Friday Devotional...3/1/13...He made me

The following list is a bit on the negative side. They are not thoughts of a person who has a healthy self image. They are not the thoughts of a person who realizes that God did not make "no" junk.

God Must Have a Sense of  Humor…
       He Made Me!

“ Clichés … A – Z"

A.
An apple never falls far from the tree
As slow as molasses

B.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Bless my bloomers
C.
Caught between a rock and a hard place
A chip off the old block

D.
Don’t have a cow
Dumb as a stump

E.
Eat dirt
Either you sink or you swim

F.
Fat as a hog
Fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down

G.
Give a little, take a little
Gut reaction

H.
He has his head in the clouds
Horse sense

I.
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck
If friends were flowers, I’d pick you

J.
Just fell off the turnip truck
Just a drop in the bucket

K.
Keep your head above water
Knock on wood

L.
The last straw
Like talking to a brick wall

M.
Make like a tree and leave
More than you can shake a stick at

N.
Naked as a jaybird
Nutty as a fruitcake

O.
Old as dirt
Our neck of the woods

P.
Plain as water
Put that in your pipe and smoke it

Q.
Quick draw McGraw
Quit Squabbling

R.
Rise and Shine
A rolling stone gathers no moss

S.
Stubborn as a mule
Still waters run deep

T.
Tastes like chicken
Too little too late

U.
Ugly as a mud fence
Under the weather

V.
Thank you very much (Elvis)
V is for factory

W.
We hung them out to dry
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it

X.
?

Y.
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink
Your ass is grass


Z.
Zero…Zilch !

What we need to remember is that God

made us according  to His perfect plan.
For this we need to keep ourselves mindful
that the Creator of the Universe always does His best work on every single person He ever creates.
 

So, praise Him always.

Written by

Glenna Williamson

 

Thursday Devotional...The Choice Is Ours

“And I will pray the Father,

and he shall give you another Comforter, t

hat he may abide with you forever.”

John 14 verse 16

I’ve been thinking a lot about comfort these days, so I looked up its meaning. The dictionary explains it like this: One. “to give strength and hope, to cheer.” Two. “to ease the grief or trouble of, to console.” Although I like both of the descriptions given, my heart is drawn to the second one, this phase in particular, “to ease the grief”. This is where I am in my life right now. I am in need of someone with the ability to ease the grief I am filled with inside. I don’t seem to know what to do with all of it since my sister died. At first there were plans to be made, things to sort through, details that needed to be worked out. There was not much “feeling” in all this, simply “doing”. It was a relief, really, all the “doing”. It gave me a moment of escape from that which I dreaded the most, the inevitable process of working through my grief and tremendous loss.

This brought me to the place of having to decide between two choices. Am I going to allow the process of healing to begin, or will I do all that I can do to run as far away from my feelings as I am able? To face what has happened will mean allowing me to feel the depth and excruciating pain of my loss. To run from it means only to delay it for another day, for surely it will never go away on its own. It will only lay dormant inside until given another opportunity to show itself, in the hope of getting some long awaited and needed attention. It will show up in places where it wasn’t invited. Unattended to it will affect all of my relationships and most likely those whom I love the deepest. Since I will not allow my grief to become something with a life of its own, causing me to react and respond from only its perspective, I have chosen to work through it as best as I can.

This brings me back to the place where I began writing. In order to go through this process I will need comfort. I will need to be comforted, to feel comforted, to trust and believe in those who are comforting me. With their help I will begin to accept, and I will begin to go on.

In the Bible the Holy Spirit is referred to as our “Comforter”. My Sister made me a blanket before she died. It is a comforter. It is big enough to cover all of me and then some. It is something that I wrap around and hold very closely to myself. It is very soft and it brings me comfort as I hold it close to my skin. It is beautiful and one of a kind and it was made just for me. When I am wrapped up in that blanket I feel closer to my Sister than at any other time, and I can feel her love covering me. This is the same as the Holy Spirit. He comforts us individually, his comfort is “tailor made” to fit each one of us perfectly. He knows us intimately and He longs to do what He was made for, He loves to fulfill His purpose in each one of us and in our lives, when we need Him the very most. He longs to comfort us.

I have a beautiful baby grand daughter, Emma Grace. She is four months old. At times I know that she is tired and in need of rocking. She doesn’t know how to put herself to sleep yet, so I comfort her until she is ready to fall asleep. Sometimes when I first begin to rock her she stiffens her legs out straight and doesn’t allow me to hold her comfortably. I relax my grip, change her position for a moment and then try again. She looks around a lot and seems to “take in” all that is around her. It is almost as if she is checking to make sure that all is familiar, and then she will look at me. After she reassures herself that she is indeed in the safe and capable hands of her Grandma, she will eventually relax and allow herself to be comforted. I love to hold her after she closes her eyes and take in all of the beauty that is distinctly her. I love the closeness and the bonding that I feel with her, I love that she trusts me enough to give into sleep while I am holding her, I love the statement I am making, and that she is “hearing”… “I will always love you Emma, and be here for you. You can trust me and depend on me.”

That is the same reassurance the Holy Spirit longs to give to each one of us. He understands that we will most likely not want to relax in His arms at first and that we will want to “look around” us and make sure that we are safe and that He is familiar. We will need to be reassured of His ability to care for us, and we will need to know that He loves us and longs to comfort us. He will not “put us down” when we stiffen against Him. He will be patient with us because He understands. He will do everything that He needs to do for us until we can trust Him, and we eventually begin to relax in His embrace. Then He will look down upon us as we slumber and He will be fulfilled inside because His purpose will be complete, for the moment. Love will shine on His face and we will feel it in His arms and we will know almost instinctively that this is the place where we have longed to be.

Written by Beverley A. Napier

February 23, 2013

Wednesday Devotional..."Flooded In His Love"

I am wowed and overwhelmed with the capacity our Jesus has to love us! His love is so powerful and forceful that when we are filled,brimming over and flooded with His love, all fear has to go.

In New Living translation;
                           1 John 4:18 states

"Such love has no fear,

 because perfect love expels all fear.
If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment,
and this shows that we have not
fully experienced his perfect love."

We are in Christ, and when we abide in Him fully, we are completely filled with His protection and His love. There is absolutely no room for fear, but only the warmth and security of His wondrous love.

When my heart if overwhelmed with fear, I run to the rock that is higher than I. It is then that He floods me with His all consuming love. The safey of His love is where I want to be always.

In His Radical Love,

Sandy Billingham

Devotional for 2/26/13

Thank You and May God Bless You!

You know who you are: you are the patient and kind person who waits and even steps aside when I am haphazardly pushing my shopping cart down the aisle while not looking where I am going. I have even, out of the corner of my eye, seen you turn around and go another way when I have stopped to say hello to someone and we are thoughtlessly blocking all thoroughfare. But what I appreciate even more than all of the patient waiting that you do, is when we cross paths at the other end of the store and our eyes meet, you have a friendly little smile on your face. Not only have you been considerate in your actions, you are kind in your heart. When I have known I should apologize, or am mortified with myself, you ease the drama in my head by the kindness on your face. Thank you very much.

Sometimes I realize you are being friendly a second too late. In my surprise, I forget to return your kindness. Please forgive me and please don't stop. I see you driving in town, waiting in parking lots, in line at check out, everywhere you go, I see you deferring to others, not insisting on your turn to spare someone embarrassment. There you are smiling encouragingly at the mother with the screaming children. Looking kindly at everyone you meet because you know there's no way to tell how hard this day has been for them. You are making a difference in people's lives by being that spot of sunshine or breath of fresh air that we didn't even know we were missing.

Live and work without pride.

 Be gentle and kind.

 Do not be hard on others.

 Let love keep you from doing that.

 Work hard to live together as one

 by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Then there will be peace.

Ephesians 4:1 (NLV)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Lord, thank You for the people who are around us every day extending Your grace to others without any fanfare. Please pour out Your blessings on them and please help us to follow their example and be a spot of kindness to someone else each and every day. In Jesus name, amen.

 

Written by Mary M. Wilkins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Devotional for 2/25/13

                               Embracing His Future...Releasing My Past

During my 20’s and 30’s there was this weird thing that would happen when I would visit my grandmother. I would find myself dropping things and tripping over my own feet just like I did when I was 10 years old. I was so confused! I didn’t break dishes at home nor did I trip walking up stairs. What was wrong with me?

Strangely enough, at the end of an 8 hour drive home, I would find that my ability to walk and carry had magically returned. It was a funny yet frustrating time. I began to be anxious before visits. It felt to me as if everyone noticed and there would be at least one person who wouldn’t let me forget.

It is funny how we can be to each other. We use the past to predict, judge, or condemn those around us. Watch out! We warn: she did this and he did that. These words can become expectations that mock and haunt us. They reach out from the past and cling to us in our future and refuse to let go. I am sorry to say that I have been the recipient of such painful reminders. I am even sorrier to say I have dared to speak such accusations to others.

Then there is Jesus. He says believe in Me and you shall be saved. Saved from what? You will be saved from your sins, saved from yourself, and saved from your past. He has come to make us safe and sound in Him.

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

Ephesians 1:11-14 MSG

Thank You, Lord, for leading me out of my past and into Your future for me. In Jesus name, amen.

Written by Mary M. Wilkins

A very encouraging song from Tenth Avenue North that we are more than our pasts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwtcwQwgdsA

LIGHT

Sunday devotional 2/23/13

Have you ever tried to walk through a room in the dark?  If anything has been moved or changed in the room and we cannot see where we are going, there is a greater likelihood that we will have difficulty navigating that space.  Just a small amount of light from another room or a small night light can make a tremendous difference in the outcome, perhaps saving our shins from scrapes and bruises. 

Life is much like that.  If we try to navigate our way through life walking in total darkness, without turning to God as our guiding light, we are likely to come out with injuries sustained from running into obstacles with no hope for a way through.  That is not to say that life with God is perfect, or that the "good" Christian will have no obstacles or problems in their life.  It just means that our path through life's difficulties will be illuminated, and we can experience peace and joy along the way knowing that God is on our side helping us through.  

As Christians in the light we gather with one another in fellowship and walk with Christ.  In that gathering with fellow believers we share a common bond.  Through that bond that we share in the blood of the lamb, he gives us the most precious gift of all, purifying us from all sin and giving us eternal life.  He lights up our life and shines into the world through us.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  1 John 1:5-7 NIV

written by Jan Andersen

Saturday Devotional...Skating on Solid Ice

Have you ever been pulled around like the last skater on a line? The person in the middle just has to do small steps…not even actually skating. As the line of skaters radiates out, the further a skater is from the center the more quickly she has to skate. Sometimes in life we find ourselves close to the beginning where our skating (and therefore life) is not even difficult.

At other times something happens where we end up at the end of the line through no fault of our own struggling to keep up. These are times of challenge that we all face. Occasionally we seem to put ourselves towards the outside of the line where keeping up is difficult or even seems hopeless. These are the trials of life that we all face. It is the human condition that we all face. The good news is that we do not face these situations alone. We have a constant Companion with us Who is always ready to give us solace and guidance in such times. All we have to do is ask.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,

who gives generously to all without finding fault,

and it will be given to you.

James 1:5(NIV)

The problem is that we sometimes try to go on our own strength…to do it our way. In Celebrate Recovery…a Christian version of AA…people are reminded to give their lives to God. These teachings tell that the difficult things that the attendees are trying to overcome cannot be handled alone. It is just too daunting for a person in recovery to rely on themselves. I know a woman who told God, “Lord, please make this change in my life easy. You know I am not very strong.” She found that changing her dependence on alcohol was easier for her than she had ever dreamed. She went to God at the very beginning and He listened and answered her prayer.

To fully depend on God for help is not a new concept for us. It is just that sometimes we don’t remember to call on Him. This happens when we are in crisis mode. It also happens when we are faced with choosing what we should do that are not crisis but just to select one option out of several we are considering. None of the alternative choices are bad. However, one of the options is the one God would have us do. The thing is that we must seek His counsel.

I once knew a very old man who had served God throughout his entire life. We were at a church meeting where we had broken into small groups. The topic was relying on God. This old pastor said that when he got up in the morning he actually asked God to help him choose his clothes for the day. At the time I remember that I thought it was a bit over the top, and maybe it was an extreme. However, it illustrated the point that our lives are not our own, and that depending on God was a foundation stone to our behavior and choices.

All we need to do is to call on God, who is fully present to us anyway, to reveal to us His aspirations for us and how we must act or choose to be in line with His holy will. Then we have to sit back and listen for His voice and be willing to bend our own will to His.

Heavenly Father, I praise you that you are always present and available to me when I need to make choices about what to choose in my life. Please help me to remain mindful of this and to always ask for Your guidance in all my moments of choice that life presents to me.

Amen.

Written by
Corinne Mustafa

Friday Devotional...2/22/13...Sacrifice of Praise

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
            that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
                          Hebrews 13:15

Silver and gold have I none,

but to the Lord I offer up Thanksgiving and praise for all He has done.

Done for you, done for me….

For we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

Us who were lost but now are found,

Glory and Praise be to His Holy Name.

The Name that is exalted

and which is above every name, that name is Jesus!

Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone.

Stone… being rolled away from the tomb,
  for He was not there, He was risen just as He said…
    for if He rose from the grave,
     we in like manner shall rise on that glorious day.

Dayspring from on high
     hath visited us.  
         I shall therefore
offer the sacrifice
    of praise to God
          continually,
    that is,
       the fruit of my lips
          giving thanks
              to his Name.



Written by:
Glenna Williamson

Thursday Devotional...2/21/13...LENT AND FRIENDSHIP

                                                                                     Lent and Friendship

I hope you received a text, email, phone call, or greeting on Valentine’s Day last week! I know there’s a friendship day somewhere in the year, but I like Valentine’s Day. I didn’t receive any goodies this year, but I did receive some kind words. There’s just something warm and cuddly about a holiday that reminds us to share the love.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, the period of 6 weeks that leads up to Christ’s resurrection day, also known as Easter. Some of the people around me, those dedicated, disciplined, and devoted Christians who I love and admire, will have given serious thought to what they will be ‘giving up’ during Lent as a spiritual practice to think more of God and less of their own worldly habits or desires.

As I was considering these two days I was thinking how friendships, whether with our spouse, our parents, our siblings, or our friends, are a little bit like Lent. Because we care about someone, we choose to overlook, put up with, or ‘give up’ our right to be heard, or to be understood. By accepting others as friends, we ‘give up’ the right to try to change them. In friendship, when it is going well, we ‘give up’ our right to automatically take care of our own desires first by making them our priority and considering them and their needs. We might ‘give up’ our relaxing time on a weekend to help them move. We ‘give up’ our own problems for an evening while they pour their heart out. You probably didn’t even notice the last time you gave something up for a friend. It’s just a lovely way that healthy friendships can work.

The following 3 translations of the same verse in Proverbs is a beautiful example of how reading different versions can add clarity to understanding a scripture:

Overlook an offense

 and bond a friendship;

fasten on to a slight

and—good-bye, friend.

Proverbs 17:9

MSG

He who covers
and forgives an offense seeks love,
but he who repeats
or harps on a matter

separates even
close friends.

Proverbs 17:9
AMP

If you want people to like you,
forgive them when they wrong you.
Remembering wrongs can break up a friendship.

Proverbs 17:9 GNT

Dear Lord,
thank You for the reminder of another aspect of Your love for us through the blessing of friendship. Please help me to give up offenses and hurts when they come my way. Please forgive me when I have offended or hurt others.
In Jesus name, amen.

Written by
Mary Wilkins

Wednesday Devotional...2/20/13..."Clean Slate"

                                                                                 ...every morning

This past Sunday, I was reminded during 3 different situations of the mercy of our God in giving us a "Clean Slate." He so lovingly tells us in.....

"Through the Lord's mercies

we are not consumed,

 because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness."

Lamentations 3:22-23

Every morning as we wake up to greet the world and God, we can anticipate a new and beautiful, fresh start in our life! Possibly many of us feel like we have really messed up royally. I have great news for you, friend. As we come to our Heavenly Father and lay those things at His feet, asking for His help, He is there. God so readily stands before us, ready to cleanse us, and ready to give us a clean canvas in which to paint our day.

We truly have the best Daddy in the whole wide world! A God of great compassion and amazing mercy who wipes our slate clean! Now that is what I am talking about!

In His Radical Love,
Sandy Billingham

Tuesday Devotional...A Cord of Love

I began my day in Bible Study in the Book of James. One of the exercises was to go back to Matthew 1:5 and write it out. “Salmon begot, Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse”.

Suddenly I was sent head long into thoughts of Rahab, the harlot, being Ruth’s second mother-in-law. Ruth being a Moabite had been mentored by a God fearing woman, Naomi, and Ruth loved her and her God so much that she left everything to go to Israel with her and I quote one of the great love passages in the Old Testament.

But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you

or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go,

I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge.

Your people shall be my people and your God, my God.”

Ruth 1:16

Fast forward to Ruth marrying Boaz and getting a former harlot mother-in-law! What contrast between the godly Naomi and Rahab! Did Ruth have a problem with this? Did Naomi have a problem? Did Rahab feel unworthy?

None of these questions can be answered in Scripture it is only my imagination running wild. So let’s go a little farther…..Naomi is a godly woman, one whose example won Ruth over to God. She did not judge her daughter-in-law’s birth and she would not judge Rahab by her former life. I can picture these two women sitting over tea and bragging about their sons and praising both of them for choosing Ruth for their wife.

Ruth was given a second chance at happiness because of the wonderful man that Rahab had raised. Boaz was kind and loving as well as honest and generous. All traits taught him by his mother. Ruth would most likely realize that to the Jewish community her past was equal to Rahab’s harlotry and therefore loved her all the more

Rahab may have felt inferior to these other women but as the three formed a bond brought about by bonds of love everyone was equal.

Oh, that we would live that way! If we can but realize that our “sisters” may have come from different backgrounds but that nothing “BC” matters. There are no “lesser” or “better” in the family of Christ.

And above all things have fervent love for one another,

for love will cover a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

Father, I pray that my attitude will be one of love and reconciliation. Lord that I may see only what You see when I look at others and place no unrighteous judgment on things of the past. Amen

Written by
Jackie Gilmer

SURRENDER, SUFFER AND DIE

Sunday Devotional, 2/17/13, as we begin the season of Lent  (repost from 2/20/2011)

We must surrender, suffer and die in order to live.  Does that sound like something you are willing to do?  Christ was willing and did those things, for our sake, and he didn't even deserve it!  What does this mean for us? 

SURRENDER:   We admit that we are sinful by nature, and cannot on our own power please God.  We know that only God himself can rescue us from the consequences of our sin.  We surrender our will to God - knowing that our limited humanness cannot possibly know what is best for us, and that God's love for us and his wisdom for our life path will produce a far better outcome in our lives than we ever could produce on our own.  Christ set a great example for us of surrendering to God the Father's will in his prayer on the Mount of Olives (though his had nothing to do with sinfulness, just surrendering to God's will): 

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  Luke 22:42 

SUFFER:   We become willing to admit that we are sinful and willing to examine ourselves for how that plays out in our lives.  Sometimes we don't want to look at the ways in which we sin against God.  It may be difficult or even painful to admit all the ways that we go against his will.   It may be even harder to think of changing our ways, of giving up things we think we can't possibly change, don't need to change, or can't live without, even when they interfere with our relationship with God.  Sometimes we need to ask God to change our hearts, to help us see all of our faults, to give us the willingness to admit them and look at them honestly, even if it causes us suffering.  We confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness, not because we deserve it, but because Christ died in our place to pay for our sins. We can see that we need to work on changing these things, but we cannot do that on our own.  However, we can ask God to change us, because he is the only one who can transform our lives. 

  "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."  Philipians 3:7-11 (NIV) 

DIE:    Our sinful flesh must die so that our righteous blood-bought soul might live.  We begin the hard work of  God changing our ways, which we do out of thankfulness for his grace and forgiveness.  This is a constant and ongoing process, and will not be complete until we die and go to heaven to be with our Lord and Savior.  We remember always that we "win the prize" not because of what we do or how well our ways change.  We win eternal life because of what Jesus Christ did by dying on the cross as payment for our sins, then rising again in glory.  That occurred first, and our attempt to live a righteous life is our thankful response to that wonderful gift of eternal life.  We do these things also as a witness to others of God's love.  We may even suffer for being a follower of Christ or trying to share that with others.  But we suffer through the difficulties of this world with God at our side as our protector and redeemer.   Through it all, we die to sin and He gives us life in Christ. 

 "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that 

we should no longer be slaves to sin—  because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 

    In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.  For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace."  Romans 6: 1-14  (NIV) 

So in "surrendering" we recognize our sinfulness and turn our lives over to God's loving and powerful will to change us.  In "suffering" we repent of our sinfulness that we have acknowledged and ask God to change us.  In "dying" to our sinfulness we give up our hold on our corrupt lives and rejoice in God's mercy and grace in giving us eternal life through Christ.  Perhaps then we can re-title this devotion, RECOGNIZE, REPENT AND REJOICE! 

May God bless you with the vision to see the truth, the willingness to turn your life over to him and change, and the wisdom to follow through with his will for your life! 

written by Jan Andersen

Saturday Devotional...Remove the Weights

Do you sometimes feel like

you are weighed down with a burden too heavy to carry?

Feel tired and worn out?

You may be like a daisy-like flower bent over at its stem. On each of your petals is written a Fruit of the Spirit...

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faith gentleness,
and self-control.
(Gal. 5:22)

The petals are wilted because the life giving nourishment is restricted from traveling up the stem.

You feel bent down and constricted from the burdens you carry and sickness in your physical body. The fullness and presence of the spirit that once flowed like a river has become a dry stream.

God purposes and it is his pleasure to pour out his spirit and healing virtue. He will bring restoration to the body.

1. Remember–
He will bring to remembrance promises spoken b
ut long forgot, for       encouragement.

2. Restore–
He will restore hope and faith
and restore time the enemy has robbed.

3. Renew –

 He will renew the mind with his presence and purpose

4 Promises –

New promises will be enlightened
and paths opened that had been closed.

5. Passion –
A passion for God will be increased
as a new hunger is stirred up.

6. Purpose –
Increase awareness of purpose and confidence
in God’s plan as Gods presence manifests

7. Vision –
To have a focused and magnified vision
with eyes keen as the eagle.

8. Vitality –

Tiredness fall away and strength increased

9 Vigor –
Force of healthy growth and healing

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

They will soar high on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

As these steps are accomplished, the flower grows straight. It was is no longer constricted. The petals unfurl, fully extended with life.

As the spirit flows – petals that have been there all along, but hidden begin to emerge as a second layer of petals behind the first. These petals were inscribed with the gifts of the Spirit. They are...

wisdom, knowledge, faith,

healing miracles, prophesy,

discerning of spirits, tongues,
interpretation of tongues.(1. Cor. 12: 8-10.)

With the realization and increase of the presence of God and working of his Holy Spirit in your life, there will be an increase in manifestations of God’s grace and glory.

Look for and expect to find an increase in manifestations of God’s fruit and gifts in your life.

Walk this day with an expectant heart.

Written by
Susan Bower