This Day With God – A Spiritual Journey | Share The Word

Attitude of Generosity

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Mark Shields

Why get caught up in materialism because everything belongs to God anyway. Instead be a good steward and give a part of what He has blessed you with to help others. Here is a link to a post with more thoughts or ideas on generosity.

Step Ahead

This day will be amazing
Because of what we are blessed with
And as we spend time now
Being a wordsmith.

Following the way
Which God’s word imparts
To change the world
With golden hearts.

With generosity,
We take the lead
To set some aside
For those in need.

Service to others
For a good cause
Requires sacrifice
Without applause.

But we do it anyway
For a world in need
To make a difference
Stepping ahead with speed.

Poem by Mark Shields – © 06-25-2020
Inspired by “This Day with God Devotional – Leviticus 25”
Photo – Feed My Starving Children Event at church hand-packing meals for starving children around the world

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Posted in Poems | Tagged Celebration, Generosity, Inspiration, Liberty, Poetry, Prayer, Redemption, Rest, Sabbath, Steward, Worship | Leave a comment

Freedom Is Found When We Lay Our Secrets Down

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Mark Shields

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16

From the post “Obligations”, we learned that a person’s word was as binding as a signature in Old Testament times. Not meeting obligations meant a broken trust and a broken relationship.

Fortunately, God loved the world so much that He gave His Son so that all who believe in Him have a remedy. Like the song If We’re Honest by Francesca Battistelli, freedom is found when we lay our secrets down.

This day with God, let us lay dishonesty down at the cross because it only divides but accept the Son so mercy is on our side.

Index of devotionals

Posted in Devotionals, Integrity | Tagged Devotional, Grace, Holy Spirit, Integrity, Music, Obligations, Praise, Relationship, Trust | 1 Comment

Obligations

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Mark Shields

The photo below of the National Capitol was taken by my daughter when she went on a school trip to Washington D.C. in 2012. Federal governments take our taxes with an obligation to use it wisely but all governments around the world are in debt. They’ve put themselves and the people they serve in a big hole that gets deeper and deeper.

This day with God, we are reading Numbers 30 about obligations. The Israelites were obligated to keep vows made with God and there were regulations as to how a person could break them. They took it seriously and had a responsibility to speak up if things did not seem right. A man was obligated to a vow or pledge made to the Lord. A young woman’s vow or pledge could be nullified by her father and a married woman’s vow or pledge could be nullified by her husband.

National leaders need to be held to account in how they handle their obligations to the people they serve. Politicians make promises that they know could never come about in order to get more votes. Their promises hurt a lot of people and in the end, it hurts themselves because the people loose trust in their ability to come through. If a business were to consistently be in debt, they would go bankrupt and the natural economic cure would be that a well-run company would take its place in the market place.

This day with You Lord, we’ve learned that our obligations are important and we need to keep our word. You have high standards and that is a good thing. You give us the Holy Spirit, grace, and the power to help. Each day, we grow toward a higher standard by studying Your Word, prayer, and living out each day doing our best at meeting our obligations. Amen.

Posted in Bible Study, Integrity | Tagged Bible Study, Grace, Holy Spirit, Integrity, Obligations, Photo, Prayer | Leave a comment

Offerings of Praise

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Mark Shields

Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. – Psalm 33:3

As pointed out in the post “Special Days”, offerings to God involved a lot of preparation but now we can make offerings to God by enthusiastically living with a purpose, worshiping with eagerness, and being interested in sharing with others.

Let us offer our praises today with the song Wonder by Hillsong United and enthusiastically share the wonder of God’s world bursting in living color.

Index of devotionals

Posted in Devotionals, Enthusiasm | Tagged Devotional, enthusiasm, Music, Offerings, Photo, Praise, Purpose, Songs, Tourism, Worship | 1 Comment

Special Days

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Mark Shields

This special day with God will be amazing because we are making every day count. We are reading the Bible, praying, and sharing with others about our journey. Today we are reading in Numbers 28-29 about special days that require offerings.

Israel had to bring the right sacrifices at the right time so the Lord would bless them. The special days highlighted in this passage are the Sabbath, New Moon (first day of every month), Passover (Jan. 14-21), Unleavened Bread (15-21 of each month), Festival of Weeks (First Fruits), Festival of Trumpets (July 1), Day of Atonement (July 10), Festival of Tabernacles (July 15 – 22).

There is tremendous detail in the preparation of these offerings in order to please God. Detail in what offerings are given, when they are given, and how they are given. The reason for these offerings is in preparing the heart for worship. We can be grateful that Jesus fulfills all of these offerings.

Each day is a special day to offer God our best. By accepting Christ in our heart, we can enthusiastically live with purpose, spur each other on, and have genuine concern for each other. We can marvel at the things around us, worship with songs of praise, and find excitement right where we are.

Many times we think the exciting things in life are far away but excitement might be right in your back yard. A sunset, a sunrise, wildlife, or birds in the sky. One special sunny day, we went downtown for an afternoon right in my hometown. Below is a photo.

Because of Magnolia Market at the Silos, tourism has picked up in Waco which is a city of about 120,000 population situated between Austin and Dallas. It had been a while since I had been downtown and was pleasantly surprised by all the new stores and entertainment venues. Sometimes an afternoon spent right where you are can be enjoyed more than going to some faraway place spending much time and money.

Lord, this day we are making it count. We’ve started with Your Word, we are sharing with others about how to apply Your Word, and we offer now this prayer. We want to have prepared hearts looking forward to fulfilling our purpose today and our future with enthusiasm by following Jesus. Amen.