The Abundant Life Center

by Dona Hake

One of the very first things we do in the morning is dressing  ourselves for the day and it’s occasion.  I am one of those planners so there are many evenings before I go to bed I lay my clothes out for the next day so my morning goes a little smoother.  I believe the Lord desires that we are thinking about “clothing” ourselves in the many good things He desires.  As you awaken in the morning ask Him to clothe you with the good things so you can be an instrument of Him.

Colossians 3:12 (CJB)
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people,

holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves

with feelings of compassion and with kindness,

humility, gentleness and patience.”

As we make a conscious effort to clothe ourselves in the fruits of who He is we will truly be blessed. Face it, it is so easy to be nice to those that are treating us right, but difficult people can cause us to really get off track with our love walk.   God’s way is always the higher way and as we react out of His love and purpose to remain clothed in  His Spirit we will be blessed.

Proverbs 11:17 (TLB)
“Your own soul is nourished when you are kind;

it is destroyed when you are cruel.”

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by Dona Hake

I can remember like yesterday my Sunday school teacher with her flannel board teaching us how Jesus blood took all our sin away.  There was a flannel heart with black spots on it and then there was a pure white heart.  All I can remember as a little girl sitting there was that I wanted the pure white heart.  I wanted no parts of black spots on my heart and I wanted to understand how to have the pure white heart.

Thank God through His forgiveness, we can experience the pure white heart.  Along with forgiveness He desires to shed upon our hearts that we be merciful to those around us.

1 Corinthians 13:5 (ERV)

Love does not remember wrongs done against it.”

Today I am encouraging you to be merciful and forgiving.  God’s love is so powerful and it can help you forgive wrongs done against you.  If you are carrying a little  “book of accounts of wrongs done” to you.  Give it a pitch!!!  Let us enjoy the freedom that forgiveness brings to our hearts!  Today I leave you with this wonderful anonymous quote:

“Every person should have a special cemetery lot

in which to bury the faults of friends and loved ones.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free

and discover the prisoner was you”

(Unknown)

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by Dona Hake

I really enjoyed this past Easter weekend. It was so refreshing to meditate in a deeper way of what Jesus did for me at the cross. I tried to watch a few old movies about His life, works and His death and they ministered to me and refreshed my soul. Days of remembrance come and go but certain ones should be carried in our hearts everyday. Easter is not just a holiday that comes and goes it is your reason for living.

“Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the precious blood of the Lamb.”

Lyrics from “There’s Power In the Blood”

by Lewis E. Jones

I love this old hymn because it challenges my heart to remember that Jesus did what no one else could do for me.  Today I encourage you to remember that your heart can be whiter than snow because of what He did at the cross.  Because He lives we can face our today and every tomorrow in the strength and power of all that He is!

Psalm 103:12 (CJB)
“He has removed our sins from us
as far as the east is from the west.”

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by Dona Hake

Psalm 63:8 (VOICE)
” My soul clings to You;
Your right hand reaches down and holds me up.”

As I was praying this morning I started thinking about times that I ask the Lord for His Hand be upon me.  The beauty of the whole thought opened up to me and just sat and thanked Him for  how His wonderful Hand leads me and guides me throughout the day.  The work of His Spirit in our life should be met with expectancy every time we pray.

There are days that I feel His loving hand give me the push I need and it’s called courage.  Sometimes I feel Him tugging at my heart because I am about to miss something that is important mainly because I am preoccupied with something else.  Sometimes I feel His loving hand holding me back and keeping me from taking a step forward in the wrong direction.  I especially love when I can almost sense His hand across my mouth so I do not speak words that would offend or hurt others.  His loving and caring hand in our life is so sweet.

I hope you too are looking for His loving hand at work in your life!  Live in the expectancy of it and He will always meet you where you are and uphold you as you cling to Him.

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by Dona Hake

“Get off the fence!” is commonly used when you are being indecisive and not wanting to take a side on an issue.  Today as I was praying and meditating about this devotion I was thinking how we can also be “on the fence” in areas of our hearts regarding spiritual things.  As an example you may know certain truths and you try to apply them yet there are areas that you may struggle with deciding to just be obedient and committing your heart to act them out.

We must establish within us that the Lord wants all of us so He can fully work in us.  Yet the the devil will try to keep us spinning our wheels in particular areas of our life to keep us from going full throttle.  I think of one particular area where people think they can “back burner” things and that is the area of not forgiving people.  They may feel their heart tugged by the Lord to let it go and forgive and then for some reason the individual will find a reason to withhold forgiveness.

With every decision we make toward going forward in the ways of the Lord we must ask Him for His help.

Proverbs 16:3 (EXB)
“Depend on the Lord in whatever you do [Commit your acts/deeds to the Lord],
and your plans will ·succeed [be established].”

Today I encourage you to make good decisions as a result of desiring to please the Lord.  Some decisions especially in the area of our obedience to the Word can really challenge our flesh, but trust me, He will enable you to carry out His Word.  Entrust your efforts to Him and your good decisions will cause you to flourish in His Kingdom.

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by Dona Hake

The evil of this world continues to gain momentum and we must remain strong that we can rise above it’s pulling and tugging at our hearts.    I often think how hard it would be to be a young person and sort through all that is out there.  Really, it is only by the power of God that any of us can remain strong for He has promised to give us ALL things that we need that pertain to this life and living godly.  When God says ALL He means ALL.  Not just a high percentage but ALL, and that means He will cause us to lack in no good thing as we ask Him.

2 Peter 1:3-4 (PHILLIPS)

“He has by his own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life, in allowing us to know the one who has called us to him, through his own glorious goodness. It is through him that God’s greatest and most precious promises have become available to us men, making it possible for you to escape the inevitable disintegration that lust produces in the world and to share in God’s essential nature.”   We no longer need to strive to live a life pleasing unto to Him but rather draw upon Him as we come to know Him more intimately.  It is as this becomes so real to us that the scripture in Philippians 4:13 will explode with power within us!  

Philippians 4:13 (AMP)

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].   To God be the glory!!!!  

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by Dona Hake

As we have just celebrated the glorious holiday Easter, we have been reminded in our hearts of all that Jesus did for us.  We celebrate our freedom from sin and the wonderful fact that He has made us overcomers in this life.   Sadly there are times we fail to realize that He desires we be free in every area and aspect of our lives.  Our minds and hearts may be held prisoner by many different things, and we may fail to realize that we are still in bondage.  Let us beware of such a thing and desire the freedom and abundant life He desires us to have.

I want to take you to a scripture that David had written when he was hiding from Saul in caves.  These may have seemed like prisons to him because of the confinement.  He was losing hope, and bound in fear and depression.  There may be times that we are caught in depression, fear, unforgiveness, etc…

Psalm 142:6-7
 (DARBY)
“Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver

me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may celebrate thy name.

The righteous shall surround me, because thou dealest bountifully with me.”

One thing we must understand is that a prison is not just a physical place where one is paying a price for a wrong done.  There can be “prisons” within our hearts and minds that those around you do not even know  exist.   You know, we can learn to hide things very well at times and act like everything is okay.     Yet there are  times there are unspoken thoughts that are wrong and you embrace them.  They roam your mind freely and let me make emphasis on the word *freely*.  They may be free in your mind but they are imprisoning you and keeping you from staying humble to God.  Maybe there is unforgiveness in your heart that you refuse to release…again it is your own prison.  There is also the horrible effects that fear can have on one’s heart and make one feel prisoner.

Let us remind ourselves that we were meant to be free in Jesus Christ.  It is only by Him that we can be free.  Let us never be afraid to ask the Lord to “bring our soul out of prison.”  He knows our heart and mind inside and out and He loves us so much.

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by Dona Hake

He is risen!!!!  Praise God we serve a Living Savior and He lives forever!  Today I encourage you to look to Him for all that you need.  It is through believing upon His Name that we have an abundant life promised to us.  He has promised to be there for us and He said He would never forsake us!  He has wiped away all of our sins as far as the east is to the west.  Oh my, what a wonderful thing to be thankful for this day!

In this life we will face times in which we need answers to problems and wisdom to walk through them.  Let us remind ourselves that we serve the One that made us over comers through His blood.  There is not one thing that we ever have to walk through that He has not promised to walk through it with us.

Hebrews 11:1
Living Bible 
“What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.”

I praise Him today that I can abide in His loving care and just know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can live in confident assurance as I keep my eyes upon Him.  I pray that you will have a blessed and beautiful Easter Day!!!

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by Dona Hake

Yesterday I shared about Thomas’ reaction to hearing that Jesus had appeared to the disciples.  Poor Thomas just happened to miss the whole surprising event.  I am very sure that he had to be disappointed.    I can only imagine the joy and emotions that had been stirred among the other disciples and he missed it.  Don’t you just hate when something super exciting happens and you just happened to miss the whole thing cause you decided to be somewhere else.   On top of it all Thomas doubted that they even saw Jesus.

He saw Jesus suffer and die on the cross and now his friends are saying that He was right there in the same room speaking with them. I am paraphrasing Thomas’ reaction…”Unless I can touch His nail scarred hands and see where the sword pierced His side, I am not believing this whole deal!” A week later Jesus walked through the same room with locked doors. Thomas was there this time and Jesus totally knew what Thomas needed to see. As Jesus showed His hands and side, Thomas’ reaction…”My Lord, My God!!!”

My heart is just stuck on this story because it just touches my heart and stirs me to realize how often we too struggle with doubt and unbelief.  The scripture that immediately follows this story is:

John 20:30-31

“Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this scroll.  But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name.”

The Word of God should be held very precious in our hearts.  It is God’s love letters to us that we might keep our hearts stirred and full of faith that we might believe and have life in His name.  It is stories like this that should cause us to see ourselves in these same situations and cause our hearts to grow in faith.  I encourage you today to love the Lord your God with ALL of your heart and everything that is within you, therefore you will life in the abundance and joy and overcoming faith that He intended for you!

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by Dona Hake

I don’t know about you but some of the wonderful stories in the Bible make me just close my eyes and try to visualize what it must have been like in that moment in time. Today we are looking at John 20:25-30 where the disciples had just experienced Jesus making an appearance after His death. The room where they were in had locked doors for fear of the Jews. As Jesus entered the room He spoke peace over them and they were thrilled to see Him and they even got to touch His nail scarred hands and side. I cannot even imagine how they felt after seeing Jesus dying and then to see Him alive again! I tell you what I cannot imagine is being one of the twelve and I just happened to not be there. Oh my…talk about disappointment or shall we say for Thomas …a whole lot of doubt.

You got to give it to Thomas, he was being honest and he just was not buying this story unless there was proof and he spoke what proof he wanted.

John 20:25-30
Easy-to-Read Version

They told him, “We saw the Lord.” Thomas said, “That’s hard to believe. I will have to see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side. Only then will I believe it.”

A week later the followers were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand here in my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “You believe because you see me. Great blessings belong to the people who believe without seeing me!”

I have read these scriptures over and over again since I have started meditating on this yesterday. I can just see Jesus walking toward Thomas and after his eyes saw the scarred hands and side of Jesus, Thomas exclaimed “My Lord and my God!” I keep visualizing the possibility of Thomas dropping to his knees in total awe, humility, and worship to Jesus. Every bit of doubt melted away and his heart was filled with renewed faith.

Jesus knew Thomas’ heart before he entered the room and He addressed Thomas’ doubt right away. He knew what Thomas needed to see and Jesus showed Him. To me this story reminds me that we in times of unbelief are challenged to just believe before we see the end result. I encourage you to ponder this story in your heart to just believe that He is alive and desires to show Himself to you however you need Him to. Are you troubled? Sad? Sick? Jesus just wants you to believe that He can be whatever you need Him to be as you release your faith in prayer. His loving, nail scarred hands are ready to touch your life today!