GUARDIAN OF OUR SOULS

1 Peter 2:25 AMP For you were continually wandering like [so many] sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Isn’t it wonderful to know there is someone watching out for us around the clock! The Lord is our Good Shepherd and Psalm 139 reminds us there’s nowhere we can go where our Shepherd can lose sight of us, whether we’re travelling or at home, out on the ocean, in the heavens flying high or down in the depths. Even in the dark He sees us and when we wake up He’s still with us!😊

He knows where we are every minute of the day and night and He’s thinking about us and watching over us because of His great love and care for us. Psalm 121:7-8 The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. 

Not only that but He has assigned His angelic beings to also watch over us. Psalm 91:11 NLT For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

Then He blesses us with the wonderful truth that He guards our souls because we’ve come back to Him, which means God is also providing protection and care for our spiritual and emotional well-being as well.

God has us covered in every area of our lives so let’s go out into our week believing His promises and resting in those reassuring truths, claiming them for ourselves, knowing we’re so loved and cared for. In Jesus wonderful name. Amen.😊

Photo by Biegun Wschodni on Unsplash

YOU THRILL ME LORD…

Psalm 92:1-2 and 4 NLT

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

to sing praises to the Most High.

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

your faithfulness in the evening,

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

 I sing for joy because of what you have done.

Have you been thrilled about anything this past few weeks? Has anything happened when you were aware the hand of the Lord had been on your life? Just recently we had a parking ticket for £50 in the local car park for not displaying a ticket. However, we did have a valid ticket, but it blew upside down when we closed the door of the car and we hadn’t noticed, so the traffic warden couldn’t read it! It was very upsetting at the time!

Anyway, we prayed for God to give us favour and we appealed and sent a photo of our valid ticket and they graciously cancelled the charge and said we no longer owed them £50 but not to do it again! So I was thrilled to bits!😊 God gave us favour with God and men as He promises in His word. (Proverbs 3:4)

I’m sure there are many times when the Lord intervenes on our behalf when we know nothing about it and it’s good to give the Lord thanks for those times as well as the ones we do recognise. There is so much in our lives that we take for granted but if they were taken away, we would soon notice it!

Apart from anything else, we can praise God for His unfailing love and His great faithfulness to us every day of our lives which we know are far greater than everything else put together. 

So would you like to join with me and say with the Psalmist, “You thrill me Lord, with all You have done for me”?😊 Let’s do a ‘good’ thing and join our voices today and sing a song of praise and thankfulness to our wonderful Saviour for all His goodness, for His loving kindness and faithfulness to us, and for His many blessings and mercies we’re maybe not even aware of. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Mishaal Zahed on Unsplash

ASK FOR WISDOM

James 1:5 NLT If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

Do you ever scratch your head trying to understand a verse of scripture you’ve come across? Jesus said His words are spirit and life (John 6:63), and we need to come to them with our spirit so we can receive what they say rather than with our natural thinking.

It helps to remember the Word of God is supernatural, and that Jesus is The Word. He says we’re united with Him now, united with the supernatural, but maybe we forget to see ourselves that way and if we come to the Word of God from the soulish realm our mind struggles with it, it wants to tilt, a bit like this dog!😊

There are lots of things God’s word says to us that challenge our natural thinking, and on one occasion people said Jesus’ teaching was hard to accept and many abandoned Him! They tried to understand what He was teaching them from their intellect instead of from their spirits and so they couldn’t handle it. 

No wonder we need the Holy Spirit so much! Only He can bring the scriptures alive, when He gives us light bulb moments and we suddenly ‘get it’! Those wow moments when we see the truth and it sets us free!😊

So this is just a nudge today to stick with it and to keep reading the scriptures even if we don’t understand them straight away. We can ask the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom to help us understand what we need to know, and in the meantime we just stay in an attitude of faith knowing it will be like digging for treasure which will bless us greatly when we find it. His words are Life! 😊Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x

Photo by Dex Ezekiel on Unsplash

OUR MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

Joshua 1:8 NIV Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

The other day I noticed a book called ‘The Midnight Library’ and the title made me stop and think. I wonder if you have a midnight library? Those books you might turn to in the middle of the night when you find sleep is escaping you for one reason or another!😊

Now for some it might mean making a cup of tea as well as reading a story or something to distract our thoughts, or for others it will be to read a psalm or a well known scripture passage that brings calm to our busy minds, and peace to our souls. 

But there are times when the Lord speaks to us in the small hours, maybe because He knows there’s nothing else going on to distract us! And our verse does instruct us to meditate on His word, even in the night.😊

The boy Samuel had one of those encounters when the Lord called his name several times in the night to talk to him, and he had to learn to tune in to hear what God was saying. Daniel was another who had dreams and visions in his bed at night that were prophetic, and some of those visions are still unfolding today! Whenever God speaks to us we need to be listening.

No matter what is keeping us awake at night, whether it’s too much cheese at dinner time😊, or the worries and cares of life, or the Lord is speaking directly to us, we can know that He is aware of it all and He does want us to cast our cares on Him and be able to sleep peacefully. 

Psalm 3:5 NLT I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me.

God designed us to recharge our batteries through sleeping, so reading His book when we need to turn to our midnight library can only be good, and will definitely help us settle down again as it brings peace to our souls.😊 Amen.

Isaiah 26:3 NLT 3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Photo by awar kurdish on Unsplash

GRACE FOR OUR NOW

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. 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.

Are you someone who wakes up too early and starts to think about everything that’s coming up, or the hundred and one things you need to be doing, and find yourself unable to go back to sleep? Or can you sleep through anything? God knows what we’re like and Jesus made a point of saying to the crowd, don’t worry about tomorrow, today has enough worries of its own.

Jesus reminded us in the Lord’s Prayer to say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Not our monthly or weekly bread. God gives us what we need for the day we are in right now, not for next week or some other time.😊

God has promised us His grace, His provision for whatever we need for today, fresh mercy each morning for today’s situations. But do we find we’re living in the future, what might happen, instead of in the present? Maybe we worry about what we said or did yesterday, or try to work out what we’ll do if such and such happens, and lose sleep over it, when all Jesus asks of us is to live in the grace He gives us for right now. We can’t use today’s grace for next week’s problems, and we can’t change what’s already gone. It won’t work!

So the Holy Spirit reminds us to cast all our cares onto God, to be anxious about nothing but to ask Him for what we need with a thankful heart. He says if we’ll do that we’ll know His great peace in every situation because we’ll be trusting in the God who is faithful, who will never leave us without support, the only One who has all the answers!

Today would be a good day to start leaving our tomorrows in God’s hands and believe Him to go ahead of us in every way we need Him to, and just enjoy the present and be thankful for it.😊 Amen.

FAITH OR FEELINGS

Acts 20:1-2 NLT When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged them … While there, he encouraged the believers in all the towns he passed through …

When the uproar was over - did you notice that phrase? We all go through uproars in our lives from time to time and they can make us feel depleted or exhausted. It’s at that point we need our faith encouraging and Paul was very aware of the need, so he encouraged believers wherever he went.

It’s great if we have somebody who can encourage us personally, but what about when there’s nobody there to do it. What then? Are we going to go by our faith or our feelings? We have to do like King David and encourage ourselves in the Lord. We can remind ourselves of the many times He has come through for us in the past and how faithful our God is to us, how His Word, His promises stand forever into eternity. We have to not dwell on the circumstances, but look to our God.

If we’re wise we’ll speak His promises over our lives even if circumstances say to the contrary!😊 You see, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In other words, what we hear coming out of our mouths is what we will believe. When we speak negatively we believe for the worst. When we speak the word of God our hope will arise, our expectations will increase and the joy of the Lord will bubble up inside us once again.

Let’s not rehearse the problem over and over again, all the bad stuff that has happened or is happening, but let’s rehearse the goodness of our God, how He has promised to never abandon us or leave us without support. Let’s encourage each other to believe for the best and not for the worst because our God is a miracle worker, He does the impossible every day and He has promised to turn our circumstances round for the good of those who love the Lord, who are called according to His purposes. That is a promise for us if we trust in Jesus!

Listen! We’re on the victory side, so let me encourage you today to know that God is for you and not against you, and with Him on our side we shall speak to our mountain, be Overcomers who go the extra mile, do whatever it takes. He’s with us in it and we are more than conquerors through Christ who saves us. Be encouraged! 

Join with me and lift up your head and declare, “Christ is strengthening me and I’m on the winning side.” In Jesus name. Amen.😊

Photo by Gloria Medlin on Unsplash

JOLLY BROLLIES

Proverbs 30:5 NLT Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.

Jolly Brollies!😊 When I see lots of umbrellas I think of some days when the rain seems to pour down on us. Those days when one thing after another comes to rain on our parade!

And then I realised how negative that was and looked at them again and realised they were protecting from the sunshine and how uplifting they looked! They’re speaking of sunny days and holidays under sunshades.😊

It all depends on our perspective, doesn’t it?! Do we see the bright side of situations or only the gloomy ones? Do we speak good words over ourselves, or downhearted words? You see, God has given us His Word to be a protective umbrella, to shield us from whatever we need protection from and to lift us up. 

His Word is our lifeline, our guide, our hope because Jesus is the Word of God, He is our shelter, our protection, our provision, our everything. We can see His Word as an umbrella today, because His word will stand forever into eternity. It’s also our foundation stone, the rock on which we stand, and it’s our ‘go to’ manual for life.😊

So no matter what situation you’re looking at, remember to see it through the lens of the protective umbrella of the Word of God, through the lens of His promises which are positive and uplifting. 

Remember when something happens to rain on your day to put God’s Word in your mouth, and declare it by faith. It will not return to Him empty but will be fulfilled because all the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus.😊

Psalm 121:7-8 AMP The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in [everything that you do] From this time forth and forever.

Praise God. Amen.

Photo by Henrique Malaguti on Unsplash

SIMPLE FOR GOD

2 Kings 3:18 But this is only a simple thing for the Lord, for he will make you victorious over the army of Moab!

Isn’t it amazing how something really difficult for us is really easy for somebody else and it’s because God has gifted us all in different ways. We don’t ask a plumber to do brain surgery, or ask a brain surgeon to fit a new bathroom!😊

But God Himself is able to do all things and I find that so reassuring! There’s nothing too hard for our God. 

In our story today there are three armies joined together to fight the King of Moab but there was no water anywhere for their animals or men to drink. They were desperate for water and they couldn’t produce it out of thin air, so they turned to God - wise move!😊

Then Elisha said, “This dry valley will be filled with pools of water! You will see neither wind nor rain, but this valley will be filled with water. You will have plenty for yourselves and your cattle and other animals. This is only a simple thing for the Lord, for He will make you victorious…”

They thought it was impossible, but God can bring water with no rain! He can make dry valleys fill with pools of water! He says it’s simple! Are you facing impossible situations this week? Well take heart because whatever they are, they’re not hard for God and He says He will make you victorious! 

No matter how big our problem we can give it to God to solve because it’s simple for Him, and sometimes we either forget or don’t believe it! But we’re believers, so let’s believe it.😊

And if you’re dry and thirsty, God says He can make even our dry places fill with His life giving water and He does it by filling us with His Holy Spirit, by giving us His word which we live by, and all we have to do is ask. So let’s ask.😊

Father, as we begin another week, we give You what seems like our impossibly hard situations and ask You to resolve them. We ask You to give us Your life giving water, so it flows out of our innermost beings and brings life to others. We receive it all by faith and thank You for it, In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo: hysw001 at Unsplash

OUR FORTRESS, SHELTER AND RESCUE

Psalm 37:39-40 NLT 

The Lord rescues the godly, 

He is their fortress in times of trouble.

The Lord helps them,

Rescuing them from the wicked. He saves them,

And they find shelter in him.

What a wonderful God we have! He rescues, helps and shelters all those who go to Him through Jesus, who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.😊 

Scripture says He rescues the godly, that’s you and me if we’ve invited Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour. We can expect to be rescued when we need it! What do you need rescuing from at the minute? Is it from a stubborn mindset or from negative thinking? Is it from sickness and disease? Is it that you need rescuing financially, or from depression? Whatever situation we’re in, we have a wonderful Saviour to call on to rescue us.

He says He is our fortress in times of trouble. We can either run to Him when trouble hits, or we can sit in a heap and feel sorry for ourselves. There is a better way! We can come to the throne of grace and run into God’s loving arms and ask Him to help us in our time of trouble and need.

Maybe you’re in the middle of a ‘wicked’ situation, where you’re being persecuted for your faith, where your kindness is being abused, where your honesty is being ridiculed? Then know that God promises to rescue you from the wicked. 

He says He shelters us but only if we go to Him for that shelter.😊 If we stay away and struggle on in our own strength then He can’t shelter us, and He won’t force us to come to Him. 

So let’s run to His shelter, His strong tower today because we belong to Him, and let’s praise our wonderful God and Saviour because He is all we need, both now and for eternity and He loves us so much. Thank You Lord. Amen.

Photo by Chase Moyer on Unsplash

BY BEDTIME

1 John 2:5-6 NLT But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

I was listening to a testimony about a dad who had an argument with his eight year old daughter and he admitted she was right and he was in the wrong. She said to not feel bad but to try and be a bit more like Jesus by bedtime! Those words really struck me!

I realised it’s something we maybe all need to hear - to be a bit more like Jesus by bedtime. To finish the day well, knowing we’ve put right those things we did wrong if we’re able to. To apologise for the sharp or unkind words or repent of the unforgiveness we may have been harbouring in our hearts.

Romans 8:29 NLT For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, ... That little girl knew God’s heart!. So, I just wanted to encourage us all to remember we belong to God, we’re His sons and daughters and He wants us to be more and more like Jesus every day.😊

The good news is He’s not left us alone to ‘try’ to do it, because none of us can change ourselves, but He’s given us His Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out as we surrender to Him. It’s part of our being willing to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). We know our thoughts determine how we will act and react, and our transformation happens when we agree with God’s word more and more.

Even if we can’t always put things right, we can ask for grace to do things better tomorrow, to grow more like Jesus by bedtime😊, and know that God has fresh mercy for us to wake up to in the morning so we can start with a fresh slate. Thank God for that!

Thank You Lord for Your grace and mercy and for helping us to change and be more like Jesus each day. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

Photo:Dmitry Radionov at Unsplash 

LAUNCH SOME HELICOPTERS

Genesis 1:22 NLT Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply.

We have two trees that look a bit like rounded lollipops and recently I noticed they were covered in helicopter seeds, all ready to fly far and wide and produce hundreds of little trees all over the place. It’s their season to multiply! I’m forever having to pull them up out the soil or I’d have a veritable forest in my garden!

But it reminded me how the word of God says for us to be fruitful and multiply, to sow seeds wherever we go just like our trees. Our season to multiply is all year round!😊

Whenever we share God’s goodness with someone, what Jesus has done for us, we’re potentially sowing seeds that will multiply in the soil of other people’s lives. We’re called to be salt and light, to be different to the people who don’t have God in their lives yet. 

We’re called to share the good news that God loves them, has forgiven them and waits for them to come and be reconciled to Him. We can sow the seeds and share the good news that He still heals and delivers people out of hopeless situations, to give them a future and a hope in Jesus, that there is life after death and a home in heaven. 

We have such good news to sow into the lives of others. Some of our seeds will take root and bear fruit, some will not, but we’re still called to send out our helicopters, our seeds, and let God do the rest. 

So the word from God’s helicopter command base, is to launch some helicopters, to share our faith in Jesus this week with someone we meet, tell them how good He is to us and allow Him to put a rescue in operation.😊 In Jesus name. Amen.

Helicopter Photo:Dion at Unsplash

Our lollipop trees.😊

INTO THE UNKNOWN

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 these words in my spirit this week, “Our unknown is God’s known.” Because God knows our future, because He has already gone ahead of us, we can go into our unknown with the confidence that He knows all about it, that nothing will take Him by surprise. With God holding our hand and helping us we shall do well.😊

When we remember that His favour surrounds us like a shield we can go into our interview, into the hospital, into every situation that we have to deal with knowing God already knows all about it. He knows the outcome and He has already planned a comeback if we have a setback. He has already provided the provision when we have a need.

You see, we need to be ‘God inside’ minded. When we remember He created us in His image and for His glory, that God is inside, we shall overcome with His help, we’ll put our armour on and quench the fiery darts of the enemy.  God has good plans for us and they may involve things we didn’t foresee but God did and He has us covered!

He knew the joys before they were poured out on us, He knew the problems that He already has the answers to. He knew we’d mess up sometimes, but He provided a Saviour in Jesus so we could be forgiven and made righteous in His sight.

He knew Adam would bring major problems, but He had already planned to send Jesus to put it right before the foundation of the world. Now how much more does He already have things planned for each one of our lives, to bring about our future, our hope, our restoration, our deliverance, our healing - because of Jesus.

Isaiah 3:10 NLT 10 Tell the godly that all will be well for them… Take heart today, all will be well for the godly because we have a hope of eternity in heaven with Him, and we have the Holy Spirit to cause us to be Over-comers while in this life.

Remember, our unknown is already known by God. He’s already got all your bases covered and rest secure in that knowledge. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo: Yaron Cohen at Unsplash

THE GATE IS OPEN

John 10:9 NLT Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.

I wonder what you think when you come across a gate in your walks? Does it make you want to go through and into what lies beyond, or do you see it as a barrier, a turning round point, and not explore further?

God wants us all to live like someone left the gate open, because it is, and we’re free to come and go! God is not the one holding us back, we do that to ourselves for all sorts of reasons! Too old, too young, not enough money, too shy…..

Jesus is the gate for us to go through and into all He has prepared from before the foundation of the world, for each one of us to discover and enjoy. How amazing that is! The invitation is to every person on the planet but it does require an RSVP. We have to accept God’s invitation to move forward through whatever gate He has opened for us today and not let fear hold us back.

In the same way God wants us to open up the gates of our hearts to Him to allow the King of Glory to come in (Psalm 24:7). It’s also to allow the Holy Spirit to counsel and direct us as to what He’s asking us to be doing. God can give us the instruction, the open gate, but it’s up to us to follow His leading and trust Him for the ability to do it.😊

So just in case you feel like you’ve been going round the same old mountain over and over again, let’s do what God says we can do in the power of the Holy Spirit and let Him surprise us and bless us and go through His open gate into the good plans He has for us. In Jesus’ name.😊 Amen.

Photo: Craig Manners on Unsplash

WATER WALKERS - GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES

Matthew 14:29-30 TM He said, “Come ahead.” Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, “Master, save me!”

When you’re in a stormy situation do you want to do something about it, or do you want to sit in the corner of the boat and hope it dies down? Notice Peter wanted to do something! He decided to take a step of faith while he was in the middle of a storm raging all around him. Peter did actually walk on water for a time before he started to sink, and went on to work miracles. So well done Peter!

I heard someone say, “I’d rather be a water walking, sometimes sinking disciple, rather than one that never gets out of the boat!” Anybody can play it safe, but God wants us to take steps of faith and be the person who delivers the miracle somebody else is waiting for, or just do something we’ve never done before. 😊

So let’s encourage each other to take those steps of faith, to believe for the unbelievable and do the impossible, and even if we do lose our nerve and sink now and then, Jesus will be there to lift us up again. Just think, we are all potential water walkers, miracle workers, healers, because Jesus is in us!😊

No one else in that boat was able to write “Water Walker” on their CV, and I bet the other disciples were envious of Peter and wished they’d at least tried it, but all they could see was the wind and the waves! All they could think about was ‘what if we fail!’, instead of ‘maybe we could!” They saw a golden opportunity but they weren’t willing to take it, and missed out!

So let’s take courage, grab the moment, take every opportunity God gives us and step out of our boat and watch and see what God will do, even this week. I’m sure Peter didn’t regret it and we won’t either! With God all things are possible and He says we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.😊 Be inspired! Amen.

Photo: Elias Maurer on Unsplash

NO MORE SINKING FEELING

Romans 8:1 NLT Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Did you ever have that sinking feeling when you made a mistake and knew you were going to be in trouble for it, that someone would condemn you? But God wants us all to know something today. He’s not like that! He’s not out to punish us but to forgive us because of Jesus.

You see He’s promised to bring to completion what He has started in each one of us and when we don’t always get things right He doesn’t condemn us, beat us down, or ridicule us, or tell us we’re useless or less than. 

Psalm 145:14 NIV The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. Maybe you feel bowed down by circumstances? If so, remember He picks us up, dusts us off and He tells us He’s in our battles with us, He’s going to fix the problem or turn it round for our good. He reminds us He’s made us to be more than conquerors and with His help we will overcome when we trust Him and our eyes are fixed on Him.

God honours our ‘try’ even when we don’t always get it right. He knows what’s in our hearts so I just want to encourage us all this coming week, to remember whatever we’re experiencing right now is only temporary, that God has plans to give us a future and a hope that will bless us before a watching world, not to put us down but to build us up. 

We can look to Him and go to Him with confidence knowing He’s on our side, He’s rooting for us and if something has come against us, He won’t let it destroy us. 

Our God is a good, good Father and His blessing is on each one of us who love Jesus.😊 So we can go out with courage and with confidence in our God knowing He’s with us, He loves us and we can walk in His grace and favour as we stand in faith and believe His promises this week. In Jesus name. Amen.

(Scripture references: Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 27:13-14, Isaiah 54:17)

Photo: Alex Muromtsev at Unsplash

STICKING WITH GOD

Lamentations 3:21-25 NLT 

21 Yet I still dare to hope

when I remember this:

22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

His mercies never cease.

23 Great is his faithfulness;

his mercies begin afresh each morning.

24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;

therefore, I will hope in him!”

25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him,

to those who search for him.

This is such a well known passage and one we can turn to, to remind ourselves that no matter what has happened in the past 24 hours, when the sun rises we can write a new page in our book and God’s mercies and grace are available to us to begin the adventure or challenges of a new day.😊

It’s a passage of hope, of daring to believe for better things to come, of the certain knowledge that our God has not given up on us but remains faithful to us, no matter what is happening.

It’s interesting that Jeremiah who wrote Lamentations, knows to speak to himself, to encourage himself by saying, “The Lord is my inheritance, therefore, I will hope in him!” The Message translations says, “I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).” 

He’s saying God is my source of comfort, security, and hope, especially during difficult times. Sometimes we need to do the same to encourage ourselves when no one else is there to do it, and to do it out loud! Declare God’s faithfulness to us personally because He is a personal God and we belong to Him.😊

The Lord is still our inheritance, still full of faithful love that will never end, still has fresh mercy for us every morning we wake up. He has given us a never ending hope because of Jesus and all He did for us at the Cross, so we can rejoice and be glad today and praise His name. Amen.😊

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash

WATER THE FLOWERS

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.

When we came home from holiday yesterday we had to water the flowers and it reminded me I read this the other day, “Stop watering the weeds in your life and start watering the flowers.” Now everybody knows not to water weeds unless they want more weeds!😊

The Apostle Paul is saying the same sort of thing when the Holy Spirit tells us all the good things to think about listed above. We may have a natural tendency though, to think about the weedy thoughts that pull us down. When we dwell on those wrong thoughts, we’re effectively watering those ‘weeds’ and they start to overrun us. The dandelions of despair, the brambles of discouragement that make us feel less than, or the prickly thistles of bad memories, of failures or mistakes that want to be on replay. They’re all weeds! So don’t water them!😊

Instead we all want the beauty of flowers. So the good news is, we have been given authority over all the works of the enemy and that includes negative weedy thoughts that don’t agree with what God says about us. 😊

So here are some ‘flowers’ to water every day instead -  If Jesus is our Saviour then God says we are forgiven, and made righteous with His own righteousness. We have His blessing on our lives, and His favour is surrounding us like a shield. He calls us His masterpiece, so don’t let’s argue with Him and think weedy thoughts!

Need more flowers to water? - We have the Holy Spirit to be our Helper, Counsellor, Advocate to plead our case, and our Comforter. We have His power and wisdom available to us round the clock. He has declared we’re above the circumstances and not beneath them. He has seated us in a place of great privilege at the right hand of the throne of God, the seat of all power. We have access to our Wonderful Father to obtain mercy and find grace whenever we need them 24/7.

Those are all uplifting thoughts we can put on replay in our minds so that when the enemy comes to tell us we’re not doing so well we recognise that ‘weedy’ thought and uproot it before it takes a hold. We don’t have to replay anything we don’t want to!

I think I need to go and do some selective watering! How about you?😊

Have a blessed weekend.x

Photo by Kasumi Sasaki on Unsplash

WE HAVE A LIFELINE

Hebrews 6:19 NLT This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.

As we were walking along the seafront on holiday this past week there were lifebelts strategically placed in case anyone fell in the sea and needed rescuing, and I thought how God’s word is our lifeline, our lifebelt of truth. Are we wearing our lifebelt?

When we enter rough seas in life we need to know we have a lifeline, and that God is holding the other end of it! We have a mighty God who knows how to deliver and rescue us and Jesus Himself is our Lifeboat! When we’re in His lifeboat we know we’re safe.😊

As we walked along we saw trainee yachtsmen who were deliberately capsizing their little yachts to practice popping them back up again! Some struggled to do it but there were others on hand to encourage and show them what to do.

Isn’t that like our lives? We don’t deliberately capsize ourselves but when it happens it’s good to know there are others who know how to turn us back up the right way, and if we’ve fallen out the boat (which some of them did!) they’ll help us back on board.😊

I read the RNLI account of two university students who were swept out to sea by a rip current and the only way they survived was by floating, instead of treading water, till help came. We too can keep afloat by ‘floating’ in His Word till the help comes which we need. 

God uses all of us to be His hands and feet to go on rescue missions to help the fallen, to bring a word of encouragement, a healing scripture, a God perspective. So if your boat feels in danger of capsizing, or if it already has, know that help is on the way, God and His Word are your lifeline and He won’t let you drown.

John 6:63 NLT The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life.

He has given us the lifebelt and lifeline of His Word, so hold on to it and don’t let it go!😊Amen.

Photo by John Torcasio on Unsplash

GOD TRAMPLES OUR FOES

Psalm 60:11-12 NLT Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless. With God’s help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes.

God knows we’ll face some battles in our lives and we don’t need to put our boxing gloves on, but we do need our armour on!😊 David too was yet again facing so many enemies on all sides but in verse 4 he says But you have raised a banner for those who fear you - a rallying point in the face of attack.

Yesterday we looked at sitting at Jesus feet to hear all He has to say to us, laying aside the things that demand our attention in order to hear His plan for our day. David seems to have learned the same lesson because he knows where to go to when he’s under pressure on all sides.

We too have a rallying point in the face of any attack we may be experiencing. It’s in the presence of God, at His throne of grace where we’ll find all the help we’ll need. It’s where we’ll hear the victory cry of Jesus over everything that tries to bring us down.

It’s where we’ll be reminded that it’s God who will trample down our foes and enable us all to do mighty things for Him. It’s not that God doesn’t want us doing other things, but He does want us to spend time with Him first, so we do the right things at the right time in the right place, which is what we all would want anyway.😊

Be encouraged today, God is in the business of trampling down anything that has risen up against us, whether it’s sickness, fatigue, financial challenges or family upsets. As long as we’re spending time with the Lord, receiving His strategy, His instructions, we will do mighty things for Him. In Jesus name. Amen.

CONTINUALLY LISTENING

Luke 10:39 AMP She had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was continually listening to His teaching.

We all know what it’s like. Someone is coming for dinner and we want to do the best we can to honour them by giving them a lovely meal, but it takes effort and time.

So here we read about Martha slogging away in the kitchen, having to feed several people if all the disciples are there as well, and she could do with some help. So she’s getting a bit frayed at the edges and wants her sister to come and ‘do’ something! Anyone identify?

We all know the story how Jesus reminds her that Mary has made a decision to sit and hang on every word Jesus speaks rather than be distracted by trying to impress Him with her cooking skills. Sometimes we can be caught up in the ‘event’ and Jesus would rather we sat and listened to Him and just spent time with Him than have us ‘doing’ a load of things, no matter how worthy they seem to be.

There is no substitute for time in God’s  presence and Martha chose what she thought was right which resulted in her being grumpy, and resentful! Mary chose the right thing, and was peaceful, filled up with Jesus and His words and had Jesus’ approval. Sometimes listening is better than doing!😊

Any bells ringing for any of us? I know they are for me. So let’s put some of our ‘important’ things or the things that so easily distract us on hold for a while and let Jesus bring some perspective as we sit at His feet each day and be ‘continually’ listening as we go about the day.😊 Amen.

Photo by Jason Briscoe on Unsplash

CLING TIGHTLY

Joshua 23:8 NLT Rather, cling tightly to the Lord your God as you have done until now.

Have you ever had a piece of clothing that used to fit loosely but now it clings tightly in all the wrong places? If so you’ll know what cling tightly means! It also means we’ve had too many cakes!🤣

But seriously, Joshua is stressing to the Israelites how important it is for them to cling tightly to their God. And that message is for each one of us who follow Jesus. He knows how vulnerable we will be if we don’t stay close to Him and cling to His promises. He’s saying, don’t let them go, keep believing, don’t cast away your confidence in His word because it’s the foundation we stand on and we need to keep it before our eyes each day and in our hearts to keep us close to Him.

You’ve probably seen a toddler walking along with an adult holding tightly to the little hand that’s clinging on to them, so they don’t fall or trip. In the same way God is walking with us through each day, holding us very tightly and securely in His hand. Isaiah 41:10 NLT Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

You see, the lovely thing is, He’s holding on to us as much, if not more so, than we are holding on to Him. We belong to Him now and He has made Himself responsible for our welfare because He’s our Dad, our loving Father who watches out for us, provides for us and protects us.

So whether your clothes are clinging tightly or not, don’t forget to do your part of clinging tightly to your Heavenly Dad, but also don’t forget He’s holding tightly on to you too, so you can relax and go out with a smile to greet the day. 😊

Thank You Lord. Amen.

Photo by Tatiana Zanon on Unsplash

SURELY!

Psalm 54:4 NIV Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

Sometimes we hear a true story of what has just happened in someone’s life and we’re shocked, so we say “Surely not!” We can’t believe what we’re hearing, it’s either too terrible or too wonderful for us to believe it.

Well, God has several ‘surelys’ for us today! God doesn’t add any ‘not!’ Each one of them is wonderful and because the Holy Spirit put ‘surely’ in front of each statement, He was verifying the certainty and truth of what He was about to say. He’s saying there is no question about it, so believe it.😊

Psalm 23:6 NLT Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 5:12 NIV Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Matthew 28:20 NIV  …And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Isaiah 53:4 NIV Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

Psalm 54:4 NIV Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

I expect you can find many more ‘surelys’ but all five of these cover everything from God’s guaranteed help, His goodness and mercy, His favour, His presence and His healing. They are all ours for sure!😊

Now, in light of all that, I hope we’ll go out into our new week with renewed confidence in our God and in what He has declared over us. We can lay hold of it all by faith at any given moment, no matter how things may look in the natural and say, “Thank You Lord, it’s all mine for sure, because of Jesus. Hallelujah!” Amen.

SHOUT IT OUT!

Psalm 70:4 NLT

But may all who search for you

be filled with joy and gladness in you.

May those who love your salvation

repeatedly shout, “God is great!”

People often seem to have things to shout about, whether it’s politics, or some issue they want us all to know about!

But our Psalmist wants us to shout about the greatness of our God, to magnify Him, not just once, but over and over again. One translation says ‘continually’.

Why are we do it? It’s because we love the wonderful truth and reality of His salvation. Without it we would have no hope, we would be lost for all eternity with no help, no forgiveness, no grace, no right standing with God, no healing, no future and no Jesus to rescue us.

But praise God we do have Jesus our Redeemer, and we do have all of those things, so just in case you haven’t done it for a while, why not go round the house and shout it out, “God is great, let the Lord be magnified.” That’ll chase away the enemy pretty quick because we know our praises defeat him for sure and we have so much to praise God for!

David was in trouble but he reminds us that searching for God will bring its own reward because it will fill us with joy and gladness, and I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want that, can you?😊

So let’s praise our God today and as we search for Him we’ll find Him in the smallest daisy, as well as in the cosmos of stars and galaxies, but especially in the challenges of the day, because He’s there too. And tomorrow we can do it again, and the next day and the next and the next….😊

Our God is worthy of all our praise today. Hallelujah. Let’s shout it out, “Our God is Great, and greatly to be praised.” Amen.

Photo: Santiago Lacarta on Unsplash

GOD SPEAKS THE BLESSING

Genesis 1:28 NIV God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. …

We may not always feel like laughing our heads off, but you may remember an old song called ‘Happiness’, (sung by Ken Dodd) which said, “Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I possess, I thank the Lord that I've been blessed… It always makes me smile because it reminds me that part of being blessed is the inner joy God gives us, which I know I need reminding of from time to time!😊

In the very beginning, in Genesis 1:28 God spoke His blessing over the human race. It brings God’s divine favour, His wellbeing which will bring an inner sense of His supernatural joy, peace and contentment. It’s not produced by our circumstances, or affected by them, but it causes us to be prosperous in all areas of life. This blessing was, and is, a God thing!

Then came the fall of Adam and it brought in the curse. The last word of the Old Testament is curse, but look at the first word of Jesus first sermon, in the first book of the New Testament.

Matthew 5:2-3 NIV … and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the… 

BLESSED! He spoke blessing!

Jesus was speaking the Blessing back into the earth because He knew He would bear all our curse at the Cross and cancel it forever! His blessing brings the same deep inner joy, and the people sitting listening to Jesus on the hillside were hearing they’d be blessed for all kinds of different reasons.😊

So be encouraged to know God wants you to be blessed, to have inner joy, to know His favour and forgiveness, to be blessed in all areas of life. Some Christians feel guilty, as though it’s wrong to be blessed, but God says otherwise. We should be the happiest, most blessed people on earth, reconciled to God, and blessed going out and coming in. 

Next time you share the blessing with someone, remember you’re sharing the joy God wants us to have. ‘May His face shine upon you’ means He’s smiling down on us, so we can smile too.😊

Have a ‘blessed’ and joy filled, happy weekend.x

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

TLC FOR SOULS

Psalm 23:2-3 NKJV He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…

A while ago we were given a lovely antique chair which needed restoration and I’ve almost finished doing it, very amateurishly, but it’s better than it was! 😊 

Sometimes though, it’s our souls that need restoring and maybe your soul could do with some tender loving care at the minute? 

We all go through tough seasons when life tries to pull us down, and we all know what it’s like when something happens that’s the last straw and maybe we don’t handle things as well as we should! We need some soul restoration!

Recently I’ve been reminded of the importance of being open and honest with one another and not hiding behind the “I’m all right” mask, when we might not be all right at all! It’s ok to ask for prayer.😊

It may be tiredness that’s causing some of our troubles, when we can’t seem to think straight because we’re not sleeping as we should, but sometimes the enemy has sent out troubling spirits to oppress us, to try to make us ineffective in the things of God. The good news is that we’re on the winning side and no weapon formed against us shall prosper. 

God is for us, never against us and we have the name of Jesus to bring the enemy down. It’s wonderful how a word of encouragement from a godly friend can lift us back up and help us regain our spiritual strength and get our emotions back on track. I’m sure we’re all so grateful for praying friends!😊

So if you’re experiencing a tough time, for whatever reason, please take this as a word of encouragement to pick you up, to know you’re not alone when things are getting you down, and to remember God is in the process of restoring your soul and will never abandon you for any reason. 

Lift up your eyes and know you’re on the up, you’re being restored, and you’re coming out stronger than you were before. In Jesus name. Amen.

UPDATE YOUR PHOTOGRAPH

2 Peter 3:18 NIV But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

I was looking through some old photos of the grandchildren recently and realised how much they’d grown and changed in such a short period of time. We tend not to notice in the day to day until we look back even a few short years! Children can’t help growing, it just happens, and an up to date photo proves it!😊

As I was thinking about that, God reminded me that we are His children and even when we don’t think we’ve grown spiritually, we actually have, and He can see it even when we can’t. He holds an up to date photo of us in His breast pocket!😊

This old tree stump has started a new shoot and we can all be like that. We can be like children who suddenly start to shoot up because we can all have growth spurts!

God is watching our new shoots, seeing us go from faith to faith, growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. He tells us we’re going from glory to glory and we need to thank Him for all of it because thanksgiving causes multiplication.

Jesus showed us this principle when He thanked God for the five loaves and two fish which were then multiplied! Is there anything in our lives that we would like to see grow and multiplied? More patience and wisdom, more love and grace, more courage, more confidence, more faith and victory? Then let’s thank God for what we do have, for what He’s already given to us, for the progress we have made, and ask Him to multiply it and make it grow, and give Him all the glory for it.

And let’s remember to do our part by feeding on His word because it has an inbuilt supernatural ability to heal us, grow us up, teach and train us. 

The enemy wants us to look at our old photograph which shows how we used to be, not how we are now in God’s eyes. So be encouraged today to dig into His word and look at your up to date photograph that God sees, growing wiser, kinder, more loving and thoughtful, more Christlike in every way knowing you’re growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Lord we thank You for the progress we have made, and will make, and give you all the glory for it in advance. In Jesus name. Amen.

NO ONE WAS THERE!

2 Kings 7:5 So at twilight they set out for the camp of the Aramean. But when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there!

Do you remember when you were a child, worrying there might be monsters under the bed, but when we looked, of course there was no one there!😊 We were worrying needlessly because the things we feared had no substance but were all in our imaginations.

It can be similar now we’re grown up and fears try to creep up, especially in the middle of the night, when our imaginations want to worry about things that still have no substance to them, when the enemy tries to make us think the worst instead of the best.

Hebrews 11:1 says faith is the substance of things hoped for, so let’s not fear the worst, but hope for the best so our faith can give our hopes some substance and make them a reality.

Just imagine making pancakes with me for a minute. On one side the pancake says ‘worries’ and on the other side it says ‘faith’. Now let’s flip those worries over to see the faith side and imagine the best case scenario instead of the worst one. The faith side is the victory side.😊

Because whose child are we anyway? We are children of the Most High God, and we have been redeemed from the kingdom of darkness and all its fears so we can choose who our minds are going to listen to - the devil, or the Holy Spirit!

I’ve often found that the thing I was worried about never actually happened anyway, or you could say, “No one was there!”😊 And even if things don’t go according to our plan, let’s remember God’s command to cast all our cares over on to Him (1 Peter 5:7) and God’s promise of His presence with us. (Joshua 1:9 NLT This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” )

So my encouragement to us all is to activate our faith together and believe for the best and not the worst. God’s plans for us are to give us a future and a hope, not to harm us.😊

Thank You Lord. In Jesus name. Amen.