YOUR FATHER’S HEART
By Joseph Prince
posted February 01, 2017
Matthew 7:11
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who
ask Him!
Let me tell you a true story I heard. There was a pastor
whose young child was diagnosed with cancer. The day his boy was scheduled for
an operation, this father cried out to God, “God, I’m almost 30 years old, but
my boy is only about three months old. Why don’t you just take some years off
my life and give them to my boy?”
Then, from deep within him, he heard the voice of God say,
“I am not like that.” When the man heard that, he realized immediately that his
son’s sickness was not from God. He also realized that if he, who has faults,
could want his child well, how much more his heavenly Father. So he changed his
prayer and said, “Father God, I come against this sickness and I ask you for
healing for my child.” That day, on the operating table, the surgeons could
find no trace of cancer in the child!
Today, God wants you to know that He is not the kind of
Father who wants you sick and defeated, keeps you poor and wanting, refuses to
provide for your needs and denies you your blessings.
When my daughter Jessica was younger, I bought a beautiful
teddy bear for her. Teddy bears are her favorite toys and I could not wait to
see her joy when she saw it. My joy is to see her happy. When she is sick and
has difficulty sleeping at night, it hurts me to hear her cry. When she is
crying, I cannot ignore her cries. I enter into her discomfort and pain even
though I know that her sickness is something that will pass shortly. When she
is in pain, I feel the pain too. When she is sad, I am sad too.
I believe that God gives us children to help us understand
what His Father-heart is like. His joy is to enter into your joy and see you
happy. If you, in spite of your faults, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to you when
you ask Him! My prayer today is that you will know just how much your Father
loves you!
Thought For The Day
God’s joy is to enter into your joy!
Put it into
Action
BY Joel Osteen
posted February 01, 2017
TODAY'S
SCRIPTURE:
"And
I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your
faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in
Christ."
Philemon 1:6, NLT
Philemon 1:6, NLT
TODAY'S
WORD:
The
Bible tells us that faith without works is dead. If we don’t put our faith into
action, it’s not really faith; it’s just nice ideas. You see, when God truly
does a work in our lives, it affects everything about us. It affects our words,
our thoughts and our actions. How do you know someone is generous? By their generous
actions. How do you know someone is kind? By their kind actions. How do you
know someone is gentle? By their gentle actions. How do you know someone is a
follower of Christ? By their Christ-like actions.
Can people tell by your actions that you belong to God? We all have areas where we can come up higher, but as believers in Jesus, we can be confident that God is at work in us. He is faithful and will complete what He started. As we invite Him to search our hearts and minds, as we surrender every area of our heart to Him and put our faith into action, He will finish His perfect work in us!
Can people tell by your actions that you belong to God? We all have areas where we can come up higher, but as believers in Jesus, we can be confident that God is at work in us. He is faithful and will complete what He started. As we invite Him to search our hearts and minds, as we surrender every area of our heart to Him and put our faith into action, He will finish His perfect work in us!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
"Father
in heaven, thank You for changing me, for making me more like You. I invite
Your love to do a work in my heart so that You are reflected in everything I
say and do in Jesus’ name. Amen."
One Good Choice After Another
by Joyce Meyer
posted February 01, 2017
Let
your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
—Proverbs 4:25 NIV
—Proverbs 4:25 NIV
Are you
enjoying the life and blessings of God in your everyday life? Or have you made
a series of choices resulting in disappointment, pain, or feeling that
everything you do requires great effort and produces little reward? Don't spend
your time and energy mourning all the bad decisions you have made; just start
making good ones. There is hope for you!
The way
to overcome the results of a series of bad choices is through a series of right
choices. The only way to walk out of trouble is to do the opposite of whatever
you did to get into trouble—one choice at a time.
Maybe
the circumstances of your life right now are the direct result of a series of
bad choices you have made. You may be in debt because you have made a lot of
bad choices with money. You may be lonely because of a series of bad choices in
relationships or in the way you treat people. You may be sick because of a
series of unhealthy choices: eating junk food, not getting enough rest, or
abusing your body through working too much and not having enough balance in
your life.
You
cannot make a series of bad choices that result in significant problems and
then make one good choice and expect all the results of all those bad choices
to go away. You did not get into deep trouble through one bad choice; you got
into trouble through a series of bad choices. If you really want your life to
change for the better, you will need to make one good choice after another,
over a period of time, just as consistently as you made the negative choices
that produced negative results.
No
matter what kind of trouble or difficulty you find yourself in, you can still
have a blessed life. You cannot do anything about what is behind you, but you
can do a great deal about what lies ahead of you. God is a redeemer, and He
will always give you another chance.
Trust in Him: If
you have a situation that is too big for you to solve, then you are material
for a miracle. Invite God to get involved, trust in and follow His directions,
make one good choice after another, and you will see amazing results.
Me, Myself & I
by David Jeremiah - Turning Point
posted February 01, 2017
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my
mother’s womb.
Psalm 139:13
Psalm 139:13
If only I were less like this or more like this… The effect of such thinking is more
than just low self-esteem. Not only are we placing ourselves at odds with who
we are with those thoughts, we are placing ourselves in conflict with God. We
forget that we were thought of and chosen. Just as an artist conceives an idea
before it is translated into being, God thought of you and desired a (insert
your name) in the world before you existed. He gave your soul its shape.
If
you’re feeling stuck with a poor self-image, begin with asking God, “How do You
see me?” He had a specific plan in mind when He created you. As you come to
realize how much God loves and delights in you, your own ability to love and
receive love will grow. Each day we should pray that our eyes are opened to the
great gifts God has bestowed on all of us. We are desired, loved, and invited
to connect with God on a daily basis.
I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most
glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born
in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most
precious thing in all thinking.
George MacDonald
George MacDonald
"Praise The
Lord"
By Brian Houston
Posted February 1, 2017
Praise the Lord! Within those three words is the powerful beginning and foundation of a blessed life. It starts with knowing who God is and praising Him.
Praise the Lord! Within those three words is the powerful beginning and foundation of a blessed life. It starts with knowing who God is and praising Him.
Praise is always a
starting point.
It means thankfulness —
that is why we give thanks before a meal and start church with songs of
praise. Jesus began to thank God before Lazarus was raised from the
dead, and Moses praised God before He parted the Red Sea. Human nature
likes to wait until after an answer is received, but blessing begins with
praise.
The Word of God tells us
to “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise”
(Psalm 100:4).
Yet praising the Lord is
not limited to singing a few songs once a week in a church service. Worship is
a lifestyle that embraces the entire spectrum of life.
You can praise God at any
hour of the day, seven days a week — in the car, the shower or the
middle of night. It isn’t about singing a particular hymn or reciting
a prayer — it’s about a relationship with your Heavenly Father who loves
and cares for you.
People have different
ideas of what God is like, and they communicate with Him according to
their perception. Those who think He is rigid and austere keep their
distance. Others, who see Him as formal and stiff, usually approach Him in
the same way. Yet those who know Him as Father and Friend enjoy
the blessing of a close, intimate relationship with Him — where you
can call on Him anytime. No matter what situation you may be in, you are
never alone.
Circumstances can begin to turn around when you start praising God. Not only does praise put Him in focus, but it also causes you to see things from a whole new perspective.
Circumstances can begin to turn around when you start praising God. Not only does praise put Him in focus, but it also causes you to see things from a whole new perspective.
Praising God is more than
a ritual or one-time event. It’s a lifestyle of worship — it enables you
to place your focus on God, and it changes your perspective of the
circumstances around you. So, go forth today in your God-given calling with this declaration as your foundation:
circumstances around you. So, go forth today in your God-given calling with this declaration as your foundation:
“Praise the Lord!”
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