Devotions Archives - Page 97 of 176 - The Abundant Life Center

“Keep Your Eyes On Him!”

Posted on Jan 5, 2016 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

I want to share a story that I have shared with you before, but it is a good one to bring you the truth of keeping your eyes on Him. I can remember a particular weekend over a year ago that I was taking care of my son’s two puppy dogs. It was a Sunday morning and I had to be get to church a bit early so I switched things up a bit to make things go faster, and save time. I strategically tried to feed three doggies, one parrot, and forty some beautiful fish. Well, I thought I had totally accomplished all the feedings, or maybe I thought wrong?

I was finally sitting down to eat my oatmeal and coffee, and our German Shepherd quietly laid on the chair and just kept her gaze on me. I thought it strange because she would usually head into our bedroom to sleep right after she has her run in the yard. I finished eating, and was cleaning up, and I turned around to find her positioning herself that I could not walk around her. She sat there and lovingly stared into my eyes. She was determined not to get out of my way until I got her quiet message. I said, “Aasha what’s wrong?” Her eyes spoke loud and clear! “You forgot to feed me!” Oh my gosh…here she was trying to tell me something, and I was not getting it. I felt so bad when I realized that I had fed everyone but her. The poor thing was not going to give up, and her strategy was to stay in my presence, and stare me down till I realized she had not eaten yet!

How many times do we have needs, and we get impatient with the Lord, and just walk away from His presence, and get into our own ability. Oh how important it is that we just stay in the Lord’s presence, and keep our eyes fixed on Him because He is our provision, and all of our needs are met by Him. My puppy dog knows where her food comes from, and she was not moving till I got the message!! Thank God He never forgets us! Today I encourage you to set your gaze upon Him, and do not look to anything but Him for each and every need you have.

“O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast, in the confidence of faith)…”

Psalm 108:1

“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firmly fixed, trusting (leaning on and being confident) in the Lord.”
Psalm 112:7

“Where Do You Live?”

Posted on Jan 4, 2016 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

We all have yesterdays, and we all have pasts. Some things in our pasts may be a delight to think upon, and then there are those grievous things that you have walked through that brought your heart down and robbed your joy. I can remember my husband sharing in one of his sermons, “If you live in the past, you’ll have no current joy.”

This is a very powerful statement, and it should cause you to consider where we are “living.” I think one of the saddest things is seeing people live in the pain of their past yet they have so much to be thankful for in the present moment. If you live in the past, even when there are good things going on around you, you may be hindered from even noticing them. The past has the ability to rob you of the good things that are in your life RIGHT NOW! We need to stop and purposely think of each and every good thing that God has blessed us with. If you allow your mind to dwell on bad memories of the past you will miss the joy of the moment.

Philippians 3:13 (TLB)

“No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing

all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead…”

So I ask you today, “Where do you live? In the past or in the present?” I want to encourage you today that if you are constantly tempted to look over your shoulder into your past to stop! Stop and look at who you are today and how far God has brought you. Stop and think about every blessing you possess whether it be spiritual blessings, family, friends or material things. Let us not allow the wonderful joys in our present be robbed from us because we feel we are unable to go forward. Know this, God can heal you from the pain and scars of your past. He can give you hope for a future, and He can bring joy unspeakable into your heart and peace that passes all understanding that will permeate your mind. Enjoy the current joys that are around you and allow God to give you the strength to continue to move forward!

“God Is Our Understanding”

Posted on Jan 3, 2016 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Think about all that God is to us. We can look to Him as being the love of our life, He is Light, He is our Healer, He is our Provider… I could share so many things that He is to us but today I want to share with you that He is our Understanding. When all seems dark or something may seem confusing I want to encourage your heart today to look to Him as the one that is able to give you the understanding that you need.

The understanding of God is a wonderful thing yet we must first fear His Name and have a respect for it. This is the beginning of His wisdom and understanding to be given to us. As we follow His guiding principles we will have good sense and be decisive. I would like to share a scripture with you from Psalm 111:10. The one translation from the Extended Bible says it simply, and that is “those who obey and do his orders have good understanding.” I love the way this is worded simply because it calls God’s Word or His commands “his orders”. Are there times that you feel you can pick and choose from His Word? God desires that we embrace all of His truth and make it ours to obey that we may live a blessed life.

Today, let us reverence the Lord in every way possible. Lord, help us to be humble as we hear Your Word and read Your Word. May we draw close to You that we may hear Your tender voice as You desire to instruct us in the way. You are good, and may we see all of Your commands as good and profitable in our walk with You that we may grow thereby. In Jesus Name, amen!

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Psalm 111:10 The Living Bible
How can men be wise? The only way to begin is by reverence for God. For growth in wisdom comes from obeying his laws. Praise his name forever.

“Walking Where Truth Echoes His Name”

Posted on Jan 2, 2016 in Devotions |

Follow Him and stay in His footprints!

by Dona Hake

Yesterday I shared with you that God desires for us to walk within His footprints that are guided by truth and righteousness. His steps are solid, and as we purpose to walk within those footprints, we will be within the borders of His will for our life. This is where God desires that we live, abide and serve Him. The scripture that I shared with you yesterday was from Psalm 85.

Psalm 85:13 BRG version

Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.”

Today I want us to reflect upon the beauty of staying by our Lord’s side clinging to Him and His ways.

I love knowing that as I abide in Him, He is going to continually restore my soul and lead me into His paths where His truth speaks of Him. I love knowing that as I walk closely to Him that my life will speak and echo of His righteousness and His truth.

Psalm 23:3 (VOICE)

“He makes me whole again,
steering me off worn, hard paths

to roads where truth and righteousness echo His name.”

Let us look now at how He lovingly steers us away from worn, hard paths yet how many times do we
return to them. Those worn, hard paths could be habits and patterns in our lives that have ultimately gotten us in trouble. Those worn paths are those that have developed because of doing the same thing over and over again. God is calling us to allow Him to step in and guide us on the paths of His desire for us.

Maybe you have walked the path of a habitual worrier. Maybe your worn, hard path has been one of constantly walking in fear and anxiety over your future. Regardless of what it is we can make the choice to walk on the path that is guided by His hand. His hand deals only in truth and right things. His path does not make provision for us to walk in our own ability but rather to draw upon His.

Let us look to His way, His paths, and we can live a life that is blessed because when we walk hand in hand with Him, that path echoes His Name! God bless you!

“Righteousness Will Go Before Him”

Posted on Jan 1, 2016 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. Have you been thinking about this day being the first day of 2016 as a clean slate? Many of you might have set some goals, or are bringing some desires to the Lord in which you want to see come to pass. Nevertheless, I feel strongly that no matter how we see this January 1st, we must carry with us in our hearts the desire to diligently seek Him everyday, every minute, and every step. Of course He desires that we have new goals and desires, but let us first of all give them to Him, and permit Him to bring those things to pass in our lives. After all He is our Shepherd, shall we think today about how we should make sure that He is never out of our sight, and may we purpose to draw daily upon His grace for all that we need and all that we need to do.

Psalm 85:11-13 BRG Bible

” Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.”

May we continue to grow in truth and righteousness this new year. I love how this translation says, “Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.” As I meditated on this I began to think of a small child on the sands of a beach finding some big footsteps of an adult. Walking along, the child carefully places her feet inside the big footprint. So it is with us as we desire to cling to our Lord and follow Him closely. His footprints are established in truth and righteousness. They are rock solid, and as we purpose to walk within his footprints, we will always be within the borders of His will for our lives.

Lord, we thank You this day for a New Year in which we can set our hearts to live for You and serve You. May we be mindful that we are living for Your truth and righteousness. Help us to be mindful of keeping ourselves in the way of Your steps and not our own. Even in those times that Your way may not make sense to us, help us to be mindful that Your ways are higher than our ways, and You understand the big picture of the work in our life. In Jesus Name, amen!

“Seeing Through the Eyes of God”

Posted on Dec 31, 2015 in Devotions |

Psalm 32:8 (ERV)

” The Lord says, “I will teach you
and guide you in the way you should live.
I will watch over you and be your guide.”

The Lord desires that we have Him guide us in every aspect of our lives. Today I am sharing this scripture in light of how we treat others. I love this scripture because the psalmist is proclaiming that the Lord has spoken that He will teach us and guide us in how we should live.

Many times it can be easy to fall into the trap of focusing on people’s faults rather than the good things about them. God desires we LIVE to LOVE!!!! Criticizing is not showing His love in any way. The more you focus on anything negative in others the bigger it is going to become to you. Jesus admonished us with the following words from the book of Matthew:

Matthew 7:3-5 (ERV)

“Why do you notice the small piece of dust that is in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the big piece of wood that is in your own? Why do you say to your friend, ‘Let me take that piece of dust out of your eye’? Look at yourself first! You still have that big piece of wood in your own eye. You are a hypocrite! First, take the wood out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to get the dust out of your friend’s eye.”

The Lord understands that we will encounter the faults and shortcomings of others but He desires that we handle ourselves in His love. The fault of someone else may cause you to be offended or irritated but it comes back to asking Him to help you to be longsuffering and for His guidance in dealing with such things.

Today let us focus on Jesus’ last words of these verses, “Look at yourself first!” As we continually give our hearts and minds to Him, He has promised to teach us about all that we need in this life. As we are obedient to His process, He will take care of everything that pertains to us and He will lovingly deal with those around us, in His time. Let us also remember that the Holy Spirit is a complete gentleman and He will not impose Himself on anyone. The more we pray for others, the more our heart will be enlarged to love and carry people in prayer rather than be critical toward them.

Lord we ask You this day to help us to see people around us just like You see them. May we purpose to grow in the fruit of Your Spirit, and may we have hearts that love rather than seeking to find fault. Lord, we ask that You search our hearts, and we invite You to help us to grow in the areas in which we need help and strength. We thank You for that Lord, in Jesus Name, amen.

“He Is the God of Faithfulness”

Posted on Dec 29, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Lamentations 3:22-23 (VOICE)

“How enduring is God’s loyal love;
the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion.
Here they are, every morning, new!
Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day.”

There is nothing so loyal and beautiful in this life than the love of our God. Everyday He faithfully sheds His love toward us and His compassion cannot be exhausted. As He shows His love to me, it challenges my heart to love the same way. He desires that the love that flows from our hearts to be loyal, enduring and never grow tired and weary. After all, we were created in His image therefore He can enable us to love like Him.

There may be people in your life that you find very easy to flow with and get along with, and yet there are those that just seem to drain you of your energy for they are more challenging. Allow this scripture to challenge your heart. Seek to draw upon His love from above that never runs out of energy and it endures the toughest of challenges.

Remember that every morning you awaken He is seeking new ways to show His love to you. Everything about God begins afresh each day and His compassion is NEVER limited. Everyone of us has a new day ahead of us and each of us will face different challenges. Know this, the God of all love is able to help you endure anything with the love that flows straight from His heart!

“How Many Are His Works”

Posted on Dec 28, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Today I have shared an image that I photographed this morning in my front yard. I am part of a photography group in which each day we are assigned a prompt for the day. We are to shoot our perspective on the prompt. Today’s assignment was called “something awesome”. Sometimes I struggle with ideas especially if I have a busy day in which I do not have extra time to allot to this project. Then there are other times that I have so many ideas I cannot decide. This morning after running errands, I was carrying a bunch of things in my front door, and I happened to glance over and see my ornamental cabbage still in full bloom. The colors of this have been amazing, and I think it is pretty awesome that it is still blooming, but that is not what stopped me to look at it closer. The light was shining down on it, and right in the center of the cabbage there was rain water accumulated, and it was glistening like a beautiful diamond. I thought to myself, “Now that is awesome!!”

This also made me ponder and meditate on how God has made the smallest of things so very beautiful. If you take the time to stop and really look, you can see His hand all around you. I think it is awesome that God can take a whole bunch of raindrops and let them accumulate in the center of a flower, and shine His sun upon it, and make it glisten so beautifully.

You see…many times we only classify awesomeness with the big things or the spectacular, but God is in the big and in the small.

Psalm 104:24 AMP

“O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom

You have made them all; The earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.”

The Lord deals with me often about keeping things simple and not over complicating things. We all have different responsibilities that we must attend to each day, but let us be careful that we guard our time that we do not have time to slow down and appreciate the simplest of blessings. His riches are all around us, let us give thanks to Him for His many and varied works!

“The God Who Never Grows Weary”

Posted on Dec 28, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

How great is our God! It is by His power and strength that we are able to live for Him. There have been times in my life that all physical strength seemed to be gone. As I looked to Him who NEVER grows faint or weary, I am always reminded that He can give me the strength that I need.

I can remember during the entire birth of our second son I had a worship tape being played and right when he was being delivered “I Exalt Thee” by Phil Driscoll was playing. I was feeling totally exhausted right before our son was born yet quietly in the background I could hear Phil Driscoll speaking the following words and those words infused me with strength and joy in a time in which my body needed strength to deliver a our son.

“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God,

the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth,

fainteth not, neither is weary?

there is no searching of his understanding.”

Isaiah 40:28 (KJV)

Then as our son was taking his first breath I can remember hearing the beautiful words being sung from the song entitled “I Exalt Thee” softly playing in the background…

” For Thou O Lord art high above all the earth
Thou art exalted far above all gods
For Thou O Lord art high above all the earth
Thou art exalted far above all gods

I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee
I exalt Thee O Lord
I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee
I exalt Thee O Lord”

To this day when I hear this song, my heart and mind are reminded of the Lord God being my strength when I needed it desperately. I love testimonies like this that I can reflect and look back on for they truly encourage my faith. Today, let us exalt Him in our hearts as we give praise to Him that never tires nor grows weary of anything. He is the everlasting God!!

“God-Our Refiner”

Posted on Dec 27, 2015 in Devotions |

by Dona Hake

Proverbs 25:4 (ERV)

“Remove the worthless things from

silver to make it pure, and a worker

can make something beautiful.”

You are so valuable and He loves you so much. As we read this scripture we can see that there is a process that we are all walking through as we grow in Him. There is a refining and purification that is taking place in our hearts as we deeply humble ourselves to His Mighty life changing Word. Let’s look at Proverbs 25:4 from God’s Word translation:

“Take the impurities out of silver,
and a vessel is ready for the silversmith to mold.”

The Lord our Refiner desires to bring us to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities. As our Purifier He will cause us to be free from anything that debases, pollutes, adulterates, or contaminates our hearts. God wants every bit of us so He can use us in wonderful ways to glorify Him on this earth.

In the forty one years that I have known the Lord I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have heard people share from the depths of their hearts as they walked through a difficult trial. Many at the end of the trial admit that they experienced God removing things from them that positioned them to be used in a greater way. Many times those difficult situations can actually cause us to do the soul searching we need to do, and God is able to work in such a wonderful way. As we keep our hearts humble before Him I believe He will continue to refine and purify us that we can serve and be used by Him in greater ways. Praise be to the God who is the Refiner and Purifier!