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

When you are going through ordeals

When you are saved, when you have healed from something thanks to the Lord or when you are making spiritual progress, the enemy attacks you even more. When you are saved, there is a bridge between you and the Lord that is put in place. When you are healed, there is a new structure in your life that removes the pain and the suffering and that goes over them. When you make spiritual progress, your walk with the Lord is stronger and you are walking on a powerful and  holy ground. The enemy doesn’t like any of this and he wants to break it all. He wants to break the bridge to your salvation. He wants to break the healing. He wants to break your progress. He wants to break you. He doesn’t like to see you standing praising the Lord and rejoicing in His glory. The enemy is here to steal and he will do whatever it takes to steal the blessings of the Lord in your life. Don’t sit back and relax just because the Lord has blessed you tremendously. Praise Him for the blessings and remain spiritually alert. Don’t live in fear of losing what you have though. Live in hope that God will protect you and continue to bless you. Be vigilant and make sure that you have closed all the doors where negative thoughts can enter and where doubt and fear can come in. That is why it is crucial to stay in the Word of God and to stay encouraged in Jesus. Jesus conquered the world and He conquered everything bad that will ever come your way. Let me say this again. Jesus conquered everything bad that will ever come your way.

Stand tall and stand on the holy ground of the Lord. Have Him as your foundation. Let Him be your source for everything. He is faithful and He will never let you down. You see, when you are going through an ordeal, the enemy wants you to think that the Lord is not faithful and that He won’t be able to help you. It is a lie. Rise above the circumstances and the lies. Climb into the Word of God and stay there. Your current ordeals might be horrible but the Lord is greater and there is something very amazing coming your way if you stay in faith. Things are going to turn around and blessings are going to be poured into your life in an unprecedented manner. The enemy doesn’t want you to believe that. He is trying to steal your hope so you don’t trust Jesus. Take back the narrative by abiding by the Word of God and giving God the pen again. Do what the Bible says. Rejoice in all times because the Lord Jesus is your Savior. When I was going through a difficult time the other day, the Holy Spirit told me during prayer time that praising the Lord was how I was going to win the battles. I do it frequently but when things go wrong, I pause and think over things just like anyone else until the Spirit pulls me out of my state of misery and sheds light on my situation. His light always shows that greater is He that is in me than the devil that is in this world.

You are going to make it through these trials, friend. The Lord is backing you up and He is staying with you. Focus on celebrating Him. Don’t dwell on your problems. Dwell on the Lord. Lte Him be your passion again. Find ways to lift Him up during the day. Speak against the lies of the enemy. Rebuke the ordeals and refuse to accept them. They might be here for a moment but they are on their way out. They are not staying. In Jesus’ name they are being forced out of your life as you stay in faith. Your faith is kicking them out. Your praise is giving them the boot. The confession of your trust in Jesus is deleting them from your life. When you are going through ordeals, you are a victim of the enemy and that should not surprise you. It shows that God is doing great things in your life. Keep your eyes on what the Lord is doing. When you are going through ordeals, you are equipped to face them and to overcome them. Remember that truth. Anything bad that comes your way cannot destroy you because of the greater One that lives in you. That is what you should believe and what you should keep in your heart. There are blessings that have a set date and a set time to be delivered in your life. They will show up and they will show you that God is still in control. Stay strong today. Stay in the peace of the Lord. Nothing is impossible to God and God is with you all the time. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 145:3; Psalm 147:5; Jeremiah 32:27

Change your default settings

Sometimes life hits you in the face with a punch that is so strong that you can’t get up. You try to get up but you are weak in the knees because the punch was debilitating. You are bewildered and you are confused. You wonder how something that bad could happen to you. You ask, “Why God, why?” You think that because you are saved you shouldn’t be going through such ordeals. The truth is that even though we are saved, we are going to face adversity, opposition and trials. Some trials are going to be so big that we are going to be shocked. It is part of life and no one is immune to problems and difficulties. Years ago when I was praying, I received a message that said that it is easy to have faith when everything is going well. That message has stayed with me all this time and it is pure joy to remember it and thank the Lord that faith during hard times is like a superpower. I have seen what faith can do in the worst situations and it does seem like a superpower. When things get difficult, we have a tendency to panic, to overthink, to give up, to get depressed. All these are normal human reactions. They are part of our default setting. We are programmed to have emotions and feelings and to get discouraged. However, the Lord invites us to change our default settings. He wants to be our default setting. Like I used to say, He wants to be our reflex. We should react to life with Jesus. He should be our reaction. When we are saved, our spirits are born again. Our spiritual settings are reset but our minds are still in the old operating mode.

If our minds are not renewed and they are not changed by the power of the Word of God, our default settings will not be changed either. We have to remember that Jesus sets the tone in our lives when we let Him be the God that He is. He looks at every bad thing as an opportunity for us to exercise our faith and to check how our new default settings work. We are not doing this life in our own power. We have the power of the Lord in us. The One who is behind the power is undefeated and unparalleled. Today I want to remind you that Jesus should be your default setting. When life expects you to cry and break down, cry out to God and praise the Lord. Praise the Lord when things are not going well and it will confuse the enemy. He can’t understand why we love the Lord so much so we should remind him of our adoration for Jesus even in the middle of tough circumstances. I have gone through situations where my old default settings kicked in easily and I have had to reprogram my mind and give Jesus a chance to be Jesus in my life again. We have the Lord on our side. It doesn’t matter who is against us. God will provide. God will heal us. God will bless us. God will help us. God will support us. God will deliver us. God will accompany us. God will protect us. God will guide us. God will give us peace. God will give us joy. God will show us His love. God will save the day. Everything I just mentioned is part of the default settings you should adhere to. In your spiritual DNA you have blessings from Heaven.

God has the power to change our lives by giving us eternal life but He can also change our circumstances and make things right again. My new job is a great blessing and I am enjoying it very much. I don’t get paid as much as I used to so I have had to make some financial adjustments. Some of them were easy to make and others were a bit painful. The other day I was in prayer and the Lord reminded me of how He has been with me all along and He has never left me nor forsaken me. He told me that I should always resort to Him and keep Him as my main priority and my main setting for life. He gives me life and He blesses my life. I am blessed even when my wallet is light. I am blessed even when I don’t have everything figured out. Friend, you are highly blessed and highly favored. You might not see it. You might not feel it and that’s where faith comes in. Look at yourself as the blessed child of God that you are. Things are going to get better. Rely on the One who has put His settings in your life. His settings guarantee peace in the middle of a storm, joy as a strength in all situations and hope in every circumstance. God is going to bless you abundantly. Keep turning to His settings. Forget your old self. Forget the panic and the fear. Put on faith as your only gear. Expect a resurrection of love, peace and joy in your life. You are going to go from glory to glory. Stay encouraged. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you.

Suggested reading: John 16:33; 1 John 5:4; Revelation 3:21

Have big dreams

Yesterday I talked about being a reader, a student and a doer of the Word of God. Today I want to talk about being a dreamer with the help of the Word of God. God has big dreams for all of us. His dreams are so huge that they can scare us and make us wonder how they will ever come to pass. You see, His dreams are from a different realm. They are at a higher level. The Bible tells us that God’s ways are higher than our ways. His thinking is higher than our thinking. He thinks big and He knows that big things can happen easily. He is not limited by a narrow approach to life. He is life and He has the power to do absolutely anything. He doesn’t see circumstances and bad situations as obstacles. His dreams for us are extraordinary and they are all good. They are perfect dreams for our lives and He wants us to embrace the dreams  He has for us. His Word is where we can find inspiration for our dreams. His Word has powerful examples of dreamers who saw their extraordinary dreams come true. Now, if you pay attention to the dreams of the people of God, you will see that they are all tied to faith. God’s dreams for your life require faith.

Why is faith important when dreaming God’s dreams? His dreams for your life are big like I said and they are not dreams that you can make come true on your own. Moving to the city next door and becoming a successful entrepreneur is not the type of dream I am talking about. God’s dreams have to do with God. He is at the center of His dreams but you are the beneficiary of the dreams. They are about the God of miracles. They are larger than life. They are out of this world. They are beyond anything you could do if you worked hard at those dreams. They do imply work but it’s another type of work. They imply the work of our faith. They require for us to walk in faith and to keep walking. How can you identify God’s dreams for your life? You have to turn to God to find out. The inspiration you will find in His Word is on point. Focus on the big dreams. Focus on Abraham who was told he would have a child and had to wait until he was 100 years old to have a son. It takes faith to wait that long. God made the promise to Abraham that he would become the father of nations. God doesn’t have that dream for you but He has a specific dream that is bigger than where you are and who you are today. Work with the Spirit of God and you will learn what God’s dreams are for you.

Have a dream. Have dreams. Have God’s dreams. Pray to know the dreams. Let them scare you in a good way. You will be in awe in front of those dreams. God gave David a dream to build something great for Him. That is a beautiful dream from God. God is at the center of His big dreams for you like I said so dream something big that you will build for Him. He might have a big dream for you to reach thousands of people with your testimony. He might have a dream for you to start a movement of love that will revolutionize nations. God’s dreams are not small, friend. Go with the flow of His big dreams for you. Spend time listening to God so you pinpoint the magnitude of the dreams. Dream to reach the Promised Land. You might believe that you are blessed now and you are but there is a land of bigger blessings or miracles that are massive and God has that dream for you. He wants you to dream of that Promised Lane. What does it look like? It’s between you and God but keep in mind that it is spiritually and physically outlandish. It is bigger than you. My prayer is that you have God’s dreams in your heart and that your faith in those dreams keep growing. Continue to dream. Continue to dream big. Read the Bible and get inspired. Thank the Lord for the Promised Land. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Joshua 1:10-11; 1 Chronicles 28:2; Ephesians 3:20

Cry out to God

Before I started writing this message, the Lord led me to read Psalm 22. In this Psalm, David is agonizing over his current situation. He feels like God has abandoned him. He feels alone and he sounds very defeated. He cries out to God because he knows that is the best thing to do. Note that despite the suffering and the desperation, David cries out to God and declares that God will hear him. He first has what I call a very human moment. He is down in the damps and he is discouraged. He talks about all the things that are going wrong in his life and he underlines his bad circumstances. People mock him. People insult his God and try to make him doubt that God will save him. However, David continues to profess that God is his strength. He continues to ask God to come to his rescue. He cries out to God with hope reminding God that He had done it before and He can do it again. You might be having a very human moment right now. You might have hit rock bottom. You might not be able to reach God because you feel like He is too far. Cry out to God! Be like David. Proclaim that God is still your strength. Rise above your feelings. Rise above the circumstances. Speak God’s truth over your situation. Cry out to God. He hears you and He will come to your rescue.

It is ok to have human moments. No one is born a superhero. No one can make it in this world without the help of the Lord contrary to popular belief. We are humans. He is God. He carries us and He helps us but we have to deal with our human feelings, emotions and limitations. We have to recognize that we need the Lord. He is our helper and our deliverer. David saw his limitations.  I can only imagine how bad he felt. Many of us have been there. Many of us have felt the agony that is caused by tough life events. There are many Davids among us. Now, the great news is that since David, Jesus came. Jesus is our strength. He bridged the gap between the Father and us. We, like David, can cry out to God but we have the most powerful intercessor, King Jesus. We ought to pray in the name of Jesus. We should remind ourselves that Jesus paid the price and He has united us with the Father. Our cries to God are never in vain and they are even more powerful because of Jesus. Friend, have your human moment but remember that Jesus is your Savior and there is always hope. Cry out to God and hope for His best!

Crying out to God implies being vulnerable and humbling ourselves. I used to try to do things on my own until I realized that God’s way was the best way. I often don’t understand Him. His ways are way higher than our ways and so are His thoughts but He always knows better and He does everything well. When you cry out to God, you cry out to the One who never fails. You are at your wits’ ends but the Lord is there to help you and to get you through anything. Cry out with the conviction that God is listening and He will not let you down. David understood the power of His testimony. He relates how God had saved Him. Add the power of your testimony to your cry out to God. Cry out, pray and then tell people about the goodness of God in your life. Sometimes you are the only person you should tell about God’s ability to save you so you can boost your faith. Praise the Lord. David praised the Lord even though he needed deliverance. That was a great demonstration of faith. Your cry to God should be accompanied with praise. Your cry should turn into a song of hope and reverence. God hears you, friend. Don’t give up. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will never leave you!

Suggested reading; Psalm 22; Psalm 111:1; Romans 5:2-7

Your hiding place

Who can take care of you better than the Lord? No one. He is holding you in the palm of His hand and He is surrounding you. You are in great hands and you are protected. The enemy will do his best to get in there and disrupt what you have going on. Don’t give him the pleasure to see you stumble. It is ok if you do. Just remember that you are being cared for by the creator of the universe. Every time the opposition comes against you, look around you and focus on the Lord who is holding you. The Lord is your hiding place. Stay in Him. Keep finding rest in Him. I love having a hiding place. In the Lord I can hide from the turmoil of the Lord and be in peace even when the storms are raging. I am getting used to the Lord being my refuge and I understand it is important to have faith in our refuge. 

A refuge is a protection from anything harmful. A refuge keeps you safe. A refuge provides the shelter you need. A refuge is a place of comfort. It is a place where you can sleep and not worry. Do not worry about anything. Sleep in the arms of the Lord and enjoy your hiding place. In that place of bliss and joy, you will find all that you need. God has all the blessings you need in one place. His place is amazing and it will always give you everything you need. Make the Lord the delight of your life. Rejoice over Him and be at home in His hiding place. You have nothing to fear!

“You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah” (Psalm 32:7). You are just like David in this Psalm, friend. God is your hiding place and He preserves you from trouble. Speak that truth over your life. Sing it to the Lord. Sing it your wandering mind. Sing it against the enemy. You are covered by the Lord and nothing can harm you. The enemy will sing songs of fear and distress but you have songs of deliverance all around you. The enemy is talking captivity but the Lord is singing deliverance. You are highly blessed. You have a hiding place that will never fail to protect you.

You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your Word” (Psalm 119:114). Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm in the Bible. It is not clear who wrote it. It is a beautiful Psalm with a lot of encouragement and the author recognizes that God is his/her hiding place and shield. A shield provides protection. That is what the Lord does. His protection is available 24/7. If you are going through a dark valley today, I am here to tell you that your hiding place is with you. He is your shield and He is giving you the protection you need. Hang in there and wait for His Word. His Word will always give you peace and freedom.

“Deliver me o Lord, from my enemies, I take refuge in You” (Psalm 143:9). The devil is our enemy and his agents are our enemies as well. His agents can take on many forms such as the form of negative thoughts, disease, fear, hurt, pain, confusion and many other ones. They can look intimidating but we believers don’t walk by sight. We walk by faith and we won’t let our enemies get the best of us. Our refuge, the Lord, our hiding place will make sure that our enemies are always defeated when we stay in faith. You are blessed, friend and you are protected. Don’t be afraid of anything but in all things stay inside your hiding place where peace reigns. The Lord is with you and He will continue to shield you. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you.

Suggested reading: Psalm 31:20; Isaiah 32:2; Proverbs 18:10

What happens when you know the truth

The other day when I was praying, I kept hearing, “Hold on to the truth.” It was a gentle message that came to me a few times even after praying. The truth is so important. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. It also says that we will know the truth and the truth shall set us free. Jesus is the truth that sets us free. The more we know Him, the more we know the truth. How can we get to know Jesus? Like I often say, we can find Jesus in the Word of God. It is the first place we should look for Him. Knowing Him is not an impossible task. We ought to spend time in the Word and we should also get close to Him outside the Word. I love that the Word of God is the Word of truth and it is the most powerful written text. What I also am aware of is that we can’t leave the Word of God on the pages of the Bible. We have to live it out. We have to be doers of the Word and we have to apply the Word to our lives. We need to take Jesus out of the print and print Him into our lives so that every page of our existence has Jesus on it. The truth shouldn’t stay closed up in the Book. It has to come to life and our faith can make that happen. Today I want to encourage you to know the truth. Don’t just be familiar with it. Know it intimately. Know Jesus and you will stay grounded in the truth.

What happens when we know the truth? The Bible says we are set free because we come out into the light of truth. There is so much darkness around us but Jesus is the light that dissipates the darkness. When we know Jesus, we are enlightened. We can live better. We can act better. We can think better. We can love better. We can walk better. When we know the truth, we know how to live in Christ. I can’t believe I spent so many years in the dark before I knew the Lord. I have to confess that even after I got saved I wasn’t familiar with the truth. I wasn’t well-acquainted with Jesus. My mistake was that I knew Him through other people. I knew Him through sermons and messages but I didn’t have a connection with Him. The truth can only set us free if we engage with it and we interact with it all the time. Can we know the entire truth about everything? We can’t but we can get close to Jesus and know Him the best we can. If we draw close to Him, He will draw close to us. He will show us the truth in all things. His truth is supreme. His truth is more powerful than all the lies of the enemy. Jesus defeated the enemy. His truth defeated all the negativity of the enemy. Jesus brings freedom. He is freedom. Don’t let the lies of the enemy keep you in a jail of fear.

I was set free by the Lord. There is no doubt in my mind that He is my Savior. However, I have had to remain close to the truth. It is very easy to distance ourselves from the Lord. We get bogged down by life and we lose sight of God’s goodness when things go wrong. The good news is that the truth never changes. Jesus is always the same. We should remember that the truth doesn’t change. The truth is that Jesus came to save the captives free and to heal the broken-hearted. When we know that truth and we believe it wholeheartedly, we can walk with confidence and hope. When you know the truth, you don’t live in the prison of doubt. When you know the truth, you are aware of the Lord in you. You know that greater is the Lord that is in you than the devil that is in this world. When you know the truth, you don’t let negative thoughts get you down. You understand the authority of the name of Jesus and you rebuke bad thoughts and you reject failure. When you know the truth, you know that nothing is impossible with God and you are filled with joy. When you know the truth, peace is your friend and joy is your middle name. Know Jesus, know the truth. Put on the belt of truth wherever you go. With Jesus you are always free. Enjoy the freedom of His truth. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: John 8:32; John 14:6; Ephesians 6:14

Hold on to the hope of the world

As long as you have Jesus, you have hope. Hope will never die. Hope came back from the dead. You might think that all hope is lost because you are in a bad situation but hope is alive and well. Jesus is the hope you need today. Go to Him and see what He has to say. If He were to appear to you today and talk to you, He would say that there is still hope. He would tell you that He died not only for your sins but for your hope. He died so that your hope would remain alive. He took all the problems of the world including yours and He put them to death so you could find life in Him. He is the way, the truth and the life and He is blowing life into your desperate situation now as you are reading this message. He is talking to you and smiling at you. He is encouraging you and reminding you that with Him, nothing is impossible. He is rebuking the lies of the enemy and the doubts. He is calling you to rise up and walk. Walk in faith. Leave the doubts behind. Leave the desperation behind. Leave the fears behind. Jesus is standing by your side and He is promising a new day, a new hope and a new future.

When things don’t go well, we tend to predict a bad future for ourselves. The fears we have are usually about the future. We put ourselves in a box where there is no way out. We think of how bad things are going to get. We can’t count on anything good. We believe the outcome of our present circumstances is going to be very negative. God has a different take on the matter. For Him, hope is present and it is available. What He wants us to do is to draw nearer to Him and tap into His love and His peace. He has all we need and He can give us the hope we long for. He is the hope. When I am not doing well, I get a big dose of Jesus. I turn to Him. I talk to Him. I let Him comfort me and I fix my eyes on Him. Fix your eyes on Jesus and He will fix your situation. Fix your eyes on Jesus and you will see a rebirth of hope everywhere. The One who conquered the world conquered your biggest trials. There is hope, friend! There is a lot of hope.

Jesus came to save the world and to preach good news. His good news is accompanied by the hope of a better day. Things might look bad now but they are going to get better. Jesus guarantees that. Take His word for it. Things are going to improve beautifully when you rely on Him. Put your hope in Jesus, the hope of the world. Let the hope in you speak for you. Don’t give a voice to the doubts and to the fears. Let Jesus in you talk about what’s going on. When you give Him the microphone, you will realize that every word that comes out of your mouth is a word of hope. You can’t turn to Jesus,  lean on Him and not ooze positivity and joy. His joy is going to hit you and take you on a journey of hope. The joy of the Lord is your strength. You get all the power you need from the Lord. Power to make it today and power to make it tomorrow. Tomorrow is bright. Jesus will make it shine. Don’t get discouraged. Hold on to Jesus, the hope of the world. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 39:7; Romans 8:18; 1 Peter 5:10

God can fix your problems

I was getting nuggets of wisdom yesterday and it felt like the Lord was gently bombarding me with words of encouragement that deeply touched me. He spoke about how He can change things instantly. He doesn’t always do it that way but He can. He can change our lives in an instant. He can erase our heavy past and give us His peace and hope. He can reverse the course of time and put us on a better path. One of the nuggets talked about how God can accomplish more in one minute than the devil can ruin in a lifetime. Think about that! Our God is that good. He has the power to do anything. What He does and what He gives is always very amazing. Even when He seems to be working slowly in our lives, He chooses the slower path because it is the best way for us. He knows what He is doing all the time. We are the ones who need to get on His page and respect His pace. God can reverse the worst situations and heal the worst wounds. He can make us smile again and He can make us hope again. Today I want to encourage you to trust God to reverse your current situation. Whatever you are going through right now can be fixed. God can fix all your problems and give you a better life. Trust Him. He is excellent at what He does.

God can fix your problems. He can! He said, “Come to Me those of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” When you have problems, the first thing God wants to do for you is give you peace. It is very difficult to function without peace and to have a strong spiritual balance when we are weary and burdened. With God, rest comes first because He knows how crucial it is for us. If you are facing problems today, go to God and ask for peace. Ask Him to give you rest. Unload your burdens on Him and let Him carry them. You are not supposed to be carrying these burdens. You are not supposed to fight these battles alone. You are not supposed to live in fear and be weak. You can have strength and you can have the ability to go through whatever you are going through with peace and confidence. Confide in God and He will cover you and bless you. Remember, God will fight your battles. He will take care of you and He will reverse your situation. Don’t do it all alone. You need Him. He is there for you!

God can truly fix any problem you might have. Think of your problems as the Red Sea. They can appear to be gigantic and too much for you to handle. God can still part the seas and He is going to do just that for you. You are like the Israelites. You have enemies. Your problems are your enemies but God will save you from them. He will give you a path to go through your trials without a drop of that troubled sea falling on you. The Egyptians might be trying to attack you now but God is on your side. He is going to fight your battles for you. Find peace in Him. Trust Him. Declare that He is acting on your side. He can change everything just like that. It doesn’t matter how much the enemy has ruined your life. God will fix everything and He will give you even more than you had. He will fix and improve your life. He is that kind of God. He is the God of miracles and nothing can stop Him. Don’t be intimidated by the problems before you. God is with you. Something great is going to happen to you thanks to the Lord. Rejoice. Stay in peace. Stay strong. God is going to win and His love will prevail. Stay encouraged! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Isaiah 55:1-3;  Matthew 11:28-30; John 7:37