Category: Video-Devotions

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A New Song

Lately, I’ve been caught up in a book by Pastor Jack Hayford titled, A New Time and A New Place: Practical Truth for Personal Growth from the Book of Ruth. 

Ruth has long been one of my favorite Bible characters. But as I read Pastor Jack’s commentary, I learned something I’d never seen, which is this: 

When Ruth’s late father-in-law (and Naomi’s late husband), Elimelech, departed with his family from Bethlehem in search of provision during a famine, by default, he departed from God’s provision. 

As the story goes, Bethlehem means “the house of Bread.” It was the area, in which God had ordained Elimelech to be blessed. But Elimelech didn’t trust God at His Word to provide during what seemed impossible. So, Elimelech sought provision his own way and went outside of God’s boundaries of blessing to Moab. And, like all unbelief (sin), his own actions ended in death.

God knew what would happen to this family. He saw their end and their new beginning; and He kept His best provision for them in Bethlehem the whole time.

In His mercy and grace, God had a new song for Elimelech’s survivors. As Pastor Jack puts it, God “seeks what was lost and redeems what was forsaken.”

So, God worked through Elimelech’s wife, Naomi, to turn her back to the “house of Bread,” and Ruth was determined to go with her. I believe God put that determination in Ruth, in part, to bless Naomi forward (Ru 4:17).

I also believe God worked in both of their hearts to prepare them long before this pivotal moment, because God will not have His people enter into a prepared, purposed place of blessing unprepared. 

His timing allows for preparation of hearts. 

Just like in 2 Timothy 2:21 TPT, I believe they were “prepared for every good work” God had for them and that He made them instruments for “honorable use.” 

In this light, I believe that, right now, God is clearly and outwardly delineating those, who have come away from what is dishonorable, and is aligning them for honorable use.

I believe God is leading His submitted ones, like Ruth and Naomi, to align with those who worship Him in truth, like Boaz, and that this is imminent (Is 58:7).

Song of Songs 2:10-13 TPT describe this calling poetically by saying:

The one I love calls to me:

Arise, my dearest. Hurry, my darling. 

Come away with me! 

I have come as you have asked

to draw you to my heart and lead you out.

For now is the time, my beautiful one.

The season has changed,

the bondage of your barren winter has ended,

and the season of hiding is over and gone.

The rains have soaked the earth 

and left it bright with blossoming flowers. 

The season for singing and pruning the vines has arrived. 

I hear the cooing of doves in our land, 

filling the air with songs to awaken you

and guide you forth.

Can you not discern this new day of destiny

breaking forth around you?

The early signs of my purposes and plans

are bursting forth. 

The budding vines of new life

are now blooming everywhere.

The fragrance of their flowers whispers,

“There is change in the air.”

Arise, my love, my beautiful companion,

and run with me to the higher place.

For now is the time to arise and come away with me.

Naomi and Ruth hearkened to God’s call. 

Their heart-walk of true repentance unfolded one step at a time as they wisely stepped forward in faith, believing God still had provision in His house of Bread for them. They believed God’s Word and He ordered the steps of these prepared women right into their prepared setting (1 Co 2:9).

Their full-circle return to God’s way proved exponentially fruitful and went beyond themselves. This is what He has for us, too, when we return more fully to Him and His provision His way.

In Ruth and Naomi’s story, we see a commitment to obedience. And blessing was their reward. Their story lives on with a legacy that extends beyond even today. 

It’s marked by Isaiah 58:11 TPT, which says, “Yahweh will always guide you where to go and what to do. He will fill you with refreshment even when you are in a dry, difficult place. He will continually restore strength to you, so you will flourish like a well-watered garden and like an ever-flowing, trustworthy spring of blessing.

Their story reminds us that survivors are to come away from their former existence into the new wine God has for them. It reminds us that He has bread beyond the bread of mourning. It reminds us that God offers us beauty for ashes and true life that will prove greater than man’s deadly reasonings and traditions. 

God has a whole, new family for those who do His will. But it requires integrity of heart, courage and forward movement in His time and wisdom on how to proceed.

It’s for every willing heart that says, “Yes, Lord.”

To God be the glory. 

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Light Source

Most recently, Holy Spirit has been highlighting gray areas to me for the purpose of turning up His light in preparation for new assignments. 

During quiet time, He revealed that there are some who have slowly “withered,” day-by-day, because they have not remained in the level of God’s Glory light required to keep gray areas adrift.

Many have settled into the gray atmosphere of lingering compromise in battle and have stepped out to interact with darkness without God’s protection.

Since God promises “life and deliverance” to those who are faithful to Him to the end, we must stand on The Rock and live out our salvation throughout our course (Matt 10:22). 

God is now advancing us into a new-wine trajectory. Therefore, we must let go of every residue of hindrance as guided by Holy Spirit. 

We can:

1. Repent of self-justified gray areas, such as strife behind closed doors, bad attitudes, unforgiveness or running out ahead of God. (Ask Holy Spirit to reveal hidden areas to us.) 

2. Let go of dead things, like Ruth, and move into the re-establishment of new life (Jn 11:25). (Dead things are whatever God has taken from us and is finished with in our lives.)

3. Believe like Joshua and Caleb to enter into His promises. (Holy Spirit is purifying, pruning and refining us right now. We must decide whether we will stay in the familiar or go forward into the unknown.)

4. Know that Jesus is already where He’s sending us and that the works He promised will prove to be miraculous beyond what we know now.

So, if we want to live in God’s abundant life, we must let go of the low-level fears, insecurities and flesh conflicts that open the door to provoke and devour. We must rise higher and be made whole in God’s Glory Presence. 

Remember that His Glory Presence is a fire that darkness cannot withstand (Jn 1:5). It’s the only safe place for us right now and always (Joel 3:16). We are not to be provoked out from under it. We are not to settle for less than what God has for us forward. 

And we cannot blame God for what we bring on ourselves by our own ignorance, deception and disobedience. 

We must realize that our own rationale works in opposition to God’s wise ways, as He calls us to trust Him in faith and obedience and grow beyond what we know and the troubles we’ve been through. 

Releasing emotional triggers to God for Him to deal with requires trust and self-control and grows us in His peace.

God will bring fruit, not failure, when we exercise our faith in Him. He has great exploits for us on His earth. And if we cannot grow past tests that are small in His eyes, we will not be in position to join Him in greater exploits.

When chaos lingers, going vertical becomes punctuated. So, we must seek and find Him in the midst. He is a mystery to be revealed. And as we pursue God, He offers us His full provision.

Anything less grieves Him. 

Returning to His Glory Presence changes us dramatically from the inside out. It burns off the dross. So, we don’t settle for gray residue when light is our portion, and we can receive a level of brightness that sears all matters of gray.

Are you ready to allow God to burn away impurities from your soul?

If you’ve never experienced His profound, Glory Presence, it’s easy to do. Just get alone with Him in your secret place and worship Him until you can feel His tangible Presence. 

It’s important that you focus entirely on Him, not on yourself or your problems. 

Begin to thank Him for who He is and what He has done. You can express how much you appreciate Him and speak affirmations of His character to Him. You can even call Him by His many Names. You can bow to Him or lay prostrate before Him. You can sing or dance unto Him (Ps 147:7). Just let Holy Spirit lead you. 

You will never be the same. 

Pray with me, if you will . . . 

Dear Lord, 

You are my Source of light and life, and You are worthy to be praised. Thank You for Your Glory Presence that burns away every bit of darkness. 

I trade in my gray areas for Your Glory. I surrender to You what I have been lording over on my own. 

I choose to trust You to be my standard and invite You into every crevice of my soul to fill me and the atmosphere with Your light of love and life.

Overshadow me with Your beautiful Presence, Lord. And help me remain in it with You to be a shining light on the level to which You have called me.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name, 

Amen. 

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Divine Protection

Recently, I was driving down a highway and found myself in the slow lane with a big truck in front of me and one to my left. It was unusual for me to be in this position, and I felt boxed in. In a flash, a thought came to me that maybe God was protecting me. 

Minutes later, I was able to switch lanes and get out of the “box” only to see a big, black SUV pass me in the fast lane. The SUV was tailing a small, white car. The word “Sheriff” was written on the side of the SUV.

So, I started speaking mercy and grace out loud in my car over these drivers. Sure enough, the SUV’s blue lights came on, flashing all over. And they both pulled over. 

If you’ve ever been in the position of the white car—and I have—you know that sinking feeling. And, quite honestly, I was surprised God had me covered that day in this way. Because He hasn’t always done that.

But Holy Spirit used this situation to awaken me to the protection He’s extending now for those who are coming into their life-long destinies. 

Hours later, after I reached my destination, Holy Spirit revealed more to me, which is this . . . 

By His grace, God is moving on our behalves to keep us in His peace, because the peaceful inherit His Kingdom. One way He’s doing this is by putting boundaries around us.

A key scripture here is Psalm 32:7 TPT, which says, “Lord, you are my secret hiding place, protecting me from these troubles, surrounding me with songs of gladness! Your joyous shouts of rescue release my breakthrough. Pause in his presence.”

A second way God is keeping our peace is to help us stay the course with our eyes on Him. 

The key scripture here is Isaiah 26:3 AMPC, which says, “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.”

A third way God is keeping our peace, so we can come into our harvests, is by allowing an external sifting. 

Holy Spirit revealed that this is a critical time of fulfillment and He doesn’t want any distractions in our lives. I believe our destinies are so near and important that He will scatter those sent to trigger us out of focus and onto sin. 

Holy Spirit revealed that the closer we get to taking the land, God will separate the wheat from the tares, His obedient followers from the stubborn troublemakers, His Joshuas and Calebs from the unbelieving communities. 

We’re at a time, right now, where the tares will reveal themselves. They will not be able to disguise themselves any longer. They will be made obvious to us at pivotal moments, and God will reveal His corresponding boundaries to us. 

In doing this, God is protecting us from those who would come against us but He is also protecting them. He knows what can happen to those who come against His anointed, and He doesn’t want anyone to perish but to turn to Him and live out their blessed salvation, even if it means living with less than He intended. 

There are people who cannot go with us. There are people with whom we cannot remain. There are some assignments where God will cut people out and away, so they can grow forward into a role that ultimately blesses them and others that they had to leave behind. Joseph’s story is a great example of this. 

So, in short, there are people God must distance (or remove entirely) from us so He can bless us and bless them, beginning with greater peace. In relationships, where people push our buttons or pull our triggers, we can expect to see new God-ordained boundaries come into place. God will do this to clarify direction for all parties and position everyone to depend more on Him. 

Our attitude should be one of humility, because we want to remain on His side of mercy and grace. We want to remain in His beauty set before us and align with Him quickly during big shifts (He 12:2). No matter what may fall away, we can determine to yield to God’s wisdom and move forward with Him in peace.

So, pray with me if you will. . . 

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for Your divine protection that covers me and those around me. Have Your will and way in my life and in theirs. Help me to awaken and follow You where You desire to lead me. Help me to see it all Your way and continue to sync with You in Your peace. 

In Jesus’ Mighty Name, 

Amen. 

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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God’s Last Laugh

God rejoices over us and over the power of His final Word in our lives (Is 62:5). He invites us into this happy place with Him to celebrate triumph.

Recently, I awakened in the morning to hear God’s laughter, and I began to laugh with Him. His laughter is a contagious release that has the power to lift us above our tired perspectives. It brings new life and fresh vision. 

It brings His strength of joy in a unique way.

Holy Spirit highlighted a corresponding scripture, then confirmed it by two witnesses later the same day. The scripture was Mark 10:27 TPT, which says, “Jesus looked at them and replied, ‘With people it is impossible, but not with God—God makes all things possible!'”

So, with rejoice as an awakening, as it was in my case that morning, God alerts us to His powerful truth of timing for events. He knows He has been leading us up to a single day, in which He will catapult His faithful ones from former and present ties into their futures. He excitedly reminds us of a sudden release of freedom for major fulfillment of promises.

With rejoice as a powerful weapon, God invites us to rejoice with Him for the victory He brings, has brought and will bring. When we know His secrets that defeat the enemy, it’s easier to laugh with God. And the more we walk out His secrets with Him, the more fortified in Him we become. And the more outward expressions of victory we’ll experience. 

With rejoice as a celebration, God is reminding us that, when others around us fail us, His plan has not failed. In fact, it will multiply on our behalves as dead weight falls away. The lies of loss do not bear witness in God’s Kingdom. Disappointments are only seeds planted for a greater return when we continue to believe in Him. 

So, we can celebrate now what God has done for us, is doing for us, and will do for us, as His rejoice shines a whole new light on our lives and invites us up and onward.

We can remember that, when God releases His rejoice back to us like this, it’s a marker between past and future. It’s an alert that He’s rewarding us for our endurance and is positioning us even more acutely to enter into the imminent manifestation of His personal promises to us.

Some have already experienced God’s winds of change and have even connected with people pertinent to God’s plan for them. But, even so, it’s just the beginning of a new life with more to come. And for those still waiting, it will happen as you continue to follow The Lord.

This new-life experience will be a place where we will see and do life differently than before, because we’ve learned to process life more God’s way (Ro 6:4 AMP). When more of the foolish things around us fall away, it’s a revealing that we have entered into greater wholeness, the outward expressions of which are just before us.

It’s time to live out this transformed, recreated life described in Ephesians 4:23-24 TPT, which say, “Now it’s time to be made new by every revelation that’s been given to you. And to be transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ-within as your new life and live in union with him! For God has re-created you all over again in his perfect righteousness, and you now belong to him in the realm of true holiness.”

So, be ready for the big shifts coming. You will not be left behind as long as you continue to believe and obey God’s instructions. Release any falsehood and keep a Caleb heart of wholeness toward God and His endeavors (Ep 4:25).

Since God is our first husband (Is 54:5), nothing can break our covenant bond with Him. When we submit to Him as our Heavenly Husband, we soar with Him. Anyone or anything that tries to come against is influenced by the enemy and is already defeated. 

We can pray they repent and receive divine revelation before they experience the consequences of their behavior. So, just keep going with God, guiltless and without condemnation, and He’ll lead you right into His personal promises to you. 

In this we can rejoice.

So, pray with me if you will . . . 

Dear Lord, 

Thank You that, as my Bridegroom, you rejoice over me (Is 62:5 AMP). Thank You that Your Word is final over my life, bringing forth the fulfillment of Your promises. Thank you for loving me so much that You invite me to rejoice with You every step of the way. Help me, Lord, to laugh with You even more.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name, 

Amen

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Resolution

Recently, my husband and I went to see the movie Jesus Revolution.

I found it to be a good illustration of getting unstuck from ruts and growing up and out in our Lord. 

Coming up higher means surrendering our ways and living out His. We have to find resolve to grow, and this requires humility, courage, fresh insight and obedience. 

Resolution can mean “a decision or determination” or mental “firmness of purpose” (Dictionary.com).

Resolution puts change into action. It’s the foundation for defining moments. It’s part of revolution, which can be a result (fruit) of a great awakening. 

Un-resolve holds us back. It’s a prison of arrogance and is derived from our flesh, fueled by the enemy of our souls through lies. 

Staying stuck in something God is finished with may stop God’s move in our lives when we agree with it, but it doesn’t stop God’s move-at-large. 

Now is the time to step more into the new things God has been inviting each of us into. As we go, we’ll find increasing resolve. It’s a process.

When I consider the main characters in the movie, each found a path of resolve. Each found their unique role and processed beyond their limitations as they walked with Jesus. Much of the time, they were able to work together as they worked it out. But even when they didn’t, they circled back around. 

They purposed to overcome where they were to help others overcome.

Acting out of anything less than faith is not an option. Holy scripture assures us we cannot lose when God is in it and we obey Him. 

Hebrews 13:6 asks us, “What can man do to me?” 

So, we must move as Holy Spirit moves and follow where He leads. We must hear from Him and speak what He says to speak.

One of my favorite lines from the movie is, “Don’t be so arrogant to think that God can’t work through your failures.”

So, we see, even in this, that shame is not an option. We must rise above it and let God shine through our mistakes. We already know His grace is strongest when we are weakest and that He uses the foolish things to confound the wise. 

There isn’t one among us who hasn’t sinned and fallen short of His grace. So, we’re in good company. And anyone who rises in arrogance and judges us will be judged by God. So, who cares what they think of us? Ultimately, it’s not about us. It’s about God and what He does in, through and for us.

Yes, we can expect some former “friends” to fall away. We can let them fall, pray for them and be on our way. So, what if they didn’t get their way. God’s way is the only way that matters. All must align or fall into a pit of their own making. When people are ready to rise and align with God, they will. 

Old wine skins are not an option either. This movie is a good portrayal of a new wine skin that looked nothing like anyone expected. God’s glory will surpass limited old establishments that will prove to be the stumbling blocks in their defining moments. We must decide whose side we’re on and move in that direction.

So, do we care about the next generation to meet them in new ways, right where they are? Jesus does. What excuse do we have to say, “No”?

“None,” says The Lord of Hosts.

In the process of stepping into the new, we’ll be humbled; and we must firmly decide to keep going in the right direction. It’s about serving others as Jesus did. And as we go and serve them, Jesus serves us. 

We’ll need His counsel and wisdom. We’ll need His Presence to break through strongholds and minister sufficiently to those seeking something better than what they’ve known—fresh resolve that comes only by God. 

What resolve must you come into to step up? Where are you looking to find revolve? There’s only one true way to break through. It’s Jesus, who embodies the grace-power to make all things new. 

Holy Spirit, can take us where we could never go on our own or with any other human. He’s bigger than our problems and higher than even drugs can take us. He is larger than pre-formed establishments and greater than our best vision. He is above our own finite knowledge and the only One powerful enough to make our dreams come true.

He alone can get us where He knows we need to be to do, through us, what only He can. 

So, pray with me, if you will . . . 

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for the invitation to set me free and to be a part of something greater than myself. Something that honors You. Please help me to receive Your invitation, lean into You in the messy middle and grow in You as I go with You to help others. Help me to be committed, to humble myself and to step into the new You have for me.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.