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.

Are You Ready To Cross The Threshold That Takes You Out Of Fear Into Faith So That You Can Experience The Promises Of God?

Do you fear failure?   Are you afraid that things are not going to work out like you planned?   Are you scared of what your outcome will be?    If you are walking in faith, DON’T FEAR FAILURE.    Understand God said that He knows the plans “He” has for you.   He said that those plans are to give you hope, a future, and an expected end.   So that tells you that God’s promises for your life are filled with hope and you should walk in expectation for Him to fulfill them. 

Fear brings with it stress.   The whole objective of fear is to make you feel threatened and to cause you pain.   We know that threats and pain are not of God.   God’s desire is for us to know that we are safe in Him.    He wants us to know that He is watching over us and He will shield and protect us no matter what situations life may bring.

Today is a good day to step across the threshold that leads you from fear into faith. To step from the place of feeling threatened and unsure to the place of feeling safe and secure.    One definition for threshold is the level or point in which you start to experience something or something starts to happen.   Let today be that day.   Let it be the day where you start to experience God’s peace like never before.    The peace of God that assures you mentally and spiritually that everything is working out for your good and God’s glory. 

Take a moment to think about what a threshold is.   It is the point in which you step out of something into something.   At a house, you can cross a threshold that takes you from the outside to the inside or you can cross a threshold that leads you from one room to another all within the same house.     The children of Israel crossed a threshold when they cross the Jordan river.   It took them from a place of captivity to a place of promise.    A place where God promised inheritance and rest.    

The Bible tells us to fear not.   So let’s not fear.   Let’s walk in the security of what we know.   We know that God said He is with us.   We know that He said that He is watching over His Word to perform it in our lives.   We know that He said He will NEVER leave nor forsake us.   We know that we are strong in Him.   We know that God knows what we have need of and He is faithful and just to supply us with that need.   

It’s time to cast down all fear and to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.    It’s time to truly trust what God has said and it’s time to walk in expectation for Him to fulfill His promises in us, for us, and through us.  It’s time to cross that threshold that takes us from fear into trust, expectation, and faith in God. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Deuteronomy 11:31

"For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it

Are You Allowing The Struggle, The Hurt, The Pain, and The Loss You Are Experiencing In Life To Keep You From Totally Trusting and Believing In God?

Have you ever felt like you have been abandoned?  Like no one is there when you feel you need them most?    Understand, GOD IS ALWAYS THERE and He wants our dependence to be on Him.   What do you do when you feel lonely?   Do you talk to God?   Do you worship Him and praise Him in spite of everything else?    Do you trust that He is there even though you feel lonely?

God is a good God and we may not always understand what He is doing and why He is allowing situations to happen in our lives.   We may not always understand the struggle, the hurt, the pain, or the loss we encounter but none of that changes who He is.   Those things may change how we feel but none of it changes God and His feelings towards us.    

As you think about life, think about a child who has a parent that will correct them. A parent who is not afraid to tell their child no.   A parent that knows what their child needs and when they need it.   That’s God to us.   He brings correction to our lives.   He will tell us no if what we are asking is not right for our lives and He knows what we need when we need it.    He is our heavenly Father and His love for us is unending and it changes not.   Parents sacrifice for their children every day and we have to understand that God gave the ultimate sacrifice for us.    

A parent’s love is not determined by how much they give their children and we shouldn’t determine God’s love for us by how much we receive from Him.    Money, gifts, and things should never rule over God’s love.   Know that because God loves you, He will take care of you.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

John 3:16

King James Version

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Are You At The Point Where Your Trust In God and Your Belief In God are Fueling Your Faith In God?

To God be the glory for the things He has done!   

Sometimes we get stuck trying to figure everything out.   We try to work things out on our own because we think we know what it is that we have need of.   When in actuality, God is the only One who knows everything we have need of in life.   

Today is a new day and God wants us to commit this day to Him.   He wants us to surrender our all to Him.   He wants us to let go and to let Him have total control of our lives.    What we need and what we want, God knows and not only does He know, He knows how He is going to get it to us.   

The first things we must learn to do in our walk with God is believe Him.  Once we make up in our mind that we believe Him and we are going to take Him at His Word, we must begin to trust Him.  Understand, you can’t trust what you don’t believe.   Trust and belief fuel your faith.    When something is fueled, it produces power and supply.    God wants His power to be produced in your life.   Understand, He is our everlasting supply. 

So take a moment with me and just tell God that you surrender all.   Everything that has been weighing heavy on your mind that you have been trying to figure out … give it to God.   We hear the expression all the time, let go and let God.    That’s what we need to do.   We have to let go.   We have to learn how to let things go in the physical realm and in the mental realm.    Instead of worrying and meditating on the problems you have, you must begin to have faith and meditate on God’s power and ability to do all things.   His ability to do all things includes being able to work out your problems.   You have to rest in knowing that nothing is impossible for God to do in your life.     

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Matthew 19:26 

King James Version (KJV)

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Do You Trust God and Are You Allowing Your Test To Be A Testimony That Will Help Someone Else Get Through What You Have Been Through In Life?

Do you trust God?   Do you believe that He will take care of You?   Are you ready and willing to walk in obedience to His Word?    Are you ready to be an example for others to see?  Sometimes when people need strength they look for and to people they think are strong.   The question is, are you strong enough in your walk with God for someone else to draw strength from you?    

Every test and every trial that we go through in life is not about us.    God wants us to gain strength.  He doesn’t want us to fall when we go through a test.   He wants us to be stronger after we have been through the test.   He wants us to have a testimony so that we will be able to help others who are going through the same thing.   

The first thing we must do is trust God.   When you trust someone, you have confidence and belief in their reliability.   UNDERSTAND, YOU CAN RELY ON GOD.    You can depend on Him.   He is not a man and He does not lie.   He may not do everything the way we want Him to but He knows what we need and He knows when we need it.   We see and experience moments in time but He sees all time at once.   He knows what is going to happen from the beginning to the end.    So His plan for our lives is based on the needs we will have over our lifetime and not just what we see presently. 

The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:7 that blessed is the man whose hope and trust is in the Lord.    It encourages us in Psalm 56:3 to know when we are afraid, we should put our trust in God.    In Proverbs 3:5-6, the Bible says to trust in the Lord with “all” thine heart and to lean not to our own understanding.   So, we have to stop trying to figure everything out on our own.   We have to acknowledge God and allow Him to direct our paths.      

Make up in your mind today that you are going to trust God.   He loves you.   Make it a point to cast down all doubt and fear. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Psalm 91:1-2

King James Version 

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High 

shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: 

my God; in him will I trust.

Are You Taking The Situations In Your Life At Face Value or Are You Staying In Faith and Trusting God For A Change To Take Place?

What are you allowing to steal your joy?   What are you allowing to rob you of your peace?   What are you allowing to cause you to walk in doubt and unbelief?   What is it that you allowing to cause you to walk in fear?   Is it bills?   Is it sickness and disease?   Is it the death of a loved one?   Is it the fear of the unknown?    What has so much power over you that it is causing you not to have faith and trust in what God has already said He would do for you, in you, and through you?

What is it that you believe faith is?    If you have to see the result before you receive it, that’s not faith.    2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we are to walk by faith and not by sight.    It’s easy to believe what we can see.   We tend to not ask questions when we can see something.   Actually, in most cases, we take things at face value and accept them as they are.    Should we really be doing that?   If we understand what the Word says in Hebrews 11:1 and 11:6, we understand that faith itself is substance.   It is something we can hold on to and it says that it is the evidence of what we cannot see.   So looking at a situation in our lives that is not the best should not be acceptable in our sight.  We have to have faith and believe that things will change.    We have to believe that if our hope and trust is in God and if we seek Him diligently, He will reward our faith.    

Romans 1:17 says the just shall live by faith.   It pleases God when we walk in faith because walking faith says we trust and believe Him.   So do what you can to please God by staying in faith.   Believe what He has said in His Word and trust Him to perform His Word in your life even when times get hard.   Don’t take everything at face value.   Know that God is almighty and all-powerful.   What you see now concerning your situation in life, God can change. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Make sure you “stay” in faith … 

Hebrews 10:38

King James Version 

"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."    

What Are You Afraid Of? Have You Surrendered Your Life and Are You Allowing God To Love You To The Point That Your Knowledge Of His Love For You Casts Out All The Fear In You?

What is it that is causing you to be fearful?   Are you worrying about people, places, or things?   Are you worried about things you can’t do or don’t know how to do?   What is it that is bringing fear into your life?

Fear is not pleasant.   It causes pain and stress.   When you fear something or someone, you feel threatened and it causes anxiety.  It steals your joy and it can cause you to be depressed.  God said in His Word that we are to fear not because He is with us.   He said that He would strengthen us, help us, and uphold us with His right hand of righteousness.   (Isaiah 41:10) 

In Joshua 1:9, God said for us to be strong and of a good courage and to not be afraid or dismayed.   He said that He would be with us no matter where we go.    We have to trust God.   We have to believe that He has not left us nor forsaken us.   We have to trust Him and at the same time, we have to cast down all fear.    

At times when you are afraid, you have to trust and speak God’s Word.   You have to recognize that God is with you.   1 John 4:18 talks about there not being fear in love and how perfect love casteth out fear.   Understand, God is love.    He is perfect love and He is the One you have to cling to so that He can help you to cast out the spirit of fear.    When you know that God loves you, you begin to understand that He will watch over you and keep you.   You begin to trust Him to take care of you.   You understand that He is with you. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

This walk is not easy and there will be times when fear will try to rest upon us but when it comes, remember what it says in Psalm 23:4. 

 “Yea, though I walk 
through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil: 
for thou art with me; 
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

Are You Sound, Sure, and Unmovable When It Comes To The Things Of God?

Are you being flaky when it comes to the things of God?    When something is flaky, it breaks and it separates into small pieces.   It falls apart and there is no reliability in it.   A person who is considered to be flaky rarely follows through although they seem sincere and may be sincere when they make a promise.   God doesn’t want us to be flaky Christians. 

God wants us to be sound and sure.   He wants us to be unmovable.   When we are established and sure, we are secure in what we know to be true.    We have to be sure of who God is and what God will do.   We have to be sure about what God has called us to do so that we won’t be easily moved or tricked into doing something that is not a part of God’s plan for our lives.    We need to be constantly moving towards the mark that God has set before us.    We don’t need to be stagnant or stuck.   

It is God’s desire that we be His example in the earth.    He wants us to read His Word, believe His Word, and to speak His Word.  But not only that, He wants us to live His Word.   He has called us to be examples.   A person who is an example of someone or something, is a person who imitates a pattern.   God wants our lives to be examples, or should I say, patterns for others to look at and to live by. 

So don’t be flaky.  Don’t worship and serve God today and worship and serve the world tomorrow.   Be who God called you to be.    Say and do what He has called You to say and do.   Be steadfast, be immovable, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, and be sure and secure even in the midst of the pressure that comes with life.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Corinthians 15:58 

King James Version (KJV)

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

ARE YOU ALLOWING FEAR TO HAVE RULE OVER YOUR FAITH? You Have To Press Forward In Faith Even When You Don’t Understand The Opposition That Is Coming Up Against Your Life.

How often do you step out in faith and end up running back in fear?   Are there times in your life when you step out trusting and believing God to do what He said He would do and then you encounter opposition and you end up retreating to what you think is a safe place because you become fearful and you can’t see how God is going to do it.    Understand, faith is not based on what you see.  Your faith should be based on your trust and belief in God.      

When God tells us to do something, He doesn’t give us the whole picture.   He says it and He reveals to us what the end result will be.    He doesn’t give us the step by step process that it is going to take to get to the place He wants us to be and that is why it is so important that we trust Him through the process.    We have to trust Him when times get rough.   We have to trust Him when our vision gets blurry.   We have to trust Him no matter what.  Your trust in God must override your fear in the unknown.

Make it a point today and every day to press forward in faith.    Even when you are scared, PRESS FORWARD.   Even when you don’t see the provision, PRESS FORWARD.   Even when you don’t understand, PRESS FORWARD.    God is a good God and He is well able to take care of us.    What He has promised, He will do if we trust Him to do it.    Always remember, your situation does not hinder God’s ability.   He is all-knowing and all-powerful.   He is God alone!    DON’T ALLOW FEAR TO HAVE RULE OVER YOUR FAITH.   Let your faith rule over fear and trust God no matter what.     

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Philippians 3:14 

King James Version (KJV)

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Are You Letting Go and Allowing God To Heal Your Open Emotional Wounds?

Are you walking around with open emotional wounds?  Wounds from your past where you have been hurt emotionally by others.   Are you letting the pain of your past dictate your future?    Are you letting the pain and the wounds from your past keep you from trusting, believing, and loving God and others?    Open emotional wounds may not be seen with the visible eye but they can be seen by the way you act and react to situations in your life. 

 Understand, wounds will sometimes bring with it scars.   A scar tells a story.   It tells that something has happened and healing has taken place.   Scars can hurt even after your body has gone through the healing process.    They can hinder movement and sometimes they require additional treatment.   Are there things in your life that you have been through emotionally that still bring about pain and hinder your forward movement with God?   If so, you have to know that God wants to heal you.   

God said in His Word that He is Jehovah Rapha, our Healer.  Jesus took stripes on His back for our healing and we have to make sure we are applying the blood tour our lives.   Just like we apply antibiotic cream to open wounds on our physical body, we need to apply the blood of Jesus to open wounds that are affecting us emotionally.    God wants us whole and He wants us to experience total healing and breakthrough.   We just have to trust Him to take away the pain and to heal us completely even when we see the scars that may be left behind. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Psalm 147:3 

King James Version (KJV)

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

Are You Embracing God’s Truth As You Walk Out Your Faith or Are You Allowing Opposing Forces To Cause You To Stop Believing and Trusting In What God Has Said?

What are you embracing today?   What are you taking on as your purpose and your cause?    Why are you doing what you do?   Are you doing it because that’s what your friends are doing or are you doing it because that is what God told you to do?   Have faith!   Do what God is telling you to do and that is not always going to be what everyone else is doing. Have faith!   Trust in what God has said and wait on Him to fulfill His promises in you.   Have faith!    Know that God is well able to do what He said if you stand fast, trust His Word, and wait on Him without wavering.   Have faith! 

What does it mean to you to have faith?   Does it mean just saying you have faith?   Does it mean you are anchored and unmovable in and on the word of God?   Does it mean you are casting down the thoughts and the imaginations that keep rising up in your heart and mind that are saying what you believe is not going to happen?   What does your view of faith look like?   

When you say you are going to walk in faith, you have to understand upfront that there will be opposition.   There will be things that come up to oppose what you say you believe.    How are you reacting to those situations that oppose your faith walk?   Are you allowing the opposition to your faith to win?   Are you giving up and quitting?   Are you allowing what your situation is saying to override what God has said?   Don’t be moved.   God is God and what He has said shall stand.    

So as you walk out your faith walk.   Walk it out embracing God’s truth.   Walk it out knowing that God is with you and He will never leave you nor forsake you.   As you undergird and support someone else’s vision don’t forget about the vision that God has given you.   It may be for an appointed time but know that God is well able to bring it to pass.    Don’t ever allow the opposition that comes to oppose your faith keep you from fulfilling God’s plan for your life.    Stay in faith.   Trust and believe God’s Word is true.   Know that He is working everything in your life together for your good and His glory.  

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Proverbs 4:5-8 

King James Version (KJV)

5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

How Are You Handling The Changing Seasons In Your Life? Are You Taking The Time To Plant God’s Word In Your Heart and In Your Life In Preparation For The Season That Is To Come So That You Can See and Experience The Fruitfulness Of God?

Have you ever looked at what happens when seasons change?   The weather can be a little confusing when it changes from Winter to Spring.   You will have some cold days and some warms days.   Think about the change from Spring to Summer.   You experience the same thing.   It can still be Spring and yet you have days so warm that it feels like Summer.   Not only that you have beautiful trees that begin to blossom and bear fruit and you can see the fruitfulness of the land and then we begin our transition into Fall.   As we transition into Fall, the scenery and the atmosphere begin to change.   It’s noticeable but you can still see the beauty all around you but it just looks different.   Then there is the change from Fall to Winter where the leaves fall from the trees and the green grass turns brown.   The trees look barren because they have no leaves or fruit and the grass looks dead but in essence it still carries within it life.  

Understand, our lives sometimes look like that transition from Fall to Winter.   We can sometimes look and feel like we are lifeless, barren and dying but remember the GREATER ONE lives on the inside of us and we still have life.   There is a power that is working within us even when the outward appearance of our lives may look bad.   We have to know that what it looks and feels like in barren seasons is not the end of our story.   We have to know that seasons change. 

As you are going through seasons in your life make sure you are preparing the ground of your heart by receiving the seed of God’s Word so that you can be fruitful and multiply as the seasons change.   Don’t count yourself as down and out because things don’t look like what you want them to.   Outward appearance doesn’t tell the whole story.   Just as green grass breaks through the soil in Spring, so shall the blessings of God breakthrough in your life as you transition from one season to another in faith. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

1 To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11 He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

12 I know that [there is] no good in them, but for [a man] to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it [is] the gift of God.

14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth [it], that [men] should fear before him.

15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, [that] wickedness [was] there; and the place of righteousness, [that] iniquity [was] there.

17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for [there is] a time there for every purpose and for every work.

18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity.

20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

22 Wherefore I perceive that [there is] nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that [is] his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

Are You An Open Vessel That Is Willing To Learn and Accept Correction From God or Are You Stuck Walking In Pride and Refusing The Reproof of God? With Life Comes Correction and It’s Never To Late For A Midcourse Change In Direction.

Are you willing to change?   Are you willing to make a midcourse change in the path and direction you are going in life if it means getting back on course with God?  Not everyone is willing to learn.   In order for you to learn, you must be willing to be taught and with being taught there will be times of correction.   Don’t be the person who refuses correction.   Be the one who welcomes it.   Don’t be the person who walks in so much pride that you feel anyone going against what you say or believe to be true is wrong.   That is not always the case.    Things change, times change, and over time we change.    We always need to be open to the truth and a better way of doing things.

We have to learn how to accept correction.   Not only should we accept correction we need to seek it.   We should be seeking out God’s way of doing things.    We should be wanting to do things right.    Not only that, we should be living in a way that is showing others the importance of living right. 

Living right is not easy.   It requires us to make the right choice over and over again.     Our lives consist of a series of choices and we need to know the importance of the choices we make.    Choices bring about results and that is why we need to make knowledgeable choices.    There may be times in our lives where we have failed or will fail to make the right choice.   We may make a choice based on emotion rather than knowledge and it may be at those times we need to accept God’s correction.   God’s correction can come in many ways.   He may unction us in our Spirit that something needs to change but He may also send correction by someone else.   It may be a family member, friend, co-worker, supervisor, or maybe even a stranger but however it comes, we need to be able to accept it so that we can go and grow with God.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Proverbs 15:31-32 

King James Version (KJV)

31 The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

32 He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

Are You Forming Your Opinions Based On What You See or What God Said?

Are you forming opinions based on what you see or based on what God said?   An opinion is a view or judgment you form but it is not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.   We do it all the time.   We form opinions all the time.   Not necessarily about people but about situations and things.    We form opinions and make assumptions based on what we see without having knowledge or knowing the facts.   We can be in a store, see a ladies hand, look at what appears to be a beautiful diamond, talk about how beautiful it is, imagine it must have cost a lot, and in fact it may be cubic zirconia that just mimics the look of a diamond but doesn’t have the same qualities as a diamond.   

That is what a lot of people do.   They look at a person’s outward appearance and form opinions but they never consider the qualities within.   The outward appearance can be good or bad and the inward qualities and characteristics can be the same or opposite.   

When you look at your life and you form opinions about people, places, things, and situations concerning your life, make sure you are basing your opinions on what God said and not just what you see.   Make sure you see through the eyes of God and make sure you walk in the love of God.   When you are looking at situations concerning your own life, make sure you see through eyes of faith.   God is not limited by the outward appearance of people, places, and things.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

2 Corinthians 4:18 

King James Version (KJV)

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal

What Are You Hungry and Thirsty For? Are You Allowing Your Fleshly Appetite To Override Your Appetite For Righteousness?

What are you choosing to do first?   Are you choosing to please God first or are you choosing to fulfill the appetite of your flesh?    Understand, your flesh has an appetite just as our Spirit does.   The Bible tells us that we are to hunger and thirst after righteousness.    You have to know what it means to hunger and to thirst.   When you are hungry for something, you have a strong desire or craving for it.   There are times when you are so hungry that your stomach will growl or make noises that indicate that it wants to be fed.   Usually a growling sound is associated with anger or unpleasantness.    

It’s the same with being thirsty.   When you are thirsty for something.    You feel a need to drink.   Thirst can bring on desperation.   When you are really thirsty, you become desperate for something that will quench your thirst.    Understand, God wants us to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness.   

So my question today is what are you hungry and what are you thirsty for?   Are you hungry and thirsty for God and the things of God or are You allowing your appetite to fulfill your fleshly desires override your desire for God?  In the world we live in today there are a lot of people who are trying to live healthier so they focus on what they put in their body physically but they fail to focus on what they are letting into their lives spiritually.   It’s not just about having a physical healthy body because you can be physically healthy and still die spiritually.    That is why it is important that we hunger and thirst after righteousness.   It is important that we fill ourselves up with God’s Word so that we can have something to draw from when we feel weak.   It is just like our body storing away extra calories in fat reserves.   The stored fat fuels our body when food is scarce.   We have to make sure we are taking care of ourselves physically and spiritually and that means having what we need stored up for our time of need.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Psalm 119:11 

King James Version (KJV)

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.