Devotional Highlights from this past week

The Word for You Today:


Children:

1. Jesus was always available for children - be a role model for them
2. by age 5 a child knows 75% of all he or she will know in life
3. by age 18 their minds have been molded
4. have the simple faith and trust like a child
5. love and encourage children - speak kindly to them

God Loves You:

1. God loves you in spite of your shortcoming and has a plan for your life
2. God will speak to you directly and enables you to do what He asks of you

Relationships:

1. walls built to keep others out, locks you in
2. when you keep backing out of relationships when there is strife, you'll soon be all alone
3. relationships must be based on a commitment to work for peace and love
4. getting along with each other is a sign of spiritual maturity
5. talk to God first before talking to the other person in the broken relationship
6. talk one on one to the other person - take the initiative
7. be selective on timing - both of you need to be at your best
8. confess your part - your own flaws
9. choose your words carefully, and how you say them is as important as what you say - don't be defensive

Deuteronomy:

• Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is the faithful God who for a thousand generations keeps his promises and constantly loves those who love him and who obey his commands.  (7:9)
• ...what does the Lord your God require of you except to listen carefully to all he says to you, and to obey for your own good the commandments I am giving you today, and to love him, and to worship him with all your hearts and souls.  (10:12-13)

Psalm:

• I saw myself so stupid and so ignorant; I must seem like an animal to you, O God.  But even so you love me.  You are holding my right hand!  You will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and counsel, and afterwards receive me into the glories of heaven.  Whom have I in heaven but you?  And I desire no one on earth as much as you!  My health fails; my spirits droop, yet God remains!  He is the strength of my heart; he is mine forever!  (73:22-26)

Proverbs:

• A good man's mind is filled with honest thoughts, an evil man's mind is crammed with lies.  (12:5)
• Everyone admires a man with good sense, but a man with a warped mind is despised.  (12:8)

Luke:

• Anyone who wants to follow me must put aside his own desires and conveniences and carry his cross with him every day and keep close to me!  Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it, but whoever insists on keeping his life will lose it; and what profit is there in gaining the whole world when it means forfeiting one's self?  (9:23-25)