Breath of Life and Beyond~

Greetings,

All through scriptures, God provides excellent instructions on how to do something right.  He teaches us how to pray, how to treat our neighbor, how to raise our children, how to handle our finances, how to make wise decisions when it comes to dating and marriage…  And one of my favorite lessons is about how to properly bless someone.

“The Lord spoke, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them: The Lord bless you, and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you a tranquil heart and life’” (Numbers 6:24-26).

It certainly is a beautiful passage, and I have used it often when writing a card for someone’s birthday or wedding day. But until this very day as I sat to share this DEVO, I never realized what the very next verse, 27, says: “Put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Let’s think about this.  When my son was born, Jorge, my husband, was ecstatic about naming him Jorge too.  And I have been told that my son wants to name his future son Jorge also.  All that is fine and dandy, and I understand the sense of pride and joy about having a namesake. But is there any power in the name of Jorge? What about forgiveness in the name of Jorge? Does Jorge console the weary heart? Does Jorge supply all my needs? When we get right down to it, Jorge means “farmer.”  Very one-note, a little cute, I suppose, but kinda ho-hum. Even if I were to say that Jorge means “horticulturist,” it might sound more impressive, but it’s still a FAR cry from the all-encompassing, glorious name of God, which has over 100 meanings in the Bible.

When you and I put the name of God on someone, He becomes their Bread of Life, Healer, Living Water, Provider, Peace, Presence, Comforter…He blesses in profound and powerful ways.  Our part is simple. We open our mouths to pray and put His name on those we love. He shows up with incalculable goodness.  

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we put Your name on ourselves and our families today.  It brings us so much joy to know we are welcoming Wisdom, Protection, Guidance, the very Breath of Life and beyond into our lives.  Thank You for all You do.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

A Wise Habit ~

Greetings,

Back in 2005, a dear friend of mine gave me a book, which I recently fished out of the closet to re-read. On the inside cover, she wrote a beautiful dedication based on Psalm 36.  It is so powerful and totally in keeping with our wise habit of praying the Psalms over our lives. Let's bless ourselves today!

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, How precious is Your constant, faithful, gracious love for me.  It reaches to the heavens; it extends to the skies.  I take refuge and shelter in the shadow of Your wings.  You feed me with blessings from Your own table, and I am satisfied.  I drink from Your rivers of delight, and I am refreshed. You are the fountain of life, the light by which I see.  Pour out Your unfailing kindness and mercy on me.  Never stop giving Your blessings to me because I long for Your goodness in my life. AMEN~   

OPEN

Greetings,

April is here, and a friend of mine told me the other day that April means “to open.” And as soon as I heard the meaning of April, I thought of this verse:

“I will bless My people and their homes around My holy hill. And in the proper season I will open the heavens and send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing” (Ezequiel 34:26).

And then I thought of this verse:

“I ask that your minds may be opened to see His light, so that you will know what is the hope to which He has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings He promises His people” (Ephesians 1:18).

And then there was this one:

“…As Jesus was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him…and a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased’”  (Luke 3:21).

Our Lord opens up the heavens and blesses us with every spiritual, physical, mental, financial, emotional, and relational need we have, and it all starts with prayer.

As Jesus was praying heaven was opened! And when we pray we position ourselves before a God Who is willing to open up His heavenly storehouse of goodness and abundance to help us, guide us, provide for us, infuse us with peace, hope, wisdom, and healing – collectively known as “rich, wonderful, blessings!”

PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank You for the fabulous month of April! We are Your people, and we look to You to open up Your glorious heaven and provide for us. I have a friend who needs showers of wisdom and joy as she makes life-changing marriage decisions. I also have a friend who needs buckets and buckets of peace as she settles into a caregiver role. I have another buddy whose child needs an outpouring of conviction to avoid temptation. Lord, so many requests, petitions, supplications, and urgencies! But You have an inexhaustible supply of every single thing each one of us needs for ourselves and those we love. We open our arms wide to receive Your generosity. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Blessings~

Greetings,

The 33^rd chapter of Deuteronomy in the Bible is dedicated to the blessings Moses spoke over the Israelites.  Today, we will speak them over ourselves and those we love.

Grant us life, dear Lord, and bring us together and keep us tightly knit as a family.  Give us strength to stand against our enemies. Accept the work of our hands, and bless our land with the precious gift of dew from the heavens and water from beneath the earth; with the rich fruit that grows in the sun, and with the best gifts of the earth and its bounty, O Lord. May we prosper in our homes.  Enlarge our territories, and may Your justice rule over us. May we be rich in favor and full of Your blessings.  May we be safe and secure all our days. There is no one like You, our God. You ride across the heavens to help us, across the skies in majestic splendor. You, eternal God, are our refuge, and Your everlasting arms are under us.  You drive out our enemies, and we live in safety. We are blessed and saved by You, O Lord. You are our protecting shield!

AME! AMEN! AMEN!

Better Than Wishing is Blessing

Happy New Year!

I always like to wish people a Happy New Year for at least the first two weeks of the year!  However, better than wishing is blessing.  So as my little motley crew consisting of my five-year old, eight-year old, and 13-year old nephews, 15-year old niece, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, father-in-law, and husband gathered to ring in the new year, I chose a special Bible verse, and turned it into a blessing that I spoke over us right before midnight.  I am sharing it with all of you today hoping you will appropriate it for yourselves and those you love:

Job 42:16-17 “Job lived another 140 years, living to see his children and grandchildren—four generations of them! Then he died—an old man who lived a long, full life.”

MAY WE AND THOSE WE LOVE SO DEARLY LIVE WITH HEALTH TO SEE OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN AND LIVE LONG, FULL LIVES!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for Your Holy Word.  There are so many encouraging passages of scripture written for us, including these verses in Job.  If You took time to note that Job lived 140 years and was able to enjoy seeing four generations worth of family, then we pray the same for ourselves. Glory to Your life-giving name! AMEN.

Live Well, Live Blessed~

Today is the National Day of Prayer!  It blesses my soul that each of us will be joining millions across America raising our voices to the most High God seeking protection, wisdom, and health for ourselves, our families, and our great nation.

In fact, the woman with the bleeding problem from Monday’s DEVO serves as a testimony that this is exactly what Jesus wants for each of us.

Mark 5:34 Jesus said to her, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague.”

After she muscled her way through the crowd to touch our Lord, she received an on-the-spot healing, and then Jesus Himself spoke into her life.  Could it be that the first step in living well and living blessed is to make contact with Christ?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

PRAYER: (Today’s prayer is from http://nationaldayofprayer.org/about/national-prayer-by-anne-graham-lotz/

Lord of our hearts, On this National Day of Prayer, we look to You.
In the darkness, You are our Light.  In the storm, You are our Anchor.

In our weakness, You are our Strength. In our grief, You are our Comfort.
In our despair, You are our Hope.  In our confusion, You are our Wisdom.  In times of uncertainty, You are the Rock on which we stand. Amen amen amen!

Jesus Loves Baseball~

Monday Greetings~

As we start off yet another week with the drizzles, let all that rain remind you of God's bountiful blessings. Well, this reminds me of a hymn.

The chorus goes like this:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

I am confident that if we took out a sheet of paper and starting writing all our blessings down, our pages would fill up quickly and we would be blessed by our blessings.

Something I would have to include is what I saw Saturday night. Hormone went to play baseball with some buddies and before the game started, they made a circle with the opposing team, held hands, bowed their heads and prayed.

Glory glory hallelujah!

This proves that strong, athletic, handsome, fiercely competitive young men are not--I repeat--not embarrassed or afraid to ask the Almighty for protection and help.

It was a beautiful moment, and I quickly asked Hormone's dad to snap a picture so I could send it out today.

Does Jesus even care about a baseball game? He does if we make Him part of it.

1 Corinthians 10:31...everything should be done to bring glory to God.

God has great power to keep us safe, bless us, protect us, provide for us, and fill us with peace and enjoyment no matter what we are doing, so we should verbally acknowledge Him for these things. When we honor Him by inviting Him to be part of our lives, we glorify Him.

It is important to note that the folks on Hormone's team took it a step further by also glorifying God in deed as well. There was no cussing, spitting, or rude gestures from anyone. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, for a change, and was glad to see that it is possible to have fun and keep it clean.

My daughter-in-law and I even cheered. Remember Fire Cracker, Fire Cracker, Boom Boom Boom!? I was kicking especially high that night.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We glorify You right now by inviting You to come into our life today and everyday. We thank You in advance for Your provision and protection and for all the beautiful things You will show us this week. We want You to be a part of every single thing we do. In Jesus' name, AMEN~