EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED

Psalm 62:5-6 AMPC My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him. He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be moved.

In the past few days we’ve seen some unexpected things, like a horse and cart trundling along the road which we don’t normally see. 

Then we were visiting friends who had grown a giant carrot and I put it next to a £1 coin so you can see how big it is!

And yesterday we were visiting the seaside in the wind and rain when we saw several seals playing in the shallows near the beach which was amazing as I’d never seen seals live before!😊 None of those things is terribly important except to say it’s nice when the unexpected happens as it takes us out of the ordinariness of our lives.

God loves it when we ask Him to come into our everyday to bring us the unexpected, to show up and do for us what only He can do, to lift us up above our problems and believe him to do above and beyond all we could ask or think. You could say it another way, ‘Lord come and do the unexpected just because You can.’

A giant carrot, seeing a seal, or a cart horse are simple things, but as believers we have every reason to expect God to show up in our lives to heal, deliver and rescue us from things we can’t change on our own. He encourages us in Ephesians 3:20 to believe He can and will do exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ask or imagine if we’ll release His power in us.😊

So really I believe the Lord is saying to get our expectations up as we go into a new week. Believe Him more and more to step in and do things that bless us so much they take our breath away, knowing He is looking for someone whose heart is expecting Him to intervene in their affairs, to bless them. 

Thank you Lord you are the God who does the unexpected, who surprises us with Your goodness and mercy when our hope and expectation are from you. In Jesus name. Amen.

RECOGNISE THE LORD

Psalm 96:7-10 NLT 

O nations of the world, recognise the Lord;

recognise that the Lord is glorious and strong. 

Give to the Lord the glory he deserves. 

Bring your offering and come into his courts. 

Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor. 

Let all the nations tremble before him.

Have you had one of those moments when you answer the phone and you don’t recognise the voice? You know you should know who it is but you have to ask! That happened to me recently and I felt very embarrassed as I knew the person well!

 God has given us all the natural ability to recognise one another, either our faces or our voices even though we’re all different. The Psalmist here is calling the nations to recognise the Lord which in today’s society and in his own day, was a big thing. He lived among idol worshippers, among pagan people who had no time for the Lord God just like they don’t seem to have time for God in our day.

The thing is, people will never know how great our God is unless we tell them.😊 They won’t know He is glorious and strong, that He forgives them and loves them. V.10 says “Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!” The world stands firm and cannot be shaken. He will judge all peoples fairly.

There is coming a day when every knee will bow to the name of Jesus, when every person will indeed realise and recognise our God as the Lord of all Lords, as the King of Kings forever. Our part is to let them know, like Noah warning the people before the flood, that one day we will all have to stand before Him and tell Him what we did with Jesus. Did we put all our trust in Him or did we go our own way and do our own thing? God tells us there is only one way in to His heaven and it’s only through Jesus.

Lord please help us to invite people to know and recognise Jesus for who He is, and for us all to recognise You more and more in our own lives as each day goes by, and give You all the glory. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

STORE UP TREASURES

Luke 2:18-19 NIV and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Our friends in Devon had this beautiful baby owl visit their balcony a few weeks ago but he couldn’t seem to fly out of it so they had to pick him up in order to rescue him. It was one of those very special moments and thankfully he was o.k. as he flew away.😊

God gives us moments throughout our lives when something special or significant  happens and if we’re wise, we’ll not just recognise them when they happen, but we’ll tuck them away in our memories so we can think about them at a later date.

We might have a lovely memory, maybe of a holiday or a family time when something really blessed us, or of a moment He really spoke into our hearts and we were aware He was with us. I think it’s really important that we bring them to mind on those days when we might be feeling a bit low and need to think of something that will encourage us.

Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:8 to ‘Fix our thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.’ What sensible advice the Holy Spirit gives us because He knows we might have a tendency to dwell on the negative things that are happening around us and need a strong nudge to put our thoughts in the right direction again.

So my encouragement to us all today is to be like Mary, and treasure up those special moments that God gives us and think about them often, or share them with others like my friend did when she shared her amazing ‘owl’ moment. 

We can praise and thank God for them as we take them out of our memory box and enjoy ‘pondering’ on our special treasures of how God has blessed us in the past and will do, over and over again in the future. Thank You Lord.😊

Have a blessed weekend everybody.x😊

IMPOSSIBLE THINKING BEFORE BREAKFAST

Mark 9:23 NKJV Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

‘Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’ Lewis Carroll.

We were in a cafe some time ago which had decorated their table and chairs in the style of Alice in Wonderland and the above quote was written on the back of one of the chairs. (Tap the photo to see it better).

It really struck me as it made me think ‘Have I believed for even one impossible thing today, never mind before breakfast!😊

Do we maybe forget we have the privilege of being allowed to believe God to do the impossible for us each and every day. Maybe we relegate it to the super spiritual people to do it, or to those times when our backs are up against the wall and we desperately need an impossible miracle.

But Jesus doesn’t put a limit on how often or when we’re allowed to believe Him for the impossible. The only limitations are in our own minds and God says He can do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all we can ask or imagine according to the power at work in us. (Ephesians 3:29) That is a mind stretching thought as it means I could believe for not just 6 impossible things but 1006 impossible things before or after breakfast if I wanted to!😊

But if we haven’t been believing for much lately, how about having a think and going to the Lord and asking Him to help us believe Him for just one new thing to start off with, and then we can grow from there. The ball is really in our court because the invitation is to all of us, as often as we like. What a thought! 

Would you like to grab a cuppa and join me, as I’m going to go and do some impossible thinking and believe God to make things happen because He said ‘all things are possible to him who believes.’😊 Thank You Lord.

GOD REWARDS US

Hebrews 11:6 NKJV But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

We were out a walk the other day and visited a local nature reserve pond where we met a man who was diligently looking for and photographing kingfishers with a huge camera lens. He showed us the beautiful photos he’d just taken but the birds were too far over the other side of the pond for us to see them personally.😊 

I don’t know about you but I like to see things for myself. I would have loved to actually see one of the kingfishers with my own eyes and I think God wants us to see things for ourselves on the spiritual side of things as well. It’s great when others share their knowledge or their insights but how much better it is when we take the time and allow God to show us things personally.😊

It’s like when we read a verse of scripture we’ve maybe read a hundred times but then one day a light comes on and we ‘see’ something we’ve never understood before and it becomes our own revelation. I love those times but we can all have them if we’ll spend some time in the word and allow the Holy Spirit to help us dig a bit deeper.

God says He rewards those who diligently seek Him and anything that helps us to know our God better is a rich reward in itself because the more we come to know Him the more we shall enter into His blessings and how precious we are to Him. 

So my prayer for us all is that the Holy Spirit will really open up our eyes more and more as we diligently read God’s word to see new, and maybe life changing things, so we can go out and encourage or help others as well. Amen.😊

WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE….

Hebrews 13:5 NLT …For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

I read this the other day - ‘Pray when you feel like worrying. Give thanks when you feel like complaining. Keep going when you feel like quitting.’

Do you ever feel like pulling your hat down over your head and letting the world get on with it? When we’re on our own sometimes and there’s no one around to give us a gentle prod, or to tell us a joke to cheer us up, or to let us know everything is going to be all right, at those times we need to know there is One who is always with us, who will never let us down and His name is Jesus. We need to remember He understands where we’re at, and why we feel the way we do, and He needs us to listen to His words.

Philippians 4:6 NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. So if we feel like worrying He’s reminding us to pray and tell our loving Father all about it and let Him sort it out.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. If we feel like complaining remember there is always someone worse off than we are and they’d love our life, so we can remember to thank our loving Father for all our blessings, knowing there are more on the way.

Galations 6:9 NLT So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. When you feel like quitting, remember there is always someone who still needs you to be there for them, to help them over the hurdles you’ve already conquered, who needs your insight and wisdom, and very often they just need your smile. So don’t quit because you’re here for such a time as this and your loving Father needs you to be here.

In fact you are needed far more than you realise and however you’re feeling at this moment we both know it will pass and that God is enfolding you in His arms and drawing you close to Him because He loves you more than you will ever realise.😊 Amen.

Photo: Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

BUILD ONE ANOTHER UP

Jude 1:20-21 NLT But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.

I expect we all know what it feels like when somebody has told us off or had a go at us. If we’re not on our guard it can really bring us down and there’s an old saying that if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all and that’s a challenge to us all!😊 

But here we are being called to build each other up in our most holy faith. That’s a bit different to just building somebody up in their ordinary day to day life. 

So how do we build up in our holy faith? I believe it’s when we draw alongside someone who is struggling to believe God is on their side, or that He loves them or even cares about them. It’s when we’ve been side swiped by the enemy when we didn’t see something bad coming and we really need a Godly friend at that point to let us know God is holding us secure and steady in His hand, that He hasn’t abandoned us and never will, that He says we’re going to be OK because He’ll bring us through.😊

We need to remind one another of God’s unconditional love for us, that He never gives up on us, and always gives us another chance. We need to know He’s not mad at us when we struggle, but that God is there to wrap His loving arms around us and lift us back up again. 

Jesus understands and can identify with us because He went through the things we do and I find that the most reassuring thing of all. He understands our struggles, our doubts and fears and, because He overcame them, He is interceding for us night and day with our Heavenly Father.

So let’s do our utmost to build one another up in our most holy faith, keep our eyes on Jesus, keep praying in the power of the Spirit, and keep ourselves in God’s love as Jude says.😊 Amen.

OUR EVERYDAY GOD

Psalm 68:19  Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah.

We all do lots of the same things everyday and it can feel like the everydayness of our lives is a bit routine, like doing the dishes! It’s probably why explorers go off and climb Mount Everest because they can’t stand the routine of every day!

But I thank God for the everyday because we’re never on our own and He says He daily loads us with benefits. Another translation says He daily bears our burdens. The living God who called stars into being is living on the inside of each one of us who know Jesus as Saviour. We have the One who raises the dead, who makes the lame man walk, who heals all our diseases walking in us and by our side each day, so it has the potential to be anything but routine.😊

At any moment the ‘suddenlies’ of God can invade our everyday. Suddenly our health improves, or suddenly we know what to do to solve our problem, or the miraculous love of God can explode in our hearts to flow out to others who desperately need His love. Each morning we wake up to new possibilities, to new opportunities, to maybe a new friendship,  to see His mercy and grace and His blessings pour out in our lives. The possibilities are endless.

I’ve heard it said that one word from God can change your life, and God’s word will certainly change our thinking and our understanding about everything if it needs to. 

So whatever your everyday looks like, whoever you meet this week, let your Everyday God walk with you and let His love flow out of you and you may even have one of His lovely ‘suddenlies’ appear and you’ll ‘suddenly’ feel better because you realise someone is praying for you.😊

Have a blessed week.😊

Photo by Dmitriy Suponnikov on Unsplash 

THE LORD WILL COME FOR US

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 NLT For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.

We don’t often hear the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus preached today but when I was growing up we would hear it often and encouraged to be ready for Jesus’ return. 

In Matthew 25:1-13 Jesus gave a very strong warning in the story of the ten virgins, five were ready for His return and entered in to be with the bridegroom, and five were not! So it would be good to remember that Jesus is coming back for all those who have put their trust in Him and are ready, looking and eager for His return. 

We plan and prepare for a holiday, for our careers, for retirement, but what about eternity? Are we ready and prepared for eternity?

Have a look at 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 God is giving us all that reminder today - Jesus is coming back and it could be any time, in the blink of an eye! Are we ready, are we eagerly waiting to see Him and hear the trumpet calling us home?

1 Corinthians 1:7-8 NLT Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be found growing cold towards God, wandering off doing my own thing. I want our Lord Jesus Christ to find me in the ‘eagerly waiting’ bunch so He keeps me strong to the end, ready and waiting for Him to come and take me home. How about you?😊 

If you’re not sure if you’re ready but you’d like to be, then pray this prayer from your heart and say, “Lord Jesus, thank You for dying on the Cross for me, I repent of all my sins, please wash me clean. I believe you rose from the dead and I make You my Lord and Saviour today. Come into my heart, into my whole life, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit so I’m ready for You to come back for me. In Jesus name. Amen.”

BRUISED TO BEAUTIFUL

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT This means anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun! 

We’ve been picking up windfall apples to make into chutney or stewed apples and I have the messy job of cutting away all the bruised, bad and ‘buggy’ parts which are yucky! What struck me was how they appear to be too far gone to use but by the time I’m finished preparing them I have a beautiful bowl of stewed apples or tasty chutney to put with cheese. Anyone for cheese and chutney?😊

It made me think about how we must appear to God when we first come to Him, all battered and bruised and ‘bugged’ with all kinds of sins, addictions or baggage. We can be in the worst mess imaginable but the good news of the gospel is that Jesus took it all into Himself at the Cross and then gave us His righteousness, His holiness and His resurrection life.

In our soul we may have issues still to be worked through but because we’re made new in our spirits, God will also heal all our bruises and make us whole. That’s why He says to be transformed by the renewing of our minds because, as we allow Him to change our thinking, so our ‘soulish’ realm - our minds, our wills and our emotions - will change too.😊

God sees us now in the same way as He sees Jesus because He’s placed us ‘in Christ’. We are already perfect in our spirits as far as God is concerned because He rebirthed our spirits and they’re spotless, just like Jesus.

So next time you look at yourself and you think ‘what a mess’ just remember if you’re trusting in Jesus for your salvation you are a new creation! God loves you and has accepted you in Jesus and in your spirit you are righteous and beautiful, and as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit we will all be transformed from one degree of glory to another. That’s good news, don’t you think? Thank You Lord.

Philippians 1:6 And I am certain, that God who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

WHICH DIRECTION?

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

I’m one of those people with a poor sense of direction and when we stopped at motorway services recently I couldn’t find my way out of the ‘facilities’ they were so big, but I escaped eventually! Feel free to laugh!😊

We all have times in life when we need guidance to know what to do, and which direction to take, especially when they’re big decisions. The good news is God has given us His Word to turn to and if we’re wise we’ll go to Him first before we call on anyone else for advice, and as Christians any advice we do listen to should agree with God’s word. 

The best thing we can do is take God’s promises to Him in prayer and ask Him to fulfil them in our own lives because He says He is active and alert watching over His word to perform it.

For instance we can ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom because He is our Counsellor. John 16:13 NLT When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.  Notice it says all truth, but we have to take the time to listen.😊

Sometimes we have to take the first step of faith and then the Lord gives us the next one because He wants us to trust Him as we walk along. Proverbs 16:9 NLT We can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps.

Then there will be times when we hear God speak to us down inside our spirit. Isaiah 30:21 NLT Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. That’s the still small inner voice we need to obey because it will always agree with scripture and will always lead us in peace. We’ll know if it doesn’t, then it’s not God’s voice.

So I hope these verses will help us tune in to God the next time we need to know what to do because God wants us to know the way forward even more than we do, and He will tell us if we get into His Word and listen.😊 Amen.

James 1:5 NKJV If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Photo by Amira Yucra on Unsplash

IN A HIDEOUT

Judges 6:2 NLT The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. 

When we were kids we used to make a hideout and pin a sign up saying no one could enter unless they knew the password. I think we must have read a lot of Enid Blyton Famous Five books, and it was good fun, but at some point we knew we had to leave the hideout and go and do whatever we had to do.😊

The Israelites were in hideouts and Gideon was down in a winepress hiding some grain when the angel of the Lord called him out and called him a mighty man of valour. We may be in a hideout ourselves, maybe hiding behind excuses or from facing situations, or hiding from what God is calling us to do because we don’t feel ready or qualified to do it.

Gideon had placed limitations on himself and he was hiding away, afraid of the enemy. He thought he couldn’t do anything about it, he saw himself as useless, so he was feeling hopeless. 

God wants us to come out of hiding, out of whatever limitations we’ve placed on ourselves, because He is telling us how He sees us - as sons and daughters of the King, as men and women of valour, of courage, because we’re anointed and equipped with His Holy Spirit. When God is on our side we are never useless or hopeless. He needs our light to shine for Him and He has a plan for each one of us to fulfil.

Gideon argued with God but in the end he did what he was instructed even when the odds were totally against him and he saw the Lord give him a miraculous deliverance for his people, but he had to do his part. How encouraging that is. 

It’s just possible someone’s deliverance is waiting on us coming out of our hideout today and doing what God asks of us, even if the odds are stacked against us, because our God is still a delivering God. Amen.😊

Photo by bady abbas on Unsplash

REASON TO SMILE

John 15:11 NLT I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.

Isn’t it lovely to know we can be the reason someone smiles today? Just seeing someone smile or hearing them laugh can lift our spirits unless we’re being very grumpy!😊

I read this quip recently which made me chuckle - “Yesterday I wore something from 5 years ago and it actually fit. So proud of myself. It was a scarf. But still. Let’s be positive here!’🤣 

We all need things to lighten our moment, to take the tension out of our circumstances and humour is one of God’s great gifts to us. Wherever we go we can help to lift the atmosphere by our attitude and by seeing things from a bigger perspective. 

I know we shouldn’t be flippant when things are horrible but do we ever take ourselves too seriously in the every day things? I know I tend to and it’s not a bad thing when someone teases us to let us see we need to lighten up if we’re maybe being a bit ‘intense’ sometimes!😊

We all know life can be challenging to say the least and Jesus had more challenges than us all but yet, just before He was about to go to the Cross, He told His disciples to cheer up! He could see the bigger picture and He knew He wasn’t a victim but a Victor and He passed His victory on to us.

Even when we find we’re tempted to worry about a lot of things, the One who said “Cheer up” in the first place, told us to give all those worries to Him and allow His peace and joy to replace the things that are stealing our smiles and making us so intense. 

So remember to put a smile on your face today and make someone else’s day, help to lighten their load by seeing the bigger picture, and always look on the bright side, because we’re on Jesus’ side, the victory side. Amen.😊

Photo: Jonathan Borba at Unsplash

THE IMPORTANCE OF THANKYOU

Luke 17:15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!”. He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done….Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give thanks to God except this foreigner? And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”

We all know how important it is to say ‘Thank you’ when we receive a kindness or a gift of any kind and how sad it is when people don’t bother. Jesus felt the same way! He was so disappointed in their attitude and it reminds me to be more thankful to God for all He has done for me.

When I’ve been believing for healing the Lord has shown me to thank Him for the least little improvement and to hang on to it, but often people wait till they have their total healing before they thank God and even question and complain along the way because they think He’s not listening. Maybe He’s waiting for a Thank you!😊

As the leper came back to thank the Lord, Jesus said in another translation that his faith had made him ‘whole’ which would have meant all his body parts would have been restored. The Lord is showing us that being thankful plays an important part in receiving our wholeness in every area of our lives, not just our healing.

Here is a thought - Is saying thankYou to the Lord one of the keys to receiving our healing, or the new job, or the restored family and everything else Jesus has already paid for and made available to us? Are we remembering to keep turning back to Jesus to say thank you for all we already have?😊

Have I, have you, ever come running and shouting “Praise God!” like this man did to say thank you? Maybe we need to do that more.😊

Thank You Lord for the strength we do have today, for the grace and favour You are pouring out on us even when we can’t see it yet. Thank You Lord for the health we do enjoy and for more restoration coming. Thank You for forgiving us today and for Your great mercy and that You will provide all we need at the right time. In Jesus’ wonderful name. Amen.

Photo by Howie R on Unsplash

OVERWHELMED

Psalm 31:19 NLT How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

We sometimes hear people say they are overwhelmed by peoples’ kindness to them or that they’re overwhelmed with sadness or family troubles, or maybe the business is struggling. Feeling overwhelmed is not unusual but God has His own kind of overwhelming and what it should look like.

God’s idea is to overwhelm us is with His goodness and mercy. Psalmist David said ‘Surely Your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’. That word ‘follow’ there means it will be in hot pursuit, overtake, overwhelm. We may not realise it but we are being overwhelmed, overtaken by God’s goodness and mercy every day.😊

One of the keys to experiencing God’s ‘overwhelming’ is to be on the lookout for it. Proverbs 11:27 Niv Whoever seeks good finds favor, but evil comes to one who searches for it. We all know people who are always looking for the negative, for the worst to happen, and they find it, but God wants us to look for the good because then we’ll find favour. I know which one I’d rather have!😊

Let’s put our faith and trust in the Lord for the coming days, despite what we may hear or see on the media. In John 17:14 Jesus says we are in the world but we don’t belong to it. The Israelites  were given light in Goshen when the whole of Egypt only had darkness. Isaac sowed seed in famine and he had a 100 fold harvest when the others around him were starving. 

You see God has given us examples to encourage our faith, to know He is still in the business of overwhelming us with His goodness and we have His word on it, so we can start our week with that uplifting thought. Thank You Lord.😊

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

Photo by Andrew Ridley on Unsplash

NO ONE LIKE OUR GOD

 Jeremiah 10:6-7 NLT

Lord there is no one like you! 

For you are great, and your name is full of power.

Who would not fear you, O King of nations?

That title belongs to you alone!

Among all the wise people of the earth,

And in all the kingdoms of the world,

There is no one like you.

All through history men have wanted to be the greatest, the most famous, the most powerful  and they still go to great lengths to try to prove that they are. Even Satan tried to be all powerful but he failed abysmally because he didn’t stand a chance. Jesus disarmed and defeated him forever when He died on the Cross and rose again.

As Jeremiah told us, there is no one like our God, no one as great, no one as powerful and when we think about that, our problems don’t seem so big. I’m so grateful that our God decided to be for us and not against us, that He decided to choose us before the world was even made. What an amazing God we have!

So, as always, we can bring our heart felt praises to the King of Kings and give Him all the glory, and all our thanks this morning, for loving us to the point of dying for us so we can be reconciled to Him for always and forever. Jesus name will always stand above them all.

Thank You Lord and help us to grasp something of Your greatness and Your immense love and mercy and grace towards us today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Photo: Jon Tyson at Unsplash

OVERFLOWING!

John 10:10 AMPC …I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). 

There are some kinds of overflowing we all enjoy and a treat like an ice cold chocolate drink overflowing with ice cream and real cream topping can be very yummy on a hot day!😊

Some people we meet overflow with joy and love which we feel and experience by their genuine hugs and affection. 

God’s love is so overflowing towards us that He couldn’t contain it and He had to show us how much He loves us by giving us Jesus who opened up all God’s blessings to us.

Psalm 23:5 NLT My cup overflows with blessings. God’s desire is that our lives are so full of His goodness and blessings that they overflow on to everybody else as well. We can choose to keep the blessings to ourselves but Jesus told us a better way. He reminded us it’s more blessed to give than to receive. Why is that? It’s because it allows God to have something to work with that He can multiply back to us again.😊

2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

We already know we are blessed in order to go and be a blessing to others, and Proverbs 11:25 reminds us ‘The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.’  As we bless those we meet, we in turn will be refreshed and provided for again which is another reminder of the circle of blessing that God has designed. 

Luke 6:38 NLT Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. God’s way of doing things is always brilliant! 

Thank You Father we can enjoy Your circle of blessings today and walk in Your overflow. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend everyone.😊x

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RECEIVE THE GIFTS

1 Peter 4:10 NLT God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 

When we send a gift to someone, if we don’t hear from them we contact them to check and see if the parcel arrived in the post in case they didn’t receive it.

In a similar way God has given us all gifts for us to receive and He is just as concerned that we have taken possession of them, that we have actually received, and are using them.

I had a relative who had various gifts on her wedding day but she put some on a shelf to only be used for special occasions. The sad thing was, she never ever used them. They remained brand new, never enjoyed, just looked at or forgotten! Someone had gone to great expense to buy them but they were wasted because they weren’t intended as ornaments, they were things to be used.

Romans 12:6 NLT In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well…

How about you and me? Are there gifts God has given to us and we just put them on the shelf and never actually dust them off and use them in our everyday lives? How sad that would be when Jesus went to great expense in shedding His blood so we could receive all God has given us. He says He gives us all good things to enjoy.😊

Is it worth a second look, to check and see if we’ve left anything on the shelf, not used? Perhaps God gave you a spiritual gift but you don’t use it any more? I know of some older people who had the gift of prophecy and speaking in tongues but they have put them away as though they don’t work anymore, but God doesn’t take our gifts away. They are still all inside us and God expects us to use them for the benefit of us all.🙂

But more than anything, if you have never received Jesus Himself, why not do it today and then go on and receive all His other gifts and give Him all the glory. In Jesus name. Amen.

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UNDER A CLOUD?

 1 Peter 5:7 NLT Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Don’t let it weigh you down! Do we sometimes wake up in the morning and feel a heaviness in our spirit, like we’re under a cloud? We may not even be able to put our finger on it but we know we’re not exactly on cloud nine! Or even if we do know what the problem is, it’s at that point we have a choice to make and what we say next will play a big part in what kind of day we will have.

We are so blessed because, praise God, we have someone to take our cares to. We have a Deliverer, a Saviour, a Problem Solver, a Burden Lifter, a Provider and His name is Jesus.😊

The Holy Spirit doesn’t say to cast one or two of our burdens on the Lord! NO! He says to cast ALL our cares on to Him because nothing is too hard or too heavy for Him to deal with. He bore the weight of Calvary for us and took our sins away, anything after that could never be too hard because He has all the answers before the cares and the problems came along.

So when we wake up in the morning, and as we pray, I hope we can remind ourselves of  what God says and speak words of life to start our day off on the right foot, and smile.😊

Father, thank You that You love me, and that You are taking care of everything in my life today. I hand over all my worries and cares, the whole lot to You, and thank You that You are not just sorting them all out, but you are making lemonade out of my lemons and turning them round for good. My eyes are on You and I praise You for lifting this heavy weight off my shoulders and yoking me to Jesus today and His burden is light. Thank You for strengthening me for every battle, for providing all my needs and by faith I receive Your grace to overcome my worries and fears. Thank You Lord, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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WE ARE GOING SOMEWHERE

Romans 5:17 NIV For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

We may feel like we’re not getting anywhere but God wants us to know that whatever we are going through we are going somewhere. Even our trouble is taking us somewhere, it has a destination. I heard someone say Jesus used the Cross as a vehicle to take Him to total victory, to sit at the right hand of God. I’d never thought of it like that before.😊

If we have trouble we can use it as a vehicle as well, to carry us forward to wherever God’s plan is leading us. His abundance of grace will take us there. Grace brought us into His salvation and it will take us into everything else we need that God has already prepared for us to walk into.

We can’t change God’s grace. Grace doesn’t change with our age, no matter how young or old we are. Grace doesn’t change with our circumstances or family or church or world situations.

God says we will reign in life, we will get somewhere, if we receive the abundance of His grace and use it to reign over every trouble the enemy sends and He adds that His grace will be more than enough.😊

Grace isn’t in short supply, it’s in abundance and Grace is for us all. Do you have a need? Then don’t forget to go to His throne, whatever time of day, whatever age we are, whatever our circumstances, to come and receive the overflowing abundance of His grace to meet that need in Jesus name.

Everything we have comes to us because of God’s amazing grace towards us and we tap into it by faith in the promises of God.  So let’s throw out the negative voices and know that God wants us to reign in life through knowing and receiving His wonderful gift of righteousness and His abundant grace today. Thank You for them both Lord. Amen.

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DO WE ‘GET IT’?

Ephesians 1:16-20 NKJV …that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe,…

Have you ever tried to explain something to someone and you can see the light has not dawned? It happens when someone tries to explain to me a new thing on my computer and they can tell I didn’t get it yet! The light bulb moment didn’t happen!😊 

I’m so very glad our God is patient and long suffering with us because He tells us things in scripture over and over again and we still don’t always get it either, but He never gives up on us!

No wonder Paul prayed this wonderful prayer in Ephesians asking God to give us the spirit of revelation and understanding. He really wanted us to grasp what he’s saying because it is so important to our walk with the Lord! No matter how little or how much we know, there is always so much still to learn. 

So what is it he wants us to ‘get’? He’s teaching us who we really are and what we have been given. He wants us to get a revelation of  the greatness of God’s power that’s in us, for us all to use for His glory.😊

We are sons and daughters of the Most High God, anointed with the Holy Spirit, filled with His power. God says the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us, but unless we get the revelation of it and understand and release it, it won’t achieve what God has planned for it.😊

Lord open our eyes today to know and learn more of who we are, and what we have in Jesus, that we have His anointing, His power dwelling in us, so we can go and be Jesus to whoever we meet. In Jesus name. Amen.

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SHAKE IT OFF!

Acts 28:5 NLT But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.

Sometimes we see a dog that’s been in the water, having a huge shake and all the water scatters over everybody as it shakes its body!😊 It requires quite a vigorous shaking, not a little effort. Apostle Paul had to shake off something too, but his was a deadly snake which had bitten him and was holding on to his hand. 

In the same way we have to vigorously shake off some things that the enemy has bitten us with, that are trying to cling to us as well.

For some of us we may have to shake off bad memories, or disappointments. For others it might be resentment at the way life has turned out, or how someone betrayed them. Perhaps there is an old mindset of lack in other areas that all need to be shaken off.

Whatever it is, God has said He is providing all we will ever need in our lives. He brings healing  in our memories and minds as well as our bodies. He can turn our circumstances around if we’re willing to shake off whatever has discouraged us. He can give us beauty for the ashes we’ve been left with. He gives us His own faith and confidence and assurance that we’re not doing this life alone. He is with us.

Is it time to dig into God’s word to hear Him say we are one of a kind, wonderfully made, a treasure and a masterpiece of His making? He says we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, that He has anointed and qualified us. 

Now are we willing to shake off the words or the labels others have put on us, to get out of the limitations of the box we or others may have placed us in?

We’ve entered a new season for us all and God is doing a new thing. Why not let God’s word paint the picture He has of you and shake off any other picture the enemy has given you in the past.

Lord help us shake all the negative stuff off today and enter this new season with hope and faith in You, our wonderful God. In Jesus name. Amen.

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WORTHY OF ALL OUR PRAISES

Isaiah 12:3-5 NLT 

With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation! 

In that wonderful day you will sing: 

Thank the Lord! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done. 

Let them know how mighty he is! 

Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.

Make known his praise around the world.

Drink deeply, sing, thank, praise, tell, make known. There’s lots of action in these few verses and we’re being told to do them all! When we remember all our God has done for us I don’t think we should have any bother obeying the instructions do you?😊

Our hearts can overflow in gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord for He really has done wonderful things for each one of us. Psalm 103 says He has forgiven all our sins, healed all our diseases, crowned us with His loving kindness and tender mercies, is renewing our youth like the eagles and so much more.

2 Peter 1:4 says He has given us His divine nature and 1 John 4:13 says He has given us His Holy Spirit with His power to live in us. We can praise His name for His mercy that came to us fresh this morning (Lamentations 3:23), and thank Him for His grace and favour He poured out on us for this new day and the rest of our lives. (Ephesians 1:6) 

We have a wonderful God and He wants each one of us to receive His joy as we drink deeply from His fountain, His well of blessings, of all that is included in our salvation because of Jesus. 

Maybe you haven’t felt able to drink from all of these wonderful blessings lately, but God is encouraging us all to do it today and I pray we can offer Him our thanks and praises all around the world, wherever we are reading this, and lift the name of Jesus high today. He is so worthy of it all. 

v.6 For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.

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WE ARE A NEW CREATION

Colossians 1:12-13 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. 

We were looking after our grandchildrens’ hamster last week and as hamsters only come out at night when it’s dark we hardly saw him. He just doesn't like coming out in the daylight, and we can’t change him!😊 

When we became a child of God we were transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Son, but God did change us, we became children of the Light. 

He says 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. We became a new creation! It follows then that because God is supernatural that as one of His children He would expect us to also walk in the supernatural because He is in us.😊

Some people have a problem with that but I can’t imagine why. It’s a wonderful blessing because it means we’re not tied to the restrictions of this world, but have been given access to His supernatural abilities and giftings by God’s Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Jesus Himself said we would do the same things He did and more besides and He wants us to believe what He said. God never made us to live an ordinary, mediocre life. He designed us as a child of God to walk in the miraculous, in the God realm, in the seemingly impossible because we belong to Him and we’re one spirit with Him!

Lord wake me up, wake us all up! Speak to our hearts, lift the veil off our thinking and give us revelation of who You have made us, so we can be all You have called us to be and do what You want us to do, with the help of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend everybody.x😊

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