Author: debo

How dependent are you on God for everything? We all know that God can transform our life, but do we really give Him the opportunity to do that? Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. Let’s depend on the Spirit of God fully, 24/7/365 days of this year by being fully immersed in the Word of God, and living fully in tune with the Holy Spirit. Do you know that God has MORE for us than we could think, dream or imagine? Why not start today believing for more in every area of your life. You were made for more, so I encourage you go for it, and live the life that God has for you. Let’s start this year strong. God has more for you. Here is your encouraging word for today.

Do you know that you have an assignment? As one of God’s children, he not only has given you gifts and talents, but he has given you a specific assignment that He has for you to do. You have several big assignments, like finding your passion in life and fulfilling your vision, but moment by moment, God has divine assignments for you to do each day. That is part of the MORE God has for you. As you move about your day, be attentive to the Spirit of God to guide and direct you to your assignments. Who knows what your assignment is? God does! In the process of living, we can be aware that we live not just for ourselves, but for our divine purpose. If we really believe God’s Word, then we will know when we trust the Lord with all of our heart, and lean not to our own understanding, and acknowledge God in all our ways, He really will direct our paths. If you were raised in church, you probably memorized that verse from Proverbs 3:5,6 when you were a kid. God not only gets us on the right path, He leads our every step, IF we are listening! This life really is a faith walk, step by step. We trust the Lord IN everything, WITH everything that is within us. If we just try to figure things out with our natural brain, we will talk ourselves out of following God’s leading and His direction. So if we want to experience the MORE that God has for us, let’s choose to be listeners. Stay tuned in, be attentive and aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence hour by hour, day by day all through the year.

What God says about you is more important than what others say or have said about you. As we talk about changing into the image of Christ, it is vital that we realize there is really only one opinion that matters, and it is God’s! We often end up with a warped identity, or one that is twisted or colored by words that have been spoken over our lives. Because words do have the power of life or death, words spoken to us, or about us have the power to bring death or life to us. That is one reason as a parent, the words we speak to and about our children need to line up with God’s Word. Perhaps you know the negative effect of words from personal experience. Unfortunately, many people have identities that are shaped by words spoken years and years ago. The echo of words spoken reverberate over and over in their mind, and all too soon, they are believed, and that is who the person becomes. So let’s think about the sentence I said at first. What God says about you is more important that what others say or have said about you. Even if you believed negative words and became who they said you were, you can change by renewing your mind to the thoughts that God thinks about you. So let’s start right now. Whenever you think a thought that lines up with the old you, immediately grab a hold of it, and capture it. II Cor 10:4-6 reminds us that the weapons we fight with are not flesh and blood, but are mighty through God to pull down strongholds. We have weapons available to us that can tear down wrong thoughts and win the battle that goes on in our mind. We can believe differently when we begin thinking differently. I want to encourage you to think God’s thoughts and begin to discover who God says you are!

In II Corinthians 5:16 Paul tells us that from now on we should regard no man according to the flesh. When I read that scripture it speaks to me of the importance of not judging anyone by what you see. In the next couple of verses, it goes on to say that when we receive Christ we are a new creation and the old is gone and the new has come. We immediately become an ambassador for Christ and are representatives of heaven on this earth. Verse 21 in that same chapter reminds us that Jesus became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. If ever you have a doubt filled moment, or your thought life takes you down a road of defeat, open up the Bible and go to these scriptures and let them reverberate in your heart. The old is gone!!! The new has come! God put you in his team, you are His ambassador! We don’t have to measure anybody by how they appear on the outside, and no one should do that with us! Jesus thought we were valuable enough to make you righteous, and give you right standing with the Father. That is a pretty awesome way to see yourself, and a pretty awesome way to see others. So we can quit being so hard on ourselves. We can realize that the old life really is gone….the mistakes, the mess ups, the wrong belief systems, the pain, the guilt, the frustration. God set us on a whole new path, and it is filled with light and life. It is a life filled with glory! Celebrate the new you that you are in Christ. Even if you have been saved for years, today is a new day. You are still a new creation today! Be the new, fresh, clean, forgiven, blood bought, believer that God made you to be. Celebrate today and rejoice that you really are who God says you are. You really can live from glory to glory. You really are the person God created you to be

Are you a grasshopper in your own eyes? Do you remember the spies that went into the promised land and came back saying that they were like grasshoppers in a land of giants? God told them the land was theirs, and all they had to do was possess it. They looked at the impossibilities and forgot that God said it was possible. Ten of the twelve spies said it was not possible. Two, Joshua and Caleb, said, let’s go for it, we can do it. For the ten, what they thought of themselves determined their level of victory and they never got to see the land that was promised to them, because they saw themselves as insects, instead of how God saw them. I’m sure that has happened to all of us on some level. We don’t try for a great job opportunity because we don’t think we are capable. We let go of a relationship because we don’t think we are worthy of being loved. We treat our body poorly because we don’t think we are valuable. I hope you are beginning to see the connection of our thought life to how we see ourselves, to how we act. The change starts in that great battlefield, the mind! To grow from glory to glory and really become who God says we are starts with aligning our thoughts with what God thinks about us. It takes discipline. It takes determination. It takes the power of God on the inside of us to be consistent about making sure thoughts that are not from God do not remain on the screen on our mind. Especially if they are persistent, we have to be extra persistent. We have to be as persistent positively as the negative thoughts are. One thing that has helped me in controlling my thought life is to immediately recognize where a contrary thought is coming from, and say out loud, that is not the truth. And then I say outloud, the truth is….. It is a great reminder that Jesus reversed the curse for us, and we need to remind our enemy of the same. All the enemy can do is lie, so the opposite of what the enemy says is the truth! The lie you heard in your mind from the enemy really is proof positive that the opposite is true! So are you a grasshopper? No way, you are an overcomer growing from glory to glory!

Do you remember the passage of scripture when Jesus asked, who do you say that I am? Well, He still asks that question of us, but let’s turn it around and ask, who do you say that you are? This week as we go about finding our true identity and growing from glory to glory, we will look at the importance of our thought life. It is so good to know that when we change what we think about and what we say , we can change our life. We can become more Christ-like by making simple changes in how we think. The Bible tells us so clearly when thoughts come into our mind, we have to capture them immediately. If we allow random thoughts that enter our mind to determine who we are, we will find ourselves believing things other than the truth. Your personal identity and self image are shaped by environment and by life experiences, but most of who we are right now, is determined by how we processed life experiences and how we see ourselves. If we want change in the here and now, we must examine the thoughts that we think. What is interesting is we can’t control a thought coming to our mind, but we immediately can determine if we will continue thinking about the thought, or will we take them captive and replace them with the Word of God, which reveals truth to us. If we get diligent about processing our thoughts through the filter of God’s Word, and begin immediately casting down thoughts that are contrary to God and His Word, we can begin to see dramatic changes take place in us. What a great start for growing from glory to glory! The new you can be revealed by taking control of your thought life! What a great step toward being more like Jesus, and becoming the person He says you are.

Do you know that every day we have new mercies available to us? Why not draw on the new mercies of God and make some positive changes in your life. You became a new creation when you received Christ, but as we continually walk out this new life, daily we can make positive changes and become more Christ-like. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. This week we will concentrate growing from glory to glory and letting others see Jesus in us. You are who God says you are. You are the person God created you to be. You can live the abundant life God has for you! Here is your encouraging word today

Do you plan to be your best self for God? I know that it is my greatest desire to not only be who God called me to be, but complete what He called me to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is your heart’s desire too. Have you ever wondered how can we do that? We will take this week to find out how as we talk about growing from glory to glory. During this week we will begin to understanding that we really are- who God says we are. One of the key factors to changing from the inside out is to get a correct picture of who you are. This statement is so true. How you see yourself controls who you are. You see yourself as a victim, and others will treat you like one. You see yourself as an over comer and victory manifests in your life. You see yourself as a world changer, and you will change your world! What you think about yourself is the most powerful influence in your life. The Bible says how you think in your heart, so you are. Often we think it is the things on the outside that define us. How often do we let our age, our race, our gender, our social status, or things in the natural be what we identify with? There is a better gauge than outward things, and that gauge is God’s Word. What is revealed in the Word of God about who we are will help us find out how we should think about ourselves, and help us have the ability to overcome areas that may have held us back in the past. So this week our key to finding out who we really are in Christ will be in finding out who God thinks we are and getting our thinking in line with God’s thoughts, so we can grow from glory to glory. How encouraging to know that we can change from the inside out, as we begin to change how we think about ourselves. I hope you see yourself growing from glory to glory!

The day has finally arrived. After expecting and preparing, today begins the big celebration. We celebrate Heaven Coming Down… we celebrate Jesus. After being in captivity for 700 years, and then a period of waiting to 400 more years, Jesus, the best of heaven, came to earth to deliver God’s people. He came as a baby, innocent, fragile, and holy. He came as a King, longed for and long expected, who was mighty to save. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus that changed history forever.

Everyone longs to know that they have someone who will never leave them, disown them, or desert them. Jesus came as Emmanuel, which means, God dwells among us. That means we are never alone. In the moment of our greatest joy, or the deepest season of despair, Jesus is always there. His Name means that He is always with us. What can take comfort in His permanent presence.

He came as love personified. God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him. (I John 4:16) The God of love has come to never leave us, and to abide with us in love. Love is the greatest of all (I Cor 13:8). We should pursue love and be love to the world. One thing love does is cover – love is like the snow. The beauty of snow is in what it covers up. Everything can be dirty underneath, but put a blanket of snow over the top, and everything looks beautiful. That is just like love. We can bring beauty all around us when we cover other’s mistakes and when we extend grace to others. When we make an effort to cover everything in love, just like a fresh dusting of snow, beauty emerges.

Just as each snowflake is unique, God demonstrates His love to us in unique ways… what could be more unique than a royal king born in a manger? When each of us, like individual snowflakes, begin to manifest the love of God, the beautiful body of Christ can be revealed. And, when each member loves like Jesus, we can envision the purity of fresh fallen snow, covering ugliness and bringing loveliness to this earth.

Jesus has come, Heaven Came Down…..it is Christmas. He will never leave us, and His love lives inside of us. What great joy and comfort that brings. We are loved with the purest, most abiding love available – God’s love. Let’s be as committed to loving Him as He is to us. Let us never leave Him and let us always demonstrate His love to others – throughout Christmas, and all through the year. Merry Christmas!

There are so many amazing prophesies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah. In the verses in Is 11:1-5, the author tells that out of the lineage of Jesse, a Branch shall grow, and the Holy Spirit will rest upon Him. It is pretty amazing who all are in the line of Jesus. Jesse was David’s father, and Jesus was born to His line all those generations later. All of the names from generation to generation are listed in Matthew chapter 1. We are now in the bloodline of Jesus through salvation. We can now be found in Him, in His royal bloodline, and He in us. It was also prophesied that the Holy Spirit would rest on Jesus. Even before Jesus was born, the Holy Spirit was upon Him in his mother’s womb. Since the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the earth, we now have the same opportunity. The Spirit of the Lord can rest upon us. We can be filled with the Spirit of God, just like Jesus was! Today and everyday, we can yield our life to the Holy Spirit. During this season of Advent, we can be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and be at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, so we can minister to people in our world. In Jesus’ Name, thank you God for sending a light to the world in the form of a baby. Help us to be a light in the darkness around us. Thank you for your Holy Spirit’s help in believing your Word and walking in the truth. We will say yes to the voice of the Spirit of God. In Jesus Name, AMEN.
Word of the Day; Is 11:1-5

The dramatic events that led up to the birth of Jesus, demonstrate how intricately God orchestrated this world altering event, bringing hope to the world. Before Jesus’ birth, angels were present, one who came to Zacharias in the temple (in Luke 1:5-10), one who came to Mary, and multitudes who came to the shepherds abiding in their flocks through the night. In the heavens, not only did angels light the sky, there was a new star in the sky that led worshippers to the place where the baby lay. Even getting Mary and Joseph to the little town of Bethlehem, where it was prophesied as the birthplace of the Savior, took an act of the government. They were required to register in that particular town, just as Mary was about to have a baby. Amazing how all of these events lined up, to bring the living Word to this earth. All of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus were facilitated because of obedience. From Zacharias and Elizabeth walking in righteousness before God, and obeying the word of the Lord brought to them by an angel, to Mary’s words of submission to the will of the Lord, even to Jesus submitting to the will of His Father in heaven, each one lined up their will with God’s, so that Jesus could be born in a stable, in the little town of Bethlehem, to human parents who could have no earthly idea how this little baby would change the world.

It is an interesting word study to just look up all the scriptures that talk about love, and read them one after another. Here are some of them:
We get a deposit of God’s love on the inside of us (Rom 5:5)
The love of God is abounding to us (I Thes 3:12),
It is sincere (Rom 12:9),
It is unselfish (Matt 22:39),
It is impartial (Deut 10:19),
It is fervent (I Peter 1:22),
It is compelling (2 Cor 5:14),
It is divine (John 15:9),
It is self – sacrificing (John 15:13)
and it is sacrificial (Gal 2:20)
All of God’s love is deposited into our spirit!
That is just a short list of the adjectives that describe the love of God. And that is just a short list of the attributes of love that can (and should) be found in us. So even after Advent is over, make these adjectives the way you love others. If we really love, we serve. God’s love on the inside of us is there just for that. Whether we are in a relationship or just being neighborly, God’s love in us compels us to serve others. What is so great about serving others is that it not only helps them, it helps us too! So what kind of love are you showing those around you during advent? Are you loving sacrificially and sincerely? Then the natural result is service! Let’s love and serve others this Christmas!