Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY THURSDAY!

I pray all is well with everyone, and you're enjoying this beautiful Friday eve. Spring is here, hopefully for good this time. The sun is shinning brightly, and I love every minute of it. It's my energy booster, and through it, God has filled my heart with so much joy and love! He's such an awesome God! I'm looking forward to the weekend, nothing planned really, just spending time with family and friends. There are a lot of April birthdays; I'd like to wish my cousins Micheala and Dante, and my friend Michael a happy birthday, all three are on Saturday the 18th. Ms. Pat and my friend Reggie's birthday is tomorrow, happy birthday to you as well. If I missed anyone I apologize, happy birthday! I pray you have a wonderful day, enjoy the sunshine!

Today's scriptures are about our deep dark days. Nobody ever said life would be easy. We have several stories in the bible about people who experienced some rough and dark days, especially in the book of Psalms. Some of these chapters were written when the Psalmist were at their lowest point, where it seemed like there was nowhere else to go, but to God. They were tired, afraid, angry, and felt hopeless and helpless. I know the feeling very well, and I've been there many times before. I've experienced a lot in my short time on this earth, and some of it could've been avoided had I listened to God. I was saved at a very young age, and was baptized on my 15th birthday, so I've known God all of my life. He's been talking to me, and my Holy Spirit has been guiding me for a long time. Most of the mistakes I've made, and still make, I know better. As you may already know I'm very independent, I like to think that I could make my own decisions, and most of them I consider to be good ones. What I sometimes forget is God's decisions are way better. In the past, if things were going well for me, I would put God to the side, and go on "enjoying life", or "having fun". I still prayed, but not as often. I still went to church, but not every Sunday. God knows that I could be a slacker sometimes, so He sometimes allows a little pain in my life to gain my attention. Or, when I isolated myself from Him, I couldn't hear my Spirit warning me against making a stupid mistake. Either way, it took me to fall deep in depression before I realized that God was the only way to get out, and stay out. That's how it is for a lot of us. We're too busy doing our own things, that we become numb to our Spirit. We’re not being still long enough to hear Him speaking. We're not praying, meditating, or studying the word, so we might miss something He may try to teach us. David wrote a lot of these Psalms we’re referencing today. The story can be found in 1 & 2 Samuel. God promised David that he would be King, and for some reason King Saul vowed to kill David. God told David not to worry He'll keep Him safe. David was so afraid that he fled the country anyway. He went to another land and built a whole new life, he got married and had children. Some time later, while he and his soldiers went away on a trip, Saul’s army came through his town and destroyed the entire village, and killed his wife, children, and other family and friends. We could only imagine the type of pain David was feeling, when he wrote these Psalms. He was at the lowest point of his life; he lost his family, and all of his worldly possessions. All he could do was cry out for help from God. God had already promised he would be king, and had a wonderful life setup for him, all he had to do was trust Him, and He could've avoided all of that pain. Have you ever had your David moments? That's where a lot of our pain comes from. God tells us something loud and clear, and we hear Him, but we have our own agenda. We think our way is better, so we blatantly ignore His calling, just as the people of Israel did. Then we end up just like them, wandering around the same mountain for 40 years until, or like David, we experience extreme pain and hardship, until we have no other choice but the cry out to Him. Some of you may be going through a lot of pain right now. The only way out is to go to God; He's the way, the truth, and the light! He's waiting to be gracious to us! The book of Ecclesiastes is one of my all time favorites, because the Author breaks life down in a way that all of us can understand. There's a time and place for everything, and we mustn’t think more of ourselves than we should. He said we should "eat, drink, and be merry", because all of the stress, and overworking for no reason is vanity; it's senseless, especially if it isn't in God's will for our lives. We'll save ourselves so much pain and heartache, by seeking the Kingdom first, and keeping our hearts and minds open to His guidance. He loves us, and never want to see us hurt, but He also loves us enough to chastise us. Keep Him on the throne of your life, and you'll have nothing to worry about. If you don't know Jesus then that's the first step to take, He's the remedy to everything that ails you. If you need a prayer partner, let me know. My favorite verse today is: I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalms 27:13)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2454938&dtype=Scripture
http://www.intouch.org/site/pp.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943197
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4949629&ct=6865987

I love you!