Tag: prayer
Press PLAY below to listen to this week’s devotional.
Click the button to purchase Praying God’s WISDOM for Myself and follow along with us during this devotional series.
Press PLAY below to listen to this week’s devotional.
Click the button to purchase Praying God’s WISDOM for Myself and follow along with us during this devotional series.
Press PLAY below to listen to this week’s devotional.
Click the button to purchase Praying God’s WISDOM for Myself and follow along with us during this devotional series.
Press PLAY below to listen to this week’s devotional.
Click the button to purchase Praying God’s WISDOM for Myself and follow along with us during this devotional series.
Press PLAY below to listen to this week’s devotional.
Click the button to purchase Praying God’s WISDOM for Myself and follow along with us during this devotional series.
Press PLAY below to listen to this week’s devotional.
Click the button to purchase Praying God’s WISDOM for Myself and follow along with us during this devotional series.
Verses for Meditation
21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.
– Psalm 139:21, 22 (NLT)
As we can see, David is still quite upset with those people who mean him no good. So upset that he actually would say that he hates them. In our angry language, “hates their guts!” If you’ve read the story of David’s life, you would remember that after he had done so much good to ensure certain victory for Saul, Saul himself tried to kill him. And as if that were not enough, he sent his men after David to torment him. David was constantly on the run from Saul and his mighty men.
Have you ever had someone torment you so much that you really wanted to hide from them? And when they rang your doorbell, you wanted to pretend as if you were not at home? Have you ever felt as if you really hated someone?
We’re sure that most of us can relate to this unhealthy feeling on some level.
Although you may feel a total dislike for someone, we want you to remember, once again, that God has commanded all of us to love one another – even those who have done wrong to us (ridiculously hard, we know). We believe that the only way you can learn to love those who are not nice to you is to decide to walk in true obedience to God’s Word and daily ask for His help. You can’t accomplish this great feat alone. It’s hard enough to love those who love us: we definitely need help to love those who are not always nice.
Again, we say that you must be wise and set up appropriate boundaries so that you can live healthy lives. But, you must leave payback to God – for Him to give justice as He sees fit – in His time and in His way. Most of the time, there is that feeling that God takes too long. We all must learn to trust that He knows what He’s doing.
(Please personalize)
O Lord, teach our young people to hate the things that You hate: things like poor attitudes and behaviors, prideful hearts, disrespect, ingratitude, and so on. Help their hearts to be grieved when they see themselves or others walking in disobedience to Your Word. Teach our students to cling only to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Have a great week, young friend!
Blessings!
Sister Hope & Kristi
©2021 by Hope McCardy. All rights reserved.
Believing God (by Beth Moore)
God is who he says he is
I am who he says i am
he can do what he says he can do
i can do all things through christ
God’s word is alive and active in me
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. – Romans 12:2
By Hope McCardy & Rashad McCardy
For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
– Isaiah 43:19
Birthing a precious child usually requires a nine-month gestation period: a time of preparation for “new” birth. During that long nine-month period, a woman goes through many doctor visits, new vitamins and regulations, a growing abdominal area, weird cravings, long days, sleepless nights, other issues, etc. As the pregnancy progresses, she becomes increasingly heavy and, needless to say, more uncomfortable.
At last, the anxiously anticipated baby is ready to be born. This segment is the long labor process, which is often the hardest part. It is usually accompanied by much pain and distress to both the mom and the child. Whew! But then the wonderful moment happens – a new baby – a brand new treasured life!
So, it is with our lives.
Sometimes it takes going through a set period of time that is coupled with considerable pain and agony for God to birth something new in our lives. Yes, at times, for something fresh to start…, our wrong attitudes, bad habits, unhealthy traditions, and the like…, must die.
(Pray for your husband and children as well)
Faithful Lord, thank You for the blessing of Your Word in Isaiah 43:19. Thank You for depositing and infusing a fresh new hope in the arid and dry places of my very being. I am so grateful that I can look to You to make a way through the dense thicket and create rivers in my parched desert lands. O, Father, I ask that You turn my eyes to You so that I can clearly see the transforming work You are doing in my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Be in tuned to God’s every movement in your life. Look out for His “something new.”
©2021 by Hope McCardy and Rashad McCardy. All rights reserved.
Verses for Meditation
19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers!
20 They blaspheme you; your enemies misuse your name.
– Psalm 139:19, 20 (NLT)
From the scriptures above, we can imagine that David is quite upset with his enemies and wants God to give them what he thinks they deserve. Can any of you relate to his mindset?
We want to remind you right away that God has commanded all of us to love one another – even those who have done wrong to us (extremely hard, we know). We don’t mean that you should be unwise and not set up appropriate boundaries, as you cannot live healthy lives without proper limits, but we are not to revenge others for their misdeeds to us. For example, maybe you should not decide that you need to “beat them up!”
God said for us to leave payback to Him. And God is not like man. He knows how to administer discipline, rebuke, and punishment adequately. But, He also knows better than we do when to show compassion and give grace.
You see, God knows us all intimately. He knows our deepest hurts, our thoughts, our inadequacies, our motives…, and He also knows that about our “enemies.” You have to learn to trust God to handle the difficult people in your lives. You must look to Him for guidance and direction as to the appropriate steps to take in relating to them.
(Please personalize)
Father, sometimes these wonderful young people can have bad thoughts against those who have hurt them. There are also those who may say evil things about our young people and use their names thoughtlessly. It is especially at these times, O Lord, when we ask that You place a hedge of protection around each student and comfort each child in Your Mighty arms – letting them know that You will repay on their behalf – in Your own time and in Your own way. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Have a great week, young friend!
Blessings!
Sister Hope & Kristi
©2021 by Hope McCardy. All rights reserved.
Believing God (by Beth Moore)
God is who he says he is
I am who he says i am
he can do what he says he can do
i can do all things through christ
God’s word is alive and active in me
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. – Romans 12:2
By Hope McCardy & Rashad McCardy
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
– Proverbs 3:5-6
Who can truly understand the times we are living in right now? How will COVID19 eventually turn out? How many more will get sick? How many more will die? Will our economy revive itself? What can businesses do to make ends meet? Will new job opportunities become available? What’s going on with this erratic weather? When will our schools and churches return to normal?
These are all tough questions that we ask ourselves in these ongoing challenging days of this global pandemic. When is it going to…?
We may not know the end. We might not understand it all. We may well be in a state of complete shock and disbelief. But, we know that as long as this is the path God wants us to walk, it will end well. Remember the tremendously hard lives of our brother Joseph in Egypt and our friend Mordecai in Persia? Look at the extraordinary work God did in and through them….
God’s plans for us are always what’s best for our lives. Right now is the time to surrender it all to Him and trust Him to show us what next to do.
(Pray for your husband and children as well)
Abba Father, I am so finite, hardened, and stubborn. Please aid me in wholly trusting You, since I have come to grips with the fact that my understanding is so flawed. Push me to depend on Your astute insight.
Father, I want to seek Your will in all that I do. Help me to stop being so self-centered and me-focused.
Thank You for being so faithful to me. Thank You for Your ongoing willingness to show me the best pathway I should take. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Surrender it all to God.
©2021 by Hope McCardy and Rashad McCardy. All rights reserved.