Daily Devotions

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He is Not Here

MELISSA—“He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” Luke 24:6-7 Thinking of the glory and wonder of Easter brings some things to light regarding the resurrection life. That day resurrection power was unleashed in this earth. The man that walked out of that tomb did it as an example for all of us as how life should be from then on and there is so much more to resurrection life than walking out of the grave. That sounds crazy because that’s the biggest thing we can think of on earth but it’s bigger than we can comprehend with our finite minds.

Never a Solitary Dot

KATHY—The Truth is that we are never a solitary DOT on a globe.  God is always working through more sons’ awareness than yours alone.  Also, because of relationship with God and one another, we little DOTS can do something corporately.  Then we become one big honkin’ DOT on this earth, a portal, a floodgate for heaven’s incoming changes!  So, let’s not waste time considering our participation with Father might be insignificant or of no consequence.  In Joel 2:25, the Lord said He would restore the years that the locusts have eaten.  One meaning of the root word for locust is “insignificance”.  God can restore the times that a sense of insignificance stole your thunder, stole your success, stole your opportunities or stole your fulfillment because you didn’t know how much your obedience mattered or did not realize you were God’s Access Point to family or the workplace or the community or to nations.

Christ Died for our Sins

1Corinthians 15:1-4,Amp—“Now brothers and sisters, let me remind you [once again] of the good news [of salvation] which I preached to you, which you welcomed and accepted and on which you stand [by faith]. 2 By this faith you are saved [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose], if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain [just superficially and without complete commitment]. 3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to [that which] the Scriptures [foretold], 4 and that He was buried, and that He was [bodily] raised on the third day according to [that which] the Scriptures [foretold],”

The Answer we are Truly Looking For

MELISSA—When we call on Almighty God and we are demanding opportunity to determine what the answer must be, we are working from a very limited soul-perspective of the situation with even more limited soul-solutions. This kind of limitation focuses on the impossible rather than the God of the impossible. He not only sees the problem, but where it came from (possibly from entitlement mindsets passed on through the bloodline?) and He sees the best solution for the complete fix. That right there is the kind of “great and mighty” (Jer.33:3) answer we are truly looking for. 

This Little Dot

KATHY — Perceiving what the Father is doing may blow our doors at times.  Participating in His Original Intent for your life can include tasks and experiences that you did not see coming. The scope of your participation may be overwhelming to the point that you want to shrink back because you suddenly feel you are just an unequipped, insignificant tiny DOT on the globe!  I am alluding to one of those RED DOTS on a map that says, “You’re right here.”  If you are feeling like a DOT yourself, you see such a map and think, ‘And so what!  What possible difference can I make?’  However, doing what the Father is doing means we have to focus on Truth rather than our feelings.  The truth is that this little DOT is a son or daughter that is right here, right now, to do Father’s business.  This little DOT is an agent of agreement and this little DOT is an access point for Almighty God to bring “as it is in heaven” into this earth! 

See the Road Plainer

As the people of God assemble today, may they see plainer than ever the road that they are purposed to run in this year. May one be an encouragement to another to steadily get on down the path this year that leads to success for our Lord’s plan.  “…I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.” Eph.4:1b-3, Msg)

God’s Enabling Effect

MARTIN—“…the people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits” (Dan.11:32) To know the “THY” of “THY Kingdom come”, to know His Word, to worship Him for Who He is, is to be available to “do things that have an effect” (Hebrew: ”do exploits”) according to v.32. It is possible to do exploits through the enablements of the Spirit, with money, with political power, with influence (Esther), talent and skills. If we will take what is at hand into our hand (and not limit it with the poverty of human experience), God will enable its effect beyond our abilities.

How do we Prepare for What’s Ahead?

MELISSA—How do we prepare for what’s ahead? You’ve been made ready in ways you haven’t put together yet, but it will come together as we head further into the year. Also, we need to realize it’s just time to BE the new creation Jesus exemplified. We need to pick up the Bible and rehearse the things Jesus set in motion. We typically call those “promises,” but in our modern culture that word tends to have only a future connotation. His promises are fully alive and available for application now and where we are headed. For instance, we read in the gospels about fish and bread being multiplied to feed thousands. We need to be ready to facilitate that new creation norm. Finally, remember this isn’t all about evil being exposed. Our focus needs to be on the increasing Kingdom that is going to be revealed in the midst of the mess. “I have told you these things in parables (veiled language, allegories, dark sayings); the hour is now coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I shall tell you about the Father in plain words and openly (without reserve).” (John 16:25 Amplified) The reality and mysteries of God being uncovered will be the biggest mind-blower of all! The “brainwashed zombie” in each of us will try and hold on to old logic through the upheaval ahead, but the new creation we already are will bring us through to a victory that words can’t relay right now.

Positioned for Mandate

KATHY— There are times Father positions us for a mandate with something as obvious as a Cornelius at the door. A man knocked on our door one Sunday afternoon. Marty answered the door and the man introduced himself as a retired policeman from another part of the state who had moved into our neighborhood a few years earlier. He told Marty he had heard that we were ministers and waited for confirmation. When Marty answered yes, he proceeded to lay out a plan he had. He said there were several elderly and sick people in our neighborhood that could not attend church. He was concerned that his friends needed teaching and prayer and ministry but explained that he was raised in a non-evangelical denomination and didn’t know anything about the Bible. He told Marty that he would like to gather some people in the pool pavilion if Marty would come and preach to them! This was nothing we had ever seen coming, but our participation was clear and doable.

A Sign in the Earth

MARTIN P GABLER—Being a sign in the earth is accomplishing something that shows our Lord’s character (His Name) in this earth. That which is in heaven comes into this earth through an earthen vessel and continually points back to its Source in heaven by what it says and what it does until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Eph.4:13) Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t stop short of becoming a mature man; don’t stop short of the measure of the stature or the fullness of Christ. It is a life well-lived, a life well-spent, a life of godly character for His glory that is a vessel to contain what has been imparted from heaven.