May 26 Permission to be Human

There are days in ministry when something said, or left unsaid, just stays with you.Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger." —Ephesians 4:26 I used to read that mostly as a warning. But the older I get, the more I hear permission in it.Permission to be human. To feel the weight of a hard conversation or a long week and to bring it to God before the day is done.You don't have to have it all resolved by tonight

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May 25

God is still moving, still healing, still speaking, and still revealing Jesus through His people. Do not allow the pressure of life to make you forget who lives on the inside of you. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, and that means you are not trying to get victory, you are learning to live from victory. Keep your attention on Jesus, keep your heart established in the Word, and expect the life of God to rise up strong in you. You were never cal

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May 23, He'll Be Listening

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.   

Have you ever been in prayer and suddenly had the disturbing sensation that God simply wasn’t listening?

It’s happened to all of us. But few of us know just what to do about it. We just limp along praying the same old prayers, half-hoping those prayers a

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May 24 Prayer

God, thank you for the gift of community. Your Word calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Help me to reflect your love, kindness,and grace to others each day.  Show them who you are through my words and actions.

In Jesus name I pray Amen

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May 23 Don't Waste Time Wondering

Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

- Ephesians 5:17

So many believers wring their hands and worry about whether or not they’re praying according to God’s will. “Oh, dear me,” they say, “I certainly can’t expect God to do something for me that’s outside His will.” And they’re absolutely right.

But they don’t need to waste time standing around looking puzzled. They need to grab their Bibles and find out what the will of God is.

God has ma

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May 22, Walk in the Light You Have

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.- 2 Timothy 3:14

If you’re born again and have the Word of God in your heart, you can live in victory. You may not have all the answers. There may be a great many spiritual things you don’t understand. But it’s not those things that are most likely to destroy you. It’s the things you know to do—but don’t—that usually make you fall.

Just think about walking

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May 21 Step Out of the Boat

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water....

- Matthew 14:28-29

It’s easy to be so afraid of making a mistake that you never get around to stepping out on faith. You can spend all your time wondering, Is this faith? Or is it presumption? What if I exercise my faith for something and find out later I’ve missed God’s will?

Don’t worry. God can

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May 20 Don't Forget the Joy

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

- Philippians 4:4

Years ago, I decided I was going to walk by the Word of God. I told God that, as far as I was concerned, His Word was final and I’d confess it the rest of my life no matter what. That was the most important decision I’ve ever made.

Not too long after that, I decided that no matter what happened, whether I felt like it or not, I’d walk in love. Because the Bible clearly says “faith worketh by love.” It won

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May 19 Priorities of Prosperity

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

- Matthew 6:24

God isn’t against your having money. He’s against money having you. He’s against your making it your priority and putting your trust in it instead of in Him.

Why? Because He knows money makes a lousy god. Its power is limited. It will only buy so much. It will only go so far.

If you need healin

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May 18 Never Fall

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.

- 2 Timothy 2:15

A lot of people have been playing games when it comes to the Word. They claim to be faith people in public. But, in private, they never open the Bible at all. Then, when a time of trouble comes and they try to stand on the Word, they fall flat on their spiritual faces.

Well, the time for playing games is over. It’s time for us to realize that real faith involves action. James 2

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May 17 Head for the Light

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.

- 2 Peter 1:19

So many times when we need insight into a problem, we try to get it by focusing our attention on that problem. We study it. We ponder it. We examine it from every angle. But the Apostle Peter gives us a different approach. He says we should take heed (or focus our attention)

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May 16 Identity with Christ

Luke 8:40-48

The more you fellowship with God around His Word, the more you’ll know the “power outflowing from His resurrection.” You’ll develop joy. You’ll develop faith. You’ll start developing God’s own characteristics...just by fellowshiping with Him. You’ll begin to understand who you really are in Jesus.

I remember one day I was reading the story of the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed.

I’d read the story many times and

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May 15

CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL

Mrk_11:1-11

It was clear from the first that Jesus was a king. He had the royal lineage, the kingly power in helping people, kingly authority over evil, kingly graciousness with the people, wisdom in teaching, the innate sense of authority over his enemies. It was as a king that he hung upon the Cross, rose again out of death, and went back through the blue to his throne. And some day he is coming back to reign over the earth.

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May 14

THE FOCUS

Gal_6:9-18

The whole of the gospel is in the Cross where Jesus died. The horribleness of sin, the hellishness of hate, the tenderness and tenacity of love, the superlative of sacrifice, the Father’s passion for his world, the Son’s unsparing devotion to the Father and to us, the one message for the world, the highest and truest passion of a human heart—all blend in that tremendous act when Jesus gave his life out to the death for us.

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May 13

A GREAT MEETING

Php_2:1-11

The extremest extremes meet in Jesus. He came from the highest down to the lowest; then returned to the highest. The Son of God became the Son of man; the purest of men was treated as the worst; the freest as the bondservant of all; the most loving subjected to the bitterest hatred. But he gladly yielded, for so the worst can become purest, the slave free, and sons of men become sons of God.

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