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Faith

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Are You Spiritually Flabby?

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect
Psalm 1:1-2
Oh, the joys of those who do not  follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.
But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
17 Never stop praying.
Acts 17:11
11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.

 For the last four years I have been dealing with a severe illness.  Because it has been so debilitating, I have not been able to be as physical as I normally would have been in the past. This has caused my muscles to weaken, and even become what some would call flabby.  I am currently in physical therapy to strengthen the areas that have become severely weakened due to a lack of movement and exercise.

Believe it or not, we can also become spiritually flabby.  When we miss several days of a good workout of prayer and Bible reading, our spiritual muscles weaken and we leave ourselves open to the attacks of the enemy.  We start to walk in fear and doubt, and even in some severe cases disbelief.  We may even find ourselves committing sins and getting into situations that we wouldn’t ordinarily get into. And this is simply because we have not been working out spiritually.
Let’s look at what we need to do to get spiritually fit.

  1. Set a time each day that you will meet with God.  Respect this appointment as you would any other important appointment. Make it a priority.
  2. Come to your appointment prepared. Bring your Bible and a notebook or journal, to write down the downloads that you will receive from God for your day.
  3. Start with praising God. You may choose to sing or you may want to have some praise music going to prepare your heart to hear from God.
  4. Quietly sit and pray and ask God to help you understand what you are about to read from His Word.
  5. Make sure that you have selected a place and a time where you will not be interrupted.  Be sure to silence your phone.
  6. Initially just sit to silence yourself.  Let all of the thoughts of what you need to do for the day drift away.  If you find it difficult to silence the noise that is going       on inside your head, write your thoughts in your notebook to get to a place of silence.
  7. Enjoy reading God’s word and just spending time with Him.  Repeat tomorrow and the next day and the next, until it becomes a habit.

I can honestly assure you, that you will never ever regret these spiritual workouts.  It will be the best investment of your time ever.  You will grow stronger in your faith and your love for God. You will find that with God’s help you can weather the toughest of storms.

From these workouts you will find yourself joyful and hopeful about your life now and in the future.  I hope that this blesses you and encourages you to have a spiritual workout each and everyday.  And oh, don’t forget it’s important to commit to staying physically fit as well.

Baseball

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
Colossians 3:14
14 
and over, all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Romans 12:16
16 
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[a] Do not be conceited.
John 17:23
23 
I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
1 Corinthians 1:10
10 
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
Ephesian 4:3
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

This week as the world watched, the Texas Rangers won their very first World Series.  I don’t know about you, but I grew up loving baseball.  As a child on those rare days that our farm chores were completed before nightfall, the kids from our community would converge in our front yard for a game of baseball.

Then as a teenager, I played on a community girl’s softball team.  It was the highlight of my week to go and play ball with my friends.  Basically, the entire community of this very small town that I grew up in, would show up to watch the girls as well as the boys play ball.

The girls would always play first.  Afterward, we enjoyed drinking ice-cold sodas and eating the best hot dogs ever, as we watched the boys play their game.

Then in 1974 I left home and moved to Arlington Texas to attend college.  That’s when I became acquainted with the Texas Rangers. They only arrived two years ahead of me, so I feel like we grew up together.  We were the new kids on the block.  So needless to say, even though I moved away from Texas years ago my heart is still there cheering the Rangers on.
As I tuned in to watch the celebration parade honoring the great victory, I saw thousands upon thousands of happy fans, some of whom had walked as far as two miles to get to the parade route.
There were people there from every walk of life.  Every demographic and ethnicity that you can imagine was represented, all smiling and joyful over the win.
  I saw unity.    How amazing that for a few short hours thousands of people were in agreement over something as simple as baseball.
I saw not only a celebration for baseball champions, but I saw the power of commonality.   For once everyone was on the same page and actually agreeing on something. Their common love and support for this outstanding team and the sport of baseball was what drew them together.
  I long for the day that those of us on God’s team will live in perfect unity.   I truly believe that it will ignite an even greater joy, than I witnessed while watching the celebration parade. .   As we walk in the victory that God has provided for us, we should remember that we too are blessed to be on a winning team, and oh what a victory celebration we will have one day too!

Too Much Noise

Too Much Noise

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.
Psalm 46:10
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!  I will be honored by every nation.  I will be honored throughout the       world.”
Job 6:24
24 Teach me, and I will keep quiet. Show me what I have done wrong.
1 Kings 19:11-12
11 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

When was the last time you just sat quiet before the Lord?   Was it so long ago that you have to really think hard to remember when it was.  If so, you may agree that it has been too long.  There are some of you who may have to admit, that you have never sat quiet before the Lord and that’s ok, because starting today you can change that.

The reason you may want to consider making this a new practice, is because God can reveal so much to us when we turn the noise down in our lives.  We can’t hear Him when we are constantly bombarded with the noise from TV’s, phones, social media and Drama that comes our way.

God wants our full attention, and the only way that we can clearly hear His instructions for our day, is to be silent.   When we are constantly racing from place to place and thing to thing, we miss so much that God is eager to share with us. We pray and we ask God to give us answers and directions, but we don’t turn down the volume in our lives, so that we can really hear His response.

When we do this, it is like asking for directions from the GPS in your car, and not making any adjustments to the sound of your car’s radio.

If the sound of the music is constantly blurring, you will miss the directions that your GPS is providing.  It’s not that God is not providing answers, it’s that we have not stopped the flow of noise that is constantly moving in our direction.

So may I suggest to you today, that the next time you grab your Bible, or you kneel to pray, that you end your quiet time, with a few minutes of total silence before the Lord.

If it is hard for your brain to quiet down for a few minutes, I suggest that you bring a notebook to your chair and write down your thoughts as they come to you, until your brain quiets down.  It will take time to develop this new habit, but it will be your most treasured time with God once you master it.  This is a discipline that will reward you over and over again.  You will start to clearly hear the guiding words and instructions from the one who loves you most, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Blessings to each of you, as you start a deeper journey with your Heavenly Father!

Have You Prepared A Place ?

9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”

11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”
She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”

14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.

Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”

“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”

17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

I was intrigued a few days ago as I was reading my Bible, and came to a passage of scripture in 2nd Kings 4:8-17.   In this passage a wealthy woman from Shunem invited Elijah to come to her home for a meal.   After his first visit he continued to stop there whenever he came to town.

This woman even told her husband that she was sure that this man was a man of God.   She even suggested to her husband that they build a small room for him, and furnish it with a bed and a chair and lamp, so that he would have a place to stay whenever he came to town.

I saw God’s favor all over this.  Elisha, was blessed because he was a man that honored God. He was treated with kindness by this wealthy woman, and she was also hospitable to him. The relationship that was developing between Elisha, the woman and her husband, would end up being a blessing to all three of them.

Little did the wealthy woman know, that her kindness and generosity would play a huge part in her future.  Elisha sent his servant Gehazi to ask what he could do for her?   It turns out that this lady did not have a son.  Elisha promised her that at that same time the next year,  that she would be holding a baby son.

She honestly thought that he was deceiving her, but a year later true to his word she was holding her baby son.

A great lesson from this really beautiful story is that, we never know what our being kind to someone will lead to.  God has so many wonderful ways of blessing us, and when we bless others, He blesses us.

Another great lesson is that Elisha desired to bless her in a way that was possible for him.  He didn’t assume that because she was wealthy that she didn’t have a need. Sometimes a person’s greatest need is the one that you cannot see, so be willing to ask.  Although someone else shared her need with him, he was still the one that inquired.

Here’s another lesson,  God has an abundance of blessings to fit any and every need imaginable. Just keep your eyes fixed on Him and treat others with kindness and He will bless you whether directly or indirectly through someone else.  Remember just as we love blessing our children, He loves blessing His children!

God Is Always At Work

God Is Always At Work

A few weeks ago, I had spent countless hours looking for a Birthday list that I use in my home-based business.  After several days of looking and not finding it, I started to get a little frustrated.   I had prayed and asked God to help me find it, but I still couldn’t seem to put my hands on it.

It was important to me because it was the beginning of a new month, and I always tried to send out my Happy Birthdays on the very first day of the month.  One day while thumbing through lots of papers, still looking for the list, I decided to send up one more prayer.  What happened after that prayer was absolutely amazing, and straight from the hand of God.

I heard a soft whisper saying “Send out a text to all of your customers letting them know that your birthday file had disappeared.  Ask them if they would send you their birthday info”.   The response was unbelievable!   Within 24 hours the size of my list had tripled the size of the original list, and people are still texting their info to me.

What God showed me in that moment, is that so many times we get upset and frustrated because we can’t have what we want when we want it.  We don’t realize that many times God is trying to bless us with more.
I had to stop and just thank God for blessing me beyond my expectations. As a result of things going God’s way and not my way 4 things happened.

  1. I will get to be a blessing to more people through my Birthday Club.  Not only will customers benefit, but my team members will also benefit from what I have learned.
  2. God’s timing and provision proved to be what was best for me.
  3. I became more keenly aware of God’s concern for even the small things in my life.  No need is too small for God to step in and show that He cares about what’s important to me.
  4. I learned that no experience is insignificant, because God is always at work.

 

 

What Is Your Disobedience Costing You?

What Is Your Disobedience Costing You?

Since the beginning of time, it has been man’s will against God’s will.  With the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, humans have since entered the world with a sinful desire to be in control of their own lives.

This sinful nature can be very costly.  Not only does it affect the lives of the sinner, but also the lives of those that are nearest and dearest to them as well.

A couple of days ago I was reading a passage of scripture from 1st Samuel, chapter 13.  King Saul had become fearful of losing all his troops.  He became impatient and would not wait any longer for Samuel (who was a prophet) to arrive as promised.  He did as most of us do when we become impatient, we decide to take matters into our own hands.  This is almost always a mistake, especially if God has said wait.

Saul’s disobedience cost him his kingdom, a kingdom that Samuel told him that God would have established forever, had he been obedient.   As a result, God sought a man after his own heart, and that man was David.
King Saul not only lost his kingdom, but he also lost his peace.   He became a jealous crazed man, who desired to kill an innocent person, and he even tried to kill his son at one point.  Needless to say, he lost the respect of his son also.

Can you imagine losing an entire kingdom for generations to come, because you were disobedient?

So, I ask you to stop and think today, what might your disobedience be costing you?  You see God has blessings upon blessings in store for us, but we will never know what they are, if we live in disobedience.
May I encourage you today to live a life that honors God, with a heart that seeks after Him faithfully and obediently and watch the blessings flow!

With God,You Are Enough

With God, You Are Enough

Have you ever felt inadequate, or like you were just not good enough to accomplish the assignment that God had put before you?   Let me assure you that you are correct, in and of ourselves we are not enough!  However, there is hope for us all.  When we have accepted God as the authority in our lives, and we surrender our will to His, miraculous things can happen.

There are a few examples of this in the Bible, but today I would like to share Gideon’s experience.

The Midianites had ruled over Israel for seven years and were very cruel to them.  God sent an angel to visit Gideon to let him know that he was to go and rescue Israel.

Gideon instantly had doubts as to whether or not he could accomplish this assignment.  He asked God for a sign three different times to be sure this was what God wanted Him to do.  Because God knew that Gideon had doubts and that he was afraid, God in His merciful grace indulged Him each time, so that he would be clear that the request was from Him.

I am sure that we all have thought at one time or another, “Why me” when God has directed us to do something that was clearly out of our comfort zone.

What we must remember though is that God never set His children up for failure.  When He asks us to do something, a plan for success is already in place, and it will be accomplished in a way that He will receive all of the glory.  Our job is just to be obedient and move forward.

God’s plan for Gideon, was that He was going to achieve a great victory with a small army.   When you do the math, it does not make sense that such a small army of men could be victorious over all of the Midianites.  But God does supernatural math.   Gideon started out with an army of 32,000 men and God had him to streamline it down to 10,000 and then on down to 300 men.  These 300 men fought a battle against 135,000 Midianites, and with God as their general, they literally wiped them out!
Can you say, “But God”?

When I tell you that you plus God is more than enough to conquer any mountain, believe me, because it is true!   I don’t know what your mountain is today, but if God called you to climb it, you are enough for the journey, because He will go before you, he will give you the wisdom, the strength, and yes even the courage to get it done. So go be great! You have His permission.
Because with God you are enough!

Judges 7:1-7
Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”

Judges 8:4-12
Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it. He said to the men of Sukkoth, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

But the officials of Sukkoth said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?”Then Gideon replied, “Just for that when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”

From there he went up to Peniel[a] and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. 11 Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army. 12 Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.
2 Corinthians 3:5
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

Divine Appointments

Divine Appointments

14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
Esther 4:16
16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
Esther 7:3
Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.

Today I would like to visit with you about divine appointments.  So many times, we go through life on autopilot, not really paying attention to what’s going on around us.  I would like to encourage you to start paying attention to what God is doing.  I have heard people at times mistakenly refer to a divine appointment as a coincidence.   As Christians, we know that there are no coincidences.

You may be blessed with a divine appointment in a grocery store, at a ball game, on a plane, or even at some event. Wherever you are, know that if you are walking with God, He wants to use you to share Him with others. We are his ambassadors created for divine assignments.   Divine assignments are always orchestrated by God, not us. We are simply His hands and feet carrying out His plan in order to touch the lives of others who needed His help.

As I look back over the years, not only has God used others to orchestrate a divine appointment with me, but He has also used me to carry out divine appointments that He orchestrated for the benefit of others.

One of the examples that instantly comes to mind for me, is the day that I decided to go into a local restaurant here in town to get a bagel.

As I was paying for my food, I struck up a conversation with the cashier that was waiting on me.  She mentioned to me that she really wanted to go back to school, but she didn’t know how she would make it to work, and children.  If I remember correctly, she was a single mom.

I encouraged her, and I told her that she could do it.  I also told her that it would be so worth the sacrifice.

Fast forward about a year to a year and a half later, she showed up at a business event that I was hosting.  To be quite honest, I did not recognize her right at first.  It was not until she approached me and thanked me for encouraging her to go back to school that I realized who she was.  She told me how much my words meant to her that day and how they inspired her to go for her dream of completing her degree.

That my friends were a divine appointment.  God used me to help steer her in the direction that He wanted her to go in.  I became her nudge.  My divine purpose in this situation was to give her a nudge and to help her feel confident that with God’s help, she had everything it took to complete her schooling.

When we yield ourselves to God’s will and His timing and purpose, He can do amazing things through us.  Remember, there are no coincidences, only Divine Appointments.

 

 

Life is Hard But God is Good!

Recently I have had several friends, share some of the difficult things that they are going through right now.  One of the ladies feels that what she is going through, is just too much for her to bear.

I personally know that life really can be hard at times.   We have lost several family members in the last two years, and some were in the prime of their lives, or so we thought.  As I have tried to wrap my head around these unexpected deaths, I have come to the conclusion each time, that no matter what happens, God is still good, God is still sovereign and God’s will, shall be done in heaven and on earth. We must remember that His ways are higher than our ways and so are His thoughts.  Our timing is not His timing.

We must also remember that hard stuff happens to everyone.  It’s called life!  There is an enemy that works day and night to discourage us.  His attacks can be a lot at times, but we have a God who will carry us through those hard times if we just turn to Him for help and strength.  There are times that we will go through difficult seasons, so that God can prune us into a better person.  He is more interested in our character becoming what it should be, than our circumstances changing.

We all have been tempted to ask the question; Why Lord?   Let me encourage you to trust that your hard time will be a time of spiritual growth if you dare to trust God with a completely surrendered heart.

Have faith in the One who loves you most, because even though life is hard, God is still good, and He will only allow what’s best for you.  So maybe instead of why, we should be asking what.  Lord, what is the lesson that you want me to learn from this difficult experience?  Keep going, don’t give up! Your hard time is not forever, but it is for you! 

Psalm 46:10
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;  I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Is Anything Too Hard For God?

I was recently reading the story of the promise that God made to Abraham and Sarah.  God promised Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son.  Sarah happened to hear the promise being made, and laughed at the possibility of bearing a child.  You see they both very old, and it didn’t seem possible that she could conceive in her old age.   Oh, but she forgot that what is impossible for man, is totally possible with God.

Reading this made me wonder how many times God has given us a dream, promise or vision for our lives and we laughed like Sarah did, due to our unbelief or our feelings of inadequacy.

Sarah laughed because she was looking at things from a human perspective, but the promise that God made to her was from a spiritual perspective.  We tend to forget that God’s thoughts and ways, are higher than our thoughts and ways.  We also tend to forget that all power in heaven and on earth are in His hands.  Therefore with God all things are possible.

God healed a ninety year old woman’s womb, so that it would function as though she were in her twenties.  Because He can do more than we can ask or imagine she was able to carry and give birth to a healthy bouncing baby boy.  If God can do this, He can do anything. What are you currently believing God for?   When you start to doubt whether or not it will happen, ask yourself Is there anything too hard for God?  Let me assure you, the answer is No!  Believe in His promises because they are true!  All things are possible with God!

Genesis 18:14
14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Matthew 19:26
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Jeremiah 32:27
27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Luke 1:37
37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
Mark 10:27
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Job 42:2
“I know that you can do all things;  no purpose of yours can be thwarted.