God Is Good All the Time And All the Time God Is Good
God writes, we just hold the pen
dan & lauralee patterson
dan & lauralee patterson
dan & lauralee patterson
Pastor Dan Patterson leads our senior group 55-Live at Applegate Christian Fellowship. Lauralee has taught many Bible studies over the years and has written devotions, as well.
Dan's Devotions are on the 2nd page "Ramblings from the Rogue"
suzanne deaville
dan & lauralee patterson
dan & lauralee patterson
Has written 300 and continues to be inspired by the Lord.
sunny couch
dan & lauralee patterson
dexter & janice k feagin
Has written over 160 devotions since 2019.
dexter & janice k feagin
dan & lauralee patterson
dexter & janice k feagin
Janice: When I started this website back in 2019, I had no idea how far the Lord would be taking walkingbyfaith.us and each one of us on this amazing journey. I have written many worship songs over the years but never written devotions until now.
Dex does not call himself a writer but is obedient when the Lord gives him something to write.
GOD WRITES, WE JUST HOLD THE PEN
Tom and diana gilley
Tom and diana gilley
Tom and diana gilley
Diana started writing for our website, then Tom sent me some.
vickie aubel
Tom and diana gilley
Tom and diana gilley
Vickie has a heart for the Lord.
ken skeen
Tom and diana gilley
ken skeen
Years ago, Ken Skeen was an elder here at Applegate Christian Fellowship. He is now retired and living in Myrtle Creek, OR
sUZANNE dEAVILLE'S DEVOTIONS
Memorial Service
I enter the room unseen, unheard; observing the group as they mingle.
There are different ages and types--an assortment of God’s chosen. The conversations indicate various levels of spiritual awareness and unawareness, some are not yet saved. Sharing coffee and sweets they connect in knowing one special person.
This is the reception following a memorial for a dearly departed saint. Friends are commiserating with experiences and stories centered on him.
Some guests are tearful, others composed with nothing but wonderful things to say about him, nothing negative today. Still, others are simply quiet.
I stay in the background and allow my senses to take in the feel of the room: the different degrees of grief, where the most need is. This is a room heavy with emotion and those attending are tender and vulnerable.
I patiently discern who will accept what I have to offer or who will not, who can offer comfort and who can receive it. The need is great.
I make my way among the mourners, with a touch here and a thought impressed upon a heart there. My presence is felt by some and ignored by others. This is a time when many are considering their own mortality, their personal standing with God.
Regret wafts through the group; self-doubt, questions, reflections. This is God’s purpose in an event like this, that His children will turn to Him and match their steps to His.
I fill the room to overflowing with His grace and make my leave just the way I came; unseen and unheard, but always where I am needed.
I Am. The Holy Spirit!
“Sing, O heavens; and be joyful,
O earth; and break forth into singing,
O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted His people and will have mercy upon His afflicted.” Isaiah 49:13
Love Doesn’t Leave
There are many ways to describe love, and many ways to misappropriate the word and the emotion as well. We have made it common and almost meaningless by attributing it to things of little true value.
There are also many wonderful applications of this heartfelt emotion where it becomes something you do as well as feel. No matter what form it takes, love makes life worth living.
However, I have been meditating on a deeper, more comprehensive love. This love is given from God to His creation --- to us; the ones made in His image.
It is impossible to grasp the depth of God’s love for us. How many times have we tried to wrap our minds around the concept of a perfect God loving an imperfect people: A love deep enough to die for us to gain our eternal life? Not only are we incapable of giving unconditional love, but we cannot even begin to understand it.
How great is our God!
Those who do not love God or believe in His redemption through the cross; those who disbelieve or ignore His incredible love still live in His love… because of His love. They still benefit from His grace and mercy. They may deny, defy, and scream at His existence, but He continues to love, protect, and offer them salvation.
All our lives are enveloped in His love. His is fathomless where we can only understand it in degrees. Outside of His love there is no life. For those of us who love God and strive to love Him, more love carries a great spiritual
meaning. Not only can we be secure for our eternal future, but we can live on a richer plain of happiness and a deeper experience of joy, contingent only on what Christ has done on the cross.
There is no greater love mankind can ever know than the love of his creator. No matter which side of the cross we are on when we die, God’s love doesn’t leave.
“The Lord hath appeared unto me from old saying, yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Jeremiah 31:3
"And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:19
Enough
As I age, I find myself weighing time; how much I’ve had…what I have left...have I done enough…what do I still need to do?
Growing up in a work-oriented society, I always question my productivity, past as well as future. I find myself showering in God’s grace to counter that ingrained trait, only to turn around and start weighing again.
As a Lord centered Christian, I don’t need to measure my worth. God has already done that, and I was found lacking. But God allowed Jesus to take all of my flaws, sins and shortcomings and pay for them in my place…in short, erase them.
Therefore, I am worthy.
My works don’t need to be measured.
As long as I follow God’s word, live according to the direction of the Holy Spirit, I am doing well. There is no need to question how much is enough.
I am, however, allowed to examine my motives, which goes deeper than counting works and keeping score. Then I realize my questioning and weighing is actually doubting. I am questioning. I am questioning if Christ’s work on the cross is enough….am I really covered…was His sacrifice complete…what did He leave for me to do?
I deny His Word, His love, and His sacrifice. I deny Him! If Jesus loved me enough to die for me, and He did, I am worth more than I can humanly understand. I don’t have to “measure” up.
If I have accepted Jesus wholly into my heart, I accept all that He is and all that He had done. And I am doing myself a disservice becoming distracted from meditating on the love of God, and in essence, focusing on myself.
Truth: I could never measure up
Better truth: I don’t have to, it is done.
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Psalm 32:1
Wood, Hay, and Stubble
As believers we don’t stand before God in judgment as unbelievers; however, we do give an account of our ministry.
Our work, done in faith and for the kingdom, will be evaluated. Anything we do that does not enrich the kingdom will be burnt up as wood, hay and stubble. 1 Corinthians 3:12
Wood is used for building. What have we built in our ministry that enriches God’s kingdom?
Do we build faith in new believers?
Do we erect temples of godliness in our homes, in our families, in our churches, in one another?
Do we stand strong against the enemy, creating a safe refuge for others?
Do we shelter and comfort? Are we just shiny reflections, standing for others to admire: reflecting God but not working for Him? These things we have built in our ministry and lives as Christians will be rewarded or burnt up. How we use our gifts and talents matters.
Hay is something we, the sheep and the goats, take into our spirits to nourish our souls and provide for growth. What are we allowing into our hearts, lives, homes and families?
What are we bringing in and allowing our children to feed on? We set beautiful and lavish tables with the finest of everything; but if we serve poisonous food our loved ones will be ingesting it as well. Rotten fruit spoils all around it; sickens the spirit and insults the Creator.
Stubble is what is left after the harvest. The effectiveness of your ministry is seen here; exposed to all and unable to be changed. When the Lord harvests your soul what will be left?
Will there be evidence of thick rich wheat that provided for God’s people, or will it be just a few wisps of dried stalk left here and there? Can that field be groomed and re-grown by other believers, or would it best be burned and turned to ashes?
Three ways to examine our individual ministries.
Some food for thought and seeds for prayer.
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16
Counter Story
Being a good listener is a special gift; even though it blesses the speaker more than the listener. If you’ve ever needed to talk to someone and found a listening ear you know what I mean. Call it a double blessing.
There is one aspect of this gift that can dampen the benefits of a good listener; and that is the counter story.
When you are sharing with someone, be it an emotional event or even a less personal incident, and the other person interrupts to tell you of a very similar experience they have had…. That is a counter story.
It does two immediate things. First, it is no longer about you but becomes about the listener. Second, it tells you that you are not being heard.
This is something we have all experienced and have been guilty of doing ourselves. It’s a natural response as our compassion draws us to commiserate and let them know, “I know exactly how you feel.”
When in truth we can never know exactly how someone else feels because we are not them.
Being a good listener is to step outside yourself and give your all to the person who needs your gift. The best blessing is given when you open your heart and your ears; do not interrupt and do not compare.
Don’t offer advice unless the speaker asks you and be sure it is scripturally based. Your gift will be better received, and you will reap a blessing as well.
Remember, they (those experts out there) say that 86% of helping others is just showing up. Words are not always necessary.
“Go thou near; and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it and do it.” Deuteronomy 5:27
It is Finished
The last words spoken by Jesus on the cross, “It is finished.” The greatest act of love in all creation, in all time, was contained in those words. The God who created us, designed us after Himself, loved us enough to manifest in human form and make the ultimate sacrifice.
This God died in agony for the ungrateful. His mercy, long suffering that is beyond measure is more than any one of us deserve.
“But God commandeth His love toward us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Jesus stepped out of time to gather every sin of everyone, past and future, before it was even committed, and took it to the cross. It is finished is the most powerful statement ever made.
Because Jesus uttered those words, we can attain eternal life.
Staying out of the confines of time, I look at what else is finished. The heinous acts of the past finished; the sins as yet uncommitted, finished. The pain suffered in the past; lives marred and cut short, the pain of the future; sins the enemy if tempting us to act upon….all finished.
The God who knew us before the foundation of the world sees us as finished and seated in the heavenlies with Him. He knows the beginning from the ending and everything in between.
It is His will that none should perish but obtain eternal life. It is His love that holds existence together.
“Declaring the end from the beginning; and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done.” Isaiah 46:10
He has started us out, given the ultimate goal, laid out the best plan or each; but has given us free will to forge our path if we choose, or reject Him entirely. We walk through this script one page at a time. We stray from the script; from His plan for us, yet He comes after us, not to punish but to redeem.
Those who are lost need to open the book, repent and accept salvation by what Jesus has done; what the Father has planned. God so loved the world that it is finished.
“The Lord is not lack concerning His promise as some count slackness but is longsuffering towards us; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
Sunny Couch's devotions - coming soon
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ken skeen's devotions - coming soon
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