Wisdom in Trusting God

Proverbs 3: 5-6 NIV “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

My journey has been really interesting and there are days when I find it really difficult to trust in God.  On those days I go and make all kinds of plans and I think and worry about the matter at hand and at the end of that day I am tired, frustrated and I feel sick to my stomach.  Are you able to relate? 

 It sounds so easy when you read these words “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;”  Many times I take my problems to the LORD and I leave them with the LORD and after some serious thinking and worrying I go back to the LORD and take the problems back.

This has been something I did for a number of years and lately, I have realized it has to change, I have to trust in the LORD.  After all, God is the creator and knows the plans for my life and no matter how I try and influence Him to change it to suit me if that isn’t His will for my life, it stays just as it is.

I constantly pray about my life and what I plan on doing and I am constantly seeking God’s wisdom and guidance, I believe God has made the paths straight on my behalf.

Prayer

LORD help me to not trust my own understanding but to trust Your understanding and plan for my own life.  Please, LORD, guide me and help me on my way and teach me to stay focused and not fall on the way.  I dedicate my life into YOUR Hands asking for a straight path and blessings as You see fit.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Are you #suffering?

1 Peter 4: 19 DARBY “Wherefore also let them who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator.”

Before I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I heard people tell me stories of wealth and an easy life.  Then the reality of the situation came, suffering is a process that each and every Christian needs to go through.  It’s like the purifying of gold, in order to get to the gold it goes through fire.

In the many years that I have been following and serving the Lord Jesus Christ, it has been some ride.  The times when I felt I just couldn’t make it, those were the times that the Lord carried me through.  Do not be mislead! We actually all have some kind of suffering, even the non-Christians and atheist endure suffering in their lives.

One thing I truly am grateful about is that I don’t have to suffer the same way the Lord Jesus Christ suffered when He died on the cross for our sins.  I doubt I would have been able to endure so much. 

Looking at our passage we see that Peter reminds us that “who suffer according to God’s will are to commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”  Doing good is expected of each one of us.  Let’s take up our cross and bear the suffering and keep up the good work.

Prayer

Abba Father, please help us stay strong during the times we suffer according to Your will, guide us and teach us.  Please help us to do good as You will it for our lives.  In the Holy Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

It's alright to start again

Romans 5: 20 KJV “Moreover, the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:”

Looking back over my life I honestly must say that I am a master at making mistakes and messing things up.  I actually don’t even have to try hard at making mistakes and messing things up.  It’s easier to do something wrong before we actually do it right, is it because of our sinful nature?  Yes, I think we are programmed that way.

Here’s the thing, God gives us so many chances to make things right with Him.  I don’t believe we have a license to sin but because we are people and we don’t intentionally want to sin, we still do.  Every day is a challenge for many people, we are all working on our positive attitudes, our words of grace and loving kindness.

The fact of the matter is that we mess up, we do and then most of the time we feel terrible about it.  We just have to dust ourselves off, humble ourselves before God and asking Him for forgiveness.  Because we know that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.  We are able to start again, try and try again until we get it right.

This process is ongoing we will never be perfect but we can work at doing our best in staying humble to the Lord God.  Constantly praying for guidance and help each day.

Prayer

O Lord God, what a privilege it is to come into Your presence each day, knowing that Your grace abounds and that we are able to start over.  We fall constantly like little children and then we cry and get frustrated and angry.  We get up each day, dust ourselves off and humbly pray for YOUR abounding grace.  Lord, we love you, in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen

Life is a blessing

Psalm 23: 6 TLB “Your goodness and unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life, and afterward I will live with you forever in your home.”

You know each and every one of us has something to be grateful for.  When you wake up in the morning and the house is warm and a nice hot cup of coffee greets you.  Isn't that something to be grateful for?

I am so very grateful for the good things that take place in my life, I am so grateful that the LORD still hears me when I cry out for help.  I confess that “Lord, Your goodness and unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life.” I believe that I am walking in God’s goodness and His unfailing kindness I didn’t have to buy it online or pay for it somehow.  It is a gift from God who choose me.

I am His child, I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and that makes me so grateful for goodness in my day, every day. 

Stop for right there where you are, think about something that happened to you unexpectedly, it is God’s goodness that is over your life.

Prayer

Abba Father thank You, for being patient with us and thank You, that we are able to still come to You knowing that we are covered by the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Thank You, for Your goodness and unfailing kindness in our lives.  We bless You and bring You all the praise, honor and we worship You for we are nothing without You.  In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  Amen

The Accuser

Revelations 12: 10 TLB “Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has happened at last!  God’s salvation and the power and the rule, and the authority of his Christ are finally here; for the Accuser of our brothers has been thrown down from heaven onto earth – he accused them day and night before our God.”

In our minds, we have many battles and also many wars.  We battle against depression and we battle against negative thoughts.  Constantly we have something coming into our minds, and if you and I don’t place a guard at the entrance to our minds, it will be filled with all kinds of messages, and many of those messages will be negative and condemning messages.

Joyce Meyers reminds us that we are able to control our thinking, to be honest, I think that she is right.  I still struggle with many negative thoughts but I also have come to take control over my thoughts.

I find that I would be working and something would really irritate me and before I realize it I would be thinking about someone that makes me so angry.

It has been a process but I am learning to deal with these thoughts, the minute I find myself thinking about something negative I say “stop it now.”  The minute I stop that negative thought I try and think of something more positive and move on.

It still is a process and I want to encourage you today, it can be done and it does work.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, help me stay focused on You, when thoughts of the Accuser comes against me, help me stand firm.  I believe that we are covered by Your blood and that we can control out thought life.  Thank You for this revelations, Amen.

Redeemed or Condemned?

Psalm 34: 22 AMP “The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.”

Early in the morning, you lay in your bed listening to the birds chirping and singing outside your window.  It’s winter here right now and I can feel the cold sneaking in.  As a child of God, it is my heart's desire to serve God, I believe that I am redeemed and that God had chosen me.  When life feels tough and I sometimes feel I cannot cope I turn my focus on to the LORD because I believe that He is my Redeemer.  I feel that I am able to take refuge in Him and that He has freely pardoned me.

Sometimes the devil will come and stand behind you shouting in your ear, “you did this and that last night, and today you want to act all holy than thou.”  The minute you hear this little voice of condemnation shut it up with words “The LORD redeems my soul, I am His servant, you have no right to condemn me because the LORD is my refuge.”

In counteracting against this little voice in your head you are moving away from a negative thought and renewing your mind with a positive thought.  God called you and you are His.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, please will you help me focusing on my thought life, watching my thoughts and not allowing any negative thoughts to come and take residence in my mind.  I am in the process of learning to stay focused and working hard to keep my thoughts in para with Your word.  In the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.  Amen

Are you being tested?

1 Peter 1: 7 “These trials will show that your faith is genuine.  It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold –though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.  So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

When I was younger I thought that God believed that I was an “elastic” always stretching me and it never occurred to me that God was strengthening my faith.

As the years go by and every trail that comes my way I sometimes do well and sometimes I don’t.  The times I fail the trail, I believe God lets it come back again until I have learned to deal with that specific situation.

Do you feel discouraged, lonely and just not in the place where God wants you?  I think you are exactly where God wants you, the circumstances you are facing right now is what is changing your character.  It’s is building you and changing you so that you are becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes when I hear people say, it’s just a season and it too will pass, I feel like running away and hiding.  The thing is you actually cannot hide from your circumstances and you have to ride it out.

Prayer

O Lord God, sometimes we just want to hide and not be in the firing line, it isn't the nicest thing in life to go through trials and tribulations.  We do realize that You are busy working.  In all humility Thank You, for always being there for us even when we feel the need to run and hide.  In the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen