Tabetha’s Devotions

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

God loved you faults, scars, baggage, and all. He loved you yesterday and long before you came home to Him. He will love you today through all the trips and falls you made. He will love you tomorrow even through every single bad choice you make. The bottom line is God Loves You!

So now I have a question for you, or maybe I should say us. Why do we think we have a right to hate anyone? People do bad things. People make bad choices. No one, including God, expects us to be buddies with everyone. However, He does expect us to care about them. He expects us to forgive and move on with our lives. Don’t carry around that hate. He wants us to be free.

I want you to remember one thing today. There is no one you will see today that God does not love. Remember, Jesus died on that cross that day for all His disciples, even Judas! So, Love your neighbor because God loves you!

Lord, help me love others because You first loved me. ~amen

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Philippians 1:9-10
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,”

It is good to listen to preachers, advice, and teachings from other Christians, read books, and of course study the bible and pray. When you pray make sure you pray for the knowledge and discernment over all of these things. You see we all have our own paths we must take. We all have our own gifts and jobs given to us by God. So it is important that we are hearing exactly what we need at all times.

We take in about 34 gigabytes of information a day. Our brain then has to sort through what is important and what to ignore or get rid of later. We have to find what is useful for our lives at that moment. Like many students use to tell me, “We don’t want all the notes, just tell us what is on the test!”

Our prayer for discernment is kind of like asking God for the cliff notes to the test. We absorb all this knowledge and have a great depth of insight. Now, we need the discernment of what and how to use it all. We need to know what is on that test! The only way you are going to get that answer is staying connected to God in prayer. Pray and wait for the answer. Then go ace that test!

Lord, I am asking for discernment today, to pass the test of life! ~amen

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Romans 15:13 NIV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you ever wanted to learn to memorize and pray scripture over people and yourself today’s verse is one to add to your list!

Now, I want you to take a close look at Romans 15:13. Notice it is not all about what God does. His part is to fill you will hope, joy, and peace. He will even make sure it is overflowing in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit. However, you are not without responsibility here. You have a job to do also. You have to trust Him. May I say, that is easier said than done.

Now, you may be a little shocked and even chastising the screen right now. “But Tabetha, we are all Christians, we always trust God!” Do we? Do we really always trust God? You have heard me say countless times that I struggle with this. I always trust God will come through, it is the how and when that I get worried about. News flash that isn’t fully trusting Him. That is human nature sneaking into your thoughts. That is why I say trusting Him is easier said than done.

Never fear, God understands we are human. He is a firm believer in progress, not perfection. We are all learning to trust Him in everything, all the time, and in every way. He is ready to reward you with all the hope, joy, and peace you need to keep trusting Him more and more!

Trust and obey! I am working on it, Lord. Thank you for all the hope, joy, and peace You deliver me every day! ~amen

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Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Every once in a while Satan likes to plant the fear of death in my head. Now, I am not actually afraid of dying. I know I am saved. I know where I will be going. The actual pain I feel comes from two places. My human nature of knowing what it is like to miss my loved ones is the first. The second is simply, I am afraid of how I am going to die and the pain that it may include. I am sure we have all prayed, “Lord, please let me go fast and painless, maybe in my sleep if you don’t mind.”

No, I have to admit there is another side of me that likes to throw a few comments back in Satan’s face. He brings up that basically, he could kill me right now where I stand. I like to point out that yes, he could, but he has to have God’s permission, and well if it is my time it is what it is. I also like to remind him that if he thinks I annoy him on Earth, just what does he think it will be like when I can follow HIM around for a change? Just sayin’ 💁🏻‍♀️

No matter how you look at death, living today, I am going to live for Christ. I am getting the word out to as many people as I can. To die means, as a friend of mine says, “I graduated!” I will be in paradise with Jesus forever and ever. So, Satan, death is not a fear threat. Move on Satan, move on!

Lord I don’t want to live in fear. I want to live for You and spread Your love why I can here on Earth. ~Amen

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Galatians 5:25
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Step in time, step in time
Come on my dear, step in time
Step in time
Step in time, step in time
Step in time, step in time
Never need a reason, never need a rhyme
Step in time, we step in time
~Step In time, Disney, Mary Poppins

Read today’s verse and Mary Poppins was the first thing that came to mind. The chimney sweeps all singing and dancing is one of my favorite parts of the movie. The verses changes as it goes to things like, kick your knees up step in time, flap like a birdie, step in time, and link your elbows. However, they always end with the chorus saying, “Never need a reason, never need a rhyme, step in time, we step in time.” That is exactly how we are supposed to be with the Holy Spirit. We always step in time.

To be able to step in time, we need to connect with the Spirit. These chimney sweeps could not have danced together if they didn’t get together. They were a bunch of guys that were always together. Have you checked in with the Holy Spirit today? What are your marching orders? Where and how will you be stepping in time.

Holy Spirit lead the way. I never need a reason, I never need a rhyme. I am reading to step in time. ~amen

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1 Corinthians 12:25-27
so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

I once heard Joyce Meyer give a sermon on these verses. She spoke about what would happen if body parts decided they wanted to be other parts. She asked what would happen if your foot got jealous of your ear. It was angry because it wanted to be an ear. It was tired of walking around all day and it wanted to hear something. She even put her shoe on her ear. It was so funny, but we got the point. We are all part of the body. We all have our jobs to do and not one part is more important than the other. We all work together to make the body work perfectly as it was meant to be.

I am a Pastor’s wife and I am here to tell you, he is NOT the most important man at church. Nope, not at all. Seriously, could he do his job if the church wasn’t cleaned, or the grass wasn’t taken care of, or maintenance wasn’t done on the building? Could he do his job if no one came to hear him? What about those that volunteer to teach Sunday School, or run the pantry, and all the other ministries provided by the church? No, everyone in the body of Christ is needed just as much as the other.

Next time you feel like you don’t matter in the body, try hanging your shoes on your ears and let them do the walking!

Lord, I am happy being me. I know you have a that is perfect for me to do and I will do it to my best ability. ~amen

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1 Corinthians 16:13
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.

‭Have you ever played Wack A Mole? It is a fun game I use to play as a kid when we go to Chucky Cheese. The object is to wait patiently, keeping your eye on the board in front of you, and hit the mole on the head with a mallet when he comes out of a hole. There are many holes on the board and you never know which one he is going to come out. He is a pretty quick little guy and as the game goes on he gets faster. When I read today’s verse it reminded me of this game. Being on your guard does not mean dive down every hole looking for Satan. It does mean to watch out for him ready to jump out and pounce on you.

A Christian life is not meant for the faint of heart or lazy heart. No, we have to be read up, prayed up, and ready to battle at all times. We must be firm in our faith, courageous, and strong. When Satan sticks his head up, we have to be quick to pop one. Just like a real mole, if you let him get away soon your garden will be a disaster filled with holes to trip in, and all your veggies and flowers are gone.

So, it is time to pick up the mallet and be prepared to strike. Is time to be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. You’ve got this. Game on!

Lord, help stay alert and ready to whack a Satan! ~amen

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Psalms 149:4
For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

When was the last time you felt delighted? I know that is an odd word. Maybe I should say odd. It is just not an everyday word that I hear anymore. It comes from the word delight

verb
past tense: delighted; past participle: delighted
-please (someone) greatly or take great pleasure in.

adjective: delighted
feeling or showing great pleasure.

So, if delight or delighted is not a word you would normally use, maybe you can change the verse to ones of its synonyms: blissful, glad, gratified, happy, joyful, joyous, pleased, satisfied, thankful, tickled.

No matter which word you choose the meaning is the same. God is delighted with you. You are the apple of Eye! You are loved completely, scars, brokenness, bad choices and all. He loves you and wants to be with you. Are you ready to humble yourself and claim your victory?

Lord, thank You for loving me as much as You do. It is so humbling to think that creator of the world knows my name and is delighted by me. ~amen

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Matthew 9:37-38
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Tell me, are you keeping your seat warm at the table or are you helping with the harvest?

There is a time to be fed. We all need rest. But we were not made to be lazy. We were not made to stay in the church. We were not made to hang with only people just like us. We were meant to go out and preach the gospel to the world.

We are so blessed to be alive today. Going out and working in the fields can be as easy as the end of your fingers. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and every other social media has given you a brand new platform to share with others. You can pick up a phone and call someone. You can meet someone face to face. Yes, you can even go across the world on a mission trip. There are so many different fields open to you. However, you have to be willing to go.

So once again the action is up to you. If you need the rest and to be fed. Come to the table. However, when you have been nourished and rested what are you going to do? Are you ready to answer God’s call? Will you be a worker and go out into the field? The harvest is ready!

Lord, give me rest and nourishment then send me out the door! ~amen

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Matthew 5:44
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
‭‭

Sorry, one and all, I am not feeling well today. This blog will most likely be short and sweet. In my defense though, the scripture kind of speaks for itself.

God was pretty direct and to the point here. You must love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. This does not let anyone off the hook. This does not mean you are not allowed to be angry or hurt. God is in no way disregarding your feelings or even telling you they don’t count. No, He is trying to help you heal.

We can only begin to heal when we learn to let go of the other person. The longer we hang on to the pain, we are giving them control over our lives. When our feelings are in control, we are not.

I would like to add this is not a one-time done and done type of thing. Old records will begin playing in your head. When they do this is the perfect time to shut them up by loving your enemies and praying for them.

Lord, when old records begin to play in my head, remind me to pray over them instead of play them. ~amen

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