For His Honor

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 NIV

I love this verse because it makes it sound so easy. Just don’t be anxious. That is so much easier to tell someone else to do than to hear yourself or try to do sometimes. For non-believers, it can be very hard because they are trying to not be anxious, all on their own.

When we struggle with worry and anxiety, we are actually stepping back away from our faith. When we worry, we are trying to figure out how to control the outcome of a situation that we are either in or believe we may be in sometime in the future. The only true control we have over things is the control of how we respond to our own feelings, how we respond to others, and how we respond to the events that are occurring either around us or to us.

We do not have control over what someone else thinks, feels or does. We don’t have control over the situations that are happening around us. We only have control of ourselves and there are times when we don’t have very much control over that. However, the wonderful news is that as believers we are not on our own, we have God to help us. God is right there with us and will give us strength to do things we do not believe we can do, such as not worry or be anxious.

In Philippians 4:6, God, through Paul, has given us the very method that we are to use to calm ourselves, to take our faith and exercise it by giving the worry or anxiety to God. Paul wrote that we are to not be anxious about anything, but in every situation we are to pray. We are to pray and ask God for what we need. There is an extra part in the verse that we may find difficult to do while we are praying and asking God for what we need and that is the part of the verse that says we are to do this with thanksgiving.

Who is thinking about being thankful when they are in the middle of feeling anxious? Not many of us but that is what we are instructed to do, be thankful. What are we to be thankful for? That varies from person to person, but a good place to start is to be thankful that God wants to be and is your God. That He wants to be involved in your life and that He loves you. Those are some very large things to be thankful for. This may be hard to do at times but being purposeful in expressing our thankfulness to God in prayer is a step towards exercising our faith and giving our worries and anxieties to God.

I pray that as you go about your day today, that you are able to express your thankfulness to God for who He is and how much He loves you. Have a great day.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” Hebrews 13:8 NIV

How many things in our world change everyday? The amount of things that stay the same from day to day is smaller than the amount of things that change from day to day. The weather changes, our bodies change, our emotions change, and our interactions with others change, just to mention a few things. There is even a saying about change, “the only consistent thing in life is change” Thankfully, we have a Savior who does not change.

Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday. He loves us just as much today as He did yesterday and as much as He will years from now. He forgives us today just like He forgave us yesterday. Jesus has not changed His mind about us and has not decided to abandon us, He is always there with us, walking along side us each step of our lives.

If anyone changes in our relationship with Jesus, it is us. We can go from being on fire about our relationship with Jesus to being complacent and only pray when we need something, only read His word when we have time and only worship Him when we feel like it. Jesus doesn’t only forgive us when He feels like it, He forgives us each time we repent and ask for it. We need to be consistent in our relationship with Jesus because He deserves to have our constant admiration, devotion and faithfulness, after all, He died in our place so we can live in Heaven with Him for eternity.

As we go about our day today, I pray that we have an awareness of how often we think of Jesus and talk to Jesus. That awareness can help us in being purposeful in our efforts to grow in our relationship with Jesus, thereby maturing in our faith.

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for not changing and for being our Constant in a world where things change all the time. Thank You for loving us and being willing to send Your Son to pay the final price for us so we can spend eternity with You in Heaven. Help us to be consistent in our worship with You, our communication with You and our study of Your word. I pray this in Jesus’s precious name. Amen.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NIV

As mother’s day was yesterday, I thought of this verse. This was my mother’s favorite verse. She told me before she passed that this verse “says it all”. I believe it truly does.

John is telling us how much God loves us, what we mean to Him. He loves us so much that He did not want to spend eternity without us. Our sin blocks us from being with God and all the sacrifices that were offered to atone for those sins were only temporary fixes.

Humans would sin again and need to offer another blood sacrifice. God changed all that when He was willing to give up His Son so that the final blood sacrifice would be offered. There is no longer any need to offer sacrifices to God because Jesus paid the final price, He paid the final blood sacrifice for each one of us.

“So whoever believes…” makes me excited. There is no one excluded in “whoever”. It includes every person, no matter their religious background, their gender, their nationality, their ethnic background, the color of their eyes, the color of their skin, whether they can see, talk or hear. Everyone is included.

The only thing we have to do is believe that Jesus died for our sins, confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and accept the gift of salvation. By believing, confessing and accepting, we are given the gift of eternal life with Jesus and God in Heaven. I have said before that I am selfish when it comes to Heaven, I want every person there. I don’t want anyone to be in hell with the devil, I want him to be all alone. I want everyone to be in Heaven.

So as you read John 3:16, let the words sink into your heart and know that God loves you that much and wants you with Him for eternity. John 3:16 really does “say it all”.

“See, I have you written on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49:16 NLT

This scripture made me think about how much Jesus gave up for me, a sinner who doesn’t deserve to be saved. Thankfully my actions are not what was the determining factor in whether or not Jesus came to save mankind.

God chose to save us and He did that because He loves you and He loves me. God’s love for you and for me is unconditional.  It isn’t something we can earn, it isn’t something that we can buy, it is a gift.  A gift from Jesus. 

In Isiah 49:16, the first half of the verse tells us just how much Jesus loves us. Close your eyes for a minute and picture the palm of Jesus’s hand, picture your name written right across it. As you look at it, what else do you see? Do you see the scars from the nails they used to hang Him in the cross?

Each time Jesus looks at His hand, He sees the scars and your name and my name. He knows how much He loves you and me, the proof is right there on His palm next to each one of our names. He loves you that much, He loves me that much. Jesus gave up His home in heaven to come down to earth to save each one of us and in order to do that, He let the very people He came to save, crucify Him on a cross.

He was nailed to the cross along with our transgressions. He paid the final payment for our sins. He didn’t have to remain there but He did. He did that for each one of us. The next time you look at your palm, think about all that Jesus has done for you and every believer and remember – He loves us all that much.

Have a great day!

“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus.” Luke 1:31 NIV

Today is a day that children honor and remember their mothers. I was privileged to have had the mother that I did, to have aunts that are/were 2nd moms to me and to have a mother-in-law that is also a second mom to me. Happy Mother’s Day to Aunt Cathy, Aunt Sharon and My mother-in-law. Happy heavenly Mother’s Day to my Mom and Aunt Margie.

I have noticed that a great deal of the focus and attention of mother’s day is viewed through the eyes of the child as they honor or remember their mother but today I would like to look at mother’s day from the perspective of the mother. In Luke 1:31, Gabriel tells Mary that she is going to conceive a child, give birth to him and name him Jesus. I can not imagine the excitement that Mary was experiencing as she was hearing that she was going to be a mom. That she was going to be privileged to conceive, carry and give birth to another life. That she was going to care for this baby as he grew into a child and then an adult. This is what most women long for, being a mom.

Whether you give birth to a child, adopt a child or play an important role in a child’s life, the role of mother is important. I have been honored to be the mother to our son. Being a mom is not something I dreamed of as a teenager but once I was married for several years it became something I knew I was missing. Mother’s Day changed for me when I became Jakob’s mom. It was no longer only about me celebrating my mom and those women who have been important in my life, but now it was about celebrating being a mom as well. As Jakob’s mom, I have been able to help raise him, teach him things, care for him and most importantly love him.

I believe that this is one of the many things that moms share with Mary, the mother of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. As moms, we can learn from Mary about being a woman of faith and obedience to God. Mary had a long road ahead of her as mother of the Messiah. She accepted it and moved forward with faith that God would provide for her as she carried, gave birth and raised Jesus.

I pray that as moms or women who have been there for others in that important role, that we remain as faithful as Mary was as we continue to be the mother’s that God has called us to be.

Happy Mother’s Day

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up, the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2 NLT

I had not studied this verse until my friend Hope introduced me to it. In August of 2023, Hope was diagnosed with cancer. As she was a woman of faith, it was no surprise to watch her cling to scripture and God as she walked this path. She had told our friend Wendy and myself that she wanted to walk this path the “right” way, the way God had intended for her to walk it, leaning on Him.

She did that each day and one of the scriptures she clung to was this verse. Hope believed, as I do, that as believers and children of God, He is walking right beside us each step of every day. When we face difficulty, deep waters of grief, times when we are not sure how to go on, this verse reminds us of how much God loves us. He is there through it all.

The scripture says that we will not be consumed and in our human nature we sometimes believe that to mean that we will be saved from the difficult situation we are in, that what seems inevitable will not happen or that we will be healed. However, not drowning or being consumed looks different in God’s eyes. We are not always able to avoid the deep waters, the difficult times or the flames but we can remember that God is there to comfort us, to give us the strength we need sometimes to simply stand where we are and for us always to lean on.

Whether we learn from the difficult time and mature in our walk of faith while we are still here in earth or our mortal bodies fail and we emerge on the other side in Heaven, we have still made it through. That is what this verse said to Hope as it became evident that she was not going to be healed and remain here but be healed and join our Lord in Heaven. God was with her through the deep waters, she did not drown in the rivers of difficulty and she was not consumed by the fire.

As Hope walked each day of her battle with cancer, she was walking beside our Lord, leaning on Him and receiving His grace to face this battle. Now, Hope is walking with our Lord in Heaven and she is healed! I thank God for that.

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philipans 4:13 KJV

Where do you get your strength from?

I think of myself as a pretty strong person, both physically and mentally. However, my strength has nothing to do with me. I have lived through some scary times in my life, but my strength was not what got me through. As a child, I couldn’t tell you how my mother, brother and myself survived some of the things we did, but as an adult, I can tell you that it had nothing to do with our strength and everything to do with God’s strength. I believe that God walked with us through those events, protecting us each step of the way.

Many of the situations we all face in life are able to knock us off our feet when we take our eyes off of God. But when we remain focused on Him and allow Him to provide the strength we need in our times of weakness, then we are able to walk through tough and even scary situations.

As a child of God, I know that God is with me all the time. When I began being privileged enough to give the message during church, I was so nervous that I was certain I was either going to be sick or start crying. I made it through but not by my strength, it was God who brought me through. It has been 7 years now that I have been honored to be able to give the message at church at different times throughout the years and that anxiety has gone away. I believe that if I had not given those moments and so many other moments like that to God, that I would not be writing this blog right now. God can do amazing things through us if we are willing to be His vessel and lean on Him.

My prayer for each one who reads this is that each day you rely on God to bring you through the situations in your life knowing that He only wants the best for His children and He is always walking beside you.

Have a wonderful day.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26 NIV.

What a blessing. When I read these verses, I think of sitting with my mother as she lovingly looks at me. Our earthly parents are imperfect and yet they want what is best for us and as a child I loved seeing my mother look at me. Without even touching me, I knew she loved me.

While our earthly parents want what is best for us, our heavenly Father wants that even more. Where they have limited resources to help us, God has unlimited resources that can work for our good when we walk according to His will. God wants to bless us, He wants to keep us close to Him and He wants to give us His peace. We need to seek Him daily so we can receive all He has for us as our parent.

I pray, as you begin your day, that you draw near to our heavenly Father and let Him bless you and keep you, let Him shine His face upon you and be gracious to you, let Him turn towards you and give you His peace, the peace that defies understanding. Have a blessed day.

My name is Tina and I want to welcome you to my blog. I am excited to start posting devotions here. I hope someone is able to use what God is inspiring me to write and post.

A little about me….I have been married for over 30 years to my wonderful husband Bill and we have an adult son, Jakob. I have been born again since I was a child but didn’t always walk very closely with God. About 25 years ago that changed and I have been growing in my walk with God ever since. I am also privileged to be a lay leader in my church. I am not a preacher or claim to be, but I feel led to begin sharing God’s word on this platform.

So welcome to my blog “For His Honor.” I hope you return each day to read the scripture of the day and get refreshed as you grow in your walk with God.