VICTORY IS ON THE HORIZON

2 Chronicles 14:11 Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, "O Lord, no one but You can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You alone."

King Asa of Judah was being invaded by an army of 1,000,000 Ethiopians and he was outnumbered by 2 to 1 but although the odds were hugely against him he knew what to do. He cried out to the Lord for His help but he didn't do it with a 'poor old me' attitude. No, his focus wasn't on his own inadequacy but on God's power and the fact that He alone could defeat the mighty. He declared the power and mightiness of God, not his own weakness.

He knew that whatever enemy he faced he had to do it in the name of his mighty God. We too have been given the name of Jesus, the name above all names and it's in His mighty name we cry out to God for help against any enemy that attacks us and tell it to bow the knee and to flee before us.

v.12 So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians, in the presence of Asa and the army of Judah, and the enemy fled....They were destroyed by the Lord and His army...

Their trust wasn't in their own army or cleverness or their own plan. Their whole trust was in the Lord, they knew they couldn't face their enemies on their own, but what a resounding victory God gave them. What a shout of 'Woohoo' there must have been!

For those of us who are waiting on God I believe He's telling us there is a 'woohoo' shout of victory for us on the horizon because we're trusting in our God and Him alone.  We can know the victory is ours because God says "He always causes us to triumph in Jesus." Thank You Lord.

SEE THE FUNNY SIDE!

Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.

Daft things happen sometimes don't they and you just have to scratch your head and laugh at life's silly happenings. 

One day last week I was on the phone to my sister when the door bell rang so Chris answered the door and three children were standing there asking him to buy some sweets they were selling for 20p. How weird is that? I'd never seen them before in my life! ...... Meanwhile our house smoke alarm suddenly went off with it's siren blaring out. I rushed to the kitchen only to discover I'd burnt a pan of hard boiled eggs completely dry (because I forgot all about them) and the fumes were affecting the alarm. So there I am waving a towel frantically at the smoke alarm trying to waft the fumes so it would stop, the three children are all standing gawping through the open door at this crazy woman wielding a towel in the air and they have their fingers in their ears, pulling faces because it was so loud! My sister is still on the phone listening to the hullabaloo, the siren stops and we all relax ........ then it started up again and we had to repeat the whole process again!........  Meanwhile Chris had gone to find 20p.! 

Honestly, you couldn't have written a comedy script any better and that's my point. It's good to learn to laugh at ourselves and our circumstances sometimes, because if we don't we'll end up crying. I was recounting the whole episode to a friend on the phone a few minutes later and I just saw the funny side of it and we laughed and laughed, it did us so much good. She actually said it was better than medicine! (Oh and the good news is I saved the pan and the children got their 20p.!!)

I know life is serious sometimes but I have to remind myself to just lighten up a bit and see the funny side of things, life would be much more bearable, don't you think? 

Our verse today encourages us to have a merry heart, a heart that sees the ridiculous, that makes us laugh, because God says it will do us good like a medicine. I think I like that medicine a lot better than the sort the doctors give us sometimes and so did my friend! 

God gave us a sense of humour for a reason - we need it! Don't forget this verse comes from Proverbs, God's book of wisdom. It's wise to laugh! Apparently scientists tells us that laughter releases all sorts of healing endorphins as well, so let's try laughing more! 

And just in case life gets a bit fraught and strained today, try and stop for a minute, if you can, to see the funny side of things and laugh, it might surprise you how it diffuses the situation, and how much better you feel.😊

GOD HAS ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD FOR YOU

Isaiah 65:24 I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

The other day I went to the hairdresser for a  trim and I noticed that every single person who came in was given her undivided attention for the space of time they were with her. She listened, commented, sympathised, entered in to that person's lives for the small space of time she had them there. 

I thought how lovely that is and how we can each do that for one another because I believe that reflects our Father's heart and that is what happens when we come to Father God. He listens, and if we listen in return we'll learn to hear what He thinks about it and what we can do, or not do, and what He will do about it. 

Scripture says He's already answering our prayers before we even ask! How wonderful is that and should encourage us to go to Him more and more because He still wants us to ask, seek and knock knowing He's answering already. The Holy Spirit is our Counsellor and Friend, He cares about every single detail of our lives and He's our Helper. 

We are very special and important to God as individuals because we're his children and He wants us to know we're special in His sight. He wants us to know that what we have to say is important to Him and it matters. He never just brushes us off and in so much of a hurry that He's on to the next person. NO! 

He has all the time in the world for you and me and He loves it when we come to Him to share our lives with Him. 

He loves to answer our prayers, so as we start another new week, we know we can talk to God about everything, and all through the day, whether it's small or big, with thanksgiving in our hearts, and know He has all the time in the world for us because He loves us so. Amen.

SO THANKFUL

Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, v.15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.

Well, dare I ask how we all got on this week with not complaining and grumbling? I expect there were times we did well, but then completely forgot and other times we didn't quite manage it.  Perhaps it's something we have to keep practicing!

So I thought it might be helpful to list some things to be thankful for which might help as we round out our week. Hope you can find the time to maybe look them up.

1.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (James 1:17) Had any good gifts lately? Well we know where they came from.😊

2.  We've been given Jesus' own peace of mind and heart. What a blessing that is. (John 14:27)

3.  We don't need to be anxious about anything but can present all our prayers to God with thanksgiving knowing He hears us. (Philippians 4:6-7) Thank God He's listening!

4.  God loves us and His love is steadfast towards us. (Psalm 107:1) Huge thank you Lord.

5.  God has forgiven us and bought our freedom with Jesus' blood. How amazing is that! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Lord.(Ephesians 1:7)

6.   God wants us to give Him all our cares and worries because He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7)  - what a relief that is.   

The list is actually endless and the bottom line, as we know, is that everything we have, and are, is due to the goodness of God; whether it's our health, home, family, friends, food, roof over our heads, and all the little things which happen every single day that make our lives worth living, even the pretty daisies in the lawn!

So I hope you have a lovely 'thankful to God' weekend. You are blessed of God (and that's something else to be thankful for. 😊)

GOD DELIGHTS IN YOU

Psalm 18:16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. v.17 He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me. v.18 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the Lord supported me. v.19 He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.

Whenever we come under attack it would be good to get these verses out and read them over ourselves because they reminds us that we're not dealing with things on our own but the Lord is supporting us.

 Very often the enemy will attack us when he knows we're already in distress of some kind but this verse reassures us that the Lord will lead us out of that place of distress to a place of safety. We know He is already in the process of rescuing us. 

Do you see the picture of God reaching down from heaven in His great love and mercy for us, taking us by the hand and drawing us up out of the deep water we're wading through? Sometimes it feels like we're wading through treacle doesn't it? We get our bibles out and try to read, we sit down to pray and we're so distracted by our thoughts. We know we're under some kind of attack and we know we need help. 

Well can I encourage us all today to know that the moment we experience an attack as we look to Him, we can believe God is already drawing us out and up, He's supporting us through the attack and He's doing it out of a heart of love that absolutely delights in us.  It's like He says to the devil "You touch My kid, you're touching Me so you better look out."

So whatever comes your way just remember verse 19, the Lord takes delight in you and He's actively on the job leading you to a place of safety so you can relax.  As we said yesterday "All will be well".

ALL WILL BE WELL

Isaiah 3:10 Tell the godly that all will be well for them....

What does God mean when He says all will be well for the godly?  There are times when we look at our circumstances or other godly people and we think things looks bad and like it's gone totally pear shaped! Or maybe you've hit rock bottom and you're struggling to see the way back up. It sure doesn't feel like 'all is well!' 

The thing is God takes a long term view of our lives. His plans can span decades not months or even years. It's like being in the middle of a cricket match and the scores are against you at the minute but the match isn't over yet. Your team will win!

Look at the life of Joseph who was sold as a slave just because he was a show off, then he's thrown in prison accused of seducing his bosses wife, which he never did. Life was turning out pretty unfair for him and he spent 13 years either in jail or as a slave. It didn't look like all was well and yet.... on several occasions we read the favour of God was on Joseph! Without the favour of God He would probably have never survived.

As we read on in scripture we find God's favour turns situations around and sometimes it can happen overnight as in Joseph's case. One minute he's down in the dungeon, needing a good shave, definitely not wearing a designer jacket and the next we see him standing before Pharaoh, shaved, with a smart hair cut and wearing some nice kit. And what is happening? ...he's being used by God to prepare a nation ready to survive famine, preparing the way for his father's family to be fed and not starve, preparing a 'place' for them to move to where they will have the best of the land.  He's made ruler second only to Pharaoh himself but it didn't happen till God said so and the time was right. Joseph hung in there with a good attitude and God honoured that. 

Because God's plans span decades and we are all part of His plan the good news is God does turn things around for our good and in the end 'all will be well' for us if we hang in there and keep trusting and believing in God's faithfulness and goodness to us. It may not be the way we thought because God's ways are not our ways but we need to have faith that we will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)

Be encouraged, we're only part way through the cricket match, and when the time is right, God will turn things around and all will be well for you too.

GOD WILL SURPRISE US

Job 5:8 If I were you, I would go to God and present my case to him. (Nlt) v.9 After all, He's famous for great and unexpected acts, there's no end to his surprises. (The Message) 

Do you like lovely surprises? I do and this verse reminds us that God likes to surprise us. 

If we're not careful we put God in a box of what we think we know about Him and forget He's far bigger and more powerful than we'll ever understand. We may even have limited Him without realising it when we think "Well there's no way God can change this circumstance, or change their attitude. I've had this health problem for so long I just put up with it."  But I believe God loves it when we go to Him in faith and ask for the impossible, the unlikely, the 'who would have thought it' answers to our prayers! I  think He likes us to ask big and our verse says to present our case to Him and to expect Him to surprise us.

We only have to read through the Old Testament accounts of the amazing things God did for His people to realise nothing is impossible with Him and for Him, and He's the same yesterday, today and forever so He's never changed. The book of Acts shows the launching of the church by a dozen uneducated men who were filled with the Spirit of God and God did many miraculous deeds through them so we don't have to be clever, we just need to believe!

Maybe it's time we repented of our unbelief and go to the Lord knowing nothing is too hard or big for Him to deal with and ask Him to show us His ways and His unexpected acts, to surprise us.

When we do we can then be encouraged to believe He's answering us by this verse:

Psalm 21:2 For you have given him his heart's desire; you have withheld nothing he requested.

Let's believe God will surprise us.😊

GOD WILL LEAD YOU

Psalm 77:19 Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters - a pathway no one knew was there! v.20 You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep...

Psalm 78:52 But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.

Sometimes our Christian walk will take us through what seems like mighty waters, an ocean of impossibilities and we can't 'see' how we'll ever get through and sometimes we feel like we've got a bit lost in the wilderness! Yet God showed us through His dealings with the Israelites that He has pathways and roads that no one else knows about. If He needs to, He'll hold forces back, or clear a pathway especially for us, and all He asks of us is to just follow His lead.

We can't put God in a box because He does the most unusual things! We read how He sent in the frogs on one occasion, brought water out of a rock, made a metal axe head float on water on another. If He wants to use the weather He will, if He wants to tell the sea to back off on your behalf He will. We forget we're dealing with an all powerful God whose eyes are roaming over the whole earth seeking those whose hearts are loyal to Him so He can show Himself strong for them and in them - and that's you and me! 

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him....

God is actually searching for people He can do something amazing for and be a blessing to. God rewards those who diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

So next time you're in a bit of a wilderness, or are facing seemingly impossible blockages, remember God will lead you through and out if you'll just follow His lead knowing He's going to do something amazing for you that will bless your socks off. 😊

HAVE A PRAISE WEEK!

Proverbs 29:11 A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.

In today's culture people want to 'vent' their feelings whether it's on media, in print or just to the postman! They want somebody to listen but what they are doing is really just complaining about something.  They're letting us all know what they 'feel' about it and scripture calls those people fools!  That is quite a sobering thought. I'm not talking about when we genuinely need to share our hearts with someone we trust, but when people just go on and on complaining.

The children of Israel succumbed to venting on many occasions when they kept moaning to Moses, and so the Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians to not fall into the same trap.

1 Corinthians 10:10 And don't grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. v.11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.

Sometimes I do have a moan and this verse has reminded me I've got to stop it!  How about you? Does it ring any bells with you too? It's for our own good and our own protection that God warns us because He knows it opens the door to the enemy when we moan and complain like the Israelites. They were always moaning about something and God wasn't happy about it. 

They were complaining to Moses because they didn't have this, that or the other, but scripture says they were really complaining about God and how He was dealing with them. Maybe that's what we do too though we may not have realised it.

There are times when we just want to have a good old moan because it makes us 'feel' better momentarily! But have you noticed that when we start being negative the whole atmosphere around us becomes negative too and it brings everybody down? No wonder God hates complaining!

So instead of being moaning minnies and grumbling let's do what He says and find something to praise Him for instead, something to be grateful about, so many things to be thankful for and have a good old praise up!

I throw out the challenge as we start a new week - what can you find to go and have a praise and thankful session with someone about, and if you're struggling with it ask God to help you.😊

HOLD YOUR GROUND

1 Chronicles 11:14 But Eleazar and David held their ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines. So the Lord saved them by giving them a victory. 

The Israelite army were fighting for their lives against the Philistines in a field of barley but they gave up and fled before their enemy's onslaught, except that is, for Eleazar and David.  They held their ground, they didn't give up.  They resisted the enemy, beat them back and the Lord miraculously saved them. He was on their side and He honoured them for their courage in the face of terrible odds. 

With God you become the majority, you become the Victor because the Greater One is in you.

It says God gave them the victory so today if you feel like you're resisting on your own, that the odds are stacked against you, remember Eleazar and David in the field of barley. You're not alone.

Is the enemy trying to beat you down, trying to make you surrender to his onslaught?  Maybe your symptoms feel like they're no better or getting worse, maybe your situation looks like there is no hope of improving?  The enemy is very clever at bombarding us with very distressing 'facts' but that is where our faith kicks in for us, that is when we stand on the Word of God and declare His promises by faith in our Mighty God despite how we feel or what things look like. You are a child of the Most High God and He is on your side, and His angels have been commissioned to minister to you and for you.

So let me encourage each of us today to continue to stand and hold our ground because we are not alone and we can be sure of this - God is for us and with us. He will deliver us and He will help us overcome, despite the odds, and despite what anyone else may say! 

Thank you Lord.

DO YOU NEED COMFORTING?

Psalm 119:49-50 Remember your promise to me; it is my only hope. Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles.

Had any troubles this week? Need a bit of reviving perhaps? Could you do with something to comfort you in the midst of it all?  Well don't go the fridge or the cake tin! (well ok, just have one cake😊), because I have good news today.  Our Psalmist discovered for himself that it's God promises that will do all of that for us when we believe them and receive them for ourselves personally as a word from God to us. 

So whatever is troubling you or trying to get you off balance or afraid, go to the Word of God, get your bible out and dig out His promises yet again, write them out if you have to.  

When I suffered with post natal depression for the first year after my first baby was born I had to literally repeat something ten times before I could get out of bed and put my feet to the floor. The verse was 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'(Philippians 4:13). My brain said I couldn't, but God said I could so I had to re-educate my brain!

When I couldn't face the day, when every single thing seemed to overwhelm me, so I couldn't even hang the nappies on the line, when I just wanted to cry my eyes out all the time, there was only one answer and it was God's promises to me and His assurance that He loved me and always would.

When I'd lost all my confidence I had to remember 'I can do this with God's help and His strength.'  Did my confidence just suddenly return? No, God had to rebuild me from the inside out, one brick at a time and the thing He used was His Word and He'll do the same for you.

Let Him comfort you today as you read what He has promised you. Sit beside Him on the sofa again and as He holds your hand, hear Him tell you again "I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not. I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down or relax My hold on you! Assuredly not!  (Hebrews 13:5 Amplified Bible).

Thank You Lord so much.

GOD'S WILL FOR YOU

Psalm 91:14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. v.15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. v.16 With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.

Have you ever heard anyone say "I wish I knew the will of God" or "You never know what God's going to do!"?  Well that last statement according to our verses is totally untrue! God has told us exactly what His will is and what He will do for us.

His will is to deliver us

His will is to set us on high or exalt us

His will is to answer us when we call on Him

His will is to be with us in trouble

His will is to deliver us

He will is to honour us

His will is to satisfy us with long life

His will is to show us His salvation (Strong's concordance expounds 'salvation' as God's will is to show us His deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity, health, help, and welfare).

So next time you think "I don't know whether it's God's will for me to prosper or be in health or to live a long satisfying life, I don't know if  it's His will to help me in this trouble I've got into, I don't know if He'll answer my prayers, etc." just remember these 'I WILL's' of God which are only a few of many more!  He also tells us in this Psalm what He shall do:

He shall save you from every trap

He shall protect you from deadly disease

He shall cover you with His feathers and shelter you with His wings.

What is our part?  Psalm 91:2 I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." Because we love Him and know His name we are to 'say' He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God and I trust Him. We've not to just think it in our head, we're instructed to say it .

Be encouraged you do know the will of God. It's His will to do all of the above because He wants to, and our part is to believe and declare His Word.

HAVE YOU DISCOVERED IT?

Luke 10:41 But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! v.42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her."

It's a scenario many of us will identify with. Someone is coming for a meal, there's so much to plan and do to make it go right, then there's all the veg to prepare, the table to lay, watch it doesn't burn....! Been there, done that and bought the t-shirt! I've been Martha so many times!! For you it may be work pressures, family pressures, caring for the home pressures, they all seem so 'pressing' at any given time! "I've just got to do..."

But then we look across the room and there's Mary just sitting there at Jesus' feet, calm as you like, not all hot and bothered like us, appearing to be doing nothing. But actually she's not doing nothing, she's doing the 'one thing' that's most important of all, she's listening to what Jesus has got to say, she's hanging on His every word. This was an opportunity she just knew she couldn't miss and nothing else was more important at that moment in time. She had discovered the one thing worth being concerned about - listening to Jesus, listening to the Word. Jesus is the Word. The Word of God is Jesus. 

Have you discovered the 'one thing' worth being concerned about? Or have you discovered it and then forgotten about it?  Daily life rushes in on us and before you know it, it swoops us up and by the end of the day we can feel quite 'swooped'! We think 'where did the day go?' 

So just in case you've been a bit 'swooped' recently this is just a gentle reminder to take every opportunity you can to just sit still for a little while, get the Word of God out, give Jesus first place in your day and listen to what He's saying. He'll help us plan so that everything else can be fitted in around Him instead of us fitting Him in around everything else! His Words will calm us down and give us balance again. 

Just sit on the sofa for a minute, shut your eyes and imagine Jesus coming in and sitting down beside you, taking hold of your hand and resting it on His knee, then turn to look into His eyes and see His love and compassion for you in His eyes as He smiles and just listen. See Him wrap His arms around you pulling you in to Him and resting your head on His chest and just enjoy the moment with Him as He loves you and you love Him and know He's looking after you and everything will work out all right.

SMALL BEGINNINGS

Zechariah 4:10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin...

We all know the saying 'Great oaks from little acorns grow' and we only need to walk in local woods to know that's so true. In the same way, in the spirit realm, God is going to be growing some mighty oaks from very small beginnings with all of us.

When the Word of God was planted in you scripture says it was planted like a seed. In other words it was a tiny beginning but Mark 4:20 says "And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!"

You must be good soil or you wouldn't be seeking out God by reading His Word, that means the seed God has planted in you is going to produce a harvest no matter how small it is to start with. He has promised as much as a hundred fold harvest! Do not despise small beginnings!

Can I ask has God given you a seed of an idea, a seed of inspiration, a seed of kindness to show, a seed of generosity to sow? Have you been tempted to think 'I couldn't do that, God you've got the wrong person, I'm not qualified, I'm not that gifted, I'm only me!'  If you have then I'm here to pour my watering can of encouragement on your seed to say ''If God has given you the idea, the thought, then God will give you the ability, the resources, the help and everything you'll need to start it and carry it through to completion."

Now speaking from experience, the enemy will come and tell you why it wont work and that you should give up but let's see what God says in Galations 4:9  "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."  Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

So when you're tempted to give up what you've started or to think it's not working or why bother,  remember those are lies of the enemy and we can shut the door in his face and say "I'm not going down that road. God has said I've not to give up, that I can endure and I will receive a harvest from what He's given me to do so I'm carrying on till He says otherwise." 

Don't despise these small beginnings. God is growing a mighty oak tree in you and through you! He has promised harvests of 30, 60 and 100 fold. Be encouraged, our verse says God rejoices to see the work begin! And having begun let's carry on to completion together.😊

WISDOM OR RUBIES?

Proverbs 3:15 Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. v.16 She offers you long life in her right hand, and riches in her left. v.17 She will guide you down delightful paths; all her ways are satisfying. 

I worked for many years in a Jewellers office where I dealt with precious stones including rubies on a daily basis. I saw them highly polished sometimes surrounded by diamonds and although they're worth a lot of money they'll never be worth as much as wisdom!

Wisdom is the most amazing thing you could ever ask for. Scripture tells us it's the principal thing and to seek it above everything else. (Proverbs 4:7)  Proverbs tell us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7) that whoever listens to wisdom will dwell safely, and will be secure without fear of evil (Proverbs 1:33) Wisdom will promote you, bring you honour, give you a crown of glory. Those who love wisdom will inherit wealth, and wisdom will fill their treasuries. (Proverbs 8:21).

Try reading a bit of the book of Proverbs every day, it's full of information on wisdom and what it will do for us all.

When I had my firstborn I felt totally overwhelmed with the responsibility and my own ignorance. I'd never held a baby, knew nothing about them, both our mums had passed away so we had no one close to ask for guidance. It literally brought me to my knees and the cry of my heart was always "God give me wisdom, help me know what to do." 

It has been a constant prayer ever since because whatever season we're in, we wont have walked it before, so we need God's wisdom to navigate it.

James 1:5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. v.6 But when you ask Him be sure your faith is in God alone.....

1 Corinthians 1:30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself...  I just wanted to finish with this verse to encourage us all because it reminds us we are actually united to wisdom Himself because we are united with Christ Jesus. We need never lack wisdom ever again. It's available to all of us and brings amazing rewards. Thank You Jesus.

So Lord as we start this new week with You, we ask You for Your wisdom and thank You for it, in faith, in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT SANDWICH

Galations 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

The fruit of the Spirit starts with love and ends with self-control which made me think of a sandwich. I thought it would be good to check and see how we're getting on with our sandwich making and if we taste nice! 

When we read what love is in 1 Cor. 13:4-6 we see that the fruit is wrapped up in love and flows out of love and it's because God loved us first that we can then love others. If we have all these ingredients then we'll taste nice to other people but if we leave some of them out it's a bit like eating grapefruit with no sugar! 

God knows we can't produce the fruit of the Spirit by ourselves because really it's only the Holy Spirit within us who can make us behave that way. He is in the process of changing us from one degree of glory to another in order to reflect the Lord Jesus and His character in our lives but He requires our co-operation. The more we get to know Jesus, the more we'll reflect Him, the more fruit we'll produce and while that is happening we can learn to enjoy the glory we're in at the moment.

If we fall short sometimes God looks on the heart. He's not shocked or surprised when we get it wrong  but He sees our heart is right. He doesn't want us beating ourselves up when we get it wrong but to remember God approves us where we're at. He's already declared us righteous in Jesus and because we're putting Him first place we can trust in His forgiveness and that He's transforming us from the inside out, to want what He wants and behave in a way that honours Him.

Apostle Peter reminds us the way to live a godly life is to get to know God more, get to know Jesus more, the rest will automatically follow. 2 Peter 1:2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

Please look up and read the next verses in 2 Peter 1: 3-11 and you'll discover a similar list of fruit which results from believing His promises that enable us to share His divine nature. It'll help us all in our fruit sandwich making and make us taste nice! 😊 

Have a great weekend.x

A TOOTHLESS LION!

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. v.9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. (Nkjv))

We have a wood pigeon who comes every day to sit in the tree outside our front bedroom window and she coos a lot which is really annoying at 4.45 a.m.! so we regularly chase her away. Now she's decided she wants to build her nest there, so every day she brings a few sticks and every day we knock down the few sticks she's found to stop her doing it, and ....we chase her away. She's very persistent but so are we!

The devil is like the wood pigeon. We can't prevent him flying into our hair but our job is to not let him settle and make his nest there. We have to chase him away, resist him, make him flee! Notice it doesn't say to pray and ask God to deal with him, it says we have to do the resisting. Is he persistent? Most definitely and his temptation is to wear us down and make us give up and just let him carry on but God commands us to resist him because he's prowling round like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That implies he may not if we don't let him.

We are God's people and we need to show the devil he may not devour us! We have to be more persistent than he is and use all the weapons of our warfare when necessary to make him flee. He may look like a roaring lion but roaring is all he can do - he's a defeated foe. Colossians 2:15  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. At the cross Jesus disarmed the devil and his cohorts. Hallelujah!

A roaring lion's weapon is his teeth but Jesus has disarmed him so he's pulled his teeth out!  So the next time the enemy comes roaring in your ear just remind him he's all gum and he's had his teeth removed so he can't intimidate you any more. Resist him the moment he shows up!

For instance, the moment I get a pain or a symptom anywhere I'm learning to resist it. I say "No devil you're not putting that symptom on me. It is written by Jesus' wounds I am healed and I was healed (1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53:4 -5) so take it away. I resist you. You have to flee! Go in the name of Jesus, you bow the knee to Jesus." I have to be more persistent than he is like with the wood pigeon. Every time the pain comes I say "No, you go in Jesus Name." This is my health at stake here and I'm not letting him steal it! 

Let's be doers of the Word and do some resisting in the coming days and give Jesus all the glory. 

HOW TO RELEASE THE POWER OF GOD

1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith.

As Christians we all realise we are in a spiritual battle and the soldiers who win in a battle are the ones trained and taught to obey their commander.  Our Commander in Chief is Jesus and we are His to command on this earth. The psalmist David said 'He trains my hands for war'. Well Jesus trained His disciples and He also trains us for war against our enemy the devil. So long as we remember Jesus has already defeated the devil for us, we can learn to enforce His victory over every attack of the enemy. If we sit around, lazy and complacent thinking God will do it all for us, we shall be easy targets to take pot shots at and get shot down.

We have been given the weapons of our warfare so we need to use them. Do you ever think why is this happening to me or my family?  A better question would be 'Lord how do I counter this attack of the enemy?'  Jesus told us we would suffer tribulation in this world but He told us to be brave and remember we overcome the world by our faith because He's won the victory for us already.

The power of God is released in our lives when somebody believes God and says what He says about any circumstance. It makes no difference what someone in the world says about something, whether it's a doctor, banker, lawyer, whoever, what matters is what YOU say about it. If you agree with what God says in His word then your word will be powerful to release God's power to counter the enemy's lies. But if we agree with the world's viewpoint, if it's contrary to God's word, then we've aligned ourselves with God's enemy! 

Let's stand to attention today before our Commander in Chief and use the weapons of our warfare. 

1.Ephesians 6 - The Armour of God. God gave us His armour because He knew we would need it. Don't forget to put it on! 

2.The Name of Jesus to bring down everything that tries to exalt itself against what God has said, to bow to His mighty Name whether it's sickness, lies, betrayal and every other evil thing. (Philippians 2:10-11)

3. The power of the Holy Spirit, the greater One who lives in you. No matter how many are against us, when the Holy Spirit lives in us we are in the majority, we are the big one in the room because He is the Big One! (1 John 4:4)

4. The Blood of Jesus. They overcame them by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (what you say about it!)  (Revelation 12:11)

5. The Word of God. God gave us His Word to counter the devil when he whispers something in your ear. Let's use it and say like Jesus "It is written..." (Matthew 4:4,7,10) His Word makes our faith grow, strengthens us, give us wisdom for every occasion, to correct us, discipline us, empower us. 

We have every reason to be Victors today and not victims but it requires us to play our part. It requires us to say what God says, and do what He tells us to do, and then we shall have what He says we can have. Amen.

UMBRELLA OR FUNNEL?

Ephesians 1:8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. (Nlt)

Our age makes no difference to the Lord in the Spirit, whether we are six or one hundred and six!. It's the same Holy Spirit who fills us and anoints us with the oil of gladness and His power. I've seen children filled with the Holy Spirit ministering in the gifts of the Spirit and speaking in tongues in just the same way as adults.  How can that be?  Because the Holy Spirit is the same in each one of us. We don't receive a childlike Holy Spirit when we are children and then a grown up Holy Spirit when we're adults. No the Holy Spirit, is who He is, in all of us! We see an example of that in the boy Samuel.

Why am I saying all that? Because this week I heard a little girl of about ten years old ministering under the power of the Holy Spirit preaching His word, and it spoke to me, so I wanted to share something of what she said with some extra thoughts the Lord has given me since.

She asked if we were an umbrella or a funnel. She put her hands above her head in the shape of an umbrella and explained we can actually prevent the blessings of God to pour down on us just like an umbrella stops the rain from falling on us. In our minds we have a block just like the umbrella. For some it's a block of tradition, or religion which has taught us not to expect anything from God, or 'we don't do it that way here' block! For some it's a block of fear or the unknown. We all have our blocks!

But if we're like a funnel then our arms are uplifted above our heads in the shape of a funnel with hearts and heads lifted up to the Lord ready to trust Him and receive all He has for us. He wants us to receive every blessing, every healing, every strengthening, wisdom, understanding, every gifting, every good thing He wants to pour into us, or as our verse says 'He has showered us' and I think God has a 'power shower' don't you?

The picture of the umbrella and the funnel really spoke to me and I want to take my umbrella down and instead be a funnel for God's blessings so they can pour into me and through me and out to others. How about you? Will you join me and stand under God's shower today with our arms uplifted like a funnel ready to receive all He has for us?  I hope it speaks to you too.😊

YOU'RE INVITED TO COME TO THE TABLE

Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

God prepares... Our God is always prepared! No matter what has happened or is happening in our  lives God knew about it long before it happened and will either deliver us from it, take us through it, or restore double blessing for our trouble. What we can be sure of is the fact that He is prepared and we need to come to His table to receive it by faith. It will be something fresh because it is in the present tense - He prepares a table.  

The Lord's table is the place where we 'commune' with Him, where we listen to Him through His Word and through talking with Him. He has prepared the meal, the bread and the wine where we recognise He has made us righteous and no longer sees our sin but sees us holy in His Son. We realise, when we examine ourselves in the light of the cross that we no longer come with our sin consciousness, but we come with our 'righteousness in Christ' consciousness.

The Lord's table is where we eat the bread and thank Him He has born our every disease and every sickness in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24) where He took our poverty and lack and gave us His riches. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

The Lord's table is where we drink the cup reminding ourselves of the precious blood of Jesus which He shed in drinking the cup of suffering in our place. He died the death we should have died and when He was crucified we reckon ourselves 'in Him' and we died with Him and were born again to new life 'in Him' when He rose from the dead. 

This weekend I prepared a birthday buffet table for the family with all our favourite foods, cake with candles, clotted cream scones, yum!  Did we all tuck in? Of course we did! Did we eat until we were full up? Of course we did! We enjoyed ourselves and each other. We laughed, we talked, we shared, it was a celebration.

When God invites us to His table, it's a celebration of all Jesus has done. I don't believe it's a place of doom and gloom but a place of rejoicing, a place of provision and yes, it should be a place we reverence. We all know it's not something we do flippantly.

The Lord gave me a picture one morning many years ago of His table loaded up with good things and He was inviting us all to come to His table and take off it what we wanted to. You could say He wanted us to 'tuck in' like at our birthday celebration.

God's table is laden with good things, the things we all need. Maybe you're lonely and you need a friend then come to the table and receive, believe God to give you a friend. It may be finance, then come to His table and receive the finance you need. Need health and healing? Then come and partake of the healing Jesus bought and paid for with His blood for you. Do you get the picture? 

Do you feel like your enemies are pressing in on you? Enemies of fear or depression, enemies of sickness or lack, or whatever your enemy is?  Then now is the time to come to God's table because God says He's prepared His table in the presence of our enemies! 

What is your need today? Acknowledge it with the Lord and come to His table to receive whatever it is by faith. Get a piece of bread or a cracker, get a glass of water if you don't drink wine and come before the Lord anytime, every day if you need to and let Him minister to you. Let Him anoint your head with fresh oil and fill your cup up again till it overflows. He's a good God. Amen.

ANGELS TO OUR AID!

Acts 12:11 Peter finally came to his senses, "It's really true!" he said. "The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!"

2 Kings 19:34 For my own honour...I will defend this city and protect it." v.35 That night the angel of the Lord went out....and killed 185,000 Assyrian solders....

When you get the chance read these chapters to get the whole picture of what was going on because as I read them I realised that God is as interested in the 'one' as He is interested in a whole city or a whole nation.

Do you ever feel like God's forgotten you, or didn't hear your prayer, or even ignored you because He's got other things to do or too busy?  I have a neighbour who said to me once that she couldn't ask God to help her as she was of no importance and He had far greater troubles to deal with so she didn't like to bother Him with her issues.

Can I tell you that God hears all our prayers, He has not forgotten any one of us for one second, He never ignores us and He's definitely never too busy to help us.

He rescued Peter from a guard of 16 well trained Roman soldiers in the dead of night with one angel who had the power in the old testament to kill 185,000 trained soldiers in one hit if he needed to! If you need an angel, God will send you one! 

Our God is mighty to save, be it for the one or for the many, so be encouraged today if you need help He will do whatever it takes to rescue and deliver you so that like Peter, you can go to sleep and rest, even in prison!

I had what I'm sure was an angel rescue me one day while bringing the kids home from school on a back lane in Devon. The exhaust on my old car fell off and was dragging along the road and I had to pull in with no way of dealing with it - no mobile phone in those days! So I prayed and asked God to help me and an open backed lorry pulled up behind and out came a really big blond haired very good looking guy who managed to put the exhaust pipe back on (no idea how). The only tool he had was a big knife! and then as I turned round to thank him he'd just disappeared!

I've had that sort of thing happen more than once and can only testify to the loving care of our God who hears the cry of one of His kids. We have a wonderful, supernatural, powerful God who can defeat an army for us or meet us on the school run. Praise His lovely name.

GOD'S PURPOSE AND OURS

Job 42:2 I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.  

Today we're looking at another 'P' -  the Purpose of God and also what our purpose is in His kingdom. This verse reminds us that when God decides to do something nothing can stop it and He had a very specific purpose for Jesus coming into the world.

l John 3:8 ... For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Praise God He totally fulfilled that purpose when Jesus went to the cross and rose again defeating the devil once and for all, for our salvation. Ephesians 1:10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ - everything in heaven and on earth. We know Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God and He is our Conquering King and we belong to Him. Hallelujah! 

The wonderful thing is God has a very specific purpose for our lives too, every one of us who love God is called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 

Did you know that before time began God saved us and called us to live a holy life, which means to live a life set apart for Him, according to His own purpose in order to show us His love and kindness? (2 Timothy 1:9) How awesome is that? Philippians 2:13 tells us that God is working in each one of us giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.  Don't you think that is encouraging? God is at work right now in you and me and He's not only giving us the 'want to' but the power to do whatever it is He has planned.

Scripture tell us we were created to fellowship with Him and work with Him and for Him. 

We were created in His image so we will reflect who He is, which gives us the desire to give Him all the glory and praise for all He's done for us. We recognise without Him we were lost and going to hell but because of Jesus He has given us all things and we can do all that He has purposed for us.

I hope that encourages you as much as it does me. We serve an amazing God. It just makes you want to praise Him and give Him all the glory don't you think? Amen.

GOD'S POWER IS FOR YOU

Ephesians 1:19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honour at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. (Nlt)

I'm on a bit of a roll with the 'P's of God at the minute and I hope you can take the time to let today's verses bless you with the truth.  

Today's 'P' is the Power of God.  There are times when we're tempted to feel quite powerless because of situations that have arisen with our own lives or other's but our verse assures us that we are not in fact powerless but God's power is available to each one of us. So how does that work? Eph 3:16 I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. (Nlt)

So first of all His power is to strengthen us on the inside to deal with whatever has cropped up, then in Ephesians 6:10 ... Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world,...

God promises us here that if we'll put on His armour, reminding ourselves of just Who is on the inside of us and whose power is available to us, we can stand firm against the devil. Our enemy is no match for the Holy Spirit of  God who lives inside us. (2 Chronicles 20:6)

Jesus' own Holy Spirit and His power are in you and me in our spirit and this next verse tells us what He did with that power. Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.(Nkjv)

Just as God was with Jesus He is also with you and me and the only thing that will limit the power of God is our unbelief. Jesus said we would do the same things He did and greater things! The more we believe that, the more we shall enter into the truth of it.  Since God has anointed you and me with His Holy Spirit then His power is also available to us. You see God not only gave us His power but also His authority over the devil. We can stand with our armour on and resist the enemy and tell him to flee and he has to go! (James 4:7) But we have to do it, God wont do it for us!

We have the power of God in us. The greater One is in us, now our part is to believe that and work with Him to do what He wants. He says whatever we bind on earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever we loose in earth will be loosed in Heaven (Matthew 18:18) which means we have something to do and He'll show us when and where.

So whatever we're facing in the coming days be encouraged, God has not left us helpless or powerless, He's given us His Spirit and His power. Amen. Thank You Lord.

GOD'S PRESENCE, HIS PLANS AND HIS PEACE

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Nkjv)

God wants us to allow HIS PRESENCE, HIS PLANS AND HIS PEACE to fill our minds today.

His Presence will reassure you, comfort you, inspire you and give you joy.

His Plans will stretch and amaze you and cause you to think outside of the box.

His peace will restore, establish, strengthen and settle you. (1 Peter 5:10 Nkjv)

We're to not only allow these things but scripture says we're to pursue them, seek them.

When we allow something we're being passive but when we pursue something we're being pro-active, it's deliberate, there is a determination to decide to pursue God, to seek Him and until we seek His presence we wont be able to know His plans or enter fully into His peace.

So how do we pursue God's presence? We all know already it's by entering in with thanksgiving and praise. Instead of rushing in, as we so often do, with all our problems and complaints, we can choose to just hold on a minute and tell the Lord we love Him, need Him so much and thank Him for His love and all He's done for us already.

We pursue God's plans by bringing our plans and saying we surrender them to His higher authority and lay them aside if He wants us to and listen for His Holy Spirit to show us His plans which will be for our good and not out harm. (Jeremiah 29:11 Nkjv)

We're told to pursue peace  (Psalm 34:13/Romans 14:19/Hebrews 12:19 Nkjv) and we do that by remembering Jesus is our Prince of Peace, that He has already given us His gift of peace and it lives in our spirit. We need to make a decision to choose to be peaceful and not allow the enemy's lies to disturb our peace. We have a lock and key to protect our place of peace and they're the promises of God. Make sure your lock is locked in to the Word of God and not open to the doubts and fears of the enemy.

So today it might help us to remember the three 'P's of God - His Presence, His Plans and His Peace.  Oh and our 'P' is to Pursue them.😊

IT'S ONLY FOR A SEASON

2 Kings 8:5 And Gehazi was telling the King about the time Elisha had brought a boy back to life. At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in to make her appeal to the king about her house and land. "Look, my Lord the King!" Gehazi exclaimed. "Here is the woman now, and this is her son- the very one Elisha brought back to life!" v.6....so he (the King) directed ...that everything she had lost was restored to her...

In recent blogs we've looked at the Favour of  God, the Goodness of God and the Commanded Blessing of God on our lives and we see it in action in this story.

Elisha had told this lady to move away for seven years as there was going to be a famine in the land of Israel, then after the seven years were up she reappears on the very day Elisha's servant is telling the King about her! That's the timing of God, the favour of God, the goodness of God and the Commanded blessing of God as everything she'd left behind was restored to her! She was even given the value of the crops grown on her land in those intervening years! 

We as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ can rest in the knowledge that all those benefits are as much ours as they were that lady's because we are in covenant with Almighty God through the blood of the Lord Jesus. We belong to Him and we are part of His family. 

Maybe that lady was anxious as she moved her whole household out of Israel, left everything she knew, her friends, her home and lived amongst people she didn't know. But it was only for a season because the Lord had already set the day for her return! Isn't that amazing? 

So often we get bogged down in the here and now but we can be confident that whatever is happening now is only for a season, whatever you have had taken from you, God will restore.  In fact the scripture says He will restore double to us for our trouble! (Isaiah 61:7)

That lady had the favour of the King. You and I also have the favour of the King of Kings today. Glory to His Name.