Devotions for the Hungry Heartنموونە

Title: A Hungry Heart is Intentional

Devotional Content:

“Shellie Coon, I hate to bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me, Papa. What’s up?”

The use of my childhood name combined with the reluctance I heard in Papa’s voice told me it was serious. It was. Papa had computer problems. I’m no computer expert, but you’ll never convince Papa of that. He thinks I’m Billie Ruth Gates. My suspicion was correct. As Papa began describing the funny things his computer was doing, I couldn’t help wondering if it had anything to do with the night I called to warn him about the Conficker Worm.

“I’m sorry for calling so late,” I told him that fateful night, “but you need to turn your computer off until I can figure out how to protect us from the Conficker Worm.” My man and I had laughed ourselves silly at Papa’s response. “Well, baby,” Papa said, “your mama and I are in bed, and I’m not getting back up. That worm will just have to eat its way through the blame thing.”

We were still chuckling when Papa continued, “Besides, I’m thinking my problem has something to do with that McGruffie.” It may sound like Papa had jumped to McGruff the Crime Dog, but knowing

Papa, I knew he was referring to his security software.

“Is it up to date?” I asked.

“What’s that?”

“Your antivirus program—”

“Well now, I don’t know . . .”

The short of this story is that Papa’s issues were so serious his PC had to go to the computer hospital, and that sets us up for an important takeaway. As believers, we have an enemy who is always trying to breach our defenses. The bad news is that the devil will bombard us with as much fear and negativity as we’re willing to absorb. The good news is that we’ve been given the Word of God to protect us from his attacks. God’s Word can identify and deal with these threats to your peace of mind immediately. However, just like Papa’s antivirus program, the Word in us needs to be intentionally installed with regular updates. So, tell me, are you protected?

Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

PROVERBS 30:5