+Dev+ Michael D. Inman Pastor

February 21, 2017 at 12:46 AM
Topic: +DEV+ Connected by Love

Connected by Love

“The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 7:7-10

As I was thinking about God's comfort recently, I watched a Christian TV program in which a beautiful young woman shared her testimony of God's love and comfort through interview and song. Like so many, she too had her story of foster homes, abuse in every form, and eventually the plan to end her life through suicide.

The very day she was planning to end it all, the husband of the family she was living with opened his Bible and asked her to read a few verses. The Scripture opened her eyes to see how important we are to the Lord and how much He loves us. This young woman's life was spared, and through wonderful Christian friends and godly counsel she recovered and is now busy serving Christ.

Today’s verses describe how precious we are to God. His love signifies a connection of our hearts with Him. His delight in us implies the ardent inclination of His mind along with His special tenderness and fullness of affection. That's how God loves each of His children. He is committed to us!

Insight: What specific challenges are you facing today? Remember how perfectly you are loved. You are connected to God by love.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 20, 2017 at 12:52 AM
Topic: +DEV+ The Sunshine of God's Love

The Sunshine of God's Love

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 41:1-10

For two weeks 17-year-old James lay in a coma. Fractures and extensive bruises racked his body with pain. A mesh of wires monitored his vital signs. Tubes, straps, and bandages wrapped themselves around him. Together, his parents, sister, close friends, and I - his fathers friend - prayed for his recovery and reflected on the irresponsibility of the hit-and-run motorist who had struck James as he walked across a street.

At the end of two weeks, Derick woke up and recovered to the point that his medical caregivers placed him in a wheelchair and guided it onto an outdoor balcony. What an incredible display of God's love and faithfulness that event portrayed! The sun was shining gloriously, and a cool breeze refreshed each of us as we thanked God for bringing Derick from critical condition to one of great improvement.

Truly, God answers prayer and holds each of us with His righteous right hand. We may experience weakness, but He is strong enough to hold us.

Insight: In God's care, there is a sense of peace, a reason to be optimistic, and assurance that His strength can never fail.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 17, 2017 at 2:29 AM
Topic: +DEV+ The Endurance of Love

The Endurance of Love

“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 53

Love “always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

Jesus gave us the supreme example of enduring love. Eternal hell was what He suffered when He hung on the cross and took our sins on Himself. Not only did He experience separation from His Father, He also felt God's full punishment for sin. Jesus is the only One in the universe who has ever experienced the fierceness of God's unbridled wrath against sin. We cannot begin to imagine the horror that was to Him. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of His love for us, Jesus was willing to endure our death sentence.

Jesus is not frail. His love is not fragile. His love is stronger than anything in the universe, mightier than any evil force, stronger than hell itself. His love was powerful enough to hold Him on the cross. Doesn't that forever prove how much He loves us?

Insight: No matter how many times you have turned away from Jesus, He still loves you and offers you full forgiveness.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 16, 2017 at 2:35 AM
Topic: +DEV+ What If God Did Not Love?

What If God Did Not Love?

“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Scripture Focus: Romans 8:31-39

Can you even begin to imagine God without love? He would be isolated in the universe, alone in eternity. Can you imagine our desolation if the Bible contained accurate prophecies but did not include assurances of God's love and care?

We often quote John 3:16, but do we really believe its message? God loves us so much that He gave His Son -- not only so we could live with Him forever, not only so we could escape the torments of hell, but so we could realize His love today and experience it for all eternity.

Sometimes we believe God’s love extends to our future joys in eternity, but we don't relate that love to our today's. When we live without the warmth of God's loving smile on us, our Christian lives become burdensome. We read verses about God's judgment and fear stalks our days and nights. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). Accept God's love for you. Trust His forgiveness.

Insight: We do not have to wait until we enter heaven to experience a love relationship with God. It begins the moment we open our lives to Him.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 14, 2017 at 11:47 PM
Topic: +DEV+ Pursue Love

Pursue Love

“These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Follow the way of love” (1 Corinthians 13:13-14:1). “[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Romans 8:39).

Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 13:13-14:1

God wants us to pursue love. Pursuing love does not mean trying to make ourselves more lovable. It does not mean doing things to earn God's love or to make Him love us more. He already loves us as much as He loves Jesus.

Pursuing love means that our goal is to learn the vastness of God's love for us and to respond to His love with trust and obedience in our daily lives.

Pursuing love means that we seek to live within the safe boundaries of His love. He has given us His guidelines in His Word.

Pursuing love means that we endeavor to apply His love to every situation of our lives – and toward all the people in our lives.

Pursuing love means that we ask God to make us more loving to others. We depend on Him to accomplish it in our lives.

Pursuing love means that we depend on God's Holy Spirit to produce His love in our lives.

God’s love is the greatest gift given to us. It’s the greatest love we can give to someone else.

Insight: Pursuing love means contentment in our relationship with our loving Father. Pursuing love means a discontent that urges us on to know Him more.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 14, 2017 at 12:40 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God's Look of Love

God's Look of Love

“Love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4). “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Scripture Focus: John 18:25-28

A friend once confided painfully that she imagined God looking at her with an expression of disgust. Have you visualized God vindictively scrutinizing your life, searching for some reason to punish you? But God is kind. He reaches out with love, promising, “With everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:8). He reaches out to draw us to Himself.

When we sin, God’s look may be one of deep sorrow or grief. After Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus' gaze broke his heart.

We can be assured of God’s loving-kindness toward us even when we do wrong. He promises that when we confess our sin and turn from it, He graciously forgives us and cleanses our sin away (see 1 John 1:9). He sets us on the right path and promises to help us live in ways that honor and please Him. We are never out of His sight. “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Insight: God is not looking at you through angry eyes but with eyes filled with loving-kindness.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 12, 2017 at 11:17 PM
Topic: +DEV+ Keeping Inside God's Love

Keeping Inside God's Love

“We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us” (1 John 4:16-17).

Scripture Focus: 1 John 4:7-21

Jude urges us, “Keep yourselves in God's love” (v. 21). How do we do this? If we rely on our feelings, we may worry that we are out of His love. Sometimes when I pray, I am restless and painfully aware of my shortcomings. An agitated, guilty-feeling state is not keeping ourselves in God's love.

Jesus spoke to His fear-ridden disciples, promising to send the Holy Spirit to comfort them and to confirm His love for them. He also spoke of the need for obedience. He said, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. . . If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:21, 23).

God’s Spirit produces love. It is not something we generate ourselves (see Galatians 5:22). The Spirit helps us rely on God's love. When we love Jesus and know He loves us, we are able to relax and enjoy being in His presence.

Insight: We keep ourselves in the love of God by remembering how much God loves us and by reminding ourselves how much we mean to Him.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 10, 2017 at 2:38 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God's Infinite Love

God's Infinite Love

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power . . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Scripture Focus: Ephesians 3:14-21

Our human need for love is a gaping, bottomless pit. Who can fill this deep need? No other human can give us the vast amounts of love and affirmation we require, not our spouses, children, family or friends.

I have often felt depressed over this. Then I read in Isaiah that God inhabits eternity (see 57:15, KJV). Joy filled my heart when I reasoned that if God can fill all eternity with Himself, He is surely able to overlow my bottomless-pit need for love.

It is futile to expect anyone else to do what only God can do. If we look to others to meet all our needs for love, we put them in the place of God. While we are doing this, we are missing out on the experience that God wants us to enjoy.

Paul prayed that we would understand the vastness of God's love for us. His love is unconditional. It is not bound by time, distance, by anything we do or don't do. It's wider, longer, higher, and deeper than we can imagine. It is vast enough to fill that bottomless pit of yearning that we have.

Insight: God's love is larger than the universe. When you have Him, you have all the love there is, and His love is all you need.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 8, 2017 at 1:09 AM
Topic: +DEV+ Kept in His Love

Kept in His Love

“Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back” (Isaiah 38:17).

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 38:15-20


King Hezekiah was at the point of death when the prophet Isaiah went to him. His message was not encouraging. “Put your house in order for you are going to die.” Hezekiah wept before God. Then Isaiah had a second word. God had heard his prayer and would add 15 years to his life.

A incident comes to mind when I consider how the Lord spared Hezekiah's life. A friend and his wife were returning from a trip when he was suddenly gripped by severe chest pains. His complexion turned ashen, and beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Paul pulled the car over and collapsed on the steering wheel. There wasn't another car or telephone in sight. We had nowhere to turn but to God, and we cried out to Him.

Paul specifically mentioned Hezekiah’s miracle as we prayed, asking the Lord for His healing touch. He distinctly sensed the presence of the Lord with us in those moments. Gradually the pains subsided. A subsequent checkup showed no permanent heart damage. God's love kept Paul that day.

Insight: Look back over your life. Thank God for the times He has rescued you from the very pit of destruction.


Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 7, 2017 at 2:00 AM
Topic: +DEV+ Keeping Inside God's Love

Keeping Inside God's Love

“We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us” (1 John 4:16-17).

Scripture Focus: 1 John 4:7-21

Jude urges us, “Keep yourselves in God's love” (v. 21). How do we do this? If we rely on our feelings, we may worry that we are out of His love. Sometimes when I pray, I am restless and painfully aware of my shortcomings. An agitated, guilty-feeling state is not keeping ourselves in God's love.

Jesus spoke to His fear-ridden disciples, promising to send the Holy Spirit to comfort them and to confirm His love for them. He also spoke of the need for obedience. He said, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. . . If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:21, 23).

God’s Spirit produces love. It is not something we generate ourselves (see Galatians 5:22). The Spirit helps us rely on God's love. When we love Jesus and know He loves us, we are able to relax and enjoy being in His presence.

Insight: We keep ourselves in the love of God by remembering how much God loves us and by reminding ourselves how much we mean to Him.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,
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Date: February 6, 2017 at 2:08 AM
Topic: +DEV+ A Hug to Comfort You

A Hug to Comfort You

“He guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11).

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 32:7-12

Several hundred years ago a great preacher said, “When God puts a burden upon you He puts His own arm underneath you.” We can relate to that, can't we? Sometimes the hurts and pain are so great that only God's presence will help.

God is our strength. We hurt, struggle, and hardly know what to say or do. At the point of our deepest despair, we feel His strength - His God hug! He takes His arms and holds us, reminding us that we are His. Within the comforting circle of His arms we are safe.

Sometimes God permits a burden to be placed on us because He is trying to get our attention so that we will rely on His comfort and protection. Think about the burden you are carrying. Is it an illness? The unceasing hurt and pain of a broken relationship? Helpless concern for someone who is rejecting you and your Lord? Remember that God is well aware of every facet of your need. He is extending His presence and His “God hug” of comfort to you.

Insight: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (31:8).
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 2, 2017 at 10:42 PM
Topic: +DEV+ How Much He Cares!

How Much He Cares!

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).”Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall” (Psalm 55:22).

Scripture Focus: 1 Peter 5:6-11

Today's verse from 1 Peter is both an invitation and a promise. How often I have come back to it and found hope and comfort in the fact that God simply cares - for me.

Our society often leaves us hanging out to dry. Sad to say, even within the family of God I've heard people say, “No one seems to care about me.” This hurts me more than ever, because I know that God cares for each one, and so do I. Just think how much God cares:

“My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches” (Philippians 4:19).

“Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' . . . Your Heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matthew 6:31-32).

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you” (Isaiah 41:10).

Is there any reason that God shouldn’t have our total trust?

Insight: The Bible is a gold mine of assurances of God's care. Throughout Scripture He has placed reminders of how very interested He is in every detail of your life.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 2, 2017 at 2:07 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God's Part and Ours

God's Part and Ours

“If anyone has caused grief . . . you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:5, 7-8).

Scripture Focus: 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

The apostle Paul reminds us that we are to consciously reaffirm our love to each other. This is especially necessary after one has been disciplined for some sort of wrongdoing.

We have a duty to confront a fellow believer who has fallen into sin. If such a person has listened and responded to the correction of love, there will be a real need for comfort. First, God's special promise brings a flood of consolation: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The repentant

believer is open to acceptance from us. We too have a part in helping to restore that one to our fellowship. If our acceptance doesn't come, that person's spirit will be further broken.

Perhaps today we should take a minute to think about our relationship with others. Have we isolated someone who needs God's comfort and restoration through us? Are we driving that one to “excessive sorrow”?

Insight: Ask the Lord to give you the sensitivity of His heart to provide comfort to those who need it. He will help you be a conduit of His love.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: February 1, 2017 at 1:20 AM
Topic: +DEV+ If Anyone Loves Me

If Anyone Loves Me

“Jesus replied, `If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him'“ (John 14:23).

Scripture Focus: John 14:23-27

Anyone can say, “I love you.” It's especially easy when love is understood as merely an emotion, a feeling born of desire and attraction. Scriptural love is not so whimsical or self-serving. It seeks the welfare of the one loved. Being truly “in love” demonstrates itself through conduct. A foot rub is sometimes sweeter than a kiss, and a patient, listening ear after a frustrating day can be more valued than goose bumps.

Jesus was explaining this selfless love to His disciples one day: “If your love is genuine, demonstrate it” (see v. 23). If we don't love Jesus, we won't care about obedience. How grieved the Father must be when we make empty professions of love for His Son while our conduct mocks what Jesus had imparted so carefully while He lived among us on earth.

Perhaps we feel that scriptural love is too costly. It's too Christ- and others-centered, when we long to have love gratify us. But when scriptural love properly governs us, God promises to live within us and fill us with His peace!

Insight: We prove that we love Jesus by our words and deeds, and by the way we cherish His instruction.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: January 30, 2017 at 11:39 PM
Topic: +DEV+ How Jesus Loves Me

How Jesus Loves Me

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

Scripture Focus: John 13:31-35

Most of us tend to be careless about Jesus' clear command to love others as He has loved us. Ironically, His disciples let it go right over their Heads. They simply changed the subject!

To discover how we are to love others, we need first to know how Jesus loves us. He totally accepts us exactly as we are, even when we're not a pretty sight. He's never too tired to give us His undivided attention.

Jesus is firm when we’re taking a wrong path, but He is never harsh. When tragedy or scandal enter our lives, He stays by us. He is never fickle.

Jesus is not afraid of intimacy. He even longs for it. He continually lifts us up before His Father in prayer. Though Jesus is high and exalted, He calls us His friends. He puts our well-being before His own - even unto death.

Why did Jesus give this command? He wanted the world to stand amazed as they took note of the startling resemblance between Christians and their Lord and Teacher.

Insight: Think of how much Jesus loves you. Then ask yourself, Will people observe His love in my words and actions today?

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Date: January 27, 2017 at 2:06 AM
Topic: +DEV+ His Unspeakable Love

His Unspeakable Love

“It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers. . . . He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:8-9).

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 7:1-11

God spoke through Moses, telling the Israelites how very special they were to Him. Moses said, “The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession” (vs. 6).

When God spoke of His love, He used a term that describes a love in which a person delights, implying ardent and vehement inclination of the mind, and at the same time tenderness and fullness of affection. It pictures the unspeakable love and tender mercies of God, who will never disregard His everlasting covenant with His people.

Today, though you are His child, you may be in the grip of some hurt that society has placed on you. You may be feeling insecure and misunderstood as you face problems that are frightening to you. Open your heart to the comfort of God's unspeakable love. Let Him remind you how precious and special you are to Him. No matter what regrets you have for your conduct in the past, He promises you His forgiveness and cleansing. He will restore you to His favor.

Insight: Right now you are loved with the fullness of God's affection. Let that truth overwhelm you today.

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Date: January 25, 2017 at 1:51 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God's Pursuing Love
God's Pursuing Love

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed” (Isaiah 54:10).

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 54:7-10

When trials assault, some people get angry and turn from God's love. The murder of my son Rick shook my universe. Though tempted to walk away from God, I reasoned that I needed Him to get me through this ordeal. It didn't make sense to leave the One I needed in order to survive.

I began wondering, When did God’s unfailing love begin? Was it when we were born? When we were conceived? Since God has no beginning and love is an element of His eternal nature, there has never been a time when God did not love us. From eternity past, God's desire has been to have a close, loving relationship with us.

Since God is all-knowing, He has always known the trials, the difficulties we will face. He knows we cannot endure life's nightmares on our own. He knows we need Him, His love and His strength to endure them, so all our lives His love has pursued us. When we yield to His pursuit, His promised peace and His unfailing love wrap around us like a comforting blanket.

Insight: All the experiences of our lives are interwoven with God's pursuing love. Are you aware that God is faithfully loving you today?

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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Date: January 23, 2017 at 2:29 AM
Topic: God's Look of Love

God's Look of Love

“Love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4). “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Scripture Focus: John 18:25-28

A friend once confided painfully that he imagined God looking at him with an expression of disgust. Have you visualized God vindictively scrutinizing your life, searching for some reason to punish you? But God is kind. He reaches out with love, promising, “With everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:8). He reaches out to draw us to Himself.

When we sin, God’s look may be one of deep sorrow or grief. After Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus' gaze broke his heart.

We can be assured of God’s loving-kindness toward us even when we do wrong. He promises that when we confess our sin and turn from it, He graciously forgives us and cleanses our sin away (1 John 1:9). He sets us on the right path and promises to help us live in ways that honor and please Him. We are never out of His sight. “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Insight: God is not looking at you through angry eyes but with eyes filled with loving-kindness.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,
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Date: January 20, 2017 at 3:07 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God's Infinite Love

God's Infinite Love

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power . . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Scripture Focus: Ephesians 3:14-21

Our human need for love is a gaping, bottomless pit. Who can fill this deep need? No other human can give us the vast amounts of love and affirmation we require, not our spouses, children, family or friends.

I have often felt depressed over this. Then I read in Isaiah that God inhabits eternity (see 57:15, KJV). Joy filled my heart when I reasoned that if God can fill all eternity with Himself, He is surely able to overflow my bottomless-pit need for love.

It is futile to expect anyone else to do what only God can do. If we look to others to meet all our needs for love, we put them in the place of God. While we are doing this, we are missing out on the experience that God wants us to enjoy.

Paul prayed that we would understand the vastness of God's love for us. His love is unconditional. It is not bound by time, distance, by anything we do or don't do. It's wider, longer, higher, and deeper than we can imagine. It is vast enough to fill that bottomless pit of yearning that we have.

Insight: God's love is larger than the universe. When you have Him, you have all the love there is, and His love is all you need.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,
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Date: January 18, 2017 at 2:36 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God's Enduring Love

God's Enduring Love

“Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4). “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Scripture Focus: Philippians 1:3-11

Our natural inclination towards impatience makes it difficult for us to fully comprehend the concept of God's enduring love.

Jesus the God-man came and walked this earth. He understands the turmoil we face. Long before God created time, He knew everything we would encounter. He was aware of our trials, temptations, foes, failures, losses. While on earth, He endured every temptation we can ever face -- yet without sin. He sympathizes with our weaknesses! That's why we can count on Him to supply grace to help us cope (see Hebrews 4:15-16).

The good work God has begun in us will be completed some day. God won't get tired or disgusted and give up on us. He will finish the good work He has begun, but He is not into quick fixes. His love sees the extended view. He knows who we will become because of Him. He loved us from eternity past, and His love will last far into eternity future.

When we see Jesus face to face, we will finally understand the fullness of His love for us.

Insight: Despite our failures, our setbacks, our having to learn the same lessons repeatedly, God's love for us endures long enough for Him to complete what He has started.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,
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Date: January 17, 2017 at 12:12 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God's Agape Love

God's Agape Love

“The greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). “May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love” (2 Thessalonians 3:5). “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Scripture Focus: 1 John 4:7-21

The New Testament we read today was written originally in the Greek language. Several different Greek words are translated “love” in our modern versions.

One Greek word is “eros” meaning physical, sensual love. It is pleasure-seeking, self-centered, self-absorbed love.

Another word is “phileo” which means brotherly love or love between friends. emotionally-based love that says, “I love you because of what you do for me, because of how you make me feel.”

Then there is the pinnacle of love: “agape,” a spiritual, selfless love. It is not feeling-based or self-centered. It focuses on what will benefit the person loved. Agape says, “I love you unconditionally, no matter who you are, no matter what you do.” It loves even when it receives nothing in return. Agape is the way God loves us. He poured out His love for us even while we rejected it. He sent His Son to give His life for us even while we claimed we did not need a Savior. That's agape love.

Insight: It is God's nature to love us. We can experience true love only when we accept His amazing agape love for us.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,
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Date: January 16, 2017 at 2:33 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God Is Love

God Is Love

“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. . . . God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).

Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 13

What is God like? The Bible says clearly that God is love (1 John 4:8). Since it is His nature to love, we could read 1 Corinthians 13 replacing the word “God” with “love.”

God has unwavering, unending love for you.

Others lose patience, but God is patient and always deals with you with kindness (vs. 4).

Others put you down because they have inflated opinions of themselves, but God is not proud or arrogant in His treatment of you (vs. 4).

Others ignore your needs, but God is never rude or selfish (vs. 5).

Others may be irritable with you, but God never gets angry without cause, nor does He harbor lists of your wrongdoing (vs. 5).

Others gloat when you stumble, but God longs to see you walk in truth (vs. 6).

Others make headlines of your failures, but God stands by you, enabling you to do right (vs. 7).

Others turn away, but God never fails you. His love lasts forever (vs. 13).

Insight: God's love sustains you today, no matter what happens. His love will sustain you throughout all your tomorrows and on into eternity.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,
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A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site: http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

Date: January 12, 2017 at 2:40 AM
Topic: +DEV+ Delight in God's Consolations

Delight in God's Consolations

“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Thy consolations delight my soul.” (Psalm 94:19, NASB)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 94:17-19

Unknown to anyone, I was worrying about a decision I had to make. I had prayed about it and was trusting in the Lord about it - to a point. While sitting at my desk that morning, I received a call from one of God's special servants to me. In the course of our conversation, my friend said, “I was reading my Bible this morning and found this verse.” He read to me today's key verse and went on to say, “I thought I'd call and offer it to you. I trust the Lord will use it in your life today.”

What an impact that Scripture has had in my life! I have often shared it with others when they have been confronted by worry and fear.

God knows us so well. He knows that when fear and worry strike, it is multiplied in our hearts. For every “anxious thought” He provides a special consolation. In fact, if we let Him, His consolations “delight” our souls. Even while we are experiencing the uncertainty of life, the complex anxieties, the hurt and pain, God specializes in offering us comfort and delight through His consolations.

Insight: Take a moment and list your anxious thoughts today. Then write Psalm 94:19 over them. Accept the comfort and joy God has in store for you.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,
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Date: January 13, 2017 at 1:08 AM
Topic: +DEV+ God's Adequate Comfort

God's Adequate Comfort

“Who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4, NASB).

Scripture Focus: 2 Corinthians 1:1-7

Four times in today's verse we have some form of the word “comfort.” In fact, if you were to underline every time that word is used in the chapter, you would begin to see what God wants us to understand about His comfort.

The apostle Paul acknowledges that we will have affliction or emotional stress, but God reminds us that He is our adequacy for every emotional need. He brings comfort when no one else can.

His comfort is for good reason. He expects that we will learn from it and then reach out to others who need to experience His comfort. Our suffering, while difficult to go through, can be a useful learning experience. We, in turn, can offer with tender authority to others that we have “been there” and have experienced personally the adequacy of God's comfort for the stresses in our lives.

As much as we need to be faithful in passing on the love of Christ through salvation, we also need to pass on the comfort of God to those who are afflicted.

Insight: Thank God for His provision of comfort for you personally. Ask Him to help you pass on this encouragement today to others who are in need.

Date: January 11, 2017 at 3:16 AM
Topic: +DEV+ Connected by Love

Connected by Love

“The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 7:7-10

As I was thinking about God's comfort recently, I watched a Christian TV program in which a beautiful young woman shared her testimony of God's love and comfort through interview and song. Like so many, she too had her story of foster homes, abuse in every form, and eventually the plan to end her life through suicide.

The very day she was planning to end it all, the husband of the family she was living with opened his Bible and asked her to read a few verses. The Scripture opened her eyes to see how important we are to the Lord and how much He loves us. This young woman's life was spared, and through wonderful Christian friends and godly counsel she recovered and is now busy serving Christ.

Today’s verses describe how precious we are to God. His love signifies a connection of our hearts with Him. His delight in us implies the ardent inclination of His mind along with His special tenderness and fullness of affection. That's how God loves each of His children. He is committed to us!

Insight: What specific challenges are you facing today? Remember how perfectly you are loved. You are connected to God by love.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,
We are also in need of a video camera to make YouTube videos related to these messages
If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.
A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site: http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

Michael D. Inman

- "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing." John Stuart Mill, 1867

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." ~Maj. Gen. James Mattis~

- "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson

Psalms 144:1 Blessed be Jehovah my rock, Who teacheth my hands to war, And my fingers to fight.