10 nuggets of wisdom for your Saturday (Part 208)

Put all your eggs in the Lord’s basket. He will multiply them and He will create miracles in your life. Put all your cares on the Lord and He will give you a breakthrough like you have never seen before!

Don’t forget God’s track record. Don’t forget His history and His story for your life. His story is much better than the lies of the enemy. God wrote your story a long time ago. Enjoy every chapter and every page. He is in charge!

Don’t worry about anything but trust God in everything. Everything will work out for the best because the Lord is working on your behalf. Put your faith in Jesus and He will do the rest so you can get His best!

Trust God when you have a lot and trust God when you have little. It is when you have little that your faith is put to the test. The test of your faith is an exam that you can pass. Stay strong and keep believing. Your faith will get you through any tests. Don’t give up!

Thank the Lord every morning for what He is going to do with your day. Thank the Lord for how He is going to bless you today. Thank the Lord for holding your day in the palm of His hand. Thank the Lord for today because it is the day that He has made for you!

Jesus did so much for us. He died for us so we would rise from the dead with Him. Our salvation is here and now. We are born again and we are children of God because of Jesus our Savior. Let’s celebrate Jesus for what He did and what we have today thanks to Him!

Be present in the presence of the Lord. Partake in His presence by engaging with Him and staying in communion with Him all day long. Be present and enjoy Jesus in the moment. His presence never leaves so don’t miss it by dwelling in the past or by living in the future.

God will give you millions of reasons to rejoice so don’t find excuses to miss His love. His reasons are all over your life. Dig deeper and you will find the blessings that have been waiting for you. Dig deeper and you will see the light of the Lord shining through every situation and every circumstance.

Sync with the Lord every day. Get on His wavelength. Be on the same page. Upgrade your thinking and you will share the Lord’s mind. Be in the Word every day and you will be in unison with the Lord every day.

The voice of peace is louder than the voice of worry and fear but we have to tune into to that voice in prayer. Let’s pray all the time so we can hear the voice of the Lord all the time. His voice is peace, joy, love and victory. His voice matters more than the voice of the world. Stay tuned to the voice of peace!

Suggested reading: Psalm 4:8; Daniel 10:19; John 16:33

The heavenly combo

There is a combination that the devil dreads and dislikes. It is the combination of having Jesus as our Savior, having faith in Him and being doers of the Word of God. It is a heavenly combo that sounds deadly to the enemy. When we are partakers in that powerful combination, nothing can stop us. We don’t have to have the faith of an apostle. All we need is a mustard seed of faith. A tiny bit of faith goes a long way but it is something that many people are not aware of. Knowing Jesus as our Savior, having a little bit of faith and applying what the Bible says will always save the day. It will not only save the day but it will always pave the way for better days. You see, the great combo I am talking about brings about amazing things into our lives. It brings victory over oppression. It brings blessings day in and day out and it causes a beautiful relationship to develop with Jesus. We ought to be aware of the heavenly combination that produces better. Better than yesterday and better than we can imagine. With God we go from glory to glory and we can expect exceedingly more than our wildest dreams. Better days are ahead of us all the time. God guarantees that we will have better and greater. Our circumstances might be saying otherwise but what God says is what matters the most.

Friend, you haven’t seen your best days yet. You have not stepped into the next level, the next dimension yet. There will always be another place that is better and that is more amazing. Stay in the winning combo and you will experience a life of abundance. You will live out a life where Jesus is magnified, peace is sovereign, joy is your strength, love is your default setting and victory is a lifestyle. You have what it takes to make it in this life and you will make it powerfully. Every day you should remind yourself that Jesus is Lord over everything. The devil might be the king of this world but Jesus is the King of Kings and He will always be greater than the enemy. Greater is the One who is in you, friend, than the devil that is in this world. This truth alone guarantees that things will always improve and get better. The adversity has a different take on what’s happening and what’s going to happen in your life. Don’t worry about his opinion. Go with God’s plans for your life. He has plans to give you more and to stay with you forever. Forever! Forever includes the bad days and the good days. Forever never ends. God’s love for you will never end so expect blessings to never end. Better days are coming and that truth will never end. You have Jesus, you have (some) faith and you apply the Word of God and therefore you have all you need! Expect great things. Expect God things. Expect powerful things. Expect Jesus every day. Bad things will take place. That’s inevitable but Jesus will also happen so to speak. That as well is inevitable!

Applying the Word of God entails walking in faith and walking in love. Faith without love doesn’t work as well. Love is the umbrella that covers every good spiritual fruit. We have love because we are in Christ. Faith tells us that we should express love and love others as ourselves. It’s up to us to follow the lead that faith is giving us. We have an active role to play here and it is not always an easy role. We have reasons to be bitter, to be resentful and to be selfish every single day. The enemy gives us those reasons but it doesn’t mean they are valid at all. We are called to react with love and not with our flesh. God is love and if we are going to successfully navigate through this life with Him we have to walk in love in all circumstances. Love is the glue that ties everything together. Love is the key ingredient that makes the combo work for us. Love is a link that keeps us chained to the truth and that gives Jesus all the glory. He is the most important part of the heavenly combo. Without Him, we are nothing. Without Him, the better days will not come. Without Him, peace, joy and blessings are nowhere to be found. The world can give us a pale imitation but Jesus is the real deal. Keep celebrating Jesus your Savior. Keep walking in faith and walking in love. Keep being a doer of the Word who perseveres and who always expects great things from God. Expect fantastic things to happen in Jesus’ name. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Jeremiah 17:7-8; Psalm 20:4; Ephesians 3:20

Blessed are those who persevere

Yesterday was one of those days when I had a lot going on and I could feel the enemy was trying to derail me and to steal my joy. I had started the day with prayer, praise and gratitude so I was pretty much ready for anything. My joy tank was pretty full but that never stops the enemy from trying to poke holes in my tank. I had a very busy day at work and I was dealing with sinus issues. I felt lousy at one point but I refused to throw in the towel and to give the enemy the satisfaction he was waiting for. When I was sitting at my desk in the morning,  I asked the Lord to give me a verse that would help me. He gave me James 1:12. I don’t have that many verses memorized so I wasn’t sure what the verse was about but I looked it up. It reads “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” I was floored. I couldn’t believe it. It was exactly what I needed to hear. “The words “blessed,” “persevere,” “test,” “crown of life,” and “promised” stood out to me. God was telling me that I was blessed because I persevered through this test and the crown of life was promised to me. I didn’t read it as “I would be blessed if…” I was doing it. There was no “if”. I grabbed that truth and made it my reality. That verse gave me a lot of energy. I prayed under my breath and I thanked the Lord for giving me the strength to persevere. I was not willing to give up. I felt bad but I knew that my feelings did not matter. What mattered was that the Lord always keeps His promises. I did my part and He certainly did His.

We are children of a living and mighty God. That is great news. We have a Savior who blesses us. You and I are blessed. We are blessed because we have Jesus and we are blessed because He keeps His word and He never fails us. I took James 1:12 to heart and I made it a point to persevere throughout the day. I had a very good day according to the Lord. God showed up in a fantastic way. Not only did He give me the help I needed to accomplish my tasks but He put a pep in my step. Everything that I had to do was like a step toward the finish line and I did it all with gusto and with great joy. You see, Jesus can give us joy even when we are supposed to be sad according to the world’s standards. My interaction with people was marked by moments of joy that I shared and I encouraged a few people who were desperate to hear a word of motivation or to see a smile. God can use us any time. He can use us when we are doing well and He can use us when we are down in the dumps when we let Him. The key is to let Him. The key is to accept to be used by Him and to follow Him. Perseverance means steadily imitating and following Christ. Perseverance is about staying in faith and keeping our hopes up in all circumstances. I had a great opportunity to persevere yesterday and I am glad I had the experience. It is in testing times that the glory of the Lord is revealed. If everything was always nice and dandy, we would never witness the Lord’s ability to bless us and to save us. He saved me from a day that could have been a disaster.

My day in itself didn’t get better. My attitude and my approach got better and they made everything seem achievable. There was more than one test of my faith but I had the best teacher in the house and He pointed out ways that I could pass the tests. The most important lesson He gave me was to stay calm. He told me to take a step back and let Him move me forward by being calm in His presence. I did that. I closed my eyes and thanked Him for His peace. His peace got intense and it curbed the panic that was attempting to get inside me. When we keep going and we persevere, there are blessings that come along and they are amazing gifts from the Lord. If your back is against the wall and you are overwhelmed today, persevere. Don’t give up. Keep going. Blessings are coming and you are going to develop a great attitude of faith. God has a crown of life for you, a reward. Your perseverance is not in vain. You are doing the right thing. The promise of a better day will not be broken. Stay the course. Things are going to get a lot better in Jesus’ name! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:10; Revelation 2:10

The “strong you” in Christ

“Stay strong” is an encouragement I receive from the Lord often. He uses people to give me that encouragement or He says it to me softly when I am in prayer or in meditation. When we have the Lord, we have a strong Rock. We have the Savior of the universe abiding in us through His Spirit. His strength is our strength. His power is the power that fuels all we can do thanks to Him. This is all true when we adhere to His Word and we stay in faith. Staying strong in the Lord involves staying in faith and believing that the Rock of ages makes us strong. We are not strong on our own and we have to recognize that. We have to humble ourselves and declare that Jesus our Lord is our Rock and our strength. We have to lift Him up and we have to leave our ego aside. He gives us the ability to do all things. He gives the power to be all we are designed to be when we lean on Him. We can’t be passive and we can’t be relying on our own understanding and thinking. We have to understand that we are strong because He makes us strong. Now, how can we stay strong? How can the “strong us” in Christ can be manifested?

There is a “you” by yourself and there is a “you” in Christ. The “you in Christ” is the person that flows with the Spirit of God and who acknowledges Him in everything. It is the you who knows what it means to have Jesus as your personal Savior. It is the you who lives out his or her salvation through Christ. It is the you who reads the Word of God and who is a doer of the Word. We can choose to stand on our own or we can choose to stand on Jesus our solid ground. If Jesus is our Savior and we don’t pursue Him or stand on Him, it doesn’t mean that we have lost our salvation. In our salvation we can go as far as we want on this journey with Christ. I choose to be in Christ and to stay strong in the power of His might. I am learning and I am taking notes every day. One thing I have been learning is that to stay strong in Christ, I have to make sure that spirit is rooted in Him and that it receives the spiritual nourishment that it needs. I need to feed my spirit manna from Heaven and fresh water from the Holy Spirit.

Manna from Heaven is found in the Word of God. There is no doubt about it. I can feed on the Word every day. It is an essential part of spiritual growth. I can maintain my spirit by giving it some precious Bible time. That time in the Word is not just about discovering inspiring stories. It is also about being impacted by the truth that remains the same today. My spirit gets food from each word of God. I chew on those words in meditation and I digest them over time. The words of the Bible make me stronger. They give me confidence and they build up my faith in the Lord. Each word is a powerful crumb that fortifies me and that satisfies my hunger. My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak. I need to give strength to my spirit so it can overcome the weakness of my flesh and Bible reading and application of the Word help me get there. Prayer is another powerful way for me to get nourishment from the Lord. I found myself praying a lot the other morning and it came to my attention that I was getting muscles for my spirit.

Prayer is a strong dose of spiritual milk if we do it constantly. The Holy Spirit helps us when we pray. He gives us fresh water to quench our spiritual thirst and to face dry spells that might try to get in the way. Prayer is the foundation behind  the construction of your spiritual fortress. The “strong you” in Christ is meant to be a giant of faith that can move all mountains. You are a strong person in the Lord. Stay in His hand by staying in faith and by trusting Him come what may. Work on making your spirit stronger by focusing on Jesus and by letting Him be bigger in you. Give Him the best seat in your heart. Surrender to Him. Die to self and let His life shine through you. You can only be as strong as your connection and your dedication to Jesus is. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you and you have a spirit that can do all things. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: 2 Corinthians 12:10; Philippians 4:13; Ephesians 3:16

Be ready for anything

Be ready. Be prepared. Be ready for anything. Be ready for everything. Be ready for the blessings. Be ready for the trials. Be prepared to face adversity. Be prepared to rejoice and to celebrate Jesus. Be ready all the time. This is a message I have been getting for a while now. It is a message that invites us to be ready by spending time with God. It is the best way we can be ready for anything. The Holy Spirit gets us ready. If we don’t spend time with God, we have less preparation and we don’t understand the ammunition and the protection we receive from the Lord. There has to be dedicated time for the Lord on a daily basis if we want to live a successful Christian walk. Now, time with God will not prevent bad things from happening but it will teach us how to react and how to act when things go astray. I used to pray more only when I was facing difficulties. When all was well, I would say my regular morning and evening prayers but nothing else. When the going got tough, I would spend more time on my knees until I learned that was not how it worked. God is not the God of last minute prayers. God is not a Person we should consult more only when we need Him. The truth is we need Him all the time. We tend to think that we need Him more when we are in trouble. It is not true. We need Him every day the same way. Our communion with Him should not depend on our circumstances but on who He is to us. He is God. He is our Savior and our Deliverer. He deserves our time and attention and that time and that attention also help us be ready for anything.

When I was in school and I had to study for a big exam, I used to chunk my study time and do a little bit every day. I tried to get ready just the day before the exam but it never worked too well. I needed more time to engage with the material and I needed to be more exposed to the concepts. God wants us to study on a regular basis so we can be ready for any situation that might come our way. I am talking about bad situations and good ones as well. What does the study involve? The goal of this study is to know Him more and to love Him more and to understand Him more. When we are secure in His love, when we are aware of who He is and when we understand that nothing is impossible to Him, we can face anything. We have the confidence that He’s got this. Now, we can gain that confidence for a while and then lose it. We usually lose it if we are not consistent with the studying I am talking about. Winning one battle of faith doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels and take a break. The study I am mentioning is not homework per say. It is being persistent in our pursuit of a great relationship with God. It sounds like work but when you do it constantly, you realize that it is not work. It is a lifestyle. The best lifestyle there is. Life can throw anything at us and Jesus can catch it all when we trust Him and we stay in communion with Him.

When bad things happen, we can easily go into panic mode. When we are prepared having spent time in the Word, in prayer and praise, panic mode doesn’t affect us. It is a function that doesn’t work. The devil tries to push our buttons but the panic button is disabled by the power of communion with Jesus. I see it in my own life. I see a difference when I have spent time with the Lord. I see how I react and I can only give God the glory. When I am ready and I am prepared, the floodgates of Heaven take over my life even in the middle of chaos. I have this peace that doesn’t make sense and a boldness that makes me declare that Jesus is King despite my difficulties. I am working on being ready all the time. It is worth it. It is an amazing habit. Today I am encouraging you to get ready and to be prepared. Don’t wait until calamity hits you to start praying. Don’t wait until the bills are overwhelming to ask for God’s help. Don’t wait until confusion is strong. Read the Word. Praise the Lord. Speak God’s sovereignty over your life. Spend time with the Holy Spirit. Let it be just you and Him. He will prepare your heart and show you how to stay strong during tribulations, how to praise the Lord and how to thank Him. He is the best helper. He is the One who can prepare you for all circumstances. Take the time. Study. Communicate with God. You will be amazed at how you approach life. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: John 14:16-18; John 16:7; 1 John 2:1

God will get you out of your winter

We have had some very cold temperatures here on the east coast of the United States. Yesterday, going out was out of the question for me because it was 18 degrees F (-7 degrees C). There is still snow left over from the last storm we had and walking outside makes you feel like you are walking in a desert of snow. When I walk to the mailbox it is like I am walking to a far away destination and I can barely make it. Sometimes when we are going through difficult times, we are under the impression that we are walking in a winter desert. Everything feels cold. We can barely walk and we can barely move. I had this interesting vision when I was praying yesterday morning. I saw myself walking in the snow in extremely cold weather and I had a big bag on my back. I had a hat on, gloves and a warm jacket. It was brutally cold but I was able to walk. It dawned on me that there are times when we are going through a very cold season but we have what it takes to make it. God gives us a hat, gloves, boots, a scarf, and a warm jacket so that we can make progress and get places even though it is very cold. You might be going through an extreme winter now and I am here to tell you that God will get you out of your winter. He will give you the ability to stay warm and to keep going and He will eventually put an end to those cold temperatures in your life.

Your extreme winter can be a pile of bills, health issues, a spiritual dry spell, problems at work or in your family. All these things can make you feel cold and you can’t get warm enough. You can’t think straight and you can’t see yourself out of it. You have a hard time imagining that spring will come and you settle for this harsh weather. The truth is that God is with you in every season. He never promised that it would be summer all year. He also never said that you would have to fend for yourself in the winter. What He promised is that no matter what is going on in your life, He has already defeated it and there is always a way out. He is your way out. He is your solution. He won’t get you out of your winter just yet but He will keep you warm through this season. He has a hat for you. You wear His hat every time you spend time in His Word. His Word influences your mind in a positive way and it keeps your head in the warmth of His promises. He has scarf for you. His scarf prevents you from getting a sore throat from negative words. He has given you the words to speak that will keep you inside His house of positivity. Wear the scarf of positive words and the cold won’t affect what you say. He has boots for you. His boots are the boots of faith. They allow you to walk when it’s cold and they keep you from slipping and falling. The boots of faith give you strength to take one step at a time even when you don’t know what’s ahead.

God has great gloves for you. Your hands will stay warm when you put on the gloves of praise. Praise with your hands lifted up. Allow the gloves of praise to keep your hands and your heart warm. When you touch something cold, something that makes you feel sad, remember that you have the gloves of praise and raise your hands. Sing the pain. Praise the sadness away. God’s gloves will help you. The warm jacket of salvation is a shield. It is a shield against the attacks of the enemy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper because you have the jacket of salvation. You are a child of God and you are rightfully seated in heavenly places. The cold darts of the enemy can’t touch you and they can’t harm you. You belong to Jesus and your salvation is real 24/7. That jacket has pockets of joy, peace and love so keep your hands in your pockets and you will have the power to face the cold spells. The peace of the Lord will keep you steady in your faith. His joy will give you the strength to remain joyful even when it’s -7 degrees. His love will surround you and protect you all the time. Keep walking with God in this winter season. He will bless you and shelter you. He is going to get you out this cold so don’t lose hope. This winter won’t last forever but God’s love for you will. Stay encouraged! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Deuteronomy 31:6; Zephania 3:17; Matthew 28:20

Speak God’s language

Speak God’s language. This recommendation was put in my heart years ago when I was trying to make sense of faith and of my walk with Christ. I was on a quest for more of God. I had been walking with the Lord but I often felt like I was walking alone. I knew God was there but I had a hard time bringing Him into my life if that makes sense. He was walking with me but there was a veil between us and I had no idea how to remove that veil. I had created a barrier that was made of negative thoughts and negative words. I was not on the same page. I was in a totally different book. I was not in the Word. I was reading and living out a book of the world. I had my own insights blended with insecurities, misunderstandings and misinterpretations. The God I was walking with was real but I couldn’t see Him well. I got glimpses of Him but I was more familiar with a limited God and a God that was man made. How did I get to remove the veil? I started speaking God’s language. I got on His page. I followed His lead. I dove into His Word and swam in an ocean of wisdom and knowledge. I let His Spirit guide me and take over and the way I spoke about God, about my life and about myself is what caused things to change.

What does God’s language sound like? It is a melody of love. It is a song of peace and harmony. It is a victory chant. It is a song of blessings. It is a tune of freedom. It is a refrain of redemption. It is a song of hope. It never changes but it has millions of lyrics and they all point to Jesus. God’s language magnifies Jesus and glorifies Jesus. God’s language has a main subject and that subject is Jesus. Now, think of everything that Jesus is and everything that He represents. God’s language echoes all of that. God’s language is always positive. God’s language reflects the impossible made possible. God’s language sees that nothing is too hard. God’s language is the language of faith. It is the language that every believer should speak fluently. A lot of our problems can be solved if we change the way we speak. We are used to speaking negativity into our lives without knowing it. We put our problems on a pedestal. Through our language we dethrone God and put our fears and issues on the throne. Let’s revisit our first language and make sure that it is the language of the Lord.

I prayed that I would change the way I speak. I also spent more time in communion with the Lord by reading His Word more and by sitting still in His presence. God is the most positive One you could ever meet and you can be sure that everything He says is positive. That thought had a strong impact on my speaking. I paid attention to my words and to my thought process. I am still working on it. It is a lifelong process but the work that we have to put in is worth it. Life and death are in the power of our tongue. We can talk life into our situations or we can talk death into our situations. We can follow the Lord’s lead and speak blessings into our lives or we can go with the flow of fear and anxiety and speak misery into our lives. I use Bible verses every day. When I read Psalm 23 and Psalm 91 in the morning, I use the pronoun I. I put myself in there. I know this is for us so I claim it and it gives me a great boost of faith every time. My prayer is that you become fluent in God’s language and that love, peace and joy will be in what you say every day. Be kind to yourself by speaking of God’s love for you. Stay in peace by speaking of God’s peace in your life. Be joyful by speaking of the joy of the Lord that is your strength. Find your inspiration in God before you speak. It will change your life. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Proverbs 15:4; Proverbs 18:21; Hebrews 4:12

10 nuggets of wisdom for your Saturday (Part 207)

God will make you glad. He will trade your sadness for His gladness. He will speak into your heart and shutter all worries and fear. God will make you glad. Turn to Him today!

Today God is going to be with you all day long. Today you might have trials and tribulations but the Lord has conquered them all. Today the joy of the Lord will be your strength. Today you can make it because the Lord won’t leave you and He won’t forsake you. Enjoy today!

Every battle you face ends in a victory in Jesus’ name. He won all your battles for you. He did it all. Trust the process and hold on to faith. You will get to the finish line. You will get to the victory. Stay encouraged!

Don’t just believe everything your mind says. You have to correct your mind and talk God sense into it. Don’t let your mind take you for a spin in “fear land.” Get ahold of your mind with the Word of God and take your mind into “faith land.”

You are going to make it because the Lord said you would have tribulations in this world but He conquered the world. Stay strong. Stay in faith. You are going to win this battle. God is on your side!

Jesus, the giver of life will give you peace. He will give you hope and a reason to keep going. He will give you a purpose and a plan. He will give you a new lease on life. Trust Jesus the giver of life!

God’s blessings are here to stay. You might be having a bad day but it doesn’t mean that God has stopped blessing you. Thank Him even on the bad days. Thank Him for His love endures forever. You are highly blessed and highly favored and no bad day can take that away from you!

Loving others is the most powerful command. Blessing others is a blessing. Helping others is a selfless act. Encouraging others is precious. Building others up is beautiful. Being Jesus to someone is priceless. Do it all out of love. Not for a price and not out of pride.

Don’t let the world play its music louder than your praise and your worship. Don’t let the music of the world take over your heart and leave no room for Jesus. Don’t let the emotions of the music that contradicts the Word become your world. Play your praise and worship in your heart and create a melody of peace and joy.

Keep your eyes on the promises of God. Keep your eyes on the truth of the Gospel. Keep your eyes on the love that died and rose again. Keep your eyes on the power of the Holy Spirit. Keep your eyes on Jesus!

Suggested reading: Mark 9:35; John 10:28-30; Hebrews 12:2

There is still hope

Without God there would be no hope. There would be no hope for today and there would be no hope for tomorrow. Today might look bad and tomorrow might look bleak but there is still hope. I am learning that with Jesus, the hope that is present in my life exceeds the problems, the anxiety and the trials that might come my way. The hope of the Lord can change my world in an instant. I know that meditating on hope has helped me tremendously and I strongly recommend that you do as well. What does the hope of the Lord look like? It looks like the opposite of doubt, bad thoughts, helpless thoughts and anything that might be discouraging you. Sometimes knowing that God is with us is not enough. We need to dig a little deeper and acknowledge Him in all our ways. He is there. He is present and we ought to engage with that truth. We need to be active in our minds and to seek His face. The Lord has all the hope we need. He has all the hope we ignore and all the hope we are not aware of. If we don’t spend time with God and we never open His Word, we can’t expect to have the hope that is needed to face today and tomorrow. Today I want to tell you that no matter what you are facing, there is still hope. Pray to have more hope. Pray to be aware of the hope. Pray you have the power to defeat anything that is sent to you by the enemy.

I remember a time when I had lost hope and I thought I wouldn’t be able to get out of a bad situation. I remember praying and asking for help. I begged God. I got on my knees and prayed. I made sure I was extra nice to everyone. I tried to buy my way out of my trials by being good. None of it worked until I heard inside that there was still hope. I was praying from the wrong angle. I was praying thinking that there was no hope and I gave prayer a shot just in case but hope was not on my radar. No matter what we are going through, the Lord is saying, “There is still hope.” He doesn’t change what He says. He is very consistent. I don’t know who needs to hear this today but believe me when I say that with Jesus there is still hope. There is hope that a miracle will take place. There is hope for restoration. There is hope for healing. There is hope for a solution. There is hope for an increase. There is hope for a blessing. There is hope for a breakthrough. There is hope for a better tomorrow. There is hope for a better today. There is hope for a big change. There is hope for joy. There is hope for peace. There is hope for love. There is hope for more money. There is hope for a job. There is hope for stability. There is still hope!

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”* There is hope in the Word of God. There is hope all over the Bible. I have seen a big change in my life when I started reading the Word of Hope on a regular basis. Before bed I meditate on the Word of hope. I listen to messages based on the Word of hope. I sing songs inspired by the Word of hope. I speak words from the Word of hope over my life. I hang on to the Word of hope. I trust the Word of hope more and more. I feed on the Word of hope. Everything I do spiritually helps me understand that there is still hope. When something bad happens, the Word of hope rises in me and the Spirit of the Lord reminds me of the promises. Hope is an anchor and we should throw it in the ocean of turmoil and expect that we will be steady and we will be strong when all goes wrong. Friend, there is still hope. Not just because I say it but because the Lord is telling you every day that there is still hope. Take Him at His word. There is still hope for you today and tomorrow so don’t give up. Stay encouraged! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 147:11; Proverbs 23:18; Romans 15:4*

You are in God’s heart

Do you ever wonder what’s in God’s heart? I think about that often. I know that you are there. I know that you and I are in His heart. I know that every person who has ever lived and who will ever live is in His heart. His heart is bigger than the universe. His heart is the most beautiful place to be and we are all in there. Think about that! You are where you are now but you are also in God’s heart and that is a permanent location for you. When you feel lost, you can always find yourself in His heart. What does that process look like? It requires taking some steps of faith. Being lost is something that can happen to any of us. When we are lost, we don’t know where to go and how to act. We can’t make sense of what is happening to us. Being lost is a bad experience. It puts us face to face with the unknown and that is scary. Being lost is a scary time and it is a time when we need a lot of comfort and a lot of guidance. The good news like I said before is that we can always be found in God’s heart. It is a precious place where we can find all we need. It is a place where His love is vibrant and His peace reigns. You can find yourself in God every day, all the time. Are you feeling lost today? Are you unsure of what to do and where to go? Go to the heart of God. Go where there is hope and where your home is. You  have a spot in His heart and He never spends a minute without you in His mind.

The heart is the place that holds what we love the most. Special things and special people are in our hearts. You and I have a special place in the Lord. He doesn’t just have us in His thoughts. We are at the core of who He is. His Word is His heart. His love is in His heart. When we are lost and we need to find ourselves, we need to look in God’s Word to find our way. We need to look at how He sees us and remember that He loves us. We might be lost but we are loved and in His love is where we can find comfort and peace again. The process of finding ourselves involves taking the time to embrace God’s love and to experience Him for ourselves. There are so many interferences. So many opinions of men that keep us from experiencing God. God loves you, friend. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Trusting that He loves you is the first step toward finding your way again. You need to arm yourself with the knowledge that you are loved and that God holds you to a high esteem. He is the One who can make a way for you and who can help resolve your issues and find a comfortable place to be. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you even more and you will see that His heart is immense and that there is plenty of room for you.

God is no respecter of persons. He doesn’t have a hierarchy of who He loves. He doesn’t love your neighbor more than He loves you. He doesn’t love pastors and preachers more than He loves you. Don’t let that interference get in the way. You have a solid place in God’s heart. Everything He promises in His Word is available to you and that is where you should be right now. You might be in a tough spot physically or emotionally but know that spiritually you are in the heart of God where anything is possible. You are in a place where there is an overflow of all good things. You are surrounded by hope, love, faith, peace, blessings and miracles. You are in a place where nothing can stop you from reaching your highest potential. Use your eyes of faith and see yourself where you belong. You belong with God and He has opened His heart to you so stay there. It’s normal that you may wander but never wonder if God still loves you. Never think that He will kick you out of His heart. Find refuge in Him. Enjoy your place in the heart of the One who can do all things. Stay strong. You are in God’s hands and in His heart! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Isaiah 54:10; Romans 8:37-39; 1 John 4:9-11