The Daily Word: A Six Week Devotional

By Lisa Hendrickson

The Daily Word is a six-week daily devotional designed to enhance your personal journey with God. With dependable relevance, each entry inspires thought, prayer, and meditation on God's character and His heart towards humankind. This devotional includes a place to write your own thoughts and inspired challenges on the day's journal page

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jan 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781647736699

Lisa Hendrickson

I’m a self-published author with one title to my name so far. I have other works in various stages, a mystery that I will publish in August, and one I hope to have ready to publish this fall. I have no printed books as yet. I am middle-aged, fat with weird hair. I have accepted that I can’t do anything about the middle-aged part, but I am working on the fat and the weird hair. Like the majority of my writing, I am a work in progress.

Book preview

Hendrickson_FrontCover_Version1_1.4.21.jpg

THE DAILY WORD

A SIX WEEK DEVOTIONAL

Lisa Hendrickson

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2020 by Lisa Hendrickson

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information, address Trilogy Christian Publishing

Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, Ca 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/ TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-64773-668-2

ISBN 978-1-64773-669-9 (ebook)

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to you, the reader, who delights God’s heart. May you experience His love and grace again and again through the pages of this book. May you, too, learn to love to ask the question, Lord, what do You want to talk about today?

Acknowledgements

Without God, this book would never be. His love and desire for relationship is the essence of the book. Thank You, God, for loving me and this world You created and for sharing Your heart.

Without the support and encouragement of so many readers, friends, and family, this book would never be. You may have been a cheerleader from the beginning! You may have helped carry this vision to the finish line! Thank you all! God’s best blessings to you. May the seeds planted here with your help gain a hundred-fold harvest!

Introduction

Journaling with the Lord

Prayer is simple. Sometimes, I think we make it harder than it needs to be. Maybe it has been misrepresented at times. Prayer can be a plainly spoken exchange between you and God.

You might be surprised to realize that God loves to communicate. He who made this creation is a relational being. He designed and created people. God made us in His image and it is evident from before day one that God likes to talk, not in an annoying, yappy kind of way, but a communicative, inquisitive, informative, creative, and powerful kind of way.

The first book of the Bible explains a bit about creation. Genesis 1:3 says, Then God said…. There it is: the proof that God talks. He did it for each day in this series of events we call creation. He, God, puts His thoughts and ideas into words. He spoke into the atmosphere and He also talks to the other persons of the Trinity.

Does God talk to a regular run-of-the-mill human like me? Like you? Yes. I say, yes. There is proof in the Bible that He does. He talked to sheep herders like David before he was king. He talked to fig pickers like the prophet Amos. God communicated with people like Paul, a persecutor of Christ-followers, before he himself became a Christ-follower.

God communicates in different ways. Mary encountered an angel. Joseph had dreams. Paul was in a trance. Ezekiel had a vision.

God reaches out to us because He loves us. Imagine, if you will, parents who never talk to their son or daughter. Imagine if they brought a child into the world, took this little life into their home, and then never spoke a word of love, explanation, correction, reminder, or a joke in their eighteen years of raising their child in their home!

Just as that example is so far-fetched; the thought that God would bring you into the world and then leave you without a word is unthinkable. However, we do not always realize that He is talking to us. Maybe we go our way without ever thinking to talk to Him.

Wherever you might be on the spectrum of prayer, from formal, occasional, to frequent stream-of-consciousness type of visits, I invite you to listen and reflect what God wants to say to you, a not-so run-of-the-mill human. You are loved and treasured. Look at this devotional as another way God wants to communicate with you, His precious child.

My practice has been to write down prayers through the years. I often read a verse or more of scripture, process what it means, and then write a prayer to go with it. I was challenged to ask a question during the journal process: Lord, what do You want to talk about today? This question brought in another aspect of prayer: listening to the Lord. These thoughts are a result of that daily challenge.

You, the reader, are welcome to search out other passages in relation to the Word given and let the Lord speak to your heart. What stands out to you from the reading or the Scriptures? Journal it. Add your own search from the dictionary or additional Bible passages. Hang on to it. Write it down and review it from time to time!

I pray that these simple words lead you into a closer relationship with God and others. God is in the building process and you are one of the amazing living stones that He is using to build His kingdom here.

Take some notes along the way. Ask the Lord what He wants you to take away from the reading. What stands out to you?

* Please note that my thoughts are the words in italics and the other thoughts are from God’s heart. I originally wrote these devotionals with Mondays being day one of each week, but feel free to read them at your own pace. The writings span from March through July of 2020.

God is good!

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)

In His service,

Lisa Hendrickson

Week 1

Day 1: Sweet

Good morning, Lord! What would You like to talk about today?

Sweet.

Sweet like honey?

Sweet like honey.

What about honey and sweet, Lord?

A deep desire for me is sweet like honey. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in me. I am trustworthy and worthy of worship.

Believe me and you will live, really live, above the circumstances and above the noise. It is noise, the interference that wants to break you from the reality of my being. It wants to break off the silence, that the stillness that comes from knowing me and following me and it wants to run interference.

Don’t let it. Let it be the thing that drives you to me. Come into the secret and the quiet place. Come into my dwelling place. Reenergize your heart and still your mind in my presence. There is a peace and a rest in my presence that you will find nowhere else. No one else can do it for you. You need to find it for yourself. I will give you peace and rest, rest and peace.

Who else can promise that for you? Who else can give you that in the midst of the noise and the interference of the day? Professionals have good advice to keep you sustained in the midst of trouble, but no one is as professional as I am.

Let me lead you and guide you in a firm path. I have promises you have yet to see come to pass, but believe me. I make good on them. I just need you to turn away from the noise and turn to me.

Let me give you peace. Let me give you security. I am your sure and strong tower, a place of refuge in time of trouble.

However, I am holy. Repent and change your way of thinking. Let me guide you into a place and pace of holiness. Resurrect your old love and your pursuit of me and I will show you great things. I will strengthen your inner being as you engage with me in my presence.

I am not a respecter of persons. Anyone can come to me with an empty cup and I will fill it with myself and my love. I will be bold in my pursuit of you. Be bold in your pursuit of me.

Prayer

Lord, I come to You in dependence on Holy Spirit to open my eyes to Your truth. Help me live life in agreement with how You see life and what You reveal to me in Your words. Thank You