Archive | April 2023

I’m Alive!!!

Apr27

The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty (Shaddai) gives me life.
Job 33:4 NASB

Not only has God given me life, He has given me LIFE!!!! A life eternal. A life of being cared for, taught, led, protected. A life of peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness.

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45 NASB

🌹 God has given me His Spirit. His own Holy Spirit. What more could I desire?

Is the Holy Spirit alive in you?

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

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God is Good in The Land of The Living

Apr26

How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men!
Psalms 31:19 NASB

For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
Isaiah 64:4 NASB

I cried out to You, O Lord; I said, “You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.
Psalms 142:5 NASB

I shall walk before You, the Lord, In the land of the living.
Psalms 116:9 NASB

🌹 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.
Psalms 27:13 NASB

Thank You, God for Your goodness.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

What Is That To You?

Apr24

Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”
John 21:22 NASB

I must confess, it is very easy to look at another person and judge their ministry and/or intentions when it is not our concern how God uses others in His planned will.
Jesus is talking with Peter about his coming ministry for Christ and Peter sees John and asks, “Lord, and what about this man?” What was Jesus’s reply? “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”
We are not to be concerned about what God’s plan is for other believers, but follow Jesus faithfully in His plan for us.

Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.
1 Corinthians 4:5 NASB

What should our individual concern be?

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
Matthew 16:24 NASB

Follow Jesus. He is the way, the truth, the life. Keep our eyes focused on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 NASB

Look to Jesus.

🌹 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
Matthew 17:8 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Serving Jesus

Apr21

If anyone serves (is serving) Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves (is serving) Me, the Father will honor him.
John 12:26 NASB

We cannot serve Jesus without following Him. Where He is working is where we will be. Following Jesus, which means surrendering our will to His will. His will is our priority. It is ALL about Him and obeying His will.

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
Matthew 10:38 NASB

Jesus relinquished His will to the Father by surrendering His life to fulfill the Father’s plan. All the way to the cross. He gave up His throne. He humbled Himself. He suffered. He died.

Are you ready to pick up your cross and follow Jesus? Relinquish your life no matter what is asked of you, no matter where it takes you?

This relinquishing of life comes with a promise, “If anyone is serving Me, the Father will honor him” and “Where I Am, there will My servant be also.”

🌹 The promise of eternity with God. Wow!!!

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Waiting Patiently

Apr20

For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.
Hebrews 6:13‭-‬15 NASB 

“By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:16‭-‬18 NASB

The promise? God would greatly multiply Abraham’s descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. This was promised before Abraham had any children of His own. (Genesis 15:1-5) and because of his belief, God reckoned it to him as righteousness (Genesis15:6).

Why did God bless him? Because he obeyed.
How much trust did it take to believe God would give Abraham a son in his old age? But even more so, how much did Abraham trust the promise of God when God told him to sacrifice his only offspring?

I think about this in my own life. How much do I trust God when I am in the midst of despair – and believe me, Abraham was in the midst of despair – and I can’t see the outcome? Do I truly trust Him that He is with me and won’t leave me? That He will see me through this “crisis” to the end? I also wonder how much of God’s glory I miss because I am not fully trusting that He has a plan. I think of Job who believed and trusted God. We never know the end result until we walk through it. I want to walk there believing and trusting in God, my Lord. I’m waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

🌹I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 16:8 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Dry Bones

Apr19

He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Ezekiel 37:3‭-‬10 NASB

If you are reading this today you are among the living. But are you really?

We are but dry bones without the Spirit of the living God in us. By the Word of God we come to life. By His work in us we come to know Him as our Lord.

This morning I felt slain. I write these devotions in the evening prior to posting them. My bones were dry last evening. This morning as I am getting my morning coffee a thought comes to mind, “Dry Bones”. Isn’t God amazing?
As my husband often says, “Our God is a fourth quarter God”. Why? Because sometimes we depend upon ourselves in this game of life and we forget that God is the coach. When our eyes turn back to Him and live His Word He gives life to dry bones.

🌹 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
Ezekiel 43:5 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Wholly Devoted

Apr18

He (Hezekiah) did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
2 Kings 18:3 NASB

he did what was good, right and true before the Lord his God.
2 Chronicles 31:20b NASB

Wouldn’t it be something if we had the same reputation that Hezekiah, king of Judah, had? Doing right in the sight of our Lord? Doing what was good, right and true before the Lord?

When we belong to God there are expectations. After all we are the temple of the Holy Spirit who resides in us.

So how did Hezekiah do it?

He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. For he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
2 Kings 18:5‭-‬6 NASB

Hezekiah obeyed.

You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.
Deuteronomy 13:4 NASB

Hezekiah surrendered his life to God.

Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.
2 Kings 23:25 NASB

🌹Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.”
1 Kings 8:61 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

The Power of the Holy Spirit

Apr17

So Jesus said to them (disciples) again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
John 20:21‭-‬23 NASB

Just as God the Father sent Jesus into the world, Jesus has sent us, His disciples, into the world.

As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
John 17:18 NASB

Receiving of the Holy Spirit is given to every believer at the time of conversion (the spiritual change in a person who repents of their sin and turns to Jesus and lives their life in obedience to God). The indwelling Holy Spirit is the power of God in us to continue the work that Christ began.
Jesus is the forgiver of sin but under the power of the Holy Spirit we can forgive or not forgive sin in the aspect that we can share the gospel and those who repent we can forgive them their sins by the power of the Holy Spirit. On the opposite side of that, those who choose to retain their sin, it will be retained.
See Matthew 16:19, 18:18

An example of this is when Jesus sent the 12 disciples out to share the gospel door to door:

Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.
Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5 NASB

🌹“The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
Luke 10:16 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon