10 nuggets of wisdom for your Saturday (Part 114)

Give people some encouragement every day and it will go a long way. Give people some peace every day and it will change their day. Give people some love every day and it will bless their day. Give people Jesus every day and He will pave the way!

The Lord can take all this negativity and darkness and turn it into “ground” for bigger miracles. Things that no one has seen before. The enemy will amplify the darkness but Jesus is going to overthrow it as we stay in faith and pray.

Stand up for those who can’t stand. Stand up for those who keep bending. Stand up for those who keep folding. Stand up for those who keep falling. Stand up in the name of Jesus and help those in need of strength by keeping the stand of faith.

When you are all over the place, go to the one place where your heart can be comforted, your mind can be fed and your soul can be healed. Go to the Word of God. It is a place of healing, love and peace.

Let God take care of everything. He will show you what you can do and He will help you with what you can’t do. God can do it all and He will help you through it all.

The end of your misery starts with the end of your disconnection from God. Get that connection going again and the sorrow will go away again.

If we stopped worshiping the Lord, rocks would start singing. Let’s sing and let’s make sure that our songs are strong like the rocks that adore the Rock of your salvation.

When life tells you you have a hundred problems, tell life that you have Jesus. You have one Savior, one God, one Lord. He can deal with your hundred problems in one powerful way; His way!

God keeps on preparing new mercies to put on the table before. Expect new blessings and new beginnings every day. What’s coming to you is bigger than what happened to you yesterday.

Speak from the bottom of your heart. Speak from the heart of God. Speak from the platform of love. Speak encouragement and speak blessings into people’s lives. Speak the language of God. Speak the language of love!

Suggested reading: Lamentations 3:22-23; Psalm 30:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:8-9

Put it all in God’s hands

A new month has just begun and with it comes the hope of a better season for the world. People are wishing for the best for April. There is a glimmer of hope and many of us are praying for a new page to be turned. Who knows what this month is going to bring? Only God knows. What should we do then? The best thing to do is to put it all in God’s hands. We can’t predict the future but we can let God take care of it. We can trust Him with the month of April. We can refuse to worry about it and not to let fear dictate our thoughts by casting our cares upon the Lord. I have decided that I am going to put every day in God’s hands. I have been doing that for a while but I find it critical for me to do it more aggressively now if you will. I am going to spend time in prayer putting the day in God’s hands. When I pray in the morning, I will not only give up on controlling the day with worry and empty expectations but I will also thank God for what He is going to do during the day. Empty expectations are expectations that are based on feelings, emotions, rumors, what the world says and not based on God’s expectations for us. God has some expectations for all of us. He expects to give us the best that life has to offer. He expects to give us the abundant life that Jesus bought for us. A life full of the riches of His Spirit. It is a life led by the Spirit and a life that embraces the Holy Spirit. What could be more abundant than that? People will say that Jesus came to give us an abundant life filled with material goods. God is Spirit and He is more concerned with our spirits and our hearts than our physical possessions. It doesn’t mean that He won’t provide for us. He does and He will. When you put your trust in the Lord, your cup overflows. There is not only abundance of peace and joy but there is also abundance of all goods things according to His will. Today I am inviting you to put everything in God’s hands. Expect His blessings and expect His love. Expect to get to know the Spirit of Jesus better. Expect this new month to be a month where knowing Jesus like you never have before is going to be a goal and a way of life.

 

When I take my worries and fear and I put them in a bundle that I give to Jesus, peace has room to come in. I am convinced that the Lord’s peace is always around waiting for an access point. It is there in the Spirit of God who is in us but it can’t always surface or get in when there are blocks caused by anxiety and fear. When we react to life with fear, we suppress peace. When we react to life with worry, peace has a red light and it can’t proceed. You will say that it is easy to proclaim, ‘Do not fear” and the reality of it can be complicated. It is not easy when we try to do it all alone and when we don’t believe that it is what we are supposed to be doing. God would not ask us not to fear if it were impossible for us. One thing that has worked for me is to say it out loud. I say “I do not have a spirit of fear. I am not going to fear. The Lord tells me not to fear so He is going to help me and bless me. Fear doesn’t belong here.” Reject fear. Kick it out. Give it the boot. Be harsh with it. Get it out of your mind and of your heart. Stir yourself up. Give it all to God. See yourself handing the bundle of fear to the Lord. Meditate on what it looks like for you in your life. Visit all the areas where fear is prevalent and ditch the daily passport that takes you to those places. Fear has no place in you and you don’t have to visit it all the time. Put it all in God’s hands.

 

When a new day starts, God smiles and tells you that He has new beginnings for you and new riches. You might not hear Him because you might be paying more attention to the news. The good news you should be more interested in is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus came to set the captives free and to bring a new day where hope abounds, joy rules and peace is permanent. Nothing that will happen this month can change that and you will see that it is true when you stay committed to your faith and you keep putting everything in God’s hands. His hands are huge. Wouldn’t you agree? They can hold anything and everything. Big things could take place this month. Things that are not positive but the God with giant hands can handle all of them. Put your hands together, pray, thank the Lord, release the issues and the worries and see what God does for you and what He does in you. Put everything in God’s hands this month and every month after that. God will bring you to a place of peace and victory!

Suggested reading: Psalm 73:23; Isaiah 41:13; Luke 4:18

Turning darkness into light (Raising Heaven there the enemy is raising hell)

I was in prayer yesterday taking communion and worshiping the Lord. Taking communion is a powerful act of faith that shows we accept what the Lord did for us. It highlights the power of the cross and the power of the blood of Jesus. It focuses on the body of Christ and on what Jesus did for our sins, transgressions, iniquities but also for our sicknesses. Sicknesses being physical, emotional or spiritual. As I was pushing through in prayer and interceding, I received a revelation that gave me a lot of hope. The Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart and said that all this negativity and darkness in the world is a soil. It is a ground. God can use that soil and that ground and turn it into something positive. He can step on the soil of the enemy and removes the weeds and unearth the trees and put His solid ground on top of it. It requires prayer, unity in the Church, people who will stand in the gap, people who will continue to praise and worship and whose faith is not deterred by what’s happening. There is no doubt that the enemy is trying to intimidate the body of Christ and to weaken faith around the world. He has created a movement through this pandemic and he has taken over in places such as our hearts and our minds. The Lord is encouraging us all to give our hearts and minds back to Him. To let Him enter again and do His wonderful work in us. We can’t succumb to this worldwide movement of darkness. It can be frightening and what we hear is unsettling but we ought to let God settle the matter. Let Him be the judge of how we should be reacting to all this. His plan is always to turn darkness into light, to turn our mourning into dancing and give us beauty for ashes.

Today I want to echo the Lord’s message of hope, victory and deliverance that is in His Word. This darkness will not prevail and God’s love will shine where the darkness is blinding people’s hearts and covering people’s minds with doubt and fear. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that the Lord can’t do when we stand in faith. We need to stand together and give people the crutches they need to walk in faith and not walk by sight. The images projected by this negativity are strong but no one is stronger than the Lord. God is the real deal. He is the real thing. He has conquered death and He has conquered the cross. This pandemic is among the things He conquered in His resurrection. It wasn’t omitted. It was not exempted. God knew this would come and He knows of other movements of darkness that will shake the earth but He is still in control and He will stomp over this darkness as we pray and exalt Him. Let’s exalt Him above this global blanket of fear and sickness. It is people like you and me that can walk over this disaster with our feet of hope anchored in the Lord. Our faith is activating the hand of the Lord. He is not deaf to our prayers. Let’s continue and persist. God has the final victory.

Darkness can turn into light by just a flip of a switch. It takes no time. What is necessary at times is a lot of light when the darkness is deep. We won’t make this go away overnight but it will be dissipated as we don’t give up and we raise heaven wherever the enemy is raising hell. We can unite in spirit and agree that God will make a way and that His way is always the best way. This darkness will die and the light of the Lord will shine and live all over the earth. We have a job to do and our job is to guard our faith, keep the praises going, stay on our knees and distribute God’s love, peace and joy around us. Healing will come. Deliverance will come. Our faith for the nations will take us there. Join me in prayer. Join me in faith. God is going to turn this darkness into light and the world is going to see better days no matter how dark it gets in the weeks to come. God will still prevail. Let’s flip on the switch one prayer at a time, one praise at a time with one heart for Jesus and for the world!

Suggested reading: Isaiah 61; 1 Corinthians 15: 55-57; 1 John 4:4

 

10 nuggets of wisdom for your Saturday (Part 113)

Your song to God sounds like noise to some people. It sounds good to other people but to Jesus it sounds heavenly.

The world is sick and getting sicker every day. Pray for a global blood transfusion. Pray for the blood of Jesus to be the blood transfusion that circulates throughout all nations. Pray for the world to receive Jesus in those times of pain and suffering.

Put worry on mute with the Word of God. Let God’s voice be louder than your fears.

When you have blind faith, you can see everything that God can see and even though you see what the world sees, your eyes stay on Jesus!

The prayers of the believers are being heard and the Lord is moving through the nations pouring peace into His people and raising an army of messengers of hope. Keep praying for the world!

It is all handled and you are still in the palm of the Lord’s hand so you have nothing to worry about. God will continue to handle the matters of your life. Keep trusting Him!

The Holy Spirit has been singing about Jesus through the voices of many people who are devoted to the Lord and who let Him to speak through their adoration!

Don’t let the hands of fear stifle your praise. Let your praise silence all fears!

Hope is still around. It is still feeding the faith of those who are relentlessly trusting the Lord. Adhere to hope. Be strong and find courage. Hope is never in vain.

Carry the Word of God in your heart. Carry the light of the Lord in your heart. Carry the power of peace in your mind. Carry the love that never fails. Carry Jesus wherever you go!

Suggested reading: Psalm 75:1; Daniel 2:20; Ephesians 1:6

When you get plugged into God

Even though I am not at work physically, I am able to communicate with my colleagues virtually. Yesterday we had a lot of meetings online through video conferences and we will have more today. There is something to be said about that face-to-face time. It is valuable. It allows for better communication than emails because we can see facial expressions and the tone is clear. The tone of an email can be misunderstood. The word choice of an email can convey the wrong message. There are filters that are in place that can distort a message through an email. This made me think about our communication with the Lord. Are we emailing what we have to say or are we communicating face to face? Do our messages get distorted? Do His messages get distorted? Do we have too many filters in place that get in the way of our communication with the Lord? Are we aware of the filters in our lives? I spent too many years “emailing God” and thinking He could email me back when in reality He could talk to me face to face. Seeking God’s face is primordial. I think and I know that it has changed the way I see God and the way I talk to God. He is alive and well and He has a lot to say. He talks to me in many ways but the best way for me to hear Him is when I am quiet or when I am praying. I get plugged into His Spirit when I am in prayer time. I get hooked to His presence and I stay where I can hear and see what He is communicating to me. It happens in my heart. It happens in the secret place where He dwells. When I used to “email God”, I used to think that He visited me only when He replied to my requests. He is always in us. His Spirit lives in us and He waits for us to plug in and be ready to listen. Today I want to encourage you to plug into God and listen. Let this communication time be about Him. Make it happen daily. These days we all need to hear from God regularly. Let’s get plugged in!

 

Why do we need to plug in devices or instruments? We need the power that will make them work. When we plug something in, we give it the ability to function normally. We put in the energy that is necessary for it to come to life so to speak. The plug-in process is the power process. When I plug into God, I get charged or supercharged. It makes me come to life. I can function better. I get the power I need. His power enables me to receive wisdom, knowledge and peace among other blessings. God’s power gives me so much peace. His presence gives me serenity. He is always there but I am not always available. The fact that God is always by our side doesn’t mean that we are by His side. In other words, we might be too distracted to spend time with God or to recognize that He is with us. Have you ever felt like God wasn’t around? Newsflash! He is always around. We are the ones who wander away from Him. Plugging into God brings us back to Him. There are times when getting that connection going takes time. We must take a deep spiritual breath and let go of all that is in the way. We must let go of all the filters that muddy our emails. Our thoughts, our remembrance of some experiences are filters that interfere with our communication with God. They keep us from hearing. They transform His emails to us. They alter His voice and they blur His image. I deal with the filters with worship or gratitude. I tell the Lord how much I love Him and I declare His majesty over and over again. I do it through songs or through strong declarations. Those powerful words are like hammers that drive the nail of faith through the head of doubt. They do the job. I persist and a change comes.

 

Once I am more at peace and I have calmed down, I am ready to receive from the Lord. I run a scripture in my head or I stay there quietly. Our silence is God’s utterance. Our silence gives God’s His voice back. When there is too much noise in our minds, God’s voice gets lost easily. Friend, seek the Lord’s voice. Get quiet in front of Him and see what He tells your heart. He is very chatty and He longs for you to hear Him. How can you tell He is talking to you? He will always reassure you and show His love through what He says. He will remind you of His Word and His promises. Get plugged into the Lord today through silence and prayer. You will hear exactly what you need to know in these tough times. Get plugged in so you can give some power to others in return. God will encourage you in those silent moments so you can touch the hearts of those who can’t hear Him during the chaos. Get plugged in today!

 

Suggested reading: 1 Chronicles 16:11; Acts 17:27; Hebrews 11:6

 

Pray for the world, one country at a time

When you look at the scope of this pandemic, you can see that it has crossed borders and it is spreading all over the world. I heard that it has even made its way into some countries in Africa. It goes wherever it wants to go. It shows you that the enemy and its negativity are everywhere. There is nothing that holds him from entering any place he likes. However, this also indicates that God’s love, God’s power that are way stronger than the enemy, can also go anywhere. God is not limited by space and by time. In a nano second, He can spread His goodness in places we didn’t think He could go. Our prayers carry His love and His power and they reach far. I have read some amazing prayers online. People are praying against this plague. I have seen prayers for communities and for our country. I think it is beautiful but I do believe we should be praying for the world as well. We have a tendency to pray for our nation. “God bless America” is a great declaration but we are part of the world. “God bless the world” is something we need to hear more. We are to love our neighbors. If we are going to apply the oxygen mask technique, taking care of ourselves before we help others, we must consider others first. When we take care of ourselves it’s so we can be better stewards and help others. Our prayers should echo this approach but they should reflect that God’s love is about others first.

As believers we can be mobilized in prayer. We can make sure we stay strong spiritually so we can withstand whatever comes our way and still be able to pray. Our faith needs some major muscles these days and we should be visiting our spiritual gym every day so we develop spiritual stamina and endurance. Faith is also something we cherish not only because it pleases God but because some people are going to rely on our faith when they are weak. Faith will also help us fight against the negativity we will see. If you go to groceries stores these days, it’s easy to be shocked by what you see or don’t see for that matter. Walking by faith and not by sight is a strong message we ought to remember when going into our local grocery stores in times like these. Your faith is for the world, dear friend! Your prayers are meant for the world.

When I was in prayer the other day, the Lord showed me that it takes participation plus isolation to get to liberation from this universal problem. Participation means mobilization in prayer. We need to actively participate in the spiritual warfare that is taking place. Praying is participating. We can’t be passive. We have to be praying every day and not just for our nation but for the world. Many layers of our society are being affected and we should present them to the Lord in prayer. Isolation means keeping to ourselves so the virus doesn’t spread. It sounds drastic but it will work. If we pray and isolate, we will see liberation. Now here is what I suggest. I am a visual guy so I like to have a picture of what I am praying for. You could print a list of all the countries in the Lord. Hold that list every time you pray. Pray for all the nations of the world. Pray for the power of God to spread everywhere. Pray for everyone. Don’t just pray for your community. Prayers are highly needed. The weight of our prayers matters. We are stronger together. If we all join in this movement, there will be a change. We can block this. We can prevail. Let’s pray for the world, one country at a time. Use that list as a symbol. Our prayers are being heard. Let’s persevere and let’s stand strong even if we hear bad scenarios. God will rewrite history as we give Him our story. Let’s stand in the name of Jesus. The world needs your prayers and mine!

Suggested reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13; 1 Peter 3:8; Ephesians 6:18

 

God has hope and a future for you

In times like these, encouragement is much needed. We can’t let our guards down. We have to protect our hearts and our minds. We can’t let ourselves go down the rabbit hole of fear and worry. I am sure that if we could see who was in that hole, we would find out that we were in good company. People around the world have dug a hole where anxiety is all they know. It’s a normal human reaction. Our goal should be not to get in that hole for any reason other than to go and take people out of it. We as Christians have hope and a future. That is what the Lord promised us. He said He had given us hope and a future and they both are part of a mountain of blessings that can’t be depleted if we stay in faith. There is a mountain of riches from the Lord. It is the kind of mountain that we should aspire to see with our eyes of faith. It should be in the way of the mountains of problems and trials that we are presented with every day. Hope and a good future are what we should expect. Those two promises will stand true through the test of times. No tribulation, no disaster and no attack from the enemy can separate us from the hope and the future the Lord has for us. Today I am inviting you to get in agreement with the Lord’s hope and future. I am inviting you to declare that you accept His hope and His future for you. Today might also be a good day to renew your vows with God so to speak. Maybe you have slid into that fearful rabbit hole and you need to get out with your confession of faith. The confession that was once strong and solid. We all need to renew our commitment to God occasionally. There is hope and a future for you friend and God oversees them.

What does the Lord’s hope look like? His hope doesn’t rely on circumstances but it relies on Him. Our hope is in Him and He is our hope. If you are discouraged, turn to the Hope that doesn’t compare to human hope. Turn to the One who died and came back to life. That is the magnitude of the hope He embodies. This is hope that transcends death. His hope lives on. He lives on. Nothing and no one can ever take that away from Him. Jesus remains the same and He will also be the hope that defies fear and doubt. Talk to your Hope. Pray in His name. Trust in Hope. Trust in Jesus. He will shatter of the nightmares that have been plaguing you at night and He will help you design the dreams He has for you. Hope gives us a beautiful outlook on life and it allows us to stay in faith. Stay as close to Hope as possible and you will live in faith.

Hope destroys the powers of the enemy in your mind. The enemy is an expert at throwing fiery darts to your head. He is relentless with his negative chatter. He wants to break you down but dismantling your positive thought process. He has the ammunition that it takes to make you believe that there is no hope. However, you have the Lord and with Him comes the hope of glory. You are going to see God’s glory shine again in your life. As a matter of fact, it is shining now despite the pandemic but there is an adjustment that needs to be made in your mind. Hope is what can make that adjustment for you. I am a strong believer in worship and praise. They are extremely powerful. A lot more than they get credit for. When you dive into them, hope drowns your mind and it resets your expectations. You start expecting the best again. You start giving God all the glory for what He is truly doing even when you can’t see it. God is the Hope you have been longing for. Lift Him up in praise and He will set your foot on new grounds, grounds of joy and peace. With hope you can walk on a land of serenity and bliss!

Dear friend, your future is in God’s hands and not in the claws of this pandemic. God still has a future for you regardless of what is happening these days. Thank the Lord for His future for you. Learn more about it in His Word and through His Spirit. Don’t give in to the pressure of feeling scared and defeated. God is not defeated and His future still stands. You are going to make it and you are going to see amazing days. God’s future for you is still extremely bright so keep on wearing your sunglasses of hope and look at life through the eyes of faith. Stay encouraged. God’s got you in the palm of His hand!

Suggested reading: Jeremiah 29:11; Hebrews 11:1; Romans 15:13