Feeling Dry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjNZf878ISQ

Oh My Soul ~ Casting Crowns

 

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Saviour and my God.

~ Psalm 43:5 NIV

 

Have you ever had a good day, but then suddenly, for no apparent reason, you felt sad, like to the point of tears? We’d had a good day, but suddenly, I felt like crying and couldn’t explain why. I did try to explain it: maybe I’m overtired; maybe it’s because I’m a girl; perhaps it’s hormones. Who knows? I certainly didn’t.

 

After everyone had gone to bed, I sat down with my Bible and journal and flipped to Psalm 43:5 and began writing the verse. As I began to write, God did a beautiful thing for me; two things, actually. The first, was that He washed His peace over me, and I no longer felt anxious or sad. The second, was that He allowed my eyes to drift into the next column and see where I had previously underlined Psalm 42:2:

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?

That was the answer to my emotional tizzy: my soul was needing to meet with God.

 

Due to several things, I had an immensely hard time waking up this morning, which left my quiet-time choppy (at best), as I juggled the girls' needs, instead of keeping my “date” with Jesus. And I (clearly) needed that time. I needed to allow God time to hold me, Holy Spirit to speak to me, and Jesus to lead me. But because I didn’t take the time at the start, something in my day left me feeling dry…until I sat and met with God. It’s an amazing and beautiful thing what entering His presence does for you.

 

If, throughout the course of your day, you find yourself feeling dry, take the advice given in Psalm 42:5-8, (MSG):

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He’s my God.

When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
    everything I know of you,

. . .
Then God promises to love me all day,
    sing songs all through the night!
    My life is God’s prayer.

©Heather Potts 2022

We Want to Belong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li40gJTeBts

God So Loved ~ We the Kingdom

 

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ~ 1 Peter 2:10 NIV

 

I feel like each time I go to the store, I see more people with dyed hair. Some with salon-quality, but others look like they grabbed a can of spray paint on their way to the store. It’s as an interesting trend, the next wave of people trying to “fit in”.

 

Someone I know is making some unhealthy choices, looking to be accepted. When I asked God how to pray for her, He said to pray for her identity. Holy Spirit gave me several verses:

She is a child of God ~ John 1:12

Her old self was crucified with Christ; she is no longer a slave to sin ~ Romans 6:6

She was created in the image of God ~ Genesis 1:27

She is a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, called out of darkness and into His wonderful light ~ 1 Peter 2:9

She now belongs to God ~ 1 Peter 2:10

 

The last verse, declaring that she now belongs to God, is something we all want. One of my jobs at school is to help in the lunchroom. Stand in there just once and you will see it: all the kids stand around and wait for their friends to join them. No one wants to be left out; everyone wants to belong.

 

Rainbow-colored hair will eventually fade, just as every other fad has over the years, but the longing to belong will remain. God created us for a relationship with Him, but our sin kept us separated, so He sent Jesus to provide the way. Once, you were not a people—you couldn’t come close to God. But now you are the people of God—part of the fold, brought close, adopted, accepted, loved, a child of God. Now you belong; you belong to God.

©Heather Potts 2022

Worthy Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjPKfQ7fMoM

I Choose to Worship ~ Rend Collective

 

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ~ Ephesians 4:1 NIV

 

I’m so grateful God moved us here when He did. It gave our girls the opportunity to meet my grandpa, Lyle Hayes, before he passed away. When Savannah was in Kindergarten, I took her to visit my grandpa on Memorial Day. She was, then, old enough to grasp some of what Memorial Day is and why we celebrate it. While we were visiting, she asked to explore his house. My grandpa had an older home with many rooms. In the office was a war memorial display case, which housed a model plane, the same kind of bomber on which my grandpa fought. It also housed many medals and other memorial items that belonged to both my grandpa, as well as his brother, Clayton. 

 

Just about every time I went to visit Grandpa Hayes, he'd tell me stories of his time in the service, especially his training in Florida, but rarely did he talk about Clayton. Shortly after my grandpa died, we found a newspaper article about my great-uncle, Pfc. Clayton Hayes, and how he helped a mom and her son carry belongings back to their war-ravaged home in Normandy. The article was from June 3, 1944. At the end of the war, many men came home as war heroes. Unfortunately, Clayton Hayes, died as one, in September 1944, during Operation Market Garden in Holland.

 

This Memorial Day, please take a moment to remember the fallen heroes and pray for their families. Please also pray for those who are currently serving in the military. Before the day is out, take a moment and thank those you know who have served and fought to keep us safe and free. And finally, ask God to give you the strength and courage to live a life worthy of both their sacrifice, and of the Lord's calling on your life. 

 

Who do you know and want to thank on this Memorial Day? 

 

http://normandie44.canalblog.com/archives/2012/01/14/23241133.html

Article on Pfc. Clayton Hayes, and the others in his troop.

©Heather Potts 2022

Who? No One!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rwfowzoGvA

Water is Wild ~ (feat. Chris Brown & Brandon Lake) Elevation Worship

 

While studying Romans 8:38-39, in preparation for writing the devotional that was churning in my mind, I spent a lot of time studying “who” in Romans 8:

If God is for us, who can be against us? (v.31)

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? (v.33)

Who then is the one who condemns? (v.34)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (v.35)

Perhaps, like me, you assumed the devil. Afterall, he is “the accuser of the brothers,” (Revelation 12:10).

 

Hebrews 2 tells us Jesus declared us to be His brothers, and that because we are flesh and blood, He chose to, “share in [our] humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free [us]…” (vv. 12,14-15). Because the devil held the power of death, the assumption—by many—is that he still holds it. But the truth is Jesus took the power through His atonement for us, (Hebrews 2:17). In Revelation 1:18, Jesus declared, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Holding the keys gives Jesus the power and authority to open and shut doors that no one can shut or open, (Revelation 3:7).

 

Therefore, the answer to the Romans 8 questions is no one, not even the devil. Though he will try to convince you otherwise, we are assured, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death,” (Romans 8:1-2). The devil is a liar, tempter, and an accuser, but he no longer has authority over you and his power pales in comparison with God’s. As one Bible commentator said, “Satan is a finite, created being. He may be opposite to Gabriel or Michael, but never to God. And thus, though the forces of hell be gathered against you, they are nothing compared with the power that is available to you because God is for you,” (Chuck Smith, blueletterbible.org).

 

When the devil comes in to attack and tempts your mind with questions of who is against you, hoping you will start a list, you can counter his attack by boldly and confidently declaring, “No one!”

 

no weapon forged against you will prevail,
    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
    and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the Lord.

~Isaiah 54:17 NIV

©Heather Potts 2022

If It Walks Like a Duck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgw1hIcW34k

Surviving the Game ~ Skillet

 

Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil. ~ Ephesians 6:11 AMPC

 

You’ve heard the saying, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.” That’s what was going on in our house last night—except the duck was a spiritual attack. Disguised as multiple physical ailments, our family was under spiritual attack. Like any good attack, a strategic plan was set into motion, but small at first, to slip in under the radar.

 

Over the weekend, Savannah and I felt some discomfort, which slowly got worse as the days progressed. By Wednesday evening, the four of us were having moderate to severe pain. However, like a good deception, we all had completely different issues, and didn’t immediately recognize what was happening.

 

Though I was overwhelmed, after taking a spiritual step back, I saw that we were under attack. Not only did I call doctors and treat physical symptoms, but I also prepared for war. When things feel like a spiritual attack and act like a spiritual attack, then it’s best to don your spiritual armor and prepare for battle.

 

Ephesians 1:3 says that we—believers—have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” (NKJV). This includes our redemption, forgiveness, and our being lavished in every kind of wisdom and understanding in Christ, (vv. 7-8). Paul prayed that God would “make [us] intelligent and discerning in knowing [Him] personally,” (Ephesians 1:18 MSG). Intelligence is needed for the physical realm, discernment for the spiritual. We need both because, in Christ, we are spirit beings. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, … raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:4,6 NIVUK). Because of His great love for us, God placed us in the heavenly places, blessing us with the victory that is in Christ Jesus, so that by faith, we can overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, (1 John 5:4).

 

With wisdom, discernment, and your spiritual armor on, the next time that duck walks and quacks into your life, you can say, “I recognize you. Though dressed like a duck, you are defeated, and I have overcome!”

©Heather Potts 2022

Can't Deny Him

This morning, the girls and I studied John 18:1-11 and we discussed any questions they had about verses that stood out to them. Elizabeth asked about verse 6, “Now when He said to them, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” Savannah asked about verse 3, “Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.” In both cases, we discussed what the verses meant and the picture of the magnitude of the situation. This wasn’t a quiet arrest of a lawless man. This was 600+ armed soldiers who showed up in a garden, at night, to arrest one sinless Man.

 

As we saw in verse 6, when Jesus responded to them, “I am He,” the men all fell to the ground. Their falling wasn’t because they tripped, but as a response to the power of the name I AM. No man, nor spirit, can deny the power of the Name. In His power, Jesus could have struck them dead, or escaped. Rather, by His power and of His will, He allowed Himself to be arrested and crucified.

 

It’s interesting that while the soldiers and Pharisees, and many others, refused to accept Jesus, they couldn’t deny Him. They couldn’t deny the miracles or His power—that’s what made them show up in a garden at night with over 600 armed soldiers. They didn’t want to believe, they refused to repent, but they couldn’t deny Him, either.

 

As we closed our study this morning, I asked the girls the same as I will ask you: to pray for those you know who have not, yet, repented and made Jesus their Lord and Savior. “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life,” (John 3:16 AMPC). On this Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday and weekend, let’s not just celebrate what we have in Jesus, our Lord and Savior, but pray deeply and desperately for those who don’t, yet.

 

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” … So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. ~ John 19:28-30 NKJV

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LASyD0ASRfI

Scandal of Grace ~ Hillsong United

 

©Heather Potts 2022

Why Were They Afraid?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D1A0Kf-cRU

Above All ~ Michael W. Smith

 

Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. ~ John 18:3 NKJV

 

Have you ever been so quick to read, that you missed things, which you later realized made a HUGE difference? After hearing a teacher read to her class the events that led up to Jesus’ crucifixion, Holy Spirit perked my ears at the fact that Judas brought men with weapons to arrest Jesus. If you’ve read any of the stories, Jesus was not a violent man. That begs the question, why did they need weapons. After doing some digging, the bigger question became: why did they need so many men, and weapons?

 

According to the different Bible commentaries, Judas brought with him between 600 and 1,000 men to arrest Jesus. They all agreed that the “detachment” included at least 240 cavalry men and at least 200 infantry. Judas didn’t gather all the drunks in a bar one night to go capture Jesus. No, these were trained, armed military men. Why so many men? Why were Judas and the Pharisees so afraid?

 

David Guzik said, “A sinless Man in an appointed garden was about to do battle with Satan’s representative. The first time this happened, the sinless man failed. The Second Adam would not fail,” (Blueletterbible.com, Study Guide for John 18). Satan knew what was at stake. He also knew the power and authority of Jesus, as did Judas and the Pharisees, and that made them afraid. But they didn’t expect Jesus. Because Satan knew of Jesus’ power and authority, he expected a battle, which was why there were so many men and weapons. What Satan failed to realize was that God’s battle plan included Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.

 

As you go about your activities today and this weekend, whether your life is filled with family and fun, or loneliness and struggles, take some time to focus on Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s battle plan, remembering they did it for you, because they love you!

©Heather Potts 2022