CHANGE A FEW LIVES

Philippians 4:13 AMP I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]

I was listening to a testimony of a lady who had been raised to be afraid of the devil, afraid of God, and to believe God wanted to punish her. Over two years, while listening to a Christian Radio Broadcast, she learned that it was all untrue, that God loved her to the utmost and had a plan for her life.😊

The Lord took her to Kenya and for a long time now she has taken in orphan children and is changing their lives one by one. She raises them as her own, teaching them that God loves them and has a good plan and purpose for each one of them.

God told her something that really resonated with me. He said, “I haven’t brought you to Kenya to change Kenya, but to change a few lives.”

That’s all God asks us to do, is to change lives wherever He puts us. He asks us to tell them the good news about Jesus, to give them hope, whether it’s in the workplace, through a text, or talking to someone at a bus stop. We are Jesus carriers, good news bringers, and we can do whatever God asks of us with His help and His grace.

We know it’s only Jesus can change lives but we’re called to show them the love of God and His forgiveness, and we’re all able to tell them of how good God has been to us.😊

Lord help us to make a difference wherever we find ourselves and allow You to change some lives for Your glory. Amen.

Photo: Damian Patkowski on Unsplash

WHAT ARE WE EXPECTING?

2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

Yesterday I was given a plant pot with lots of bulbs in it which are beginning to grow but not yet in flower. The label tells me they’re daffodils so I’m fully expecting them to produce what it says on the label. I’m going to have a lovely bunch of daffodils!😊

As I  looked at them this morning I felt the Lord asking me “What am I expecting from Him?” Am I reading things in His word and expecting Him to produce what He has promised? Do I believe His Word like I do the label on my daffodil pot?!

Is it possible that we see the beginning of the promise begin to grow, like my bulbs, and then forget to water it? By that I mean do we thank the Lord for every little sign of growth in ourselves and in our situations, the things we’re believing for, or do we become lazy and not feed regularly on His Word so it nourishes us and fertilises the promises we’re believing for?

Scientists have proved that you can kill plants by speaking negatively to them or you can make them flourish by speaking kindly and positively to them! What are we speaking over our lives, are we expecting God’s promises to grow and produce what He says? When we see an improvement in something we’re believing for, do we nourish it by praising and thanking God for it? Or do we inadvertently kill it by speaking negatively about it. “Oh, it’ll never change. It’ll always be this way!” 

Let’s have a great expectancy of good things from God, and speak them out, declare the goodness of our God, that His promises never fail, that He is faithful to deliver, heal and restore whatever we’re believing for.

Isaiah 55:11 NLT It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

God made daffodil bulbs to produce daffodils. Now we can expect God’s word to produce what He has said in His Word - fulfilled promises of healing, protection and provision. We can expect great things! Amen in Jesus.😊

THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE

John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Jesus is The Truth! We can trust Him one hundred percent to always speak the truth and as we’re followers of Him so He calls us to follow His example. 

We all know how hurtful it is when we’ve been lied to but sometimes it’s good to examine our own hearts and see if there is any deception in us. Scripture tells us in the Old testament that the heart is deceitful above all things but praise God He has taken away our wicked heart and given us a new heart in the New Covenant.😊

I wonder how many of us have had occasions when we’ve only told half a truth, and tried to justify it! The world will tell us it’s only a white lie, but there’s no such thing and God hates lies whatever kind they are. He reminds us that Jesus is our benchmark and He is the Truth so He calls us to be truthful with the help of the Holy Sprit. He says the truth will set us free, whereas deception or lies hold us captive. God calls for transparency in all things. 

So we have to look at the log in our own eye first! James 1:22 NIV Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Sometimes it’s good to check and see if we’re only hearing and not actually doing the Word and just kidding ourselves!😊

Ephesians 4:25 MSG What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.

Lord, we ask You for wisdom, to help us to be honest and truthful, to be transparent and open, and to remember relationships are built on trust. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

DON’T BE RIDICULOUS!

1 Samuel 17:33 NLT “Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”

When Walt Disney first designed Mickey Mouse he was more or less told not to be ridiculous as women especially wouldn’t like a giant mouse on screen!🤣

No doubt we have all come across situations where someone has said, “Don’t be ridiculous! No way! You can’t do that!”  - people like Gladys Aylward who wanted to go as a missionary to China but was told she was being ridiculous but she did it anyway. 

Nothing is ridiculous where God is concerned. If He has promised it or commissioned it, then it can be done!

As I read in vs.38-39 about David being kitted out with Saul’s armour and weaponry, it struck me how he realised he couldn’t do it by trying to be like someone else. He knew he just needed to be himself, regardless of the odds stacked against him! 

I find that so encouraging because it’s all God asks of us, to just be ourselves, regardless of our shortcomings, and remember He has chosen us, appointed us and anointed us for whatever He calls us to do. 

David had been called from obscurity out in the fields, he was the least in his own father’s eyes, the last to be presented to Samuel as a possible king, but he was God’s chosen man. His family thought it was ridiculous, but God didn’t!

God often uses the overlooked, the least likely, sometimes even the least qualified, and He tells us what He wants us to do. We might be believing for a miracle or to do something new, and people may tell us not to be ridiculous, but we can remember David and believe and do it anyway! If someone had said to me five years ago I’d be writing a blog everyday, I’d have said don’t be ridiculous! But God said do it, so with His help I do.😊

What is God asking you to do, or to believe for? Are you facing a giant of some kind? Does it seem a bit ridiculous or impossible? If so, just look at David, be yourself, and know that all things are possible with our God and believe for it, and do it anyway. Why Not? Amen.

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MAKE WAY FOR IT

Romans 12:1-2 NIV Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We all love to see God’s promises when they become reality in our lives but I read this by Jack Hayford ‘To receive the promise means we make way for the transformation.’ 

It made me realise that in order for God to fulfil His promises He may need us to make way for them, to allow Him to transform our thinking in order for us to receive those promises. 

How we think is key to receiving from God. When we agree with His Word, whether our life looks like it yet or not, then we open the door to the promise. When we insist on seeing things from the flesh standpoint, complaining about what we ‘see or feel’ then we’re living by sight, not by faith.

God loves to respond to our faith, and He says not to cast away our confidence in Him. Are we allowing the enemy to dictate to us, or allowing God to transform us in our thinking. If we’re miserable we’ve been listening to the wrong voice and thinking the wrong thoughts.  

Are we willing to change our attitudes and our thinking and declare the promises of God for healing and wholeness and provision are all still yes and amen in Jesus? Are we willing to be transformed by the renewing of our minds by the Word of God when things don’t look like it? Jesus said we can’t put new wine in old wine skins!

Maybe we need to ask God to give us a new wine skin, a new thought process, to allow the promise to pour into? If our old wine skin is a bit rigid and inflexible then we need a new one! Perhaps we shouldn’t be complaining because the promise is taking so long, but rather finding out if we’re the ones holding it up?😊

As we begin another week we know God only wants the best for us, and His timing is always spot on. So let’s open up God’s word which will open up our minds to His transformation and rest in the knowledge that all things are working together for the good of those who love Him, who are in Christ Jesus, which is a promise.😊 Amen.

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WE CAN TRUST OUR GOD

 Psalm 33:1 NKJV 

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!

For praise from the upright is beautiful.

NLT 3 Sing a new song of praise to him; 

play skilfully on the harp, and sing with joy.

4 For the word of the Lord holds true 

and we can trust everything he does.

5 He loves whatever is just and good,

The unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.

We all need someone we can trust and the Lord is that Someone above all others who we know without a shadow of a doubt, won’t let us down. Our God is faithful in every circumstance of life. There will never be a day or an occasion when He won’t be there for us to call on and depend on.

Our psalmist reminds us that the word of the Lord is true, so whatever we read in His word is trustworthy and we can build our lives on it. It’s such a reassuring psalm because he’s reminding us again we can trust everything God does because He knows the end from the beginning. He is the only one we can say that about, throughout our entire lives. We can trust Him and no wonder we can sing for joy and give Him all our praise.

So next time we don’t know who to turn to, the Lord is our first port of call, our ‘go to’ person knowing He’ll never let us down and always be there for us. That is something to shout and sing about, and even the birds know it.😊Jesus said even the stones would shout…

Luke 19:40 NLT He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” I wonder when was the last time we burst out and gave Jesus a cheer?😊

So just in case we glossed over it - His word is true, we can trust everything He does, and His love will never fail as it literally fills the earth. What a wonderful Saviour we have. Let’s join with the birds and do something beautiful and lift the roof with our praises as we remember who He is to each one of us. In Jesus name. Amen.

ANOTHER PAGE IN YOUR BOOK

Psalm 45:1 NIV … my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.

“Let’s turn the page to an epic chapter called ‘Today’.”  I read that quote yesterday and it made me think!😊…

The God who holds the universe together, is walking with us through today and every day, and He holds our personal world together as well, so anything is possible!

Every day of our lives is another page in our book of life. Some of it will be decided by the choices we make, but just as importantly, how we react to the things that happen. We know we can’t always control our situations but we can control our attitude to them!😊

Just because someone is unpleasant to us doesn’t mean we have to behave the same way, tempting though it might be! It’s amazing how a smile can make a difference and kindness can be as contagious as meanness. We might tip the balance for someone by showing understanding rather than condemnation and instead of being the last straw in someone’s day let’s be the breakthrough for them that lifts them back up.

The Psalmist says we write with our tongues and what we say goes into our hearts and eventually shows up in our lives. So what are we going to say that will show up on the page of our book today? Let’s speak words of faith that will lead into adventures into the unknown, or ask God for a fresh vision of where He wants to take us as our pages turn.

Let’s begin today’s page with “I’m surrounded by God’s favour so I’m going to have a great day.” How about “I can do all things today with God’s help”, or “I’m blessed going out and blessed coming in today” or “Thank You Lord for all You’ve done for me.”😊

We can start each day off right with the One who tells us we’re an overcomer, that God loves us, that He is for us all the time!

We can expect the next chapter to be a page turner because God’s plans for us are always good. So why not write another page of your book today with the help of the Holy Spirit and let Him give you the words to speak, and the things to do, and one day it will be a best seller!😊

Have a blessed weekend.x

COME AND SEE

John 11:34-37 NLT Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!”37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

We probably know the story of Lazarus who had been sick and then died and was buried. On purpose, Jesus didn’t arrive in time to stop him from dying, and everyone was asking ‘Why?’ There was a reason!😊

All through life there will be things happen which don’t go according to how we think they should have done, and we sometimes ask “Why?” or we just bury it. We think a dream has died, so we bury it. We have a major upset or a hurt which we don’t know how to handle, so we bury it.

But Jesus comes on the scene and He says, “Where have you put him?” He says that to us as well. “Where have you put, whatever it was that upset you?”  Then comes the invitation. They say “Lord, come and see.”

I believe the Lord is wanting us to invite Him to come and see where we’ve buried the hurt or whatever has so grieved us, to come and see the buried dreams. You see, Jesus wept. He had great compassion on those who were grieving, over their loss, but He didn’t leave them to wallow in their grief, He was going to do something about it, and He wants to do something about whatever we’ve buried as well.😊

He wants to breathe His new life into your situation, but it all starts when you invite Him to come and see. Jesus wants you to let Him into the hurt or loss, and allow Him to heal and restore your heart, restore your dream you thought was buried forever, or bring His abundant life to what’s been stolen from you. Lazarus’s family had great joy coming, they just didn’t know it, and Jesus is still the same today. He is the Life Giver.

Why not invite Him in today to “Come and See”, and allow Him to resurrect your dream or give you a new one, to heal what lies buried and give you back your joy again.😊 In Jesus name. Amen.

Isaiah 63:3 NIV and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

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LIVING IN PEACE

1 Peter 5:7 AMP casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].

If I buy a car but don’t follow the manufacturer’s instructions, I can’t really complain to the manufacturer if it goes wrong!😊 We all know what it’s like when things go wrong in our lives and that’s when we need to turn to the Word for answers and not cast away our confidence. (Hebrews 10:35-36)

Jesus said in John 16:33 AMPC I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Jesus told us to see ourselves ‘in Him’ because ‘in Him’ is His wonderful peace and the ability to overcome. We have to choose to take our eyes off the world with all its worries and fix our eyes on Him and His finished work.

We all have a battle in our minds, where tormenting spirits try to drive us to the end of our tether but God said if we’ll keep our minds fixed on Him we would know His peace. Jesus’ peace is connected to casting our cares onto our Heavenly Father. He never expected or demanded that we carry even one of them!

It’s not a suggestion, it’s an instruction in the manual from our commander in chief. The more we hang on to our cares, the more anxious and stressed we become, because we’re actually opening the door to the enemy to bring his trouble, his sickness, etc. by using our imagination, our faith, to believe for the wrong things.

The Holy Spirit told us in Philippians 4:8 NLT And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. He doesn’t say think about everything that’s gone wrong, going wrong, or might go wrong!

Phil. 4:6-7 NLT. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Jesus has given us His instruction manual on how to have the peace that passes understanding but the choice is ours. He says to submit to God so we can resist the devil, but if we don’t submit to obeying God’s instructions we allow the devil to continue his attacks. So let’s pull the rug out from under the enemy’s feet and do as God has said and cast all of our cares on to Him and have great peace of mind as we trust Him. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo: Matt Seymour on Unsplash

MORE THAN ENOUGH

John 6:5 NLT Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”

When Jesus asks his disciples where they can buy food to feed the people, I noticed He didn’t ask them how they were going to buy it, but where they would buy it, bearing in mind they were up in the hills! 

Phillip, however, was immediately thinking of the ‘how’! He said “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them.”  He was thinking of it from the perspective of all the responsibility was on them to work to make it happen and he realised they couldn’t do it.

Andrew on the other hand saw it from the point of view of his own resources and what he already had in hand, but again immediately dismissed it as not nearly enough. One was going to work for it - self effort - not enough. The other was looking at what he had - same conclusion - not enough! We’ve probably all done that too!😊

Then Jesus demonstrates we don’t need self effort, but what little we do have, if we’ll offer it to Him with a thankful heart He will multiply it and it will be more than enough when we trust in God’s supernatural ability to provide all we need.

It says in verses 11 and 12 they had all they wanted, they had more than enough, they were satisfied, and there were even 12 baskets of left overs besides! I love how God works!😊

Our God is the God of more than enough. There’s a spiritual principle at work here as Jesus shows us we need to give something so it can be multiplied. If we offer nothing, then our nothing will be multiplied to more nothing. But when we offer God the skills we do have, the faith we do have, the little resources we do have with a thankful heart, then God can, and will, multiply it.

So whatever our need is today let’s give something to God to work with, no matter how insignificant we think it is, and know He will multiply it and provide more than enough for us too.😊 Thank You Lord. Amen.

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SIT DOWN AND SEE WHAT GOD WILL DO

John 6:10 NLT “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes…

Jesus and His disciples are all out on the hills and 5,000 men and their families have been drawn to hear what Jesus has to say and do. Jesus sees the potential to demonstrate God’s goodness, so He asks Philip where they can buy bread to feed all the people. Jesus already knew what He was going to do but He wanted to hear what Philip would say. Then Andrew chips in and says what he thinks.

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that look rather impossible to deal with but Jesus is waiting to hear what we’re going to say! Are we going to agree with the way things look, with how impossible it seems, how logically there is no way we can deal with this? Or are we going to say what God says?

God says ‘All things are possible with Him, that nothing is too hard for Him.’ God says, ‘We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.’ God says ‘He will provide whatever we need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.’ God says ‘No weapon formed against us will prosper.’ God says ‘He turns all things round for our good to those who love Him.’😊

Then Jesus does something interesting, He tells them all to sit down! It’s like He’s saying, “Make yourselves comfortable, because I’m about to show you what God can do.” 

Maybe you’ve been walking the floor, wringing your hands, saying “What am I going to do?” If so, can I encourage you to sit down, take your eyes off the problem, fix them on Jesus and His Word, and watch and see what God will do for you.

Those 5,000 plus people would have sat down with a sense of expectancy, of ‘what’s Jesus going to do now?’ We can have the same attitude. We can have an attitude of faith, of trust, knowing the goodness of our God is legendary, knowing His compassion never fails, knowing His mercy goes on forever and His grace and favour are for each one of us today. 

Jesus is saying to us to sit down which is another way of saying to trust Him, to have faith, and watch Him provide. Will we do it? I pray we will, and say what His word says about us, and what it says about God, and see what God will do.😊 Amen.

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WOKEN UP

Deuteronomy 31:8 NLT Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

I heard this recently - Woken up, shaken up, picked up and grown up.

If we’re reading this then the sun has risen again and God has woken us up and given us another day, and we get to choose whether we praise Him for it, or moan our way through it. God is saying that even if things haven’t gone the way we wanted them to go, today is a new day and we know God is in it with us, so we have the advantage straight away. What a great thought to start the week.😊

So, what’s next? Now we can choose to shake off yesterday whether it was good or bad. If something happened to upset or disappoint us, let’s close the door on it. Yesterday is done and dusted and we can’t change it but we can learn from it and leave it in God’s hands because God is picking us up and blessing us with His new mercies this morning. He says in Psalm 23 that He has provided goodness and mercy to follow and overtake us each day and I’m on the lookout for them. How about you?😊

God plants us in this new day with new hope in our hearts because He is in it with us, strengthening, upholding and breathing new life into us. Just take a few breaths and imagine breathing His life into your lungs.

God doesn’t just leave us there though, because He’s also growing us up into something better, wiser and stronger than we were before. He’s taking us into a new place of trusting in Him, giving us fresh thoughts, new insights we can pass on to others to be a blessing to them.

God can use whatever has happened in our lives and turn it round for our good, to grow us up into who He needs us to be.

So let’s give our loving Father a big thank you for today knowing He loves us and He is with us in it. In Jesus name. Amen.

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HOW CAN YOU SAY…?

Isaiah 40:25 NLT 

“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. 

26 Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars?

He brings them out like an army, one after another,

calling each by its name.

Because of his great power and incomparable strength,

not a single one is missing.

27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?

O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?

Isaiah 40 is a wonderful chapter and he stretches our imaginations to consider how great our God is. He describes in verse 12 how God held the oceans in the hollow of His hand, and measured off the heavens with His fingers. God knows the weight of the earth and weighed the mountains and hills on a scale. 

The AMPC translation says He measured off the heavens with a 9-inch span. A span is from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger. Just imagine the brilliance of God’s mind that could work those things out using His hand!

You can almost see Isaiah being inspired by the Holy Spirit to ‘see’ how powerful and awesome our God is as he describes the creating of the heavens. God just becomes greater and greater in our thinking and then he suddenly shifts track and says “How can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?”

He’s helping us realise that God sees and knows everything and He is so powerful there is no trouble we could ever possibly have that would be too much for Him to solve!😊

He continues in v.28 Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

So next time you have some troubles looming up that seem impossible to you, maybe it would be good to have another read of this chapter and allow the Holy Spirit to let you know we can trust our God to not only sort it out and never miss a beat, but He’ll lift us up on wings like eagles while He does it.😊 What a mighty God is our God! Let’s praise Him today. Amen.

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WHAT’S IN YOUR SUITCASE?

Philippians 4:6-7 NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We can be happily going along when out of the blue we find something suddenly blows up which tries to blow us off course. It seem to come from nowhere but they’re like volcanoes that erupt and have to be dealt with.

But God doesn’t want us to allow things to blow up out of all proportion, when He is well able to turn things around for our good if we keep our eyes on Him.  Even when they are life changing our God is the Life Restorer, the Healer, the Miracle Worker, the Way Maker and we’ve not to lose sight of that in the middle of whatever has erupted. We have a never ending supply of grace and fresh mercy every morning we wake up.😊

Volcanoes throw up hard rocks and lava that try to smother everything, and we can feel smothered when things get on top of us, but we need to bring those hard things to God to help us. We can drag them round with us if we want to, and even throw some at other people, but God wants us to bring them to Him and leave them with Him. 

You may have some hard rocks of unforgiveness, or of feeling hard done by, of resentment or guilt, rocks of discouragement or anxiety, or just feeling sorry for yourself. Those things all weigh us down and God doesn’t want us to carry them around any longer. 

Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who labour and are heavily burdened and I will give you rest.” It says in 1 Peter 5:7 NLT “Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.” We have a burden bearer, so why do we insist on carrying them ourselves? 

Are you carrying any rocks around with you? Maybe you have a suitcase full of them, weighing a ton. Maybe you’re carrying some other old suitcases as well, full of old rocks? 

If so, don’t carry them any longer but bring them to our loving Heavenly Father and take the rocks out and give them to Him one by one and leave them there, and let Him minister His peace and restoration to you, and come away with your suitcase filled with His joy and blessings instead, ready for the journey ahead. In Jesus name. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x

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DEEPER INTO GOD’S LOVE

Ephesians 3:17-18 NLT Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

I was given some Allium bulbs in January but haven’t been able to plant them as the ground has been too hard, but some of them have started putting out green shoots all on their own in the packet! So in the meantime I’ve put them in pots where they can get rooted.

God tells us to be rooted and grounded, not in the world, not in our worries, but in His great love for us because when we are, then we’ll be able to love others as He tells us to.😊 We’re going to need His love when we meet someone who rubs us up the wrong way, or betrays us, or is unkind - our love won’t cope but His will!

When we plant those bulbs we’ll have to dig out some weeds and loosen the soil so they can go deep enough to flourish. In the same way, there are some things in our lives we may need to dig up, like fears and doubts, and loosen the soil of our hearts, so we’re ready for the seed of the Word of God to grow and get deeply rooted in God’s love.

Paul reminds us that as we learn to trust Christ more, so He makes Himself at home in our hearts. What a lovely thought.😊 As we trust more, then our roots will grow deeper in His love and he says it’s His love that keeps us strong. The more we trust Him, the more we receive His love, the stronger we will be.

We see God’s love for us everyday of our lives, how He cares for us, provides and protects us because He loves us. He has made us the love of His life, the apple of His eye. How amazing that is and the more we understand God’s love for us, the more we will fall in love with Him. It becomes a circle of love.😊

So, on this Valentines Day and every day, God is drawing us to Himself with cords of love, and His love is from everlasting to everlasting. He wants us to know we are deeply loved, greatly blessed and highly favoured by Him today.❤️❤️ In Jesus name. Amen.

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WHERE GOD THINGS HAPPEN

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

I’ve been reading in Exodus of the escape of the Israelites slaves from the Egyptians and we see God giving very specific instructions for the night of the Passover which gave them a focus, something to do, while God worked out His purposes. When the blood of a lamb was applied to their doorposts God kept them safe, but they had to follow His instructions to the letter!

Shortly after their rescue we find them trembling in fear when the Egyptian charioteers chased them down and they panicked, but again God told them what to do, while God dealt with their enemies and drowned them all in the sea. Then we see them at Marah where the water was bitter and they complained again because they had no water to drink. But God was merciful and told Moses how to make the water sweet.

You see they hadn’t learned to trust God, but constantly referred to their circumstances instead of God Himself and what He had said. I think we sometimes get caught like that.😊 The enemy shouts in our ears to look at the circumstances, and we’re tempted to use our logical minds, to begin to reason things out, instead of just trusting God!

God however, is looking for a people who will walk with Him from day to day, by faith in what His word has said, not in what we feel or what past experience has taught us. 

If there’s one thing the exodus of the Israelites teaches us, it is to trust and obey exactly what God says, no matter how impossible it looks and to remember God never let them down even though they were so unfaithful to Him. 

God says we are seated in Christ in heavenly places, and it’s so important we don’t become so focused on the worldly realm, that we miss the eternal realm where God things happen.😊 

Thank You Father, Jesus came down and lifted us up to where You are. Help us to keep our eyes focused only on You and what Your word has promised us, and not on our circumstances. In Jesus name. Amen.

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WALK FREE OF IT

John 8:31-32 NLT Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The other day in a prayer meeting, I heard someone say, “Nothing is holding us back except ourselves” and it went off in my spirit. I just knew the Lord was talking to me!

There are times when we know the Lord is wanting us to go in a certain direction, but we feel we have a blocker on us which comes from inside. It’s not necessarily what others have said, or even the circumstances, but the enemy has somehow established a stronghold of negative or misguided thinking, or perhaps a bad attitude in us, maybe due to past experiences, which in turn, stop us from moving forward. Anyone identify?

When we recognise it, we can go to the Lord and ask Him to show us what to do about it, because we know for sure, He is not the one holding us back.😊

When God brings something to light then we need to be honest enough to acknowledge it, so we can deal with it, and bring it out into the open so we can be rid of it! We don’t want to sweep it under the carpet, tempting though it may be, so I dealt with it straight away.

The enemy loves it when he manages to con us into wearing a mask, which I think a lot of people do. It’s a mask of “I’m fine” when we’re probably not ‘fine’ at all! His strategy is for things to be kept hidden, but when we tell somebody we trust, and bring it out into the open, the enemy loses his grip and it sets us free, but the more we bottle it up, the worse it becomes! 

If, or when, you have one of those light bulb moments, when you realise God is asking you to sort something out, or if you’re fed up wearing a mask, find someone you know you can trust to talk to about it. Allow the Holy Spirit to minister His freedom into your heart so you can walk free of it, like I did earlier this week. You’ll be glad you did because Jesus came to set us free.😊 Amen.

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WHAT IF?….

Exodus 4:1 NLT But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you?”

When a child is holding his daddy’s hand he knows he’s held securely and doesn’t ask ‘What if I fall?” because he knows his daddy is holding on to him.

Moses, however, did have a fit of the ‘What Ifs?” and we’ve probably all done that at some time as well. Unfortunately they undermine our faith and stop us from moving forward and they also have the potential to block other people’s faith as well! I wonder how many blessings we’ve headed off at the pass with our ‘What Ifs’ and never received what God was trying to give to us?

When we say “What if?” we’re forgetting what God has promised us!😊 Hebrews 13:5 (Amplified) “… for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” When God has given us His Word, then we don’t need to consider the ‘what ifs’. What God has said He will do, He will do!

Just because something hasn’t been done before, or we can’t see how it could happen shouldn’t be a basis for not doing it. If God has commanded it, that should be the end of the argument but we see Moses arguing with God. He said he was useless at speaking and begged God to use someone else, but God said this in verse 12, “Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you what to say.”

Moses lets us see the futility of his arguments and how God did all He said he would do over the course of his life. 

So next time God asks you or me to do something, we have a choice. Are we going to be fearful like Moses and give God every excuse under the sun why we can’t do it, or why it can’t happen, and bombard Him with the ‘What Ifs’? Or are we going to grab His word with both hands and say, “Yes Lord, all things are possible with You. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Lord, give us Your courage to do whatever it is You want us to do and to do it with a right heart that wants to please you, and to trust You. In Jesus name. Amen.

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SET APART BY HIM

Exodus 33:16-17 NLT  How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.” The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.”

I have a lovely bone china Teaset which we were given as a wedding present over 50 years ago and I keep it set apart for special use because I treasure it. 

God tells us He treasures us as well and that’s why He has set us apart from all other people, because we are special to Him, called and chosen by Him. 

God has set us apart because of Jesus and who He is and what He has done and not because of who we are or what we’ve done. He has called us His masterpiece, His special possession, because we have accepted Jesus as our Saviour, because of His great love, mercy and grace He has shown us. 

It’s amazing that God knows each one of us by name, we’re written on the palm of His hand. God knows you and me personally, even how many hairs we have on our head.😊

Not only that, God has shown us His favour, and promised to never leave us or abandon us and it’s humbling to know we are so privileged to be called a child of God. 

Ephesians 1:4-6 MSG Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

This week, we can go out with confidence in Him, knowing all that, that we’re surrounded by God’s favour, we have His presence with us wherever we go, helping, protecting, and providing for us, so we can go out with a smile on our faces - set apart by Him and for Him, because we’re the focus of His love. What a wonderful thought!😊 Thank You Lord. Amen.

OUR BLESSED HOPE

Revelation 1:5-6 NKJV 

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, 

the firstborn from the dead, 

and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins 

in His own blood, 

6 and has made us kings and priests to 

His God and Father, 

to Him be glory and dominion 

forever and ever. Amen.

What a wonderful Saviour we have, when we realise how much we owe to Jesus for washing us from our sins. But to then go on to say He has already made us kings and priests to His God and Father, is mind boggling. That’s you and me! He has given us so much, how can we not give Him all the glory forever? Lord help us renew our minds to receive that truth today.

John went on to say in v.18 He is the One who holds the keys to death and the grave. Jesus conquered the grave and He has given us a blessed hope because He is really coming back for those of us who belong to Him and this is what Paul says:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

What a hope, what a promise! It’s huge and I like to think of Jesus as The Uptaker.😊 

Titus 2:13 NKJV looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

We have a blessed hope, we have something to rejoice about every day. Jesus is coming back and we’ll be with Him forever! Are we looking? God is calling to us again today and He wants us to be ready and looking for Jesus to come. Amen.😊

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WE NEED TO KNOW!

John 14:6 NLT Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Just up the road from us is a cemetery and we see Rolls Royce limousine hearses and even horse drawn glass carriage hearses go by. Whether people are carried in a posh limo, glass carriage, or an ordinary hearse, they have all gone to where they chose to go - Heaven or Hell.

Gosh it sounds rather blunt, even shocking, but we need to think about it! Jesus spoke about Hell more than any anyone else in the Bible!

God says there is only one way to Heaven and that’s by believing Jesus took all our sin at the Cross, in our place. When we believe that and ask Him to forgive our sins, to be our personal Saviour, He washes all our sins away, He rescues us from going to Hell, and we’re on our way to Heaven. That’s good news, but we have to choose!😊

God doesn’t want anyone to go to Hell so He gives us all an invitation to go to Heaven, but we can’t drift into Heaven, or get in by good works, or ‘hope so’, or because we go to church, or because granny was a Christian.😊

Our way into heaven is certain when we make Jesus our Saviour and trust Him for the forgiveness of our sins, and know His shed blood has paid the price for the punishment we deserved. 

If you were to die tonight where would you go? Have you answered the RSVP on God’s invitation and decided to invite Jesus into your life and have your sins forgiven? We none of us know when we shall breathe our last breath and we need to be ready, we need to know where we’re going!

God has given us all free choice, and He so wants us to be with Him. I once heard someone ask what is there in Hell that makes anybody want to go there? Even if people feel they deserve to go there, God doesn’t think so, He has already given us His forgiveness, but we have to accept it. His arms of love are wide open waiting for us. The choice is ours, but we need to decide, and I invite you to choose Jesus today.😊

If you want to do that please pray this prayer from your heart. “God I’m sorry for my sins and I ask You to forgive me. I believe Jesus went to the Cross for my sake and I believe Jesus rose from the dead. I ask Jesus to come into my life and wash me clean and I make Jesus my Lord and Saviour and thank You I’m on my way to Heaven. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

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USING THE BLESSINGS

Genesis 1:28 KJV And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Wow! God put that blessing on mankind in the Garden of Eden but then Adam lost his authority, he gave up his dominion, when he obeyed satan instead of God. But that dominion, that authority, and much more besides, were restored after Jesus’ death and resurrection when He restored everything to us the enemy had stolen. Hallelujah! 😊

God has blessed us to be fruitful - that means to prosper in every area of our lives, whether it’s in our families, friendships, finances, health, our work, in everything.

He has blessed us to multiply in all of those things, but also in our love, our wisdom, our ability to witness to others and bringing others to Jesus.

God has blessed us to replenish the earth. When our faith and hope take a knock we can replenish them, both in ourselves and in others, by using the Word of God

He has blessed us to subdue. He wants us to take the authority Jesus gave us and subdue the negative thoughts the enemy brings, to subdue offences, fears and unforgiveness, to subdue those things in our lives that would seek to steal, kill and destroy, so that Jesus’ abundant life can be seen.

He has blessed us to have dominion! Dominion means to reign, to have authority over, to take control! We don’t want the enemy to walk all over us and God wants us to take hold of His Word and take dominion over the enemy and what he brings, over sickness, disease, and lack. God wants us to use His blessing and remind satan of his defeat by the blood of the Lamb. 

Romans 5:17 NIV … 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!

Is anybody listening, me included? We’ve been blessed! Let’s use our blessings - so we can go and be a blessing.😊

Lord, thank You for Your blessings and with Your help Holy Spirit we will go out and use them. We will be fruitful, multiply and replenish. We will subdue and we will have dominion and use the authority Jesus has restored to us. In Jesus mighty name. Amen.

TRY AGAIN!

Luke 5:4 NKJV When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

The disciples had been fishing all night long but the fish just weren’t there and they were tired and downhearted. Ever been there? You’re doing your best but nothing is working? Jesus comes along and borrows Simon’s boat and then tells him to launch out deeper, further, and to cast out his nets again!

Even though Simon was fed up he says, v.5 NKJV “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” You can almost see him begrudgingly throw out the nets again although the NKJV says he only cast out one net!

Well he caught so many fish the net began to break so he had to ask his mates in the other boats to come and help him bring in the haul, so the blessing extended to others as well. You see, Jesus knew what was coming! There was a ‘Woohoo’ moment coming!😊

I wonder is the Lord telling you to do something, but you’re tired, or things haven’t gone as well as you’d hoped, or maybe you’re not sure you can do it? God wants to encourage you to try again, to think bigger, to go beyond where you are now, to believe and expect far more than you ever thought possible, regardless of your circumstances.

The day Jesus told Simon to throw out the nets again He had something far bigger in mind. He wanted to provide enough to pay all their bills and be a blessing to others while He was about it!

You might be mooring in the shallows, when God is saying to you to launch out into the deep. It may mean trying something new, going for a different type of job, or opening a business. It may be to give a gift of money, to volunteer at church, or write a book or a song, but whatever it is, He’s saying try again! Don’t give up and don’t you dare give in to discouragement!😊

Now keep reminding yourself all through the day, ‘God is for me, not against me. I’m a child of the Most High God, His favour surrounds me like a shield and His good plans are coming my way.”

Lord show us what You want us to do and give us the courage to step out in faith and do it. In Jesus name. Amen.

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MONEY MATTERS

Proverbs 11:24-25 NLT Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. 25 The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

Have you noticed how some people are not comfortable talking about money, and yet we all need it, we all use it, and it’s a part of our lives, so I hope you'll stick with me for a minute.😊 God does warn us not to love money as it’s the love of it that’s the root of all evil. He didn’t say money in itself was evil, just when it gets a hold of us!

Jesus taught a lot on money and He shows us how to make sure there is a steady supply. He says to be a giver, to sow into other people’s lives, into His kingdom first, knowing God will multiply it back to us.

Can I hear someone saying, “You shouldn’t give in order to get!”? But Jesus said in 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.” 

If we have a financial need, in Malachi 3:8-12 the Lord says if we give Him the tithe first He will open the windows of heaven. Some think the tithe is not for now, or they can’t afford to tithe, but I’ve discovered God supplies all our needs when we do!😊

Jesus taught us that a farmer plants a certain crop because that is exactly what he wants to reap. He doesn’t plant tomatoes if he wants corn. No, he plants corn to get corn! If we have a financial need, then plant a corresponding seed and expect a harvest. God can’t multiply what we don’t give, but He will bless what we do give.

I asked the Lord one day to show me how it worked and what to sow and where, then I planted that specific seed of money into His kingdom. Many weeks passed but then suddenly the harvest came from an unexpected source.😊 God does what He says!

God’s principles work in all areas of life. He sees every seed we sow in faith and He instructs us not to give up, He will multiply it back to us, just wait for the seeds to grow and produce the harvest.😊

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NLT Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

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SOW A SEED

Galations 6:9 NIV Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Someone sent me this the other day ‘Always remember that the goodness that you put out into the world always comes back to you.’ It’s like when we plant sunflower seeds we expect them to grow sunflowers!😊 

I wonder what we’ve been planting recently, because what we plant will grow. Have we planted some kindness and goodness, some mercy and forgiveness into peoples’ lives? Have we planted confidence into someone and told them they’re doing well? Have we promoted someone else so they're built up and encouraged. Whatever we plant, God says we will reap what we sow - it will come back to us. 

It’s also a warning not to sow negative things, negative thoughts, even into our own lives, because they too will produce a harvest of negative results! Hmmm.🤔

God chooses to see each one of us through His eyes of love and He wants us to do the same for those we meet.  We don’t know what kind of life they’ve had, we’ve never stood in their shoes and had to deal with what they’ve dealt with. It’s only by the grace of God that we are where we are right now. 

Jesus said in Matthew 7:12 MSG “Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. 

Would we like somebody to be friendly to us, then plant those seeds in someone else’s life. Let’s think how we can lift someone else up today, to bring a smile to their faces, to help them know they matter, they’re valuable and loved, no matter what they look like, behave like, or whether they look like us or talk like us.

Would you like some sunflowers to come up in your life? Then sow some seeds of love and kindness, of patience and understanding today, because God has promised, you’ll have a lovely harvest if you don’t give up. 😊

Lord help us to remember how much You bless us, love us and forgive us, so we can go out and do the same for others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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