Reflections: God's Grace is Sufficient Volume II

By Ruthe McDonald

Whatever we face in life; we can be assured that God's grace is sufficient. We can find strength, courage, peace and direction in the grace of God. For God has made a way for us; even when we cannot see it. Christ has already paid the price, so why not receive the gift of His comfort and grace that will see us through every storm and trial.

Reflections: God's Grace is Sufficient, is a weekly devotional that will encourage and inspire your heart and soul. There is a devotional for each week of the year, along with weekly Scripture readings and prayer to help you navigate throughout this new year.

Be encouraged and uplifted as you feed your soul with encouraging and inspiring words; while growing in the knowledge and grace of God. Nothing is impossible for God, nor for those who believe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruthe McDonald
• Release date: Jan 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452442945

Ruthe McDonald

Author of Southern Comfort and Reflections: Encouragement in the Face of Adversity, and This Christmas: A Short Story Collection, Ruthe McDonald is a freelance writer, editor, and co-owner of Johnrue Publishing, an independent publishing house. She is involved in her community through Ministry, motivational speaking, counseling and promoting activities that help to aid those that are in need. She is a Board Member for a Non-Profit that builds and rehabs affordable housing for low income and moderate income families. Ms. McDonald is the current editor at BellaOnline.com for it's African American Culture site. Read her Reflections Blog at: reflections4life.gather.com Her next novel, The Devil's After Me, will be released in 2012.

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Reflections:

God's Grace is Sufficient Volume II

Ruthe McDonald

Copyright Ruthe McDonald 2012

Published by JOHNRUE™ Publishing at Smashwords

Reflections: God's Grace is Sufficient

Volume II

All Rights Reserved

Copyright ©2012 by Ruthe McDonald

Cover illustration by Ruthe McDonald

ISBN 978-1-4524-4294-5

All Scripture taken from the KJV unless otherwise noted.

Dearest Reader,

It is always a pleasure for me to share the word of God. To bring encouragement to each heart and soul that I may encounter. There is nothing that comes close to the level of joy that I receive from studying the word of God; from spending quality and intimate time with the Lord.

It is my sincerest prayer, that this second volume of Reflections, will be a source of encouragement and food for your heart, mind, and soul. May Holy Spirit illuminate the word in your hearts and give you understanding. I pray that as you take your time, and study and read the contents of each Reflection, that your hearts will be filled with joy, understanding, and encouragement.

As you go through each week's devotional, you may find that some scriptures are repeated. I believe in the power of repetition when it comes to the Word of God. When we continually repeat the word of God, it is embedded in our hearts and our soul and becomes a part of your daily life. It becomes, just as breathing.

Lastly, I pray that you would know that God's grace is truly sufficient—no matter you are facing, or how hard the trial. God's grace will keep you, even when you think it's over.

May the spirit of peace and of prosperity find rest in your spiritual, physical, emotional, mental, social and financial lives. You are Blessed. Now go...and Be a Blessing!

Warmest Regards,

Ruthe

As It Is In Heaven In

So He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Luke 11:2

Scripture Reading For This Week: Exodus 16:1-3; 1 Samuel 2:1-3; 2 Chronicles 6:18-20; Psalm 23; Psalm 35:13; Matthew 5; Luke 11...

In December, in the middle of the night, I awoken saying: No More Crap! When I was fully awoke, I realized that my spirit was crying out for a profound change; not just in me, but all around me. So, in this new year, I determine for there to be no more crap! It will be in my life on earth as it is in Heaven. Because this is what the Father Himself decrees.

The past is that: the past. There is no going back and changing anything. Only God has the power to do that. But I do know that what we do today will determine our tomorrow. I will not accept any crap from any person or thing. I will not even accept any crap from myself. And I definitely will not accept any crap from the enemy!

Happy New Year! Oh, what a year this is going to be! I believe it in my soul. In the deepest of my spirit. It is not a feeling, but a sure enough knowing. I know for certain that whatever you have been diligently waiting for the Lord to do; this is the year! Whatever good seed you have sown; this is the year to begin reaping its harvest!

Hallelujah! I am excited! I am excited to see what God has ordained for me and for you this year! I am anticipating and expecting numerous praise reports and testimonies of answered prayers, miracles and the supernatural. I am looking forward to hearing about loved ones being saved. Backsliders coming home. Deliverance and healing taking place. Immediate answers to prayers. Emotional and spiritual and financial breakthroughs!

We have sown in tears. We've planted in faith. We've believed in the impossible. And now it's time to bring in the harvest! Yes! No matter what it looks like, feels like, or what negative people may say: this is the beginning of the harvest for God's children who have been faithful and diligent, and walking upright in the presence of the Lord.

This is why I have declared and decreed, no more crap! It will be in my life, and your life, as it is in Heaven! God is saying that we must come up higher. We must not accept the lies of the enemy. And we must not live mediocre lives. We must continue in faithfulness and diligence.

Whatever we do, do it well, and do it to the glory of God. Now is not the time to sit back and get lazy, or accept things half way. We cannot be lukewarm in any area of our lives. We are either all for God, or not at all. There is no half-stepping! There is no gray area with the Father. It is either black or it is white. It is either cold, or it is hot, but never lukewarm!

My husband, John, asked me to clarify what I meant by no more crap. It simply means that I am not accepting any mess in my life. Not even from myself. My health will continue to improve. My thoughts. My finances. I will not tolerate laziness, excuses, negativity, naysayers, or I can't. I am not accepting this from anyone and I am not accepting it from myself. You know how sometimes we have a tendency to get down on ourselves? Well, I won't be accepting that in myself this year. I will not allow myself to open that door, and I have determined not to complain. I asked the Lord to help me. I never realized how much we really complain. I ask the Father, that if a complaint is about to come from my lips, allow praise to come forth. Let me turn any murmur or complaint into a praise and thank you, for His goodness.

And I am definitely not accepting any crap from Satan. Whether it comes in the form of things or people or the devil himself; he got in the right church to get happy, for he sure enough will be destroyed this year! This is war. And I know that it is a war that I have already won, and that each battle that comes, belongs to the Lord. So I must do my part, and be diligent and persistent in my walk, my faith and relationship with God.

This means more time in the presence of God. Less television, less computer, less telephone, less idle time, and more quality time with the Lord. Success is not based upon what I can do. It is based upon how much time I give the Father, and the ability to receive a glorious download from Him for each and every day.

As it is in Heaven, is how I am determined to live this year! I am anticipating and expecting my life on earth to be as it is in Heaven. All things that have been established in Heaven concerning me, will be established upon the earth. We do not have to wait to we are in Heaven to receive what is in Heaven. We can experience it right here on the earth. I am not only believing this for me, but I am believing this for you, as well.

The Father's will for our lives can and will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. So that, as faithful and diligent believers, we do not have to allow the worries of the world be our worries. We can fully cast all our cares upon the Lord and leave them there, and walk with the knowing that God is leading us to an expected end.

Sometimes we forget that we are not of this world, as believers. That we are citizens of Heaven, and that we walk and should govern ourselves by a different set of standards. We really need to walk and live by the word of God. Allowing the Father to govern our footsteps, and not allowing the worldly system and systematic problems dictate how we live and what we believe.

This is a brand New Year, filled with brand new opportunities. It is up to you to decide what you are going to do with those opportunities. As for me and my house: we are going to serve the Lord with all that we are, and accept what the Father has ordained. We are taking no more crap. The will of the Father will be done in our lives on earth as it is in Heaven. We are going to: live hard, love hard, laugh hard, and leave all the tough stuff to God!

I pray that you are filled with a determination to live this New Year to the fullest. May the spirit of peace and prosperity find rest in your spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, social, and financial lives. May it be in your life as it is in Heaven. You are blessed. Now go... and Be a Blessing.

Is Your All On The Altar?

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2

Scripture Reading For this Week: Ezra 6; Psalm 51; Psalm 43:3-5; Ezekiel 43; Romans 12; Ephesians 5; Hebrews 5; 10; Revelation 6:8-10...

We are entering the second week of the New Year, and it's a given that many have already failed at the resolutions that they'd made. Perhaps many try to go it alone, or to do it of their own will and in their own strength.

In any advent, when are are we going to learn that it is not about how much will power we have, or about how strong or determined we are. It is about our heart, and whether we have given everything over to the Father's hands. If we have finally laid our everything on the altar of sacrifices.

I have to ask myself this question. I have asked myself this question and found that I was lacking. I had placed my all on the altar, but then I took it back. Why? Why would I take it back? And you know what I learned? I was not completely trusting God to take care of me. I was not in a place of total surrender to God.

You know what I've learned about myself? That my faith had reservation. That my belief in what God said had reservation. Oh, how I cried unto the Lord to forgive me. Forgive me for having reservations in my heart concerning what He has spoken and has promised. I repent.

Here's the awesome and most loving thing about the Lord; He told me. He did not judge me, condemn me, or get angry with me. But He loves me so much, He told me through another person's testimony. My God! What an awesome God we serve.

How many of us (be honest) struggle to believe what God has told us? How many of us are having a hard time believing that God is doing what He said He is going to do, because the wait has been so long? Sometimes we grow weary while we wait on the promises of God to manifest. And it is that weariness that opens a door for the enemy to come in and plant seeds of doubt and uncertainty.

The enemy is smooth with it, though. You may not even recognize he's been on the scene until the Lord Himself reveals it. The enemy will come in with a soft, suggestive voice, as though it were your thought. He will insinuate himself into your thinking, until you believe that the thoughts you are now constantly contemplating on, are your own.

It is time to kick the devil out! Pull down those negative strongholds; denounce those thoughts in the name of Jesus, and declare that the will of God shall be done concerning you, and cast your all on the altar of sacrifices. Give your all to the Lord. Every care, every concern, every issue, every hurt, every pain, every disappointment, every worry; give it all to Him. Give Him you.

1 Peter 5:6-8 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

We hold on to so much pain, hurt, and regrets. We suffer needlessly because we do not give the Lord all that we are. God is not a wimp! He is not weak! He is strong—a strong tower that we can run to. He is the One place we can go and be certain that whatever we leave at His feet will be taken care of.

Part of leaving our all on the altar is walking in obedience; especially when we are faced with tough situations. It seems that when we are faced with difficult situations, emotionally charged times, or things just seem to heavy for us to bare; we have a tendency to turn inward and seek other vices to console and soothe us until the moment passes.

This is not the time to turn inward, or to other vices; be it drugs, alcohol, food, sex, or people. This is the exact time we must turn to God and leave our all on the altar. By yielding to God our body and soul, is the only way we will have peace and rest and be blessed. It is the only way that we can win over the flesh, and gain the strength to walk another day.

My heart has been opened. My mind has been set free. I have gain understanding that although we may have faith, and we may believe, and hearts are totally for God and for the ways of God, there can still be a part of us that has reservations/doubts about who God is, and what He promised to do.

When we find ourselves seeking solace in other things to get us through rough patches or slumps; when we willing sin to escape what is in front of us; then we must ask ourselves if we have doubts about what God has promised us.

Yes. God knows. He understands us. And because we have doubts, or have an occasion to walk in sin, does not mean we forfeit the blessings or the love of God. It does not mean that God stops hearing our prayers or answering. No. That is not who God is.

Let me say this first, before I continue. God's grace and mercy is not based upon how good we are, or how bad we've been. It is not based upon how long or how well we pray or how often we fast. God's grace is free. Just like His love. It doesn't matter how many times we fall; we just have to get back up. God knows us. He loves us. And His grace and mercy is always stretched towards us. So do not think because you may have messed up or went so far to the left that God's mercy and love is any less, or that His grace is no longer sufficient.

However, there are consequences for the actions that we take. And that is what God is trying to keep us from: the consequences of disobedience. Because when we decide to walk in disobedience, we are no longer under the cover of God's protection. We give room to the enemy.

When we are reluctant to place our all on the altar, and we try to figure things out and rectify things our own way, we give way to the enemy. We give him an opening to get in to our lives and wreak havoc. We don't have the luxury of saying I'll do this today, and tomorrow I'll start living and doing all that God requires. Why? It is not because God will not accept us; because He will. It is a matter of if we make it tomorrow after giving the enemy an opening into our lives.

There must be no open doors for the enemy. When we lay our all on the altar, the enemy has nothing to chase or come after or to use against us. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Don't you get it? The enemy is waiting for that moment; especially when you are so close to your breakthrough. When you are so close to the promises of God coming to pass, that is when the enemy really turns up the heat to get you off focus, and make an opening for himself. And then the next thing we know, we miss the move of God.

I realized that my reservations/doubts in my faith and belief concerning God and His promises have gave way to the enemy. It opened a gate for the enemy to come in and bring worry, stress, frustration, and mis-communication.

There is no rest or peace when there is hesitation in our faith in God. We know that God answers prayers. We know that God can do what He says He can do. We love the Lord with all our heart. We want to serve Him and please Him with all that we are. But some where we took our all off the altar, and began to worry.

Perhaps we have been waiting a long time for an answered prayer. Maybe we have been giving and we haven't seen what we've wanted to see in return as soon as we'd liked. Maybe it feels as though God is taking a long time to answer our prayers, and we are getting older without it looking like His answers are any closer.

If this is so, then perhaps you have not placed your all on the altar of sacrifice. Maybe you have grown weary and your heart is aching and you feel like you want to escape the excruciating pain that your heart is in. I say to you: don't give up or give in to sin. Not even for a day. For you don't know where the enemy might be waiting to strike and try to take you out.

Cast your all on the altar. Give it all to Jesus. Confess what is in your heart. Tell Him how you feel disappointed. Tell Him how your heart aches and you feel as though His promises are long in coming. Tell Him. And after you tell Him, let God love on you. Let Him speak to you through His word, through His spirit. God knows what you are dealing with. He knows your disappointments. But He also knows what He has promised you and has waiting just for you. He is waiting on you to trust Him completely again. He is waiting for all those doubts and reservations to be swept away. He is waiting for the keys to your heart, and for you to yield to Him your body and soul. Because in return, He has peace and sweet rest, and the certainty that all that He has promised is about to come to pass if you faint not. It is...just around the corner. Closer than you think.

Give it to Jesus today. He cares for you. Give your all to the Lord. Not just the good stuff; but all the bad stuff, too. Give Him the hurts, pains, disappointments. Lay it at His feet, and allow Him to wrap you in His arms, and take away your pain, as He brings to pass His promises for your life.

I hope that this week is filled with much joy and expected favor and manifestations of the promises of God. May the spirit of sweet peace and of prosperity find rest in your spiritual, physical, emotional, mental, social and financial lives. You are blessed. Now go...Be a Blessing.

Stop Playing!

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12,13

Scripture Reading For This Week: Exodus 20; Exodus 23: 24-26; Deuteronomy 10:11-13; 2 Chronicles 7:12-22; Matthew 6; Hebrews 12...

Stand up if you are on the Lord's side! If you love the Lord, then open your mouths and shout it out! If you believe with your whole heart that Jesus is Lord, then why are you continuing to do what you do, by playing church, instead of living the word, and being the church?

I don't know. I just do not understand how anyone can taste of the goodness of God and experience His saving grace and front like they love the Lord with all their heart, and play church so that others may think they are true and sincere. What is the purpose behind this behavior? Why would we want to continually nail Jesus to the cross, again and again with our duplicitous lifestyles? It boggles my mind and disturbs my soul.

You know the saying: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time? Well, we cannot fool God at anytime! He knows us. He knows our heart. He knows our thoughts before we even think them. So why, then, do we insist on living a lie? Why do we insist on playing church, but our hearts are far from God?

I told you before; this is a year of no more crap! I said I wasn't taking no more crap from myself, anyone else, and certainly not Satan! And on top of my no more crap list, are those who are playing church; living duplicitous lifestyles. They want the blessings of God's hands, but do not want to serve Him with all of their hearts. They want but do not want to give.

Proverbs 30:11-15 11 There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother. 12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness. 13 There is a generation—oh, how lofty