READING
Listening
Over the last year or so I’ve received many scriptures, prayers and devotional thoughts in my inbox, on personal notes or other places that have truly ministered to me in incredible ways. I thought, leader to leader, they might be meaningful to you as well, especially on those days of ministry when you aren’t sure if anything is being accomplished or if there is any impact on the Kingdom or if there is strife in your women’s team. Many of these I read on a daily basis just to remind me about the bigger picture and WHO is in control of that big picture. You will see the quote, thought or scripture, and occasionally thoughts of my own.
I pray they will touch your heart now or in the future as you continue to serve Him faithfully and encourage transformation in the lives of women in your sphere of influence.
1. “If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you trust Him for your soul and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, He has never fainted under their weight.” –Charles Spurgeon (1 Peter 5:7, …casting all your care upon Him, because He cares for you) Am I really trusting Him with everything?
2. Prayer for me from a friend: “In moments of being pushed and pulled, take a deep breath and say, LORD Jesus (from your lips), LORD Jesus (from your heart), LORD Jesus (from your spirit). With that moment of getting to the depth of your spirit, I believe you will find yourself soaring like eagles with a God’s eye perspective of your thorns, your pressures and yourself.” I trust You, Jesus, I trust You Jesus, I trust You Jesus…yes!
3. “God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the IMPOSSIBLE.” –William Booth (Matthew 17:20, “Because of your little faith,” He told them. “For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.) I need a heart and passion for the impossible!
4. Two things you see from Ezekiel 37: 1-10 (from a devotional at a YOULead event) Towering Truth-Only God can breathe life into dead placesInconvenient Truth: When God does what God does in this world, God does it through people God wants to use me today and everyday to touch the lives of others. Show me how, Lord.
5. “Our heavenly Father never takes anything away from His children unless He means to give them something better.” –George Muller (Job 1:21 …Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Praise the name of the Lord.” What a promise!
6. “No matter how many pleasures Satan offers you, his ultimate purpose is to ruin you. Your destruction is his highest priority.” –Erwin Lutzer (Job 1:7, The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.”) Keep me on the alert, Lord.
7. “Satan has a simple agenda…to keep people lost.” –Thom Rainer
Lord, give me a heart for evangelism and all that breaks your heart.
8. Prayer from a friend: “I pray for a peace that passes all understanding. But not only peace, but calmness inside, where you don’t feel like you are running all the time. I pray that your concerns, that are ever present, will be all wrapped up in His assurance that he is always with you and that He is using every thought, every feeling, every anxious moment in every life to ultimately make manifest His love.”
9. A scripture that has helped me in a difficult relationship: Deuteronomy 7:21,You shall not dread them for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.
10. “God has not placed us where we are simply for the output we can produce, whether at a factory, at a desk, at school, or at home with children. He has put us there because that is a context in which he wants to display Himself.” –Chris Tiegreen (Colossians 3:23, Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men…) Use me today, Father, whatever setting I am in.
Helpful Resources:
Whispers of Hope, Beth Moore
Journey (devotional magazine for women)
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