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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 6th

📖 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 5th

📖 I gave them your word; 
The godless world hated them because of it, 
Because they didn’t join the world’s ways, 
Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. 
I’m not asking that you take them out of the world 
But that you guard them from the Evil One. 
They are no more defined by the world 
Than I am defined by the world. 

—John 17:14-18 The Message Bible

As believers, we were never meant to embrace the ideals of this world. We are told in Romans 12: 2, “to renew our minds”. We are to be Kingdom minded believers because we are not of this world just as Jesus wasn’t. We don’t embrace the world’s ways just like he didn’t. Jesus operated from a different place. He operated from the Kingdom of God. He spoke and acted differently. John the Baptist said, “he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth” (John 3:31). We are not of the earth (world), we have been born again. We have been translated out of the realm of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. We must conduct ourselves like ambassadors of heaven. We think differently. We talk differently. We were born into the earth, but we are not of the earth. We are no longer defined by the world, just as our Savior wasn’t. We are being conformed to His image, the very image of Christ (Romans 8:29). 

#Kingdomminded #vcccharlotte #different #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 4th

📖 “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." -Proverbs 28:20 King James Version

A faithful man is one who realizes that it comes over time. A faithful man is a consistent man. It is a person who is consistent in serving. That person is consistent in their giving. They are consistent in their church attendance. They are marked by their consistency. God is a faithful God. He is consistent in His love for us. He is consistent in His mercy and His kindness towards us. He is our example of faithfulness, and we should follow His example. He wouldn’t ask us to do something that He would not do. Many believers want to be blessed, but their lifestyle will not allow it. If we are going to experience the Blessings of God, we must be faithful. Faithful in obeying His Word. Faithful to what He has called us to do. Faithful in every area of life, just like our Father.

#faithful #proverbs #Tuesdaywisdom #consistency #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 3rd

📖 Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, as the man of God had said, and his flesh was restored like that of a little child, and he was clean. 

Then Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and stood before him. He said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. So now accept a gift from your servant. 

Elisha said, As the Lord lives, before Whom I stand, I will accept none. He urged him to take it, but Elisha refused. 
—2 Kings 5:14-16 AMPC

Naaman almost missed out on his miracle. The man of God told him to dip seven times in the Jordan, but Naaman initially would not do it. He expected the prophet to give him a different set of instructions. Finally, one of his servants talked him into obeying the man of God, and he received a miracle. He was cleansed from leprosy, and his flesh was restored. When we obey whatever God has instructed us to do, there is always a blessing attached to it. God will never tell us to do something that would be harmful to us. The Bible tells us that if we are willing and obedient, we will eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19). God wants us to eat good, and He wants us to live good as well, but it all starts with obedience to His Word. 

#obedienceisbetterthansacrifice #trustGod #dailydevotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | March 1st

📖 “Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry.”
-Luke 3:23 The Living Bible

Jesus began His ministry at the age of thirty. He began His preparation at the age of twelve and that would mean He had eighteen years of preparation. Jesus' ministry lasted three and a half years, but it was three and a half years of maximum impact. We must be willing to prepare for whatever God has preordained for us, and we must be willing to prepare for as long as it takes. God knows how to prepare us for what He has called us to do. As a teenager, David was anointed king but did not become king until he was thirty years old. We are not born qualified; we must become qualified. We must be willing to allow God to qualify us through His training and preparation. God knows what it takes for us to succeed, and we must trust Him. He knows what He is doing.

#trustGod #verseotheday #JesusChrist #preparation #ministry #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 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 

It doesn’t matter what is going on in the world, God’s got us. He cares for us. When there is chaos in the world, we can have peace because we know that God has our backs. Even in famine, God will see to it that we have enough. When you read the Word of God, you see God doing that repeatedly for His people. God doesn’t depend on the resources of this world, but He uses the resources of the world to bless His people. His coming through for us is not dependent on the state of our economy. God knows where all the money is. He knows where all of the food is. He knows how to get it to us when we need it. David said, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”. If God did it for David, He will do it for you. He is no respecter of persons. 

#faithfulGod #provider #psalms #faith #Jesus

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 27th

📖 They spent some time in Jericho. As Jesus was leaving town, trailed by his disciples and a parade of people, a blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting alongside the road. When he heard that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by, he began to cry out, “Son of David, Jesus! Mercy, have mercy on me!” Many tried to hush him up, but he yelled all the louder, “Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!” 

Jesus stopped in his tracks. “Call him over.” They called him. “It’s your lucky day! Get up! He’s calling you to come!” Throwing off his coat, he was on his feet at once and came to Jesus. Jesus said, “What can I do for you?” The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “On your way,” said Jesus. “Your faith has saved and healed you.” In that very instant he recovered his sight and followed Jesus down the road. 

—Mark 10: 46-52 MSG 

What’s stopping you? Blind Bartimaeus would not allow anything to stop him from receiving from Jesus. He would not allow the people to shut him up. When they told him to shut up, he cried even louder. This could have been the only time He would have been in the presence of Jesus. He would not allow anything to stop him. Because of his persistence, Jesus stopped and asked for him. He had gotten Jesus’ attention. Bartimaeus received his sight that day. His faith had made him whole, but his faith also caught the attention of Jesus. Faith will always get the attention of God. Without faith it is impossible to please God. God is always pleased when we stand on His Word. He is pleased when we act on the Word. Bartimaeus believed that Jesus could heal him, and his actions showed that. If we want to receive from God, we must do the same thing. Our actions must demonstrate what we believe. 

#walkbyfaith #vcccharlotte #standontheWord #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 26th

📖 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also [utensils] of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble [use] and some for menial and ignoble [use]. 

So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work. 

—2 Timothy 2:20-21 AMPC 

What type of vessel would you like to be? A vessel of gold? What about silver? The good news is that it is not up to God to determine what type of vessels we will become. That responsibility is on us. We must cleanse ourselves from contaminating and corrupting influences. We must examine our lives and see what we need to remove to live a life that is pleasing unto God.  As we walk with God and fellowship with Him, He will show us the things that we need to get rid of. Sometimes being in His presence will burn up the things that need to be removed from our lives. God’s Word is another tool God uses to shape and mold us. His Word reveals what is displeasing to Him and shows us how we are supposed to live. God’s Word is like fire (Jeremiah 5:14). It will burn things out of us and purge us. If we hearken to His Word and spend time in His presence, we can become consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work. 

#Godlyinfluences #vcccharlotte #cleanse #devotional #fellowshipwithGod

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 25th

📖 “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

It doesn’t matter what is going on in the world, God’s got us. He cares for us when times are hard. When there is chaos in the world, we can have peace because God cares for us. Even in famine, God will see to it that we have enough. When you read the Word of God, you see God doing that repeatedly for His people. God doesn’t depend on the resources of this world, but He uses the resources of the world to bless His people. His coming through for us is not dependent on the state of our economy. God knows where all the money is. He knows where all of the food is. He knows how to get it to us when we need it. David said, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”. If God did it for David, He will do it for you. He is no respecter of persons.

#faithfulGod #provider #psalms #faith #Jesus #saturyay

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 24th

📖 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 | February 22nd

📖 So keep the words of this covenant and obey them, so that you may prosper and be successful in everything that you do. —Deuteronomy 29:9 AMP

The world has its ideas about what it takes to be successful. They have their ideologies, and they have their formulas. Some of their ideas have caused success, but it has not guaranteed success. When we operate by the Word of God, we can know that success is imminent. We can know that God is watching over His Word to perform it. We can know that God is not a man that He should lie. We follow the commandments of the Word of God out of our love and respect for God; and as we follow them, we know that God will honor our obedience. The Bible tells us that it is the doer of the Word that is blessed and not the hearer only (James 1:22). As we are doers of the Word, we can expect the Blessing of the Lord to come upon us and overtake us. It may take patience. It may take diligence, but eventually, we will walk in it if we don’t quit and give up. God’s Word works. 

#success #Godsword #devotional #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 21st

📖 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. —Romans 8:6 AMPC

What type of mind do you have? Do you have a spiritual mind, or do you have a mind of the flesh? Do you make decisions only out of your intellect? Do you base your decision making on sense and reason without the Holy Spirit? That type of decision-making leads to death. God wants to be a part of every major decision that we make in our lives. He wants to lead and guide us. We can have peace when we know we are following the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We can have peace when we know we have heard the voice of God. When we have renewed our minds with the Word of God, and we act on the Word, we can have peace because we know that God is watching over His Word to perform it. We must continue to work on our minds. We must examine our way of thinking. We must make sure that our thinking is in line with the Word of God. 

#mindset #intellect #vcccharlotte #devotional #thinking

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 20th

📖 The king said to me, For what do you ask? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to [him], If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you will send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ sepulchers, that I may rebuild it. 
—Nehemiah 2:4-5 AMPC

Despite the king asking Nehemiah what he wanted, Nehemiah went to God first. Nehemiah was going to the Source of his life. Even though he would later make known to the king what he needed, he was looking to God to make it happen. Nehemiah went to God first. Let this be a lesson to every believer. We are to seek God first when problems or obstacles arise in our lives. If there is an issue in our finances, we go to God first. If our bodies are attacked, we seek God first before we seek anyone else.  Regardless of what comes up in our lives, we go to God first because He is our Source. He is the Source of our wisdom and everything we need. God may use a man, but man is simply the resource. God is the Source. Nehemiah had access to the king, but access to God was more important. Nehemiah kept his eyes on God and God came through. We must do the same. We know we can count on God when we keep our eyes on him, and not on the position of a man. God owns it all and knows how to get it to us. 

#OurSource #vcccharlotte #seekGodfirst #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 19th

📖 For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?

And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that? 

You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect. 
—Matthew 5:46-48 AMPC

Do you really want to be like the Father? Do you really want to imitate Him? One way we can do that is by loving people the way He loves people. We can’t just love the people who love us. We must love the ones who mistreat us just as much as the ones who love and respect us. We must greet people with love even if they roll their eyes and act like they don’t want to speak to us. In verse forty-five, the Bible tells us that God makes “the sun to rise on the wicked and the good”. God is good to all. God pours His goodness out on everyone. If God can do it, so can we. We can be a blessing to everyone, the saved and the unsaved. We can treat everyone right, the saved and the unsaved. We can love everyone, the saved and the unsaved. We can be just like our Father. We can demonstrate His love to humanity. We can reach the proper height of virtue and integrity just like our Heavenly Father. 

#Godislove #vcccharlotte #Godisgood #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 18th

📖 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! —Psalm 103:20 ESV

Are you putting your angels to work? Are you giving them something to do? The angels of God act on the Word of God. When they hear a person speaking or confessing the Word of God, they go to work. They stand at attention, ready to defend and protect. When a person confesses that “God will supply their needs” (Philippians 4:19), they work to make that a reality in the person's life. The angels work to cause the manifestation of the Word of God in the life of the individual who will confess it. In Daniel 10:12, the angel said to Daniel, “Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.” Notice the angel came because of Daniel’s words. The angels will do the same for us when we speak in line with God’s Word. 

#angels #speaktheWord #devotional #GodsWord #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 17th

📖 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. —James 1:5-8 NKJV

God wants us to believe in his love for us and his ability to provide our every need. Sometimes in life we ask God for things and then begin to doubt his ability or willingness to help us in our time of need. The Bible recounts a story of a man who was full of leprosy he fell on his face before Jesus and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus then put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed and the leprosy left him. The leper did not understand that Jesus was willing to heal him. The same is true in our situation. God is willing to help in any area we might need it. We can put our trust in him knowing he sacrificed his only begotten Son so that we would have a chance at a new and prosperous life. Whatever we need in life we should ask God in faith knowing that he loves and cares for each one of us. 

#God’slove #faith #vcccharlotte #dailydevotional #willingness

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 15th

📖 And so it was that he [Abraham], having waited long and endured patiently, realized and obtained [in the birth of Isaac as a pledge of what was to come] what God had promised him. —Hebrews 6:15 AMPC

God made a promise to Abraham when he was seventy-five years old. The “promised child” was born when Abraham was a hundred years old. Abraham waited twenty-five years until the promised child was born. Abraham could have been moved by time, but he wasn’t. Abraham believed God. Abraham believed that God was faithful to bring everything to pass. Abraham had experienced the Blessing of the Lord, and He knew that God would not lie to Him. Abraham reached the point where He believed that God would do what He said He would do. Many times, we are unwilling to wait on God. We may not know why things have taken a long time to manifest, but we know that God is faithful. We must endure patiently, knowing that God will come through. We must rest in the integrity of God. It is a divine truth that He cannot lie (John 3:33 Amplified Classic).   

#Godcannotlie #covenantGod #vcccharlotte #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 14th

📖 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 

This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 

And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. 
—I Samuel 17: 45-47 KJV

When David faced Goliath, He did not brag about his skills with a slingshot. He did not talk about his experience with the shepherd’s staff. He did not refer to any earthly weapons. David leaned on God’s ability and not his own. David was coming in the Name of the Lord of hosts, not his own. He was not fighting to make a name for himself, he was fighting so that the earth would know that there is a God in Israel. David knew that the battle was not his but the Lord’s. We could learn a thing or two from David. When the devil attacks, we cannot rely on our intellect or our resources. We must fight with the resources of Heaven. We must fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons. We fight with the Word of God, the Name of Jesus, and with the whole armor of God. We fight from a place of victory. We fight knowing that the battle is the Lord’s. When we fight the way David fought, we can expect to win the way that he won. The battle is not ours; the battle is the Lord’s. 

#spiritualwarfare #devotional #vcccharlotte #davidandgoliath

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 13th

📖 Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, 

Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds. 

—Hebrews 12:1-3 AMPC 

The devil would love for us to get off track and not finish our race. We cannot allow that to happen. We must put off the things that will hinder us from giving our best. We must get sin out of our lives, and we must run our race with patience. Not only must we run with patience, but we must be willing to endure some things. We must endure every attack of the wicked one, knowing that he is defeated, and we have the victory. Lastly, we have to guard our minds. We cannot allow trials and tribulations to wear us down until we faint in our minds. Having done all to stand, we must continue to stand. We can finish our course. We can run the race that God has set before us. If we do not allow ourselves to get distracted, we can be all that God wants us to be and accomplish all that God wants us to accomplish.  

#accomplishyourgoals #vcccharlotte #runyourrace #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | February 12th

📖 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. —1 John 3:23 NKJV

How is your love walk today? Are you loving that co-worker that gets on your nerves? Do you love that family member that doesn’t think the best about you? It is easy to love the people who love us. The difficult part is loving your enemies, or the people who don’t think very highly of you. God has commanded us to love everyone. We are to demonstrate the love of God to everyone we encounter. We are to love the person who cuts us off on the highway. We are to love the person who is still in park when the streetlight turns green because they are distracted by their phone. Our love walk is what distinguishes us. It is what sets us apart. It is something that we must continue to grow in so that we can look more and more like Jesus. No one said it would be easy, but it can be done. God would never ask you to do something you could not do. His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. 

#lovewalk #vcccharlotte #God’slove #deovtional

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