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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“Because He Loves Me!”

“Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.” ~ Psalm 91:14-15

I just love reading psalm 91 because it is so full of promise and the love God has for us. I love how God wrote His word to relate to us. When He expresses a desire, He brings it down to our level. He relates to us in terms that we can understand. As I read this passages below, I can relate to the thoughts and desires God has for those who love Him. 

He starts the verse by saying “because he loves me”. He’s talking about anyone and everyone who loves Him. He doesn’t say, because he is perfect, or because he says all the right things. He doesn’t say, because he has a lot of money, or is a good parent. No, God says…”because he loves me”. That is the only requirement He has. Everything else is just fluff. What matters is that we love Him. It’s not complicated and it doesn’t require rules and regulations. It’s very simple…it’s just love. And because we love Him, the Lord promises so many things.

In these couple of verses God promises so many things He will do. He will rescue us. He will protect us. He will answer us when we call upon Him. He will be with us in trouble. He will deliver us. He will honor us. He promises to do all of this, simply because we love Him. That is so amazing to me. It is so comforting to me. It is so humbling to me.

When we begin to acknowledge God and put him first in everything we do, He will hear us and begin to answer our prayers. He will protect us and provide for all our needs. All we have to do is to learn to trust him, and when we call on Him He will be there waiting.

Have a wonderful day saturated in God’s love for you. Love you all in Christ <3!!!  Please share this blog and Please visit me on Facebook.  I pray that whoever you share this with will come closer to their walk with Jesus!

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?

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.   

Let the Lord be your Guide!

God is looking for us to put our hope and trust in Him today, ALL day long, not just tomorrow or when we are in need of Him. He’s challenging us to see all the moments of our lives as being filled with meaning. Each moment is filled with the presence of God, but sometimes we are so stuck on vision and dreams that we skim right by them. As a result, I encourage you to start your days differently. Start each day by praying, asking God to give you a clear understanding of each moment. It’s okay to still plan and dream about the future, of course, but concentrate more on each moment, as well!

“Show me the right path O Lord, point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me. for you are the God who saves me, All day long I put my hope in you.” Psalm 25:4-5

God is the only one who can guide us. We must seek His guidance and direction in all things. I love how David writes show me the right path. First off he is saying show me Your ways God. Another words when we need guidance in our lives we should say God show me Your way in how I should approach this. Too often we we want to take our approach to how we should handle a situation and then want God to fix our mess. Doesn’t that just seem a little backwards? Now granted we may get in situations and need His help, but first and foremost we need to be seeking His guidance, His directions, and as David wrote shew me thy ways O Lord.

Friends as born-again believers we must totally rely on God to guide us. For this guidance we need to be lead by His Word which is the truth just as David wrote lead me by your truth, and  seeking His guidance in our lives and seeking His will for our lives. I do love how David wrote in verse 5 all day long I put my hope in you. Another words friends when you are approaching big decisions seek God’s face and if it takes all day for a response wait. Don’t just give God 5 minutes or a few seconds, wait till you hear from God. 

Let me encourage you to let the Lord be your guide in all that you do. He will never lead you astray and will always be with you every step of the way. Be encouraged to know even when the journey gets rough that He will provide comfort even in those times. In fact I love how the Apostle Paul put it the joy we can even find in our suffering( Colossians 1:24 ). Not that we look forward to getting hurt, but that we endure for Christ’s sake. This pain is for God’s glory despite how difficult it may seem, it works for our good. Once again my brothers and sisters be encouraged and seek God for His guidance.

Let go and Let God!

All of us like to feel that we are in control of our lives. God wants to be the one in control. He does not want us to control Him. We need to just accept the circumstances & acknowledge that we are powerless to it and leave it with God to work out the details-believing that He has our best interests in mind anyway. He is better at it than anyone else! By giving a situation over to Him, we are placing it in the best hands possible. We know that God will do whatever He has planned, hence, His will be done.

We must allow God to be in control of every area of our lives. God knows where you have come from and He knows where you are going. In order for God to be in control, we first must totally surrender ourselves to Him. For some, that might be difficult, but total surrender is a process that we must go through. If we fail to yield, God will allow us to get ourselves into certain situations that are designed to teach us a lesson, but in the end, after we have gone full circle, we will come to the place that we will agree that it is best to let God be in control.

Letting go is one of the hardest things that we must learn to do. Many of us hold onto our past which keeps us from moving forward. Some of us hold onto unhealthy relationships thinking that we can’t make it without a certain person in our life. Some of us hold onto past hurts which hinders us from being free to accept the love of another person. Some of us hold onto old ideas and precepts that close us off from accepting what may be a better way. Some of us can’t let go because of our pride, but regardless of our reasons, we have to be willing to let go of it all if it is in the way of God being our first priority. God considers anything that we hold onto too tightly as competition and He has told us that we are not to have any other gods before Him. Anything that we can’t let go of becomes an idol to us and God will not allow that to continue to exist.

We must come to the place in our lives that we place everything that we love and hold dear to us into the hands of God and trust Him with it. We must have faith in God and not wonder if God will take care of us. We all need to get to that point where we are willing to obey and trust God no matter what the cost. Let go and let God take control of your life so that you can enjoy His blessings and reach the destiny that He has planned for you.

Be strong and courageous!

We can let fear dominate our lives or we can choose to be strong and courageous. I say we can “choose” but if you notice in today’s verse it is a command? Why would God do that? Why would He command us to be strong and courageous? Because we NEED it and He is WORTHY of it! However, we do have options. We can let fear grip our heart and influence our decisions. We can rationalize why we can’t be strong or courageous. We can justify why we should be discouraged and drown in self-pity and yet what does God command? “Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Today, decide to obey the Lord. Be strong and courageous in all you face today.

 “This is my command–be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

Joshua was about to lead a vast number of wilderness wanderers into the Land of Promise. But he would have to be strong and courageous. And he would have to remember that God would never leave him or forsake him. We have to remember that too. We know in our heads that God will never leave us or forsake us, but when a crisis hits, we often feel like He already has.

In moments of confusion or pain, we can get really disoriented The God who seemed like He was on our side yesterday suddenly seems like He doesn’t even know our names. In those times of confusion, we need to insist to ourselves what we know to be true: that He hasn’t left and He isn’t going to. He is still on our side.

Like Joshua, we face big moments of decision, times when we have to put our faith on the line and be strong and courageous. We may fear the outcome, but we don’t have to. Even if the outcome isn’t what we expected, God will be with us in the surprise or disappointment. But He will also be with us in many victories. Whatever we have to walk through, He is there.

Stake everything on that, no matter how present or absent He seems to be. Trust Him even when you can’t sense Him. He made a binding promise to be with you. And He never breaks a promise.

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.