Obstacles: February 26, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2016.

OBSTACLES

DEFINITION:

An obstruction or hindrance; something that interferes with action or progress and must be removed or overcome.

SCRIPTURE:

Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel: None went out, and none came in. Joshua 6:1.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The Lord has a plan for the life of every believer and Satan does all he can to put obstacles in the path of God’s plans for one who believes in our Lord. There are many different kinds of obstacles. It could be a difficult boss at work, a contrary family member, or even financial concerns. Anything that blocks a desired goal can cause anxiety and frustration and that becomes an obstacle. But one needs to remember that no obstacle that Satan puts in front of you can touch you or be a concern to you without the consent of God. And there is no obstacle that God cannot overcome.

In the verse above we are reminded about Joshua and the city of Jericho. The strong fortress around the city of Jericho barred Israel’s entrance into the land that God had promised to give Abraham and his descendants. Jericho was one of the oldest cities in the world and it was regarded as the epitome of power and strength.

Jericho was considered invincible because of its fortified walls and military power. It stood before Joshua and the Israelites as a towering obstacle between them and the Promised Land.

Satan will always be seeking to put up obstacles (fortresses) to hinder our spiritual progress just like he did to Joshua and the Children of Israel. He never gives up. If one obstacle fails Satan will put up another one very fast. The conquest of Jericho seemed impossible to Israel but not to God, even though Joshua’s army was no match to Jericho’s military might and the 25 foot high and 20 foot thick wall was an impossible barrier to cross.

God had promised the Israelites the land and Joshua believed that God would provide a way for them to get there, BECAUSE GOD KEEPS ALL OF HIS PROMISES!

Before attempting to conquer Jericho, Joshua led the Israelites to prepare themselves spiritually. They renewed their commitment to God and they celebrated the Passover with thankfulness for God’s miracles that made possible their escape from Egypt and the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Joshua did not let what seemed an impossible obstacle deter him but instead, he acknowledged God’s power and sought His guidance.

Before Joshua even realized that God was at work, God was preparing the city for destruction by instilling fear into the hearts of the kings and the people of Jericho because of the Israelites. God’s directions to the Children of Israel seemed complicated and as an unlikely battle plan, but Joshua obeyed and God’s people triumphed. No obstacle is too great for God, for with God all things are possible.

The apostle Paul understood how to handle obstacles in his life. When he was in prison he kept his eyes and trust on Christ. Even while facing death his days in prison were filled with joy in the Lord. He wrote the book of Philippians from his jail cell and it is full of expressions of joy.

We can overcome every obstacle we face in our lives by focusing on Jesus. This is neither a natural reaction nor an easy one for us. Our instinct is to dwell on the obstacle and not on Jesus. We search for our own solutions and then stew over the pain and difficulty we are facing. Fear and defeat cannot last long in the heart of one who truly has his or her trust in the Lord.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 14:12.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

PRAYER:

Help me to put my complete trust in You today so I can face the obstacles of life with confidence that You can make me victorious through every situation. Strengthen my faith today that Your glory will shine through me to others so that I may be a help to those who may be facing obstacles in their lives.

Special Price
Only $10.00
Click Here for More

ONE FINAL SUGGESTION.

If you have not received your FREE BOOKMARK from us, please click on either:

Get your FREE bookmark

or

Write Ken and Dottie a note

And we will send one to you.
It includes 10 golden rules for a happy family.

Necessity: February 25, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY FEBRUARY 25, 2016.

NECESSITY

DEFINITION:

A requirement or need for something; something essential for existence; the state or fact of being inevitable; compulsion; something necessary or indispensable.

SCRIPTURE:

Yes, you know that these things have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. Acts 21:34.

For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Philippians 4:16.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Do you realize that there are only really two necessities for our physical life? These necessities are food and water. One of the definitions of necessities is something that is essential to existence. But we all feel that there are many other necessities in life. These may include a place to live, clothes, money, and even a vehicle and a job.

One of the issues in life that we took time to teach our children about was the difference in something we needed and something we wanted. We often had to face situations when our children’s peers received expensive designer labeled clothes or often even a new car of their own.

Our children would have liked to have had such things but these were things that we could not afford to get them. Our children had clothes to wear and could borrow our car when needed. As a family we were blessed to have what we needed. And more important to us was that our children knew they were just things and understood our financial status.

It was necessary for us to teach our children to make decisions based on needs and not on wants. Our children learned through us, because we had to live on a tight budget, the importance of making wise decisions in spending money so that our needs would be met, and they always were.

In John 6:1-14 we read about the feeding of the 500. Large crowds followed Jesus wherever He went and Jesus knew the spiritual needs of these people who came to hear Him. He spent time talking to them and giving them His message of love and redemption.

It was nearly time for the feast of the Passover and Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with His disciples and the crowd followed. Jesus looked at the crowd and saw the necessity of finding food for the people as they had not eaten for some time. They had followed Jesus because they were hungry spiritually. Jesus knew their spiritual need but he also knew their physical need for food.

Jesus then asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” Jesus already knew what He was going to do to meet this necessity but He wanted to stretch Philip’s faith. Philip realized that it was impossible to get that much food for everyone. You know the rest of the story. Jesus took the five loaves of barley bread and the two fish that the young boy had with him and fed all the people all they needed and still had twelve large baskets of leftovers. Yes, Jesus knows our every need, both our necessities and our wants. He is willing and ready and more than able to meet our every need.

The apostle Paul never wanted to be dependent on anyone and no matter where he travelled he worked to provide for his own necessities. We read in Acts 20:34 that Paul did have times when he was in need of help. In Philippians 4:16 he wrote while he was in prison to thank the church at Rome for the gifts they had sent to meet his needs. God knows our needs and He often uses others to meet our needs.

In II Corinthians, Paul reminds us of the importance of giving back to God a portion of what He gives to us. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” Paul says to us that we should never give out of necessity because we feel we have to, but because we genuinely want to give cheerfully from our heart. God uses us to supply the needs of others when we are fully surrendered to Him.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 14:12.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

PRAYER:

Thank You Lord for providing for me and my family all the necessities of life. You have blessed us far and beyond our needs and we are so grateful for Your blessings.

Special Price
Only $10.00
Click Here for More

ONE FINAL SUGGESTION.

If you have not received your FREE BOOKMARK from us, please click on either:

Get your FREE bookmark

or

Write Ken and Dottie a note

And we will send one to you.
It includes 10 golden rules for a happy family.

Memorization: February 24, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2016.

MEMORIZATION

DEFINITION:

The mental capacity or retaining and reviving impressions; remembrance; recollection.

SCRIPTURE:

Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11.

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We both remember the importance our parents put on us to memorize verses from the Bible. Every week we memorized a verse and on Sundays in Sunday school we had to memorize a verse from the Bible. We never regretted memorizing these verses because today many of them come to mind when we face concerns in our lives.

We have mentioned several times in these devotionals that when we were raising our family we read the Bible and prayed together every night at dinner. We also all memorized a verse from the Bible together each week. We have continue this, as we are sure you know, as part of these devotionals by suggesting to you a verse to memorize each week as you read these devotionals.

At times we noticed that it almost became a contest among our children as to who could memorize the verse first. But the most important thing that we can see today is that these verses we memorized stuck with us all and literally daily at least one verse will come to our mind.

In the two verses we have listed above you can see the importance from God’s perspective for us to memorize God’s Word. The Psalmist in one verse says to hide (memorize) God’s Word in our heart that we may not sin. When we hide God’s Word in our heart, these scriptures that we memorized will be a constant reminder for us to walk as Jesus wants us to walk and His Word will guide us in that walk. Let us assure you that you will be surprised as to how many of the verses you memorize will come back to you at a time when you have a special need.

We have had requests from areas of the world for just one Bible. They have come from people living in areas where the people are poor and there are no Bibles to buy. When they receive a Bible they tear pages from the Bible and share one page at a time to others in their village. And then a little later after they have memorized some of the verses on the page they have they trade these pages so they can read and memorize another portion of God’s Word. This is such a contrast for us here in America where so many families have numerous Bibles in their house and very rarely open one at all.

Many places that we know of in our world there are believers memorizing God’s Word daily because they know there will be a day when their Bible will be taken away from them so they want to be prepared to always have God’s Word with them.

Thank you for taking the time today, if you are already not doing it, to commit to memorizing the verses we give you weekly in these devotionals. Start with the verse below or one of the two we have listed above. One day you will understand why it is so important for you.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 14:12.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

PRAYER:

Give me a new desire to memorize Your Word. Help me and my family to realize how blessed we are to have Your written Word so we can hide it in our heart. Thank You for the assurance that You have given us in that by hiding (memorizing) Your Word in our hearts that it will help us not sin against You.

Special Price
Only $10.00
Click Here for More

ONE FINAL SUGGESTION.

If you have not received your FREE BOOKMARK from us, please click on either:

Get your FREE bookmark

or

Write Ken and Dottie a note

And we will send one to you.
It includes 10 golden rules for a happy family.

Meekness: February 23, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2016.

MEEKNESS

DEFINITION:

Submissiveness; humbleness; gentleness.

SCRIPTURE:

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Jesus spoke to the multitudes and said, “Blessed are the meek.” To be blessed means more than finding happiness. It means to find hope and joy apart from our circumstances and what we have or do not have in this world. When Jesus used the word meek, He was talking about being gentle and humble. To be meek necessitates willingness to step aside from self-promotion and a giving up of our desires to let others have theirs. The way God wants us to act and live is quite the opposite too what we see in practice in the world.

God says that those who are blessed are the ones who have their ego and self-righteous know-it-all attitude under control.

Many believers today often forget God in their daily decision making and because they want to live their life just the way they want to live without any interference from God or any person. When we want to be in control we open the door for Satan to come into control. That is what Satan seeks to do. When this happens, a believer needs to be willing to ask God to forgive them and ask Him for meekness to submit to His will and live in obedience to Him and be able to depend on His guidance and His strength.

The way God wants us to live usually contradicts the world’s way of living. When we live in obedience to God, we must be willing to do and say with meekness and gentleness what non-believers will think is strange.

Moses succumbed to ego and self-righteousness. We read in Exodus 2:11-15 that he thought he could use his own power to bring about deliverance for God’s people from slavery. He misused his power by killing an Egyptian, which only dissipated his power because he lost the respect of his own people. God had to teach Moses meekness and in Numbers 12:3 we read that after Moses learned his lesson by recognizing the insufficiency of his own power, he became very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.

Meekness is not weakness. God first made Moses weak before making him the strong leader he was to be for the task God had for him in leading the Israelites out of slavery under Pharaoh.

We as believers need to let go of our personal so called power and let God’s power flow through our lives. Nothing is more powerful than the power that we can have when under God’s control. It is only when we let God be in control that we will one day receive all that God has in store for us. Then we will understand what it means to be “blessed.”

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 14:12.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

PRAYER:

Help my family to strive to do Your will so that we may experience Your power in our lives. When we struggle to succeed and realize we might fail in our power, help us to realize that it is by Your strength that we need to succeed and not our own.

Special Price
Only $10.00
Click Here for More

ONE FINAL SUGGESTION.

If you have not received your FREE BOOKMARK from us, please click on either:

Get your FREE bookmark

or

Write Ken and Dottie a note

And we will send one to you.
It includes 10 golden rules for a happy family.

Materialism: February 22, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY FEBRUARY 22, 2016.

MATERIALISM

DEFINITION:

Devotion to or preoccupation of material things, comforts and considerations rather than to spiritual values; putting emphasis on self needs or personal desires.

SCRIPTURE:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6: 19-21.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The desire to have as many “things” as possible is prevalent among our society today and because, in most cases, the motive is wrong it is a most serious concern for us. It is important to note that there is nothing wrong with a person or a family to have “things.” But one must not put those things ahead of what God wants from you and one must understand that all material things which one can enjoy on this earth last only for a short time, but mean nothing for eternity.

Money is considered by many to be materialistic. Money in itself is not evil, but as Paul tells us in I Timothy 6:10, it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. The love of money will turn most people away from pursuing God and storing up proper treasures in heaven.

In the verse above from Matthew, Jesus was speaking to the masses delivering His Sermon on the Mount. He made it very clear in this sermon that our first priority as believers, while we are living on this earth, is to spend our time building up treasures in heaven.

You might ask what are the treasures that Jesus was referring to in His Sermon on the Mount. Treasures are the things you do to glorify His name. Things like sharing the good news of the gospel with people you associate with beginning with your family and using your time and money to serve Him. Treasures are reaching out to help people who are hurting both spiritually and physically.

Over the years times have changed and many things that we would have considered luxuries 50 years ago are now considered necessities. Advances in technology have made all kinds of new devices available. New things like computers, cell phones, and TV’s are wonderful as long as they do not become what is most important to us. When a new cell phone or computer comes on the market people rush out to be among the first to have one and will even stand in line for hours to get one. This is a good example of materialism.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:24 that contrary to what most people want to believe material things do not bring satisfaction. Materialism leads us to crave more and more things causing us to spend more than we can afford and puts us on a path of ruin and destruction. The question that each one of us must ask ourselves is, “are we so consumed by our possessions that they possess us?” Possessions can easily become our master. No man can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. God’s command is “to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” Deuteronomy 10:12. If we want to serve God we must consider what occupies our minds. What do we devote the most time to in our life? What has a higher priority for us? Is it material possessions or is it our Lord and Savior?

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 14:12.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

PRAYER:

I want to thank You for every material blessing You have allowed me to receive. Help me to evaluate carefully how I use the “things” You have given me to further Your work on this earth.

Special Price
Only $10.00
Click Here for More

ONE FINAL SUGGESTION.

If you have not received your FREE BOOKMARK from us, please click on either:

Get your FREE bookmark

or

Write Ken and Dottie a note

And we will send one to you.
It includes 10 golden rules for a happy family.