Thanksgiving Prayer

Heavenly Father, on Thanksgiving Day

We bow our hearts to You and pray.

We give You thanks for all You’ve done

Especially for the gift of Jesus, Your Son.

For beauty in nature, Your glory we see

For joy and health, friends and family,

For daily provision, Your mercy and care

So today we offer this response of praise

With a promise to follow You all of our days.

– Mary Fairchild

WFW...Plan to protect

Proverbs 14:15 “The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.” – NIV

IN MY WORDS “The people that believe everything they hear lack knowledge and wisdom, but the people that think ahead to where they are going are smart, full of wisdom and are making wise decisions for their selves.”

We must plan to protect ourselves from getting into trouble or situations that could cause us to mess up.  Temptations are everywhere we go and everywhere we look.  This sinful world we live in makes it harder each day that passed to stay far away from temptation.

Sometimes we are full of self-confidence and think that we are strong, but in reality we are much weaker than we realize and don’t realize it until it’s too late and the damage has already been done.   We may think that some things in our lives are innocent and wouldn’t pull us into a deathly trap of sin.  Sadly we are wrong about many choices we make that seem harmless, but in reality they are more dangerous than we think.

The bible tells us to plan ahead and think long and hard about our daily choices.  By carefully examining what we allow ourselves to be involved in every day. 

What we allow our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our hearts to soak up will lead us down the path of life or death.  What we expose ourselves to in this sick and twisted world we live in will affect our relationship with God and the path we travel. 

Lamentations 3:40 “let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” – NIV

IN MY WORDS “You should take a survey on the direction you are heading in and inspect closely and question every road you have turned down testing the condition of each direction you have traveled, and then go back to the Lord.”

Where are you going and what are you doing on a daily basis?  What things are you involved in that temptations are much greater than other things that you are involved in?  What are you allowing your eyes, ears & heart to be exposed to?  Are there things in your life that you need to re-consider if they are dangerous and not as innocent as you thought?

Examine your choices and activities in all areas of your life.  Pick through carefully everything that you are exposed to daily.  Make a healthy decision and decide what need to hit the road!  Your life depends on it!

It’s Word Filled Wednesday and I’m linking up on the Internet Café.  Click here for more Word-filled Wednesday posts.

Let us worship

What if the one you loved only told you how much they loved you but never expressed their love?  How would that make you feel?  Would you feel loved? 

When you love someone you want to express your devotion to them.  You want to show them as well as tell them how much you care.  You will put time and energy into expressing their value to you.

Worship is an act of expressing our devotion to God.  It is the state of being dedicated and loyal.  When we worship we are showing and expressing admiration and reverence to God.  We are giving God respect and recognition for who He is and what He means to us (His worth).

Psalm 95:6 “So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us!  Oh yes, he’s our God, and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.” – The Message

Are you showing God your devotion to Him?  How many times this week have you set time aside to worship God?  When was the last time you lifted your hands or bowed down and offered respect, honor and admiration to God by worshiping Him?  How much time and energy do you put into your worship? 

Laced with Grace....Take a snapshot

Today I have shared a devotion over at Laced with Grace entitled “Take a snapshot”.

When you find yourself walking through the valley, don’t forget what it was like on the mountain top. 

When it was all going good – the family was happy, everyone was healthy and everyone was getting along – when the finances were at its best – when your car was running just fine – when all the bills got paid without any struggle – when your health was not giving you any problems – when it wasn’t a sacrifice to pay your tithes - when you and your spouse were back into the honeymoon stage all over again – when everything was just going great and you had everything to smile about – when your faith and hope were at their all time high….then all of a sudden you find yourself walking in darkness wondering what in the world happened to all that faith you had and where on earth did your hope run off to?

It’s easy to have faith in God when everything is going hunky-dory.  I think we can all agree with that!  It’s not hard at all to say everything is going to be okay when you feel like everything is going to be okay.  When you begin to leave the season of inspiration and walk into difficult circumstances, your feelings begin to change.  You begin to feel scared, feel worried, and feel the darkness surrounding you; and everything you have learned and knew before seems to fade into the distance like it never existed and all you know is that you feel like your situation is completely hopeless…... 

Click here for the rest of the devotion!

Laced with Grace....You won't get there overnight

Today I have shared a devotion over at Laced with Grace entitled “You won’t get there overnight”.

Have you ever all of a sudden jumped up and decided that you want to get into shape and start exercising?  You’ve made up your mind that today is the day that you are going to start a new life, a new routine and get into shape once and for all!  So you start your new and exciting exercising routine for the wonderful results you will soon feel and see!  You jump into your tennis shoes on, pull your hair up into a pony tail, and quickly get dressed into your workout gear and you’re off!  But after a few days you get discouraged because you don’t see any results and feel like you’re not doing anything and want to quit.  

I think we all have done that at least one time or another.  We get sick and tired of living a life without the benefits.  When our hearts are clean and full of Jesus we are living a life with benefits.  The benefits are all that follow from having Jesus in your heart and living a righteous life….. 

Click here for the rest of the devotion!