THE LAW OF FAITH

Romans 3:27 (Nkjv)Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.

When we stand on the edge of the seashore on a sunny day, we watch the tide gently rolling in and gently being sucked back out again across the shingles or the sand. We know for certain when it goes out it will come in again. It’s one of God’s laws of nature and we can totally depend on it. 

There are other laws that God has put in motion as well but they are spiritual laws which are just as rock solid, just as certain as the turning of the earth. The bible is a book of faith about God’s faith and man’s faith and what happens when we act in faith and that is what one of those laws is all about.

The Holy Spirit calls it the law of faith which tells us that in the New Covenant a person is not made right with God by his works but by faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus at the Cross. That’s a spiritual law God laid down and we can totally depend on it. He says we can’t receive anything from God by our own efforts or because we think we deserve it! 

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that absolutely everything we’ll ever receive from God now is always by faith in what Jesus did for us. The enemy tempts us to think we can ask Him for something  because we’ve been reading our bible or lived a good life so we think God owes it to us. But the law of faith says no, it’s only because Jesus has already bought and paid for everything we’ll ever need, with His blood.

Or maybe you want to ask the Lord for something but you feel you can’t because you think you’re not ‘good’ enough. Take heart, it’s not depending on you.🙂 So whenever we need anything from the Lord, whether it’s for forgiveness, or healing for ourselves or others, or for finances, or strength or restoring relationships, whatever it is, we can come with confidence because it’s not about us, it’s depending on the unshakeable law of faith in what Jesus has done. 

The Holy Spirit is reminding us grace is all about the fact that although none of us deserve anything, and we can’t earn it, yet God in His goodness gives it to us because of His great love for us. It’s all about Jesus. What a wonderful truth that is.🙂

So Lord we come to You today, confident that the law of faith is working, to receive Your mercy and the grace we need today for …………………..(whatever it is). Thank You Lord we can ask big and know it’s already been bought and paid for by Jesus. Amen.

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SURPRISES!

James 1:17 Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.

Surprises! Some we like and some we don’t, depending on whether they’re nice or not, but the other night I found a little parcel under one of my cushions which was a lovely surprise. It was a little gift, for no reason, and it blessed me so much.🤗 When something nice happens it can just lift our spirits and put a smile on our faces. It doesn’t even have to be a gift, it can be a kind or encouraging word and it just makes our day.🙂

God is wanting to make our day every day. Proverbs 3:33 … he blesses the home of the righteous. Psalm 5:12 For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous. Every single morning He gifts us with a fresh supply of His mercy and a superabundance of His grace to favour us in everything we have to do that day. His grace will lift us up, carry us through and take us over whatever unfolds.

Sometimes though we don’t recognise all His benefits, all His blessings, and so we don’t acknowledge them or even expect them. He invites us to come with expectancy, believing for good things to happen. Instead we can actually draw negative things to us when we expect bad things to happen, when we listen to the enemy’s ‘what ifs’. God won’t force anything on us, but He looks to see what we’re expecting.

It may be that He has some amazing, lovely surprises just waiting to be delivered to our doorstep but no one is answering the door because we’re too busy worrying!🙂 What are we expecting? More of the same, or for God to do something good and wonderful in our lives?

As we go through our week let’s choose to have a great sense of anticipation and expectation of seeing the goodness of God in the land of the living, of seeing situations turned around, and remember His goodness and mercy are chasing us down every day.(Psalm 23) 

God is so good to us and His blessing is on your head too. Don’t forget that!🙂 (Proverbs 10:6NKJV). 

Let’s believe for the goodness of God and for some of His lovely God surprises.🙂 Amen.

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TRACK THEM DOWN AGAIN

Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, give attention to my words: Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.

Chris came back from a bike ride yesterday and discovered he couldn’t find his phone anywhere! He was searching all over and I said “Well let’s ring it and if it’s in the house we’ll hear it.” Sure enough it was ringing merrily and we finally tracked it down to the shoe cupboard, under the stairs, inside a shoe!! How on earth did it get in there?🤣

Sometimes we lose track of truths in scripture and we have to hunt them down again as well, so they can be real in our everyday lives. When we don’t hear a promise for a while we tend to ‘lose’ it but if we keep it in front of our eyes like our verse says, and in our ears like it says in Romans 10:17…faith comes by hearing, then our faith will grow and we’ll find healing in them as well.

This is a nudge from the Holy Spirit for us to go and search out some of those promises God gave us, those words that sparked a witness in our spirit, that we’ve maybe forgotten about. Let me encourage you today to not just find them, but to discover new ones, write them out and pin them on your mirror so you see them everyday. Read them aloud so you hear them.

We all know how easy it is to let things slide with all the pressures and distractions of every day but we are a people of the Word aren’t we? So let’s start declaring those promises over our lives, bring them to the Lord and say we’re standing on them again and believing Him to back them up and manifest them in our here and now.

I hope I’ve inspired you, and if I have, go and encourage and inspire somebody else to do the same. Why not text them a promise?🙂 Even if we’ve let them slide for twenty years or just last week, we can start sowing seeds of faith for our futures again and keep standing on and believing those promises, no matter what. 

We praise you Lord, You are the God whose promises have never failed yet and we look to You afresh to fulfil Your Word because all the promises are Yes in Jesus and we say Amen.

If you’d like some suggestions here are just a few promises:🙂 Jeremiah 30:17, Matthew 8:16-17, Isaiah 40:29, Isaiah 40:31, Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 43:2, Jeremiah 29:11, Deuteronomy 31:8, Joshua 1:9, Psalm 23:4, Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 6:31-33, Matthew 7:9-11, 2 Cor.9:8.

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SUPERNATURALLY INFUSED

Ephesians 6:10 (TPT) Now my beloved ones, I have saved these most important truths for last:
Be supernaturally infused with strength through your life-union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious with the force of his explosive power flowing in and through you.

When I put a teabag in a mug and add boiling water to it, the water becomes infused with the tea and there’s no way to separate them again. They have become one.🙂

In the same way when we were filled with the Holy Spirit Paul is saying we were supernaturally infused with the Lord Jesus Himself, so I checked the meaning of infuse.

INFUSE: to introduce one thing into another so as to affect it throughout, infuse implies a pouring in of something that gives new life.

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.  Paul says God’s Spirit was infused into us and we were infused into Him, we became one. We can’t be separated. His Spirit affects us! Everything that Jesus is, was put into our spirit when His Holy Spirit came in. We didn’t receive a bit of Jesus, we received all of Him. That is an amazing thought when you stop and really think about it!

God is in us and we are in God and we are one spirit with Him! We are walking, talking, breathing Holy Spirit temples! (1 Cor.6:19)We carry God and His power with us wherever we go!

So often we go by what we feel, but God tells us to go by what His word says, because it is the truth. I have to take myself by the ear sometimes and say “Look, this is what God says about me and the situation. I have what He says I have, now get with the programme, believe it and receive it by faith. This is mine! End of!” Maybe you have to do that too?🙂

1 John 4:17 (NKJV) As Jesus is, so are we in this world. The anointing which is on Jesus is inside us. We are anointed because we are one spirit with Him. Today’s verse says His explosive power flows in and through us which is why we can stand victorious. It’s no longer just us! Where we go Jesus and His anointing goes too. 

That means whatever God calls us to do, whatever we have to deal with, as we go into another week, we shall be able to do it because we carry His anointing already. His Spirit is strengthening, upholding and helping us. It’s why Paul could say “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And so can we. We have the same Holy Spirit Paul did!🙂 Thank You Lord Jesus!

Have a blessed anointed week.x

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FOR ALL GOD HAS DONE

 Psalm 103:20-22 (NLT) 

Praise the Lord you angels, you mighty ones who carry out his plans, 

listening for each of his commands. 

Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels, who serve him and do his will. 

Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. 

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

I love the whole of Psalm 103 because it reminds us of all the Father has done and is doing for us. It takes our focus off our own small world and turns it up to the One who made it all, who upholds it all and who forgives us all. 

When we take the time to read the first five verses, bit by bit, he reminds us of all the Lord is doing for us, right this minute, not going to do in the sweet by and by. Then he goes on to remind us of His unfailing love, how He is a tender and compassionate Father to each one of us. It makes you want to run to Him because we know His loving arms are always open wide to receive us day and night.

He reminds us that God understands us so well because He made us, He knows our human constitution, what makes us tick, and He hasn’t forgotten that we are made of dust. And yet God has placed His own Holy Spirit in us and calls us more than conquerors, He calls us overcomers. He sees us as forgiven, holy and righteous, clothed in His own righteousness because of Jesus’ shed blood. 

We’re made of dust but He calls us His special treasure, His masterpiece, the apple of His eye! He calls us His very own sons and daughters. How very wonderful that is.🙂

The Psalmist finishes up as he calls for the armies of angels to praise Him, then he calls for everything He has created to praise Him too. But then he goes on to make it personal, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! When we think of all He has done for us it won’t be hard will it?🙂 I think we would burst if we didn’t praise Him! Scripture says even the stones would praise Him! 

Hallelujah! We lift up Your Name and we give You all our praise Lord for You are wonderful beyond description. Amen.

A SIMPLE FAITH?

Proverbs 4:20-22 My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.

I was chatting with someone recently about Christian things and he was saying how he has a very simple faith and that was enough. He was letting me know he didn’t want to know any more than he did already. He’d got the basics and he was content to stay on square one! But God doesn’t want us to stay in the same spot all our lives. He has so much more for us and He wants us to grow.🙂 

It’s a bit like saying, “I know how to boil an egg and that’s all I need to know. I don’t need to learn how to make an omelette, I can survive on boiled eggs!”

God tells us in scripture to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), to grow in our faith, to go from the milk of the word to the meat of it (Hebrews 5:12-14), to pay attention to what He says and listen carefully to His words. He says to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. (James 1:22)

We might be tempted to think they are just suggestions, but they are commands from our Commander in Chief!🙂 Now and again it’s good to stop and just check we’re doing what He said or are we hoping our excuses will be acceptable? ‘I’m too busy, too tired, not enough time.’ We’ve probably all done it in the past but we all manage to make time for something we want to do! If reading scripture has become a chore, that’s when we need to stop and look at what we’re doing. A red warning light is flashing!

We all begin with simple faith, but God is calling us to go deeper, to seek His face, to know Him more. He’s wanting us to grow.🙂 There is always more to know! God is exciting. He is not boring or miserable. He wants to pour His life and vitality, His joy and love into us so we can pour it out on others. 

Are we willing to ask the Holy Spirit for fresh insights, or do we want to stay with what we know, with the boiled eggs? Do we want to go from the understanding we have now to the more He has for us, to grow spiritually mature, to enter His supernatural realm of abundantly, above and beyond all we could ever ask or think! 

Lord give us, give me, a thirsting and hungering for more of You, a stronger desire to read Your word and find out what You’re saying to us. Give us the desire to get our priorities right while we still can and become spiritually mature. In Jesus Name. Amen. 

THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW!

Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

I know I have a tendency to burn things and remember one morning a few years ago I had burnt a piece of toast to a cinder and it was smoking out the kitchen and reeking the house out. So I grabbed it quickly, opened the window wide and just threw it out the window on to the garden! No more horrible smell!🤣

As I  thought about it I realised we probably all have some things in our thinking that might also need throwing out the window! When we do have wrong thoughts they can smell our house out too because they stink of unforgiveness, or worry or resentment, or prejudice, or maybe stubbornness in wanting to do things our own way.

God knows that if our thinking is not in line with His word then our words and actions won’t be right either because one leads to the other.  If you’ve ever thought you’d like to be different then God says we can be, but it happens by renewing our minds, by changing what we think and He wants that for us all, not just a few.🙂

He wants us to think right and believe right, about God Himself, about His Word, about ourselves and others. There was nothing I could do with that slice of toast except throw it out as it was unacceptable to eat, and there are some thoughts we have, that might have been entrenched for years, and God says, “Time to throw them out. They are no longer acceptable.” I put my hand up!

Do you ever have critical or judgmental thoughts? Well God says “Time to throw them out!” How about apathetic, or ‘it’s too much effort’ thoughts? Time to throw them out too! 

Transformed there means the same as when a caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly. God is wanting to transform us into something amazing but it’s our thinking that can be hindering us.

Perhaps it’s time to ask the Lord to show us where we have any wrong thinking or wrong believing and ask Him to do a ‘transformation job’ on us. I know I so need it, but I also know that even though caterpillars have quite a struggle breaking out of their cocoon, when they do emerge, it is all worth it. 

If a butterfly is anything to go by, I know if we’ll allow God to transform our minds, we will be thrilled with the results in our own lives, even if it is a struggle. By faith I can already see our beautiful new wings beginning to unfurl.😊

WHAT’S THE MATTER?

Psalm 118:5(AMP) Out of my distress I called on the Lord; The Lord answered me and set me free.

Sometimes when we bump into people throughout our day we can tell something is wrong, even if they don’t say anything. If we know them quite well we can ask them, “What’s the matter?” We’re concerned for them, care about them and want to help if we can. Even if we’re only able to be a listening ear it will help.

If we feel like that about helping someone, don’t we think God must be so much more like it, actively wanting to help us, just because He loves us? All through scripture He tells us not to fret, not to worry, to cast our cares onto Him because He cares about us. Do we do it though, or do we clam up, withdraw into ourselves, and keep struggling on, trying to cope? Maybe we misguidedly think God isn’t doing anything, or He doesn’t care or doesn’t understand, or is not even listening!?

I know when I’ve talked a problem through with another Believer, the situation can very often seem not quite as big as I thought because we know with God there is always hope. Or they’ve helped me have a different perspective. There’s always more than one way to see a situation and God always sees things from the positive side because He knows it can change. He is the God of the turnaround, the God of the breakthrough if we’ll believe Him to do it and not give up.🙂

Can I ask you? Is there anything the matter? Have you something which has been bugging you and you don’t know what to do about it? Perhaps you feel you don’t have anyone to talk to about it, but can I encourage you to remember the Holy Spirit is our Counsellor, our Helper, the One who comes along side to walk with us and show us the way forward? He is our first and most powerful port of call. 

Psalm 50:15(AMP) Call on Me in the day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you shall honor and glorify Me.

God is ready to hear our heart’s cries and He’s also ready and willing to do something about them. He is asking you the same question today. What’s the matter? He’s inviting you to confide in Him, and then give the care of it over to Him, believing He will hold you up, strengthen you, help you and deliver you.

Psalm 116:1-2(NLT) I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!

Thank You Lord You know every one of our voices. You hear every sigh, every heart cry, and You are delivering and rescuing us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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PLEASING GOD

1 John 3:22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

Wow! Whatever we ask! That’s quite a thought - hold on to it for a minute while we investigate how.🙂

When we care about somebody we want to please them, and need to spend some time getting to know their likes and dislikes. We don’t want to give them chocolate cake if they prefer cheese and biscuits!🙂 We can find out what pleases God by reading His word and thankfully scripture gives us His ‘how to’s’.🙂 

Hebrews 11:6 And it is impossible to please him without faith… so we could turn it round and say well with faith I will please Him. What is it about faith that’s so important to God?  It’s because everything God has to give us is only accessed by faith, and He wants us to have everything Jesus bought and paid for at the Cross.

We’re saved by faith, filled with His Spirit by faith, we walk by faith, receive our healing by faith, …and so on. We know faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17) so we can please Him by receiving all He wants us to have by growing in faith more and more when we keep hearing His word and doing it.

Psalm 35:27 …Let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”  If we’re fond of somebody and we see them doing well and prospering, we’re really pleased for them aren’t we?  The Lord is the same. It pleases Him to see us thriving. That word ‘prosperity’ means having His peace and well-being, being whole and healthy, complete and prospering financially. In other words doing well in all areas of life, physically, socially, spiritually, mentally and financially. Thank You Lord You want us to prosper in all those areas and we please You when we do! 🙂

Philippians 2:13-14 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, …. Nobody gets pleasure in having people come and complain all the time and God doesn’t appreciate it either! How reassuring though that God Himself is actually working in us to be the kind of people who please Him and He doesn’t expect us to struggle and strive on our own to do it. He will help us to prosper in all areas of life, if we let Him. Lord help us receive Your favour and blessings, by faith.

So as we go about our daily lives if we’ll follow what He says in His word we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

Like I said at the beginning, ‘Wow!’ That is a wonderful promise!🙂 Thank You Lord.

DOORMAT OR DOORMAN?

James 4:7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Back in the 1980s our son had an Action Man Space Ranger and when you pulled the wire coming out of the back of his head he would say “Prepare to repel invaders.” As I was remembering that I realised that as Christians we should also be prepared to repel invaders!🙂 

In the old gangster movies there was always a Doorman or a ‘Bouncer’. He stood on guard and had to give his permission before anyone was allowed to enter. God has made us the Doorman of our own lives. He has given us the authority over the enemy to allow something to come in or not. We get to decide if we’ll ‘bounce him out’ or not!

We all have a choice. We can choose to be a Doormat and allow ourselves to be walked all over by satan and let him steal, kill and destroy us. Or we can be the Doorman, stand our ground with our armour on and resist him, strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

How does the enemy try to barge into your life? Is it with the ‘what ifs’? Is it with a bad attitude of resentment or complaints, or fear, or prejudice or pride. Maybe he comes knocking with stubbornness, or sickness or complacency, or envy, or lack of confidence? Whatever it is, when the enemy comes knocking, we can be a good Doorman and say “No, I’m not letting you in. Go!”

We can repel those invaders in the name of Jesus! We are not helpless or hopeless! Even if sickness or disease have come in we have the word of God to take authority over them - We can declare by faith “God says by Jesus wounds I am healed. You afflictions, get out!” 

So what are you and I going to choose? Are we going to be a Doormat and allow the enemy to walk all over us and our families, or are we going to be a Doorman? We can remember Jesus has made us Overcomers, He has given us authority over all the works of the enemy(Luke 10:19), we can stand our ground and tell our enemy “Go, you’re not allowed in, get out right now!” God calls it resisting!😊 

Let me encourage you today - go and do some repelling of those invaders in Jesus’ mighty name in the power of the Cross. 

1 Peter 5:9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith…

DON’T LOSE HEART

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

We all love it when things are going smoothly and everything in the garden is rosey, but that’s not all the time is it? The Lord told us we would experience troubles in this world so we shouldn’t really be surprised when we do, but He added that we could cheer up because He has overcome the world.🙂

So what do we do, when things seem to be going pear shaped, and we can’t see where it’s all going, or how it can be put right? 

The Holy Spirit tells us to keep believing that we will see the goodness of God in the land of the living, in our here and now. He’s saying don’t lose hope because God’s promises have never failed yet and they’re not about to. You will see God’s goodness, just hang in there!

Psalmist David went through some extreme circumstances, some of them life threatening, and yet he was determined to praise his God no matter what, because he knew His God was bigger than any of his difficulties and was worthy to be praised.

We want to see the enemy defeated don’t we? Well scripture reminds us that praise defeats the enemy and although it may feel like the last thing we want to do, and it is a sacrifice to praise God when we’re in the thick of it, yet that is what He tells us to do.(Hebrews 13:15) The reason is because the enemy can’t stand to hear our praise and he leaves because he knows he’s already lost the battle. He knows he’s defeated when we turn our eyes on our God declaring He is still in control, that He is for us and not against us and He is fighting our battles for us in the unseen realm. There are more forces for us than there are against us.

Even if you’re down or discouraged and can’t think what to praise God for, remember we can praise Him for being faithful to us, that He never leaves us when the going gets tough, that He is our constant source of strength and help in all our lives.🙂

Lord, as we begin another week, we commit every situation into Your hands and ask You to do what only You can do to turn things around for our good. We praise You for all your goodness to us, for a fresh dose of Your grace today, and fresh help to rise above every circumstance and overcome every challenge in the name of Jesus, and we thank You for it in advance. Amen.

Have a blessed week and keep smiling.🙂x

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WORTHY ARE YOU LORD

Psalm 96:4 

Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!….

The other week I sent a couple of baby rag dollies I’d made to a friend’s little granddaughter just as a surprise. It wasn’t her birthday or for Christmas I just thought she would like them. Apparently she went into raptures when she opened the parcel especially as she hadn’t done anything special to earn or deserve a surprise gift. It was something she hadn’t been expecting.🙂

God reminds us He has also done something for us we didn’t expect and we didn’t do anything to deserve it either. He tells us in Col 1:12 that He has qualified us, enabled us to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.  He declared us worthy to do that purely because of what Jesus has done for us.

He has qualified us to inherit His kingdom, made us fit to be part of His family. He made it possible by giving us His own righteousness and putting us in Christ. We didn’t deserve it or earn it - God decided to do it for us. How huge that is! Lord help us grasp it!

One of the meanings of worthy is to be of great value and the way we find out how valuable something is, is by how much someone will pay for it. If someone wants to pay 10 million pounds for a painting then that would be declared its value, or it’s worth.

In the same way God has placed the highest value on all our lives by paying the highest price imaginable to buy us back from His enemy. We read in Genesis how God only had to speak to bring creation into being  - but God had to bleed to pay for our redemption. That is how much it cost Him and that is the value or ‘worth’ He has put on our lives.

It’s hard to get our minds around that thought, to believe God thinks that much of us. He considered us worth Him being willing to pay that price just so we can be called His sons and daughters, so we can belong to Him for always. We need never be in any doubt about our value or our worth in God’s eyes, and how much He loves us.🙂

Thank God He no longer sees us as unworthy sinners. He has made us New Creations in Christ Jesus, holy and righteous in His eyes, because He has made us that way, no merit of our own. 

He has qualified us, He has made us worthy to be invited into His Father’s family, and have a home with Him in His Father’s house forever. What a thought! 

Thank You Lord, for all You have done for us. You are indeed worthy beyond words. We give You all the honour and praise and glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

IT’S ALL IN OUR PERSPECTIVE

Philippians 4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Do you ever have days when everything seems to go wrong? They’re not very big in and of themselves, but you can feel the frustration really beginning to build up because you have no control over them! I had one of those difficult days yesterday and was glad when it came time to go to bed! It began with a torn sheet and ended with a torn curtain, and all sorts in between!

Life happens to all of us and it’s a case of learning to deal with it in a positive way. Chris could see I was getting a bit frayed at the edges so he started to help me find several things that had gone well and how it wasn’t all bad! When I actually stopped rehearsing the negative things, I found there had been several good things which I’d overlooked.🙂

The thing is, whatever we look at the most, will become the biggest thing! If we keep dwelling on what’s wrong with the situations we’re involved in, they will appear to get bigger and bigger and feel overwhelming. It’s like when you hold a penny up really close to your eye while holding the other one closed. If you look at the sun, the penny actually appears to be bigger than the sun itself! We all know the penny is tiny in comparison but because the penny is so close it’s all we can see.🙂 

It’s good to stand back sometimes, and see things from God’s point of view in order to put everything back into perspective. It won’t make our problems disappear but we’ll have the opportunity to see that they’re subject to change and to remember that God can turn things round for our good in the end. We can even go one better and deliberately look away for something lovely and admirable, even if it’s to see a bird singing in the trees.You know what I mean.🙂

So if you’ve had a frustrating day, or week, take a deep breath, be still for a minute and know that God is still God and He’s still on the throne. Why not let the Lord help you get things back into perspective knowing He is in control and no matter what is happening we can ask Him to take care of each and every thing. 

God knew all about it before it even happened and He had the answers before we had the problems, so let’s relax and show Him we trust Him by allowing Him to sort it all out in His own good and perfect time. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x

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GOD SAYS WE ARE ‘MORE THAN’

Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Did you know? Are we remembering? We are ‘More Than’ people! How do I know? Because God has declared us to be more than conquerors! 

When a champion boxer wins a prize fight he also wins a huge money prize. He takes it home to his wife and she gets to spend it! That is like being more than a conqueror. We didn’t fight the battle, Jesus did, and He totally defeated our enemy for us at the Cross. Then He handed us the prize - the power, the title, to overcome the enemy for ourselves by His Spirit and with His Word, and the enemy knows it! Have we forgotten?

How do we conquer and overcome then?  We do it by God’s grace because God has declared that His grace is also more than enough so we are well able to deal with whatever happens today or in the future. God has put His Holy Spirit inside us so we don’t ever have to think or say we can’t cope because it’s ‘Holy Spirit and you’ from now on, not just you, (or me)!

Scripture says to overcome evil with good. I had a friend once who couldn’t get his head round that at all. If anyone did him wrong he’d find a way to get his own back. But that’s not God’s way, is it? Yesterday we saw how praying for, and blessing people is His way, how we overcome by forgiving people even when they don’t deserve it. We didn’t deserve it either, did we, but God forgave us.🙂

No matter what is happening we can remember the power of the Holy One is still inside us, who has all the answers, all the power and He has made it all available to us. 

We won’t be able to change our circumstances ourselves, and we may not feel like it, but we have the privilege to trust our Mighty God to turn the tide of the battle in our favour. He’s given us the power and authority to resist our enemy and see him flee. We have the authority to declare God’s word over our lives “No weapon formed against us shall prosper”(Isaiah 54:17), “the Lord is for us so who can be against us”(Romans 8:31), “nothing can separate us from the love of God”(Romans 8:38-39), I am more than a conqueror, I am an overcomer through Jesus.

We can all go about our lives with the confidence that God has made us “more than” whatever crops up, whether it’s illness, relationship problems, finances, whatever, because we are in Christ. We have His ‘more than’ grace so we don’t need any ‘more than’ that!🙂 

Lord, help us remember You have made us more than conquerors through Jesus. Thank You for Your overcoming grace, thank You for the victory. Amen.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

A LASTING IMPRESSION

2 Corinthians 5:20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us….

I’m sure you must have noticed when you move a heavy piece of furniture it always seems to leave behind dents in the carpet! It leaves a lasting impression. I know because we’ve done a lot of moving of furniture around this past week!🙂

I was thinking about that and wondering what kind of impression do we leave behind when we’ve left the room, or left the shop, or work etc.? Is it good or is it bad? Do we leave people feeling happy to see us again or as one friend of mine did, he used to hide in a shop doorway when he saw a certain person coming, because he didn’t like them and didn’t even want to talk to them!

The Bible tells us we are ambassadors for Christ, we are His representatives here on this earth and our attitude as to how we treat others will also leave a lasting impression on them. The other day I told a lady in a shop she was really good at her job and her face just lit up, beaming from ear to ear. She really appreciated it and we both felt uplifted!🙂

The Holy Spirit says in Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Jesus taught us not to avenge ourselves but to love our enemies, to be patient, to show mercy and kindness which can be really hard! It’s then we have to ask the Holy Spirit to take over, to be prepared to be quiet and not say something we’ll be sorry for later. It’s like when we’re not treated well by people the Lord can help us deal with it graciously if we ask Him to.🙂

We need godly wisdom don’t we? The Holy Spirit will show us what to do if we’re willing to ask Him. It may mean saying nothing but to just let God deal with it, let Him be our vindicator, and other times to speak up and not be a doormat.

So next time we want to ‘say something’ to somebody, or be offended by them, or avoiding them like the plague, let’s try to remember we’re representing Jesus right now and it will reflect one way or the other on Him. If we can take a deep breath and allow the Holy Spirit time to give us a right attitude and maybe even smile sweetly, that would be good.🙂 I’m speaking to myself most of all!

Lord help us be good ambassadors for You and leave a good lasting impression. Amen.

THE GOD KIND OF LOVE

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record or being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Some people are very easy to love aren’t they? They just have winning personalities that draw you to them. Equally there are some who do the opposite!

But God wants to draw us to Him. His word says He lavishes His love on us, that His love is everlasting and unconditional. God’s love goes beyond any human kind of love because it is so unselfish, it has no agenda other than to bless us. 

God even goes a step further and says He places His love inside our hearts by the Holy Spirit so we can love Him in return and love others too.(Romans 5:5) He reminds us that He is love and tells us some of what that means in our verses above.

Anyone can tell you they love you, but it’s not till they show you that it means anything. God showed us in the ultimate way by giving us His only Son to die in our place to take all our sin away on the Cross forever. What kind of love is that? It’s the God kind of love, the love that goes above and beyond on our behalf.

I remember flinging myself across my bed one day so very many years ago and crying out “God I feel like no one loves me and You only love me because you have to!” How wrong I was! At that point I hadn’t grasped or really believed how much God really loves each one of us, how deep His love is. He didn’t have to love us. He wanted to, and still does.

If you’ve never known the love of God for yourself why not ask Him to reveal it to you personally? What better day than today?🙂 In fact, everyone of us can do that, because we all need deeper understanding of how huge God’s love is for us all. 

On this Valentine’s Day all I can do is pass on what I know, and that is that God Loves You. He gave us Jesus, the dearest One to His heart, so you could belong to Him. He loves you to the Cross and back and He always will.❤️ God bless you.

GOOD THINGS TO HEAR

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

What are we hearing or what have we heard? Sometimes it’s good to stop for a minute and check whose voice we’re listening to inside our own heads. If they’re depressing, negative thoughts then we’ll recognise the enemy has been at work, trying to infiltrate our minds. If that’s the case then God wants to help us ‘hear’ something else today.🙂

The Holy Spirit is talking to us all the time and because He is the God of Hope and Comfort it will be positive and uplifting. It may be challenging, or be a word of warning or correction but it will never be to condemn us or bring us down or make us feel defeated. God wants to bring us up higher all the time, to be victors not victims.

God reminds us that He has crowned us with His loving kindness and tender mercies. That means we can walk with our head held high so our crown stays on. If we’ve been looking down we’ve forgotten God gave us a crown to wear and we need to metaphorically put it back on again! I’m listening!🙂

God tells us His favour surrounds us like a shield, that it lasts for a lifetime! Wow God is favouring us wherever we go, when we enter a room, go for an interview or just go shopping. We all appreciate it when we find a good deal in a shop and it’s the favour of God on our lives. Let’s hear and believe it.🙂

God tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We’re His masterpiece, made for His glory, we’re made in His image and He approves and accepts us in Jesus His Son. Listen to what He says about our sins - Hebrews 8:12 And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins. Hallelujah, He is not holding our sins against us! He’s made us righteous. Thank You Lord.

And best of all, His love is wrapped around us and He won’t change His mind, because it’s forever. 

So….We are indeed highly favoured, greatly blessed and deeply loved by God. 

Praise Your Name Lord and help us ‘hear’ and believe what You say, especially when we feel down. Amen.

BE QUICK!

Luke 24:25 “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!”

I don’t know about you, but some days I can be quick about doing things, really on the ball, and then there are days when I feel like a tortoise and can’t seem to get going. Maybe you find that as well, but no matter what type of day we’re having God wants us to be quick about certain things for our own benefit. 

First He wants us to be quick to repent because He knows the longer we take to say sorry or to change our minds to come in line with His word, the harder it can be to do it. When we repent straight away the enemy has no chance to get a foothold because we know we’re already forgiven and have received God’s forgiveness and Satan has no hold on us.

Then God wants us to be quick to forgive. He has forgiven us now we can forgive. That’s not always easy is it, but forgiveness isn’t a feeling but an act of our will, an act of obedience to the Lord’s command to forgive our debtors. Sometimes the very act of saying ‘I forgive you’ (whether we feel like it or not) will release the feelings to follow in due course and it includes forgiving ourselves too. God says we can do all things through Christ, with the help of His Holy Spirit. We just have to be willing to do it or at least ask the Lord to help us be willing.🙂

Last of all He says to be quick to believe. Sometimes we read things in scripture, or hear a word of prophecy and maybe we’re reluctant to believe it. We reason it out, we’re sceptical or cynical and we’re a bit slow to believe. We even put past experience above God’s word and we chose to believe it rather than the Word of God. Ever done that?

When God gives us a word in scripture He doesn’t want us to debate it, He wants us to be quick to believe it, take it as read, act on it and run with it. James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  When we’re quick to repent, quick to forgive and quick to believe we open the door wide for the healing power of God to flow in us as well.🙂

Smith Wigglesworth said, “There’s just something about believing God that will cause God to pass over a million people just to get to you.”

Lord as we go through this week, help us to be quick to repent, quick to forgive and quick to believe and be blessed indeed. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Photo by Murilo Viviani on Unsplash

IT IS GOOD

Psalm 92:1-5 (Nlt)

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. 

It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening,…

You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me!

I sing for joy because of what you have done.

O Lord, what great works you do!

 And how deep are your thoughts.

I wonder what we’re all proclaiming each morning? Is it “Oh no, I don’t feel like getting up today?” Or “I don’t want to fight the traffic today”, or “I don’t want to go to work today”. Or are we just so thankful we woke up this morning, that the Lord gave us breath in our lungs, thankful we can see and hear, thankful for food and shelter, thankful we belong to God and He loves us?

It’s easy to get bogged down with the mundanity of every day routines isn’t it and even feel a bit grumpy about it? But we’re reminded by the Psalmist to start and end our day with thankful, praising hearts even if things didn’t go our way in between. He knew our God is always worthy of our praise and God knew if we’d take our eyes off the affairs of life, off ourselves, and fix them on Him, we’d be able to bring things back into perspective.

The Psalmist reminds us to dwell on all the Lord has done and is doing for us every single day, to remember the past trials He has already brought us through, the times He helped us and strengthened us when we thought all was lost. 

When we see pictures of the earth from space, going through it’s orbit around the sun we remember it’s our God who is upholding it, and the whole universe, by the word of His power!(Hebrews 1:3) If He stopped holding it even for one second it would be all over, for all of us! God is working behind the scenes on our behalf every day, both in the huge things but also in the personal details of our lives. How reassuring that is.🙂

Praise God we do still have breath to lift up the name of Jesus today, and once again proclaim His unfailing love in the morning, and His faithfulness to us in the evening. We thank You and give You all our praise Lord. Amen.

FRESH ANOINTINGS

Psalm 23:5 You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.

When King Charles was crowned king last year he was anointed with oil for the task ahead of him. But anointings are important for all of us throughout our lives, not just for kings.🙂 

We read how David was anointed three times, first as a teenager when the Spirit of God came on him for the rest of his life, then 15 years later he was anointed to be King of Judah and later King of all Israel. Different seasons, different anointings.

In Psalm 23 the Lord prepared a table for him and treated him like a special guest by anointing his head with oil till his cup was running over. That ‘anoint’ means to satisfy and fatten up, to remove the ashes. Have we some ‘ashes’ in our lives? Then God wants to give us fresh anointings to remove them and satisfy us.

1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One,…  The Lord has anointed each one of us with the Holy Spirit so we can live our lives with His power inside us. But, just like David, we too can come to the Lord to receive a fresh anointing to deal with whatever season we’re in now, because different seasons may need different anointings.

Sometimes a new season can be very unsettling and even feel a bit daunting, so it’s good to come to the Lord and receive a fresh anointing for whatever we’re being called to do. It might be for all kinds of things like a new appointment, caring for relatives, raising children, starting a business or entering retirement, all of which may be challenging and may need new levels of grace, fresh anointings, fresh drawing on God’s supernatural ability.

Maybe you feel like a bit of stale bread and you need a fresh touch from the Lord. Why not ask Him today to lay His hand on you for a fresh anointing to deal with whatever season you find yourself in right now. As the Apostle Paul says ‘be being filled with the Holy Spirit’  which is always present tense, always for our now. That is such a blessing.🙂

Psalm 92:10 …I shall be anointed with fresh oil. 

Have a blessed weekend.😊

WE ARE LIGHT CARRIERS!

Genesis 1:2-3 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep…Then God said, “Let there be light, and there was light….”

I’m feeling very virtuous as yesterday I finished washing and ironing my lounge curtains and rehung them which doesn’t happen very often!🤣 As I opened the curtains, and the light poured in through the windows, today’s verse popped in my head and I said “Let there be light and there was light.” Then I thought I could go a bit further and said “Lord let there be Your Light in my life, let it light up my dark places, let it light up the path in front of me so I keep on the right road and let it shine in, just like the light comes in my windows.”

When God saw the darkness on the face of the earth He didn’t say, “Oh it’s so dark out there!” No, instead He spoke by faith and said, “Let there be light.” The original says God said, “Light Be!” and light was! And it came in at the speed of 186,000 miles per second!

How often we do the opposite, and speak what we already ‘see’! We say, “Oh the world is getting darker, the sickness is getting worse, my children are this or that! Oh my job is terrible!” Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God as dear children, so instead we should be doing what He does and saying what He says, don’t you think?🙂

In the ‘light’ of that let’s say, “Lord let Your Light flow into our dark situations. Light Be! Light Come! Let the light of Your healing flow into this sickness and dispel it. Let the Light of Your word “By Jesus’ stripes we are healed”(1 Peter 2:24) flow into all the cells of my body.” 

If our children are off course, speak the light of Isaiah 54:13 by faith, “All my children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of my children. Lord let that light flow into our childrens’ lives and transform them.” 

In other words we need to speak God’s Word over our situations and let its light shine in to them to dispel the darkness. The entrance of Your words gives light! (Psalm 119:130) And when it’s spoken in faith, it will do what God says it will do, we will have what it says we can have, and we will be what God says we can be. Hallelujah!

Jesus said we are the Light of the World (Matthew 5:14) We are light carriers! Let’s speak “Let there be light. Light Be!” into every dark place we see in our lives. We can call it forth by faith. 

So next time we’re tempted to say something negative or doom and gloom over our families or situations let’s just stop for a minute. Instead let’s imitate our Father in Heaven and consistently speak light, healing and life by faith in a mighty God and see what God will do.😊Amen.

Photo: diego-ph-SZYreZsJ-fE-unsplash

WHO’D HAVE THOUGHT IT!

1 John 3:1 (NIV) See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

Do you ever have any ‘who’d have thought it’ moments? Well I had one yesterday when I found myself being asked to look after a very large Rottweiler dog!  We’d bought a heavy piece of furniture and just when we needed to lift it into the car a man came by and helped load it in the boot and I said to Chris the “Lord sent him to us.” Then when we arrived home I stood thinking ‘Lord now I need someone else to help Chris lift it in the house.’ At that exact moment our friend walked round the corner with his dog and he was happy to help but it meant I had to look after his Rottweiler dog outside, on my own, while they took the heavy box in the house!! I hadn’t expected that!😊

So I was stood there holding tightly to his lead, while he paced agitatedly back and forth, thinking if this big dog suddenly takes off  he’ll take me with him! But all was well and I’m still alive to tell the tale.🤣

I think God has some ‘who’d have thought it moments’, some surprises, for us all this year. It’s when we’ve asked for something and He goes over and above our expectations because He’s the God of exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond!(Eph 3:20) He’s the God of feeding 5,000 and then having 12 big baskets left over. He’s the One who didn’t only part an ocean but He drowned all the Israelites’ enemies so they didn’t even have to fight them!

I wonder what you’ve been hoping and praying for so far this year, or last year, because whatever it is, start having a sense of God being involved, sending people at the exact moment you need them, but even more than that, believe for something big coming your way, some over and above answers to your prayers. God is an over the top God, who lavishes His love on us. 

Let’s not limit Him by small thinking but lift the top off our expectations. Listen to what Isaiah says Isaiah 30:18 (Amp, Classic Edition) And therefore the Lord (earnestly) waits (expecting, looking, and longing) to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you…Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who (earnestly) wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him (for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship)!

Wow! Can you picture God lifting Himself off His throne to help us? That’s how God is and how He wants us to be too. God wants us to be expecting something from Him and it wont be small. We’ll be saying “Who’d have thought it!”, it’ll be so good. We thank You for it Lord.😊Amen.

TURNING STRESS BACKWARDS

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in time of trouble.

I heard someone say that if you spell ‘stressed’ backwards it says desserts! I think I’d rather have desserts, wouldn't you? As I thought about those two words I realised how one makes us miserable, whereas the other brings most of us pleasure, if we like sweet things.😊

Apparently a certain amount of stress is healthy but when it’s constant it can cause many of our sicknesses and diseases so we need to find out from the Holy Spirit how to turn our stress backwards on itself and produce something sweet out of it.

It can happen when we’re in a situation we think we can’t control, or when we have too much to do. It might be caused by feeling threatened or under pressure but we have to try to remember we’re not actually alone dealing with any given situation. 

If we can learn to recognise our own trigger points we can take them to the Holy Spirit and ask Him first of all to steady us up, to remember we’ve not to struggle on trying to deal with things on our own, but realise He is actually here helping us deal with whatever the difficulty is.

The other day I was getting stressed out with one of the men laying our carpet, and I knew I had to get on top of it so I went in the bedroom, shut the door and told the Lord how I felt. I said, “I’m getting really wound up about this Lord and I can’t do anything to change it so I’m giving the whole thing to You. Help me rise above it, and get it in perspective and have the right attitude.”  I didn’t come out floating on air, but I did feel better knowing I’d shared it with the Lord and He would take care of it. In the end God did turn it around and all is well! Thank You Lord.

The trouble is, we can get all caught up in the moment! No doubt we all have different trigger points and what upsets me wont upset you, but they’re still real for all of us. 

God says He is our Helper, our very present help in trouble, so we can call on Him literally all the time when we need to. So can I encourage each one of us to not struggle on in our own strength, because God never called us to try and cope. He said to call on the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, to help us keep things in perspective, to know He is holding us steady and allow His peace to flow into us. He said He gives us His victory - over our reactions, over our anxieties, over whatever has us stressed. 

I know it’s not easy, but if we keep practicing, we will end up with some lovely ‘desserts’. God bless you.😊

Photo by Kim Daniels on Unsplash

CREATING AN ATMOSPHERE

Galations 6:9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

I’ve been hearing how there are a lot of contagious cold bugs going the rounds at the minute and many people are talking about the state of the world and feeling very down. 

But, just like we can catch the negative things off other people, let’s also believe we can be contagious too, but with the positive things, like faith and joy and peace and hope, knowing God is in control of our lives.🙂

Wherever we go we help to create an atmosphere. I’m sure we’ve all experienced walking into a room and you could cut the air with a knife. You just know there have probably been some harsh words spoken, or something has happened to cause tension or embarrassment in the room.

We can all be susceptible to atmosphere but with God’s help we can all be people who create an atmosphere where others will know they’ll find love and acceptance, where they know there will be a listening ear and receive kindness not criticism.

When we’ve been house hunting in the past we’ve sometimes gone in a house and immediately felt a lovely atmosphere where you know there was a lot of love. It’s quite strange how atmosphere can linger! I just love the thought though that we can leave an atmosphere of God’s love and His peace wherever we go. When we had our second baby the midwife who came commented on what a peaceful atmosphere there was in our house. We weren’t even aware of it, but she was! Praise the Lord.🙂

Maybe our assignment this week is to do just that, to create an atmosphere where people will feel encouraged, to give them hope, to know they’re valuable, where they know they’ll be built up and not knocked down. 

I know it’s something the Lord is challenging me on, to not be negative about things, and I have to keep repenting when I’ve fallen in the trap again! God wants us to dwell on the good things, not the bad. God help me do it! Help us all do it, to see the good in people, to be thankful for every good thing You give us.

So as we go about today let’s leave people with the warmth of a smile and a kind or an uplifting  thought to speed them on their way knowing at some point we will reap what we sow. Amen.

Photo by Ashley Whitlatch on Unsplash

LAMPSHADES AND SHADOWS

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV) …For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

When our new carpet was all swept up on Saturday I noticed what looked like a big stain in the middle of the carpet! I thought ‘How could that be? I’ve not spilt anything on it!”. Chris had a look and said not to worry about it, it was just the shadow from the overhead light and we’d probably need to find a different kind of lampshade. Sure enough as he moved the light so the ‘stain’ moved with it! It wasn’t what it looked like after all, it could be removed and I was so relieved!🤣

Sometimes we see shadows, or see things that look really bad in the natural, and think they can’t be removed or changed. But we have a mighty God, and we all know He can make a way where there seems to be no way at all. The thing is we have to start believing it, not just saying it. 

Our verse says the things we can see are temporary, in other words they’re subject to change, and so if we can ‘see’ our problems God says they can indeed be changed. That is quite a revelation when we really believe what He says!

What problems can you see right now in your life? Start believing afresh what God has said, that they are temporary and don’t have to be permanent - by faith in Him they can be changed. Praise God!

There is only one shadow in our lives we don’t want to remove though. We are told to abide under the shadow of the Almighty.(Psalm 91) When we declare the Lord is our God and trust Him, He will be our Protector, our Deliverer in life at all times. When we keep reminding ourselves that He is overshadowing us we can know we’re secure and safe, confident that He will work everything out for our good as we continually trust Him. 

Remember as you go into your week if there are things which are overshadowing you, start telling them that according to God’s word, they are temporary and have to change, just like my lampshade.😊

Have a blessed week.🙂

FINDING A BALANCE

Psalm 13:5-6 

I will trust in your unfailing love. 

I will rejoice because you have rescued me. 

I will sing to the Lord, because he is good to me.

I was thinking about how so many people I know have had a really tough week, either in their work, or others with family in a specialist baby unit, or many others who are facing big health issues or relationship problems. 

It’s when all these challenges arise that we need to turn to God’s word and find a balance in it all. When our problems seem to be looming bigger and bigger, we need to remember that our God is bigger than all our problems all rolled into one.

We tend to want to tell God how big our problems are, don’t we, when really we would be better telling our problems how big our God is!

The Psalmist David was feeling like God had forgotten him, everything was going wrong and it looked like his enemies were gaining on him, but he reminded himself of three things - that God unfailingly loved him, that God rescued him and that God was good to him. That covers a whole lot doesn’t it? He managed to get the balance right because it says he started to cheer up and sing to the Lord!🙂

He chose to turn his focus from what he could see to what he knew. We can do the same. 

Even when things seem to get worse we can still say “I will trust in your unfailing love.” That’s the secret right there, that’s the truth that will hold us steady through the storms of life. Nothing can separate us from God’s love and He is for us, not against us, fighting our battles, working behind the scenes rescuing us.

If you forget everything else today remember this - undergirding all of us, and what we can all hold on to and sing about, is the truth that God loves us and His love will never fail us.🙂  Thank You Lord.

Photo by Leonhard Niederwimmer on Unsplash

BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT

1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, “The first Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. v.47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.

If you’ve ever been to the doctor, at some point he will probably have listened to your chest, your heart, your lungs and said ,”Breathe in…now breathe out” and as you take deep breaths he knows how you are. 

When God created the first man in the garden of Eden He breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and Adam became a living, speaking being, his spirit was alive to God. We know Adam then blew it and even though he had experienced God walking with him in the garden, he chose to rebel, and he lost the presence of God, his spirit was no longer alive to God.

The Good News is that Jesus is the second Adam and He paid the price for us to be allowed once again to walk in the presence of God and be alive to Him. What a privilege that is.🙂 It’s wonderful to know, when we ask God to come into our lives and fill us with His Spirit, He comes and dwells inside us and declares He will never abandon us or leave us without support. 

We could look at this way - when we breathe, we’re breathing God in and breathing God out because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit - He lives and breathes in us. Acts 17:28 (NLT) for in him we live and move and have our being… Col 1:27 ..Christ  lives in you…

We know that when we have a need we don’t have to chant prayers, or do penance or beg God to do anything. All we have to do is remember He is inside us and ask Him for His strength to flow from where He is, inside us, for His wisdom and help, His provision, His protection, and His Spirit will minister to us because He lives in us all the time, wherever we are.

Be encouraged, if you’ve asked Jesus into your life you are never alone, never without His support but always surrounded by His favour, His goodness and mercy are chasing you down, and He is living and breathing inside you right now by His Spirit. What a thought!🙂

Acts 17:25 (NLT) …He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.