Daily Devotional for August 26, 2016

John 14:15-17    
“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson.  Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO.  All rights reserved.

Recently, I discovered a website called Power of Positivity (PoP)*, which describes as part of its focus…“the good in the world, how you can expand that good within you, and how that expansion from within can generate more good for others.”  While I don’t necessarily endorse everything shared on this website, the article that caught my attention was titled “9 Things You Should Say to Your Kids Every Day.”  These are:

• I love you
• I like it when you...
• You make me happy.
• I'm proud of you.
• You are special.
• I trust you.
• I believe in you.
• I know you can do this.
• I am grateful for you.

It seems odd to me that we would have to be reminded to tell our children some of these – especially “I love you!” As I read this list, I thought about not only how I speak to the children in my own circle…but also my relationship with our Heavenly Father – and how He speaks these things into me every day through His Holy Spirit.

These simple phrases can be incorporated into our daily “mission” to show others what Jesus has told us.  We can let someone know that we love them and care about them.  We can recognize the qualities and accomplishments of others. We have opportunities to convey to other people that we trust them…believe in them…are confident in their abilities…and that we are grateful for their lives.  By merely stopping to say “Hello” to an acquaintance at school, church, or in the aisle at Walmart, we can acknowledge the joy and pride our association with that person brings – and boost their confidence in the process.

We have grown so comfortable with criticism and ugliness.  We are ready, willing and eager to share a negative post or a condescending remark.  We can’t wait to laugh with others about someone’s mistakes and shortcomings.  We often mumble and grumble our way through the day. Quite frankly, if the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, very few people would ever know it by the way we talk and act!

God calls us to change this…to look for positives and recognize the good things.  He wants us to cultivate our relationship with the Holy Spirit and radiate such hope and faith to others that those who know this Friend for themselves will readily recognize Him in us…and the rest will want to know Him.

It doesn’t take all that much effort to flip the switch from negative to positive.  Start with something as simple as whispering these three words…”Come, Holy Spirit.”  Shift your focus today and start operating in the message and mission of Jesus.  Concentrate on sharing His goodness with others - and offering them at least a glimpse of His glory through your spirit of faith and hope.

If you feel you are not hearing these positive affirmations frequently enough, there may be something that you need to change.  Do others see Jesus in your daily living?  Isn’t it time they did?

©2016 Debbie Robus

* https://www.powerofpositivity.com/

Daily Devotional for March 7, 2016

1 John 4:13-16
And he has put his own Holy Spirit into our hearts as a proof to us that we are living with him and he with us. And furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now tell all the world that God sent his Son to be their Savior. Anyone who believes and says that Jesus is the Son of God has God living in him, and he is living with God.

We know how much God loves us because we have felt his love and because we believe him when he tells us that he loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.

The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Sometimes when I tell Nathan “No,” he has started responding with “You don’t love me anymore.”  I laugh and assure him that indeed, I do love him very much.  It’s a manipulative ploy on his part to get me to change my mind.  We both know how much he is loved – by me and countless others! 

Whether the children can verbalize it or not, they recognize the love and care that many adults continually pour into their lives in dozens of ways.  From the personal notes Timothy’s mother puts in his lunch box…to the extra towels I roll up in their swim bags so they won’t be cold after we get out of the pool…to the sacks full of beautiful barely-worn clothes that a dear friend from church generously shared with Zola – these kids know that they are loved.  I am hopeful that they will grow to understand just how much they are loved…how much is done for them behind the scenes.  I am trusting that they will want to demonstrate their gratitude for such boundless kindness and affection…particularly by “paying it forward” to others.

I know it doesn’t always work out this way. Plenty of children who were loved madly grew up to be spoiled, unappreciative, and presumptive – as if the world owed them everything.  And there are all sorts of levels of this in between.  But our goal is to instill in others a healthy balance of unconditional love and acceptance – and a sense of respect and responsibility.

Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit so that we would always feel His presence, love and guidance. His intention is that we feel so safe and loved that we operate in confidence – not arrogance!  Jesus wants us to draw on the wisdom and loving guidance of the Holy Spirit as we move through our day – and to convey these gifts and blessings to others.

Yesterday, I told the 6th-grade Sunday school students that one of the best ways we can proclaim the love and Good News of Jesus to others is by our daily living…how we speak and act – and how we treat others.  If we are negative and critical…if we call others ugly names and talk about them disparagingly…if we discriminate, bully and condescend…others will certainly NOT see Jesus in us.  And when we do these things, we are not living in God.

So how are you living today?  Are you demonstrating the power and blessings of the Holy Spirit in your own life?  Are you offering others an example that makes them say, “I want the Holy Spirit to dwell in me!”…a model that makes others want your peace and joy in Jesus for themselves?  Isn’t it time you did?

©2016 Debbie Robus