Chicken Feathers

January 27, Thursday

Kind words heal and help; cutting words wound and maim. -Proverbs 15:4

▶︎ LISTEN TO THE DEVOTIONAL

Years ago, I served as the chaplain for the University of South Carolina Fighting Gamecocks football team. One year, after losing to our arch rival Clemson Tigers, I received a giant box filled with chicken feathers with this note: “Found these scattered all over our football field. Thought your Gamecocks might want them back!”  I kept that box one year. Before the Clemson game the next season, I opened the box of feathers, read the note, and threw the feathers all over the team and locker room! I said, “You’ve got your feathers back. Now let’s go show them how Gamecocks fight!” We won that year! Words are powerful. They can wound and maim, or they can heal and help. They can even fire up a football team for a big game. So let me ask you: How are you going to use your words, your “box of feathers” today

God is Faithful

 

2 Corinthians 5-7

We will walk by faith, not by sight.

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Good  Morning Lord, 

…. my Lord…sometimes I  feel far away from you. My path to heaven seems like a long journey. But I know that you are with me on my way to joy…..with you in heaven. My vision is sometimes limited, but you see my personal journey to fulfillment. I desire to always trust you and keep taking small steps in my faith-walk. If I get discouraged, I pray for your encouragement to remind me that my path is guided completely by you. In your hands, I place all my problems and limitations.

Help me to always remember that you alone had to suffer, so that my path to heaven and eternal life would be open for me. Thank you for clearing the way for me to be with you in heaven.  Amen.

John 14:6
Jesus said to [Thomas]

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”

Psalm 16:11

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

 

Gratitude for Wisdom and Direction

Psalm 139.14

Good Morning my Holy Father,

….you who are all-knowing of me. Please teach me your ways. I humbly ask for your wisdom and insight in my gardening assignments. I want to learn and to understand more, so that I can walk in this path you lay before me. Teach me to listen carefully. Teach me to resist any selfish temptations, and to share my knowledge in a teaching, but humble and helpful way. As I do this I learn more. You are all knowing and it is my hearts desire to please you. I want to build a more beautiful world in your honor. I thank you for this foundation that you helped me create. I am grateful for your calling, and this opportunity to work in my occupation that I not only love, but helps me to learn and enjoy my work with a full and thankful heart. I feel very blessed to receive this work and your generous provisions. You Father are very wise, so please nurture me in your path. I seek to spread the love we share with each other – to the people I am working for. It is all my honor to be with you in your earthly gardens. All glory and honor to you, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen 

 

Happy…..ness in Christ Jesus….Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

Psalm 144:15

Happy are the people whose God is the Lord! 

We can be happy. Because we belong to Jesus we can experience some happiness, even in our broken world. We can be happy in the “moments” and we should let ourselves do this. Don’t overthink your happiness. This can lead to anxiety and it finds it’s way into your carefree moments. Do not worry about letting down your guard or think about things you should be doing, or plans you should be making. I want you to enjoy happiness in the  moment. You are my child and I want you to let go and relax…..and to know that I am God….so be happy in Me.

Psalm 46:10

Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. 

You think that you must have all your “ducks in a row,” but I want you to relax and enjoy my presence. Remember my  command: though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. The psalmist who wrote those words was describing a terrifying event. And so you don’t need to wait until you have solved all your problems in life, when right now, every moment you can enjoy Me. I invite you to come with enthusiasm and joy into my presence and say to me, Jesus I choose to enjoy You – here and now.

Psalm 46: 1-3

God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though it’s waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

love and peace…..

2 Corinthians 13:11

Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

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Good Morning my Father God. Your love and your peace are present in my mind, my heart and my spirit. When I feel like I need more love I just come to you. Sometimes if I feel anxious or afraid I come to your everlasting arms so you can hold me tight.

I want to be more and more like you. I want to be more loving and peaceful with every human soul. If I get irritated by someone I want to try and understand that you are in that person. I know that you created all of us in your image. I pray that your love will flow down to me and through me.to others. I need to learn to forgive others and myself quickly and to live only in you. You are my God of love and peace. Thank you for your everlasting love. Amen.  

A Covenant Prayer

My Gracious Lord….Hear my prayer this  morning….

I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee. Exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O Glorious and blessed God, Father, Som, and Holy Spirit, Thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.

And this Covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in Heaven

* AMEN *

 

The Sweetest Aroma

January 11

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”   -2 Corinthians 2:14

▶︎ LISTEN TO THE DEVOTIONAL

When Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with costly perfume, the Bible says there was a sweet aroma of perfume that filled the house. When true, authentic worship takes place, there is always an aroma in the house, in the church, and in your life. When God does business in a heart, there is a sweetness that goes up from it. There is also a radiance, a joy, and a spontaneity that goes up as well. I think there is something special you experience in the presence of people who pray and love and believe and sing and seek to know God and to walk in His steps. You can just feel it. That is the aroma of worship, a fragrance that is pleasant to the nostrils of the Almighty. It’s truly heavenly…..

…..time to grow

 

Plant the Seeds….

Watch them grow…

….and then they are ready…..

….AMEN….

My Monday Morning Devotional (REVISED)

 

Luke 11:10

“for everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.”

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

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Jesus will restore you to health and heal your wounds. He is always with you and within you and all around you – forever working in your life. When your awareness of Him grows dim, His presence continues to shine brightly upon you. His light has healing power, so do ask great things of Him. Remember, He is able to do exceedingly more then you could think about. His ability to help you is limitless. This will strengthen your faith and encourage you to pray boldly.

And so we pray continually in Your name Jesus – with perseverance – so to accomplish great things. We can learn from the parable of the persistent widow who refused to give up. She kept praying to a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. Eventually her persistence wore him down and he gave her what she sought. Jesus will respond even more when we cry out by day and by night. Though we may have to wait, we must not give up. For all who ask, and keep on asking receives; he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds. Amen.

Bible Reading in the New Year, 2022

And so we all begin a new year of Bible reading, always remembering to go slowly when searching the Scriptures, that we might be committed in our Bible reading. If we are reverent and focusing our attention in your word, we will not miss you, our Savior God.

John 5: 39-40

“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

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Amazingly, it is possible to know your Bible and not know your God. It is possible to study the word and neglect the Word. It is possible to search the Scriptures and miss the Savior.

How can we prepare ourselves so as not to miss our Savior. We need the Holy Spirit to breathe Christ into the dry bones of our devotions. We need HIM  to come, morning by morning, and turn our dedicated “prayer time ” into a Mount of Transfiguration.

So… we must pray. And with our prayer, we can resolve to keep our goal of Bible reading, high above the rest: drawing in as much of Jesus as we can. Know and enjoy him. See and savor him. Study and love him.

*****
…..my Savior God, thank you for your direction over my life when I am studying and reading your word. You are my shephard and I look to you for guidance. I don’t want to miss connection with you through the Holy Spirit, and I await your divine wisdom as I seek your guidance every day in this new year 2022, as I read and study your word.

Amen.