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Today is Palm Sunday and it is one of my favorite days to be in church! I love every Sunday, but what I love about Palm Sunday is at our church we always have kids in the service waving palm leaves during worship. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on this day, that’s what the children were doing. They were worshipping Jesus with innocence and adoration. In our complicated world, to see young kids giving glory to God remembering the beginning of Holy Week when Jesus walked the rough road to Calvary to bear all of our sins on a cross, it brings joy and refreshing to me. Our highest aim in life is to glorify God, and to see young children doing that blesses me through and through. As we celebrate Palm Sunday today, I hope you realize that you were born to worship. You are called to glorify God. Today might be a great day to reevaluate and do some self introspection. When you look at the totality of your life, does your life exhibit, demonstrate or show evidence of Jesus living in you? Are you distinctly different than the world? Would it be a surprise for someone to find out you are a Christian, or could they tell right away? Let’s let the children’s praises remind us that even in a complicated world, there is beauty in simply worshipping God. Let’s give God all we are. Totally committed, on fire, ready to dance and sing and shout His praises, just like an uninhibited child. Let’s say yes to worshipping God with all we are.

Pray in the spirit! Do you know it is something you can do all the time? Today is my husbands birthday! Happy Birthday babe! The Bible talks about prayer in the spirit bringing rest and refreshing. I love that! Life can be a drain. Sometimes people in our life can feel like a drain. Situations that we face can drain life from our life. To get refilled, all we have to do is to begin praying in the spirit! God will refill our vessel, and it can overflow again, when we take time in His presence and pray in our heavenly language. The Bible says it is a mystery, but I can’t wait to find out when we get to heaven what were some of the things that were prayed for when we pray in the spirit. Perhaps you don’t yet pray in your new tongue. It really is so energizing, I encourage you to ask to receive your prayer language so you can be full and overflowing. It isn’t hard, or reserved for just a select few. God wants to pour out His Spirit on all flesh. In fact, in Joel 2:28 and 29, it says that on men women, on the young and old, on everyone God want to pour out His Spirit. So why not say yes, to being filled with the Spirit and praying in other tongues. It can be easy to receive. Start with this prayer, Jesus, I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit, and I will speak in tongues as the Holy Spirit gives me the words. Immediately begin uttering the words that are rising up in your heart. Start receiving some of that amazing rest and refreshing that God promised when we say yes to being filled with His Spirit.

Fellowshipping with other believers can be a great way to be refreshed. The enemy likes to get us off alone, and tries to convince us that nobody cares about us, or that we aren’t part of the family of God. We know the opposite is true! When we join the family of God, we join a world-wide body, where we can fit. In I Corinthians, Paul talks about how we are fitly joined together and that every joint supplies. Just like a physical body, each part is dependent on every other part. Jesus said he was the head, and we are the body. We can’t do without the head for sure, but every part of the body is important too. So if the enemy has been lying to you lately that you really aren’t important, or that nobody needs you, don’t believe it. Your place in the body is where you need to be. It is a perfect fit for you. If you are longing for more fellowship with the body, get involved in your church. The ones who cook together, or work together for the Lord, get to know each other. If you act as a loner sheep, the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion, will persistently try to snatch you away. If you huddle up and gather with the other sheep, and have a shepherd watching out for you, he can help ward off the predators, and your fellow sheep with have your back. Sounds like God has our best interest at heart! Let’s say yes to his way, and fellowship with the sheep! Huddle UP!

Just as our physical bodies need re-energizing, our spirits need the same thing at times. There are days, sometimes even weeks or months, when daily things can wear you down. It doesn’t even matter if it is huge issues you are dealing with, or just the “little foxes” that nibble at your toes all day. Our spirit needs to be refreshed. If you are feeling that way now, or have in the recent past, I just want to speak some encouragement over you. God’s Word reminds us that we are stronger on the inside than we think! He infuses us with His strength. His Word says that when we feel powerless, He is powerful. There is no problem or situation that cannot be changed through prayer. With God, nothing is too difficult. Without God, everything can seem overwhelming. When we put our faith and trust in God, we believe that He is working on our behalf, and things are going to change for the better very soon. We can cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us and about us. He tells us to lay our burdens at His feet, and leave them there. His grace is more than enough. The Word actually says that His grace is sufficient. Sufficient actually means plenty. He is the God not of just enough, but of plenty! He is reliable and trustworthy. I hope you let these words spoken over you breathe fresh life into your spirit. Take time today to communicate with the Father. Pour out your heart to Him, and let Him breathe refreshing life into you. Say yes to being refreshed in the Lord!

The Word of God refreshes you! As believers, sometimes we look right past the place where we can get our greatest source of encouragement and refreshing. The Bible is full of promises made to you. There is fresh insight and revelation that can help us grow in God, and change our perspective on mountains that are in our life. How good of God to give us a book that has examples, principles, and building blocks for building a life that is steadfast and sure. When our life is built on the Word, we will not be shaken. We are building our life on the Rock, and this Rock is steady and secure. One thing I love to do during my time in the Bible, is word studies. I would take a word like refresh, and see how many times it is in the Bible, how it is used in different settings, and how it can apply to my life. One of my favorite verses about being refreshed in God is found in Prov 11:25 that says A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Another version says, he who waters others, will have more than enough water for himself. Those with a generous spirit will get the benefit of sowing and reaping in more areas than just finances. That is a pretty amazing principle. What we give away will come back to us, money, time, clothing, a couch or even a car, or encouraging or refreshing words we say to someone else! How good God is! Let’s say yes to sowing into the lives of others. We experience the refreshing of the Lord, by refreshing someone else. We’ll get the benefit of the harvest!

We know all the standard answers for getting refreshed if we’ve been in church for any amount of time. We’ve heard teachers and preachers talk about how important the Word is for our daily nourishment. So true! It should be as important to us as the food we put into our mouths. We know that we are supposed to stay connected to God in prayer, and to make our days a continual communication with Him. We know how important fellowshipping with other believers is for us to be strengthened, because iron sharpens iron. Each of these have wonderful benefits in our lives, so what we’ve heard is so true. Say yes to time in the Word, prayer and fellowship! One additional tool for refreshing my spirit that I have found that is so effective is to take time to pray in the Spirit. Ever since the day I was filled with the Spirit when I was 18 years old, I have prayed in the spirit on a daily basis. Even if my mornings start with “springing out of bed with my tennis shoes on”, I know that wherever I am, whatever I have to do, I can pray in the spirit quietly under my breath and my spirit is getting energized and strengthened. It’s almost like having the Energizer Bunny on the inside. When you are strengthened from the inside – you know that you can do all things through Christ because He is your strength. Mountains become surmountable, issues look less significant, and problems begin to look more like opportunities. God inside of you becomes A GREAT BIG GOD, and the devil looks itty bitty. How incredible to realize that no weapon formed against you will prosper, and to know that God is on your side. Taking time to pray in the Spirit can do that for you. That’s refreshing!! Why not take time everyday to pray?

Intro:
Easter is getting closer and we are in the season of preparation for Easter called Lent. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. We are discovering a few things that might make this time more meaningful. We’ve already seen that Lent can be a time of GIVING UP, PARING BACK, REACHING OUT, RESPONSIBILITY, REPENTENCE and RECONCILIATION. But, it is also a time of REFRESHING! So there are many ways this season of Lent can make your life better. Let’s take this time and be self aware, and then heighten our God awareness, so that our life can be the best it can be. Let’s say yes to being refreshed. Here is your dailyeword.

Monday April 3
It is getting warm enough here in Idaho to sit outside and eat lunch, so that is the plan! What a lovely thing to actually sit in the sunshine, enjoy some sustenance, and relax all at the same time, especially after the crazy winter we had. It is fun to hear the birds singing, and just listen to the quietness. We’ve already seen spring birds in our yard, YAY! Before coming inside to sit behind the computer (which is where I sit often most days), I did take a few minutes to get some fresh air. It is amazing how refreshing moments like those can re-energize you for the rest of the day. Taking a small amount of time to enjoy doing nothing can put everything in to perspective, and when you get back into the normal routine, it has more life and enjoyment than before. Can you find a way to take a little break today? A short walk in the sunshine at your lunch hour, or just a change of scenery can make you feel refreshed. Why not let the Spirit of God wash over you as you clear your mind, and renew and refresh your spirit. Then try to make that a habit. Several days a week, a friend and I go walking in a nearby park that has a walking trail by a creek, that is hidden away in a little canyon. I get refreshed every time we walk there, just by being close to nature, with the bonus of a praying friend for good conversation and mutual encouragement. Jesus gave us a great example of this when he went away by himself or with a few friends just to be quiet and get rested and refreshed. We can do the same! I love saying yes to being refreshed in God’s beautiful creation.

You aren’t disqualified, you are qualified! God already pre approves you. You are an able minister. Maybe you haven’t been told that recently, but you have what it takes to be able to minister in grace and love to the people in your world. Just like anything we do, it does get easier and more comfortable with practice! One of my all time favorite scriptures is in Luke 4:18 where Jesus quotes from the Old Testament, the fulfillment of what He came to do. It starts like this….
the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me…..
to preach, to heal, to see captives released….etc.
The key factor in those verses is that the Spirit of the Lord is upon you. He is the one who infuses you with strength. He isn’t asking you to be the healer or the dynamic teacher/preacher. He anoints you, and then you are a conduit of His Spirit flowing through you to someone else. That may sound unusual, but in the same way a water hose takes water from the source and delivers it to where it is needed, that’s what we become. A water hose isn’t a very glamorous example, but effective, I hope. A water hose is totally ineffective if it isn’t attached to the water source. While at the same time, if the hose has a lot of holes or leaks, not all of the water will reach the place where it is needed. We want to be the delivery system that reaches the point of need, and that is what God has called us to do. We are here to be a conduit that helps reconcile others to God. So make up your mind today, I will let the Spirit of God flow through me, to those in my world who need something specific from God. I’m saying yes!

Choose today that God is your boss. When we commit our lives to Christ, we are saying that we have a new master, we chose Jesus as the Lord of our life. In our world, those words might be hard to connect with. Whenever I teach kids, the easiest way to describe Lord and Master is to talk about a boss. God becomes our new boss when we get saved. There are some things our new boss requires. He wants our full commitment. He desires that we show up every day to communicate with Him, and receive his notes for fresh directions for the day. We wear His company name, as a Christian, so we should represent Him to the best of our ability. We are truthful, we are full of integrity. We are believers who believe. When we are reconciled to God, we are set on a new path, and our life should be distinctly different from the world. We shouldn’t look odd, but our actions should look unusual in our world. We don’t measure ourselves against others, because our standard is the Word of God. We don’t think, “well at least I’m not as bad as someone else”, or “everyone else is doing it so it’s ok”, our standard is God’s standard. Thankfully, even though we aren’t flawless or perfect, we are forgiven. We have 1 John 1:9 to draw on when we do sin and miss the mark. Using that verse should become less frequent instead of more frequent! God’s grace gives room for our humanity, but also calls us higher. Our heart should be so connected with God that we wouldn’t ever want to disappoint our new boss. We are God pleasers, first. We say yes to Him today, tomorrow, and forever

Say yes to the Word, and be the one who obeys the great commission. It was the movie Shrek where the donkey was jumping up and down saying, “Pick me, pick me!” When it comes to obeying the Word of God, being a doer and not a hearer only, we should be jumping up and down saying, “Pick me, pick me!” I will be the one to say yes and put the Word into practice. In the New Testament, there is a new law, and it is the Law of Love. The Law of Love is pretty simple, yet all encompassing; that we love God, and that we love others. If we obey the Great commission to go and tell, and the Law of Love to love God and others, we won’t keep the good news to ourselves. We have something to share, and it would be a tragedy if all of the people in the our world didn’t know the truth we have found. Sometimes, we lose the urgency, that many of the 7 plus billion people on earth don’t know about God’s amazing love. Many of them have the opinion that God is the big bad guy in the sky, ready to bring disaster or devastation, or ready to bop you on the head for all your sins. Let’s let them know the truth! God is good! He has a good plan for everyone on the planet, including your friends and loved ones. He sent Jesus because of love, to be love to the world. His sacrifice paid the price so we don’t have to pay for our own sin, but we can receive full forgiveness, and enjoy all the benefits of becoming a part of the family of God. Once we have been reconciled to God, what a joy and privilege to know that God would use us as a vessel of blessing to someone else. Pick me, Pick me, I’m saying yes!