He has commanded us.  This love is not dictated by the behavior of others nor is it dictated by our good days or bad moods.   God’s love will always treat people right because it is unconditional.   He wants us to think before we act and He desires we ask ourselves, “How would I want to be treated in this particular situation?”  The old saying “Unless you have walked a mile in another’s shoes, do not judge them.”  There may be times someone is not being nice because they really are preoccupied with something so big and they feel like their world is coming to an end.

In this life that we will encounter treatment that is  unfair or unkind  but let us  ask Him to see people through His eyes.  As Jesus hung on the cross dying for us, He lovingly looked down as His whole body was screaming with pain and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”   This is the kind of love that will always help us to see everyone around us through His lovingkindness and tender mercies.  He is well able to help us even with the most difficult people.  Yes, He IS well able to use you to show His love in great ways!

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 SATURDAY’S DEVOTIONAL  –   MAY 3, 2014

“From the Rising of the Sun Till Sunset”

by Dona Hake

Psalm 42:8 (CEB)
“By day the Lord commands his faithful love;
by night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.”

This scripture reminds me that from the time I awaken till I lay my head down to sleep that I should simply praise His Name. As I ponder this I think about all that can happen in a day and to be quite honest sometimes we may encounter difficulties or difficult people that make it hard to keep praise to Him in our hearts. The distractions and difficulties can tend to distort our focus on Him. The Lord desires that there is an offering of praise proceeding from our hearts no matter what is going on around us.

Psalm 113:3 (CEV)
” From dawn until sunset
the name of the Lord
deserves to be praised.”

I think the secret to this whole thing is that we ask Him for a greater understanding that He really is with us all the time and He promises to never leave or forsake us.  No matter what happened today or what you have to face tomorrow…NOTHING can keep you from offering praise to the Living God!

 “I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. ” Romans 8:39 (The Message)

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by Dona Hake

As I ponder the uniqueness of each human being, it seems mind boggling.  To know that there are no two fingerprints alike seems to be impossible yet that shows what an amazing God that we serve!  Oh that we would reflect on how special we are to Him.  It seems that our culture is constantly dictating what is and is not success and we are constantly being bombarded by it.    The voice of this world is constantly whispering in our ear to conform to it’s standards.  If you do not know who you are in Christ, this voice will tug and pull at your heart.

There may have been times you have wondered why you are here.   Know that He has things for you to do, places for you to go and purposes to accomplish.  Along with this thought you can absolutely be assured that as you give Him your life, He is going to work all His plans out in His way and His timing.

Psalm 138:8 (ESV)
“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever…”

As we look for the Lord to work through us in unique and wonderful ways, let us be reminded that we are required to surrender our life wholly to Him everyday of our lives.  We must give up doing things the way we think they need to be done and seek how He desires to work in you.

“Surrendering to the Lord is not a tremendous

sacrifice, not an agonized performance.

It is the most sensible thing you can do.”

Corrie ten Boom

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by Dona Hake

As I ponder the uniqueness of each human being, it seems mind boggling.  To know that there are no two fingerprints alike seems to be impossible yet that shows what an amazing God that we serve!  Oh that we would reflect on how special we are to Him.  It seems that our culture is constantly dictating what is and is not success and we are constantly being bombarded by it.    The voice of this world is constantly whispering in our ear to conform to it’s standards.  If you do not know who you are in Christ, this voice will tug and pull at your heart.

There may have been times you have wondered why you are here.   Know that He has things for you to do, places for you to go and purposes to accomplish.  Along with this thought you can absolutely be assured that as you give Him your life, He is going to work all His plans out in His way and His timing.

Psalm 138:8 (ESV)
“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever…”

As we look for the Lord to work through us in unique and wonderful ways, let us be reminded that we are required to surrender our life wholly to Him everyday of our lives.  We must give up doing things the way we think they need to be done and seek how He desires to work in you.

“Surrendering to the Lord is not a tremendous

sacrifice, not an agonized performance.

It is the most sensible thing you can do.”

Corrie ten Boom

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by Dona Hake

Psalm 111:10

“To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living;
all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight.
He will receive praise forever.”

In Proverbs 3:5-6 this word admonishes us to trust in Him and lean NOT on our own understanding.  This is so hard to do at times.  We live in an age where information is so easy to get our hands on.  Any information that we need is at our finger tips as we google in our questions and problems on our computers.  Quite honestly, I have found the more I know about things sometimes it can actually hinder my faith.  The tendency to trust in what man says above what God says about a particular thing can keep you from total trust in Him.

Leaning on God for all that we need is so vital.  Sometimes we want so badly to understand things that we are walking through and there are times we put too much focus on figuring things out.  I have found that simply obeying Him and knowing that I can trust Him to be in charge of my life keeps it simple enough.

I can remember when one of our sons was a little boy.  There was a particular time he was having a very hard time trusting my judgement on a particular thing.  I can remember sharing with him that he just needed to respect my judgement and not try to figure it out.  I began to share with him that there will times in life that we will face things that we do not understand.  I was stressing to him to trust me as a loving mother and authority in his life.  As we entrust our lives into the loving care of the Lord, He will in His timing give us understanding and we will learn and grow from situations that we walk through.   We just need to trust and obey.  God is good all the time…ALL THE TIME God IS good!

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by Dona Hake

Have you ever walked away from someone thinking, “Oh my…I can’t believe I just spoke those words!”

If you have lived on this earth for any amount of time and you are honest with yourself, you can raise your hand and say “yes, I have done that!”  I believe the more we ask God to help us in the area of keeping our mouth out of trouble, the more sensitive we will become to what words we speak.

1 Peter 3:10 (NASB)

“The one who desires life, to love and see good days,
Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”

From our mouth we can speak words that bless people yet our mouth could also curse someone.  Truth could proceed from our lips and nourish and build a relationship yet lies could come forth at any time and tear apart a relationship leaving us scarred  and beyond repair.

Today let us ask Him to keep us aware of the power that is within our tongue that we may speak words of life and good things to those around us.

Proverbs 21:23 (MSG)
“Watch your words and hold your tongue;
you’ll save yourself a lot of grief.”

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by Dona Hake

Philippians 4:6 (AMP)
” Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue

to make your wants known to God.”

As we run this race in life we must determine ourselves to lay aside anything that will weigh us down.  If we do not, we will not be able to maintain focus and our goal will seem impossible.  There are so many things that can hinder us yet the Lord tells us to simply give it all to Him.

Many times if I am in a troubling situation I can become consumed with just having to know that I am making the right decision because I don’t want to mess up.  If I am unsure, then I become preoccupied and the fear of making a mistake begins to haunt me.   One day recently I found myself once again in the position thinking “I just want to do the right thing.”  I felt the Lord sweetly ministering to my heart that the right thing to do in that specific moment was to simply cast my care.  He showed me that the casting of my care regarding a specific thing was EXACTLY the right thing for that moment and releasing the my care to Him was all I could do.

1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)
“Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties,

all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all]

on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and

cares about you watchfully.”

We all well know that after we pray there can be a time of waiting for the manifestation of the answer. Our hearts need to be at total peace regardless of what things look like around us.  I thank the Lord that He affectionately cares for us and we live under His diligent and loving Hand.

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by Dona Hake

The Lord desires that our faith be as a child.  He loves when we run to Him with our concerns and every big or small detail of our lives.  Little children are a constant reminder to me of honesty, and their desire to please.  As I teach the preschoolers at church I cannot tell you how many times one of the children will run to me and show me their latest bump or boo-boo.  Sometimes their boo-boo is so small I cannot see it, but believe me I try to show them that it matters!  Why?….because if it is important enough for them to bring it up,  I want to pay attention.

The children  also love to share with me their latest most exciting things that have happened.  One little girl tugged at my dress during worship yesterday and I leaned down and she whispered to me something funny her Grandpa did on their vacation.  It made me giggle yet these things are reminders to me of how God wants us to be.   She just had to share it because it was important to her at that moment!

Luke 18:17 (ERV)
” The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom

like a little child accepts things…”

Throughout you day take time to whisper prayers to Him about those things that concern you.  Let your heart be obedient to thank Him and praise Him for the good things that are happening to you.  As you remember His works and they thrill your heart, share your heart and tell Him.  He wants to hear about everything that is going on in your heart and mind for He truly cares about every detail of your life!

. “Any concern too small to be turned into a

prayer is too small to be made into a burden. ..
Corrie ten Boom

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