Stay calm during the storm

A few weeks ago I had to travel internationally. I was very excited about the trip since I had not been abroad much due to the current situation. I took a shuttle to the airport with three other passengers. On the way to the airport, we got a flat tire. That really put a damper on the trip. We were on the side of the road for about 45 minutes while the driver tried to replace the tire. We helped him but it was a bit challenging. My mind kept telling me that I was going to miss my flight. My spirit kept telling me to stay calm. This bad event was definitely a storm but the Lord wanted me to stay calm during that storm. My spirit was in agreement with the Holy Spirit but I had to keep my mind in check. I find the joy of the Lord in my heart. I quoted the Bible in my head and kept saying that the Lord had me in the palm of His hand. I kept saying that He would never leave me nor forsake me. I silenced the storm by speaking out for Jesus in my head. I spoke up for Him by repeating what He had to say about my circumstances. The peace that ensued was out of this world. My brother texted me and I didn’t mention what was going on because I didn’t want panic to escalate. God was keeping me calm and that was what really mattered.

When Jesus’ disciples were on a boat and there was a storm, Jesus kept on sleeping. He was not bothered by the storm one bit. His peace and His stillness are available today. Jesus can give us the peace we need in the middle of the worst stormy events of our lives. I know it sounds impossible at times. I know it seems to be too much to handle at times but the Lord of Lords can handle anything and He can provide the serenity we need no matter how big the storm is. When we were on the side of the road, the Lord softly whispered to me that I had to praise. I sang a few songs in my head and the joy increased. I found myself to be in the right place. It looked like I was going to miss my flight but at the same time, I was very content to just be there in the moment with the Lord. That is when I knew that everything was going to be alright because I was filled with peace and my mind wasn’t controlling me. The peace of the Lord is amazing and it can change our way of thinking and affect our moods in a very positive way. I chose to hold on to the peace of the Lord and tried to share that peace with the other passengers.

The tire was eventually changed and we got on our way. One of the passengers said she was going to miss her flight because now there was more traffic than before. The other two passengers, unfortunately, missed their flights. I got to the airport 20 minutes before they closed the check-in counter for my flight. There was a long line of people in front of me and I asked a gentleman who worked there to help me. He said he couldn’t and I felt panic rising up in me. I even thought to myself that I should just give up but the Spirit said “Don’t give up. Don’t you give up.” Five minutes later, a lady asked if anyone was on the 9:30 pm flight. I said that I was on that flight and she got me to the front of the line. When the Lord comes in, friend, He will get you to the front of the line if you trust Him and you stay calm. I could not have made it without the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the whole experience emphasized the importance of staying calm and trusting the Lord. You might be going through a storm now. You might be left on the side of the road and you might not know where your help will come from. It will come from the Lord. Stay in faith. Remain calm. Give that storm to the Lord and praise Him. God will help you. God will calm the storm. Stay encouraged! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Isaiah 26:3; John 14:27; 1 Peter 5:7

The best part of the day

I pray first thing in the morning when I wake up. I declare that today is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it. I make the declaration every single day. At times I need to declare that truth again later on during the day. I love the morning prayers and setting the tone with Jesus first thing in the morning. It is a great part of the day. I recently was made aware that Jesus is the best part of the day. He is there all day so all day should be the best part of the day. There is joy to be had all day. It sounds crazy to our minds but Jesus is there and He never leaves so we can enjoy all day. He is extremely good to us all day. I want to encourage you to see that the best part of your day, Lord Jesus, is always there and He can make you enjoy every moment of every day. It sounds like a stretch but nothing is too stretchable to the Lord. As a matter of fact He wants us to stretch our minds and our faith so that we know more and we believe more. 

To some the best part of the day is when they get home from work. To others it’s when they have lunch. God is every second of every minute of every hour of every day. He is not with us just when we pray. He is not with us just when we think of Him. He is in every detail and every part of every day. He is there showing us love and giving us peace. This means that at any moment of the day we can have a Jesus celebration, a Jesus recognition and a Jesus moment. A Jesus celebration is easy to understand. We can take a minute or two to praise Him randomly throughout the day. A Jesus recognition is what I call a time when we recognize that Jesus is King and we acknowledge Him in all we do. A Jesus moment is a moment when we pause and worship Him or reverence Him. It’s like a moment of silence to adore the King of kings. Every moment of the day is a moment spent with the Lord. Think about that! Meditate on that truth. Adopt that mindset. Your day is the best day because you have the best of the best by your side all day. 

The best part of the day is the part when Jesus is with us like I said. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see Jesus in every moment. You will experience more joy and more peace. You will know that His love is present and you will feel more love for others. You will be more grateful and your faith will also be positively impacted. You will have more confidence in who you are through Him. You will know that no matter what, God will have the final say. You will thank the Lord for the victory before it takes place. You will thank the Lord for His presence. You will thank Him for every minute of every day. You will understand how every hour is precious and you will cherish the time spent with the Lord. The best part of the day is following you everywhere. The best part of the day is not a moment but He is a Person who reigns no matter what. The best part of the day is the love that died for you and that came back from the dead so you would enjoy eternal life every day. Praise the Lord for every day. It is the day He has made and He is in every day with you. You are blessed, friend. You are never alone and every day is a wonderful day. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: 1 Samuel 12:24; Proverbs 16:6; Hebrews 12:28

Faith without borders

I get to travel a few times a year and I love it. I love seeing other cities and other countries. I love the process of traveling and I love getting to my destination. I have traveled to Europe a lot. They have a system where there are no borders between 26 countries. They call that area the Schengen zone. There are technically no borders in that space. Citizens and travelers with the required paperwork can freely travel in those countries. It gives you the feeling that you can just go anywhere and you have no limitations. At least that is my impression when I travel there. I can just go and go and go. I once traveled to four different countries and it was very easy. I felt very free and I loved the whole experience. There was so much freedom that it reminded me of the Lord and how free we are in Him. It also made me think of faith.

Being able to travel to many places brought faith to my mind. Our faith should have no borders. It should have no limitations and no restrictions. It should be free to go to any place, even the places we never thought we could reach. We should expand our faith. We should give it a chance to grow and to freely travel to where the Lord wants us to go. God has no limitations. He can do anything, anywhere. When we have a faith that has no limitations like Him, anything can happen. How can we make our faith free of restrictions? We have to feed our faith. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. The God of the Bible is almighty and He can do much more than we can imagine. We should let our faith connect with His mind and His perspective through His Word. Our faith can mirror God’s thoughts and God’s will. We can have blind faith and know that nothing is ever impossible for our God. I suggest you think of faith as a land of endless possibilities where there are no boundaries and no borders. It is a lavish land with everything you can think of and everything you would never think of. It is a land that you can’t exhaust. There is always more and more and you can’t ever see all of it. It is expandable and it is huge. Faith is expandable and it can’t be stopped by our limited minds.

God’s will for our lives is for us to prosper in all we do, to get as close to Him as possible and to enjoy our new life in Jesus. The salvation that was provided for us is eternal life where blessings and the fruit of the Spirit are present. It is a life where fellowshipping with the Lord is an everyday occurrence. Jesus saved us so we could have a powerful connection with Him. Let’s develop our faith so we can get to know Jesus as intimately as possible. Faith without borders knows Jesus and knows the truth of the Gospel. Faith without borders keeps our eyes on Jesus and no one else. Faith without borders trusts in God’s presence even when we feel out of place. It puts us back in the presence of God by giving us eyes that see beyond the natural. Faith without borders adores the Lord in all circumstances even when we traverse foreign lands that feel unsafe. Faith without borders knows that God is with us wherever we go. Faith without borders takes us to the heart of the Lord all the time. My prayer is that your faith has no limitations and that you can fly to high altitudes of faith where you can never be shaken. May God bless you and protect and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: John 3:16; Ephesians 3:20; Psalm 37:1

5 essential keys

There is a door that opens the way to a place where peace reigns, joy is strong and faith is everywhere. There are five keys that open that door. Each key is precious and powerful. God has given us the keys to getting to that place. It is not a place far away. If you believe in God, you might have been to that place and you might be living there. If those keys are on your keychain, I encourage you to use them all the time. Open that door and keep it open. Step inside that place and stay there. make yourself at home in that place. Get comfortable and don’t leave it. We tend to travel too much when the Lord wants us to stay in His house and enjoy His presence. Let me talk about the 5 keys today. I hope you will take the keys and open the door to a place where God is always present and doubt and fear are banned.

Key#1: Faith. Faith is the key that allows us to know God and to communicate with Him. Without faith we can’t please God. Without faith we can’t know God. We should always hold the key of faith and keep it very close to us. That key is the answer to all our problems, fear, and worries. The key of faith locks fear and doubt out of our lives. When fear and doubt try to get inside our dwelling place, faith blocks them and ignores them. They might be knocking on the door but faith keeps them away. They have no right to barge in and faith knows that well. The key of faith is the key to a healthy relationship with the Lord. It is crucial and it is very powerful.

Key#2: Love. Faith without love is nothing. We need faith to know God but it has to be accompanied by love. Love is the most important key even though I listed it as the second key. Love is why you and I are here. Love is the reason why we are saved. It is why Jesus came and died in our place. Love brought Him back to life and gave us eternal life. Love is more powerful than anything and anyone. Love conquers all. Love never fails. Love has won. Love will never lose a battle. God is love. Love is more than a symbol of God’s presence. Love is God with us. Let’s use the key of love every single day. It opens more doors than we know.

Key#3: Communion with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a Person. He is a gift from Jesus. He is the gift that keeps on giving. He is the gift that will never let us down and that will always give us what we need. He is the gift that the world needs. He is the gift that connects us to Jesus. The Holy Spirit takes us to a place of peace where Jesus is King. When we turn the key of communication with the Holy Spirit all the time, we open the door to a union and a communion that is holy and pure. We open the door to knowing Jesus, which is primordial and more than necessary.

Key#4: Prayer. Prayer will never get old. I can’t get enough of prayer and I pray every day. Jesus taught us to pray in His Word. If He talked about it, it means that it is something we should take very seriously. Prayer is talking to God and hearing from God. Prayer is the link that attaches us to the Father and that gives us access to His heart. Pray every day. Pray when you feel like it and when you don’t. Pray because God is listening. Pray because God is talking. Pray and you will be in the house of the Lord all the time. Pray and you will open the door to many blessings.

Key#5: Praise. God inhabits the praises of His people. When you pray, the presence of the Lord comes. Praise is an expression of your adoration to the Lord and He hangs out with you on a different level. Praise is faith speaking and acting. Praise defeats the enemy and gives us hope. Praise is what we need every day but we don’t turn to it enough. Praise the Lord and doors will unlock that you didn’t think could ever open. Praise is the key that opens possibilities and that gives you an advantage over your negative circumstances. Praise the Lord all the time and you will be in the house of the Lord where His joy is your strength.

You have the keys. Thank God for each one of them. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 4:1; Jonah 2:7; Mark 11:24

Jesus, I truly…

The other day I saw a big sign on a church that read “Jesus, I truly trust in You.” I love seeing this sign and I embrace its message. I trust in the Lord and I want everything in me to declare, “Jesus, I truly trust You.” However, there are times when everything in me is saying “Jesus I truly don’t know what to do” or “Jesus, I truly want to trust You but right now I am struggling.” I am human just like anyone else and with that comes doubt and fear at times. I am learning to overcome them and to delete them from my life. One thing I know for sure is that I can’t conquer them on my own. Every I have to say “Jesus, I truly need You.” I say it when I pray in the morning. I say it a few times during the day. I am dependent on Him. I am not good enough or strong enough to make it on my own. I need Him. I have to rely on Him. I can’t live without Him. It is very humbling when we confess that we are nothing without God. When I first started saying that during prayer time, my flesh didn’t like it. My flesh would tell me that I could do a lot on my own and I had to trust that I was strong enough. I was made strong outside of God in my life and I could turn to God once I had run out of energy of my own. The truth is that without Jesus I am nothing and with Him I am someone and that someone is an overcomer. “Jesus, I truly need You and trust You” is one of my mantras and I live by it. What do you tell Jesus on a daily basis? What comes after “Jesus, I truly..”?

I am inviting you today to spend time watching what you tell the Lord. Do you rely on Him wholeheartedly? Does your “Jesus, I truly..” declaration end with words of desperation, words of hope or words of doubt? I didn’t know for the longest time that my prayers and my actions were proclaiming “Jesus, I truly am lost.” I was lost even when I thought I had been found. I was lost in myself and I couldn’t see anyone in me. The Lord was in me and He tried to get my attention a few times but I was buried in my ego and I cared about myself more than I did about the Lord. “Jesus, I am truly ok on my own” was another unconscious declaration I made. Jesus should be the center of our lives which means we should be on the periphery looking in. We shouldn’t be on the center looking out and seeing Jesus as an option among other options. He is our best option. He should be our only option. We ought to remain in Him and let Him remain in us. Once we do, we will always declare that He is all we need and we will understand that total reliance on Him is crucial. We will echo what the sign on the church said and our trust in Him will be unshaken.

Staying full of the Lord and full of His Word is a powerful way to keep trusting Him and to have strong faith in Him. When the Word of God is a big part of our lives and we study it and meditate on it, our faith skyrockets. We have to be diligent and keep at it and it produces great fruit. What I loved about the sign on the church is that it was out in the open for everyone to see. It was bold and it was strong. I want my declaration of trust in the Lord to be bold and strong. I am letting it stand in the open so that every time the enemy walks by me he can’t help but see my bold declaration. The enemy is like a lion waiting to devour us so he is always around us doing drive by’s and walk by’s and he doesn’t ever get tired. Let’s be strong and never tired to say that we truly trust in the Lord. Let our faith be heard and our hope in the Lord be visible. Our actions can show how much we trust the Lord. Let’s be the children of God who adore Jesus and who depend on Him completely. Let’s brandish a spiritual banner that reads “Jesus, we truly trust You” no matter what is going on in our lives. Let’s stay in the Word and lift up the Lord. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Jeremiah 17:7-8; John 15:7; 1 John 4:16

Your daily Thanksgiving

When I was praying the other day I was so grateful for the Lord. I was grateful for His love and for who He was. I am grateful for Him every day. Every days is Thanksgiving for me. I can’t start my day without praise and thanksgiving. I don’t need a reason to be thankful. There is so much to be thankful for. The problem is that my mind gets in the way and looks at what I don’t have or IT tries to focus on what others have. It is a very detrimental approach. It is not what the Lord wants us to pay attention to. We all have blessings. If we have Jesus as our Savior, we have reasons to celebrate and we have blessings to be grateful for. Your Thanksgiving is not just on the last Thursday of the month if you leave in the USA. It is every day. Thanksgiving is a daily occurrence in the life of the believer or at least it should be. Have your Thanksgiving session a few times a day. God loves to hear how thankful you are. He wants you to have a praise and thankful attitude and leave your complaints behind. You can sit at the table of the Lord and enjoy His Thanksgiving meal. There are so many things on His table that you can be thankful for. There is enough food for thought for you to focus on. Wisdom from the Lord is available at His table and it is worth all the money in the world and more. Today I encourage you to stay at the table of the Lord and be thankful for Him. Don’t wait for Sunday or for the end of November to be grateful. Your Thanksgiving should be ongoing and it should be a lifestyle.

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”* If you wonder what God’s will is for you, look in the Bible and you will find out what His will is. His will for you is to rejoice, pray and give thanks. Rejoice in the Lord. Not just when everything is going well but all the time. You might wonder how you will be able to do that. Ask the Lord for help. When you are down and rejoicing is the last thing on your mind, ask the Holy Spirit to give you His joy. You can rejoice in the middle of the worst times of your life. Not because you are going through a tough season but because the Lord is with you during that season. Rejoice and pray. Pray any time. Pray when life is great. Pray when life is tough. Pray because the Lord talks to you during prayer. Prayer is as much about Him talking to you as it is about you talking to Him. You might find that sometimes prayer is more about God telling you how much He cares and how safe and protected you are. He tells you not to worry and not to fear. Those are great reasons to be thankful for. Give thanks in all circumstances because the Lord is good in all circumstances. His will is that you give thanks. It is a wonderful habit to have. It is what He desires. It is a great way to please God and to remain in His will. Give thanks every single day. Your daily Thanksgiving keeps you in God’s will!

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”** Stay rooted in the Lord and let your faith be centered around Him. Abound in faith with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is an expression of your faith. It is more than gratitude. It is thanking the Lord for what you don’t see with your natural eyes. Let your faith create new songs of worship and thanksgiving in you. Your faith should be attached to your thanksgiving. You should thank God for what you have and for what you know you have in faith. Thanksgiving is not just based on the natural. It should be based in the supernatural as well. You have a supernatural God who does the impossible. Be thankful for the impossible made possible. Every day start your day with thanksgiving and with praise. You will develop a positive mindset and your day will be off to a great start. Thank God for God. Thank God for Jesus. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. Rejoice, pray and thank God for all He does and who He is. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: 1 Chronicles 16;34; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18*; Colossians 2:6-7**

Paint your future with faith

The other day when I was praying, the Lord put a very interesting message in my heart. His message was about painting. Now, I can’t draw to save my life and I certainly can’t paint but the message was deeper than I thought. He said “Paint the future that faith is telling  you to paint and not the future that  your mind is saying you will have.” He said “Let the eyes of faith show you what your future will be like.” Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen* according to the Bible. I love this definition of faith and it fits perfectly with the message I received from the Lord. Faith knows. Faith doesn’t doubt that God is in control and it knows that everything will be fine in the name of Jesus. Faith sees a bright future. Faith doesn’t ignore problems and difficulties but it doesn’t worry about any of them. Blind faith only sees Jesus and nothing else. Blind faith sees life through the colors of the love of Jesus. Blind faith is not color blind. It can see all the shades of love, peace, joy and victory. The Lord loves our faith because it gets us closer to Him. Today I am here to invite you to paint a picture of your future with the colors of faith. Paint a picture of your future with the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen. Paint it with the brushes of hope and the brushes of confidence. God gives you the inspiration of faith. Embrace it. Find His inspiration in His Word and start painting things that will blow your mind. Faith sees big. Faith sees the impossible. Faith sees the love of God in action. Faith knows without a shadow of a doubt that God will be with you all the time and that He will never leave you.

What did my future look like when I started painting it in my mind? I saw a valley. It was the opposite of the valley of the shadow of death. I call it the valley of hope. A bright and amber sun was covering the entire valley and there was absolutely no shadow. I could see everything. Everything was out in the open and everything was beautiful. The valley represented my life with Christ. It is in the light. It is His light and it is my happy place. There were rivers of joy going through that valley. There were bushes with flowers that had colors that only Heaven could hold because to me they were out of this world. I saw peace taking a stroll through the valley. Peace was everywhere and it was in harmony with the fruit of the Spirit. I saw trees with patience and love hanging on every branch. I saw humbleness and selflessness on every path. I saw truth and wisdom all over the area. They were so prominent that they seemed to be in every fiber of every leaf and every plant in that valley. I saw faith talking to the mountains and instructing the people that were happily walking around the valley. Hope was always in every part of the valley and that was a big factor in my future. Hope is what got me places in that valley. The eyes of faith showed me all this beauty and they can do the same thing for you.

My prayer is that you look at your future with the eyes of faith and with the assurance that great things are part of your future and that  they will never stop to turn up in your life. My prayer is that you put away the bad image of your future that the enemy has lodged in my mind. Your future is bright in the name of Jesus. Hold on to the promises of the Lord. He promised to take care of you and that is what you should remember every single day. Will you have bad days when you see your future through the lens of faith and hope? Absolutely. However, with faith you will get through the worst days and you will remain joyful. Peace will be a big region in  your valley and you will receive a lot of encouragement from the Lord. Start painting your future, friend. Let God show you that what is coming is going to be amazing. Let God show you that even though you might be going through a valley of difficulties, there will always be a place of hope and joy that will overcome that valley. Stay in faith. Look at your life with faith. Hang on to the Word of God. Hang on to the love of the Lord. Paint your future with the brushes of hope. God will never leave you nor forsake. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Hebrews 11:1*; Ephesians 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 5:7

When it rains, it pours

“When it rains, it pours” they say. This saying usually refers to something bad. When something bad happens, a deluge of bad things follows it. Some people like to say that things happen in threes. This saying refers to three consecutive events that bring misfortune. It is easy to be superstitious when bad luck appears to be following us. I used to think I had bad luck and misfortune was all I could expect. Jesus changed that. Jesus rewrote my story and He replaces the dreadful times of misery with great moments of joy and hope. He deleted the thought pattern that had me captive and He gave me faith and hope of a better day. He took that bad luck and put it away and gave me a new lease on life. With God we don’t have good luck, we have His promises and we have a covenant that assures us that we are blessed. With God when it rains, it pours but it pours blessings and breakthroughs. We need to learn to stay in faith and that is when we see avalanches of miracles and amazing events. God pours blessings into our lives and at times His mercy and grace do the pouring. It is our faith that gives us access to His blessings and we ought to develop faith in His ability to do wonderful things and to bless us. Today I want to encourage you to believe that with God when blessings rain over you they can also pour. One blessing coming into your life will be followed by showers of blessings.

Take that expression of misfortune coming in strong into your life and turn into a positive saying. Don’t expect one blessing. Expect a lifestyle of blessings. There will be rains of sad events. There will be storms and tornadoes but after the rain there is a rainbow and God will paint your life in many colors that will make you forget the darkness that came with the storm. There are blue skies behind the clouds and God is never far. He is the Sun that is always shining and it doesn’t matter how cloudy it gets in your life. His Sun is permanent and it can warm up your life even during the worst winter seasons of your life. God is permanent. His love is permanent. His power is permanent. His Word is permanent. No season and no storm can change God. No season and no storm will ever be bigger than God. God is the constant spring that gives you beautiful weather despite the heat of the enemy and the winds of opposition. The rain might be here today and you might feel like you can’t get anywhere. When it happens, you might as well stay home. Stay home in the house of the Lord. Use that time to praise Him and to get closer to Him. You are His temple. He is not going anywhere. Make the most of that time and get your worship on.

God brings His own rain after the storms of the enemy. His rain is soothing and refreshing. It is rejuvenating and restorative. His rain will make green grass grow where the enemy had put weeds of chaos. His rain makes things all new again. His rain is a blessing that keeps going. His rain will replace all that had been stolen. His rain is life. His rain is hope. His rain is a new start. His rain is a breakthrough. It is breaking through the hurt and pain and it alleviates your soul. Thank God for His rain of blessings. Thank God for giving you peace again and joy that surpasses all understanding. Expect showers of bliss and serenity. Expect your life to be filled with the power of God and with great peace. God knows how to make it rain and it is the best thing you will experience. You will see Him smile through the events that He will cause to happen in your life. You will sleep soundly. You will walk with confidence. You will experience blessings that you didn’t know existed. When it rains, it pours and God is going to take care of the next season of your life and make it an extraordinary one. Don’t let the storms fool you. God is working on your behalf and powerful things are coming your way. Stay encouraged and stay strong. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Numbers 6:24-26Ephesians 3:20; James 1:17-18

Keep standing

When you stand on the Lord, you stand on solid ground. Jesus is the best foundation. He is the Rock of Ages. He is the cornerstone of life with God. He is the author of your faith. Jesus is the reason why you are going to make it and the reason why you are saved. He is the only One you can stand on and He allows you to be steady in your walk. Keep standing on the Lord. Keep standing on the truth. Keep standing on the One who died for you. Keep standing on the base of your salvation. Keep standing on love. Keep standing on peace. Keep standing on joy. Keep standing on God’s promises no matter what. The enemy doesn’t like to see believers standing on the truth. He hates it. He hates the relationship we have with the Lord. What he thinks doesn’t matter. There is nothing he can do to destroy what Jesus already did so let’s have faith in the perfect sacrifice that gave us eternal life. Let’s remember that bad things do happen but Jesus happened as well and He took care of them. “Your bad things” are not permanent. “Your bad things’ ‘ have no power over the Lord. Exert the power of the Lord on your bad things by continuing to stand. Keep standing, friend. You will see amazing results!

Psalm 93:5 says “Your statutes, Lord, stand firm.” We can be firm and keep standing because our Savior is firm and He is who is all the time. He is God and He is Lord everywhere and every time. His power is constant. His love is constant. His strong foundation is constant. His truth is constant. His grace is constant. His mercy is constant. Friend, you are standing on a God who never changes and who can always do great things. He is your Rock forever. Stand because you have Him. Stand because He is with you. Stand because you are backed up by the greatest power in the universe. Stand because you are justified by your faith. Stand because Jesus stood for you before you did and He is still standing. He is still almighty. He is still unparalleled. He is still God and He still has tremendous blessings for you. Keep standing even when it is difficult. Find your strength in the Rock that no one can break and that no one can defeat.

Stand firm, friend. It is worth it. Your faith is worth it. Your hope is worth it. Jesus makes it all worth it. Keep standing. You have what it takes to make it. You have what it takes to keep walking and to keep thriving. Remember that greater is the One who lives in you than the one who is in this world. Jesus in you can weather any storm. You don’t have to do it alone. You don’t have to rely on yourself to be able to stand. Jesus will prop you up when you are slouching. He will keep you standing when you feel like you have no energy. He will be your crutch. He will be your help. He is your defender and your protector. You can stand. In His name you can stand. When you are discouraged, the Lord is looking at you and encouraging you to stand thanks to Him. Take Him at His word. Keep the faith and keep going. You are going to make it. The Lord is your best ally and He is supporting you. Stay encouraged! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 119:89-91; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Galatians 5:1

Saying I love You to God

I remember a few years ago, out of the blue, I told Jesus, “I love You so much.” It struck me that I usually told Him I loved Him when I was praying or when I was praising Him. I didn’t tell Him I loved Him enough.  I needed to increase the frequency of the love letters I wrote to Him in my mind. I decided to have a stream and a thread of “I love You’s” sent to the Lord on a regular basis. Adoring the Lord is our life purpose. Praying Him. Lifting Him up and loving Him. It is going back to the basics and we need that at times. We need to go back to simply loving God and showing Him that we love Him. We need to quit thinking primarily about what we can gain from God and think about what we can do to demonstrate our love for Him. He is to be worshipped and to be put on a pedestal. Unfortunately, way too often, He has to share the podium with other idols and things that we love too much. We don’t always realize it but we have small and big idols in our lives and we believe it is harmless because it is not hurting us but it is hurting our relationship with the Lord. 

“Love the Lord with all your heart” is what we are commanded to do and it is not a tall order. It is the best advice, the best commandment and the best wish we could have for anyone. We should wish that people could get to the point where they love the Lord with all their hearts because it is the best thing for them. It is a blessing to know the Lord and to love Him. It is a miracle to get saved and to do life with Jesus. It is an honor to walk with the Lord. It is amazing to have His love in our lives and to be able to love and to grow in this love. I am convinced that we ought to keep sending “I love Yous” to Jesus. They don’t have to be words. They can be actions and deeds. They can be thoughts. They can be reactions. We have many ways to express our love for Jesus and every one of those ways are avenues that we should explore and become familiar with. Every day is a great opportunity to tell Jesus we love Him. Every day we can walk down the road of gratitude, thanksgiving and adoration and make sure that we stop by all the places where our love is expressed and our intention is to magnify the Lord.

When we love someone, we like to spend time with them. I do spend one one one time with the Lord and I strongly suggest that you do the same. It is what changed my spiritual life. I understand that sometimes we are cozy where we are and we don’t feel. There is always more and keeping that in mind is important. We can always get closer. We can always get to know Him better. The search and the quest to know Him more will never end. There is more love to be given and more love to be expressed. What would God want me to do? Is a wonderful question to ask. When we love someone, we wonder what we could do to make them happy. What could you do today to tell Jesus you love? What can you do to please Him? Love your neighbor like yourself is a perfect start. My prayer for you today is that you tell Jesus you love Him in the best way you know how and that the Holy Spirit will reveal others ways you can express that love. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you so love Him back all the time!

Suggested reading: Luke 10:27; 1 John 4:19; Romans 5:8