10 NUGGETS OF WISDOM FOR YOUR SATURDAY (Part 335)

God will give you a makeover when you lean on Him and you rely on Him wholeheartedly. You will be more like Jesus!

Don’t give up. God has not given up on your situation. He knows the solution so follow His recommendation and you will see His resolution!

Talk to God. Talk to God about anything and everything. Talk to Him first. Let Him be your confidant. He is always listening!

God cares about you. He doesn’t want you to perish and He doesn’t want you to fail. Stand on His promise to take care of you and to make sure you are safe and sound!

Let your faith be unshakable. Build it up on the foundation of the Word of God. Meditate on the Word of truth and you will go stronger in your faith!

Pay attention to what you listen to. Hear the world but listen carefully to the Lord!

God will challenge your biggest challenges. He will always defy what defies you. He can do the impossible. He knows it. Trust Him!

Be open to what God wants to do in your life. It might look very different from the blessings you have in your mind but it will bless you abundantly!

When you praise and worship the Lord, the Holy Spirit decorates your heart. He adorns His dwelling place with joy, hope, peace and love!

Be all the love you can be. Be all the peace you can be. Be all the blessings you can be. Be all the patience you can be. Be all that God says you can be!

Suggested reading: John 14:26; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:13

FEAR THE LORD

“The Lord confides in those who fear him; He makes his covenant known to them.”* I used to be very confused by the idea of fearing the Lord. I used to think that I had to be afraid of God as a sign of respect. I had to be so scared of Him that I would not disobey. I thought that I had to expect God to punish me if I did something wrong. It traumatized my Christian walk and it kept me from knowing God. It was in line with the idea that only some people could get close to God and I wasn’t one of them. I was one of those who should stay away from God because He was mad at me all the time.

“Fear the Lord” means to respect Him and to put Him on a pedestal. It doesn’t mean that we would shiver and tremble at the thought of His name. We should have so much reverence for Him that all we do is obey Him and follow Him. I like to use the word “follow” instead of fear here as a clarification. When you follow the Lord, you are not afraid of Him but you see Him as the ultimate authority and as the most important person in your life. Are you there yet? Are you “fearing” the Lord? Are you following the Lord every day?

One of the common problems in the Christian world I think is that we fear the devil more than we fear God. We follow the enemy more than we follow God. We don’t always do it conscientiously but we do it in many different ways. When we don’t trust God or we don’t believe God in some aspects of our lives, we give the enemy power over those aspects of our lives. We follow the enemy with no resistance and we walk with him. We walk on his path of fear and doubt when it comes to certain parts of our lives. Then we jump back on the path of life of the Lord when it comes to other things. Let’s be consistent and follow the Lord in everything.

My goal now is to be consistently fearing the Lord. I want to follow Him anywhere and everywhere. I want to trust Him with my entire life. I don’t want to give Him portions of my life and feed the enemy’s ego with other parts of my life. The Lord reigns. He reigns supreme and I am working on letting Him reign all over my life. The fear of the Lord in me is growing by the day and I am going to do my best to follow Him all the time. I pray that you join me on this journey of faith! When we fear the Lord, He reveals the secrets of His heart. It’s worth it! May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 25:14*; John 15:15; Ephesians 1:19

COMING OUT OF THE TUNNEL OF DARKNESS

Things are going to get better. Things are going to change. Don’t trust me. Trust the Lord. It is His message to you today. He says that He is going to reverse your situation and bless you tremendously. You might be walking in a dark tunnel right now. A tunnel of fear, despair and anxiety. There is a light at the end of the tunnel but if you have Jesus, there is light in the tunnel. Your dark moments can’t defeat the light of the Lord. Today you need to stir yourself up and get going. Today you need to turn the light in that tunnel of depression. The Lord is the truth, the way and the life and He is going to get you through that tunnel. He is the truth. Whatever He says is true. 

You can find a lot of what He has to say about your situation in His Word. In His Word He says that no weapon formed against you shall prosper This dark tunnel is a weapon that formed against you but it will not prosper. It is not going to win against you. It is not going to drown you in an ocean of dark seasons. Because you have the truth with you, you are going to climb out of that tunnel and the darkness is going to dissipate. Speak the truth against that tunnel of fear. The truth is that you have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about because the Lord your God is with you and He will never leave you nor forsake you.

The dark tunnel of the opposition is not your final destination. You are not going to be there forever and even when you are there, you can have peace and joy. You can walk in that tunnel with the confidence that you will make it and you will get out of there. Jesus is the life. He gives you life in that tunnel. When everything is dark, it often looks like hope is dead. Jesus is alive and well. Hope is not dead. This dark tunnel is not going to be the end of you. You are going to walk in it with the light of hope. As soon as you snap out of it and focus on Jesus, you will see the light. He is the light of the world and His light never goes out. Keep your eyes on the life that keeps on giving. 

When you are in a dark season, remember that the life of the Lord is in you and you can have more than enough. You can have mountains of blessings even when the tunnel is pitch black. Jesus is the way. He is the way into your place of blessings and the way out of your season of suffering. Believe that there is a way out of this tunnel. Believe that Jesus is the only way out of this tunnel. He will take you out. He will provide everything you need to come out of this bad time. He has been in that tunnel of darkness. He knows what it’s like to go through what you are going through. He has experienced your pain and your agony. He has faced the misery, the despair and the suffering associated with that tunnel of darkness. He came out of it and stepped into eternity so that you can step into His glory and receive eternal life. Keep your eyes on Jesus every day. You are coming out of the tunnel of darkness and freedom is going to shine bright again. May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: John 10:9; John 14:6; Acts 4:12

SPREADERS OF HOPE

As a kid I had dreams of becoming an international journalist and working in different countries. As I was growing up, my passions and interests changed. I did have a fervent desire to serve the Lord. I wanted to do something for Him. On a big scale or on a small scale. I knew it was important to serve my Savior. I didn’t need a worldwide ministry but I needed to reach people with the Gospel. I needed to give hope and to inspire people. Not because I thought highly of myself but because I thought God was high and mighty and worthy to be praised.

 I also thought people needed to know Him. I thought that my experience with God was worth sharing and I was convinced that people could have an amazing life with God. I wasn’t wrong. I realized that in my everyday life I could make an impact for God. A small impact was all that was necessary. I just had to do it. I just had to develop the mindset of the spreader of hope. That is how I see us believers. We are spreaders of hope. We can touch the world with the love, the hope and the encouragement of the Lord that dwells in us.

You are a spreader of hope. You are an encourager of the Lord whether you know it or not. The key is to get an awareness of what’s in you and to give it away. All that God has put in you and has given you is meant for the world as well. It doesn’t stop with you. You are blessed so you can bless others. You are loved so you can love others. You have peace so you can share peace. You have the joy of the Lord so you can distribute joy around your world. So many people are in need of what you have. You have the power to change your world by giving Jesus to your world. Your friends and family long for the Lord’s love and you are the perfect vessel for that love. Be receptive to it and be ready to spread the good news one person at a time.

Being a spreader of hope doesn’t mean that you need to get on your soapbox and preach the Gospel on a street corner. It means being willing to show love, to speak hope and to give some encouragement. Our hope in the Lord was founded on His undying love. It all starts with love. Let’s base what we do and say on God’s love. His love is the perfect foundation for our hope. Our hope is in Jesus. In Him we can always expect the best and know that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. We know that nothing is impossible to God. We know that God so loved us that He gave His Son in our place to save us. Pray that you can express God’s hope to the world. Walk in faith. Walk in love and be a spreader of hope. People in your world need the Jesus in you! May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: John 15:12-13; Ephesians 4:32; 1 John 4:7-8

GOD’S GOT THIS

The other morning when I was praying, I heard the quiet and yet powerful message that “God’s got this.” I was thinking about a certain situation. It had been on my mind for some time. I was concerned about how I was going to be able to handle it. The message during prayer time was exactly what I needed to hear. It was a great reminder that I am passing on to you today. God’s got this.  God can do it. God will take care of it. Whatever is a concern or a worry today, know that God will handle it. Remember that Jesus has conquered the world.

What is the world? Everything around you. Everything that you see and know. Whatever you are facing. All your circumstances, all the negativity and all obstacles are part of the world. Jesus conquered them all. Today He is telling again to be of good cheer because He has conquered that thing that keeps you up at night. That thing that makes you frown. That thing that makes you upset. That thing that makes you sad. He has won against them all. He’s got it. Rest assured that He is faithful and He will stick with you through it all.

Don’t worry about how you are going to make it. Trust that God has a plan that is perfect and that no opposition can win against it. Have faith in His ability to do the impossible. Take Him at His word and believe that something great is going to happen to you. God’s got this and He doesn’t fail. Say that truth out loud. Sing that truth. Let your heart meditate on it. Let your spirit find strength in the reality that God’s got this. God has what it takes to reverse your situation, to bless you, to help you and to solve your problem.

I am a big fan of declaring things before they happen. I speak to my mountains and they move in the name of Jesus. I declare victory. I declare that my bills are paid. I declare that I receive blessings. I declare that the Lord takes care of all my circumstances. I declare that whatever I need, God’s got it. He has what you need as you. Whether it is peace, joy, hope, a breakthrough, a blessing, a miracle. God has it all and you count on Him to give it to you. Enjoy His amazing love. It is His love that brings the victory. Do not fear and do not worry. God’s got this! May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 34:4; Psalm 138:8; 1 Corinthians 16:13

YOUR PRAYER LIFE

This week might be the right time for you to focus more on your prayer life. God once revealed to me that the enemy was after my prayer life. He is after my peace, my joy and my prayer life. It made sense. It was something I had never thought about before. I had let my prayer life become almost non-existent. I thought that it was enough to pray from time to time. I reached a point where I only prayed if something was not going well. I had a stale prayer life, a dormant prayer life. You know how hard it is to pray if you only pray on occasions? It is very hard because you are not used to talking to God and to listening to God. You doubt that God might be listening. Your mind is so filled with the world that you can’t make room for the Lord properly.  Praying when we feel like it is not fair to God. God wants to hear from us every day. God is with us every day. God loves us every day. God wants to have a relationship that is stronger and deeper than the relationship we have with our family and friends. He doesn’t want to come second or to come last in our lives. Let’s make prayer a part of our everyday life.

 Your prayer life can put God at the front of the line of your priorities.  Your prayer life can get you closer to God and it can bring you the peace you long for. Remember this! The enemy is after your prayer life so he is going to do whatever he can to ruin it, to destroy it and to steal it. He will steal it from you and replace it with all the distractions in the world that he can think of. Take a moment now and think about everything that has taken precedence over your prayer life. Analyze your life and look at what’s keeping you from praying daily. Stand against those distractions. Reintroduce prayer into your life. Add some prayer time here and there. It doesn’t have to be a drastic change but there has to be a change. Your spirit wants more prayer time. Your body, mind and soul need more prayer time.Your prayer life is your connecting point with God. It is what ignites your spiritual life. It is the door to blessings, breakthroughs and miracles.The enemy doesn’t want you to experience any of that goodness so that is why he keeps you from praying regularly.

Ask God to help you with your prayer life. Yield to the Holy Spirit. He will give you reminders and encouragement. Pray that you are able to see them and that you can follow them. This message today is one of those reminders and encouragement.God is bringing you back to a lifestyle of prayer or He is leading you to a new lifestyle of prayer. Your prayer life will make a big difference in your life if you sustain it and you make it a priority. PRayer does not have to be formal. Prayer does not have to be memorized. Prayer is talking to God and knowing that He listens to you. “Pray without ceasing” says the Bible. Talk to God without ceasing, You will develop a friendship and a relationship that is out of this world. Your prayer life matters to God and He knows that it is crucial that you pray every day. Your limited prayer life might be the one thing that is standing between you and your blessings. Pray. Pray as often as you can! May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Mark 11:22; Philippians 4:6-7; 1 John 5:14

GOD CHALLENGES YOUR CHALLENGES

Do you know what God can do for you? He can do exceedingly more than you can imagine. You must have heard this before but you need to hear it again today. God can do the impossible. That is who He is. He can do great, great, great things. Today you might be facing an impossible situation. We all have those challenges but with God we can overcome them. Your impossible situation is not impossible to God. You need to dust yourself off and stand up tall. Stand up with the assurance that God can change your impossible situation. Put it in His hands. Put it in His hands every day. It might not change overnight but it will change. Trust the Lord of the impossible. There is hope. It is time you started challenging what challenges you.

God challenges the impossible. When your situation is telling you that you are not going to make it, God is saying that He can do anything. He doesn’t say that He can do some things. He can do all things. It’s easy to think that our situation is so bad that nothing and no one can reverse it. It’s easy to think that we are dealing with the biggest problem in the world. Bad situations can seem like our world is falling apart and nothing can give us peace. God can make everything fall into place. He can turn our miserable times into times of celebration. God will never change and He will always believe and know that the impossible is not impossible to Him. He will challenge every bad break and every difficulty if you let Him.

It all starts by listening to what God has to say about your predicament. Like I said, He keeps saying the same thing. Sometimes our difficulties block our ears and prevent us from hearing God’s clear message of hope. The message still stands. The message is always true no matter what you are facing. Keep reminding yourself that your God is mighty, powerful and He can absolutely do anything. Challenge your problems with the truth of the Lord. Keep talking about God’s truth. Rub it against your doubts and your fears. Let God challenge your trials and show you that He can still do the impossible. May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Luke 1:37; Luke 18:27-28; Ephesians 3:20

10 NUGGETS OF WISDOM FOR YOUR SATURDAY ( Part 334)

The heart of God is beating for every nation. He loves the whole wide world. Not just the people you love. Think about that!

God will give you hope. He will give you a reason to smile and a reason to keep going. God will give you all you need at the right time!

Do not lean on your own understanding but lean on God’s explanation of what your life is like according to His Word and according to His love!

God is doing His work. Do your part. Pray, walk in faith and walk in love. God is doing His thing. Keep trusting Him. God is fulfilling His wonderful promises!

An open heart is the door to the thoughts of God. If you want to share Christ’s mind, open your heart to His unconditional love and let His love open you to loving everyone with no conditions!

God is paving the way for something great and something wonderful for you. Keep walking with Him and let Him lead the way.

Fill up with the Word of God. Remember it in good times and in hard times. Let it be what comes out of you when the enemy is taunting you!

God can change your situation completely. He can give you a night and day transformation. Trust in the One who can change anything.

Cast all your cares upon the Lord. He will carry them and get rid of them. He will carry you and give you a new lease on life!

Everything is going to be fine. God is on it. Your faith is on it. Blessings are on their way. Nothing can separate you from the love of the Lord so you have nothing to worry about!

Suggested reading: Isaiah 26:3; Romans 8:6; Ephesians 2:13-18

THE SEEDS OF WORRY

This message must be part 300 of an ongoing message. I have written a lot about not worrying. The Bible mentions not fearing and not worrying hundreds of times. The Lord tells me not to worry basically every day. When I get into prayer in the morning, I very often hear the Holy Spirit say that I do not have to worry. The other morning, I heard “Do not worry goes for everything.” The Lord doesn’t want to worry about anything. He doesn’t say that we shouldn’t worry about certain things and then He is silent regarding other things. No. There should not be any worries cultivated in our lives. If we do entertain worry and let it grow, we plant bad seeds that ruin our entire crop of faith and hope. Faith can be as small as mustard seed and yet produce a harvest of blessings. Worry is the worst pesticide we can choose. It damages the fruit of the Spirit. It prevents peace from growing. It diminishes all the good things of the Lord in our minds and  in our heart.

I don’t want my blessings to be destroyed by the seeds of worry. I reject those seeds. They are handed to me on many occasions and I have to decide to rebuke them. I used to grab them and keep them in my hand. I would go around and sow them in every part of my life. It was a disaster but I was so used to it that it felt like the right thing to do. People even said that worrying was good for the soul. They would say that if I didn’t worry, I wasn’t being true to myself.  I want to be true to what God says. I want to follow His lead and trust Him completely. When He says, “Do not worry” He doesn’t mince His words. He doesn’t make mistakes. He chooses His words wisely. He knows what He is talking about. He talks about getting rid of the seeds of worry and replacing it with His hope and His love. His love banishes all fear.

I plant the seeds of hope in my life every day. On good days and on bad days I plant the seeds of faith that the Lord gives me. He has given me a mountain of seeds of hope. It is up to me to take them and to plant them. Friend, we have a mountain of seeds of hope. Every day if we pay attention, we can hear and see those seeds of hope. That is why prayer and meditation are crucial. They are platforms where we can receive those seeds. Reading the Bible is another place where we receive the seeds of hope. When we plant those seeds daily, it is harder for the seeds of worry to emerge. They will always try to show up and take over but a daily dose of the seeds of hope is a powerful dose. Today I want you to reject the seeds of worry. Go back to where you planted them. Unearth them with the Word of God. Replace them with God’s hope. Plant hope in every corner of your life. Put Jesus in every corner of your life and reap harvests of peace and blessings! May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Exodus 14:14; Psalm 46:10; 1 Peter 5:6-7

GET ON THE RIGHT TRAIN

When I was in meditation the other morning, I received a very interesting message. I focus on Jesus when I meditate. I think about a verse from the Bible. I usually think of something Jesus said and I close my eyes and let the Holy Spirit take me wherever He needs me to go. During the meditation the other morning, I saw wagons. I saw a train. I saw a wagon that belonged to me and it got attached to other wagons. They were red. I am not sure the color has any significance but that is what I saw. Then I realized that by attaching myself to those wagons, I was part of the right train. This train was going very fast. It was steady and strong. Even though it was very fast, the ride was smooth. I knew I was in the right place. I got on the right train. The Holy Spirit explained that it was my train of thoughts. I was on the right train of thoughts but sometimes I get on the wrong train. I sometimes ride the train of negativity. I find a comfortable seat and I stay there. The train is so comfortable that it becomes as cozy as my living room. I find myself at home on the wrong train.

I don’t want to hop on and off the right train and get on the wrong train. I don’t want to find comfort in what doesn’t serve me. Negative thoughts, doubts and fear don’t serve us at all. I used to think that a little fear would motivate me. It did. It motivated me to take time away from the Lord and that is never the right thing to do. We need to banish fear and doubt. We need to stop entertaining negative thoughts. They should not become our homes. They are never the right train of thought. Now, every time I get on that train of despair, I pull the emergency brake and I jump right off the train. How do I do that? I speak against those negative thoughts. I tell them that they are not my reality. I claim what is rightfully mine in the name of Jesus. Jesus said that He would never leave me nor forsake me so if He is with me then I have nothing to worry about.

The right train is a worry-free train. It is the train of hope that takes you to a place where faith reigns and doubt is abolished. On this train, you hear God’s voice. He makes announcements every now and then about where you are and about where you are going. His announcements are filled with hope and they make you joyful. How can you hear His voice on that train? Meditate on His Word. It has His voice in it and it is extremely beautiful. Get in the Word as often as you can and sit on the train of peace. The right train has all the accommodations you need including giant doses of peace. If you are feeling irritated and frustrated today, you need to get off that train. You are on the wrong train. Our thoughts and emotions are influenced by our train of thoughts. Don’t let your mind take you to the wrong feelings. You will end up acting in a way that does not reflect the Lord who is living in you. Yes, friend, as a believer the Lord dwells in you and He wants you to stay on His train.Keep meditating on Jesus!  May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Proverbs 4:23;  Romans 12:2; Philippians 4:8