Hope in Jesus

I talk about hope a lot because God is a God of hope. I didn’t know that when the God I was familiar with was a God of religion and restrictions. I was always under the impression that hope was limited to a few privileged believers in God. Isn’t that sad? Some of the doctrines I subscribed to were very dismissive and void of hope. They focused on being pious and on getting rewards from God based on what I did right. Every time I made a mistake, I felt guilty and unworthy. There was no real hope for redemption or for salvation to tell you the truth. I completely misunderstood what God was all about and I had no hope. I didn’t believe that things could get better in my life. I did my best to please God but hope was never something I experienced. This all changed once I got in touch with the real God.

I got in touch with God by entering into His gates through Jesus. Jesus became my doorway to God, my doorway to Heaven and my doorway to the truth. One of the first things that stood out about Jesus was how much hope He gave me. The more I got to know Him, the more I was filled with hope. First, there was hope for salvation. I became aware of His salvation and of His role in the whole process. He had died on the cross for my sins and I could receive salvation through Him. He was the guardian of all good things and hope was part of them. When you encounter Jesus, you can’t help but become hopeful. Life takes on a new meaning. You are in the presence of hope and it changes your perspective and your outlook on life.

If you are looking for hope today, remember that it is still alive and well and you can always find hope in Jesus. Don’t look at your hopeless circumstances. Change your focus and look at Jesus. Spend time reading about Him and talking to Him. He will give you hope. You will discover that He is the hope of the world and that with Him everything is possible. With Him, life is not a series of failures and defeats. With Him, life is a series of challenges that get resolved and defeats that get defeated. Yes, Jesus will defeat your defeats. Isn’t that amazing? He will turn your worst situations into blessings and rivers of hope will flow through your life.

There is nothing that the Lord can’t change and nothing He can’t fix. When you have Jesus, you have the best chance to make it. He is a situation changer. He is a hope giver and His hope is never in vain. He doesn’t fake His hope and His promises. He keeps His promises and one of them is to give you hope to get through anything in life. You have the Savior of the world in you and with you and hope is never going to leave you. You might lose sight of it. You might forget about it. You might not believe in it but it doesn’t mean that hope is not there. It is always there and it always fulfills its purpose. Hope’s purpose is to confirm God’s goodness and it is a great witness to His faithfulness.

When you hope in Jesus, you hope in love, life-changing power and endless possibilities. You never know what God can do in your life when you have His hope in you. He can stretch possibilities and multiply blessings. He can reverse the course of your life and put you on a path where peace and joy will be strewn all over the place. God’s path for your life is paved with hope. Every step of the way you should believe there is hope. Every step of the way you should keep in mind that things are not the way they look but they are the way the Lord says they are. Faith will help you walk through the worst valleys and climb the highest mountains. The King of hope will carry you through everything and you will be able to overcome the most difficult circumstances.

Jesus is the hope you need today and you will never be disappointed when you fix your eyes on Him and you refuse to succumb to the world’s problems. Problems will never go away but neither will Jesus and if you have Jesus, you have all you need. If you have Jesus, you have all you need. Keep your hopes up. Keep your hopes in Jesus. Keep walking and trusting and you will never go astray. Hope is a blessing that will always walk by your side. Stay strong. Stay encouraged and stay hopeful. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: Psalm 16:9; Jeremiah 17:7; Romans 5:5

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Winning the battle of the mind

What we listen to ends up creating a framework in our minds. The more we listen to the same things, the more of a hold they have on our thinking. If we listen to negative banter all the time, we will develop a negative mindset. Negative banter comes in the form of what we actually hear out loud and in the form of the thoughts that pop into our heads. This is why we have to guard our minds and be careful what we let in. I learned that I had been too passive when it came to my thinking and it ultimately affected my belief system. I believed in God but my mind had holes in it. Holes that allowed negative thinking to seep in and to plug in the missing parts with negative parts. We have to be a lot more active in our heads. Thank God, the Lord gives us weapons to use against negative thinking. He knows the importance of what we hear and what we let grow in our minds. He clearly says in His Word that we should renew our minds. I know His encouragement is extremely crucial. God loves our faith. If our faith is tampered with and it is lacking substance, it is not solid and it is not the kind of faith that is pleasing to God. He wants us to have blind faith or total faith in Him. That kind of faith comes from hearing the message of the Bible over and over again and trusting it. We ought to make it a part of our thinking and it has to be engrained in us. The number one tool against negative thinking is positive listening. Positive listening based in the Lord. When we listen to the Word of God and we meditate on it, we go through the process of positive listening. It is active listening. Listening here is not just hearing and forgetting about what we hear. Positive active listening is listening to the Word of God, dwelling on it and giving it a chance to become a part of us. Then the Word invades our belief system and it stays inside of us.

Today I want to encourage you to watch what you listen to and make sure that the Word of God is a priority in your life. Friend, it will help you fight the negative thoughts the enemy wants you to dive into. He desires for you to drown in his oven of mental confusion. He is the king of overthinking and he uses that technique to weaken our faith and to isolate us from God. Overthinking doesn’t find constructive solutions and it keeps us in a mental jail that has no way out. Overthinking creates horrible realities that did not exist in the first place. Overthinking gives us faith in the negative and it sows deep seeds of doubt in us. It takes advantage of the fragile state of mind it promotes and uses that fertile soil of doubt for more doubt to grow. If you are battling overthinking now, distract yourself. Get out of that mindset by imposing another mindset on top of it. That mindset should be the mindset of the Lord. Get into the Word. Read encouraging passages that you have highlighted. Tear down the obsessive thinking by injecting the light of the Lord. God’s Word is a powerful light that can remove negativity. Be resilient. Keep going into the Word. Dig deep and find the strength you need. It is there for you. God will give you the power to overcome what is eating you inside. Trust Him. He will do that for you. He has what it takes. It is in His Word and it can destroy the strongholds of the enemy. The Word of God is so amazing and so strong. Stick with it and you will see a big change in your thinking. It will happen for you.

The Holy Spirit is a great ally. He will assist you in your fight against negative thinking. He will remind you of the love of the Lord and how much He takes care of you. This battle is already won. Now, you can get over the bad thinking. Get into partnership with the Spirit of God and arm yourself with His Word. Ask Him to guide you on this journey to a more positive way of thinking. The Holy Spirit always magnifies Jesus and that is a great way to conquer negative thinking. Stay focused on Jesus. Let your adoration of His majesty be a daily occurrence. Worship and praise Him more. Friend, it does work! It makes a huge difference in your mind. Praises are the gates of Heaven showing up at the threshold of your mind willing to come in and to transform you. I love getting lost in praise and worship. I come out of those beautiful sessions altered. My mind is more positive and my faith is intensified. However, I have to keep doing it. One praise session a week is not enough. Negativity doesn’t take a break so we shouldn’t take a break either. Let’s be active worshippers who listen to the Word of God as much as possible. Let’s work with the Spirit of God. Let’s be receptive to His guidance and let’s stay close to Jesus. We will win the battle of the mind when we fill our minds with the Lord. We can do this! We can win the battle of the mind in the name of Jesus! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: Romans 12:12; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 1 Peter 1:13

God’s light

When I got eye surgery, my life completely changed. I went from having to wear contacts or glasses all the time to be being able to see all the time without any assistance. It was like night and day. I never thought that I could ever see that clearly without glasses. It was as if I had stepped into a new dimension. Everything looked so real and so true. It is hard to explain but what I can say is that it was one of the best moments of my life in terms of transformation. However, the best moment of my life, hands down, was when I got saved. It was a similar experience but on a much higher level. I went from being spiritually blind to being able to see the light. I had lived in darkness for a while. I had had glimpses of hope and glimpses of who the Lord was all about but those glimpses didn’t compare to the real thing. They were nice previews that gave me a reason to pursue Jesus. Those insights into who the Lord was were like contacts and lenses that allowed me to see the truth for a short time. When I got saved, the light became permanent and I was able to see what I had been missing my whole life. The light of the Lord is such a powerful tool in our lives and we should never underestimate it. We should cherish God’s light and His truth and keep walking in it with our spiritual eyes wide open.

The Word of God is a lamp into our feet. His Word is the lamp that can guide us into all things. We can never stay in the dark when we follow the lamp of the Lord. We should actually spend a lot of time in His Word so we can be enlightened and filled with wisdom. The amount of darkness that is in the world is huge and we need to work against so many principalities and powers. The power to counteract those evil forces is only found in the Lord and His Word gives us instructions on how to stay in His light and how to avoid the traps of darkness. When I read the Word of God, it is like a light is turned on and I can see into some of the mysteries of God. This happens when I read and study the Word prayerfully. When I get in sync with the Spirit of God, His Word comes alive and I dive into the wonderful world of our Savior. I love spending time in the Word especially when the world is so chaotic. I find peace and I find joy when I am in the Word. I strongly encourage you to make it a habit to turn on the light of the Lord and to stay under the rays of His great love. His light will refresh you and invigorate you. It will open your eyes and it will close the doors to the darkness that tries to mislead you. God’s light is the truth that you need to be set free so embrace His light, embrace His Word.

When someone turns on a light, darkness scatters. Some people would say that darkness disappears and I love that idea as well. God, the light, can make your darkness disappear when you turn on His light. Your enemies, your fears and your doubts will scatter when you turn on the light of the Lord. How do you turn it on? Like I mentioned earlier, the Word of God is the light you need and being familiar with it is crucial. Making sure that the Word of God has an important part in your life is extremely helpful. Jesus brings light and He is the light so daily communion with Him also allows you to turn on the light that will always set you free. Jesus will not only give you insights into who He is and how He made you but He will teach you how to live a fulfilling life in Him. He is the light that keeps on giving more light so don’t expect Him to ever be extinguished in your life. He is always on. You might have to adjust how you connect with Him but He is always on and always ready to shine in your life. He is like that permanent contact lens that enables you to see clearly at all times. Jesus will help you deal with all forms of spiritual blindness so stick to Him and stay close to Him. He is the best light you will ever find. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading:Psalm 119:105; Proverbs 6:23; 2 Peter 1:19

When history exceeds itself

People say that history repeats itself when something takes place more than once. It can be a good event or a bad event. I am learning that with God history not only repeats itself but it can exceed itself. When we try to develop faith or to be strong in our faith, it is important to remember what God did for us in the past. We don’t have to dwell in the past but we can revisit some of the victories and breakthroughs we have experienced thanks to the Lord. Those great memories should stay alive in our hearts and serve as a platform for faith for great things to come. We can use those great memories and build our faith on them because our God is faithful and if He did it before, He will do it again. Not only will He do it again but He will do great things and better things. Think of the Lord as the One who makes sure that you go from glory to glory and He will move Heaven and earth for you to be blessed. Once I understood that God wanted me to be blessed all the time, I became more confident in the relationship I had with Him. He is a good, good God who gives good, good things. History with God is a sequence of blessings, revelations, enlightenment and triumphs. I am so glad that I am doing this life with Jesus and He is writing my history one blessing at a time, one breakthrough at a time, one boost a time. Today I want to reiterate that God can repeat history in your life and exceed it. He can do great things in your life that will exceed all your expectations. Enjoy the journey and adore your daily companion. Jesus is the best companion you can have!

Do you ever see your life as a series of events made of ups and downs? The good news is that God is in control and He watches over you. He takes the time to make your life the best time ever when you rely on Him. When you trust Him and you depend on Him, He makes all things new and He gives you great things to remember Him by. I can’t count the number of times the Lord has intervened in my life. He has come out of nowhere more than once. He has blessed me in ways that I can’t understand and I can’t explain. He has taken me out of bad situations and He has saved my life more than once. I ought to remember all of His goodness and keep count of His blessings. They truly give me a spiritual boost and they are a great inspiration to others. God has rebuilt my history. I was heading the wrong path. I was lost and I wasn’t sure where I was going. I had no hope and I had tons of problems. My life was out of control at times and I had no idea what was going on. When Jesus is not your Savior, things can spin out of control. When Jesus is your Savior, you still go through valleys and challenges but He puts His own spin on your life and changes things for the better. My history is His story and I couldn’t be any more grateful. 

I like to think of the Lord as the One who exceeds what I expect. He is way bigger than all my trials and He will remain as powerful tomorrow as He is today and as He was yesterday. He is the same with you. He is going to change your life in ways you couldn’t imagine. He is going to bless you more and more so stay in faith. Keep strong and believe that your God is going to write amazing chapters in the story of your life. He has powerful plans for your life. Not just good plans but powerful ones. Plans that defy all understanding. Meditate on that and let that truth become reality in you. You are going to experience God in a miraculous way when you faith in His powerful ability to bless you more than anyone can. He is above anything that is good in this world. He is better than this world. Think of that. Think of the best things in this world and remember that God is better than all of them combined. Expect great things. Expect our great God to show up and bless you. Have a “great God mentality.” May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; Ephesians 3:20

No complaints

There are a lot of challenges on social media. Some of them I don’t really understand. I guess they are really entertaining for some people who get a kick out of them. Some challenges are quite interesting and they bring a lot to the people who take them. I like to challenge myself. I don’t do it in a competition against others but I challenge myself against myself. I have started praying for direction about some challenges that I should take for my spiritual growth. The one the Holy Spirit suggested recently was the “no complaint” challenge. The Lord inspired me to spend a week without complaining about anything. He put it in my heart to be complaint-free for a whole week in my actions and in my words. The goal is for that week to eventually turn into a month and to turn this whole thing into a lifestyle. A life with no complaints is a life well-lived to the glory of God. We complain so much. Complaining is part of our DNA and it comes naturally to a lot of us. Complaints take on different forms and they are hard to perceive at times. We don’t call complaining by its right name when it is so ingrained in us. God wants us to be honest with ourselves and to call a spade a spade. Today I want to invite you to take the “no complaint” challenge with me. Decide that from now on you will pay attention to your complaining and you will work on eliminating it from your life. It is a process and it takes work and effort but it produces great fruit. Jesus calls us not to complain but to rejoice in all things and to keep a grateful heart.

The other day after my morning prayer, I went over the things I needed to take care of that day. I had quite a few errands to run and a meeting to attend. Then the invigorating thought that I had nothing to complain about came to mind. I had a lot to do but in reality none of it was bad. None of it made my life difficult. None of it made me miserable unless I chose to be miserable. None of if was negative in itself. It might have been tedious but a lot of people would love to have the tedious tasks I had. I needed to see them as blessings and not as annoyances. I was blessed to be so busy. I was blessed to have a full schedule. The Lord was whispering to my heart that I had nothing to complain about. I could choose to complain but if I did I would be choosing to do something that the Lord doesn’t want me to do. I would be going against His will and I would be magnifying my flesh instead of letting my spirit take over. My spirit wants to embrace the fruit of the Spirit because I am saved. Your spirit, friend, wants to feed on the fruit of the Spirit and express those wonderful nine traits. Love is at the top of the (spiritual) fruit pyramid. Love doesn’t complain. Love doesn’t focus on what’s wrong. Love sees the good and rejoices over the goodness of the Lord even when things are not going well. Love rejects complaining and that is what I need to adopt in my life. The love attitude is everything!

The “no complaint” challenge consists in simply not complaining about anything. Complaints can be verbal or physical. Our bodies know how to express complaints very well. Look around and observe people and you will notice how body language speaks negatively very easily. The “no complaint” challenge encourages us to not speak about anything negatively and to no complain about anything including small little things. We can do it. We can make sure we don’t say anything that puts the Lord down. Complaining is actually undermining the Lord. When we complain we tell Him what He gives us is not good enough. We tell Him the people in our lives are not good enough. The Bible tells us to watch what we say and to not give way to negative talk. Complaining is negative talk. You might feel better when you complain but it hurts you more than you know spiritually. It creates holes in the fruit of the Spirit that are trying to grow in your life. You end up with half of the apple of love and half of the strawberry of patience so to speak. Our fruit in the Lord should be complete and negativity causes things to decay and fall apart in no time. Complaining is a sport for some of us and we ought to give it up and take on more positive challenges. Love is the best challenge we can take on and when we walk in love we definitely walk in God’s will. Spend the next week focusing on what you say and banish complaints from your life. You will see some very positive changes every day. Stay positive. Stay with Jesus. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: Ephesians 4:29; Philippians 2:1-18; James 5:9

God’s love endures forever

When I need a boost, I spend time looking into God’s love. I know that His steadfast love never ends. My misery or any negative feeling I have ends when I focus on His love. God’s love puts an end to all forms of suffering that we might experience. Pain, sadness, sorrow and hurt can’t win again God’s love. I rub His love against my problems and my emotions and His love always prevails. If you are feeling funky today and you are not thrilled about how things are going in your life, rub God’s love against whatever is bothering you and you will see a major change. Remember that God’s love will always be stronger than anything the enemy sends your way. As a young Christian I was floored by Romans 8:38-39 that tells us that nothing can separate us from God’s love. I love how these verses enumerate all possible obstacles that might try to get between God and us. None of them can ever separate us from God and from His love. I don’t like heights and deep oceans and the Bible declares that no depth can separate you and me from God’s love. Now, think about the depth of your problems or the depth of the negative emotions that are haunting you. They might be very deep and debilitating but they can’t conquer God’s love. Rub God’s love against them but letting His love be what you lift up. Don’t exalt the bad feelings. Squash them with God’s love. Don’t let them take on a life of their own that will drag you down and hurt you.

“Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever. Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”* Today I want to encourage you to join in and make that declaration. Declare that God’s steadfast love endures forever. It can’t be quenched and it can’t be deleted from your life. No matter what you do and no matter what you go through, God’s love will remain the same. It is such a strong encouragement from the Lord Himself. It is a promise He made and He always keeps His promises. When things go wrong, God’s love is not extinguished. His love is a burning fire that will remove all negativity from your life and that will make things right. His love is supreme and it is bigger than all the hate of the enemy. When you think about it, the enemy hands out his hate to all of us all the time. He does it through negative thoughts, trials, tribulations, overwhelming negative emotions and other dark schemes. He is the king of this world but that doesn’t mean he has to rule our lives. As a matter of fact, you and I should dethrone him in our lives. We should constantly make Jesus the King of our lives. We should constantly tap into Jesus’ love and reject the abuse of the enemy. We can do that by deciding to react to the bad offerings of the enemy with God’s peace and with faith. Jesus said His love was enough and that should be enough for us to keep on going and to stay hopeful.

Give thanks to God today then because His love will get you through anything. Your biggest problems are no match for God’s love. Your biggest fears are no match for God’s love. Your biggest doubts are no match for God’s love. Your biggest trials are no match for God’s love. You are going to make it because of God’s love. His love is hope and peace and it is available to you all the time. Every morning when you wake up, thank God for His love. Throughout the day, Thank God for His love. Keep a grateful heart and you will feel better. Keep a grateful heart and you will have more hope. Keep a grateful heart and you will see the goodness of God in your life. There is so much good around you and in you and God’s love is the reason for all the wonderful things in your life. The enemy will keep on trying to blind you to the goodness of God so keep thanking the Lord even when you don’t feel like it. There is hope with the Lord, friend. There is always hope. God’s love is a bulldozer that can flatten any hurdles and remove any yokes and pain. You are going to get better in the name of Jesus because of His powerful love for you. You are going to have better days in the name of Jesus because of His powerful love for you. You are going to conquer the negative thoughts that keep popping in your head because of the Lord’s powerful love for you. Things are about to change for you. God is tilting the scale in your favor. Stay encouraged and stay strong. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 118:1-2*; Psalm 136:1; Lamentations 3:22-23

Hope

If you are being discouraged today and you don’t know what to do, I want to remind you that with Jesus there is always hope. God has not said His last words yet about your life. He is going to speak miracles and restoration over your life. Don’t give up hope. It is not gone and it is not lost. When you made Jesus the Savior of your life, you made hope a part of your life. It is a big part of your life. You have Jesus and He is hope. Set your hope on the grace that was given to you like the Bible says. God’s grace is sufficient and because it is, you can always have hope of a better today and tomorrow. Keep your hope in the Lord alive. Don’t let it be extinguished by the problems and the trials that life has been serving you. Help yourself to a big dose of hope in the Lord and hold on to it. There is nothing the Lord can’t turn around. Have hope in that. Whatever you are going through can be reversed in the name of Jesus. Whatever you are facing is not too big for the Lord to handle. There will always be hope and you need to remind your problems that hope will always win. Jesus came to set you free and to give you eternal hope. The enemy is there to steal your joy and rob you of your hope but he is not more powerful than the Lord. Side with Jesus and you will side with hope. Side with Jesus and you will side with the truth. People will tell you that you should give up and you should forget about it. That could be their truth and their belief but you don’t believe like the world. Believe like the Lord. Hope is here to stay and you are going to make it through every trial and tribulation because hope is on your side. Jesus won’t let you down.

Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. It also used to be defined as a feeling of trust. Hope in Jesus goes beyond feelings. It works with faith. It knows what to expect and it believes without seeing. It is not based on how we feel but on what we know. We know that Jesus is Lord and that nothing can separate us from His love. We also know that He died on the cross and came back to life to save us. We know that nothing is impossible with Him and no situation we encounter is ever too difficult for Him. We know that there are no difficulties for Him. There are no mountains too high and no valleys too deep. Jesus is unbeatable and unparalleled. His hope is unbeatable and unparalleled. Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is never in vain. It is very powerful when you let it blossom and grow inside of you. His hope has the ability to make things change. It can change your mood, your feelings and your circumstances. It is having hope in Jesus that creates the impossible. Don’t underestimate the power of hope. Don’t neglect hope and don’t kick it out of your temple. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit and hope should be in the core of your beliefs.

In Christ we have the hope of glory. We have the hope that He will show up and bless us. He always will. Sometimes we have to hold on to hope a little longer but the Lord  always comes and He always keeps His word. Don’t let your circumstances dictate how you should feel and what you should think. Let the hope of the Lord show you how you should feel and what you should think. You should think that there is a way and you should feel ready to celebrate Him as much as possible. Hope is telling you today that there is no reason to fear and no reason to worry. Hope is with you and it will never leave you so tap into it. Tap into the power of hope and you will see things through the lens of faith. Let the power of hope fill your spirit and fill your mind. There is hope today and there will be hope tomorrow. Continue to hope in Jesus. Continue to trust and to expect great things. Hope in Jesus and you will renew your strength! Hope in Jesus is trusting Jesus. Your trust in Him can change your life. Give your life a chance to be filled with hope when you trust Jesus no matter what. Hope is here to stay!

Suggested reading: Hebrews 10:23; Colossians 1:27; 1 Peter 1:13

The God of miracles

What do you need now? What do you need for your situation to get better? You might need a miracle or at least it might feel like a miracle is what it would take for your circumstances to improve. The good news is that God is in the business of miracles. He is the inventor of miracles and He has a lot of experience with miracles. As a matter of fact, miracles are in His veins. God is a miracle. That is how I see Him. He came into my life and saved me. He is the miracle I had been waiting for so long. I am getting to know Him and I am learning about His miracle-working power. He is more proficient in miracles than anyone you will ever meet. Therefore, you should go to Him. Turn to Him today. Ask for your miracle. Pray to Him. Be a relentless prayer warrior and show Him that you know He is the miracle maker. God is a miracle maker. What seems like a miracle to us is just another normal act to Him. Parting the seas, turning water into wine are just everyday occurrences for Him. We don’t see them happen because we don’t have the faith for it. It sometimes takes corporate faith for major things like that to take place. Get to know the God of miracles. In the Bible you will find many accounts of His miracles and you will be amazed by His power and by what He can do. He can do the impossible. If there is one thing you should retain from this message is that God can do the impossible. Your miracle is not that far away and it is not something God has to come up with after a long period of reflection and planning. God can reverse any situation, restore anything that needs to be fixed and improve any circumstances. There is something great that will happen to you when you rely on God. You don’t have to bring a huge amount of faith to Him. All He needs is your mustard seed of faith and a heart that is open and willing to receive from Him. The God of miracles can take your situation and make it so much better that you will completely forget that you were in distress at one point.

The parting of the Red Sea is one of the miracles in the Bible that has had the most impact on me. It is an act of God that represents what God can do very well. Who could part the seas and make a path for people to walk on if not God? I am sure that with today’s technology men could do something similar but we are talking about an event that took place centuries ago when such a thing was inconceivable. I have been faced with a Red Sea of my own before. A barrier, a huge hurdle, an impossible situation that kept me from reaching a place of peace. I have contemplated that sea and thought many times that there was no way I would be able to go through it or to come out of it in one piece. My heart used to get broken a lot and I would find its many pieces on the threshold of hope with too much discouragement to even think of repair and restoration. However, God has come through for me all the time. He has picked up the pieces and put my heart back together better than it had been before. God is not intimidated by the seas. It doesn’t matter how big and rocky the oceans of your life are. God can part them and neutralize them. With one word He can make them move away from your path and He can make you walk on dry land. Think of the dry land as the path to your miracles. Many are the paths of the Lord so be assured that no sea can stop Him and He will not only make your path clear but He will make sure that it leads to a great miracle.

When I started thinking about how miracles are nothing extraordinary for God, it helped my thinking align with God’s. Miracles are amazing events that defy logic and nature. God is an amazing God who defies logic and nature and it is in His nature to create miracles. Trust and believe that the miracle you need today is something that God will do for you very easily. Trust and believe that God loves you very much and He is more than willing to shower you with miracles. Trust and believe that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and He has never stopped performing miracles. Join the group of believers that know without a doubt that miracles are for us today. Join the group of believers that understand that God is the miracle-worker that the world needs today. The outcome of your current situation doesn’t hinge upon your abilities, your money, your intellect and your luck. It all depends on your Savior and He is the God of miracles. He is the One who is going to solve your problem. He is the One you should put in charge of your situation by faith. It is not over yet. Your miracle can still take place. God is not too late and He is not limited by time and space. He has enough room to create something miraculous in your life and He always has the perfect timing. You are so blessed! You are a child of the God of miracles! Stretch out your hand over your sea of problems and the Lord will drive it away from you and make a way for dry land and there will be a path to your miracle!

Suggested reading: Exodus 14:21; Jeremiah 32:27; Mark 10:27

Take steps of faith

I was walking with a friend the other day and all of a sudden I noticed how fast we were going. We focused on what we were talking about and not so much on the walk itself. Our conversation was the motivation. We had a great conversation that occupied our minds so much that we didn’t realize how far and how much we walked. It made me think about the steps I take every day toward the destination the Lord has for me. When I am focused on Him and my thoughts are centered around Him, I made progress and I go far. I don’t spend too much time thinking about how I will get to my destination. I think about the One who gets me there and it is amazing how far I get. The Lord wants us to move forward and to make progress in life. We are on a spiritual path and every step we take matters. That is why we have to watch our steps and be careful how we walk. The best way to walk is with the Lord. We can walk forward with Him by our side and when we follow His steps we can never go wrong. Today I want to encourage you to take a few steps forward with the Lord. Trust His lead. Trust His guidance. Walk with Him. Take steps of faith. Don’t hold back. Don’t waver. Don’t hesitate. Walk and keep walking. Walk with confidence and walk in peace. The Lord will get you where you need to go. Take the steps of faith that will put you on the right track.

Faith can be intimidating because it believes before seeing and we are so programmed to believe after seeing. It makes more sense to us that what we see if what we trust. Faith doesn’t make sense and yet it is more reliable and more powerful than our natural senses. It is a spiritual sense if you will that surpasses the natural. I think of it as my supernatural power and I love how we can grow in it and learn more about it. A lot of it has come through experience for me. I find myself in situations where I have to rely on faith and the thougher the situation, the more faith I need. I have been through times when I had to mature in faith overnight. At least that is how it felt. I had to take steps of faith. Going backwards was not an option. It was either faith or fail. Faith pushed me forward and it spoke gently telling me that the only way was up. Faith understands that we can go from glory to glory and we can make strides. Faith is about advancement and not regression. There are great steps of faith that you can take in every area of your life. Steps that will distance you from fear. As you know, faith is the opposite of fear so when you take a step of faith, you take a step away from fear. Don’t you want to walk away from fear? If you do, start taking steps of faith on a daily basis.

You are going to walk far with the Lord. You are going to walk away from your past and walk away from fear and doubt. Don’t look back. Look ahead. Know that your steps are God directed and they are taking you somewhere great. So take steps of faith. Walk and go to where your mind doesn’t think you can go but your heart knows you can get there easily with God. The steps you take in faith are never in vain. They will always produce great results. They might feel like you are walking in the dark and you are lost but with faith you don’t need to know how you are going to get to your destination.You just need to trust that your steps are the right steps. Faith knows without a doubt that the walk with God is safe and secure. Go for a walk with the Lord every day. Focus on Him more than on anything else and you will see that you are going far and you are making progress. Enjoy the walk!

Suggested reading: 2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 11:6; James 2:14-26

10 nuggets of wisdom for your Saturday (Part 149)

Be vulnerable with God. Be at His mercy. Let Him hold you in the palm of His hand. Surrender. Be the clay and let Him to be the potter. Let God be God in your life!

Believe in the impossible every day by declaring that God can do the impossible in your life every single day! What you say matters. Say what God has to say about your situations all the time.

Never pass an opportunity to praise the Lord. Every excuse is a good excuse to exalt Jesus above everything. Do it often. Do it whenever! Do it when it hurts. Do it when you are joyful. Do it when it’s confusing. Do it when you have clarity. Do it all the time!

God’s plan for you is so good that no one can duplicate it or imitate it. Stick with His plan. Trust that He has the best plan. Embrace His plan for your life. It is detailed and well-prepared.

God opens a world of possibilities that clashes with your world of difficulties. Let Him change your world and bring great things out of nothing.

Wisdom from above destroys the misconceptions and misunderstandings of this world. God’s wisdom clarifies and polishes the ideas that need to be purified and made brand new. Out with the old patterns of thinking and in with the new ways of God’s thinking.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Join the worship of the angels and let the melodies of Heaven be louder than the noise of the world. Fill your heart with praise and give a voice to the worship within. Lift up the name of Jesus. Lift His name above all names!

The Lord makes rivers in the desert. He will make peace in the middle of the storm. He will make joy in the middle of sorrow. He will make miracles in the middle of the impossible. He will make healing in the middle of sickness. He will make you whole in the middle of your brokenness.

There is hope beyond the clouds. Don’t look at the sky and see darkness. Look at the sky and see what’s above the storm. Faith will show you the sun and the beautiful weather that is coming. Rejoice over the sunshine even when it’s raining.

There is power and authority in the name of Jesus. Face the day with the name of power. Face the adversity with the name of authority. Face life with Jesus and you will see His power and His authority over everything in this world.

Suggested reading: Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 2:9