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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 18th

📖 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 | July 17th

📖 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s counselors gathered around them and saw that in regard to these men the fire had no effect on their bodies—their hair was not singed, their clothes were not scorched or damaged, even the smell of smoke was not on them. 

Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and rescued His servants who believed in, trusted in, and relied on Him! They violated the king’s command and surrendered their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
—Daniel 3:27-28 AMPC 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had all gone in for God. They refused to bow to the statue of the king, and they were willing to sacrifice their lives rather than to disobey God. Because of their commitment to God, God came through for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Not only did God protect the three young men from the fire, but He also sent His angel to deliver them. Not only were those young men rescued, but they were promoted as well. We must realize that when we take a stand for God, He will take a stand for us. He will do the miraculous. He will send an angelic host. He will do whatever it takes to put His stamp of approval on us. God showed the king that those three Hebrew boys belonged to him, and when we stand for righteousness, God will do the same for us. God will always look out for His own. It pays to be in the household of faith. 

#ambassadors #represent #Godisgood #dailydevotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 16th

📖 He who keeps the commandment [of the Lord] keeps his own life, but he who despises His ways shall die. —Proverbs 19:16 AMPC 

God’s ways are higher than ours. He gave us His Word so that we can go up higher in Him and in life. God desires for our lives to get better. The Word of God tells us that “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18 AMPC). Our path (lives) is to get brighter and brighter (better and better). It starts with keeping God’s commandments. Now we aren’t just talking about the ten commandments (that is a great place to start though), we are talking about being a doer of the Word of God. Whatever God tells us to do in His Word, we do it. When He tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, we love our neighbors. When He tells us to come out from among them (the world) and be separate, that is what we do. It is always to our advantage to obey God. This is how we keep our lives.  

#obedience #vcccharlotte #doersoftheWord #devotional 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 15th

📖 I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate [closely and habitually] with unchaste (impure) people—

Not [meaning of course that you must] altogether shun the immoral people of this world, or the greedy graspers and cheats and thieves or idolaters, since otherwise you would need to get out of the world and human society altogether! 

But now I write to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of [Christian] brother if he is known to be guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater [whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God], or is a person with a foul tongue [railing, abusing, reviling, slandering], or is a drunkard or a swindler or a robber. [No] you must not so much as eat with such a person. 
—I Corinthians 5:9-11 AMPC 

Your associations can determine your destiny. If you hang around losers, you might become one. If you hang around winners, you might become one as well. We don’t want to associate closely and habitually with immoral and impure people. Their ways may rub off on you. We know that no matter where we look, we will see the ungodly, but we don’t have to make them our best friends. Paul goes as far as to say don’t even eat with those types of people. Galatians 5:9 AMPC tells us that, “A little leaven (a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers) leavens the whole lump [it perverts the whole conception of faith or misleads the whole church]”. The Bible also tells us that “evil communication corrupts good manners”. Let’s stay free from the influence of the world. Let’s do what the Word tells us to do: So, come out from among [unbelievers], and separate (sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not [any] unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor. (2 Corinthians 6:17) 

#Godlyinfluences #vcccharlotte #purity #devotional  

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 14th

📖 We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life. —Romans 6:4 AMPC

When we make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we become a new creation. Our past is buried; we have been raised and now have a new life with Christ. We can be like the apostle Paul and act as if we don’t have a past. Paul said that he had “wronged no man”, but he had. Before his encounter with Jesus, he was throwing Christians into prison and mistreating them. After his encounter with Jesus, all of that was buried with Christ. When he was raised in the newness of life, his past remained buried. We have had the same experience. We can now walk as if we have never sinned a day in our lives. 

#devotional #newcreation #liveforGod #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 13th

📖 Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God. —John 3:3 AMPC

If one wants to be a bonafide child of God, that person must be born again. They simply must ask Jesus Christ to come into their heart and confess Him as Lord (Romans 10:9-10). It is quite simple. Works will not get you born-again. You can never work your way to Heaven. You can never earn your salvation; but you can simply receive what has already been done. Jesus has already paid the price for sin. Our works do not produce righteousness. Righteousness produces good works. If you haven’t done so already, receive Jesus Christ today! Don’t you want to spend eternity with God? 

#salvation #devotional #vcccharlotte #childofGod

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 11th

📖 The good life begins in the fear of God-
Do that and you’ll know the blessing of God. 
—Psalms 111:10 The Message  

We all desire the good life (or at least we should). The good life is a life designed by God. The depth of our relationship with God will determine what we walk in. Jesus came so that we can experience the good life. That life is a life of abundance. It is a life of divine health. A life where we experience good in every area of life. The good life starts with the fear of God. We fear God by reverencing both Him and His Word. When we honor God’s Word in our life, we are honoring Him. When we are willing and obedient, we eat the good of the land. Deuteronomy 29: 11 says: Therefore, keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may deal wisely and prosper in all that you do. 

Did you see the correlation between the Word and Prosperity? God was saying to the people that if you keep the covenant (His Word), then you will prosper in all that you do. When we honor God, God will honor us. If we want to know the blessing, we must know God. Jesus put it this way in John 14:21 (Amplified Classic): The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]  

When Jesus and Father God manifest themselves in your life, your life won’t be the same. The results will only be good because God is good. There is only one life in God: the good life. 

#thegoodlife #devotional #honoringGod #vcccharlotte 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 10th

📖 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 | July 9th

📖 Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. 

For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised. 
—Hebrews 10:35-36 AMPC 

Confidence is a very important character trait. It is especially important that we keep our confidence in God. Our confidence in God will cause us to walk in steadfast patience and endurance. Walking in patience and endurance will cause us to fully accomplish the will of God and receive everything that God has promised us. The more confident we are in the ability of God, the more solid we become in our walk with God. It doesn’t matter how long it takes; we know God is coming through. Confidence in God and His Word is an assurance that we will experience the promise that we are believing Him for. No matter how long it may seem, we know we will experience the healing power of God. We know that we will experience the breakthrough that we have been believing God for. We are not moved by time; we are moved by our confidence in God. He will come through. II Chronicles 16:9 AMPC tells us that, “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him.” When you have confidence in God’s ability, you can say, “Look no further God! You can show yourself strong on my behalf!” When you demonstrate that confidence in Him, the breakthrough is on the way. The healing is on the way. The need is being met. Confidence in what you can’t see (God and His ability) will cause a manifestation of what you want to see. (the reality of the promise of God)  

#confidenceinGod #vcccharlotte #patience #devotional #willofGod 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 8th

📖 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 | July 7th

📖 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 | July 6th

📖 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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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | July 4th

📖 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 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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