BEE ENCOURAGING!

Acts 11:23-24 NLT When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.

I have some chair cushions with tiny bees on them and as I was looking at one I thought of some of the things we need to ‘bee’!😊

The first one I thought of was to ‘bee encouraging’. If there’s one thing in this life we all appreciate it’s encouragement, especially when people are going through hard times. But even in the day to day, it doesn’t cost anything to say an encouraging word, whether it’s to a friend, or to the sales assistant in a shop, but especially to our families. 

When someone has been put down or hurt, the way to counteract it is for someone else to encourage them to know they’re doing something right, that they’re accepted and loved. How important it is in the church family as well!

We read about Barnabus, whose name means Son of Encouragement. When Paul had given up on John Mark and rejected him, Barnabus saw the potential in him and encouraged him. Barnabus was also sent to Antioch to encourage the new believers there, and there is still a need for us all to be encouragers.

Acts 9:31 NLT The church then had peace … And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers. It’s great to know the Holy Spirit encourages us as well!

God’s word tells us we’re precious in His sight, that we’re the apple of His eye, that we’re His special treasure, His masterpiece. In other words, God is encouraging each of us to know how much we mean to Him, how highly He thinks of us. We’re His sons and daughters, so be encouraged today to know God is not picking fault with you but He accepts and approves you because of Jesus.😊

He’s telling us He loves us, we’re righteous in His sight, we’re doing well, that He believes in us and that we can achieve great things with His help, so we can encourage someone else with those thoughts this week and make them smile. Let’s ‘bee’ encouraging!😊 In Jesus name. Amen.

FROM HIM, THROUGH HIM, FOR HIM

1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT

But for us,

There is one God, the Father,

by whom all things were created,

and for whom we live.

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through whom all things were created,

and through whom we live.

Romans 11:36 NIV 

36 For from him and through him 

and for him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Aren’t you glad there is only one God, the Father, and one Lord, the Lord Jesus? We don’t have any complications in having to serve lots of gods, only One all powerful, always present God who loves us with an everlasting love. How blessed we are!

Our verses remind us we live for Him to bring Him glory forever which we may forget sometimes! God created this world for mankind to enjoy and we’re not random cells that accidentally came together. No, we were fearfully and wonderfully made, breathed into by our Creator for His plan and purpose and we will ultimately bring Him glory.😊

It says we live through Him not through our own efforts, which takes the pressure off us. Jesus has done it all for us and our righteousness is in Him so He lives in us and we live through Him.

We need never feel less than, or inadequate, or put down by anybody when we remember whose we are and that He is changing us from one degree of glory to another. His word says we are accepted by God in His beloved Son, all our sins have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and we shall one day go to be with Him and be like Him. How wonderful!

So on those days when the enemy comes to undermine us or he tells us we’re not doing well, or that we’ve made too many mistakes, we can stand our ground and remind him he has no authority over us and he has no say in our lives anymore! 

Praise God, our future is safe because we came from God, we’re living through Jesus and we were made for Him.😊

Lord we give You all the glory and praise today for all You’ve done for us through Jesus. In Jesus Name. Amen.

PEACE OVER PANIC

2 Thessalonians 3:16 NLT Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.

We’ve probably all had those moments where something suddenly happens and we’re tempted to get in a panic about it. It comes out of the blue - maybe it was when the wheel came off your car in traffic and rolled off into the distance, or when your child was crying out in pain, blood pouring down their face because they’ve had an accident, or when burglars invaded your bedroom. I’ve actually had all of those happen to me in the past!

It could be anything, but in that moment, we have a choice to make. We can either go into panic mode or we can remember we have the Lord of peace himself present with us, to give us His peace to help us stay calm. I can testify that He does, but we have to press into His peace.

You see the Holy Spirit doesn’t make empty promises He can’t deliver, but we have to make a choice as to whether to believe them or not. He says the Lord of peace will give us His peace at ALL times, in EVERY situation. That leaves no room for us to misunderstand what He’s saying and it’s the most wonderful promise for us to hang on to.😊

Hebrews 4:2 says we have to mix the Word of God with faith for it to work and for it to be a benefit to us. God gives us His wonderful promise of peace and our part is to simply accept it by faith and say ‘Thank You Lord’, or we can refuse it and allow the enemy to wreak havoc in our minds because he wants us to panic.

John 14:27 AMP Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]

So next time something happens that has the potential to make us fearful, or upset and distress us, remember the Lord of Peace is with us, giving us His own peace right at that moment, whatever our situation. Let’s press into Him to allow Him to keep us calm and give us the peace we need while things are dealt with, no matter what happens. In Jesus name. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

Photo: Bekky-Bekks on Unsplash

CARED FOR AND CARRIED

Isaiah 46:3-4 NLT “Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

Who cares! Have you ever heard that said? Scripture constantly gives us insight into some amazing truths and the truth is, God cares! 

It tells us that God chose us before the world was made (Ephesians 1:4), that He has been caring for us since we were born. Psalm 139 reminds us He knew us while we were still in our mother’s womb before even one day of our lives had taken place.

We may, or may not have been aware of His care but what He wants us to see is His promise to us to know that however far along life’s road we happen to be, He will be our God and He will care for us, He’ll carry us when our strength is weak, but we have to trust Him.

Psalm 91 talks about us declaring God is our refuge, our safe place which implies a closeness, sheltering under His loving arms where He can protect us. Maybe we’ve been wandering off into doubt and if so it’s time to come back to our safe place, our place of security. 

God starts off these verses in Isaiah with these words, “Listen to me...” Are we listening? Are we hearing His words of comfort to each one of us today because He wants us to receive His peace and know He cares about the details of our lives and He will work all things together for our good.

Whether you’re young or old, with white hair or no hair, God loves you and He has promised to care for you. How reassuring and comforting those words are. Let’s listen to them, take them on board today and trust Him to care for us, as only He knows how. Amen.😊

Photo by HAN Mengqi on Unsplash

LIGHT-BEINGS!

Hebrews 1:3 AMPC He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. …

Jesus is the Light-being! It sounds like something out of Star Wars but it just struck me when I read it.😊 We think of Jesus as walking along dusty roads  healing the sick, working miracles and sitting in boats, but it’s probably not every day we think of Him as the Light-being!

Jesus described Himself as The Light of the world because He knew who He was and how He saw Himself but He also called us the light of the world, so He wants us to see ourselves that way too and not to hide our light. Matthew 5:14-16 NIV “You are the light of the world….. . In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Colossians 1:13 tells us He has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom of Light which means we can walk in the Light, work in the Light, relax in the Light, think in the Light and dispel any dark thoughts we may have been dealing with.

Ephesians tells us we are ‘in Christ’ and Christ is in us, so His Light must also be in us which means we are ‘Light-beings’ as well! Now there’s a thought!😊

Next time the enemy comes and tries to bring his darkness into our minds, his doom and gloom, his depressing sad thoughts, we can stand up tall and tell him to get out because he’s looking at a Light-being, filled with Jesus and His Light and His anointing, that we belong to God and we’re living in the Kingdom of Light now, so Satan has absolutely no authority in our lives anymore! 

Ephesians 5:8 NKJV For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! Just think of that! Everywhere you go you’re emanating Light and if the enemy is troubling you just keep reminding yourself, and him, of this verse, and tell him to flee in Jesus name. Amen. 

 Our declaration today:  I am a Light-being because Jesus is in me!😊

Photo by Javier García on Unsplash

WHAT GOD IS ‘INTO’

Isaiah 52:7 NLT How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!

I’ve just finished sewing this highland cow cushion and it makes me smile so I thought I’d share it with you. I don’t know who it’s for yet, but it will be ‘moo-ving’ out in due course, probably for someone’s Christmas.😊

Now highland cows may not float your boat, but perhaps you’re into sport or dogs or cars, or cute bunnies! But whatever it is, I know something that God is ‘into’ and it’s people. God loves people so much He sent Jesus to rescue us all.

He asks us to love people too, to love them enough to tell them the Good News that He’s not mad at them anymore but He’s made it possible for us all to be reconciled to Him through Jesus. Now some people will reject the Good News, and some will embrace it, but our job is not to second guess who will and who won’t, but just to let them know so they can decide for themselves. But if we don’t tell them, how will they know?

When we do tell them, it could alter the course of their history down through the ages to come. So next time you think of any of the things that you are into, let’s remember what God is into, and how much we all mean to Him as we go about our day.😊

Lord wherever we are, help us to let someone know You love them so much Jesus was willing to go to the Cross for them. In Jesus name. Amen.

John 3:16 NLT For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

STAYING AFLOAT

Hebrews 12:2 NIV fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…

We were in a two man kayak in Australia a few years ago when we realised we were really struggling to fight the current to get back to shore. It was scary for a while and at one point I did wonder if we would make it home! Thankfully the Lord brought us safely through, but you suddenly realise how fragile life can be!

I read recently ‘You don’t drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there.’ but it’s not always possible to rescue oneself, is it? We either need to wear a life jacket, or have a lifeguard present. It made me think how much we need our spiritual life jackets on every day of our lives or we might drown in the circumstances that try to overwhelm us.

So what is our life jacket? It’s the armour of God and His promises.😊 Each day they keep us afloat when everything around us seems to shout it’s not working, or not this time! When we forget the promises of God we will sink into the problems, into the fear or the worries. 

All the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus which is why God wants us to fix our eyes on Jesus who is our life guard. We will find everything we will need in Him, by being united with Him, because He has promised His grace will be more than enough for today’s challenges.

So let’s make sure we put our life jacket on each day before we get our kayak out! And make sure we have Jesus as the captain of our boat so He can keep us safe wherever we have to go.😊

And if you forgot to put it on, put it on now, in case the pull of the current of circumstances tries to overwhelm you or pull you away! And if you feel like you’re already beginning to drown, call out to Jesus and allow Him to rescue you. Romans 10:13 NLT For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  

Whatever is happening in your life, remember you do have a lifeguard, His name is Jesus, and He loves you deeply. Thank You Lord. Amen.

OUR DAILY WALK

1 John 1:17 NKJV But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

When we’re out for a walk we usually watch where we’re going (or I hope we do🤣). But do you ever stop and ask yourself what am I walking in? 

God wants us to walk in His grace and favour, to walk in His light knowing He’s walking with us, to walk in His faith and victory. But are we walking in fear of what is going on in the world, fear of what might happen in our personal circumstances and forgotten we can walk in God’s peace and inner joy instead of turmoil and anxiety?

As we enter this new week God wants us to settle something in our minds. He has us safely in the palm of His hand and He has already seen all of our futures but He’s already gone ahead to prepare whatever we will need for whatever we will have to deal with. His plans are for our good and not to harm us.😊

He reminds us He will never abandon us or leave us on our own, that if we’ll trust Him, and keep our eyes fixed on Him, and not on what is happening around us, that He will hold us steady and bring us out victorious.

Jesus already told us about the things that would be happening in the last days but He said to look up! We may well be the generation that sees the Lord return to catch us all away, but until then we have a job to do.

Our job is to stay close to our God, and allow His perfect love for us to cast out our fears, because He is our strong tower. He wants us to walk in His light, in His grace and His faith and to bring others to Him so they can know His love and forgiveness too. 

So let’s walk out into our new week knowing we’re never alone, that God’s love and favour are surrounding us like a shield and whatever happens, He will hold us steady and securely in His hands, and He will never let us go. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo: Jeffery-Grospe on Unsplash

THE GREATNESS AND VICTORY OF GOD

Psalm 48:1/9-10 NLT 

1 How great is the Lord,

How deserving of praise, …

9 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love

as we worship in your Temple.

10 As your name deserves, O God,

you will be praised to the ends of the earth.

Your strong right hand is filled with victory.

Have you noticed how much the subject of victory pops up where our God is concerned?

Isaiah 41:10 reminds us it’s His victorious right hand that upholds us. God is never defeated and never will be, and He wants us to walk in faith and victory as well. He never intended us to walk in defeat or fear or despair because we have the Greater One on the inside of us to help and strengthen us.😊

Our verses today also talk about praising the Lord for His greatness, because He deserves all our praise. In Isaiah 61:3 we read how we can put on a garment of praise to get rid of a spirit of heaviness, because it’s our defence against the enemy, but it also defeats him at every turn because he can’t stand hearing us praise our God, so he leaves!

The Psalmist encourages us to meditate on God’s love for each one of us which means of course to really stop and spend a bit of time thinking about what it means to us personally, and when we do, our praise will just bubble up and pour out. A friend sent me a text yesterday reminding me that God’s love for all of us is Immeasurable, Unmistakable and Unending! What a lovely reminder.😊

So let’s do as the Psalmist says and give our Great and Victorious God, who loves us so much, all our praise today. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Nachristos on Unsplash

OUR GRATITUDE ENGINE

Psalm 103:1-2 NKJV Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:

I was standing in a supermarket queue this week when the lady being served at the front of the queue suddenly went off to find something she had forgotten, so we were all delayed even longer! 

The lady in front of me started talking about patience being a virtue and there followed a lovely conversation, with each of us finding different things we were grateful for, until we were served. We thought about the huge choice there is, the health to enjoy our food, etc. You get the picture.😊

It turned a tense situation into a happy light hearted one and we left each other smiling, but delighted to have met and having reminded ourselves how very blessed we were.😊

Isn’t it lovely how being thankful and finding things to be grateful for can totally turn a potentially grumpy situation around? So next time you’re finding it hard to be patient, try looking for something to be glad about and share it with someone else and maybe brighten their day too.

The great thing is it won’t cost a thing because gratitude comes from deep inside, just waiting for someone to press the right button and set it going, a bit like turning on an engine. We all have a gratitude engine inside us!😊

It reminded me as well how being grateful is also an act of worship, which is something we don’t always think about, so there’s all the more reason to be grateful, don’t you think?  

And just in case your gratitude engine might need some help, I’ll start things off by saying how grateful I am for everybody who takes the time to read my Blog.😊 Now it’s your turn to go and tell somebody what you’re grateful for. It may be for just being who they are to you.😊

Have a blessed and grateful weekend everybody.x

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WHAT’S WEIGHING YOU DOWN?

Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…

Isn’t it strange how some days we wake up and feel as light as a feather and other days we feel heavy and weighed down. Now I don’t know how you woke up today but our verse encourages us to lay aside everything that slows us down or hinders us.😊 It might be our worries or our fears, or feeling condemned about something, that holds us back from running our race.

It says we have to lay them down, a bit like putting down a heavy shopping bag or back pack, it’s an act of our will. God won’t do it, it’s our decision.

It might be the weight of worry for a family member or perhaps you’re weighed down with health issues or bills to pay. Maybe you’ve been carrying grief over a loss, or holding on to bitterness or unforgiveness for a long time and it’s time to lay them aside. It could be any number of things, including sin, but God wants us to let them go and cast the care of them on to Him.

We all know carrying all those burdens ourselves won’t solve any of them but if we give them to God then we can trust Him to deal with them. He’s asking us to surrender to Him those things that cause us sleepless nights, the ‘not knowing what to do’ moments, the times when our strength has run out, and trust Him to give us whatever we need.

When we decide to throw off whatever is weighing us down, we can reach out for something new, and God can grab a hold of our outstretched hand to lift us up to give us His strength, His ability, and His wisdom. His grace will overflow to us to meet the challenges of the day.

So let’s surrender it all to Him today, lay aside, or ‘throw off’ every weight, and let His grace flow so we can run our race unhindered. In Jesus name. Amen.😊

Photo: Varun-Radhakrish on Unsplash 

HAVING A RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

Colossians 2: 13-15 NLT …Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

This is a picture of a block of flats with balconies seen from immediately below instead of from a distance. Depending on where we’re seeing things from, our perspective can be a bit ‘off’, and it’s good when someone comes alongside and helps us see our situations the way God sees them.😊

We know that when the disciples saw Jesus on the Cross it looked like total defeat, the destruction of all their hopes and dreams but as we read today’s verses, God saw it as total victory because He could see what they could not, He saw into the spiritual realm.

He saw all the record of our sins being nailed to that Cross, being wiped out, taken away forever. He saw all the spiritual rulers and authorities being shamed publicly by Jesus’ victory. He saw sons and daughters being welcomed into His family, made righteous by the blood of Jesus.

Each time we look at the Cross we can ‘see’ it through God’s eyes. Wonderful freedom for each one of us, the destruction of Satan’s power and authority over us, the eternal hope of heaven, and Jesus being raised to the place of highest honour in Heaven. 

Yes, there was defeat at the Cross, but we know it was Satan’s defeat, not Jesus’ and it changed the shape of history for all the ages to come. We have a wonderful message to give to the world, the message of the Cross, the message of repentance, reconciliation, and deliverance by our victorious King, the Lord Jesus.

And I felt the Holy Spirit was saying that when we look at something in your own lives and it looks like a defeat, remember to ask the Lord for His perspective first, and let Him show it to us in the spiritual realms in case we might just be looking at it only from an earthly perspective.😊 Amen.

THAT SETTLES IT!

Psalm 119:89 NKJV Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.

Do you ever dither over a decision? You can’t make your mind up about a situation but then something happens, or someone says something, and it swings it one way or the other! It settles it once and for all!😊

Well, God wants us to be like that with His Word. He wants us to say, “If God has said it, then that settles it for me. I’m going to stand on His Word no matter what! No matter whether things change, whether I feel any different, or whether everybody says I’m crazy to believe it, I’m going to go with what God has said. God’s word is settled in heaven and if it’s good enough for heaven then it’s good enough for me.”😊 

God says He has put His word even above His name (Psalm 138:2), and there is no name higher than His (Philippians 2:9-11). He says He upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3) and that His word will never return to Him empty, without bearing fruit (Isaiah 55:11).

I wonder, how much credence are we giving to God’s word today? Does it uphold our personal world? Does it have first place in our thinking, in our heart? Is it settled in our hearts that God’s word is His bond, His covenant and He does not lie, or are we still dithering on the fence?

When we tell someone something and they don’t believe us, in effect they’re saying our word is not to be trusted, and they dishonour us. 

Let’s not be like that with God, but let’s honour God today by believing His word and His promises and stand on them come what may. Our authority, our strength, and our victory are all found in His Word because Jesus is The Word.😊 Amen.

Photo by Marco Kaufmann on Unsplash