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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 7th

📖 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?" He said, “A rod.” And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” —Exodus 4:2-5 NKJV

When pursuing the will of God, we must understand the importance of trusting in Him. He may ask you to do something that isn’t what you normally do. He may ask you to do something that will cause you to have to overcome fear and anxiety. Moses was obviously afraid of the snake, but God told him to pick it up by its tail. Moses had a decision to make. He was either going to let fear control him, or he was going to obey God. Moses chose to obey God, and the snake turned into a stick. We must be willing to obey and trust God no matter what. God wants us to become totally dependent upon Him. As we obey His orders and commands, we will develop an unshakeable confidence in Him. One that will help us to fulfill the will of God for our lives. 

#trustinGod #pursue #devotional #vcccharlotte #confidence

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 6th

📖 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. —Hebrews 6:11-12 NKJV

God desires for us to experience the manifestation of His promises in our lives. Which manifest through faith and patience. Faith gives substance to the things we are hoping for. Patience keeps the door open while faith does its work. One minister referred to them (faith and patience) as the power twins. Faith must be developed over time. This is where patience kicks in. The Bible tells us that “as long as the earth remains, there will be seed, time, and harvest” (Genesis 8:22). You don’t plant a seed today and reap the harvest tomorrow. It's the same with the promises of God. You sow the seed of the Word of God, protect it, and eventually you will see the reality (or harvest) of the promise. We can experience the fulfillment of the promise of God, we simply cannot be sluggish. Attaining the promises requires diligence and imitation. We are to imitate those who through faith and patience, inherited the promises. 

#vcccharlotte #manifestation #devotional #Hispromises #imitation

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 5th

📖 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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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 4th

📖 And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
—Ephesians 6:10-12 The Message

It takes strength to make it in this world. The devil will challenge you in every area of your life. The Bible even tells us that if we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is small (Proverbs 24:10). God told Joshua to be strong and of good courage (Joshua 1:6). Strength is vital to the Christian walk. It took strength for Jesus to take on the sins of the world. It took strength to hang on the cross for three hours. It took strength to take a beating the way he did. He was punched in the face, whipped, and mocked. He never gave in to the temptation to call on the angels to rescue Him. He fulfilled His mission. It took strength to complete His mission, and it will take strength to complete yours. No matter what the devil throws your way, God’s grace and His strength is enough to put you over every time. 

#Godsgraceissufficient #devotional #keeppushing #strength

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 3rd

📖 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 | June 1st

📖 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 | May 31st

📖 So they said to him, “Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?” So John said, “I am, as Isaiah prophesied: a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord.” 
—John 1:22-23 Jerusalem Bible 

Initially the people thought that John the Baptist was the chosen one, the Messiah. He plainly told them that he was not the one. He knew who he was and without having to think about it, he quoted the prophecy from Isaiah. He did not let anyone put a label on him that did not belong to him. When people ask us, “What do you have to say about yourself,” we should automatically know who we are. We should know that we are more than conquerors. We should know that the gates of hell cannot prevail against us. We should know that we are overcomers, and the Greater One lives on the inside of us. John the Baptist knew what the Word said about Him, and it should be no different with us. We must know what the Word says about us if we are going to continue to walk in victory.  

#iamvictory #whoami #Jesus #devotional #verseofthemonth

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 30th

📖 “I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast.” —Revelation 1:9 NLT

From the above text, we see that the Apostle John was exiled to Patmos for preaching the Word of God and for his testimony about Jesus. 

The Bible says in II Timothy 3:12, “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 

Have you ever found yourself on an island for doing & standing up for what was right? You stood up for Godly principles and were rejected & ostracized. Don’t be dismayed. I’d like to encourage you to take a look at how John handled his island predicament. The scriptures say he was worshiping in the Spirit. He took his focus off what seemed to be an unfavorable situation and took heed to the 34th Psalm where David wrote, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” John turned his island of worry and weariness into an island of worship. When we do like John, God will turn our island of rejection into an island of reward & strength. So, always remember that it’s okay to be on an island, because it is part of our Christian journey & process. 

#dailydevotional #island #worship #vcccharlotte #favor

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 29th

📖 I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be. —Philippians 3:12 The Living Bible 

One thing that Paul was working towards was that he would eventually become what God had preordained for him to be. He talked about forgetting things from the past and moving towards the things that were before him. Paul had made some pretty big mistakes in his past. He had persecuted the church and had people put in prison for their beliefs. None of that mattered once he became born again. His goal was now to be all that God had called him to be. He worked tirelessly toward that goal, and nothing prevented him from accomplishing it. In fact, several of the epistles that he wrote were written from a prison cell. He experienced shipwrecks, beatings, snake bites, and other things, yet he did not quit. We must do the same thing. Regardless of what the enemy throws our way, we must not stop until we have become all that God wants us to be. 

#dontquit #paul #motivation #destiny #verseoftheday #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 28th

📖 Day by day the Lord observes the good deeds done by godly men, and gives them eternal rewards. He cares for them when times are hard; even in famine, they will have enough. —Psalm 37:18-19 The Living Bible

The eyes of the Lord run back and forth throughout the earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards Him (I Chronicles 16:9). He takes care of His people. He takes care of us when times are good and when times appear to be bad. God is always consistent. God told David that He was with him the whole time he was running from Saul. When it looked like David was not going to survive the ordeal, God made a way of escape for him.   

We are faith people, and we are to walk by faith and not by sight. We must stand on God’s Word knowing that God is coming through, even when it appears like He isn’t. The things that are seen are temporary; they are subject to change. Our God is the same, and He does not change. There is ‘no shadow of turning’ with Him. He comes through every time, even in times of famine or lack.  

#Provider #GodIsGood #devotional #vcccharlotte #GoodFather 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 27th

📖 Commit your works to the Lord [submit and trust them to Him], And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance]. —Proverbs 16:3 AMP 

Some of the most common questions asked by Christians have been, “What am I supposed to do”? or “Why am I here”? When we submit our lives to God and place our lives in His Hands, we can trust that He will lead and guide us in the way that we should go. God will direct our steps, and He will speak to us. God will tell us everything we need to know in reference to our future. Once we understand the will of God for our lives, we must submit to it. We must submit to His guidance. It is pointless to seek the face of God concerning our future if we are not going to do what He instructs us to do. God’s plan for our lives is beautiful. If we trust and submit our lives to Him, we will experience the good life that He has preordained for us to live. 

#purposedriven #trustGod #vcccharlotte #Godsplan #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 25th

📖 "And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased." —Luke 8:43-44 ESV 

This woman was in a desperate situation. She had a medical condition that no one could treat. She went from doctor to doctor, and they could not stop her flow of blood. She dealt with that condition for twelve years. When she heard of Jesus, she went and found where He was and touched the hem of His garments. She believed that if she could just get to Jesus, her situation would change. She got a revelation that Jesus could do what the doctors had been unable to do. Her faith in Jesus got her just what she desired. She was completely healed. The blood stopped immediately! When we go to God in faith and on the basis on His Word, we can expect a change in our circumstances. We can expect God to turn it around. We can expect to hear, “Your faith has made you whole”. Our God is faithful.   

#faithwalk #trustGod #healing #vcccharlotte #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 24th

📖 Have nothing to do with godless and silly myths. Train yourself in godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. —I Timothy 4:7-8 RSV

Training is a good thing. We train our bodies so that we can be healthy and look good. Physical exercise is profitable, and it has some value, but it isn’t as profitable as spiritual training. You won’t be able to take your physical body with you into eternity, but you will take your spirit man. Training yourself in godliness is profitable both for this life and the next. Your spirit man will live forever. As matter of fact, the outward man is perishing, but the spirit man is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). Our desire should be to continue to grow spiritually. Our faith should be growing. Our love walk should be growing. Our ability to hear the voice of God should be improving. The fruit of the Spirit should become more visible as we continue to walk with and fellowship with God. Physical training is important, but spiritual training is vital. 

#spiritual #exercise #growth #devotional #verseoftheday 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 23rd

📖 So ever since we first heard about you we have kept on praying and asking God to help you understand what he wants you to do; asking him to make you wise about spiritual things; and asking that the way you live will always please the Lord and honor him, so that you will always be doing good, kind things for others, while all the time you are learning to know God better and better. —Colossians 1:9-10 The Living Bible

The key to our success is understanding what the Lord wants us to do. As we seek the Lord, He gives us insight and instructs us in the way that we should go. The Bible tells us that we are to be led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14). Spending time in the Word and in prayer will cause us to become more sensitive to His leadership. As we are led by Him, that will enable us to know Him better and better. It will strengthen our walk with Him and our overall trust in Him. As we obey the leadership of the Holy Spirit, it will cause us to live a life that pleases and honors God. It will cause our lives to get better and better, and we will go from glory to glory. 

#glorytoglory #devotional #understanding #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 22nd

📖 A righteous person eats until his appetite is satisfied, but the stomach of the wicked is always empty. —Proverbs 13:25 EHV 

Eating well is a benefit of being a child of God. Jesus told us in Matthew 6 to NOT worry about what we are going to eat or what we are going to drink. He told us to seek first the kingdom of God, and these things will be added unto us. On several occasions when Jesus was teaching, He multiplied bread and fish to meet the needs of thousands of people. On another occasion, God rained down manna and caused water to come out of a rock in order to feed His people in the wilderness. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we see that God took care of people. As we walk with God, we can be assured that He will also take care of us and will see to it that we are taken care of. It's not based primarily on what we do, it is based on how good our God is. 

#faithfulGod #Provider #devotional #GodIsGood #trustGod 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 21st

📖 Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it. Don’t take the law into your own hands. Instead, feed your enemy if he is hungry. If he is thirsty give him something to drink and you will be “heaping coals of fire on his head.” In other words, he will feel ashamed of himself for what he has done to you.  Don’t let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good. 
—Romans 12:19-21 The Living Bible 

We have all been mistreated at some point in our lives. Someone may have lied on you. Someone may have started a rumor about you. Maybe someone was gossiping about you, and they were giving out incorrect information. In times like those, you might want to lash out. You might want to “get them told”. You may want to simply defend yourself against slander. The best thing for us to do is to leave that into God’s hands. The Bible instructs us to never avenge ourselves. Many times, we want to do the opposite. We not only want to avenge ourselves, but we want others to know how we have been mistreated. We cannot allow evil to get the upper hand. We must conquer evil by doing good. We must forgive, and we must walk in love. If our enemy is hungry, we can feed them. If they are thirsty, we can give them something to drink. We don’t have to mistreat others because we have been mistreated. That is not a demonstration of the love of God. We must allow the love of God to be shed abroad in our hearts. We must be like our Father in heaven. We must love the unlovable. We must be kind to the unkind. We must overcome evil with good. 

#loveofGod #devotional #forgiveness #vengenceisminesaystheLord 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 20th

📖 Now the man Moses was very meek (gentle, kind, and humble) or above all the men on the face of the earth. —Numbers 12:3 AMP

Moses, at one time was considered to be the humblest man in the entire world. Can you imagine that being said about you? Many people struggle with humility. Many are caught up in and think only of themselves. Moses could have walked in some pride. He was God’s mouthpiece. He was the vessel that God used to free His people from slavery. He was the only one that God spoke to face to face (Numbers 12:8). He would spend days at a time talking to God, and yet he remained humble. He didn’t think more of himself because of his interaction with God. Moses understood that he was nothing without God. God was his sufficiency. We must stay little in our own eyes. We must understand that everything that we have, even our status, is because of God. Humility always precedes promotion, so let's stay little in our own eyes. Humility always brings honor. 

#moses #dailydevotional #humility #vcccharlotte #motivation 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 18th

📖 For the dream comes through much effort, and the voice of a fool through many words. —Ecclesiastes 5:3 NASB 

It has been said that a dream, whether big or small, will have the same cost – your life. That simply means that your dreams will require a lot of your time and effort. It will mean getting up early and staying up late. It will mean sacrificing meals at times. It may mean sacrificing time with your friends because you are working towards your goals. It could mean some lonely times because that dream will require you to be away from others so that you can work. Dreams cost. The bigger the dream, the higher the cost. We must be willing to ‘pay in full’ before we can experience the dream. Everything we want in life must be paid for in advance. You must pay the price of admission before you are allowed to experience the show, the movie, or the performance. The same thing goes for our dreams. We must pay the price of admission before we see the manifestation of the goal.  

#dreams #devotional #perseverance #vcccharlotte #goals 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 17th

📖 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] —Philippians 3:10 AMPC

It appears that one of Paul’s main goals in life was to know God more intimately. Paul seemed to have a healthy obsession with God. He talked about how he prayed in tongues more than all of those in the church of Corinth. He talked about how he did not want to frustrate the grace of God, and that is why he worked so hard. He was willing to go through whatever he had to go through to fulfill the call of God that was on his life.  
 
Paul wanted to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. It meant more to him than anything else, and that should be our attitude. We should love God with all our heart, mind, body and soul. We should love Him with our entire being. There are times in our lives when we have to examine our walk with God. We have to search our hearts and make sure that there is nothing in our lives that is more important than God. It’s in Him that we live, and move, and have our being. So, let’s make Him a priority. 

#firstthingsfirst #devotional #prayer #paul #honorGod

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 16th

📖 It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. —II Corinthians 10:3-5 GNT 

As believers, it is important for us to see things from a spiritual perspective. When we encounter situations and circumstances that are contrary, we must remind ourselves that our weapons are not carnal, but they are spiritual. We have the Name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus, the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the whole armor of God. These weapons are sufficient to combat the devil when he comes against us. We must fight the battle in the spiritual realm and in the mental realm. We must cast down imaginations and take every thought captive that goes against the Word of God. We do not want to give the enemy any place in our lives. Many times, he is granted access through our thoughts. Let's commit to KEEPING the devil out of our lives. We win in the spirit and the mental realm, and when we win in those areas, we win in the natural realm too.

#spiritualwarfare #devotional #resistthedevil #motivation #vcccharlotte 

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