Vignettes Devotional

Vignettes For By Strength of Hand The Lord Brought You Out From This Place And Moses said unto the people. Remember this day , in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. There shall no leavened bread be eaten.    Exodus 13:3 What has God brought you out from recently and in the past? We must put ourselves in remembrance of every incident God has delivered us or brought us out from . That way we will remain both grateful and hopeful. Grateful for what He has done, and hopeful that He will do it again. ☐ Has God ever  removed you from  bad situations, addictions, bad choices , or tight places you thought you could never get out from? If yes, praise the Lord today and never become entangled again with that bondage!  If you are in such a situation, give it to God, believe in your God and expect your deliverance!  Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My ...

Vignettes Restore My Soul He restores my soul.  Psalms 23:3 TLV Days come when we feel drained emotionally, physically and even spiritually. That's when we need to restore our souls . But how do we do that? Prosperity Is A God Idea  Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.  3 John 1:2 KJV Could be that branch of the church John wrote these words to were feeling the seemingly endless persecution and malice from walking in the truth only to be mocked, ridiculed and threatened with excommunication by those who claimed to love God more than they, who felt it their life's mission to 'fix their faith,' who wanted to be in charge over everyone, but who only possessed a shallow me-focused relationship with God. Perhaps they felt pressed out of measure by the oppression and attacks of the Devil which never seemed to let up.  Maybe, like us, they wer...

Vignettes The Earth Is Full of the Goodness of the Lord Psalm 33:4-5  For the Word of the Lord is right, And all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.  Many will dispute this fact, that the earth is full of God's goodness , especially in light of the wars, rumours of wars, the pandemic, economic burdens, job losses, the pandemic of fear , and the millions of deaths which have become a part of our daily lives, so to speak. But God is not mad at anybody. He has not replaced the fullness of His goodness in the earth with heartbreak, sadness, evil, destruction, war, death or disease. There is still an enemy in the world out to steal from, kill and destroy many lives. John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. ~Jesus. The Word of the Lord Is Right Holy Spirit reminds us in Psalm 33:4-5  that we need to look to the Word of God, our Bibles, as our S ource of Tr...

Vignettes Waiting On The Lord Is Faith In Action But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.  Isaiah 40:31 Waiting on the Lord is nothing like 'waiting for better days,' or like waiting to win the Lotto. Those who are 'waiting for better days' are usually not doing very much to reach that goal. Passively waiting on God or hoping for some 'good luck' to come your way is not faith and is not what God will reward or bless. God does not move on our behalf, neither does He bless us, when we are passive or living by the luck of the draw. God is moved to work on our behalf, to bring to pass what we are hoping for, when we move in and live by faith .  Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.  Note carefully what Holy ...

Vignettes As The Dew of the Morning I sleep, but my heart is awake ; It is the voice of my Beloved! He knocks, saying, “Open for Me, My sister, my love, My dove, My perfect one; For My head is covered with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.”   S ong of Songs 5:2 Have you ever noticed that the dew of the morning covers everything? The heavens of God drip  dew on all His creation to water the earth, to revive what is dry and shriveled up. The Holy Spirit ,  As The Dew of the Morning, covers and crowns the earth with God's goodness , mercy and grace every day. He knocks at the door of the hearts of people early in their lives, longing for them to open the door to The Beloved, Jesus Christ. As The Dew of the Morning , Holy Spirit desires to revive what has shriveled up and died in us, our passion and zeal for Christ and for life, and our faith . He longs to bring something new and fresh to our lives every morning  as the Dew  so we can live in awe...

Vignettes Love Unblocks The Ears Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Whoever said Christianity was easy has never lived it! How could you possibly be nice to those who hate and despise you, whom you hate and despise in return?! You know who I am talking about... Those people who rub you up the wrong way every time you see them; those  jealous, rude, back-stabbing so-called friends; those  you know are always talking about you behind your back.  You regard them as your bona-fide enemies, people you could never sit at the same table with. And yet God says in His Word, Love your enemies! God, of all people, should know how they feel about you! After all, He is privy to all their conversations! And yet the Word stares back at you, reminding you to lov...

Vignettes Monday Is A Day That The Lord Has Made Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. A call-centre agent recently contacted me. He was trying his best to engage me in conversation, probably as per his training. He politely asked how I was and when I replied, "Good, thanks," he responded with, "Probably a ' Blue Monday , ' hey?" I paused before asking him why he would assume that. He then went into a spiel of how Monday's are not his or anybody's favourite day; how everyone basically 'hated' Monday's because that's the worst day of the week. Proverbs 8:12 I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. Again I paused, asking Holy Spirit for a witty response to this young man's worldly assumptions of the days of the week.  I loved the agents surprise when I said to him that Monday's do not have to be the worst day of the week. He asked me in a sho...

Vignettes Success Is Momentary   I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Philippians 4:13 NKJV Success is momentary. Holy Spirit spoke these profound words to me many years ago. His Words forever changed how I viewed the successes in my life. Through them Holy Spirit taught me to: 1. Take Note of the many successes I actually do achieve in my life.  2. To celebrate those successes the moment they happen, 3. Not to view life as unsuccessful just because success does not happen all the time.  Success is momentary.  We must teach ourselves to enjoy the moment . We must live with a constant expectation of good , expecting Christ to turn up in our lives; that He will do what He says in His Word and give us the strength we need to do and be our best every day in order that we may achieve His best for us.  Success is momentary.   Plan for success.  Take   careful note of your successes.  Give God thanks for those thin...

Vignettes Are You Sabotaging Your Future? For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 God knows what He has planned for your life. Fact is, whenever God looks at you He is reminded of all the good things He still has in store for you, the better things than what you are experiencing today. God sees your future when He looks at you because He engraved it on your spirit pre-earth already! For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 Generation One of the Exodus  sabotaged their future. They k ept focusing on what they did not have,  what they could not do, and how impossible God's plan for them was. They loved to spend their days just murmuring and complaining to each other from their tent doors about how they could not take it anymore, about how bad things were for them, and abo...

Vignettes Algorithm The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Psalms 37:23 NKJV An Algorithm  is defined as a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problems in order to obtain the desired output. Regarding computers, it is an instruction telling a computer how to transform a set of facts about the world into useful information. The simplest example of an algorithm  is the process of following a recipe. The recipe must be completed according to the sequence prescribed or the desired output will not be achieved! So, too, the steps of a good man or woman must be ordered according to Holy Spirit 's Algorithm  or the desired output of a life abundant, victory in every area, and peace of mind and heart will not be achieved.  As humans, we struggle with being told what to do. But Holy Spirit does not boss us around to boast about His power over us. Instead, He gently and lovingly introduces beneficial and life...

Vignettes A Prayer For Days Like These Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6‭-‬7 It's been a tough, heartbreaking, confusing time and still nothing is happening and you are not sure why. You know you heard from God, that you are on the right track. Yet things are not going the way they should. Delays, setbacks , attacks, both physical and financial, are giving you sleepless nights. And when you cry out to God, silence answers you. You are just about to quit, to give up. Your hopes are dashed . What is going on? What have you done wrong? Have you heard wrong? Where is God?  Days like these happen more often than we like; days where it seems Heaven has shut its doors to you, when you watch your prayers bounce back off the ceiling, and you can feel your hope leaking o...

Vignettes   By Their Fruits, and Not By Their Credentials, Shall You Know Them You will know them by their fruits . Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ~ Jesus. Matthew 7:16 Christians, like the rest of world, are immensely and blindly impressed by credentials, titles and degrees. What I call paper .  Paper , well, what is written on it, blinds the eyes to the true state of the person who holds the title, degree, qualification, etc., thus allowing them to literally get away with murder, rudeness and corruption!  The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and high priest, the ones with the education, qualifications, titles, and status in the community, were the very ones Jesus said took the most advantage of the people, who sought the applause and honour of people, but made their followers twice the sinners, or ten times worse, than themselves! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is w...