"Get Dressed"

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Ephesians 6:11

I want to encourage you this morning to put on the armor of God before you begin your day, before you go to your workplace, before you have dealings with any person, before you step out of the house. Daily we fight battles. They are spiritual battles, but they are very real-- more real than the natural ones. In these battles we don't fight against flesh and blood-- other human beings. Our fight is against the enemy of our soul, the devil and his forces.

I also want to encourage you to make sure you have it all on-- the full armor. Don't leave off any piece. Whatever you leave off will be unprotected and make you vulnerable in that area. If you leave off the helmet of salvation your mind will not have any protection from a flood of evil thoughts and lies. If you leave off the girdle of truth your spirit will be left open to attack by discouragement and false teaching. If you leave off the breastplate your heart is left open to temptation. And so on with every part. There was a reason why God gave us individual pieces for specific areas and then told us to put it all on. They all work together to protect our whole self.

So, let me ask you this morning, "Are you fully dressed? Or are you going out into the world only partially dressed?" Every article of the armor you leave off leaves you exposed in that area.

Have a great day. Are you entering the world today fully or partially dressed?

For further reading:
Ephesians 6

"Races Of Faith"

"... let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1b

Don't give up. Don't quit. Don't stop running the race that you are on. There is a prize that awaits, and it is only given to those who finish. We often think it is about starting the race, but it is about finishing it. Anyone can start it, but it takes patience, perseverance and discipline to finish it.

This race that you are on is not a sprint or 50-yard dash, it is more of a marathon. It is not ran in a few seconds or minutes, it is ran over a lifetime. Anyone who has ran a marathon can tell you that you have to stay focused-- you have to keep your eyes on the goal. You can't be distracted by what's on the sidelines, or the cheers of the people that are looking on hinder you. They also know you have to keep looking forward, you cannot look behind. They know too that you have to press through the fatigue and not give into the weakness that you are feeling.

The race that I am taking about is the race that you get in when you receive salvation-- it is the race that we run through life to eternity. But there are many other races that you run while on this "racetrack"-- races of faith. You may be running toward a dream, you may be running toward a promise, you may be running by faith concerning a relationship, you may be running toward the plan of God in a particular area-- well, keep running. In order to finish this race you can't be distracted by the cares of this life or by the words of others. You can't look back; you have to keep looking ahead. You can't give into weariness or impatience. There is a prize that awaits every race we run-- the fulfillment (the time when faith becomes sight).

Have a great day. Whatever race you are running, don't quit because there is a prize that awaits those who finish.

For further reading:

Galatians 6:9
1 Corinthians 9:24
2 Thessalonians 3:13

"It's Simple To Seek"

"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." Isaiah 55:6

Do you need answers this morning? Do you need guidance? Do you need direction? Do you need wisdom concerning a situation you are facing? Your answer is simple, it is found in the verse above-- "seek ye the Lord". While this is the answer, many will do everything but follow its instruction mostly because it seems too "simple". We want to make everything difficult. We think we have to do more-- we have to strive, we have to do some sort of works, we have to go around in circles. No, all we have to do is "seek the Lord".

He has the answer to the questions. He has the solution to the problems. He has the wisdom in the matter. And in seeking Him we will find whatever it is we need.

Seeking Him is simple, it is not difficult. The discipline to seek Him is what is difficult. It is so easy just to run here and there to get your answer. It is so easy just to seek out other things. "While He may be found" implies that He may not be found readily, at the instant you begin seeking Him. It takes discipline to stay on our knees until we "pray through". It takes discipline to learn to wait for Him to answer. It takes discipline to train yourself to hear what He is saying. And it takes discipline to obey what we do hear Him say once we have sought Him. Often, He speaks but we don't like what He says. He doesn't always give us the answer we want. His answer often involves more waiting.

The answer you are looking for is simple-- "Seek the Lord" because He has and is your answer. Learning to discipline ourselves to seek and to wait until He answers may not be as simple. But if we will seek Him and if we will learn to wait until He draws near to answer, we will have the right answer to meet our need.

Have a great day. Seeking the Lord is simple, it just takes discipline to do it and to wait until He answers.

For further reading:

Matthew 6:33
Psalm 37:7

"He Does See You"

PLEASE NOTE: I will not be sending out the Coffee Break devotional next week. I will be spending some time with my grandchildren. I will restart the following week. Thank you for understanding. Love and blessings to you all, Lorraine

"He Does See You"

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." Matthew 10:29

 

This morning's word is a reminder that while the Heavenly Father sits high, He looks low. There is nothing that He does not see. Nothing gets past Him. He sees everything-- even a bird that falls to the ground, even the ant who is making a mound, even the caterpillar in the cocoon, even the seashell at the bottom of the ocean, even the furthest star in the universe.

He also sees you. He sees where you are and what you are going through. He sees your tears. He knows your fears. He counts the number of hairs on your head. He sees your tomorrows. He saw the end of your life before it even began. He sees each time your heart beats, each time you take a breath, each cell that makes up your body, each thought before you think it. You are not hidden from Him. You are not so small in this vast universe that He does not see you.

Sometimes we feel like we are invisible-- no one sees us, no one notices, no one cares, they don't even know we are alive. That is not true with the Father. He sees you. He knows you. He cares about you. He knows exactly where you are this morning-- He is watching. If you are feeling like even God doesn't see you take comfort, yes, He does, and you are not alone. He does know what's going on. He does see and He does care.

Have a great day. God sees you and knows where you are and what you are going through.

For further reading:
Psalm 139

"How's Your Diet?"

"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4

For our physical bodies to be healthy there is a certain kind of diet that we have to have. We have to eat fruits and vegetables and whole, raw foods to maintain good health. We can't eat lots of sugar, fats and processed foods and expect our bodies to stay healthy. Some foods benefit our bodies and help make them strong and healthy, while others poison and destroy it.

To be spiritually healthy we also have to maintain a proper diet. We can feed our spirit good nutrition and make it strong and healthy, or we can feed it a diet of "junk food" that makes it unhealthy.

There is only one type of diet that has nutritional value for your spirit man and will make it healthy-- the Word of God. If you feast on it, you will maintain good spiritual health. But if you feed it "junk food"-- false teaching, negative words, gossip, worldly philosophies, humanistic wisdom, compromise, or anything that is contrary to God's Word-- it will take its toll on your spirit man and breed spiritual disease in you.

We are either going to have healthy spirits that are thriving, growing and getting stronger in faith, or we will have unhealthy spirits full of doubt, fear and unbelief that produces confusion, despair and depression. Which type we have is determined by what we feed it. So, what kind of diet are you feeding your spiritual man?

Have a great day. What kind of diet are you on?

For further reading:

John 5:39
Proverbs 3:1-8