I was at work thinking about a situation presented to me when the Lord dropped the following story in my heart. It’s based on 2 Samuel 21:15-17. Yes, we know David was famous for killing Goliath. Over the years, he had engaged in numerous battles. However, the battle that rests on my heart today is the one that nearly cost…

I was thinking about yesterday’s devotional about the man with the withered hand and how a group of religious leaders were watching Jesus to see if He would heal the man on the Sabbath. There wasn’t any excitement in their hearts. They were focused on the technicalities of things and were waiting to accuse Jesus of disobeying the law. He…

The man with the withered hand experienced a new sense of freedom on that sabbath day when Jesus made him the focal point of the room. Imagine how he must have felt when he was told to stand up in front of everyone. Imagine the shock and anger on the faces of the Scribes and Pharisees when Jesus said, “Stretch…

Dirty-bird blessings. That’s what Elijah received from God. Elijah told King Ahab that there wouldn’t be any rain in the land for a long time. God then directed Elijah to go to the brook Cherith, where he would drink water from the brook, and ravens would bring him bread and meat in the mornings and evenings. So, Elijah headed for…

David was anointed to fight Goliath, but he was also anointed to handle the criticism of his brothers before the fight, the doubt of King Saul before the fight, and Saul’s jealousy after the battle was over. He was able to handle becoming an instant hero! He became a household name and was anointed to deal with it all. You…

I want to go back to the topic of Giants again. Yeah, I know there’s been a few recent devotionals that touched on it. But I keep coming back to it. So here we are again, digging into the theme of Giants. I was thinking about David and his encounter with Goliath. But what captured my heart was David’s engagement…

But God.  Such a powerful statement!  To me, it means that whatever is happening, those two words, But God, pivots the circumstances to something else.  The scripture reference is Acts 13:30, which says God raised him from the dead.  That’s the power of God at work.  Jesus came to die and be resurrected.  And we celebrate the empty tomb! Thank you,…

I was reading about the birth of Christ, and I considered how brief Jesus’ life was – 33 years, which isn’t a long time to be on earth. But He didn’t need a lot of time to accomplish His purpose for coming. Have you ever longed for more time? More time to enjoy family and friends. More time to revisit…

Nothing about Job’s problems even hinted that God was pleased with him.  Nothing about the intensity of Job’s problems matched the glowing remarks made by God to satan.  If anything, from the problems, it appeared as if God was punishing Job. But for what?  There was no immediate answer.  Minus the benefit of knowing Job’s end, we could also draw…

What is He doing? I can imagine these words rolling through the disciples’ minds when He told them to make the 5,000-plus people sit down in groups. For what? There wasn’t enough food for the disciples, let alone for all those people. Someone mentioned a little boy had a lunch of 5 little loaves of bread and 2 small fish,…

Packaging. Sometimes, it’s the packaging of a product that draws your attention to the product. You might not need the product, but the packaging was so impressive that it drew your eye to the item. The placement of the item in the store also drew your eye – it was designed to bring you in, make you pause, look, and…

Don’t let others do the work God sent you to do. If you forfeit the work, you’re handing the job over to someone else. God didn’t make a mistake by tasking you with the job, but should you choose not to do it, God will make sure His work gets done by someone who is willing!! The story of Mordecai…

You are supposed to be there- in that environment mixed with blessings and opposition, aka giants. You are equipped to not just see/taste what the future holds but to also get an understanding of the opposition you will have to face.  What you believe matters in this season because you can derail your opportunity or embrace the fact that God designed…

The ten spies sped past the good news about the fruit and the land, but they landed hard on those giants. They were – ugh, GIANTS. They couldn’t see anything else – not the land’s bounty, the fruit they brought back, not the fact that God was currently providing manna and quails, the pillar of fire at night and cloud…

Joshua and Caleb were the only men out of the 12 spies Moses sent to return with iron-clad conviction that God had given the Israelites the land.  So what if the giants, called the Anakins, occupied the land?  Joshua and Caleb believed God positioned Israel to defeat the enemy!  They could taste victory.  Unfortunately, the other ten spies tasted death.  They convinced the masses of…

As a little girl, I loved organizing my room, especially my dresser. Oh, it had to be just so. I’d dump every drawer out onto my bed and begin the enjoyable process of reorganizing. Although I did love to be organized, it also served a greater purpose. You see, I hated going to bed. So, I decided that I would…

Manna. The provision God sent from heaven to feed the Israelites during their 40-year punishment in the wilderness. What captures my attention tonight is they wouldn’t have even known about manna if they’d believed Joshua and Caleb’s faith-filled “we are well able to possess the land” report. Instead, their unbelief and defiance prompted God to punish an entire generation by…

King Herod jailed Peter with the intention of killing him after Easter.  He’d already had James killed, and Peter was next.  The saints were praying for Peter while he was in jail.  The night before his scheduled death date, God miraculously delivered Peter.  He went to the house where the saints were gathered to share what God had done. Peter knocked on the door…

May you feel the gift of strength the Lord has given you in the volume you need for this day. Whether you’re celebrating with family and friends,  acknowledging the time in solitude with memories of days gone by, or bogged down in difficulties, there’s still the need for the Lord to see you through today. While commercialized versions of the day are…

Hard times. Joseph had his fair share of hard times. Thanks to his boss’ lustful wife’s lies, he sat in a dank, dark prison. Joseph’s destiny wasn’t prison, but it was part of the journey to his destiny of serving as the provider for the nation of Israel. Hard times. Sometimes they serve as the vehicle that drives us to…