Devotional

God never blesses sin, but He does forgive and then bless those who seek His forgiveness and cling to Him. He gives the sinner a new identity—a new name, new character, new future. If God could change Jacob (see Genesis 32), He certainly can change you, me, and our children into His likeness.

God’s desire is to bless you, to bless your children, and to create a line of generations who know His blessing and are determined to pass it on.

This legacy of blessing is an integral part of the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants (see Genesis 12).

What about you?

Consider your family tree.

Is there a point where change was made?

Is there something you see that needs changing?

Might this change begin with you?

And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God…” (Mark 4:11a NKJV)

I have found that God does not want His Word to be mystery to us; He wants it to be revealed truth. When I find passages that I don’t understand in the Bible, I write a question mark beside them. When I read through those passages again, I ask the Father to reveal them to me. If I’m patient, eventually God will give me a beautiful revelation.

Once I didn’t understand why God had not allowed Moses to enter the Promised Land. I knew Moses had hit the rock twice, instead of once. If I had been forced to listen to murmurers for 40 years, I would probably have hit the people, instead of the rock. I put a question mark by that verse.

One day as I was reading the same verse, the Lord said that Moses DID get to enter the Promised Land. God said, “Moses was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Elijah and Jesus. With whom would you rather enter the Promised Land—murmuring Jews or Jesus?”

We know the mysteries of God through revelation knowledge.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Open our eyes to behold wonders from Your Word today. Give us hearing ears and seeing eyes to receive the revelations that You have for us. 

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen

When you roam, they will lead you; when you sleep, they will keep you; and when you awake, they will speak with you.  (Proverbs 6:22 NKJV)

God’s Word is very practical. This scripture tells us that His Word will talk to us when we wake up, guides us during the day, and keeps us while we are asleep.

I claimed this verse while memorizing the book of Proverbs some years ago. I would memorize verses first thing in the morning when my mind was clear. My mind was like a blackboard that had been erased: nothing had been written on it yet, so I could write God’s Word on it first.

At lunchtime, I would go over those same scriptures and again at night before going to sleep. It was as if those scriptures worked their way in my spirit all night long. It was a powerful time in my life.

It took about 10 months to memorize the entire book of Proverbs, but the truths in that book will stay with me throughout my life. I have “canned” them in my heart, and the Holy Spirit unscrews the lids and brings them to my remembrance.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank You that the Word is not just for inspiration, but it is also wisdom in our lives. We pray that we will have great hunger to read the Word in the morning, at noon, and at night. We pray that Your Word will be a prevailing force of our lives.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  (Psalms 23:1-3 NKJV)

You must realize—and if you absorb this truth it will change your life—God never leads His people aimlessly. He always has a direction, a plan, a purpose. He leads us with divine precision and accuracy, and always for good.

Keep your mind and heart tuned to the Great Shepherd’s voice, and He will continually lead you into places of provision, security, restoration, and righteousness.

If you continue to follow Him, your family will be going somewhere, and that somewhere will be a place full of God’s promise and power.

It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.  (Isaiah 65:24 NKJV)

When you read this scripture, do you think it’s almost too good to be true? We read in the book of Numbers that Balaam decided to curse Israel so that he might receive the honor and financial gain that his carnal man so desired. Balaam discovered that he could not curse God’s people.

Every time he tried to prophesy evil, he prophesied good. Finally, he said to the king of Moab, “I don’t know what to do. I can only speak what God puts in my mouth; I can’t curse what God has blessed.”

God is so good to His people. They probably didn’t even know that this battle was occurring. Undoubtedly, God told Moses later.

How many times God has protected us! He has sent us angelic protection, and we were not EVEN aware of it.  Thank God for His love; thank God for the angels who encamp around about those who fear Him. Let’s pray together.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank You that the Word is not just for inspiration, but it is also wisdom in our lives. We pray that we will have great hunger to read the Word in the morning, at noon, and at night. We pray that Your Word will be a prevailing force of our lives.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen

You’ve heard of “good king” Hezekiah, haven’t you? Well, the circumstance surrounding this man’s healing were truly miraculous. After Isaiah the prophet came and told him to set his house in order because he was going to die, Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and beseeched the Lord for healing. Then God stopped the departing prophet in his tracks with the latest news bulletin from heaven: in three days Hezekiah would be healed and live another 15 years! For proof, Hezekiah asked the Lord to cause the sundial to move backward ten degrees, and God did just that! (See Isaiah 38).

Hezekiah was so filled with praise to the Lord that he wrote ten psalms and added to those ten, another five of King David’s, a psalm for every additional year of life. These are called “psalms of degrees” or “psalms of ascent.” Hezekiah didn’t think of the clock running down; he saw every year as another step closer to God. He was on an ascent to life everlasting, not a descent to death. Don’t you like that kind of attitude? Just like Hezekiah, you can cry out to God for a miracle. Then you, too, will have a song of praise in your heart for the One Who is daily drawing you closer to Him.

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12 NKJV)

Here again is the law of sowing and reaping. In the book of Proverbs, God tells us that if we want friends, we ourselves must be friendly—sow friendliness; reap friendliness. Whatsoever we sow is exactly what we are going to reap.

Do you want people to do good things for you? Then do good things for them. Sometimes our harvest won’t come directly from those people, but we will reap it in another area. I have found that if I sow in one field, I may reap in 10 other fields. God will always bring a harvest from the seed you sow.

There have been times when God has spoken with me, dealt with me, and has had me pray for the sick, when actually I felt like I was the one in need of healing. But as I sowed healing, God would send people to lay hands on me, or He would burden people in the night to pray for me. And I would experience absolutely the healing resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Sowing—what a simple law this is! We need to take advantage of it!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help us to take advantage of our advantages today. Help us to see that our disadvantage can become advantages if we will apply the law of sowing and reaping.  

In Jesus’s name,

Amen.

If you abundantly store the good treasures of God’s Word in your heart, you will speak out of that abundance and create your days the way you want them.

God has given you the authority of His Word to rule your life and circumstances.

If you are not speaking the Word, then life and circumstances will rule you. Some folks think it’s presumptuous to “claim” God’s promises, but let me tell you, if they don’t speak the promises, they will speak against the promises. God calls that ‘an evil heart of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:12 NKJV).

You’ll either be as positive as the Word or as negative as the world. You can’t “straddle the fence” about God’s Word and still expect to receive anything.

What is God speaking in your heart?

Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever… (1 Peter 1:23 NKJV)

Can you imagine what it will be like to live eternally?  God’s Word gives us eternal life because it IS eternal.  His Word live and abides forever.  Whenever we stand on His Word; trust in His Word; act, think, speak, and meditate upon His Word, we have latched hold of eternity.  Our physical bodies may die, but God’s Word in incorruptible, it will continue to work and bring forth fruit.

I heard a wonderful testimony from a man whose grandfather spent five minutes a day praying over each grandchild.  There were nine grandchildren, so he prayed 45 minutes each day.  Today all of those grandchildren are in full-time ministry.  Why? Because God’s Word lives on, even though our physical bodies do not.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help us to put our faith in Your Word.  Help us not to give up, but to know that when we take hold of the Word, we take hold of eternity.  The Word will never let us down because You uphold all things by the Word of Your power.  Thank You today that Your promises endure forever. 

Amen

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of his name;
Make his praise glorious!…
All the earth bows down to you:
They sing praise to you,
They sing praise to your name.
(Psalm 66:1-2, 4 NIV)

Therefore God exalted him [Jesus] to the highest
place and gave him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:9-11 NIV)

One day—yes, one day—God’s glorious plan will be revealed in a way undeniable. And on that day, not only will all of creation and all people know that Jesus is Lord, but that knowledge will so overwhelm humanity that they will fall to their knees and confess the truth that Jesus is the Messiah.

What a great and glorious day that will be

Commit your works to the Lord,
And your thoughts will be established. –(Proverbs 16:3 NKJV)

Do you every have problems with your thought life? The devil can put all kinds of junk and trash into our minds. I hate that. Sometimes I think it happens because we have seen a movie that wasn’t good or because we have seen something questionable on television. Somehow the enemy has done a number on us.

But I have found a way to establish my thoughts: I need to commit all of my works until the Lord. Many times, I have awakened in the night and started to worry. Then I’d catch myself and say, “Lord, I commit my works unto You.” Soon my thoughts come back in line, and I can go back to sleep.

The devil would like to harass us through our thought life. But if we will commit our works unto the Lord, our thought life will come in line. I know that you want your works and thoughts established in Him.

Dear Heavenly Father,

In the name of Jesus, we commit our works into your Hand. We thank You that our thoughts are established and our minds are renewed. We have the mind of Christ. Jesus was made unto us wisdom for this day, and we praise and glorify You for it.

Amen

Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before (Deuteronomy 11:26-28 NLT).

You can choose to spend time with Jesus and how closely you will listen to and obey what he tells you. You can choose what you will allow into your mind and heart. You can choose what you believe. You have free will to make countless choices and decisions every day.

Because of this amazing gift—the God-given freedom to choose—we have the privilege to choose lives of blessing for ourselves and our families. Even if you don’t have the benefits of growing up in a godly family, even if you come from a long line of hard-core sinners, you can choose a life that will bring blessing upon you, your children, and your grandchildren.

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?” Matthew 26:40 NKJV

Jesus had called his disciples to pray with Him for one hour. Why is one hour of such extreme importance? Why did He call them for exactly one hour? Because if they had prayed for one hour, they would have been kept from temptation. Jesus later told Peter that he would not have denied Christ if he had spent that time in prayer.

An early prayer a day keeps the devil away. Early in the morning I like to name my day—that is, I name it what I believe God wants it to be. Perhaps He wants it to be a day of victory, maybe He wants it to be a day of wisdom, or a day of revelation. I believe that my day will be in line with what I name it.

Jesus has again given us authority in His name to name things. We can name our day, and our day will get in line with what we name it. Take that early hour of prayer. It can keep your whole day in victory.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help us daily to have an early time in prayer to set our day off right and give us a day of victory.

In Jesus’s name,

Amen

…But your sorrow will be turned into joy. (John 16:20b NKJV)

God has always delighted in turning curses into blessings. Balaam tried to curse God’s people; but every time he went up on the mountain to curse them, he ended up blessing them. Finally, he said, “I can’t curse what God has blessed.”

Are you in a time of sorrow or crisis? Remember: the bigger this crisis, the bigger the opportunity that God has for transforming crisis into a miracle.

I remember one time with I felt very defeated. We had a prayed for a young woman with leukemia, but she had died. I felt like I never again wanted to do a healing prayer. But the Lord spoke to me about the three Hebrews who would not bow down to the image of Nebuchadnezzar. God told me, “That’s Faith!”

The Hebrews also said, “If He doesn’t deliver us, we still won’t bow down.” And God said, “That’s Faithfulness! Marilyn, I’m growing two things in you, faith and faithfulness. Will you still be faithful to My Word when it appears that your faith has failed?”

God had taught me something very special about the prayer of faith for the sick. My sorrow was turned into joy, and the seeming defeat, into faith.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We pray the You will take hold of our sorrowful circumstances and turn them into victory. Help us turn each disadvantage into an advantage that will bring glory to Your name.

In Jesus’s name,

Amen­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before (Deuteronomy 11:26-28 NLT).

You can choose to spend time with Jesus and how closely you will listen to and obey what he tells you. You can choose what you will allow into your mind and heart. You can choose what you believe. You have free will to make countless choices and decisions every day.

Because of this amazing gift—the God-given freedom to choose—we have the privilege to choose lives of blessing for ourselves and our families. Even if you don’t have the benefits of growing up in a godly family, even if you come from a long line of hard-core sinners, you can choose a life that will bring blessing upon you, your children, and your grandchildren.

Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. (Luke 21:28 NKJV)

Some people always look down: other always look around. But God didn’t call us to look down, around, or even back. He called us to look up.

When God told Noah to build the ark, He instructed Noah to make only one long window—right near the top, because the only place he wanted Noah to look was upward. If Noah had looked outward, he would have only seen the endless rain, the floating debris, and the people screaming for help.

The secret for our strength today is to look up. Make a decision right now to look up to our heavenly Father, Who is supernaturally supplying all our needs.

One summer our ministry went through a terrible financial crisis, when thousands of dollars and checks had been stolen at the post office. As a result, we could not pay our bills. The circumstances seemed overwhelming. But when I began to look up, my redemption came. For God truly gave us a miracle and supplied all our needs within in 30 days.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We pray that new faith would rise up in our hearts. We will look up, life our heads, and see Your plan of deliverance. We thank You, Father, for you quick answer to prayer, as You hasten to perform Your Word.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well (3 John 2 NIV).

When we talk about healing, we almost always think of physical healing, but God’s healing is for the whole person.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul prayed, May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.

May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23 NIV). God wants all of you well. His Word declares that healing is for your entire being—your spirit, your soul, your body.

Where you are and whatever your circumstance, the Lord wants you whole. If you have a broken heart, He wants to heal it. If you have a broken pocketbook, He wants to heal it. If you have a sick, infirm or broken body, the Lord wants to heal it. Wholeness is the will of God for every individual, and certainly nothing is too difficult for the One who created the universe and fashioned your physical body. The Lord is able to heal your circumstances and your relationships just as easily as He can heal your body—if you’ll only ask and believe.

What needs healing in your life?