God’s Timing!

Peter asked Jesus why he couldn’t follow Him—why he couldn’t do what he wanted to do. But sometimes that waiting period is exactly what we need. Sometimes we can see why that waiting period is necessary, but sometimes we can’t, and that’s when we get impatient and try to run ahead of God. Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” John 13:37

I know how hard and frustrating it can be wait on God’s timing, but we have to hold steady and wait for God to move first. Otherwise, the consequences of jumping the gun can be a pile of regrets.

Let me encourage you with this faith step: Are you impatient in a waiting period of your own? Pray to Jesus—be honest and vulnerable; lay it all out before Him. Ask Him to help you to wait and just trust in His timing.

Timing is so important! As you begin to understand God’s timing you’ll be better able to cooperate with Him. When you don’t know, learn to wait with confidence on the One who does. The problem most of us have is that we attempt to take the lead role in our relationship with God and it doesn’t work. God has that role, and He won’t give it to us! He gives instructions and we’re supposed to follow, even when we don’t like or understand the way He takes us. “Why does it take God so long to do things?” you ask. Because unanswered questions create trust. When you don’t know, you have to trust the One who does, and that keeps you growing in faith. God has a definite plan and time, and while He’s getting you ready He keeps you in His waiting room. If that’s where you are today, remember, it’s only as you reach new levels of maturity that God releases new levels of blessing into your life.

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Cry out to the Lord!

There are days that we just feel like crying. Our soul hungers for answers and we groan before God. These are the times where we don’t understand His ways – even if we still trust in His heart. Sometimes it’s enough for us to simply cry to the Lord. To vent to Him. To have Him there to listen. It’s reassuring for us to unleash our heart on His shoulders; knowing that He carries all our concerns with such great care. Have a wonderful day in the presence of God.

 “May my cry come before you, Lord; give me understanding according to your word.” Psalm 119:169

We seek understanding…often. We seek relief from our doubts, fears, and concerns. But sometimes it’s almost more important to us to be heard. We need to know that we matter. That our thoughts, heart, and voice…matter. We need to know and feel like God sees us. Yes, sometimes that’s more important to us.

He DOES see us. He DOES hear us and WE DO matter to him. He provides us a way for our cry to come before Him and to rest at His feet. Some days our heart just wants to pour out. It doesn’t want advice or direction – although it might the next day or the day after that. It simply wants to spill. It wants to unleash all that lies within it – the emotion, the feeling, and the questions.

I’m so thankful that my cry can come before the Lord in those moments and on those days. I’m so thankful that He never gets tired of you and I and that we’re not a burden. May our cries come before you, Lord. Today – and always.

 

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God is good—all the Time!

“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” ~ Psalm 100:5

I believe the greatest lesson of faith is the acknowledgement that God is good—all the time, even when we can’t feel it with our emotions. Oswald Chambers wrote, “Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven trustworthy in our own minds.”  But there are days, which sometimes turn into weeks, which sometimes turn into entire seasons, where our heart wonders, God, are You really good? I pray that the promises of God in His word will help encourage your heart to know that God is good, all the time.

Let me encourage you to trust the sovereignty of God. You might ask if God is in control of everything and bad things still happen, how can He be good? When life is hard, do you ever doubt that God is good? When your prayers seem to go unanswered, do you ever secretly think it’s because He’s mad at you or trying to punish you? So do you ever wonder, How could a good God let this happen?

Questions like these are the exact reason we’ve got to trust what the Bible says about who God is. Our feelings can trick us. Our limited perspective of what’s happening in our lives makes it hard to know what exactly is good for us and what isn’t. That’s why when we’re tempted to doubt that God is good, we need to run to God’s promises.

In case there’s still that nagging place in your heart that’s saying, If God is really good, why hasn’t He fixed this? this passage is just for you. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans. 8:28). In other words, a good God makes sure that even the bad stuff gets worked out to our benefit. Be reminded that  “This too shall pass and be redeemed. The more you cling, the more you’ll see He really is good. We can know for sure that He has a plan to make sure even the bad stuff in our lives will be worked for our good. Will you cling to that truth today?

God is our Refuge and our Strength!

In this psalm below is the seriousness of a believer in times of deep distress and severe sorrow but as in all of David’s complaints and distresses, he inevitably restates his abiding confidence in the faithfulness of God, for David knew that there was nowhere else to fly to and there was no-one else in which to place his trust. Although this entire psalm restates his overflowing grief and grievances, nevertheless his prayer begins, ends with a proclamation of God’s trustworthiness, and an entreaty for God’s deliverance. David knew that his God is the first and the last the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end of everything, for God alone can be trusted.

“In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Your righteousness deliver me.” Psalm 31:1

It is the trusting heart that has confidence in God’s character and believes His promises that pleases the Lord and it is such a man that remains persuaded of God’s never-failing goodness no matter what difficulties rise up to confound the heart or confuse the mind. Such a man is a man after God’s own heart.

Faith is expressed in prayer and prevailing prayer is an expression of faith and David pleads God’s righteousness as the legitimate reason for his own cry of deliverance. His trust in the Lord rested on the promises of our covenant-keeping God, for He has placed His word above His holy name.

When we trust in the Lord we may be sure that no matter what bitter circumstances of life rise up against us, the Lord will always be our refuge and strength, our anchor and our deliverer even when we don’t understand – for He has promised.

 

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Seek His Face! Growing Constantly in Strength!

God’s strength is to be found spending time in His presence, seeking His face, and developing a deeper relationship with Him. Scripture says: “Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually.” (Psalm 105:4) If we want to live the abundant, victorious life that Jesus died to give us, then we are going to have to spend concentrated time seeking Him on a daily basis.  How do you get to really know someone? You spend time with them, of course. You communicate with each other, and you share yourselves with each other. Our relationship with God is no different. Getting to know God takes time and effort, but it is most definitely worth it. Do you want to make a difference for God while you’re on this earth? Then you’re going to have to cultivate an intimate relationship with Him. When you do, He will bless you and use you in ways you never imagined, and you will impact the lives of countless people for all eternity.

We can acquire God’s strength by spending time in His Word–reading it, studying it, meditating upon it, and applying it to our lives and circumstances. By exercising these biblical principles, we literally fill ourselves with God’s Word. And a Word-filled believer is a powerful believer. The apostle John wrote: “You are strong and vigorous, and the Word of God is [always] abiding in you (in your hearts), and you have been victorious over the wicked one.” (1 John 2:14 AMP)

As soldiers of Christ, we are in a constant battle with Satan and the forces of evil. The Lord never meant for us to be weak and weary warriors; He re-created us in Christ to be overcomers. And we can find boundless strength from devoting ourselves to God’s Word.

The Bible is filled with thousands of supernatural promises that have the power to strengthen us in hard, and seemingly hopeless, times. If we will claim them in faith, we’ll receive all the help of heaven in every situation we face. No matter what difficult places you may be walking through today, the Lord wants to transform them into places of blessing and refreshment. Call upon Him now, and let Him fill you with the strength that only He can give.

FINDING STRENGTH IN THE LONELY PLACES!

Whatever is overwhelming you in your life right now has a purpose to bring you closer to God. The winds of trouble and the storms of your life must all submit to the will of God for you. Our battle will never be stronger than the refuge and strength of your God! The bible tells us, “Weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning”. (Psalm 30:5)  That means that every painful struggle has a timing for it to end.  And it is only then that you will understand the power of  God whose love for you never failed.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life ~ Psalm 138:7

All of the battles that you face as a believer are fought on holy ground because the power of God is with you. You are in the company of the army of heavenly forces who know well how to deal with the enemy. You are never left to fight alone. As David understood that God was giving him his victory, so must you know that you are a conqueror against all that comes against you. You must never let your situation cause you to be anxious. Worry is nothing but the whispers of lies from a defeated enemy! Satan wants you to make you feel alone and hopeless so that he can get a foothold into your mind. Don’t give him access.

The truth is all the force that you need to defeat your feelings of hopelessness. Your financial struggles, marriage problems, health issues, addictions or heartaches are all under the power of a Sovereign God who knows how to take you safely through them. Your weaknesses are not hidden from the eye of an omniscient God who offers you his strength when you have none of your own. He is never limited by the scope of your impossible situation. His power is not confined to boundaries and it supersedes the scientific laws of this world. Most importantly, your painful struggle was seen by God long before you were born and he prepared a way to take you to victory. He has not forgotten you now and he never will.  

It is the lonely places that put you next to the heart of your God. For it is when you have nowhere else to turn that you realize that God’s power was all that you ever needed. Jesus paid the price so that those who believed would be made more than a conqueror in all the battles of this world. 

Never surrender your joy no matter how bad the problems in your life seem. Though you may not understand it now, Christ is working it all out to fit into the perfect plan that he ordained for your life. The One who keeps all your tears in a bottle will not let you drown in despair. There is nothing you must face that will not be measured and timed by God’s own hand.   

Trusting God!

 

Do you have a difficult time trusting God? Is there an area of your life that you need to entrust to the Lord? Let me give you a few reasons why you can trust God! You can know that God will never fail you!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”~~ Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust carries the message to “rely on someone for security”. Honestly, I can’t come up with anyone better than God to rely on! I know that my life is secure in His hands. I know that He will never fail me!

Have you ever leaned on your human understanding more than the wisdom of God? If you have, you’re in good company. We all tend to lean on our own understanding at times! But the encouraging part is that we don’t have to. We can trust God! We can lean on Him and know that He will always come through.

A simple truth to cling to is this, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).” God’s ways are higher! We can’t begin to comprehend what God is doing in our lives, but we can trust that He will do all things well. When we acknowledge God in all our ways, He truly will take away all the obstacles that we face in life. He will clear a path before us, so that we can walk uprightly in His plan for us!

Trusting God alone to get you safely across!

This message is about trusting God and I hope and pray it touches your heart in such a powerful way that you keep telling yourself that, You are children of the Promise and NOTHING and I mean NOTHING can change that or destroy the purpose God has for your life. I want to bring  a message of truth for those struggling in this lost and perishing world. If you belong to Jesus Christ, you must stop acting as the world does every time a crisis happens in your life. Don’t let a little shaking of the ground or the darkness of the storm around you cause you to take your eyes off the One who ransomed your life for all eternity! Never forget that your life was redeemed by the righteous blood of Jesus and he is not ever going to let you lose this fight!

It takes true faith to trust that God is actually going to work your struggles out for your good. God never fails and He is faithful but the silence can be tormenting as you wait on His promises to be fulfilled. The enemy will taunt you to make you doubt God’s faithfulness, but the truth is that he is a defeated foe whose only weapon is his lies. The purpose and plan of God for your life have been settled long before you were created. Every single detail was known by God and He provided a way through every one of them. All it takes is for us to keep our eyes on Him and trust Him, but so often we forget what He has done for us in the past. 

Each trial brings fear and anxious thoughts. The devil always has a way to make you see the worst of each situation. For that reason, you are to take captive every thought and line them up to be obedient to the teachings of Christ. He has told us that He can rescue us from any situation. God’s has already planned in advance to supply the power that is needed for His people to climb the hills and survive the valleys in this life. There is not a single struggle you endure that He has not seen long before the world was created. Why then do we still worry that God is not going to show up in time to help us? Do we actually believe that the Creator of this world and everything in it is going to forget a single detail of our lives? Our hope is secure and the battle is won in every area of our lives. All that we must do is surrender our weaknesses to the one who can work them all out for our good. It means waiting and trusting while the battle rages on knowing that we are victors. There is no such thing as a defeated Christian! Stop carrying around burdens that are not yours. Worry is a tool that the enemy uses to deflect the truth from believers. He can’t steal your joy so don’t just hand it over to him when problems arise.

With God….all things are possible!

When we ask for God’s help, we dedicate our endeavor to Him. We admit that in our strength this would not be possible but we proclaim that God can accomplish anything through someone who is willing. We put God’s courage into our heart with His truth. We retrain our minds by taking the words “I can’t” out of our vocabulary.

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.'” ~~~ Mark 10:27

Do your circumstances seem impossible? Are you battling discouragement or fear of your unknown future? Keep your eyes on the Lord every day and not on your circumstances. I pray that you will start to learn how to walk in faith and stand on the promises of God speaking God’s Word to the liar and deceiver, Satan.

Never doubt that God is in control. He has a plan and a purpose for your life. He wants you to walk in faith and praise Him instead of giving up on His mighty power. He wants you to learn some very important lessons during your spiritual journey in your wilderness as you are headed to your promised land. In His timing He will restore whatever you’re going through and make you stronger than ever before.

Yes, I know that life is not always easy or fair. I understand about mountains of circumstances. What are you going to do? we need to go to the Lord, praying, choosing to praise the Lord and believing that nothing is impossible for Him and He can delivery you so He can get all the glory, honor and praise.

Will you worship and praise your Lord today and everyday? Will you walk in faith instead of fear of the unknown? The enemy likes to put fear upon each of us as we look at the mountain of circumstances that we each face. What bad report are you dreading? Do not fear bad news, but choose to trust in the Lord.

God Will Never Let Go of You!

My loving God, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues, under me, those who are hostile against me. Don’t you love how many times that David makes this verse so personal? He was able to do this because of His personal relationship with a covenant keeping God?

“He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.” ~ Psalm 144:2

First of all, the Psalmist describes God as a loving God, a God who cares, a God who wants the best for you, a God who will never let go of you, a God who wants to bless you with all that He can muster.

God wants you to know His peace, His protection, His provision and His power. He wants you to know Him as your Deliverer and the One who is your all Sufficient One. The Bible says in Psalm 54:7. “You have delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.” Once again, we see another Divine promise from God to not only be your Deliverer, but also give you complete victory over your foes, while showing Himself strong on your behalf.

My friends, our passage for today is taken from the latter part of King David’s life in which He testifies to the faithfulness and awesome power of God. This same God who subdued David’s enemies, who delivered him from all his troubles and gave him one magnificent victory after another, will do the same for you.

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