Life In The Word

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God Loves You!


For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
— JOHN 3:16

John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for it.

God loves you! You are special to Him. God doesn’t love you because you are a good person or do everything right. He loves you because He is love. Love is not something God does; it is something He is. It is His nature.

God’s love is pure and ever flowing. It cannot be earned or deserved. It must be received by faith.
In Ephesians 3:19 Paul prays that we may come to really know this love. When we do, we are strengthened in our inner man. When we are strengthened inwardly, outward difficulties cannot defeat us.

Unless you have received it yourself, you cannot give love away. Let God love you. Receive His love for you. Bathe in it. Meditate on it. Let it strengthen you. Then give it away.

Say This:
“God loves me. I am special to Him. I receive His everlasting love today and am strengthened in my inner man.”


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

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Beauty for Ashes

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes.…
— ISAIAH 61:3 KJV

Multiplied thousands of people have been hurt severely in their lives. They come from broken relationships or abusive backgrounds that are still producing bad fruit in their personalities.

God wants to send the wind of the Holy Spirit into our lives (Acts 2:1-4), to blow away the ashes that are left from Satan’s attempt to destroy us, and to replace those ashes with beauty.

The Lord has taught me that consistently bad fruit comes from a bad root. No matter how much we may try to get rid of the bad fruit, unless the root is dealt with, more bad fruit will crop up somewhere else.

God created us to be loved. He wants to love us; He wants us to love each other, and He wants us to love and accept ourselves. Without this foundation of love and acceptance, there will be no joy and peace.

Some of us need to be transplanted. If we started out in the wrong soil, Jesus will transplant us so that we can get rooted and grounded in His love, as the Bible teaches.

Know that you are valuable, unique, loved, and special. When this is your foundation and your root, you will produce good fruit.
Ask God to give you beauty for ashes.

Say This:
“I was created for love. God loves me and wants me to love Him, love others, and love and accept myself.”


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word

 

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Do You Feel Rejected?

All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me].
— JOHN 6:37

God gave me a word for a meeting I was preparing to lead. It is for anyone who needs to receive it:
“Many of My people are in prison because they won’t accept themselves. Many of them are gifted and talented, but they won’t express themselves because they fear rejection. They fear man. They fear what people will think.
“I want to love My people, but they hold Me at arm’s length and won’t let Me really love them because they have been hurt by others. They fear I will reject them, as others have, because of their weaknesses. But I will never reject them.

“Tell them I love them.
“Tell them to stop trying so hard to be acceptable to Me and to realize I accept them as they are.
Tell them I don’t want perfect performance from them. I simply want them to love Me and let Me love them.”

God will not reject you because of your weaknesses or mistakes. He desires to heal you from past hurts caused by rejection. He wants you to know He will never reject you.

Pray This:
“Father, I thank You that You love me. I thank You that I am always accepted and never rejected. In Jesus’ name, amen.”


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

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Love Is…

“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
— JOHN 13:34 NIV

Love is the new commandment Jesus gave under the New Covenant. The love walk is a liberating lifestyle because it sets us free from self.

Love is a sacrifice — it costs. Every time we love someone, it costs us something. Time, talent, money, or pride may be the cost.

Forgiveness is love; it costs pride to forgive. The flesh is basically lazy and passive; it always wants effortless benefits. Love is effort.

There seems to be a lack of joy among God’s people; one of the major reasons is that we often become passive, looking for an effortless lifestyle.

Love is involvement. It is impossible to have true relationship without involvement. Involvement requires commitment; commitment requires work; work is effort.

Love is an effort; it is an effort to walk in love.

Love is involvement, not isolation. Love requires reaching out. Love says, “I’m sorry,” first and initiates the move that can bring restoration and understanding.

Love involves sacrificial giving. Love doesn’t do the right thing to get something; love does the right thing because it is right. Love is healing; love restores.

Say This:
“Love is the new commandment Jesus gave. I walk in love, and it sets me free from self. Forgiveness is love, so I forgive."


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

[Brandy]

Living Beyond the Veil

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil.…
— HEBREWS 10:19,20 KJV

We can have a close, intimate relationship with God! To enjoy and be assured of God’s presence in our lives, we need to spend time with Him daily, fellowshipping and growing closer in our understanding of Him.

We can do things to help us experience His presence or we can do things to hinder that blessing. For example, if we walk in peace and in the love of God — both receiving His love for us and allowing it to flow to others — we experience His presence more.

The Lord will teach anyone who truly desires to know Him how to know Him better. We should find out what draws us closer to God and do those things.

We can veil or block our awareness of God’s presence by following our own fleshly desires and plans without consulting Him and by striving to make ourselves acceptable to Him.

Our striving should be in seeking God, seeking to know Him better, to hear His voice more clearly and to walk in obedience to His instructions.
We can experience His presence or the pressures of the world, His presence or desires of the flesh, His presence or religious bondage due to legalism.

Life beyond the veil is wonderful…enter in!

Pray This:
“Father, I want Your presence in my life. Teach me specific ways to learn to know You better. In Jesus’ name, amen.”


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

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Seek God

You have said, Seek My face [inquire for and require My presence as your vital need]. My heart says to You, Your face (Your presence), Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require [of necessity and on the authority of Your Word].
— PSALM 27:8

If we want to truly know the Lord, we need to choose to be where He would be, think what He would think, go where He would go, treat people the way He would treat people.

We must seek after the right thing. We need to take an inventory and be sure we are seeking God and not just the things He can do. We must seek His face, not just His hand!

Have you ever spent a lot of time, energy, prayer, and faith on a project only to discover it was an empty well and you were still just as thirsty as before?

I spent many years as a Christian with one faith project after another I thought would surely be “the thing” that would make me feel fulfilled, happy, and contented. I have finally found the one thing that satisfies my soul — the Lord.
Our quality of life does not consist in what the world has to offer, but in God’s presence, in His will, in knowing Him and knowing His ways.

Do This:
Take inventory: Are you seeking God and placing His desires first in every area of your life?


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

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In His Presence Is Fullness of Joy

You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
— PSALM 16:11

There are many wonderful benefits from simply spending time with God. The presence of the Lord is always with us, but we do not always recognize it or take time to be conscious of it.

There seems to be a great lacking of contentment not only in the world but also among God’s people. Many people spend their lives chasing things when nothing can keep us satisfied except God Himself.

When people are not satisfied inwardly, they usually look for some outward thing to satisfy their hunger. Often they end up in a fruitless search for that which cannot fill the emptiness within.

We’ve heard it said, many people spend their lives climbing the ladder of success only to find when they reach the top, their ladder is leaning against the wrong building.

When we keep our priorities straight, we discover that everything we really need in life is found in the Lord.
Seek to dwell in His presence. In Him is the path of life, the fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore.

Pray This:
“Lord, I seek You because I know that everything I need — healing, strength, comfort — is found in Your presence. In Jesus’ name, amen.”


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

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Be Still and Know That I Am God

Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God.…
— PSALM 46:10

One of the most awesome commands that God gives to man is, “Be still” (Psalm 46:10).

Our activity when birthed out of the flesh actually prevents God from showing Himself strong in our lives.
This doesn’t mean we are to be passive or lazy. It means we are to do whatever God leads us to do, without running ahead of Him in the energy of the flesh.

We need to be careful to submit our ideas and plans to God, then slow down, and wait. Make sure there is a sense of peace to go along with the plans and ideas. Ask the Lord for His will in your life, then be still and know that He is God.
Learn to trust the Lord without having to know what He is going to do, when He is going to do it, and how He is going to do it. Just let Him do it.

If you will turn your heart toward God in loving trust, He will do what needs to be done.
God gives His highest and best to those whose trust is in Him. Be still and let Him show Himself strong in your life.

Do This:
Be still and know that He is God. Be assured that as long as you trust Him, He will never fail you or disappoint you.


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

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In Christ

And you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
— COLOSSIANS 2:10

One of the most liberating phrases in the entire Bible is “in Christ.” Through Him all things were created, through Him they now exist, and through Him they will be completely reconciled to God.

Many believers have an identity crisis. They simply do not know who they are “in Christ.”
Everything we are and need is found “in Him.” In Him we are redeemed. In Him we are complete. Our wisdom, strength, peace, and hope are in Him. Our everything is in Him!

Jesus was made perfect for us. Our acceptability to God is not based on our performance, but on our faith and trust in Jesus’ performance.
A substitute is “one that takes the place of another.”1 To identify with is to “relate (to).”2 We need to learn to identify with and relate to the substitutionary work of Jesus on our behalf.

Christ came to open the prison doors and set the captives free. The prison is open! Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
Learn to enjoy the fullness of life Jesus has provided for you. Begin to confess and believe your place “in Him,” and your feelings will catch up later.

Say This:
“Because I am ‘in Christ,’ I am a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17.)


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

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Abide in Christ

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
— JOHN 15:7 KJV

There are some outstanding promises made in the Word of God to those who learn to abide “in Christ.” When we abide in Him, we are living in Him, dwelling in a place of protection, and can rest — trusting, leaning, and relying on Him and His promises. Christ is our place of rest, our refuge, a place to settle down into, and wait for Him to do what we could never do.

As we abide “in Christ,” our will is joined with His. His desires become our desires; our concerns become the same as His. We become like Him as we abide “in Him.”

Jesus said, I am the Vine; you are the branches.… (John 15:5). Think about that image for a moment. How long can a branch survive if it is broken off the vine? Christians who have lost, or don’t seem to have much life or spark, need to spend more time abiding in the vine.

I have found that when I start to feel dry, withered up, and just plain thirsty, what I need is to get back in contact with the vine.
The life of abiding is a peaceful, restful, and fruitful life. Enter in — and abide there!

Do This:
Ask the Holy Spirit to get involved in everything you do. He is the Helper, and He is waiting for you to ask.


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional

 

[Brandy]

Legalism or Liberty?

Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
— JOHN 16:24

God intended for prayer to bring joy.
Every true believer wants to fellowship with God — to talk to Him and allow Him to get involved in every detail of his life. Multitudes spend their lives thinking that they have to pray, and therefore never realize that they want to pray.

We human beings were created by God for liberty, not legalism. We are to be led by the Holy Spirit and not by the demands of the Law. If we want joy in prayer, we must be willing to follow the Holy Spirit. He brings variety into our prayer life. We can fellowship with the Lord all day long and offer various petitions to Him as well as thanksgiving and praise.

In my own personal prayer life, some days I intercede; some days I praise and worship; at other times I just sit in the Lord’s presence and enjoy being with Him.

Don’t put God in a box. He has many ways of leading you if you will permit Him to be the Leader while you become the follower.

Do This:
Fellowship with God right now. Talk to Him and allow Him to get involved in every detail of your life.


Joyce Meyer, Life in the Word: Devotional