Welcome!  Blessings!

I will be off to visit my family until November 27th.  My goal is to still post a daily devotion each weekday.  But I must also be realistic and I will be working to get my Christmas Cards completed.  I have the idea in my head but I have to get the layout & design in the computer & then on paper.  So, if you don’t see me posting, just know that I’m still working!!! & As always, I thank you for your prayers & I thank God for you!

I recall my first time receiving notice that I would be laid-off (the first of several times) and I asked the Lord, “What am I going to do?”  The Lord replied, “You’re the one getting laid off; I’m still working!”  I could only thank God that it wasn’t the other way around.  But how many times through panic, worry and/or doubting do we lay God off and go to working things out (or so we think).  I must say that each time I’ve been laid off, God has worked differently but always miraculously!  If you’re going through a job crisis (or any other crisis for that matter), take heart:  God has held a job before the beginning of time, He has an excellent work ethic (His faithfulness); impeccable work record (His Word), and many references are available upon request (concordance)!

A little three year old boy asked his dad, ”Who made the sky?”  His dad replied, ”God.”  The little boy responded, ”Well, He did a good job!”

When I consider the sky (Psalm 8:3), I must ask, ”What can’t God do?”  When I consider the Son (Romans 8:32), I must ask, ”What won’t God do?”  God is doing an awesome work, a completed work, a perfect work…allow Him!

He delivereth and rescueth, and HE WORKETH signs and wonders in heaven and in earth…  Daniel 6:27

He works, although I cannot see,

I know that it is true;

He works and He is doing things

That no one else can do.

He works and does a perfect work,

Though I don’t see His hand;

The Lord yet works, for at all times

He still is in command.

He works and that’s enough for me;

He only does what’s best;

To know He works enables me

To know that I can rest.

…The LORD will work for us…  1 Samuel 14:6

Psalm

77:11 – I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember Thy wonders of old.

77:12 – I will meditate also of all Thy work, and talk of Thy doings.

26:7 – That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Thy wondrous works.

105:2 – Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works.

33:4 – For the word of the LORD is right; and all His works are done in truth.

111:2 – The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.

111:3 – His work is honourable and glorious: and His righteousness endureth for ever.

111:4 – He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.

111:6 – He hath shewed His people the power of His works, that He may give them the heritage of the heathen.

111:7 – The works of His hands are verity and judgment; all His commandments are sure.

145:10 – All Thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD; and Thy saints shall bless Thee.

Be Bountifully Encouraged!

Pam

Welcome!  Blessings!

In the night seasons are the times for singing.  Don’t forget to sing.  Don’t forget your song of joy and victory that God gave to you.  No one else can sing it.  The lyrics will bring His goodness to remembrance.  Then it won’t matter where you are, what you’re going through or what’s happening around you.  It will lighten your burdened heart; it will light your way!  What’s more, when you come through, you’ll have another song!

I call to remembrance my song in the night:  I commune with mine own heart:  and my spirit made diligent search.  Psalm 77:6

Before the joy that follows heartache,

There’s the sweetest song;

Because the same God of the daybreak,

Is God all night long.

All throughout the night’s dark season,

Praise rings in my soul:

The Lord has His own way and reason;

And complete control.

…by His light, I walked through darkness.  Job 29:3

Be Enthusiastically Encouraged!

Pam

Welcome!  Blessings!

As much as we try and want to, we can’t help it.  We can’t help what we lack in knowledge.  So we use what we do have to the best of our ability, yet it’s still not enough.  But the Spirit of God knows what we don’t, perceives what we can’t see and understands what we can’t even begin to comprehend.

He knows what we need before we ask.  When we ask, we know we have a need but we still don’t know exactly what it is that we need.  We desire the will of God and earnestly seek for it but the Spirit of God is what aids and enables us to find it.  He not only answers our prayers, He prays them!  What a blessed consolation!  That’s not only what would be called true intercessory prayer, but it’s also divine intervention! 

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:  for we know not what we should pray for as we ought:  but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.  Romans 8:26&27

He knows my heart’s desires but He also knows what’s best;

And that is what determines how my prayers will be addressed.

He searches out my heart but also knows what is His mind;

And then accordingly, He leaves what’s second rate behind.

He knows my heart in ways so far beyond my comprehension;

That’s why I say His intercession’s more like intervention!

…For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him…your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  Matthew 6:8 & 32

Be Prevalently Encouraged!

Pam

“Take no prisoners” is an idiom that has several varied meanings.  It’s used to describe a person as excessively ardent or aggressive; persistent in an assertive way; having a fierce, relentless, or merciless character; or to carry out some action directly to its conclusions, without holding back for any reason.

I was thinking that when Jesus came to this earth and went to Calvary, that it could be said that He carried out the Father’s redemption plan to its conclusions, without holding back for any reason.  So, it could be said that Jesus “took no prisoners” except that while on the cross, He took in a prisoner (Luke 23:42 & 43)!

Oh wondrous love!  Jesus accepts & receives prisoners, then makes them free.  Anyone who has been set free by His redeeming love makes themselves a prisoner of it.  They no longer want their own way; they never want to be outside of His presence.

Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.  Zechariah 9:12

To be a captive of the Lord, a prisoner of hope;

Just opened me to freedom that is of a broader scope.

When my heart had been put under sweet Holy Ghost arrest;

That was my first experience of freedom at its best!

With loving kindness, He put out an all points bulletin;

It was so sweet, I couldn’t help but turn my own self in.

And that’s when I discovered I was in captivity;

But now there’s no more bondage for I’m in His custody.

His blood expunged my record and gave me another chance;

I never want released under my own recognizance.

For I was rescued by His grace more so than being captured;

I am not held against my will, but by His love, enraptured.

And with His yoke that joins my wandering heart to His, I’m free;

There’s nothing that compares with Jesus Christ’s true liberty!

Welcome!  Blessings!!!

Thank you for your prayers, they are much appreciated and much needed.  God has laid His healing hand on me.  I need the Lord to touch me like never before.  Like in the song ‘Take Me Back’ that Pastor Andraé Crouch wrote:  I must confess, Lord, I’ve been blessed; but yet my soul’s not satisfied…  I don’t want to be satisfied with anything less than what pleases Him.  I stand on His Word that I shall be completely whole and entire, lacking nothing.  I shall be what I ought to be and where I ought to be.  I can’t do without Him.  Help me, Lord!

Most people deal with sorrow by not dealing with it.  They pay attention to it by doing all they can to ignore it.  They confront it by trying to get around it.  And they accept it by resisting it.  But since it is inevitable, we might as well allow it to be beneficial.  ALL THINGS work together for our good!

If a sad and trying time makes me do nothing more than consider that there is someone who is going through something far worse and think on them with compassion, then it has done me well.  It’s not until we’ve waited in grief that we can be able to move with compassion.  No one can go forward in effective ministry that lines up with God’s Word unless they are moved with compassion.  Lord, have Your sweet way!  Amen.

Sorrow is better than laughter:  for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.  Ecclesiastes 7:3

When we long for better times, we often yearn for laughter;

Sorrow’s always overlooked and never is sought after.

And yes, we need not seek for it because it’s sure to find—

It’s way into our lives to do the work it is assigned.

Just like the sculptor’s chiseling is to the stone in art;

So is the work of sorrow when it cuts us to the heart.

The same way butchers trim off fat and tenderize the meat;

Is sort of how our hearts are changed when sorrow’s work’s complete.

It comes to make us better but when we pursue what’s best;

We’ll do all in our power to avoid it in our quest.

We’ve spent billions in funds to hire those who entertain—

In hopes that they will help our efforts to forget the pain.

There is no limit or extremes to methods that we’ll use:

From great athletes’ amazing feats to stories that amuse.

We reach out for these remedies, though temporal and brief;

We’ve even given names to them, such as “comic relief.”

But sadness of the countenance just does our hearts good, then—

It gives us merry hearts that do good like a medicine.

For then we’ll better understand the pain another’s feeling;

And reach out with a heart like God’s and touch their lives with healing.

2 Corinthians 1:

3 – Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

4 – Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

5 – For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

6 – And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

7 – And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

Be Well Encouraged!

Pam

Welcome!  Blessings!

There is much to be said about appearance.  Things aren’t always as they appear to be.  And so it is with people.  Someone said that ‘reputation’ is what people think about you, but ‘character’ is what God knows about you.  How we appear is what man sees but how we are is what God sees.

From the Old Testament, one can learn that the success of many kings & leaders was based on them doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.  The rise and fall of kingdoms happened because they either did what was good in God’s sight or what was evil.

In these last and evil days, many hearts have been influenced to perceive what’s right according to what’s agreeable to them.  If it’s to their liking, they’ll say, “I see nothing wrong with it.”  God’s standard is no longer the measure by which what is good and evil is discerned.  Just because we don’t see anything, doesn’t mean that it’s not there.  Instead of saying what we don’t see, Psalm 139:23 & 24 should be our prayer as we ask for God to search us.  He will find what we never could see; then show us what it is and what to do about it.

May we as true believers, walk by faith, our profession of Christ and not by sight (which is the image that is paraded in front of people).  May the character that is openly displayed before God’s holy eyes be the image that we’ve worked so hard to create for public viewing.  God is looking and longing for those who desire and live to please Him, not because He’s got His eyes on them, but because they have their eyes on Him; not because He’s watching them, but because they’re watching in prayer, looking for that blessed hope, seeking His face and awaiting His likeness to appear in their lives.

(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)  2 Corinthians 5:7

Lord, I long to please You in the way I live and all I do;

Not because You’re watching me, but that I have my eyes on You.

… but our eyes are upon Thee.  Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that He have mercy upon us.  2 Chronicles 20:12 & Psalm 123:2

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my Strength, and my Redeemer.  Psalm 19:14

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.  1 Peter 3:4

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  Psalm 139:23 & 24

…Lord, that our eyes may be opened. Matthew 20:33

Be Authentically Encouraged!

Pam

Welcome!  Blessings!!

Would you please pray for me?  I have a badly infected throat.  The only thing in recent memory that has come close to the discomfort is the $56 cost for antibiotics.  I’ve never paid that much for a prescription (& yes, I’m tremendously blessed) but I was almost slain in my spirit!  Yet I praise the Lord that I had the money to pay for it.  So, I’m not complaining; just whimpering a little!!  Thanks for listening & your prayers.

Mark 9:23 basically says that if we can believe God can do it, then He can do it!

When I say that things are impossible, I have it all wrong because I’m the one being impossible!  Matthew 13:58 & Mark 6:5 record instances when miracles were hindered and the power of God was inhibited & limited because of unbelief.

The only thing that the Lord requires of us is to simply believe.  And what makes that even easier to do is that He asks us to believe Him.

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.  Mark 9:23

All things are possible because His Word’s forever true;

And if I just believe that there is nothing He can’t do—

The things that no one could accomplish suddenly shall be,

Not only probable but an inevitability.

…Believe ye that I AM able to do this?  Matthew 9:28

And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.  Matthew 13:58

And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.  And He marvelled because of their unbelief…  Mark 6:5&6

Be Ideally Encouraged!

Pam

Welcome!  Blessings!!!

At the end of it all, it’s not what remains, but who remains!  Our God remains faithful; our God remains true.  If you have Him, you have it all; you have all that is ever needed & you shall never be in want.

And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands:  They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed:  but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.  Hebrews 1:11&12

Before the beginning of time as we know it,

The Lord, the Ancient of days;

The One who is perfect in all of His works,

And righteous in all of His ways;

The Almighty, great and omnipotent God,

The only One sovereign in power;

Just as He was back before time had begun,

He was that in my darkest hour.

And He’ll be the same God throughout all of time,

All-wise and true, just as before;

And though times will change and this world dies away,

He stays the same and remains sure.

This holy, immutable, merciful God,

That always has been there for me;

Shall not ever change but be faithful and true,

Beyond time—throughout eternity!

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever…with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.  Hebrews 13:8 & James 1:17

Be Overbearingly Encouraged!

Pam

Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.  Give her the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.  Proverbs 31:30&31

Welcome!  Blessings!

I had planned on posting yesterday but my day got really busy.  It was my mom’s birthday and we had a nice time, sharing the time together.  She is the epitome of a virtuous woman.  She raised five girls single-handedly and I always say that I was raised on the “Bible-belt”—my mom had the bible in one hand & the belt in the other!  Sure, no person is perfect & that includes parents but her spirit was excellent and her love and desire for us to have and be God’s best were. 

My mom is the crowning success of all my endeavors and the rejoicing of my heart throughout my times of failure.  I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!

Although my four sisters (who live in the Maryland / Virginia / Kentucky area) could not be here in Pittsburgh for her birthday celebration, their presence was felt in the sweetest way.

I want to share this thought (although it’s not complete).  Back in August, around the 24th, the Lord spoke to my heart “Just A Little While.”  There were and yet are things going on in my life that I don’t quite understand but one thing that I do understand is that God is in control.  It may seem like He’s sitting idly by, but not so!  It may appear that He’s allowing it to drag on and on but He has spoken, “Just A Little While.”

I had gathered various scriptures that God gave to me as I meditated on this thought & prepared to write on it and witness it!  Praise God.

Well, my mother has been telling me about these comments that she has been leaving for me.  I never get them but she said she has ‘sent’ them.  So, perhaps you have them & don’t know to whom they belong.  Or maybe you have received them and have been so blessed by them, that you don’t want to share them.  Or perhaps they’ve reached the Pentagon & they are doing a thorough investigation of my mother, as we speak! 

Anyway, on Saturday, my mother gave me an index card with her comments handwritten on them.  It read as follows:

Pam,

I wrote from a study in Haggai 2:1– 6

6 – For thus saith the LORD of hosts: yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

(Tell Pam, I AM going to work and it is going to astonish her.  Granted.  The cry to God for His Divine Intervention is granted.)  Sing Hallelujah to His name.  (10/17/07 – 1:31 AM)

And I continued on with my devotions and writing.  I sent this by email, I am sorry you did not get this.

Love U.S.

Mother

It’s something how God confirms His Word!  It’s just a little while.  I have so many people who have shared with me how these devotions have helped them and are helping them through a troubled time.  My dear sisters & brothers in Christ, take heart!  It’s just a little while.

2 Corinthians 4:17 – For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

By the way—“Love U.S.” means “Love, Universally So.”

Be Agreeably Encouraged!

Pam

Welcome!  Blessings!

When I read over the first sentence of today’s devotion, I said to myself, “Self, I can’t believe you’re saying that!” –laughs–   Anyway, Philippians 3:13 holds true here!  It’s not that I have already arrived to that point but by the grace & power of God, I press & strive to be all that He needs and desires for me to be.  With that said, read on & enjoy—

We can’t afford to not have difficulty in our lives.  If we understood the benefits, we would look forward to it and welcome it more often.  The bitterness in your life at the present is just a foretaste of the sweetest victory ahead.

To reflect on the way that led up to a place of wealth, one would be sure to find that it’s not so much that it required a path of hardship to get there.  Rather it would be discovered that the treasures of trouble and wealth of experience that has been gathered along the way that have been carried over is what gives the place its wealth.  It would be that, along with the Lord’s rich reward for faithfully following on by faith.

…We went through fire and through water:  But Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.  Psalms 66:12

We went through the fire,

That strengthens the steel;

That purifies gold

And proves what is real.

We went through the waters,

Swift-moving and tall;

Yet, they did not cover

Nor stop us at all.

We went by His power,

We went by His grace;

We went by His leading

To this wealthy place.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:  when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.  Isaiah 43:2

Be Intently Encouraged!

Pam