Written by Juliet Constantine, these devotionals share thoughts and blessings from on high to give you encouragement, wisdom, and strength to face life's many challenges. Juliet has authored two sets of devotionals: "At His Feet" and "Finding Jesus In The Scriptures". Select from all the devotionals below or choose a topic from the menus.
Have you ever experienced a misconstrued interpretation of your true motives? With all your sincere and genuine intentions, people still choose to believe different and hold you in suspicion. Well, you’re not alone. People with much to lose will always view you suspiciously and ‘knock down’ your suggestions and improvements toward something. The Bible is so true: Jesus really did experience all things that we humans do.
I must believe that He has my best interest at heart. And just as He did, He bids me speak life over my situations. I will speak positive hope over my family and my job. I will speak eternal life over my life. I will not die here. There is hope. I’ve come too far to give up now. My dawn will be seen at the breaking of the day. I will live. Suicide isn’t a solution. I will hold on. I will stay the course. I will live and not die.
Nicodemus secretly believed in Jesus; but for a time, he did not confess his belief. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin Council. Being one of the Jewish leaders he desired the praise of the people rather than the praise of God. Like so many others of his kind, they were afraid of what people would say or how they would react should the truth be discovered. So they kept their belief to themselves for fear of rejection. But what if they had made know their beliefs, would anything have changed?
Recently, while travelling on a familiar road, I decided to use a side road with less traffic. To my astonishment, I took the wrong turn. While the area was somewhat familiar, inner roads can be very tricky. Sometimes they appear to be a maze. For awhile I feared that I was lost. I did not know which way to take to get back to my intended route. I whispered a prayer for guidance and protection. While leading me out and back to safety, God spoke a lesson to my heart that I will always remember. He said, though you may be lost, you can control the exit.
No matter what your situation may be, our Jesus who resurrected Lazarus, will bring resurrection power to any problem in our life. We can take back our life from the enemy and share our testimonies wherever we go. Jesus will give you the strength to be His true witness. Whatever you’re going through, you are His witness. Lessons learned are not to be kept – they are to be shared. Witnessing will open the way for others to come see Jesus. You are a witness of His goodness. Be a faithful witness.
He wanted them to love him, to be identified with them. Instead, he felt like an outsider as his brothers’ hatred and anger kindled against him. The pent up anger and hatred culminated in an event which will forever be retold as long as life lasts. He cried as the carriage took him farther and farther away from his homeland, away from his brothers and yes, away from his father who loved him. “How could God allow this to happen?” he must have thought, “I did nothing wrong.”
At Jesus’ going away supper, while others dined and conversed with Him, Mary, out of sheer gratitude, felt a compulsion to anoint Jesus. So she anointed His feet using a very expensive ointment, and her hair was the towel. It was nothing strange to anoint dead bodies, but it was a strange sight to behold the anointment of a living person. Some thought it was a sexual advancement and were very critical of her, others thought that she broke protocol and was being disrespectful. It would seem that no one, except Jesus, was grateful for what she did.
It’s one thing to have a death threat hanging over your head by the government or anyone else. But a death threat from within the body of believers is frightening. Such was Lazarus’ experience. He was the next best choice since he was responsible for many Jews believing in Jesus. In Jamaican Creole we say: “If yu kian catch quako yu catch im shut”, meaning if you are unable to get to the person you need, you will take the next best. Since Jesus was proving to be so ‘slippery’ to their grasp, they would take Lazarus instead and make him a public example of what will happen to all who believe in Jesus. Imagine that, the leaders of the Church, who are appointed to be the intercessors between God and man on Earth, planning to murder?
