A Message to Teens - Devotion on Matthew 6:22

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. -Matthew 6:22

I love the teens in our church.  I find myself praying for them a lot.  The teen ministry in our church has a spot dear to my heart because I was saved as a teen through the teen ministry in my church.  I can't imagine where I would be now if it weren't for our teen leader that had a burden for me and my friends when we were growing up.  Looking back on my life growing up, though, I see where I walked and I know what a challenge it was for me growing up with no spiritual leadership outside of the church.  I didn't know how to walk.  It's like the baby that gets carried around so much that his development is hindered because he never learns to walk on his own.  It took me 14 years before I learned to walk on my own - 14 years that could have been spent serving the Lord and growing in Him.  There's so much I wish I could share with the teens so they don't have to walk the undirected path that I did, constantly straying from God's way and causing much consternation in my life.  If I could only say one thing to them, it would be this:  focus on God first in your life.  Have a singular focus.  Don't get caught up in the way the world tells us we should go.  Don't get distracted by the temporal things, the popularity issues, the soap opera garbage, the need for newest and coolest toy.  Focus on eternal matters.  When your eye is focused on God, you're life will be filled with light.  It's easier to see in a bright light, right?  You'll see more clearly where you should walk.  You'll see more clearly the sin in your life that needs to be purged.  You'll see God's love more clearly.  I would tell them to focus on God's light.

Walking a leaping and praising God. A devotion on Acts 3:1-9

Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: -Acts 3:1-9




I guess this is more of a motivation than an actual devotion. Have you walked and leapt and praised God today? In the last week? In the last month or even the last year? Two things interesting, or at least motivating, about this story is that the first thing the lame man did was recognize who the blessing was coming from and the second thing that happened was that others saw God's goodness and God's power through the testimony of one walking and leaping and praising God. Some day in heaven, it will be like that - constantly praising God while looking at Him face to face. What a joy that will be! But, it would also be a joy to have a little piece of heaven here on earth and just praise the One who formed you from the dust, who gave you life and breath, who saved you from an eternity in hell. So, go ahead and walk and leap and praise God.

The words of the Lord are pure words. - Devotion on Psalm 12:6-7

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. -Psalm 12:6-7




I read this this morning and it convicted me. I've been tired lately and I've been going through my morning Bible reading with one eye propped open. Sometimes I have to step back and remember that this is God's Word and take it more seriously, and remember how many people had to die so I could read His Word, and how many people don't have access to His Word or how many people are risking their lives to allow people to read His Word. How blessed we are to have such easy access to it!



What does this have to do with diet? Well, I'm a firm believer that as long as you have God first in your life, everything else will fall into place. If I can be on fire for God, it's a lot easier for Him to bless my life and help me when I need help and guide me when I need guidance. So, I wake up and put God first and return to my first love. I love Him with all my heart and pray for success in the other areas of my life.

Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk - Devotion on Psalm 143:8

Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. -Psalm 143:8

I love reading Psalms.  I love reading it any time of the day, but especailly in the morning, when the day is new and I'm watching the sunrise.  David is one of my favorite heroes of the Bible.  To me, he's so real, so human, and yet in the midst of his strife, he's still looking to God for guidance and searching for God's will in his life.  This should be my prayer every morning:  cause me to know the way wherein I should walk.  I think sometimes I get so wrapped up in all of the minutia that I forget that the minutia is what is causing God's will to evolve in my life.  The just shall live by faith, right?  There has to be something that keeps me praying, or I'd just become a lazy Christian.  My pastor always says that the best place to be is smack dab in the center of God's will for your life.  So, in the midst of the storm, and all the craziness that is my life, I live by faith.  I seek God, and pray for His will to be accomplished in my life.

Be the nail and not the hammer - Devotion on Matthew 5:11-12

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. -Matthew 5:11-12

I was just thinking about this verse because the other night, I was talking with a lady who was trying really hard to get me to gossip and complain.  Have you ever been in that situation?  It's uncomfortable to say the least.  It's hard not to fall into that trap - you know, the dig up the dirt mode.  Human nature makes you want to be superior, which makes you want to gossip and complain.  It's a pride thing.  So, this woman was complaining about a couple of people who had done something wrong to her.  She was also trying to compare her situation to something that had been going on in my life.  I told her that I had prayed a lot about the situation and had prayed not to be bitter and the Lord worked on me.  I related a story about when my mother in law was living with us before she died - let's just say that she really didn't like me too much.  She was closing in on 80 and she had many health problems and my husband had been taking care of her for many years, and then, all of a sudden, he had a social life and a wife.  She didn't handle it very well.  She was often mean to me.  There were times that I would just walk out of the house and take an hour long walk to pray because she would get me so angry.  Then, one day on the way to work, I heard a radio preacher say that too often, Christians want to be the hammer and not the nail.  What a difference that made in how I handled the situation.  That brought me to this verse.   I know that this is more about religious persecution, but if these men were supposed to rejoice in what they were going through, certainly I should be able to rejoice in what I was going through.  Not only was I to be the nail, I was supposed to rejoice and be glad.  The more I prayed about it, and prayed for my mother in law, the more I realized that I was in the midst of God's will for my life and at least I could rejoice in that.  Every time my mother in law said something mean, it really didn't bother me anymore.  It's a neat thing when you can endure things, just by knowing that you're in the center of God's will, and endure them happily.  My nature is to fight back, but God is supernatural.  He tempers me and molds me into the person that He wants me to be, if only I will be the nail and not the hammer.

Proverbs16:31 - Getting Old

The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. -Proverbs 16:31




Okay, this kind of has nothing to do with losing weight, but I guess since this is all about lifestyle, in a way, it has everything to do with losing weight. Techically, my head isn't hoary, yet, and that's not because I dye. I inherited good genes from my mother, who didn't go grey until she was well into her 50's. I just feel old today, though. I should rejoice in whatever state I am in, old or not, but today I just have a little bit of a hard time rejoicing. I'm 43 now and I'm at this weird time in life - I'm no longer a kid, but I feel like a kid. I don't feel like I have the wisdom of an adult. My body seems to be past the time of bearing children, but I'm not ready to let that go yet. I feel like in many ways, I've grown in the Lord, but at the same time I feel like I'm no where near where I should be. I've chosen today to be a day of fasting, to search the Lord for direction in my life, to make sure I'm staying in the center of His will, to make sure I'm finding my grey hairs in the way of righteousness.

Praising with Joyful Lips - Psalm 63:5-7

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
-Psalm 63:5-7
I love the Lord. He is such an awesome God. It's kind of funny - when you're going through something in your life, something that you're searching out the Lord for, you just 'happen' to come across all these verses that pertain to what you're searching about. I was reading Psalms today and I came across this verse and just had to laugh. God does have a sense of humor, as well as a sense of what I need. Is anyone out there an emotional eater? I am. I use food to socialize, to comfort, to minister to others, to nurture. When in doubt, cook. That's me. I'm working on nurturing in a more constructive, healthier way now. But there's still that emotional eating thing.... I guess I should memorize this verse to go back to when that emotional eating trigger kicks in. While food is a very tangible way to satisfy the soul, a deeper, more satisfying way to satisfy the soul is in the Lord. I know that when I read the Bible and pray and really meditate on the Lord, there's nothing else that can fill me with such fullnesss. There's nothing else that can create in me the need to praise with joyful lips.