9.3.14

2 Corinthians 6:4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 

My Thoughts

Just slap in the face! I do not do this very well at all, patiently endure troubles, hardships and calamities of every kind. I feel so ashamed at myself. The minute I thought this I felt The Holy Spirit saying,  "It's because you don't truly trust God with them!"  I must learn to say and believe, "God I know you have this, what can I do on my end to make it better?" Then go about my days doing what God tells me and finding joy in all that God has done for me and all that He has given me. I tend to take the knife of the situation and just stab myself over and over with it. Then in the end it all works out and I am left with forever scars from the situation that I inflicted on myself. All because I didn't just trust God. I need to write this verse down and learn it, internalize it. If I could just do this, no I can do this! I will do this, I will be determined to patiently endure! 

9.1.14

2 Corinthians 5:20 So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God."

My Thoughts

When we feel the need to tell someone to come back to God, God will be with us, he will be with our words. When we think, "Bit I just met this person." We may have been placed in their lives for such a time is this. So often, most often people don't hear their own families.  So we need to take those opportunities when they are placed in our lives. Would we want so one that could reach our families to walk away if there was a chance they would be the person our families would hear?  Remember God never ask us to do something that he does not give us the tools for. Also we should never be discouraged, we may be one piece to an unfinished puzzle that is getting someone right where they need to be. 

8.30.14

2 Corinthians 4:7-8 We now have this light shinning in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.  We are perplexed, but not driven by despair. 

My Thoughts

My immediate visual of these two verses together was a full milk carton. If the carton is full you can't crush it, but if it is empty and you press it on all sides it will collapse. It might give a little when pressed but the liquid inside keeps the carton from collapsing. 

We are like that carton, if our soul is empty of God, stresses of this world can crush us. But if we are full of the Holy Spirit we are able to stand strong. Not because we are strong, but because God is strong and we are filled with His Spirit.  When we feel like we are not strong  enough for the problems facing us, we need to take the lid off and fill ourselves back up with God's word. His word is who He is and it is powerful, it builds us up. 

God even tells us He will fill us overflowing. If you think of this added to the picture of the carton of milk...if the liquid is overflowing over onto the floor around us it will trip evil up before it even gets to is to try and crush us. I just love that thought. 

8.27.14

2 Corinthians 1:24 But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm.

My Thoughts

I love this! When we read God's word, and when we spend time learning and growing at church, we learn what God ask of us. But that plays out in each of our lives and in each of our personalities differently. And different things grow faith in each of us in different ways. Because God made each of us different. So as we help our brothers and sisters in Christ we should help them grow their faith and not expect it to look exactly like ours. After all we all have different strengths and different weaknesses. And we all have a past that changes how each of us see things, at least for a while.

We grow each others faith best by loving others, and by sharing our stories of how God has grown us. We grow best when encouraged. When cheered on as we take new steps toward a stronger faith. We never grow at all under a critical watch. Under a critical watch we can appear to grow, but if we are changing to look like other Christians, not growing because of true faith in what God tells us, then we will fall flat on our faces. Being like other Christians does not get us through the hard times, faith does. So we never need to spend our time figuring how to look like the people around us. We need to spend our time growing in God so that our faith is strong in Him. Then we will stand strong in the face of life's storms. 

This so speaks to us as believers who are helping others and as believers who are growing. When we help we need to be careful to share what we know without expectations of a certain outcome. And as a person growing in faith, we need to be sure we are trusting God to make us who He wants us to be. We need to be careful of trying to be the people around us. We have our own part as part of the body of  Christ and we need to nurture and grow our faith so that God can mold us into who He wants us to be. When we do that we are our strongest and we are more able to be a help to those around us. 

God loves us so much, He made each of us important in His Kingdom. We all have a part. The best way to be string in our part is to trust that God is growing us just like he needs us to be. And when we are what God grow us to be wonderful things happen in our lives and in the lives of the people around us. 

8.26.14Psalm 40:5 O Lord my God, you have preformed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them. My Thoughts How wonderful it would be as parents to hear our children list just a few if the things we do . It would thrill our soul to know that they noticed. Here David says that God's wonderful deeds are to many to list. How often do we dwell on stressful things in our lives, or things we can even control?! So often! Jus thin if we started listing the things God does for us, or the epwonderful things we know God has done for others, people of the Bible or people we know. It would draw God near to us, just like it would draw us near to our own children if they were praising us as parents. It would get our minds off of our troubles. Every good and perfect thing comes from God, His word tells us so. So what if we started listing the things others have done for us. It would be praising God and lifting up our feelings about the people around us, all at one time. This simple act could clear our mind of stress while it built our faith in God and in our friends and family. It would even build our faith in Strangers around us. Life changing! God's word changes our lives if we only let it.

2 Corinthians 1:10 And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.

My Thoughts

When we are in mortal danger we are facing death. God rescues us from mortal danger. I wonder how often God does this in our lives and we don't even know it. Often when I am driving I think, "If God moved His had of protection over our country, we would know it right off. Wrecks would start happening on every street in every city all at one time." I think that very thought so often. We have no idea how many times a week God has protected us in our cars, from sickness, from a fall down the stairs. We take life for granted unless something bad is happening. Yet every time we get into our cars going at speeds that would make our founding father's heads spin, and arrive back home again. We have been protected by the mighty hand of God. And God does this for is over and over and over again. Because He loves us so very much. This alone should make us know that we are blessed. 

9.11.13

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it (my torment) away. Each time he said, "My grace works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

My Thoughts

My favorite years, even great anxiety, were the years that my kids were babies and little kids... young enough to need me (I loved being needed!). I was a good mom, I knew how to be a good mom... there were, after all, all kinds of books to tell you how to be a good mom. I read them Bible stories at night, I was at all their events, we went on pic-nic's had fun birthday parties we spent time at the museum and we read books..many, many books together. Then a few things happened, they got to that age where they didn't seem to need me, and I needed to be needed. Then I got sick with Lupus and Fybromylgia. Those two things begin to break me down and eventually my mom got sick and taking care of her could be hard at times...and watching her get sicker and sicker was hard. The devil struck and struck hard... bombarding me with anxiety and panic. Finally I was stuck...I only went to take care of my mom, to Hobby Lobby (it is okay to laugh here!!) at home, unless Robby was with me. And sweet Robby he bought groceries after working so hard all week.

This verse came up in Bible Study one Wednesday night recently and it made me smile... it actually made me happy. I realized so many important things about this verse that night. You see, even though I had asked Jesus into my heart at age nine, even though I had read Bible Stories to my kids and taken them to church and VBS ... I had never taken time to really know God, I didn't understand how to really know God. I had spent all these years loving God because I was suppose to... and to be quite honest to avoid Hell. But I didn't know God enough to really love Him, to truly love him. Then my son John-Robert gave me my One Year Bible for Christmas...and with all the time I had on my hands from being stuck at home I begin to read.... and in the process I begin to really know God and as I begin to really love God, He begin to change me. I accepted those changes because I was in a place where I could do nothing on my own!! Gee I couldn't even buy groceries, something I had done hundreds of times, with two babies in tow even. God became a driving force in me because I was weak. Then God put me in the right church for me and surround me with friends and love beyond anything you could imagine.

You see God healed my soul... because my soul is what matters the most... it is my soul that will be in heaven. In my weakness I needed God enough to be desperate for God. Now I love God enough to be desperate for Him!! I still get Lupus Flairs and Fybromylgia flairs but because of God's grace I don't feel useless when those flairs hit...I take time to rest but with God's grace I refuse to let disease be the victor, the controller of my life. God is the victor of my life, God is in control and some days He tells me it is time to rest and some days He tells me that it is time to get up and move!! And every time He tells me to get up and move He gives me His grace to do it!!

I believe that one day God will heal my body, because He loved me so much that He healed my soul. But Lupus and Fybromylgia never take from me what anxiety and depression took from me. They may get me down for a day or two...but they never lock me away from the world, from my friends...they never make me feel isolated and alone like anxiety, panic and depression did. The other day I had a fender bender, all my fault... you know I did not have one bit of anxiety! I sent up a prayer, and God answered that prayer. Robby was even on vacation and I didn't have to depend on him, God gave me the grace to handle all that needed to be handled. I remember a day when that would have destroyed me... when Robby would have had to drop all he was doing and come and take care of me. But you see, God loves me, God knew what was destroying me and God took care of that!

Now when I hurt, I can smile... I can put my hands in the air and sing praises. As it says in verse 10 "When I am weak, then I am strong!" Because God is my strength. God has my back! God holds me up. God loves me and I love God and that is what is important in my life! When God is ready for my body to be healed, I will be ready. Right now I am where God needs me to be and oh how I rejoice in that! I love that now I can raise my hand toward Heaven, close my eyes and feel God reach down and take my hand. Lupus and Fybromylgia have nothing on that!! God always meets me where I am...and if I need to hold His hand and can't reach up to Heaven, He leans down further towards me and He grabs my hand and holds on tight filling me with His strength! Wow, I am one lucky girl!

8.31.12

2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; and new life has begun!

My Thoughts

When I woke up this morning Rita, a friend of mine had posted this:

SURRENDER-"the more we let God take us over, the more we truly ourselves we become- because he made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be... It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to his personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own." C. W. Lewis

Then I read this verse in my Bible reading... wow!!  How timely!  

What I do know from my experience is that the closer I get to God, the more the personality He gave me works in my life for the good!! Before I knew God like I do now it seemed to trip me up and make me feel different.  Now it just makes me feel special... it works in ways that matter.  The more I know God the more  I am able to become the person He intended me to be.  God didn't give me my personality for the world, to fit into the world, God gave me my personality to bring glory to Him. 

8.29.13

2 Corinthians 4:8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandon by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.



My Thoughts
These are the words of Paul... who suffered so much to spread the word of Jesus. He was loved by God, protected by God, but suffered the effects of the world. But he was never, ever abandon by God.


I must remember these words on a bad day, on a day when the things of the world press in and effect me. I am pressed on every side, but I am not crushed. There was a time in my life when I would feel crushed... unable to deal with all that was going on around me. Now some days can still be hard...but I never ever feel crushed!! I know that God has my back and that He gives me new hours, new days, new weeks!! Life will always get better and probably by tomorrow! Sometimes I am perplexed, I don't understand why...but I know that God has the why so I don't feel despair!! God's word lives in my heart and I draw from it, instead of letting despair feed me! Just the other day I got knocked down for a minute, I had a fender bender. Before I knew God like I know God now, I would have felt knocked down, I would have felt panic and despair. I would not have been able to cope. I would have had to call Robby to come to my rescue. But now I have God, I informed Robby and God gave me His strength and His grace and I handled the situation. The next new hour of my day was a good one. Before God that could have effected me for a month!! Today I still suffer pain from Lupus and Fybromilgia, but Jesus is here with me... He shows His face in my life every day. Loving Jesus through my pain has touched way more people for Jesus than I ever would have without pain. It is not why I am in pain... but it is a wonderful consequence of what I am going through. Jesus is with me always, every day, He makes me able to get up and get out of bed, He makes me able to smile, He gives me strength that I didn't have before. I may suffer pain, but I am victorious in Jesus, I am blessed because of Jesus, I am able because of Jesus. I have great joy in my life because of Jesus. Any pain I suffer does not compare to how happy my heart is! I may feel pain but because of Jesus I am not held captive by pain!! And because of that I know that Jesus will heal me!!
Paul didn't choose an easy life...but he did have a full life because he was filled with the love of God. And the days that were hard were not hopeless. He was pressed on every side but not crushed... perplexed but not driven to despair!! He was knocked down but not destroyed...he was never abandoned by God. He suffered but Jesus shined in that suffering. Paul loved God and God never abandoned Paul. I love this!! It give me strength and hope.

8.28.13

2 Corinthians 3:17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 

My Thoughts
This just makes my heart happy!  And it makes me just laugh out loud at the lies the devil tells us!!  He tells us that if we do what God ask we don't have freedom... that we can't do anything we want.  But what God is telling us when He gives us something to live by is if you do this, then you will be set free from this!!   There is not a thing that I do that God tells me to do that does not make me feel free-er.  Free from worry, free from stress, free from burdens. And on the joy that comes with that freedom!! Oh the peace that comes from that freedom. And lots of times I am free from having to make a choice. 

The best example, in my life,  of being free from making a choice is this... I am a people pleaser, or I use to be... I still like to make people happy, but I am not so much a people pleaser...which is so freeing!!  Anyway I use to always feel like I was choosing between people when I was making choices.  Now I choose to please God and let the rest sort itself out... every time I do this everything else does work out.  And each time I am so amazed!  Then I get the added bonus of sleep without worry, without questioning myself.  And even if somebody else is unhappy with what I decided... I can feel good about my choice because I chose to please God. 

I am constantly amazed at how free I feel... the more I know God and the more I follow what He tells me the free-er I become.  The more I keep my eyes on God the free-er I become.  The more I know God the more of His grace I receive, grace that frees me from the desires to even want to do the things that could hold me captive!!

God and all His grace... God and all His love... God and all His care changed my life and made me free! Oh the joy that floods my soul!! 

8.27.13

2 Corinthians 1:22 and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.

My Thoughts

I love this!! Every time we feel the Holy Spirit prompting us to do good to choose the right thing, whispering in our spirit that we are making a bad choice, we can smile and know that God's promises are for us!! After all we have the first installment that guarantees everything God has promised us! That thought just makes me smile.

We have to remember that God's promises most always come with an if and a then. If you do this, then I will do this for you. When we are not receiving a promise from God, it is not God it is us failing to do the "if."

If we take responsibility for our actions then we can improve out lives. When we stop and say to ourselves, "What is my part in what I am not getting in life?" that is when we begin to grow. God always keeps His promises. But he gives us a part to do in those promises. So next time we have a thought about what God has not done for us yet, we need to find out the if part of what God does for us...and ask ourselves if we have done the "if." God after all wants to give us everything, He loves us and He started out by giving us the Holy Spirit. Even that had the if and then... If we believe that Jesus was the son of God, and confessed out sins, then the Holy Spirit is sent to live in our hearts If we ask. "If we confess, believe and ask, "then God sends the Holy Spirit.

So each morning as the Holy Spirit prompts me to sit down and do my Bible reading, I am assured that God is with me and that God will give me all that He has promised me, when I do the "if" parts. I love it!!

10:9:12

Matthew 12:35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

 

My Thoughts

When I read this I thought, "What we keep in our heads and what comes from our mouths eventually drops down into our hearts."  To be good, we have to think on things which are good. Philippians 4:8 tells us this, "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." When we do this our hearts become good and our actions follow. 

 

When we dwell on upset and talk about it and talk about it and talk about it... our thoughts become angry, then our hearts... then our words and actions. 

 

To be produce good things from a treasury of a good heart we must put good things in our mind so that good falls down into our heart!!  This takes effort on our parts.. it is a decision we make. It is a choice we have.  To be good we must take our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). Once we take our thoughts captive...our hearts and our actions will follow.

9.11.12

2 Corinthians 12:9 Each time the Lord said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

 

My Thoughts

What a fitting verse to read on the 11th anniversary of 9/11.  I have never in my lifetime seen a country come together to cry out to God as we did on that day.  My grandparents say it happen during the WW II and the great depression. I was just a toddler when my parents witnessed it when President Kennedy got shot. But at moments when we felt weak as a country, we drew on the strength of God. When our country is strong we walk around all proud with that "Look at us we are big and powerful!" strut. Thinking that nothing can happen to our great country.  Nothing can happen to us IF we put our faith, our trust, our future in God.  We can't keep turning out back on God and stay strong.  Sometimes God has to allow us to go through hard times so that we will depend on Him. So that we will allow Him to take over and do His thing!!  We, even as a great nation, can not be strong enough, without God.  If we realize that when we are strong and stay close to God our nation can stay strong!!  But if we are too proud for too long we it is possible that we could forget about God all together and even in our weakest moments we will not know who to call out to.  We are so blessed that we live in a county where we are able to call out to God...in our homes, on the streets...we are so blessed that we can go to Church in the light of day without being afraid.  We need to act at all times like we acted on 9/11 and give our country to God...we need to be on our knees every day saying God please take care of this great nation of ours!  Please keep us strong!! We need to remember that we are always, always weaker than God and always give our lives, our families, our friends, country and even our enemies over to God... God always knows best.

9.1.12

2 Corinthians 5:14  Either way, Christ's love controls us.  Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.

My Thoughts
When Jesus lives in us we are always strong enough to turn away from sin, always!!  It says here that Jesus' love controls us!! All we have to do is call out to Jesus to make us strong enough.  We always have a choice, because God gives us a choice.  But we can always choose to live under the control of Jesus' love.

8.27.12

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ.  He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything that he has promised to us.

 

My Thoughts

I loved reading this... "He has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything that He has promised to us."  I love it because sometimes, even though I know better, I wonder if I have been good enough for God to love me.  I will tell myself that God loved me while I was still an unforgiven sinner... that God loves me in spite of myself.  But sometimes I end up believing what the devil whispers in my head, "You have not been good enough to earn God's love."  Yet I feel the Holy Spirit guiding me all the time!!  He leads me...he reminds me of what God says about how much He loves me.  He tells me when I am making miss steps. The Holy Spirit reminds me that I am a child of God. Some times the Holy Spirit shakes his head inside me and just says "Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie!" And I know that my thinking is all wrong.  I know that the Holy Spirit lives inside me.  This verse tells me that if I know that, then I can also count on all of God's other promises to me... the promises that He is will me and will take care of me... The promise that He cares about the desires my heart.   The promise that I will live one day in heaven with Him!!  It tells me that every time I feel the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart I can know that there is more wonderful things to come. It says that despite any way that I have messed up that God still loves me!!! 

 

Next time you feel the Holy Spirit talking to your heart... remember that is the first installment to all of God's promises to you!  When  you feel the Holy Spirit taking to you... remember He is talking to you because God loves you, YOU so very much!!!  How wonderful is that!!!

 

 

8.17.12

1 Peter 5:8 "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

My Thoughts

Do you ever feel out of control of your thoughts?? Has anybody ever told you what a good person you were and it made you feel guilty as you thought "If the only knew the thoughts in my head?" The place the devil likes to get us is in our head.  I loved learning that the devil was always putting thoughts in our head!! For the longest time I felt like I was fooling people with my sweetness, I would think "If they only knew what goes on in my head!"  But Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts above all else because our hearts determine our actions. So if my actions were sweet, I was a good person. Whew!!  What a relief!!  When we are alert, on lookout for the devil we are able to do what it tells us to do in 2 Corinthians 10:5, take our thoughts captive.  Now  I am aware that those bad thoughts about myself and about others, come straight for the devil himself. Now I can take those thoughts captive and tell the devil just what God says!!  For instance when the devil makes me think, "You are just stupid and useless." I can tell the devil, "No, I have a purpose. God made me for a purpose and He tells me I am fearfully and wonderfully made." If the devil tells me "You can't!" I can tell him, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"  I can take my thoughts captive so that what the devil tells me won't drop down into my heart and make my actions bad.  I can check  my actions against my thoughts and see if I am acting and reacting like God would have me act.  I can stay alert guarding my thoughts so they don't become my actions. I can remember that God word is so powerful that He spoke all things into existence... God simply said "Let there be light." and it happened. Just because He spoke it, it happened! God's word is powerful and I can use it to fight my enemy if I stay alert!  The devil likes to camouflage himself, like the animals in the jungle, but when we stay alert we can recognize him,  even in his camouflaged state.  And we can win the battle aginst him because we can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens us!! 

2.9.12

John 16:33 "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

My Thoughts

I love this!... Jesus is saying I am bigger than any troubles...any sorrow that you may come across. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 Paul said "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed." For now we live here in this world full of troubles where we get so confused...and sometimes life seems so hard. When life gets that hard we need to always remember John 16:33... Jesus has overcome the world. We are told in 1 John 4:4 that He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Jesus left the Holy Spirit to live inside of us to direct us... Jesus overcame the world for us by dieing for our sins. We have God on our side... and God is so much bigger, so much stronger than anything we have to face and God is by our side always, there for us always. Bigger and stronger than anything this world has to dish out.  The world may be able to knock us down... but God picks us back up and finishes our battles for us and when He does, He turns what was meant for our bad into something amazing!

Next time the devil sends out the "big guns" against our lives...we can say "Go ahead Satin, send what you want... because my God is bigger and the prize at the end is going to be wonderful!"

9.29.11

Proverbs 24:10 If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.

My Thoughts

I have gone through life failing under pressure..... I would have always told you "I don't do stress!" .... Many of my friends, all of my family have heard me say those very words, "I don't do stress!" My strength is too small... when I depend on my strength... I am learning to believe what the Bible tells me about strength...and my world is changing!!..I am growing!  Here are some of the things I have learned...they are no longer things I have heard...they are things I am finally learning so that I can call on them and be strong.

Grace is God's power working within me to help me accomplish those things I could not possibly do on my own!

2 Corinthians 12:9 says Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”  From this I am beginning to understand that when I give it to God, his grace takes over.  But, I have to give it to God.   When I realize that I am not strong enough on my own, and I trust in God... then God's power does work best in my weakness.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! 

From this verse I am learning the importance of the word ALL... this verse says Christ will strengthen me in ALL things.  Now when I face something hard I know to replace the word all with what ever it is I face.... my hardships, big and small... are covered under the word ALL.  If I wake up in pain from Lupus and have something that I must do...I don't feel sorry for me....I say to myself  I can get this done through the pain with Jesus who gives me strength.  I say that enough then I find myself doing what I need to do... and realize often that I have not even noticed that I am not in pain any more.  If I don't let Jesus give me his strength on those days...I lay in bed and hurt all day...thinking only about the pain and it never goes away.  I have to give it to God...My part is giving it to God and moving forward... God does the rest.

Isiah 40:29 says,  He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

Psalms 138:3 In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.


John 5:7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.


The list goes on and on ... the list of how God will take care of me and make me strong!!  God's word tells me this... Proverbs 24:10 says If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small. I use to would have read this and thought DUH!!  Now I read this and I know.. when I fail under pressure...my faith that God would take care of me was not stroung...I know if I find myself failing that MY strength is never enough, and that I get my strength from enough faith in God that I give God my task at hand. 

I love how the Amplified Bible says it in 2 Corinthians 12:9 it says, But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and [a]show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may [b]pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!

Now when I find myself saying "I can't do this stress!" I remind myself that God can.... I give it to God...and yes sometime in the middle of great stress it takes me a while to remember to give it to God...but, eventually I do...and the more I read about God and all his grace...the better I get at turning my ALL over to him.  Now when I find myself thinking I can't do this.... I find myself knowing that God can. Oh man, that feels good!

9.14.11

Philippians 4:12 For I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.

My Thoughts

This is one of those verses we are taught to remember as a child. Chances are most all of us have heard this verse. It is at the least one we recognize. It always seemed so broad to me so I really could not wrap my mind around it. The devil like to put in those "Really, all things? you can't sing!" type thoughts in my head anytime I would ponder this verse. After getting to know God and what he promises me I begin to be able to wrap my mind around this verse.  I can do all the things that God ask me to do. God's grace is sufficient. (2 Cor. 12:9).  I have learned not to go around and find the things I think I can't do... when I do that the devil is ready at hand to step in and add to the list.  I just need to know that anything God puts in my path is doable because I have the Grace of God, the Strength of Christ. As I grow in God the more able I become. That is because my faith grows stronger, when I believe gets broader.  I have learned that I CAN do all things through Christ, who give me strength.  And to wrap my mind around just what this means I have learned to replace "all things" with the task in front of me.  It works every time.  So if I am at the end of a long day, exhausted and the phone rings and a friend need a helping hand... I know this is something God would have me do... instead of getting up and saying I am just to tired to do this. I have learned to say "I can go pick up these prescriptions because Jesus gives me his strength." ...and each time I do this I find that when I return I am much less tired than I was before I got the phone call. 

Today when you are faced with a challenge... when the devil puts one of those energy draining thoughts in your head...  say out loud, so your mind hears it twice  "I can do _____________ with Christ who gives me His strength." 

God spoke the world into existence.  We should never under estimate the power of speaking God's word over our lives!! There is nothing more powerful!

Note to Devil:  God never ask me to sing, he just ask me to make a joyful noise to the Lord and that I CAN do!

9.3.11

2 Corinthians 7:6 But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.

My Thoughts

God, who encourages those who are discouraged!!  I love that!! God puts people in our paths to encourage us, God puts Bible verses in our remembrances to encourage us. God loves his children and cares if they feel discouraged! 

We need God on our side!  God knows what we need all the time. God always cares! God always loves!  God always forgives! God even makes sure that we are encouraged!! 

I am always amazed when God steps in on my bad days!!... I had so many where I didn't know how to call out to God, I would just end up going down a spiral of depression.  Bad things happening use to put me to bed for days on end, I have been know to cry in my sleep from being overwhelmed. The devil had me right where he wanted me, he could get me in such a state that all he had to do was say "Boo!" and I could loose all my ability to be productive. I could feel the energy drain from by body in an instance.

Now that I have learned to put my hope and trust in God that does not happen to me anymore.  The devil might get started, I may have that first moment of panic....I may even get lost in it for an hour or so. But, then I remember to call out to God!! I send up my prayers and God sends down his Word, God places somebody in my path, my phone rings, I get an email. Something happens to me now and I am able to say God here it is, I am giving this problem to you!  I know you can handle it! When I do that I have renewed energy!!  I have hope and hope is a powerful thing.  I have learned to tell the devil "He who is in me is greater than you!!"  I know from what God does for my life on a daily basis that he is the God of encouragement!

Just recently in the last few months since my mom died, we have had a lot of unexpected expense, her house has had to have 2 new heating and air systems just to be able to put her house on the market to sell. College tuition came up (not unexpected but still a big expense). John-Robert's car needed hundreds of dollars worth of repairs. We had to call a plumber.. lots of stuff.  I can tell you that money things for some reason can knock me way out of my comfort zone.  But I have been able to say "God, this is yours, I know you will take care of us!" When I do I have I have felt completely calm. Robby sat down the other day to figure out where all this was going to come from... and it was there, what we needed was there!... we don't even have to touch our emergency fund. God took care of us!!  I gave it to God, I felt my peace, I was able to enJOY my days and God took care of us. God said don't give up, I have you in my hands. If you start to fall I will put you back on your feet. Don't be discouraged, I know the desires of your heart! God keeps his promises!

What can you give to God today??  Nobody cares more about what you need than God does!!

9.1.11

Job 42:10 When Job prayed for his friends the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!

My Thoughts

I love this!!  When Job did something for somebody else God blessed Job. God blesses us when we bless others, how special is that!  If God will do for us when we pray for our friends, just think what God will do for us when we pray for our enemies. In Matthew 5:44 we are instructed to love our enemies and to pray for them. That can sometimes seem so hard to do. If God took notice of Job praying for his friends, you know that God will notice when we pray for and love our enemies. 

I have learned when somebody hurts my feelings, or cuts in front of me in traffic.  If I feel like somebody doesn't like me and when people are rude to me when I am shopping..... I send up a little prayer for that person.  Sometimes I forget, but I try my best to use that as a time to pray instead of a time to fuss.  My immediate reward comes when frustration leaves my body and my head and heart are clear to enjoy my days journey.  I can't even imagine what else God may have in store for me!!

When I think of it, on the days I let the devil get a hold of me and use me to hurt somebody else, I sure would love it if they would stop and send up a prayer for me. 

We should be in constant prayer for others, God ask Job to pray for his friends, we are instructed in Matthew to pray for our enemies. Every face we come in contact with each day is an opportunity to do what God ask of us. A prayer only takes a second and prayer has the power to change the world.  We have the opportunity to be a part of that change one face, on prayer at a time!!