IN THIS PLACE

2 Chronicles 6:40 O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to all the prayers made to you in this place.

‘In this place’. Did your mum ever look round your bedroom when you were young and remonstrate with you as she said, “Just look at this place!” Her meaning was very clear, she wanted it tidied up! Or maybe you look at your child’s room and say the same thing.😊

We probably all have a ‘this place’ of some kind but God wants us to have a ‘this place’ where He can meet with us and enjoy each other’s company. 

In Matthew 6: 6 Jesus said, But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Jesus says ‘your Father’ twice. He was reminding us of our close relationship with the One we’re praying to, our Abba. Isn’t that lovely?  And we don’t often hear it mentioned that our Father actually rewards us when we pray. Maybe we’ll be encouraged to do it more when we remember that!😊 

Our Father wants to bring a smile to our faces when we spend time with Him, He wants to reward us and I find that so reassuring. Our Father is on our side and there is no need for us to try to twist His arm to do something for us. His heart is to bless and encourage us, to provide and promote our interests. He wants to care for whatever we care about.

King Solomon made a magnificent temple for God such as had never been seen before or since and he prayed that God would listen to their prayers in ‘this place’ he had built. Now we, ourselves, are the temple of the living God and wherever we find ourselves it can be our place to draw aside with our Father but I know from experience it’s good to have a specific ‘this place’ where we can go and meet with the Lord.

So how about you? Is it a good moment to go and spend some time in your ‘this place’, close the door, and let your Father minister to your heart today? If so, remember He will reward you when you do. Amen.😊

Photo by Becky van Dijk on Unsplash

MOVING FORWARD WITH GOD

Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV) …But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 

If we get in the car and want to get to our destination we have to put the car into drive or gear, and deliberately move forward. It’s the same way in our lives. We decide we want to move forward with God and then we ask Him to steer our lives and help us to reach our God given destination. Too often we stand still, looking at where we’d like to be, but not prepared to get out of the garage!😊

A car needs fuel and we need the power of the Holy Spirit, and for our faith to be fed every day so we can step into what God has already prepared for us. God loves it when we go to Him in faith and ask Him to make a way of escape when we seem to be stuck in a rut or we feel like we’re going under, to create a new pathway where we can see no way. God always has a way! He is our Waymaker.

We can ask Him to lift us out of the pit and believe Him to provide the health, the finances, whatever it takes to turn our situation around. He is the God of the breakthrough, of the new beginnings, of new opportunities, but He requires our obedience and our co-operation. He requires us to trust Him and let go of our ‘yes but’ arguments and our independence. Can anyone identify? It’s time to get our ‘buts’ out of the way!😊

God’s heart is always to bless us and He’s looking for a willingness, for an open mind, for us to say, “Lord give me fresh revelation, show me how to navigate my way through this situation. Give me a testimony to give You glory from it.”

Let’s leave the unanswered questions behind and move forward. God is advancing and we want to advance with Him, not be left behind in a puddle of doubt and unbelief. 😊

Lord as we begin this new week lift anything off us that would hinder us from moving forward with You, bring down any strongholds in our minds and give us an open heaven to receive Your blessings. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Popescu Andrei Alexandru on Unsplash

BUT AS FOR ME….

Psalm 59:16-17

But as for me, I will sing about your power. 

Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. 

For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. 

O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, 

the God who shows me unfailing love.

But as for me! Do you ever stop and say, ‘But as for me…….’. The words that follow that statement tell us where we are at, on any given subject.😊 The Psalmist David wanted it known where he stood, regardless of how much he was being persecuted or threatened. He was determined to praise His God.

There may be all sorts of things in your life which are threatening your peace of mind, or your health or your relationships or finances. When that happens it’s good to declare ‘But as for me, I’m still going to praise the Lord, and still sing about His unfailing love. I will still trust my God and I will still obey Him.

He took his eyes off his distress and reminded himself that God would be his strength, and his refuge in all the storms of life. What a wise man and he can teach us such a lot as he was called the man after God’s own heart. What a lovely thing to have said about you.😊

Let’s be people after God’s own heart today and let our praises rise up to the One who loves us unfailingly, who is our refuge and our place of safety in all the ups and downs of life. Let’s praise our God today. Amen.

Psalm 62:6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.

Photo by Ch P on Unsplash

PASSION, POWER AND PURPOSE

Romans 12:11 (TPT) Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let him fill you with excitement as you serve him.

I wonder if you are passionate about anything? I don’t mean the passion we see depicted on the front of some romance novels!😊 But do you have a passion, a favourite thing you love to talk about with everyone, wherever you go? I used to have an acquaintance like that who worked for a company that sold cleaning products and she wanted me to be an agent as well. She was totally committed to it and would bend my ear every time we met! Or some might feel strongly about cruelty to animals or about saving the planet. They too have a passion.

As Christians, God wants us all to have a passion for Him and the things of His kingdom, to be passionate about our relationship with Him. When we realise all that Jesus has done for us at the Cross, it will not only set us free in our own lives but it will give us a passion to see others set free as well.😊

The passion we have from God is backed by His power, and it has a purpose. That purpose is to produce something and God tells us it is to do His mighty works. Jesus said we will do the works that He did and greater ones but we won’t be able to do them unless we have a passion for what God wants. We can sometimes slip into apathy about the things of God and lose our enthusiasm because we may forget God’s passionate heart of love for us.😊

So this is a little nudge today to ask ourselves what are we passionate about?  Family? Hobbies? Making money? Sport? Computer games? Work? Is it time to ask God to relight our fire, to give us a fresh passion for Him and what He is wanting us to do? 

If we do, I know He will give us His power, show us His purpose and enable us to produce whatever He wants us to produce. In Jesus name. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x

Photo: Randalyn Hill at Unsplash

WE ARE ONE OF HIS SHEEP

 Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd.

Sheep can be interesting animals and the Lord compares us to sheep as they apparently have similar emotions to humans, they are social animals, and 95% will follow where 5% lead. They have excellent hearing and are intelligent.😊 Their eyes do have rectangular pupils though which is very different so they can see all directions except immediately behind them. So if you want to sneak up on a sheep do it from behind!

They love to be led and don’t like to be driven and it reminded me of Psalm 23 where David said The Lord is my Shepherd, He leads me beside the still waters. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. It made me realise how important it is for us to follow where the Lord is leading us, because if we do we’ll end up in the right place at the right time. If we feel we’re getting stressed all the time is it because we’ve been following the wrong voice?

He says the Lord makes him lie down in green pastures. Now a sheep is happy when it’s lying down, it means it’s not threatened and can relax. What a lovely picture for us. If we’ll just follow our Good Shepherd we’ll know He’s caring for us, that no threat can harm us because He’s watching over us and we can just relax. Do we forget that sometimes? I know I do and it’s good to re read Psalm 23 and let the Lord calm us down again when we’re all agitated.

He says even when we walk through the valleys we’re safe because we know He’s close by because we hear His voice and one of the ways we hear Him is through His Word.

So may I encourage us all to hear His voice speaking to us through Psalm 23 and let Him anoint us with fresh oil today and cause our cup to overflow once again, because He loves you and you’re one of His sheep. Amen.😊

TASTE AND SEE

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Don’t you just love walking into a house where there has been some baking going on? The aroma of freshly baked bread or cakes is so appetising, it draw us in and makes us want to taste it, because we know it’s going to be good. I know, because as I write this I’ve just done a big baking of date and cinnamon loaf, peanut squares and fruit loaf and the smells are lovely. Anyone for tea?😊

In this psalm David was having a hard time when he had to pretend to be insane in front of King Abimelech hoping he’d be set free. Quite extreme really but his life was on the line and God rescued him yet again. He’s so grateful to the Lord that he exalts and praises Him, and talks about being radiant with joy because God had rescued him from all his fears. God turned his circumstances round and he sounds quite ecstatic.😊

In fact, he’s so enthused he wants everyone to taste and see how good God is. He even goes further in v.10 when he says the one who trusts in God will lack no good thing.

When we taste how good God is, then the good things He has for us will naturally follow on. How encouraging that is for us all. He goes from terrible fear  to praising God, being filled with joy, being surrounded by angels and telling of God’s greatness.

Maybe we too can learn from David as we follow his example and do some praising and exalting God of our own and taste and see that the Lord really is good to us all. Amen.

Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash

PROGRAMMED FOR VICTORY

Romans 8:37 But in all these things we are completely victorious through God who showed his love for us.

The other day I heard someone say ‘We are programmed for victory’ but how often do we feel misled into thinking we are programmed for defeat or failure when we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel? God says He has made us Victors, not victims and we may need to make a conscious effort to shake off the victim mentality when it raises its ugly head! Walking by faith is a very real challenge when we can’t ‘see’ anything changing. 

Yes we know there are lots of things we could be concerned or down about, but we have to remind ourselves there are also so many things to rejoice about. God says to rejoice and be glad, and we can only do that with the help of the Holy Spirit.😊

1 John 5:4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. When we choose to rejoice we’re giving God the opportunity to let His strength flow into our bodies. When we have a thankful heart we’re releasing our faith in our God who turns all things round for our good. I know when I moan and complain I’m blocking the pipes of blessing from flowing, and playing into the enemy’s hands and inadvertently glorifying him!

God says our praise defeats the enemy, and we could do with a gentle prod sometimes to remember we have the Creator of the universe on our side and with Him all things are possible. Thank You Jesus!😊

So no matter what is happening, remember, if you are born again your future is brighter than your past. You’re on your way to Heaven, your sins are forgiven, your guilt and shame are washed away and you are righteous in God’s sight - so REJOICE! 

God says He has programmed us for Victory because of what Jesus did for us on the Cross, even when it doesn’t look like it.😊 

Praise You Lord. Amen.

Photo: Jametlene Reskp at Unsplash

ULTIMATE PROTECTION

Psalm 40: 11 …. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me. 

In today’s world we all need protection and there is none better than the protection God gives us. It’s like having the ultimate body guard with us 24/7.😊

Psalm 36 also reminds us God’s protection comes from His unfailing love and faithfulness which it says are as vast as the ocean and reach beyond the clouds. You see, there is no greater power to appeal to and we know God is already on our side, fighting our battles, and has already defeated Satan at the Cross.

We do have to appropriate it though. We have to live in the shelter of the Most High which for us, this side of the Cross, is being ‘in Christ’. Psalm 91 reminds us we have to declare something, “This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him.” We have to declare and believe those things first and then we’re free to claim the rest of the psalm as our own. 

He will rescue us from every trap, cover us with His feathers, shelter us with His wings and guard us with His angels. His faithful promises are our armour and protection. No plague shall come near our dwelling, we will not fear the terrors by day or night, nor dread disease or disaster. No evil will come near us. We have to believe it, and it helps to visualise it. Have you declared it yet this morning?😊

It reminds me of the elderly lady in the last war living in London during the blitz. Instead of worrying, she read in Psalm121:4 how God never slumbers or sleeps, so she just said to God, “You are going to be awake all night Father anyway so there’s no point me staying awake worrying as well, so I’m just going to trust You and go to sleep. Thank You for keeping me safe. Amen.” And He did.

 Aren’t we blessed to have that kind of protection round the clock?😊 Thank You Lord. We believe it and we declare it by faith today. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Fa Barboza on Unsplash

STRONG AND LOVING

Psalm 62:11-12 (NCV) God has said this, and I have heard it over and over: God is strong. The Lord is loving…..

I wonder have you ever wanted somebody in your life who is strong but not overbearing, someone who is loving, and you know you can go to them any time of day and night and they won’t turn you away? Well our God is that Someone and He wants to be strong and loving on your behalf today.😊

There are times when we’ve come to the end of our tether when we want someone to take over and lift the burdens off us, to give us a break. But God doesn’t want us to get so distressed that we feel we have to be desperate before we come to Him, as a last resort. Quite the opposite. He wants us to come to Him in faith as soon as a problem raises its head, as soon as the pain begins, as soon as we see the situation escalating.

You see, God is interested in every single thing in our lives and He is merciful but also so generous in Spirit towards us. He wants to be involved in every sphere of our lives, for us to be willing to look to Him first before anybody else, to remember you woke up to His new mercies this morning and He has grace for every trial.

The trouble is we can be so fiercely independent and we wait till it’s become a mountain before we ask the Lord for His help. Can I encourage each one of us, as we begin the week with the Lord, to remember He is El Shaddai, the all Sufficient One. The One who knows the end from the beginning and everything in between and He has all the answers to every situation we’ll face this week.

Lord we invite you to be strong and loving in our lives. Help us to remember that we are safe in Your hands and that You care about us so much, to look to you for whatever it is we have to do and allow You to be who You want to be in our walk with You. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo: Nicole Wilcox

PROCLAIM THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

 1 Chronicles 16:8-13(NLT)

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.

Let the whole world know what he has done.

Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.

Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds. Exult in his holy name; 

Rejoice, you who worship the Lord.

Search for the Lord and for his strength;

Continually seek him.

Remember the wonders he has performed, 

his miracles, and the rulings he has given.

It’s great to take our eyes off ourselves and whatever is going on around us, in our own lives, or in the wider world because we can get a bit bogged down.😊 Sometimes, we have to take the time to draw aside from it all and put our eyes back on our Father God, back on the Lord Jesus our Saviour, back on the Holy Spirit our Helper and Friend and proclaim the greatness of our God.

These verses are just a part of a new song David had written when he was bringing back the Ark of the Covenant, and he reminds us how we need to be giving the Lord our thanks for all He has done. How much more can we rejoice and give thanks now we are this side of the Cross and Jesus has rescued us from our sins and a lost eternity in Hell.

How much more can we proclaim God’s greatness, His great mercy and loving kindness to us. We can sing to Him and exalt His lovely name with hearts that want to praise Him for evermore.

Sometimes we wander off though, don’t we? We can forget the enormity of what Jesus has done and we have to come back and continually seek His face again and remember the wonders He has performed in our own lives, again - and again.

So let’s do that.😊 Let’s come to His throne today and ask Him for His strength, His mercy, His grace for whatever we need and give Him all the praise and thanks He so greatly deserves. Let’s rejoice and bless His Holy name today. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Mic Narra on Unsplash

WHICH CONVERSATION WILL YOU HAVE?

Matthew 6:31-32(NLT)  So don’t worry about these things…These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

I read this the other day :

“Worry is a conversation you have with yourself about things you cannot change. 

Prayer is a conversation you have with God about things He can change.”

How true is that! It makes us wonder why on earth we bother worrying when it never changes one thing anyway! It’s like constantly hitting our heads against a brick wall and wondering why we have a headache! Somehow we’ve been misled into thinking worrying is the responsible thing to do and that ‘somebody needs to do it’! It usually means we’re listening to the wrong voice, the voice of doubt and fear.

Can I give us a ‘what if’ today? What if we stopped worrying about everything and just took it to the Lord and trust Him to sort it out like He wants us to? What if we just do what we know we can do in the situation, but then let it go and let God deal with it?

There are some things we already know we can’t change, so can we give ourselves a break and allow God to be God in our lives instead of us trying to do His job for Him? 

Jesus commanded us (He didn’t suggest it), He said, “Do not worry about tomorrow.”(v.34)

It’s impossible to worry and trust at the same time because one comes from fear and the other comes from faith. Yes, God is touched by our feelings and by our deep concerns, but He is moved by our faith.

So can we ask the Lord today to help us let go of those worries and just trust Him to do what He has promised to do - to care for us and all that concerns us, because He loves us so much. 

It might help to remember that last  month* He showed us from His Word that the things we think are so difficult are actually simple to our Heavenly Father. He can raise the dead, make 3 lane highways through the Red Sea, feed 5,000 with somebody’s packed lunch, that the things that look impossible to us are possible with Him. We have a Mighty God.

It’s good to just stop for a minute and realise we do have a choice, there is an alternative to worrying.😊

I wonder, who will you choose to have a conversation with today? With yourself - or with God?

I pray you have a blessed ‘worry free’ weekend.x😊

*Link to A Simple Thing - https://myberrythoughts.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-simple-thing.html

GOD NEVER FAILS US

Hebrews 13:5(b) AMPC …for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up, nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!].

Have you ever failed an exam or a test? I remember taking a Physics exam and obviously hadn’t been paying any attention at all because I managed 2 out of a hundred! There is failing, and failing spectacularly! 

But God isn’t grading us today, He is for us and not against us. He is rooting for us. He’s the God who takes us out of the miry clay of sin and guilt, out of failure or depression or sickness or poverty, and He puts us on the rock of Jesus, on The Word Himself. He dusts us off, holds on to our hand tightly as He leads us on, and as we look up into His loving face He tells us we can do all things through Christ who is strengthening us.😊

He reminds us of who we really are because of who He has made us to be. We are new creations in Christ, the old person has gone, crucified with Him and we are now Overcomers, More than Conquerors through Christ.

If we’ve failed in the past, He wants us to know failure is just an event, it’s not who we are. He wants us to have a new perspective to see ourselves the way He does - Sons and Daughters of His very own, empowered by His grace, filled with His Holy Spirit, qualified and anointed to do all He calls us to do. In fact, He sees us as a success going somewhere to succeed because we’re joined to Jesus, because He is with and in us.

We need to remember we have the God who never fails us, with us, every moment of the day. He has promised to never abandon us or let us down. He is the ultimate Good Father, the Faithful One we can always run to and know His arms are open wide to receive us with His unconditional love, and He has mercy for every mistake. It doesn’t come any better than that.😊

So look up and cheer up. Our God will never fail us and He has put us on the winning side. In God’s eyes you are a success because you have Jesus as your Saviour and you're going somewhere with Him to succeed today. Thank You Jesus. Amen.

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OUR ‘GO TO’ PERSON

John 14:27(NKJV) Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nether let it be afraid.

We all have those days when things seem to gang up against us - the washing machine breaks down, the car gets a flat tyre, somebody is moaning at us and we feel like we want to go back to bed! 

When that happens, or when something crops up and takes us by surprise and we find ourselves saying, “What am I going to do?”, it’s a good opportunity to turn it round and say “God I need Your help. Show me what to do. ThankYou for Your peace in the middle of it all.”

When we do that we’re using our faith, remembering we’re not alone and that we have the Holy Spirit as our Helper. He is our ‘Go To’ Person. He’ll show us who to contact, where to go, what to do, but He won’t get involved unless we invite Him to. He waits to be asked.

God has answers to all our problems long before we have them knocking on our door, so let’s go to Him first before we go to anyone else. It’s better than texting 20 different people and having conflicting answers!😊 He is our Problem Solver living on the inside of us, and His way may not be our way of dealing with it, but it will be the best way.

So next time you find yourself getting anxious, thinking “What am I going to do?”, just remember to answer your own question and say “I know, I’m going to ask the Holy Spirit to show me what to do and I’m not going to let myself get in a worry about.”

The more we practice doing that the more we’ll experience His peace keeping us calm in those storms that come out of nowhere, helping us to not be anxious, troubled or afraid. Thank You Lord. Amen.

Photo: Denny Muller at Unsplash

STRONGER DAY BY DAY

Psalm 75:10 For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.”

What an encouraging verse!😊 Have you ever looked at your life and thought there are some strongholds that need bringing down? Maybe strongholds of fear, or lack of confidence, or depression, or unforgiveness, strongholds of impatience or resentment? Perhaps there are things in the physical realm, where work colleagues or family members are coming against you, or illness has attacked your body?

Well, be encouraged today because God wants us to realise the strength of those things has now been broken by Jesus when He defeated Satan at the Cross. 

Colossians 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. He broke the strongholds, He set us free in every area of our lives. He bought our freedom and whom the Son sets free is free indeed. (John 8:36) By faith we can declare “Jesus has set me free from …..…” Our faith filled words set the promise in motion.😊

But not only that, God says He is increasing the power of the godly - that’s you and me if we belong to Jesus Christ. We may think we’re not very strong, but God tells us He is increasing our power, our ability to resist the enemy and make him flee. Isn’t that uplifting? The enemy is defeated, his strength is broken, and we’re on the victory side, growing stronger every day. Hallelujah!😊

We can go out into our day with an overcoming mentality, not a victim mentality. Our part is to believe what God says and know the power of the things coming against us is broken, and remembering who we are in Christ and what He has empowered us to do in His name. 

Thank You Lord. Help us believe it and walk in it. Amen.

AS SURE AS THE RISING OF THE SUN

Acts 13:18-19 He (God) put up with them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years.

Have you ever asked God for something and wanted it straight away?  I suspect we all have at some time or another. We can be very impatient for God to act and when we read His plans took 450 years to take place we realise that some things can take time! We may not get it in the next 45 minutes after all!😊

God doesn’t want us to be disheartened though. Quite the opposite! He wants us to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that what He has promised will come to pass, as sure as the rising of the sun. We were staying in a holiday cottage last week and I took this photo of their lovely garden as it was bathed in early morning sunlight. 

When God’s promises are actually manifesting and we can see them, it’s a bit like the sun has come out after a long period of dull dreary rain. If you live in the UK you’ll know what I mean!😊

1 Kings 8:56 …Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave… 

I just want to encourage somebody today who is going through the dull dreary rain bit, to know there is brilliant sunshine round the corner. Our faith is being strengthened and will be rewarded as we keep believing God’s promises and keep seeking Him. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us God rewards those who diligently seek Him, who keep His Word first place, even when the odds are stacked against them, who use their faith to keep believing.

So this week let’s allow our confidence to be even stronger than it was before, knowing God has not only heard our prayers, He has seen our faith, and His reward is on its way. His promises have never failed yet and never will because they’re Yes and Amen in Jesus Christ to the glory of God. Amen.

LIFE FILLED WORDS

Proverbs 18:21 The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

Do you ever stand in a queue and overhear conversations when the people are constantly moaning and complaining to each other about everything? You come away feeling all disgruntled because you couldn’t help hearing it. Words do affect us!

We may want to pour out all our complaints and moans too, but let’s zip it up because it only makes us feel worse and instead remind ourselves we have the most powerful force in the universe on our side. We have our loving Heavenly Father pouring His love and favour out on us wherever we go. I want to speak that out over my life and family, don’t you?😊

Our words carry far more power than we realise and we can turn the tide in our circumstances to a great extent by our own faith filled words. When we declare good things, living words of what God says from scripture, we’re releasing the power of God into our lives and the enemy has to flee. 

It’s amazing to think God has given us such a powerful weapon when He tells us death and life are in the power of the tongue!(Proverbs 18:21) We really need to believe what He says and watch what we say!

God says we’re actually releasing the bad things by speaking negatively over ourselves, or even over others. But praise God we can declare the blessings of God and invite everything good God has prepared for us instead.😊

The world tells us ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.’ That is a lie of the enemy and goes directly against what God has said! So who are we going to believe?

God is reminding us all to speak words of life, words of encouragement, of healing and wholesomeness over ourselves and everyone we meet this week. We can speak lovely words that will uplift and not knock down, speak words of hope and faith that remind us that our God reigns and He is carefully watching over our lives to bless us.

So when we’re tempted to be negative let’s just stop a minute and remember God is always pleased when He hears words of faith coming out of our mouths and choose life instead. 

Have a blessed, ‘life filled’ week.😊

Photo : Tim Mossholder at Unsplash

CONFIDENCE IN OUR GOD

Psalm 57:711(NLT) 

My heart is confident in you O God; my heart is confident. 

No wonder I can sing your praises! 

Wake up my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! 

I will wake the dawn with my song. 

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

I will sing your praises among the nations. 

For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. 

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. 

Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. 

May your glory shine over all the earth.

David was writing those words while he was hiding in a cave, fearing for his life because King Saul was after him. David had learned that God was worthy of his trust and his praise regardless of what dire circumstances he was going through. He knew praising His God would drive the fear from his heart and help his confidence to remain strong.

Could you do with some of that today? If so let’s focus on our God and remind ourselves He is always to be trusted, and our confidence is in the right place if we’ve placed it in Him. 

Sometimes we make the mistake of putting our confidence in people or doctors or organisations and when they let us down we feel disappointed. But when we put our confidence in God alone, then we will never be disappointed. His unfailing love is as high as the heavens, His faithfulness to us reaches to the clouds.

The past few days there has been a blackbird waking up and singing his little heart out, outside the bedroom window at 4.00 a.m.! 

I think David must have had one outside his cave as well and he thought, if the blackbird can praise at dawn, so can I! 😊

So how about us? Can we wake up the dawn, or whenever we do wake up, not just this morning but every morning, with praises in our hearts and in our mouths? Praises to the King of Kings, our Deliverer, our Healer, the Restorer of our souls, to the One who calls us precious in His sight, to the One who bled and died and rose again just for us. 

Let’s sing our hearts out and praise Him today. In Jesus name. Amen.

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FULFILLING HIS PURPOSE

Psalm 57:2-3 I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me. ….My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.

I know of a minister of the gospel who had been in ministry for decades and thought he was on the right track doing what was wanted of him when the Lord stopped him one day and told him he was only just going to be starting the work God had prepared him for! After decades!

God then led him in a different direction, giving him a television teaching ministry outreach that touches the world so he had quite a shock! All his previous years of ministry had been steady preparation for the new thing God had for him.

We can be merrily going along thinking this is all there is, when the Lord brings us up short and let’s us know that He still has a further plan and purpose for our lives, that there is more. So often we go through all kinds of things and can think “Why did I go through all that? What was it all about?” We forget that God wastes no experience we have been through, that He can not only turn it round, but He can use it for His future plan and purpose in our lives, for His glory.

So never be discouraged by what you have gone through, but trust the Lord to fulfil His purpose because with God it’s never too late to do a work for Him. We can trust Him to send his unfailing love and faithfulness into every area of our lives, and know that what God has started He always finishes.😊 

We are all still a work in progress and there may well be some big surprises in our future which will not only bless us but be a blessing to others too. No matter what unfolds we can be sure that God is good to us all and His mercy endures for ever.

Lord help us keep our hearts open to You so we’re ready and willing to do whatever You want us to do. In Jesus name. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

ALWAYS ROOM TO GROW

Proverbs 4:7(NKJV) Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your gettting, get understanding.

My grand daughter was helping me to do stuff on my computer and she was a big help, but as she was showing me what to do I just didn’t ’get it’! The penny was not dropping! After a while I realised I didn’t have to understand it, I just had to do it. It was a bit like “How to train your Grandma!”😊

Similarly, we won’t always understand everything that’s happening in our lives, and God knows we won’t understand everything all at once in the Bible either. We just have to trust God with it all and let Him work things out as He knows best while our part is to just do whatever He tells us to do and remain faithful and open to His leading.

Scripture does tell us in several places to ask God for understanding because it is so important and He really wants us to have it, but when we don’t ‘get it’ straight away we know the Holy Spirit is there to help us to steadily grow in spiritual understanding, no matter how far along the road we may or may not be!😊

In the meantime can I encourage us all to keep going, to not give up on our spiritual growth. We all have room to grow, whether it’s in understanding, or loving people or being patient or whatever, but if we keep seeking God for His spiritual insights, they will surely come in time.

When we plant an acorn we don’t expect a huge oak tree in the next three weeks! We know it has to have room to grow and time to grow, so why do we expect our growth to be any different? Anything worth growing is worth waiting for.😊 You never know, I might just learn to understand why my computer and my mobile phone do the things they do along the way as well!🤣

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A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

Psalm 9:1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvellous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to our name, O Most High. 

There is a true story of a young doctor who was working such long hours at the hospital that by the time he came home he was exhausted, but he was needed through the night to help his wife with feeds and nappy changing for their young children. He had lost the joy in his everyday, he just had too much to do and he was too tired.

An old lady came into his consulting room and after being helped by the doctor she could see he wasn’t too upbeat so she asked him how he was? He explained what he was dealing with and how he wasn’t enjoying his children, it was all just too much on top of everything else. She leaned across the desk and gently said how she would give anything and everything she had if she could have those days back again, because her life was so empty, she had no one left to care for and no family to care for her. 

He went home that night, stood back, looked at what he had, and realised just how blessed he really was. He got his perspective back and began to enjoy life again because he had a different attitude. He now had a very grateful heart to the Lord for all He had given him, because the old lady helped him recognise it.🙂

Your circumstances may be very different, you may or may not relate to this story but I just felt it wouldn’t do any of us any harm to just stand back a bit and see what we do have, and not dwell on the things we don’t have, or how we wish things were different. 

Our real joy isn’t even in our circumstances. It’s in our salvation, in knowing we have peace with God, our sins are forgiven and God loves us unconditionally and is committed to help us no matter what we have to deal with.

Thank You Lord for all Your many kindnesses You have blessed us with and ask You to restore our joy when we maybe let it slip through our fingers. In Jesus name Amen. 

Psalm 51:12(NKJV) Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:18(NKJV) in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

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THROUGH AND OUT THE VALLEY

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 

When I do any hand sewing there’s always a point when I have to put my thread through the eye of the needle and sometimes it’s quite a challenge! It’s such a squeeze and I struggle to do it.😊

Life can be a bit like that too, when we face challenges that seem to squeeze the life out of us. When it seems impossible to not only go through but come out the other side. It can feel like we’ve set up camp in the valley and can’t find the pathway out the other side!

And yet God has promised to bring us through! It may not be easy, it may well be uncomfortable and it can feel like it’s going on for ever but our God is faithful to His word and He will go through it with us every step of the way and still be holding our hand when we reach the other side of the trial.

Our verse reminds us that even when we go through the shadow of the valley of death, when everything seems to be thick fog, even in those traumatic times His Holy Spirit, His Word, His promises will hold us steady when we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can testify to that.😊 

God never leaves us for a second, even when we can’t feel, touch or hear Him, nevertheless He is right there in the midst of it all.

So take heart today, no matter what it is you’re facing and going through, because God has made you an overcomer through Jesus, even though you may not feel like it. You have the faith of God inside you, and God is alert and active watching over His word to perform it in your life. 

Don’t just hang in there, but believe you’re coming out, see yourself on the other side by faith and start praising God for it, that’s what faith is and does. It might be sooner than you think, get your hopes up because faith is the substance of things hoped for, because God is not just bringing you through, but He is bringing you out. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Refs: 1 John 5:4, Jeremiah 1:12(Amp)Hebrews 13:5, Hebrews 11:1.

Photo: Unsplash

A GOOD THING

Psalm 84:11(NLT) For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from those who do what is right.

A wealthy parent may have promised their young son or daughter a sports car but they still have to wait until they’re old enough to drive it and have passed their test! They have the promise, and they know it’s on it’s way, they just have to wait till the time is right.😊

Now a fancy sports car may not be one of the ‘good things’ you’re waiting for, but I’m sure there are some things God has given you a vision for in your life.😊 We may have been waiting a long time for them and it’s not that He’s withholding them, in the sense that He says we can’t have our heart’s desire, but He’s just waiting for the appropriate time, the right time, to give them to us. It could be He is having to wait until our faith can reach out to receive them.

So don’t let’s be discouraged thinking God’s not listening to our requests, or He’s being mean in not letting us have it when we think we need it. It’s just He loves us too much to give us some things that we’re maybe not ready for, or the timing is off, or maybe others are involved and He’s waiting on them to respond to His promptings too.

There are some things though that He has already provided and it’s just our doubts and lack of faith that stop us from taking what He has already given to us in Jesus right now. We really can’t blame God for that! For instance healing is provided in the atonement as well as forgiveness, but we have to receive it all by faith. I’m sure we all want to grow in our faith so we can receive more of the enormous blessings, the ‘good things’ He has already made available to us.😊

Thank You Lord for all the wonderful blessings You have poured out on our lives through Jesus. Help us to take by faith the good things that are already ours, and trust You to give us the things we’re waiting for at the right time. In Jesus name. Amen.

WE HAVE TODAY

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Now we all know it’s important to be prepared and organised when we can be, but if I’m not careful I can get caught up in what I have to prepare and do for tomorrow or next week. Either that, or I keep thinking about the mistakes I made yesterday and forget to enjoy today! Maybe you do the same thing? But the Psalmist reminds us that God has given us today and he decided he was going to rejoice and be glad in it, focus on it, and receive whatever God had for Him in it.😊

That’s a wise and great way to live. It means we can enjoy the moment we’re in right now. If we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, family and friends to share life with, they are things that we can rejoice about every day, along with waking up to running hot water and flushing toilets! Let’s rejoice and be glad in it all!😊

Yes, there may well be lots more things we do need, but if we remember the currency of heaven is faith, then we can go to the throne of grace with confidence and release our faith so God can release all the good things He has stored up for us with our name on them.

We can relax in today knowing our mistakes of yesterday are under the blood of Jesus, and it’s God who holds our tomorrows, not the government, or the doctor’s report or the state of our finances. God is far above all of them and he’s seated us next to Him. What’s more, He has things He wants to deposit in our lives today. Aren’t you glad about that?😊

God wants us to look beyond our struggles and our problems, to stop dwelling on the negatives. Instead focus on all the good we have right now, hold on to His promises and thank Him for answering our prayers.

As we step into another week we can know for sure that as we release our faith today God is also releasing His favour, His strength, His joy and peace, in fact, anything that you have need of today God has a rich supply of, so let’s enjoy and make the most of today!😊 Amen.

Have a blessed week.

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THE MOST HIGH

Isaiah 45:24(NLT)

The people will declare, 

“The Lord is the source of all my righteousness and strength.”

Psalm 83:18(NLT)

Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord, 

that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.

I love reading the way the Old Testament writers describe God and how they give us all a dig in the ribs to keep remembering just who we’re dealing with, how immensely powerful He is, and what He does for us! He is far above all.😊

We may feel weak and weary sometimes but we know we can turn to our mighty God who will always be there for us as our tower of strength. He’ll never let us down, not ever! Isaiah 40:28-29 says “Have you never understood?” Lord, help each one of us to understand it personally, that You care about us so much You know how many hairs are on our heads.😊

And how wonderful to be reminded that not only is our God our total source of all we need, but no one can bring God down. He is the Most High God, the One who reigns over all the affairs of men, who can enthrone and dethrone rulers to suit His plan and purpose. We only need to look at King Nebuchadnezzar to see the mightiest king on earth of that day, totally humbled by God to be like an animal, until he came to his senses seven years later.

He looked up to heaven and praised and worshipped the Most High and honoured the one who lives forever. He said, “Now I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glory and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.” (Daniel 4:37)

Let’s join with all the saints who have gone before us and give our everlasting God all the glory, honour and praise He is due today and thank Him most of all for Jesus, our wonderful Saviour. Amen.

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TOOLS IN THE SHED

2 Timothy 2:21(NLT) If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honourable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.

Have you ever come to the box or shed where you keep your tools and found they were a bit neglected and rusty? Someone put them away without cleaning them off first so they’d be ready to be used next time they opened the shed door and you’ve had to spend time making them fit to be used again!

The other day in a prayer meeting one of the ladies was given a picture by the Lord of a shed and inside were tools. The significance of it was that they were to be clean, sharp and oiled ready to be used in whatever way they were needed.

As we thought about it we knew the Lord was saying we are all tools in His shed and He expects us to be kept clean by the blood of Jesus, to be sharpened by the Word of God, and oiled by His Holy Spirit.

We all know how much harder it is trying to use blunt knives for cooking and my daughter sometimes tells me I need to sharpen my knives!🤣 

I believe God gave that word because it applies to all of us who are born again and have asked Jesus to be the Lord of our lives. If we’ve been in the shed for a while, either a bit tired or neglected, or a tad rusty through lack of use, then we know we’re needing some TLC in order for the Lord to use us. If we recognise that feeling we can go to the Lord and ask Him to wash us clean afresh today, and allow His Word to speak to us where we’re at, and ask the Holy Spirit to pour His anointing oil on us, and into us, once again.

It might mean we have to spend some time letting Him minister to us but if we do that we’ll be ready and waiting for the Lord to open the shed door and take us with Him to do whatever He wants us to do each day, a special treasure for honourable use, clean, sharp and well oiled. I know I want to be like that. How about you?😊Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x

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