Are You Looking At Life Through The Lens Of God’s Love and Casting All Of Your Care On Him or Are You Trying To Handle The Weights That Come With Life On Your Own?

Do you have a positive mindset?   Is your mind set on the positive and not the negative today?   Are you choosing to look at things differently in your life today?   God wants you to see things from His point of view.    

God wants you to see yourself as the head and not the tail.   He wants you to know and understand that you are an overcomer.   He wants you to know that the victory belongs to you.   Sometimes in life, the weight of what we are going through becomes to heavy.    We try to handle the weight of everything we are going through alone but we have to remember God said to cast our cares on Him.  He said He cares for us.   So we have to learn how to cast the weight of worry on Him.   We have to give Him our bills because He said He knows the things we have need of and He is faithful and just to supply us with all of our needs.   We have to cast sickness and disease on Him because He said that He is the God that heals us.   We have to give friends and family over to Him because He said the heart of the man is in His hands and He turns it whichever way He chooses.   We have to learn how to live a life of surrender where we are surrendering everything that concerns us to our heavenly Father who has promised to take care of us. 

As we learn how to surrender everything to God, we must learn how to view things in our lives through the lens of God’s love.   When we look through the lens of God’s love we see that we have a heavenly Father who not only loves us but He has promised to take care of us.   We see that because He loves us, He will never leave us nor forsake us.    When we know that God’s love overrides everything else, we can have a positive mindset.   We can rest our mind in knowing that God is working everything together in our lives for our good and His glory.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Peter 5:7 

King James Version (KJV)

7 Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.

WHAT STANDARD ARE YOU USING WHEN YOU DECIDE TO SETTLE IN LIFE? ARE YOU BEING RULED BY YOUR EMOTIONS AND ARE YOU ALLOWING FEAR TO CAUSE YOU TO COMPROMISE THE STANDARDS GOD HAS GIVEN YOU?

Are you settling in life or are you waiting on God to fulfill His promises in your life?  When you settle on something, you come into agreement about it.   Whether it is in regards to time, price, or conditions, what are you settling on and for in your life?   What are you allowing to be “okay” in your life?    What standard are you using when you decide to settle for situations in your life?   Is it God’s standard or are you just settling because you have a fear of the unknown?   Are you allowing fear of not knowing control what you accept in your life? 

Many people settle in life because they feel as though they rather have something rather than nothing.   They settle with a job and they settle in relationships.  In some cases they compromise their standards in order to please people in their lives.

God has not called us to live a life of compromise or to settle.  He said that we are to put our hope in Him.   We are to trust Him and to believe that He will give us His best in life.    We have to know that with our walk of obedience comes God’s blessings.  We have to know that He is faithful, just, and kind.    We have to know that settling for less than His best is not what He wants us to do.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Psalm 27:14 

King James Version (KJV)

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord

Are You Making Mid-Course Corrections After You Learn Lessons In Your Life or Are You Still Doing Things Your Way?

How are you handling what led you to this point in your life?   Are you taking what you have learned and making the necessary mid-course corrections in your life or are you being led by emotions that were generated by the actions of your past?    Understand, life is a learning experience.   When you learn something, you need to take what you have learned and apply it to your life. 

We have to understand God’s direction.   We have to begin to live by the lessons we learn in life.    Take a moment and think about school.   If the student doesn’t learn from the lessons, the student faces the possibility of being held back and not advancing to the next grade level.   So it is with life, when we don’t learn what God is teaching us, we can’t advance to the next level in Him. 

Life lessons are not always the easy to learn.   Sometimes we want what we want and we try our best to get it but that is not what God wants to see us do in life.   He wants us to learn of Him and He wants us to learn how to trust Him.    He doesn’t want us struggling to do what we want to do.   He wants us surrendering and doing what He has told us to do.   If we do things God’s way, it will cause doors of opportunity to open up in our lives and it will cause us to be blessed in life.    So, don’t allow your past to dictate your future actions.    Learn life lessons and move forward with God. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

Matthew 11:29 

King James Version (KJV)

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

ARE YOU ALLOWING GOD TO BE A PART OF EVERY PART OF YOUR LIFE? ARE YOU INVITING HIM INTO NOT ONLY YOUR HARD TIMES BUT ALSO YOUR TIMES OF REJOICING?

Are you inviting God in?   Have you asked Him to come in and to help you with whatever it is that you are going through?   Have you asked Him to shield you, protect you, and to keep you?   Have you told Him what it is that you have need of?   He said to come to Him, learn of Him, and to ask of Him.   Are you doing those things or are you still trying to handle life on your own?

As you go through this day, go through it knowing that God is with you.   He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you.   We have to know that God is our refuge and our strength.   He is a very present help in times of trouble.   He is our hiding place and we can dwell in a place where He is our shelter.    

Take time today to go to God.   Take time to commune with Him and to rest in His presence.   Take time to praise Him and to worship Him.   Take time for God.   Use the time that He has given you to magnify who He is in the earth.    God chose you to walk out this life with Him.   Will you?   Will you allow Him to be a part of every part of your life?   Not just calling on Him when life gets hard but rejoicing with Him when you experience His blessings and best in your life as well.     

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Deuteronomy 31:6 

King James Version 

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

GOD WANTS YOU TO BE EMPOWERED, STRONG, AND CONFIDENT! Remember Greater Is He That Is In You Than Anything Coming Against You In This World.

Are you empowered today?   Are you getting up stronger and more confident than you were yesterday?   Are you ready and willing to face any and everything that the devil throws your way today?   Understand, God has prepared you to do just that.    He has equipped you to be an overcomer in life. The greater One lives on the inside of you and He is greater than any and everything that will ever come up against you in life.   

God is a good God.  He is faithful and He is just.   He is an on-time God.    He never leaves us nor forsakes us.   Even when we feel as though we are at our weakest moment, God is there.   Even when we are going through situations that cause us to feel broken, God is there.    He doesn’t leave us, He carries us.   He carries us through the ups and downs that come with life.    He watches over us and He keeps us.    We have to believe and trust that He is there even in the midst of the pain that comes with life. 

So be strong today in the power of God’s might.   Trust, believe, and know that God is with you.   Know that He loves you and He will keep and comfort you.   When life gets hard, learn how to lean on and trust in God and His Word.   Learn how to have faith in what He has said that He will do for you, in you, and through you.   Know that the devil has no place in or power over your life unless you yield to him.   Know that God chose you and because He chose you, He will cover you and keep you.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

John 16:33 

King James Version

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

ARE YOU TRYING TO DO IT ALL OR ARE YOU DOING WHAT YOU CAN DO AND TRUSTING GOD TO DO THE REST?

Are you trusting God to do the rest?   You may be asking what is the rest.   The rest of whatever you need to have done.   So often in life we try to do it all.   We try to figure everything out and we try to work everything out but God wants us to trust Him.   He wants us to trust Him to do what we cannot do.   He wants us to trust Him even when we don’t know what to do next.   He wants us to believe and know that after we have done all that we can do, He will do the rest. 

Let today be a day of surrender for you.   Let it be a day where you trust God with it all.   No matter what is going on in your life, TRUST GOD.   He said in His Word that He knows the things we have need of and He is faithful and just to provide us with those things.   He said in His Word that greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world.   He said that He would work everything in our lives together for our good.    Do you trust what He said?    

God is Jehovah Jireh, our Provider.    He is Jehovah Rapha, our Healer.   He is El-Shaddai, our All-Sufficient God.    So let’s trust Him.   Let’s trust Him to heal our pain.  Let’s trust Him to open up doors.   Let’s trust Him to make a way where there appears to be no way.   Let’s trust God to do what only He can do.   Let’s trust Him in the midst of our hurt and our pain.   Let’s trust Him to work out situations that we can’t even see being worked out.    

One key to this walk of faith with God is trusting Him.   We have to believe Him, trust Him, obey Him, and wait on Him.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Jeremiah 17:7 

King James Version

Blessed [is] the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

Are You Still Looking Back At The Things That Were A Part Of Your Past or Are You Walking In Faith and Expectation?

How many times are you going to look back?   How many times are you going to go back?   We have to stop looking back and going back to those things that God has told us to move forward from.   The thing about life is it carries within it our past, our present, and our future.   We have to learn how to look towards the future and not back at the past.   We have to understand, where we are now is only temporary and God can and will take us into the plans He has for us if we surrender and let Him. 

God is a good God.   He hasn’t left us and He has promised to never leave nor forsake us.   He is with us where we are and He is accompanying us to get us where He wants us to be.   We have to stop being afraid of the unknown and sometimes we have to let go of what we know in order for God to do a new thing for us and in us. 

The future holds within it the unexpected for us but God knows all things.   He knows the plans He has for us and He knows how to get us to a place where we are experiencing His best for our lives.     We have to have hope and expectation.   We have to walk in faith. We have to trust and believe in the fact that God knows what He is doing and we have to have patience as we wait on Him to fulfill His promises in our lives.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Hebrews 6:12-15 

King James Version (KJV)

12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

ARE YOU LEANING ON AND TRUSTING IN GOD? YOU HAVE TO LET YOUR FAITH OVERRIDE YOUR FEAR!

Are you walking in faith without fear?   God wants you to have faith and He doesn’t want you walking around in fear.   Of course, that is easier said than done.   When the trials of life come up against your life, you begin to ask yourself how everything is going to work out.   It’s at those times that God wants you to lean on and trust in Him.   He wants you to remember He is with you and He will never leave nor forsake you. 

Fear comes when you feel threatened.    Are there things in your life that are causing you to walk in fear?    Are there things that are moving you from a place where you feel like God can do something to where you wonder if God will do it?    You have to stay focused on the fact that God can do all things and you have to believe that He will do them for you. Don’t allow fear to raise questions in your mind about God’s love and His ability to work miracles in your life.    

So as you walk out your walk today with God, remember, He loves you and He will shield and protect you.  Remember, He knows the things you have need of and He is faithful and just to provide you with those things.   Don’t forget, GREATER is He that is in you than anything coming against you in this world.   Be reminded that God is your Healer and He is working everything together in your life for your good and His glory.   Amen

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

2 Corinthians 10:5 

King James Version (KJV)

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHEN THE UNEXPECTED THINGS THAT COME WITH LIFE HAPPEN? ARE YOU REMEMBERING AND RESTING?

What are you doing when you come up against a problem?   When things come up that tend to overwhelm you?   What are you doing when you encounter uncomfortable situations in your life?    Are you remembering and resting in what God has said?     

Understand, trials come.   Situations happen.   Life will bring the unexpected.    It’s what we do when trials come, when situations happen, and when life brings with it the unexpected that matters.    It’s at those points we have to remember what God said, what He has done, and we have to rest in it.    

Think about what it means to remember.   To remember means to bring your mind into the awareness of something you have seen, known, or experienced in the past.    We have to remember that God is good.   We have to remember that He sent His Son to die on the cross for us.   We have to remember that He watches over His Word to perform it in our lives.   We have to remember that He is ready and willing to do new things for us, in us, and through us.   We have to remember that He said He will never leave us nor forsake us.   We have to remember that He is Jehovah Jireh, our Provider.    We have to remember all that He has said and we have to remember what He has done for us and understand, He will do it again If necessary.    

Remembering is only part of what we need to do.   After we remember who God is and what He will do for us, we then need to rest.   We need to rest in knowing that God is not a man and He does not lie.   Rest in knowing that God is faithful.   We have to rest in God’s Word and we have to stop worrying about the timing.    We have to know that God knows what we need when we need it and His timing is perfect.  

So, when problems and uncomfortable situations come, take a moment to bring to your remembrance who God is, what He has said, and what He has done and make the decision to fear not and to rest in Him. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Isaiah 46:9 

King James Version 

Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like Me,

WHAT ARE YOU CULTIVATING IN YOUR LIFE? ARE YOU CULTIVATING YOUR DESIRE FOR GOD?

What is your greatest desire?   Is it to know and please God more than anything?   Is it to give God your all and to live in obedience to Him?    Understand, what we desire does matter because whatever it is we desire, it will dictate our actions.    Have you ever desired something so bad that you did whatever you could to get it?  Whether it be you worked longer hours or you stayed up late to accomplish tasks.   Whatever it took, you did it to get whatever it was you wanted.   Maybe it was a degree, maybe it was a job, maybe it was a house, or maybe a car.  No matter what it was, you went above and beyond to get it.   

That is how God wants our desire to be towards Him.   He wants us to want Him more than anything.    He wants us to seek Him and to commune with Him.   He wants us to trust Him and to believe in Him.   He wants us to follow Him and to obey Him.    He wants to be what we desire the most.   

What we have to understand is that we cultivate desires.   To cultivate means that we nurture something and we cause it to grow.   What are you nurturing in your life?  What are you cultivating?   We have to cultivate our desire for God and we do that by reading His Word and by staying in constant communion with Him.     Make sure you are taking time today and every day for God so that He will be your greatest desire. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Galatians 5:16 - KJV

This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Are You Living In Worry and Fear About What Will Happen Next In Your Life?

Are you trusting God with your tomorrow?   Are you following Him today and trusting Him with the “what’s next” in your life?   God wants us to trust Him.   He wants us to believe Him and He wants us to wait on Him.   Are you doing that?   Do you believe what He has said in His Word?   Do you believe that if you wait on Him, He will answer you?    

There are times in our lives where we get so consumed with what is next that we fail to realize that God is in control.   He knows what we need when we need it.   Not only does He know what we need, He knows how to get what we need to us.     

Living in the unknown is not easy.   It causes us to walk in either faith or fear.   We have fear what we do not know or we can have faith in the fact that God knows all things and He can and will take care of us no matter what we encounter in life.     

It’s time for us to trust God no matter what we are going through in life.   We have to know and believe that He is all-knowing and all-powerful.   We need to stay positive and have faith.   We need to know how to let go and let God have control.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

Proverbs 3:5-6 

King James Version (KJV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR FROM GOD AND WHAT IS IT THAT GOD IS LOOKING FOR FROM YOU?

I have two questions for you today.   The first question is, what are you looking for from God?   The second question is, what is God looking for from you?   Many people focus on the first question.   They focus on what they want and what they feel they need from God instead of asking themselves what is it that God is looking for from them.   Are you a worshipper?   Are you worshipping God in Spirit and in truth?   Are you surrendered?    Have you surrendered your heart, mind, and body to God?   Our lives should not be about just what we want.   Our lives belong to God and we should be continuously surrendering to the Word and the will of God. 

When we think about the first question, we need to understand that the Bible says God knows the things we have need of and He is faithful and just to provide us with those things.   So if God knows what we need and He is faithful and just to provide us with those things, we should do the same.   

We know that God wants our attention.  He wants us to be focused on Him.   He wants us to watch Him, to listen to Him, and to meditate on Him and His Word.  We have to careful of distractions.   Distractions will come.   Things will happen in an effort to redirect our attention.   We have to learn how to keep our eyes stayed on God no matter what is happening in our lives. 

So as you think about the two questions today, let your focus and attention be on the second question.   Do what you can for God and know that He is doing what only He can do for you.  

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Mark 12:30

King James Version

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”

Are You Speaking Faith Filled Words? Are You Saying What You Know God “Can” Do or What You Believe God “Will” Do For You?

What are you saying today?   Are you speaking forth words of faith or are you saying words that line up with fear and doubt?   Are you saying what God “can” do or are you adding faith to what you know God can do and saying that He “will” perform mighty acts in your life.    It matters what you say and it matters how you say it. 

Have you ever heard someone make a statement and yet it sounds like a question because they are unsure about what they are saying?   Don’t let that be you when it comes to the things of God.   Speak BOLDLY in faith.    When you said God will heal you, SAY IT WITH FAITH.   When you say God will supply your needs, SAY IT WITH FAITH.    Practice speaking and confessing God’s Word in faith daily so that when trials come against your life, the Word you know will immediately counteract any thoughts of doubt.   

You have to know that not only can God do a thing, you have trust and believe that He will do it for you.    You have to understand that words are powerful and when you couple faith with your words, it carries within it the power to change situations and circumstances.     God’s power is real and you have to believe it is if you want to see change take place in your life. You have to not only believe that His power is real, you have to believe that His power will work for you and bring deliverance in the situations concerning your life. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Proverbs 18:21 

King James Version (KJV)

Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN AND WITH THIS “MOMENT” OF TIME GOD HAS GIVEN YOU?

What if today was it?  What if it was the last opportunity you had to get it right and you knew it?   What would you do differently?   What would be the words coming out of your mouth to God and to the people around you?   Would you ask for forgiveness?   Would you walk in obedience?   Would you take time to tell people you love them?   Would you be a giver and bless the people around you?   What would you do if you knew that God had granted you this day, a short space in time, to do whatever it is you feel you need to do?

What many people don’t understand is, that is all we have.   We have a short space in time to fulfill God’s will in the earth and we get to decide what we do in and with that time.     Some people treat time as though it is unending but understand, minutes end … we go from one minute to the next.   Hours end … we go from one hour to the next.   Days end … again, we go from one day to the next.   What we have to understand is, it is what we do with the time we have been given that matters.

So we must take advantage of this day and every day that God so mercifully gives us.   We have to do what He has called us to do.   We have to be His vessels of love in the earth and pour out His love to those who need it.   We have to be His distribution center in the earth where we redistribute everything that He has given us.    We need to exhibit His traits and we need to let who and what God is not only flow to us but we need to let it flow through us.  We need to be his vessels of love, peace, strength, and power and we need to help others understand who and what He is so that they can also be His vessels here in the earth.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Ephesians 5:15-17 

King James Version (KJV)

15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

1 John 4:8 

King James Version (KJV)

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

ARE YOU BEING STILL AND KNOWING THAT GOD IS GOD? ARE YOU OKAY WITH KNOWING YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL?

Are you living in worry and confusion?    Are you finding it hard to let go and to let God have control?   We live our lives wanting to be in control.   We want to know that we can control our situations and the circumstances that are a part of our lives.    Not being in control is sometimes viewed as a weakness and no one wants anyone to think or see that they are weak.    

What we have to remember is, in our weakness God is strong.    No one is strong 24/7.    That’s why God said to lean on Him.  He said that there is rest for the weary.    He said that His grace is sufficient and that He gives power to the faint.     

So don’t feel bad when you feel weak.   When you feel like you just need to lean on God, DO IT!   When you have to call on Him and find peace and rest in His Word, DO IT!   God is with you and He wants you to do just that.   He wants to increase your strength and He wants to carry you through whatever it is you are going through in life.   

So learn how to lean on God and not your own understanding of your situation.   Learn how to cast the care of whatever you are going through on Him.   Learn how to submit yourself to Him and practice resting in Him and what He has said in His Word.    God wants you to have rest.   He doesn’t want you to be weary.   He wants you to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Isaiah 40:29 - KJV

He giveth power to the faint; 

and to them that have no might he increaseth strength

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU NEED GOD TO DO FOR YOU?

What is it that you need for God to do for you?   Do you need Him to make a way where there appears to be no way?   Do you need Him to open up doors that have been closed?   Do you need Him to heal your body or to save a loved one?   Do you need God to break the chains of bondage that have you caught up and captivated in life?   What is it that you need?

We have to understand that God cares about our needs.   He said that He knows the things we have need of and He is faithful and just to provide us with those needs.   He said that He would watch over us, shield us, protect us, and provide for us.   He said that He is the God that heals us.   He said that He watches over His Word to perform it in our lives. 

The keys to receiving the blessings of God are faith and obedience.    Do you have those keys operating in your life?   Are you walking in faith where you trust, believe, and you are waiting on God to honor His Word?   Are you obeying the Word you know?    

God is a good Father.   He wants what is best for each of us.   We just have to honor Him, respect Him, obey Him, and wait in faith on Him.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Matthew 6:8

King James Version

“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.”

ARE YOU WALKING IN CONFIDENT EXPECTATION FOR GOD TO DO WHATEVER NEEDS TO BE DONE IN Y0UR LIFE?

Have there ever been times in your life where you know that you know that God delivered you?  If so, are you letting those times fuel your faith?   If you know what God has done, then you should have confidence in what you need Him to do because God changes not.   He is always faithful.   He is always loving.   He is always kind and He is well able to supply everything we have need of in life. 

The Bible says that God knows the things we have need of and He is faithful and just to provide us with those things.   It tells us to take no thought for our lives, what we shall eat, drink, or put on because God knows we need these things.   It says we are to delight ourselves in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart.    We have to get to the point where we trust and believe that the Lord is our shepherd and we shall not want.   We have to know that our hope and everything we need is in God.    

Let today be a day where you move forward in confidence.   Walk in confident expectation.   When you walk in expectation, you make the assumption and believe that what you are hoping for will come to pass.    When you are confident, you are bold and you believe with full assurance.   It’s not about being self-confident, it’s about being God-confident.   Be confident in God’s ability to do whatever needs to be done in your life. 

Let your past experiences of what God has done remind you of His ability to deliver you.  Let your faith, trust, and belief remain in Him and know that He is well able to do whatever needs to be done in your life.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Philippians 1:6 

King James Version 

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:

Who and What Are You Turning To When Things Don’t Go Your Way?

What do you do when things don’t go your way?   Who do you turn to and why?    You not only need to understand what you do, you need to understand why you do it.   Are you doing things out of habit?   Just because you did things a certain way in your past doesn’t mean you need to keep doing them that way.

Are you looking to God and for God every day or are you just turning to Him when things get bad?    We need to seek God daily.   We need to commune with Him on a day to day basis.   We need to have our hope, faith, and trust secure in Him.   When something is secure, it is fixed and fastened so that it won’t be lost.   God wants us to be secure in Him so that our hope, faith, and trust will not be lost when challenges come. 

So when challenges come and things get rough, let your first move be to turn to God.   Don’t run to people, places, or things instead of God.  Run directly to God.   Talk to Him and expect Him to move on your behalf.   

Life brings with it challenges and we have to understand that God never meant for us to handle our situations on our own.   He is ready, willing, and able to help us with whatever it is we need in life.  

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

Psalm 77 

King James Version (KJV)

1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

11 I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Are You Letting God Be Your Example When It Comes To Walking In Love and Being Loved By Others?

Are you looking for love in all the wrong places?   We all want to be loved.   We all want to experience love but we first have to know and understand what true love is.    The Bible says that God is love.    So if we really want to know how to love and what to expect from someone who says they love us, we need to look to and at God.   

The Bible also tells us in 1 Corinthians that love is patient and suffers long.   It says that it is kind and does not envy.   Love doesn’t puff up itself and it doesn’t act unseemly.   It is not selfish and it is not easily provoked.  Love doesn’t think evil and it doesn’t rejoice in iniquity but it does rejoice in truth.   With love comes the ability to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and to endure all things.   So now that you know the traits of love, you can answer the question as to whether you are walking in love and whether others are walking in love towards you. 

Love requires commitment and endurance and not everyone is going to be committed to walking in love.  Many people in this world are self-seeking.   They want to know what they can get instead of what they can give.    Many people walk in lust and not in love.   So people tend to rejoice in iniquity rather than in truth.   Understand, God is truth.   So we should be rejoicing in Him.     

When we look for love, we need to be looking to and for God.   He is our example of what true love really is and how it should look in our lives.   So if the love relationships in your life do not reflect who and what God is, a change may need to take place whether it be in you or in those who say they love you.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 

King James Version (KJV)

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Are You Confessing God’s Word and Putting Your Hope and Trust In His Word?

What kind of words are coming out of your mouth?   Are they faith filled words?   Are they words of deliverance or are they words of fear and doubt?   What you say does matter.   Are you saying what God said about you or are you coming into agreement with what the world is saying about you?    God wants you to speak faith filled words.   He wants you to say what He says about you and those around you.   

Make today about speaking right.   Make it about confessing God’s Word and putting your hope and trust in that word.    Make it about casting down negative thoughts and meditating on those things that are right, just, and pure.   Make today about trusting and believing in what God has said about you. 

Many things will come up in life that will cloud your mind.    When your mind becomes cloudy, it can be difficult to see things the way God sees them.   It can be difficult to see pass the storms of life but you have to remember that God is in the midst of the storm.   You have to remember that He has promised to never leave nor forsake you.   He has promised to watch over you, shield you, and to provide for you.     So it is important that you know what God has said even when you can’t see the fullness of His promise in your life.     We have to have faith in what God said even when what we see doesn’t appear to be lining up.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Hebrews 11:1 

King James Version

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Are You Ready To Take Your Next Steps In and With God Without Being Accompanied By The Fear Of Failure? It’s Time To Walk In Faith!

What you do next is up to you.   Are you going to trust God?   Are you going to believe what He has said?   Are you going to follow Him and tell the world about Him?   Are you going to wait on Him?   Your NEXT STEPS are up to you.   You get to choose what you will do next.

Take a moment to think about what it means to take your “next step”.   Think about a baby that is just learning how to walk.   When they get up on their feet and try to take their next step, it is not with full confidence.   You can see the hesitation they feel and yet they put their feet out even though they know they may fall they move forward knowing that you are there to catch them.   Fear of falling does not stop a baby from trying to walk.

Are there areas in your walk of faith where you lack full confidence?   You know that it is time for you to take steps of faith but you feel hesitant because you have a fear of falling or should I say failing.    Do like the baby learning to walk.   Move forward into your next level of growth with God and takes steps anyway.   Move forward with God even if it means falling.    You have to know that God is with You and He will catch you and keep you.  If you do fall, get back up and try again knowing that God has a plan and He is going to help you to get to where you need to be in Him.

Today is a new day and it’s time for a climate change.    When the climate changes, there is a change in the atmosphere.    God wants a change to take place in your life and He wants you to be surrounded by an atmosphere of faith.    The atmosphere is the area that surrounds and influences where you are at.   Are you living in an atmosphere of faith or are you surrounded by worry, doubt, and discontentment?    God is a God of faith.   He placed faith within us and it is up to us allow the things that He has placed within us to come up out of us.   So it’s time to grow in faith, love, peace, and power in God.   It’s time to let the things that He has placed within us flow out of us so that the atmosphere surrounding us can be filled with who and what God is.    It’s time to move forward with God by taking our “next steps” in and with Him.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

2 Corinthians 5:7

King James Version (KJV)

For we walk by faith, not by sight:

Luke 1:37 

King James Version 

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Are You Ready To Take Your Next Steps In and With God Without Being Accompanied By The Fear Of Failure?   It’s Time To Walk In Faith!

What Are You Allowing To Control How You Walk and Talk In Life?

Are your circumstances controlling your walk and your talk?   Are the words that are coming out of your mouth words that dictate a change to your circumstances or are they words that are being spoken out of fear because of your circumstances?    We control what we say and we speak based on what is in our heart and what we are going through in life.

Are you allowing the pressures of life to tell you that you can’t or won’t make it?  Do you believe what your situation is saying or do you trust and believe what God has said?    God said in Psalm 50 that we are to call upon Him in our day of trouble and He said that He would deliver us and we will glorify Him.   We have to know that God is our Deliverer and our deliverance is meant to bring God glory.   If we trust in what God is saying we cast down the fear and doubt that tour situation is trying to bring up in our hearts and minds.

Things happen and life doesn’t always go the way we have planned.   That is why it is so important for us to keep our faith, hope, and trust in God and His plan.   We can’t live our lives based on our emotions.   What we say and do can’t be based on how we feel.   Our emotions fluctuate and we don’t need to have fluctuating faith.   We need to trust and believe God at all times.   

Make sure you live your life based on what God has said.   Keep your hope, faith, and trust in Him.   Lean on Him and not your own understanding.    Talk to Him about all that you are going through.   Remember prayer is having a conversation with God.    Yes, He knows what you are going through but He still said for us to come to Him, learn of Him, cast our care on Him, put our trust in Him, and to wait on Him.  

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

2 Corinthians 5:7 

King James Version (KJV)

(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Are You Keeping Your Hope and Trust In God When Situations In Your Life Try To Distract You?

What is causing you to be distracted?   What is causing you to take your eyes off God?   Is it people, places, or things?   A bill is a thing.   Are you worried about bills and is that worry causing you to forget and lose focus?  In other words, are you so consumed with how “you” are going to pay the bill that you can no longer focus on the One who is our source and resource.   

Are people causing you to be distracted.   The ways of the world are not God’s ways.   Which way are you going?   Are you going the way your friends go or are you following the path that God told you to take?   Following others can cause us to lose our focus.   We can get so busy watching and doing what others are doing that we fail to keep our eyes on God and we fail to do what He has told us to do.   

There are many distractions in the world but we have to learn how to keep our eyes on and trust in God.    When it feels like trouble is on every side, we have to remain hopeful.   We have to have hope and trust in what God has said.   He said that He would deliver us.   He said that He would make a way for us.   He said that He knows what we have need of and that He is faithful and just to supply us with that need.   God said that He is our Healer.   He said that His joy would give us strength.   He said that He would watch over us and keep us and He said that He would fight our battles.   

Knowing what God said makes a difference.   It is the difference between being able to walk in faith or walking in fear.    The more you know about what God has said, the stronger you can be when it comes to your faith overruling your fear.     Don’t allow life and the things that come with life to distract you.    Don’t let worry steal your peace.   Stay in a place of confidence.   A place where you believe what God has said and a place where your hope and trust in God remains unshaken when people, places, and things try to distract you in life.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Corinthians 10:13 

King James Version

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].        

How Are You Handling Negative Words From Others? Are You Counteracting Them With The Word Of God?

What if how you feel is really up to you?    How we feel is based on how we internally process things in our lives.   If we want to be mad, we can be mad.   If we want to hold a grudge, we can.   If we want to give up and quit, we can do that too.   We can do whatever we want to do.    How are you processing the things that are happening in your life?   How are you processing what people do to you?   How you process the situations in your life determines the outcome of your emotions and how you handle those situations.    

When someone says something to you that is painful and hurtful, you have to remember what God has said about you.   So if they say that you are worthless and good for nothing, you have to remember that God said in Isaiah 13:12 that He will make man more precious than fine gold.   So your value is not determined by what someone says.   It has already been determined by God.   

When people lash out with their words and hurt you, it is because they don’t know how to manage their words and they don’t understand who you are to and in God.    We get caught up on what people say and do but we have to remember that the Bible says in Matthew 5:11-13.   It says that we are blessed when men revile, persecute, and say evil things about us.  We have to learn how to rejoice and be glad even when we are being persecuted. 

So as you go about your day today and every day, don’t allow what people say and do to dictate how you feel and what you do.   Know who you are in God.   Know that you are chosen.   Know that God is your source and He can and will take care of you.    Don’t allow the words that proceed out of others to determine the words that flow from you.    Don’t allow your emotions to be dictated by other people’s actions.   Let the love of God flow freely to you and through you at all times.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Matthew 5:11-13 

King James Version (KJV)

 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Are You So Weary That You Are Failing To Wait On God? Knowing God Wants Our Trust To Be In Him.

Have you ever gotten so tired that you don’t know what to do next?   Tired in your heart and tired in your mind?   Tired of wondering when things will change and tired of asking the question why things are the way they are?   

When you are tired, you are not able to take on as much and you are not able to accomplish as much.   You become weary and that includes being weary in well doing.    Tiredness makes it difficult for you to manage the things you do on a day to day basis.    It is not God’s desire for you to be tired or weary in and with your life.    

God wants us to learn how to rest in Him.   He tells us in Matthew 11:28 to come unto Him and He will give us rest.   He wants us to dwell in the secret place with Him and He wants us to abide under His shadow according to Psalm 91.    We can get burdened down with the yokes of life where we are carrying around heavy burdens that we were not designed to carry around.    However, God wants us to take His yoke upon us and to learn of Him and the things we are carrying around, He wants us to cast the care of those things on Him so that we won’t be weighed down by life.    

We just have to know how to rest in God and we have to understand that in the rest of God is also peace, love, joy, and provision.    It is not God’s desire for us to be weary in any aspect of our lives but we have to learn of Him so that our trust will be in Him and it will help us to wait on Him to do whatever needs to be done in our lives.  

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

 Psalm 40:1-4 

King James Version (KJV)

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

Are You Looking For and Wanting Unconditional Love? Are You Looking To God For That Love?

Are you trying to compare the love that God has for you to the love that you have experienced with other people in your life?   If you are, you can’t.   Understand God’s love cannot be compared to the love of man or woman.   The love of man or woman can flaky.  Sometimes they may say I love you, sometimes they may say I like you, sometimes they may say I don’t like you, and sometimes they may say I hate you. That’s because the love that we  share with others has a lot to do with our feelings and our emotions.  Whereas, God is love.   His love is not just a feeling and it’s not an emotion.   I John 4:8 says that God is love.   It is who and what He is.    

There are many types of love.  There is eros love which is the romantic type of love.   It’s the love we have in relationships and it’s the type of love that people tend to focus on.   It is this type of love you see a lot of in the world.   It’s like everybody wants to be loved by somebody and at times it looks like somebody can really be anybody as long as a person can experience what they consider to be romance, passion, and love.   This type of love has went so far away from God’s guidelines that it leads to the downfall and experience of what true love really is because the desire for passion overrules what is right, what is just, and what is true. 

Then there is Philia.   It is an affectionate and brotherly love.    It’s the type of love that long and lasting friendships are born out of.    It is authentic and it brings with it companionship, dependability, and trust.   This type of love is not found in everyone because everyone is not striving to be authentic.   Everyone is not striving to be truthful.   Everyone is not sincere in what they say and what they do.

Then there is storge.   It is the love that you have or should I say should have with your family.   It comes from being familiar or dependent on someone.   It’s not really looking for or at a person’s personal qualities.   It is not looking for physical and personal attraction but it is a strong bond within a family or with friends because of familiarity.   It’s based on what you know, who you know, and what you have become accustomed to.     

Then there is agape.   This is God’s unconditional love.   It is not based on making yourself feel good.   In essence it may involve you suffering so that others can experience happiness.    It is a charitable love because charity is giving.   With agape type of love, you give freely to others without expecting anything in return.  Sometimes when it comes to agape love, you may not see the love you give reciprocated back to you.   Think about Jesus on the cross.   It was love (God) who sent Jesus to the cross to die for us and yet many people in this world who received the love and gift of life from God fail to love Him back by living this life that He has given us for Him.   

We will experience many types of love as we walk through this journey called life but the best type of love we can give and receive is agape because it is who and what God is.   It is unconditional and unchanging.   It’s not based on what we see nor what we will get back.   

God and His love is resident on the inside of us and we should freely give it out to those around us.  We have what we need on the inside of us to love people unconditionally.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 John 4:8 

King James Version (KJV)

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.