enLIVEn Devotionals

Abiding in Jesus - Overflowing His Spirit

Perspective

I am often encouraged by a beautiful sunset. It appears majestic—ribbons of soaring light peering through couplets of clouds draws in my heart. I don't seek God in the sunset, but I search the heavens and thank Him for what He created. I look at sunsets when I feel overwhelmed and need encouragement because of the minute things of life. Sometimes everything feels overwhelming. Reading through Job is a funny way to be encouraged. The daily difficulties of a man being sifted by Satan is not appealing on the surface. But deeper into the thickness of the Bible, I found a gem that puts it all ... Read the Post

Like A Child

The movie was over, and we made our way to exit into the mall. Her little heart was full and overflowing with praise. We had just seen “The Prince of Egypt.” That was back in 1998; still the memories are fresh today. With her little hand in mine we walked along the corridors of the mall, but those little hands just had to be free. As she broke loose from my grip, both small hands went up in the air and she began to praise and worship God. “Thank You, Jesus, for Moses and for the movie. Thank You for keeping him safe in that basket. I love you Jesus.” No, she didn’t care if people were ... Read the Post

Unleashing the Power of Praise

One night, as my family and I gathered in the living room for family devotions, we decided to read through Psalm 108. As my husband began discussing the first five verses, he asked the question, “What does it mean to inhabit?” He referred us to the passage that talks about how God inhabits the praise of His people Israel. (See Psalm 22:3 in the KJV) His explanation of what it means to inhabit was simple. The place an animal lives is its habitat; therefore, it inhabits the place it lives. When we choose to praise God, He manifests His presence even stronger at that moment; He dwells in our ... Read the Post

The God Who Sees Me

As the economy continues to drag and employment is limited at best, my heart sinks for everyone touched by this struggle. The news forecast seems bleak and hope seems far from us all. Speaking with a dear friend who spoke very honestly about her fears, she said she worried that God had forgotten about her and her family. I simply didn’t know what to say to her, but I sat and listened to her fears. For her it seemed like her prayers were not being answered and she was being overlooked during one of her darkest hours. Yet, in those times we may be tempted to take matters into our own hands, ... Read the Post

Remind Me, Lord

Do you sometimes stop and wonder why you are doing the things you do? I do and that is why I write things down and make a list. Recently, I have decided to challenge myself with many things that could help me to deepen my relationship with God and though my intention was good, I soon got caught up in the nitty gritty of my Christian acts and forgot why I was doing them in the first place. Instead of opening my ears to listen to God, I was more interested in the number of pages I read in the Bible. Instead of deepening my relationships with my fellow Christians, I was more interested in ... Read the Post

Experience

"Mommy, I'm bleeding!" Seth shrieked. I cringed. Seth was going through a fear-of-bleeding-to-death-from-every-little-cut phase; and active, little boys get lots of little cuts. "Let me see," I said. Timidly, he held out his finger to show a tiny cut. It wasn't really bleeding; the cut was just deep enough to bring the blood to the surface, but none was spilling out. I ruled out a trip to the emergency room. "Is it okay?" Seth anxiously asked. "It's fine," I said. "It's a little cut, and it's going to heal right up." "But it's bleeding!" Seth declared. "It's not bleeding," I ... Read the Post