GOOD NEWS DAILY - DECEMBER 3 | Lara Love's Good News Daily Devotional

TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA…….

Dear friend, ………

I met a woman who told me how she lost an eye and expressed to me how positive and thankful she was about the experience. Instead of whining, complaining, and being self-pitying, she shared how thankful she was for the eye she still had. I commented to her how we tend to take for granted what we have until we don’t have it, and she agreed.

I have taken so much for granted in my life and complained so much about what I have not had or what I lost. Imagine if we lived our lives day in and day out with thanksgiving in our hearts and flowing out of our mouths – for the Lord, for His death and resurrection, for His forgiveness and salvation when we turn from ours sins and place our faith in Him as Lord, and for all His endless spiritual and physical blessings.

Imagine if we made a strong commitment to stop taking for granted His goodness.

Oh, let us praise the Lord! Let us not take His goodness for granted not ever!

love & blessings,lara

TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION

Paralyzed Dog: Exceedingly, Abundantly, Above!

“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, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15

Exceedingly. Abundantly. Above. The exact words that came to me when I discovered paralyzed wheelchair doggy Mr. Simeon with his massive teeth in the wonderful leggings I had just found at a thrift shop to wear under pants to keep me warm. I had BEGGED the Lord to heal Mr. Simeon who had been very sick. The Lord had done exceedingly abundantly above what I had asked for. Mr. Simeon was so happy and healthy that he was getting ready to destroy my clothes!

Please note the first verses above. The Lord is ABLE to do exceedingly abundantly above what we pray for or think. But note in the second verse above, He answers our prayers ACCORDING TO HIS WILL. Just because He can give us above what we desire and ask for does NOT mean He will. We need to trust the Lord and to be thankful that He ALWAYS knows what is best.

LATEST WISDOM FROM ABOVE

GRIEVING JESUS

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.” Mark 12:30

My alone time with Jesus isn’t always joyful. Sometimes it’s tough, challenging, convicting. The Lord’s wisdom from above can bring hard chastening. Like when He told me recently I’ve been grieving Him for a really long time in my deficit of faith in a vitally important area of my life.

Do you know we can grieve the Lord? We can! And we must not! So as soon as His Spirit shows us we have been, we need to be sorry for our sins and turn to Him with our entire hearts!

Let’s make a conscious effort day in and day out not to grieve Jesus but instead to bring Him love, praise, honor, joy, pleasure, and glory. AMEN!

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT

WHEN JESUS TAKES SOMETHING OR SOMEONE AWAY

“Simeon, are you mad because I took the pants away?” I asked paralyzed doggy Mr. Simeon after I removed my leggings from Mr. Simeon’s mouth.No response. He wouldn’t even look my way. He was apparently totally dismayed that I did what was best by retrieving my belongings. He wouldn’t even look in my direction. If a dog can have self-pity and be downcast, that was my beloved Mr. Simeon just then.

Reminds me of how we humans act sometimes when the Lord takes something or someone away from us because He knows what is best for us.

When we’re humble and mature, we trust Him and are thankful even though it may be exceedingly hard. When we’re immature and prideful, we may be self-pitying, bitter, hurt, dejected, and even refuse to look in the Lord’s direction.

Mr. Simeon is just a beloved doggy. But we who are followers of Jesus need to act humbly, wisely, and honorably when the Lord removes something or someone from us. We need to believe He knows what’s best, to keep loving and obeying Him, and to follow Him forth.

TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS

365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I wrote that is available in print by contacting me at 843-338-2219 or via lara@GoodNews.love. Blessings #222-226

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

Can there really be five blessings in these two verses? Oh, yes! Please look at them with me! First, we can learn to rejoice right in the midst of our tribulations. Jesus said we will have tribulations, and you can find a wonderful promise related to going through tribulations if you look at John 16:33. In the meantime, look at the verses above to see why we can find reason to celebrate when we face tribulations.

A product of going through them is PERSEVERANCE. We learn how to endure! So hard, but in God’s strength we can. What results? Character! We need more of it, don’t we? Then what comes? HOPE! Oh, yes, we can always use more hope. This kind of hope doesn’t result in disappointment. Why not? Because the LOVE OF GOD is poured into us! How? By God’s Holy Spirit? We don’t figure all of this process out on our own. God shows us in these verses how it works.

And, when we surrender to Him right through our trials and tribulations, He brings to pass His promises in these verses. One, two, three, four, five. Celebrating in tribulations, one. Perseverance, two. Character, three. Hope, four. And THE LOVE OF GOD, five. Five more blessings, absolutely, thank you Father, AMEN!

TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL

WHY WON’T YOU BEHAVE?

“Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”” 2 Timothy 2:19

“Know what I was thinking Simeon?” I told my beloved paralyzed doggy Mr. Simeon. Yes, I talk to my dogs. I’m on the road full-time alone with Jesus, and my sweet streets ministry doggies get to hear a mouthful sometimes. “We could behave today. Now that’s a novel concept, isn’t it?” I was referring to his behavioral issues which are in fact hilarious though sometimes annoying.

Immediately I saw the message in my silly little one-way conversation with Mr. Simeon.How must the Lord feel day after day when we don’t behave? When we disobey Him? When we consciously go against His will? I can’t even fathom. But I know this. Not only will we reap the awful consequences of rebellion against the Lord, which hurts us, most importantly of all we grieve Jesus. We hurt terribly His heart.

I heard a preacher say he wasn’t set free from the sin of pornography until he opened his eyes and saw he was HURTING THE HEART OF THE LORD.

I was joking around with my beloved doggy. But there’s no joking around when it comes to rebellion against the Lord. If we’re in it, it’s time to turn away from it. And turn with godly sorrow and a plea for forgiveness to Jesus. Now. Before it’s too late.

TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE“Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.” Deuteronomy 31:6-7

I think my ministry work is challenging, but I cannot even fathom what people like Joshua in the Bible went through as the Lord called him to lead a massive number of people into the Promised Land especially considering the challenges they faced. They had unfathomable giants to face. How could he possibly go forth in his ministry work let alone to do so victoriously?

HE COULD NOT DO IT IN HIS WEAKNESS.

HE COULD DO IT IN GOD’S STRENGTH.

HE COULD NOT DO IT IN FEAR.

HE COULD DO IT WITH COURAGE.

HIS TRUST NEEDED TO BE IN THE LORD TO LEAD HIM FORTH!

If we try to serve the Lord without the Lord, we will fail miserably and miss the point. The point of serving the Lord is ABOUT THE LORD and THROUGH THE LORD and FOR THE GLORY OF THE LORD!

Whatever the Lord calls us to do to serve Him day by day, let us go forth IN HIS STRENGTH WITH COURAGE FOR THE GLORY OF CHRIST, oh yes!