GOD'S BLESSING NEVER ENDS

Psalm 84:12 O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

John 20:29 Jesus said...,Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

The other day I heard someone say "The blessing of God does not cease, it never ends"  and it really encouraged me so I thought I'd pass it on. It's a little reminder that God's blessing is ours for always because we believe and have put our trust in Jesus.

He says His blessings are on the head of the righteous, (Proverbs 10:6) and because Jesus has given us His gift of righteousness we qualify for all those blessings, which is wonderful! 

He says we're blessed coming in and blessed going out (Deuteronomy 28:6) Wouldn't it be good to have a poster of that on our front door?

God says the blessing of the Lord makes us rich and He adds no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22). The word for rich in this verse is the same word used to describe Abraham being given silver and gold and made very rich by God in Gen. 24:35. What a great blessing to take a hold of because He wants to bless us so we can be a blessing to others! 

God will guarantee a blessing on everything you do...(Deuteronomy 28:8) I think the secret to receiving these blessings is to be constantly reminding ourselves of them and receiving them by faith daily. No matter what we have to do throughout our day, under our breath we can be saying, "Thank You Lord You're blessing everything I do today."

He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.(Ephesians 1:3) Included within those spiritual blessings are all the physical ones as well so if there's a blessing mentioned in scripture it belongs to us because of Jesus and we're 'in Him'.

Aren't we just wonderfully blessed people? And because we're so blessed we can go out this week and be a blessing to others and share the love of God with them too.

Enjoy your BLESSED week.😊x

IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS!

Hebrews 1:2-4 (Nlt)

And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. 

God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, 

and through the Son he created the universe. 

The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God, 

and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. 

When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 

This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, 

just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

It's all about Jesus! I love the way the Holy Spirit takes us through from Jesus at creation, to Jesus showing us God Himself,  to Jesus sustaining everything, to Jesus washing us clean of all our sin  at the cross, to Jesus seated in highest honour in heaven with the name which is above every name. Doesn't that make your heart sing and give you such a sense of security for the here and now and eternity to come? 

We have a wonderful God, a wonderful Saviour and His name is Jesus. So if, or when, we're ever tempted to think it's all about us and our problems we can read these verses again and remember....

IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS and we are safe in Him. Thank You Lord. 😊

COME UP!

Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."

When the scaffolding was erected outside our house we noticed there was no intermediary level to stop off at, on the way to the top. When it was all in place they put their ladder against it and proceeded to climb right to the top in one go. It was all or nothing!

In the same way God has made it possible for us all to climb up higher in Him and to Him, to reach new spiritual heights but so often we mill around at the bottom where we feel safe and never even get on the ladder. We may think 'oh spiritual things are only for the super spiritual believers, not for me. I'm happy where I am.' But whatever God has, is for every single one of us, not for a select few!

Maybe we do get on the spiritual ladder, a bit like going for a paddle, we go so far then never actually go any further to where God is calling us to because it looks like we'll be out of our depth, out of our control and we stick half way. Can anyone identify?

So what do we do with God's call to come up higher and what does 'Come up here, or come up higher' mean in our every day lives? I'm sure it involves spending more time with the Lord, to hear His thoughts and learn His ways which are both higher than our thoughts and ways. It's to see things from God's perspective instead of only from our earth bound viewpoint and we'll find that out in His Word. 

He may show us things to avoid, or places to go where we'll be at the right place at the right time for His favour to shine on us. Maybe for us to learn to pray in faith more effectively, or learn to believe for us to lay hands on people to be healed, to receive His healing for ourselves, to just get to know Him more and be touched by His compassion for the lost.

The only way we shall know is to get on the ladder and learn as we go, till we reach the top. 

I believe the Lord is speaking to us all today to start climbing higher because He has so much to show us.  I know we'll be blessed.😊

Have a lovely weekend.x

CASTING OUR CARES

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.

We've been waiting since July to have all our house roof hip tiles repaired but there's been big delays waiting for roofing quotes, builders messing us about, and the scaffolders to arrive. It's actually happening now though and the roofers are here and it will be all secured before the storms of winter. Thank You Lord!

We all know we have to wait for some things to come together and the waiting can be very frustrating at the best of times, or even tinged with the fear of the 'what if's', like when you know there is a risk of  tiles flying off and really hurting someone! 

Now the things you're waiting for will have different connotations but God wants us all to come to that place of, not just praying about our problem, but giving it over to Him and leaving it there. Sometimes we need the wisdom to recognise there will be things we can't change by ourselves and trust Him to oversee it all, then rest in Him to sort it.

There's no point in worrying about what we can't do anything about. Worrying wont change the circumstance or hurry anything along, in fact it tends to draw the negative to us, upsets us and opens a door to the enemy! 

At the end of the day we all know God cares about us and He cares for us and He wants us to trust Him by not fretting. We couldn't do anything about our roof ourselves so I eventually came to that point of believing God would make it happen when it needed to and trust Him to hold the tiles on until it does! Trusting is better than worrying!😊 

I hope my 'roofing' story helps you to cast whatever your care is on the Lord, knowing He cares for you most carefully and His timing will always be spot on.😊

A BLESSED HOPE

Titus 2:13 (Kjv) looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

In one of the houses I grew up in there was a picture made of solid wood hanging in the hall by the grandfather clock, so you saw it every day when you came downstairs. It had the above verse inscribed on it which someone had painstakingly hot pokered into the wood. Although it was very old fashioned, probably early 1900s, nevertheless the message on it became embedded in my mind purely because I read it so often!

It didn't matter that the wooden picture itself was a bit beaten up and old because it's message got through to me and challenges me to this day to remember there is going to be a glorious and wonderful day when Jesus really will appear and everything that troubles us now will thankfully not trouble us anymore. This life is not all there is.😊

So this is just a little reminder that we do all still have a blessed hope which the Holy Spirit encourages us to look forward to. It's the sure and certain knowledge that our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ will soon be coming back for those who are trusting in Him. What a glorious experience that will be!

It's not surprising that what we see and read everyday sinks in, (whether it's good or bad) so how about we print off, or write out a scripture that matters to us and pin it up where everyone can see and read it. It's amazing how it's message will stick with them, and you, for longer than you think!😊

ONE STEP AT A TIME

Isaiah 42:16 I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them and not forsake them.

Life can feel like we've taken one step forward and two steps back sometimes and we all know that can be very discouraging. So what do we do when that happens? Don't give up! Keep going forward in faith knowing God has promised to make a way where there is no way.

When the Israelites reached the Red Sea it looked like they'd gone as far as they could go and going back was not an option. Instead of sitting down in defeat they did what God told them to do - they kept going forward one step at a time and God cleared a path for them, despite the storm force gale that was blowing, which led to freedom!

God told the people that He would take them by a way they didn't know was there which means they hadn't passed that way before. Maybe you're passing through or dealing with something you've not had to deal with before and if so, be encouraged, because God has a path you don't know about yet and knows the way forward better than anybody so you can trust Him! 

Have you got some dark places right now? Then take heart He's about to shine some light on them. Have things that are all messed up? Don't despair. God is going to take the things that are all crooked and twisted up and make them straight. But best of all He assures us He'll not forsake us no matter how dark and messed up things might look! 

It all comes back to hope again, knowing and believing God has good plans and purposes for each of us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us so let's look up again, hold tightly to our faith in Jesus and keep taking one step at a time. He will bring us through. 😊

WEAR GOD'S DESIGNER LABEL

Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love; ...."

Colossians 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved,....

All through life we find people labelling us according to their estimation which isn't always flattering! We may even label and limit ourselves too. In my school days, teachers were quite likely to tell you you were useless or that you wouldn't amount to anything! That happened to my sister and she went on to become a brilliant teacher herself and proved them wrong!

How about you? Have you ever been 'labelled' in a hurtful way, called names, made to feel less than or ridiculed? The world can be so ready to label us and put us in a box "too old, too young, too stupid, too big, too small, too quiet, too anything...! But God doesn't want us with any label other than His own because He's made us so much bigger than any of those and we belong to Him. 

The wonderful news for us as Christians is that God has taken all those old labels off us, no matter what kind they were, and He has put His own label on us instead. We're wearing His designer label! What is it?

"My Beloved". That wipes away everything else in one fell swoop because it's all that matters. We may not be the cleverest or best looking, or the most able, but as far as God is concerned we are His workmanship, made in His image, fearfully and wonderfully made and the best thing of all is, we are His "Beloved".  Beloved is an old fashioned word but it expresses how much we mean to God, how deeply and dearly He loves us and how very precious we are to Him.

So no matter what anyone calls you, or has called you in the past, remember your God given label and stand tall in Jesus, in His righteousness today, knowing that God loves you with an everlasting love and that you are God's Beloved! 😊

STILL ALWAYS REASON TO HOPE

Romans 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yesterday was one of those milestone birthdays for me where I started another new decade. Everyone was so kind and the family clubbed together for me to buy a new laptop which was a total surprise and a huge blessing! 😊

Even though we woke up to pouring rain it lifted as the day went on, and the Lord brought the sun out for us all as we were going on a surprise River Cruise with dinner on board. It was amazing and I did feel so spoilt. I think it was the best birthday I've ever had! We even saw a heron flying all along the river bank in the sunshine which was beautiful to see.

Things don't always go right though do they? Four years ago I had the worst birthday ever when we were burgled on my birthday night and sometimes when things go wrong like that we feel awful and can get so down. We struggle to keep things in perspective and it's easy to forget that there are always better days to come, days of blessing, special memories still to be made, which will far outweigh the sad ones. There is still always reason to hope!

Bible hope is to confidently expect and desire for something good in the future. It's not wrong to hope for something good because our verse tells us the Holy Spirit actually gives us the power to think that way. In view of that it would be wrong to always be expecting bad things to happen don't you think?

So may I encourage us all by saying that even if things do go wrong, if we'll hang in there and get our hope up again, God has a way of turning everything around in His timing, and blessing our socks off like He did for me yesterday.

Let's open ourselves up this week for God to give us a new perspective of fresh hope, if we need one, and let Him do what He wants to do which is to bless us, and fill us with His joy and peace. Have a blessed week.😊

WE HAVE A MIGHTY ONE!

Isaiah 33:21 (Nlt)

The Lord will be our Mighty One. 

He will be like a wide river of protection that no enemy can cross, 

that no enemy ship can sail upon......

He will care for us and save us.

We have a Mighty One, a Mighty Saviour and He is One who protects us and saves us from our enemy the devil and we're safe when we're trusting in Him. There is a line written in the blood of Jesus which God has drawn all around us and the enemy cannot cross it. Praise God!

But not only that He then goes on to say He takes care of us. We can hear the Father's heart in what He's saying. Not only did He love us so much to give us His Son but He loves us by caring for us in our here and now.  There is great rest and peace in that too. Let's praise Him afresh today.

THE GIFT OF LISTENING

Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 

Matthew 11:15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

We met up with friends recently who we hadn't seen for about 22 years but it was as if we'd met only yesterday which was lovely. During the course of our get together we were chatting about making marmalade and I very briefly mentioned that I love 'thick cut' marmalade but can't get the tin kit for it which makes six jars of marmalade. I can only find the 'thin cut'. 

Lo and behold just after we returned from holiday a parcel arrives in the post from my friend with the tin of thick cut marmalade for me to make! She knew where to get it! It was just a passing comment I'd made but she was listening and paid attention. She has the gift of listening!😊

I wonder how good we are at listening? It's so easy to miss what someone is saying when we're distracted or thinking of the next thing to say. I'm sure it happens to all of us but I was struck by her kindness. She not only listened, she acted on what she heard, she wanted to be a help and a blessing.

I found it inspired me to do better next time I'm chatting to somebody - I need to really listen and pay more attention!  I hope my story has inspired you as well.😊  And while I'm at it, I think God wants me to listen better to Him too! How about you?😊

Have a blessed weekend everybody.x

GOD OF ALL COMFORT

2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.

No matter what is happening in our lives or in the world our God is still on the throne and His plans and purposes will unfold in His time. There is great stability and security in that because we know He has promised to never abandon us, nor leave us without support.(Hebrews 13:5) 

We belong to Him, we are His and He has adopted us into His family. Jesus is our big brother, as well as our Saviour, and God is our loving Father. We belong to Him!

He hears every sigh, sees every tear, understands our every weakness and wraps us up in His love and draws us close especially when things are hard or seem unbearable. Like Paul, we can say "for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return." (2 Tim. 1:12)

Our God is the God of all comfort. He is the God who fights our battles for us, who goes before us into every situation, who sends ministering angels to accompany us throughout our day.

He is the God who upholds us when we're weary, who strengthens us when we're weak in any area of life. He's the God of abundance and provision who has plans to bless us just because He's made us the righteousness of God in Christ and made us joint heirs with Him.

His favour and grace are all over us because of what Jesus did for us. He's opened up that new and living way of living life and we can give Him all our worries, all our anxieties and ask Him to take care of them all. He says He blesses us going out and coming in, that we have the victory because Jesus is our Victorious Saviour. 

I would love to go on but I hope this has encouraged someone today to look up once again to our wonderful God of all comfort and know that nothing can separate us from His love and He's watching over us every minute of the day and night. He's holding us.😊

FAN INTO FLAMES!

2 Timothy 1:6-7 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. (sound minds)

When I was growing up we had a coal fire which I had to learn to light. There's a bit of a knack in fanning the flickering small flame so it suddenly 'catches' and the fire springs to life. You have to pay attention to it! In the same way each one of us has been given a spiritual gift which we need to fan into flames and give our attention if it's going to benefit those around us.

Paul points out that the spiritual gift God has given us is backed up by His power and love and sound minds which are gifts in themselves and we can fan them into flame as well by reminding ourselves that we have them especially when we feel fearful or timid!😊

God has given us His miracle working power! We can fan into flame that power by declaring that God's power is working in us.

God says He has already placed inside each and every one of us a spiritual gift, even though we may not have had the laying on of hands, so here is a little reminder -

1 Cor. 12:7 (Nlt)  A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 

v.8-11 (Nkjv) for to one is given the word of wisdom.... to another the word of knowledge... to another faith.... to another gifts of healings,...to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

Scripture also says that as and when we need any of these gifts the Holy Spirit can minister them to us to use because Jesus' Spirit is in us. How wonderful! 

Yesterday God said to be in hot pursuit of Him. Today He says to fan into flame His spiritual gift! God is speaking to us. I hope you find that encouraging.😊

Thank You Lord for the spiritual gift You've given us. Help each of us to know and use it for the good of all. Amen.

IN HOT PURSUIT

1 Timothy 6:11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

The dictionary says to pursue is to follow or to chase after, in hot pursuit. It sounds like in a cops and robbers movie!😊 Now, I asked myself, what am I chasing after? This verse tells us what God wants us to pursue so we're not left in any doubt. 

Paul's been saying it's the love of money that's a root of all kinds of evil. (1 Tim 6:10) We know it's not money in itself that's evil, but the love of it, when we're pursuing it and it comes before other things like our walk with God, then we know we're in trouble.

We all need money to live and it can be such a blessing. All through scripture God says He wants to prosper us so we can be a blessing to others, so it's not wrong to have money, just not to put our trust in it instead of God.

Then he leads into our verse today and says God wants us to pursue righteousness and a godly life and all the other things in His list and not get caught up in the way of the world. So I ask myself how am I doing in the pursuing of faith, of love, of perseverance and gentleness, etc.? Do I even think about it? How about you? Are we chasing after them, or like me, not as focused as I should be and a bit vague sometimes?  I think maybe God is giving me a bit of a nudge to remind me where my priorities should lie. So may I pass the nudge along?😊

Help us Lord today to be in hot pursuit of You, to get our priorities right and to chase after a godly life in Jesus. Amen.

HOW WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE

1 Timothy 2:1-2 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

Yesterday God reminded us He's always here to help us, whether it's in daily life or if we have enemies that need trampling down! 

Scripture tells us though, that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph.6:12), so we're not looking to God to shoot someone down in flames! Rather, we're looking to Him to help us stand strong in faith against the evil powers at work and asking Him to intervene supernaturally in the way He knows is best.

It's interesting to see that Paul's strategy first and foremost was through prayer. He urges us to pray for our leaders, pray for people making the decisions, pray for all people. Jesus went further and said pray and bless those who spitefully use you! Nowhere does it say pull them to pieces, criticise or curse them! We're called to intercede for them.

We can do something about it all if we're willing to do our bit, like we said yesterday. We can all pray! There is no power that can stop us praying in believing faith to our mighty God with whom all things are possible! We can pray for leaders to be given wisdom from God, we can pray for God to intervene supernaturally to rescue us all from the plots and plans of the devil.

We are not helpless or hopeless. Far from it! We can all do our bit and make a difference. We can all pray.😊

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Psalm 108:12-13 Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless. With God's help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes.

Have you ever wanted to do mighty things? Another translation says we will do 'valiantly' with God's help, which means we'll do it with courage and determination, but we're often tempted to think what can one person do, what difference can I make and tend to do nothing! The answer to that is, when we all do our bit, when we work together, we can make a difference in the lives of others.

We were given an example of it in the last war when a huge fleet of little boats sailed across the English Channel to rescue 300,000 British soldiers at Dunkirk. I've just been reading about it and it's so inspiring what people can do when they all play their part and do what they are able to do, however small, with such courage and determination.

Many of those little boats were only built for river cruising but were willing to sail across the open sea right on to the beaches where the black smoke hung in the air from the bombs being dropped all around them. Even though many had no training, no experience, nevertheless they rescued countless thousands of soldiers from certain death. They made the difference!

As we start our new week we can know that we too can make a difference in this world when we remember that God is the One helping us and because the Light of Jesus is in us wherever we go shining out, even though we may not realise it.

With God's help we can make a difference.😊

NO WONDER WE CAN SING!

 Psalm 108:1/3-5

 My heart is confident in you, O God; 

no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!

I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.

I will sing your praises among the nations.

For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens.

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. 

Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. 

May your glory shine over all the earth.

Here is David singing praises again with all his heart! I love the example he sets for us to never stop praising our wonderful God and being so thankful as he keeps reminding himself of God's unfailing love for us all.

This morning let's just spend a few minutes exalting God in our lives, and sing a song of praise to Him. David gives us this lovely picture of God's unfailing love and His faithfulness being as high as the heavens and the clouds, and yet Jesus brought it all down and gave it to each one of us on the cross. No wonder we can sing!😊

Lord we praise and thank You today with our whole hearts. Amen.

I BELIEVE

Mark 11:23 For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

When our car failed it's MOT health check up recently we had to have it adjusted in order to pass. As I was thinking about that I thought it would be good to have a spiritual health check up in our own lives to see if we're spiritually healthy. One of the ways to do that is to check on what we're believing and to adjust it if we need to, like with our car.😊 

The other day I was given this little list of confessions which declares what we believe so I printed it out on a piece of paper and I've been speaking it over my life most days. It helps me remember what I'm actually believing God for and Jesus tells us to say what we believe and it will be done for us.

So if you'd like to join with me then put your own hand on your head, (as in the laying on of hands), and confess out loud over yourself the following:

I believe that the blessings of the Lord are upon my life today.

I believe I have favour with God.

I believe that prosperity is coming to me.

I believe I have divine health in my body.

I believe I have peace in my heart.

I believe I have the fire of the Holy Spirit in me.

I believe I have victory over all the works of the devil.

I believe I am more than a Conqueror 

in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

All those truths are from scripture and I believe that as we keep declaring them over ourselves, and as we remind ourselves each day what we're believing, we shall grow in faith and enjoy all the blessings of the Lord. 

PS: If you'd like to print out a copy or copies for yourself or someone else please copy and paste the link below:

file:///C:/Users/Berry/Documents/I%20believe%20Confession%20card.pdf

Have a great weekend.😊

 

GOD IS SO PERSONAL WITH US

Psalm 103:22 Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. Let all that I am praise the Lord.

We've spent the whole week looking at how good our God is to us, how much He is doing for us, and how many benefits He gives to us.  David lists it all in the present tense! If ever we're tempted to think God is not listening or 'why isn't He doing anything?', I hope we can now get this psalm out and remind ourselves of all He is doing through Jesus and receive it by faith in our here and now. Our God is a very present help, He is doing these things now!😊

We can encourage ourselves in the Lord as we reread it all through and put ourselves in the verses. We can say He forgives all my sins, He heals all my diseases, He is blessing me with good things, and renewing my youth so I'm strong and soaring. 

We can remind ourselves that the Lord is crowning me with loving kindness and tender mercy. He is doing that for me. He is compassionate to me, He remembers how weak I am but His love for me remains forever. 

I know that's a lot of 'me's but it's good to remember how personal our loving Father is with us.

I'll let you personalise all the other things as you read through the whole psalm again, but I hope it has given us a fresh desire and inspiration to join the psalmist David, and everything else God has created, to make our praise personal in the coming days, and say

"Let all that I am praise the Lord!" 😊

ANGELS PERFORM HIS WORD

There is just so much in this Psalm to praise God for! He goes on to tell us He's slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.(v.8) I don't know about you but I'm so thankful for that!

He says He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him for He knows how weak we are.....(v.11-12) David is building us a lovely picture of our heavenly Father which makes us want to run to Him and not from Him when we get it wrong which is so reassuring.

He goes further and says, The love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear Him and His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to His covenant and obey his commands.(v.17) There are conditions to that promise but for any of us who have children and grandchildren we can bring them to the Lord and remind Him of His promise for them to be saved too.

Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.(v.20). This is a wonderful verse because it tells us that the angels will act on God's word when they hear it. So when they hear God's word coming out of our mouths in faith, they are strong and mighty to go and perform it in our lives. For instance, when we declare the promises of God they are commissioned to go and make it so. What a wonderful benefit that is!

Thank You Lord we can come to You any time as our loving Father God and for ministering angels commissioned to help us.  We praise You for it Lord. Amen.

GOOD THINGS AND RENEWED YOUTH

Psalm 103:5 (Ampc) Who satisfies your mouth (your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation) with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's (strong, overcoming, soaring)!

Woohoo! Doesn't that verse put a little dance in your feet? I hope so because God's word never lies, it never fails and it remains forever. Now our part is to receive it all by faith and say thank You Lord, I may not see it yet but I believe it and I receive it.

On those days when you're flagging, when you're maybe feeling your age or just a bit worn out, grab a hold of this verse by faith and join with me and let's declare it over our lives. Remember Caleb, who at 85 was as strong as he was forty years earlier, and we know God is the One who made that possible. As we believe God for all His other benefits let's believe for Him to renew our youth as He says.

The New Living Translation says it this way "He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle's!"

Good things - not bad things! Our God is a GOOD God whose heart is to bless and prosper us. He is not the one who sends bad things. Praise God.

1 John  3:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Psalm 84:11 ...no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

All through the day we can think on these verses and praise the Lord as we declare He is filling our lives with good things and renewing our youth so that we're strong, overcoming and soaring. Hallelujah! 

Lord we receive it by faith and praise You wholeheartedly for it. Amen.

A MADE TO MEASURE CROWN

Psalm 103:4 (Amp) Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy:

Talk about benefits, it goes on and on! This verse covers our eternity as well as our here and now which is amazing. God is the God who delivers us from the destruction of eternal death, so no matter what happens in life we have the ultimate victory in Jesus. He is not only the Resurrection and the Life for our eternity but in our daily lives too and we can declare His resurrection life not only over our bodies but over every part of our lives and over every circumstance because of Him. Glory to God!

Until I read this verse in the Amplified Bible I didn't realise God beautifies and dignifies us when He crowns us with His loving kindness and tender mercy and I thought how lovely that is. We may not feel beautiful or dignified in the natural but every time we look in the mirror one of the many things we can thank Him for by faith, is for beautifying us from the inside out. When we're beautiful on the inside it will show in our faces.😊 Thank You Lord for that!

So as we go out into our day we can wholeheartedly praise the Lord for giving us His resurrection life, for beautifying us and dignifying us with a crown of loving-kindness and tender mercy. It's a crown He has made to measure especially for each one of us, so we can hold our heads up with confidence in Him and what He has given us in the Lord Jesus.

What a Saviour. Praise the name of Jesus!😊

FORGIVENESS AND HEALING

Psalm 103:3 (Amp) Who forgives (every one of) all your iniquities, Who heals (each one of) all your diseases,

David was a man of faith and he starts listing the wonderful benefits of trusting in God which he was so thankful for.  He starts off with the most important one as he knew what it was to fall into sin. He had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered but he knew God was, and is, a forgiving God. He understood heartfelt repentance and he knew his God was full of mercy so he repented and God forgave him.

Thank God we can know that for ourselves too. If ever you've wanted all your sins washed away the good news is that Jesus has done exactly that by taking them to the cross and forgiving them all. That is the most enormous miracle we shall ever know because it means that as we repent and believe in Jesus, God accepts us, and gives us His righteousness. What a wonderful benefit to praise God for, with all our hearts.

He goes on to say the Lord heals all our diseases. He was looking forward prophetically to the cross when Jesus would Himself take all our sicknesses and diseases upon Himself. He did that for us at the same time as he bore all our sins. As we receive our forgiveness for our sins He wants us to receive our healing for our bodies too. Matthew 8:17, Isaiah 53 and 1 Peter 2:24 say the same thing. All he asks of us is to believe it.

Even if we can't 'see' the healing yet, neither can we 'see' our sins forgiven but we believe and know it is so because God has declared it in His word as one of His benefits. The devil may try to say otherwise but as we keep believing, so God's healing will course through our veins and restore us.

As we start a new week we thank and praise You Lord for forgiving and healing us.  Amen.

PRAISING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART

Psalm 103:1-2 (Amp)

Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul:

and all that is (deepest) within me, bless His holy name!

Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, 

O my soul, and forget not (one of ) all His benefits-

Psalm 103 is one of my favourite passages of scripture because it is so uplifting. It tells us all the wonderful things God has done and will do for us and if you'd like to stick with me for a few days I thought we'd have a look at some of it.

The Nlt says this verse this way - Let all that I am praise the Lord, with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. David, who wrote this psalm, is one of those people who seemed to be wholehearted about everything he did. He wasn't a half in, half out sort of chap. He threw himself into his praise for God with gusto because He knew God deserved all the praise he could give Him. He says 'all that I am', with my 'whole heart'. 

I wonder if you're like me and feel challenged by that? Maybe we've not been as wholehearted as we could be and hopefully, as we look into some of this Psalm, it will help us to turn that around.

So how does he do it? He never forgets all the good things God does for him, and I think that is the secret.  God wants us to deliberately remember He is the God who 'benefits' us because His benefits are the best in the world! So this week I hope you can join me in not forgetting the good things the Lord is doing for us too.

Have a blessed day praising God with your whole heart. 😊

GOD ARE YOU LISTENING?

Isaiah 65:24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.

As we all know life is not always easy. Maybe you're going through a hard time at the minute and you're struggling with it all.  We pray and things haven't changed yet so we become discouraged. We pray and things appear to get worse so then we're hit with doubts and fears. Where is God in it all? Is He listening? Are things always going to be this way?

We may have all had those kind of questions at  some time. So what do we do? We do the only thing we can do - we keep believing, keep trusting, keep praying but we don't do it in fear or desperation, we do it in faith in our God who loves us. 

So many people in scripture have been there before us, but they stuck with God, and we see them triumph in the end. Job's health was a total wreck, he was so down he sat in the dust with ashes on his head, his family was destroyed, his wealth was gone. All he had left was a complaining bitter wife! And yet He says "But as for me I know that my Redeemer lives and he will stand upon the earth at last." (Job 19:25) He never gave up trusting God and God gave him back double for his trouble.

Ruth had lost her protection and provision along with the love of her life. Her husband, brother in law and father in law all died but she remained with her mother in law who she knew trusted God. They had no money, no home, they were grieving but they kept trusting God and He wonderfully turned it round and she ended up marrying the wealthiest man around!

God wants us to know today that He is listening, He is answering, He'll never abandon us and His promises are all true. He is working behind the scenes far more than we know and if we'll keep trusting Him He will bring us through victorious. 

So don't give up, keep praying in faith, keep believing, He will sustain you and bring you out the other side because we have a Deliverer and His name is Jesus. 

Thank You Lord You are listening and answering my prayers. Amen.

MY STRENGTH AND SHIELD

Psalm 28:7 He is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trusted in Him, and he helped me. Joy rises in my heart until I burst out in songs of praise to him. 

All through scripture we find the phrase "The Lord is my strength" and it's good to remember, especially on the days when our own strength is at a low ebb. 

2 Peter 1:12 Therefore, I will always remind you about these things - even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.

The Apostle Peter wrote to believers telling them he would constantly remind them about God and His promises, about Jesus and His salvation. He knew that we all forget some things when the pressure is on and he knew all about pressure when he denied the Lord. He didn't want us to experience that so he kept reminding them.

Today the Lord is reminding us He is our strength. So if we need strength today let's go to Him. Ask and receive from Him and thank Him by faith that He is our strength for today, that He is pouring His grace for strength into us right when we need it. 

Then David goes on to remind us that God is also our shield from every danger. Some dangers are obvious while others we're not always aware of, but whatever kind it is we can know that we can trust the Lord to protect us. We are not vulnerable, we are protected by Almighty God.

Every single one of us needs His strength and protection and He says if we'll trust Him for them, we'll find so much joy in our hearts that we'll burst out in songs of praise to Him too.😊

FILL OUR LIVES

Colossians 3:16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

Paul goes on to give us some more very sound advice. Yesterday he told us to 'let' peace have control over us and today he's saying 'let' the rich message about Christ fill our lives.

This verse challenged me to think 'What is filling my life?' Very often our lives are 'filled' with all the everyday issues that demand our attention which we can't avoid but I think he's saying if we remember to let the good news about Jesus being our Deliverer, Provider, Protector, Healer, etc. be at the front of our minds, the other issues wont grow so big, we'll keep them in perspective.

He knows the power of spiritual songs that keep going over and over in our heads, how they encourage us and remind us about Jesus all the time and because of that they prompt us to be thankful to God. We have an amazing privilege to be part of God's family, to be loved and chosen by Him but he tells us to go on and encourage one another to not forget it, especially when things are looking tough.

If God has shown us something then let's pass it on to someone else to help build them up too. We're all in this together and we all have a part to play. It's amazing how sharing some little thing that the Lord has done in our lives can so encourage someone else in their walk with the Lord so how about sending  a text or Whatsapp or card and share something lovely, however small, with someone else.

We can choose to go into our day with a song in our hearts, and encourage each other with thankfulness to God for all He's done. And here's a couple of songs to maybe help.😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpGYImM_VeM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3WDGpZjV4U

LETTING PEACE RULE

Colossians 3:15 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. 

Today's verse is a follow on from the past few days. When we remember God loved us and chose us, that He wants us to be kind and forgiving and to clothe ourselves with His love then we can go on and let His peace rule in our hearts.

True peace only comes from Jesus and He gave us His peace at the same time as He said don't let your heart be troubled. Those two go together but they don't force their way into our lives. Jesus says 'let' my peace rule in our hearts. On those days when we're all ruffled up and peace is definitely not ruling we need to just stop a minute, draw a deep breath, and 'let' the peace of Jesus flow again.😊

He says we're called to live in peace, so if ever you've wondered what your calling in life is, here is part of it, to let Christ's peace have total control in our lives. It must be possible or he wouldn't tell us to do it and then he throws in the extra bit - and always be thankful.

Maybe when we're always thankful we'll actually find ourselves opening the door to peace naturally. Having a thankful heart tunes us in to God like praise does, so even if people rub us up the wrong way if we choose to find something to be thankful for in them or even pray for them we'll find it much easier to be at peace.

So if you feel your blood pressure rising at some point today, remember your calling, and let the peace of God enter in once again. Have a peaceful day.😊

PUT ON LOVE

Colossians 3:14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 

When we get dressed in the morning we choose the clothes most suited to our day. We'd look a bit silly wearing party clothes if we're digging out weeds in the garden like I was doing yesterday!

In the same way God has told us what we need to wear every single day of our lives and if we're wise we'll put it on first thing in the morning before anything else. So when we wake up and get dressed tomorrow, let's remember the Holy Spirit has put God's love in our hearts already, mentally see ourselves clothed and wrapped in it, and then put on everything else on top. I'll probably need a sticky note saying 'Put on love first' to remind me!

God tells us that His love will bind us all together in perfect harmony which is definitely something we all need and want, especially if it's in short supply at our work, home or even church, for some reason. We all know atmospheres can feel a bit strained sometimes but He says His love will bind us back together.

So just in case we forgot to put our love clothes on today let's do it now. Oh and don't forget that tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience all come with it!😊

Lord we see ourselves wrapped up in Your love and just ask that it will fill us up so Your loving-kindness overflows to everyone we meet today and if there's any strife help us bring peace and harmony wherever we go. Thank You Lord. Amen. 

MAKE ALLOWANCES

Colossians 3:13 Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

For the next few days we're looking at this same chapter in Colossians and this verse follows on from yesterday's about being chosen and loved by God. It's easy sometimes to see the faults in others, but Paul says because of God's love for us, to choose to make allowances for other's faults. When we remember we all have faults of our own and we want God and others to forgive us when we get it wrong, hopefully it makes it easier then to overlook their failings too.😊

For lots of different reasons we can be a bit on the defensive and when people seem to offend us we may get all riled up, but quite often they didn't mean anything by it and we're just being over sensitive (or is it just me?) Even if they did mean it the Holy Spirit says to forgive them anyway because it gives an open door to the enemy in our lives if we don't, and none of us want that! God is telling us to let it go for our own good to protect us from being hurt by the enemy. 

As we begin this new week let's remember we're loved and chosen by God which is bigger than anything else and it's all that really matters. Not only that, He's making us big enough on the inside to let offences run off our backs like water off a duck's back so we can enjoy our week with Him.

So next time someone upsets you, just mutter under your breath, "water off a duck's back" and smile really big, because you know you're loved and chosen by God. 😊

Have a blessed week.😊

CHOSEN BY GOD

 Colossians 3:12 (Nlt)

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, 

you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, 

kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

How amazing it is to be chosen by God, to be the holy people He loves. What an enormous privilege that is and how humbling. When we realise how big it is we'll want to be merciful to others because God has been merciful to us. 

When we receive kindness from someone it makes us want to be kind to others, doesn't it, and it's the same with gentleness and patience. We've received them all from God through Jesus so we can readily give the same to whoever we meet.

Paul goes on to tell us some more about our being chosen in Ephesians 1:3 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Sometimes it's hard to get our heads around the fact that God loved us and chose us even before He made the world! We look at ourselves and see our faults, but God looks at us and He sees us wrapped up in Jesus and His righteousness. God is so merciful and it gives us such an awareness of how much He cares about us. Nothing can happen that He doesn't already know about so we can be at peace.

Thank You Lord for loving us and choosing us - we're so very grateful. Amen.

WRITTEN IN HIS HANDS

Isaiah 49:16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

Just for a minute turn your hands over palms up and imagine God doing the same thing. Now you probably don't have anything written on your palm but God has. As part of God's people our names are written there which means He never forgets us. Every time He looks at His hands He sees your name and mine.

It makes me think of when Jesus went to the cross. When they nailed His hands to the wooden beam He knew our names would be written there from before the foundation of the world, and He allowed them to do it because He loved us that much. It's a bit like when we carry a photo of a loved one with us, God has us engraved in the palm of His hand. It means we matter to Him, that we're loved, forgiven, blessed beyond measure, we have a hope that is steadfast and certain. He's holding us safely in the palm of His hand.

Next time you feel at all down about anything, or if for any reason you don't feel loved, turn your hands over and look at the palms of your hands and remember your name is written in the nail prints in Jesus' hands for all eternity because He loves you more than you will ever know or understand. You belong to Him.

We thank You Lord Jesus with all our hearts for loving us that much. Amen.