"Understanding It All"

NOTE: The website has been updated. All the past About the Master's Business newsletters have been added. Take some time to read them. I pray you will be blessed, enlightened and encouraged through them.

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"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Our opening verse is one that is very familiar to most. It is quoted often. I have used it many times in the devotional. I felt impressed that I need to share the verse again this morning. I feel the need to remind you-- "don't lean to your own understanding".

We can't lean to our own understanding because the fact is... we just simply don't always understand. We don't understand "why?'- why is this happening. We don't understand "what?"- what is going on. Try as we may there are some things we will never understand.

Some of you are trying to "understand" some things that are going on in your life, the word to you this morning is-- stop trying, you can't figure it out. Instead take the time and energy that you are using trying to figure it out and put toward trusting God. Trusting God is not always about understanding everything, it is about having confidence, assurance and rest in Him when you don't. You don't have to understand everything, and as we have already said you won't always understand. But you do have to trust God. If you are going to make it through what you are going through you are going to have to trust the Lord.

Have a great day. Stop trying to understand it and just trust God.

For further reading:

Psalms 4:5; 9:10; 56:3

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or

Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Living In Contentment"

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Philippians 4:11

"Be content". The word content means to be satisfied with where you are or what you have. So where are you to be content? In whatsoever state you are in. That doesn't mean to be content with the sin you are living in. It doesn't mean you should be satisfied living in life controlling situations- such as any "state" of addiction. It doesn't mean you should be content with being lazy or having an undisciplined lifestyle.

It means that you need to learn to be content with where you are at the moment. You need to be content while you are waiting on that promotion on your job. You need to be content while waiting for that wayward spouse to return home. You need to be content while you are waiting for the door to open to God's calling and purpose.

Contentment is not a place of slothfulness where you just sit back and "twiddle your thumbs". It is a place of continuing on with the business of living and your devotion to God. It is a place where you continue to seek Him and grow in your faith. In the place of contentment you are trusting God, waiting on Him to do the work that is needed to do and taking your hands off of it. It is a place of peace and rest because you are trusting God.

Paul learned to be content even in prison. Joseph learned to be content in slavery. They didn't let their circumstances keep them from "living" life and in a manner that was pleasing to God- in trust and faith that He had everything under control.

Don't be impatient, don't worry, don't become anxious where you are. Live your life in God to the fullest where you are. Be content until He moves you to another "state". Trust Him in this state and be at peace, and go on about your business-- living for Him.

Have a great day. Be content, God has it all under control so go on with the business of living..

For further reading:

Hebrews 13:5
1 Timothy 6:6

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or

Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Twisted To God"

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Often there are two things that we think of when we read this verse. The first thing is that we think about waiting as sitting back doing nothing while expecting what we are hoping for to come. It is the same idea as waiting in a doctor's office-- you sit there until they call your name to go back. The second thing we think about is that the blessings of renewed strength are physical.

On one hand both ways of thinking are correct, but they are limited. The word for "wait" means more than just sitting still in expectation. It means to "twist" or "bind together" in the same way a rope is twisted together with several strands. This waiting means that we should "twist" ourselves together with the Lord. This is where that strength the verse talks about comes from. The more we "twist" ourselves together with Him through reading His word, hiding it in our hearts, applying it, standing in faith on His promises, seeking His face and communing with Him the stronger we become in Him.

This strength does not only refer to our physical person, but to the spirit man. The strength we gain is spiritual strength to stand in adversity, to keep going when the going gets tough, to return good for evil that is done to us, to hold fast to God's promises when the day becomes night and darkness and despair are all around us.

This twisting gives us the ability to mount up-- to rise above the circumstances and storms, to see things from God's perspective, to stay at peace and have joy because the problems are now under us.

It also gives us strength to run the race that is set before us. We aren't running a physical race like the Olympic athletes are to "obtain the gold". We are running a spiritual race to receive a prize that will be given to us when we stand before our beloved Savior one day.

As we are "twisted" more and more together with Him, we gain the strength that we need to "walk"-- walk in the Spirit and not after the flesh. It strengthens us to be able to keep going forward following the Lord and doing what He desires instead of our own desires.

So let's "twist" ourselves daily tighter and tighter to Him and we will gain the strength that we need to soar above the problems, to run the race that is set before us and to walk in the Spirit.

Have a great day. When we are twisted to the Lord, we gain the strength that we need, both physically and spiritually.

For further reading:

2 Corinthians 12:9
Hebrews 12:1
Galatians 5:16

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or

Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Joy Stealers"

"And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." Numbers 13:32,33

When the Lord delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, He intended to bring them into their own land-- a land of freedom that flowed with milk and honey. There was great joy among them because after all that time in bondage it was finally going to happen- they were finally going into the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. On the verge of entering, Moses sent spies to check out the land. The spies told them that the land was indeed a good land-- flowing with milk and honey, grapes, houses, vineyards, etc. But they told them one other thing as well-- there are giants in the land. Even though they saw the good things that God had promised, even though they knew God could take care of the giants just as He had Pharaoh, the giants "stole" their joy. The fear of them outweighed the joy.

The Lord has given you a vision, a promise, a calling, a destination. You know it's from Him, you know this is where He is leading you, and it looks as though the door is finally opening and you are excited with great joy at the idea of "inheriting" and "fulfilling" the promise. You are ready to go in, you can see the potential, you can "see" the "milk, honey and clusters of grapes", but then you all of a sudden you see the "giants" and your heart begins to sink.

You know God has called you to start a business and it looks like the door is opening, but then you "see" the giants- the monthly expenses of rent, utilities, insurance, supplies, employee wages, etc. How will you pay them? You know God has called you to get an education in a certain field. The door opens to go to college, but then you "see" the giants-- the studying, the tests, Algebra. Am I smart enough? Am I too old to learn it? You know the Lord has promised to restore your marriage or to save your children, but then the giants appear-- you discover he/she is seeing someone else; your child gets arrested. In every promise that awaits there is a giant there too.

When they went into the land to spy it out, they saw both-- the good things and the giants. Perhaps that is where you are, you can see the good things God has promised, but you also along with them see the giants. The spies focused more on the giants and therefore told the people "we can't do it". They let the giants steal their joy and promise. Don't let the giants steal your joy. Don't focus on them. As a matter of fact, don't even focus on the "milk and honey"- the promise. Focus and stay focused on God. When you do, the giants can't steal your joy, they can't stop you, they pose no threat to you, they are already taken care of and defeated by God.

Have a great day. Don't let the giants that you see steal your joy.

For further reading:

Numbers 13

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or

Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"It Is Temporary"

"And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth." Numbers 33:5

When the Lord delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, the first place they stopped at was Succoth. The name Succoth means booths. The dictionary defines booths as: a temporary structure made of any type of material. Succoth was not their destination, the promised land was. It was just a temporary stopping place on the journey to their destination.

When Joseph was thrown into the pit, it was not his final destination. The palace was his destination. The pit was a temporary place intended to get him to the next level on his journey to the palace. The pit got him into Potiphar's house (which too was a temporary place.)

If you know that God has a purpose for you to fulfill and where you are is not it, don't get discouraged with where you are. Where you are is only a temporary place that is the avenue to get you to the next level and one step closer to His purpose. Our problem is we want to bypass these temporary places and get straight to the "palace", "the promise land", "the goal". Joseph never would have made it to the palace- God's purpose- had he not gone through the pit, Potiphar house and the prison first. But they were all temporary places. Don't see where you are as the destination, but rather a stepping stone to the next place in God's plan.

Before my husband had to retire from offshore he was in a supervisory position. But when he first started working in the oilfield thirty years earlier, he didn't start out as a supervisor. He started out in the lowest position there was. After a period of time he finally worked his way up to his final position. All the positions he had worked in were only temporary (they were like booths). They were steps to get from one level to another. But he had to go through each, just like Joseph did and just like you and I have to do in order to get to that final level.

So enjoy, be content and learn from this place where you are. And remember that it is only temporary but you have to pass through it in order to get to God's intended destination for you.

Have a great day. Where you are is only a temporary stopping place, not your final destination.

For further reading:

Philippians 4:11
Romans 8:28

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or

Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.