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You’ve probably heard before that God has great things for you. This time, I want you to hear it….really hear it, and believe it! I know it can seem sometimes like all the good things happen to everyone else but you, but God has a great plan for YOU! In fact He says that He has a blessed future and a hope for you. I want to encourage you to have childlike expectancy about what God has for you. You might be thinking that everyone else is way better off than you. But, everyone goes through disappointments in life. Many people never expected to be where they are doing what they are doing now. Life didn’t turn out how they expected. Way too many Christians have lost hope for any good to come to life. Well, I want you to believe….God has good things for you! Can you start believing it? I know you can. You can wake up tomorrow and believe that God’s favor is shining on you. You can believe that He wants to bless you. He wants to turn things around for you. It is hard to believe that in the midst of turmoil and tough times, but He wants only the best for you. Don’t give up on your dreams, God does have great things for you!

How is your enthusiasm level? Have you let your face know that you are filled up with the joy of the Lord? We are talking this week about celebrations, large and small, and one thing about celebrations is that you can hardly have a party without a smile. I think that it does come naturally for some people to live with enthusiasm. You probably can think of someone right now that is bubbly and lights up the room with their presence. Even if it doesn’t come naturally to you, it is no excuse if you are a Christian! We are supposed to be shining our light. Lights do attract attention. Just turn your porch light on in July on a hot summer night! Here come the bugs! We use lights to bring attention during performances, and the Bible does tell us to let our light shine, so that others can see our good works and glorify God. So I’ll ask the question again….how is your enthusiasm level? Is life a drag or is it dynamite? Is it boring, or is it beautiful? Is it average, or is it above and beyond all you could ever ask or think? I hope the life you are experiencing is wonderful! God sent Jesus to give us life abundantly… that is life overflowing… with all that He is in us, and He has for us. Let’s get excited about living!

Big events are a blessed result of doing the right thing on a daily basis! You celebrate 25 years of marriage by loving your spouse and being faithful everyday. (This year is 33 for us!) 27 years of ministry comes from teaching, training, helping, serving, and remaining faithful to the call on your life. Some would say it comes with blood, sweat and tears, but we say it comes with joy! Serving God by serving others with joy is what being a Christian is all about! When we realize it isn’t about us, but it is all about Jesus, we become ever more focused on the prize! Let’s get as many people to heaven as humanly possible! We don’t want anyone to miss becoming who God wants them to be or to live apart from God’s presence. As we celebrate big moments and milestones, our prayer is that we will continue to faithfully help people and train people to help others. That’s what ministry is all about.

I guess I never have thought of myself as a “party girl” because it has a negative connotation in a worldly sense. But in the Christian sense, I guess I really am a party girl. I love to party. I love to celebrate, and I love lots of people around celebrating with me! When is that last time you had a celebration? Last month, last year? Has it been too long? A party doesn’t have to be focused around the “mega moments” of life, you can have a party for any reason! I want to encourage you to be the first to find a way to party. The Bible says that it is the joy of the Lord that gives us strength. Let’s find joy and share it. It not only strengthens us, but it will strengthen others around us. When you make a choice to be happy and spread the joy, you get a blessing in return. Just like a smile producing more smiles, we should be planting seeds of joy all the time. We should be the happiest, most joy filled people on the planet. Come on, let’s party! Let’s celebrate this wonderful life God has given us, with the joy of the Lord.

Have you ever been on a long trip and out of boredom you begin to count mile markers on the side of the road? I’m sure we have all done it….. especially if you are crossing Wyoming in July! We are probably going to be doing that again this summer! It can be a really boring drive, but I have come to love long trips with the family, because it is a great time of togetherness. You definitely are in a confined space, and it makes you either tune each other in, or tune each other out. You can all be tuned in to your own thing, or you can be “plugged in” to each other. It can be a time of learning about goals and dreams of your kids, or finding out about their favorite things. As you pass the mile markers on the road, it is good to remember that life is just like that. We have little road signs in our life. They can remind us of the “daily humdrum of life”, or they can remind us of the majesty and splendor of life! Let’s make it the latter! Life really is beautiful. From birth to the grave, we have tremendous glimpses of God working in our life, let’s celebrate those mile markers and make life meaningful, mile after mile.

Most of us don’t plan a party everyday, but in reality, each day is a gift and party worthy! And today is the present, so why not celebrate! Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. We have been talking about disciplines that help us grow in our faith and celebration is something we should include in our life. So celebrate today, you are alive and breathing, you have a future and a hope. Find something to celebrate today. Here is your dialyeword. Let’s make the most of every day and celebrate each day as a gift from God.

Mega moments happen to each of us. Some mega moment in my life are, the day I met my sweet husband, our wedding day, the day our first, second, third, and fourth daughters were born. The day we adopted our son. The day we pioneered the church we pastor. The day we celebrated, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and coming this May 27 years, ministering to people in the valley where we live. Those are some mega moments. It’s incredible that the tapestry of life gets more complex as we begin watching the ones we birthed and adore having their own mega moments. When daughters go to university and graduate! When they win a state championship in high jump. When they get to play in honor band. When they become a “title holder” and broaden their sphere of influence. How exciting to see our children’s mega moments begin.

What happens in between the mega moments are those quiet moments that make up daily life. Can we celebrate our son finishing a math assignment, or our daughters doing a good job on a pottery piece at school, or doing well on a speech? Can we celebrate the first robin in spring, the first jonquil, the first time you mow the grass in spring, the first batch of spinach or peas from the garden? In the big picture, those aren’t mega moments, but worthy of celebration, because we are alive, breathing, and experiencing even a quiet moment of life. Those moments hold for us a finite experience of breathing in the presence of God and thanking Him for what He has begun, what He is doing, and what He will accomplish in our lives. Let’s live a life of celebration. Deeply breathe in each moment of life. Don’t let life pass you buy doing things that don’t matter. Don’t waste your time on things that don’t matter in the long run. Fill your life in between the mega moments with precious quiet moments of celebration. It not only makes life a whole lot more fun, but keeps you in an attitude of gratitude and you get to celebrate the goodness of God daily!

We all want God’s best for our lives, but we only qualify for His best when we choose to obey Him and submit our wills to His.
God is looking for believers who will dedicate and consecrate themselves to carry out His plan for their lives, just as Jesus did at Gethsemane and throughout His earthly ministry. Second Chronicles 16: 9 says the Lord’s eyes roam throughout the earth to find people whose hearts are dedicated to Him. God is looking for believers who will say, as Jesus did, “Not My will, Father, but Your will be done.”
When we pray the prayer of consecration, we are dedicating our whole being to do the will of God. We are setting ourselves up to overcome. The prayer of consecration causes us to flow into the purposes of God for our lives. It brings us into harmony with God’s highest call for our lives. Instead of asking God to bless our plans, we are choosing through consecration to find out what His best is for our lives and we are committing to follow Him fully.
Jesus overcame the devil by laying down His own will in favor of the Father’s. When we’re facing tough situations that we need to overcome, there is no better prayer to pray than, “Not my will, but Your will be done.” It is the prayer that never fails.

The hardest time of Jesus’ life on earth was in the Garden of Gethsemane. As His final hours of life drew near, the Bible tells us that He was sorrowful and heavy (see Matt. 26:38; Mark 14:34). You may feel the same way today, but none of us have experienced the horrors that He did. And even though Jesus had known all along that He came to pay the ultimate price and die for the sins of the world, He was, after all, human. He battled the temptation to draw back from what was to come because it was horrible and repulsive to His flesh.

On that terrible night before His crucifixion He prayed to God: “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). The Bible says He sweated drops of blood as He wrestled. It wasn’t easy for Him to fulfill the Father’s plan. But Jesus knew the outcome of redemption would be the salvation of mankind, so for the joy set before Him, He surrendered to His Father’s will (see Heb. 12:2).

That night Jesus set an example for us and prayed a prayer of consecration and dedication. He is the ultimate overcomer! Colossians 2:15 says He, “disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them.” He defeated the devil once and for all, and if we follow His example, we can overcome too!
Jesus consecrated Himself to do the will of God, regardless of His personal feelings or desires. He wanted to do what the Father wanted Him to do. If Jesus needed to consecrate Himself to do the will of God and be an overcomer, then we need to consecrate ourselves too!

If there is any life that you and I should follow as our example, it’s Jesus’s life. One of the reasons He became flesh and dwelt among us was so He could understand what we go through and show us how to live.

Hebrews 4:15 says, “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus understands completely what it is to be human.

We all have heroes in this life, both spiritual and natural heroes, whom we try to emulate and imitate. But really, if we just imitated Jesus and used Him as our constant example, we would always overcome. If, in every situation, we asked ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” we’d always end up with the right answer, wouldn’t we? He is our best example for overcoming. So what did Jesus do at the hardest time of His life? He got completely honest with His Father and prayed a prayer of dedication and submission to the will of God.

I’ve met many people who, either by their words or their actions, say, “Don’t get your hopes up.” The logic behind that, I suppose, is that if you don’t get your hopes up, then you won’t be disappointed. That’s a terrible way to live! Hope means “to expect with confidence—trust.” That sounds like a better way to live than dialing back your expectations to nothing just to protect yourself.

I think God wants us to lift up our eyes and heart, and then begin to believe the best. I say get your hopes up as high as you can! Overcomers use their God-given imagination to embrace all the possibilities God has in store. Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

A heart full of hope brings you joy and peace in believing, and extends the power of the Holy Spirit toward you so that you, in turn, can extend it to others. As an overcomer, you should crank your hope in God all the way up! His plans are bigger than anything you can think up. After all, He is the God of increase. What a terrible thing it is to have no hope, or to limit God. How sad that so many people are in that condition today. Christians who have hope should have great compassion on people who have little or no hope. And they should desire to tell lost people about Jesus. You have hope. You have Christ! You are an overcomer, one who doesn’t limit God. You aren’t living life on this planet as a hopeless person. As you move forward, keep your hope dialed up to high. Always expect God’s supernatural intervention in your life. As children of almighty God, you aren’t limited to a natural way of living so don’t settle for anything less than the best.