THE GOD KIND

A 21 day Daniel Fast Devotional (Nov. 1-21, 2023)

Day 11

THE GOD KIND

by Thomas Miller

 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.

Psalm 63:3 NKJV

I struggled to “get” it. It was just so difficult for me to understand. I knew it was true, but it was hard for me to feel like it was true.

You see, for several years of my life, from my late teens to my early 20s, I just didn’t live for God. Although I grew up in church, I had chosen to walk away from what I knew to be right. My words, my actions, my thoughts—my life—were focused on me. Partying, promiscuity, and pretending were all parts of day-to-day living.

But then God in His power and providence turned my life around. He stepped into the mess of my life and showered me with His kindness. I repented of my sins, wholeheartedly started following Him, and for the first time in my life had a deeply intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He loved me!

Yet I struggled to comprehend and fully receive it. God was so unrelentingly kind to me, but I didn’t deserve it. It was difficult for me to look at the life I had been living and feel like I could receive His kindness. It felt like I was taking something that didn’t rightfully belong to me and that I didn’t deserve. I was embarrassed by my past choices. How could God continue to be so kind to me when I had been so apathetic toward Him for so many years?

As I’ve continued to follow Him, though, God has time and time again showed me that this life I live is truly about the love relationship I have with Him—the love relationship that starts from Him. Who He says I am is who I am. I am not defined by my past; I am defined by His love for me. What a kind Father He is!

Even to this day, if I look at my daily mistakes, mess-ups, or missteps, it’s easy to feel puzzled by God’s kindness. Why would He still be so kind to me? Well, the truth is that His kindness is zero percent based on my failures and 100 percent based on His love for me. And that is true for you as well. His kindness toward you flows completely from His character, not from your flaws, faults, or failures. He is kind because of Who He is. His kindness is greater than, bigger than, and beyond any of our understanding. It’s mysterious. But it’s real! We may not “get” it, but we get it. In other words, we may not fully understand it, but we are daily recipients of it. And it flows from Him in every season and every second, through the highs and the lows, the successes and the failures. Moment by moment, you can count on God’s kindness.

In Psalm 63:3, David exclaims to God that His lovingkindness is better than life itself. How could anything be better than the precious gift of life? After all, if we don’t have life, what do we have? But let me ask you this—: what is life without the kindness of God? David knew that this life has true joy, meaning, and fulfillment only in God’s kindness toward us.

So then the next question is this: since we’ve received such great kindnesses from God, how should we treat the people around us? There will definitely be times when others do things that annoy us, hurt us, or offend us. Their words and actions may even be malicious. So how should we respond? In those instances, the typical (and understandable) response is to either avoid, ignore in a passive-aggressive way, snap back, or retaliate. Those are all natural responses. But as followers of Jesus, we have His Spirit dwelling in us, and we’re called to respond supernaturally—by showing kindness.

You might be thinking, Wait, does this really apply to everyone? My family, my friends, and those I work with? What about those people I just casually meet throughout the day? Am I supposed to show kindness to every single person with whom I come in contact? The answer is actually yes. I’ve discovered that when you show God’s kindness throughout your daily life, it’s like shining a light in the darkness. That warm glow of kindness stands in such stark contrast to what people experience in other parts of their lives. It’s like a cup of cold water to the thirsty. Kindness is truly a gift. And it shines the light and love of God, even if people don’t realize that it’s God they are experiencing.

God’s kindness flows directly from Who He is. It’s not something He just shows on the outside yet in reality feels different on the inside—kindness is fully connected with Who He is. And His kindness can flow from His heart directly to you and then through you to others. It can be fully connected with how you feel on the inside and who you are as a person. The God kind of kindness always loves from the inside out. It is gracious to all and flows freely no matter how the other person acts. It is constant.

God’s kindness is a gift you can give so many times throughout the day every day. Through your words and actions, your small, medium, and large acts of kindness can show God’s love to so many. His type of kindness is better than life. And you get to give it to everyone!

Choose today and every day to give kindness—the God kind.

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Prayer

Father, Your kindness to me is better than life and anything else in this life. I ask You to live Your life through me so I can show Your kindness to everyone around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Activation

• Reflect on the times when God has shown His amazing kindness toward you. How did His kindness change your heart?
• Think about those who have offended you. Ask God to soften your heart toward them and show you ways to demonstrate kindness to them.

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For Further Study

         (Just click the verses to read it)

Matthew 5:38–48Psalm 25:6–7Psalm 42:8Psalm 143:8

_______________________

Prepared and edited by:

Armando P. Mariano

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El Chayil International Missions

We believe in "ELOHIM," the plurality of God. Singular but plural. One God in three persons.  Genesis 1:26 says, "Let US make man in OUR image...."  GOD the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit existed even before the beginning of creation. Come and join our fellowship!

 

"...that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." -  1 John 1:3

WHO IS JESUS?

 

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BE KIND, BE INTENTIONAL

 

A 21 day Prayer and Fasting Devotional (Nov. 1-21, 2023)

Day 10

BE KIND, BE INTENTIONAL

In the New Testament, kindness is translated from the Greek word chrestotes, which means ‘the quality of being warmhearted, considerate, humane, gentle, and sympathetic.’ It can also be described as a characteristic of true love as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4: “Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant” (AMP).

An illustration of kindness in the Bible can be seen in the actions of the Roman centurion (officer) in Luke 7:2–6. The centurion had a servant who became ill, and the centurion did everything in his power to heal this servant. Now, the centurion could have used his resources in a different way, such as hiring a new servant. But kindness compelled him to use every resource at his disposal to help his servant find healing. When the centurion appealed to Jesus, the Lord could see his intentionality. Jesus knew the centurion was motivated by compassion and kindness, and He could feel his faith. Jesus spoke a healing word from a distance, and the centurion’s servant was instantly made well.

How often do we see someone in need from a distance? How often do we hear the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit speak to our hearts to help someone with groceries, assist someone who is struggling, or speak a word of encouragement to someone who needs uplifting? As we act on what we hear and feel in these times, we are intentionally giving kindness to others. We are being the hands and feet of Jesus. Intentional kindness is the heart of God. Intentional kindness can—and will—change the world.

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Prayer

Father, please give you me Your eyes for those around me and help me see where I can show kindness today. Search my heart thoroughly, Father, and give me a heart of kindness. Highlight those around me who need a word of encouragement from You. Thank You, Lord, for Your intentional love toward me. Help me give what I have received from You to others and show me what intentional kindness looks like so I can love people well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Activation

• Reflect on a time when someone was kind to you. How did it make you feel?
• What would your life look like if you made the decision to walk in intentional kindness for 10 days in a row? Do you accept the challenge?

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For Further Study

          (Just click the verses to read it)

Ephesians 4:32Colossians 3:122 Timothy 2:24Philippians 2:4

________________________
Prepared and edited by:

Armando P. Mariano

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El Chayil International Missions

We believe in "ELOHIM," the plurality of God. Singular but plural. One God in three persons.  Genesis 1:26 says, "Let US make man in OUR image...."  GOD the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit existed even before the beginning of creation. Come and join our fellowship!

 

"...that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." -  1 John 1:3

WHO IS JESUS?

 

via GIPHY

PATIENCE AND ENDURANCE

 

A 21 day Prayer and Fasting Devotional (Nov. 1-21, 2023)

Day 9

PATIENCE AND ENDURANCE

God may allow us to experience difficult and uncomfortable situations on the way to our promised destinations. But the journey was going to be worth the pain, while we will have temporary discomfort, for sure we would get there.   All you need to do to enjoy the trip was to embrace the journey and be patient.

Many people fail to realize that patience doesn’t begin working in our hearts until we’re irritated. Waiting for something and having patience are two different things. When we are waiting, we are simply pausing in expectation that the coming promise (answer to our prayers) is near and inevitable. Our waiting turns to patience when our expectations are not met, and our timing is violated. In other words, when we get tired of waiting, that’s when patience begins!
There is a word for this process in the Bible: suffering. The apostle Paul wrote, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance [patience], and endurance [patience] produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3–4 ESV). Painful waiting (suffering) has the by-product of patience, and patience has the by-product of character.
Jesus lived this way. He experienced more suffering than any other person who has ever lived. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12:1–3 MSG).
Jesus led the way for us. He plowed through the suffering. He knows that waiting will turn into patience, and patience will turn into character.
We will get there. The journey will be over one day, so maybe we can quit asking, “Are we there yet?” and start asking, “God, am I done yet?”

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Prayer

Father, I desperately need the patience Jesus had when He walked in Your perfect will. I depend on Your grace as I allow Your character to develop in my heart. The waiting may be difficult at times, but I choose to trust in Your unfailing love. You have good plans for my life, and the desire of my heart is to be with You always. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Activation

• What are some “journeys” God is taking you on? Do you find yourself asking Him, “Am I there yet?”
• Think of a time where your waiting had to turn into patience. How did you handle it, and what character lessons did you learn from it?

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For Further Study

Romans 2:6–7Luke 8:15Ecclesiastes 7:82 Corinthians 6:4–6Galatians 5:22–23

________________________
Prepared and edited by:

Armando P. Mariano

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El Chayil International Missions

We believe in "ELOHIM," the plurality of God. Singular but plural. One God in three persons.  Genesis 1:26 says, "Let US make man in OUR image...."  GOD the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit existed even before the beginning of creation. Come and join our fellowship!

 

"...that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." -  1 John 1:3

WHO IS JESUS?

 

via GIPHY

A PERFECT WORK

 

A 21 day Prayer and Fasting Devotional (Nov. 1-21, 2023)

Day 8

A PERFECT WORK

by Bridgette Morris

Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1:2–4 NKJV

The first chapter of James opens with this charge, which is both encouraging and

 challenging: “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2–4). I would love to be that, wouldn’t you? I mean, who doesn’t want to be totally complete, lacking nothing? What catches my attention about this passage is the phrase “let patience have its perfect work.” How does patience have work? As I investigated the original language, the word translated as patience in Greek is hypomonē, which means ‘cheerful endurance, constancy, or patient continuance.’ In the New Living Translation, it’s translated as “endurance,” and in the English Standard Version, it’s translated as “steadfastness.” What all these words have in common is the picture they paint—they showcase actions we take and how we can do our work. Patience can absolutely be waiting and stillness, but it can also be an act of continuing to walk out what has been laid before us for the purpose of refining and perfecting us.

Letting patience have its perfect work in you requires being on God's timeline, not your own. “Active patience” is having an attitude of submission and gratitude for His timing instead of demanding God work on your timeline. Let’s be consistent with what God has placed before us and patient with the trials we go through so that we can be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and showcase the goodness of God in the world around us.

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Prayer

God, thank You that the trials we face in our lives can be used by You to better equip us for our destinies. Today we choose to let patience have its perfecting work in our lives. Please give us wisdom on how to live patiently day after day as we seek to glorify You and see Your kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Activation

• How have past trials produced fruit you are currently enjoying in your life?
• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any areas in which you need to let patience have its perfect work in your life.

For Further Study

(Just click the verses to read it)

Colossians 3:12–13James 5:7–8

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Prepared and edited by:

Armando P. Mariano

 click fb logo for profile:

 
El Chayil International Missions

We believe in "ELOHIM," the plurality of God. Singular but plural. One God in three persons.  Genesis 1:26 says, "Let US make man in OUR image...."  GOD the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit existed even before the beginning of creation. Come and join our fellowship!

 

"...that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." -  1 John 1:3

WHO IS JESUS?

 

via GIPHY

EXCHANGED FOR PEACE

 

 

 A 21 day Prayer and Fasting Devotional (Nov. 1-21, 2023)

Day 7

EXCHANGED FOR PEACE

by Hannah Etsebeth

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

John 14:27 ESV

Have you ever been there? Many (if not most) of us have. Following the Last Supper as Jesus was preparing His disciples for what was to come, He addressed the issue of peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27 ESV). Our Lord Himself fully understood that we would face fear and troubled hearts, and in exchange, we would need His peace. And as we see all through Scripture, we have a choice to receive it. You see, what stands out to me in John 14:27 is not only that His peace is there but also that we have to take a step to gain victory. “Let not” is the admonition Jesus gives us. Don’t let your heart be troubled. Don’t let it be afraid. In our journey toward greater freedom in Christ, there is always a moment when we have to choose to make an active exchange—our life for His life. Our sin for His redemption. Our unforgiveness for His grace. Our fear for His peace.

Sometimes the exchange of our life for His life—our pain for His healing—may come out as a bold declaration in prayer, and sometimes that exchange comes out as a whisper as we tenderly and carefully lay our deepest concerns before the Lord and wait for Him to meet them. But as we wait on Him and stay in His Presence, I have found that He always meets us there as our hearts are transformed.

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Prayer

Lord, I need You. There are areas of my life that are too much for me to carry. There are areas where fear has been the voice in my head, rather than the truth of Your Word. Lord, I make a choice today to exchange my fear for Your peace. I lay down my life in exchange for Yours. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Activation

• Write down two areas that are troubling you. Ask the Lord to exchange your troubled heart for His peace.
• Sit quietly for a few minutes in God’s presence. As you present these things to Him, take a moment to hear from Him as you make the holy exchange.

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For Further Study

(Just click the following verses to read it)

John 15:4John 15:26Philippians 4:6–7Colossians 3:15–16

________________________
Prepared and edited by:

Armando P. Mariano

 click fb logo for profile:

 
El Chayil International Missions

We believe in "ELOHIM," the plurality of God. Singular but plural. One God in three persons.  Genesis 1:26 says, "Let US make man in OUR image...."  GOD the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit existed even before the beginning of creation. Come and join our fellowship!

 

"...that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." -  1 John 1:3

WHO IS JESUS?

 

via GIPHY

AN INVITATION

  A 21 day Prayer and Fasting Devotional (Nov. 1-21, 2023)

Day 6

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Isaiah 26:3 ESV

Today, you and I face our own dark nights—times when following the Lord in obedience leads us into a storm. It’s easy to misinterpret dark, stormy seasons of our lives as punishment or rebuke, but just before Peter walked on the water, the Bible says Jesus “made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side” (v. 22). Maybe the storms we walk through are less about limitation and more an invitation—an open door into a new, greater reality with Jesus. As we consider this invitation, it should be noted it is accompanied by a peace that is only known “beyond understanding.” The end of our ability to comprehend is not the end of God’s ability to carry on in power. When we find ourselves facing situations we’ve never walked through and trials like oceans in our way, peace is both the guide and the guard for our hearts and minds.

Merriam-Webster defines peace as “freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions.”* According to Philippians 4:7, God’s peace acts like a shield. It stands in the way of the attacks of the enemy when he tries to assault our minds with anxiety and worry for the future. Against all the natural evidence we might muster up as we look at the storm in front of us, peace comes like a heavenly shield through the clarity and calmness of trust.

You see, peace is intimately interwoven with trust. How can we face a difficult time in our lives like the uncertainty and pain of losing a loved one or the difficulty of changing seasons and still have any sense of peace at all? Peace comes because we trust in God’s power, presence, and proficiency in working it all out for good. He’s currently working on whatever is burdening you, and He doesn’t need any help finishing the job.

Just as Peter stood on the precipice of one reality, hearing an invitation into another, you and I stand today at the edge of whatever issue is facing us with the invitation to trust God and take Him at His word. As we trust Him, we’ll experience that miraculous feeling of walking on the waves of faith and trust as we journey on toward the prize of Jesus.

*Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “peace,” accessed September 1, 2022, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peace.

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Prayer

God, we honor Your great power over all things. We have witnessed Your authority to speak to the wind and waves of our lives and have seen them obey Your command to be still. Today, until You speak those words and bring whatever is facing us to stillness, teach us to trust You and Your process. You are worthy to be praised and worthy to be trusted. We put all our hope in You alone. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Activation

• Imagine a hand that’s been balled into a fist. As an act of your will, now picture that hand opening up as you release every tie to worry, anxiety, fear, unbelief, and the stress that you’ve been gripping so tightly. See the cords of those negative things falling like strings through your fingertips, as you raise your eyes and hands to reach again towards Jesus.

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For Further Study

(just click the following verses to read it)

Philippians 4:6–7John 14:27John 16:33

Prepared and edited by:

Armando P. Mariano

 click fb logo for profile:

 
El Chayil International Missions

We believe in "ELOHIM," the plurality of God. Singular but plural. One God in three persons.  Genesis 1:26 says, "Let US make man in OUR image...."  GOD the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit existed even before the beginning of creation. Come and join our fellowship!

 

"...that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." -  1 John 1:3

WHO IS JESUS?

 

via GIPHY