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.

 

My Friday Devotional

2 Corinthians 4:16

We do not lose heart. Though our inner self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Day by day we are being renewed. If you had a bad day yesterday, just begin today “new.” Think only about pleasing Jesus. Talk to him. Ask him to help you walk in his way. He will do this little by little, as you walk with Him all through your life. Problems and pains sometimes come but if you stay close to him and walk together you will have joy and peace because he is with you every step of the way. Call out to him. He listens and he will never leave you. As you trust in him he will renew you. Thank Jesus always along the way, even if you are going through a painful time. He will help you and hold your hand. He is always preparing you for glory.

Trust….

Psalm 73: 23-24

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me to glory.

* 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.  

In Quietness and Confidence

 

Isaiah 30:15

Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel. “In returning and in rest you shall be saved; “quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.

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I claim this promise; that in quietness and confidence shall be my strength. I can so easily let my mind and circumstances place my thinking into over activity. My mind pushes forward to my own thinking with “my solutions.” My brain starts thinking too fast. I think on who might help me to make assumptions. It is then that I can feel anxious and become afraid. When this happens….my true hearts desire is to think only of You – and return quickly to  “your quietness,”’ I want to see your face and your “will” for me. And then to invite the Holy Spirit to fill me. Only then can I know your direction for me.

I now ask you for your patience with me. I wish to only trust in you when I can’t see my way forward. My energy and my self direction drains me, and I know that only your quiet confidence will give me strength. I ask you to never leave me in my times of need. I wish to communicate only with you. I know that talking with you in prayer, and then being willing to wait, without trying to push forward for an answer, is surely your will for my resolution.

“Those who wait for the Lord, will gain new strength; and they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

Isaiah 40:31

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.

 

Thanksgiving and Praise

Remember to give “thanks” and “praise” in all Circumstances

5 Verses of Thanks and Praise

Psalm 95: 1-3

“O Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.”

Psalm 100: 4-5

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.“

Psalm 128:29

“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever.

Psalm 9:1

“I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”

Psalm 7:17

“I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.”

Remember…… to give “thanks” and “praise” in all Circumstances!

AMEN

 

Prayer …..is Covenant with God

Prayer is a covenant matter December 26

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” -John 14:13-14

God is omniscient, but doesn’t respond to mere wishes. We must ask because it’s an act of our freewill. Further, we must ask in the name of Jesus. Prayer is a covenant matter: only those in Christ have the authority to ask. Our earthly mission is advancing His Kingdom. Therefore, asking in His name, by default, is requesting that which will enable us to carry out our mission. Asking for personal indulgences not related to the Kingdom mission is not asking in Jesus’ name, because He is synonymous with the Kingdom. But whatever we ask in alignment with Jesus, His Kingdom and our mission in it, we receive.