Walk By Faith, Not By Sight

Today's Devotion 12/18/13

Walk by Faith,

Not by Sight

Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confi dent, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. -2 Corinthians 5:5-7       

My Prayer for Today

    Father, thank You for giving me certainty in all that I do. Your very Spirit is within me to ensure my harvest. I have no need to be moved by circumstances, for You have given me the ability to create circumstances. Everything that I face can change. Therefore, I am always confident. I trust in the ability You have given me. My faith makes me the master of every situation. Regardless of what my eyes see, I will move forward and advance Your kingdom with power, certainty, and unfailing commitment.    

My Confession for Today

    I am created with a unique purpose for a vital mission. (Ephesians 1:11.) By the power of the Holy Spirit within me, I live above failure. Defeat is not even possible for me. As long as I maintain my faith, my life is as the days of heaven even on this earth. (Deuteronomy 11:21.) I am not moved by what I see, feel or experience. (Psalm 62:6.) Those are natural circumstances.I am moved only by what I choose to believe. My faith transcends all and brings God's abundant blessings into my life to the praise of His glory.     

You Are God's Offspring

You Are
God's Offspring

"In Him we live and move and have our being. As also some of your own poets have said, 'We are His offspring.'" -Acts 17:28

My Prayer for Today
Father, I thank You that You have made me Your own son/daughter. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, born again in the Spirit, recreated in absolute perfection, built to be a child of Your very loins, and patterned to be like You in every way. (2 Corinthians 5:17; Genesis 1:26.) You are first and foremost omniscient and eternal, and infinitely higher than all. (John 8:58; Revelation 1:8.) You are forever above me, forever my superior, and forever my Lord. (Isaiah 45:22, 55:8-9.) Yet, I am born of you. You are my own Father, my love, my friend, my mentor, my Savior, and my God. (Isaiah 38:17; Proverbs 18:24.) Forever I swear allegiance to Your glorious name!

My Confession for Today
I am the offspring of God. When people see me, they see Him in me. ( John 17:21,23.) I take after Him in every way. I look like Him, talk like Him, and live like Him. My hands are wrapped within His coattails and my eyes never leave Him. When He moves, I move. What He says, I confirm. He is my greatest hero and I worship Him in every way

No Reset Button

Decision Time

Good judgment comes from bad experience … and most of that comes from bad judgment. So then, how has your past judgement changed to make you wiser? Somehow we must learn from our experiences to propel us toward our purpose. The missteps in life always give us an opportunity to reassess and make forward "positive" progress. Hopefully you are better from your bad judgement in the past. Today is not too late to correct your path.

1440 - "LIVE WELL"

Be The Best You

There are 1440 minutes in each and every day, no more, no less. You have each minute to use with wisdom and grace or to squander asleep at the wheel of your destiny’s drive. How is it that one person can wake up in the morning (on time), press forward toward perfection and promise, meet their daily goals and end the day with a sense of accomplishment; while another will sleep the day away, wake up, stretch and all the while wondering “where did the day go?” Eight to 80, blind, crippled or crazy, all you get is 1440. Minutes cannot be borrowed, bought, stolen, nor stored up. They can merely be used or abused. The choice is ultimately yours. The true measure of success is how those minutes are spent.

Let’s establish that you must sleep, so allot 6 hours for that (no not 8 hours; remember, you are trying to get to your goal. Sleep gets sacrificed.) That will be 360 minutes. Now, allow 8 hours for work; that’s 480 minutes. This leaves you 600 minutes. I am sure it seems like a lot, but in a blink of an eye it can all be gone. Bathroom breaks, eating; moving from point A to B will take another 3 hours or 180 minutes. Now you have 220 minutes to make your daily dreams come true.

This is where all the trouble begins. This is the moment when excuses become time killers and dream “diverters.” “I’m tired, I can catch up tomorrow.” “I don’t have enough time to finish what I have to do.”  Let’s be real. There are no excuses for not making the best of every day. “Excuses are the tool of incompetence, they build a monument of nothing, and those that specialize in them are seldom good for anything but excuses, excuses, excuses.” I have spoken and lived by this for years. 

How are you living TODAY

John Lennon said “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” 

This is so true. What is your life like TODAY? What are you willing to do to make TODAY the very best day you can live? If you aren't willing to live a great life TODAY, then life will dictate your day for you. Choose!!

1440 Purpose - LIVE WELL!

The Thought This Week – Temptation – Should I give in, give up or can I conquer?

The Thought This Week – Temptation – Should I give in, give up or can I conquer?

"Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, 'If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.' Jesus responded, 'The Scriptures also say, You must not test the Lord your God.'" Luke 4:9-12 NLT (suggested reading for this week: Luke 4:1-15)

Thoughts

This becomes the third time that Satan tried to tempt Jesus: Satan used Scripture to tempt Jesus to leap from the temple and land safely. Jesus being the only begotten Son of God could have done it, and it would have been the job of the angels to protect him. This would have been the ultimate test of the Fathers love for the Son. But Jesus knew He was loved so He had no reason to challenge that love. He knew that He could rest knowing that God’s love was everlasting, therefore no need to worry or be tempted.

Consider this…

What can we learn from Jesus’ response to Satan? He was not immune to temptation but rose above it. We too must rise above our temptation and trust God to get us through whatever Satan plans for us. The truth of the matter is it's Satan’s job to sidetrack, hinder, distract and destroy God’s plan for us. Since he can’t fight God, his only chance at diverting God’s plan for us is to stop us. One of the ways he does so is to tempt us to do wrong, to sin. What is your temptation? Is it a hidden thing? Have you overcome it or just hide it day by day?

This week begin to confront your temptation head on. Acknowledge that it really is yours and that you want to have victory over it. The next step is to separate yourself from it and the thoughts of it. Then become accountable to a trusted friend who can keep you in line as you work through this process. Killing temptation is not easy, but then again nothing of great value comes easy. There is great value in killing your temptation. A life filled with freedom and the knowledge that you have the power to get back on the path of God’s plan for your life.

Don’t ever forget - 2 Timothy 1:7 - For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.