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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 5th

📖 Joshua asked the Israelites, How long will you be slack to go in and possess the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? —Joshua 18:3 AMPC

We have all been slack in certain areas of our lives. One thing we can continue to get stronger in is possessing all that God has for us. We don’t want to be like the Israelites. We don’t want to be slack concerning the promises of God. We don’t want to leave anything on the table. We should want everything that God has for us. It will take effort on our part. It will take diligence. God had given them (the Israelites) the Promised Land, but there were giants that had to be defeated. They had to ‘take’ the Promised Land even though it had been promised to them. We also must take the land (promises). We must slay every giant. We cannot be satisfied until we experience all that God has for us. That is truly the abundant life. 

#vcccharlotte #Joshua #verseoftheday #godlovesyou #prosperity #promisedland #righteous

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 4th

📖 In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off]. —Galatians 5:1 AMPC

Christ has made us free. He has set us free from sin, sickness, poverty, and every ill that is under the curse of the law. We all have been set free from something. Some people have been set free from alcoholism. Some from drug use. Others have been set free from other addictions, but the bottom line is that they are free now. When God sets us free, we must stand fast in our freedom. We must fight to stay free. We must avoid behaviors that will set us back and cause us to get entangled back into bondage. We must guard our eyes, our ears, and our hearts. We stay vigilant because the adversary will return, and He will try to put us back not only into bondage, but in a place where we are worse than we were before. We must not yield to the enemy. We must resist Him. We must stand fast in our liberty. Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed. 

#vcccharlotte #freedom #verseoftheday #resistthedevil #stayfree

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 3rd

📖 The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your loving-kindness, Lord, continues forever. —Psalms 138:8 The Living Bible

God knows where we are supposed to be, and when we are supposed to be there. He knows which doors to open and which doors to close. He can coordinate encounters with people that can help us as we navigate our path. As we walk with God, we can trust that He will remove barriers and obstacles. He will go before us and make the crooked places straight. The Lord will work out his plans for our lives. When we believe that, it will remove stress. It will take pressure off us. Depending on Him will cause us to enter a state of rest. Faith rests. Faith trusts. Are you in faith today? 

#walkwithGod #devotional #vcccharlotte #God’splan #restinHim

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 2nd

📖 David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will surely deliver [them] into your hand. —II Samuel 5:10 AMPC

How many mistakes could we have avoided if we inquired of the Lord more? How many hardships could we have avoided if we simply sought the Lord about what to do next? God knows the future. God knows every detail of every situation we face, and yet we still try to figure things out on our own. At times, we still lean to our own understanding concerning life-changing matters. God wants to lead us and guide us by His Spirit. He wants to tell us what to do, so that we can avoid any pitfalls and struggles. God wants to instruct us. He wants us to experience His goodness and His faithfulness in every area of our lives, but He will not force it on us. Let’s cut down on the mistakes. Let’s remove the self-inflicted hardships. Let’s seek the Lord. Good things always happen when we do. 

#trustGod #devotional #bible #verseoftheday #hardships #peace

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 1st

📖 But now bring me a minstrel. And while the minstrel played, the hand and power of the Lord came upon [Elisha]. And he said, Thus says the Lord: Make this [dry] brook bed full of trenches. For thus says the Lord: You shall not see wind or rain, yet that ravine shall be filled with water, so you, your cattle, and your beasts [of burden] may drink. This is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will deliver the Moabites also into your hands. 
—II Kings 3:15-18 AMPC

It doesn’t matter what you are facing in your life right now, it is a light thing for God. Your getting out of debt is a light thing for God. Getting your children out of the world is a light thing for God. Whatever is in your life that is negative, it is a light thing for God to turn it around. Many times, we look at God through the wrong lenses. We think that if it is difficult for us, it will be difficult for God. Life is so much easier when we give our challenges to God. Life is easier when we give Him our burdens and our cares. God is smarter than all of us put together. He knows how to handle the challenges and difficulties we may face throughout our lives. Let’s have the right perspective. Let’s have GOD’S perspective! Regardless of what you are facing, it is a light thing for God.  

#trustGod #lifeisgood #devotional #vcccharlotte #inspiration #giveGodyourburdens

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 29th

📖 And a furious storm of wind [of hurricane proportions] arose, and the waves kept beating into the boat, so that it was already becoming filled. 

But He [Himself] was in the stern [of the boat], asleep on the [leather] cushion; and they awoke Him and said to Him, Master, do You not care that we are perishing? 

And He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush now! Be still (muzzled)! And the wind ceased (sank to rest as if exhausted by its beating) and there was [immediately] a great calm (a perfect peacefulness). 

He said to them, Why are you so timid and fearful? How is it that you have no faith (no firmly relying trust)? 

And they were filled with great awe and feared exceedingly and said one to another, Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey Him? 
—Mark 4:37-41 AMPC

How do you respond when a storm hits your life? The Bible tells us that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). When the disciples encountered the storm, they spoke fear. They believed they were going to die. When Jesus was aware of the storm, He spoke faith. He spoke to the storm, and it obeyed Him. Everything became calm. The disciples could have done the same thing. If they couldn’t, Jesus would not have asked them where their faith was? The storm is a revealer. It reveals what you truly believe and what is really in your heart. Let’s continue to study the Word because that is what will give us victory over the storm. The Word is our answer to every problem of life. 

#WordofGod #calminthestorm #vcccharlotte #devotional #peacebestill #trustGod

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 28th

📖 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth. 
—Psalm 104:30 Darby Translation

In Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God is moving upon waters, yet nothing is happening. He begins to move as God is speaking. As God says, “Let there be...”, the Spirit of God begins moving. ‘The Spirit of God is the muscle of God’, as one minister put it. The Spirit of God brought about the changes that God the Father was speaking of. The Spirit of God wants to change things in our lives as well. He wants to renew and restore. He wants to turn things around. We must give Him free course. We must speak the desired result. We must call those things that be not as though they were. We must speak God’s Word. When we speak God’s Word, we will have God’s results. Things that are dead will be made alive. There will be an end to chaos. There will be a change. The Spirit of God will put your world in order.  

#spiritofGod #creation #vccharlotte #devotional #motivation #JesusChrist 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 27th

📖 Long ago when the Israelis escaped from Egypt, from that land of foreign tongue, then the lands of Judah and of Israel became God’s new home and kingdom.

The Red Sea saw them coming and quickly broke apart before them. The Jordan River opened up a path for them to cross. The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs! What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you cut yourself in two? What happened, Jordan River, to your waters? Why were they held back? Why, mountains, did you skip like rams? Why, little hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Jacob. For he caused gushing streams to burst from flinty rock. —Psalm 114 The Living Bible

No obstacle can stand in the way of an individual who walks with God. The Red Sea, the mountains, and the Jordan River all fled from the Lord. We know that this Psalm is more figurative than literal, (except the Red Sea and the Jordan River), but the point remains the same. God will remove kings for our sakes. He will bring down the mighty, if needed. He will go before us and make the crooked places straight. There is nothing that can hinder us or stop us with almighty God beside us. A man of God once said that if “Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra were walking down the street with us, we would have no fear because of who was walking with us”. Well, we have one mightier than a few Hollywood monsters walking with us. We have the Creator of the universe with us. Fear needs to be a thing of the past. If God be for us, who can be against us? 

#havenofear #LetGod #devotional #vcccharlotte #walkwithGod

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 26th

📖 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. —Psalm 78:40-42 KJV

Have you been limiting the Holy One of Israel in your life? Many times, God desires to do so much more than what we are currently experiencing because of unbelief. Jesus could only heal a few sick folks in His hometown because of their unbelief. Unbelief hindered them from receiving, and it will do the same thing in our lives if we allow it. God desires to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. Let’s not hinder God in any area of our lives. Let’s allow Him to do more in our finances, our health, our relationships, and any other area of our lives. God wants to show Himself strong in our lives, let’s allow Him to do so. 

#abundance #LetGod #devotional #vcccharlotte #dontlimitGod

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 25th

📖 I have gained perfect freedom by following your teachings, and I trust them so much that I tell them to kings. —Psalms 119:45 CEV

The Word of God was given to us to set us free from every wile and scheme of the wicked one. It was given to us so that we can know who we are and what belongs to us in Christ. The Word of God will set us free, and it will cause victory to manifest in every area of our lives. God told Joshua that if he meditated on the Word of God both day and night, that he would become prosperous and have good success. The Word of God says something similar in Psalms 1. Our success comes from desiring and obeying the Word of God. In the book of Acts, it tells us that the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed. When the Word grows in our lives, it will do the same thing. It will prevail over everything the devil can throw our way. 

#success #dailydevotional #vcccharlotte #bible #verseoftheday #freedom

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 24th

📖 Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there is Another with us greater than [all those] with him. 

With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. 
—II Chronicles 32:7-8 AMPC

As believers we always have an advantage. The world always leans towards the ‘arm of flesh’. They make decisions based on what they can see and understand. We are not limited by what we see. We are not limited to our own reasonings and deductions. We can tap into the Wisdom of God! We can hear the Voice of God. God can and will lead and guide us in the way that we should go. God will fight for us AND help us. We don’t have to figure things out on our own. We don’t have to fight our own battles. We don’t have to be afraid of a man. He who is with us is greater than he who is against us. At the end of the day, we must rely on His Word if we are going to see Him fight our battles.  

#leannotonyourownunderstanding #trustGod #vcccharlotte #devotional #verseoftheday

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 22nd

📖 And behold, some men were bringing on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed, and they tried to carry him in and lay him before [Jesus]. 

But finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with his stretcher through the tiles into the midst, in front of Jesus. 
—Luke 5:18-19 AMPC

The paralyzed man had some good friends. They refused to allow him to stay in that condition. They carried him to the house where Jesus was preaching, but they could not get in because of the crowd. They could have just given up. They could have walked away with a moral victory, but that wasn’t enough. They persisted. They got creative. They took their friend up on the roof and lowered him down where Jesus was. This took great faith. They had to remove a roof tile to let their friend down. Then there was no guarantee that Jesus would heal the man. They acted anyway and Jesus honored their faith. The paralyzed man was healed that day and walked home with his four friends. We all need friends like that. Friends that won’t let you stay the same. Friends that will make you better.

#friendshipgoals #bible #jesuschrist #healer #devotional #vccharlotte #message

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 21st

📖 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. 
—I Chronicles 16:34 KJV

Do you live a life of gratitude. Are you grateful for the little things in life? Are you grateful to be alive? Are you grateful that your name is written in Heaven? As believers, we understand that everything in our lives that is good came from God. Every good gift and every perfect gift come from Him. We ought not be like the Israelites when they were in the desert. They complained every time they faced an obstacle or experienced a hard time. They would constantly complain and tell Moses that they should have stayed slaves in Egypt. These were the same people that experienced freedom at the Hand of God. They saw His mighty works in Egypt, and yet they still questioned whether He would take care of them. They were ungrateful people. We must make sure that we do not behave like them. We must give thanks unto the Lord, because He is so good. 

#goodGod #gratitude #thankfulthursday #devotional #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 20th

📖 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. So they had brick for stone, and slime (bitumen) for mortar. 

And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole earth. 
—Genesis 11:3-4 AMPC

When it comes to conquering large tasks, we must be willing to reduce the big goal into smaller goals. You cannot build a city until you first bake a brick. Many times, we look at the goal or the task in its entirety, and we don’t focus on the smaller tasks that will ultimately cause the big goal to be accomplished. One man once said, instead of focusing on building a wall, start by focusing on laying one brick at time, because eventually, you will have a wall. It's the same way with life. Instead of focusing on building a great life, why not focus on having a great day? Take it one task at a time. One day at a time. As time goes on you can look back and look at the progress that has been made. Before you know it, you’ve lost weight. You’ve read the book. You’ve saved the money. Whatever the task may be, it can be accomplished, the key is consistency. You cannot build a city until you first bake a brick. 

#devotional #vcccharlotte #focus #goalsetting #accomplishments #consistency

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 19th

📖 Joshua, the man of God, died at the age of 110 and was buried at the edge of his property in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. The people had remained true to the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime, and as long afterward as the old men of his generation were still living—those who had seen the mighty miracles the Lord had done for Israel. 

But finally all that generation died; and the next generation did not worship Jehovah as their God and did not care about the mighty miracles he had done for Israel. 
—Judges 2:9-10 The Living Bible

What a sad story about a generation that did not know God or care about His mighty miracles. We can never allow this to happen. We must take the time to talk to our children about the things of God. It may not be your immediate family. It could be a niece or nephew. It may be a grandchild, but we all must do our part to sow our God into our children. We must take our children to church. We must take them to Bible class and create an environment where God is heard of everyday. We must be willing to lay hands on them when they aren’t feeling well. We must do our part and show them that there is a God in Heaven, and He is worthy of our service and our lives. We cannot allow what took place then to happen again. We must show passion to reach the next generation. 

#neverbeashamed #devotional #vcccharlotte #doyourpart

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 18th

📖 And if your hand puts a stumbling block before you and causes you to sin, cut it off! It is more profitable and wholesome for you to go into life [that is really worthwhile] maimed than with two hands to go to hell (Gehenna), into the fire that cannot be put out. 

And if your foot is a cause of stumbling and sin to you, cut it off! It is more profitable and wholesome for you to enter into life [that is really worthwhile] crippled than, having two feet, to be cast into hell (Gehenna). 

And if your eye causes you to stumble and sin, pluck it out! It is more profitable and wholesome for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell (Gehenna), 
—Mark 9:43, 45, 47 AMPC

We should not allow anything in our lives that will cause us to miss heaven. No individual is worth missing heaven over. No sin is worth missing heaven for. No vice, no shortcoming—nothing should cause us to be eternally separated from our Father in heaven. Jesus went as far as to say that it was better to go to heaven maimed than to go to hell whole. Heaven is better than anything we could ever imagine. On the other side of that, hell is worse than anything we could ever imagine. Let us always examine ourselves. Let’s remove every hindrance and every obstacle. There is nothing in this world worth missing heaven over. Nothing!  

#heaven #stumblingblock #Godisgood #verseofthday #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 17th

📖 Your words have been strong and hard against Me, says the Lord. Yet you say, What have we spoken against You? 

You have said, It is useless to serve God, and what profit is it if we keep His ordinances and walk gloomily and as if in mourning apparel before the Lord of hosts? 

Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name. 
—Malachi 3:14-15, 17 AMPC 

What have you been saying? Would the Lord be pleased with what He has been hearing from your house? In the passage, He not only heard the words that were spoken against Him, but He also kept a record of those who said and believed the right thing. God once told His people through Moses that He was going to do to them what they had spoken in His ears. They constantly said they were going to die in the wilderness, which is what eventually took place. We must watch our words. We must always keep in mind that Heaven is listening and will act on God’s Word. If we speak His words, then He (God) will act. If we don’t, He won’t. Our words can bring life, or our words can bring death. Which one would you desire for your life? 

#watchyourmouth #devotional #moses #verseoftheday

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 15th

📖 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 | June 14th

📖 Then the two tribes of Joseph came to Joshua and asked, “Why have you given us only one portion of land when the Lord has given us such large populations?” 

“If the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for you,” Joshua replied, “and if you are able to do it, you may clear out the forest land where the Perizzites and Rephaim live.” 

“Fine,” said the tribes of Joseph, “for the Canaanites in the lowlands around Beth-shean and the valley of Jezreel have iron chariots and are too strong for us.” 

“Then you shall have the mountain forests,” Joshua replied, “and since you are such a large, strong tribe you will surely be able to clear it all and live there. And I’m sure you can drive out the Canaanites from the valleys, too, even though they are strong and have iron chariots.” 
—Joshua 17:14-18 The Living Bible

The two tribes mentioned believed that they deserved more because of their large numbers. They were attempting to use their numbers as leverage to get more land. Joshua used their numbers to challenge them. He believed that they should take advantage of their numbers and use them to get more land if they really believed they needed more than what was given them. They were to use their numbers not only to take more ground, but also to drive out the inhabitants of the land. If we believe that there is more here for us, we must go get it. It is not just going to just fall in our lap. No one owes us anything. We owe it to ourselves to go out and take all that belongs to us. If what we have isn’t enough, we must be willing to take more ground. We must take responsibility for where we currently are, not make excuses. God has given us all the tools for victory, we must simply use them. 

#takewhatsours #responsibility #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte #strengthinnumbers

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 13th

📖 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people restored? [Because Zion no longer enjoyed the presence of the Great Physician!] —Jeremiah 8:11 AMPC

God is our Great Physician. He tells us in Exodus 15:26, I am the Lord that healeth thee.” He was Israel’s Healer then, and He is our Healer today. Jesus shed His Blood so that we can be free from sickness and disease (Isaiah 53:5, I Peter 2:24). When Jesus was on the earth, He went about teaching, preaching, and healing. Everywhere Jesus went, He went about healing the sick. He never turned anyone away who requested healing. He was simply doing what He saw His Father doing. Sickness came when sin entered the earth. God has broken the power of sin from over our lives and because of that, He has set us free from sickness (I Peter 2:24). God wants us well. Our health can be restored when we enjoy and receive from the presence of the Great Physician! 

#HeisourHealer #dailydevotional #GreatPhysician #vcccharlotte

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