CAST YOUR CARES NOT YOUR CONFIDENCE!

Hebrews 10:35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. v.36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise...

This verse is talking about our confidence in God, our trust in Him and His goodness, His plans and purposes for us.  When the enemy whispers in our ears  'well it's too late, give up on God's promises, whatever you were believing for it's not going to happen now' just look him in the eye and say "I'm not giving up and I will receive God's promises, so back off!"

It's good to remind ourselves that the enemy is a liar, a cheat and a thief. He is a promise stealer but only if we let him! All the promises of God are still Yes and Amen in Christ - all of them. 

So whatever promise you've been standing on and waiting for, can I tell you it's still on the way. Did you get that? IT'S STILL ON THE WAY! Maybe you've been on a detour, well Jesus meets us in the detour and if we'll keep our eyes on Him He will get us to our destination.

So don't cast away your confidence in Him and in His promises. Why? Because if we'll keep believing there will be a great reward.  We all like rewards and we like great rewards even more.  It goes on to say you have need of endurance...so you may receive the promise.

We can't endure in our own strength though, it gives up and gives out and so many people give up just before the promise arrived. It was on the point of delivery and we gave up and missed it. So the secret is to lean into the Holy Spirit more and more. When you're under pressure call on your Helper, call on your Strengthener, call on your Comforter. Scripture tells us 'Those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.'  That  applies to each of us when we call on the name of the Lord He will rescue us, underpin us, strengthen us - all we have to do is call.

Remember God tells us to cast away our cares on to Him but not to cast our confidence in Him.

We can declare by faith 'My God is still for me, His angels have been sent out and they are ministering to me in the spirit realm even though I can't see them. My God is perfecting those things that concern me. His grace is more than enough for whatever I face today. He has new mercies for me every single morning and I take it all by faith. I believe it and I receive it. I will not cast away my confidence in Him. With God's help I will endure to the very end. I will not let the enemy steal the promises God has given me. I am a Victor in Jesus and not a victim. Thank you Lord.

JESUS LISTENS TO US

Luke 24:31 Suddenly their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!

Jesus had just risen from the dead a few hours before that day and we find Him walking on the road to Emmaus alongside two of His followers who haven't recognised him yet. Jesus is so concerned for these two unknown disciples, we've never heard of before, that He spends time during those first resurrection hours to encourage them.  How amazing is that! Jesus is concerned for the ones and the twos, for individuals, for you and me.

He sees their sad faces and asks them what has happened to upset them so. They start to tell Him about Jesus being crucified and of their disappointment. They are telling Jesus about Jesus! How gracious He is. He allows us to unburden our hearts, to tell Him of our disappointments and distresses, of seemingly broken dreams or dashed hopes.

They go on to say "He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people.....we had hoped...."  They were stuck in what was and couldn't see the 'I AM' standing right there beside them! They were stuck in the disappointment of seemingly lost hope.  Sometimes we all get stuck in the 'what was' and lose sight of Jesus walking alongside us taking us forward. Are you stuck in a 'what was'?

Jesus takes time to listen and to help them, to open their eyes. How does He do it? By opening up the scriptures!

Can I encourage us all today to know that Jesus is walking alongside each and everyone of us as we go through life's experiences, whether high or low. He wants to open our eyes to recognise that our dreams are not lost, our hopes in Him are well founded, and that He is actually here beside each one of us if we'll just recognise the great 'I AM' is still walking with us. 

He is still our prophet, priest and king. He is still doing powerful miracles, He is still a mighty teacher.  He is the 'I AM' not a 'was', so why do we get downcast sometimes as though He was a 'was'?

It's because we may forget to recognise He is here with us in our circumstance, the Almighty powerful One, the God of all comfort and hope who takes the time to listen to and help us, to heal and restore us. Perhaps we've forgotten that because He is here we shall see the victory in our lives.

Lord open our eyes today to see Jesus the great I AM and recognise Him in our circumstances, whatever they are, and know that all will be well.

OUR HELP COMES FROM GOD

Psalm 121:1 I look up to the mountains-does my help come from there? v.2. My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

Do you need help today? Do you ever get bogged down by the things happening around you? I know I do and that is when we have to read the Word and get a heavenly perspective on things.

Ephesians 2:6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

This past winter has been a very 'muddy' winter. Everywhere we've walked we've needed our boots on because of all the mud to squelch through and when we get home the mud has stuck to us and we have to scrape it all off before we go out again!

Life is a bit like that too! For some, the past few weeks or months have been very 'muddy' and we've felt we've been in the mire but we have a God who says He takes us out of the miry clay and puts our feet on the rock. Our rock is Jesus and yes we all get 'muddy' when we go out into the world but we know we can come to Jesus any time and let Him wash us off and let us know we're still seated in Him beside the Father in heaven. Scripture says it is His Blood that cleanses us of sin and His Word that washes us off day by day. I think it's a bit like one of those power washers you see turned on full power to get rid of our mud sometimes don't you? 

Does it feel like we're seated in heavenly places just now? Very often not and that is when we have to take it by faith. It always seems to come back to faith doesn't it? But if we'll realise the truth that we're seated 'above' everything happening around us we'll have a different perspective and it wont get us down so much. We'll remember that Jesus has given us the victory and the enemy is defeated beneath our feet. I think we should do some scraping off of the enemy, get him off our boots as it were! 

Lord help us have a heavenly perspective today, to remember You have given us the victory over all the works of the enemy, we are 'above' and not beneath the circumstances and that Your word cleanses us of all the mud we have to wade through in life. Amen.

WE CAN TAKE HEART

Psalm 78:41 Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel. v.42 They did not remember His power; The day when He redeemed them from the enemy.

God is bigger than any situation any one of us might be facing at this moment in time.  We may not understand, or like, a lot of what happens in life but we're called to keep our eyes on God and to not limit Him. He promises to take us 'through' and not leave us in the middle, but lead us out the other side if we obey Him. We can all take heart from that.

So how do we limit God? When He tells us to do something and we are too afraid to do it, we've allowed fear to stop us.When we don't obey His word but follow our own inclination, our own desires or human reasoning, we limit God. When we listen to what others say in life instead of what God has declared in His word, we limit God. The Israelites made all those mistakes and they are a warning to all of us. Of the 12 spies, only two who believed and obeyed God went into the Promised Land and conquered their enemies.

God allows us to make our own decisions but we all know we have a responsibility as ambassadors of Christ to base those decisions on what He says in His word not on our feelings. Whether we like it or not our decisions affect not only ourselves but our witness and our credibility, whether personally or in church and in the community. 

So whatever God is saying to each one of us today may I encourage all of us to do as He says and even though it scares us, do it with His help and trust Him to work things out.  His plans may be different for you than they are for someone else. 

I just felt the Lord reminding me again that He is bigger than all our problems and He only wants good for us. He will bring us through and out the other side when we trust Him and don't limit Him. It may not be how we thought it would be, but His plans are always bigger and better than we've imagined. 

We can be uplifted with that thought. We can take heart.

YOU QUALIFY

Luke 5:4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

This blog has been going for nine months now and in that time the Lord has given me well over 160 blogs to write so a very big thank you to anyone who has ever taken the time to read it and I hope it has been a blessing to you. 

Sometimes I've written things then lost sleep over them! Other times I've wrestled with what God wanted to say and probably many times I've not got it quite how He wanted it but He does say He uses the weak and foolish things in this life so I qualify! I take heart from that. We don't have to be perfect, we just need to be willing and obedient. 

Why am I recounting all that? Because I want to encourage anyone else out there to launch out into the deep and allow God to bless the work of your hands. Whoever you are, God can and does want to use you for His glory. He has qualified you because of Jesus. You are qualified!

It could be in any area of your life but God does want to use you. Perhaps you've had an idea pop in your head, if so don't just dismiss it. Pray about it and ask Him if it's a God idea or just a good idea!

I've said it before but it bears repeating, take the first step and see where it leads. 

Peter's boat was in the shallow water when Jesus preached from it and when He finished He said to Peter to launch out into the deep. If Peter had stayed in the shallows he would never have had the boat sinking load of fish. Jesus proved to Peter that if he allowed Jesus to use what he had then it would be blessed and multiplied but he had to move out of the shallows. He had to do something! He tool the first step, he pulled up anchor!

It's time for us all to move out of the shallows and launch out into the deep whatever that might mean for you. It might mean taking on new responsibilities. Maybe you're growing in the gifts of the spirit and have lacked the courage to speak to someone about it. Maybe you've been given a new opportunity and don't know whether to take it.  He has a purpose for each one of us, no-one is left out, but He does ask you to trust Him and do as He says. Whatever it is, you can know Jesus is still in the boat with you as you launch out. 

I can imagine Jesus leaning over the side of the boat helping Peter and the others to haul in the net which was at breaking point because Peter only let down one net instead of two because he wasn't convinced that Jesus was right about relaunching! Peter only did half of what Jesus said but he did launch out and Jesus blessed him overwhelmingly!

Jesus is always right and if He has given you the inspiration, the instruction or just an idea then don't ignore it, pursue it and see where it leads. 

Launch out! Be blessed!

PRAYER COVERS EVERYTHING

James 5:16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

The Apostle James goes on in this passage to say how Elijah prayed for no rain then prayed for rain which proves he wasn't just talking about healing here. Prayer covers everything.

There are peoples' lives that will never be touched unless we pray for them.  No doubt your life was touched by God because someone prayed for you somewhere along the line.

We all go through many things during the course of our lives some of which are more traumatic than others, but it's the Lord Himself and His word, His Truth that restores and rebuilds us when we turn back to Him for help in prayer.  I know I've had to do it many times when life has seemed to be falling apart at the seams. But I can testify that the Lord is a restoring God, a rescuing God, a delivering God, and a Healing God.

There were days that looked so hopeless and black, when nothing made sense, when my heart was being torn apart and yet God turned it around, but I had to do my part.  God can and does restore marriages. I can testify to that too, more than once, over 48 years of marriage.  Those days when you think you can't go on and call on God to soften and change your hearts, your thinking.

Then there have been times when it looked like I wouldn't make it health wise either and yet I am still here strong and healthy by the grace of God. My point is that no situation we face is hopeless when we have our Saviour to turn to and know that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.  

I believe one of the reasons you and I have survived things is because people were praying for us and we can do the same for others, especially if they are suffering in any way. 

If Jesus is our Lord, then God counts us as a righteous person in His sight, and our verse reminds us that our prayers have great power and produce wonderful results.. They work! God is listening and responding and working behind the scenes even though we can't see it yet. 

We can all pray fervently for each other, for those we love and even those we don't know. They all need our prayers, we all need each others prayers. 

Everyone reading this, wherever you are in the world,  has people in your lives you know need a lot of prayer right now. So let's do it, let's pray in faith for them.

Nothing is impossible with God.

WE HAVE A WORRY TAKER

1 Peter 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares for you. 

Some cares we have are small, some are big, some we carry for ourselves and some we carry for others but whatever size or reason for them God wants to take them all. He never designed us to carry our cares ourselves which is why He instructed us to pass them over to Him. That is easier said than done but it must be possible or He wouldn't have commanded it.

At the end of the day we show God we're either trusting Him or not by whether we cast our cares on Him or not. I once heard someone say the Lord had told him that when we worry about things it's like we've put a squeeze or choke hold on the pipe which flows from heaven and it hinders God from working out His purposes because we're not allowing Him to take control. When we give those worries to Him we do let God take control and then His power and blessings will be free to flow once again. When we worry God stands back but when we give them to Him then He will take over and show us what to do.

We can either rest or wrestle! We all know God wants us to enter into His rest but He doesn't force us.

The lovely thing is, we do have a Saviour, a Deliverer, a Worry Taker, you could say we have a 'Worry Deliverer', who only wants the best for us and He has all the answers to all our concerns whatever they are, if we'll trust Him.

So for the things we are worrying about today, we do have a choice. We can show God we're trusting Him by giving Him those worries and refusing to let the enemy bombard us with his thoughts, or we can bow to the enemy's tactics, be a worry wart and be miserable!

And when those worries keep coming back we can stand firm in faith and tell the enemy to go and see Jesus about them because we don't have them anymore, we gave them to Him and He 's taking care of them. 

We all face the same challenge of being doers of the Word and not hearers only but we do have the Holy Spirit to help us and strengthen us. Thank You Lord.

GOD WILL SPEAK PEACE

Psalm 85:8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; But let them not turn back in folly.

What do we do when we receive news which is very distressing and saddening? We can either give in to what the enemy is trying to do and say 'well it's the culture we live in', or we can turn to God to hear what He says about it.  In order to do that we have to go to prayer and scripture and base our actions and reactions on that alone because it is there we find God's thoughts on the matter and His instructions. His Word is His instruction manual.

I couldn't sleep last night because of what we were told this weekend and sought the Lord and to pray. We know if we look at things from the human or worldly perspective, we will have a wrong perspective but if we ask God for His help and call on His Name He will answer us and tell us what to do. God knows what's happening and does have His thoughts about it!  

Scripture tells us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice because what affects one person in the body of Christ affects us all. When one hurts, or is damaged, we are all hurt.  It greatly affects their families and our church family. Neither can we ignore what happens and just carry on as though it didn't happen. I'm sure no-one is doing that.  

As Christians, we are not walking under the world's understanding or culture, and we forget that to our own hurt.  This verse God gave me in the night tells us God will speak peace to His people, that means to the two concerned and also to the body of Christ, but we're warned and commanded not to turn back to folly or our own understanding.

Can I encourage everyone with these words. God is speaking peace to us but He wants us to be listening for His wisdom and obeying His Word.  It is higher than a denomination, or a tradition or a culture or personal 'feelings'.

Nothing is impossible with God or too hard for Him to do.

FAITH EXPECTS TO OVERCOME DARKNESS

Ephesians 6:10-12 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. v.11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. v.12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Yesterday we looked at the fact that faith prepares for what it expects to happen. Well today we're looking at faith expects to overcome darkness.

How often we're tempted to look at the darkness all around us and think we can't do much about it. We may even have the thought that says 'whatever will be, will be'. But that is not a God thought! No, when we stand with our armour on, and having done all to stand, and keep standing we should be expecting to overcome darkness both personally and in the wider sphere.

Although Paul reminds us we're not wrestling with flesh and blood but with the forces of darkness we should also remember this.  When Satan looks at us with our armour all in place he is no longer dealing with flesh and blood either; he's now dealing with the Greater One, Jesus, who lives and reigns within us, and he knows Jesus has already defeated him dramatically and totally at the cross. Hallelujah!

When we know who we are in Christ, and whose we are, a child of the Most High God, when we are properly clothed with His armour on and His Holy Spirit within, we are the ambassadors of God Himself in this earth and we are on a mission. Apostle Paul tells us we have the power to pull down strongholds and that we are to use the weapons of our warfare.  We are not puny, weak or helpless.

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds

We can know this, when we go out each and every day, we are not alone, but we are mighty in God and He is mighty in us and whatever we have to do or face, we do it through Him and His miracle working power. We can expect, by faith, to overcome darkness because the Light of the World is in us.  We can expect to pull down some strongholds.

We are God's mighty ones! Have a great weekend.

LET GOD INSPIRE YOU WITH NEW HOPE

Jeremiah 32:38-44 They will be my people and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one purpose; to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them...I will find joy doing good for them ...so I will do all the good I have promised them.. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken!

If you get a chance to read Jeremiah 32 there seem to be two main themes. One is the fact that nothing is impossible or too hard for God. (Jesus reminded us of that too.) The other theme is His heart to do His people good in the long term and to bring them prosperity.

We may look at our lives or circumstances and think they could never change but God reminds us here that nothing is too hard for Him.  We live in a world where the experts give us the cold facts and 'tell us how it is'. God has a different way of doing things.  He 'calls things that be not as though they were' (Romans 4:17) and He tells us to be imitators of Him so we can do the same.

Are you calling things the way they 'are', or are you calling things that 'are not' as though they were?

Faith calls for things that we can't see yet. Faith prepares for what it expects to happen. 

What are we expecting to happen? Are we expecting all the good God has promised us, the prosperity He has promised in all areas of our lives and preparing for it or are we expecting more of the same old? I believe God wants us to get out of the box of 'things will never change' and into the freedom of  'with God nothing is too hard or impossible'!  

There are times I sit in the box that says I don't want things to change and realise I've become too comfortable. Can you identify with that? If so maybe we need to go to the Lord afresh and ask Him to show us where we've settled for the 'good' instead of His 'best'' still to come.

Has He ever given you dreams or visions in the past of how you'd like things to be, in your personal life and in church life, but you've thought in line with cold facts. If so can I encourage you today to reread this chapter and let God inspire you with new hope, with His 'calling for those things that haven't yet appeared'?

NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD.  Start expecting Him to move and begin preparing for it to happen. Call for the good which is on it's way. Believe it and receive it by faith today.

GOD WILL PERFORM HIS WORD FOR YOU

Jeremiah 1:12 Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it. (Amplified)

This verse came to my mind this morning and just felt the Lord saying what word of mine are you going to bring to Me today for me to perform for you? I think He says that to each one of us every day. 

God has given us His word for a reason, not least, so He can bring it about in the life of His children.

Is there a trouble you are facing today? Do you have a friend who is facing serious troubles and they need help? Then can I encourage you to get God's word out and find the word in there which He has provided us with, so we can stand on it, declare it, believe it and ask Him to perform it.

I love the picture this verse paints for us. It's like God the Father is leaning over on His throne looking across the earth and saying to Jesus. "Is there anyone standing on My word today? Anyone believing Me to do what I said in My word I will do for them? Whatever it is they're believing My word for I'll do it for them, I'll perform it. Is there anyone?"

I am an anyone and I've already chosen the word I need to be performed in my life this morning.  How about you?  Let's make the Father's heart glad today as we bring His word to Him believing He's alert and active watching over His word to perform it. Amen.

JESUS LIFTS US UP

 Mark 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he rose.

This is the story of a boy who couldn't speak, who had convulsions and fits which threatened his life. Scripture explains it was caused by an evil spirit that would take hold of him and when Jesus told the spirit to come out of him it threw the boy down and convulsed him to the point the boy looked like he was dead. The people were all murmuring, nudging elbows with each other and saying "He's dead."  You can imagine the atmosphere in the place, the tension, the pointing fingers and the held breath as they all waited to see what would happen.

And then we see Jesus. It just has the hallmark of Jesus so much as He leans down, takes the boy by the hand and lifts him up. He helps him to his feet and now the boy is standing totally delivered and well. What a joy! It was another of those 'gasp' moments Jesus caused wherever he went!

Acts 10:38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

1 John3:8 ...For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

These scriptures tell us where sickness comes from. It's an oppression of the devil and not sent from God for any reason.  Jesus was anointed to heal anyone oppressed by the devil because God was with Him to destroy what the devil has done to us.  So the good news is, if any one of us has been oppressed by sickness and disease in any shape or form, then Jesus has come to heal us and to lift us up again.

The Lord doesn't just heal us and leave us in a heap on the floor!  He goes on and lifts us up.

Do you need lifting up for any reason? Have you been oppressed by the devil in any area of your life, whether physically, mentally or any other area?  I think we can all say yes at different times. 

Well Jesus is here today, still anointed to destroy the works of the devil, still anointed to bring healing into our bodies and still leaning down to take our hand and lift us up. 

Grab hold of His hand in faith today and let Him remove the oppression and lift you up again. Let Him give you one of His 'gasp' moments.  We know for sure He wants to, it's why He came!

WE ARE SO BLESSED

Galations 3:13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." v.14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ today? Because if you are, then you are blessed indeed!

God's plan and purpose is to bless us through being joined to His Son Jesus. His heart is to bless us and not curse us because we are 'in Christ'. Blessing us makes His heart glad but we have our part to play.

Our part is to believe He wants to bless us and receive the blessings He wants to give us. Sometimes we find it hard to receive a blessing because we may feel we don't deserve it and can even block it through wonky thinking! Ephesians says in one translation God wants to lavish His blessings on us. That is an extravagant word!  Are we in a place in our thinking to say "Thank you Lord I receive" or are we saying "Oh no, I can't take that, it wouldn't feel right"?

God says blessings are on the head of the righteous and we know we have been made righteous in God's eyes through Jesus, not of our own earning, so that means God's blessings are on us. Another scripture tells us that what God has blessed no-one can curse, but we need to believe that.

Jesus said we get what we believe for. Let's believe the blessings of God are chasing us down and overtaking us today. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

If you get time read Deuteronomy 28:1-14 to find out just some of the blessings that we now receive through being 'in Christ'.  There are so many more and better promises than these even, but it's a good place to start. And the curses which are listed in the rest of that chapter are all the ones Jesus has born away on the cross in His own body for us and from us, so they can't come on us any more. That is Good News!

We are blessed indeed!

DON'T LOSE HEART

Psalm 27:13 I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Can I encourage you, along with myself, to not lose heart about what you are waiting and believing God for, whatever that is. It's so easy to be discouraged when things don't happen on our time table or how we wanted, we're tempted to think 'why bother'.  But we've not to listen to that, but keep believing!

The Psalmist David says he would have lost heart unless he believed something and that something was believing to see the goodness of God in the land of the living, in other words right now in the here and now.  I love that, and no doubt we all want to see the goodness of God manifesting more and more in our lives in amongst all the sad reports and discouraging things that sometimes happen.

I think Jesus put His finger on it when He told Peter that he was seeing things only from a human perspective.

Mark 8:33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. "Get away from me, Satan", he said. "You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." (Nlt)

So when negative and depressing thoughts creep up and plague us we need to do like Jesus and say "Get away from me Satan!" because they are coming from Satan, not God. They are not what God sees, they are not His perspective. God wants us to keep believing for the good!

The Psalmist goes on in Psalm 27:14 Wait (in faith) on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, Wait, I say, on the Lord. (Nkjv)

So  while we are waiting in faith for the Lord to show us what He is doing behind the scenes that we can't see yet with our physical eyes, we can know He is strengthening our hearts to keep believing. Isn't that lovely? I hope it encourages and blesses you too.

THE GOD OF MORE THAN ENOUGH!

Mark 8:5 Jesus asked. "how much bread do you have?" "Seven loaves", they replied. v.6...Then He took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces....v.7 A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these... v.8 They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.

There seems to be a spiritual principle at work here as it's a repeat performance of the feeding of the five thousand. When Jesus repeats Himself we need to pay attention. 

All the disciples could see was the need, what Jesus could see was the supply! 

He seems to be teaching His disciples to bring what they do have to God the Father, regardless of how inadequate it is for the problem, and to thank Him for what they have got. Then to go one step further and bless what they have, believing the Father will multiply it to be more than enough with leftovers.

I like to keep it simple so here goes: BRING, THANK GOD, BLESS, RECEIVE.

Not enough strength? Bring what you have to a loving Father. Don't bemoan your lack, thank Him for the strength you have, bless the strength you have and believe God to multiply it so you'll have more than enough.

Not enough finances for your needs or a project? Do the same thing. Bring your bank statement or wallet, what you do have and thank God for what you have got, bless it in the name of Jesus and believe God to multiply it supernaturally so you have more than enough with baskets of leftovers!

What about really practical things? Failing eyesight, hair falling out, need to remember better? Do the same thing. Thank You Lord for the hair I have got, the memory I do have, etc. I bless them Lord and believe You're increasing them to me every day. 

Not enough wisdom, joy, peace, patience, understanding, whatever? Same thing.  Whatever it is you don't have enough of, don't moan and complain, give thanks for what you have, bless it, don't curse it by moaning about it, but by faith believe you receive more of it from the Lord, more than enough. (Mark 11.24)

Our Heavenly Father gets no pleasure from listening to our moans and complaints but it delights His heart when we come to Him in faith, with thankful hearts, blessing Him for what we've already got and believing Him to supply what we need knowing He is a generous God who always gives us more than enough.

Thank You Lord!

JESUS TRULY IS WONDERFUL

Mark 7:37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, 'He has done all things well...(Nkjv) 

Mark 7:37 They were completely amazed and said again and again, "Everything he does is wonderful... (Nlt)  

Mark 6:51...And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marvelled. (Nkjv).       

The people who lived, walked and talked with Jesus were constantly astonished and completely amazed by Him.  I love the comment "Everything He does is wonderful, He has done all things well."

Do we sometimes forget to be astonished and amazed by Jesus? Do we maybe even have the wrong picture of Him in our heads left over from Sunday School days? 'Gentle Jesus, meek and mild'? That picture is only part of who He is. He calmed roaring seas just by speaking a word, showed his holy anger as He overturned the tables in the temple.  We see Him at the well, tired out and hungry yet still willing to minister to the one woman He'd travelled miles out of His way to see. Whoever is reading this right now, you are the one He is wanting to minister to today. Will you let Him? What is it you need Jesus to do for you? Didn't He constantly ask people '"What would you like me to do for you?" 

If we take the time to read the  above verses and their contexts they show us He did, and said so much, that everyone was flabbergasted. When was the last time you stopped and allowed yourself to be flabbergasted, amazed and astonished by Jesus, by His power, His wisdom, His compassion and understanding? To be amazed at His goodness and kindness, His incredible courage and strength to endure the cross?  To be overwhelmed by the love He has for us as He bore every sin, failure and mistake we've ever made so we can be forgiven, healed, restored and reconciled with His Father? There is no hero in heaven or earth can hold a candle to Him!

He's exactly the same Jesus today as He was then. He still does everything well, everything He still does is wonderful in our lives and the lives of others. He still heals blind eyes, heals deaf ears, makes the mute, and those who stutter, to speak clearly. He still heals all our diseases, He still casts out demons. 

Nothing has changed, so we can still be 'amazed beyond measure' with the One who created all things but has your name engraved on the palm of His hand. 

Can you take some time out today and just be astonished once again with your Saviour Jesus?

Lord we praise you afresh for Jesus.

ASSURE YOUR HEART

1 John 3:19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. v.20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

Do you ever have days when you feel like God doesn't love you anymore. You just don't 'feel' His love and think He's gone off somewhere? The trouble with feelings and emotions is that they come and go in the space of moments. We go up and down very often according to what's happening at the time which is why we should never believe our feelings!

It's at times like that we have to 'assure our hearts' that God does love us just because His Word has said so. It makes no difference what our feelings try to say, what others say, what our circumstances look like.

The Word of God emphatically says that God loves us with an everlasting unconditional love and we have to believe it and keep reminding our hearts of that rock solid truth.

We all know we 'feel' condemned or guilty sometimes. Our heart is condemning us, but God is not and we need to remember our verse 'God is greater than our heart, He understands and knows all things. When that happens we're actually condemning ourselves, not God. We need to run to the scripture Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Maybe there is a case for standing in front of a mirror, pointing a finger at ourselves and saying out loud "God loves me right now, at this very moment and there's nothing I've done or can do that will change that. I believe and receive God's love for me even though I may not feel it. I know it's true because He said so."

The love of God is the foundation for our lives, for everything.  

So wherever you are, whatever is happening, regardless of how you may 'feel', know this beyond a shadow of a doubt - He loves you!

GOD WILL DO IT

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. 

God started a good work in us the day we asked Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour and it is still going on to this day.  Even though we may have days when we feel discouraged or downhearted He constantly gives us scriptures to pick us up again and encourage us to keep going. (That's why it's so important to us to read His Word every day). This verse is one of those where He tells us to be confident that God will do what He says; that what He started in you He will finish. 

So never despair that you're not making as much progress as you thought.  Keep reminding yourself of how far you have already come and keep looking to God our Father and thank Him for the progress you've made, knowing that when God makes something, it is always beautiful and good. We are all a work in progress! We are all in the process of being changed from one degree of glory to another. Praise God!  Notice it says 'glory', not one degree of 'that'll do'!

The enemy wants us to look at our faults or our lack in any area but God wants us to look and see what He sees - a finished work, one of God's masterpieces, a special treasure made just for Him for His glory, for his companionship. God sees the finished you by faith, and He's delighted with what He's making you into. 

Now our job is to get into agreement with what He says and declare by faith that He will complete the good work He has begun in you. Yes, there will be days when we can't see it or feel it, when we thought we went backwards instead of forwards, and those are the days to take His word by faith and trust Him to change us from the inside out by His grace as we obey Him. And don't be tempted to compare yourself with someone else who may appear further on. Let's just think well if God can do that in them He can definitely do it in me too! Thank You Lord.

Be encouraged, God is making you into something glorious even if you can't see it yet - He can!

Thank You Lord, the good work You have begun in each one of us You will complete. Amen.

APPROVED BY GOD

2 Corinthians 5:17  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Ever had someone ask 'What's wrong with you?' Well instead I want to ask you a much nicer question. 'What's right with you? because the answer is  - everything in your spirit man.  Jesus made a perfect job of taking your sin away so you could exchange it for His perfect righteousness, His 'rightness'.  

As far as God is concerned, if Jesus is your Lord and Saviour, then you are clothed in His righteousness through Jesus and He approves of who you are now in His Son even though He may not approve of everything you do. You are wearing the breastplate of His approval.  So when the enemy comes and whispers in our ear trying to condemn us for our latest mistake or failure we can turn our eyes to Jesus taking all our sin and failure into Himself on the cross.  We can remind the devil that our righteousness is not depending on our imperfect performance but on Jesus' perfect performance. 

Colossians 2: 13-14  .... Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Thank God we can run to Him to repent and tell the enemy to go and see Jesus about his accusations against us because He has declared us forgiven, and cleansed of all unrighteousness.

Did we deserve it or earn it by our goodness or works? God says No. It was all the grace and goodness of our God who wiped the slate clean of all our sin past present and future.   So whenever you may feel a bit down in the dumps just remember how God sees you and remind yourself to see yourself the way He does. 

You are loved, forgiven, cleansed, declared righteous, approved, anointed, with a future which is as bright as the noonday sun. Nothing can separate you from God's love, He surrounds you with His favour like a shield, He has blessed you beyond all you could think of and Jesus is coming back for you in the not too distant future. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)

You are highly favoured, greatly blessed and deeply loved and all because of Jesus. Thank you Lord.

JESUS RESTORES DIGNITY AND GIVES NEW LIFE

Mark 5:1-20  (Too many verses to print out, please may you read in your Bible)

Can you imagine the headlines of the Daily Gadarenes Post that day. It might have said,

2000 PIGS THUNDER DOWN HILL TO THEIR DEATH.  DEMONS CAST OUT OF CRAZY MAN!  LOCALS TERRIFIED! JESUS TOLD TO LEAVE!

What was it that frightened the people so much? Was it the thought of their pigs rushing down the hill to their death and livelihood being lost? The air would have been full of their shreiks. Was it the thought of demons being cast out? Was it the power and authority of Jesus that frightened them? Whatever it was Jesus had stirred them all up and caused a bit of a riot!

And yet in the middle of all that now sits one man, now clothed and in his right mind probably for the first time in years. What a wonderful picture. Earlier we met him possessed with the strength to break metal chains and shackles with his own hands, having cut himself over and over again with stones, howling in the graveyard. But now he's at peace. Jesus gave him back his dignity and a new life, a new beginning.

Jesus is still in the business of rescuing the lost and those who are no longer in control of their own minds.  There is hope for everyone.

Now fast forward to Jesus leaving the earth after His resurrection. His last words to His disciples say this:

Mark 16:15 And then He told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.

Jesus is still the same yesterday, today and forever as we know, and He lives in us and we are His disciples and He has told us to go and do what He did. He authorised us with His power and authority to cast out demons in His Name just like He did. 

My prayer is that we believe Jesus' last words to us and if and when He calls us to do it, that we will be willing and obedient to follow His instructions by the Holy Spirit, so He gets the glory and people are set free like this man was. Amen.

WHAT GOD SEES FOR YOU AND IN YOU

Numbers 8:2 Give Aaron the following instructions; When you set up the seven lamps in the lampstand, place them so their light shines forward in front of the lampstand.

Yesterday we looked at reaching forward for what God has for us in the future, to have fresh vision.  Here we read of God instructing them to shine the lampstand forward, so our theme continues.

When you shine your light forward do you see what God sees?  He sees you in health, strong in body and mind, strong in faith, walking in love being blessed and being a blessing to others.

 

What does the average person see? The world teaches people their way of thinking and I often hear even Christians subscribing to it. It says you'll have loss of memory as you grow older. It says you'll diminish in strength and become frail  or get this or that disease or you'll get a disease because one of your parents had it, which is all so untrue! Some people start thinking 'old' when they're still young and they seem to invite it in. 

Remember we've been studying about the power of our own words and Jesus said we can have what we say. I had a very good friend who kept telling me over the years that he would die young and sure enough he died in his fifties. He prophesied into his own life and it was so sad.

But that defeated scenario is not what God sees for us. When Moses died none of his faculties were diminished. When Caleb was 85 he had the strength he had when we was 45.

Moses didn't start his life ministry till he was 80 and after 40 years in the wilderness he then died at 120.  In Psalm 90:10 Moses talks about their lifespan being 70 or 80 but it wasn't a prophecy, it was the data he was living with at that time. That generation all died before reaching the promised land because of disobedience. Only those younger than that went in to take the land led by Joshua.

Actually God tells us our life span is 120 years!  

Genesis 6:3  And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.

Psalm 91:16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.

So can I encourage you to see what God sees - a long, satisfying life.  Let's not agree with the world view or buy into their thinking.

Let's renew our minds to the Word of God and speak it over our lives. It says He has given us a sound mind, we have the mind of Christ, strength for each and every day, that His eternal life is coursing through our veins bringing life, wholeness, healing and restoration; that we've been redeemed from the curse of the law and and from any and every disease our parents or their parents may have had.

Let's see what God sees, with our lamp facing forward lighting up the way, speaking over ourselves by faith what God says in His Word, and not what the world says. Amen.

REACHING FORWARD WITH GOD

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

The Holy Spirit gave us this thought a long time ago, about letting stuff go, or forgetting it, in order to reach forward to the next thing He has for us. Paul had signed papers to murder people but he knew he had to forget those terrible things if he wanted to move forward and do what God wanted.

When we hold on to the past, whether it is it's glories or it's regrets, we clutter ourselves up so that there is little room for the good God has stored up for us in the future. But when we forget any resentment, unforgiveness or bitterness, there is then room for blessing and peace. When we give our sad, bad or disturbing memories to the Lord He will wash away their sting and heal those places of hurt but if we hang on to them, constantly replaying them, they will remain and block our future.

Maybe it's none of those but we're holding on to the familiar because it's comfortable so we find it hard to reach out for the new and unknown, but that is what God wants for his people.

Although God Himself never changes, yet He is a God of freshness and newness, the God of 'Behold I do a new thing', new mercies, new favour that opens up doors, new blessings above and beyond so we can bless others. He wants to open our eyes to new visions, new hopes and aspirations to see through His eyes. It's hard to do that when we are bogged down with past failures or negative experiences or even 'those were wonderful days in the past' memories which tempt us to think it can't be better in the future.

If we stubbornly refuse to let things go then it's very difficult to reach forward but if we trust Him and say I want something fresh and new so help me Lord to let go of what hinders me, then we open up our hearts to Him for His good plan and purpose. 

God does not want our past to have a strong hold on us. He wants our future to have a strong hold on us pulling us ever forward.

Lord help us to reach forward with You and forget anything that holds us back. Amen.

GOD WANTS TO HELP

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Are there some things that you need to get sorted out? I mean practical things like dealing with paperwork that's piled up in the corner, or needing to get the boiler sorted, or as in my case, I needed to sort out my cupboards, but you keep putting if off?

The Lord has blessed me with a workroom where I do all my crafts and in there is a cupboard which was absolutely full of cloth to the point I couldn't open the door without something falling out. I've put off dealing with it for literally years because I knew it would be a big job. But one day last week I just felt the time had come, it was like God anointed me to deal with it. He graced me to do it.

Does that sound strange to you? Can God anoint us to sort out cupboards? I firmly believe that God helps us in every day practical ways and He has given us the Holy Spirit for wisdom and counsel, yes, but also to help us in the every day of life. 

Whatever it is you need help with the Holy Spirit is there and wants to be called on to do just that.  God says to go to His throne to obtain mercy and help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)  That doesn't just mean spiritual help, or help with health or addictions or major things. It means help with anything and everything.

I needed help. As I took a box off the first shelf the whole unit came out of the wall and collapsed on to me. Get the picture? I'd let it go beyond the pale because I hadn't dealt with it when I should but God helped me to deal with it and now it's all sorted and I've been very strong and thrown lots of stuff away!! It led me to clear all the other cupboards in there and now we've redecorated the room and I know exactly where everything is. My point is God helped me and it was a joy to do in the end because He was in it with me.   I now feel so good about it and the sense of gloom which hung over me every time I thought about it has gone.

So whatever it is you need to deal with, can I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to help you with it.

Jesus said,' I can do nothing of myself...'.  Apostle Paul said 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.'

I expect some people will be thinking 'God doesn't want me to bother Him with trivial things like that',  but I've learnt that nothing is too trivial to God if it matters to us, because He loves us.  He actually told us to come to His throne to get help. Some people think 'well, I can deal with this myself  and I'll just ask God for help with the big stuff.'  I personally don't believe that's what God wants.

So what do you need help with today, this week? Let me encourage you once again, to ask the Lord for His help, His grace, His anointing to do it, whatever 'it' is, and I assure you He will.😊

WHAT A LOVELY RESTORING SAVIOUR

Mark 3:5 Then He (Jesus) said to the man, "Hold out your hand." So the man held out his hand, and it was restored.

In verse one of Mark 3 it tells us Jesus noticed this man as soon as He went in the synagogue. He noticed he had something wrong with him, that he had a deformed hand.  Jesus notices each one of us and if there's anything wrong, or bent out of shape, He knows it and wants to put it right for us.

So He calls this man out in front of the whole crowd and commands him to hold his hand out. How embarrassing for the man! Can you imagine standing out in front of all those critical people and thinking you're going to have to expose what's wrong with you to them all. He'd probably gone around always trying to hide it.  But he did what he was told. He held it out for all to see but when he did, it wasn't deformed anymore - it was restored! Jesus wasn't asking him to expose his deformity, he was asking him to show he was restored. How lovely is that.

Can you see the scene, can you see the man? He must have waved his hand in the air and shouted, "Look, look, it's restored. I'm restored" and the crowd gasping! That's what Jesus does He restores what's crippled in our lives if we'll let Him and trust Him and do what He says.

When I was a child, if you were told to hold out your hand in school it filled you with fear and dread because it meant they were going to punish you and whack you with their purpose made leather strap. It hurt a lot!  But when Jesus tells us to hold out our hand, it's not to punish or embarrass us, it's so He can restore us and bless us.

Have we ever been afraid or dreaded going to God to admit our 'thing' that's all bent out of shape, our attitudes, our thinking, our diseases, our weaknesses, our relationships, our finances, anything in our lives that's got twisted or not as it should be? Don't worry He knows about them all already.

God says to us today "Bring it to Me, hold it out to Me and I'll restore it and make it whole again. I allowed My Son's hands to be held out and pierced with cruel nails so you can hold out your hands and let me restore whatever is wrong and make your life whole again and rewarding.

What a lovely, wonderful Saviour in Jesus we have. It fills me with hope not dread, it makes me want to run to Him, how about you?

RAISE A VICTORY BANNER

 2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ.. (New King James version)  

v.14 But thank God! He has made us His captives and continues to lead us along in Christ's triumphal procession. (New Living Translation)

Be encouraged that whatever your circumstances are right now our Lord Jesus will lead us into the victory He's already won for us.

Our verse says He always leads us in triumph in Christ. It doesn't say sometimes but always! Our job is to believe it no matter what things look like in the natural and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the One at the head of this triumphal procession, declaring His victory over death and sin and everything that's come with them. 

Sometimes I think we've been on the verge of seeing a victory when we let discouragement creep in and we gave up believing for something just as we would have had the breakthrough.

It's wonderful to know that Jesus has included us in His victory parade.  We know His victory banner is over us, but we also have a banner to raise.

Psalm 20:5 May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a banner in the name of our God.

If we've let the enemy put a banner over us that says anything other than victory, then we know it's a lie and we can tear it down because Jesus is leading us forward and His banner over us also says Love which never fails (that's victory). So whatever issues we're experiencing, we can know this, that Jesus will always lead us into triumphing over whatever the enemy tries to do. We've already been put in the position of victory because Jesus has already won the victory and given it to us to enforce and enjoy. The enemy cannot walk all over us any more because he's not the one leading us any more, Jesus is.

Let's go out into the coming week with confidence in Him and if the enemy has a go at us, we can remind him that Jesus has given us the victory over him and all his works, so we can say "hands off me, my family and all I own".  Let's declare it over our lives and shout for joy.

We will raise our victory banner in the Name of our God. It says Victorious and Loved. Thank You Lord.