God has not given us a spirit of fear.

2 Timothy 1: 7 (NLV)

⁷ For God did not give us a spirit of fear.  He gave us a spirit of power and of love and of a good mind.

Many people do suffer with ‘fear’ and it is created out of an experience or a feeling.  Today I want to encourage you, do not fear.  Something I have learned over the years is to face my fears.  I will stand up and be scared inside of me but I won’t let other people see that I am fearful.

The minute I face my fears, I believe God is faithful and will be there with you, His spirit of power is with you and me and that gives way to love and a good mind. 

We all experience difficult times and because we do not understand or know the outcome we sometimes give into fear.  May the Lord God touch your live and lift the spirit of fear off of you. 

Prayer:  Dear Father God, please will you teach each one of us that we do not have to fear, because You have given us a spirit of power and of love and of a good mind.  We are your children and we can call on you in our hour of need.  In the name of Jesus, Amen

Mr. and Mrs. Un-forgiveness

Ephesians 4:30-32 (MSG)

³⁰ Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.

^31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

         Now do you agree with me, ‘Don’t grieve God?  Don’t break his heart.’  Of course you do, I don’t want to break my God’s heart, and I definitely don’t want to grieve my God.  ‘His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself.’  Did you see that God’s Holy Spirit is moving, breathing in my life?  Yes we have the Spirit of God Himself living within us.

         Let us practice gentleness towards each other, be sensitive and forgive each other quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave us.

         Ridding our lives of Bitterness and its mate un-forgiveness.

Thought for the day:

Learn to be sensitive and forgive each other quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave us.

Prayer:  Abba Father, humbly we pray help us through the Holy Spirit to become sensitive and to forgive each other quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave each of us.  Amen

Style, do you have a style?

² Those who follow the right path fear the Lord;
    those who take the wrong path despise him.  Proverbs 14:2 (NLT)

Some people have style, they just seem to look stunning in whatever they dress and others really need a tutor in helping them get a better look.

Proverbs is reminding us that we should follow the right path fear the LORD.  Each morning when I wake up the first thought that comes to mind, is Good morning Abba Father.  Thank you for today.  

Later on I sit down with my bible and read my daily scriptures and then I pray.  I think I want to cloth myself each day with the LORD Jesus Christ.  I also feel that I need to cloth myself in putting the full armour of God on.

My style is plain I am at home and cleaning house, doing washing and ironing.  Cooking meals for the family and just being here.  When I get the opportunity I sit down and write my thoughts for the day.  I try and focus on the Word of God and I strive towards becoming right with the LORD.

I confess ‘I am the righteousness of God in Christ’ every day.  Well, do I have style?  I am sure I have style a different kind of style to people that live in the world.  My style is clothing myself in the Blood of Jesus, clothing myself with the Lord Jesus and wearing the armour of God.

Though for today:

Follow the right path fear the LORD

Prayer:

Humbly LORD I submit myself into Your hands today, I do want to follow the right path fear YOU LORD.  Help me and draw me back into YOUR presence.  I pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen

My Little Voice

^18 ‘Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do.’ Hebrews 13:18 (NLT)

 

As a Christian I believe the Holy Spirit lives within me and because He does live in me, I think of Him as that ‘little voice’ warning me not to sin.  The thing that is interesting is my obedience.  So this is how I come to realise that obedience to God’s voice is very important. 

The little voice is like an alarm, when a burglar comes into your house and the alarm goes off, you have a chance to catch him and have him arrested.  Now that is when you take note of the alarm and carry it through.  You can also ignore the alarm and switch it off and pretend you didn’t hear it and the burglar can rob you blind.

My little voice speaks to me mostly when I feel irritated with people around me, I will feel uncomfortable and not happy with my reaction towards them.  I will also feel regret and before I realise it I will repent there and then.  I normally pray and ask “Please Lord, forgive me I have sinned.”

I am of course working on my attitude towards people in the sense that I don’t want to be offended constantly by them, that I should try and accept them for who they are.

Thought for today:

You have to become obedient and listen to ‘your little voice’ and it will save you from going under.

Prayer

Father God please help me to always strive to have a conscience without offense towards God and me.  I pray this in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.  Amen

"God, here I am, speak to me."

¹³ ‘You (Yvette) will seek me and find me when you (Yvette) seek me with all your (Yvette) heart.’ Jeremiah 29: 13 (NIV)

I was about 14 or 15 years old when I was sitting in my bedroom knitting, I used to love sitting on the carpet in my bedroom on the floor.  I heard my mom calling me “Yvette, Yvettie”.  I jumped up and ran over to her.  “Yes, Mommy” I said.  My mom looked up from her reading and answered me “I didn’t call you.”  I said: “Mommy I heard you, calling me.”  She smiled at me and said “No, darling I didn’t.” 

Well I turned around and left her and went back to my knitting, I was knitting dolls jersey and my concentrations was on the pattern at hand.  I just got started when I hear my Mom calling me again I heard her calling me “Yvette, Yvettie”.  It was clear as day light and she called me twice.  I put my knitting down and ran over to her in her bedroom.  “Yes Mommy” I stood in front of her expecting her to tell me what I was supposed to do.  “You are such a darling.”  She said and then she said “Go off and make us a nice cup of coffee.”

 

Later on in life I realised that the Lord was calling me and that I should have just answered “here I am Lord, speak Your servant is listing.”  Now, it is my heart’s desire to hear God’s voice, I want to listen and hear Him calling my Name.

I currently am seeking the Lord my God with my whole heart and I am fine tuning my ears, I want to hear God’s voice.  I know that God is here with me, I just need to pay attention.

Thought for today:  

To hear God’s voice, I need to build my relationship with God and keep on praying.

Prayer 

Heavenly Father, Lord here I am, I am listening and waiting for You to speak to me.  I open my heart, soul and mind to Your word, Holy Spirit come in and fill my life, in Jesus Name Amen. 

Wellness

Job 33:17; 21 (AMP)

¹⁷ That He may withdraw man from his purpose and cut off pride from him [disgusting him with his own disappointing self-sufficiency].  ²¹ His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.

            Job was going through a lot and it is apparent that Job started to feel disappointed in his self-sufficiency.  It is understandable that he had no pride left any more as everything dear to him as he knew it was stripped away from him. 

            Job must have been so sick that he didn’t eat well and because of his malnutrition one could see his bones through his skin.  That tells me he was wasting away.

            Job’s testing was server and I don’t believe we as normal Christians could understand what he went through.  God’s mercy is new every day and we can come to Him when times are tough. 

            Prayer  Lord as we think about our wellness we pray that You will guide us and help us to follow YOU.  We want to steer our lives into Your presence, in Jesus Name.  Amen!

Growing Older and Trusting in Jesus

Psalm 118: 17 “I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.”

Something I realised is that I cannot fight aging, I see new little wrinkle lines under my eyes, I notice that I cannot shed the weight like I used to and I don’t seem to have the strength I used to have.  

Being young has the advantages of being able to do many things and not feel tired and you can do even that little more.  As you grow older live changes, you will do two or three chores and then you need a rest.

I need to go to bed early so that I can rise early but I realise I seem to be awake around 5h00 am each morning.

In the early hours I speak to God and thank Him for the new day.  I believe God hears my prayers and I pray for my children and family.  I bring each member in my family before the Lord asking for the blessings they need for the day ahead of them.  I call each person into the Kingdom of God.

I believe that Psalms 92: 14 reminds me that “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.”  I will still bear fruit in my old age and I will stay fresh and green.  God is so good to me that I still have the ability to read, write and mediate on God’s word day and night. 

I will stay focused on my goals, my purpose and my dreams.  God never forsakes me and He loves me, I am the righteousness of God in Christ, no weapon formed against me shall prosper.  I am a child of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.  Amen

#Thursday ~ Jealousy Ruins Relationships

My passion is to draw near to the Lord Jesus, the only way I know how is to spend time in the Word of God.  Jealousy can ruins relationship and this is true about a story I was reading.  Joseph who is a beautiful young man, aged approximately 17 a favourite son of his father. 

One day he was telling his brothers of a dream he had.  “Listen to this dream I had.  We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”  This of course made his brothers miserable angry and they really hated Joseph.  It wasn’t too long after that Joseph had another dream and he told his brothers  “listen,” and he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 

Joseph told his father as well as his brothers this dream to which Josephs father rebuked him saying “What is this dream you had?  Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?

His brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the matter in mind

Jealousy burns hot in the hearts of Josephs brothers and they really didn’t like him very much, because he was young and attractive.  The also hated it that he was their fathers favourite son and it probably grind their teeth to see that their father made Joseph a beautiful coat of many colours.  

Family is important and we should take care in not allowing favouritism to rule our hearts, neglecting any of our children.

To my mind I believe God really wants us to live together in love and peace.  So I believe it is God’s will that we live together in love and peace, stop the jealousy.

Family

Romans 12:10 (AMP)

¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.

            We are reminded to love each other with brotherly affection giving precedence and showing honor to each other.  In our family we respect each other.  Each one of us has a specific talent and can do a specific task.

            We make sure that there is enough for all in the house, looking after another and watching over each other.

            Family is important to our social lives, it gives us a place to act and live normally and we don’t have to pretend in the house around our family.  People accept you for who you are.

            Today I want to encourage you to phone your mom, dad, sister or brother and say ‘Hello’.  Keep contact and stay connected with your family.

            Prayer  Lord help us remember that our family is our grounding and without family we will be all alone.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Manipulation

A game of manipulation is something that is played out in many homes, and it is disastrous.  Stop doing this to each other.

This world has many people that are experts at ‘Manipulation’.  I know of someone that will not speak to you for many days by ignoring you because you didn’t do what is right according to the person.  The atmosphere becomes tense and everybody is walking around on eggs.  No one really knows how to deal with the person and the other person is constantly feel bad and not happy with the situation.

Someone I also know is an expert with a ‘manipulation’ by threats and placing a guilt trip on you.  Saying things like ‘oh if you really loved me you would have done this, that or the other for me, but no, I am just not that important.’  Saying things like ‘if you didn’t do it this way we would not be in this position, it’s terrible the decision you have made that brought us to this place in our lives.’

Seriously, stop with the manipulations!!! We are supposed to be Christians that know the love of Christ and will do what is necessary to get it right.  “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other.”  Romans 12: 10

Pray:  Father God, help us to love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other, in the Holy Name of Jesus I pray.  Amen

Keeping my salvation:

Key points to ponder and hold fast to.

Obedience
To be obedient to the Lord Jesus ~ Matthew 6: 24 ‘ … you cannot serve two lords’

Thank about it you can only serve one God, its obviously the Lord Jesus, but when you make this decision you need to honour your choice by making the Lord Jesus LORD over every area of your life.  To be able to that you will need someone to help you, yes!  The HOLY SPIRIT see 1 Corinthians 12: 3 ‘no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the HOLY SPIRIT’. 

Holy Spirit
1 Thessalonians 5 : 17 Always keep praying.  I realise that without prayer I am lost and I invite the Holy Spirit to live in me so that I can continue in prayer daily.

Bible Study & Meditation
Romans 10:17 Yet faith comes from listening to this Good News—the Good News about Christ.

We have a song we teach the children in Sunday School “Read your Bible and pray each day, pray each day, pray each day. (x2) Then you will grow, grow, grow, yes you will grow, grow, grow. 
Forget your Bible and you will shrink, shrink, shrink.”

Be deliberate in your thoughts
Guard your mind … I am negative inclined and it just takes a thought to bring my heart down.  Ephesians 6: 16 – 17 ‘In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.  And you will need the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit – which is the Word of God.’

Now don’t allow your thoughts to run away with you, think and mediate on God’s Word and when something comes up that does not agree with the Word rebuke it.  If you see something like you may be short on cash, don’t say I am broke.  NO! say I am out of pocket and that God will supply according to my needs.

Forgive
Life is so short and I only realised it now.  People often offended me and then I would be angry and later carry a grudge and then it would turn into some kind of bitterness.   Stop it right now!   In Matthew 18 : 21 – 22 We are reminded by the Lord Jesus to forgive seventy time seven!

So this is what I do, I really struggle with people that pick on me, and then I normally take offence.  I now look at them smile and say nothing, I forgive them there and then.  Walk away and let it go.  If it persists I pray about it and trust that the Lord will sort it out.  My mood has changed and my attitude is better.  I feel more in control.

Choose your company
Keeping Company with negative and abusive people won’t work, steer clear of them.  The Lord reminds us to choose good company, people with the right attitude, high expectations and a good sense of humour.  People that strive to be better in everything they do.  Read 1 Corinthians 15: 33 ‘Don’t be fooled by those who say such things.  If you listen to them you will start acting like them.’

Pray each day
Ephesians 6: 18 ‘Pray all the time.  Ask God for anything in line with the Holy spirit’s wishes.  Plead with him, reminding him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere.’

Prayer is my life line and I feel empty and without direction if I don’t go to the Lord God in prayer.  When people irritate me the first thing I do, is say a prayer in my mind, Please help me Lord.  You cannot go without praying, speak to God He is near and is waiting to hear from you.

Clothe Yourself
I do two important things each and every day.  I put on the armour of God and I clothe myself with the Lord Jesus.  I am telling you it is a must.  Ephesians 6: 11 – 17

*    Stand firm~ keep the Word of God ready for any attack from the evil one.
*    Resist~ guard your thoughts and mind praying that the Holy Spirit will lead you.
*    Gird your waist with trust~ holds on to the Word of God and keeps it handy.
*    The breastplate of righteousness~ places this over your heart to watch your attitude and remind you that you belong to Jesus.
*    Shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace~ be prepared to speak to people about God.  Spread the good news.
*    The shield of faith~ you need to hear the Word, speak the Word and live the Word of God each day.
*    The helmet of salvation~ remembers you have been bought by the Blood of Jesus Christ it is your protection.
*    The Sword of the Spirit~ wheeled your sword ~ your Bible by studying it and knowing what it says about who you are in the Lord Jesus Christ, teach and help other people who don’t know the Lord yet.

 

Church
God wants us to attend a church so that we will not tire and grow weary, when you feel down there is someone that can help you.  The Word of God is taught and we get to hear revelations at our church through the pastor. 

 

I hope you enjoyed my key points and may you grow too.