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

THIS IS HOW YOU OVERCOME

“Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”* If you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are an overcomer. You can overcome this world. You can overcome all obstacles, trials and tribulations. You can win many battles and you can come out of difficult situations unscathed. Easier said than done but it is the truth. For one thing, it is important to understand that we are more than conquerors through Christ. It is through Him that we overcome the world. He is our strength and our victory is only in Him. He is the King of Kings who never fails and who never disappoints. “So why am I losing my mind with every battle that I have been losing?” you might ask. The battle, like I often say, starts in your mind. Your mind is the platform that you need to focus on. Clear your mind. Clear your mind of all the negative chatter and fill it up with the words of victory of the Lord. Fill your mind with Jesus. Make Him the subject of your daily meditation.

Meditate on the fact that you can overcome through Christ. The Bible gives you a list of strategies that help you overcome. I mentioned the renewing of the mind and it is a very powerful strategy. Remember that you believe what you hear so be sure to hear the good news of the Lord and to listen to messages about how you can make it. Messages about you making it in this world thanks to the Son of Man.Self-help messages can only get you so far. Messages of help with Jesus at the center will take you to a destination of peace, hope and victory. The Lord is always telling you that you can overcome and you need to listen to Him and to thank Him for His daily encouragement.

I received a very helpful message a while ago when I was seeking God’s face. When I was seeking His kingdom and I was desperate for Him, I learned that praise was the key. Praise is the key to reaching God, to finding God, to experiencing God and to seeing God in action. Praise is also how we overcome this world. When we praise Jesus and we put Him on a pedestal, we receive victory. We have the assurance that He can do all things and that He won’t let us down. Praise Him today and you will overcome. You overcome this world by the words that you choose. You overcome all circumstances by the power behind your words. Use your words wisely and you will see how your world changes. You don’t overcome by standing on a wish. You overcome by speaking the truth of the Lord against the enemy and that truth is found in your worship, your praise, your words of faith and your stand for love. You can be an overcomer through Christ. Believe it. Believe Him and be that amazing overcomer you are meant to be.  May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading:  Romans 8:37; 1 John 5:5*; Revelation 3:5

BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US

“We love because He first loved us.”* I read this verse taken from the book of 1 John the other day and I meditated on it. God first loved us. God first loved me. He loved me before I knew Him. He loved me before I loved me. He loved me first and He never stopped loving me. His love has always existed. He is love and He has always been. Imagine someone who loved you way before you existed. That sounds hard to imagine. That sounds impossible. Yet we have a God who does the impossible. His impossible love remains and it will never go away.

This chapter of 1 John talks about how God so loved the world that He gave His Son as a sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed Himself out of love so we could live through Him after His resurrection. We who have Him as our Lord and Savior, have eternal life through Him because of love. Love is the reason. Love is what started it all. Love is what motivated God and what motivates Him still. God loved you before you faced trials and tribulations and He still loves you today. He loves you now. He will love you tomorrow. His sacrifice is still relevant today and it will still be relevant tomorrow.

Now, because God is love and because He loves us, we love others. It is part of who we are in Christ. We are lovers or people. God loved us first and His love helps us love others. I say that it helps us because we can choose not to follow His love and follow our flesh, our own thoughts and desires. The love is there. It is present and it doesn’t go away but we can bury it. We can stifle it and we can suppress it. Let’s choose love. Let’s choose to always yield to the Spirit of love. He loved us first so we could love the world.

You are loved, friend. You are loved so you can carry the admirable and the beautiful mission of love. Love selflessly. Love extravagantly. Love with no limits. Love with compassion and with God’s passion. Love with God in mind. Love with the intention to bless others and to help others. Love and don’t stop loving. Turn up the volume of God’s love. Let your voice echo His powerful voice. Let your actions speak for His love. Let your walk be a walk of love every single day! May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:19*

LIVING WITH GOD’S PEACE

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”* This verse is taken from Psalm 4. In this verse David is asking for help and God intervenes by giving him peace and by filling him with joy. Peace is powerful. The peace of God is extremely powerful and you and I have access to it. It belongs to us because we are God’s children. Jesus said “ Peace I give to you.” It is a done deal. Living without peace is living without knowing what is rightfully ours. It is like living poorly when we have a treasure with gold and diamonds that we don’t know about. 

We can get a glimpse of that treasure chest. We open it. We take out some gems but then we close it and we forget about it. We are in need of peace and hope but we have kicked the chest under the bed and we can’t remember we have it. God’s peace is not a temporary blessing but it is an eternal gift. When Jesus died and rose from the dead, peace came and stayed among the people who believed in Him. If you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior today, know that the Lord’s peace is yours forever. Accept it. Embrace it. Get to know it. Enjoy it and live with it.

Living with peace is living with power. It is living with a super-power if you will. Why? Because God’s peace is present at all times even in times of trouble. When we constantly tap into it, we can be facing the most horrible situation and still be filled with joy. God’s peace comes with joy. Joy and peace are two friends that go hand in hand. Living with God’s peace is living with what gives us access to the fruit of the Spirit. Love is the most important fruit and it works well with its entire family but peace is a gift from God that keeps us in the family of love. Peace is the anchor that allows you to stay planted in the truth. The truth that no matter what God is King and He reigns supreme.

The Lord tells us not to fear at least 365 times in the Bible. Peace is the enemy of fear and doubt. God has given us ammunition against fear. His weapon of choice is His peace. I love to meditate on the Lord. I receive a lot of peace when I do. I love praying to Jesus. I receive a lot of peace when I do. I love praising the Lord. I receive a lot of peace when I do. I love talking about how Jesus is the King of my life and how He affects my life in the most positive way. I receive a lot of peace when I do. Receive peace today, friend. Pray, praise, hold on to Jesus and you will live with His peace. May God bless you and protect you and remember that Jesus is alive and well and He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 4:8*; John 16:33; Colossians 3:15

GOD WANTS YOU WELL

God wants you well. This might sound like an obvious statement but I believe it is easy to forget its significance. God doesn’t want us to suffer. He doesn’t want us to be sick. He doesn’t want us to be sad. He doesn’t want us to live in fear. He doesn’t want us to live in pain. Now, does that mean that pain, suffering, sadness and fear will never be part of our lives? No. They will be here as long as we live. We will always be exposed to them and we will always experience them. However, the Lord Himself said He had conquered them. We can recover from them. We can heal from them. We can win against them. That is where the good fight of faith comes in. 

When pain and suffering visit our homes, we need to fill the house with hope and faith in Jesus. We need to make faith the dominant presence in our home so that pain, suffering and doubt leave. When Jesus was walking the earth, He said “Your faith has healed you.” It is our faith in Jesus that heals and that gets the job done. God wants us well. We need to trust and believe that. Our faith in Him needs to be stronger than our fears and our doubts. We can get there. We can get there with daily devotion to God and daily interaction with Him.

Our daily interactions with God will reveal that He wants us well. We can interact with Him by reading the Word. I used to read the Bible the way I would read a novel. It was exciting and interesting but it did very little for my faith. It gave me ideas of who God was but it also depicted Him as a fictional character in a book. He is not fictional. He is real and He is alive. My daily interactions with God now while reading the Bible involve some meditation time and some prayer time. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me and to help me understand God. I want to know Him better and to trust with my whole heart that He wants me well.

There are many scriptures in the Bible about God wanting us to be well. One of them is Exodus 15:26 that says that the Lord is the One who heals us. Healing can be healing of a situation or of a condition. Once I started thinking that way, it helped me tremendously. When things get bad, I know that I have a healer who can heal my situation and in time things are going to be fixed and they are going to be great. God wants my life to be well. I know He does and that same goes for you. He wants you well all the time. If we cling on to Him and we make Him a part of our daily lives, things change for the better.

Faith is not an easy thing. Having faith in the Lord who wants us well all the time can be challenging but I am encouraging you to keep walking in faith. Keep declaring that your God wants you well and that He makes all things good and new again. You will face trials and tribulations but you have Jesus to help you handle anything and everything. Don’t fear and don’t worry. Pray and praise instead. Worship and give thanks instead. Speak life into your situation in the name of Jesus instead. God wants you well and you are going to get a better understanding of what that entails when you keep your eyes 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: Exodus 15:26; Psalm 107:20; 1 Peter 2:24