Daily Devotions

Posts tagged “2020

August and the Mountain

FB Snippet August Mountain.jpg

The month of August is like climbing a mountain. It is a time for reassessing and rechecking our equipment and taking another good look at evaluating where we are in the climb and what it might possibly take to step into the next level of the climb. It is time to endure and cast aside any unnecessary weights that might cause us to stumble. We must be assured that the process of climbing is one step at a time and be determined to journey by faith, encouraging ourselves in the Lord. We know there is still a summit ahead and we aim for the summit and nothing less will suffice. 1Sam.30:6, KJV — ”And David was greatly distressed… but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” v.6, Msg — “David strengthened himself with trust in his God.”

Headed to Due Season

Kathy — The Greek word translated “due” in Gal.6:9 means a “personal and ReapingHarvestseparate” season or a time of processing unique to each person or unique to each situation. And it says that if we do not get spiritless and give up and pull away during processing, we will reap the full accomplished purpose of the time of trial. So we can understand God’s timing to be as long as it takes to complete His plans in us and for us! Gal.6:9, TPT — “And don’t allow yourselves to be weary or disheartened in planting good seeds, for the season of reaping the wonderful harvest you’ve planted is coming!


Like Climbing a Mountain

The month of August is like climbing a mountain. It is a time for reassessing and rechecking our equipment and taking another good look at evaluating where we MountainClimbLook.jpgare in the climb and what it might possibly take to step into the next level of the climb. It is time to endure and cast aside any unnecessary weights that might cause us to stumble. We must be assured that the process of climbing is one step at a time and be determined to journey by faith, encouraging ourselves in the Lord. We know there is still a summit ahead and we aim for the summit and nothing less will suffice. 1Sam.30:6, KJV — ”And David was greatly distressed… but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” v.6, Msg — “David strengthened himself with trust in his God.”


Possibility of Missing God’s Timing

Kathy — Remember those restless nights before an important day when you were clocksafraid you would not hear the alarm so you tossed and turned? I think we are sometimes driven to anxiousness by the possibility of missing God’s timing. But if we learn to think of His timing as a process rather than an hour, some of the anxiety subsides. Phil.4:6-7, Msg — “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”


Where we are Supposed to Be

Since everything flows out of Jesus (Col.1:17), rank and order is not hierarchy, it is HoldingCandle.jpgeach person being where they are supposed to be and functioning as they are supposed to function. That is how the world will see His glory; when we are where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to do, releasing Heaven into earth. (1Cor.6:20; 1Pe.2:12) Matt.5:16, Amp — “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.”


God Measures Time

Clock in handsKathy — While man is measuring time in seconds and minutes, God is measuring time in changes, responses, transformations and alignment of people and circumstances. His primary aim is to transform people.There are those awesomely orchestrated times when His transforming events coincide on a calendar date just to declare His presence and sovereignty and loving attention to details in our lives. (Jer.29:11)


Awake at the Wheel

Melissa — Awakening is for all of us, not just the unbeliever. I’m quite excited at the thought of being awake at the wheel now and moving forward with foresight. You SteeringWheelHandRoad.jpgare no longer under subjugation of fear, diagnosis, lack, delay, the past, oppression, depression or even snares in your bloodline. You’re on a new page of your life. Just know that things are about to get amazing and shift in ways we cannot imagine. This may seem like a crazy thing to say at this point in 2020, but the truth is far more powerful than the lie. You are free and about to see great and mighty things on a much larger scale.


Operate in a Realm of Freedom

Melissa — A couple of weeks ago when the Lord spoke to my heart, “No longer subjugated”, He also tore something apart. Could that have been a principality that PaperTearingRip.jpgHe tore up? Perhaps one that has been sitting all high and mighty but met it’s doomsday? Gotta say, I really like the sound of that! Then a couple of days after this tremendous insight I heard, “The page has turned”. Not only did He shred something, but right behind it He turned a page. We are at a point for which we have been waiting and hoping. I know a lot of us feel like it has taken forever but we have had to acclimate to be able to shift into the next place. We’ve needed to be prepared for this new level, this new reality. The old norm can’t function at this level. The old norm operated under subjugation, but now it’s time to operate in a realm of freedom like we’ve not seen.


Keep Standing in Freedom

If it were not possible to keep standing in freedom, our Lord would not have commanded us in His Word to do just that. He does not want us to be captive to any degree of slavery. We have been set free to enjoy freedom within the auspices of His setfreejumpcharacter and redemptive purposes. Living our lives under the wisdom and direction of the Word of God leads us in the liberty of sons/daughters who know their Father desires nothing less than the richness of that purchased freedom. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has brought us to liberty that we may glorify Him who purchased it.  ”Plant your feet firmly therefore within the freedom that Christ has won for us, and do not let yourselves be caught again in the shackles of slavery.” (Gal.5:1, Phillips)


Thunder or Godzilla?

A friend sent me a meme with Kermit the frog looking out a rainy window. With a troubled look on his face he says, “Sounds like thunder, but in 2020 it could be Godzilla.”  While unexpected things seem to be flying out of nowhere and we are StormCloudsregularly having to deal with matters that have the appearance of apocalyptic proportion, Yahweh is our Shield, He sends us a Father’s help and we are those sons and daughters who can go about their business without fear. Ps.3:3-6, TPT — “But in the depths of my heart I truly know that you, Yahweh, have become my Shield; You take me and surround me with yourself. Your glory covers me continually. You lift high my head when I bow low in shame. 4 I have cried out to you, Yahweh, from your holy presence. You send me a Father’s help. 5 So now I’ll lie down and sleep like a baby—then I’ll awake in safety, for you surround me with your glory. 6 Even though dark powers prowl around me, I won’t be afraid.”


Manipulating the Atmosphere

Kathy — People often forget the creative, tangible power in the spoken word, but devils don’t.  People forget that what man agrees with or allows has legal presence and influence in the earth realm, but devils don’t. The prince of the power of the air EarthAtmosphere.jpgis continually working the atmosphere.  He sniffs it out like a dog, looking for anything to take advantage of and use as a legal means of positioning devils and provoking men.  He will find something as simple as the lyrics of a song or use quotes on written pages to setup an atmosphere for theft or destruction.  When the atmosphere is lethal, it is manipulated and is not random or without consequences.  The prince of the power of the air takes advantage of the influence of media because people can’t un-hear what they heard on TV or un-see what they saw on a billboard or the internet.  So those deposits hang in the atmosphere to influence the emotions and thinking on any given day. 


God is Faithful no Matter Circumstances

The Lord is still working in people’s lives in spite of the enemy trying to get everyone’s focus on the negative. A couple of weeks ago Kathy, Melissa and I were PlentyLittle.jpgministering to a group of leaders at a church. After the meeting a young man walked up and said that several years ago I walked up to him and put a $20 bill in his shirt pocket and said, “You will have income when others do not”. He said that has been the case for all those years. Even during the pandemic their business has picked up continually and he and his wife have doubled their savings since the pandemic started. Ps.37:18-19, TPT — “Day by day the Lord watches the good deeds of the godly and he prepares for them his forever-reward. 19 Even in a time of disaster he will watch over them, and they will always have more than enough no matter what happens.”


Power of the Air

Kathy — I love the way The Message reads in Eph 2:2, “let’s notlet the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell us how to live.” That should be on billboards in Hollywood since they constantly try to dictate lifestyle!  Eph 2:2 (AMP)[When you were dead in sin- when you were walking/talking zombies} . . . StreaksSky.jpgyou walked [habitually] … following the course and fashion of this world  [under the sway of this present age] that is, following the prince of the power of the air.” When I pursued the question, what is the “power of the air” the devil is prince of, that power boiled down to influence.  We can be DUI – (driven under the influence) of the air or atmosphere around us and the fallen prince who dominates it. Our thoughts, moods and decisions can be affected by the atmosphere.  The air we breathe is chock full of echoes and whispers from people’s conversations and murmured opinions and rehearsed memories and reports.  Even sounds around us can carry threats and words and sounds that are legal instruments that devils know how to use against us.  If we leave outbursts, murmurs, curses, vows, worries, lusts and fears hanging in the atmosphere, uncontested and unresolved, they are up for grabs to be used as negative forces against us. 


Big Mouth and Microphone

Kathy — Rom. 12:2, addresses this:  be not conformed to this world or age or time or influences of culture.  Don’t let your beliefs and conclusions and priorities be MegaphoneAnnounce.jpgmolded by that.  If we are going to seeas it is in heaven” and see God’s original intent in earth, we’ll have to think beyond typical.  That means, (a) we can’t be so open minded that our brains fall out, and (b) we don’t react to life like everybody else does.  We have to choose not to live in anxiety over a new strain of flu and we have to choose not to assume that we’ll be one of the  predicted financial failures in 2020.  We absolutely dare not be typical and ignorant and follow the dictates of this age and culture where someone with a big mouth and a microphone becomes the TV expert to decide our future. 


Guarding our Tongue

tonguehandholdWhile we are contending (Deut.2:24) for the word of the Lord over our lives and our nation, we must keep a guard on our tongue (Js.3:5) so that what it says lines up with what God has said (Jn.12:49). Like a farmer who works in his harvest and watches over his harvest, we cannot check out of the on-going process, lest we suffer crop failure.


Rising Above the Peril

There were several people who were washed off of a walkway into a swollen river in a flood. They were floating along with the current and just able to keep their heads above the water while growing weaker and weaker with every panicked HoldRopeHandsstroke and gulp of filthy water. Several of them were crying out in great fear and voicing the obvious aspects of peril they were in, crying out about the rushing water, the great amount of debris, the likelihood of drowning. One man, however, was not focusing on the dangerous aspects of floating debris. He was constantly looking for something big enough to grab hold of and use for flotation. He was constantly aware of what the dangerous current was bringing that might be useful in the present circumstances. When a large tree branch came floating along, he grabbed hold of it and rode it to a place where it lodged against a protrusion of land that jutted out into the river. He was then able to climb out of the danger which had, only moments earlier, threatened his life. The tree branch was a possible threat like the other debris but the man believed he could use the flotsam that present dynamics sent his way to better improve his position. He came out unscathed because, while aware of the various dangerous aspects, he chose to focus on what he might apply to rise above the peril.


Catalysts for Change

PotFireKathy — In Acts 6, Stephen was openly demonstrating the Kingdom with signs, wonders and miracles among the people. Rather than realizing that God was using this young man as a catalyst to continue the powerful changes that Jesus had begun, they were angered by this catalyst and decided to remove it. May God help us not to reject the catalysts for change He is raising up in 2020.


Solutions to Present Challenges

Those trying/challenging circumstances that made a pronounced entrance into the LookingAheadLadderhistory books in the early part of the 20th Century drove some to excel. They also enabled some who had certain knowledge, skill-sets, personality wiring, and creativity to get traction in spite of the slippery pavement of uncertainty. For those who will stand on tiptoe and stretch their neck to look beyond fears, immediate obstacles and predictions based on limited knowledge, there will always be solutions and vision waiting that can be applied to present challenges.

 


Better Together

HorsesPullTogetherAn essential principle of God is that “two are better than one” (Ecc.l4:9). In the remainder of 2020 people of God will partner for effect. One shall set a 1000 to flight but two shall set 10,000 to flight. “If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it shall be done for them…”(Matt.18:19). God is going to use small groups to defeat mighty opposition. We will commit to defeat together what we cannot overcome alone. It’s God’s Word. 


Unconventional Solutions

Current events in each generation will place unrelenting demands upon that generation to see that there are possibilities, people and resources that can be ThinkingMindfultrained, modified and applied to the challenges unique to and inherited by that generation. Since we have never seen anything like the current events in our lifetime, or anyone else’s lifetime, we take hope that the God who brought solutions to Israel and used those solutions to keep covenant with them is the same God who is the Enabler of His people today to bring help and unconventional solutions to the challenges of this generation and the ones to come. “But you shall [earnestly] remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” (Deut.8:18, NASB)


The Unconventional and Comfort Zones

Throughout history there have been people die while standing on their convention because it was their convention and anything else was, therefore, unacceptable for consideration. In the early 20th Century young women were flying solo in single engine aircraft from East Coast to West Coast. There were stodgy old farmers walking behind a plow and mule who would look up at the plane, disgustedly shake their head and declare, “If God would’ve meant for man to fly, He would have given WrightBrothershim wings!” The very thought of possibly using something unconventional like a flying machine to advance the Kingdom of God in the earth was as foreign to those old unimaginative minds as the thought of the Red Sea splitting to deliver Israel and advance them to the promised land was to the Israelites. Instead of possibly seeing God as the source of inventiveness that, for the first time in history, was bringing reality to a most unconventional yet efficient means of travel, it was viewed as people taking unnecessary risks and playing around wasting time and money when they could have a real job like walking around behind a mule all day. Determination to resist the unconventional at any cost will not only hold back the resistant individual but may cause him to influence others into abandoning their dreams and creativity which would impact future generations and vision. One may ask oneself, “When I reached my comfort level and began living my routine within the bounds of my preferences, did God then cancel all further dreams, visions and inventiveness regardless of the needs and challenges of coming generations?” Is our only requisite that our comfort zones not get jostled?


The Lord Bless Our Mothers

MotherChildren.jpegAs the people of God assemble today as best they can, may they support mothers young and old with encouragement and a helping hand and edify them with inspiring words from the Lord. May our mothers continue to find refuge and strength in the Lord God. We pray that mothers receive refreshing from the Lord and courage to admonish their children in His ways in coming days. “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” (Prov.31:25) “Her children arise and call her blessed..” (v.28).


Awakened to the Fear of the Lord

Melissa — I have been hearing about awakening coming for a while now but what are we awakening to? The thing that hits me the loudest is that we are being Young man waking up in bed and stretching his arms at homeawakened to the fear of the Lord.  I’ve heard from several places that the church has to return to the fear of the Lord, and as He sheds insight on this subject it makes more and more sense why we cannot live outside of it.  Well, we have been living outside of it for the most part and that just isn’t working.  If we are awaking to the fear of the Lord, what have we been in? We’ve been operating in fear, but it’s a substandard fear. A substandard fear is fear of lack, death, pain, trauma, loss, etc.  We, however, are waking up to what we were meant to operate in, which is the premium fear of the Lord. In this premium fear we operate out of awe, reverence, trust, insight and understanding.  This is a totally different way of living! Substandard fear is unclean fear, but premium fear of the Lord is clean fear.  This obviously leads to totally different outcomes. 


Awakening Coming

Melissa — I am writing this during the pandemic between Palm Sunday and Easter of 2020, on the day before Passover.  I have to say, I have been hearing about SignWakeUpawakening coming for a while now but had no idea it was going to look like this. This is… well, it’s an interesting, mysterious, exciting and epic time to be alive. How should I describe it? It’s like being in one of those super deep naps where dreams seem like reality, and when the alarm goes off it’s almost painful and confusing. It’s that kind of nap where it takes a minute to not only regain consciousness, but you have to decipher what was the dream and what is real. This is the best way I know how to describe this awakening. I think I thought it was mainly going to be people waking up to God and looking for Him, and we would all be ready to introduce them. Well, I was a tad off. This thing is definitely beyond my logic and realm of standard operation. So, here’s to waking up to this exciting and epic time!