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TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA……..
Dear friend,……….
Humility is one of the most important necessities if we are to be pleasing to the Lord. Time and again in the Bible, the Lord calls us to humble ourselves, warns us against pride, tells us what He will do to the proud, and models in His own character when He comes to the earth in the form of a man – Jesus – the beauty and importance of humbling ourselves before Him.
Let us examine our hearts – yes, our very thoughts and feelings – and lives – our words and actions – and strive to humble ourselves continually before Jesus!
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil. 2:5-11
TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION
“LYING LIPS”
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight.” Proverbs 12:22
“I don’t do drugs,” one person says.
“I’m not cheating on you,” another one says.
“I’m not binge eating and purging my food,” a woman claims.
“I promise I’m telling you the truth,” a boy tells his father.
“I’m not smoking cigarettes in the bathroom,” a woman says emphatically.
“I didn’t gamble last night,” a husband cries out to his wife.
“I didn’t steal the money,” a worker tells his boss.
“I stayed home last night and didn’t go out,” a teenager tells his parents when they come back into town.
“I didn’t even kiss her,” a boy tells his girlfriend’s parents.
The one thing they all have in common is they’re lying. Though they are all believed by the people to whom they have lied, they are seen and known by God almighty from whom none of us can hide and who will hold us all accountable if we do not seek His forgiveness and turn from our evil ways to Christ as Lord who died on the cross to pay our sin penalty and was raised from the dead.
Lying is socially acceptable and commonplace in this world so much of which has its back turned to the Lord, but lying is sin against God no matter how much our society acts like it’s okay.
If you’ve been lying, you don’t need to worry about being found out. The Lord already knows. And though you may be able to fool the people around you, there is no fooling God. Sin is sin, and lying is just that. If you’re lying, He already knows. And now is the time to cry out to Him for mercy and commit to live with love for and obedience to Jesus Christ as Lord forever, AMEN!
TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS
365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book the Lord has led me to publish piece by piece even as I’m writing it rather than waiting until it’s in print to share it. Please join me & be blessed as I write my latest book…!
Blessing #116
“But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
Here in this verse is the Lord Jesus Christ being prophesied in the Old Testament. When I was under the false prosperity gospel teaching, the focus was almost always on ME, ME, ME and US, US, US and feeling good and getting everything we wanted. There was an enormous focus on physical healing which is absolutely an awesome blessing from the Lord. Problem was I developed a tendency to skip over everything else in the Bible to rush to anything about healing and prospering in one way or another. I was prone to seeing the words, “…by His stripes we are healed” and entirely overlooking the awesomeness of this verse prophesying of how the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to TAKE THE PUNISHMENT WE DESERVE FOR OUR SINS ON HIMSELF! Awesome, awesome, awesome. His wounds, bruises, and chastisement were what ALL humans deserve for ALL our sins, and He took ALL the punishment on Himself! How could we ever be thankful enough for what Jesus did on the cross for us? We can’t, but we sure can make it our goal day by day to live to glorify the Lord with hearts filled with love, humility, and thankfulness! Oh, let us be thankful, thankful, thankful!
TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” 2 Cor. 10:3-6
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27
I sat in the park on a wonderfully warm and sunny August day listening to the Spirit of Christ who lives inside His followers tell me for the umpteenth time in years past that I had been listening to the devil’s lies the devil was speaking to me and suffering the awful consequences as a result.
Intimacy with Jesus can be terribly harmed when instead of hearing His Spirit speak to our hearts who only and always speaks in line with the Bible we listen to the lies of the despicable devil.
The voice we need to hear and obey is the voice of God, and when His Spirit brings the conviction we are listening to the devil instead, we need to turn back to and believe and obey the voice of Christ!
To whom are you listening? Let us focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible. Let us focus on His voice. Let us hear Him. Let us turn away from the filthy sickening lies of the enemy! Let us hear Jesus! Oh, let us hear the Lord!
TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” Mt. 28:19-20
How can you give what you do not have? Countless people and organizations both Christian and not are working hard to give people in need food, clothes, shelter, medical care, job training, education, etc., and that’s absolutely necessary and awesome.
But the greatest need of all in this world is to hear the Good News of how to have a forever relationship with the Lord and to receive help and encouragement in believing in and following Jesus day by day and forever. And we who follow Jesus are called to give this to others! But we need it ourselves in order to give it to others!
For years, I didn’t know how to share the Good News and knew too little about the Bible and how to live led by the Spirit of God according to God’s ways as the Bible teaches and was too immature in my relationship with the Lord to help others find and follow Jesus.
Let us make believing in and loving and following Jesus and being filled with and led by God’s Spirit and reading the Bible and living by it our greatest desire and priority, and may we help and give to others the fruit of our personal, strong, and growing relationship with the Lord!
LATEST MINISTRY UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST
It would be truly hard to describe in words how hard the devil has been coming at me to try to stop me from going forward in my ministry work particularly with my writing and publishing. He has been going for my vulnerable places, and I have been crying out to the Lord to deliver me. I know where my victory lies. In Christ! Nevertheless it’s been quite a trying time, and I would be so very thankful for some extra big prayers right now for me, this ministry, and the ministry’s sweet streets ministry doggies.
love & blessings,
lara