Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY MONDAY!

I pray all is well with everyone, and you're enjoying the beginning of another workweek. I'm doing well, blessed and highly favored! I had a great weekend, though pretty uneventful. I'm looking forward to the Breakfast Fellowship and Drama Performance this Saturday at Pilgrim’s Baptist Church. The Women For Christ Ministry hosts this event. My Aunt Minister Sabrina Roberts is the Director of the event. If you're free on Saturday morning, please come out and participate, it starts at 9am. I initially thought it was for women only, but I was wrong, men are welcome too. It's free, and there will be Daycare available, so bring the kids if you need to. I had the pleasure of attending last year's event, and it was really nice. Please call 301-873-2500 to RSVP. Actually the RSVP was supposed to be done by Friday, so I guess we better call today. Also, please pray for my Grandmother, she's back in the hospital, the Pneumonia hasn't cleared up completely, but I spoke to her this morning and she's doing well. Have a wonderful day, and be blessed family!

Today's scriptures are about peace through salvation. Let's think about relationships for a moment, any type of relationship, whether husband/wife, parent/child, friendships, etc. For any relationship to work, we must have trust. We expect the people we love to always love us in return, and to never hurt or betray us. Does that always happen? Not at all because we're all human and we make mistakes. With this being said, a true and strong relationship is partly built on forgiveness. In a healthy relationship, we try our best to love, respect, and cherish the people we love. We expect the same in return, but the truth is, we will have disagreements, arguments, and someone may get hurt from our actions. In these cases all we can do is apologize and ask that person to forgive us, and move on to strengthen that relationship. Reconciliation can only come through communication. Now, let's think about our relationship with God. We often times treat that relationship as we would an earthly relationship, and that's where we go wrong. God loves us unconditionally, and with humans, there are all types of conditions that come with our love. Even though we sin and often turn our back on God, He's always waiting on us to merely ask for forgiveness, and repent. This wasn't always the case; before Christ, if you sinned, you had to go through a lot more to be forgiven. God got fed up with that, because He saw too many of His children suffering. He came to earth as a man, took on all sin, and shed His blood to cleanse us from unrighteousness. He did that because He loved us, and wanted to give us peace. He wanted to reconcile our relationship, because for years we were separated from Him. Those of us who know Jesus Christ as our Savior have the awesome privilege of being friends of the Most High God. God is here when we need Him, and all we need to do is call on Him, in the Name of Jesus. Whatever we need He provides, because He wants to be closer than a brother. He did His part to rid us of any barriers that may cause us strife, and He said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Do you ever think that God is upset with us because of something we've done? Have you ever let that deter you from praying? If you have, please don't do that again, because when Jesus was on that cross and dropped His head and said "It's finished" (John 19:30), that's exactly what He meant. Separation from God is finished, penalties of sin are finished, and blood sacrifices are finished. We're one with God, Hallelujah! Don't allow the enemy to keep you away from God any longer, because he's been lying to you far too long. God isn't angry with you for anything, He'll forgive you as soon as you ask Him too. He has a will for your life, and His top priority is making sure you have everything you need to complete that will. If you're at peace, you can better live that abundant life that Jesus died to give you. If you don't know Jesus as your Savior, there's no better time then the present. God has gone through great lengths to bring you back to Him. Say that prayer asking Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, confessing your sins, and accepting His powerful mercy and grace. My favorite verse today is: Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. (Job 22:21)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455117&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=5492525&ct=7532581

I love you!