2 Corinthians 9:8

And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.

Paul spoke this verse in the context of giving. He noted that God loves a cheerful giver and warned that you will reap what you sow. If you give generously, you will receive generously; if you give sparingly, you will reap sparingly. We know that as “the law of sowing and reaping.”

God loves a generous heart because a heart that gives depends upon Him. He makes sure every grace overflows to the generous because He knows they will, in turn, pour that same grace out to others. He doesn’t ask you to give out of your need; He asks you to give out of your abundance. He makes sure you have everything you need so you may excel in the good work to which He has called you. The generous heart is a heart He can use to reach others with His love.

Consider the places where God wants you to be generous today. Giving does not always involve money. You may need to give your time or a listening ear to someone, or you may need to grant forgiveness. Not every need can be met financially. We must learn to give to the needs of others, even if we think they don’t deserve it. We don’t deserve God’s grace, either, but He promises to make it overflow in us if we will simply give it to someone else.  God is not trying to take anything away from you; He is trying to give you more. Find a way to be generous today, and find yourself blessed in the process.

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 62:4

You will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will not be called Desolate; instead, you will be called My Delight is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land will be married.

Pay attention to the capitalized words in this verse. Each of them represents a name – something used to identify someone. Isaiah is speaking the word of God to Israel here, and God is referring to phases of identity or names for her. When Messiah comes, Israel will no longer be identified as “Deserted” or “Desolate.” She will be identified as “My Delight is in Her,” and she will be seen as “Married” to Him.

As widows, you have probably felt Deserted or Desolate and may have even answered to those identifying names when the Devil has called to you through them. I have good news for you today: Your Messiah has already come! In Christ, you have a new identity that proclaims to the world, “My Delight is in Her!” You have an inheritance in Him as His Bride, and your land is known as “Married!” Even a widow can rejoice in her married inheritance in Jesus Christ!

As a widow, you are not being punished. The LORD delights in you, and you are His. You are not Deserted or Desolate, but He will call you by a new name that He will announce. He will give you new identity in Christ! Seek Him, and find your new name – your calling and your purpose.

When those deserted or desolate feelings call to you, reject them by proclaiming out loud, “I am God’s Delight!” Jesus Christ has already come as the Messiah, and you are hidden in Him. Your land is “Married” to Him, and your identity is securely attached to Him. Your damaging emotions can define you only if you let them. Receive and boldly proclaim your identity in Christ, and relish the fact that His delight is in you!

Have a blessed day! 

Acts 2:41

So those who accepted his (Peter’s) message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them.

God worked mighty wonders through Peter – a man who denied Jesus three times. He thought he was finished in ministry and tried to go back to his old way of life as a fisherman. He had come too far with Christ, however, to turn back. Jesus had too much invested in him not to use him. Peter was “divinely ruined” for ministry. Through the flawed character of a now humbled follower, God brought 3,000 people to accept Peter’s message and begin His church on earth. God gave Peter a ministry!

To be “divinely ruined” means you have no other options. While you would rather run in a different direction, you realize your only possible success lies in two commands that Jesus gives: “Feed my sheep” and “Follow Me.” As you walk in the direction God leads, He won’t let you see enough ahead to plan your own agenda. He works behind the scenes so you don’t know exactly what He is doing, but you know He’s with you and doing something. You learn to live life by seeking Him daily and watching for those doors of opportunity to open where He wants you to go. You are divinely usable when you are divinely ruined.

I often hear people talk about how much they want God to use them, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention a desire to be humbled, unsuccessful, or ruined. Sometimes, God’s way of giving you direction may be to close doors of escape and give you no other options but to move forward in Him – a completely vulnerable feeling, indeed. To such people, however, God can do mighty wonders through ministry.

As a little girl, I never dreamed of being a Widows’ Minister. I always dreamed of being a wife and mother and having a family. Never once did I dream of being a widow, and neither did you. None of us can control our dreams or our destinies. We were created for a divine purpose, and God leads us through the paths that will enable us to serve the purpose to which He’s called us. Moving forward may mean dying to one dream and allowing God to create a new vision for us. If we pursue the comfortability of our former self, we will find ourselves living an unsatisfied and stagnant life that will eventually stink. Our choice is to determine whether or not to move forward with faith or to live a stinking life of mediocrity.

If you find yourself in a place where you can’t seem to move forward, listen for the Master’s instruction. Opportunities to “Feed His sheep” and “Follow Him” are opening somewhere. Move forward and stand in awe of the work God is doing in which you were unaware. Whether you like it or not, you are “divinely ruined” for His purpose.

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 41:9

I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you.

Sometimes we forget that God chose us first. We merely responded to His call. When He called us, He did so with a purpose in mind. He is on a mission and not just throwing out some great ideas to see if they will work for us. If He called us, He will surely use us and bless us in the process.

God knew just what it would take to get us to the point where we would surrender to His call. He put everything in place to move us in His direction. He brought us from the ends of the earth and the farthest corners from His perfect will in order to place us on track with Him. We can count on Him to see us through the rest of the journey.

We must also remember that we are His servants. We work for Him; He does not answer to us. When He gives an instruction, we are to follow it. While others may have rejected us and found us to be of no benefit to them, God has chosen us for a great purpose – to glorify His name. He will not discard us to try to figure out life on our own and just do the best we can. He will never leave us nor forsake us, and He keeps us close within His fold.

If you feel lost and alone, know for certain that God chose you. He is right there with you and will intervene on your behalf to make sure you fulfill all He has called you to do. You are His, and He has not rejected you, even if it seems others have. Their rejection just might the very thing that frees you to follow the path God designed for you all along. Rejection is direction, and God will use it to place you where you need to be. Trust Him today. He really is in control, and He has chosen to work with you. Be blessed!

Have a blessed day!

Judges 5:4-5

LORD, when You came from Seir, when You marched from the fields of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured rain, the clouds poured water. The mountains melted before the LORD, even Sinai before the LORD, the God of Israel.

These verses depict a great storm, which carried the presence of God. It is a picture of God moving from the wilderness into Canaan via the land of Edom. When God gives us a great victory, He is often moving us to another place where we are called to build His kingdom. That is why the devil has us in bondage in the first place. He knows that if we are able to move to the places God has destined for us, we will flourish and increase the kingdom of God. If we become comfortable in the devil’s domain, we will never experience the freedom, reward, and fulfillment of the Promised Land. 

God moved from Sinai (place where the law was given) into Canaan (Promised Land) via the land of Edom, which means red. God moves us from bondage to the law into the fruitful place of our own promised land through the blood of Christ, which is grace! Matthew 27:45-52 tells us of a time when darkness came over the whole land, and an earthquake shook the place.  Indeed, God was moving from one place to another. Christ was on the cross taking the full punishment of our sins, and He felt the presence of God leave Him at that time. God was making a new covenant of grace with His people, and the curtain of the temple was split in two. 

When God moves from one place to another, it is very obvious. Move with Him! Don’t remain in bondage. Follow Him into your promised land by grace. Look to the finished work of Christ on the cross, and enter a new place designed just for you. 

Have a blessed day!

Matthew 20:30-33

There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd told them to keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”  “Lord,” they said to Him, “open our eyes!” Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see, and they followed Him.

The crowds followed Jesus, but they also tried to prevent others from following Him. The two blind men were a distraction to the crowd, and they tried to silence them from crying out to Jesus. Perhaps, the crowd was embarrassed by their loud wails, but these men were doing all they knew to do in their helpless state. Indeed, when we can do nothing for ourselves and desperately need help, the appropriate thing to do is to cry out to Jesus!

The religious community would have looked down upon these men, believing their blindness was the punishment for sin either they or their parents had committed. We see this evidenced in John 9 when Jesus healed a blind beggar, and the Pharisee asked if the man or the parents had sinned since he was blind. Jesus instructed him, however, that this blindness was allowed so the man would bring glory to God. If the crowd believed these men were blind because of sin and tried to silence them, could it be that they believed these poor men deserved their blindness and had no right to healing?

Sadly, I’ve seen this attitude within the church. I’ve seen those wounded from sin cry out, and “church people” want nothing to do with them and keep their distance. In fact, I may even have been guilty of it at times, myself. When we see the unwed mother or the person trying to recover from substance abuse cry out, do we ignore, try to silence, or do we reach out with compassion to help?

Granted, there are times when we cannot help those ravaged from the grips of sin, but He could choose to use us in their healing process. We should pay attention to the question Jesus asked them – “What do you want Me to do for you?” If they only want us to help them continue in their sinful state or to accept their sin as a part of them, there is nothing we can do. If, however, they truly want to be healed and are willing to commit to Christ, God can use us to minister His grace to them. We should never silence them from crying out to Jesus. In fact, we should move out of the way and help them get to Him.

Jesus welcomed the sinful and had compassion on those who were hurting and wounded. The sinful, hurting, and wounded may come into our churches and cry out for help. How we respond will determine whether or not they stay in their pitiful state or receive healing that changes their lives. Determine today to respond with compassion or to move out of the way and lead them to Christ. To take the attitude that they deserve what they have is to forget the grace God has shown to us in giving us what we don’t deserve. Compassion leads to miracles!

Have a blessed day!

John 9:32-33

Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He wouldn’t be able to do anything.

The man healed of blindness knew Jesus had a power like no one else. Such a power could only come from God. A sinner following the instructions of the Devil certainly couldn’t perform such a miracle. Only the power of God could have healed him, and he knew it. While he presented a completely logical argument to the Pharisees, they still didn’t believe Him. They discredited his testimony by accusing him of being born into sin and having no right to try to teach them anything. They refused to listen to him because they could not refute his argument, and it was not the answer they wanted to hear. Therefore, they dismissed him.

The Pharisees failed to realize they, too, were born into sin. They did not understand their own need for a savior and refused to accept the miracle in front of them. To receive the miracle as an act of God meant they were inferior in some aspect and did not have God’s full approval since they had no power to perform such a miracle. They could never let the common people realize this because that would destroy the control they had over them and diminish their income and social status. Therefore, the Pharisees denied the obvious and rejected the truth.

When we encounter acts that could only be the work of God, do we welcome them or reject them? Do we try to explain them away because of unbelief, or do we celebrate and give glory to God? The man born blind fully realized he had received a miracle and had no problem giving God the glory. Those who were threatened by God’s work looked for an excuse to reject it. The blind man knew no one else on earth could help him, and he was dependent upon an act of God for healing. That placed him in the proper place to receive a miracle because he could give no one else the glory nor take it for himself. If the Pharisees had experienced or performed the miracle, they would have attributed it to their own self-righteousness. Their theology – how they saw God – prevented them from receiving or performing miracles.

God does not look for those who are “good” enough to receive His power. He looks for those who are completely dependent upon Him. He looks for people who will display His glory and not try to attribute it to anything they have done. To those who are completely dependent upon Him and cannot help themselves, He can work miracles. To those who think they have earned something because of their good works, God will do nothing.

How we view God and how we view ourselves are the two most powerful perspectives we hold. God uses us to display His glory on this earth; we cannot use Him to display our own glory. Therefore, we must be completely dependent upon Him to see His power manifested in our lives. If we are depending upon anything else – our works, morals, or ambitions – we will fail to see the true power of God. We must be completely surrendered and completely dependent upon Him. While that may appear to place us in a very vulnerable position, there is no place more powerful to be. We must decrease so He may increase. At that point, we are truly open for a miracle and a great move of God in our lives.

Have a blessed day!

Philippians 4:6-7

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Worry stems from fears or concerns of the heart that attack our minds. When we begin to give thought to what could happen and imagine the worst, worry begins to dominate our minds and our emotions. Since the soul is combined of the mind, will, and emotions, Satan has a stronghold on our souls when we succumb to worry.

Paul instructs us in this letter to the Philippians to not worry about anything, but to bring every concern to God in prayer. We are to tell Him what we need and thank Him for what He has already done and will do. By thanking God for what He has already done, we are reminded of His handiwork already accomplished in our lives and can believe Him to help us the rest of the way in our journey. Thanksgiving makes us even more aware of His presence with us.

As we pray and make our requests known to God, we become aware of His greatness. When we can thank Him for what He has already done and see His greatness above our own weakness, He is magnified. To face all of our problems, what we really need is to see how great God is and how small our problem is in comparison. When we do, the peace of God takes over and guards our hearts and our minds.

If you are worried or anxious about anything today, begin to pray. Present your requests to God, and thank Him for what He has already done. He is bigger than your problem, and when you can clearly see this, all worry and anxiety will have to bow to His greatness. God loves you and wants the best for you. He has your back, and He is with you every step of the way. Look to Him, and embrace the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Have a blessed day!

Philippians 4:11

I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

Paul had learned what most of us need to learn in life – how to be content. Many of our vices come from a nagging dissatisfaction within ourselves and a longing for something better. When we can’t attain that for which we long, we turn to bad habits to fill us. (I suppose that is why I own so much jewelry. I never seem to be content with what I have.)

To be content is to be satisfied. Paul had learned to be satisfied with his circumstances, knowing that God’s grace was sufficient for all his needs. This contentment could come only from a relationship of trust and submission to the Father through Jesus Christ. Paul knew that if God had called him to a certain place, He would meet his needs through it.

Have you learned to be satisfied with God, or is He enough for you? Granted, there are times when He calls us to more than what we envision for ourselves, but there are times when where we are does not match what we envision. Can we be satisfied where we are until He takes us to something more? What we actually forfeit is our peace when we are not content. We must learn to trust our inner longings and desires to the One who knows what is best for us. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that our hearts are deceitful; we can’t trust them to always know what is right or good for us.

Paul had the kind of relationship with God that took priority over everything else. As long as he had this relationship, he could be content in all circumstances. In fact, he considered everything else to be rubbish in comparison. Dying to ourselves and putting Christ first is what it takes to be content. More stuff, more relationships, more pleasure, or more control will never satisfy us; they will serve only to drive us to crave even more. (If you don’t believe me, could I interest you in some lovely jewels that sparkle and shine?) In fact, losing it all just might make us realize how little we really need and how satisfying life with Christ truly is.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 36:10

Spread Your faithful love over those who know You, and Your righteousness over the upright in heart.

David wrote these words as He appealed to the very heart of God. He saw God’s love as a blanket that warmed and soothed the soul. Indeed, there are times when we are left cold and hurting from the struggles of this world, and we need to feel God’s love spread over us like a warm blanket on a chilly night, allowing us to rest in the comfort of His care. 

David depicts God’s righteousness as a blanket in this verse, too. We have no righteousness in ourselves, but God spreads His righteous over those who are in Christ. We can rest in comfort, knowing that His righteousness covers all of our mistakes, failures, iniquities, and transgressions. 

Self-righteous people are often cold and hard hearted. They feel like they have had to work for everything they have, and they have not felt the comfort of the warm blanket of love and the righteousness of Christ that we know as grace. Their hard work has hardened them. Grace, however, warms the heart and changes the person to live a peaceful and joy-filled life. May we all trade in our flimsy, self-righteous garments for the warm blanket of grace. Wrapped in its delicately woven threads, we find rest in His great love for us.

Have a blessed day!