June devotional

Letter from Dad
My Child,
You may not know me, but I know everything about you…    Psalm 139:11
I know when you sit down and when you rise up…   Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways…   Psalm 139:3
Even the hairs on your head are numbered…   Matthew 10:29-30
For you were made in my image…   Genesis 1:27
In me you live and move and have your being…   Acts 17:28
For you are my offspring…   Acts 17:28
I knew you even before you were conceived…   Jeremiah 1:4-5
I chose you when I planned creation…   Ephesians 1:11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book…   Psalm 139:15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live…   Acts 17:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made…   Psalm 139:14
I knit you together in your mother’s womb…   Psalm 139:13
And I brought you forth on the day you were born…   Psalm 71:6
I have been misrepresented by those who don’t know me…   John 8:41-44
I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love…   I John 4:16
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you…   I John 3:1
Simply because you are my child and I am your Father…   I John 3:7
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could…   Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect Father…   Matthew 6:31-33
Every good gift you receive comes from my hand…   James 1:17
For I am your provider and I meet your needs…   Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for  your future has always been filled with hope…   Jeremiah 29:11
Because I love you with an everlasting love…   Jeremiah 31:3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore…   Psalm 139:`17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing…   Zephaniah 3:17
I will never stop doing good to you…   Jeremiah 32:40
For you are my treasured possession…   Exodus 19:5
I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul…   Jeremiah 32:41
And I want to show you great and marvelous things…   Jeremiah 33:3
If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me…   Deuteronomy 4:29
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart…   Psalm 37:4
For it is I who gave you those desires…   Philippians 2:13
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine…   Ephesians 3:20
For I am your greatest encourager…   II Thessalonians 2:16-17
I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles…   II Corinthians 1:3-4
When you are broken hearted, I am close to you…   Psalm 34:18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart…   Isaiah 40:11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes…   Revelations 21:3-4
I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus…   John 17:23
For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed…   John 17:26
He is the exact representation of my being…   Hebrews 1:3
And to tell you that I am not counting your sins…   II Corinthians 5:18-19
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled…   II Corinthians 5:18-19
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you…   I John 4:10
I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love…   Romans 8:31-32
If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me…   I John 2:23
And nothing will ever separate you from my love again…   Romans 8:38-39
Come home and I’ll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen…   Luke 15:7
I have always been Father, and will always be Father…   Ephesians 3:14-15
My question is – will you be my child?   John 1:12-13
I am waiting for you…   Luke 15:11-12
And I am never, ever, more than a whisper away!   Grace and peace, my dear child!
Love, your Father….Abba….God       [author not known to me]
 
The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. Psalm 103:13
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows - this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
Psalm 68:5
Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, Lord, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past. Isaiah 63:16
…Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?  Deuteronomy 32:6
But now, O LORD, You are our Father…   Isaiah 64:8
He LOVES us more than we can imagine!
He cannot love us more! He cannot love us less! and He raises up OTHERS to love us as well!  Whew!!!     - stm

Ø  Military Drills Increase Globally

Ø  Almost one-fifth of Americans now take psychotropic drugs to cope with everyday life
Ø  Antibiotic-resistant typhoid spreading in silent epidemic
Ø  Panic Heightens As South Korea MERS Epidemic Spreads
Ø  25% of Egg Production in the US Taken Offline Due to Bird Flu Crisis

Ø  Liberals Pressing Hard To Make Pedophilia Legal

Ø  Catholic School Sued For 'Too Many Crosses In Every Room'

Ø  Pastor: 'I Never Thought’ My Nation Would Persecute ‘Bible-Believing’ Christians 

Ø  Christian Persecution At ‘Unprecedented’ Levels

Ø  Teens are fleeing religion like never before: Massive new study exposes religion’s decline

Ø  Christians ordered to teach Wiccan, pagan rite
Ø  Christians need to face the bad news about Christianity
Ø  America, Prepare to Defend Yourselves :Turning Our Cities Into Battlegrounds 
Ø  The U.S. Has Come Off The Rails
Ø  Conservatives Are In Denial: America Is No Longer A Superpower
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.  Amos 3:7
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34
…blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.  Matthew 13:16-17 [Jesus speaking]
Prophecy is obviously esoteric, and often the topic of heated debate. But let’s not be overwhelmed, knowing we cannot completely understand all prophesies at this time, and let’s not be argumentative either. But let’s not lose sight of what is clear. For example, in contrast to the ‘wisdom of the world’, things are not getting better and better, but rather, worse and worse….just as the word of God has long warned!
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:    (II Timothy 3:1)
The whole point of prophesy - that God KNOWS what is going on, and that we can therefore TRUST Him!
The Bible was not given for our information, but  for our transformation! – D.L.Moody
For the non-believer, THIS is as GOOD as it gets! For the believer, this is as BAD as it gets!  - Kia
Plan A - stay prayed up!
Plan B - prepare to meet thy Maker!
Though we seem to have avoided calamity yesterday…and the day before that, but we remain on course for a rendezvous with the Bible. A large part of the Bible talks about the time we live in now, but unfortunately we have our minds on other things, or are so intent on twisting what it says that we can’t see what is coming.
My own personal favorite prophecy –
Not all prophecy is negative!!
And one [angel] cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"                                     Isaiah 6:3

The essence of who you are can NOT be changed by a different wardrobe, better makeup, or surgery. You are MORE than your academic record, your resume, your bank account, and the car you drive. And you are MORE than the sum of your past mistakes! Your soul doesn’t need help identifying itself!    - stm
Whatever your problem is, you'll find the answer down on your knees! Novia Reid, New York
I am not what I ought to be,
   I am not what I wish to be,
      I am not what I hope to be;
         but, by the grace of God, I am not what I was…  - Olabanji Oluwashola James, Lagos, Nigeria
 
Father and Son on the Shuttle
…the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.
He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow…
I know all the birds of the mountains…
…for every beast of the forest is Mine…
Everything under Heaven is Mine!
Come and see the works of God…He is awesome…
…the whole earth is full of His glory!
Then I introduced him to Kenny.  My travel partner.  MY son! 
© 2010 - S.T.Mann; this story is offered under Creative Commons License  – it is permissible to use the story as long as attribution is included

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.  Psalm 103:13
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows -- this is God, whose dwelling is holy.  Psalm 68:5
Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, Lord, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past.  Isaiah 63:16
Lost Years                                                                                                                                       [author unknown to me]
A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box.
Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care things.
When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation,  and the words...PAID IN FULL.
How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?
My Barber
It seems the more i pray for others (hands and knees )many many many times a day, the fewer problems i seem to have.. Now i am not saying i don't go through trials because i do.. but compared to when i use to ask for people to pray for me they have gotten so much less.. I also keep my slate clean with my conscience + Holy Spirit and that helps too but keep on asking for those prayers people as i rather wear holes in my pants than holes in my head…  - Daniel Erline, WV
i have noticed the very  same thing...almost to the point of it being a ‘rule of the 'universe' – that when we get in the doldrums...in a funk...suffer assault and attack....but realize THE Boss is still completely in control, WE are to redirect our focus from our situation on to OTHER folks He puts in our path who might benefit from our gifts and words of encouragement!!  Prayer brings us into cooperation with what it is God has purposed for us to accomplish!                                                                                                     stm
God cannot be a figment of my imagination because He is not at all what I imagined Him to be.                  - C.S. Lewis
The truth may hurt, but it is still the truth!     Anon.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:26-28
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.      Ephesians 3:20-21
The end of worship…is to be the beginning of service…
…behold, I am with always, even to the end of the age.  Matthew 28:20

I liked that devotional and all the Bible verses you shared!

thanks!  i can email it to you if you would like a more direct and more polished presentation!

'it' began 15+ years ago - one encouraging note to one person - the sister of a very casual friend  who mentioned his sister was in jail...it mushroomed...now read on six continents!  not my vision...not my plan...ALL glory to God!

(please feel free to share it freely!  it is always 4 pages front and back, which can be mailed with just one stamp;  always encouraging, non denominational, a-political...and never a charge!)

Wow, amazing story! Yes, I would like it emailed to me. My email address is (without any spaces) slybelvedere @ sfs . com

got it....you might want to delete email indicated above now...

oops...email did NOT work...

I haven't checked that inbox in so long I guess it won't let me receive any new messages. Can you try my friend's email (She is also interested in receiving the devotional) at 

veronica alverston @ geemail . com

(again, no spaces and gmail is misspelled so it won't get picked up by spam bots.)

I received the email devotional, thank you!

Do you have a devotional for July?