Showing posts with label Strength. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strength. Show all posts

Poetry: Forgiveness In Haiku Form


 The brook is babbling,

"Let it go, let go now!"

Water under bridge.

***

Forgiveness is often not easy at all. Because of what many of us have endured, we feel like we just can't. Our hearts and minds are not able to forgive what we may feel is unforgiveable or is a long-standing hurt. 

Those who love the Lord know that our power to forgive comes through our determination to walk in the light as he is in the light, to seek his face daily and to draw nigh to him. When we purpose daily to glorify God, uplift Jesus and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, there is nothing that we can't come to forgive. Notice the word come. 

The ability to forgive a hurt(s) may not come immediately. It may take delving into the scriptures, several prayer and fasting sessions or some laying on of hands, anointing with oil and prayer by more advanced Christians. It may take any combination of these, or none of these. We know that some Christians are delivered from unforgiveness upon choosing to forgive and believe God. 

Whatever it takes and however long, it is our choices to believe that will allow the Holy Spirit to work. Forgiveness is a choice. When we choose it, the Holy Spirit can then soften and heal our hearts and lead us to do what Christ died to give to us. We are forgiven of all, past, present and future. We believe that. We must learn to forgive. 

Ephesians 4:32

Matthew 6:14

Philippians 4:13

Psalm 147:3



***

(c)Sandra Johnson/Draw Nigh To Hope

Run Into The Strong Tower

There will be lies and threats through Satan and his helpers. 

God, however, is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who trust in him.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe.

Remember who you are in Christ Jesus!

Nahum 1:7

Proverbs 18:10

Ephesians 6:10-18

*****

Things Change Overnight


I don't know how to impress upon you the importance of being faithful, of pressing on through dissatisfaction, confusion and fear. It is imperative that you continue to do your part, though it seems like nothing is happening. Whatever your need is, whatever you have presented to God, keep working towards the answer. 

I have heard it said that at the time when we feel like we can't go on, God comes through. When we feel that we are going to break but then choose to push on one more time, God sends the answer. All of the cliches, it's darkest before the dawn and there's a silver lining behind a dark cloud, seem to be true after we are stretched to the limit and still trusting God.

One of my favorite scriptures that I quote everyday is, Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19) If your thinking is similar to mine, you feel that God does not have to deliver you out of them all. For some wants and needs that develop ever so often you want deliverance through favorable outcomes. 

In those situations, we fervently pray and hope that God will deliver the help that we need ASAP. Praying, believing and working towards a goal that seems to be moving further away is an affliction from which we definitely want to be delivered. 

We work hard everyday to trust Our Father and build ourselves up in our most holy faith. We believe The Most High God will increase our faith. We practice everything that we know to strengthen our resolve and fortify us spiritually, but nothing seems to be happening. Nothing is happening towards the thing that we are believing for.

Not only are we doing our part spiritually but there are efforts that we must make towards the goal for which we are believing God. We must look. We must work. We must pursue what we need. We have a part to do and we're faithfully doing it. Time is ticking and we start thinking of various solutions because nothing is happening. Though we know God is with us and we're on the right track, we're not getting anything concrete from God. He's not giving us enough information for us to be sure of the outcome.

My mom has been gone to Jesus now for about 2 years. She used to say, Things change overnight! That was one of her favorite sayings that comforted us when we were struggling or pressured. I find myself repeating her words often. Things change overnight! They truly do. One reason is the passage of time. Things often change when enough time has passed, though the change may not be what we were believing for. There is another more important and reliable reason that things change overnight. It is because God had a plan for it all along.

In the eleventh hour, when it feels like our faith in God helping us with it is over because we can't hold on and keep trying anymore, God surprises us with the answer, the revelation, the deliverance, the solution. The blessing drops. It was going to happen all along. 

God's Holy Spirit set it into motion a long time ago. We had a part in it back when we first presented our request to God and started taking action. As time passed we began to lost hope but God knew all along what he was going to do. He was guiding us all along but not allowing us to see the outcome. 

We wake up one morning and there it is. God presents us with the answer, the arrangement, the help that we need. After he has tested our faith, strained us to our breaking point and tried us in the fire, he gives us what we thought was a long-lost answer. How excited you will be that you did not totally give up. How blessed you will be when you recognize that along with God's revelation of provision that your spirit has also been tempered. Through being stretched to your breaking point your spirit has been strengthened.

I encourage you to continue on. Keep pressing on, trusting God for that thing. You know that your spirit is always willing to go further. It is the flesh that tires and wants to give up. You've got to tell Our Heavenly Father that you are determined to continue to believe that he has the answer and that he is and will help you. You've got to confess to him that you refuse to give up on him, not matter how it looks, no matter what happens, no matter how you feel. You've got to stand.

Trust him. It's so hard because you are being tried in the fire but that strengthens you. He is strengthening you because he loves you. You will be so grateful that you did not turn away from God, the scriptures and praying, that you did not stop doing your part in believing and seeking for a solution. When you wake up on that morning and he has changed your situation overnight, it will be a miracle, both outer and inner! 



Poetry: I Met God In The Morning by Ralph Spalding Cushman


I met God in the morning when the day was at its best.

And his presence came like sunrise like a glory in my breast.

All day long his presence lingered all day long he stayed with me,

And we sailed with perfect calmness o'er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered.

Other ships were sore distressed,

But the winds that seemed to drive them

Brought to me a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings with a keen remorse of mind

When I too had loosed the moorings with the presence left behind.

Now I think I know the secret learned from many a troubled way.

You must meet him in the morning if you want him through the day.


by Ralph Spalding Cushman


He's At Our Mercy

 ~ The devil knows our weaknesses and how to push our buttons, but we are not at his mercy. He is at ours. ~

You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary IX

Many who know and love God want to continue to have faith in the only personal contacts that we have with him. These are our prayer lives. 

They include our formal, scheduled prayers and our hurried, on the spot prayers. Most of all, they are simply the ways that we choose to talk to The Most High God everyday, throughout the day. The ways that we think of him when we lay our heads on our pillows every night. The ways that we wake up and greet him each morning. 

I know that you are one of these Christians who would like to continue to believe in your prayer life. Our Father wants you to know that your every prayer and conversation with him and even your desire to pray and share with him means everything to him. He receives your desires as prayers.





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



You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary VIII

You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary VII

This morning was a morning when I did not feel like praying. How many of those mornings have you had lately? I felt so sluggish emotionally. So down. So weary. So hopeless. I made myself get on my knees, on my prayer pillow so my knees wouldn't hurt. 

I made myself thank God for all that he has done for me, the things of which I was unaware. I thanked him for what he is doing, the things of which I am unaware. We know in our hearts that Our Father is always working things out on our behalf, don't we?

Basically, I made myself repeat things that I believe, no matter how I feel. My prayer wasn't long and when I pray like this I feel so bad. I almost feel like my prayer is fake, except I know that it is not. It is the prayer of a devoted person who refuses to give up on God. 

You're tired of praying and weary and can't pray another day? 

  1. Make yourself repeat truths that you believe
  2. Confirmations which are not based on how you feel
  3. Declarations that stand on the never-ending hope that springs alive in you.  
  4. Scriptures that you have memorized and hid in your heart and have come to believe are true, because they have been engrafted in you. 

Fight for your prayer life! Don't let it die! It is your supersonic, personal line of communication to the Most High God, Our Beloved Father. Repeat, repeat, repeat what you know in your heart of hearts! The repetition will carry you through until you can pray unique, targeted prayers again. All are valuable to God and can be used by his Holy Spirit and by Jesus, Our Lord and Savior.  





Receive more inspiration through my prayer 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

Spiritual Weapons For A Spiritual Devil

Satan wants to destroy your happiness and your hope. Don't allow him to do it! He will use every little thing that he can find. The big attacks are obvious. The little attacks are not. Recognize how much he hates you because you love God and have acknowledged and accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. His commitment to devastate you never ends. He never rests in his malevolent goals.

It's not the people who are attacking you and making your life difficult. It's evil influence from the fallen Lucifer, who was once an angel in Our Father's kingdom. He is the father of lies who was cast out of Heaven with his fallen angels followers who kept not their first estate. You believe and want help from God's angels but you find it difficult to believe in a devil and demons? 

Our daily battles are not against flesh and blood, the people that we encounter. The battle is in the spiritual world. We are spiritual now, no longer choosing to live in the flesh, though we are still here in this world and in the flesh. Our Heavenly Father helps us in his spiritual ways. We are not alone. We are not without battle weapons but the weapons that we must use are not carnal through fleshly fighting. 

Our weapons are mighty to defeat the devil's plans, though it may seem like he wins at times. Our weapons of power are not of this physical world. They are Godly weapons that establish God's plans and purposes in our lives. It's not about stopping people and getting back at them. It's all about triumphing through God's good, expectable and perfect will.

Learn about the weapons of warfare that we can successfully use (Ephesians 6:10-18) against the very real principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. Every little evil thing matters to the very real devil. Every little holy and righteous thing should matter to us! Ask our Father to sharpen your spiritual eyes so that you can detect the wicked works of the devil against you. Ask him also to make the weapons of his warfare real and practical to you!

6 Powerful Spiritual Weapons Of Warfare

Our loins girded about with truth. 

Having on the breastplate of righteousness.

Having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. 

The shield of faith with which we can quench the enemy's fiery darts.

The helmet of salvation.

The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.



How To Resist The Devil

 

This Christian declaration was written by someone I know online. I told her that I would add the floral illustrations and the 2 font styles free of charge, because I was so blessed by it. If you want me to send you the file so that you can print it out, let me know.

Those who love God through his son Jesus Christ know that the devil and his evil workers can be resisted daily, hourly, minute by minute, and then they have to do what? FLEE!

God bless! Happy Thursday!

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.




From Disappointment And Confusion To Triumph

In Psalm 44:1-26, we see that God's people endured disappointment and confusion just like we do, but they triumphed in God.

It's so important to read The Word everyday and not only start each day with prayer, but to talk to God throughout the day. Through these practices, we build strength to hold on and continue to believe through similar circumstances like what they endured. We should always stay close to God because nothing here in this earth is sure.

What we consider to be God's special blessings to us can turn at any time. What's here today can be changed or gone tomorrow. Does that mean it did not come from God? No.

I don't know about you, but I'm always thanking God for all good things. However, things change. God changes things at his will and he allows things to change. God is god of all and most of the time we are not able to understand why he allows or does certain things.

As David shared in the Psalms, one day we're on top and the next it seems like the whole world is against us. God allows things that are incomprehensible and mostly he doesn't tell us why. As we grow in him, we can sometimes discern a track that he has us on and that helps us to perceive that all is well.

Our job and best mental and emotional attitude is to cling to him, whether we are up or down, prosperous or lacking, successful or struggling. Whatever the circumstance, our faith is not to be placed in those day-to-day shiftings.

It is difficult sometimes, when we're struggling in various ways, but our hope and faith is to be in God himself. We can also ask him for relief at any point. David did that many times while professing his faith and devotion to Our Father.

No matter what he was suffering, mental or emotional anguish or physical attack, he took his disappointment and confusion to his God. In the end, he triumphed because he never gave up on Our Heavenly Father. He stayed with God.




How To Accept Jesus Christ As Your Savior

What Would We Do Without These Two?

I Am So Thankful For My Prayer And Bible Study Life!

How About You?  

It's how we get our strength to successfully endure unexpected daily challenges.

It's how we get the power to forgive and pray for enemies, real and perceived.

Through our prayer habits we become renewed each day.

Through Bible reading and study we learn the nature of The One True God.

We find ourselves becoming transformed into being more like Jesus Christ in attitude and commitment towards Our Father.

We grow in hope.



 

 

Trust: Psalms 40:4, 52:8

 

Because I have confidence in God's care for me, I am fortunate. I do not heed the ways of those who are conceited and vain, and who convey false information and deceit. (Psalm 40:4 Paraphrased)

I am filled with abundance and peace. I am purified by the Blood of Jesus. I am infused with God's wisdom. I possess the power of God's Holy Spirit. I am always flourishing, growing and hardy. I am beneficial at all times in God's kingdom. I have confidence always in God's mercy. My confidence in God never withers or dies. (Psalm 52:8 Paraphrased)


 

How To Easily Memorize Scriptures

 

It's important to memorize scriptures in order to hide God's word in our hearts. Being able to accurately recall his word gives us power to think like God and to resist the devil. With all of the unrest in the world, we can't be sure that the time will not come when we will be persecuted for reading and carrying Bibles. One day, if Jesus does not come back before, it could become a crime to possess a Bible. It's also a good feeling to be able to quote scriptures. The Word of God is alive and springs into action when we have it within us. 

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it will be done unto you. John 15:7 Abide means to live, stay or remain.

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You! Psalm 119:11 In order for something to be hidden it has to be claimed, possessed and kept.

The Word that we read and hear has to be claimed, possessed and kept so that it will remain, stay and live within us.

The Word tells us about ourselves and what to feel and how to think. When we read or hear the Word, then walk away and forget that Word that we've heard, it's hard to walk in the light, be transformed and receive God's best. James 1:23-25 

Jesus did not hesitate in quoting God's word to Satan. He didn't fumble around, try to quote it or misquote it. He spoke it with confidence and power.

 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 

"It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God."  

"Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve."  Matthew 4:4-10

The main way that I memorize scripture is to put notes or print-outs on my bathroom mirror or wall near the sink. I started with pieces of paper, then index cards, then I started designing printable graphics. This keeps the scripture that I want to memorize in front of me each morning or whenever I do my daily toiletries. Whenever we get up, we have to prepare for the day, so posting them in the bathroom is a good way to begin memorizing them.

When I want to learn a scripture passage (several scriptures in a book), I look at my note or graphic and start by reading the scripture reference. It's also important to know where the scripture is found. Then I look away and repeat it. I then read the first scripture or part of it if it's long, look away and repeat it.

I move to the second scripture, read it and then repeat it. I'm not trying to memorize the scriptures, I'm impressing them on my mind. Eventually, I can quote them without looking. It's really amazing. It doesn't matter to me how long it takes. I know that one day I will have committed the scriptures to memory. 

I always select scriptures that have special meaning to me or that help me with struggles and difficulties. If you do this, you will have a better incentive to do your reading and repeating exercise each morning.

Remember that God is always willing to help us. If you feel the importance of memorizing scriptures, it doesn't matter if you've always had a problem doing that. Just ask Our Father and he will help you through His Holy Spirit. Write out on a piece of paper or an index card, a scripture that means a lot to you, or print it from the internet. Start committing God's Holy scriptures to memory, or start again, and realize new power each day.


  

Bible Power Is Between The Lines

The Bible Can Be More Than Just An Icon To You
Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible is just a book with words on paper like any other book. God's Word is the spirit of what is being taught in between the lines of all of those scriptures.

The true meat is what we can only discern through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. This Power opens our spiritual eyes and gives us revelations, secrets and keys.

The True Bible Is The Spirit Between The Lines

What the Bible's words do in our spirits and in our hearts is the most important thing, not the Bible itself. That's why we should read it everyday and regularly memorize the scriptures.

If the time should ever come when Bibles are being confiscated and burned in the country where we live, we'll have much of it inside of us.

Memorize Scripture And No One Can Take The Bible Away From You

Quote scriptures and defeat spiritual enemies! Strike them down with the precise Words of God! Crush them in the many ways that the Sword of the Spirit provides for you to do it! Speak the Word with accuracy, confidence and power. 

Hide God's revelation Word in your heart so that no one can ever take it away from you! Be quick to draw the real Sword when needed!

If you haven't, start a scripture memory program today!

Guide your children in memorizing scriptures at a very young age! 

It is the very best weapon that you can give to them

to navigate this evil and wicked world!

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You!

Psalm 119:11 

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Psalm 119:105



 


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.

You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary II

Hope has fled, but we know that hope is our only hope.


I believe that most people are crying out for help, because they pray and pray and don't seem to get any relief about the most important things in their lives. I wrote the first You Are Here: Tired Of Praying & Weary from a heart of understanding, because this has happened to me for so long about many things. Though I can certainly see the hand of God in my everyday life, I am often just tired of various other things.

I know the feeling of not believing that you can go on praying another day. I know how it feels to not feel like praying, when deep inside you know that is your only hope. And what does that say? That hope has fled at that moment. That is when we are between a rock and a hard place. Hope has fled, but we know that hope is our only hope. Only the Spirit of God can untangle that heart condition and send what we already know, the repairing Blood of Jesus, flowing again through our paralyzed consciousness.






Only the Spirit of God can untangle the heart condition.


That is why we must rely on this Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. It is the same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ of Nazareth from the dead. It is the same Spirit that resides inside everyone who has accepted Jesus as Savior.  It is the same Spirit that brings The Word, the Bible, to life within us, and brings about the changes that we need to live renewed lives. This is the Spirit that has promised to pray for us when we are just too tired and weary. So don't give up on your prayer life. You have a faithful Helper.

 
God bless you and your entire family today.

May He have mercy and save the souls of each and
every one who does not know Him.

Most of all, may he increase your faith in your prayers
and your desire to pray.

In Jesus' name and according to God's will I pray,
Amen.

How Can I Forgive?

How to forgive when it is so hard.

Forgiveness is in the realm of your possibility.  Yes, you can forgive anyone and everyone by just speaking the words.

How to forgive when I don't feel like it.
You don't have to feel it or understand how you could ever possibly do it. All you have to do is make a decision to speak the words I forgive. Speak them to yourself and God.

How to forgive when I'm still angry or hurt.


Read the Word that says don't repay evil for evil, but overcome evil with good. Forgive those who despitefully use you. Pray for your enemies, and the Word will do the rest in you. 

Matthew 5:44
1 Peter 3:9
Romans 12:21

 

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

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.