February 21, 2025 · 5:24 AM

Magnify The Lord

Have you ever had a problem or situation consume your thinking?I have. It became all I could think about and began to show up in my dreams. What I was doing was magnifying the problem. The bigger it got, the worse I felt. It finally hit me that I was magnifying the wrong thing. Instead of magnifying your problem or issue, magnify the Lord. Sometimes we magnify our problems so much that they seem to overshadow the Lord and even cause us to think even He can’t solve them. When we magnify the Lord, we put our focus on the one who can resolve it. We put the situation into perspective. Whatever we magnify grows. We have a choice in the matter. Let’s choose to magnify the Lord today.

Here are some Bible verses on magnifying God:

1. Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!”

Psalms 40:16 AMP

2. I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving.

Psalms 69:30 AMP

3. No matter what, I’ll trust in you to help me. Nothing will stop me from praising you to magnify your glory!

Psalms 71:14 TPT

4. And Mary said, “My soul magnifies and exalts the Lord,”

Luke 1:46 AMP

5. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.

Psalms 34:3 NKJV

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February 20, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Offering God Excellence

I heard the story of a carpenter who spent his whole career working for one builder. When it came time to retire, he spoke to his boss. The builder begged him to stay on for one more job. Reluctantly he accepted even though he didn’t want to. During the whole job, his heart wasn’t in it. He cut corners and did some shoddy work. When the house was finished, he called the boss to come do a final walk through. After walking through the house, the builder turned to the carpenter and handed him the keys. He told him that he had been a good worker all those years and wanted to gift him a house. The carpenter was very thankful, but all he could think about was how he was going to have to live in a house where he cut corners and did shoddy work.

In Genesis 4, we read the story of Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve. Both were raised in relationship with God and knew Him. Cain became a farmer and Abel a shepherd. The Bible doesn’t tell us if they gave offerings to God often or if the offering in this chapter was the first one. Both decided to give God an offering from their work. Verses 3-4 say, “When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock” (NLT). Cain gave from his harvest, but not really his best. That’s why God rejected his offering. It was a half hearted gift while Abel brought his best.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever you do, do well.” I believe excellence is a choice. Every day we’re faced with the opportunity to give God our best or something less than that. Our offerings to God are more than our money. Paul said in Philippians 2:17 that our faithful service is an offering to God. Everything we do for God should be done from our best efforts. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it can’t be our leftovers. Look at your life and the service you’ve been offering God. Is there room for improvement? Find ways to give God excellence in your life. When you give Him your best, He honors you and blesses your life.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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February 19, 2025 · 5:40 AM

Prioritizing What Matters

John Maxwell says that if you don’t have a plan for doing what’s most important to you, you’ll spend your time reacting to what’s important to someone else. How many times have you gone to bed wondering where the day went and of all the things you still needed to get done? When we live without prioritizing the things that are important to us, the things we need to get done are sacrificed. Many times we sacrifice our quiet time with God. It starts as, “I’ll just double up tomorrow.” The next thing you know days, weeks and months go by and you’ve missed the most important thing of your day. In times like that, I have to refocus my attention on the eternal things because of the demands of the physical things. I have to put things into perspective and make my commitment to what lasts forever.

In Acts 6, the Early Church was growing by the thousands at a time. The disciples were trying to manage everything, but found themselves drowning in the administrative side of the Church. A group of non-Hebrew Jews came to them to complain that their widows weren’t receiving help. In that moment, they realized that they were spending their time on everyone else’s priorities, and were neglecting their prayer time and the preaching of the Word. They decided to delegate some priorities, like caring for widows, so they could focus on what was most important. In verse 4, they said, “But we will [continue to] devote ourselves [steadfastly] to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (AMP). The solution pleased everyone there. It’s amazing what happens when we prioritize the eternal over the physical. God rewards us for diligently seeking Him first.

Psalm 5:3 says, “In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will prepare [a prayer and a sacrifice] for You and watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart].” David writes in this psalm about the distractions in his life and the enemies who pursue him. He prioritizes seeking God first though. He commits to meeting with God in the morning with a heart that is prepared to pray and to listen. He’s not just trying to check off a box by reading a chapter a day. He came with a prayer prepared and with time set aside to wait on the Lord in order to hear from Him. It’s a great model for all of us. Don’t just try to get through your quiet time in order to get to your day once you’ve prioritized it. Take the time to really pray and to wait for God to respond. When we seek His kingdom first, all these other priorities will fall into place and be given to you.

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February 18, 2025 · 5:38 AM

Fighting Strategically

I grew up watching and playing sports. My favorite part about them to this day is all the strategy that goes into them in order to win. You always go into the game with a strategy to win. The greatest coaches have always been the ones who have a strategy of disrupting the other team’s strategy. They do what they can to take away their best weapons and to get them off of their game plan. The goal is to get the other side to quit playing the game the way they planned and to play into yours. There’s a lot of mind games involved too. We used to do what we could to disrupt their thinking and concentration because we knew how much it would affect their ability to score. As I’ve grown up, I’ve learned that as Christians, we are in a war. We also have an enemy that is strategizing against us. It’s important to know and recognize his tactics.

In 1 Samuel 17 David went to the battlefield in obedience to his father not long after being anointed the next king. When he arrived, Goliath had been forcing Israel out of their strategy for forty days and the army was paralyzed with fear. David started asking questions and his brothers tried to belittle him to disrupt his strategy and keep him on the sidelines. King Saul then tried to force him into armor that didn’t fit. That strategy would have slowed him down and caused him to fail. He rejected both and stepped onto the battlefield with his strategy. Goliath taunted him and tried to use fear and intimidation to get him to change his strategy, but David didn’t flinch. He kept the strategy God gave him and ran to Goliath. God gave him the victory over the giant because he stayed on point with what God had placed in his heart and he didn’t deviate from the strategy.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that we have an enemy that wants to steal, kill and destroy us. We can’t forget that when things start disrupting our plans and God’s calling on our life. Ephesians 6:11 reminds us, “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (NLT). God’s plan for you is to wear His armor and not to get disrupted by the enemy’s strategies. You must stand firm in your faith, trust God’s plan and keep doing what He’s called you to. Don’t allow the strategies of the enemy make you feel unworthy, not enough, that you’re doing it wrong or so afraid that you quit following God’s plan. Armor up and fight back. God had given you what you need to be successful in what He’s called you to. Don’t fall for the strategies of the enemy. Instead, fight back. 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” You have the power to stand against his strategies and to destroy them.

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February 17, 2025 · 5:46 AM

God’s Attributes

In Exodus 33, God sent word to Moses on what the punishment for the Israelites would be for making the golden calf and worshiping it. He told them to get moving toward the Promised Land. He would send an angel to guide them, but He would not be going with them. When the people heard that, they began to mourn. They removed their jewelry as a sign of repentance. In verse 15, Moses was meeting with God and said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place” (NLT). He understood the power of God’s presence. He would rather forfeit the blessings of the Promised Land than to be without God’s presence. It was having God Himself with them that set them apart and gave them favor.

Then Moses made one of the biggest requests in the Bible. He asked God to show him His glory. God responded by telling him, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” He told him that he couldn’t see His glory and live. Instead, He put Moses in the cleft of the rock, covered him with His hand, passed by him, said, “Yahweh,” and let Moses see His goodness from behind. By doing this, God wanted Moses, the Israelites and us to know His goodness, His attributes and His character. By saying His name, He was reminding Moses that He is the great I Am. He is who we need Him to be in every moment of our life.

Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” We need God’s presence to go with us wherever we go. Just as importantly, we need to know God’s character and attributes. He is faithful to His Word and keeps His promise for a thousand generations. He gives us His unconditional love and goes with us without ever abandoning us. Whatever you face in this world, or wherever you young, you will not be alone. God wants us to focus on His character and His attributes because our situations will often cause us to doubt God or cause us to think we’ve been abandoned or that He doesn’t care. In those moments, focus on who He has always been and know that He never changes. We must learn to understand that He is the great I Am.

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February 14, 2025 · 5:36 AM

Pursuing Godly Things

There’s a difference between sitting around talking about a goal and actively going after it. The person who is intentional about going after it is the one who will more than likely attain it. When the Bible tells us to pursue the things of God, it’s calling us to intentional action. Sitting around talking about it won’t incorporate it into your life. It takes effort and dedication to pursue something. God doesn’t call us to pursue things that are unattainable. However, the life and qualities He calls us to require us to go after them. They’re often contrary to the natural state and desires of our flesh. That’s why He calls us to be led by His Spirit. He will guide us into the paths He has for us and help us to pursue the life He’s called you to. It just takes a commitment from us to keep moving and growing what is God calling you to pursue?

Here are some Bible verses on pursuing godly things:

1. Those who are motivated by the flesh only pursue what benefits themselves. But those who live by the impulses of the Holy Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities.

Romans 8:5 TPT

2. Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness (right standing with God), Who seek and inquire of the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut And to the excavation of the quarry from which you were dug.

Isaiah 51:1 AMP

3. Run away from youthful lusts—pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those [believers] who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

2 Timothy 2:22 AMP

4. Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

I Corinthians 14:1 NKJV

5. But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

1 Timothy 6:11 NLT

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February 13, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Rekindle Your Flame

One of my favorite things to do is to sit around a campfire and talk. I could do it for hours. People instinctively know to put another log on the fire. No one has to say it. Stories and conversations flow, and aren’t interrupted by someone putting more logs on it. When it’s time to go to bed, we just let the fire burn down to a bed of coals. In the morning, I’m usually the first one up. I’ll grab a log and a couple of smaller sticks and head over to the ashes. Buried deep beneath the ash, there’s usually a couple of embers left. I put the smaller sticks on top of them, get my face close to the ground, take a deep breath and blow as much air as I can onto those embers. In a matter of moments, the fire is back to going strong and the conversations continue.

We know that David was a man after God’s own heart. He fully trusted in Him and loved His Word. Because of his faith in God he slew a giant, he fought large numbers of the enemy and waited until God was ready for him to be king. His fire for God was unmatched, but at some point he quit putting new logs on the fire. 2 Samuel 11 starts off by telling us that when it was time for the kings to go to war, David stayed home and outsourced his position. He quit doing what he was supposed to. That’s when temptation struck and he sinned with Bathsheba. When God confronted him through the prophet, David chose to rekindle his fire and wrote Psalm 51. He continued to tend his fire after that and it burned bright until he died.

2 Timothy 1:6 says, “This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you” (NLT). It’s natural for us to seasons when we’re on fire for God and season where we’re just not feeling it. We may go through the motions or just turn a cold shoulder to God. Either way, God is calling us to tend our fire and to return to our first love. To do that, we simply need to recognize that we need to have the Holy Spirit reignite our heart and passion for God. Those embers are still there and can be fanned into flame again. The gifts that have been lying dormant are ready to be rekindled and blaze for God’s glory. Don’t let another day pass. Read Psalm 51 as a prayer to fan the flames of your heart toward God.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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February 12, 2025 · 5:28 AM

God Is Always There

I used to work for a cell phone company. Internally they always told us that we were a utility company and that we needed to be available at all times. When Hurricane Katrina moved into the gulf, they told me to pack a bag and be ready. I remember getting a call in the middle of the night telling me to grab my bag and head to work. It made landfall at night and we were headed to it. They said that we run to a crisis not from it. We put in twenty hour days getting communications back up. We sleep on the floor of the building we worked in to be as efficient as possible. We wanted the people of New Orleans and the gulf coast to know we were there for them in their time of crisis and that they weren’t alone.

A couple of years before that, I had gone through my own personal crisis. People that had said they would always be there for me, disappeared. When everything came crashing down, there were only a couple of people who were truly there to help me through it. Even though they checked on me and spent time with me, I was still alone at night. I couldn’t run from the pain or escape the thoughts that filled my mind. In those moments, I learned to run to God. I found that in my loneliest moments, He was there. When I didn’t feel like I could call someone in the middle of the night, I called on Him. He proved to be a very present help in my time of need.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God, you’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge! You’re a proven help in time of trouble— more than enough and always available whenever I need you” (TPT). It is believed that this psalm was written during a time when Jerusalem was besieged by the Assyrian army and there was no hope of anyone coming to save them. The people cried out to God and He sent the Assyrians home miraculously. He truly never leaves you and is there when there seems to be no way out or forward. He will make a way where there seems to be no way, and He will not abandon you. He will stick with you closer than a brother. He is always available when you need Him most. He had proven it throughout history and He will do it for you. Don’t despair. There is always hope because you have a place of refuge in your time of need who is more than able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than you need.

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February 11, 2025 · 5:44 AM

Victory Over Giants

I used to teach a class on the psychology of fear and how it keeps us from being productive. At one point, I introduced an activity without any warning that involves one of the greatest fears most people have. As I kept adding to it, I watched people squirm in their seats. I would stand next to them, look them in the eye and act like I was going to choose them. Before I proceeded, I would ask, “What are you feeling in your body and mind right now?” People would have sweaty palms, upset stomachs, the need to use the restroom and more. I explained that our brain wants out of the situation and will do anything to take flight. I told them that when we walk away or give into the fear, we miss out on opportunities.

In 1 Samuel 17, the Israelites and Philistines were engaged on the battlefield ready to fight. Each side was encamped on a mountainside with a valley between. Before the battle started, Goliath, a giant about ten feet tall, walked out and yelled at the Israelites. He taunted them and challenged them. When the Israelites saw him, they gave into fear and ran. For forty days, they were stagnant in this routine of allowing fear to keep them from the opportunity of victory. That’s when David stepped into the camp. He heard the same giant, saw everyone panic, but had a different response. He was filled with confidence and trust in God. He stepped onto the battlefield, looked the giant in the eyes, told him God would deliver him and then ran towards him. God honored David’s faith and trust in Him and gave him the victory.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation]” (AMP). What opportunity or victory is fear holding you back from? God says, do not fear anything standing in the way of what He’s called you to. It won’t be done in your strength. He will help you, but you must step onto the battlefield, look your giant in the eye and trust God. His hand of power and victory will be upon you when you trust Him. Don’t let fear keep you on the sidelines indefinitely. Courage is being unsure of the outcome, but stepping out in faith anyway. God constantly tells us to take courage and to be strong. It’s time to quit being held back from opportunities because of fear. Trust in the Lord and slay your giant.

Photo by Анна Рыжкова (Anna Rizchkova) on Pexels.

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February 10, 2025 · 5:50 AM

Redefining Yourself

Have you ever thought about what you want to be defined by? I hear people say what they don’t want to be defined by. I’ve heard it said that you are defined by the qualities and values that you exhibit. I’ve spent time thinking about the core values I want to live by and also the qualities I want to exhibit. Some come naturally and others I have to work at. I first started thinking about these in the sixth grade when a teacher told me the proverb that says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. I decided then that I wanted a good name. I thought about what it takes to have a good name. I’ve also found out how hard it is to keep one. As I looked at other people, I recognized qualities in them and decided I wanted those in my life. I’ve also found Biblical ones I needed to adopt.

Proverbs 3:3 says, “Do not let mercy and kindness and truth leave you [instead let these qualities define you]; Bind them [securely] around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart” (AMP). I think it’s important that this verse leads with mercy. This is one that doesn’t come naturally to most of us. It’s the quality of giving forgiveness to someone who has offended or wronged you. When I think of mercy, I think of Joseph. His brothers beat him up, threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery. When they came looking for grain, he was in a position to pay them back, but chose mercy instead. He understood God’s plan was to get him there to save his family rather than to pay them back.

The next one mentioned is kindness. This is a fruit of the Spirit that again isn’t natural for most of us. I think of King David when he found Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth. Instead of killing off the last king’s family line, David gave him a permanent seat at his table. Truth is critical in the life of a believer as well. We need truth because Jesus is the Truth. It is also what sets people free. When our lives are marked by truth, we take freedom with us to whomever we meet. What a thing to be defined by! All three of these are powerful, and Solomon told us to bind them around our neck and write them on our heart. The neck represented our human will. He’s telling us me must override that with these. To write them on our heart makes them become part of who we are. Don’t let your past or your flesh to define you anymore. Choose these instead. It’s never too late to redefine the things that define you.

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