Whole Heart Devotion

"Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."  Matt. 7:15 If you've ever been to the beach and stood at the shoreline and observed fins protruding out of the water in the distance, you probably very quickly questioned whether or not those were dolphin fins or shark fins.  Being a product of the 1980s, I can't help but always think that every fin I see is bound to be on the back of a great white shark who snacks on arms and legs and eats entire bodies for dinner.  If you're like me, the music from the movie,  Jaws, is always playing in the back of my mind whenever I'm at the beach! Thankfully, every time I've been to the beach and seen fins sticking out of the water, they have always belonged to a gentle and beautiful family of dolphins or porpoises.  At first sight, their fins always startle me and make me wonder, but I'm always delighted to realize that there is nothing to be fea...

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."  Phil. 2:5 Last Friday I found myself with five very anxious children who were excited about going to swim in the pool in my mother-in-law's subdivision.  As we approached the pool, we all marveled at how nobody was there and that we would have the pool all to ourselves.  It wasn't until we got a little closer that we realized why nobody was there . . . there was a padlock on the gate and the pool was closed for maintenance! As we walked away and I very quickly realized that I had five children who were dressed and ready to go swimming, I said to them, "Well, looks like we're going to have to take our lemons and make lemonade!" My daughter had never heard that expression so she asked me what it meant.  I explained to her that it basically meant that you take something bad and turn it into something good.  Although the pool was closed, we could still make it a fun day by going to the beac...

"All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done."  Psalm 64:9 Last fall whenever the agony of loss was at its peak, I would lay on my bed and stare out my bedroom window.  I don't know exactly what it was about doing that that calmed me and gave me strength . . .  Perhaps it was seeing the way the gentle breeze ruffled the leaves on the soybean plants in the field beside our house . . .  Or maybe it was staring out into our neighbors old barn that allowed me to ponder of better days gone by and how the family unit used to be the very heartbeat of every person's life. I still catch myself peering out my window from time to time.  I'll watch the birds jump from the grass to the stalks of grain in the field and steal away some prize morsels of wheat for a midday snack.  As I think about how our loving God so graciously supplies every need for those little birds, I'm also re...

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."  Phil. 3:12 This past Sunday, my daughter and two of her friends were given the very special task of singing the special music for our church on Father's Day.  Let's just say that there wasn't enough Kleenex to go around!  Not much has changed because whenever I was a child, our church loved nothing better than to see the two little preacher's kids stand up in front of everyone and sing a special song.  The song that seemed to be the most requested at that time was a sweet little song by Joel Hemphill entitled "He's Still Working on Me", or as I sang it in my fine southern accent, "He's Still Work in ' on Me"!  The chorus goes like this: "He's still working on me To make me what I ought to be It took him just a week to make the moon and stars The sun and the ea...

"For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."  1 Cor. 6:20 I have to admit that one of my weaknesses is shoe shopping.  Perhaps I should call it something besides "shopping" because I don't even have to buy a single pair in order to get excited.  I truly have all the shoes I could ever need in my closet, so now whenever I go to the shoe store, I'm perfectly content with trying on five or six pairs and walking out of the store empty handed.  This makes my hubby so happy! I have all different kinds of shoes.  I have some that are casual and comfy, and then there are those that are definitely more concerned with being fashionable than being comfortable.  I have house shoes, outside shoes, and pool shoes.  However, out of all of the shoes that I have, they all have one thing in common.  This is not a great piece of wisdom that I'm getting ready to share . . . but hold on . . . h...

My husband is the king of Matthew 18!  That might not mean anything to you, but we use the phrase "Matthew 18" so much in our house that it could probably be our family's catch phrase!  My husband has preached or taught on Matthew 18 multiple times each year in his thirteen years in pastoral ministry. So what's so special about Matthew 18?  You'll find a couple of wonderful parables there, as well as a beautiful conversation between Jesus and His disciples about what we can learn from a child.  But the part that our references to Matthew 18 comes from is found right smack dab in the middle of the chapter.  Matthew 18:15-17 gives believers very specific directions for how we are to handle our problems, disagreements, miscommunications, and anything else that causes strain to a relationship.  Jesus says in those verses:   "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.  If he listens to yo...

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.  The old has gone, the new is here!"  2 Corinthians 5:17 I remember being in high school and taking field trips to various conferences for some of the clubs I participated in.  There were a few wise guys in my class that always took advantage of the "Hello, My Name Is" stickers that we would be asked to wear.  Rather than writing their own name on the name tag, they would choose the name of a professional wrestler or athlete and walk around all day gathering all kinds of attention from people noticing their farce of a name tag. Although those were juvenile, high school shenanigans, we all have a tendency to go through our lives believing that we are someone that we are not.  We let the devil constantly remind us of the sins we committed before our new life in Christ, and we allow those things to not only affect the way we properly view ourselves, but ultimately, they harm the ...

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?"  Matt. 6:25 Fashion has always confounded my brain.  It amazes me how trends come and go in the world of style and I've always wondered who grants fashion editors the authority to forecast what a specific trend will be for a season that might be six months or a year away.  What I'm seeing right now in the fashion world doesn't impress me.  The young, hip actors that my kids watch on television look like they got dressed in total darkness.  Nothing matches and it now appears to be totally fine to wear multiple contrasting patterns all at the same time, as well as colors that don't align on the color wheel.  Sometimes I look at people and think to myself, "Well, they definitely have a Matthew 6:25 approach to life because they obviously don't care one thing about what they ...

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."  1 Peter 3:15b As the coastal areas prepare for another hurricane season, many people will begin storing up water and canned food.  They'll check to make sure their generators are functioning properly and they'll stock up on batteries and flashlights.  If and when a storm is approaching, many people will flood the local grocery stores to buy bread, milk, and eggs.  For some reason, people must like to eat French toast during a hurricane! The weather forecasters get all psyched up whenever there is even the smallest tropical storm that could possibly brush our coastline.  They have special weather commercials prepared that begin playing on the television that promote their expertise in tracking and forecasting prior storms. Preparing for the hurricane season is almost exciting.  It gives people something to talk about and the hy...

"Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you -- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us."  2 Timothy 1:14 A few days ago, in an attempt to steal away for a few quiet moments, I snuck outside by myself and relaxingly swung on our porch swing.  My escape came to an quick and unfortunate halt after getting snuck up on by a sneaky little wasp who stung me right above my ankle.  It's called a sting, but it literally felt like a needle being jabbed directly into my ankle bone.  The stinging and burning sensation honestly didn't last too long, but it was long enough for me to read online that pressing a penny against such a sting for fifteen seconds is supposed to alleviate the stinging.  Well, that might work on everyone else's stings, but apparently it has the opposite effect on me.  The penny trick seemed to make the burning reignite with a vengeance.  Thankfully, within a relatively short time, the pain from the sting ...

"A time to be silent and a time to speak."  Ecclesiastes 3:7b Sometimes we all just need to be quiet.  Yes, there are those times whenever an argument will only be resolved if one party chooses to remain silent.  And yes, there are those times when the content or subject of a conversation is such that would be best if we didn't participate in it.  But the need for silence that I'm referring to is when our spirit is failing to hear the voice of God and silence might be the only way we can hear Him. Our world is so very loud and we all contribute in our own way to the noise of the world.  I tend to have the type of personality that will participate in just about any conversation that is taking place around me.  Unfortunately, the voices around me are so much louder than the unassuming, respectful, quiet voice of God.  I often tend to miss hearing God's voice because of the magnitude of noise that is filling my ears on a ...