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Devotions
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Learning From The Past - Preparing For The Future!
"And beside
this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance
patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For
if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was
purged from his old sins." (2 Peter 1:5-9 KJV)
I love both 1st and 2nd Peter.
They are such encouragement to me. In this verse, we are encouraged to keep gaining knowledge. Keep growing and
as we grow we become closer to the Lord. As we grow we learn from past mistakes. As we grow we become better Christians.
We are still going to make mistakes, but we will learn from them and we will help others who travel down that same road.
My husband and I were talking
last night at dinner about being satisfied. When is enough - enough? We were discussing how people will let you
down - but the Lord never let's us down. Yes, our circumstances may get us down - but the Lord will never let us
down. As I mentioned yesterday, any valley we face is to draw us closer to God not further away. I've noticed
people leaving the church and going somewhere else because someone hurt their feelings or the Pastor let them down.
I want to just throw my own opinion in here - been there done that! Listen, if we go to church just to have a social
hour we are going for the wrong reasons. The only reason to leave a church is if you are not being taught the Word of
God. The congregation and the pastor are just people like us and they make mistakes. We are not to follow man
(Pastor) but THE man (Jesus). Don't worry about those around you. Study God's Word and go to a church
that stands on it. The Lord will work out the rest. Open your heart to what God is saying to you ... not what
pride is saying.
In verse 9, the Word tells us, if we are not
studying His Word, we will not realize that the past is just that - past. We need to look at 1st John 1:9 "If we
confess our sins, HE is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins." In the Message, verse 9 says : "Without
these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the
books. " Isn't that so plain and simple? If we are not in God's Word we will just miss the obvious
and we will create our own thoughts. Let the past be the past today. Start reading God's Word and adding to
your faithfulness ...
Have a Blessed Friday. Please continue to pray for
Presley Melton and the Craven family especially in the next couple of weeks. I hope you find yourself in a place of
worship on Sunday ... invite a friend! If you don't attend church, this would be a great week to start. Our
church here in Rock Hill will have a Christmas Cantata Sunday night at 7 PM. Have a great weekend. Love, Tracy
Your Silent Prayer
"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power
of the Holy Ghost". (Romans 15:13 KJV)
As
I was going through my growing list of names on my prayer list I was thinking about this verse. I prayed for family,
I prayed for friends and then I have some people that I don't know personally, but you have asked me to pray for them
- my prayer was simple, Lord, where they have no joy let them feel abundant Joy! Where they do not feel peace, let there
be peace. Where they feel hopeless - let them know you are the source of Hope! Where they feel no strength, let
them know You are the strong tower! Where they feel burdened, let them know you are The Comforter.
 This year so many families are going through difficult times, whether it be a loss, financial strain, marriage problems, etc.
Every one of us probably have something going on or know someone close to us that does. In the Bible it says we are
to bear one another's burdens. We need to lift one another up in prayer. You may not know the difficulties
someone is going through -- but Jesus knows their needs. Just call out their name, Lord, let them feel your peace, Your
Comfort, Your Love ... let them know that You and only You are their Love and their Hope!
I
hope you all have a great Wednesday, please continue to lift Presley up in prayer. Love, Tracy
Are You Willing To Be The Thread? "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is
no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh
righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children
of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word,
I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from
Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."
(Acts 10:35-38 KJV)
I don't know if you will find this interesting or not. As I was reading
my Bible for my devotion time this morning and looking at this verse of scripture I was thinking about what the message in
this verse is. As I was thinking about what I was going to be writing I turned my computer on and went to Bible Gateway.net
so I could put in the verse of scripture that I was reading and copy and paste the verse into my e-mail (it saves a little
bit of time). Well, when I had saved that site into my favorites apparently I had read that verse because that is what came
up when I clicked on the web page. Isn't that so like God confirming in us what needs to be done?
Have you ever had an experience like that? You were not sure if what
you were doing was the right thing. You are praying about it - but not really feeling it was right - then BAM, God just starts
putting the pieces of the puzzle together and He confirms every move by placing you on the right path! Our music director
gave us an example of that on Sunday. While I think most of us thought he was going to tell us he was leaving, he was telling
us a story about how God used him to be a thread. This verse to me is about being a thread. Just telling others how God has
moved in your life.
Like this devotion, I am
just a thread - Opening my heart to share His Word and how His Word moves me. It can reach others to realize how much they
need Him. That is the Lords desire for us to just be willing to Go. You know one of my favorite verses ... Isaiah 6:8 "...
Here I am Lord, send me!"
A woman I met
through writing these devotions said and just that, She was a stranger, God used this devotion to get her attention. She found
this devotion by accident (or was it?), the Lord grabbed a hold of her heart, He had been "speaking " to her for
a while and she just ran. She decided to find a church and tried to run from God again, He kept calling. She gave her heart
to Him and has not been the same since. Within 2 days He changed her life, she moved from NYC to the mission field in a 3rd world country where she is serving Him for 6 months. Helping people that
need her - she is a doctor.
It is nothing I
do or did. All I am is a thread. Sometimes I may be I am the eye of the needle. Whatever it takes, Jesus wants us just to
be the willing vessel - everything that takes place in life is because of Him. We may not understand the valley, but pray
to the Lord to reveal His purpose in those times too. He will use you if you are willing. He loves you. No matter how much
you may struggle He is trying to draw you closer to himself. He loves you. He may not be calling
you to a 3rd world country - He's calling you to the mission field right where you are today, in your home, in your office,
in your neighborhood. Right there where you are. Are you willing to be the thread for Jesus?
Have a Blessed Tuesday! I forgot to share with you that I saw Presley on Friday,
she said thank you for all the prayers and please keep them coming. She looked great, but has a long road ahead of her. She
made me chuckle, she said if I could see three people right now, they'd be Derek Jeter, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Craven.
I said well you will see Lindsay again, she said I know, when I get to Heaven and she is the first person I am going to find."
She is a special girl and I am sure the Lord is going to use this tragedy for great things. By the way she had one more message
... BUCKLE UP! Love, Tracy
link
Have a Watchful Eye
"Beware
of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them
by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit;
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:15-20 KJV)
After I read this verse I was thinking about all
these "made up religions" that people have started following ... because of Hollywood and the music industry,
ordinary people have started to show interest in cult like "faiths" like Scientology and Kabbalah. Mystic
beliefs. Scientology ... for example says you can create your own destiny! It defines part of itself as this:
"Each Church of Scientology provides numerous religious services and materials by which
the individual Scientologist can pursue his own personal route to spiritual freedom, either at home or within his local church.
This path is clearly delineated within the scripture of the Scientology religion, works encompassing more than 500,000 pages
of written material, 3,000 recorded lectures and more than 100 films, all authored by the founder of the Scientology religion,
L. Ron Hubbard. It is from this great body of knowledge that the religious technology of
Scientology is derived. By technology is meant the method of application of the principles of something, as opposed to mere
knowledge of the thing itself. This is what is unique and new about Scientology — it comprises a spiritual
technology anyone can learn and apply to better his own existence and condition and that of those around him..."
BOLOGNA! It is a cult. Playing these tapes -
brainwashing these people to trust in "his" theory (L. Ron Hubbard) on how to get through life ... and people are
buying it! Yes, so may get ahead in this life financially, however if they don't know Jesus Christ as their personal
Savior they will die and go to hell. They are lost and will always be looking for satisfaction! If they did know
Jesus, they would not follow these false prophets.
Why is it that people need
to feel accepting of all these "faiths." We live in a whatever makes people happy society and that is wrong.
We need to show people the way to Jesus. You may think, oh I don't care what they believe - I know what I believe.
Well, Jesus said, I am the way ... no one comes to the Father, except through
me. There is no other way. We have to have a personal saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Kabbalah is a part
of the Jewish faith ... they do not even believe Jesus was the son of God. They just thought he was an ordinary prophet.
They believe the Messiah is coming someday. They are missing out.
So
don't be ashamed. Share the gospel today. Don't be ashamed of what Jesus has done for you. Have
a blessed day today. Love, Tracy
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| Devotions |
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| by Tracy Beckham |
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