COMING OUT OF IT!

Jonah 2:7 As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you…v.9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfil all my vows, For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.

Jonah was in the belly of the whale because his disobedience to God had led him in the wrong direction. He was in the dark, covered in slime, it was smelly, seaweed wrapped round his head, he couldn’t see the way out, everything looked hopeless but despite all that, Jonah knew what to do!

First of all he remembered the Lord, he called out to God from where he was at, and then he offered the sacrifice of praise, before he got out, for three days and three nights which probably felt like forever! He also said he’d fulfil the vows he’s made to God before he was in the mess. We can all learn from Jonah and do as he did. 

We all face different difficulties but we too can remember God is for us, that He is mighty to save through Jesus and call out to Him in faith and then give Him the sacrifice of praise. You may say, “What can I praise God for, things are messed up, I’m so discouraged?” Thank Him you’re still alive, thank God for His Word that He’s going to bring you out of your trouble into victory, that His plans for you are good, to give you a future and a hope.

Faith works when there is no evidence of our deliverance, or of things changing, but we choose to stand facing the fear, the depression, or whatever physical situation we’re in, by praising God, believing He’s bringing us out of it all, that we’ll be stronger and better off than when we went into it. Faith believes that with God all things are possible.😊

Sometimes it is a sacrifice and we may not feel like doing it, but let’s allow faith to rise up on the inside and give God praise for the victory before we see it, knowing God is faithful to us, He is in the delivering business and He will do it because of Jesus, because He said He would. Nothing is too hard for our God. Amen.

 Psalm 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

WHEREVER WE ARE GOD IS!

1 John 3:24  Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.

I have this little sign on my mirror so I like to say it out loud, to help start my day off right, to remind myself that those statements are true and I find they bring great comfort and peace to my heart. Perhaps they would be a help and blessing to you too?

It’s an amazing thought that if we’ve asked Jesus to come into our hearts then God moved in too and wherever we go God goes with us. He has given us His anointing and when we come into a room we bring His anointing with us! People should be aware there’s something different about us because we’ve brought God along and His light is surrounding us and His love is enfolding us. We sometimes forget that in the pressures of our day.😊

We all meet people who need God to intervene in their lives. Very often our own testimony will speak to them because no one can deny how we’ve experienced God’s help for ourselves to strengthen and rescue us. 

God gave us His Holy Spirit to help us know what to say, to know how to pray for people who are sick or distressed. Jesus said we would lay hands on the sick and they would recover (Mark 16:18) so sometimes when I meet someone who is hurting or ill I just lay my hand on their hand or arm and even if there’s no opportunity to pray for them out loud, I believe God to step in and do what only He can do because His power is inside me, flowing through me and He’s in you too.

So as we go into our week, let’s smile and rejoice we are children of the Most High God, with the Holy Spirit living inside and we take our mighty Saviour with us wherever we go, taking His love and compassion to a needy world. 

Have a blessed week.😊