OVERCOMING GIANTS AND LIONS!

1 Chronicles 11:22 NLT There was also Benaiah … a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds,… Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it. (See also verses 23-24)

We sometimes hear people say, “Have you ever heard of …..? and they name some so called famous person and very often I’ve never heard of them!😊 But have you ever heard of Benaiah? He’s worth knowing about because he was one of the famous thirty men who served under King David, who did many great deeds!

He killed two champion warriors, which of course then made him a champion! He chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed it! Usually it would be the lion doing the chasing and it would be heroic enough to do it on a sunny day, never mind tackling it in a confined space in the snow, but nothing seemed to daunt the man! Then he took on a giant about 7.5 feet tall, just like David had done, wrestled with him, then took him down with the giant’s own huge spear!

Now scripture records all that for a reason. He was a conqueror, an overcomer, he was willing to take on anything and he won, but I can hear you say, “But I’m not Benaiah!”. 

True, but come forward and we see Jesus, our ultimate Champion, who took on every evil demonic force in every realm and totally conquered and overcame them all, but here’s the difference - He then gave us His victory, His authority, to take on and overcome and conquer whatever giant or roaring lion is facing us!

Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and He is in us! Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not! I am with you!” 

So next time something looms up in front of you remember the lion being chased on a snowy day and wiped out by Benaiah and take courage. You have the far greater One now living in you and He will fight for you and through you, and you too will overcome, because there is a Champion in you and He is Jesus’ own Spirit. Hallelujah! 😊 

Zechariah 4:6 Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts. 

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NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US

Romans 8:35 NLT Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

Everything in the garden may be rosy for you just now but there again it might not! There are times when we need to turn all our thoughts off and just read these verses over and over until they sink down into our spirit to bring peace into anything that is causing us distress. Whether it’s grief, or not understanding why things are the way they are, or when we can’t see our way through, or just when we can’t even think any more we’re so tired, they soothe our soul.😊

For those who are nursing sick loved ones, for those who are struggling to keep going, for those who are so poorly all they can do is call out to God for His help, whatever the trial we’re dealing with, these words are the bedrock beneath all of us. NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM GOD’S LOVE.

Even in the darkest moments the Psalmist David constantly cried out to God for His help, for His mercy or His forgiveness. He clung to Him even in the pit he found himself in and reminded himself of how faithful and good his God was to him.

It encourages us to know that even when we may struggle when life is hard, we can thank God for the truth these verses minister to our hearts. 

As we start another week the Holy Spirit is lifting our heads to look up and reminding us that no matter what may happen, or how upset or distressed we may feel, or whether we’re on a high or in a low moment, He will always be faithful and we will never be separated from the love of our God. In Jesus name. Amen. 😊

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AT ALL TIMES

Psalm 62:5-8 NKJV 

My soul, wait silently for God alone,

For my expectation is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation;

He is my defense;

I shall not be moved.

In God is my salvation and my glory;

The rock of my strength,

And my refuge, is in God.

Trust in Him at all times, you people;

Pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Trust Him at all times! Even when you don’t know what to do, when you feel helpless, when you feel awful, when you can’t see how and your hope is trickling away? Yes! God said it! Trust in Him at all times!😊

God is far bigger than the biggest trouble and He says if we keep trusting in Him and His word, He will make a way. God has more ways than we could ever imagine and He’s not scratching His head wondering what to do! He already had the solution of the Cross before the world was made and that involved provision to remove the sins of the world throughout thousands of years!

Let’s put our problems in perspective in the light of knowing how powerful God really is, and how great His love is for us, although we will never fully grasp it.

Let’s talk to the problem and tell it to be uprooted and cast into the sea. Let’s talk to God about the solution He has prepared and receive it by faith instead of rehearsing the problem and encouraging it to grow bigger in our own heads. 

Magnify the Lord, not the problem!😊 Why? Because as the Psalmist reminds us, we can trust Him because He is our Rock, our Salvation and Defender. He is our glory, our strength, and our refuge is in God alone.

I think that must be more than enough reasons to praise and magnify our God today, don’t you? Amen.😊

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THIS IS THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR

Isaiah 61:1-2 NKJV The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,…

If you’ve ever watched a slapstick comedy like Laurel and Hardy, you’ll know timing is all important! One second too late and the joke won’t work. In the same way we love it when we’re at the right place at the right time, whether it’s for a bargain in the shops or you ‘happen’ to bump into someone you haven’t seen for ages.😊

God’s timing is all important too. He has things planned and worked out on His wall planner, and our verse today reminds us that when Jesus came He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy that the year of God’s favour had arrived. Jesus said it of Himself in Luke 4:18-19. We are in that time span! We are in the time when Jesus brings freedom from anything that has us bound, release from poverty in all areas of life, to heal and restore broken lives and hearts. In a nutshell, the favour of God in every sphere of our lives.

This is the year, this is the time! We haven’t missed it because Jesus is the ‘I AM’, the One who never changes, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, ever present in our personal world and the world at large.

So whatever opportunity you thought was gone, whatever health you’ve lost, whatever state your finances or relationships are in, Jesus is here today proclaiming and declaring that this is the year of the Lord’s favour - in our here and now. He’s asking us to believe it and accept it by faith, to not be moved by what we see or feel but only by what He has said.

Jesus’s words are for us all today  - good news, recovery, healing, freedom from oppression, freedom for those who are bound by anything, God’s loving kindness and favour - this year! In Jesus’s name. Amen.

Isaiah 61:2 NLT He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,…

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

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GOD’S PART - OUR PART

Luke 9:56 NKJV “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”

When bad things happen we may be tempted to wonder if God is trying to teach us something, but if that was true we’d all have a degree by now! Actually it’s one of the lies Satan whispers in our ears to try to make us doubt God loves us. 

We may well learn something from the hard things that happen along the way, and when they do God is so gracious He says He will turn them round for our good, but it’s not God’s best way. He gave us an easier way to learn! 

2 Timothy 3:16 NLT All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 

In the New Covenant, God says He has given us His Holy Spirit to be our Teacher, and His inspired Word to teach, rebuke, instruct and guide us. It doesn’t say He gives us sickness and disease or any other sad thing to teach us, which is reassuring.

Jesus made it very clear that if anything in our lives is being destroyed, whether it’s our health, finances, relationships, or whatever, it’s not God who is doing it but the devil. Jesus tells us that He came to give us life more abundantly, that God wants us to be in health and to prosper in all areas of life, but the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10). 

Jesus then tells us He’s overcome the world and given us His peace, His victory, His name, His grace, His Holy Spirit to enable us to overcome by the blood of the Lamb. So often though, we just pray and ask God to do something and wonder why He doesn’t, when He has already done His part, and given it all to us to use, through Jesus.😊

Our part is to speak to the mountain and tell it to be removed, to declare the end result of victory in our situations, to resist the enemy, to take our authority over him and bind his activities. We need to draw the line in the sand and say, “No more, no further!” God says His grace is enough, by the power of His Holy Spirit, to do it.

So be encouraged today to take a stand and find someone who will stand with you in agreement and tell the enemy to take his hands off your life, or the lives of your loved ones, and know God will back His word when we believe it and stand in faith. In Jesus name. Amen.

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MUDDLED UP!

Luke 10:38-40 NKJV Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving…

We recently had our family visit from Australia which was wonderful. We welcomed them in, made them feel at home and listened to all they had to tell us. How would they have felt if we’d welcomed them in and then ignored them? I think you can guess!😊

It’s great to welcome Jesus into our lives, but not so good to then go off and ignore Him to do something we feel is more demanding of our attention! That’s what happened to Martha. She welcomed Jesus into her house but she was more concerned about what she had to do and prepare than in actually sitting and listening to what Jesus had to say. She had her priorities all muddled up!

Colossians 2:2-3 NLT  …I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Mary made a better choice. She’d realised that Jesus had all the answers and she wanted to know what He had to say! She was willing to be told off by her sister because she recognised what was most important at that moment, and that was to listen to Jesus first. Everything else would have to wait!

So this is a nudge to us all if our priorities have been muddled up lately. Let’s make a decision as we come to the second half of this year to spend more time listening to what God has to say in His Word and in our prayer time, and give the Holy Spirit room to show us the wisdom Jesus has for the days ahead. It’s our call - let’s choose to sit and listen.😊 Amen.

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ACCEPTING HELP

2 Kings 5:3 NKJV Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master (Naaman) were with the prophet who is in Samaria. For he would heal him of his leprosy.

Now you may be a person who receives help very happily or you may be a bit stubborn and choose to do things all by yourself!😊 Today we read about Naaman who was a highly respected commander of the Syrian army who needed help, but he started off as one of the stubborn ones!

We all need the help of the Holy Spirit but we may also need the help of other people who are God’s instruments. Naaman had to humble himself to receive what he needed and there are times when we need to do the same. 

The trouble is we may not want to admit we need help. We want to ‘cope’ on our own but God never asked us to ‘cope’ with anything. He is the One who upholds, who strengthens and helps us. He never asked us to live the Christian life in our own strength. He has promised to provide everything we need for each day, each moment. 

Naaman was a fiercely independent man who didn’t like to submit to anyone and yet he came to his senses and did as he was told to do by the prophet, and was wonderfully healed.😊

God’s principles work in any situation, not just for healing. Naaman received help from three sources - a foreign serving girl, a prophet of God, and the wisdom of other servants around him who all did their part by encouraging him to do as instructed, even if it humbled him.

God’s ways are not our ways but if we’ll do as He says, in due time we can have what He says we can have, if we’ll just obey the instructions and accept the help we’re offered.😊 Amen.

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STRENGTHEN THE WEAK KNEES

Isaiah 35:3 NIV Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;

Hebrews 12:12 NLT So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.

We’ve probably all experienced times of tiredness, when we’ve battled with fatigue and you may be dealing with it right now. Those times when we feel we haven’t enough strength to get out of bed, or to deal with the nappies, or put the washing in the machine, or cope with the illness another day.

Those times when our spirits are at a low ebb and we think the tide will never come in again! When trying to pray seems such an effort and yet it requires no more effort than talking to a loved one or a friend and sharing with them how things are. 

That’s who God is to us and He’s ready and willing to listen to our every sigh, every whisper in the middle of the night when things can seem at their darkest. Jesus says “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden.” 

Is that you today? If so, God knows your heart, and He wants to encourage you because the next verse says this, 

V.4 say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, …. he will come to save you.’

God is on your case, He is strengthening you from the inside with His supernatural strength. Each day, each moment He is by your side holding you up and giving you hope of better days to come because He’s the God of hope, of saving grace, the God who heals, the God of great mercy and unending faithfulness to you personally.

Deuteronomy 33:25 AMP Your strongholds will be iron and bronze, And as your days are, so will your strength, your rest and security be. …Notice it says ‘So shall your strength be’, not your weakness!😊

So take heart, you are not alone, and you are being restored and strengthened day by day, safe in His hands. In Jesus’ name. Amen.😊

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CALL OUT TO THE LORD

Psalm 18:3 NKJV I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.

All through scripture we read about men and women calling out to the Lord and He heard them and answered their call.

We all know that’s what we’re supposed to do but sometimes we soldier on stoically, and if God hasn’t answered our call as fast as we’d like, we think He’s not listening so we may be tempted to give up and not call out to Him anymore. That’s what the enemy wants when he sneaks up behind us to discourage us!

Let’s recognise the enemy’s tactics for what they are and go back to the throne of God’s grace to ask for the help, and keep asking like the persistent widow. Don’t give up but resist the enemy and tell him to flee.

We can call on God for help when we’re worn out, when we’re afraid, when all seems lost and our hope is dwindling. We can call on God when we’re ill for His healing to manifest, for finances when we have bills to be paid and when we’re just plain tired out and we need renewed strength and energy for each new day.

We can call on God for anything and because we belong to Him He hears us and lifts us up when we’re down, He infuses new joy into our spirit when ours has disappeared down the plughole of difficult days. We can know our God hears, even when it’s a sigh or a groan, because He loves us with an everlasting love.

So be encouraged and come to Him in faith, even if you think you don’t have any, you do, because God put it in you when you were saved. It’s just been smothered by circumstances but it’s still alive and you can overcome the world with it!

As we enter the routines of another week, pick up your shield of faith and believe for better days, greater success, tenacity and courage to do whatever He calls you to do. Even if it’s just to put a smile on our faces in the face of our trials, it will help us because we know God is still for us and not against us. Thank You Lord. In Jesus name. Amen. 😊 Psalm 61:1-4

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FOREVER!

Revelation 11:15 NIV 

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, 

and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

‘The kingdom of the world has become

the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,

and he will reign for ever and ever.’

Hebrews 13:8 NKJV 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, 

today, and forever.

Have you ever wondered what Forever looks like? How wide is it, how long and deep is it? Does forever look beautiful? Is it multi facetted? Will it reach into the unknown, into spaces we’ve never even imagined? Will we be aware of its passing from millennia to millennia? Forever stretches our imagination!😊

Forever is where God lives, where the Creator of all things moves and has His being, where time no longer exists. Forever involves something of unlimited worth, of a substance that can never fail, and it’s God’s own love for each one of us. 

Psalm 136:1 NIV Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.  He says He will love us forever, so whatever we have to do, wherever we have to go, whoever we have to meet, we know of a certainty that we carry inside us the love of Almighty God, who has declared His great love for us and says it will last forever.

And how comforting to know the Lord will reign forever, that nothing and no one can ever usurp His total supremacy and that Jesus our Messiah will be there, the same as He was when the disciples knew Him, only now He has all authority in all realms and He has the name above every name and every knee will bow to Him - forever.

So when we worship the Lord today, we can rejoice death is not the end. Whatever ‘forever’ looks like, sounds like or feels like, we can all be so grateful that best of all will be God’s mercy and love which will always be present forever and if Jesus is our Lord and Saviour then we will also be with Him - forever. Glory to God.😊

Thank You Lord forever. Amen.

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THIS IS THE WAY; WALK IN IT

Isaiah 30:21 NIV Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

As you may have guessed from yesterday’s blog, the Lord has been ruffling our nest and asking us to step out in faith, out of our comfort zone, which will cause change in the days to come. We had been given the scriptures to back it up, we knew it was the right time to do it, but the other night I was hit with a bad fit of the wobbles, the what if’s!

When you wake at 3 am and can’t go back to sleep your thinking tends to be askew and by the time the morning fully came I’d decided I just couldn’t do it! I felt I didn’t have the courage or the faith to see it through. I wonder if you’ve ever been there? It felt too daunting and what if  ……?!

That’s not the end of the story though, praise God, because after much discussion, and God encouraging me in different ways, things are back on track and we know it’s right to go ahead and peace is now reigning once again! God helped me overcome the wobbles!😊

I thought it might help someone else to know we all have doubts from time to time when God is trying to move us onwards and upwards. The walk of faith is not necessarily easy, it has its ups and downs, its doubts and fears, and that’s ok as long as they don’t have the last word! 

It all comes back to God asking us to believe His promises no matter what! To step out in faith and trust Him, because at the end of the day we have to believe that whatever He says, or asks us to do, is possible because He’s in it with us to show us the way and how to walk in it.

So if God is telling you to do something, don’t back down or give up, because He says in due course you will reap a harvest. Nothing is impossible with God’s help and God has already prepared the way before we ever arrived on planet earth. 

He just wants each one of us to take the step of faith to walk into it and then He can show us the way forward.😊 Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

OUR COMFORT ZONE

Philippians 3:13-14 NLT … but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

There’s probably something in all of us that just wants to be comfortable but there’s more to life than our comfort zone!😊The trouble is we can be trapped in it because we’re afraid to risk stepping into the unknown! There are times though when God ruffles our nest and asks us if we’re willing to give it up so His plan and blessings can be worked out in our lives.

It helps to remember we’re not our own, but we belong to God because He bought us with the blood of Jesus. 

God asks us to obey His instructions and walk by faith not by sight, which will challenge our comfort zone, but then He says this, Philippians 4:13 NKJV I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.😊 So we can do it with His strength, not our own, knowing our faith moves us forward, it never goes backwards.

As I thought about it, I remembered the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, and when we’re in the will of God then that is our true comfort zone. It’s easy to be misled into thinking it’s a place, a way of life, a set of people but it’s much more than that!

It may surprise us but God uses people of all ages when He asks us to do what He wants us to do! Moses was told at 80 to lead a nation, Caleb at 85 took his mountain and conquered it. Samuel was just a small boy who was led to become a great prophet, David was a teenager when he took on Goliath. Deborah was a judge in Israel, probably middle aged, who led an army into victory.

Be encouraged, God still has plans and purposes for all of us. It’s a life of faith and He’s given us His strength and His faith so we can please Him. It may just mean giving up the comfort of our bed a bit earlier to spend some time with God, or to do something different, or move somewhere else but all He asks is a willingness to trust Him and step out of our comfort zone when He asks us to.😊 Amen.

GOD OF ALL COMFORT

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

We all go through seasons of life when we struggle with the things that are either happening around us, or to us personally. Sometimes it’s through illness or family upsets, other times it could be due to financial difficulties but whatever it is, we can always come back to this certain knowledge that our God is the One who comforts us when it feels too much.

We all know ‘life happens’ because we live in a fallen world, but praise God we are a people of hope because we belong to our loving Heavenly Father who is full of compassion and He totally understands where we’re at. He doesn’t only draw alongside us, He is in us holding us up and strengthening our spirit, and even though we may not realise it or feel it, it is the truth.😊

He doesn’t just comfort us in some of our troubles but He comforts us in ALL of them, no matter how big they are, and one day He says we’ll be able to comfort someone else because of the comfort we’ve received.

The Holy Spirit is our personal Comforter and He brings His peace into the turmoil and gives us His inner strength to call on. He reminds us God’s plans are to give us a future and a hope of better days to come that He gives us His grace to grab a hold of as we need it.

God’s love surrounds us like a shield and that knowledge is the biggest comfort of all knowing that nothing can separate us from His love. We very often don’t know why things are the way they are, but we can rest and be comforted to know our God knows the end from the beginning and we can trust Him with our lives, because He’s already made us secure for eternity through the blood of Jesus.

If you need comfort today, God wants you to know He is right there with you and He’ll never let you go, never abandon you, never leave you without support and His love will never fail you. In Jesus name. Amen.

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MAKING SPACE FOR THE MORE

2 Kings 4:2 NKJV So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

When the lady came to Elisha and asked for help she was in debt and her sons were going to be taken away as slaves. When Elisha asked her what she had in the house, she told him she only had one jar of oil. The implication was, “What use is that?”

She was then given a weird instruction to go and borrow as many vessels as she could, then pour the oil into the vessels. Can you see her thinking, “How’s that going to work?” But she did what he said and as she obeyed, the miraculous pouring of oil happened!😊

She could have gone home and felt sorry for herself and done nothing because it sounded too ‘out there’ but praise God she ended up with more than enough to pay her debts and live on for the rest of her days!

King Jehoshophat needed water for his animals and God told him to dig ditches so God could fill them with water, but not from rain! It sounded crazy but he obeyed and God gave him the water!

Jesus told Peter to let out his nets even though there didn’t seem any point because he’d already tried and failed. He chose to half obey and his one net was filled to overflowing! God will even meet us half way if that’s all we can do!

In all of these cases God told them to make room for the more. To take the jar, the spade to dig the ditches, the net to catch the fish. In other words, to use what they had in their hand and let God do what only He can do and multiply what they had.

Whatever it is we need God is saying, “What do you already have in your hand and I’ll use it to bless you?” It can be the most everyday, ordinary looking thing but when we offer it to God and obey His instructions He can do something with it.😊

I hope that encourages us today to go to God and even if it sounds ‘out there’, just obey His instructions, take the first step, and let’s make room for more than we can imagine.😊 Amen.

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TREASURE FROM BROKENNESS

2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

You may already know all about it, but I learned this week about KINTSUGI which is the Japanese art of taking a broken piece of pottery and instead of hiding the brokenness it uses gold, platinum or silver to restore it and make it stronger and more valuable than it was before.😊

Isn’t that what God does with each one of us when we’ve experienced brokenness in our lives in one way or another? He doesn’t leave us all broken but He takes us to His work bench and over time He lovingly puts us back together to be used for His glory, to be a blessing to others.😊

Our God is the great Restorer, the great Healer. He heals the broken hearted, He restores our souls, and by His wounds we are healed. In the end, because it’s God who is at work in us to be and do all He has planned, our cracks aren’t filled in with gold but made whole by the precious blood of Jesus.

Paul tells us we’re like clay jars that hold the treasure of God Himself inside us and even when we’ve been broken God still shines out of us.😊

Ephesians 2:10 NLT For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

So be encouraged today to know our brokenness, or our imperfections don’t stop God from loving us or using use. All through scripture it shows God uses very imperfect people to do the most amazing things, and as far as God is concerned, we are His masterpiece and He’s not finished with us yet! 

Thank You Lord, Your healing power is doing Your work of restoration and rebuilding our lives making us whole and putting us back together so we’re stronger and more valuable than we were before. In Jesus name. Amen.

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A SIMPLE EASY THING

2 Kings 3:17-18 AMP For thus says the Lord, ‘You will not see wind or rain, yet that valley will be filled with water, so you and your cattle and your other animals may drink. This is but a simple thing in the sight of the Lord; He will also hand over the Moabites to you.

18 NIV This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord;….

I wonder how often we come to ask the Lord for something when we pray but think it’s too big a thing for God to do, and we just can’t see how it could happen, so we don’t take the limits off?

In this chapter we discover King Jehoshaphat in alliance with two other kings with their three combined armies having no water for the animals or themselves which was a life threatening situation, quite apart from the battle they were going out to fight against the King of Moab!

Jehoshophat was wise though because he inquired of the Lord and as a result God did over and above all he could have asked or thought. God told them to dig ditches all over the valley and He would fill them with water. Then almost in passing, He says, “I’ll deliver your enemy into your hands as well!”

It almost seems like it’s no big deal! It’s as though He says I’ll do far more than you ask, and by the way I’ll throw in this tremendous blessing while I’m at it! Then He drops in this thought, “And this is a simple thing, an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord.” Don’t you just love the way God thinks and works?😊

What comes across in this account is that we can never ask too big. Whatever it is, it’s simple for Him. Nothing fazes God and the bigger the request the more He loves our faith in Him, and whatever we ask He wants to go above and beyond, and then throw in something astounding as an extra. You can almost see Him smiling as He turns to His angels and tells them what He has planned for us in the coming days.

So as we go into this new week be hugely encouraged to ask big, and then ask even bigger than that, and see what the Lord will do.😊 In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by mrjn Photography on Unsplash

CONFIDENCE IN OUR GOD

Psalm 57 NLT 

V.7 My heart is confident in you, O God; 

my heart is confident. 

No wonder I can sing your praises! 

V.9 I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.

I will sing your praises among the nations.

10 For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

11 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.

May your glory shine over all the earth.

It’s so good to read about David’s confidence in God. In fact it feels like he was bubbling over with confidence because he said it twice and then burst into praise even though he wrote this when he was fleeing from Saul into a cave! He must have had one of the earliest man caves on record!😊

He just loves to speak out how wonderful God’s unfailing love is and how He has proved Himself to be so faithful to David over the years. He must have been looking out of his cave one day at a cloudy sky and thinking how God’s faithfulness was so great it even reached the highest clouds!

We serve the same God today as David did all those centuries ago and He’s proved Himself just as faithful and loving to us over the years as well. 

We know our God is always worthy of our praise so we can join with David and tell the Lord how wonderful we think He is. Let’s burst at the seams as we give Him all the praise and glory for all He has done for us in giving us Jesus, who God has highly exalted and given Him the name above every name.😊

May we have David’s confidence in our God and join countless others across the earth today as we say, 

“Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens! May your glory shine over all the earth.” Amen.

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LIFTING THE ATMOSPHERE

Philippians 4:8 ESV Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

We all know what it’s like to go into a ‘situation’ or a room, and we can ‘feel’ the atmosphere especially if there’s stress in the room! Or when we go in a house we very often sense if it’s a happy home or not.😊

We only need to see the look on someone’s face, whether it’s happy or miserable, to know what the atmosphere around them will be. Our faces give us away very often. 

But what causes a happy or a gloomy face? It’s our thoughts, because our thoughts will direct the way we speak, the way we behave, the way we react to situations.

The words we speak about things will create a negative or a positive atmosphere and it’s why the Holy Spirit tells us to speak words of life that will encourage and build each other up. It’s all too easy to criticise someone and bring them down, to make them feel less than, but that’s not what God calls us to do.

Some people create an atmosphere of love and kindness, an atmosphere of seeing the best in one another, an atmosphere of joy and peace, where others can ‘feel’ the love of God wherever they go. We can all learn to be like that with the Holy Spirit’s help.😊

When we speak God’s words and release their power it helps to lift the atmosphere as well, because His words bring life and health. He tells us to fill our minds with the best not the worst and then we can speak the best out.

Will we always manage it? Well some days we may do better than others because it takes practice and a willingness on our part to want to do it, but let’s be encouraged because it is possible to grow in it.😊

Lord please help us lift the atmosphere, to lift our own spirits and those around us as well.

Have a blessed, happy atmosphere making, weekend.x😊

Photo by Madison Oren on Unsplash

DON’T WORRY!

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.

A friend sent me this photo of a seat she noticed while out and about, which says, “I have had many troubles, most of which never happened!” Isn’t that so true! We worry about what might happen and when we look back a lot of the time things didn’t happen the way we worried they would after all!

We all know it’s one thing to read ‘Don’t worry about anything’, but it’s another thing altogether to obey it! But it must be possible or God would be unjust to ask us to do something He knew we wouldn’t be able to do! Sometimes we still find ourselves listening to the negative voice of the enemy trying to undermine our faith, instead of the voice of the Good Shepherd, the voice of faith that says God will provide, because God is for us not against us!😊

Our faith is a major part of our armour and when we let it slip we find the fiery darts have a nasty habit of burning us! Romans 10:17 tells us faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, and it also comes when we hear our own voices declaring His promises over our lives. It comes when we hear the testimonies of others, and faith grows when we put it into practice.😊

Hebrews 10:35-36 NIV Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

So this is just a word of encouragement to us all to not lose our confidence in all God’s  promises, to stop worrying about things that will probably never happen anyway, and even if they do we have God inside us to help us overcome. (I’m speaking to myself first!!) 

Instead let’s keep praying and declaring the Lord will provide all we need when we need it, because He says we really don’t need to worry at all!😊 Amen.

Photo courtesy of  Y. Willis.

LISTENING TO THE RIGHT VOICE

Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.’

Occasionally we talk to someone and we just know they’re not listening, either that, or we’re the ones only half listening!😊 But we’re all listening to voices throughout our day, whether it’s the voice of the media on screens, or on the radio, or the voices of friends and family members but are we listening to the right voices?

The priests and elders had forbidden Peter and John to speak at all, or teach, in the name of Jesus. They even threatened them. Now the disciples had a decision to make, would they bow to pressure and keep themselves and their families safe, or carry on anyway?

In v.20 they said, “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” They made their choice, they carried on doing it, and as a result you and I can hear the gospel and be saved, thank God!

Which brings us back to who we are listening to. Are we listening to God speak through His word and believing it, believing the promises, or are we listening to the voice of reason, the voice of experience, the voice of the culture around us which is liberally minded? 

God is very clear and specific about many things in His Word and gives us no room for grey areas whether it’s to do with sex before marriage, gender orientation, our finances, loving our neighbours and much more. His Word is our manual for doing life.😊

So really it affects all of us and we all have to decide, whether it’s right in the sight of God to listen to the culture more than to God. Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world but to rescue it, so the Holy Spirit is reminding us to encourage one another to decide to stand up for the truth of the Gospel, to only listen to God, and to obey His word.😊 Amen.

Photo: Mohammad Metri on Unsplash

LEFTOVERS

Matthew 6:34 GNT So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings.

When we’ve made a Christmas Day big dinner we always enjoy the leftovers next day for Boxing Day hash because they save us having to do another big cook up.😊 But there is a different kind of leftover that no one wants or enjoys.

I’m talking about the leftovers of yesterday’s worries, those words someone spoke, or things we’ve heard about that concern our friends or family and we worry about what has happened and how it will affect tomorrow. They’ve lingered in our minds causing us to bring them along with us into the new day to add to all the new worries! We forgot to hand them over to God to take care of them before we went to bed! 

I think we sometimes think God isn’t doing anything about them, or He’s off somewhere else and hasn’t the time for our cares! But really we know that’s absolutely not true and He doesn’t want us dragging into today any worries or unresolved issues from yesterday. 

Jesus said today’s worries are more than enough to handle and God gives us the grace and mercy for each new day which is why He tells us to come to the throne of grace to receive all the help we need.😊

We may have a habit of carrying yesterday’s worries not only into today, but looking ahead as to how to deal with them in the future, which is why Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow either! The trouble is, I suspect we’re ignoring what He says!

Psalm 68:19 NIV Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.

There are many things we can do nothing about, which are out of our control, so if we have any unwanted leftovers let’s ask the Lord to help us leave them in His hands and look forward to a new day with our burdens being taken care of by the one who lifted all our burdens at Calvary. Amen.

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WANDERING OFF

Psalm 56:8 NKJV You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?

Have you ever been in the woods and you’ve wandered off down a path because it invited you in, only to find you’ve become a bit lost? It happened to my eight year old son many years ago when he wandered off on his own in the woods on holiday and we had to go looking for him! Thankfully we found him.😊

It can happen to us spiritually as well. We can be walking along quite happily and then for some reason we wander down a path of doubting what God has said in His word. We wander down the ‘what if’ pathway which is a dead end, or maybe we’ve gone wandering off into the distraction path of the internet or other pressing things like work, and we seem to feel a bit wandered or lost.

It’s interesting to know God knows all about our wanderings and He writes them in his book so He knows exactly where we are in order to bring us back again. He has seen all our tears of disappointment, of grief, and our tears of bewilderment when we don’t understand but we keep going, and He says they matter to Him so much He keeps them safe in His bottle until He can wipe them all away. I’m sure He must have many bottles!😊

So be encouraged today to know if you’ve wandered off a little bit, or wandered far away, the Lord is helping you find the way back to Him and to His peace. He assures us we can trust what He says and He will do what He says He will do, and I know we can all testify to the faithfulness of our God. 

Just rest in the certain knowledge that He loves you, and He cares deeply for you and about you. He says turn around and call out to Him, and He will restore and strengthen you. He will bring you back to His paths of peace and joy and the good plans He’s already prepared for you. In Jesus name. Amen.

Romans 10:13 GNT As the scripture says, “Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.”


Photo: Annie Spratt on Unsplash

YOU ARE VALUABLE TO GOD

Matthew 6:26 NKJV Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

As I sit writing this there’s a wood pigeon cooing his heart out above my window! He’s often to be seen strutting about drinking from the bird bath and paddling in it, enjoying the benefits of our garden! They say they have very little brains but you’ll never see a pigeon looking worried, perhaps it’s because they instinctively know if God is caring for the sparrows, He must be looking after them as well.😊

As I thought about that I realised God wants us to enjoy all His benefits as well because He values us so highly. Psalm 103 lists them all for us - He forgives our sins, heals all our diseases, delivers our lives from destruction, crowns us with loving kindness, renews our youth, and so on. It’s all there for you and me to enter into by faith.

1 Peter 5:7 says to cast all our cares on to Him, not to carry them around in our backpack weighing us down. God wants us to know, just like the sparrows, how much more we can trust Him to look after us, day in and day out, when we’re up and when we’re down, because He loves us. 

So as we go into this week, remember our big fat pigeon and know you are being cared for by the One who holds the universe in perfect orbit and He can hold your world together too.

Our week will go much better when we remember God says we’re very valuable and not only go and drink from the bird bath of Psalm 103, but paddle around in it till we’re renewed and refreshed.😊 Amen.

Matthew 10:29-31 NLT What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

Photo by Doncoombez on Unsplash

GOD DELIGHTS IN US

Psalm 147 NLT

1 Praise the Lord!

How good to sing praises to our God!

How delightful and how fitting!

3 He heals the brokenhearted

and bandages their wounds.

4 He counts the stars

and calls them all by name.

5 How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!

His understanding is beyond comprehension!

11 …the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him,

those who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Whether you’ve had a good week or a bad one, I hope there’s something you can sing praises to the Lord for today. If we’ve had a tough time it’s so helpful to read the Psalms because they put into words what we’d love to be able to say but can’t seem to find the words sometimes.😊

Whoever wrote this psalm though, really managed to go beyond themselves, to grasp something of the vastness and greatness of our God. He looks up to the starry heavens and thinks about them for a while but then he brings it close to home and he reminds us of how God delights in those who reverence Him and put their hope in His unfailing love. How encouraging that we have something so wonderful to latch our hope onto!😊

So let’s join with the psalmist today and go beyond ourselves for a little while, think about how He’s so immensely powerful, that He not only knows the name of the stars but He knows your name and mine as well. 

Imagine that for a minute. God knows your name and He has it engraved on the palm of His mighty hand and whether you feel uplifted or downcast He wants you to know He’s delighted with you. How lovely that is and it’s all because of Jesus and all He’s done for us.😊

Thank You Lord. We give You all the praise and glory today. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo: Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

PEACE ON THE INSIDE

John 16:33 NIV “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Whether we live alone or with others, and it’s one of those days when the washing machine has just gone down, or we have children crying, the dog is barking and someone wants to know where their keys have gone, we all need peace in the turmoil!

Yesterday I was thanking the Lord for His peace, and I had the thought that because we are ‘in’ Jesus and He is in us, then we must be ‘in’ His peace all the time whether we realise it or not! 

The trouble is we forget that His peace is ours already! 1 Corinthians 6:17 NIV But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Everything Jesus is, and has, is already in our spirit because we are one spirit with Him, and it includes His peace! It’s worth stopping and thinking about that for a minute.

Sometimes we look for peace in our surroundings and they can help us to be peaceful, but Jesus says we can be at peace, even in the harassment of the day going on around us, if we’ll just remember we have the peace of God inside us for us to tap in to!😊

Some people are very peaceful people by nature and they remain unruffled by circumstances but I know I tend to get in a tizzy very quickly, when I should know better! That’s probably why God reminded me that because the Lord is in us, around us, under us and over us then so is His peace inside, around, under and over us! If God is with us, and He is, then so is His peace!😊

So this is a little reminder the next time we find ourselves losing our peace and want to go into panic mode, to just stop for a moment, take a breath, draw on the Prince of Peace and let Him calm us down. Remember He’s right there with us and the Holy Spirit is there to show us what to do and how to overcome whatever has come up. We can deliberately draw on His peace and thank Him for it. Amen.

Have a blessed and ‘peaceful’ weekend.x😊

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.

Do you ever stop and think about your hands, how wonderfully made and what a blessing they are? They’re able to do the mundane tasks of the day, to reach out to help others, to make meals or write letters or text friends and family. They are capable of so much, creating works of art, play music, put things together, and so on.😊

Now what about God’s hands? It’s good to remember God has written your name and mine in the palm of His hand so we are always on His mind! He holds us up with His hands, which means He’s helping us with our present, and our future is safe in His hands too.

Jesus’ nail pierced hands have dealt with our past, and God’s hands have wiped away the charges against us, He has wiped our slate clean.(Colossians 2:4) What comfort there is in that!

There’s a well known saying, “We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.” So on those days when we’re tempted to be fearful, to worry about our future and how to deal with life, we need to remember we’re not on our own, but we have a loving Father who walks beside us holding our hand, lifting us up, leading us and helping us around the clock.

Be encouraged today, and if the enemy has been bothering you about what you will do, how you will cope, what may or may not happen, remind him you’re safe in God’s hands, that He is looking after you and He’s promised to take care of you, so all will be well.😊

Job 12:10 NLT For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of every human being.

Thank You Lord. Amen.

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