LATEST good news daily | Lara Love's Good News Daily Devotional

TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA

Dear friend,

There are storms all around us. All around the world. All around our lives. Some of us are in storms even as I write this. Physical storms whose intensity we cannot even fathom. Emotional storms we feel like we’ll never make it through. Mental storms. Spiritual storms. Health storms. Family storms. Marriage storms. School storms. Friendship storms. Anger storms. Job storms. Prison storms. Homelessness storms. Storms, storms, storms. Our storms. Others’ storms.

Please friend, as the Lord has been reminding me, let us be careful not to let the storms distract us from the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes the storms are or at least seem so overwhelming we feel we might get swallowed up in them. Of course, we need to address whatever the Lord desires we address in the midst of them concerning safety, protection, health, decisions, forgiving people, getting help, etc. That goes without saying.

But we also need to be careful that we don’t become distracted by the storms from the Lord and the Bible and the course in life He has set us on. He needs to be our first love and greatest priority through the storms and in all times. Our greatest crying out in the storms of this life must be to the Lord, and He is the one who will navigate us and help us and carry us through them when we yield ourselves utterly to Him.

Even when the storms are the storms others are experiencing and not we ourselves, we can become consumed with watching them, hearing about them, thinking about them, etc. Again, the storms can be a distraction from the Lord and His will for us.

Greater than any and every storm is the Lord, and let us look to Him above all else. Let us follow Him as He leads us through our lives. Step by step, breath by breath, may we follow the Lord now and forever, AMEN!

The prophet Elijah had a most amazing experience that was not the wind, earthquake or fire. As unbelievable and wild as all three must have been, what stood out above all else was the voice of God speaking to Him. First and foremost, yes, the Lord! Greater than any and every storm, the one who will reign forever, the one to whom we must turn, now, and in all things and at all times, is the Lord!

“Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.” 1 Kings 19:11-19

IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love

love & blessings,

lara

TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION

IF I COULD DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

If I could do it all over again… If I could go back in time, I would… I would never have done… I would absolutely have done this… I promise I never would have gotten into that relationship…. There is no way I would have gotten into that relationship…. If I did it all over, I would have said YES…. I never would have treated them that way… If only I could have one more opportunity to get it right, but it’s too late now…

Have you ever had thoughts like these? I have! Far too many times. And there are a few things I’ve learned about all this I feel led to share with you right now.

* The Lord will forgive us for what we have done wrong when we are truly sorry, genuinely turn away from our sins, and sincerely put our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord who died on the cross to pay our sin penalty and was raised from the dead. We must TRULY turn to Christ as Lord – and learn to live our lives accordingly!

* We CANNOT change the past. Yes, the Lord wipes our slates clean. He washes away our sins. He gives us the love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and a forever relationship with Him we don’t deserve because He paid the price for our sins for us. But what we’ve done wrong in the past, we’ve done wrong.

Is this all? No! Here comes the message on my heart for you – and me.

* God will forgive our sins when we repent and turn to Him as Lord, we can’t change what we already did wrong, missed opportunities, failures, etc., BUT WE CAN CHOOSE TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN THE LORD’S EYES AND HONORING AND PLEASING TO HIM NOW AND GOING FORWARD IN HIS LOVE, STRENGTH, GRACE, AND MERCY FOR HIS GLORY!

Let us not get consumed with the past and lost in our wrongdoing. Let’s repent, receive God’s forgiveness, and MOVE FORWARD LIVING ACCORDING TO GOD’S WILL AND WAYS!

AMEN!

TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION
I DID NOT PLAN THIS

“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 NKJV

“Gracie, how did we come across you? This wasn’t mommy’s plan, Gracie,” I told Gracie as I finished changing paralyzed doggy Mr. Simeon’s diaper and disabled Gracie came up to me for some love and attention. Gracie, of course, wasn’t about to answer. She’s a special needs streets ministry doggy who is a loving part of Walk by Faith Ministry, after all. But I already knew the answer.

Twenty plus years of dog rescue. I had been on my way to pick up paralyzed Miss Mercy from a shelter where she’d been brought after being hit by probably a truck. On the way, at a gas station, I was told by the manager there a dog had been dumped there and hit by two cars on the same day. Gracie. Six weeks later, after numerous attempts to rescue her, by God’s grace alone, she was rescued. Years later now, I’m on the road for Jesus and ministry with 4 streets ministry handicapped doggies out on the streets with me.

Is there a message in this for you? And me? Yes! I did NOT plan on getting Gracie. I did NOT plan on doing years of dog rescue. I did NOT plan on being called to start a ministry for Jesus. I did NOT even plan on becoming a Christ follower. And I did NOT plan on selling my house, giving almost everything away, and hitting the road full-time for Jesus. Nor did I plan to do streets ministry and write and publish Gospel tracts, devotionals, and books.

But my life belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I do NOT plan my life anymore. I surrender myself to Jesus, and to His plans I submit myself. Not for my glory. For the glory of Christ, 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 #121

“O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!” Psalm 84:12

The Lord couldn’t make it plainer than He does in this verse inspired by the Spirit of God and written by the psalmist. We are BLESSED when we TRUST in the Lord. When we PUT our trust in Christ! The question is, do we? Do we truly put our trust in the Lord with all things at all times? Is anyone perfect? Are you? Am I? We are not. But if we are following Jesus as Lord, we are growing in our relationship with the Lord. And learning day by day to trust Him. To PUT our trust in the Lord. How BLESSED we are the Lord is so lovingly and mercifully patient with us as we learn to trust Him. It is so easy if we are not careful to fall into old ways. Wrong ways. The way of not trusting the Lord is an old way, isn’t it? Let us walk in the ways of Jesus – let us trust Him day by day. Thank you, Lord for teaching us to trust you, and for blessing us as we do! AMEN!

TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL

“Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.” Psalm 96:9

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” Psalm 100:4

One day I had plans to spend time with someone I hadn’t seen in a really long time. The person thought it might be nice to go do something whereby we would most likely be focused on other people and other stuff with perhaps a little bit of chit chat here and there. I told the person I didn’t much care what we did. I simply wanted to be with the person.

Then I realized I also had had an idea of something we could do together whereby we would likely be engaged with other people and other stuff. Nothing wrong with other people and other stuff, so to speak, and enjoying it as we shared time with one another, but in my heart what I wanted most was to simply enjoy the love, company, and fellowship we would have if we simply enjoyed each other’s presence.

How do you suppose the Lord feels when we spend so much of our lives occupied with other people and other stuff, when we do nothing more than try to squeeze Him in here or there, when He is not a priority but He is everything but, when in our time with Him if we take alone time with Him at all we are distracted, and when we don’t simply take the time each and every time to enjoy the love, grace, majesty, and beauty of His glorious presence?

This all made me think. Hope it does the same with you.

But I hope we don’t stop with thinking about it. I hope we make any changes we need to make to be more and more pleasing to the Lord and to more and more not take for granted – and learning to truly enjoy – the loveliness and wonder of being in His loving, merciful, powerful precious presence.

TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE

SERVING UP GOD’S FRUIT

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

New York City where I currently am for my streets ministry work is more filled with restaurants than any place I’ve probably ever been. I don’t spend much time in restaurants for financial reasons and because I’d rather be on the streets preaching the Gospel or indoors writing for Christ and enjoying the company of my beloved special needs streets ministry doggies, but one thing I know is the restaurants have a seemingly endless array of items on their menus! And many of those restaurants have waiters and waitresses who receive wages and tips to serve those who come in to eat what is offered.

When I think of serving the Lord and others, I tend to think of the physical ways in which we do both. In my case, that means going out to talk to people about Jesus and then writing, writing, writing and publishing my Gospel tracts, devotionals, and books. For others, serving the Lord and others might mean ministering to people in nursing homes, reading to the blind, babysitting the kids on Sundays at church, teaching Sunday school, working with autistic children in a Christian group home, coaching soccer and praying before games, helping with natural disaster recovery and relief in the name of Christ, etc. Active, physical, concrete service to the Lord and others.

But let us not forget serving up God’s fruit! Please consider the scripture above and how the Lord calls us to live. Should we not serve the fruit of God’s Spirit who lives inside His followers to others? Should we not love, adore, praise, worship, and live for the Lord with these fruits continually being borne in and through us by His Spirit? And should we not serve others with His love pouring in and through us as we serve up these beautiful fruits borne of God?

Absolutely yes! Let us continually surrender ourselves to Christ and yield to His Spirit such that we are serving up the fruits of love, peace, joy, etc.

AMEN!

LATEST MINISTRY UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST

A friend told me some time ago she couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t just go choose a comfortable place, move there, and serve God. The answer is simple. I serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Serving Christ is not about comfort; it’s about Christ. And sometimes serving the Lord has nothing whatever to do with comfort.

I’ve been on the road now for Jesus for about 2.5 years with the Lord, my Bibles, my laptop for my writing for Christ, a small amount of personal belongings, my beloved special needs streets ministry doggies, their supplies, ministry supplies, and a heart filled with love beyond imagination for Jesus and people who need to hear about Him and to receive help in finding and following Him.

Being in New York City means I am constantly dealing with one thing or another. Exceedingly high prices, filth, smells, safety issues, rage, cursing on the streets, roaches, rats, mice, homelessness, crime, lies, worship of false gods, crowds, and on and on. Please don’t get me wrong. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being here right now because of the amazing opportunity I have to tell countless people about Jesus. But it is anything but simple, easy, cheap, comfortable, and clean. Yes, the city is absolutely amazing, wonderful, awesome in many, many ways. But there are challenges beyond measure as well!

How blessed I am in the midst of it all I have never had as many ministry opportunities as I’ve been having, and I am thrilled and humbled beyond measure! I am willing to be uncomfortable for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and telling the world about Him!

Please keep praying for me, my sweet streets ministry doggies, this ministry, the precious few volunteers I have right now, and all the people whose lives the Lord is reaching through my heart and ministry.

love & blessings,

lara