Showing posts with label Encouragement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Encouragement. Show all posts

Sunday, October 31, 2021

How To Deal With Problems



See Any Problem As Something Good.

This goes for all challenges, setbacks, difficulties, trials, tragedies and tribulations. Even if nothing good seems to be coming from a problem, why go through the additional trauma of seeing it as something bad from which you will never recover?  Seeing it as something bad is the only other alternative to seeing it as something good. It's one or the other and we have the power to choose.
 
I realize that in some disastrous situations, some tragedies, some heartbreaking occurrences, it is next to impossible to stop and think that good will come from it. It would be difficult to do this but not impossible. If we are not able to do it in the midst of trial, we can take control and do it later. Do you realize how powerful the human brain is? Do you know that anything that exists began in the mind, then it was believed, then spoken or written, then it came into being?
At SuccessConsciousness, these important facts about the power of our God-given brains are shared:
 
Mind power is one of the strongest and most useful powers you possess.
This power, together with your imagination, can create success or failure, happiness or unhappiness, opportunities or obstacles. This depends on your mindset.

Your thoughts are the main ingredient of this power, and when you add to them focus and emotions, thoughts become powerful and can affect your reality.
The thoughts that pass through your mind are responsible for almost everything that happens in your life.
 
Not all thoughts are equal. Stray ones that you think once or twice cannot do much, but your predominant thoughts, the ones you repeat often, influence your behavior and attitude, affect your actions and reactions, and shape your reality.

Christians know that God has the upper-hand in all that happens in our lives. It is, however, a fact that God works with us. He does not control us. He helps us with our infirmities but he does not control us. That means that we have authority in our lives and also power through our brains. We can decide how to think. With determination and the divine help of The God of All Hope, we can learn to see problems as something good. Problems are not good but they can be used by a loving Father to generate good in our lives.
 
Those who know God always have hope. Our Heavenly Father promised to turn everything for our good, one way or another. We have to choose to believe. If we don't yet feel it, see it, taste it, hear it or touch this conversion of bad to good, we can insist that God has or will convert it to bless us. We can persist in professing this everyday, throughout the day. Why should we confess such a statement when it is so hard to believe in our circumstance? Because he said it. It's as simple as that.
We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, with those whom he has called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 GNT

Look up, even though your heart is broken.
Look up even though you are oh so discouraged.
Look up, even though it seems impossible.
Look up, even though you can't take it anymore.
Look up, even though nothing has ever worked out for you.
Look up, even though you don't think that God loves you.
Look up, because you are God's by your own choice.
Look up, believe and confess that this issue will work out for your good because your loving Heavenly Father said it would. 

You struggling with a challenge and just don't see how you are going to make it?
See It As Something Good. Start there and the answers and help will come.

 
Scripture Image Credit: Biblia
 

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Is It All REALLY Working Together For My Good?

Sometimes, the trials that God turns into good for us we may never discern.

Often, this converting of these tribulations on our behalf moves into the realm of the unseen.

They can be the good that God does for us of which we are unaware.

We have faith that he does these things because the Word tells us so.

We may not always see the outcome of God working all things together for our good but we have testimonies of the times when we experienced proof that he did.

We also know that we live among bountiful blessings from our Heavenly Father every day.

 Any one of those unrecognizable daily blessings could be a conversion of bad to good, just for us.

Romans 8:28


 

Monday, September 10, 2018

How Do We Pray When Damage Is Inevitable?

We are never without recourse in a time of trouble.
Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed when I want to pray for those in catastrophic situations. Despite changes that can avert destruction, there is what seems to be inevitable in projected reports. There is the history of recurring events. Lastly, but not least, are the prophecies in the Bible about what will occur as the time for Jesus' return nears.

I wonder sometimes what the use of praying is. What good will it do in circumstances like this? This makes me feel like we are sitting ducks, and that there is nothing that we can do. We are never, however, without recourse, and that recourse is still prayer. There is never a time when prayer will not help.

First of all, if we have faith that God can do anything, we pray that absolutely no damage will be done. That's it! We pray that somehow the storm will be turned away from human harm. We pray that it will miraculously abate, dry up and dissipate.

Next, if we can't bring ourselves to pray that, because we find it incomprehensible to believe, we pray that damage will be minimal and no lives will be lost. We pray that everyone will find safe shelter and that homes will remain standing.


Finally, if that type of prayer does not resonate in the face of a catastrophic event, we pray that the hearts of everyone who does not know him will be turned to Jesus. We pray this for those who are in the eye of destruction and for everyone involved.

All of these prayers really can be combined into one cry to God for help:

Help Us Lord!

Help Them Lord!

Have Mercy On Us Lord!

Deliver Them Lord!

Dear Jesus My Savior
You said you would never leave nor forsake those who love you.
Help those in this terrible situation come
to love you in all circumstances.
I know that you are at the right hand of Our Father,
always praying for us.

Dear Father God
You said Fear thou not, for I am with you.
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you. I will help you.
I will hold you up with my right hand of righteousness. 
 For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand saying
"Fear not, for I am with you".
(Isaiah 41:10,13) 

Help those in this destructive situation come to love
and rely on you in the same way. 
Have mercy on them and everyone involved,
friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers,
first responders, medical personnel,
city/government officials,
clergy.

So in writing this encouragement to help others, I talk myself into victory.

Victory in faith.
Victory in spiritual action.
Victory in prayer. 

I Believe In Prayer, No Matter What!






Monday, August 13, 2018

Start Each Day With Thankfulness



I thank God 

For a successful day

Filled with faith, hope and focus


 
 
Matthew 6:22
 
Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body.
When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. 
(NLT)

 The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye is sound,
your whole body will be full of light.
  (WEB)

 The light of the body is the eye; if then your eye is true,
all your body will be full of light.
  (BBE)

 The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy,
your whole body will be full of light.
(CEB)

 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light.
  (KJV)

 



Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Finding Romance, Love And A Christian Spouse

We should always pray and expect God's confirmation when we feel we have met the one.

I recently saw a video that someone shared at an online group, where a young Christian woman was advocating that we don't have to wait on God for a mate. She said that this principle was a part of Christiandom, or some contrived word like that. She felt that too many Christians sit around waiting for God to give them a marriage partner, when they can pick the person themselves. I feel that it is a combination of both. We should make an effort to be active and put ourselves out there to meet people.  Along with that, we should pray and expect God's confirmation when we feel we have met the one.
Moderation and merging of both searching and waiting for Christian love is important.
I think that to put all of the responsibility on ourselves to choose a holy person to marry is foolish and dangerous. However, I think to wait indefinitely on God to drop the person into our laps, while doing nothing to be friendly and attractive, is also foolish and self-defeating. Both attitudes are needed, but a moderation of both, a merging of them.
Don't go by feelings, which got you into romantic trouble before.
Dating around to feel our way to finding someone with whom we click got us into trouble before. Going by our feelings got us into trouble before. Depending upon our own devices is the reason that we are alone today. Being led of the flesh is the reason that we have so much baggage today, so that the Holy Spirit can barely get our attention.
We Christian woman have to learn how to submit to a man after God's own heart.
My point is that Christians lean too far to the right or the left about everything. The Bible plainly says to not lean to the right hand nor the left, keep our feet from evil. (Proverbs 4:27) The order of the relationship and marriage has to be established by God, in the beginning, for the union to be successful and righteous. This is even more so in today's world, where for generations women have had to assume the authority of men. This is because men have become so slack and lax in being men and heading the families as God desires. We, as Christian women, don't have any idea how to submit to a holy and righteous Christian man. Most of us have only known strong, overbearing women and weak men. We don't have healthy examples of the order in the Christian marriage.
God will confirm in the heart of the woman that indeed that man is the one.
So, to establish the relationship on Holy ground or a powerful foundation, we have to be able to submit in the beginning. In that regard, I believe in the way that many other Christians believe, that God will confirm with the man that yes indeed he has found a wonderful Godly woman who would be a faithful, holy and diligent wife to him.  The man will then show his interest in her and she will return that interest. Most important though, not the man, but God, will confirm in the heart and spirit of the woman that indeed, that man is the one.
God never changes and his order is supreme.
Basically, God will tell the man and the man will tell the woman, and God will confirm to the woman. It may sound old-fashioned and distasteful to some, but no matter what the variation is, you will find this holy process in all of the great, true, authentic and enduring Christian marriages. God never changes and his order is supreme.

The sad thing is that most of the time we operate in the flesh when it comes to romance and marriage. There is another, more excellent way, to work with God to put the flesh under. As reborn spirits, we possess the power to crucify the flesh that seduces and misleads us. We can learn a new way of experiencing romantic love. That infallible way is God's holy way.


Click this link to visit


Draw Nigh To Hope


for more insight into Christian growth


and resources for living a life devoted to God.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Dear Lord Help Us

A prayer and reminder for when you are feeling anxiety, distress, depression, hopelessness or unhappiness.


DEAR LORD:

Help us to keep our minds on you.
We thank you for the peace that passes all understanding and for joy unspeakable in the midst of struggle, fear and disappointment. We know that our joy in you is where our strength will always lie, and that YOU will keep us in perfect peace, because we choose to bring our minds back to you always.

AMEN.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Is Knowing God Without Jesus Christ Possible?

Scripture shows that man cannot know God without Jesus Christ.

Decades ago, when I lived in Los Angeles and worked in West Hollywood for a self-employed contractor, he made a pronouncement to me. It was because I was a babe in Christ, and had enthusiastically shared my new conversion with him. One day he stood before my desk with a harsh look on his face and spit out that he knew God and didn't deal with anyone else. I knew he was speaking of Jesus Christ, because he even added a mumbled "that Jesus person"-type of comment. He made me know he was rejecting anything that had to do with the so-called Savior that people like me promote. 

Can man know God without Jesus Christ? If a person believes that, then he/she cannot know the Word of God very well. Scripture plainly shows that we cannot know God without going through His Son. Why would anyone who professes to know God not read what has been revealed as God's Word? Why wouldn't he/she read The Book that has stood the test of time better than any other tome, and is the most popular book on earth?  And when read liberally, how could any person come away still believing that God can be known without acknowledging His Blessed Son Jesus Christ?  I believe that anyone with that stance cannot be reading the Bible.

If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. John 8:42

He that is of God hears God's words. John 8:47

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. John 14:1

I and my Father are one. John 10:30

He that believes on me, believes not on me, but on him that sent me. John 12:44

He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which sent him. John 5:23

It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to me. John 6:45

If I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honors me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: yet ye have not known him; but I know him. John 8:55

None of God's creation can know him without accepting Jesus Christ, His Son, as the way, the only way to commune with God, to be saved and live forever in peace. God set it up that way out of necessity. So, if you are insisting that you know and love God and that you don't need any of that Jesus Christ stuff, read this,


And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God loved the world so much, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned. John 3:14-18

No matter how strange or bizarre it sounds, Jesus Christ is God's Son and God has made the stipulation that anyone desiring life after death has to ask Jesus to save them. Anyone who wants to approach God and have a relationship with Him has to do it through His Son, Jesus Christ. That's the way it is, that's the way it will be.

It's a simple little requirement, but for which pride and fear makes it almost impossible for a person to submit to. When you feel that tug, though, you know that God is calling through His Son. His Holy Spirit is pressing you to accept the Life that He is offering through His Son. When you feel that inner tug, that means the door is open and you are being encouraged to walk through. You're being invited to partake of life forever. It won't always be so. One day that tug will never be felt again, the door will have closed, and your chance will be gone, forever.





How To Be Saved
Romans 10:9
(NKJV)
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 

  If you would like to know that you are saved, say this simple prayer:

Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, and the only Savior. Come into my heart, and save me now. Show me the way to understand and turn away from all things that do not help me. I don't have to fear death anymore, and thank you for Eternal Life with You.
Amen.


Tuesday, January 30, 2018

How God Helps With Problems



God shows me over and over...

...that the answers to most things that trouble me are very small things. These small things are solutions that I would never discover if it was not for Him. These solutions are tiny compared to how I view my problems. 

When God reveals a tiny solution to me, whether it is temporary or permanent, it has always been there all along. Close and within reach, but hidden from me. My solutions, which are usually very involved, always take me in a different direction than where God would take me. That is why I can never see God's solutions. 

Whenever My Heavenly Father reveals a solution to me, I am always so elated! The tiny solution makes such a big difference! I feel hopeful. I feel optimistic. I feel faith-filled! I can rest, while working the solution.

I also feel bad that I worried so much. I feel like I did not trust My Father like I could have. It hurts my heart, but I know that He understands.

 

Thursday, November 16, 2017

I Prayed And It's Getting Worse! Why?




Often, when we are believing God for big changes, and praying and standing on his promises, the opposite will seem to happen. When we think things should be getting better, some things may seem to get worse. Some areas in our lives may need to collapse, so that God can build upon a stronger foundation that which we desire.

This is not pertaining to the foundation of the life of a Christian, for that main foundation is already built upon the Rock of Jesus Christ. The foundations that I'm speaking about are the areas of our lives that are a hinderance to obtaining what we want. They are superflous things, people and circumstances that need to go, that usually were not introduced by God into our lives to remain in the first place.

Some definitions of superflous include unnecessary; uncalled-for; wasteful. The best definition, though, is obsolete, which means no longer produced or used; out of date. They may have been useful at the time, according to God's plan, but are no longer so. We don't realize that many advancements, relationships and situations that we encounter are not meant to continue along the road with us.

God rarely reveals to us that what is a blessing at one time will become dispensible at his appointed time. These invited-turned-uninvited blessings must be wrenched from our lives in ways that we don't expect, because we don't understand that we must let them go. While God is permanent, the circumstances that he allows or places in our lives are not always so.

How do we handle these potentially upsetting and distressing developments? We continue to stand on the original promise of God. While doing so, we also do what is best at any given time, facing the challenges that God places before us. We determine to continue to have faith in him, while doing our part to fearlessly manage our daily lives, fearing no thing.

We go with the flow and recommit to God daily, loving and praising him with every fiber in our being. The course may veer off along the path at times, but if we are sure of what God is doing in our lives, then the path is the same. It is time to move upwards and onwards to what we asked God for.


Definitions: dictionary.com , Google 
Image: pixabay.com

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Encouragement To Give Thanks!



In Everything Give Thanks!

Everything Is Not Good,

But

God Is!

In Everything,

Using Humble And Earnest Prayer,

Tell Him

What Is On Your Mind. 

I Thess. 5:18, Philippians 4:6-7


It's hard sometimes to give thanks in difficult situations, isn't it? What we are really supposed to do is give thanks for a good God, who is good always and forever. We don't have to cultivate a thankful spirit for bad things, horrific occurrences or evil outcomes. Even when being grateful for difficulties that can strengthen us, we are really being grateful for a God who will take those unfortunate circumstances and convert the results into something that will bless us richly in many ways. When we understand what to be thankful for, it's not so hard to give thanks in everything.


 

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Where Is The Benefit In Feeling Beaten Down?



Sometimes we suffer and are sad because of circumstances that God allows upon our lives. Sometimes we don't feel that we can overcome the devastating feelings, which cause us to drag around listlessly doing our daily tasks. We know that we love God, and we still are able to make ourselves read the Bible and pray during these times, but we feel so beaten down by situations.

We know that God allows these things for our benefit, but where is the benefit in feeling beaten down? Well, we should remember that the beaten down feeling is not the goal of God. That feeling and the circumstance that brought it are being used to get our attention. There is something that he wants us to grasp that is above what the circumstance has caused us to feel. To have us look up to it, he had to spur us up. Like the pointy, sharp boot spurs that a cowboy presses into the sides of a horse to startle him with a little pain to get him moving, God spurs us to move our spirit and thoughts in a certain direction, away from and above the sorrow of what he has allowed.

So when we who are devoted to God enter into a period of trial and tribulation, we should not deny that we feel lost, hopeless and just plain tired. We want to benefit from the experience that God has chosen to use. We don't want to waste it, or have to take that lesson again, so we admit and accept how we are feeling. In the midst of it, we who trust God should then ask ourselves, What is it that would help me to feel better right now? For this exercise, the answer is not money, a vacation or anything outside of us. It is something within. It is thoughts or a way of thinking that will in turn control feelings. It is thoughts that go beyond what we could make up to feel better, because that is why we feel so depressed, because our own thoughts cannot handle it.

This is where being already built up in faith helps us tremendously. Reading the Bible and praying always, when things are going well and we feel great, builds up in us a strong storehouse of faith, hope and scripture references. So when we are suffering like this, if we can reach up and understand something that would make us feel better, a promise from God, a past answered prayer, a strong scripture passage that speaks especially to us, a revelation, a confirmation, that will be one of the things that God is trying to point us to, away from the actual crushing distress. This something that only we would know will pull us up inwardly (not by our own bootstraps which often break) to higher heights of strength, faith, victory and understanding of God. That is when we attain a new level in Christ, which was God's purpose all along.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Happy Autumn & The Beauty Of Seasonal Death!








I hope you are enjoying the Autumn season so far. It's my fav time of year. Though many things are preparing to die, I love the blazing fall foliage colors, and the cool, crisp weather. Fall is a reminder that many things in our own lives have to die as well, in order to realize new life. In order for many of our fondest hopes and dreams to come to pass, some things have to be done away with, one way or another.

It is usually not the things that we would pick or think would need to die, or even necessarily the things that we are afraid will have to go. That's sacrifice. It's the things that we never would think of, and that God's Holy Spirit quietly nudges us about. Those are the things that we need to allow him to purge and prune to make way for the dreams of the new season in our lives.  That's obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice. The Bible tells us so.

So death has beauty, at least in God's Kingdom. It's through death that his promises are made real in our lives.





Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Waiting On God? Or Just Indefinitely Waiting?


The path to success is not along a familiar route.

~S Holland~

 

If you are waiting on God, so that he can bring to you something familiar, so that your dreams will come true, you may be waiting 'till you die.

Your fondest dreams will not be brought about through a path you've already traveled, or else you'd already have them.

To have something you've never had, you've got to do something you've never done. God will show you what it is. He probably already has.

Don't keep waiting on the familiar, calling it waiting on God, and miss God.

 

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Saved But Worried Or Afraid?



Every day of your life conceive of yourself as living in partnership and companionship with Jesus Christ. If He actually walked by your side, would you be worried or afraid? Well, then, say to yourself, "He is with me." Affirm aloud His promise, "I am with you always." Then change it to say, "He is with me now." Repeat the affirmation three times every day.

~ Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking condensed edition, Chapt. 8, How To Break The Worry Habit, pg. 36. ©1987 & 2008 Peale Center for Positive Thinking. All rights reserved. Guideposts Outreach. GuidepostsFoundation.org ~

 

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

How To Deal With Tests, Trials & Tribulations

Sometimes, we just want it to end; those difficult trials and testings...

~ I had a moment of weakness
when I spoke in spirit to my Heavenly Father ~

Sometimes, we just want it to end; those difficult trials and testings that we are suffering through. I had a moment of weakness when I spoke in spirit to my Heavenly Father, with very much heartfelt expression, I just wish it would end. He knew what I was thinking about. I did not need to spell it out or identify the issue. Then on the heels of that thought came the one that always brings me back to commitment.

I thought of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had endured so much harassment most of his 33 years. He had lived through his cousin, John the Baptist, being murdered. He had been hounded, shunned, consistently plotted against and betrayed. Though he knew these things would happen, they still happened to someone who could feel as we feel. He experienced the feelings, emotions and stress that we feel. He was very tired, I'm sure, by the time he made it to that garden. He felt fear and dread. What did he do?


~ The moment of terrifying weakness
turned into a moment of strength ~

In a moment of human weakness, he asked his Father, with so much  heartfelt expression that it seems some of his capillaries burst and oozed blood from his pores, Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me.  The moment of terrifying weakness turned into a moment of strength when he said, nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. He chose to reestablish his determination to accept God's will. The flesh that he had taken on was fearful, but in his spirit was the strength to continue on. 



God expects us to determine to overcome our aversion and fear.

If Jesus had not recommitted himself, dug his heels in, and stayed the course, I would not be able to say today that I have a Heavenly Father. I would not be able to say that I have true help in a time of need, that he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies, or that he shows me how to overcome evil with good. I would not be able to say that he helps me to do all things, and to put on effective, spiritual armor. Most of all, I would not be able to say that my Eternity is set in Him.

When on the heels of that broken-down thought of supplication I remembered Jesus, and all that he had endured for me, I immediately said in my spirit to God, nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. In some circumstances, no matter how much we plead and pray, the situation will not be changed. We sense this in our spirits, though we wish it was otherwise. God expects us to determine to overcome our aversion and fear, and submit to his care in these distressing times.

~ Even Jesus asked to be delivered ~

So, do not be afraid to say nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. It is okay to ask if it can be done in some other way. Even Jesus asked to be delivered from something that we know today was necessary for our very Salvation. Our Father wants us to always be honest with him, to worship him in spirit and in truth, and to walk in the light before his face. How do we build faith in a time of suffering under adverse circumstances, frightening developments, and devastating trials?


...reliable faith is believing that you will be ok in whatever will happen...

The Lord showed me this week that faith is not grasping to believe that some undesirable situation will not happen. True, reliable faith is believing that you will be ok in whatever will happen, and that if you perceive that he has ordained it, he will see you through to some kind of victory, one way or another. 


Scripture: Luke 22:42 (NKJV) BibleStudyTools.com
Images: Pexels.com

Saturday, April 8, 2017

What About The Bad Places In My Life?


Sometimes as Christians we worry about the things that we can't seem to get right. We are frustrated over bad things that continue to crop up in our thoughts, our behaviors, and our lives. We lament that our failures and challenges are putting us behind. We feel anger that the influence or seeming control of another/others is causing unwanted effects to grow as we work to grow in the Lord.

Matthew 13:24-30 talks about the good seed and the tares. A man planted good seeds in his soil, and while he rested, an enemy came by and sowed some tares, or unwanted seeds, in among his good seeds. 

When his servants saw the sprouting of the bad seed among the good, they were aghast. They did not understand how this could have happened when they knew he would not have sown other than good seeds. They wanted to go to work ripping up the tares seedlings. No doubt, they thought it would be better to do this now, than wait for the wheat-resembling weeds to grow larger and stronger. They were concerned that these unwanted plants would take over, and even kill the good plants.

Their master, the owner who sowed the good seed, explained to them that it would be better to let the tares grow along with his good plants. If they ripped them out now, they would also dislodge and destroy many of the good seedlings in the process. He told them to wait until harvest time, when it would be easier to separate the weed plants from the good grain, and throw out the bad and keep the good. The owner knew that the tares would not take over.

This parable relates to what God will do when it's time for this world to end. It is okay that people who don't want to accept Jesus and love God are living, growing, advancing, prospering and even sometimes winning over Christians. In the end, when God's harvest is ripe, he will discard and destroy the remaining tares, those who refused Jesus Christ as Savior, and bring into his bosom those who love Him through the Shed Blood of His Son. 

Practically, we should practice the same confidence in ourselves and our lives. We don't have to worry about our faults, mistakes, failures, challenges, setbacks, relapses, struggles and rebellions. In the soil of our lives and in this world, there will always be tares, planted by any number of people, circumstances and unavoidable influences. Our focus and job is to keep planting and filling our fields with good seed. Don't worry about the bad seeds in our lives, why they are there, or how they got there. Many of them will die off along the way, as our good seeds grow. Those that are stubborn weeds that persist in surviving and even growing along with our good growth? Well, they will be destroyed in the end. In the end, it will be easy for the bad to be completely obliterated, and the good to be preserved.

Don't worry. Continue to focus on planting good seed into your thoughts, your mind, your heart, your being, your life. In the end, anything that is not done for Christ, by Christ, through Christ will be ripped out, separated and destroyed, never to grow, influence and affect again. In the end, everything that is done for Christ will last.



Tares Definition: TheFreeDictionary
Image:  Pixabay Free Images

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

The Trial Will End In Good Time


When we are enduring a trial or tribulation, and we feel that we can endure no longer, we usually ask God to deliver us. We ask him to end the suffering, because we know that if we ask him he will answer. We know that when we ask according to his will, we have the petition that we desire of him.

The interesting thing, though, is that we can sometimes feel that it is not really time for us to be delivered. Deep in our spirits, we can feel that the training or lesson is not quite done. It is almost completed, nearly finished, but not just yet.  

So what do we do about that? Well, we dig in and prepare for a little more enduring. We know that we do want to be delivered ASAP, but if in our hearts we feel that it is not yet time, then we will not receive a favorable answer to our prayer to be delivered now. 

In order to receive favorable answers to appropriate prayers, we have to believe deeply and realistically in what we are asking. We have to be able to receive that for which we are asking. If we don't believe that it is time, then that much desired answer will not manifest today. So while ASAP may mean today for us, God knows, and our spirit knows, that for today ASAP means all in good time. 

So prepare for a little bit more endurance while you are looking to be delivered ASAP. The time will surely come when you pray that prayer of deliverance and your inner man will know and agree wholeheartedly that it is finally, time.

God bless you and keep you safe!

 

Friday, December 23, 2016

Sister Betty Jo On Receiving & Giving Blessings

"So the blessings that you receive, let me tell you they are all from God, and with no strings attached."


 Receive Your Blessings, And Give Them As Well

Praise the Lord everyone!! You are a blessing whether you know it are not. There are many who do not know that they are blessings to people. They didn’t even think they could be. This title came to me in a positive way, Receive Your Blessings, And Give Them As Well. I don’t know about you, but I’m thankful and grateful for (all) my blessings; and knowing that the blessings that I have received during my journey, have been a teaching given from Jesus Christ Himself.

When I sit and think about John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, I realize that I have read that scripture just as I have read many others, over and over again. This time, I went so deep into it that I said to myself, This God has done something that no other would have done for me.

He gave me a blessing, and I didn’t even know that was what it was. I asked myself why would He do such? Did He not know that I didn’t love Him, or how I was living, and how I cared only to please others? The answers to these questions that I was asking were a mystery. He came back with the answer in John 3:17, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

He wanted me to know that I was blessed by a gift called Salvation. And He wanted me to take this Word of blessing, and give it to others. Whether they accepted the blessing or rejected it was not to concern me. You still keep sharing it, is what He said.

So the blessings that you receive, let me tell you they are all from God, and with no strings attached.

He does what he does because He Loves us (all). You may hate Him…He still Loves you…You may use His name in vain…He still Loves you…You may be ashamed to speak of Him to your friends…He still Loves you. You may try to stop Him, but you can’t…He still Loves You.

His blessings are still spreading, and spreading. And those who are receiving them, are spreading and spreading them to people who do not know that they are to become blessings also. That man, that woman, that boy and girl do not yet know that they are to become blessings in return. Praise the LORD!!

So, receive your blessings, and give them as well. Those of you who have testimonies of what Jesus Christ has done in your life, tell It! Keep it real! Don’t allow the devil to stop you…his a liar, deceitful, and a hater. There is no love in him.

Jesus Christ Is Agape, A Blessing!



Sister Betty Jo is a strong woman of God who loves sharing her relationship with The Father, and what Christ has done for her. She lives in TX, and enjoys spending time with her daughter and granddaughters. She is a crafter and folk art painter, and likes cooking, especially trying new recipes.

This is what she has to say about her relationship with the Lord,

" My Life Has Not Been The Same since I Was Diagnosed With Lupus Some Years Ago. My Life Has Changed Quite A Bit, But Lupus Does Not Define Who I Am. I'm Blessed To Have Jesus Christ as my Savior. Also Loved One's & Friends Are My Blessings.

I Am A Bible Believing Christian. I don't like religion. I'm in love with Jesus Christ, whom I have a relationship with. I will Follow Jesus Christ, and not man. He will direct my feet into the right path. It isn't about how good I think I am, or what I think I can do for Him. I cannot work my way to Heaven, nor pay Him to take me. I'm blessed through SURRENDERING my all to Him. He has forgiven me of my nasty Sins.  

I am in a Intimate Relationship with a man who gave His life for me. He loved me that much that He laid His life on a cross that was put together by man. My life has not been the same after I gave Him my heart, and my life. That is True and Honest Love.


No matter what I looked like, or the life-style that I was living that wasn't pleasing to Him, He still accepted me with open arms. He said to me at that moment..."your sins have been forgiven." That was a Promise that He has kept ever since. Halleujah!! My first and Only Love!! His name by the way is Jesus Christ. Amen!! Don't Give Up! Push On! Amen!! "

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Draw Nigh To  Hope