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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 3rd

📖 Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. —Proverbs 4:23 AMPC 

In the world that we live in today, it is imperative that we guard our hearts. Notice that we are to protect it above all that you guard. Faith is of the heart. We believe with our hearts. The Word of God is planted in our hearts. When the Word of God is planted (or sown), we must believe it and speak it from the heart. That is when we experience results. The devil knows that faith is what will overcome him and everything he throws at you. He wants you to be distracted. He wants you to put social media in your heart. He tries to distract you so that you instead of feeding your heart the Word, you are feeding on entertainment. Entertainment has its place, but it won’t cause you to overcome. Social media has its place, but you don’t want that to take precedent over the Word. Guard your heart and be vigilant about what you allow in there. It could be the difference between winning and losing. Overcoming or succumbing. God’s best or mediocrity. 

#Guardyourheart #vcccharlotte #nodistractions #devotional #theWordofGod 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 2nd

📖 I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong. 
—Hebrews 5:12-14 The Message 

God wants us to grow and mature in the things of God. We should get to a place in our lives where we are teachers and not just students. We should have mastered the basics and the fundamentals of spiritual things. We never “arrive”, but our aim should be to learn and grow more. In the natural world, we expect children to be promoted to a higher grade by the end of the school year. We expect the first grader to be promoted to second grade. We expect the second grader to be promoted to third grade, and on and on until they graduate from middle school. We expect children to develop until they graduate from high school. If a child stays in the third grade for three years, something is wrong. We may take the child to a specialist. We check to see if there is a learning disability. We do all that we can to figure out how to get the child to be promoted to the next grade. Well, God doesn’t expect us to stay children when it comes to the things of the Spirit. He expects us to mature and grow. After a while, we should no longer be children. We should get to a place where we are no longer consuming milk, but we are feeding on the “meat” of God’s Word. We should be experienced in God’s ways. We are no longer considered beginners; we have advanced. We eventually get to the place where we are no longer the same. God expects us to go from glory to glory. 

#vcccharlotte #devotional #growth #glorytoglory 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 1st

📖 Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. 

But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night. 

And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].
—Psalms 1:1-3 AMPC  

In this psalm, we are given some insight into what will cause success in our lives. We are to avoid the counsel of the ungodly. We are to refrain from hanging out with the ungodly. The ungodly don’t think or talk like God. Many times, the way that they live their lives contradict the way God wants His people to live. The psalmist tells us that we need to delight ourselves in the law of God. He goes on to tell us that we should ponder and study the Word of God both day and night. Studying God’s Word will teach us how we should live and conduct our lives. It tells us how to think and how we should talk. When our lives line up with His Word, we know that success is imminent. Acting on God’s Word will cause us to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, eventually we will bear fruit. Eventually we will see prosperity in every area of our lives. The Word will cause us to live a victorious life. 

#vcccharlotte #prosperity #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 30th

📖 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than 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 rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. 
—2 Chronicles 32:7-8 KJV

Hezekiah was admonishing the people of Israel. Sennacherib was threatening to attack the nation of Israel, and he had been experiencing victory after victory. Hezekiah was not afraid. He knew that God would fight for them. He told the people not to be afraid because of who was for them. He knew that God would fight for them. The people rested on those promises.  

When we hear from God or when we are standing on a promise that is found in the Word of God, we must rest on what God has said. Faith without rest is unbelief. Fatih and fear cannot stay in the same house. When you're in fear, you can sometimes find yourself immersed in worry. When you're in faith, you rest. You know that God is going to take care of it, so there is no use in worrying about it. Rest and praise are indicators that you are in faith and that you are taking God at His Word. They are statements to the devil and to your circumstances that a change is on the horizon. 

#rest #noworries #vcccharlotte #GodAlmighty

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 29th

📖 Then the [Holy] Spirit said to Philip, Go forward and join yourself to this chariot. Accordingly Philip, running up to him, heard [the man] reading the prophet Isaiah and asked, Do you really understand what you are reading? —Acts 8:29-30 AMPC

We must never forget that we are co-laborers with God. We are God’s hands and feet in the earth. When God instructs us to do something, it is imperative that we listen and obey. Someone’s salvation could depend on our obedience. The Spirit of God spoke to Philip, and he ran. He did not try to process the instruction. He did not try to reason with God. When the Spirit of God told Philip to join himself to the chariot. He did exactly what God asked him to do. His obedience caused a man to get born again and to be baptized in water. This had to be a life changing experience for the Ethiopian. You can only imagine what this did for Philip and his relationship with God. Philip not only led the man to Christ, but he was translated to another city, supernaturally. His life had become an adventure in God. Our lives will become an adventure as well, when we are obedient to His instructions. All of us should have an adventure in God.

#vcccharlotte #devotional #listening #obedience

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 27th

📖 Be strong, courageous, and firm; fear not nor be in terror before them, for it is the Lord your God Who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you. 

And Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong, courageous, and firm, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to possess it. 

It is the Lord Who goes before you; He will [march] with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; [let there be no cowardice or flinching, but] fear not, neither become broken [in spirit—depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm]. 
—Deuteronomy 31:6-8 AMPC 

We must always remember who is with us. There are times when fear will try to attack us. It will try to invade our thoughts. It will cause us to doubt the ability of God and even forget how God has come through for us time after time. We must always keep in mind that the Almighty God is for us and with us. He is on our side, and He will cause us to triumph every time. When we are convinced that God will not fail us or forsake us, we will always be in control of our emotions. We will not allow fear to have the upper hand in our lives because we know that God is coming through for us. Faith in God will keep us from getting to a place where we are depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm. We must be firm, strong, and courageous. If we are going to continue to walk in victory, we must not forget these things. We must lift our eyes unto the hills where our help comes from; our help comes from the Lord that made heaven and earth. 

#AlmightyGod #vcccharlotte #OurHelper #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 26th

📖 John replied, “God in heaven appoints each man’s work.” 
—John 3:27 The Living Bible 

What type of business are you in? Isn’t this a common question? Upon meeting a stranger, one of the first things we want to know is what they do for a living. Instead of asking what they do for a living, maybe the question should be asked, “Are you doing the work that God has appointed you?” A person may be successful in their field of endeavor, but are they in the field that God has selected for them? Are they doing the work appointed by God or are they doing the work they appointed for themselves? People select their occupation for many different reasons. Some are in their field because of the income it pays. Some are in their field because of the benefits. We want to be where God wants us to be because God knows what is best for lives. True success is in being in the will of God. We should constantly examine our lives and make sure we are in line with God. We want to be doing the work appointed by the God in heaven. 

#truesuccess #vcccharlotte #theLord’swork #devotional #God’sbest

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 25th

📖 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with a sickness, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan.
—Matthew 4:23-25 The Message 

God wants you well. God wants you well in every area of life. Jesus came to heal the sick, but not just those who were sick physically. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted. Jesus came to heal the oppressed. Jesus came to set the captives free. God wants you free from a tormented mind. God does not want His children to have an unsettled, worried mind. We are to keep our mind on the Word of God. Keeping our mind on God will allow us to experience the peace of God. The Word of God is to be the anchor to our souls. That simply means that we can stay emotionally stable when hard times hit us because we are standing on God’s Word. 

We know that God wants us well physically. Jesus took the stripes on His back so that we could be made whole (Isaiah 53:5). God wants us to prosper in our health, our soul, and in our finances. It is easier to help make someone whole, when we are walking in wholeness in our own lives. God wants us to be examples. We are His evidence that we can experience the blessed life that Jesus shed His blood for. That life is possible for us if we can believe in what the Bible tells us — that all things are possible to him who believes. 

#believers #vcccharlotte #allthingsarepossible #devotional #WordofGod 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 24th

📖 While He was in one of the towns, there came a man full of (covered with) leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You are able to cure me and make me clean. 

And [Jesus] reached out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed! And immediately the leprosy left him. 

And [Jesus] charged him to tell no one [that he might chance to meet], until [He said] you go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your purification, as Moses commanded, for a testimony and proof to the people, that they may have evidence [of your healing]. 
— Luke 5:12-14 AMPC 

It doesn’t matter how bad your situation is, God can turn it around. This man was covered with leprosy. There was no hope for him. Doctors could not do anything for him. His situation was hopeless. When he encountered Jesus, everything changed. He asked Jesus if He would make him whole and Jesus told Him that He would. Jesus was (and is) the will of God in action. It was not the will of God for the man to be sick. God wanted him well. God wants allHis people well. That is the reason why He sent Jesus to the cross. God and His Word are one. God’s Word is His will. God wants you whole in spirit, soul, and body. Stand on God’s Word and receive your freedom today. 

#Jesusistheanswer #vcccharlotte #God’swill #devotionals 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 23rd

📖 But Noah was a pleasure to the Lord. Here is the story of Noah:  He was the only truly righteous man living on the earth at that time. He tried always to conduct his affairs according to God’s will. And he had three sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 
—Genesis 6:8-10 The Living Bible

This is what every believer should desire, to be a pleasure to the Lord. We know that God takes pleasure in our prosperity (Psalm 35:27), but we should also desire that He takes pleasure in our lives. Our desire should be that we live a life that is well-pleasing to God. We should not only be people of righteous living, but we should always conduct our affairs according to God’s will. One way that we do that is by doing what the Word of God tells us because God’s Word IS His will towards us. The Bible tells us that Noah walked with God. When we walk with God, eventually we get to a place where all we desire is to be a pleasure to the Lord. Our lives should always bring glory to Him. 

#devotional #glorytoGod #righteousness #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 22nd

📖 Besides, to which of the angels has He ever said, Sit at My right hand [associated with Me in My royal dignity] till I make your enemies a stool for your feet? 

Are not the angels all ministering spirits (servants) sent out in the service [of God for the assistance] of those who are to inherit salvation? 
⎯Hebrews 1:13-14 AMPC

Don’t forget about your angels. They are ministering spirits who are sent to assist those who have inherited (received) salvation. When we speak the Word of God, the angels do His commandments (His Word) and hearken unto the voice of His Word (Psalm 103:20). Speaking the Word of God activates the angels and causes them to move on our behalf. When we speak the Word of God, we give the angels an assignment to carry out. Many angels are sitting idle because many believers never quote or speak the Word of God. Don’t allow the angels to sit dormant in your life. They are our servants, and they are ready to move. 

#SpeaktheWord #devotional #angels #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 20th

📖 “But throughout the history of these kingdoms, the God of heaven will be building a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will this kingdom ever fall under the domination of another. In the end it will crush the other kingdoms and finish them off and come through it all standing strong and eternal. It will be like the stone cut from the mountain by the invisible hand that crushed the iron, the bronze, the ceramic, the silver, and the gold. 
—Daniel 2:44 The Message 

We were once a part of an inferior kingdom. We were once under the dominion and control of Satan, the god(ruler) of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). Satan’s kingdom is an inferior kingdom. When Jesus was on the earth, He overcame Satan and his demons repeatedly. Jesus represented a much stronger kingdom. We are in that kingdom now. There is authority and power in this kingdom. The Bible tells us that the whole world is under the influence of the wicked one (Ephesians 2:2). Satan has no power over us because we are no longer in his kingdom. He cannot control us, and he has no more influence over us. The Bible tells us that we are to resist him (I Peter 5:9). We are to stand against him and every demonic spirit (Ephesians 6: 13-14). Jesus once said that He “saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Satan has never been a match for God and He never will. When you get a revelation of the kingdom that you belong to, Satan will never be a match for you either. We have access to everything that Jesus has access to. We ought to overcome the way He does. The Bible tells us that, as He is, so are we in this world (I John 4:17). God expects us to lead an overcoming life. We are to be more than conquerors through Him that loves us (Romans 8:37). 

#devotional #thekingdom #vcccharlotte #overcomers  

 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 19th

📖 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 | June 18th

📖 I will satisfy fully the life of the priests with abundance [of offerings shared with them], and My people will be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord. —Jeremiah 31:14 AMPC

God desires for us to experience His goodness. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above. God is a good God, and He wants us to experience His goodness all the time. The Bible tells us that He daily loads us with benefits (Psalm 68:19). God is constantly trying to bestow His blessings upon us. The Bible tells us that the blessing of Abraham will come upon us and overtake us as we diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord our God and obey His commandments (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). God has done His part. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). He has given us the ability to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:4). It’s on us now. Let’s pursue all that God has given us, and let’s not give up until we have obtained the promises. 

#theblessingofabraham #Godisgood #devotional #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 17th

📖 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,”’ —John 1:22-23 NKJV

What do you say about yourself? How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as a winner? Do you see yourself overcoming every situation of life? As believers we must see ourselves the way God sees us. We must know who we are in Christ. We must know what belongs to us. We must also understand that how we see ourselves is in correlation with how we think. The Bible tells us that “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. (Proverbs 23:7) God gave us His Word so that we can think like Him. When we think the way He thinks, we will talk the way He talks. When we think and talk like God, we will live like Him and He lives in victory. His Word tells us that He always causes us to triumph. (2 Corinthians 2:14) If God says we are royalty, then that is what we are. If we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth, then that is what we are. If we are going to succeed in this life, it starts with how we see ourselves. We are who God says we are, and we can do what He says we can do. 

#success #vcccharlotte #wecan #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 16th

📖 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do, 

Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him and shall bless themselves by him? 

For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him. 
—Genesis 18:17-19 AMPC 

What an honor for Abraham. He was referred to as a servant and a friend of God. Imagine being called a friend of God. I believe that is what God would like to call all of us, both servant and friend. God wants us to have the attitude of a servant, but He also wants us to develop a friendship with Him. God wants obedience. God wants us to heed His commandments and to get into a rhythm of obedience. At the same time, He wants to fellowship with us. He desires to let us in on what He is doing on the earth. He wants to give us insight into His plans for our lives. Isaiah 1:19 NIV says “if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land”. Willingness shows trust. I am willing to do something because of who asked me. When God the Father asks us to do something, we should do it with joy and enthusiasm, because we know that He would not ask us to do something that is harmful. We are obedient because of reverence and respect. You put the two together and you can see why God would want to bestow His blessings upon us. God wants friendship and He wants obedience. Both are keys to experiencing His goodness and all the things that He has promised us. 

#friendship #vcccharlotte #servant #devotional #goodnessofGod 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 15th

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

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

#childrenofGod #devotional #vcccharlotte #righteous

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 13th

📖 Whoever despises the word and counsel [of God] brings destruction upon himself, but he who [reverently] fears and respects the commandment [of God] is rewarded. 
—Proverbs 13:13 AMPC 

It is always in our best interest to develop a love and a respect for the Word of God. The Word of God has the solution to every potential problem that we may face. The Word of God is how we overcome. The Word of God is the Source of faith and faith is how we overcome the world. Jesus used the Word of God to overcome the wicked one. When he encountered the Satan in the wilderness, He said repeatedly, “It is written "and quoted from the Word of God. The devil wants you to despise the very weapon that will defeat him. He wants you to ignore the Word. He’s okay with you reading it every now and then, but he wants to keep you from being consistent. God’s Word is our weapon. We must embrace it and learn to delight in God’s Word. We cannot afford to neglect the Word of God. We cannot despise it. Doing those things will not only bring defeat, but it will also bring destruction to our lives. We cannot let that happen. God is depending on us. 

#WordofGod #vcccharlotte #Sourceoffaith #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 12th

📖 However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you]. 

But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. 

He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. 
—John 16:7, 13-14 AMPC 

We are not alone. We have been given a Helper. Jesus stated that He had to go so that He could send a Helper. He sent someone to be in close fellowship with us. That someone is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an emotion or a feeling. It is a person. Jesus said, “I will send Him to you”. The Holy Spirit will receive of Jesus and will share it with us. He will share things with us about the future. He will share things with us that are necessary. The Holy Spirit is our Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Strengthener and Standby. We are not in this by ourselves. We must utilize and take advantage of the help that God has sent us, and He has sent us the Holy Spirit. 

#HolySpirit #vcccharlotte #OurHelper #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 11th

📖 The Lord will not allow the righteous to hunger [God will meet all his needs], But He will reject and cast away the craving of the wicked. ⎯Proverbs 10:3 AMPC

The Lord knows how to meet our needs. He will not allow us to go hungry when we put our trust in Him. God fed Elijah by sending the ravens to bring him food in the morning and the evening. Jesus multiplied fish and bread and fed thousands of people. God fed the Israelites manna in the wilderness, and there were 2-3 million people. God is not moved by famine or our circumstances. God is moved by faith. He changes circumstances, and He will change yours if you believe Him to do so. His eyes are looking throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards Him
(II Chronicles 16:9). 

#perfectheart #israelites #Godprovides #devotional

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