A Steady Stream~

Greetings,

May you all be violently overtaken with a spirit of joy!

We will go through all kinds of stuff to satisfy our desire for food. There’s an ice cream parlor in Davie, FL called Jaxson’s, and my family and I once waited over two hours for a seat.  Just to eat a sundae.  No meats.

And once, when I was pregnant with Jorgie, I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night with an intense desire to eat grape jelly and cream cheese on a bagel. Groggy Jorge stumbled out to get it.  Not too bad, really, compared to my friend who couldn’t get enough banana sandwiches with mayonnaise and onions when she was expecting.

We all have foods we love, and our bodies were designed to let us know when to fuel up. Our bellies rumble or we feel faint. 

And yet the Lord reminds us in Matthew 4:4 “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Another Bible version of this verse says it like this: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”

In other words, God is saying that to stay alive we must feed our body AND soul.  And just like our bodies let us know when it’s time to eat, our souls do too. 

Have you been cranky lately? How about rude, pessimistic, sad, frustrated, fearful, and/or feeling like a failure?

Then it’s time for some Bread of Life. A steady diet of Jesus revives us, protects us, preserves us, redeems us, gives us our life back, gives us new life, helps us come to life, and rescues us.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we all have a favorite food, and we are grateful for the blessings of being able to enjoy several good meals a day. But we also desire the beauty, peace, protection, hope, faith, wisdom, and guidance in our lives that comes from living on Your Word. Nourish our souls today.  Give us new life. Revive us. And help us to grow even bigger and stronger in our faith. In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

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.

The Best Possible News~

Dear DEVO Readers,

Think about some of the good news you have received over the years. For me all these statements were music to my ears:

"Your father-in-law will not die from his massive heart attack."

"Your husband's skin cancer was caught in time, and it has not spread."

"Mrs. Fernandez, please come down to the police station. We apprehended the perps who broke into your house, and we have your cameras!"

"Mom, I am in love, and she's a great girl."

"Mom, I am in love, and he's a great guy."

"Mom, I passed my finals."  

"Mom, I was in an accident, but I am okay."

But there's a bit of good news that makes mine and yours pale in comparison.

Luke 2:8-11

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord."

I think it's safe to say that out of the 7.5 billion people in the world, 7.4999999999999 wouldn't necessarily be filled with great joy at our personal glad tidings. But the message of our Lord's birth is the best possible news for all the people, for everyone, for the entire universe!  Every single person, without exception,  needs a healthy and heaping portion of salvation, joy, hope, faith, peace, love, miracles, wisdom, truth, comfort, healing, justice, light, redemption, and deliverance from the Bread of Life.  

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for the life-changing news the angel brought to the shepherds so many years ago.  Today we open our hearts to receive all that our Lord, our Savior, the Bread of Life, has to offer.  Fill us up completely, in Jesus' name, AMEN and Merry Christmas~

It's Never Been Easier~

Good afternoon~

Now that we all know the benefits from ingesting God's Word, we turn to how to get it into our systems.

The day after Chini's birthday party, I went to my brother-in-law's, Setsero's party. Naturally, since I had feasted away at Chini's bash, I didn't eat at Setsero's celebration. NOT!!!!!!! None of us thinks it's acceptable, normal, or even healthy to skip a meal just because we recently ate. Likewise, God invites us to taste His goodness on a daily basis.

Matthew 6:11 "Give us this day our daily bread."

That verse speaks about the physical food we need, like the portabella stuffed chicken with parmesan and garlic I ate Sunday, but it's also referring to the spiritual fuel we need that the Bible provides. A daily portion works best. This makes perfect sense to me. If I were to eat today for all the strength I will need for the weekend, I wouldn't make it past Thursday. The same can be said about Bible reading. A steady stream of scripture works best. Today I might need a verse about joy, but by Saturday it might be a passage about faith.

And receiving the benefits we spoke of yesterday--revival, renewal, preservation, new life--can be found on any page anywhere in the Bible. It's called the "Living Word" because God breathed His very breath into every word, every sentence, every paragraph, every last one of the over 30,000 chapters; It's being alive means It actively ministers, comforts, and provides wisdom to us. It's being alive also means you never get bored reading it over and over again. I love to read, but with the exception of To Kill a Mockingbird, I have never read the same book twice; I already know what's going to happen, and I find that unappealing. Yet how many times have we said The Lord's Prayer? And those words still bring fresh blessings every single time.

And finally, to answer the question of how we get It into our systems--we simply pick up a Bible, open up a Bible-reading app, search on the internet for the verse of the day--you can even get a daily verse emailed to you--or, and forgive me if this sounds self-serving, read a DEVO! It's never been easier, Amen!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, The Christian life is not about being forced to do anything, but rather us coming to the realization that Your way works best and is worth our effort. We need You each and every day, and we know it. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

A Steady Diet of Jesus~

Monday greetings~

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Friday's DEVO ended with an exhortation to think about why we should desire God's Word and how to go about getting it into our systems.

Today we answer why.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday we celebrated, Chini's, my father-in-law's birthday, and I praise God for his life. He is truly the easy going and fun-loving patriarch of our family and is famous for all the billions of pictures he takes for everything and about anything.

Right before we sat down to feast ourselves on chicken, churrasco, grilled peppers and salad, I (because I am a little pushy) escorted him to the center of our family circle. I made fun of him like I always do (he's had a suitcase packed for over a year as he waits on stand-by to go on a free cruise), and then we all laid hands on him and agreed with Jorge as he prayed a beautiful prayer of health, long life, and blessings for Chini. Jorge also thanked God for the food we were about to gorge ourselves on. It was almost 8PM, and we were all hungry. It was so good, and we topped it all off with coconut and vanilla cake.

Just like our bodies have a way of letting us know when it's time to eat, our souls have a way of letting us know when it's time to nourish ourselves from a heavenly source.

Have you been cranky lately, rude, sad, pessimistic, hateful, inpatient, downright mean and/or nasty? How about frustrated, fearful, fatigued, and feeling like a failure? The answer might be to eat a little more from the Bread of Life.

The Bible teaches us in Psalm 119 that a steady diet of Jesus revives us, protects us, preserves us, redeems us, gives us our life back, gives us new life, helps us come to life, and rescues us. Amen amen amen!!!

When God tells us to be hungry for Him with the same zeal that a baby is hungry for momma, it's because He knows it's good for us. It's the best way to live a great life!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Sometimes we feel low. How good to know that You offer so much to us when we nourish our souls with You. Revive us today. Gives us new life today. Preserve and protect us and those we love. We thank You in Jesus' rescuing name, Amen!