Spirit and HEART: A Devotional Journey

We encourage our readers to support Christian writers and literature by purchasing books written by our authors. There is good, wholesome reading in the Christian market. Check out your local Christian Book Stores. Spirit & HEART: A Devotional Journey from the authors of Christian Devotions Created in the image of the Father, we carry His Spirit and Soul, His Spirit and Mind, His Spirit and Body and His Spirit and Heart. From the authors of Christian Devotions comes the first in a series of 30-day devotionals focusing on the image and attributes given to us by God. Within the pages of Spirit & HEART: A Devotional Journey are passage markers to guide you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Father. Included in this compilation are devotions by Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles, plus, Christy award winner Ann Tatlock and best selling authors, Loree Lough, Yvonne Lehman, Ginny Smith, Irene Brand, Shelby Rawson, and Ariel Allison. Just in time for Spring! ISBN: 978-0-9822065-1-5 Retail: $9.95 SPECIAL pre-order price: $7.95 + $3 shipping Contact us at books@christiandevotions.us and give us your mailing address and the number of books you would like to order. We'll include an invoice with the shipment. You can also mail your order to: Christian Devotions, P. O. Box 6494, Kingsport, TN, 37663. And don't forget to encourage your friends and church to purchase a copy. Spread the word; advance the Good News of God's grace!

Dress to Bless -- Sue Payne

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." Colossians 3:12

Lately, one of the important decisions I make daily is how many layers of clothing to wear in order to stay warm. I am not a cold weather person, so I take great care in dressing properly during these chilly winter months. Our thermostat is set at 65 degrees, so I have been known to wear a hood or winter hat inside the house to keep my body heat from escaping. These kinds of layers can become quite burdensome and time consuming. The time I spend getting dressed and then removing layers, not to mention doing the extra laundry it creates, takes a lot of extra effort and still some days I find myself chilled to the bone.

According to God’s Word, we’re also responsible for dressing ourselves with “moral excellence”, which is Webster’s definition of virtue. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience are the wardrobe for the “chosen” who choose to put it on. These are layers we must decide to wear in order to share the warmth of Jesus.

Unlike the insulated attire we put on during the winter that holds the heat in, this virtuous line of clothing shares the warmth! And though there are more of them than layers of winter clothing, you’ll find when you wear these virtues, you can move about with ease, your heart and soul lifted with the joy and privilege of dressing like Christ.

Sharing this kind of warmth is never a waste of time, in fact, time management skills improve when you’re “dressed” appropriately. Others will notice your new look, too. You will be “dressed to bless” and they will be the recipients.

I have to admit, though, once you put these clothes of virtue on, it takes quite a bit of effort to keep them from coming off. That’s where the perfect accessory for your new outfit comes in! Colossians 3:14 says, "And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Now, all you need to do is a little “soul searching” in your prayer closet. God has chosen the perfect attire for you to wear. Be a super model for Christ.

Sue Payne is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in home schooling newsletters and church news bulletins. She is experienced in curriculum planning and design and uses her writing skills to encourage and teach others. Sue lives in Delaware, is married, and has two boys whom she home schooled for a total of fourteen years.

HE SAID, SHE SAID - Eddie Jones & Cindy Sproles

“…stand firm then,…with the breastplate of righteousness in place.” - Ephesians 6:14b

Listen to "Tents" Moments

What would you attempt to do if you knew you wouldn't fail?

A few years back I found myself sleeping in a state park near Newark, Delaware. Some months earlier I'd lost my job. Oh, I knew where it was. The job was hiding in a cubicle in Bangalore, India but I wasn't flying halfway around the world to bring it home. I couldn't afford the plane ticket, anyway. Couldn't afford a room at the Howard Johnson, either. So, that evening I set up my tent, unloaded my gear and then drove my twenty-year-old Toyota hatchback up the road to a writers conference. I had a dream and a manuscript and not much else.

Dreams are funny things. When you're not watching, they'll slip off and become real. Mine sat in the passenger seat staring out the window. I birth big dreams.

Before I left the house that morning I'd "prayed on" the breastplate of righteousness. I'd asked God to keep my thoughts pure and my dreams secure. Righteous thoughts are the lifeblood of Christians. What we think, we do and become. Lust long enough and you take what's not yours. Meditate on God's Word and your spirit aligns with His.

I have a heart full of dreams, some of them from God. God says He knows the plans He has for us. Plans for good not ill, plans for a future and hope. One of the dreams He placed in my heart is to write for Him.

The last night of the writers conference I returned to my campsite and found my tent in a heap and my sleeping bag soaked. The wind and rain had blown it down. I threw it all in the trunk, crawled behind the wheel and looked at the award certificate on the passenger seat.

"Come on, dream," I said. "We're checking into a hotel. God's given us an upgrade."

The award money for winning first place was more than enough to pay for a dry room, but none of it would have mattered if I hadn't put on the breastplate of righteousness each day and asked God to keep my dreams secure. The dreams, the heart of serving Him, are what drives us forward.

Jesus says where our treasure is our heart will be, too. Guard your heart. Purify your thoughts. Strap on the breastplate of righteousness and protect your dreams. Then march to the sound of His still small voice. Who knows how far He will take you.

Listen to Unprotected and Injured by Cindy Sproles>

“…stand firm then,…with the breastplate of righteousness in place.” - Ephesians 6:14b

I grabbed at my chest as the pain seared through my heart. I never knew anything could hurt so deeply. I thought I could press hard against my breastbone and the ache would stop but it didn’t. Instead, it resonated into an overwhelming throb. I lost my breath as I looked toward the ceiling, holding back the tears.

It wasn’t much of an anniversary—the day my ex-husband asked for a divorce. We’d enjoyed a nice dinner for our seventh anniversary and I thought, He wants to make a go of this. But I was wrong. He’d given me a sweet anniversary card and a pretty shirt, then slid a business card across the table with the name and address of an attorney.

It was over. Just like that.

The dreams of a long happy life with my husband and sons sailed out the front door of the Steak and Shake never to return. I wasn’t ready….wasn’t prepared, so when the spear was hurled, it struck center chest and sunk deep. The burred tip slipped into the flesh and tore away chunks when removed. I was unprotected and nearly down for the count.

As I crawled away, bleeding and wounded, the importance of being protected became reality. Policemen wear bullet-proof vests, firemen wear fire-retardant cover-alls. I had a breastplate. Why hadn’t I suited up? I’d walked into battle vulnerable.

I’d studied the armor of God as a child, but never absorbed its importance—never grasped the concept. So as an adult, I found myself prime prey for personal and spiritual attacks.

I wish I’d have understood then, what I know now. Had I have been armed with the armor of God, I could have protected myself. I could have laid claim to the promises Christ reiterated through the scripture. Took His victories and made them mine.

God’s armor doesn’t prevent our chaos. Bad things still happen to good people, but when we are clothed with His righteousness, protected by His breastplate, the spears cannot penetrate. We may stumble, but we do not fall.

God saved me that year. I geared up, bucked up, and stood up—this time fully protected. My life is amazing now. I’m surrounded by the love of a man who stands shoulder to shoulder with me when we’re faced with hardships.

Protect yourself with His righteousness. Wear His armor. The battle is not always easier but it’s certainly less deadly.

Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles
are friends and co-founders of
ChristianDevotions.us. They
co-write the popular He Said, She Said
devotions and host BlogtalkRadio's
Christian Devotions Speak UP! along with
Marianne Jordan.

Devotionlist -- Pat Patterson

The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!" He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. Mt 8:25-27

"How long was she under?"

"Five minutes?" the teenager cried. "Maybe more, I don’t know!"

I scooped my patient out of the water and laid her on a dry portion of cement beside the pool. The pretty little pig-tailed girl with chubby cheeks and dimples looked to be about eight years old, and as cute as a button, but her lightly freckled face looked dull and colorless, her eyes as lifeless as a plastic baby doll’s.

"I only took my eye off of her for a minute," her sister exclaimed. "I’m so sorry! Is she going to be all right?"

"Quick," I said tearing open the plastic wrapper for an Ambu-bag. "Get the monitor." My partner grabbed the EKG monitor and removed the electrode cables. "Somebody start compressions." I placed the resuscitator unit over the patient’s mouth and gave the bag a squeeze. Her chest rose and fell. Water trickled from the corner of her mouth. One of the firefighters removed his helmet and knelt by my side. He placed his hands on her chest and started pushing against her breastbone with a verbal cadence of one, and two, and three…

"Folks," I heard my partner say, "please stand back. Give us room." He pulled the backing off of a sticky electrode pad and attached it to one of her legs. He repeated the process on each of her other limbs while the firefighter and I performed CPR. "Okay," he said turning on the unit. The EKG monitor beeped. A harsh, erratic, jumpy yellow line traced across the screen. "Let’s take a look." He placed a hand on the firefighter’s arm. "Hold compressions."

The firefighter stopped. I held my breath. The EKG line flattened out, hiccuped once, and then grew into a regular patern of uniform complexes. Oh, thank you, Jesus!

I gave our patient two more full ventilations and then watched in amazement as she opened her eyes and began to cough and choke. We rolled her onto her side, careful to protect her head and neck as the clear pool water drained from her mouth and nose. "Non-rebreather," I said reaching out and snapping my fingers. Someone placed a hissing oxygen mask into my hand. I placed it over her face and waited, speaking quietly to her and praying silently as I coaxed her back to life. "Come on," I said. "You can do it. Come on back to us, come back." And slowly but surely she did. She pinked up. Her eyes opened. And then as if waking from a nightmare and realizing it was all just a terrible dream she closed those innocent blues again and began to cry. I closed mine too, but I began to pray. "Thank you, Lord. Oh, thank you, Lord."

*

Lord, I’m struggling. I feel like I’m drowning down here. I can see the surface but I just can’t seem to get there. Help me! Give me your hand, Lord. Please save me!

Have you been there? Where the cares of this world make you feel like you’re about to drown? Well next time you find yourself in the midst of a raging tempest with the wind shrieking and waves crashing all around, remember you’re not alone. Jesus is right there with you.
"Save us," his Disciples cried. "We’re going to drown!"

And look what Jesus did. He woke from his sleep. He stood and boldly rebuked the storm. And the wind and waves subsided. And peace fell over the scene.

* * *

How Does God Work -- Cindy Sproles

I've often wondered how God really works. Let's face it. He's not always easily understood. You have to wonder what kind of God expects His follower's to trust in what they can't see. Better yet, accept His will when He seems so intangible.

Over the last 7 years I've grown to expect the unexpected from God. I never expected to be in the ministry (well, at least not after I divorced a minister). But when my writing career began it became my ministry. I spent so much time worrying that God would send me to Africa that I never looked at the possibilities that He would use the talents He built into my wiring.

So, how does God work? How do we know His will? Still questions that are hard to answer. But I can say without difficulty, that the day I laid my talents before Christ and said those infamous words....the words that we have such a hard time saying..."Use me," that my life turned around.

I've never held a job that was overtly exciting--they were fulfilling but not exciting, but when God blessed me with a ministry, I found excitement I never thought I'd know.

God works when we ask Him to step into the lead. Our desire is to be the head dog, but that's not what God wants. He can't and won't work in us when we insist on taking the lead, scarfing the credit and basking in the glory. It's not about us. It's about Him. My ministry partner and I talked extensively about the "comment" lines on the ministry site. We agreed wholeheartedly that the comments needed to go. The site was God centered not "us" centered. It certainly wasn't the popular choice of our writers but the site and the ministry belongs to Christ. We are simply the messengers. We took the comment line away and God blessed the ministry over and over.


And knowing His will -- well, that's even harder. I've learned that I can know His will by assessing the blessings He's given me. When I look over the successes, whether big or small, count the blessings and give credit for the joys, then I can clearly see His will. Knowing God's will is not always understanding the future, rather it's praying for His discernment and then following the path step by step. I look ahead one step and access the results of what I've done. If the results are good, have worked well then I trust that I am within His will.

I mess up. But God continues to lead me and love me. Go figure.

He drives the words that I place on the paper and with each letter I offer them fully to His service. He has filled me with a passion to write and though my personal goal is to be published my spiritual goal is to be His servant. I want to be a writer. I am a writer above all else. I write continually, whether successful by human standards or not, and He uses me to speak to the guy next door, or the lady in the next office.

How does God work? Wonderfully and amazingly. And He has chosen to work through me.

Christian Devotions

He Said -- She Said January 2, 2009

Do Overs -- He Said, Eddie Jones

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’” Lamentations 3:22-24

“Well… I guess Christmas is over,” my son said as I guided our car into the driveway.

The front porch sparkled with lights embedded in green plastic garland draped across the railing. Through the glass window of the door Christmas bulbs blazed red, yellow, blue and green. An octagonal stop sign on the front steps said: DON’T FORGET TO STOP, SANTA. Our family was home for the Holydays and Christmas day was almost done.

I parked the car and turned to my son. “It’s not over, yet. As long as the tree is up, it’s still Christmas.”

I dread the dreariness of the New Year with its cold, gray days. Christmas is about laughter, fellowship and snacks that make me fat. New Year’s is filled with remorse, because it’s a time of reflection and self-evaluation and I seldom like what I see. Day one of a new year only serves to remind me that I’m still the same flawed father and husband I was the year before. My resolve to become a better person fades as the grind of life’s pressures shapes me into the grumpy old man I’m destined to become.

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned,” read the entry in last year’s prayer journal. Beneath my confession was a list of grievances I had against myself. Petty things like, pride, lust, arrogance, discouragement and anger.

But today is a new year, a different day than the one before. “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why they call it ‘Present.’” I forget who said this. I think I heard it in a chic-flick. But it’s a clever way of restating what the writer of Lamentations said when he wrote; “God’s love is new every morning. His faithfulness is great. His portion sufficient.” My resolve to be a better father and husband may fail, but God’s compassions and encouragement never will.

So today I pray; “Lord, change me in ways I can’t. Help me to love my wife the way you love her, to be more aware of your presence in my life and to have the compassion of Christ. May my thoughts be pure and my purpose in you secure.”

No, son Christmas isn’t over. It is just beginning, as it begins every day, for those who truly believe in Christ.

Song Sung Blue -- She Said

Song Sung Blue -- She Said, Cindy Sproles

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

During the 70’s Neil Diamond walked on stage before thousands of fans, acoustic guitar in hand, and began to sing, “Song sung blue, everybody knows one…..every garden grows one….me and you are subject to the blues…” The words were just a few phrases but they reminded us that we all suffer sadness from time to time.

I’ve walked onto the porch in the middle of the night, a chill sweeping over me, and wondered if the incredible loneliness I felt was normal. Wondered why God had stepped away from me, taking his warmth, fellowship and sense of acceptance from me.

Where are you? Why have you walked away when I need you the most? But my laments fall on deaf ears.

Jeremiah wept for Israel. His song was blue, as well. In his sadness, he poured out his loneliness and brokenness, complaining that God had turned His back on the children He loved. Jeremiah knew that though his cries were not being acknowledged, God still heard them and he found comfort in the promise that the Lord’s love was so great, so massive, so undeniably strong that His compassion would never fail. There would be a new hope each day.

I watched as the clock ticked past midnight, the hands sweeping away another year. The metronome sound of the clock’s gears reminded me that God is constant. He never leaves me, although sometimes He allows me to think. He lets me long for Him. He waits for me to sort through my sin and seek repentance. God may not acknowledge my cries, but He definitely hears them. His proof is in the promise of a new morning.

When you hear a song sung blue welling up within your soul, sing the praises in His Psalms and meditate on the promises in His Word.


Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles are friends and co-founders of
ChristianDevotions.us. They co-write the popular He Said, She Said devotions and host BlogtalkRadio's Christian Devotions Speak UP! along with Marianne Jordan.

HE SAID, SHE SAID -- December 19, 2008

JOSEPH THE DREAMER --He Said

By: Eddie Jones

Joseph The Dreamer -- He Said, Eddie Jones

"An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’” Matthew 2:13

Dreams are the lifeblood of ideas. Before the world began, before there was man and woman and matching his and hers bath towels with monogrammed initials God dreamed of world filled with creatures made in His image.

For some, for the lucky few who see the world in Technicolor rather than shades of gray, God still dispenses dreams. Not the cheap, plastic disposable dreams thrust upon us by the marketing types on Madison Avenue, but the rich and raw and utterly terrifying dreams of the unbridled imagination.

What if the world is not flat? What if man could fly to the moon? What if the dead do not stay dead?

As I read the Christmas story anew I’m struck by the number of dreams God gave to the characters in His story. The Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, assuring him that all would be well. And it was. The Magi, having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, went home by another way and lived to boast of the new king they’d found. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take his boy to Egypt and later an angel appeared telling him it was okay to return home. Before he reached Judah, however, he was warned in another dream to settle in Nazareth.

God is in the dream business. In fact, it seems that sometimes he does his greatest works through dreams. His dreams are found in Old Testament stories where men of faith built boats in the desert, fathered children in barren wombs and climbed ladders to heaven. We can find God’s dreams within the pages of the New Testament in the letters of saints like Paul, Peter, Stephen, James and John, who gave their lives because of the visions they received from God.

What if this Christmas God gave you a dream instead of a toy fire truck, pair of socks or flat screen TV? What if he gave you a really big, blow you into the fifth dimension dream? Would you shun the dream and wish for cash instead? Would you scoff at the vision?

If Jesus came back on his birthday and asked you to give an account of the dreams you’ve been given would his audit bring visions of sugar plums dancing in your head or the terrifying nightmares of misspent days squandered on the tawdry and cheap daydreams we pass off as the good life?

This Christmas ask God to place His dreams in your heart. He’s in the business of big ideas. And nothing we imagine can come anywhere close to what He has in store for us.


SWEET DREAMS -- SHE SAID

By Cindy Sproles

Sweet Dreams! by Cindy Sproles

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." Matthew 2: 13

The phone rang several times. Startled, I sat up straight in the bed. The room was pitch black, and all I could imagine was something must be wrong. I glanced at the clock, 1:10 a.m. March 6, 1997. Groggy and incoherent from sleep I grabbed at the portable. “Hello.” My heart raced as I waited for what had to be bad news. “Hello!”

“I’m fine. It’s time you rested,” a crackled voice squeezed through the static on the line.

“Dad?”

A click on line and then nothing. I stood staring at the phone thinking, this is impossible. Dad died a year ago. I’m having a really weird dream. I climbed back in bed and eyed the clock again. March 6, 1997, 1:10 a.m.—one year to the day and time when dad left this earth.

When I woke the next morning, I was clutching the phone in my hand. Dreams are not always joyful. Sometimes, as in my case, they offer us an opportunity to grasp hold of acceptance and move forward. Other times they move us to understanding a situation we may face. Our dreams are our mind’s way of working us through the realizations of life.

Joseph had a few of those dreams—four in fact. The first, a calming dream telling him Mary carried the Son of God. What a way to find out you’re about to be a step-father. But imagine being woken from a deep sleep and told to get up right that minute and flee for your life, someone was trying to kill your child.

I often think we give Joseph too little credit. The focus lends itself to a virgin birth and the gift of eternal life she bore. But Joseph, a noble man, with noble intentions, who’s sleep was interrupted more times than not with bad dreams, saved the life of Christ three times. When he took on the responsibility of fathering the son of God — his dreams were not restful. They were filled with worry, concern and warnings, and Joseph obeyed, protecting the ready-made family he had not asked for.

I imagine Joseph cradled the baby, kissed his forehead and tucked him safely in his bed. Perhaps he whispered, “I love you.” And before he lay down to sleep himself, he might have said, “Sweet dreams,” knowing his own would never be sweet again.

This Christmas as you tuck your little ones in bed and bid them sweet dreams, remember the sacrifices that were made so that you might have hope.

From the Father listen for these words, “Sweet dreams.”

Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles
are friends and co-founders of
ChristianDevotions.us. They
co-write the popular He Said, She Said
devotions and host BlogtalkRadio's
Christian Devotions Speak UP! along
with Marianne Jordan.