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.😊