PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

We probably all have some strongholds in our lives that need to be pulled down and the good news is God has told us we can do just that, but only by using His weaponry.

Mind over matter wont do it, pleading with God to remove something from our lives is not the answer. God has already done everything for us through Jesus death and resurrection and what He requires of us now is to walk in the victory that Jesus has already won for us.

There's something in all of us that just wants God to do it all for us, we don't want the responsibility but the fact is God has not only given us the responsibility but also the ability to do it and do it in His strength not ours.

Over the next few days I hope to look into some of the weaponry God has given us because we are not helpless or hopeless. He wants us to learn to use them because His Word says we are more than Conquerors through Christ, He always leads us in victory through Christ, He has made us Overcomers and no weapon formed against us shall prosper. He says we are Victors, not victims.

Even if we don't feel like conquerors, when we constantly declare those truths over our lives we'll start to believe it in our hearts and we'll begin to see strongholds lose their hold. God has given us the victory already and we can learn to rise up and walk in it.

So hold your head up high as you go into the new week knowing God is for you, He loves you,  equipped you and anointed you to be all that He wants you to be. Amen.

GOD IS HOLDING US STEADY

 

I know the Lord is always with me. 

I will not be shaken, 

for He is right beside me. 

 Psalm 16:8 (Nlt)

God is holding us steady and we are totally secure and safe because He is with us.

I don't normally do a post on Sunday but just had the impression I should put this on today as we so need to know, and be reminded constantly, of the security God gives us by His presence. Thank You Lord.

GROWING THROUGH IT

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses....but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us.....v.34 ...It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

This past two years has been challenging for just about everyone on the planet and for many some things have been harder to bear than others and God knows that very well.

He tells us Jesus became a human being so He could empathise with our distresses and experience the things we do. On the cross He bore our pains, griefs and sorrows, and goes on to say in Hebrews that He is now our faithful High Priest before God and He intercedes on our behalf all the time and so does the Holy Spirit. It will encourage us to remember that when we're having a tough time.

God promises to turn round all those difficulties for our good in the here and now, and for our glory in the ages to come. In the meantime we can all choose to keep asking God to help us to grow through them, not just go through them and to be stronger because of them.

We know that in the past He's always been there and helped us through, and it's those very difficult experiences which have strengthened us for whatever is happening today. He wants to remind us the battle is not ours, but the battle is His and He's never lost a battle yet. 

Just in case you're needing a new battle cry today may I give you one? Shout it out and let the enemy hear it!  "God will never let me down and with His help I'll not just go through it but I will grow through it because I know He's promised to bring me out victorious on the other side of it. Thank You Lord."  If necessary keep declaring it.😊 

Have a blessed weekend everyone.x

WHEN WE NEED MORE GRACE AND PEACE

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

If we'd like more of God's grace and peace then the Holy Spirit shows us how. He explains that as we grow in our knowledge not just of God our Father but also of Jesus our Lord it will cause His grace and peace to multiply in our lives automatically.  

God likes to multiply, not just add to us, because that's just His nature and that's revelation in itself. 😊 

Sometimes we can become complacent and think we know enough to get by with. When we're presented with a new thought we can be tempted to shut down and think 'that's not what I was taught so it can't be right'. Are we willing to check with scripture and see if it's right or is there more to know?

The Holy Spirit has been revealing new things about God all through history. During the reformation in 1517 He gave new revelation of grace through Martin Luther that transformed the church, then in the early 1900's there was a mighty move of God, again in the 60's and 70's there was a fresh revelation of the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit. (Some of us were actually there for that one.)

God is so big and He wants us to have a bigger picture of Him so His grace and peace can be multiplied in our daily lives. The more we know the more it will flow.

Maybe we need to ask God to increase our desire to know Him more so we know Him better. It's the Holy Spirit's job to give us wisdom and insight and fresh revelation. It's like when we read a familiar scripture and suddenly we see it in a new light - we get revelation and that's what the Holy Spirit wants to do for us all the time.  He wants to help us to really know God our Father and Jesus our Lord as real Persons, not just know about them, and open our understanding. 

Let's join with the Apostle Paul and pray the prayers the Holy Spirit gave him for each of us in Ephesians 1:16-23, Ephesians 3:14-21. Let's pray them everyday till revelation comes and we see grace and peace multiplied in our lives.😊

Lord help us to get to know you more. Amen.

IF YOU'RE IN A HARD PLACE

Exodus 6:8-9 Therefore, say to the people of Israel: 'I am the Lord, I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you.....So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.

We've probably all experienced times of oppression and seemingly overwhelming discouragement and we find it hard to read our bibles, hard to pray, hard to listen to what God is saying to us through His word or through others.  The Israelites were at that place, beaten down by circumstances, overloaded at work, unkindly treated by others, everything was getting worse and they just became too discouraged.

The wonderful thing about this story though, is the fact that all of that didn't stop God from helping them. He didn't say'Well I'm not bothering with you anymore because you're not listening to Me. You're not believing anything I say anyway. You can get on with it yourselves.'

NO! Absolutely not!  God continued with the plan He had in the first place and despite their unbelief and complaining He went ahead and over a period of time delivered them from all their troubles. That is the mercy and grace of God and He's just the same with us too. He knows we get discouraged and fearful even when He tells us not to, but even when we are like that He is still there for us, still delivering us because of Jesus.

So if you're in a hard place right now, don't give up, but take heart, because God is still with you, still for you, still working things out for you. He hasn't given up on you, rejected you or forgotten you. He loves you with an everlasting love and He has promised to deliver you and bring you out the other side and He will. 

GOD SEES, HE HEARS AND HE KNOWS

Exodus 3:7 And the Lord said, "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

What an encouraging verse this is because it tells us God sees, He hears and He knows what's going on with us, what's causing our distress, sorrow or pain and He goes on to do something about it.

The Israelites had been calling out to Him for help and He continues in verse 8 "So I have come down to deliver them....and to bring them up. God sent His man Moses to rescue His people and after many displays of God's power they were delivered just as God said. 

God also sees, hears and knows our difficulties and this time He has given us His Son as a man, the man Christ Jesus. He came down in order to bring us up too. God came down to our level in order to bring us up to His level (Ephesians 2:6) and He did it through the cross and our believing all that Jesus did for us there through His death and resurrection, through the shedding of His own blood. 

The Israelites had to believe God and put the blood of an animal over their doorposts to be rescued. How much more do we need to believe God and put the blood of Jesus over our lives too. Thank God He is still in the business of rescuing, delivering, healing and bringing us up and out. 

Let's believe by faith that He's doing it right now whether we can see it or feel it yet or not, because of Jesus. We thank You and praise you for it Lord. Amen.

Psalm 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

BE INSPIRED, ASK GOD FOR EVERYTHING

Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

I was watching the story of George Muller who started orphanages in England for street children in the 1800's. He depended totally on God for everything they needed, from the food on the table to the dozens of pairs of shoes, to the building land to build the homes. In all, he built 5 homes and housed 10,000 children. At the age of 70 he went on a missionary journey to 42 nations and preached to three million people before he died at 92.

The thing is, he started with nothing but called on God for everything. On one occasion all the children sat down to the table for breakfast but there was nothing in the cupboard to give them so he prayed and thanked God for breakfast knowing he had none to give them. A knock came on the door and there was a milkman with his cart broken down offering them his milk, a baker couldn't sleep all night for thinking about the orphans and brought baskets of bread. God provided, as always. Mr. Muller never asked people for funds and he was never in debt.

I was so encouraged by that testimony because it shows that George Muller learned he didn't have to be a miracle worker or a provider, he only needed to pray and ask God for His help.

Maybe you need a miracle, maybe you need God to provide for you, maybe you think you don't have what it takes to start a work for God, but God does. Perhaps we're part of the answer to help someone else like the baker and the milkman were, or maybe we're the one God is calling to start something. 

Whichever we are, we are all able to pray, to ask, all able to come to God and say we need your help with everything Lord.  What is it you want me to do or to give?  Let's go and ask Him.😊

Jeremiah 33:3: “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

JESUS PRINCE OF PEACE

Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

We've all heard countless times that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and if you're like me you've associated that with peace of mind, peace in the middle of our storms, etc. but it's so much more than that!

The original word used in this verse is 'shalom' which is far bigger than just our word for peace. If you look it up, as well as peace, it means safety, all is well, good health, prosperity, favour, rest, to be whole and complete, restoration, make good and reward and more.  So when Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, He is the Prince of Shalom.

He is the Prince of Safety, Prince of Good Health, Prince of Prosperity, Prince of Favour, Prince of Completeness and Restoration, and so on. He is the Prince of all those things.😊

It sheds a whole new light on the wonderfulness of who Jesus is to us doesn't it? Let's not limit our understanding of Him to just our understanding of peace because it's only a small part of it. 

God says in our verse that He has given us a Son, who is our Lord Jesus. He has given us His Prince of all those things, for Him to minister them to us. This is God saying it so if we need health, Jesus is the Prince of it, if we need prosperity in any area of life then Jesus is the Prince of it and so on.

So as we start a new week once again, let's come to the Prince of Shalom, to Jesus Himself and receive from Him His Shalom in every area of our lives because whatever it is we need, He has come to provide and minister it to us and we give Him all the glory for it.

LET THEM PRAISE THE LORD

Psalm 107:8 Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.

If ever you're feeling disgruntled or discouraged any time it would probably be a good idea to follow the advice in this verse. It's because our attention will be taken off ourselves and transferred to the One we owe everything to - our loving God.

Has God delivered you from anything in your life? Has He protected you at any time? Has He blessed you? When we remember how everything we have has come from Him and how we're dependent on Him even for the breath we breathe then we'll find we have so much to be thankful for, that our hearts will want to praise Him. 

There will have been times when we haven't even been aware that He has probably saved us from accidents or tragedy, when He's intervened and restored our health. I know in my own life if it had not been for God stepping in I probably wouldn't be here today.  

Apart from all that, we all owe Him praise and heartfelt thanks for giving us His Son Jesus, His forgiveness and His eternal life so we have a glorious hope for the ages to come to spend it with Him.

Next time you catch yourself wanting to be down hearted (and we all feel like it sometimes), take a big breath and turn it into a praise for His great love for us and for all the wonderful things he has done for us. We'll be in good company because we'll be joining all the saints in heaven who have gone before us.😊

GOD IS IN OUR NOW BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE WE ARE!

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?

Yesterday morning we went to a little cafe which is totally devoted to the 1940's, complete with the old wartime ration books, music from that period and the lady who owns it, dresses in clothes from that era and does her hair like it too! It was quite surreal, like stepping back in time. The prices were present day though.😊

We quite often hear people refer to the good old days, both in the world and in the church, how there was this or that move of God, but God wants us in the here and now for a reason. He had us put on the planet in this day and age because He has equipped us and gifted us for living for Him now not in the past.

He gives us His faith to believe Him for things for today and in the future. Faith doesn't work in the past, it works in the now for the now and for the days to come.  Our God is the great 'I AM', because He is all that we need Him to be for our present. He is a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1) If we get into some trouble we don't want a God who was, we want a help right now don't we?

God goes on to tell us in scripture that He's going to do a 'new' thing. He doesn't rehash the old, or relive an era gone by. He is a God of fresh anointings, of the new and interesting, not old and boring. So if we've been wishing it was the old days or for the way things were, let's ask the Lord instead to help us let go of the past, and for the courage and help to live in today and enjoy what He has in store for us in the now and in the days to come. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm118:24)  Amen.😊

GOD IS INVOLVED IN OUR CONCERNS

Psalm 138:8 The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy (loving kindness) O Lord endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

This verse tells us that God is involved in whatever is relevant or important to us, whatever relates to our lives. Another translation says God will make all things complete for me. In other words God has a plan and purpose for our lives and He will make it happen. 

The Psalmist  goes on to ask God not to forsake Him but because we are now in the new covenant we know for sure that God has already promised to never leave or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) We can have total confidence in knowing God is watching over all that concerns us and He is guiding us along the right paths. 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. That should help us relax and lean in to Him even more, don't you think?

God has promised to unfold His plan and make it happen but He seems to only give it to us one step at a time. Whatever His last instruction was, we just keep doing it until He gives us the nudge to do something new or go somewhere else. Now I can either believe God's word to me and rest in it, knowing God has got my back, or I can carry on fretting and fussing about my future and the 'what ifs' that pop into my head! We all have that choice to make. 

Let's turn our eyes on Jesus afresh today and thank Him for being involved in all our lives and our concerns and for bringing about His good plans which are always better than ours anyway. Thank Him for turning circumstances around for our good and causing them to work out for His purposes and that He'll never abandon us, no matter what. 

WHEN WE THINK WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO

2 Chronicles 20: ... nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.

There are times in life when we have some facts given to us that knock us sideways and make us feel depressed or hopeless, whether it's a bad doctor's report, or family situation, or whatever.  Realists will tell you that you have to face the facts and get on with it, but I want to tell you that God says something quite different. 

In effect He says 'faith' the facts. Romans 4:17 tells us God calls things which do not exist as though they did. He doesn't say how things are, He says how He wants them to be. He declares the end result from the beginning. That's called faith and He calls us to walk by faith in the same way.

God is the One who does the impossible, who can do exceedingly more than we expect or think or even imagine but He wants us to believe Him for it, to not doubt Him.

King Jehoshophat faced an army he had no way of defeating and he said 'We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on You God.' He was reminding himself in the face of impossible facts, that he believed God could change things and rescue them, which God did spectacularly. (2 Chronicles 20).

Scripture says Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever which means whatever He did before,  God says He hasn't changed and He will still do all of that again for us today and will always be doing it. 

So when we don't know what to do, let's remember that we actually do know what to do. We can call on Jesus, fix our eyes on God and His promises, and by faith start 'seeing' our situation (whatever it is) turned around on the inside before we see the evidence. We know God is for us and He's doing the impossible because nothing is too hard for Him and He has a way we don't know about.

Start 'seeing' yourself well, 'seeing' yourself restored and strong again and believe the promise Jeremiah 30:17  'God is restoring health to me.'  Keep meditating it, say it to yourself all day long, 'God is restoring my health, He's making me strong again, thank you Jesus.'

CHOOSING TO BELIEVE

John 14:27....... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

May I ask what's dominating your thought life? What's uppermost all the time? I don't know about you but I'm realising more and more that I can't believe and worry at the same time! I'm either doing one or the other.😊 When I allow doubts and worries to be uppermost then I start to fear and I don't want that! They start a chain reaction that makes me miserable.

So following on from yesterday about letting go of our doubts, this is just a little reminder that we're also needing to give our worries to God and believe He's working everything out, and trust His promises. He wants us to choose to believe.

God is working behind the scenes on our behalf all the time and we can take our foot off the worry pedal which acts like a brake anyway. When we put our foot on the believing pedal it will accelerate us forward. It might help to remember that picture.😊 Which pedal have you and I got our foot on at the minute?

Jesus took all our anxieties and fears, our griefs and heartbreaks, our sickness and diseases, our sins and guilt into Himself at the cross but we have to believe it. He is our Saviour and our Deliverer from all those things.

He comes to each of us today and lovingly says "Keep believing, see my wounds, the price I paid. Give Me your doubts and worries and fears and believe I'm for you and not against you. Believe that nothing is impossible with God. My Father knows the end from the beginning and He's dealing with all that concerns and worries you. Come back to that place of peace and resting in Me. I can do far more than you can imagine. Choose to believe my promises. Believe that I love you."

WHAT TO DO WITH DOUBTS

John 20:26-29 ...Peace be with you...Then He said to Thomas ".... Don't be faithless any longer. Believe! .....v.29 You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.

We all have doubts come into our minds from time to time and what we do with them is very important. If only Eve hadn't made the mistake of listening to her doubts but had believed what God said, things would be very different in our world. We have the same choice to make today. 

All through Psalms we read of men who called out to God with their fears and doubts when things were going wrong for them, when they'd lost loved ones or their enemies were seemingly having the upper hand, so we're not unusual. They learned to go to God with them and were honest about how they felt. We can do that too.

Thomas had his doubts. He was grieving, his hopes had been dashed along with everyone else's. It hadn't gone the way he thought it would and he was just so gutted and disappointed. I think we've all been there! 

Eight days after the resurrection they're gathered together but Jesus goes straight to the one with all the doubts, to Thomas. The Lord graciously meets Thomas where he's at and encourages him to give up his doubts and just believe by allowing him to see His wounds. He says, 'Don't be faithless any longer' and gives him the chance to believe again.

It helps to recognise the enemy will use circumstances, or something someone has said, to plant a seed of doubt in our minds. He's tempting us to doubt God and what He has said to us in His Word. That's when we have to walk by faith and not by sight, to trust what God has said not what the enemy says.

So no matter what your doubts and fears are today go to God with them all and allow Him to reassure your heart through His Word, which we talked about last week as being so important to us. 

He says, 'Keep believing, keep trusting Me. Doubt your doubts, but believe My Word and know My Word is true. I am alive, I am who I say I am and my promises to you are true.'

DELIVERED FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS

Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. (Nkjv)

Wow! The power of darkness has no power over you and me! That is quite a statement and so important for us to believe it and receive it.

When Jesus went to the cross He destroyed the power the devil had over us once and for all and God literally took us out of the kingdom of darkness and put us in the kingdom of His Son. We have changed kingdoms permanently and the devil can't do a thing about it. Glory to God.

Although the enemy tries to deceive us constantly by trying to put things on us, as long as we remember this verse and believe it, his tactics wont be able to work against us. The Holy Spirit has told us to submit to God and resist the devil and he'll flee from us.(James 4:7) That word 'flee' means he runs in all directions away from us when we resist him but we have to do the resisting, God doesn't do it for us.

Colossians 3:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

There it is again - the enemy has been disarmed and yet we treat him as though he's loaded for bear which he's not! The Lord wants us to know our enemy has been defeated, disarmed, and has no power over us. He reminds us that the Greater One is living on the inside of us and as far as God is concerned He has made us world overcomers. (1 John 4:4)

So next time the enemy tries to throw something at you or on you, don't just lie down and roll over, get these scriptures out and remind him he can't do it because he's had his teeth pulled out. Let's stand on the Word and be the Overcomers God says we really are. 😊

(Have a look at Luke 10:19 when you get a minute.)

JESUS WHO IS THE WORD, IS LORD

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John tells us here that Jesus is the Word of God which means Jesus and His Word are one and the same. Have we separated Jesus and His Word (the scriptures) in our own minds and not realised they are inseparable? We say Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, but have we acknowledged that the Word of God is Him actually speaking directly to us because Jesus is the Word of God? We could say Jesus is Lord but so is His Word.

If we don't believe Jesus and His Word are one and the same we may be tempted to not give enough attention to it. We'll fail to make it first and final authority in our lives because we've never realised how important it is to do so. In fact it's critical.

Can I ask us, how important is the Word of God to you and me? It says that man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Are we trying to live on a starvation diet of the Word? We all know in our own hearts how much importance, or lack of it, we place on reading His Word. 

God is challenging you and me at the start of this new year. He knows we're going to need His direction and guidance to navigate our way through it, but He can't do that unless we're feeding on His Word and giving it first place. 

God is motivating and encouraging us to make Jesus and His Word the Lord of our lives. He wants our house to stand through the storms of life not crumble, and Jesus said it was those who hear and do His word whose house would stand. (Matthew 7:24-27)

Let's allow Jesus and His Word to be the Lord of our lives.😊

HE SHALL DIRECT YOUR PATHS

Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

In the margin of my bible it says that word 'direct' means to make smooth or straight, so we could say He shall make our paths smooth and straight.

How often do we feel like our pathway is anything but smooth and straight, but we have to believe this verse by faith and fulfil it's conditions. We need to believe for God to make our paths smooth and straight. Jesus taught us that we get what we believe for. 

What are you and I actually believing for? For instance, are some of us believing everything is going to go pear shaped because past experience has taught us that, or are we choosing to believe God that He's going to sort things out for us and make it a smooth path? Are we believing Jesus is making the difference for us in 2022?

The verse before this is Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. How often do we lean on what we think we know, thinking we've got it all planned out and then it goes haywire? I've been there and done that a few times!

But there is a better way and it's to acknowledge God, but notice it is says in all your ways. Do we keep seeking Him for one particular area and forget to acknowledge and be aware of Him in all areas of our lives?  We get so focused on our plan, on what we want, we maybe forget to include God in all of our lives. 

Let's ask Him for His wisdom and input in all areas, seek His plan, not our own, and believe and thank Him in faith that He shall make our future paths smooth and straight.  

We can believe Him for what He's promised but let's do it His way. 😊

JESUS MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

1 Corinthians 1:30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. (Nlt)

That verse is amazing! God has actually united you and me, infused us into Jesus the Anointed One, the One born in a manger, the One who hung on the cross and rose to life from the tomb, the One the world had been waiting for since the garden of Eden. He has placed us IN Christ. If we've repented of our sins and asked Jesus into our lives to be our Lord and Saviour then it's absolutely true and it's wonderful.

We can know that we're deeply loved by God because we know He deeply loves Jesus and we're IN Him, actually part of Him. God wants us to see ourselves that way.

He has united us to the One who is Wisdom itself so His wisdom is available to us if we ask for it. He has united us to the One who bore all our sicknesses and diseases and carried them away at the same time He bore our sins away so we don't have to bear them. (Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 2:24). He freed us from it all.

Sometimes we forget that we're IN Jesus, don't we? We forget who we are now and to see ourselves the way God sees us. We forget when sickness hits us to remind the devil he has no right to put sickness on us because Jesus has already born it for us on the cross. We forget that goodness and mercy are following us all the days of our lives, that blessings are on the head of the righteous - that's you and me, because we're IN HIM.

So this is just a gentle reminder to remember that God has placed us IN His Son, He has united us to our most wonderful Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, and He makes all the difference. 😊

GOD CAN NEVER FORGET US

Isaiah 49: 15b-16 Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;... (Nkjv)

A few weeks ago I did some glass engraving on jars to give as gifts for Christmas and it's something that requires a lot of pressure because the glass is so hard. Once the impression is carved into the glass nothing will get it out, it's permanent.

I think God is reminding us that in the same way He had us engraved into the palms of His hands so we'll know He has a permanent reminder of us with Him for ever. When Jesus went to the cross those nail prints He suffered will be there forever too, and every time He looks at His hands He remembers He did it for each one of us because of His great love for us.

So if ever the enemy comes and tells you God has forgotten all about you just point him to Jesus and His nail pierced hands and it will silence him because he'll see your name written there too. 

One more thought, some people carry photos of their loved ones in their purse or phone and in a sense that's what God does when He looks at the palms of His hands. He sees His loved ones engraved there and He remembers us, so be encouraged today, and know God's remembering you all the time with great love and He can never forget you because He doesn't want to. Thank You Lord.

WHEN WE NEED STRENGTH

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I a 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.

What do you usually do on the days you feel drained of energy, when you feel like you've come to the end of your strength?  We all know it's sensible to rest and let our bodies recuperate when we've over stretched ourselves, but sometimes it's more than that.

God tells us here very clearly that He is the one who will strengthen us and help us but He can only do that if we let Him. He knows that when we get tired we tend to succumb to feeling depressed or dismayed and He's told us how to avoid it.

Next time we've run out of strength (actually it would be better to to do it before we get that far), let's do what a lady I know does. She holds her hand up to God, literally reaches up and says, 'Here it is God, here's my hand, now please grab hold of it and pour your strength into me.' It's a bit like seeing yourself being plugged into a socket and having yourself recharged.😊 Just like it takes time for your phone to recharge as it sits there, so do we. We need to do that too; spend time with God and allow Him to minister His strength and peace to us.

The Apostle Paul also encouraged us in Ephesians 6:10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 

Thankfully it doesn't say be strong in ourselves which is often the trap we fall into. Rather, let's just acknowledge how much we need God's help and strength, and keep reaching out to Him and keep receiving it by faith all through the day, this coming week, and beyond.

GOD BLESSES US SO MUCH

Colossians 3:17 ...giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Jesus).

Well the first week of the new year has come and gone already!  I've been reading a book about someone who could no longer do the things they could before and it's good to stop and think sometimes, to be thankful.

Do I take for granted the fact that I can get out of bed on my own, I can walk when I want to, I have food in the cupboard, I can see and hear, I have water and sanitation, etc.? The list is endless.

We seem to go from week to week, year to year even, taking so much of our lives for granted and never really stopping to be thankful to God for every single thing we have, or can do, without needing help to do it. Reading that story made me so very thankful for all I have to be thankful for! 

Maybe one of the reasons God encourages us to be thankful all the time is because it helps us to focus on the things that are really important, not the things that try to steal our joy or our peace. 

Next time we feel grumpy about something or someone it might help keep it in perspective if we think of something we're very grateful for, like having a home to come back to at night! Like what we do have, not what we don't have; what we can do not what we can't do.

So let's encourage one another to keep our Thankful Hat on and count our blessings, knowing our God loves and cares for us and He blesses us so much every single day.😊

LETTING THE SMALL STUFF GO

Proverbs 2:10-11 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding  will keep you safe.

My little grand daughter helped me realise yesterday how we can allow things to get all out of proportion. We'd made a new leather bridle for her soft toy horse to replace the string one she had made. All was well till she was going home when she decided she had to have the old string one back but it was nowhere to be found and it turned into a bit of an 'issue'!

I wonder how many times we allow things to become a bit of an issue in our minds that really aren't that important in the big scheme of things. My mum always used to say 'It'll all be the same in 10 years'. In other words ten years from now it probably wont matter at all, we'll have got over it.

Sometimes it's our own selves we need to get over though isn't it? We've allowed ourselves to get upset about something and allowed it to blow up out of all proportion forgetting that this time next week we'll probably be on to the next thing to worry about anyway and we'll have forgotten today's kerfuffle! Can anyone relate to any of this?

I just thought it might help us all to remember (especially myself) to not take some things quite so seriously and stand back for a minute and think 'Is this really worth allowing my feathers to be ruffled up about?'. Nine times out of ten probably not!

God often tells us in Proverbs to seek wisdom, so let's make life easier for ourselves and others and allow the Holy Spirit to give us some wisdom and insight into what's important and what's really not, and just let the small stuff go. 😊

TRUSTING GOD WITH OUR WHYS?

Psalm 62:8 O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. 

God wants to remind us to trust Him at all times, not just when it's easy, or everything looks like it's working out ok. God knows the end from the beginning and all the bits in between but sometimes we forget that and it's so reassuring to know that He knows all about whatever is happening and has the answer to all of life's problems, no matter how impossible or huge they seem.

How often have we wanted to tell God how to sort things out, or how they should happen and we seem to get frustrated when they don't work out the way we think? But really it all comes down to this trust issue. Are we remembering He's still working everything out for our good and if there's a delay He has a reason? 

The Psalmist reminds us that God wants us to pour out our hearts to Him, to know we can confide in Him, knowing He's committed to caring for us and He wont betray us. He wants to be the place we run to for protection and help, the One we know we can have confidence in to look after us because we know He is good.  

So the next time we're tempted to keep asking Him 'Why?', maybe a better response would be "If you want me to understand and know why, I know You'll tell me, but if not, I just know I can trust you Lord because You know best and You're working it out for my good in Your way and in Your time."

God just asks us to trust Him.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

LET HIS PEACE FLOW IN

Colossians 3:14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

I have to stop and ask myself sometimes 'What is ruling in my heart at the minute?' Is it worry about something, is it health concerns, national issues, is it family matters? Or is it knowing God is for me so nothing can be against me? Is it knowing the love of God is wrapped around me and I'm safe in the palm of His hand?  Is it the thought that I can be at peace resting in His care? What is uppermost, what is ruling?

God knows what we're dealing with and He wants to bring His peace into it, so Apostle Paul reminds us here that we are the deciding voice as to who and what rules in our hearts and he tells us to let the peace that comes from Jesus Christ rule. 

When someone is ruling they're calling the shots, they're making the decisions we abide by, and Paul says let Peace be the one calling the shots, let Peace make the decisions, let Peace guide you because it's coming straight from the heart of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and His heart is a heart of love for you.

And then he goes on ...and always be thankful. It doesn't say ...and always be fretful, always be fearful, always be anxious and upset about something! 

When we allow the peace that comes from Jesus to flow into our hearts and rule we will automatically then be thankful. It's a natural response to peace, so now and again throughout our day how about having a 'heart' check and see what's ruling and if we don't like what we see, let's ask the Holy Spirit to help us change it. I know I need to.😊

OVERLOOKING OFFENCES

Proverbs 19:11 The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger. And his glory is to overlook a transgression. Another translation says it's to his glory to overlook an offence.

Do you ever have one of those days where you try to help someone but it turns out all wrong? You meant well but it was thrown back in your face. You genuinely thought you were doing the right thing but it was received wrongly.You tried to explain but the enemy was stirring up a mess on purpose so that the more you tried the worse it got. It happened to me yesterday and when that happens it's good to draw to one side and ask for wisdom and sometimes the wisest thing is to say and do nothing more!

If they misunderstand you and what you were trying to do then sometimes it's better to let them. After all God knows our hearts and if we have a clear conscience before Him then all is well. He is our vindicator and our advocate and sometimes we just have to let the Holy Spirit sort it out and pray for all concerned. 

There is a freedom in knowing you don't have to have the last word because very often it's a hollow victory anyway. Do we have our feelings hurt? Yes, sometimes we do and we don't always see it coming so it upsets us. When that happens we just have to give the hurt all up to God, and enter His rest and ask Him to work it all out for our good and their good too, and show us if we could have done it differently.

So just in case someone offends or hurts you today or in the coming days, may I pass on what I learned, to not let the enemy settle that offence in your heart. Go to God with it straight away and give it to Him and let Him minister His grace to you so you can forgive and be forgiven for getting it wrong sometimes, and just let it go.

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

FOCUS ON THE GOOD IN PEOPLE

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

I was woken up the other night with this thought from the Lord, 'Focus on the good in people'.

It's so easy, isn't it, to find fault in something, or someone, and find all the reasons why we think they might be wrong or doing it wrong. But that is not God's way. His way is to encourage and lift up, to see the good job you've made of something and not point out all the bits you missed or did wrong. God is not a fault finder. Yes, He does correct us because He loves us, but He does it through His Word. (2 Tim. 3:16)

1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. God says to be thankful and find something to praise Him for which also includes people!😊 He doesn't say to come and have a moan about somebody or some organisation much as we'd maybe like to because He knows all about it already!

I believe, as we find something in people to hone in on that's good and praiseworthy, it will supernaturally release them to do better. Have you ever noticed that when you criticise someone it often doesn't help them at all, but rather pulls them down and leaves them deflated and discouraged?

There is a better way! God was saying to me to find something good about that person or situation that bothers you and thank God for it, praise Him that the person is so good at that aspect, and thank Him they're going to get better and better in their attitude and all they do, and to love them. 

So next time we want to criticise someone, let's just stop for a minute and ask the Lord to help us find something to praise and compliment them for instead. Now there's a challenge!😊

Let's focus on the good in the people we meet or live and work with from day to day and bring a little joy and encouragement into someone's life and make them smile by telling them how well they're doing and lift them up. 😊

HAVING A GOOD OPINION OF GOD

Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

I wonder what you really think about God in your quiet moments? Some people think He's just waiting to punish them and put a black mark against them in His book. Others think He can't possibly forgive them for what they've done. Others think He's too busy to bother with them because He's too big and too far away while many think He's the One bringing diseases on us.

Can I tell you that scripture tells us the opposite to all those things and many of them have been passed down from other people's opinions or experiences.

So I thought we'd start the new year remembering scripture tells us clearly that God is a Good God, that He has already forgiven all our sins in Jesus and when we repent and put our trust in Him He sees us 'in Jesus' clothed in His righteousness not our own. 

Scripture tells us He knows everything about us but He still loves us unconditionally, that He is as close to us as our breath, that He cares for us, and about us, that He'll never abandon us. Thank God we are still in the time of His great grace towards mankind until Jesus comes back and that God is our Healer not our destroyer.

So as we start this New Year, I hope we'll all have open hearts and minds to learn more and more about how good God is, how loving and kind He is to us and remember how faithful He has been to us already and will be in the years to come. Remember His mercy endures forever not for 5 minutes till we blow it!

GOD IS GOOD AND HIS GOODNESS AND MERCY ENDURE FOREVER.  I think that says it all, don't you?  Thank You Lord and praise Your name forever.

Let's start our new year with this thought. We are highly favoured, greatly blessed and deeply loved by God, who is so good. 

Have a truly blessed New Year everyone.😊 xx