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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 22nd

📖 And behold, some men were bringing on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed, and they tried to carry him in and lay him before [Jesus]. 

But finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with his stretcher through the tiles into the midst, in front of Jesus. 
—Luke 5:18-19 AMPC

The paralyzed man had some good friends. They refused to allow him to stay in that condition. They carried him to the house where Jesus was preaching, but they could not get in because of the crowd. They could have just given up. They could have walked away with a moral victory, but that wasn’t enough. They persisted. They got creative. They took their friend up on the roof and lowered him down where Jesus was. This took great faith. They had to remove a roof tile to let their friend down. Then there was no guarantee that Jesus would heal the man. They acted anyway and Jesus honored their faith. The paralyzed man was healed that day and walked home with his four friends. We all need friends like that. Friends that won’t let you stay the same. Friends that will make you better.

#friendshipgoals #bible #jesuschrist #healer #devotional #vccharlotte #message

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 21st

📖 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. 
—I Chronicles 16:34 KJV

Do you live a life of gratitude. Are you grateful for the little things in life? Are you grateful to be alive? Are you grateful that your name is written in Heaven? As believers, we understand that everything in our lives that is good came from God. Every good gift and every perfect gift come from Him. We ought not be like the Israelites when they were in the desert. They complained every time they faced an obstacle or experienced a hard time. They would constantly complain and tell Moses that they should have stayed slaves in Egypt. These were the same people that experienced freedom at the Hand of God. They saw His mighty works in Egypt, and yet they still questioned whether He would take care of them. They were ungrateful people. We must make sure that we do not behave like them. We must give thanks unto the Lord, because He is so good. 

#goodGod #gratitude #thankfulthursday #devotional #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 20th

📖 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. So they had brick for stone, and slime (bitumen) for mortar. 

And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole earth. 
—Genesis 11:3-4 AMPC

When it comes to conquering large tasks, we must be willing to reduce the big goal into smaller goals. You cannot build a city until you first bake a brick. Many times, we look at the goal or the task in its entirety, and we don’t focus on the smaller tasks that will ultimately cause the big goal to be accomplished. One man once said, instead of focusing on building a wall, start by focusing on laying one brick at time, because eventually, you will have a wall. It's the same way with life. Instead of focusing on building a great life, why not focus on having a great day? Take it one task at a time. One day at a time. As time goes on you can look back and look at the progress that has been made. Before you know it, you’ve lost weight. You’ve read the book. You’ve saved the money. Whatever the task may be, it can be accomplished, the key is consistency. You cannot build a city until you first bake a brick. 

#devotional #vcccharlotte #focus #goalsetting #accomplishments #consistency

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 19th

📖 Joshua, the man of God, died at the age of 110 and was buried at the edge of his property in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. The people had remained true to the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime, and as long afterward as the old men of his generation were still living—those who had seen the mighty miracles the Lord had done for Israel. 

But finally all that generation died; and the next generation did not worship Jehovah as their God and did not care about the mighty miracles he had done for Israel. 
—Judges 2:9-10 The Living Bible

What a sad story about a generation that did not know God or care about His mighty miracles. We can never allow this to happen. We must take the time to talk to our children about the things of God. It may not be your immediate family. It could be a niece or nephew. It may be a grandchild, but we all must do our part to sow our God into our children. We must take our children to church. We must take them to Bible class and create an environment where God is heard of everyday. We must be willing to lay hands on them when they aren’t feeling well. We must do our part and show them that there is a God in Heaven, and He is worthy of our service and our lives. We cannot allow what took place then to happen again. We must show passion to reach the next generation. 

#neverbeashamed #devotional #vcccharlotte #doyourpart

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 18th

📖 And if your hand puts a stumbling block before you and causes you to sin, cut it off! It is more profitable and wholesome for you to go into life [that is really worthwhile] maimed than with two hands to go to hell (Gehenna), into the fire that cannot be put out. 

And if your foot is a cause of stumbling and sin to you, cut it off! It is more profitable and wholesome for you to enter into life [that is really worthwhile] crippled than, having two feet, to be cast into hell (Gehenna). 

And if your eye causes you to stumble and sin, pluck it out! It is more profitable and wholesome for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell (Gehenna), 
—Mark 9:43, 45, 47 AMPC

We should not allow anything in our lives that will cause us to miss heaven. No individual is worth missing heaven over. No sin is worth missing heaven for. No vice, no shortcoming—nothing should cause us to be eternally separated from our Father in heaven. Jesus went as far as to say that it was better to go to heaven maimed than to go to hell whole. Heaven is better than anything we could ever imagine. On the other side of that, hell is worse than anything we could ever imagine. Let us always examine ourselves. Let’s remove every hindrance and every obstacle. There is nothing in this world worth missing heaven over. Nothing!  

#heaven #stumblingblock #Godisgood #verseofthday #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 17th

📖 Your words have been strong and hard against Me, says the Lord. Yet you say, What have we spoken against You? 

You have said, It is useless to serve God, and what profit is it if we keep His ordinances and walk gloomily and as if in mourning apparel before the Lord of hosts? 

Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name. 
—Malachi 3:14-15, 17 AMPC 

What have you been saying? Would the Lord be pleased with what He has been hearing from your house? In the passage, He not only heard the words that were spoken against Him, but He also kept a record of those who said and believed the right thing. God once told His people through Moses that He was going to do to them what they had spoken in His ears. They constantly said they were going to die in the wilderness, which is what eventually took place. We must watch our words. We must always keep in mind that Heaven is listening and will act on God’s Word. If we speak His words, then He (God) will act. If we don’t, He won’t. Our words can bring life, or our words can bring death. Which one would you desire for your life? 

#watchyourmouth #devotional #moses #verseoftheday

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 15th

📖 At last the wall was completed to half its original height around the entire city—for the workers worked hard. —Nehemiah 4:6 The Living Bible

There is no substitute for hard work. The Bible tells in Ecclesiastes 5:3, “For a dream comes with much business and painful effort, and a fool’s voice with many words.” It takes diligence to accomplish a goal. It takes diligence to see the fulfillment of a dream. There is a time to pray, but then there is a time to work. It's been said that we should pray like it’s on God, but we should work like it's on us. Prayer has its place, but so does work. It may take late nights and early mornings, but it is all worth it in the end. The path to the prize is greater than the prize itself. The substance of the diligent is precious because the diligent know what it took to get it. Laziness will get you nowhere. Diligence is the vehicle that will take you to success. Selah. 

#diligence #hardwork #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte #dream

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 14th

📖 Then the two tribes of Joseph came to Joshua and asked, “Why have you given us only one portion of land when the Lord has given us such large populations?” 

“If the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for you,” Joshua replied, “and if you are able to do it, you may clear out the forest land where the Perizzites and Rephaim live.” 

“Fine,” said the tribes of Joseph, “for the Canaanites in the lowlands around Beth-shean and the valley of Jezreel have iron chariots and are too strong for us.” 

“Then you shall have the mountain forests,” Joshua replied, “and since you are such a large, strong tribe you will surely be able to clear it all and live there. And I’m sure you can drive out the Canaanites from the valleys, too, even though they are strong and have iron chariots.” 
—Joshua 17:14-18 The Living Bible

The two tribes mentioned believed that they deserved more because of their large numbers. They were attempting to use their numbers as leverage to get more land. Joshua used their numbers to challenge them. He believed that they should take advantage of their numbers and use them to get more land if they really believed they needed more than what was given them. They were to use their numbers not only to take more ground, but also to drive out the inhabitants of the land. If we believe that there is more here for us, we must go get it. It is not just going to just fall in our lap. No one owes us anything. We owe it to ourselves to go out and take all that belongs to us. If what we have isn’t enough, we must be willing to take more ground. We must take responsibility for where we currently are, not make excuses. God has given us all the tools for victory, we must simply use them. 

#takewhatsours #responsibility #verseoftheday #vcccharlotte #strengthinnumbers

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 13th

📖 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people restored? [Because Zion no longer enjoyed the presence of the Great Physician!] —Jeremiah 8:11 AMPC

God is our Great Physician. He tells us in Exodus 15:26, I am the Lord that healeth thee.” He was Israel’s Healer then, and He is our Healer today. Jesus shed His Blood so that we can be free from sickness and disease (Isaiah 53:5, I Peter 2:24). When Jesus was on the earth, He went about teaching, preaching, and healing. Everywhere Jesus went, He went about healing the sick. He never turned anyone away who requested healing. He was simply doing what He saw His Father doing. Sickness came when sin entered the earth. God has broken the power of sin from over our lives and because of that, He has set us free from sickness (I Peter 2:24). God wants us well. Our health can be restored when we enjoy and receive from the presence of the Great Physician! 

#HeisourHealer #dailydevotional #GreatPhysician #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 12th

📖 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began his fifty-two-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 

He did right in the Lord’s sight, to the extent of all that his father Amaziah had done. 

He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the things of God; and as long as he sought (inquired of, yearned for) the Lord, God made him prosper. 
—II Chronicles 26: 3-5 AMPC

God is no respecter of persons. He is no respecter of age either. What He did for the sixteen-year-old, He will do for the forty-year-old. When we do what is right in His sight, and when we seek the Lord and obey His Word, we can expect God to prosper us. God has not changed. He tells us in His Word that if we are willing and obedient, we will eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19). God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). He promised the Israelites that He would bless them if they kept His commandments (Deuteronomy 28: 1-13). We are under a better covenant with better promises, but the concept is still the same. When we seek the Lord with all our hearts and are doers of His Word, we can expect God to prosper us. If He did it for Uzziah, and if He did it for the Israelites, He will do it for us. 

#vcccharlotte #prosperity #PromisesofGod #motivation #HisWord

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 11th

📖 The ants are not a strong people, Yet they prepare their food in the summer; 
—Proverbs 30:25 AMP

The strength of the ant is in their ability to prepare. They don’t have an overseer. They don’t have anyone standing over them telling them that winter is coming. They are diligently preparing in the summer. The ants know that it's too late to prepare when winter comes. We must learn from the ant. We must prepare for opportunities that don’t yet exist. We have to be like Noah. Noah prepared an ark out of obedience when there was no evidence that a flood was coming. It’s hard to build a ship in the rain. If Noah had waited until it started raining, he would have perished with everyone else. It has been said that success is when preparation meets opportunity. Failure takes place when opportunity presents itself to the unprepared. Let’s not allow ourselves to be caught off guard when opportunity does arrive. Let’s be like the ant and STAY ready. 

#theant #beprepared #wisdom #verseoftheday #message

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 10th

📖 The Lord will fight for you, and you won’t need to lift a finger!
—Exodus 14:14 The Living Bible

Many of us are still learning to allow God to fight for us. When we are mistreated or misunderstood, we want to defend ourselves. We want to defend our reputation. We want people to know what really happened and to know our side of the story. We don’t want to be painted in a negative light. We don’t have to defend ourselves. God will fight for us. We won’t have to lift a finger. We won’t have to say a word. The angels will fight for us. Heaven will fight for us. Our job is to love our enemies. Our job is to keep our hearts clean: free of animosity and of bitterness. We are to imitate God as dear children. We are to allow His love to flow from us to the world. We are to be His ambassadors. We are to be His representatives. 

#letGodwork #motivation #verseoftheday #Mondaywisdom #forgiveness

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 8th

📖 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. —Proverbs 28:20 KJV 

A faithful man is one who realizes that blessings come over time. A faithful man is a consistent man. It is a person who is consistent in serving. That person is consistent in their giving. They are consistent in their church attendance. They are marked by their consistency. God is a faithful God. He is consistent in His love for us. He is consistent in His mercy and His kindness towards us. He is our example of faithfulness, and we should follow His example. He wouldn’t ask us to do something that He would not do. Many believers want to be blessed, but their lifestyle will not allow it. If we are going to experience the blessings of God, we must be faithful in obeying His Word, faithful to what He has called us to do, and faithful in every area of our lives. 

#faithful #Proverbs #Wednesdaywisdom #consistency #devotional

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 7th

📖 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?" He said, “A rod.” And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” —Exodus 4:2-5 NKJV

When pursuing the will of God, we must understand the importance of trusting in Him. He may ask you to do something that isn’t what you normally do. He may ask you to do something that will cause you to have to overcome fear and anxiety. Moses was obviously afraid of the snake, but God told him to pick it up by its tail. Moses had a decision to make. He was either going to let fear control him, or he was going to obey God. Moses chose to obey God, and the snake turned into a stick. We must be willing to obey and trust God no matter what. God wants us to become totally dependent upon Him. As we obey His orders and commands, we will develop an unshakeable confidence in Him. One that will help us to fulfill the will of God for our lives. 

#trustinGod #pursue #devotional #vcccharlotte #confidence

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 6th

📖 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. —Hebrews 6:11-12 NKJV

God desires for us to experience the manifestation of His promises in our lives. Which manifest through faith and patience. Faith gives substance to the things we are hoping for. Patience keeps the door open while faith does its work. One minister referred to them (faith and patience) as the power twins. Faith must be developed over time. This is where patience kicks in. The Bible tells us that “as long as the earth remains, there will be seed, time, and harvest” (Genesis 8:22). You don’t plant a seed today and reap the harvest tomorrow. It's the same with the promises of God. You sow the seed of the Word of God, protect it, and eventually you will see the reality (or harvest) of the promise. We can experience the fulfillment of the promise of God, we simply cannot be sluggish. Attaining the promises requires diligence and imitation. We are to imitate those who through faith and patience, inherited the promises. 

#vcccharlotte #manifestation #devotional #Hispromises #imitation

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 5th

📖 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 

“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord. —Matthew 25:15-21 NKJV

What are you doing with the talents that God has given you? Are you working to unleash your full potential? Are you working to become a valuable member of the Body of Christ? We must be about our Father’s business. Jesus, as a little boy, was in the temple learning and asking questions. He was diligent about His purpose at a young age. We must do the same. We must continue to be diligent and faithful. Once we have proven ourselves in doing this, God will reward us with greater responsibilities, which always come with even greater rewards. Many times, we want more without passing the faithfulness test. We must be like Paul—forgetting the things that are behind, we must press toward the mark. We can be all that God wants us to be if we are willing to pay the price. The faithfulness fee is what will grant us access to greater things. Are you willing to pay the price? 

#vcccharlotte #responsibilities #devotional #diligence #purpose

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 4th

📖 And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
—Ephesians 6:10-12 The Message

It takes strength to make it in this world. The devil will challenge you in every area of your life. The Bible even tells us that if we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is small (Proverbs 24:10). God told Joshua to be strong and of good courage (Joshua 1:6). Strength is vital to the Christian walk. It took strength for Jesus to take on the sins of the world. It took strength to hang on the cross for three hours. It took strength to take a beating the way he did. He was punched in the face, whipped, and mocked. He never gave in to the temptation to call on the angels to rescue Him. He fulfilled His mission. It took strength to complete His mission, and it will take strength to complete yours. No matter what the devil throws your way, God’s grace and His strength is enough to put you over every time. 

#Godsgraceissufficient #devotional #keeppushing #strength

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 3rd

📖 Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. 
—Ephesians 4:28 AMPC 

Paul is giving insight into the purpose of our paychecks. Our paychecks are not primarily for paying bills (you should pay your bills). Our paychecks are not primarily for purchasing items for ourselves and our families (it's okay if you do). The Word of God tells us that we work so that we can have money to give. This is how the Kingdom of God operates. It functions through the principle of seedtime and harvest. When we give, it shall be given to us again, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto our bosom (Luke 6:38). It is after we give that we can claim that God will meet our needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). It is always better to give than to receive because giving puts us in a place of receiving. As we grow in faith, we should also grow in our giving. As we increase our giving, we can increase our receiving. It’s time for a shift in our thinking in the area of giving! When we change our standard of giving, we change our standard of living.  

#seedtimeandharvest #devotional #giving #vcccharlotte #compassion 

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | June 1st

📖 So then [God’s gift] is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God’s mercy. [It depends not on one’s own willingness nor on his strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God’s having mercy on him.] —Romans 9:16 AMP

We are who we are by God’s grace. Every good gift and every perfect gift come from Him. He is the One who has blessed us with our individual talents and abilities. We cannot brag on ourselves; it is the mercy of God. We cannot boast of our abilities because they came from Him. God is the Source of everything good in our lives and we must walk with a spirit of meekness and humility. Where would we be without the grace of God? It is in Him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). We can be thankful of all the giftings bestowed on us by God, but we must also be certain to be grateful for His mercy. Where would we be without it? 

#mercy #graceofGod #devotional #vcccharlotte

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL | May 31st

📖 So they said to him, “Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?” So John said, “I am, as Isaiah prophesied: a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord.” 
—John 1:22-23 Jerusalem Bible 

Initially the people thought that John the Baptist was the chosen one, the Messiah. He plainly told them that he was not the one. He knew who he was and without having to think about it, he quoted the prophecy from Isaiah. He did not let anyone put a label on him that did not belong to him. When people ask us, “What do you have to say about yourself,” we should automatically know who we are. We should know that we are more than conquerors. We should know that the gates of hell cannot prevail against us. We should know that we are overcomers, and the Greater One lives on the inside of us. John the Baptist knew what the Word said about Him, and it should be no different with us. We must know what the Word says about us if we are going to continue to walk in victory.  

#iamvictory #whoami #Jesus #devotional #verseofthemonth

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