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Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

Am I growing or eroding in who I am becoming?

This journey of life was meant to be traveled with Jesus. He wants to direct our footsteps. He desires to share the journey and travel through each season with us. As life crowds in, and the worries of the world bombard us, we often forget that Jesus is right there beside us. Walking with Jesus will cause us to grow in our character.

A wise woman grows in her walk with God.

As she grows she asks God to fill her with a loving adoration for her God. She desires God’s truth to be revealed in her life.  She searches to understand God’s ways and to walk in them. She faces reality and looks truth square in the face, knowing Jesus walks with her.

She lives her life with an attitude that says “Yes, Lord”.

A woman who desires to grow in her walk with God will make time to schedule appointment times to spend with Him. She looks to His Word and listens for His still, small voice to speak to her.

She enjoys time talking and listening to God in prayer. Her life will become her worship as she responds to the greatness of God!

“Humility and the fear of the LORD brings wealth, honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4).

To grow in the fear (awe) of the Lord ask Him to increase your love for Him and your desire for His Word. The deep desires of your soul will be met as you grow in walking with the Savior.

Father God,
I do desire to know You better. Yet my schedule is so full I hardly have time to read Your Word. I pray on the run. Thank you that You  still hear and answer. I know that the deep refreshment I long for is available in Your presence. Increase my desire to spend some quiet time before You. Grow in me the desire to be truthful in my inner being about the ways I need Your help and wisdom. Help me to grow in my attitude of allowing You to shape my character and my life. Show me Your awesomeness once again. Renew my love for You. I want to draw near. In Jesus’ powerful name I pray, amen.

Questions: As life crowds in, and the worries of the world bombard us, how can we walk with Jesus that will cause us to grow in our character? Are you growing or eroding in who you are becoming?

About the Author Gail Rodgers

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

Read: Matthew 6:25-34

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

Everyone worries, but do we need to? In this powerful passage, Jesus uses illustrations from nature to answer this question.  Have you ever seen birds store food in barns? Or have you seen lilies work to clothe themselves? If you have, it may be time to worry, because this shows that God no longer cares about his creation.  But the good news is, you haven’t seen lilies struggle to dress themselves or watched birds plant, harvest, and stockpile food. And if God cares for them, how much more will he provide for us?

It’s easy to let useless worries and “what ifs” consume our thoughts and crowd out our confidence in God as provider. But Jesus says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). Jesus tells us to place our focus on eternal things rather than temporal needs.

So why worry? God is Jehovah Jireh, our provider. He knows our needs, and we can trust Him to provide. That frees us to think about building his kingdom rather than fretting about concerns. Let’s allow the worry-free birds and flowers to remind us of God’s constant provision.

Lord Jesus, remove my worries and keep me focused on your  kingdom and your righteousness. You know my needs and will provide.  Thank you. Amen.

Questions: Give some illustrations from the Bible where God talks about the fact that we need not worry. What is generally the result of worry?

About the Author Lydia Harris

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

What does it mean to be crucified with Christ and live by faith?

It is all about surrender.

As believers, we desire to live for Jesus. Yet experience teaches that no matter how hard we try, we continually fall short of the life to which God calls us.
You see, living a life of faith is not dependent on how much we do but rather on how much we allow Christ to do in and through us. Therefore, the essential ingredient in a life lived for Jesus is surrender.

I think of surrender as a deliberate relinquishment of control to God. It is the laying down of my own agenda and choosing to let Him rule my life.

Problems arise when, forgetting my yielding of control over to God, I try to run my own life again.

Thus, I am convinced that surrendering to God needs to be a daily discipline.

Each morning, my day needs to be given to Almighty God.

Moment by moment, my thoughts and emotions need to be submitted to the Holy One.

Every evening, the cares and worries of the day need to be relinquished to the Maker of the universe.

Then, day by day, little by little, I will begin to truly understand what it means to surrender to God.

God, Most High, help me, show me, teach me, how to surrender my life to You, that You may transform it.

Questions: What does it mean to be crucified with Christ and live by faith? What does it mean to live a life of surrender to Christ on a daily basis?

About the Author Suzanne Benner

Connie tapped on the door. A small voice called to her to come in. Connie was amazed at the tidy appearance of the old lady. The pearls and painted nails surprised her somehow. She looked little and alone. The small room in the hospital had become her home. She was grateful for a visitor.

Connie couldn’t help but notice the deep peace on this lady’s face as she told Connie, “God is so good. I’m alone now. It’s just the Lord and me, but I have a ministry here.” And she told her how she had grown to care about the nurses; how they came to put her to bed and stayed to have her pray with them. Though there was a longing to go to be with her Lord, there was also contentment. God’s peace and His love were very much alive in that little room.

As Connie started her car in the parking lot, she realized that her heart was lighter. She had gone out of duty and with a weary heart, but God had met her there and refreshed her spirit through a little granny.

Her morning Bible reading flooded back to her mind. It had been the story of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. (John 13: 10-17) Jesus had demonstrated this giving task and then said,

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”(John 13:17).

The lesson was clear to her now. God had shown her tonight. In reaching out to others, we move beyond our own self-consumed worries and find blessing. She was glad she had gone. Nothing in her circumstances had changed. But in her spirit she had found an unexpected lift that lightened her step. Yes! God is so good!

Today, ask God who is on His heart in the circle you move in. Reach out to someone. Lighten their load with a word of encouragement or some small deed. It’s the way God works in blessing you and those around you.

Heavenly Father, You know me better than I know myself. You know that in giving I truly do receive. Forgive me for my worry. Help me to trust You to guide me through my circumstances and help me to keep an outward eye to those around me. Thank You for the happiness that comes as I reach out and purposefully touch the lives of those near me. Make me a blessing today. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Questions: Who does God bring to mind that would be blessed from a visit from you?  How can we become more sensitive to the needs around us? Can you give an example of a time when you were blessed as you went to see someone even though you felt inconvenienced at the time?

About the Author Gail Rodgers

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, He Loves to Be With the Ones He Loves, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30am EST.

While a prisoner in Rome, Paul wrote the Philippians a letter that sounds like a shout of victory. Its theme is joy and rejoicing in the Lord.

Paul knew the secret of victory over anxiety and depression. After telling the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord always, he advised them not to worry about anything, but to bring everything in prayer to the Lord with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). Then, instead of being worried and depressed, the Christian would have God’s peace (4:7).

Paul was well acquainted with victorious rejoicing in the Lord. When he and Silas were evangelizing in Philippi, they were arrested, beaten, and imprisoned.

In chains in the rat-infested dungeon, they prayed and sang praises to the Lord. Suddenly an earthquake shook the prison’s foundations. The doors flew open; the prisoners were loosed from their shackles.

Similarly, we are loosed from the shackles of depression, anxiety, fears, and worries as we pray and rejoice in the Lord. For how can the flesh keep us down when we are up in the Spirit?

If you rejoice in the Lord every morning, think what a difference it would make in your life. Practice this when you awaken. Tell the Lord you love Him. Then thank and praise Him for every blessing you can think of. Rejoicing in the Lord will soon be a habit.

The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say I again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

Lord God,
Thank you that You alone can break the shackles of discouragement and fear. Today I bring all my worries to You and I thank You for the victory that emerges in my heart as I rejoice in You. Fill my mind and heart with love, thanksgiving and praise to You today. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Questions: What situation do you need to begin praising the Lord in? What will you praise the Lord for today?

About Muriel Larson

Daily podcast: A second daily devotional, Love that Sweats, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog