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 Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 7:33 am
 So I am helping my pastor's wife transcribe her weekly video devotions into a paper/book devotional.
A popular christian magazine asked her to write an article,
which has now turned into 2 and possibly more.
She had me put the articles together from a few of her videos that relate to the same subject.
I will share those articles here, as well as some of the devotional videos as I transcribe them.
I hope they bless you as much as they do me!
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 7:36 am
Stick With the Plan
God has some big plans for you. If you look in the Word, in Jeremiah 29:11, it says that God has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. We have a loving Father Who thinks good thoughts towards us, thoughts to give us a future and a hope.
Growing up, my grandfather was a builder, so being around his house there were always all these plans laying out. And I just loved to see the blueprints of the house he was working on. When they were rolled out you could see how detailed the construction would be. I can see our Father God today, sitting behind His big desk, just rolling out a plan that He has for you, a plan for your life. And it's so special concerning your gifts and callings. It's so detailed to match what He's called you to do.
Now there is another plan out there. In John 10:10, it talks about the enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The enemy's plan is always trying to get us off course, to discourage us, to get us distracted and not listen to the plans of God. He will do everything he can to get us to not stay in line with God's plan for us.
An example of how that's happened in my life happened when I was in Bible School. I felt the call of God on me, being led into the healing ministry. I felt that God was going to use me to help people receive healing. Not very longer after that my mother was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away so quickly, within just a month and a half. I was just devastated. I had felt so called to the healing ministry, that it was God's plan for my life. In the middle of that disappointment, I felt so lost. I just started asking, "Why? Why?" I was sitting in the church service a couple of week later, and I heard the Spirit of the Lord on the inside of me. He spoke right to me and said, "Just forget about the why. Don't get lost in that discouragement. Don't try to figure out everything. But press on in the call. Press on in the plans I have for you!" So I had to make a decision hat day. I had to choose to say, "I don't know why all that happened, but I am certain in the call. I'm certain in the plans that God has to use me!"
In Romans 11:29, it says our gifts and callings are given without repentance. That He never changes His mind about you. Those desires He's placed in your heart, that call, those gifts, they're still in you. No matter what we've had to go through, no matter what disappointments, no matter what mess that we've found ourselves in, those gifts are still there and God still has a plan on your life. He has a way to get out, and a way to prosper you.
I've learned over the years that the very thing that has come into your life, the trial, the distraction, if instead of getting lost in it, you press on with God's plans for you, it will be the fuel to press you on into the call! You can use that discouragement to bring encouragement to other people. I'm so glad I didn't give up on healing. I'm so glad I pressed on in the plan and call. We've seen such great miracles and the hand of God working in people's lives. I'm glad I didn't get lost in the why.
You know, when hardships and disappointments come, another trap that the enemy tries to keep us in is the one of having to measure up or prove ourselves worthy of the gifts that God gives us. We start to think that we need to perform or become something "better" than our true selves. But that is just another lie of the enemy. God is in love with the real us. We don't have to put on a mask or become someone we are not. God thinks we are perfect and calls us His workmanship.
So many times we disqualify ourselves or put on insecurities, and to cover those up it will be like a mask. I had one friend tell me she had different masks for wherever she was, whether it was at church, or at work, or with her family. And I thought, that's so sad. God is in love with the real her. She doesn't have to pretend to be anyone else.
I was thinking about a story in the Bible, in 1 Samuel 16:7, where the profit Samuel was looking for a king. He was at David's house, and he had gone through David's brothers who were all big and strong. But the Lord said man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. He had seen the appearance of the brothers, He had also looked in their hearts. David was a small shepherd boy who had been out worshiping the Lord. God wasn't concerned about the outward appearance or what may qualify him naturally for the position. No, He was looking at his heart.
Many times we get so insecure about what other people think about us, when the truth is, the only opinion we should be concerned about is our Father Gods. You don't need to feel insecure about the little things that make you YOU. He made you that way and He thinks you are perfect and He loves you. He has a plan for your life and He made you the way you are to fulfill it.
When we first got called to ministry, I felt insecure. We were young, had just graduated Bible School, and we had just started pastoring. I thought that I needed to be perfect, that I needed to put on a mask so that people would think that I knew a lot about the Lord. I wanted to be able to listen to them and help them. I didn't want them to see me as insufficient for their needs. That's how I saw myself. But God saw me as someone that He could use. So the more confident I got with the Lord, the more I was able to let down the mask. I didn't have to be perfect, but I chose to be confident in what God has done in Christ Jesus for us.
So today, be encouraged. Don't get lost in the why. Don't settle in the discouragement. Don't think you have to put on a mask and pretend to be anything other than the perfect workmanship that God created to be. He loves you, just as you are. So rise up and know that God has a plan for you. And it's to prosper you and bring you out of darkness into a wonderful light!
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Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 7:38 am
As Happy as You Want to Be
Have you ever wondered, “Will I ever be happy?” John 15:11 says, “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” We’ve got His joy on the inside of us. It’s not dependent on anything on the outside, it belongs to us. It’s ours!
The Lord showed me this example of a set of keys. We have keys that represent our car, our house, our job. We wouldn’t just toss these keys to just anyone. We keep our keys with us, they are important to us. The Lord says to look at your happiness like that. Just as you wouldn’t toss your keys to just anyone, don’t toss your happiness keys to just anyone that is trying to steal your joy. You may be at work on Monday morning, and someone says something that they shouldn’t have to you. They upset you, and you feel like just tossing your keys right over at them. But the Lord wants us to make the decision, “No, that’s MY joy. It comes from the inside. It’s not determined by anything on the outside. The joy of the Lord is my strength!”
One time when I was growing up, we were riding in a mini van and I was in the backseat pouting about something. My mother just turned around, looked at me and said, “Amy, you’re as happy as you want to be.” Well that phrase really stuck in my heart! It’s carried me through some situations in life when everything was a mess or I was just in a funk. I reminded myself, “I’m as happy as I want to be.” I realized that joy is an inside job. Jesus gave me His joy and I can decide to be as happy as I want to at any time.
Recently my daughter Summer got a new toy. We had spent a lot of money on this toy, $60 for an egg that hatches and a stuffed animal comes out. She started crying because it didn’t work like it showed her on the commercial. We were so upset because we thought, you have to be happy, we paid too much for your happiness! It reminded me of another story, where I was tempted to throw my happiness keys. We were in business and I took our deposit to the bank. The balance was negative, and the teller had written our balance down with a big negative sign, circled it several times and slid it under the window back at me. I looked at it and I thought, ‘Well you didn’t have to circle it!” I just wanted to take those happiness keys and just throw them at her! She had just stolen my joy. But then I got back in the car and I began to thank God, “Oh thank you Lord, that Your joy is in me! My happiness is MY decision!” I had to choose that joy. There wasn’t anything happening on the outside that was making me happy. But it was the joy of the Lord on the inside that was my strength.
Proverbs 17:22 says “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” I’ve heard it said that a day without laughter is a wasted day. I think that’s true; I love to laugh! It lightens your mood, it releases endorphins in your brain, it increases your circulation and decreases heart trouble, it makes your body feel better! It even helps your immune system resist sickness and disease every time you start laughing. God made laughter and God knew that when He made us. So, I think it’s good and encouraging for us to find the laughter in things. I’m quick to laugh, always looking for the funny in a situation.
I heard a story about the comedian Mike Myers, he’s the voice of Shrek in our house. He was on a talk show and he was talking about his dad who was always able to find the laugh in life. He said he remembered a story when he was a little boy and they were broken down on the side of the road. He couldn’t fix the car, but he leaned in towards the kids and said, “How soon can we laugh at this?” And that was something that stuck with Mike Myers growing up. And I like that philosophy. I like to be quick to find laughter in something.
The other day Lake, my son, and Jay, my husband, came in, and they were both upset. Jay said to me, “Amy, you won’t believe what your son did!” And he proceeded to tell me about a bet that Lake had made, and it started to become funny to me. It was very clever what he did. It was wrong, but clever. So, I began to laugh and laugh ‘til I fell on the floor. Jay looked at me and said, “Well I can’t punish him now, you’ve laughed too hard!” Lake came to me about an hour later and said, “Mama, I’m so glad you laughed.” I did have to tell him “but you know what you did was wrong.”
We recently got to go to a comedy show starring Jon Crist. My husband had gotten me tickets for a present. We were on the front row, had gotten to go backstage and meet him. He was so kind, but I didn’t know if he was going to make fun of us or what was going to happen. So, in the show he looked down at my husband and he said “Hey Shorts (because he had on shorts) what do you do for a living?” And Jay says, “I’m a Pastor.” And we all laugh. Then later on in the middle of the show Jay tells me he’s waited as long as he could, he had to go to the bathroom. Well, we were in the front row and in a small arena. So when Jay gets up to leave Jon Crist sees him and stared him down all the way down the aisle. He looked at me and said, “That guy’s a pastor? How would he like it if someone did that in the middle of his sermon?” Later on I get a message from him because I had tagged him in a post. He thanked us for being a good sport about it all. And I said “Are you kidding? You making fun of us made our night!” But I remember other people on the front row who weren’t laughing when he was poking fun of them. But this was a great opportunity to laugh! Don’t take yourself so seriously, don’t worry about your mistakes! We went to the show and took our children and it stirred up laughter in us. What a valuable thing in our lives, we should look for chances to laugh.
My daughter was so inspired by that comedy show that when we got home and it was near Mother’s Day, she planned out a whole comedy routine and had three jokes that she wanted to tell in church. So we let her have the mic! Everybody laughed and it was good! Laughter is the best medicine!
The other day I had to take this medicine for sure! I was speaking at a luncheon, and I thought I was doing great. I was reciting Hebrews 12 how we are surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses, to lay aside those things that would easily try and snare you and weigh you down in your race, and keep looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith! And when I was done another minister came up to me and said, “Amy you said that was in Romans?” And I said, “no, no, it’s in Hebrews 12” And she said ‘No, you quoted it as Romans 12 the whole time.” Well I had a decision to make, do I laugh, or do I cry? I chose to laugh! I yelled out during the luncheon, “Hey everybody! If you are looking for that verse in Romans, you won’t find it! It’s in Hebrews!”
There are always going to be situations that we can laugh at instead of getting all stressed out, ruining our days, and stealing our happiness keys. But we can look for the laugh in it! I’ve heard it said that Joy is a serious business of Heaven. In the Bible, in Psalms it tells us that God sits in the Heavens and He laughs. God made you to laugh! Instead of being discouraged or disappointed, let’s just find the laughter. Let’s let a merry heart do good like a medicine on the inside of us, and let the joy of the Lord be our strength. Choose to be as happy as you want to be, and stick with the plans that God has for you!
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