Today's Devotion

Verse-1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Thoughts-
When we pray we say; use me Lord; I will go anywhere. Truth is sometimes we really mean use me Lord as long as it is in my community, in my comfortable circle of friends. We find excuses why we cannot visit those that are hospitalized, or in a nursing facility, or prison. Fact is many times we obey when we want to. We forget who is the Master and who is the servant. We get the attitude that God needs us. Well, He doesn't. If we refuse to do what He calls us to do heaven will not be shaken and His work will not fail. God gives us a choice. Whichever way we choose carries its own reward; blessing or curse it is up to us. Deuteronomy 11:26-28. Choosing to obey may be uncomfortable, we may not like it, it may mean going where we really don't want to go, loving those who are difficult and reject our love, forgiving the unforgivable. But we will reap the rewards of blessings.

A Christmas Devotion by J.Zavada

Jesus Our Hope
"We have lasting hope through the salvation we have in Christ ... Hope means that even when it looks like it's all over, it's not all over yet. That's why the Bible says we can rejoice even in our tribulations. God is working in our hard times to produce proven character and hope in us."
-Dr. Tony Evans

Verse-Psalm 33-22
Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

For millions of people, the Christmas season means nothing more than parties, gifts, decorations, and time off work.
For Christians, however, this time of year is a happy reminder of the hope we have because of Jesus Christ.
Before Jesus came, God seemed distant, hidden in the Holy of Holies in the temple, accessible only to the high priest. Worshippers wondered whether their sacrifices were acceptable. They doubted their salvation.
Christ means hope—to the person out of work, to the struggling single mother, to the dying believer. Even if you're just slogging your way through the dissapointments of life, if you have Jesus, you have hope. And he is not a false hope, a childish fairy tale that we wish will have a happy ending. When Christ rose from the dead, that ended the argument. Period. Our hope in him is solid and it is real.
Christmas is a renewal of that hope. It reconfirms it for us if our vision has grown dim. It was settled long ago, so we don't have to doubt any more. Jesus is the fulfillment of our hope, our deepest longings come true.
Jack Zavada

The Wise Woman

TODAY's DEVOTION I received in an email:
The Wise Woman

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own
hands the foolish one tears hers down." Proverbs 14:1

How do you build your house?

We all have a mental picture of how we want our
"house" to be: in other words how our kids should
behave, how our husband will respond to our needs,
how orderly our lives are, etc. Did you know that
even though our goals may be right, our labor may
be in vain?

For example, we may want to build a close family,
but instead of nurturing those relationships with
patience and understanding, we tear them down with
judgment and criticism. Although we desire to enjoy
our children, we schedule ourselves crazy toting
them around to so may events, games and practices
that we fall into bed exhausted at night and wake
up one morning wondering where 18 years and our
children went.

God created us women to be the "suitable helper"
- the completer - of our husband. But instead of
building him up to be all God made him to be,
we get too busy trying to fix him! Instead of
trusting God to grow him up spiritually we try
to be his Holy Spirit. Instead of exhorting him
to be the leader of the family God called him to be,
we insist on controlling or manipulating him.

Have you been building your house with love and
encouragement? Are you like warm sunshine when
your kids find you after a long day? When your
hubby comes home, weary from slaying dragons all
day, are you like a breath of fresh air for him?

Build your house like the wise woman: Bite your
tongue more, smile more. Slow down. Laugh more.
Listen lots more. Become their biggest fan.
Encourage often. Then your house will go up brick
by beautiful brick, The peaceful, happy place
your family wants to come home to.

Remember the three little pigs? The one who built
his house with bricks was wise: although the wolf
huffed and puffed, his house stood strong. Yours
will too - for generations to come - if you don't
tear it down first.

~Sandra