Are You Walking In Faith or Are You Allowing Fear To Take Over?

Are you sticking with it?   Are you sticking with what God has told you to do?   Are you walking in faith or are you in fear for what will happen next in your life?  God is a good God and things don’t always work out the way we expect them to in life.   Sometimes what we want  turns into what we need.   Sometimes what we need, we have to wait for but we have to remember, God knows what is best of us and when it is needed. 

Do you realize your test is not just for you?   Do you realize the lessons you learn in life are so that you can help someone else make it in life?  Sometimes as we are going through things in life, we think its all about us.   We don’t understand how our hurt and our pain can help someone else get through their hurt and their pain. 

Again, God is a good God and we have to trust Him.   We have to let our trust in Him go beyond our understanding.   We have to know that in this world we will have suffering and pain but there will come a time when our tears will be washed away and we will suffer no more.     

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Psalms 56:3-4

3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

What Are You Allowing To Be A Substitute Or An Alternative In Your Life?

What has you distracted right now?   What has taken your attention from God?   Look over your life and ask yourself what it is that has gotten you off track?  Are you going to let the world and the ways of the world take you over or are your going to take a stand for what is right and do what is right?   The choice is yours.   No one can make you do anything, you just have to choose to do the right thing.    

To choose means you have alternatives but understand, an alternative can be a substitute.    When something is a substitute, it acts or serves in the place of something else.   Are you allowing anything or anyone to take the place of God in your life?   Are you spending time with God worshipping and giving Him praise or are you taking time from Him and doing things the worlds way?  What about your family?  Are you allowing anyone or anything to take the place and time that your spouse and kids should have in your life? 

Remember, everything we do is a matter of choice and God has given us the free will to choose.    The question is, what are we choosing?   Are we choosing to appease our flesh or to please God?   Our choices matter and we must remember a life without guidance and direction is a life that will surely go astray.   If we have to guide and direct our children, surely we understand that we too need the guidance and direction of our Heavenly Father.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Colossians 3:2 

King James Version (KJV)

2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Are You Allowing The Toxins Of The World To Mix Into Your Thoughts and Control Your Actions or Are You Filtering Your Life Through God’s Word?

How you live your life shows who and what you have respect for.   Are you living your life in a way that shows you love and respect God or are you doing what you want to do when you want to do it with no filter on your life?  In other words, are you living your life according to the flesh?  When we live our lives according to the flesh, we don’t respect God, we don’t respect others, and in most cases, we don’t respect ourselves.    

Living an unfiltered life is living a life where we have allowed the toxins of the world to mix into our thoughts and to become a part of our daily actions.  A toxin is something that is poisonous.   It is a bacteria that doesn’t show any symptoms until after a period of incubation.   So it is something that lies dormant in your life until it has had an o

pportunity to develop, grow, and multiply.   If we never do anything to filter our lives, the wrong thoughts and the wrong actions will continue to develop within us and they will multiply to the point where they take over the good thoughts and the good actions in our lives.    

We have to first understand what it means to filter something.   A filter is a device that is used to remove impurities or unwanted materials.   In life we need to be filtering our thoughts and our actions through and by God’s Word.   We need to allow what God has said to be the filter which tells us what is right and what is wrong.    If what we are thinking and doing is not in line with what God has determined to be right, we must begin to cast down those thoughts down and line our actions up with what God has said.   

Filtration is not an easy process but it is a necessary one.   Don’t allow the impurities of the world to cause you disrespect God, others, or yourself.   Make sure you put God’s Word in so that you will know what things you have to cast out.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Proverbs 3 

King James Version (KJV)

3 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

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.

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

It’s Day 2 Of The New Year, Are You Still Celebraing or Are You Allowing The Issues Of Life To Deflate Your Hope and Cause You To Feel Worried and Distressed?

It’s day 2 of the new year, are you still celebrating?   Are your hopes still high or are your hopes being deflated by the reality of what is coming against you in this world.   You have to understand, whether it is day 1, day 2, or day 364 of the year, God is still God.    God doesn’t stop being God because your hype and your celebration of entering a new year has stopped.   God is God every second of every day.   He said in His Word that He changes not.    

Where is your hope?   What is it that you are hoping for this year?  Are you hoping for new things or is your hope in God?  God is well able to give you the things you want and need in life but He wants your hope and your trust to be in Him.   He wants you to look to Him, call on Him, and to have your hope, faith, and trust in Him.   Is that you?  Do you have your hope, faith, AND trust in God? 

At the beginning of every new year, many people set “their” plans in motion.   They set timetables and make agendas concerning their lives but what everyone has to understand is the fact that sometimes plans change.   Sometimes things don’t work out the exact way that “we” plan them to.   We have to always remember, no matter how things in our lives are coming together, God is with us.  He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.   As we do our best to live our lives for Him, He is going to work everything together in our lives for our good and His glory.     So if things in your life seem to not be working the way you have planned, just remember to trust God’s plan.   Don’t give up and don’t quit.   Remain in faith and know that your Heavenly Father is working everything in your life together for your good.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Corinthians 2:9

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Are You Ready To Cross The Threshold Into 2019 Committed To God and Committed To Change?

In order to make a New Year’s Resolution, you must first understand what resolution means.   A resolution is a firm decision “to do” or “not to do” something.   It is a commitment.   It is something that is done on purpose with purpose.   So when we say we are making a New Year’s Resolution, we are in essence saying that we have made up in our mind and we are committed to change the way we have been doing things.    

Today is December 31st and many people are saying with their mouth what they are going to change in 2019.   They are saying the things they are going to quit doing and they are saying the things that they will do but what everyone must understand is, true change takes commitment.   When you are truly committed to something, you are dedicated, devoted, obligated, and faithful to it.   You are not easily sidetracked because you know the purpose behind what you are doing.    So to say the least, you can’t allow what the world is doing, whether it be family, friends, co-workers, or others to cause you to get off track and fail to keep your commitment to God and to yourself.   

So as we get ready to cross this threshold into 2019, take a moment to think about what you want to change in this new year and why.    It is the “why” that you will need to reference when things get tough.  In other words, you will need remember the reason for the change you are trying to make.   Without a purpose, there will be no true commitment.   You have to know why you are doing what you are doing so that what you are doing is being done with purpose on purpose.    

Change is never easy.   It is hard to break a routine but it is not impossible.   God wants to bless you.   He wants to do more than you have ever imagined in your life.   He wants you to see Him as your source, resource, and strength.   He is ready and willing to help you in every way possible.   He just wants you to be committed.   Your first level of commitment needs to be to God and He will help you to accomplish everything else that needs to be done in your life.    

Enter into this new year committed.   Be committed to God and committed to change.    Walk in faith and cast down fear.    Do things God’s way and watch Him move in your life like never before.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Kings 8:61 

New International Version (NIV)

61 And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”

How Are You Prioritizing Your Life?

What are your priorities in life?   Is God first?   Is your family second?  Or are you just going with the flow.   Are you being swept away by the ways of the world and doing what the world does?    Do you run to God just because you know that there is safety in Him or do you just run to Him when a problem arises?   

The Bible tells us that there is safety in God.   It tells us to come to Him and to call on Him.   It tells us to dwell with Him.   To dwell means to take up residence and to make your abode in Him.   We have to stop trying to live outside of God’s Word and will while expecting Him to shield and protect us.    We have to do all we can to live within the parameters He has set. 

So as we go into this next year, we need to make sure we have our priorities right.   We need to make sure that God is first.   When we put Him first, that means we are striving to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him.   We are striving to live according to His Word and we are doing our best to be His representative here in the earth.    After God, we need to understand the importance of family.  Cherish the family God has given you and refuse to let your job, your friends, or anything else come between you and God or the family God has given you.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Matthew 6:33

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” 

Do You Realize When You Stand On God’s Word He Will Back Up Your Words? Are You Making Sure You Are Identifying Yourself With The Things Of God and Not The Ways Of The World?

We live in a world today where everyone wants to say that everything is okay but everything is not okay.   It’s not okay to live your life any kind of way.   It’s not okay to use your mouth to just say just anything.   It’s not okay to identify yourself with the things that God has already said are an abomination.   Everything is NOT okay to do.    

As we read God’s Word, we understand that He has been very clear about the difference between right and wrong.   He identified the difference between good behaviors and bad.   He identified the difference between things which are acceptable and things that are not.   God has been very clear about what we should do and should not.    

We have to let go of the worlds way of doing things.   That includes the worlds way of thinking.    We have to take a stand for what is right and we cannot be intimidated by what someone else things about that stand.    When we take a stand for what God says is right, we have to understand that at that point God has our back.    He is our rearguard.   He is One backing up our words because we are standing on His Word.    

God doesn’t want us vacillating between what is right and wrong.   He wants us to be steadfast and immovable.   He wants us to be sure.   He wants us to represent Him well through the things we say and do.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Corinthians 15:58

King James Version

“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.”