Author: marquitabp

To know me is to accept me, and to love me is to help me.
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Daily Devotion

The Art of Letting Go

“Throw all your worry on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 ISV

You let go of a balloon string one finger at a time…someone’s hand by unclasping your fingers. You let go of your breath by exhaling. You let go of the past by leaving it where it is…behind you. You let go of the future by taking each day as it comes. You let go of worries, cares, anxieties, frustrations, and issues by leaving them at the throne with God. But how do you do these things if you have never done them before in your life? How do you simply learn to release when you have never released?

Isaiah 61:1 says “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;.” Take note of the last part: to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. You are holding yourself prisoner to every problem you hold on to. You make yourself captive to whatever it is that you cannot relinquish to God. Letting go is a day to day, moment to moment thing. You cannot let go if you constantly are taking your problems back for yourself. Letting go involves trust—trusting that if you exhale you will automatically inhale again, that if you give your problem to God He will do what He says and take care of it. Maybe you feel you cannot let go because of how things have happened in your past…but you cannot live if you live in the past; you will make the same mistakes and ultimately repeat those same decisions and reap the same results. Letting go is an art because no one comes to it the same way but you can all get the same solution. It is something you must learn to do, but you have to be willing to be taught and trust that God will never do anything to hurt you.

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Daily Devotion

The Significance of Prayer, Praise, and Patience
 
"But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you."  Matthew 6:6 
"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD." Psalm 150:6
"But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)"  Romans 8:25
 
Evening everybody!  Today was my 25th birthday and I must say, it was wonderful.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Anyway, at some point during the day, I happened to think about the acronym PUSH.   And I've heard it said two different ways–Pray Until Something Happens and Praise Until Something Happens.  And I don't know why but I had to find another P word–patience/patient–that would fit into the PUSH.  So I came up with be Patient Until Something Happens–but only after you have done the other two.
 
See, we sometimes miss out on things we are supposed to receive because we decide to operate outside of God's will.  We pray empty prayers asking God for healing, wealth and success but we don't give God the praise.  Sometimes we get caught up with praising God in the heat of a song, and we haven't prayed enough about a situation.  We even claim to be patient until something comes along to distract, discourage, and defeat our faith. 
 
I use these three here because I've learned that you cannot do any particular one of these things without doing the other to receive from God.  You cannot pray and not have patience that God will bring to pass the thing you requested of.  You cannot praise and ignore the part that says to bring your cares, concerns, and worries to God.  You cannot be patient and not have offered any praise to the Lord.
 
Now that you have a third word, combine them all together: Praise, Pray, and be Patient until God moves on your behalf.
 
"I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!"  Isaiah 65:24