Wednesday, February 15, 2017

 

 

 
Devotional for Wednesday, February 15, 2017
“Let Every Man…”
 

listen quick speak slow

by Dona Hake
 
 Today we will meditate upon the wisdom that James wrote to us.  ” Let every man be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”   These are words that are power packed and full of wisdom for us to keep us out of trouble!
 
 
The other day I was watching the news while having my morning coffee.   The reporter was quoting someone that must have made a controversial comment.   Then the news person said, “After this commercial we will be continuing our report on this.”   I could hardly wait to hear the rest of the interview for they were going to talk to one of my favorite contributors, and he was going to give his opinion regarding the news report.   Because I highly regard this contributor’s advice I was anxious to hear his reaction to this controversial remark.   This man’s words are always seasoned with wisdom and I highly respect him for that.  As the reporter began to question this contributor he  sat quietly for a few seconds after being asked his opinion and this was his remark…
 
 
James 1:19 (AMP) 

Understand [this], my beloved brethren.

Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener],

slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry.”
 
I think about how many arguments would be avoided if this simple and profound verse was mastered .   If one does not give their full attention to the one speaking to them, there will more than likely be words that are spoken which could be inappropriate or hurtful.   This verse has a wealth of wisdom in it for us.   I think it is just as important to listen to another’s heart as well as the words that proceed from their mouth.    After we have really listened let us think thoroughly before we open our mouth.   Again I say many times we  may feel that we  have the right answer to cure someone’s problem yet it is not the appropriate time for that word to be spoken.

 

Let us ask the Lord to have sensitive hearts that we will listen more sensitively to those around us.    Many times we may indeed know what that individual may need but we need to ask the Lord for the proper season to share it. Listening to someone may be the greatest gift we can give.     Choice words are even a greater gift to one that is in need.

 

Proverbs 25:11 (AMP)

“A word fitly spoken and in due season is like

apples of gold in settings of silver.”

 

Lord, we ask that You  help us to guard our tongues that our words will be as choice silver and gold.   We thank You for showing us the proper time to speak, and we ask that You help us to be good listeners.   In Jesus Name, amen.

 



Tuesday, February 14, 2017

 

 

Devotional for Tuesday, February 14, 2017
“He Promises To Lift Us Up When We Fall”

 

Falls but lifted up again

By Dona Hake

 

The strength of a man or woman is revealed  when the pressure is on.  It is easy to appear strong when all seems to be going your way but we find out who we really are when we face trials  or we fail.  When we are down and out and failure is trying to haunt us, we have a choice…  quit or determine to get back up again.

 God promises to lift us back up when we fall.   Even when we are at our lowest, if we keep our heart open to Him, He can teach us and strengthen us like never before.  Many times the worst of hardships can cause us to come back stronger…if we do not quit.  He is able to do above and beyond all we dare to ask or dream.   God desires to take hold of our hands and cause us to stand strong again.   I love this quote by General Patton:

 “I don’t measure a man’s success by

how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”

General George S. Patton

 I believe if our hearts are focused with His determination we will not permit mistakes or failure to dictate us and keep us down, but rather we will stand strong and come back stronger and rise higher!

 Psalm 145:14 (ERV)

“The Lord lifts up people who have fallen.
He helps those who are in trouble.”



Monday, February 13, 2017

 

 

 

Devotional for Monday, February 13, 2017

“It Is Well With My Soul”
 

It is Well With My Soul Church Bulletin Cover

 

by Dona Hake

 

Mark 4:35-40

“It was evening of that same day. Jesus said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.”  After sending the people away, they took Jesus with them in a boat. It was the same boat He used when He taught them. Other little boats went along with them. A bad wind storm came up. The waves were coming over the side of the boat. It was filling up with water.  Jesus was in the back part of the boat sleeping on a pillow. They woke Him up, crying out, “Teacher, do You not care that we are about to die?”  He got up and spoke sharp words to the wind. He said to the sea, “Be quiet! Be still.” At once the wind stopped blowing. There were no more waves.  He said to His followers, “Why are you so full of fear? Do you not have faith?”

 

“Oh to be a fly on the wall!”   Have you ever said that?    I hear it all the time when people wish they could be present to see and hear all that happens in the room, but they do not want to be seen.   I often think this about certain stories told in the Bible.   Oh how I wished I could have been there to witness all that was spoken and see exactly how this story went down.  This story from the book of Mark is one of those stories that make me wish I would have been there just to see the raging waters be calm at the command of Jesus’ voice.  I wish I could have seen the looks on the faces within the boat as their souls were calmed by the voice of our Lord.  These words from this portion of scripture have created faith in my heart many times when things around me seemed to be out of control.  To know that He can bring peace to the raging waters of my life causes me to know that I can exclaim “It is well with my soul!”

 

 

The important thing to remember is that God is able to bring peace to a situation in the midst of the raging winds of this life.   When God’s peace prevails within us, our hearts will be stilled and we can be calmed within.  This IS the peace that passes ALL understanding.   It is in those times that we will then be able to hear His whisper as He directs us into the next step.   Let us remember that in the midst of a problem or crisis that it is vital we hold fast to our faith, and have our ears towards the Lord that He may reveal the wisdom that we need.  It is then that our soul will be stilled regardless of anything happening around us.

 

I leave you with this quote from one of my favorite authors.   I pray it ministers to your heart as it has mine.  I love how Francious deFenelon’s quote makes this story from the Mark Chapter Four  even more real.

 

“A word from the Lord stilled the raging sea

and a glance from Him to you, and from

you to Him, will do the same for you.”



Sunday, February 12, 2017

 

 

Devotional for Sunday, February 12, 2017
“His Faithfulness…As Broad As the Day”

 

great is his faithfulness

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 like the faithfulness and love of our God.  Whether we deserve it or not, He sheds His love toward us and He is a faithful God. Before we even called upon His Name to be saved He loved us with a precious love…a love deep enough to send His only Son.   I love how this verse says that His loyal love is enduring and it is inexhaustible.  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 inexhaustible.  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 get along with and yet there are those that just seem to drain you of your energy.  Allow this scripture to challenge your heart.  Seek to draw upon the love from above that never runs out of energy and it endures anything.
 
Remember that every morning you wake up He is seeking new ways to show His love to you. Everything about God begins afresh each day and His compassion is NEVER limited.  Just as I exhorted you yesterday to look to His new mercies, let us look and praise Him for His great faithfulness.  This thought also challenges me to draw upon that fresh new compassion each day.  Everyone of us has a 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!  Praise the living God for His faithfulness is broad as the day!!!

 



Saturday, February 11, 2017

 

 

Devotional for Saturday, February 11, 2017
“Look Toward Heaven and Praise Him For His Mercies”
 

Morning He Meets Us

By Dona Hake
 
 
I hear it said so much, “Time just flies!”   “My life is so very busy!”   I know for myself I cannot believe that we are almost into the middle of February.   Where does time go anyway?    From the time I awake till I go to sleep there is always something that needs attention or a place to go.   I love my “to do” lists for they keep me mindful of how I am budgeting every minute of my day.    I find this to be a good discipline although I have to remind myself that I need to stop and make sure my heart and soul are always at peace.   I try to always keep mindful that sometimes the Lord may just desire to interrupt my day and place a divine appointment before me!  As we stay refreshed in His presence and keen to His voice our days will be filled with joy in living.
 
 
I shared with you yesterday the importance of being restored by our Lord.   Today I want us to meditate upon how we wake in the morning.   When we awake with our face turned to Heaven thanking God for His mercies we will indeed walk in the fullness of His joy throughout our day!
 

 Let us thank and praise Him that everyday is a new day as we serve Him.  What happened yesterday is left behind.  If we are to remember and reflect upon what happened yesterday, let it be the joys that were in it and the wisdom we may have attained from  a learning experience.  God desires to meet us each morning reminding us to have faith in Him and be blessed and overwhelmed by His great love that He has for us.

Psalm 143:8  KJV

Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning;

for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein

I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

 

Let us  praise God that He is so merciful to us as we venture to do His will because so many times we fall short because of our human nature.  Let us remember to look to His mercies and His forgiveness at all times and as we lift our soul to Him we can live with joyful hearts!  Lord cause us to hear Your lovingkindness and be mindful of Your tender mercies each new day.   Cause us to know the ways in which to walk for we lift our soul to You! In Jesus Name, amen.

 

Psalm 90:14  Names of God Bible

” Satisfy us every morning with your mercy

so that we may sing joyfully and rejoice all our days.”

 



Friday, February 10, 2017

 

Devotional for Friday, February 10, 2017
“Jesus the Restorer”

 

Restorer

by Dona Hake

 
Today let us meditate on the truth that  Jesus IS the Restorer of our soul.  Even in the doing of His will our souls can grow weary.   This is why we are cautioned in    Galatians 6:9   “Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in…”   Today I want to encourage your heart that reaping time is coming, so let us walk as the restored and refreshed in the Lord!
 
 
You see, many times even in the doing of good things we can tire ourselves trying to keep up with the demands of life, and  we may forget to draw upon His strength and seek His restoration.   Praise the living God that He is able to keep us fresh, strong and built up by the power of His restoration.   In  Psalm 23  David wrote, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures and He leads me beside the still waters…”  I love the ~makes~ because sometimes that is exactly how it is.   Because we push ourselves our Lord may give us that gentle tug at our hearts and cause us to see that we just need to rest at His feet.

 

In order for us to regenerate our bodies one of the most important things is proper rest for our physical bodies.  And so it is in our soul…we must have rest there in order to have strong and healthy souls.   There may be those that you know that their heart is weary and may even be broken, and they feel they cannot go on….maybe it is you that feels as if you feel unable to go on because of weariness.   Know that the Lord is able to restore and heal your broken heart, and He is able to restore your soul.   He is able to strengthen anyone that feels they have no reason to go on.   Today we praise our Living God for He is able to lift us up and we can be restored!
 

 

Psalm 23:3 (AMP)

He refreshes and restores my life (my self)


Thursday, February 9, 2017

 

 

 
Devotional for Thursday, February 9, 2017
 
“Don’t Let It Get Inside You…”
 
by Dona Hake
 
 
 
 
 
It is in my heart to go back over a quote that I shared with you last Monday and Tuesday. My heart has been stirred as I have meditated upon this from time to time since I have shared it. Let us read it together again:
 
“Ships do not sink because of the water around them;
ships sink because of the water that gets in them.
Do not let what is happening around you
get inside you and weigh you down.”
 
First I would like to share with you from the book of First Kings.  
 
1 Kings 18:21  Living Bible (TLB)
“…How long are you going to waver between two opinions?” he asked the people. “If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!”
 
I encourage you to go to 1 Kings Chapter 18 and read the whole story for yourself.   What I want to focus on is the question he asked the people.   “How long are you going to waver between two opinions?”    Many times we may wonder why it is that people are not strong in faith or perhaps you too may be struggling in your faith. I would like you to ponder a thought as we look at this  scripture. Many times the fact of the matter is we are trying to serve two masters or we choose to be indecisive rather than standing firm in the that which we know to be true.    I believe the devil has deceived many in this area and this deception serves to weaken our faith.    It is so wrong to think we can embrace truth one minute and then be changing our mind according to circumstance.  God wants our hearts to be wholly toward Him in all things and all times.
 
Oh we may insist that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul, yet may I share this challenging thought today?      I believe that there may be times that there are things in this world that tug at our hearts more than we realize. When we find ourselves thinking about certain things more than we do our loving God we need to stop and evaluate where our heart is at.  May we ask our self if that thing has a grip on our hearts more than we realize.    God wants us to want all of Him and only Him.
 
God created each of us to make choices.  He will not make our choices for us but He desires greatly that we choose Him above any thing this world has to offer.His greatest desire is that we choose Him and love Him with all of our heart. As we love Him with our whole heart and I repeat our whole heart, we will be single minded and wavering will not even be a thought.   Now let us look at the book of James.
 
James 1:6-8
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a
wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
 
The man or woman with a wavering faith is surely a candidate for a ship capable of being affected by the storms of this life.   It is the weakening and wavering in our faith that could cause our ship to begin to fill up with water and no longer float with the ease the Lord desires it to. Our Lord desires that we rise up and not be brought down by the winds of the sea or the pressures of this life.
 
Today my encouragement to you is to think about and purpose yourself to serve the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your soul.  May we ever live to guard our hearts and minds that we do not waver and be tossed around by the wind and waves.    I pray that the Holy Spirit will help you to be discerning over your heart and your thoughts. May we serve our living God with everything that is in our being!


Tuesday, February 7, 2017

 

 

 

 

Devotional for Tuesday, February 7, 2017
“He Withholds No Good Thing”
 

Lord gives grace

by Dona Hake

 

Psalm 84:11 (AKJV) 

” For the Lord God is a sun and shield:
the Lord will give grace and glory:
 
no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

 

As we walk uprightly before the Lord our God there should be expectation in our heart each morning that we wake.   Oh to praise Him for His never ending mercies for great is His faithfulness!       As I look out my office window as I am typing this today it is rainy and cold.   So even though it is a bit dreary outside, I can praise the Lord for He is my Sun and Shield!

 

I am thanking Him today that He has promised that He will never withhold any good thing from me because all good and perfect gifts proceed from Him.   He will not refrain from giving me that which I need to get through my day.

 

The scripture I share with you today speaks to our hearts that He will not withhold no good thing.   I found it interesting that the antonym for withhold is the word *advance*.  Interesting thought isn’t it? Interesting thought isn’t it?  The more we walk with the Lord we begin to understand  that He always knows exactly what we need and what we are going to face.    Our loving Heavenly Father desires that we advance in His kingdom. Therefore His grace is always sufficient and right there for us when we need to draw upon it.  Praise God that He is our Sun and our Shield, and He desires that we advance and move forward in His will.    Let us live victoriously as He pours out His grace and glory on us as we  walk uprightly before Him!



Wednesday, February 8, 2017

 

 

 

Devotional for Wednesday, February 8, 2017
“He Is Our Sanctuary”
 

Jesus Our Sanctuary

by Dona Hake

 

When I think about a sanctuary, I think about a place of refuge.    I think of a place that is respected where one goes to regain peace and inner strength.     From days of old a  sanctuary was referred to as a  “building set apart for holy worship,”    Today let us meditate upon the fact that the Living God has come to dwell within us and He is able to make our hearts rested and secure.    Yet when our hearts our troubled and afraid may we be quick to turn to Him for He is our Sanctuary, He is the rest and strength that will restore our souls.  
 
Have you ever had times where there may be confusion and stress all about you and you wish you could just run away and escape it? I know we have all been in those situations yet as a believer we should never desire to run other than to run to Him.   We can humbly bow our hearts in prayer no matter where we are, and escape to that place that He has prepared for us to abide in.  We do not have to run away from problems, we can be in the midst of them and maintain complete peace.

 

Many times people wait until they are so stressed out and their body has become worn down physically before they decide to seek God’s direction and comfort. I believe that God desires  that we live in a constant state of peace and serenity.

 

Throughout your day I encourage you to stay aware of His precious presence …He is your Sanctuary!  I believe that the place He has provided for us is a place of perfect peace and no matter what goes on about you that peace need not be disrupted.

Isaiah 8:14 (KJ21)

“And He shall be for you a sanctuary…”

 

 



February 6, 2017

 

 

 

 

Devotional for Monday, February 6, 2017
“…and His Name Shall Be Called Wonderful”

 

Jesus Wonderful

by Dona Hake

 

Isaiah 9:6

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called Wonderful…”

 

 When I have my quiet time I always start out meditating upon how great and wonderful my God is.     I ponder His great works around me, and meditate upon the many great things He has done in my life.    He is worthy of all my praise and I can not thank Him enough every day that I live for how wonderful He is. Let’s look at words synonymous to wonderful… awesome, wondrous, miraculous, prodigious, astonishing, amazing, astounding, phenomenal.  This is the Jesus that we serve.  As believers let us testify of the many wonderful things He has done in our lives, and may we never lose sight of those things.  Today I want to stir your heart to think about how wonderful He has been to you.  It is as we maintain grateful hearts to Him for all that He is that we will desire to pass on those blessings to those around us.

 

The other day I shared with you that we need not pray for opportunities to be used by Him but rather seize the many opportunities that are already right in front of us.   I encourage you today to share with someone about the wonderful God that you serve.  Think about how many times someone says to you, “How are you today?”   What an opportunity to  proclaim that you are blessed.    Recently at the grocery store I was checking out my groceries and the clerk ask me, “How are you?”   and I quickly exclaimed, “I am so blessed, how are you today?”   She immediately began to share with me how she liked what I said.    I was an opportunity to minister grace and encouragement  to the hearer of my words.  It is so easy to share the life of God with people around us!  
 
 Praise Him today for He desires to use you as a vessel to illuminate His light, life and love.   He desires to show a dark world how wonderful He is...through you.   Awesome thought isn’t it?
 
 

 

Psalm 40:5 (ERV)

“Lord my God, you have done many amazing things!
You have made great plans for us—too many to list.
I could talk on and on about them,

because there are too many to count.”



6 Responses to “Devotional”

  1. Lisa Viands says:

    This is a good way of teaching the kids to forgive each other(Matt. 5:7). I like the power of this gentle scripture and lesson… Thanks!!

  2. Selena Neely says:

    Ralph &I are really enjoying your devotional together.

  3. Selena Neely says:

    Oh, what a wonderful reminder! I want to break the magnifing glass of worry and trust God for each step I take.

  4. Dona Hake says:

    It is interesting Selena how the more we worry the bigger and more magnified things get in our minds. Oh how important it is to trust our God for the smallest of things! Thank you for sharing!