Satan’s games

15 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

But the LORD is the one who is marching before you! He is the one who will be with you! He won’t let you down. He won’t abandon you. So don’t be afraid or scared!” ~ Deuteronomy 31:8

One of the biggest battles that Satan wages against us is getting us to believe that we are alone. I find myself falling into this trap often. This is a good verse to carry around in your heart. Deuteronomy 31:8 says that God will go before me, He will be with me and He won’t abandon me. This verse tells me that God won’t abandon me so I shouldn’t be afraid.

Recently I read something Joyce Meyer wrote, “Satan wants you to believe you are alone. He wants you to believe that no one understands how you feel, but his claims are false. In addition to God being with you, many believers understand what you are experiencing mentally and emotionally.” Satan wants me to lose sight of the simple truths found in the Bible. It is easy to forget that God wants to comfort us and deliver us when we are in the middle of pain and loss.

Part of the loneliness trap that Satan sets for me is playing the game of not sharing what is going on in my life. Then I get mad when no one notices that my life is falling apart. It is as if I just expect people to see the pain that I am going through but if I don’t open up and share what is going on in my life, then how do they know to reach out to me. I have a responsibility to meet people half way in relationships. Finding people that are “safe” to share my hurts and sorrows with takes time. But if I do not get involved and discover the people that God has placed within my reach then I am falling for the lies that Satan tells me and I will continues to find myself alone.

Heavenly Father, help me to hide in my heart the truth. You are with me and will never leave me alone. You provide for all my needs. Open my eyes to know the friendships you have set in place for me and close my ears to Satan’s lies. Amen.

Dissapointments

14 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , ,

Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. ~ James 4:7 (CEB)

One area that Satan can get at me is through my disappointments. Satan is right there waiting to attack me when I am at my lowest. When things don’t go the way I thought they should, I wonder “why did I get my hopes up so high”, “I know better”, “I am worthless”, “I should have known nothing good is meant to come my way”. These are lies that Satan feeds me. This is not life as God means for us to live. He wants us to have joy, even among the pieces of our shattered hopes and dreams.

Jesus came to minister to the broken hearted, the oppressed, the hopeless. He came so that I might have life. Satan doesn’t want me to live, so he feeds me lies to keep me in death. Jesus wants me to live so He came into the world to breath new life and hope into my heart. If I believe the lies that Satan feeds me then I will stay defeated and my heart dies slowly bit by bit every day. If I hear God’s truth that I am worthy and that He wants to bless my life beyond what I can ever imagine than I can LIVE. My disappointments don’t define who I am. God’s love for me is the only definition that I need to know.

Jesus is waiting on the sidelines offering me hope amidst the disappointments of life. Satan wants me to stay defeated. Christ came so that I can have hope. Christ came so that I can live. I need to hide these truths deep within my heart so that I can resist the lies that Satan wants to feed my soul.

Sometimes Lord, the lies seem louder in my ears than your promises. Help me hide your truths deep in my heart so that when the noise of Satan threatens to overwhelm me Your truth will bubble up and overflow until I can no longer hear anything but Your love for me. Amen.

 

To reflect His image

13 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions

God created humanity in God’s own image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created. ~Gen 1:27 (CEB)

We are made in God’s image.The Bible tells us that God is love. It also tells us that God is a creator. While most of us acknowledge some ability to love, many think that we posses no capacity for creativity. I have met many people who think they lack creativity because they cannot make art; but they can create a lovely meal from scratch or conduct a meeting where opposing constituents work out a compromise. Karla M. Kincannon in her book Creativity and Divine Surprise reminds us that “Creativity is so much more than art making. It is a tool for navigating through everyday experiences to find the sacred in the God-given moment. Those who believe they lack creativity have relegated it to remote regions of their life, burying it under the need for security, approval, and control. However, like love, which is stronger than death, creativity does not die; it simply waits to be unearthed and set free.”

Set me free O Lord, of any insecurities that live deep in my heart. Help me to reflect Your love and Your creativity in all I set out to do. Inspire my work, fuel my creative energy and send music for my soul. May my plans honor Your plans for us. Amen.

Many ways to Pray

12 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: ,

I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers. ~Ephesians 1:18-19 (CEB)

Despite growing up in church I always felt that I was not good at praying. I have learned that there are many ways to pray since reading the book “50 ways to Pray”, by Teresa A. Blythe. I have always held close the scripture from Romans 8:26 that says when we don’t know what to pray the Holy Spirit will pray for us but this book about prayer helped me to see the different ways there are to pray. It helped me to see that I already prayed with song, when I painted, when I smelled flowers or listened to birds sing. Prayers could be felt as I rocked my children to sleep. Reading the Bible and thinking on God’s truth and how they apply to me was praying. Any conversation I have with God is prayer. Silence and waiting on Him is prayer. Maybe silence is the most important part. We often feel uncomfortable with silence and tend to fill it but part of praying is listening for God to speak to us.

Even after reading “50 ways to Pray”, I still felt that my word prayers needed some work. How surprised I was to discover that the Bible is full of prayers. This prayer that Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians is beautiful. “I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believes, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers.”  I love the words he uses and I can take his words and model my prayers after them. The Psalms are also a wonderful place to find inspiration for prayer. The Psalms have some of the barest emotions you will find. A few years ago I started marking the scriptures in Psalms so that when I needed hope, or a way to express joy or sadness I can easily scan through until I find verses I feel apply to my situation. I can even find verses in Psalms that express anger towards God or toward my life’s situations. The Psalms are some of my favorite scriptures.

Once again I stand amazed in Your presence, O Lord. You tell me that you will meet all my needs, even the need for words in the prayers I lift up to you. You will not leave me stranded even in the prayers that I speak. Thank you.

Offspring of the Creative One

10 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , ,

When I look up at your skies,

at what your fingers made—

the moon and the stars

that you set firmly in place—

what are human beings

that you think about them;

what are human beings

that you pay attention to them?

You’ve made them only slightly less than divine,

crowning them with glory and grandeur. ~Psalm 6:3-5 (CEB)

One of the things that I love about running first thing in the morning is that it gives me time and space to see the beauty around me. Running is about as “still” as I can get sometimes. What I mean is that there are so many noises around me. So many things that pull at my attention. Most of it seems to stem from technology. Technology is a wonderful,but it is hard to get away from it. Sometimes I even feel enslaved to it. When I run,it is a time that I can truly get away from all screens and distractions and my mind begins to wander. I think my best talks with God and observations about the world around me happen when I run. When I run, I can find that still quiet voice that lives inside of me.

Because technology seems to crowd into more and more of our “still” time, I can’t help but be aware of the dangers of losing touch with God. Time is given less and less in creative endeavors. Writing, drawing, painting, and gardening all tap into that part of me that reminds me that I am the offspring of a Divine Creator. When I create, my soul converses with God. When I create, wisdom often emerges out of my soul’s conversation with The Creator; the truth is smaller and less universal.

Karla M. Kincannon, in her book Creativity and Divine Surprise says, “While we exile creativity to distant corners of our existence, our ability to perceive the things of God in our life and in the life of the world radically diminishes. Without creativity we are deaf to God’s call; what we are to be and do remains a conundrum. The truth of our existence lies in the heart of God, and if we cannot perceive the Divine Presence, we cannot make meaning of our days.”

Lord, help me find meaning in this day. Help me search for Your voice in all I do. May I take time to look around me at all Your creation so that I may remember that You have formed us to join you in the work of shaping the world. A world that reflects Your design for unity in diversity among all your creations. Inspire in me today a holy creativity greater than I could ask for or imagine. Amen.

Wind in my sails

08 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , ,

 

He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness.” So I’ll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power can rest on me. Therefore, I’m all right with weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, and stressful situations for the sake of Christ, because when I’m weak, then I’m strong. ~2 Cor. 12:9-10 (CEB)

My son showed me how his cut was healing today. Just a tiny scab here and there left of what was a traumatic afternoon for us a few weeks ago. He was very lucky and was shook up from the incident. I went around telling everyone that the “wind had been knocked out of his sail”. He isn’t back up to full steam yet. A little cautious still. I can’t help glancing at the rest of him. My eyes landing on this scar and that one. I remember each incident. Some were minor. Some where more heart stopping. They each tell a story.

Injuries become scars. Scars remind us of moments that we survived. We should never be embarrassed to share the stories behind our scars. Even the ones that are not visible. They are part of who we have become and a testament to those things we have survived. I carry around with me many scars on my heart. As I have come to share their stories they have lost any power they might have had. The more I share the more I feel the wind lifting up my soul and preparing me to set sail.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for Your Holy Spirit that fills my soul with hope. Help me to not feel shame for my past. For the scars that were not of my doing… and for the scars that are. Help me to feel Your strength through this day. Help me hold my head up high so that others may see the Light that lives behind my eyes. May the scars I bear help others to know that they are loved too. Amen.

Do you love Me?

07 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: ,

When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you love me more than these? Simon replied, Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my lambs. Jesus asked a second time, Simon son of John, do you love me? Simon replied, Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Jesus said to him, Take care of my sheep. He asked a third time, Simon son of John, do you love me? Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, Do you love me? He replied, Lord, you know everything; you know I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep. ~John 21:15-17

Here, just before verses 15-17 we find that after Christ’s resurrection, Peter (Simon) is a little lost and has gone back to his old life of fishing. It had confused the Disciples that things had not gone the way they thought they should go. They kind of felt lost. That happens to me, I think I understand what it is God wants me to do and before I have all the information I am  making my plans, organizing things in the way I think they should go. When I look up I realize I have gotten lost again. I took my eyes off God’s plans and started making my own plans thinking I knew just what God wanted. Sometimes I get it so wrong that I almost feel that I have lost faith for a little while. Maybe I even lose faith so much that I go back to my old way of living.

I feel in this scene that Peter lost his way for a little while. So he went back to what he knew best, the fishing business. But this story is such a story of hope. Christ didn’t give up on Peter. He didn’t say I can’t believe after ALL I have shown this man he goes back to his old way of life? No. Jesus went out and met Peter where he was. He never judged Peter in this moment. He knew he was confused so Jesus brought him back to the simple truth. “Peter do you love me?” Yes Lord , You know I do.” “Peter do you love me” Yes Lord, You know I do… and Jesus asks him a third time. “Peter do you LOVE me?” Jesus knew Peter loved Him, but Peter had forgotten that Peter loved Him.

Just like Peter I have doubts some days and I find myself back in my old life. Jesus comes out to where I am, looking for me. He calmly reminds me of the truths I have in my heart. The love I have for Jesus gives me strength that can get me through even the tough times of getting back on track.

Lord, when I find that I have muddied life up again, I can be confident that you will find me in the cloudiest of waters. You patiently remind me of the truths I have stored in my heat. May I answer your call with a sound, Yes Lord, you know I love you. Amen.

Second chances

06 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: ,

This is why I tell you that her many sins have been forgiven; so she has shown great love. The one who is forgiven little loves little.” ~Luke 7:44 (CEB)

When I read this story of the woman who sits at Jesus’ feet washing them with her tears and drying them with her hair I often find myself asking, “Is it true? Does it take devastating moments in our lives to feel much love for Christ?”

While the woman is washing Jesus’ feet He begins to tell a story about a certain lender who had two debtors that owed him money. One owed enough money to pay five hundred people for a day’s work. The other owed enough money for fifty. When they couldn’t pay, the lender forgave the debts of them both. Then Jesus asked, “Which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the largest debt canceled.” “You are right,” Jesus says. (Luke 7:44-43)

Hmm, when you put it in terms of money it seems to make it clearer. It is obvious in Jesus’ illustration that the one whose debt was larger would be more thankful. So often it takes us hitting bottom (sinning much/getting into great debt) before we can realize how great our God is. God is a God of second chances. When we have much to be forgiven we are more grateful for those second chances.

Heavenly Father, please help me to grab hold of my second chances and make them stick. Amen.

Self-centeredness

04 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions

I say be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires. ~Gal 5:16 (CEB)

I have a very independent spirit. I elude myself with the thought that I just don’t want to bother other people when in reality I just don’t want to reach out to others. This is not what God intended for me. He made us for relationships. Being part of a community is not just helping others but also allowing them to reach out to me in my times of need.

It is very easy to carry this independent spirit over into my Christian walk as well. I refuse at times to depend on God. “I’ve got this covered God you can go help someone else who has a bigger need than me”. Relying on myself is self-centeredness. Self-centeredness is selfishness. Selfishness is self-worship. Hmm, I think I remember somewhere reading that I was to have no other gods before God. (Exodus 20:3)

Relying on myself quickly leads to frustration which is a red flag that God has been removed from the situation. Gal 5:16 tells me “be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires”. Allowing myself to be guided by the Holy Spirit helps me to keep God in the picture and me out of the center of my focus. God didn’t save us from ourselves in the first place to then just turn around and leave us alone. No, He has eternally saved us, which means if we depend on Him, He will guide us and help us. In allowing Him to guide me, my selfishness begins to subside and frustration becomes less and less of an issue in my daily life.

 Heavenly Father, guide my steps in all I do this day. Thank you for saving me and allowing me to depend on You for guidance in every situation. Please continue to save me from myself. Amen.

God’s Armor

03 May 2014 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags:

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. ~Eph 6:10-11 (CEB)

Verses 14-17 continue to tell us to fasten truth around our waist, put on the breastplate of righteousness, to put on shoes of proclamation so that we can spread the good news wherever we may go, to take up the shield of faith in defense of Satan, to place the helmet of salvation on our head and to carry with us the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Finally verse 18 says to pray in the Spirit at all times, to keep alert and to always persevere.

How does this translate into some everyday actions that I can do? The armor of God is what we do to act healthy and to stay in touch with God. So that when life attacks we have something to battle back with. Armor is music, scriptures, prayer Christian fellowship, worship. All these things help us stand firm in our faith so that we can withstand the “evil of the day” as verse 13 says.

If I want to have strength I need to look to the Source that is above all other sources. I need to look outside myself for that Source of strength. I need to fasten tight the truth of who I am in Christ. Not hold onto what others might think of me. I need to carry in my heart God’s love for me and be willing to share His love with others.

May I not leave my house today O Lord, without being fully dressed so that I will not be destroyed as I go out into the world doing your service. Help me to hold onto truth and give me strength to do Your will in everything I do.

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