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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 28th

📖 Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. 
—Ephesians 4:28 AMPC 

Paul is giving insight into the purpose of our paychecks. Our paychecks are not primarily for paying bills (you should pay your bills). Our paychecks are not primarily for purchasing items for ourselves and our families (it's okay if you do). The Word of God tells us that we work so that we can have money to give. This is how the Kingdom of God operates. It functions through the principle of seedtime and harvest. When we give, it shall be given to us again, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto our bosom (Luke 6:38). It is after we give that we can claim that God will meet our needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). It is always better to give than to receive because giving puts us in a place of receiving. As we grow in faith, we should also grow in our giving. As we increase our giving, we can increase our receiving. It’s time for a shift in our thinking in the area of giving! When we change our standard of giving, we change our standard of living.  

#seedtimeandharvest #devotional #giving #vcccharlotte #compassion 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 27th

📖 Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing. 
—Philippians 2:14-16 The Message 

As believers, we should stand out. There should be a difference between the way we act and the way the world acts. Our responses to trials and tribulations should be different. Christians should be a breath of fresh air. We don’t complain like the world. We walk with a different spirit. As believers, there is a difference in our countenance. Our job is to provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. As Christians, we are God’s ambassadors. We carry the light giving Message wherever we go. Not only do we carry the Message, but we must also live the Message. We are living proof that Jesus is alive and His Word is true.  

#standout #vcccharlotte #different #devotional  

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 26th

📖 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’ 

“So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to feel it. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corn-cobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. 

—Luke 15: 11-16 The Message   

Are you a short-term thinker or a long-term thinker? This young man was only concerned about the present moment. He was ready to go and spend his money and have a good time. He did not consider his future. He did not think about the possibility of famine. He did not think about investing his money. He was only thinking about himself. He had the mindset of eating, drinking, and being merry. We cannot have that type of mindset. We must consider our ways. We must examine our spending habits. Are you a healthy eater? Do you exercise regularly? The things you do today will affect your tomorrow. Don’t be like this young man. Let’s be long-term thinkers, and not just short-term. Your future depends on it.  

#thinker #vcccharlotte #future #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 25th

📖 The great God who rules over Israel always does what he says he will do. He does not change his mind. People may change their minds, but he does not!’ 
—I Samuel 15:29 Easy English Bible 

God keeps His Word. He is not like a human being. God is not wishy washy. He isn’t up one minute and down the next. God says what He means and He means what He says. God does not change His mind about His thoughts toward us. God sees us as His children once we have accepted His Son as Savior and Lord. Our flaws and shortcomings don’t change His mind about us. If God tells us that He will meet our needs, He will. If He calls Himself our Healer, then He is. God is who He says He is and He does what He says He will do. We are the ones who have trust issues. We are the ones who have difficulties believing God’s Word. God does not change. There is no shadow of turning in Him. When we stand on His Word, good things happen. When we act on His Word, good things happen. God’s Word can be trusted. We can trust His veracity. God will always do what He says He will do. 

#trust #vcccharlotte #reliable #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 24th

📖 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. —Isaiah 59:1 NKJV

God is not new to saving His people, and matter of fact, He alone specializes in it. There has not been a situation or problem brought by His people that has given Him any ounce of trouble or difficulty. He is the Almighty and All-powerful God, and we, as His children, must start recognizing that. The Lord’s power has not been diminished, and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is still active and available to change whatever is wrong in our lives. As His representatives on earth let us remember that God hears our prayers, and He is still all powerful. 

#representGod #AlmightyGod #vcccharlotte #power #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 23rd

📖 Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength (His might and inflexibility to temptation); seek and require His face and His presence [continually] evermore. 

[Earnestly] remember the marvelous deeds that He has done, His miracles and wonders, the judgments and sentences which He pronounced [upon His enemies, as in Egypt]. 

He is [earnestly] mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His heart, the word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations, 
—Psalm 105: 4-5; 8 AMPC 

We serve a covenant keeping God. He is a God of miracles. He is willing to do signs and wonders on our behalf in order to honor His covenant in our lives. That could be the reason the people were told to remember all the marvelous deeds that God had done on their behalf. He did it to honor His covenant. He did it out of His love for His people. We ought to seek the Lord. We should crave Him and His strength. Our relationship with God will enable us to believe and trust in God, especially when times get difficult. God is ever mindful of His covenant. He promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He even promised to reward those who diligently seek Him. Our expectations should go through the roof when we consider Who God is and what God can do. He is earnestly mindful of His covenant and ready to act on it on our behalf. What a privilege it is to be in the household of faith. 

#vcccharlotte #covenant #devotional #householdoffaith 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 21st

📖 In the same way that nursing infants cry for milk, you must intensely crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word. For this “milk” will cause you to grow into maturity, fully nourished and strong for life- especially now that you have had a taste of the goodness of Yahweh and have experienced his kindness. —I Peter 2:2-3 The Passion Translation 

How intense is your desire for the Word of God? Do you crave it? Do you meditate on it day and night like God told Joshua to? In Psalm 1, the psalmist tells us that when we meditate on the Word of God day and night, we will be like the tree that is planted by the rivers of water and whatever we do will prosper. (v3) Can you imagine prospering in every area of life? We can understand why when we read the Scripture above. Our hunger for the Word will cause us to grow and become mature in the things of God. That maturity will allow us to make decisions in line with God’s Word, which will then cause us to prosper. It is the doer of the Word who is blessed. You cannot expect an immature Christian to be able to handle the blessings of God. Those blessings come upon us as we grow or “mature” in the things of God. God is not holding back on us; He is waiting on our maturation. He is watching our development and blessing us in proportion to our growth. You can experience more of the blessings of God, or you can stay the same. The choice is yours. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

#growth #vcccharlotte #meditateontheWord #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 20th

📖 Be careful what you think [ Above all that you guard, protect your heart], because ·your thoughts run your life [life flows from it]. —Proverbs 4:23 The Expanded Bible  

Guard your mind and guard your heart. It has been said that “your life goes in the direction of your most dominant thoughts”. This is one reason why we must be careful what we think about. We don’t want negative thoughts to infiltrate our hearts. If we allow those negative thoughts to get into our hearts eventually, we will start to speak those thoughts and we will have what we say. (Mark 11:23) The mouth will speak whatever the heart is full of (Luke 6:45). As believers, we walk by faith and not by sight or appearance (II Corinthians 5:7). We keep our eyes on the Word and not on what we see in this natural world. God’s Word will change what we see. We must get His Word on our minds and in our hearts. Guard your mind and your heart. If it doesn’t line up with the Word don’t think about it. We should do what Philippians 4:8 says: For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]. 

#protectyourmind #vcccharlotte #protectyourheart #devotional  

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 19th

📖 Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you. 

You have plowed and plotted wickedness, you have reaped the [willful] injustice [of oppressors], you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your [own] way and your chariots, in the multitude of your mighty men, 

Therefore shall a tumult arise against your people and all your fortresses shall be wasted and destroyed, as Shalmaneser wasted and destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; the mother was dashed in pieces with her children. 

So shall it be done to you at [idolatrous] Bethel because of your great wickedness; at daybreak shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off. 

—Hosea 10:12-15 AMPC 

Seeking the Lord doesn’t cost; it pays. It is during those times of seeking that we learn from Him. Seeking God causes a transformation to take place. It is where we break up our uncultivated ground and learn more about our righteousness and the gift of salvation. When we don’tspend time with the Lord by seeking His Face, we become susceptible to making mistakes. When we don’t seek His will or His way, we tend to lean to our own understanding. We tend to depend on our resources, our ways, and our intellect. Relying on ourselves is a quick way to destruction and ruin. God does not want that for our lives. He desires us to prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers (3 John 2). The Bible tells us to, “trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and lean not to our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). In all our ways, we are to acknowledge Him, and He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:6). When we direct our paths, we get into trouble, and then we want God to bail us out. Seeking the Lord would have kept us out of trouble. God’s way is the best way. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.   

#learnfromGod #vcccharlotte #seektheLord #devotional #God’sway 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 18th

📖 So Elijah left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, whose plowing was being done with twelve yoke of oxen, and he drove the twelfth. Elijah crossed over to him and cast his mantle upon him. 

He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you. And he [testing Elisha] said, Go on back. What have I done to you? [Settle it for yourself.] 

So Elisha went back from him. Then he took a yoke of oxen, slew them, boiled their flesh with the oxen’s yoke [as fuel], and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, followed Elijah, and served him.  

—I Kings 19: 19-21 AMPC 

When God is doing a new thing in your life, don’t go back to the old. The new is always better. It was time for Elisha to enter a new phase of life. His old life of plowing with the oxen was over with. It was time for him to serve under Elijah in preparation for him to eventually succeed him as a prophet of God. Elisha would eventually kill the oxen and serve them to the people to eat. This was a symbolic gesture. This was Elisha’s way of turning his back on his old life and moving forward to this new phase that God had for him. Every one of us will have to do this at some point in our lives. Jesus told his disciples that “no man with his hand to the plow, looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Like 9:62). One cannot move forward looking back. We must all look in the direction that we are headed. If we are moving forward, we must look forward. Paul made an important decision in his life and wrote about it in Philippians 3: 13-14. He wrote: 

I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. 

If we are going to walk in all that God has for us, we must do the same. We must forget what is behind and toward the goal. 

#new #vcccharlotte #outwiththeold #devotional #moveforward 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 17th

📖 At last the wall was completed to half its original height around the entire city—for the workers worked hard. —Nehemiah 4:6 The Living Bible

There is no substitute for hard work. The Bible tells in Ecclesiastes 5:3, “For a dream comes with much business and painful effort, and a fool’s voice with many words.” It takes diligence to accomplish a goal. It takes diligence to see the fulfillment of a dream. There is a time to pray, but then there is a time to work. It's been said that we should pray like it’s on God, but we should work like it's on us. Prayer has its place, but so does work. It may take late nights and early mornings, but it is all worth it in the end. The path to the prize is greater than the prize itself. The substance of the diligent is precious because the diligent know what it took to get it. Laziness will get you nowhere. Diligence is the vehicle that will take you to success. Selah. 

#diligence #hardwork #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte #dream

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 16th

📖 Then God said, “I’ve given you 
    every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth 
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, 
    given them to you for food. 
To all animals and all birds, 
    everything that moves and breathes, 
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.” 
    And there it was. 
—Genesis 1:29-30 The Message Bible

God provided food for Adam, Eve, and every living animal that was on the earth at that time. God knew what it would take to feed the birds, the lions, the tigers, and every other creature. God has not changed. He still knows how to feed us and sustain us. He fed the Israelites while they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. He fed Elijah when there was a drought. God has always provided for His people. God will always take care of us. He told us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the things would be added to us. We won't have to go after them, they will come to us. Let’s resist the spirit of fear and worry. Let us put our trust in God. He is our provider. He knows how to take care of us. If He provided back then, He will provide now. God has not changed. 

#provider #vcccharlotte #nofear #noworry #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 14th

📖 See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know (recognize, acknowledge) us is that it does not know (recognize, acknowledge) Him. —I John 3:1 AMPC

What a privilege it is to be called the children of God. We aren’t servants, even though we should serve God. We are His children. He loves us so much that He would call us His children. Despite our shortcomings, despite our struggles, despite our imperfections, God deemed it appropriate to call us His children. He doesn’t see us the way we often see ourselves; He sees us through the Blood of Jesus. God sees us as righteous. He sees us as kings and priests. When we make Jesus the Lord of our lives, it puts us in a different class. Because of this, the world does not know or recognize us. They did not know or recognize Jesus, so we should expect no different. We are not of this world; we are of God! We should embrace this and meditate on this truth until it becomes a reality to us. We are the children of the almighty God—the Creator of the universe. When you finally get a revelation of this, it will change your life. It will change your perspective and take you to another level. 

#childrenofGod #devotional #vcccharlotte #righteous

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 13th

📖 So then [God’s gift] is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God’s mercy. [It depends not on one’s own willingness nor on his strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God’s having mercy on him.] —Romans 9:16 AMP

We are who we are by God’s grace. Every good gift and every perfect gift come from Him. He is the One who has blessed us with our individual talents and abilities. We cannot brag on ourselves; it is the mercy of God. We cannot boast of our abilities because they came from Him. God is the Source of everything good in our lives and we must walk with a spirit of meekness and humility. Where would we be without the grace of God? It is in Him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). We can be thankful of all the giftings bestowed on us by God, but we must also be certain to be grateful for His mercy. Where would we be without it? 

#mercy #graceofGod #devotional #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 12th

📖 Check up on yourselves. Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ’s presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren’t at all? —2 Corinthians 13:5 The Living Bible 

As believers, we must stay on top of ourselves. We must examine ourselves to make sure that our relationship with God stays strong. The world is constantly trying to influence us. Whether it is on social media, television, or radio, we are constantly being told what to think and how to think. The world is constantly trying to fit us into a mold. We must resist. We don’t have to yield to the influence of the world. We don’t have to look like the world or talk like the world. There are times when a believer has to ask questions. Am I spiritually-minded? Are my views in line with the Word of God or are they more in line with the world? Am I still a Christian? We must pass the test. We must contend for the faith. Do a spiritual checkup: Are you still a Christian?  

#believers #vcccharlotte #faith #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 11th

📖 When He prepared the heavens, I [Wisdom] was there; when He drew a circle upon the face of the deep and stretched out the firmament over it, 

When He made firm the skies above, when He established the fountains of the deep, 

When He gave to the sea its limit and His decree that the waters should not transgress [across the boundaries set by] His command, when He appointed the foundations of the earth— 

When I [Wisdom] was beside Him as a master and director of the work; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always, 
—Proverbs 8:27-30 AMPC

There are so many benefits that are available to us through Christ Jesus. One benefit is the Wisdom of God. The Bible tells us that “Jesus is made unto us wisdom” (I Corinthians 1:30). Not only does Jesus live on the inside of us, but so does His Wisdom. I Corinthians 2:7 tells us that “we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory”. When you couple that with I Corinthians 14:2, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries”. We now have an idea how to access that wisdom. When you are spirit-filled, you can pray out the Wisdom of God by praying in the Spirit. This will help you remember what to do in any situation. The Wisdom of God established this world, and His wisdom will establish ours, when we pursue it and seek it out. 

#wisdom #vcccharlotte #devotional #spiritfilled

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 10th

📖 What is man that You should magnify him and think him important? And that You should set Your mind upon him? —Job 7:17 AMPC  

Did you know that you are important to God? The Bible tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) The Bible also tells us that our very hairs are numbered. (Matthew 10:30) God sent His Son to the cross to die for our sins. He sent Jesus into the earth to redeem us from the curse of the law. God has given us His Name, His armor, and His Word. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Peter 1:4). He sent the Holy Ghost into the world to lead us, guide us, indwell us, and empower us. God gave His Son so that we could be called the children of God. God has equipped us with everything that it takes to win in life. All we need to do now is walk in what belongs to us. God has demonstrated His love for us in so many ways; we cannot let Him down. God expects us to win, and based on what He has given us, we are without excuse. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. (Romans 8:37) 

#magnifyHim #vcccharlotte #looktoGod #devotional  

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 9th

📖 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. —Psalm 68:19 KJV

Have you received your benefits today? Every day, God wants to unleash His goodness on us. He desires us to be beneficiaries of His kindness. Every good gift and every perfect gift come from Him. As believers, every day is a good day. As children of God, we expect something good to happen to us. We should expect His favor. We should expect Him to supply our daily bread. The world expects gifts on certain days. They expect gifts on birthdays, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc. We should expect something good to happen to us every day because He loads us daily with benefits. God is good. 

#benefitspackage #Godisgood #devotional #dailybread

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 7th

📖 After Jesus had finished all that He had to say in the hearing of the people [on the mountain], He entered Capernaum.

Now a centurion had a bond servant who was held in honor and highly valued by him, who was sick and at the point of death. 

And when the centurion heard of Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Him, requesting Him to come and make his bond servant well. 
—Luke 7:1-3 AMPC

The centurion was in a desperate situation. One of his servants, who was very dear to him, was about to die. The situation looked hopeless. It reminds you of the story of the woman with the issue of blood. She had been to several doctors and instead of getting better, she got worse. Just like the woman with the issue of blood, the centurion heard of Jesus. Something happens when you hear of Jesus. When you hear of Jesus properly, it is supposed to give you hope. When you hear the Word of God, it should give you hope as well. The centurion had so much confidence in who Jesus was (and is), he told Him that he didn’t have to come to his house. He only needed Jesus to speak the word only. He understood the authority that Jesus walked in. He understood the spoken word. We also must hear of Jesus properly. We must hear about God properly. Things change when we do. They will turn around for the better. 

#gamechanger #devotional #faithfulGod #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 6th

📖 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 

“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord. —Matthew 25:15-21 NKJV

What are you doing with the talents that God has given you? Are you working to unleash your full potential? Are you working to become a valuable member of the Body of Christ? We must be about our Father’s business. Jesus, as a little boy, was in the temple learning and asking questions. He was diligent about His purpose at a young age. We must do the same. We must continue to be diligent and faithful. Once we have proven ourselves in doing this, God will reward us with greater responsibilities, which always come with even greater rewards. Many times, we want more without passing the faithfulness test. We must be like Paul—forgetting the things that are behind, we must press toward the mark. We can be all that God wants us to be if we are willing to pay the price. The faithfulness fee is what will grant us access to greater things. Are you willing to pay the price? 

#vcccharlotte #responsibilities #devotional #diligence #purpose

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