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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 17th

📖 Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the governor of the island. He welcomed us courteously and fed us for three days. As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, healed him! Then all the other sick people in the island came and were cured. As a result, we were showered with gifts, and when the time came to sail, people put on board all sorts of things we would need for the trip. —Acts 28:7-10 The Living Bible 

What an example of a true ambassador of Heaven. Even though Paul was a shipwrecked prisoner, he was still ministry-minded enough that he prayed and laid his hands on Publius’ father and all who were sick on the island. Paul could have been so caught up in what he was dealing with, that he could have shown little to no concern about the needs of others. It's easy to fall into that trap. It's easy to be so consumed with what is going on in our lives that we ignore the plight of others. We must always be mindful of our citizenship. We must always remember that we are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are His hands and feet. We are all that He has. 

#paul #shipwrecked #verseoftheday #motivation #vcccharlotte #ambassadors

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 16th

📖 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. —Matthew 6:31-33 ESV 

Worry is such a major issue in many people’s lives today. They are worried about their finances, their jobs, providing for their family, etc. We have a God who has promised to take good care of us. There are no benefits to being anxious and worrying about tomorrow. We as Christians must put our trust in God by seeking His kingdom first. As we are pursuing the things of God, He will take care of our every need. We don’t have to fret like the world does. We have the God that owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Let us seek first the Kingdom and his righteousness and watch God show himself to us as Jehovah Jireh (the Lord our Provider). 

#Godcares #donotworry #devotional #vcccharlotte #trustGod

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 15th

📖 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. —Joshua 24:15 AMPC 

Joshua is letting the people know that it doesn’t really matter who they choose to serve. He had already made up his mind that he and his household would serve the Lord. As believers, we must make that same commitment. God desires for our families to serve Him. The angel told Cornelius to ask for a man named Peter, who would explain how he and his household could be saved (Acts 11:13-15). We must have the same attitude. Not only will we serve God, but our children and their children should too. God is a generational God. He desires to walk with each generation. He was called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God put marriage in place so that He would have godly seed. God is always concerned about having a generation that will serve Him; we should be the same. Whatever concerns God should concern us. 

#Jehovah #Bible #devotional #family #vcccharlotte #familyfirst #Godfirst

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 13th

📖 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it completely. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. —Genesis 1:31 AMPC 

After God finished his six days of creation, He looked at everything that He had made, and He approved it completely. One version says that He looked at “everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good (KJV)”. There was no sickness or disease in the earth when God originally created it. There was no sin, and there was no curse. Everything He made was good and He approved of it.  
 
God has not changed. The Bible even tells us that God “takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant (Psalm 35:27).” God delights in our prosperity. He wishes above all things that we prosper and be in good health, even as our soul prospers (III John 2). Jesus even said that He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). If there are things in your life that aren’t “good,” God has given you the ability to change it. He has given you authority, His Word, and faith to overcome. Don’t continue to settle for anything but God’s best for your life. God’s will is for you to flourish and to thrive. It always has been, and it always will be. 

#prosperity #creation #dailydevotional #Bible #vcccharlotte 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 12th

📖 The merciful, kind, and generous man benefits himself [for his deeds return to bless him], but he who is cruel and callous [to the wants of others] brings on himself retribution. 
—Proverbs 11:17 AMPC 

The Bible tells us that “as you would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31). It is to our benefit to be merciful, kind, and generous to as many people as we can. We must not be cruel and callous to the wants of others, unless we want people to be callous and cruel to our needs. We must understand the importance of the law of sowing and reaping. We reap what we sow. If we sow love, we reap love. If we sow kind words, we reap kind words. If we sow finances, we reap finances. It is to our benefit to live a life of generosity. When we do, our deeds return to bless us, giving us an opportunity to be a greater blessing to humanity. 

#generosity #reap #devotional #sow #vcccharlotte #blessing

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 11th

📖 For a dream comes with much business and painful effort, and a fool’s voice with many words. —Ecclesiastes 5:3 AMPC 

Dreams don’t just happen. Dreams take hard work. Dreams take dedication. Dreams take persistence. Your dreams will not manifest because you want them to. A dream comes with much business and painful effort. It takes going to bed late and getting up early. It takes working long hours. Dreams require sacrifice. Dreams take time and many times they take longer than expected. With God all things are possible. It may seem like nothing is working but keep going. It may seem like nothing is happening but keep pushing. Stay consistent. Stay diligent. Don’t be moved by what you see in this natural realm. If you keep working, eventually something good is going to happen. It is all worth it in the end. Work towards the dream until it becomes reality. Continue to exert painful effort. Continue to move forward. You will get there eventually if you don't quit. Always remember, the path to the prize is greater than the prize itself. 

#dreams #workhard #vcccharlotte #devotional #success

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 10th

📖 As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. —Romans 4:17 CSB 

God can do many things. He gives life to the dead, and He speaks into existence the things that do not exist. We are made in His likeness and in His image, and God expects us to operate the way He operates. We are to be imitators of God as dear children. We are to call into existence the things we desire to have in our lives. We are to speak prosperity, healing, peace, etc. into existence. Those things belong to us because Jesus paid the price for us to have them. Our words cause spiritual blessings to materialize and become a reality in our lives. Our words go into the future before we do. If there is something in your life that needs to change, your words will change them. Your words can create, or your words can destroy. The choice is yours. 

#wordshavepower #verseoftheday #motivation #Godisgood

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 9th

📖 Now when the time was approaching for Him to be taken up [to heaven], He was determined to go to Jerusalem [to fulfill His purpose]. —Luke 9:51 AMP

Just like Jesus, there comes times in our lives where we must be determined to fulfill whatever God has set before us. Jesus would not let anything distract him from fulfilling his purpose down here on earth. There are so many distractions in our day that would take our focus away from our mission. We must be like Jesus in our attitude and mindset when it comes to the high calling God has for us. We must fight to stay locked into that which God has placed before us. Let us continue to pursue the divine destiny God has for us. 

#Divinedestiny #devotional #Inpursuit #vcccharlotte 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 8th

📖 Jesus knew what the Pharisees were planning. So he left that place, and many people followed him. He healed all who were sick, —Matthew 12:15 ERV

Jesus was aware that the Pharisees were meeting to figure out how to destroy Him. He didn’t complain. He didn’t cry. He didn’t ask “Why me God”? He simply left that place and continued to do what He was sent to do. He didn’t allow the plot and schemes of the enemy to deter Him from His mission. He continued on his journey to heal all who were sick. Jesus was a man of focus. He was a man of discipline. It didn’t matter what went on in His life, He never deviated from His purpose. We must do the same. We must not deviate from our purpose. No matter what happens in our lives, we must stay focused! 

#Ourmission #devotional #Donotdeviate #vcccharlotte #Ourpurpose

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 6th

📖 By mercy and love, truth and fidelity [to God and man—not by sacrificial offerings], iniquity is purged out of the heart, and by the reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord men depart from and avoid evil. —Proverbs 16:6 AMPC 

God wants any iniquity and sin to be removed from our lives. That’s the reason He sent Jesus into the world. However, in order to keep iniquity out of our heart, we must walk in mercy, love, truth and fidelity towards God. To put that in simpler terms: we must grow in our relationship with God and in our knowledge of the things of God. Growing in the knowledge of God comes about through spending time in the Word. Keeping His Word in our hearts causes a reverent fear of the Lord, which keeps us from living a lifestyle of sin. God is merciful, and God is love. We must not abuse the mercy God extends to us, and we must not take His love for granted. We must always grow closer and closer to Him. 

#graceofGod #devotional #Jesus #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 5th

📖 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 | April 4th

📖 Now the mind of the flesh is death [both now and forever—because it pursues sin]; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace [the spiritual well-being that comes from walking with God—both now and forever]; the mind of the flesh [with its sinful pursuits] is actively hostile to God. It does not submit itself to God’s law, since it cannot, and those who are in the flesh [living a life that caters to sinful appetites and impulses] cannot please God. 
—Romans 8:6-8 AMP

What’s your thinking like? Is it in line with the Word of God? Are you spiritually-minded or is your thinking in line with the world? Notice that thinking in line with the Spirit of God comes from walking with God (verse 6). Amos 3:3 says, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” As we strengthen our walk with God through a lifestyle of prayer and reading the Word of God, we can’t help but change in our thinking. We won’t want to think like the world because we are aware that it is displeasing to our Heavenly Father. We don’t want to have a mind that is hostile towards God, so we should submit our minds and lives to Him. We choose to walk by faith and not by sight because we know that the faith life is a life that is pleasing to God. The goal should be to live a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit, not the flesh. Romans 12 admonishes us to present our bodies to God and allow our lives to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. God wants us to experience a changed life, and that change begins with our minds. It’s simple. When we are spiritually minded, we experience life and peace. When we are carnally minded we won’t.

#devotional #mindset #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 3rd

📖 But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit; —Jude 20 AMPC

God wants us to go higher and higher. He wants there to be progress in our lives. God not only desires for us to make progress, but He has provided the means by which we can go to another level in life. When we pray in the Holy Spirit, and when we pray using our prayer language, we are making progress in the Spirit. We are praying out mysteries (I Corinthians 14:2) and we know that all things are working together for our good because the Spirit of God is praying through us the perfect will of God (Romans 8:26-28). Praying with our intellect can be beneficial, but it is limited. When we pray in our heavenly language, the Spirit of God comes to our aid and assists us in our prayers, especially when we don’t know what to pray with our intellect. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit of God into the earth to be our Helper. When we allow Him to help, we can expect our lives to improve and get better. We can expect to make progress and rise like an edifice. We should be going higher and higher.

#HolySpirit #devotional #pray #prayerlanguage #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 2nd

📖 And the head (capital) of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son [King Pekah]. If you will not believe [and trust in God and His message], be assured that you will not be established.” —Isaiah 7:9 AMPC

Isaiah was saying to King Ahaz that if he did not believe God’s Word, then he would not experience the victory that God had for him. When God says something, we must believe that it will happen exactly as he has said. Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall my word be that goes forth from My mouth, it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” We can bank on the Word of God! God’s Word is full of power, and we must believe it will accomplish God’s purpose in our lives. So, let’s make sure we are believing and acting upon the Word of God so our lives can become established.  

#believe #devotional #HisWord #message #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | April 1st

📖 A fool’s mouth is his devastation, and his lips are a trap for his life. —Proverbs 18:7 HCSB 

Many of us have not received a revelation of the power of our words. The writer of Proverbs is telling us that a fool’s mouth is his destruction. The fool doesn’t understand the power of his words. He just says what he feels and thinks, regardless of whether it is good or bad, positive or negative. When we are careless with our words, we are allowing ourselves to be trapped by the wicked one. He can use our words to hold us in bondage to bad habits. He can use our words to keep us sick, broke, and oppressed. We must be disciplined with our words, saying what God says. We must speak the desired, end result. Don’t ‘shoot yourself in the foot’, as they say. Don’t allow yourself to be your worst enemy. Use your words wisely. A fool’s mouth is his destruction, don’t let it be yours. 

#powerofwords #devotional #wednesdaywisdom #message #verseoftheday

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 30th

📖 For whoever is ashamed [here and now] of Me and My words in this adulterous (unfaithful) and [preeminently] sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory (splendor and majesty) of His Father with the holy angels. —Mark 8:38 AMP

Have you ever spoken to someone in public and they acted like they did not know who you were? They acted like they were ashamed to speak to you or acknowledge you. How did that make you feel? I am sure that did not make you feel good. Imagine how our Father feels when we are ashamed to acknowledge Him in public. We don’t openly thank Him when something good happens. We may not want to pray over our food in the workplace. No one knows that you are a Christian except your family and maybe the people who attend church with you. God does not want us to be ashamed of Him. We are the light of the world. We are the salt of the earth. We are a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. God wants our light to shine. We are to be His representatives. We are to be His ambassadors. He paid a great price for us, so we should show our gratitude. We should show our appreciation. If Jesus wasn’t afraid to die for us openly, then we should live for Him openly. After all, our life is not our own, we belong to Him. 

#unashamed #116 #verseoftheday #message #vcccharlotte #christian

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 29th

📖 I’m the least important of the apostles. I don’t deserve to be called an apostle, because I harassed God’s church.  I am what I am by God’s grace, and God’s grace hasn’t been for nothing. In fact, I have worked harder than all the others—that is, it wasn’t me but the grace of God that is with me. —I Corinthians 15:9-10 CEB

We are who we are by God’s grace. We are nothing apart from it. Paul had a revelation and a personal acquaintance with the grace of God. He acknowledged that he had severely persecuted the church. He felt that this made him the least of the apostles. He felt that he was not worthy of being called an apostle because of his past mistakes. We can all have a moment like this. If we don’t stay on top of ourselves, we can allow the past to lower our self-worth, but thank God for His grace! His grace makes us worthy. His grace is what allows us to move forward and to move on, free from condemnation. We must be like Paul; we cannot allow His grace to be in vain. We must press toward the mark. We must walk in the divine calling. We must strive to attain all that He has preordained for us to walk in. His grace cannot be for nothing. 

#God’sgrace #devotional #vcccharlotte #worthy #verseoftheday

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 28th

📖 Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few. 
—Ecclesiastes 5:2 AMPC 

Words are connectors. Your words will either connect you to God or connect you with the devil. We should not be rash with our mouths. We must think before we speak. Heaven is listening to our words, but so is hell. Heaven moves on faith filled words. Hell will move on fear filled words. God told the Israelites that He was going to give them what was spoken in His ears (Numbers 14:28). Jesus said that we can have what we say if we don’t doubt it in our hearts (Mark11:23). As believers we need to start acting like we believe it. When we do, we will be more disciplined with our words. 

#words #devotional #vcccharlotte #discipline #verseoftheday

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 27th

📖 And when they knew (perceived, recognized, understood, and acknowledged) the grace (God’s unmerited favor and spiritual blessing) that had been bestowed upon me, James and Cephas (Peter) and John, who were reputed to be pillars of the Jerusalem church, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, with the understanding that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised (Jews)."
—Galatians 2:9 AMPC

God knows how to confirm the gifts and callings that are on our lives. Here it was confirmed and recognized that Paul had been called to the Gentiles and that Peter and John were sent to the Jewish people. The Bible tells us that “in the multitude of counsellors there is safety”. Paul knew that he was called to the Gentiles, but it was later confirmed by these “pillars” of the church. There are times when we know what we are called to do and where we are called to do it. There are also times where God will confirm these details through a man or woman of God. John the Baptist knew who he was, and he knew his purpose. When they asked him if he was the Messiah, he would reply, “No”. He would then follow up by letting them know that he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”. God will confirm the calling, and He will put His stamp on what He has called us to do.  

#gifts #devotional #vcccharlotte #trustGod #discernment #verseoftheday

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 26th

📖 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
—Numbers 13:30 KJV

We are world overcomers, and we are well able to overcome anything that comes our way. Caleb was reminding the children of Israel that they have a covenant God on their side which meant they already had the victory. We can sometimes be so concerned with how things may look in the natural world that we forget our spiritual heritage. There is nothing this world can throw at us that our God cannot handle. We belong to the God of victory so we should expect to win in every area of our lives.

#overcomers #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte #caleb #winner #bible

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