GOOD NEWS DAILY - NOVEMBER 22 | Lara Love & Good News Ministry

TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA

Dear friend,

Do you think it pleases God when we pray, pray, pray and don’t listen, listen, listen and do, do, do? How does the Lord feel in His heart when we constantly ask Him for stuff but take little or no time at all to read the Bible, to hear His Spirit speaking to our hearts in line with His Word, and to obey Him?……….

How does His heart feel when we spend time continually crying out to Him to give us what we desire but show no interest in having a personal relationship with Him, in spending time alone with Him, in praising, worshiping, thanking, adoring, and revering and honoring Him? When we live for ourselves and not for Him? When we live according to our ways and not His? When we don’t care about and take the time to help others to believe in, to know, and to follow Him?

Oh, how we must hurt the heart of the Lord when it’s all about asking and receiving from instead of humbling ourselves before Him, spending time alone with Him, surrendering our hearts and lives utterly to Him, and genuinely living for Him and not any longer for ourselves.

Where do you stand, friend? Are you totally sold out to Jesus? Long ago, I did nothing more than call Him Lord and continue to live for myself according to the world’s ways. Today, I am entirely His. I live utterly for Him. Please don’t hurt the heart of the Lord. Live wholeheartedly for Jesus – holding nothing back! For always!

“and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Cor. 5:15

love & blessings,

lara

TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION

GROWING IN FAITH

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” Philippians 1:6″When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.” But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.” Matthew 9:27-31

Know what I thought of when I read this story recently and saw the beautiful faith of the two blind men who believed the Lord would have mercy on them and heal them?

How incredibly far short I still fall when it comes to having faith in the Lord even in the smallest of matters even while people like those blind men had faith in the Lord concerning something so enormous. Thank the Lord He is so merciful with me as He teaches me to live by faith.

The Lord in His amazing love, grace, kindness, tenderness, and patience, instead of raging at me and being disgusted with me and giving up on me for having such a long way to go when it comes to my faith, gently, lovingly, mercifully helps me day by day to read the Bible, to spend time in His presence, to follow Him, and to grow in my faith in Him.

Have some growing to do? I sure do! And I am totally committed to doing it. By spending time alone with Jesus, by digging deep into His Word, by hearing good solid preaching that lines up with the Bible, and by listening to the voice of the Spirit of God as He speaks to my heart in line with His Word. Ready to grow in faith?

TODAY’S DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT

CONTINUAL PRAISE

“I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.” Psalm 34:1-2

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Praise 13:15

I’m a woman of words. I speak lots of them. I write loads of them. I notice them. The Lord has gifted me with words in both writing and speaking. And I was blessed with a strong background in education and experience of writing and editing. Suffice it to say I notice words and by the Spirit of God take note of their significance.

I spend tons of alone time with Jesus and have learned over the years to open my heart, ears, and eyes to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Most of my writing is not based on other people’s preaching but instead on the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart. He shows me, He teaches me, He transforms me, and He uses me to help and encourage others to believe in and follow Him.

So I wasn’t surprised one morning when the Lord brought to light the word “continually” when it comes to praising Him. A single word that could be easily overlooked – but shouldn’t be!

Please look at the scriptures above. Note the word “continually.” How often should we praise the Lord? Once in a while when we feel like it? When something good happens only? When we’re in a good mood? When we’re in a church building? When our friends are praising Him and we feel obligated to join in? What does God’s Word say? CONTINUALLY.

Friend, the Lord God almighty deserves our praise 24-7 forever, that’s how AWESOME and AMAZING and MAGNIFICENT and INCREDIBLE and GLORIOUS He is! We may not sing to Him 24-7, we may not praise Him aloud 24-7, we may not sing along with a church choir 24-7, we may not proclaim Him to others in praise 24-7, but our hearts, thoughts, feelings, words, actions, our very lives can all be in a POSITION AND POSTURE AND PRACTICE OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING AND REJOICING THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD FOREVERMORE AND FOR ALL HE HAS DONE, IS DOING, AND WILL DO FOREVER! Hallelujah! AMEN!

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.

BLESSING 209

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3

The apostle Paul in this verse calls us to do what? More accurately, THE LORD through the apostle Paul calls us to do what? To walk – or rather live – worthy of our calling – to be children and followers of the Lord! Meaning it’s one thing the Lord has called, chosen, and saved us through repentance and faith in Him as Lord who died for us and was raised from the dead. It’s another thing to live our lives as such. To live our lives accordingly. To live our lives as though we belong to Christ. To live our lives IN OBEDIENCE TO HIM. IN HONOR OF HIM. IN REVERENCE TO HIM. IN HUMBLE LOVE AND DEVOTION FOR AND TO HIM.

Specifically, Paul writes of our being lowly (humble), gentle, longsuffering (patient), putting up with each other LOVINGLY, and being unified and peaceful with our fellow believers in Jesus. These are attributes, characteristics, of being Christ’s followers! Perhaps you wonder how can this be a blessing to be called to live like this? This is hard, isn’t it? Oh so hard at times, in fact.

How then a blessing? The Lord loves us so much He wants us to be with Him forever, He wants us to grow in His image, He wants us to be close, close, so close to Him, He wants us to love and enjoy Him and love and enjoy others, and He wants us to show others His love and glory through the way we think, speak, and act. It’s all about the Lord, friend. And, as such, oh, what a blessing to be called to live worthy of being called to be His forevermore, AMEN!

TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL

“Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

So often it seems I’m all over the place when I read the Bible. I love the Lord and His Word so much that when I dig into the Bible, I feast on one thing, then rush off to another, then another, digging, digging, digging, going deeper, deeper, deeper, having a question, looking up the answer, then thinking of something else, running in that direction, like a child exhilarated over the wonder of it all, chasing after Jesus, chasing after the Word. I am so hungry, hungry, hungry and so thirsty, thirsty, thirsty for more of the Lord, for more of His Spirit inside me, for more of His Word, ever more.

I encourage you to read Psalm 119 and to see the joy of the psalmist as he describes his own exceeding love and passion for the Lord and His Word. And I encourage you to fall deeply and forever in love with Jesus and with God’s Word. Devote yourself utterly to Him – and to the Bible. Enjoy!

LATEST SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE

MY FRIEND SAID NO!

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

Can you believe it? I needed help with something in my ministry work and my friend said NO. Okay, she communicated to me politely her NO. But still, she said NO. What kind of friend is that? Honestly? An honest one! Not only did she not feel led to help me and did she have something else important occupying her time, but the truth is I had hesitated after asking her to help. See, I hadn’t sensed it was the Lord prompting me to ask her in the first place. I had felt like it was probably my flesh. I hadn’t gone to him first. I had an idea and ran with it – right to my friend to ask for help.

Serving Jesus in our everyday lives should be first and foremost about the Lord and HIS WILL and HIS TIME and HIS PLAN and HIS PURPOSE and HIS GLORY! It should NOT be about US and OUR WILL and OUR PLAN and OUR PURPOSE and OUR GLORY.

We should seek Him in all things – including in our service to Him. We should seek and follow His leading. The Lord brought correction to me through my friend’s NO. She needed to go forward in doing what she felt the Lord was leading her to do in her life. And I needed to go forward in my life doing the same. Seeking and following the Lord!

Best way to serve the Lord? Seek and follow Him! Are you serving Him in your everyday life? Seeking Him? Following Him? May it be so!