enLIVEn Devotionals

Abiding in Jesus - Overflowing His Spirit

Listening And

During my prayer time with God this week, we talked about how difficult it is for me to slow down and listen to Him. I find myself often rushing through my prayers as if it were something on a check list and then moving on to something else. I realize that many of my prayers are me talking at God, rather than with God. God reminded me of a time when I listened and how two lives were changed in the process. As I drove home from my visit with him, I was sad and discouraged. Despite my attempts to help him, he continued to make regrettable life decisions. For the first two hours of my drive ... Read the Post

Spiritual Amnesia

There have been many occasions in my life I’ve prayed fervently for a “miracle.” My beloved grandmother Ella was rushed to the ER as the EMT tried to revive her 63 year old lifeless body. We got the call from New York from a frantic aunt saying they don’t know if she’s going to make it! I ran to my bedroom collapsing on the floor praying fervently ,“Dear Lord please spare my beautiful grandmother Ella who is like a mother to so many."  I was in such emotional despair as a teenager and new Christian, and my deep prayers and steady flow of teardrops felt like I was sweating drops of blood. My ... Read the Post

Stilled Silence

Every morning, come rain or shine or rain (we do live in almost-tropical Tampa, after all), I walk our dog, Jedi. I don’t drink coffee, so my morning walk is like a large cup of caffeine. It’s a perfect time to get outside, get some exercise, and get with the Lord in quiet prayer as I enjoy His creation. Christmas morning? Just another morning to Jedi, so after presents were opened and cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs were devoured, our eager pointer/boxer mix and I took off for a one-mile loop around our neighborhood. Silence is not my usual walking companion. Our subdivision is ... Read the Post

Redeemed Joy!

For the past 10 years, I have been struggling with depression and feelings of hopelessness. I believe it started after I married my husband strictly out of trying to obey the Lord. My husband and I were living together and not married. We were invited to visit a church close to our work with a fellow coworker. Once we were in, the Holy Spirit did His thing and started working on our hearts. We quickly began changing our ways and becoming more involved with the church. The last thing that remained was us living out of wedlock together. So on a whim we decided that we needed to get married, ... Read the Post

The Indwelling

More than two thousand years ago, a simple girl named Mary was visited by the angel, Gabriel. He proposed what seemed like an impossible scenario, that God Himself would take human form, indwell her human body, and be born as the person Jesus. The concept that God would take a form that could indwell and live inside of a human body was a new concept, and Mary was challenged to believe that God could really do this and agree to accept His plan. As we know, that Christmas day when Jesus was born, the world was forever changed. Even our calendars testify to the magnitude of that change, since ... Read the Post