Make a Lasting Difference

Some of us think we deserve respect simply because of our position.  No, respect must be earned – daily.

Ultimately, all the skills in the world won’t save you if your character is flawed.  Character can be built, but only slowly.  If you want to know how long it will take you to get to the top, consult a calendar.  If you want to know how long it will take you to fall to the bottom, try a stopwatch.

Dreams become shattered, possibilities are lost, organizations crumble and people are hurt when a person doesn’t have character protecting his talent.  Character provides the opportunity for longevity in any career, any relationship, and any worthwhile goal.

Author and Pastor J.R. Miller [once] wrote, “The only thing that walks back from the grave with the mourners and refuses to be buried, is the character of a man.”  What a man is, survives him, and that – makes a lasting difference!

Be Blessed!

Tereciah

(Source: The Word For You Today, 2008)

Read Your Bible!

“YOUR WORD IS…A LIGHT TO MY PATH.” Psalm 119:105 NKJV

When asked, “What book has most influenced your life?” most folks say the Bile.  Yet fewer than 14% of us read it every day.  How come?  Our most common excuses are:

1. I’ve no time. Really?  Many of the books in your Bible can be read in ten to forty-five minutes, some in less than twenty minutes.  By taking a chapter a day you can complete the book of Proverbs in a month and the Epistle of James in five days.
2. I don’t know where to begin. If starting in Genesis and working your way through seems overwhelming, break it into bite-sized pieces.  Pick a Gospel and read the life of Christ.  Just get started!
3. It’s not exciting. Do you like romance?  Read the book of Ruth.  Looking for adventure?  Try Judges or Acts.  Enjoy poetry?  Explore Song of Solomon.  From history to how-to, it’s all in Scripture.
4. Isn’t going to church every week good enough? Billy Graham says, “The Bible is the road map for life, and while your pastor can highlight the best route to take, you learn how to navigate life’s twists and turns for yourself.”
5. It makes me uncomfortable. When you don’t know what God’s Word actually says, it’s easy to equate it with negative experiences and hypocrisy you’ve observed, then throw out the baby with the bathwater.  No question, the Bible makes you face hard truths.  It ” judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb 4:12 NIV).  It gives you a check-up from the neck up.  But you’ll discover who you are, what you’re called to do, and become empowered to do it!

Be Blessed!

Tereciah

(Source: The Word For You Today, 2009)

Wilderness Attitudes!

“WE WHO…BELIEVED ARE ABLE TO ENTER…GOD’S REST.”   Hebrews 4:3 NCV

After spending half their lives in the wilderness, the Israelites blamed it on their enemies.  But it was their own attitude!  Because God “was…angry…they were not allowed to enter…God’s rest, because they did not believe” (Heb 3:17-19 NCV).   Their doubting, complaining and blame-shifting kept them stuck in the wilderness; and it’ll do the same to you.

It starts with feeling sorry for yourself and thinking, “If only I’d been born into a different family, had a better paying job, a more spiritual mate, etc., this wouldn’t be happening.”  And from there it spirals downward into a full-blown pity party where everybody else is responsible for your problems.  The truth is, ninety-nine percent of the time the solution begins with a change of attitude – in you!

Another wilderness attitude that’ll keep you stuck, is insisting on doing everything your way!  Stubbornness will keep you stumbling around the wilderness,, seeing the Promised Land but never reaching it.  Offering a sacrifice to God before going into battle was the way to victory.  Only one problem: Samuel the prophet was the only one qualified to offer such a sacrifice.  But pride and stubbornness made King Saul think he could.  As a result he lots his life and Israel went down in defeat.  Samuel told Saul, “Because you have rejected God’s word, God has rejected you as king” (See 1 Sam 15:26).

Understand this: you don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love, but you must obey Him in order to walk in His blessings.  So, what has God told you to do?  If you want victory in your battles and success in your endeavors, start doing it!

Be Blessed!

Tereciah

(Source: The Word For You Today, 2008)

If God Never Does Anything Else For Me, He’s Done Enough

The devotional below is a personal one. This was written in a time when God said to me, worship him – no matter the outcome of what I was desiring.

As believers we have this saying “If God never does anything else for me, He’s done enough”  but do we really mean it?  Would we really accept things as they are if God did not do anything else for us?  Would we?  I believe this was my test.

As I wrote, God spoke to me.  As I wrote, I worshiped.  As I wrote, I released.   As I wrote, I felt peace. This devotional is for everyone that has entreated God with a request and not have it answered in the way you desired.  This devotional is for the person that still desires to trust God and live in His Word.

This devotional is from me to you.

Read Below…

_____________________________________________________________________________________

If God Never Does Anything Else For Me, He’s Done Enough

“…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 KJV).

What happens when you have prayed?  Prayed some more, trusted and believe God to answer a particular need for you.  When you have knelt before him on bended knees with a burdened heart and pools of tears in your eyes.

What happens when you’ve went to that place, the space between what we pray for and what we really believe God for – the unbelief area of the mind – and stretched your mind to see God doing the impossible? What happens when your faith is so tested your tempted to “help him along?”  What happens when God doesn’t answer your prayer?  When it seems like all hope is gone?

What do you do? What do you say?  How do you react?

Hard as it is.  Emotionally drained as you may feel, you must learn to worship Him.  In 2 Samuel 12:15-22 when David’s son with Bathsheba was stricken ill, David fasted and prayed and wept before the Lord.  However, the child eventually died.  When the child died David got up, bathe, clothed and fed himself and he worshiped God.

Why? Because of whom He is. Because of His goodness.  Because “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”  He is all knowing, all powerful, all encompassing.  There is a reason why the prayer/request was not answered. Sometimes it is not for us to know.  Sometimes it is for a greater purpose He withhold things from us.

It doesn’t mean He doesn’t love us or care about us.  It just means it wasn’t time.  “Don’t let your circumstances dictate your faith.”  We must remember “…that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 KJV).

As you worship thank God for being The Creator, Your Provider, Your Healer, Your Everything.  Admit to him that you don’t know why it didn’t happen. That you don’t understand why your prayer wasn’t answered. But tell him you respect His authority.

Ask Him to give you the peace you need to deal with the situation.  The type of peace that surpasses all understanding.  The type of peace that makes you say “It’s in your hands now Lord, because I can’t do anything else,” and mean it.

How can you express yourself?  How do you worship him?  Sing a song, say a prayer, write a Psalm.  Do a dance, create some art.  Whatever you do and however you do it, do it with thanksgiving.  Do it with praise.  Do it with a loving heart.  Remember, if God never does another thing for you, He’s done enough!

Be Blessed!
Copyright 2009 Tereciah V. Smithen-Quintana

Responding like Jesus!

“PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU.” Matthew 5:44 NIV

A soldier made it his practice to end each day with Bible reading and prayer.  As the others gathered in the barracks and retired for the night, he’d kneel by his bunk.  Some of them saw this and began to mock him.  But one night the abuse went beyond words.  As he bowed in prayer one soldier threw  his boots and hit him in the face.  The others jeered, looking for a fight, but there was no retaliation.  Next morning when the boot-thrower woke up he couldn’t believe what he saw.  There at the foot of his bed were his boots – polished and returned.  Imagine shining the boots that kick you!  That calls for a new level of grace.  It means deciding what your response will be, before the offence comes!  Some of the guys in the barracks were “leaders,” motivated by pride and insensitivity.  That’s how darkness responds to light.  Others were “followers;” they weren’t necessarily bad, just weak and afraid to be different.

Why did Jesus pray form the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do?”  Because He understood that people who have been raised a particular way, who are driven by certain forces, who wrestle with unresolved issues and fears, who are programmed with an unregenerate mindset, need God.  And He saw it as an opportunity to put God on display.  This requires more than Sunday-go-to-meeting religion.  It calls for a Christ-like, example-setting, love-displaying response that makes others to sit up and take notice.  Your “rights” and your wounded ego are not the issue – the One you represent is!

Be Blessed!

Tereciah

(Source: The Word for You Today, 2008)

The Overcoming Spirit

“THEIR WEAKNESS WAS TURNED TO STRENGTH.” Hebrews 11:34 NLT

A grindstone can make a diamond shine, or reduce solid rock to dust.  It depends what you’re made of.  Charles Steinmetz, one of the founders of General Electric, was made of the right stuff.  Crippled from birth, he was so short in stature that he looked like a dwarf.  His mother died before he was one year old.  His father was poor but he [was] determined that young Charles would have an education.  Charles couldn’t run and play games like normal boys, so he made up his mind to devote himself to science.  He set this goal:  “I will make discoveries that help other people.”

…His career was marked by unparalleled research and development.  When he died in 1923 one writer said, “He had the mind of an angel and the soul of a seer.” What did Charles Steinmetz have?  The overcoming spirit!  Do you have it?

If what you’re doing doesn’t produce resistance, it’s not worth doing.  The winners in your Bible are described this way:  “Their weakness was turned to strength.  They became strong in battle.”  What turns weakness into strength?  Faith that refuses to back up, back down, or settle for less than what God has promised.

Be Blessed!

(Source: The Word for You Today, 2008)

Be patient, it’ll happen in God’s time!

“REST IN THE LORD, AND WAIT PATIENTLY FOR HIM.”  Psalm 37:7

The old saying, “You can’t always have what you want,” isn’t necessarily true.  When you “Delight yourself in the Lord…he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps 37:4 NIV).  But usually He makes you wait.  Dennis Wholey says: “Waiting is an art…If you can wait two years, you can achieve something you couldn’t achieve today however hard you worked, however much money you can’t have today that you’ll be able to have in the future.  So it doesn’t make sense to drive yourself crazy and put you life on hold struggling to accomplish something now, that’ll be easy when the time is right.

James says “Don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.  Let it do its work so you become mature” (Jas 1:4 TM).  God allows certain things to take place in our lives to teach us important principles like: (a) developing new skills and ways of thinking; (b) showing grace and controlling our responses; (c) maintaining our faith when times get tough.

Paul writes: “Patience…[is...the power to endure whatever comes, with good temper]” (Col 3:12 AMP); “Be glad for all God is planning…Be patient in trouble, and prayerful always” (Rom 12:12 TLB).  When you spend time in God’s waiting room, He’s developing qualities in you that simply can’t be developed any other way.  When He’s finished you’ll come out stronger and wiser.  and you’ll have the maturity to handle what He has in mind for you.  so don’t let the enemy rattle you or engineer circumstances that put you into overdrive.  “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.”

Be Blessed!

(Source: The Word for You Today, 2008)

Unforgiveness (How heavy is your glass of water?)

“FORGIVE – ONLY THEN WILL YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER…WIPE YOUR SLATE CLEAN.” Mark  11:25 TM

How heavy is a glass of water?  That depends on how long you have to carry it.  A minute is no problem, and after an hour your arm might ache.  But after 24 hours you’ll probably e in bad shape!

And it’s the same with a grudge; it can get so heavy it stops you from living.  People will hurt you; that’s reality of sharing this planet with others.  Sometimes it’s intentional, other times they’ve no idea they upset you, far less broken your heart.

Does that mean you should go around pretending nothing’s wrong?  NO, the first step is to confront your feelings.  And when the hurt is deep, it’s even harder to forgive.  That’s when you need to pray, ” Lord, change my heart and heal me.”  Jesus said, “pray for those who mistreat you” (Lk 6:28 NIV).  When you do that something unexpected happens; your heart softens and you start seeing them through God’s eyes instead of your raw emotions.

Jesus said, “If you have anything against someone, forgive – only then will your heavenly Father…wipe your slate clean.”  When you sow unforgiveness you reap unforgiveness – even from God!

Isaac is a prime example of practicing forgiveness.  During a drought he dug wells that his enemies moved in and claimed.  but instead of retaliating, he moved on and dug new ones.  As a result God filled Isaac’s empty wells and promised to bless him, and his children too!  (See Gen 26: 22-23).  And He will fill the emptiness in your life, when you forgive those who have hurt you.

Be Blessed!

(Source: The Word for You Today, 2008)

Forgiveness

” PEOPLE INSULTED CHRIST, BUT…HE LET GOD…TAKE CARE OF HIM.” 1 Peter 2:23 “NCV

A little boy who’d been rude to his Mom started sneaking off upstairs.  “Where you going, young man?” She asked.  “To my room to talk to God,” he replied.  “Isn’t there something you want to tell me first?” she said.  “Nope,” he said, “You’ll just get mad.  God will forgive me and forget about it.”  Long after you think you’ve forgiven somebody you can still be harboring hard feelings.  Here are some clues that you’ve still got work to do:

You get angry thinking about what happened; you seize every opportunity to remind the offender of what they did.  Refusing to forgive and forget is just another way of justifying an unforgiving attitude.  The Bible says there are two things God won’t share (1) His glory (see Isaiah 42:8); (2) His right to settle old scores.  H said, “vengeance is mine; I will repay” (Romans 12:19).

Don’t usurp His authority by trying to get even; take your hands off the situation and let Him work it out.  When “People insulted Christ…he did not insult them in return…He let God…who judges rightly, take care of him.”  A grudge shackles you to the offender, and you become the hostage!

Dwelling on something your parents did, or on how an associated took credit for your work, or on what someone said about you, makes you, not them, miserable. You walk around in turmoil and they don’t even know you’re upset!  Why give somebody that kind of control over your life?  What’s important is what happens in you, not to you.  So forgive, forget, and move on!

Be Blessed!

(Source: The Word for You Today, 2008)

God is STILL working MIRACLES!

This video reminds me of the woman in the Bible with the issue of blood.  She said “if I could just touch the helm of his garment, I will be made whole.”  Her FAITH healed her.

This mothers FAITH in a God that is great healed her daughter!  I wonder what the doctors will say NOW!

HALLELUJAH!!!