Bearing Good Fruit

I have tried over the years to make sure my children have the keys to success but sometimes my way of parenting hasn't had the impact on them as I wanted.

However, some have and this makes me want to keep going. So when I came across this little devotional, it not only was encouragement for me in the area of parenting but in living life in general.

This helps me put one foot in front of another in hopes things will not continue to be same but change will come when I least expect it.

God Bless.

Bearing Good Fruit

Have you taken a good thoughtful look at well-behaved children? They are polite, helpful and respectful- a great joy to be around. Ever wondered how they turned out like that? I’m sure it’s not overnight that these children are born (don’t you wish?). Their outstanding behavior and attitude are the fruit of years of discipline. It all reflects on their parents. When it comes to God, we know that He is the source of all good and there can be no evil in Him. John writes, whoever does evil has not seen God (3 John 1:11).

When we come to Christ and are filled with the Spirit, we are like trees that are known by the fruit we bear. If we demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control, we glorify our Father. People may not accept our beliefs but will realize that our fruit are the results of abiding in our Father (John 15:5). As we experience our Father and dwell in Him, evil will be distant memories.

As Christians, we need to continually strive to maintain peace, do good works and spread love because, in doing so, we spread the fragrance of Jesus all around. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men (Romans 12:17,18). Let our lives be such that the world is drawn to the hope and the light that is in us. When we live exemplary lives, and are an example to those around us, we can become powerful witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer Father, cause me to be a tree bearing good fruit. May my life shine for Your glory that people may be attracted to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Author Unknown

Psalm 2 And Beyond And Go

Knowledge never gets old and this little devotional is jammed pact with insight knowledge of who Jesus is and why He came.

Be encouraged in the knowledge of who Jesus is and why He camw.

God Bless.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 2 You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. - Psalm 2:9

Psalm 2 pictures a coming king—the Messiah—who uses violence and destruction to establish his kingdom. Interestingly, the Messiah’s use of the rod of iron is always pictured as a future event in the New Testament. It is only at the second coming of Jesus that he strikes the nations with a sharp sword and rules them with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15).

The first coming of Christ as a baby in Bethlehem and his second coming at the end of time call us to know the Messiah as both the crucified one and the triumphant King. The community of God’s people at the time of Jesus never expected two comings of the Messiah. But the New Testament reveals what is concealed. Because Christ in his first coming suffered and endured abuse, Christians must be ready to take up their cross with Jesus. The early church indeed faced suffering from the rulers of their day.

The apostles, for example, were jailed and beaten for preaching about Jesus, but they also stood up to the religious rulers, confessing Jesus as the only Savior (Acts 4-5). Looking ahead and knowing that Christ in his second coming will reign triumphantly, we can overcome any difficult circumstance and experience Jesus’ resurrected glory. I hope you are experiencing both the cross and the resurrection in your Christian life.

Prayer: God, we praise you that the crucified Christ is also the triumphant King of kings. Lord, may the cross and the crown be a double reality in our lives, and may we faithfully tell ­others about you. Amen.

Dean Deppe

Send Me A Sign Of Your Favor

Amen to this little devotional! Send me a sign, Lord. Send me a sign!

God Bless.

Send me a sign of your favor. Then those who hate me will be put to shame, for you, O LORD, help and comfort me. (NLT) -Psalm 86:17

We all need signs from God every now and then to get through life. It's not just a sign for ourselves, but for other people to recognize. This, in turn, speaks to those who may not have a relationship with Him. When you turn to God for comfort in desperate times it strengthens your relationship with God. Remember, He cares.

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By This We Know Love

No greater love than Jesus and His actions while He walked the earth. Let us continue to learn by His example and change world for His glory.

God Bless.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16)

The love of Christ for us in his dying was as conscious as his suffering was intentional. If he was intentional in laying down his life, it was for us. It was love. “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Every step on the Calvary road meant, “I love you.”

Therefore, to feel the love of Christ in the laying down of his life, it helps to see how utterly intentional it was. Look at what Jesus said just after that violent moment when Peter tried to cleave the skull of the servant, but only cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:52–54)

It is one thing to say that the details of Jesus’s death were predicted in the Old Testament. But it is much more to say that Jesus himself was making his choices precisely to see to it that the Scriptures would be fulfilled. That is what Jesus said he was doing in Matthew 26:54. “I could escape this misery, but how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” In other words, I am not choosing to take the way out that I could take because I know the Scriptures. I know what must take place for my people to be saved. It is my choice to fulfill all that is predicted of me in the word of God. It is my choice — every step of the way — to love my people to the uttermost. And I want them to feel this. And be utterly secure and free and radically different from the world.

-Author Unknown

Are You Thankful To God

Words of wisdom written in the words below. I am not just saying this for my health.

In fact, we need to put thankfulness into our every day lives so we can be an example of Christ, our Lord and Savior.

God Bless.

Are You Thankful to God?

My friend had a small tumor on her finger, for which she was operated. Her right hand was bandaged and she could not use it for a while. She was handicapped without the use of her hand. She realized how every little part of our body is important. How we take God’s creation for granted! She said, “Have I ever thanked God for my fingers?” A small tumor on her finger and everything came to a standstill. The Bible says, ‘In all circumstances give thanks to God’. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone (Genesis 35:3).

Here, ‘altar’ is a source of thanksgiving to God. Jacob showed his gratefulness to God by building an altar, because God answered him in times of trials and tribulations and was with him wherever he went. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, so we become His altar and a carrier of His presence. This altar is not man-made. We can, and must, thank God for his beautiful and endless creation; for our body starting from head to toe, for the people around us, for our basic needs, for our jobs and above all for the gift of knowing Him. God is pleased when we thank Him. But, we have become so selfish that we are only concerned about ‘I, me and myself’’. Let us come out of this boundary, become selfless and thank the Lord for His awesome creation. Let us thank the Lord for all the good things that come from Him. This is God’s will for us.

Prayer Sweet Holy Spirit, help me become selfless and thank God at all times, in all circumstances and please Him in every way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

-Author Unknown

Get In There With Them

As we go into the next month of this new year, we need to remember Jesus gave the greatest gift He could have given now it's our turn to pass along the wealth to others.

God Bless.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” John 15:13, NKJV.

Last night I crawled in the crib with my daughter because she wasn’t use to it. I climbed in there to help her get adjusted. I inconvenienced myself and made myself uncomfortable so that she could be comfortable. I think when it comes to laying down our lives for someone else, it requires us to inconvenience ourselves. We have believers who are new to the faith. People that are in new situations that they’ve never been in, in new environments, and until they get adjusted, we sometimes have to climb in there with them.

That’s what Jesus did. He didn’t save us from afar. He came to earth wrapped in human flesh, so we could be saved. He became poor so that we could be made rich. I helped my daughter through her first night in the crib by climbing in there with her. I didn’t just pray from her. What are you willing to climb into to help someone? Are you willing to climb into someone’s broken life until they are healed and restored? More now than ever, we just don’t need prayers, we need a friend.

Prayer: Father God, thank You for sending Jesus so that I could be saved. He laid down his life for me, help me do the same for others. In Jesus’ name, Amen. (Study John 15:12-14; Matthew 22:39; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:7-9)

-Author Unknown

Who's In Your Boat

I don't know about you, put I'm ready to soak up the sun and put old man winter to bed.

I have been trying to get my husband to buy a boat for years. Sure, we have a broken down boat that would sink as soon as it hit the water but we are in desperate need of a good boat that we could use for years to come.

So when I came across this little devotional, I was eager to see where the author was trying to take us.

Whst I found was a inspiring little devotional that causes me to ponder who I am willing to have in my boat called life. Needless to say, I have come to the conclusion, I want the Man who can walk on water to be the one steering and guiding the boat where it needs to go so in the end, I can bring Him glory. Not to mention to hear well done thy good and faithful servant as I walk into eternity like the diva I am.

God Bless.

Who’s in Your Boat?

Scripture Reading: Luke 8:22-25

Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. - Luke 8:22 Many of the disciples were ex­peri­enced fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. They had often weathered sudden squalls and treacherous waves. They knew that storms could come out of nowhere. So when Jesus suggested rowing to the other side of the lake, they knew they had to be ready for anything. In the seas of life, we grow to learn that storms can sneak up on us.

A bill out of nowhere can take a bite out of your pay­check. A parent suddenly be­comes ill, and you become a caregiver. A child’s bad decision can lead to a day in court and a prison sentence. Such storms cause our anxiety to rise to dangerous levels. We look for help from someone to calm us down, fix the problem, and restore life to the way it was. The disciples never stopped to think what it meant to have Jesus in the boat with them. And, to them, he wasn’t doing anything! But, of course, he was sleeping—not worrying or getting frantic about the storm. The disciples spent so much energy trying to save themselves from the storm on their own power that they forgot to be still and recognize that Jesus is God, who had their lives in his hands. Jesus was in their boat. All they needed to do was trust in him. You and I cannot control the sudden storms of life. That’s the way life is. But Jesus is with us. And that’s the best thing.

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for being in our boat. Your resting does not mean inaction; it reminds us to place all our anxieties on you because you care for us. In your name, Amen.

Reginald Smith https://today.reframemedia.com/devotionals/whos-in-your-boat#noredirect