Tag: New King James Version

“Love Makes a Difference!”

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"Love Makes a Difference!" 1 Peter 4:8 www.wordforlifesays.com

“Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”1 Peter 4:8

Love makes the difference!  There’s no way around it.  God is love (1 John 4:8).  Jesus died because of love (John 3:16).  And now we are admonished to have that same “fervent charity/love” toward one another.  Christians are to have a love for each other that cannot be easily extinguished by life’s difficulties.  Paul wrote, “Ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another,” (Gal. 5:13; emphasis mine).  The love and compassion we have in us should be poured out freely to one another.

“For charity/love shall cover the multitude of sins.”  God’s love, through His Son Jesus, covered a “multitude” of my sins and yours.  We are to be imitators of our heavenly Father.  Proverbs 10:12 tells us, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.”  Both of these verses pronounce love as a covering.  It’s not that we don’t see, feel or hurt at the wrongs of others, it’s all about what we choose to do with it.  Much like God (although we can never touch the capacity of His love), our love is to be so on-fire for one another that it causes us to look beyond the faults of others and see to the core of their very need.  That’s how love makes a difference!

Confident in God!

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There is always something about the stories where the underdog comes out on top, where the least of all becomes the greatest that sends chills of inspiration up the spine.

The story of David and Goliath has long evoked a sense awe at the victory won and the hope of possibility in the soul still in the fight facing his/her own giants. The fact of the matter is that many things in this life which we face day to day can at times seem too much to bear.  Our worries don’t necessarily have to be against the biggest guy around.  Just the struggle of making it one more day, another try at giving it your best shot, can make it really hard for some people.

That’s why this article is not going to focus on the beast Goliath was or how David brought him down with just a stone and slingshot.

Nope. I want us to focus on the confidence that David had in God.

To me, it doesn’t matter if what you face is big or small. Sometimes the hardest stuff is the routine, small stuff that gets on your nerves every single day and makes you want to throw in the towel and quit.

Yes, David did the impossible in the name of the Lord. But, what I have found out in my own life is when we evoke that same confidence in God in every area of our lives, big or small, God tends to step in and work it out for us.  And, you know it was Him because that very area in life that used to be a source of hardship and frustration now becomes a place of peace and productivity.

David, before confronting Goliath, declared, “The LORD delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine,” (1 Samuel 17:37, NKJV. emphasis mine).  I want us to focus on “He will” of that statement.  David expressed in those two little words the amount of confidence he had in the God he served.

Confidence in God the key no matter what. Many of times we misplace our confidences in the things and the people we see around us, allowing them to become our focus and control, when God should be at the forefront of the battle with us.  Over and over again we are told in His Word, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man,” (Psalm 118:8, NKJV); yet, man seems to always get more of our attention and we wonder why we falter in the battle and don’t end up standing as victor over the giants and circumstances we face.

We have to rely more on God than anything else in this world. He truly is the only one who can get in there and fight with us and for us and bring us to a victorious end on the other side.

Below are some reminders to trust God and have confidence in Him no matter the size of anything we face. Knowing this will improve our day to day struggles in life and turn them into day to day victories.

  • “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5
  • “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.” – Isaiah 26:4
  • “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” – Psalm 37:3
  • “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.” – 2 Chronicles 20:17
  • “Never be afraid to trust in unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie Ten Boom
  • “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” – Martin Luther
  • “So many of us limit our praying because we are not reckless in our confidence in God. In the eyes of those who do not know God, it is madness to trust Him, but when we pray in the Holy Spirit we begin to realize the resources of God, that He is our perfect heavenly Father, and we are His children.” – Oswald Chambers

Devotion – “Victory Shall Be Mine!”

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This not meant to be deep, just encouraging to all who are out there fighting today.  As I was reading in my Bible this morning I came across some very inspiring verses (as usual 🙂 ).  I was reading in the book of Joshua where conquests were being made in the name and in the power of the Lord.  Enemies continually came out to fight against God’s people.  At one point Joshua 11:4 says, “So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots,” (NKJV).

By all normal accounts, this should have been the end of God’s people.  According to the standards of man they were outnumbered and out powered.  But, God . . .

God told Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel,” (Joshua 11:6, NKJV).  Not one shall escape, but all would fall under the power of God working through and for His people.  And, if that wasn’t encouraging enough, as I continued reading I came to Joshua 12:7-24 where it lists 31 kings that fell because God was fighting for His people.

That lets me know that no matter what the odds look like that’s stacked against us, they can never out stack God.  God is a victorious God and we are meant to be victorious people in Him.  We are conquerors; we are people of conquest.  It may seem insurmountable to us, but God has already climbed the highest mountains that we face and He has already won the battles against the greatest armies of enemies that try to come against us.

Don’t let the numbers against you phase you.  “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them,” (2 Kings 6:16).  Since, we have God on our side – we have more than they!  We outnumber the enemy.  Victory shall be ours. 

“Have Fun and Enjoy Life Today!”

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Every day is not supposed to be down in the dumps.  Every day is not supposed to be lacking joy and peace.  Jesus came to overthrow everything the enemy tries to do to steal the abundant life He offers.

“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” John 10:10.

Rise up this day and walk in what Jesus has already given you:

“ABUNDANT LIFE!”

“God is Working it Out!”

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Here’s a little bit of encouragement for you to start your day: “God is working it out!”

I was reading this morning in the book of Ruth and I couldn’t help but rejoice with happy crying in my heart. When I see her story I can’t help but be encouraged by what God did for her.

Let’s face it. She, according to those in the land, was really a nobody.  She was a woman of sorrow having lost her husband, her support, and now she has walked away from her homeland to follow Naomi.  Living in a strange place as a foreigner to all around she tried to acclimate to her new surroundings and help Naomi the best she could.

What the story doesn’t tell us are all the emotions that must have been going on with Ruth. Did she question her life?  Her decisions?  Did she feel lost sometimes as she sought to do the right thing out of love?  Did she ever pray in her heart for an understanding of all the why’s that was going on in her life at that moment?  Did she look at her adversity and think there was nobody to care; nobody who really pays attention to little old me?

She had a rough go at it but her story is so encouraging to me. As I look through the pages that tell the events of her life I can’t help but to see God in the midst of it all.  It may not have been immediately prevalent to her at the moment, but for us who read her story, we can see Him at work orchestrating the events until they come to the fruition of a blessed end.

The whole time – through all her sadness, doubt, discouragements, and feelings of hopelessness, God was there working it out in the midst!

This leads me to question our life today. What is it that we are going through?  What is attacking us today with doubt and questioning?  What sadnesses are we battling with?  It’s so hard to think with a clear mind sometimes when we are in the midst of our own struggles, but after reading her story can we believe the best?  That God is standing in heaven, looking down, and working it out for us as well.

We may not see it immediately, but like Ruth, during the time of harvest our Boaz (which stands for our blessing – not necessarily the man himself) will appear and we will reap the promises of God. We just have to hold out for the harvest, and keep being faithful, keep working, and keep gleaning the fields until our time of blessings comes to pass.

God is putting all the pieces together.  He is working it out!

“As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”

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If therefore our houses be houses of the Lord, we shall for that reason love home, reckoning our daily devotion the sweetest of our daily delights; and our family-worship the most valuable of our family-comforts… A church in the house will be a good legacy, nay, it will be a good inheritance, to be left to your children after you. ~ Matthew Henry

“His Footsteps, Our Pathway!”

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Which pathway are we really walking down?  The times we are living in are disturbing.  Biblical prophecies are coming to pass like never before.  I have heard much preaching for us to have an awareness that we are living in the last days.  Jesus is soon to come back and escort us home, but will we be ready to follow?

There are many influences in the world today.  There are many questions being raised about this life.  There are many voices out there ready to give you their version of what the right answer is.  Many voices that want to pull you and me in this direction and that; trying to twist your arm to go along with what they believe is right for your life.

Our challenge today is to fight to stay on the true and right course that God has already preordained for each of us to walk.  A course that doesn’t always seem plain and straight; a road that may seem rocky and hard to journey on at times, leaving us to believe that we can’t make it.

Life is rough, I’ll give you that.  Nevertheless, be encouraged.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” (John 14:6, NKJV).  1 Peter 2:21 also tells us, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.”

Even when the way seems dim, follow His footsteps and we will travel on the pathway that leads to life.