SHOUT JOYFUL PRAISES

1

Psalm 66:1-5, 8-9 NLT

Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth! 

2 Sing about the glory of his name!

Tell the world how glorious he is.

3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

Your enemies cringe before your mighty power.

4 Everything on earth will worship you;

they will sing your praises,

shouting your name in glorious songs.” Interlude

5 Come and see what our God has done,

what awesome miracles he performs for people!

8 Let the whole world bless our God

and loudly sing his praises.

9 Our lives are in his hands,

and he keeps our feet from stumbling.

The lovely thing about praising God is that it takes our eyes off ourselves and our problems and it lifts our eyes to the only One who has all the answers. He has the solutions before we have the problems so we can know we’re in good hands.😊

Verse 9 reminds us that our whole lives are in His hands, not just our work, or the family, or our finances. Absolutely everything is in His hands, and that includes our emotions, our struggles and every aspect of life. There’s nothing too big or too small that we can’t come and talk to God about it and know He’s already put things in place for our deliverance and provision. What a wonderful God we serve!

We know David stumbled morally and yet he was saying God kept him from stumbling, He kept him spiritually anchored despite his failure and when he repented God forgave his sin. Maybe we think, because we’ve sinned, or wandered off, that God has given up on us, but He still has a strong hold on us to keep us from falling away, and gives us grace even when we fail and make mistakes. 

What a merciful God He is and it’s no wonder the Psalmist wants us to tell the world how glorious He is. God loves us, He is for us, He is fighting our battles and wants us to be fruitful and successful. What more could we want? 

Let’s give Him all our joyful praise today and lift His name on high. The Psalmist says to do it loudly, to shout it out, not timidly or half heartedly but with all we’ve got, wherever we happen to be. In Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

THE THREE CHEERS

Do you need cheering up today? Has life been wearing you down a bit lately? If so, I thought we’d look at the three cheers of Jesus and hopefully they will do what He intended them to do and cheer us up too.😊

Matthew 9:2 NKJV Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

1ST CHEER - The Power of God to forgive sins and the power to heal. Jesus says, “Cheer up!”  Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and so what He said then still applies to us now.😊

                                                                                ***

Matthew 14:27 NKJV But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

2ND CHEER - the Presence of God. We can cheer up because Jesus is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. He’s always with us and He will never abandon us! (Hebrews 13:5) No matter what we face, or what we’re afraid of, we’re never on our own. God is right there with us in the trouble.😊

                                                                                ***

John 16:33 NKJV These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

3RD CHEER - the Promise of God. We have the promise of peace in the trouble and the ability to overcome it through Jesus. 

                                                                                ***

Jesus has forgiven us our sins and paid for our healing, we have His presence at all times no matter what the trouble, and such a wonderful promise of peace and overcoming ability.

The Power, the Presence, and the Promise of God. Jesus has given us three reasons to cheer up, now can I encourage us all to give Him everything that’s pulled us down, and just believe what He says and let Him cheer us up too. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

FROM SUNRISE TO SUNSET

Psalm 113:3 AMP From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the Lord is to be praised [with awe-inspired reverence].

Just at the moment we are experiencing our second heat wave in the UK in the past few weeks, and many of us do struggle to cope with the heat because we’re not used to it. Although it’s lovely to wake up and see a sunny sky instead of a cold, wet, grey dismal one! Yesterday it was around 36 degrees!

So often when we read this verse we think of the old song “From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same”, and it can become a bit too familiar. But the Psalmist reminds us that every moment of our day, whether it’s sunny or otherwise, we can be praising our God with awe inspired reverence.

I don’t know where the sun rises at your house but it rises at the front of ours and gradually moves around to set at the back. Because we’re all so focused on the sun at the minute wouldn’t it be good to turn it into focusing on our God and recognising how wonderfully powerful He is and how amazing that He knows each one of us by name. He knows how many hairs are on our heads and He’s even aware of when we sit down or stand up.😊

Wherever we happen to be today, even if we’re feeling the heat, let’s praise the Lord for His goodness and kindness to us which never changes regardless of the weather.

His sun has risen and gone down on generations before us and whether it’s shining or not, we know our God is always providing and caring for us, no matter what season we’re in.

So next time we feel somewhat overwhelmed with the heat, maybe we can turn it around, grab a tall cold glass of water, and praise our God today with the awe inspired reverence He is due.😊 Amen.

Photo: Bobby on Unsplash

GOD IS FIGHTING OUR BATTLES

2 Chronicles 32:7-8 NLT  “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side! He may have a great army, but they are merely men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!” Hezekiah’s words greatly encouraged the people.

We all have battles of one kind or another. Some are bigger than others but whatever size they are God doesn’t want us to fight them on our own! He goes as far as to say we can be strong and courageous even when we’re not very brave in our own selves, because we have the Greater One inside us to call on.

The Holy Spirit is with us around the clock and He reminds us that God is our strong tower, God is helping us and fighting our battles, and God is for us not against us! The trouble is we tend to forget!

So what battles are you fighting today? Are you battling fear or lack of finances, battling health issues or family troubles? Maybe you’re battling with doubts? Whatever it is, God wants us to know we don’t have to face those battles in our own strength because we have the Creator of the universe living on the inside of us and He does the impossible, He brings our enemies to their knees and wipes them out, He delivers us and sets us on high.

If we focus on the battle, on our enemy, we become discouraged because we know in ourselves we can’t win, but when we focus on who our God is and how He is helping us fight our battles the whole ball game changes! We are on the winning side, we are coming from a place of victory, so we’re going out to win! That’s the mindset God wants us to have.😊

Let’s be like King Hezekiah who encouraged his people, and encourage one another to remember we have the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, living inside us! Remember He is our Helper, our Counsellor, our Comforter, our Standby. We’re not alone in it all, we have a Champion on our side and His name is Jesus and He always wins! Praise His name. Amen.😊

Photo: Nghia Le on Unsplash

THE POWER OF ONE

John 1: 40-42 NLT Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”). Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus….

The power of one. One what you may ask? The power of one person who can tell someone else about Jesus.😊

When Andrew heard Jesus, he realised he had found the Messiah and he immediately went to find his brother Simon Peter to bring him to hear Jesus for himself. We don’t hear a lot about Andrew but he did a wonderful thing in that one act because Peter then went on to speak and literally thousands were saved  - because of one person, Andrew, doing his part first.

So often we think, “I’m only one person, what can I do?” The truth is we can be used by the Holy Spirit to speak a word about Jesus, a word about what He has done for us, and that word can help another person come to know Jesus for themselves.

One word from God can change a person’s life for eternity. One touch from God can put them on a new path that leads to life and we can be the one person who gives them that word from God. It may only take one smile, one kind act that opens someone’s heart, and we can make ourselves available to God for Him to use us at any moment.

It only takes one person to plant a seed so faith can grow. One person to speak a word of encouragement when people are low. One person to tell someone they can have a new beginning, a new hope, a way forward out of the mess, because of Jesus.

At some point some ‘one’ spoke to us about Jesus, about His love and forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit gave us the opportunity to come to know God as our Father, to have our sins washed away, and our future was changed forever. 

Lord, give us the courage to be available to be the ‘one’ who does the same thing for someone else. Amen.😊

Photo by Miguel Ángel Padriñán Alba on Unsplash

KEEP TRUSTING

Psalm 56:3 CEV 3 but even when I am afraid, I keep on trusting you.

The Bible is full of stories of peoples’ lives who have stepped out in faith to believe for something, or to do what God told them to do, but then things happen to set them back. Joseph is a classic example. He had big dreams where others would bow down to him but then he ended up in a pit. Things go from bad to worse and he finds himself a slave for 13 years and sent to prison for something he didn’t even do. He waited and waited while time was ticking by!

Do we read that he gave up? Do we discover that he became bitter? No. Actually we read how he tried to help someone else get out of the prison even when he was afraid he would never get out himself. We read that he forgave his brothers for causing all his grief in the first place and He kept trusting His God, regardless of his setbacks, regardless of the time it took!😊

Maybe circumstances have ganged up on you and you feel like you’re struggling to keep going, the answers are taking too long, or you’re afraid for the future, of what might happen, and how will it all work out? Maybe a friend or a family member has put some doubts in your mind about the step of faith you have taken and it has discouraged you? Perhaps things have gone from bad to worse and you wonder where it will all end?

If so, God wants to inject some encouragement into each one of us today because He reminds us again: Galations 6:9 TLB And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.

Don’t give up trusting! God is always working behind the scenes and He knows what He is doing and where we’re at. His timing is always spot on, and He’s saying even when we’re afraid, for whatever reason, keep trusting Him and don’t be discouraged because His plans will be worked out at the right time. Amen.😊

SAYING WHAT GOD SAYS

Proverbs 18:21 CEV Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say.

I expect we all wake up some days and want to go back to bed! Days when  our body feels out of sorts and we struggle to get our thoughts going in the right direction!

We hear people everyday saying things like: I’m tired, I’m depressed, I’m discouraged, I’m fed up, I can’t do this or that, I, I, I! Their ‘I’s are all headed the wrong way!😊

We all come under attack sometimes and we may be tempted to think, “Where is the victory?”  So what do we do to make it real and relevant?

When I was feeling a bit like that the other day I decided to just declare out loud who God says I am, not how I felt, or what I thought, because they didn’t help! Instead I simply chose to say what God says and He says this… (and you can say them too)…

I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (Let the weak say I am strong!)
I am righteous because God has made me righteous!
I am healed, because the Word says by Jesus wounds I have been healed.
I am enough because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I am anointed and can do whatever God calls me to do.
I am above the situations of life, not beneath.
I am blessed going out and blessed coming in.
I am an overcomer whether it feels like it or not, because the Greater One is in me.
I am victorious because Jesus gave me His victory and I choose to believe it.
I am a child of God and have access to God’s throne of grace at any time to receive whatever I need.
I am in Christ and He is living in me to will and to do what pleases Him.
I am loved by God and have His joy and peace in me.

By the time I’d spoken some of those things out loud by faith, something began to shift. Sometimes we have to draw the line in the sand and no matter what the enemy whispers in our ears, we need to declare we are who GOD says we are, even when we don’t feel like it, and God says you and I are all of the above things!😊

We are a people who walk by faith and faith comes by hearing, so as we go into our new week, let’s hold our heads up high and start declaring out loud so we can ‘hear’ it, who we REALLY are, not how we think we are, or how we feel. And we can do it over and over again whenever we need to. Amen.😊

NO COMPARISON

Psalm 71:19 NLT

Your righteousness, O God, 

reaches to the highest heavens.

You have done such wonderful things.

Who can compare with you, O God?

When the Queen of Sheba heard the wisdom of King Solomon and saw the glory of all he had done she was overwhelmed (2 Chronicles 9:8). But Jesus later said of Himself, “A greater one than Solomon is here.” (Luke 11:31). 

Jesus far surpasses Solomon because Solomon’s wisdom and wealth was only a shadow of the wisdom of Jesus and the wealth and glory of our God who has pavements made of gold!

When we hear about Solomon and his achievements and his treasures of precious things, we may think “Wow”, but God is letting us know they are a drop in the ocean and can’t even be compared to His glorious Son and all He has done, who now sits on the throne beside His Father in heaven.

Psalm 113:5-6 NLT Who can be compared with the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high?…. Scripture constantly reminds us that nothing and no one can compare to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, our Redeemer, our Risen Conquering King who is coming again.

We can rejoice and give thanks today because our King of Kings is the greatest. He was willing to suffer and die for us. He’s the only One who can work miracles and He loves you and me, which is a miracle in itself!😊. So let’s give Him all our praise today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 72:18-19 CEV 

Lord God of Israel,we praise you.

Only you can work miracles.

 We will always praise your glorious name.

Let your glory be seen everywhere on earth. 

Amen and amen.

Photo by Ashin K Suresh on Unsplash

“HITHERTO” !

1 Samuel 7: 12 KJV Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

“Hitherto”! I love that old fashioned word because it’s powerful!😊 I remember reading this verse years ago and it resonated with me. It’s about Samuel telling the children of Israel to rid themselves of their idol worship, and praying for the Lord to help them fight against the Philistines. The Lord answered his prayer and the Israelites were able to defeat their enemies. 

Samuel then erected a stone to remind them, and called it ‘Ebenezer’ which means ‘hitherto has the Lord helped us.’ In other words, thus far, up till now, has the Lord helped us.😊

Can I encourage us today to know that whatever we are dealing with, whatever the future looks like, we can remember and give thanks to God for the way He has always helped us in the past. He is a faithful God who has promised to help, uphold and strengthen us, and as His children, we know He always will.

We can all have an Ebenezer stone, a ‘Hitherto’ stone in our minds. It’s when we remember to thank God for the countless times He has blessed us in the past. For our homes, for the support of our families and friends, for His provision and loving care. To be grateful for all He has already done, and to keep reminding ourselves that He will not fail us and will always help us in the days to come.

When I feel downhearted it always helps me to say to myself, “Hitherto!”, and remember I have the Greater One living in me and He will provide whatever I need.

So next time you feel overwhelmed in any way, just keep thanking the Lord for His goodness, for His blessings and whisper under your breath, ‘Hitherto!’, and know He has your future all sorted out, and you’re safe in the palm of His loving hand. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

Photo: Courtesy of Y. Willis

WOUNDED SO WE CAN BE FREE

Isaiah 53:5 NIV But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We can probably all remember riding a bike as a kid and falling off. It usually meant we ended up with a few extra scars where the grazes healed over!😊

But there are other scars people carry all their lives which are not visible. They are scars where they’ve been deeply hurt, scars of offences which have never been dealt with or forgiven. Maybe words were spoken that undermined and limited them. They may be scars of rejection from family members, or loved ones, or friends who let them down. They are old wounds which can suddenly open up if they’re not healed properly.

God knows all about our wounds, but He wants to remind us today He’s done something about them because Jesus carried the wounds inflicted on Him at the whipping post, He experienced the wounds that nailed Him to the Cross, that pierced His brow, and every drop of His blood, every one of those wounds He bore for our sake so our wounds could be healed. 

Maybe they’re wounds of sickness, wounds of depression, wounds of loneliness or abandonment, scars of betrayal or guilt or shame. Whatever it is, God says Jesus bore it all for us, so we could be free, so we could be whole, so we could know peace in our innermost being. The punishment that brought us peace was on Him.

If you’re carrying some scars, old wounds from decades ago or just yesterday, Jesus asks you to see His wounds today and know He understands every one of yours, and He wants you to exchange them for His healing, His forgiveness, and His peace. He already paid the price by suffering for you.

I don’t know who this is for today but God does. You may have received His forgiveness for your sins, so why not bring all your wounds and scars to Him as well and let Him breathe His healing peace into them all, even the ones that are buried deep. 

It’s time to let them go and give them to Him today, because Jesus heals the broken hearted, He was wounded so you could be made whole, so you could be set free, because of His great love for you. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Alex Noriega on Unsplash

STANDING THROUGH THE STORMS

Psalm 34:19 AMP Many hardships and perplexing circumstances confront the righteous, But the Lord rescues him from them all.

Things can suddenly flare up in life and we don’t always see them coming but God does. Our God is never taken by surprise and He already has all the answers to every situation before we get there. We can know for sure that whatever we need will already be waiting for us when we need it.😊

When a family member is suddenly taken to hospital, when there are questions we don’t have the answers to, we can be confident that our God is working in the background bringing about the best outcome. The enemy may try to rattle us, but our God holds us steady in the storms. He reminds us that He is stronger than anything that is thrown at us and He will be there to bring us through.

Matthew 7:24-25 NIV “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

The parable of the two houses, one built on rock and the other built on sand reminds us that when our lives are built on Jesus our house will still be standing strong after the storm has blown itself out. Our part is to put our armour on and having done all, to stand.😊 

So if you are going through some storms today, take heart, our God loves us with an everlasting love. He knows what we are dealing with and He is fighting our battles, He is smoothing out the way ahead and if we’ll keep our eyes on Him we shall come through victorious with a testimony to His great goodness and kindness to us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.😊

OVERTAKE AND RECOVER

1 Samuel 30:8 AMPC And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? The Lord answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.

Now you may not have been burgled, or had your car burned to the ground, which I know from experience is very distressing, but we will probably have had something stolen from us by the enemy over the years whether it was our health, our peace or our joy, or maybe our finances.

David and his men experienced the enemy attacking and stealing their belongings and worst of all their wives and children. Their enemy burned their homes to the ground and took everything away. David and his men were so distressed they had no tears left to cry but he encouraged himself in the Lord. He knew where to turn and he asked God if he should go after what was stolen. God told him to pursue, and overtake his enemy because he wouldn’t fail, he would recover all! How encouraging that is to us today.😊

When the enemy steals our health or whatever it is, God didn’t say to sit down and let the enemy get away with it. Instead God said we have a Saviour who has made us overcomers, more than conquerors, so we can resist the enemy and command him to give back what he stole. Proverbs 6:31

God has told us that Jesus has already won the victory over the devil, and His victory has been given to us, so we have been given authority over him, to take his hands off everything belonging to us. 

In the courts of heaven we are seated with Jesus at the right hand of God, which is mind boggling but true. We are actually seated in Jesus, in His victory, not in defeat. It’s good to remember we’ve been given His authority over all the works of the enemy.😊

At the end of WW2, the war was won but the soldiers still had to go out and enforce the victory where the enemy hadn’t surrendered. We too have our part to play in not just standing our ground, but to go and take back the ground belonging to us in Jesus, take back what the enemy stole.

Praise God we are not victims, we are Victors. The Holy Spirit is encouraging us today to remember Jesus has authorised us to pursue, overtake and recover all in His name. Amen.

Photo: Joylynn-Goh on Unsplash

COVENANT FAITHFULNESS

2 Samuel 9:1 NKJV Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 

Jonathan had made a covenant with David that if anything happened to him David would show kindness to his family for his sake. Sadly he was killed in battle shortly afterwards.

Their blood covenant was so strong that nothing could break it. It involved faithfulness and commitment to the death, and included family. So we find David some time later asking if there is anyone still alive belonging to Jonathan’s family because he wanted to show him covenant kindness. 

David found Mephibosheth, who was lame in both feet, and gave him back all the land that had been taken from his grandfather King Saul, and he was given a place at King David’s table to dine with him everyday. He went from nobody to somebody! 

Mephibosheth called himself a ‘dead dog’, he saw himself as hopeless, but now he owned land, had multiple servants, and held a place of honour with the king’s own sons! Covenant transformed his life.

Now jump ahead to Jesus and we see we are now in blood covenant with God the Father, through the blood of Jesus. Luke 22:20 NIV In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. God invites us to His table, He calls us His sons and daughters and He is watching over His covenant to show us His faithfulness and loving kindness. He has given us His delegated authority, His name, His own Holy Spirit to comfort, and direct us.

It’s good to remember the covenant we have is all part of our inheritance in Jesus and it involves total restoration, forgiveness, healing and provision. God wants us to enjoy it and receive it in the here and now, because He doesn’t see us as ‘dead dogs’, He sees us as His much beloved children, set apart for Him. What a privileged people we are.😊

Thank You Lord. Help us understand what we have and receive it all. Amen.

OH, GIVE THANKS

Psalm 107:1-2 NKJV Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, …

Our picture says ‘Good days start with Gratitude’ and it’s always good to begin our week with a thankful heart.😊 

Thankful we could get out of bed, thankful for a drink of water, thankful for strength to go about our routines each morning. Thankful for running water and sanitation when so many in the world don’t have any. Thankful God loves us with an everlasting love.

We can always find things to be thankful for and the Lord has promised to go ahead of us into our new week, smoothing out the crooked paths, surrounding us with favour wherever we go. There may be new people, new opportunities that God has prepared for us, maybe new challenges, but God has also promised to be with us in it all.

Let’s choose to be thankful, choose to be forgiving, choose to keep looking up and not look down at our circumstances or what we don’t have. We can choose to be grateful for what we do have, what we can do and know that our God is merciful and kind, His heart is overflowing with His love for each one of us.

We can thank God for the Holy Spirit who is going to help us to make right choices and have good attitudes because He is the Greater One and He is inside us. In fact, it’s good to remember and be thankful God has put us on the victory side, Jesus has made us more than conquerors and the end result is, we can’t lose!😊

Oh, give thanks to the Lord today, for He is good to us all, and He is putting a big smile on our faces when we remember to be thankful. 😊 Amen.

Psalm 107:8-9 NKJV Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

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THAT WONDERFUL DAY

Isaiah 12:4-5 NLT 

 In that wonderful day you will sing:

“Thank the Lord! Praise his name!

Tell the nations what he has done.

Let them know how mighty he is!

Sing to the Lord, 

for he has done wonderful things.

Make known his praise around the world.

Sometimes we can be so bogged down with daily living and the circumstances we find ourselves in, that we forget we are living in that wonderful day! What wonderful day? 

V.1-3 NIV In that day you will say: “I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

These verses remind us that it’s the day of our salvation. It’s the day the Lord turned His anger away from us, when He gave us the way back to Him. He gave His own Son to pay for all our sin so it could all be wiped away at the Cross. That is a wonderful day for each one of us when we accept Jesus as our Saviour!😊 

Even on difficult days it says He is the God who comforts us. He reminds us we can drink from the well of His salvation with joy because we can draw out His peace and forgiveness, His grace and favour, His mercy, His great love, whatever we need.

If we don’t draw out of His well we shall be miserable but if we do draw on it He will put His joy in our hearts. Let’s draw out of that well today and sing His praises. 

“Thank You Lord! We praise Your name! You are so merciful, so forgiving. There’s no one like You, so mighty but so loving to each one of us. We sing to You Lord, for You have done wonderful things and we make known Your praise around the world.”😊 Amen.

UNEXPECTED SWEETNESS

Judges 14:8-9 NIV Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

We were out walking several weeks ago and we came across a diseased tree which they had cut down, and inside was this honeycomb made by wild bees which had long gone.

It was fascinating to think they had been happily making some yummy sweet honey in the middle of a decaying tree! As I thought about that I realised that we can look at some situations and think that nothing good can come out of them, but God is saying He can bring sweetness out of anything if we’ll trust Him.😊

Samson killed a lion one day and when he passed it by some time later, he discovered bees had made a honeycomb inside its carcass too! It seems bees can produce sweet honey in the most unlikely places, where you’d least expect it!

Maybe you have some things that look too far gone, or pretty bad. Take heart, because God who made the bees which make the honey, can certainly take your situation and bring sweetness out of it if we’ll believe Him to work His purposes out in the way He knows best.

Maybe it would be good to take a break and go and have some toast and honey.😊 And while you’re there ask the Lord to take whatever it is that has distressed and discouraged you, that looks as though nothing good can come out of it, and ask Him to make something sweet out of it for all concerned and for His glory. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x

(Please click photo to see honeycomb more clearly).

GOD IS MORE GOOD …

Psalm 34:8: NKJV Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

I was listening to the testimony of a man who had been facing 76 years in prison for dealing in drugs which he didn’t do. He was actually acquitted a year later. Things had looked really bad but then he said this, “It doesn’t matter what the situation is, God is more good, than the bad is bad!”

It would be good to carry that thought with us because it’s a powerful truth. I just thought how immensely encouraging it is, that when we face seemingly impossible situations our God is bigger, stronger, more powerful and His heart is for us not against us. No matter how bad the bad is, our God overwhelms it with His goodness, His power and His love.😊

Our God is the God of the turn around and I was talking with friends the other day who were recounting how the Lord has recently turned a family situation around completely. It didn’t look good, and yet now the picture is completely different, their relative is changing and has new hope.

Can I encourage someone today to know that no matter how long things have been the way they are, our God is actively responding to our prayers to soften hearts, to redirect the footsteps of our loved ones, to alter mind sets which seem so stuck. With God anything is possible because He is outside of time, outside the confines of our natural world and when we speak out what He has said we’re drawing His plans and purposes from the spiritual world, into our natural world to change destinies.

Next time you think things are too far gone, recognise that thought as being from the enemy, look again, in the light of God’s goodness, and dust your faith off. Declare your God is bigger and more powerful, your God raises the dead, your God speaks and worlds come into existence. Now speak His word over your situation and believe Him to do the impossible for you too. In Jesus name. Amen.😊

Psalm 145:9 NIV The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

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EXTRAVAGANT PLANS

1 Chronicles 28:19 NLT 19 “Every part of this plan,” David told Solomon, “was given to me in writing from the hand of the Lord.”

We all make plans of one kind or another, whether it’s for a holiday, or maybe a family celebration and some people plan it down to the last detail, while others go with the flow!😊

In Chronicles we read how God personally gave David His plans for the Temple that was to be built, and we discover they were very meticulous. King Solomon actually carried those plans out to the last detail and we realise how extravagant they were! There was nothing but the best, nothing too much trouble and God provided it all through King David. He even provided the master craftsman Huram to make the gold, silver, bronze and embroidered artefacts. It was probably what we would call ‘over the top’!😊

It gives us an insight into the heart of God and His plans for each one of us. 

1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? We are now God’s temple and His plans for each one of us individually, and as a body of believers, are just as extravagant, over the top, and detailed, because that’s just who He is!

Psalm 32:8 NLT The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. So whatever is going on with you at the minute, be encouraged and know God still has good plans for your life, they are plans to give you a future and a hope, plans to bless you not to harm you.

He has things prepared and planned for you to seek out and walk into, whether they are spiritual, physical, or relational - they are good plans, extravagant plans, detailed plans, and they have His fingerprints all over them! We just have to listen for His instructions and be willing to do as He says.😊

Thank You Lord. Amen.

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AT THE PROPER TIME

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

I was reminded this week that one of the biggest tests we all face is not opposition, it’s time. When we keep believing God’s promise when we can’t see anything changing, when we remain faithful if we don’t receive any encouragement, when things look worse and we remain determined to stand on God’s word knowing He cannot lie, we are putting our faith to work.😊

None of us enjoys waiting but when we do, God honours our faith, we’re doing the ‘good’ He talks about in our verse, He’s helping us pass the test of time, to not give up, and to reap the harvest He promised.

Abraham waited decades for his promised son to arrive. Noah built the ark over a hundred years but every day he woke up there was no sign of the promised flood. Nevertheless, he obeyed what God told him to do, despite the mockery, despite his doubts, and he reaped the harvest - his family was rescued. 

Now we don’t have a hundred years to wait, many of us may never see one hundred, but if God has promised us something, it will happen. All He requires of us is to remain in faith, to believe what He has said.😊

When God goes quiet, when we don’t have any further instructions, when we don’t ‘see’ what we’re believing for with our natural eyes, we need to remember our faith is based on the incorruptible written Word of God, and know He is working behind the scenes.

The Holy Spirit’s encouragement to us today is to keep believing, don’t be moved by what you see or feel, but stand on God’s promise and know He will bring your harvest to pass - at the proper time - in His time.😊 Amen.

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WALKING AND WAITING

Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.

When we love somebody we like to do things we know will please them. In the same way whatever we do in the Christian life it’s going to involve walking it out by faith because we know that’s what pleases God.(Hebrews 11:6) 😊

We forget sometimes that God lives outside the natural realm, that He is Spirit, not limited by our natural world, by time or space. He is supernatural and He has now made us new creations in Christ which means we’re equipped to walk in the unseen supernatural world as well.

Our finite minds may shy away from the supernatural because it requires us to think outside of the box we are ‘comfortable’ in. Faith walks in the realm where we believe things are changing, even when it doesn’t look like it or feel like it. God is immensely powerful and He has given us His Holy Spirit to enable us to tap into His supernatural ability, to believe for the impossible because nothing is impossible with God.😊

For instance, Jesus told us to speak to our mountains and tell them to be uprooted and cast into the sea. He didn’t tell us to ask God to do it for us. He didn’t tell us to talk about our mountains until they seem insurmountable! Instead Jesus says we’re to talk to our mountains about how big our God is, how powerful He is and in His name we take authority over them and tell them to be uprooted and removed.

It requires us to walk in the Spirit, to seek Him for His way of thinking and doing things. Not everything happens immediately but while we’re waiting for things to change, God is at work in our waiting, and that requires our faith to be active to believe He is working! 

I’ll say it again, ‘God is at work in our waiting”. Now be encouraged and hold on to that knowing our verse reminds us, ‘The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.’😊 Amen.

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JESUS INTERCEDES FOR US

Hebrews 4:14 NIV Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

As I was sitting thinking, I was remembering that Jesus Himself is sitting at the right hand of His Father and He’s interceding on our behalf, around the clock, whether it’s Monday morning or whenever.😊

The High Priest in the Old Covenant shed the blood of animals, but we know Jesus is now our High Priest who brings the sacrifice of His own blood to the Father and is constantly reminding Him that He shed His blood for you and me and that our names are written in the palm of God’s hand so He won’t forget!

When I saw that it really got to me. 

Just imagine for a minute holding God’s hand and unfurling His fingers and there is your name written in His palm and as you look up His eyes are smiling at you with great love. What a thought!

Whenever Satan accuses us of anything Jesus is there reminding His Father we’ve been forgiven and made righteous because we’re trusting in Him and all He did for us at the Cross.

Jesus tells us God loves us as much as He loves Jesus Himself which is mind boggling! He’s asking the Father to hold us steady in our faith, to protect us from the evil one, to keep us safe, to cause us to walk in His paths. He’s asking the Father to fill our cup till it overflows and make us a blessing to others wherever we go. 

He tells the Holy Spirit to remind us God is always good, always working on our behalf, always turning things around for our good and for His glory, to give us abundant grace and mercy for every moment of our day.

Jesus speaks for us in the courts of heaven and He wants us to know He’s watching over us, backing us up all the time, cheering us on.

So be encouraged as we go into another week, never forget Jesus Himself is interceding for us, especially when we make a mistake, and He has given us His victory to enable us to overcome. Glory to God.😊 Amen.

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COME AND SEE!

Psalm 66:1-5 NIV

Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious.

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing the praises of your name.”

Come and see what God has done,

his awesome deeds for mankind!

Come and see! What a lovely invitation to mankind, to take the blinkers off and come and see how much God loves us. Come and see what Jesus has done for us. Come and see His good plans for our lives.

Sadly many people don’t come and see. They decide in their minds before they know anything about it because they have been deceived by the enemy. Even as believers we don’t always come and see what God is saying to us right at this moment for the coming day. We can be too taken up with the affairs of life and we neglect to come and see what God is doing and saying.

It doesn’t have to be like that though. God invites us into His presence today to come and shout for joy for all He has done for us, to celebrate His power and the awesome thing He did for us in making Jesus the Way back to Him.😊

Even when our daily circumstances are very difficult for a season, we can still praise our God because He never changes, even though our circumstances do. He is still worthy because of who He is and because He gave us His own Son to die in our place, to rescue us from a lost eternity.

Let’s lay aside our concerns and anxieties, our grumbles and complaints, our fears and doubts for a time, and give God all the praise and glory He deserves today. Let’s magnify Him and most of all thank Him afresh for Jesus and His great love for each and every one of us. In Jesus name. Amen.

ENJOY THE SMALL ENCOUNTERS

Psalm 104:24 NLT O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.

Yesterday my neighbour, who is a primary school teacher, showed us her ten little fluffy chicks that have been loaned to her to show her first graders, and they were so cute. Just little fluff balls and I’d never held one before until she put one in my hands. It was an ‘Aw’ moment!😊

We never know what the day will bring and when it’s as lovely as that it really makes us smile. It was one of those moments which we don’t want to miss.

Earlier on we’d been out for a walk down a nearby path when a robin decided to fly right in front of us and stopped us in our tracks. He just stood and watched us for quite a while without flying away, and he was so tame it was amazing. Another moment. 

Then we walked on to the fishing pond and we were sitting enjoying the sun when a mummy duck and her five teenage ducklings deliberately swam towards us and all climbed out of the water and waddled up the embankment in order to come and check us out, before swimming off again. It was quite an entertainment - another moment!😊

They were fleeting, small encounters that made us smile, nothing earth shaking or momentous, just enjoying some of God’s creation. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does it’s good to stop and be present in the moment with a thankful heart. They reminded me of the old hymn “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, so thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord, for all His love.” 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.

Have a blessed weekend and whatever small encounters you have, may you be able to take the time to enjoy each moment of them, however fleeting they may be.x😊

We Plough the Fields and Scatter
We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land;
But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand:
He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.

All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all His love.

He only is the maker of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower, He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey Him, by Him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children, He gives our daily bread.

Chorus

We thank Thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, and food;
No gifts have we to offer, for all Thy love imparts,
But that which Thou desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.

Author: Matthias Claudius (1782)

TIME FOR A DECLUTTER

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

Now I don’t know whether you are a tidy or an untidy person but I’m a bit of both! My craft room often looks cluttered, but I do try to keep the rest of my house tidy most of the time.😊

As I was thinking about that I realised that a lot of us also have cluttered minds. We have clutter in our thinking from bad memories we should have let go of years ago, clutter from the upset maybe only yesterday or ten years ago, clutter from the anxieties about the future which have filled our minds with all the unhelpful things we really don’t want, because they steal our peace.

The trouble with clutter in our minds is, it doesn’t leave any room for new ideas or thoughts! Those times when God wants to give us a new uplifting thought but it gets buried under all the other rubbish we’re hanging on to, or we just haven’t any room left for His thoughts to come in and find a home.

There’s a TV programme which shows people with homes so badly cluttered they have to get people in to clear it all out and a lot of it goes to the tip. They’ve forgotten why they even keep things! Are we a bit like that? Have we hung on to wrong thoughts, wrong attitudes or memories and we can’t even remember why?

God wants to transform each and every one of us and He says He does it by transforming our minds, but we have to cooperate with Him in order for Him to do that. Maybe it’s time to stand back and ask the Holy Spirit to help us see what needs sorting out, to have a grand clear out and allow Him to show us what is clogging up our thinking, what needs throwing out and what’s worth keeping.

Like me, you’re probably getting the feeling it’s time to declutter our minds to make room for the new thing God is wanting to do, so we know what His good, pleasing and perfect will is for our future.😊 Amen.

GOD MEANS WHAT HE SAYS

Isaiah 43:19 ESV Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

God still has new things for us all, and they may make our heads tilt a bit, whether it’s in our own lives personally or by the mighty move of God that is coming on the earth in these end times where the Holy Spirit will bring many people into God’s kingdom before it’s too late.

When we read this verse though, we may think it’s only referring to some big new thing that’s going to happen, but perhaps we forget that each new day is a new beginning.😊 

Yesterday has gone and we can leave it in God’s hands. God reminds us He has poured out His new mercies on us as the new day dawned for when we get it wrong, and He has showered us with the new blessings of His grace that will meet every need we will have in the next 24 hours.

There may be things looming in your life and you just can’t see how they can be resolved, or how things are going to work out, but we’ve not been called to ‘work things out’. We’ve been called to trust in the God who holds the solar systems in place, who calls out the stars by name, who knows how many hairs are on your head, who knows when you sit down and rise up again.😊

We’re called to tell others about the goodness and love of our God and leave the details to Him, one day at a time. We’re called to follow His lead, not to go down the cul de sacs of ‘good ideas’ or lean on our own very limited understanding. When God says He will make a way in the wilderness, He means it! It’s not an airy fairy, vague nice thing to say! God always means what He says. He will make a way!

So be encouraged to grab a hold of this verse, whether it’s for the next 24 hours or for the big picture of the future, because either way it’s God Himself who is promising it and He will do what He says He will do! My part is to stir up our faith and your part is to believe Him.😊 Amen.

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SOMETHING TO REJOICE ABOUT

Luke 10:19 NKJV “Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

It’s easy to jump up and down for joy when everything is going well but it’s not so easy on those days when life is hard and the last thing you feel like doing just at this minute is rejoice!😊 

So why and what are we rejoicing about? When the Apostle Paul told us ‘Rejoice and again I say rejoice’(Philippians 4:4), even when he was in prison, he knew why he was rejoicing. It wasn’t fake! On one occasion he was in a cell, underground, chained, beaten and in pain. We saw a photo recently of the actual prison they believe Paul was incarcerated in and it wouldn’t have made you feel like rejoicing!

So how could Paul rejoice? It was because his name was written in heaven! That’s why we can all rejoice who own the name of Jesus who have repented of our sins and are trusting in Him alone and not in our own righteousness. We have a sure and certain hope of heaven, because of all Jesus has done for us.

John 14:2-3 NRSV Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

It means even when we feel like we’re in a prison of difficult days or hard trials we can rejoice in this  - our names are recorded in heaven and one day Jesus is coming back to take us into our new home where there will be joy everlasting and our Heavenly Father is waiting to say, ‘Welcome Home!’😊

But until then, even when things may look impossible, we encourage each other to keep standing on all the promises of God, we walk by faith and not by sight, and having done all, we stand - and we can all rejoice because we know God loves us and our names are written in heaven. 

Thank You Lord Jesus. Amen.

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