Devotions by Meredith

The Power of the Tongue Proverbs 18:20, 21 20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.    Being around people a good portion of my life and daily work, there is a common thread among some. That thread is for them to always fall on the n...

God’s Healing Ways I Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.   Were you ever emotionally injured as a child or teen? You’re fortunate if you weren’t. These happenings can be devastating to both those who have suffered this kind of cruelty and to those who are around them. ...

Do Not Fret Psalm 37:8 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret.    There are times when we can become fixated on something that is going on in our lives. It may be for a son or daughter, or a situation that we have no control over. In raising five children, there were many challenges throughout the years, from teething to potty training, to science projects to math challenges, to...

My Precious Bo Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regards the life of his animal.    My best friends throughout my life have been my animals, whether a sixteen-hand quarter horse, a crazy Siamese cat, or a fabulous puppy. When I was just five years old, I lost my dad to ALS. My wonderful, thoughtful Uncle Phil walked a couple of miles to bring me this moving feed bag and place it on the lawn and then...

The Narcissist Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.   Have you ever had to be around a person who always wants to be seen as wonderful and absolutely perfect and the most all-knowing person, knowing everything already before everyone else, the biggest, the best, etc.? And then when they feel slighted in any way, they keep an inner score of how many time...

Wise People Proverbs 15:31 If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise.    The kind of wise person the Bible is referencing in this verse possesses an essential personal trait that is apart from intelligence. You can be a highly intelligent person, yet not have this ability. This ability is to be able to fully listen to someone confronting them about their own behav...

Inexpressible Joy   John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.    In one translation of the Bible, the English Standard Version, the words “joy,” “rejoice,” or “joyful” appear a total of 430 times, compared with “happy” or “happi...

God Always Pays Attention   Psalm 66:19, 20 TPT 19 But praises rise to God, for He paid attention to my prayer and answered my cry to Him! 20 I will forever praise this God who didn’t close His heart when I prayed and never said no when I asked Him for help. He never once refused to show me His tender love.   There are many people who can tell you how God answered their prayers. They are more than...

Deep Soul Search Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.   Most people will confess their failings often in prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to make them aware of things they may be ignoring or not realizing. The Holy Spirit is so faithful, not condemn us but to shine his ligh...

Are You Merciful?   Psalm 18:25-27 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. For You will save the humble people but will bring down haughty looks.    Nahi was a gorgeous, golden blonde Palomino mare who once was mine. Mares can be very temp...

He Has Made Everything Beautiful In His Time Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter...

So, You Want to be Rich?! Deuteronomy 8:18 And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.    The word “power” in Hebrew means vigor, strength, force, capacity, wealth, means, or substance. Generally the word means “capacity” or “ability,” whether physical, mental, or spir...

Rest and Relaxation Genesis 2:2-3 And on the seventh day God finished his work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that he had done in creation.   Much thought has gone into the strong consistent pattern in my head of why I think thoughts that I should alw...

Battle Depression and Anxiety Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.   Have you ever been around a nail biter? They can make you nervous and anxious over their nail biting! Some people bite their nails so often and so hard that their fingers actually look sore and painful. The Passion Translation reads of Proverbs 12:25, “Anxious fear brings de...

God’s Daily Faithfulness Psalm 37:3, 5 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 5 Commit (roll off onto) your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.   Recognizing God’s daily faithfulness to us, I believe, is very often overlooked or not noticed at all. It’s a good thing that many of us stop before starting to eat our meal, bow o...

God’s GPS Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.   To be directionally challenged is an understatement for myself and my youngest daughter. We seem to be able to get lost in the simplest of settings. We got laughing together the other day as we were walking through the corridors of a huge business building, wondering together if we woul...

God Has Rest for You Hebrews 4:8-11 8 Devote your whole heart to obeying God and His Word. Trust Him to do the things He says He will do. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest.   I don’t know about you, but there have been many times in...

God Knows My Heart   I Chronicles 29:17 I know also my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.   There have been many times in my life that I was disappointed or angry or embarrassed about someone else’s behavior and began to develop a bad attitude, whether being critical or angry, whatever it may be about that individual. It could be someone I have been looking up to for ye...

God Knows Your Heart’s Desire Psalm 21:2 You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips.    Many times, we feel like those deep desires we may have, seem like they will never come to pass. Matthew 7:7, 8 tells us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be open to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks fin...

God Will Help You Understand Daniel 8:16b “Gabriel, make the man understand the vision.”   God is sending Gabriel in our verse to help him to grasp and understand what is going on in the Spirit realm. God truly wanted him to understand. In Luke 1:19 Gabriel was sent to Zacharias to bring him glad tidings that in his old age he was to have a son who was going to be the forerunner of Jesus, the Savi...

Stand in the Gap Ezekiel 22:30 “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”   Standing in the gap is committed intercession, committed prayer. “I sought for a man who would…stand…before Me on behalf of…” Envision with me a wall being repaired that has been damaged by an enemy. One p...

A Father to the Fatherless Psalm 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.   Memories are funny things. Even to this day, I will have flashbacks of times when I was a child, years and years ago. My sister was an excellent pianist, and my brother was a marvelous trumpet player. As they both were quite a jump older than me, I couldn’t play an instrument at m...