Category: Scripture

From the Holy Bible

Assemble Together

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture2 Comments

I must confess that assembling together in a large church body is difficult for me because I am introverted and prefer no groups or small groups. But our church is big, we have been content there with pastors who preach from the word and a caring group in Sunday school. But why not stay at home? After all, the service is streamed. The Sunday school class is on YouTube the following week. So, why bother to go?

I think we honor God when we come together as His body and share with each other about Him. God is always listening, to our whining and complaining, to our gossip (that we aren’t supposed to do) and to our praise. I would much rather have an attitude of healthy respect for God when I go to church and remember the real reason I am there, to worship Him. To be honest, I have gotten irate in the past when the sermon doesn’t seem to apply to me or when the music is too loud (which is every week nowadays). But I am not there for entertainment; I am there for relationship, with God first and with other like-minded individuals. I think we need church to refocus and center our thoughts on what is really important in our lives.

This week was hard, with so many innocent children and adults dying in the Texas flood. I followed the news carefully, praying all the while that more survivors would be found and saved. I know and knew then that God is in control and this flash flood did not catch Him by surprise. I was, however, upended by all of the sweet little faces of those who will never go home again. Then, the Lord spoke to my heart that they are in their “forever home” with Him and He has them in His comforting, warm embrace.

So, going to church yesterday was like the culmination of my thoughts over the weekend. I wanted to do and be there and help, but I was here, across the nation, and all I could do was pray. How was I able to pray for complete strangers whom I will never meet in this life? Because I have a relationship with God and He is their Father, too.

That’s why we go to church, assembling ourselves together and talking to each other about the hard things, the toll that the deaths have taken on us emotionally. And the family of God encourages us to keep going, keep praying, keep obeying. God puts us where He needs us when He needs us to be there, and yesterday, I needed to be with my church family to be reassured of God’s constant presence and love even during a disaster and great tragedy.

How Do You Perceive Yourself

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App3 Comments

Think About What You Think About (You Version, 7-06-25)

What you tell yourself every day matters. If you believe something about your identity that isn’t true, then you will struggle to believe what God says about you. 

But, when you root your identity in God and allow His Spirit to shape your life, you will begin to see yourself the way He sees you—and this will influence the way you treat people, situations, opportunities, and events around you.

So here are three ways you can guard your thoughts and declare God’s truth over your life:

1. Identify the lies you tell yourself.

Your words and actions reveal the narratives you tell yourself. To figure out if a narrative is false, ask yourself: Is this thought marked by fear, insecurity, pride, bitterness, or a lack of confidence? Is this thought leading me to cynical or self-serving behavior? If you can answer “yes” to either of those questions, then the narrative you’re telling yourself probably needs to be addressed and adjusted. 

When you can identify where and when you began believing a lie, it’ll be easier to change the way you think.

2. Shift your perspective.

For every lie, there is a truth that can replace it—and those truths can be found in the Bible. Look over your list of lies, and ask God to show you in His Word what His truth is. Create mental space for the Holy Spirit to clearly show you how He sees you.

3. Declare what’s true.

Turn the truths from Scripture into specific, intentional statements you can declare over your life each day. 

Here are some declarations to get you started:

– I am enough because I am a child of God.
– I rejoice in suffering because Christ suffered for me.
– I am not ashamed of Jesus because His sacrifice changes lives.
– I am greatly loved, and so I love others like I have been loved.
– Nothing can separate me from God’s love.

As you practice these steps, keep in mind that if God—whose Word is truth—says something about you, then it must be true. So allow His Holy Spirit to transform the way you think. Let His thoughts about you become your thoughts about you.

My Thoughts

For most of my life, I believed the lies that I am not enough. God, however, has spoken the words to me again and again that not only am I enough, He loves me just the way I am. My lack of self-confidence and my reluctance to believe that I am loved stems from a difficult childhood, but my belief in a good and merciful God who loves me more than I ever thought possible has helped me to overcome my doubts. How I perceive myself is changing still. I continually have to remind myself that God loves me and made me the way I am. No fear, no shame, no ridicule…just love.

Transparency Before God

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture3 Comments

One of the things that we as Christians need to realize is that confession and cleansing is not a “once and done” action. It is ongoing, a process that gives us transparency before God. That transparency isn’t for God’s benefit. He already sees all and knows all about us. It is for our benefit, so that we can have a clear conscience and stand before the Father pure and holy as He desires for us. I am not getting into the doctrine of “once saved, always saved.” I am talking about confessing our sins and being forgiven on a daily basis, sometimes more than once a day even.

I use the acronym ACTS for my prayers. If you are not familiar with it, here is what it stands for:

A=Adoration

C=Confession

T=Thanksgiving

S=Supplication

I used to get adoration and thanksgiving all mixed up together. But I have personally discovered that adoration is being aware of and loving God for His character traits, like His mercy, grace, holiness, etc. Thanksgiving is thanking Him for what He has done for us. So similar, but really not the same, right? Sometimes, it is hard for me not to jump right in and start telling God my prayer requests. But by using this acronym, I slow down and spend the time I need to acknowledge God’s power and love, tell Him how I have failed Him and ask for forgiveness, thank Him for what He has already done, and then I can tell Him my current needs or desires.

Anytime we sin, we let a little darkness into our lives. If we want to live completely in the light and be the light, we have to stay prayed up and transparent before God and others. There is a lot of talk about politicians being “transparent.” Since I don’t think that will ever truly happen this side of heaven, I don’t have a firm grasp on what transparency looks like, but my own thoughts are that I am totally and completely honest with God. It is humbling thing to do, but it is also necessary for my relationship with God to be closer and fulfilling. The door to my heart that God holds in His hand is closed until I open it with the key of confession and humble submission to ask for His forgiveness. It’s hard to hear from the Holy Spirit when I am holding on to unconfessed sin. Here are some reminders from the Scriptures of why the C in the acronym is vital to our walk with God.

Do you recall who in the Bible claimed to be holy and without sin? That would be the scribes and Pharisees, the Jewish leaders, whom Jesus called out and called “vipers.” Why would He do that to the leadership? They had not repented of their sins and they were using their positions of power to oppress the people under a multitude of requirements in order to gain power and wealth. I don’t claim to be holy except with the righteousness of Jesus. He cleanses me each time I go before Him and confess and then I move on and try to do better in the future. My right-standing before God is because of Jesus. My clear conscience before God is because I confess and ask for forgiveness.

Why not take a few minutes now to do the ACTS prayer? It can be as short or as long as you need. Just take time to refresh yourself before the Lord. I can assure you that you will have burdens lifted and be really ready to face a new day with the Lord. God bless you!

Letting Your Light Shine

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture, YouVersion App3 Comments

I am participating in a group Bible study online with some ladies from my church. It’s called “Loving God Greatly-Abiding in Jesus: Bearing Fruit that Lasts.” We are only on Day 4 of fourteen days, but this devotional is really speaking to me and in some ways calling me out. Today was one that did the latter. Here is the text from the YouVersion Bible App:

The Light that we are called to shine through our lives is not for others to better see us, but to better see Christ. When we abide in Jesus, our lives begin to reflect His Light, shining in a world that desperately needs to see Him. This Light is the evidence of God’s Love within us, transforming our lives and radiating out to bless those around us. 

As we learn to abide in Jesus, something beautiful happens: gratitude begins to overflow in our hearts. We start to see God’s Goodness in every moment. Praise becomes part of our daily rhythm. It’s not just a quick “thank you” here and there but a deep and constant awareness of and gratitude for His Presence. 

Our lives become a testimony of God’s Faithfulness, a Light that points others to His Love. It’s shown in acts of kindness, forgiving those who’ve wronged us, speaking comfort into someone’s pain, and choosing humility over pride. When we abide in Christ, we find that our good deeds are simply the natural overflow of His Love in us. 

Sweet friend, your Light may seem small at times, but Jesus assures us that God uses every act of faithfulness and obedience to bring Him Glory. The impact of your abiding life goes far beyond what you can see or even imagine. When we choose to live as a Light for Him, we’re part of something Eternal, pointing others to the source of all Light—Jesus Himself, the Light of the World.

This devotional made me see how far I have come, but more importantly how much further I need to go. I have a little, tiny light that I hope is bringing hope to a lost world, but I don’t always see the effects of anything that I do, so I am not sure that I am having any kind of effect at all. I just want people to see Jesus in me and to show gratitude to God for who He is and what He is doing in their lives. Some days I feel pretty good about how I have represented Christ that day and other days I just feel beaten down, like a dry corn stalk in the summer heat. I don’t feel successful but I keep trying. After all, I am representing the King, and anything I do on His behalf is a way that I hope is bringing glory to Him. How about you? Is your light shining?

God’s Provision

On By vickleaIn promises, Quotation and Citations, Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

We can trust God to always provide even when we don’t know how it can possibly happen. God is always there, always desiring the best for His children.

Times can get hard because life is hard. But no matter what, before the hard times come, we need to purpose in our hearts that we will trust God’s provision and continue to rejoice. He has given us a Savior, the gift of eternal life and a relationship with our Creator. Everything else is just extra, as they say, the cherry on top.

Do we look at all we have and have confidence that we will continue to have it tomorrow and all of the tomorrows to come? Do we recognize that all we have comes from the God who is blessing us. Thus we learn to depend on God and not on things. The things we have may vanish, but God remains steadfastly beside us.

Gardening

On By vickleaIn Admonition, promises, Scripture1 Comment

Isn’t this lovely? Well, that is no thanks to me because I kill all the plants. In fact, I joke that they just go ahead and wither when they see me coming around. My husband Harry is the gardener and this is the rose bush he planted for me after my stroke. He put it just outside the window next to the chair where I sit daily. Since then, he has added all kinds of other flowering plants as well as bird feeders. He is truly a gifted gardener. We also have a bounty of fresh veggies that he plants for us each year. As my dietary requirements have changed, he has changed what he has planted. That means fewer tomatoes and more things like squash and cucumbers and even some melons. He takes what we can’t use to share with the people in our Monday Bible study group, so it all gets used. Anyway, he is the gardener and I benefit from his talent.

Let’s break this verse down in relationship to what I just said about my husband being the gardener around our house. In this verse, Jesus clearly states that He is the true vine. God is the gardener and we are the branches. What does God do as the gardener in our lives? The same thing my husband does to keep things growing properly in our yard. God weeds out the bad things, prunes back the unproductive growth and fertilizes and waters. We cannot produce fruit unless we allow God to be the gardener. We can keep weeds, those pesky little sinful habits that we know we should not have around, but they will keep the plant that God is working on inside our hearts from flourishing. We can say that pruning hurts and we don’t want to cut things out, even if they are killing the plant inside us. But, again, the plant won’t grow properly unless it is pruned, and it may even die without this process, no matter how painful it may be. We can say that today is not a good day for fertilizer and water. Since our plant food (fertilizer) and water is the Word of God, every day is a good day to feed the plant. God is a good Creator who knows just what He is doing in the garden of our hearts. He sowed seed, our mentors watered it until it began to grow and now God is the gardener who continues to take care of it. His desire is for us to produce good fruit for His kingdom, but for that to happen, we actually have to remain still and let Him work on us from the inside out. Our root system has to be healthy for the rest of the plant to grow as it should. We need to keep in mind that we will wither and die without our Father as our gardener. God’s desire is to help us flourish here on earth with Him in charge of weeding, pruning, feeding and watering. Let’s let go and allow God to be the Great and Loving Gardener!

A close up of my a beautiful rose from my rose bush in the front of the house. Harry worked hard on this bush to make it continue to grow and look the way it does. That is what God wants for us, beauty from ashes and a new life in Him.

Peacemaker or Peacekeeper

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture3 Comments

When I saw this word in my devotional this morning, this is what came to my mind.

For those of you who do not recognize it, this is the Peacekeeper Missile that was used starting in the 1980’s and from what I found online until 2005. It was tasked with “keeping peace through strength.” You know how it works? Neither do I. But I do know that someone, a person, has to push a button or set a computer or turn on a switch to launch it. This missile has no mind of its own; it is a weapon that does the bidding of the operator. And it keeps peace because of the underlying threat that it is pointed at those who dare to disrupt peace.

This was my scripture this morning. Keeping the peace is more of a passive role. You can keep peace by remaining silent instead of starting arguments or being disagreeable. But making peace is active; it requires stepping into the middle of a situation where there is no peace and speaking peace to it. It’s the person who says, “Can we just calm down and look at a solution together?” The key is to work towards peace between those who are disagreeing. When it is another person or several of them involved, this seems to be a much easier task than when it is between countries, But the same principle is involved because whether there are nations or individuals “at war” with one another, the peacemaker steps in and attempts to find a middle ground on which they can agree and move on.

We cannot be peacemakers or peacekeepers unless we know the peace of the Lord. What we do in and of ourselves will only be superficial unless the Lord leads us and gives us the wisdom to deal with touchy situations. So, before we can do either, I think we need to have a deep sense of peace within ourselves, not about every situation. The peace that I am talking about comes only from the Lord and resides within us as part of our relationship with Him. When the whole world around us is rocking and seems ready to collapse under arguments and demands, we can maintain our peace and be the peacemaker to help others become peacekeepers.

This is the song that spoke to me this morning. It’s about finding personal peace in the Lord and is something we need to seek daily. My days start busy and I usually hit the ground running, with a medicine schedule to keep and blood pressure to take and more meds and my devotional time. But, through it all, even though sometimes, my head is throbbing and my body aches, I am learning to lean into the peace that only comes from God. I realize that my schedule doesn’t seem so hectic to those of you still in the workforce. As a retiree, I generally don’t have to rush around unless I have an appointment that day, but at my age small tasks seem to take longer, movements to open medicine bottles are challenging at times, yet God is there, in all of the big ways for all of the small things.

Peace-Bethel Music

Praise Him!

On By vickleaIn praise, Scripture, Song3 Comments

Every day is a good day to praise the Lord, and since praise is in my heart and on my lips today, I wanted to share with you.

Just take a minute or tow and give God thanks. I am focusing on who He is today, not what He has done for me. Sometimes I just need to focus on His character instead of His gifts.

A Mighty Fortress-Grace Community Church

Praise the Lord-Micah Tyler

Praise the Lord-Phil Wickham

Please feel free to comment with your praise song for today. Let’s share our love of the Lord with each other and then go out and share it with others who need to know the power of an Almighty God in their lives.

As my southern pastor from many years ago said, “May God bless you real good!”

Fill ‘Er Up

On By vickleaIn prayer, promises, Scripture2 Comments

When I was growing up, my dad ran a gas station, which in the south we called a “filling station.” It was also during a time when the employees filled up the gas tank and the customer didn’t even get out of the car unless they wanted to go into the station and grab a soda or a pack of cigarettes. I actually worked at my father’s filling station for several years when I was in high school. I was his unofficial bookkeeper and worked in the office, which was really a desk inside the station. Since there was no air conditioning there, the door usually stayed open and I would hear the bell ring as the cars ran over the alert that there was a customer. I also got used to hearing, “Fill ‘er up!”

Today’s scripture verse reminded me of my time at the gas station. No one ever said, “Just give me a little, please. I just have to make it home.” Some people did ask for half a tank, a feat that I had no idea how the employees figured out how much to put in, but I didn’t ever hear a customer complain that they got too much in their tank. Keep that in mind as we explore today’s verse.

This is a promise to be filled, but did you read what is required in order to be filled? You have to actually hunger and thirst for righteousness! I know food cravings as every day just before dinner, I really want a snack but I know I should not have one because it will spoil my appetite for dinner. I am hungry but not to the point that I just cannot do without it. This last week has been a really hot one here in Virginia, with temperatures in the 100’s daily and humidity high. That has resulted in my feeling extra thirsty. I always keep water with me, next to my chair or in my hands as I travel from room to room. My nephrologist has advised me to drink at least six cups of water a day, and I have been meeting his expectation all week without any problem because I have been thirsty. Physical hunger and thirst are not what the verse is talking about though.

So what does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness? I think it means a soul-deep craving to have a closer walk with God, a longing for others to have a relationship with Him, and a deep desire for Jesus to come again and set everything right in this topsy-turvy world. It means that when I am tired and irritable, I open my Bible and read. Or I go to my memory verse cards and work on them. Or I listen to praise music. I need to know that God is close, so I move closer to Him because I am hungry and thirty for more of what He offers, a right-standing and acceptance from Him. I don’t know that I have all of this correct, but it’s correct enough for me to say that I think I am on the right track. I cannot know all things, but I can know what I learn daily from God’s Word, and I know without a doubt that spending time with the Lord gives me peace and gives Him pleasure. So, my words to God are, “Here I am again today, Lord, at your filling station. Fill ‘er up!”

From the YouVersion Bible App, Daily Refresh