All tagged blessing

Answering God’s Call; Large and Small

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, God Calling

This morning we are contemplating how God calls us in our lives. These are mission(s) of faithfulness and service that God asks us to pursue and we are meant to be committed to. By obeying Him in this way we are wonderfully, and firmly within His will and desire. It is also true that the importance of a calling isn’t necessarily predicated on size, scope, or difficulty. Although many callings do stretch us beyond our comfort zones and capabilities, while some appear very small, and others are deemed to be more important by the world, they are all meant to glorify God. Like so many things involving God the large things are often small, and the small things are actually quite large.

If Time is Money, What is good?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Doing Good

I read two different devotionals each day and I write my thoughts surrounding them in these early morning devotional messages and prayers. But, today is different; I am taking the time to pass on my thoughts regarding a book I have been reading as well. Have you ever heard the expression "time is money"? It is a common saying that I have heard and repeated most of my life. Today I thought of it again as I read Galatians 6:10 and wondered if time isn’t also good… is time the thing that measures how much good we can do in life?

A Shout Up the Mountain – Receiving Mercy and Prayer, then Blessing Others

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional

It was in the wee hours of this very day in 2015 that I sat in my prayer chair and prayed for the Lord to take me into His hands as I faced cancer surgery, and then I prayed a blessing upon Him, and each person who had prayed, or was praying for me, to also be blessed. Giving a blessing to others, and blessing God, is one of the most wonderful and spiritual things we can do; so, after praying in this way I wrote an open letter that I will share with you now...

Prayer, Belonging, and the Word Amen

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Prayer and Amen

This morning we are delving into the phenomenon of Christians who do not pray, and the ramifications of that lack of communication with God on their faith. We also will touch again on the fact that pastors should not only pray but request prayer of their congregations. Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote strongly of the disappointing fact that there are Christians who do not pray, or who pray very little. Here is an example of his thinking on this subject: "The more holy a person is, the more he values prayer; clearer he sees that God gives Himself to praying people." – E. M. Bounds.

Receiving the Blessing of the Peacemaker

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Peacemaker

Although we are Christians, can we remember the last time we made peace in a bad situation? Perhaps we never have, but if by chance we can remember such a time, then we are truly blessed. If we are peacemakers then God promises us a blessing, but what will that blessing be, and in the moment when God reveals it to us will it be everything we imagined? In that blessed instant of unimaginable grace will the gift of holiness we receive allow us to see the brilliant glory of the great I Am, and hear Him call us sons?

Giving, Thanking, and Glorifying God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Giving and Thanking

Are we stingy with what God has given us? Do we hold back gifts from those in need, and forget that all we possess is from God? We are to be good stewards of what we have been given, but that doesn’t mean that we are to selfishly horde it, or bury it in the ground as in the parable of the talents. We are to glorify God by giving thanks to Him for His provision, but we should be multiplying our thanks by giving as He directs us, to others so that they too will glorify Him by their thanks.

Taking No Offense in Jesus

Richard Forbes
Christian , Devotion, Offense

Are we blessed in the relationship we have with Jesus Christ? When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the Messiah that they had been waiting for, Jesus told them to recount for John all the miracles He had performed, and that He preached the good news, but then He said something quite different… He told them to tell John that those who were not offended by who He was would be blessed.

Can We Bless God?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Comfort

Do we pray blessings upon God during our prayers, and bless Him by our actions as we live out our lives? Perhaps this perplexes us because we don’t know how it could be possible for us to give anything, much less a blessing, to Almighty God the creator and possessor of all things? So what are we to do, or what do we have that we should find valuable enough to consider a blessing for God?

Our Victory over Death, and the Blessing of Forgetfulness

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Death

We go through hard times in our lives, and then become all too familiar with death, but for Christians there are two things that miraculously occur in death, the first is that we, or our loved ones who have passed away, are assured of rising up again in Christ, and the second is that our memories of life with them, or our friend’s and family’s remembrances of their life with us, become rich and wonderful as most of the hardships we encountered together in life are either cast off as insignificant, or become treasured moments for us. This is unfathomable or misunderstood in the world, but not to the believer. While the unbeliever finds no peace in death, and little comfort in their memories, we are comforted by God, and the moments of triumphant joy in our faith in Christ lifts us up.

Sharing from our Hearts

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional ,

As Christians we believe in God, and have faith in Jesus Christ His Son. We also work at behaving as Jesus did in our own lives, we love our neighbors, feed the hungry, visit the sick, and many other things that we have learned through the study of the gospels, but there might be one lesson that is particularly hard for us… sharing what we have. As hard as this might be for some of us to do it is something that is pleasing to God. When the occasion presents itself to do good, do we also share what we have been given.

Singing to the Wells in our Lives

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Singing to the Blessing

How many blessings are we given by our Heavenly Father that aren’t immediately obvious to us? How is it that we receive them without their showing themselves beforehand? So often we are thirsty in some way, and the Lord tells us to begin digging a well, and not only to dig with our hands, or by laboring over a hoe, or a shovel, but to dig with the instruments, and implements, of our faith. In such moments God goes even further by telling us to sing as we labor; not to Him, but to that thing He has told us to do, that will bring forth what will come from Him. We are told to sing to the wells we have been told to dig, and the gifts that God is preparing to give us in our lives?

Cheerfully Giving God’s Bounty

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Gifts, Sins, Peacemakers , Finding God, Separate, Giving

When we give, whether it be tithes, gifts, or to sustain another, the act of giving in love increases the worth of what we have given. On the other hand, when we receive a gift from someone, we shouldn’t revel in what it has done in our lives, but for the fruit it produces in the life of the giver. In this way, we might help someone in need, or benefit the church with our offering, but the real value comes in how it increases our own faith, and the spiritual warmth we realize from this simple act, because we are giving God’s bounty… not ours.

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