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I love the ideas of rewards! I love presents and prizes and gifts….for birthdays, for Christmas, or just because. It is sometimes fun to get or give anonymous gifts, just for the joy of giving. But receiving gifts is definitely fun!

God likes rewards too! He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him as it says in Hebrews, but Matt 6: 6 says that he will reward us openly.

I know sometimes when I get blessed, I don’t want people to know, because I feel overblessed. (If that is possible) That happened when we purchased the house that we live in now 16 years ago. We bought it as a repossessed house, and really got it for way less than it was worth. It has been a fantastic house for us, and we have made it into a beautiful home. When we first got it, I felt the need to tell anyone who asked that is was purchased for pennies on the dollar, because I felt too blessed to have such a nice place. What I realized was that God blessed us, not to hide His blessing, but to be open about it. God has good things for His children. He likes for us to be reminded that He is a rewarder. He blesses faithfulness, because He is a good God. Good dads give good gifts to their kids. Our Heavenly Father gives good gifts to his children. He is a giver, and He has placed His giving nature in us. So be open to receive His good gifts in your life, but also be open to give some good gifts away. Be a conduit of blessing to people in your world. Why not today ask God if there is someway you can be a blessing to someone by giving something away that you have. What a fabulous way to imitate God!

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What does it mean to put family first? I hear that saying frequently, but God thought it up originally. He is all about family. We are His people, His family! I am so thankful that even if we don’t have a natural father on the earth, God will be our Father. Listen to these verses in 2 Cor 6:16-18:

16 “I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore, Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
 Says the Lord Almighty.”

It sounds like God wants to be a hands-on Father. He longs to be involved and engaged in the life of His children, and He wants to keep us from things that would harm us. He desires to be a Father to us. Are you letting God Father you? A father is someone you get advise from, someone who gives you leadership, and someone who gives direction in your life. So often we try to do things on our own, or in our own strength, when all we have to do is ask.

So let me ask the question again. Are you letting God be a Father to you? He is all about family, and He wants to be first in your life because you are first in His. His world revolves around family. Why not let your world revolve around Him? He is your Father!

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What a great verse James 1:17 is – here is what it says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” This sweet little verse is tucked in to James chapter one between overcoming trials, and laying aside wickedness. I think James was using the oreo method of instruction! If you don’t know what that is, it is a wonderful way to soften something that seems hard to say. You say what needs to be said, but you put a little cream center in the middle of it, so it comes across a little more gently. This verse says that God is the giver. And that He gives good gifts. I love that God is consistently good! He is the giver of good gifts, and he never changes. We don’t have to wonder if He would ever do something bad to us, or send something bad to us. He doesn’t operate that way. He is consistent, and we can have confidence in His goodness to us. It is His goodness that draws men and women to salvation. It is His love that sent Jesus to the cross so we could have a personal relationship with God. It is by grace we are saved. All three of these words, goodness, love and grace show us that God isn’t a big bad dude in heaven with a stick ready to bop us on the head when we do wrong. He is waiting for us to talk to Him, longing for us to spend time in His presence, and prepared to let His grace cover our sin. That image seems like huge shoes to fill when looking at natural fathers, but we do have his love on the inside of us, we can imitate His goodness, and we can be gracious, even when we would rather pass judgement. Dads, you can be loving leaders in your home, and your words and actions can be motived by love, goodness and grace. Just like your Father in Heaven!

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If you have been around horses on a trail ride, there is often a horse who like to take the lead. They don’t like to get behind another horse, or they keep trying to get to the front if they are behind. God set it up that we have leaders to follow. Someone has to take the lead, or we go nowhere!

The disciples knew that the one they were following, Jesus himself, had answers to questions they might have. One of the questions they had was how to pray. Jesus took the lead and said, pray this way in Luke chapter 11:

2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

This prayer has some wonderful prayer keys for us to consider. First of all, acknowledge the holiness of God. Second, ask that God’s will be done right where we are, just like it is in heaven. Third, ask for our needs to be supplied. Fourth, ask for forgiveness, and grant forgiveness, and fifth, keep us from temptation and the evil one.

It sounds like a good way to pray! God not only hears us when we pray, He want to give us the desires of our heart. Let’s take the lead when we pray, and be an example to our family. I like to pray the Lord’s prayer everyday with my son on our way to school. Maybe it could be a prayer you pray at the end of meal time, or when you tuck your kids in to bed at night. Jesus example to us is an excellent way to pray. Remember to pray this way, and pray the Lord’s Prayer, everyday.

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Do you have a mentor? Is there someone in your life who is there for you to give you spiritual guidance? Having a pastor is to guide you is so important, but finding another believer who can walk beside you is also vital to our Christian walk. I love it that I have a spouse who I can talk to about spiritual things. He happens to also be my pastor! We bounce ideas off of one another, and when I have a question, he usually has an answer! But I have friends in my life who do the same thing. When I am struggling with parenting an almost teenage son, I talk to my friends who have already succeeded! I talk to God. I talk to my husband. Having people in my life who I can discuss ideas with is so valuable. Paul mentions how important it is to not just have instructors in your life, but to have a spiritual father. Listen to what Paul says I Cor 4:14-16

14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. 15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me.

I heard someone say this once, and it is so true: You either are a pastor or you need one. Even though there are a lot of people who think church is obsolete, or irrelevant, Jesus gave the gift of pastors to us, to pastor us. Pastors are needed for a church to operate! Each of us needs a pastor. Even pastors need pastors! I’m so grateful that my husband has his childhood pastor to get advise from. His years of experience are a valuable resource. So my advise to you is, be around people who build into your life! Have a good pastor who teaches you the Word! And then value those spiritual fathers! They are God’s gift to you.

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I love serving a God who is approachable. He draws us to Himself by His love and daily calls us into His presence. We all know people who are not comfortable to approach. I bet you thought of someone right away. Some people feel like they would bite your head off if you stepped on their property, or if you irritated them in any way, or got in their space. Their margin in life is very thin.

I had a very approachable dad, so I see God as very approachable. Perhaps your dad wasn’t approachable, and maybe it does make it harder to see God with His arms open wide welcoming you into His presence.

Think about these beautiful words from Eph 2:16-18:

16-18 Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

Because of the cross, hostility is gone! Now is the time for receiving His embrace. His grace is offered freely to all, no matter who you are! He brings peace to everyone, on the inside and on the outside. WE have access to the come into the presence of the Father anytime.

I want to encourage you parents to have the same kind of attitude. Sometimes you get to the end of your rope with your kids, but let’s always be ready to give an embrace. The world is hostile enough, let’s make our homes an oasis of love. How approachable are you? Does your family walk on eggs, trying not to upset the basket? Are you affectionate in your home, and say I love you a lot? If not, why not start today to embrace the ones you love, with words and actions. Imitate God by being approachable. What a beautiful example you can be to mirror the love that God has for you to the ones you cherish.

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What an amazing God we serve! He is a rewarder, who gives good gifts to His children. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an your dailyeword. I hope you take time today to listen to the voice of God, through His Word, and by the still small voice on the inside of your spirit. He has a wonderful plan for you, and He wants to be a Father to you that you can depend on. Here are some encouraging words for you to think about today.

You probably have figured out that I love The Message Bible! It puts it out there pretty clearly. Here is what it says in I Cor 4:18-20

18-20 I know there are some among you who are so full of themselves they never listen to anyone, let alone me. They don’t think I’ll ever show up in person. But I’ll be there sooner than you think, God willing, and then we’ll see if they’re full of anything but hot air. God’s Way is not a matter of mere talk; it’s an empowered life.

Wouldn’t you hate for someone to say that about you? That you are so full of yourself that you don’t listen to anyone? One of the things we as Christians should be is teachable. Good students listen to the teacher. Good kids listen to their parents. Good Christians listen to their Father!!! He is our Father God, and we need to learn not only to trust His Word, but trust that He loves us, and wants the best for us. If we want to live the empowered life vs 20 is talking about, we have to be teachable and then be obedient to His Word. So many people who don’t know our loving God in a personal way, think that God and His Word are just a list of rules to take the fun out of life. What we as believers know is that life is way more fun when we operate within the boundaries that God set up. His ways are perfect. We don’t have to try to win God’s love, He offers it freely. He loves just because. He loves period! He is LOVE. Living life loved is the best way to live. You obey because you want to, not because you have to. If you are a parent, and have faced frustration in parenting like we all have, always remember that. Those who feel loved, usually have better responses even to discipline. Try to respond in love, and think about how God would act in each situation. We are told to imitate Him, and we can never go wrong by loving! That is the way to live the empowered life

Isn’t it exciting when what you were told was going to happen actually happens? That happened for the disciples after Jesus told them this in Luke chapter 24, starting in verse 45:

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

This passage reads like a divine checklist.

It was written, Check
The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, check.
Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name, check
To all nations, check
Beginning at Jerusalem, check.
You are my witnesses, check
I am going to send you what my Father promised, the Holy Spirit, check!

What Jesus promises, He delivers on. It is such a place of confidence and security, because we know that God is faithful to do what He has promised in His Word. The promise of the Father, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, happened just like Jesus said. Check, check, check!

The 120 waited, and then the Holy Spirit made His grand entrance, like a wind from heaven, and fire those who were there were all filled and began speaking in tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them the Words.

And it still happens today. THe initial grandeur of wind and fire, came only the first time, but a supernaturally filling empowering believers to be witnesses, still happens every day as people around the world are asking for this wonderful promise.

We can ask to be filled, check!
We receive the gift that was promised, check!

I hope you have received this wonderful gift from God that is our power source as believers. If you haven’t and want to be, let me know! I would love to pray with you so you can be filled with the Holy Spirit too! Filled up is the only way to live!

One of my favorite things to do is pray for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need the power of the Holy Spirit in our life more now than ever! So often, believers have no idea that we can have this wonderful power from God today. There is a simple prayer to pray if you want to be filled. The prayer I lead anyone in who wants to be filled is this: Jesus, I ask you to fill me with the Holy Spirit, and I will speak in tongues as the Holy Spirit gives me the words. As soon as we pray this prayer, I mention that you can’t speak with two languages at one time, so only speak the words that are coming from your spirit. It usually feels like silly sounding syllables and often you feel like speaking in tongues is just speaking gibberish, but it is a heavenly language and it won’t sound familiar. I encourage the one getting filled to speak up, but often they just start speaking in tongues in a whisper, which is just as good! The beautiful thing about speaking in tongues is that it isn’t like learning a foreign language; you get the whole language at one time. Amazing! From the moment you get your new prayer language, I always encourage taking time to use it every day! Start your day off that way, and every time you can during your day, pray in tongues! It build you up on your most Holy faith. Of course the best part of being filled is that you have power to witness. So on top of having a beautiful new language to pray perfectly to our Father God, we are energized from the inside to share the gospel! How cool is that! Let’s get filled, stay full and share the gospel everywhere we go. That’s the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you.

Signs and wonders were done among the people. I think when many people read these words in Acts chapter 5 about miracles happening among the people, that they think it was only for long ago, that things like this don’t happen now. What is really cool about the book of Acts is there is no ending. The acts of the disciples of Jesus started at the day of Pentecost, and they have not ended. Signs and wonders are still supposed to be following believers. We know the greatest miracle of all is for a dead spirit to be made alive to God, when someone gets saved. But God is still into healings and miracles. Prayer still changes things. We can still call things which are not, as though they are. We have the power because of the power of the Holy Spirit in us to lay hands on sick people and see them recover. It is a Bible/ God idea that isn’t obsolete. Because we live in a world where we go to the doctor first and then pray, lots of us feel like doctors healing power has replaced God’s healing power. We definitely appreciate doctors, but we should start first with prayer. First you pray! Let’s believe for more signs and wonders. Let’s believe for divine health and life in our own bodies, but also be willing to pray for others. Signs and wonders can follow you!