Showing posts with label Direction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Direction. Show all posts

Feeling Hopeless And Alone?


Feeling down? Struggling? You are not alone. God The Father is aware of what you are feeling and has the answers. Won't you seek him?

God The Son Cares and wants to help you. Won't you cast all of your cares upon him?

God The Holy Spirit comforts and will guide you to a safe place in your spirit and emotions. Won't you receive him?

Choose faith in God through the sacrifice of his Dear Son Jesus and come alive in his Holy Spirit. Hopelessness and discouragement are no match for power from on High!








DoItGodsWay CallOnJesus TalkToGod spiritualanswers GodsAnswer Godwilllisten godknowswhy youarenotalone ifeelhopelessandalone IamUnHappy ifeelmiserable askjesus askgodforhelp

You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary VIII

Trials in life are so hard that it's easy to be reduced to begging God. I say reduced because begging is a fear state. It is beneath the position that God has provided for us through Christ's sacrifice. We are, in fact, heirs to the throne and joint-heirs with Christ. The actual enthroning hasn't happened yet because that is reserved for the New Heaven and the New Earth. 

~ We no longer feel like praying when we feel that we need to beg. ~

Remembering this truth, however, can put us in the right, high position mentally and emotionally, as we live out our lives on this earth. That mental position is important in receiving from God rather than begging for what we already have. Why would we need to beg? Begging leads to exhaustion and a compromised prayer life. We no longer feel like praying when we feel that we need to beg.

Isn't it wonderful that as we pray for God's will that his will is actually the same as our will? We pray for what we do because we think it is best for us. Our Father wants the best for us, as well, and more than we do. Though he often needs to tweak our prayers and the results, he is always on our side. 

~ Begging leads to more begging. ~

Relinquishing our doggedness and fear-focus in begging and instead praying one time for God's will about something does not mean that we will not be happy. It doesn't mean that we will never get a favorable reply to our fondest wishes. It means that we are more likely to. Begging leads to more begging. The prayer of faith pushed through, when we feel that we just can't pray another day, leads to results. 

Refuse to beg. Determine to receive. God's Holy Spirit will show you how.





Receive more inspiration through my tired of praying series:



You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary III

You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary IV

You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary V


Happy Wednesday: The Lord And Success

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. (Psalm 3:5-6)

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:5)

Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. (Proverbs 16:3)

These scriptures tell us that success is from the Lord. What kind of success? The success that also stores up riches in Heaven. There is a type of success that we can generate through the flesh, through carnal thinking, through the way of the world. 

Sharing all of our plans with God first, however, puts us in a position to experience spiritual growth along with the success experience. To begin any journey with a spiritual mind is life and peace. Trusting God with our plans, desires and goals insures that we will not only advance but will be richly blessed when Jesus comes back. Most importantly, God The Father will be glorified along the way.

***

Image Credit: LoveThisPic.com

Ask God Only Once

Yes, it's good to ask Our Father for something only once. After that, we should thank him for it when the desire to ask for it again arises. Don't ask again. We should thank him for what we have already asked for. 

When I ask, I also follow Jesus' example and I say, "Nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done, Father." I am acknowledging that if the answer is not as I expected, I trust that he has planned something better.

***

Why Did You Let Me Do It Father?

When I find that I've made what appears to be a poor decision and traveled in a direction that did not work out, I know that my Father knew it would happen and how it would end. I know that He was not surprised by my journey. He knows the beginning to the end of everything. He knows everything about me. I come from him and he has numbered all of the hairs on my head. He is concerned about every little thing that has to do with me. 

Most importantly, I look to him when I make plans. I am becoming more consistent about running every idea, goal and pursuit by him before I embark upon it. I want His supreme guidance and if it is not in His plan for me, I don't want it.  Because of my determination, when a path seems to goes awry, I lament to Our Father, Why, oh why did you allow me to go this way when it wasn't going to work OUT! 

I have learned that even when he allows us to go on a track that seems to not produce a favorable return, it's still in his plan for us and will work out for our good. We learn things and collect experiences that he will use to benefit our upcoming purposes. 

If you love God The Father, appreciate God The Son and obey God The Holy Spirit every day, don't ever think that an experience is useless. God does not produce useless things in our lives. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Rejoice! Just rejoice in the experiences that God allows into our lives, fully believing that all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28



A Way Out Or A Way Through?

The Lord promised in his Word, Psalm 23, that he would prepare a place before us in the presence of our enemies. This scripture was illuminated to me by the Holy Spirit and I discerned that it is not saying, necessarily, that God will remove the enemies from our lives. Maybe he will. Maybe he won't. Maybe he will at the time he has appointed. When we read this scripture however, we want immediate deliverance from our enemies' attacks.

We want so badly (especially those of us who have been suffering attacks for so long) for that passage to mean that God is going to wave his divine hand and say POOF! and the enemies and their attacks will be gone. Psalm 23 is revealing that the enemies are present to see our advancement, deliverance, success and favor in the midst of their evil. Thou shalt prepare a table in the presence of my enemies.

These people under the influence of rulers of the darkness of this world may or may not care. Seeing God's favor on us may make an immediate difference in their lives but it mostly likely will not. People who are bent on following the influence of principalities and powers are not quick to see their wrong.

We were there at one time, living reprobate lives, subject to any wicked thing against others, no matter how good we thought we were. We hurt people overtly and covertly, purposely and unconsciously. We know that it takes the timing of the Holy Spirit to bring us into His marvelous light of truth and set us on the path of transformation. It's up to God when and how our enemies are blocked from their access to us. 

We are quick to embrace a way out but is that best at this time? Is it God's good, acceptable and perfect will for us to have a way out on this stretch of our journey? When it is not the appointed time, a way out keeps us weak. A way through, alternatively, builds our faith and spiritual strength. 

After the way through comes the way out. I want increased faith to walk in the freedom of Christ and more power to destroy the works of the devil, don't you? That's the ultimate goal, the building up of our most holy faith and the reception of power from on high, no matter what our enemies are doing. 



Should I Do This? Should I Go In This Direction?


Don't be deceived! The devil is trying to take you down because you are growing in Christ and getting closer to God! Those thoughts that you've suddenly been having about who to long for, who to get involved with are not from the Holy Spirit.

Your reborn spirit knows it and the Holy Spirit is always working in you to raise you up above the beggardly elements of this world. 

Listen! Don't accept the lies from the father of lies! 

The Holy Spirit speaks pure, clear righteousness. You can't mistake what the Holy Spirit is saying with what wicked spirits are saying, unless you want to. 

Choose wisely and crush those rogue thoughts!

Rogue: fraudulent, shady, deceptive, dishonest, crooked, bent, underhand, treacherous, double-dealing, unethical.



Keep Seeking God's Truth About Your Life

It is often easy to feel that our most desired blessings from God will not come until we are dead and gone. It will no longer matter then, but it matters today. I know that you feel discouraged and sometimes hopeless. I can testify to how hard it is for some of us to believe that God loves us, that he really cares. I've endured so much in life, from a child, that my emotions question God's love for me. I sometimes feel hopeless that I'll ever realize some desired things in this life, but I persevere in eating and drinking the Word everyday. 

Each day I persist in having a formal prayer session every morning to commit my way to God. I set my day with Jesus Christ's sacrifice in mind. I know that God has helped me, done things for me, guided me and protected me. I'm rooted and grounded through years of seeking God's face after I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I love my Heavenly Father with a perfect love in my reborn spirit. 

What makes the most difference for me is choosing to read the Word everyday. One scripture, one chapter, doesn't matter how much how little, just opening it and reading something. And not always going to the 23rd Psalm but going places in the Bible where I've never been. That's where the real power is.

The Word slowly transforms us and helps us to choose to believe. And to believe is a choice that we have to make everyday. As I press on in learning about the things of God, I understand more, and he does reward me for my faithfulness. Even so, it is a constant, spiritual battle to believe and receive. 

The devil and his demons are real and they never cease to try to destroy our relationship with God. They work hard to make us think and feel that God does not love us. Our job is to resist them and call them out everyday as the liars that they really are. Evil spirits have nothing to offer us but lies and desolation and an end equal to what they face. 

Those who believe have no where else to go but to Our Father God, Our Savior Jesus, Our Comforter The Holy Spirit and The Word of Truth. If we're tired and don't feel like praying or reading sometimes, The Holy Spirit knows all about it. God does not condemn us for this fleshly weakness but we always have to go back. There is no where else where we can find comfort, relief and hope. 

If we let him, God will grow us, transform us and strengthen us and also reward us everyday. Keep trusting him and remember that Jesus gave his blood and his body so that you can become whole in everyway, despite how you feel and what you have experienced or are experiencing.

I pray for you that from this point you are healed in heart, mind and emotions and that you are strengthened and that your faith is increased beyond all measure! God loves you and he knows all about you.









Being A Positive-Minded Christian

Living a successful Christian life and doing things God's way requires a positive mindset. Walking in the Spirit requires a positive mindset. Being transformed by the renewing of our minds through reading the Word daily requires positive mindsets going in. Allowing our faith to be increased by God requires positive mindsets. Make no mistake, for wonderful changes to come about, we have to start with positive mindsets. We have to believe! That is positive-mindedness. 

Have you been negative-minded when coming to God in prayer? Were you raised in a negative-minded family? Have your trials and troubles in life fostered a negative mind in you? Are you so tired of life, so tired of praying, so tired of hoping that your mind is now negative to God's possibilities? Well, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Guide and will restore positivity and faith in us if we let Him.

Allowing the Word to sink in as we read it daily will prune us. We are the branches of Jesus Christ and we have to be regularly trimmed in spirit and attitude. This cutting process will convert and transform our negativeness to the positive-minded position that we need to be in to receive from Our Heavenly Father. 

Are you eating and drinking The Word daily? Are you reading around in The Bible rather than reading the same old scriptures that are tired to your mind and heart? Are you ensuring that you are getting a balance of The Word rather than reading The Lord is my shepherd or Our Father, which art in Heaven everyday? Are you becoming familiar with more obscure scriptures? It takes the entire Word, Old and New Testaments, to transform us and round us out to positive thinking, feeling and behaving. 



Choosing One Day Of Rest

We are often reminded that God rested the seventh day after he created our world and Adam and Eve. How often do we follow his example and the admonition of the scriptures? We should be more pro-active in enjoying a day of rest each week because the spiritual blessings are many.

It is good to have one day per week when we totally wind down. A day when we don't do all of the stuff that we usually do becomes a day of renewal. Christians feel that Sunday is that day. We use that day for special worship-of-God activities, special Sunday meals and peacefulness.

Some people have to work on Sunday, so they choose another day of rest. Some Christians choose to set apart Saturday for special worship and renewal. It's not so much the day but the obedience to God and the scriptures that blesses us. 

Like with fasting, our minds are brought back to the knowledge, every hour of that chosen day, that we are honoring God through sacrifice. Throughout that day when we think of things that we want to do but shouldn't, we are reminded that we are sacrificing and that Jesus Christ sacrificed for us. We draw closer to God on this day of rest.

Whatever day you choose, be sure to do something different than what you usually do, something restful, peaceful and calm. Cultivate serenity, tranquility and elevated worship. Use it as a prayer-building day. Be refreshed, restored and renewed one day per week, not just spiritually but physically as well. The blessings will be abundant!

Hebrews 4:1-11

Deuteronomy 5:14 

Exodus 20:10, 23:12

Genesis 2:2-3



Make It Happen With The Help Of God

 

Don't just dream about it. Make it happen, with the help of the Lord. Receive God's ways of thinking. He's sharing them with you. 

You can't just spend the rest of your life wishing it could happen. Learn to see things God's way. He's showing you how.

Don't just keep thinking about it. You're either serious or you're not. Do what God is telling you to do.

You can't continue to just wonder about it. Accept the knowledge that God is constantly imparting unto you.

Don't just hope that it will come to pass. God is a do something God. You have to step out and do it. You know what to do. Faith and courage are being built up in you by Our Lord. You have been asking for it and he is faithful. God has been giving to you the building blocks of faith and courage. 

You can't continue to spend your life dreaming about it, wishing about it, thinking about it and wondering if it will ever happen. You have to take the risks necessary for God to bring to pass your most cherished dreams.

Some of God's most faithful servants from the Bible went out, went forward, moved on, sometimes not knowing how the gap between where they were and where they were going would be bridged.

They had ideas about how they needed to do it but they ultimately had to make their uncertain way, with God always before them. They had to go forward when things were not perfect or when there was opposition, when no one believed or supported them, when God did not tell them all of the facts.

They had to take steps, often with blind faith, to arrive where they wanted to be, where they should be and to where God promised them they could be. If they had kept waiting for things to be perfect or for situations to be the way that they thought they should be, they would never have went forward and obtained what God had already provided.   

Don't just dream about it. Make it happen, with the help of the Lord.




Believing What We Pray For

In order to see the realization of our fondest personal prayers, we have to first believe what we pray for. We don't have to believe that we can do it through our own planning and orchestration but we do have to believe that we CAN receive them from God.

We also have to believe that we can be faithful in managing them after we receive them. This is one way to believe that our prayers will happen, that we'll be getting a favorable answer from God. 

The problem is that we pray for things that we're not committed to, that we're afraid of and that we don't even believe that we can really do. We pray pipe dreams, fanciful hopes or plans that would come to naught if we were given them. This is one reason that in our hearts we secretly say, "I don't believe my prayers will come true." Why don't we truly believe what we are praying?

Many Christians promote that we should ask God for big things, impossible things, things that are beyond what we can do on our own. Yes, we should, but we still have to believe in our own prayers. We have to believe in what we are asking for to improve our lives. We have to believe in the prayers that we pray on our behalf.

How is it possible to receive what we unconsciously don't believe? It is not possible because we would miss all of the signs and open doors that would lead to obtaining the favorable answers that we desire. The challenges that we would see would be obstacles to us instead of opportunities. Because of that, we would blindly pass them by.

In fact, we already see many challenges as insurmountable obstacles or we would not be asking God for help. What exactly are we asking for though? How can we start our journeys to believing what we pray for?  

There's something between the prayers and the receiving of the answer to the prayers that we ask. It is us. We have to work with God and it's up to each one of us to work out what our place is in the fulfillment of the desires.

When we understand that, we can then work with God and receive favorable answers to our fondest supplications. What if we can't see our part in it? What if we just wait for God to do it, like we've been doing?

If we can't understand what our place or part is in believing in our prayers, then maybe we should not be praying for those things or praying in that way. Maybe that is why deep down in our hearts we don't believe what we are asking. 

Maybe our prayers need to be adjusted or re-designed. Maybe the focus of our fondest hopes needs to be altered. Is it possible that we even need to replace a long-standing prayer for another, more accurate one?

If we ask our Father God to help us to develop accurate prayers, he will do it. We don't want to keep spending time and energy on prayers that are never going to happen because we don't believe them. We don't want to spend a lifetime praying inauthentic prayers.

We want to pray prayers that move things, that change things, that bring things to pass. We want to pray prayers that are faith-filled, accurate and effective. Words come first and powerful, faith-filled words bring things into being. These scriptures make it plain:

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Hebrews 11:3 Things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Our prayers are our tongues, our words and the things which are not seen, the invisible things. The things that we are praying for, on our behalf, are the things which are seen, that can be brought into being by our unseen prayer words, if they are accurate. 

The world does not respect or honor God, but the world understands many truths that we ignore. We can learn from the truths that those who do not love God nor his Son are telling us everyday. The knowledge all belongs to God. They don't care to realize it but their knowledge belongs to God. We can take it, along with the Scriptures, and work with God to pray prayers that we can believe in.

I don't know if Dr. Margie Warrell worships God or not but she says this in her article Your Words Create Your Reality:

The words you speak hold power. Power to create new possibilities or to close them down. We unconsciously sabotage our success. Whatever direction your words lead, your mind, body and environment will follow. It’s therefore extremely important to be intentional about the words you use.

We can make our prayers, our words, the fruit of our tongues authentic so that we can believe them and work with God in bringing them to pass.



Should I Be In This Relationship?


All Christians are at various levels of growth, though we are all sisters and brothers in Christ. However, just because a person is a Christian doesn't mean that what they have to offer in association with you is pure, edifying, honest, worthy or supported by God.
When the Bible says "How can two walk together unless they be agreed?", that can pertain to Christians also. It's not only a matter for Christians in association or relationship with non-Believers. It's important to consider between Christians, especially when it comes to young Christians and those who are more experienced and advanced. We should always be asking ourselves what is a Christian Relationship in reference to our upward walk? 

Just because someone says that they are a brother or sister in Christ does not mean that they would make a good friend, spouse, business partner, spiritual mentor or other. Some Christians are constantly growing and some Christians never grow up in Christ. Many Christians want to grow and many do not. It's an individual choice which means that all Christians are not compatible.

Babes in Christ and those who refuse to submit themselves to God's requirements for growth are still carnally-minded. They are still operating in the ways of death. (Romans 8:6) Whether they will choose to grow in Christ Jesus always remains to be seen.
When it comes to romance and dating, new Christians have not yet had time to develop pure Christian dating principles. It is difficult for them to receive and understand the necessity of Biblical dating principles because they haven't yet had time to absorb enough of the Word of God to begin to manifest their transformation. Others have chosen not to eat and drink the Word daily. In doing so, they have chosen not to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. (Romans 12:2) Maybe they will later but again, maybe they won't.

We are experienced in Christ. We are advanced. We should not be embracing into our lives everyone who identifies as Christian. Wisdom and common sense tells us that we should be applying Matthew 7:20 and 1 John 4:1, in one way or another, to all of our relationships and potential affiliations. Evaluation takes time. The more the potential for our Christian advancement to be compromised the longer that evaluation should take. That means watch and wait before we embrace connections.

You say that as an advanced, growing Christian you can help the babes to higher heights in God. There is some truth to that because the Scriptures encourage the strong to help the weak. That thinking with undisciplined, unwise actions, however, is how many growing Christians have downfalls. Those downfalls become harder and harder to overcome.

Some Christians will never be compatible with us. The inability to accept this can lead to discord, disappointment, emotional exhaustion, sorrow, loss, tragedy, the undermining of our Christian faith and more. None of it is necessary if we accept the truth and value the riches of our growth, rather than the lure of compromise. 

Understanding this should also impact our Christian business relationships definition. We should always be measuring our business alliances with the ruler of God's Word and our advanced knowledge in Christ. As you well know, growing in Christ is often a lonely life. While we can look forward to rewards, even here and now, it's not easy to take that journey and stay in the path. It takes:

  • becoming more spiritually-minded everyday,
  • learning to crucify the flesh,
  • being purged and pruned by the Holy Spirit,
  • being cut by the Word of God,
  • learning to resist the devil,
  • learning how to cast down imagination,
  • learning to deny ourselves at times,
  • learning to be moderate in all things,
  • learning to walk humbly,
  • learning to not think more highly of ourselves than we should while being thankful and grateful,
  • letting God have his way,
  • learning to recognize God's will,
  • being obedient to God's will,
  • continually giving more over to God,
  • suffering with Christ in all the ways that God ordains,
  • and more wonderful things like that.
I know you get that I'm saying those last few words with tongue-in-cheek, with a little humor sprinkled in but they are oh so true. For those who want to go higher in Christ in this world, who want more of God, who want to live a life of storing up riches in Heaven where the moths and rusts of this fallen, dying world cannot corrupt them and steal our rewards, it is the desired way. Being purged by God is welcomed. It can be exhausting but we'd rather be exhausted for The Kingdom than exhausted for the world, the flesh and the devil, like we were in the old days.
Many accept Christ but never take the first step onto the narrow path of transformation and renewal. Many think they have given it all over to God. Many know that they have not. However, in their secret heart, the minute that a spiritual offense comes, the minute that they suspect that God wants more from them, they choose not to move forward. There is no compatibility with those who do not want to grow in Christ and those who are. Good Christian friends are those who are on an upward track of continual growth, similar to ours.
Those who don't want to grow think that those who are growing are fanatics and over-doers. They are still blind and conceited and will try to undermine the growing Christian and convince us in subtle ways that we don't need all of that. How do we know? We were there once! We may not have consciously tried to undermine other Christians, but we had thoughts of not needing all of that that an advanced Christian displayed. They were spiritually beyond us. 
Don't allow your hard-won development and maturity in Christ to be compromised by not recognizing the difference between you being sold-out to Christ and someone who is not. Don't be brought down by anyone who, by virtue of their lack of growth, is still dabbling in the dark places from where you came or who simply doesn't want to go higher in Christ.

Be friendly with care, mentor with care, relate with care, exhort with care, partner with care, share with care, be compassionate with care, join with care, contract with care, remembering always that the Bible makes it plain. Two cannot walk together unless they are agreed. (Amos 3:3) That goes for any association that we have or could have in this world, whether it's with one person or fifty.