The power of a prayer of thanksgiving

I know what it’s like to get discouraged by bills. I know what it’s like to panic when you receive an unexpected bill or when your new electric bill is very high. Electricity rates just doubled in my state. I signed up for a cheaper supplier but it will take months for the new rate to kick in. I recently received my new bill and it is double what it used to be. I received the bill in an email that I read early in the morning. I was a bit disheartened and I wasn’t happy to say the least. I didn’t plan on spending that much money and my mind started getting overwhelmed. I knew that God was my saving grace. If I let this overthinking business get the best of me, my day was not going to be good. I started praying. I didn’t start praying to get the money to pay my bill. I prayed differently.

 I started praying, thanking the Lord for supplying my needs and for paying my bills. Most of my prayer was a prayer of thanksgiving. Those prayers are what we need to say before we panic and get into fear mode. I thanked the Lord for all I had and I thanked Him for being my Lord and Savior. I thanked Him for being faithful and for keeping His promises. Friend, if you are facing high bills or if you are facing anything that is trying to steal your joy, say a prayer of thanksgiving. Thank the Lord for having your back. Thank the Lord for holding you in the palm of His hand. Thank the Lord for being more than enough. Thank the Lord for taking care of you. Thank Him for paying the bills. Thank Him for footing the bill. Put it all on Him with thanksgiving. Thank Him for the opportunity to demonstrate your faith. Thank God before you discard God!

When things are not going well, it’s easy to discard God and to ignore Him. Our first instinct is to panic and to overthink. We try to find solutions on our own before we turn to the One who has all solutions. We doubt God’s ability to help when we focus too much on the problem. We forget about praise and thanksgiving. We think too much about the consequences of our trials and their impact on our lives. God has an impact on our lives that we shouldn’t underestimate. We should focus on His goodness and remind ourselves that it never goes away. When I read the bill, I didn’t read hope and faith. I read damage and fear but that changed when I said a prayer of thanksgiving. That prayer erased the fear and it removed the doubt. It made me realize that God is good all the time. It reminded me that the Lord provides my needs according to His riches in glory.

 The prayer of thanksgiving changed my mind. It blessed my heart. It gave me hope. It gave me a faith boost. It encouraged me. It made me soar above the anxiety and the stress the enemy wanted me to experience. It liberated me. It set me free from confusion and from the lies. Every time we buy into the lies of defeat, lack and failure, we miss the point. The point is that even though we seem to not have enough, we always have a God who is more than enough. My prayer of thanksgiving made me think about the One who is more than enough and that sweet awareness stayed with me during the day. I reverted to that prayer a few times during the day and experienced the peace that surpasses all understanding and the joy of the Lord that is my strength. Friend, say prayers of thanksgiving throughout the day. Say them when all is well and when all is bad. There is tremendous power in the prayer of thanksgiving. Power to change your mood, to change your mind, to change your perspective and to change the atmosphere.

Use the power of the prayer of thanksgiving as often as you can. You will see things differently. You will see things the way the Lord sees them. He doesn’t see lack. He doesn’t see failure. He sees abundance. He sees victory. He sees that anything is possible. The other day, I found out that one kid I had been tutoring didn’t need tutoring anymore. I said a prayer of thanksgiving. I thanked the Lord for her. I thanked Him for allowing me to help her and to have fun along the way. We got along very well and we laughed during every session. I was very proud of how much progress she had made over the past few months. I did lose a client and I tried not to think of it the wrong way.

 My mind started going in the wrong direction but then the Holy Spirit brought me back to my senses. My Holy Ghost senses. One of those senses is thanksgiving. An hour after my prayer of thanksgiving, I received an email from a lady who runs a tutoring business. I had worked for her before. She asked me if I had time to take on two new kids. The power of the prayer of thanksgiving is real all the time. God did something very amazing and I thanked Him even more. Friend, thank God today. Thank God tomorrow. Don’t get tired of thanking Him. He will give you more reasons to thank Him. Don’t get discouraged. Stay in thanksgiving mode! May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always bless you!

Suggested reading: 1 Samuel 12:24; Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:15

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Thanks be to God

Every year I say the same thing; thanksgiving to God shouldn’t be limited to one day. Don’t get me wrong I love the idea of having a Thanksgiving day. I love the holiday and I am thankful for it. (Pun intended). I also love that we can thank God every day of the year. My everyday thanksgiving is a great tradition. I embarked on that tradition years ago and it has been a great blessing. There is power in thanking the Lord in everything. There is joy when we thank the Lord. I think that thanksgiving is the answer to a lot of our problems. For one thing, thanksgiving shifts the attention from the problem to the solution. Thanksgiving keeps our eyes on our Savior and it gives us hope. We can have hope every day. With the Lord there is hope every single day. No matter what life throws at you or what the enemy tells you, there will always be hope. Hope in the Lord should be the anchor of our lives.

 Hope in the Lord should be the theme of our lives. My life has been so much better since I have been trusting the Hope that gives life. I thank Him for His hope. If you don’t know what to thank the Lord for, thank Him for the everlasting hope you find in Him. He tells us in His Word to be thankful all the time. We can start with hope. We can start with Him. Let’s thank the Lord for Who He is. Let’s thank Him for His love, for His precious sacrifice, for His blood, for His salvation. We don’t have to thank God for what is happening in our lives right now. We should. By all means we should but we should thank Him with the attitude of faith. We should thank Him for the things that are not here yet but that we believe will take place. Thanks be to God every day and always. He is good every day and always. He is God every day and always. Let’s thank Him as much as we can.

“Thanks be to God” is what my spirit declares when my mind gets discouraged. It took me a long time to get to the point where I could just thank the Lord despite my circumstances. My spirit loves to thank the Lord. I have been thanking Him for the simplest things. I have been thanking Him for big things. I have been thanking Him for holding me in the palm of His hand. Isn’t that huge? God holds us. He carries us. He transports us from one blessing to the next. He makes sure that we are protected and we are covered. He sees us as gems that are a real treasure. His love for us is beyond any love we will encounter in this life. That’s wild! That’s amazing. 

Thank God for His love that is out of this world. This powerful and tremendous love is all directed to us. What a blessing! What an honor! We are highly blessed and highly favored. That’s an everyday reality. We can thank Him for that all the time. We can praise Him for that all the time. We always have something to thank the Lord for. It’s ok if it’s the same things over and over again. What He wants us to do is thank Him. Thank Him for keeping an eye on you and for making you the apple of His eye. You are so dearly loved, friend. That deserves a strong hallelujah and a big “Thank You.”

When we thank the Lord in all things, we acknowledge Him in all things. God is with us all the time and He is never going to leave. He wants us to invite Him into everything we do. Before we start a task, we should thank God for the task. Before we start work, we should thank God for work. Before we go on a trip whether it is a trip to the grocery store or to another country, we should thank God for the trip. Before we eat, we should thank God for the food. Before we go to bed, we should thank God for the night. Thanking God is a great attitude that makes our days better. It influences our moods and our emotions. 

I want to be a non stop thanksgiving machine. I want to thank God in my sleep. I want Thanksgiving to be a reflex in my life. I pray that you and I are vessels of continued thanksgiving. The Lord is so good all the time. We can do this all the time. Let your thanksgiving be heard, friend. Thank the Lord all the time. Enjoy Him and embrace Him all the time. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: Psalm 106:1; Colossians 4:2; 1 Timothy 4:4-5

Getting filled with God

When I was praying the other morning, I kept hearing “Fill up the vessel.”  I heard it deep inside of me. Then I heard “Fill up the vessel and your cup will overflow.” I had this internal vision of a beautiful bottle being filled up with water. It was water from Heaven. There was an amazing pouring from God into the bottle. That bottle was the vessel from the message I was getting. The water was extremely pure. The whole scene was gorgeous. God was pouring His love, His presence and His blessings into the bottle. He was pouring Himself into the bottle. I took the time to meditate on that message and a great revelation followed. 

We are the vessels of the Lord. We are His children. We are His imitators. We are His friends. We are His representatives here on earth. When we get saved, there is an initial infilling of the Holy Spirit. When He comes into our lives and stays in our hearts, something extremely beautiful and powerful happens. That is what I was seeing in the vision. I wish I could describe the clarity and the purity of the water better but it was just gorgeous and words fail to do it justice. So why was I hearing “Fill up the vessel”? After that initial filling of the Spirit, we have to remain filled with God. I am not saying that the Spirit leaves. We can leave the Spirit. He is in us but we go somewhere else where emptiness takes place. Let me explain.

Even though we are vessels of the Lord, we can’t ignore the fact that we live in this world. The world gets our attention and it can take us away from God very easily. If we keep living for the world and letting the world take control of our soul and our mind, we drift away from God and we empty ourselves of His presence. Now, His presence is always in our hearts and in our spirit but there is an emptying process that takes place. The way I can describe it is like a parallel part of us that gets empty. It is as if our flesh gets filled with the world, takes control and our spirit is put on the back burner. 

Have you ever felt empty? Have you ever felt like God had left you? This happens when we get filled with anything but the Lord. It makes us feel like God is gone and we have no connection with Him. The truth is that He never leaves us. We have to get filled with Him again. Our vessel gets packed with the world, with worry, with doubt and with worldly things. We can get to the point where we need a “God intervention.” Thank God there is always hope for the filling to happen again. We can always fill the vessel again and then our cup will be filled to the brim.

How do we get filled again? Prayer is where it starts for me. Sometimes it is praise that gets me there faster. I like to pray first and repent for distancing myself from God and for letting the world take too much space in my life. I don’t like being a vessel for the world. Sometimes I don’t realize it but I am learning how to see it and how to remedy it. God is so good. He is so generous and He is so loving. He will fill us up again and again and again. He will not reject us and ignore us. As a matter of fact, He nudges us gently the whole time when we are empty. He gives us signs and He pulls us in the right direction. He is subtle and He is such a gentleman that we can miss Him. When we are open to Him and we surrender to Him again, we get filled up again. We have to initiate it and follow His lead. 

Thanksgiving is also a powerful way to get filled up again. I remember one time when I felt very empty. I got on my knees and thanked the Lord. I thanked Him for whatever I could think of and my vessel got filled. I prayed and I praised Him and after a few days of doing it, I got strong in the Lord again. What happens after we get filled again is an awareness of God’s love and presence. We have more faith. We have more hope and we are able to see the cup that He has filled to the brim for us. Let’s make it a priority to get filled up with the Lord every day. We spend time in the world every day so there are opportunities to be empty every day. A strong vessel is a vessel that remains in the Lord every day. We can be those vessels. Let’s praise and pray every day. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: John 15:7; John 15:10; 1 John 2:24

Speak the name of Jesus

There is power in the name of Jesus and we need to use His name on a daily basis. We use so many names without knowing and those names are either powerless or they have negative power in them. Every time we speak fear and doubt, we speak the name of fear and the name of doubt. If we say “I will never make it” what we are truly saying is “In the name of doubt I will not make it.” When we say “This is too big or too impossible,” we are really saying “In the name of fear, I can’t see this take place.” We put a lot of emphasis on the impossible being impossible when we speak doubt over our circumstances. We need to choose the name we speak very carefully. We need to reject the names of fear, doubt, and all kinds of negativity. They are not helping us. They might feel comfortable but they are very harmful. We can’t speak ten different negative names in our lives and expect good things to happen. When can’t speak in the name of doubt and expect Jesus to bless us and to give us the breakthrough we are waiting for. We can’t speak negativity into our lives and be surprised that we are not seeing deliverance and blessings flowing into our lives. Positivity along with the name of Jesus is what brings the breakthroughs and freedom. I am inviting you to use the name of Jesus all week. Speak His name in all circumstances. You will push joy, love, peace, and hope into your life. His name saves. His name heals. His name sets us free!

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”* The name of Jesus gives us salvation. It set us free. It is by His name that we got saved. Now the power in His name is still available and His name can still save us no matter what is going on in our lives. When we speak His name in faith, things change. Miracles happen. Seas of problems are parted. Blessings flow into our lives. Hope comes back. Triumph is present. The name of Jesus is the most powerful name in the universe. The enemy trembles at the mention of His name. Imagine what would happen if you spoke Jesus’s name all day. You would see things move in the right direction all the time. You will have the confidence that bad things won’t last and that the Lord can fix anything because when we speak His name in faith He listens and He moves in your favor. God is always on the move and when you speak the name of Jesus you experience His movement in your life and it always goes in the right direction. You will see how Heaven collides with earth and how nothing is impossible in His beautiful name!

Just a mention of the name of Jesus makes a way. When I speak His name, I get bold in my faith. I have hope and I know that nothing absolutely nothing can stop the Lord from acting in my life. I might have to speak His name a few times. I might have to hold on to His name for some time but He never lets me down. His name is my refuge, my stronghold, my place of hope and love. I find comfort and peace in His name. I speak His name over the week that is coming. I speak His name over every event that I know will take place during the day including meetings and even grocery runs. I have His name with me at all times. How amazing is that! You, friend, also have the name of Jesus with you all the time. Be sure to speak it and to use it all day. Declare that in His name nothing is impossible and speak blessings into His life. When you are down or when you are unsure of what to do, speak the name of Jesus. Speak the name of Jesus against confusion, against fear, and against doubt. Speak His name against anything that rises above your peace. The enemy is a thief and he tries to steal your peace and your joy. The name of Jesus will restore peace and joy. Don’t hesitate to speak His name. Stay in the Lord and trust His name. It is a very strong tower of protection. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!

Suggested reading: John 14:13; Acts 4:12*; Romans 10:13

God is greater

When I overthink and I spend time focusing on the negative, bad things seem so huge. I lose sight of God but fortunately the Holy Spirit brings me back to His reality and He reminds me that greater is the Lord that is in me. Greater is the Lord that is in me than the devil that is in this world.*That is what the Bible says. That is what the Lord Himself declares. Next time your mind blows the devil out of proportion, take control of your mind but reminding yourself that greater is the Lord in you. Take an inventory of everything that is bad in your life and push God’s truth against that list. Say “Greater is the Lord that is in me than the bills that are piling up in front fo me.” You can also say “Greater is the Lord that is in me than the anxiety that is fighting against me.” Anything that is bad and evil is not greater than Jesus. Jesus died on the cross and conquered death. The enemy, the devil is under the umbrella of death. He was defeated. Jesus in you is greater! You have nothing to worry about. The enemy might be blowing fear into your heart but the One who is sitting in your heart is more powerful. Give the Lord a chance to dominate your heart, your feelings and your emotions. You can do that by proclaiming that He is bigger and greater that anything that is against you.

So many strongholds are formed in our minds when we keep rehearsing bad scenarios and when we dwell on our problems. Nothing can get resolved when we visit our problems over and over again. They can appear bigger and they can foster other problems that did not exist in the first place. When we are aware of how powerful the Lord and we get ahold of that truth, we are on the right path. Now the goal is to use that truth and not let it sit in us. It has to be expressed and it has to be sustained. Greater is the Lord that is in us but the enemy is relentless and he knows that if he can weaken our minds and glorify himself in our heads, he has won the battle. He has not won. Jesus won. As bad as things may seem, they can be reversed and they can be changed by our Lord almighty. There is a lot of peace in the Lord and His peace can transform all situations. When things are not going well and my head feels like it’s going to explode, I call on the peace of the Lord. I understand the importance of calming the storm within so I can better deal with the problems that I am facing. Problems have a way of paralyzing our thinking and our bodies but when God’s peace enters the scene, hope is set in motion again. God’s peace is greater than the confusion and the chaos of the enemy. Ask for peace. You will get stronger and your faith in God being greater will increase.

Are we willing to believe God or are we going to buy into the enemy’s lies? His lies like I implied earlier, magnify him and they can be intimidating. God is the One who intimidates the devil. The devil doesn’t want you and me to discover that truth. Remember that Jesus destroyed the plans of the enemy on the cross. It is a done deal and whoever believes it will reap the benefits. There is a harvest of blessings that come from trusting that greater is the Lord in you than the enemy that is in the world. Go for the biggest harvest you can get. Go for healing. Go for debt cancellation. Go for peace. Go for joy. Go for blind faith. Go for the impossible. Greater is the Lord that is in you and the enemy can’t stop you because you are filled with the love that changes the world. Friday night might be here now and you can’t see how you will make it to Sunday but you have the One who bridges the gap between life and death so your Sunday is coming. Rejoice. Jesus is greater than any problems you might face. Stay encouraged and keep standing in faith. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: 1 John 4:4*; 1 John 5:4; Ephesians 6:12-13

Expect God every day

I love the start of a new week. I love new beginnings. I love new days, new weeks, new months and new years. However, I don’t wait for a new start to challenge myself or to trust that God can do something different in my life. Yes, He is the God of new beginnings and His mercies are new every day. I am so thankful for that and I praise the Lord for His new mercies. I do believe that God can act at any point in my life and I don’t have to wait for a new day or a new year to have great expectations. I expect God all the time. I expect Him to act on my behalf any time. I expect His blessings to follow me wherever I go and whenever. I don’t have to wait around for something new to happen. God is here now. His love is here now. His power is here now. His blessings are here now. You and I have the creator of the universe on our sides and He loves to bless us. I know that if we have faith in His blessings, they will flood our lives. God loves us more than we know and He wants rivers of blessings to be present in our lives. We need to learn how to flow with that truth so that we embark on the boat of joy and peace that floats on His rivers of blessings. Today could be a new beginning for you. Today could be the day you begin to trust that God wants you to be blessed all the time. I encourage you to expect God any time of the day and any day of the week.

I remember loving Sundays as a teenager because I could go to church. I used to go far to attend a church where I found what I needed at the time spiritually. I basically lived for Sundays. I knew I would encounter God on that day and I loved how my Sundays gave me the strength to face the new week. I had the wrong approach. I put God in the “Sunday box.” He was limited in my mind because He could only show up in my life on Sunday. I had a vision of a limited God that I could truly only interact with on Sunday. My Sundays with God helped me deal with Monday. At least with part of Monday because by the end of Monday I was usually back to my old defeated self. Did I pray during the week? I did but my prayers were rot and they sounded rehearsed. I didn’t know how to connect with God outside of Sundays. I didn’t except God during the week other than some ripple effects from my Sunday worship and prayer time. We should expect God all the time, friend. Sundays are great days to praise the Lord but so are all the other days of the week. We can expect God’s peace every day. We can expect God’s joy every day. We can expect God’s blessings all the time. We should expect God at all times.

I saw a big shift in my spiritual life when I decided to praise the Lord on a daily basis. I remember actually starting doing that on a Monday. I held my own private praise and prayer sessions in the morning and at night. I brought church home so to speak and within a few days, I had encounters with the presence of the Lord. He visited me every day and I was open to His love and His direction. The Holy Spirit opened the eyes of my spirit and I was all about Jesus. I expected the Lord to inhabit my praises all the time. I read my Bible every day. I prayed a lot more and I established a beautiful relationship with the Lord. I expected Him to be the God of the Bible 24/7 and that is what happened. I had dreams, visions, bouts of joy and peace and I was addicted to Jesus. I expected Him to bless me every day and to help me deal with every single day. I knew that problems would still arise but I expected God to give me the victory. Today I still expect God every day. I still pray and worship all the time and it makes my life so much better. God is not just here on Sunday. Expect Him every day, dear friend. It will change your life for the better. Expect God’s blessings all the time. Ride the waves of His peace every single day. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: John 8:32; John 14:6; Ephesians 3:20

You are in good hands

Yesterday morning as I was getting ready for the day, some busy thoughts tried to occupy my mind. I rejected them. I knew I needed to pray. The thoughts were about things I had to take care of but the more I came up with things to do, the more my mind was overwhelmed. I also heard despair say, “How are you going to be able to do all this?” Before I even started praying the Lord spoke to my heart softly and said’ “But you are in good hands!” I am in good hands. I am in God’s hands. It is something I have known for a while but yesterday morning, it truly resonated. It hit me so strongly and it made me smile. Friend, we have Jesus. We are in good hands. We are in God’s hands. We can easily forget that when our minds get overwhelmed. What we need to do is overwhelm our minds with Jesus. He is the only One who can get us out of those paralyzing states of mind. He is the One who can remove worry and give us peace that is bigger than the lies of the enemy. The thoughts I was facing were lies but they appeared to be reality. They are reality in this world but the Lord we serve is out of this world and He is much more powerful than any negativity that lives in the world. I held on to the promise that I was in God’s hands all day yesterday.

When something bad arose yesterday, I used those simple yet powerful words. I said “I am in good hands because I am in God’s hands.” When I first started my current job, I had a great mentor. She went above and beyond to make sure that I was learning a lot and that I had all I needed. Some of my new colleagues asked me who my mentor was and when I told them, they all had the same reaction. They all said that I was in good hands. They were right. I was well-taken care of and I felt heard and respected. I knew I could always go to my mentor with questions and concerns and she always had a solution. Her positivity was through the roof. To hear her talk, you would think that nothing was impossible and there was always a way out of our most difficult situations. She believed that we could always find some help from somewhere.  When people ask us where our help comes from, we should automatically respond by saying that it comes from the Lord. We are in good hands with Jesus. We should constantly  introduce Jesus as our Savior. He is more than a mentor. His Spirit is a coach and counselor but He is not from this world so what He does is always excellent. Always expect excellence with the Lord. You are in excellent hands. You have an excellent Savior who has excellent answers and excellent solutions.

The Lord is like my mentor but exponentially bigger and better. He is in a category of His own. Not only can I go to Him with my questions and my concerns but I can rest assured that He already knows what they are. He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. He can do all things and nothing can stop Him. Being in His hands means that I will never fail and His love will always prevail. It doesn’t mean that I will never have problems. It means that He has dealt with all my problems ahead of time and faith in Him will always give me the victory. We are so blessed, friend, to be in God’s hands. It is the best place to be. We are safe in His hands and secure. When things get out of hand, remember whose hands are holding you. You can always rely on Jesus. You have nothing to worry about and nothing to fear. When bad thoughts come to mind, push them away with the reminder that you are in God’s hands. The enemy hates hearing that but it’s the truth. Let the Lord’s protective hands become your reality in the name of Jesus. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading:Isaiah 49:16; John 10:29; Acts 11:21

Life with the Holy Spirit

God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Every time I read that verse or every time it comes to mind, I can’t help but be grateful for what God did for us. It blows my mind that the Father gave His Son as a sacrifice so that we shouldn’t perish. Jesus died for our sins, for our inities and for our transgressions. Now, if we believe in Him and trust Him to be our Savior, not only are our sins forgiven but we are also given eternal life. Our spiritual life is locked in Heaven. We have the promise of a life with Christ. That life doesn’t start later. It starts the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior. That life is not better for some believers because they are special. We are all special in God’s eyes and we all have access to the eternal life the Lord bought for us.

What does that life look like? It is depicted in the Bible and it is best lived with the Holy Spirit. Every believer receives the Holy Spirit once he or she has Jesus as their Savior. Does that mean that eternal life is easy and we live on cloud 9 all the time? Absolutely not! One thing that is extremely important is that we acknowledge the Holy Spirit and we live our lives with Him. Many believers are not aware of the Holy Spirit. They know of Jesus but they don’t know His Spirit. The truth is we can’t know Jesus without the Holy Spirit. His Spirit is the One who connects us to Jesus. Today I want to encourage you to enjoy life with the Holy Spirit. Let Him be more real in your life. Give Him the room He deserves. Rejoice over the amazing gift of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus said He would send us His Spirit and His Spirit would dwell in us. How many of us are aware of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? How many of us can say that we know the Spirit of Jesus? When I pray, I talk to the Holy Spirit. I often thank Jesus for His Spirit and then I thank the Holy Spirit for being my counselor, my comforter and my helper. The Lord is the Spirit. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one. The Holy Spirit represents them in our lives. He is God standing by us and staying in us. The power of the Holy Spirit lives in us but if we ignore Him or if we don’t take Him into consideration, His power will not do us any good. What does His power do? It points out to Jesus.

The power of the Holy Spirit celebrates Jesus as Lord and Savior. We have the power to know Jesus. We have to power to link up with Jesus. Jesus asked the Father to send us the ultimate advocate to help us and to be with us forever. Thank Jesus for His Spirit. Declare every day that the power of the Holy Spirit is in you and that you will tap into His power to praise and worship Jesus. You have the power to magnify Jesus so do it as often as you can. Your flesh might be pulling you away from the Lord but you have what it takes to overcome the flesh and to praise the Lord at all times. Make it a habit to use the power of the Spirit in you to extol Jesus.

I mentioned that the Holy Spirit was a counselor, a comforter, an advocate and He is also a friend. He is alive. He is a person and He is the best person we can know. Why? Because like I said He always steers us in Jesus’ direction and He is God. Who wouldn’t want to have God within them all the time? We are God’s temple. That is such an honor and privilege. Living with the Holy Spirit should be the focus of our lives. Our everyday life should be marked by communicating with the Lord thanks to the Holy Spirit. We pray and talk to God through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is what His power does. Every time we are inclined to pray, it is the power of the Holy Spirit in us that is in action.

We don’t need lightening and thunder to take place for us to be motivated by the Spirit of God. He is gentle and kind and He won’t force us to lift up Jesus but He knocks on the door of our hearts and wants to come in. Let’s be sure to answer the door and give the Spirit of God the best seat in the house. The Spirit of God also pours God’s love in our hearts. It is a powerful outpouring that can be manifested if we yield to the Spirit. Friend, we have an amazing life thanks to Jesus. God gave His Son so we would have eternal life with His Spirit. Let’s involve the Spirit of God in all we do and let’s give Him first place. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: John 3:16; John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 3:16

You deserve God

I have mentioned a few times that I had felt like I didn’t deserve God’s love for a while. I used to think that God excluded some people and only the chosen few could approach Him. There had to be someone between God and me otherwise I couldn’t communicate with God. I was wrong. I didn’t know what God was all about. God is love first and foremost. I should have started with love. I should have looked at God using the love filter. When we study God and we try to know Him better and we are reminded that He is all about love, we have the right approach. God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish.

That verse, John 3:16, is the starting point. It is the essence of God’s vision of humanity and it defines what God thinks of every person that will ever walk the earth. If you are a person, no matter what your gender is, your background, your location and anything else about you, you are loved by God. If you believe in Jesus, you will be saved. It doesn’t matter what you have done or said or how far you have been from God. He loves you so much that He gave Jesus for you. You deserve His love and His salvation. You deserve God. Think about that. You deserve God, friend. If you were made to believe that you are not worthy, I am here to remind you that you deserve God’s love and blessings. You belong with God.

Deserving God sounds like a big statement and it is a reality. I know that life can break you and hurt you and people can make you feel like you are less than. God doesn’t see it that way. He sees everyone as wonderful people who can have a relationship with Him. You and I can be in an intimate relationship with God. This reality should be part of what we meditate on and what we believe. If we don’t think we are deserving of God, it will hinder our connection with Him. God tells you Himself that a life with Him is what He wants for you. He doesn’t want you to live in isolation or to be disconnected from Him.

Eternal life, salvation is what Jesus bought for us and you dear friend deserve it because you believe in Jesus. You believe in the One who gives eternal life. Enjoy your life in Christ. Live it up! Know that it is yours and embrace it. His salvation is not meant for later on. It is for the here and now. What else is part of salvation? The Bible describes our lives in Christ and the promises of God are real and they are for you and me. We deserve every one of them. Spend time in the Word and learn about the Lord’s salvation and what it entails for you.

When I found out that I deserved God’s love, it made my connection with Him stronger. I saw a different side of God that is the right side. I saw that His love is so powerful that I should always remember that I am protected, saved and covered by the hand of the Almighty. Blessings were out of reach for me before my perspective changed. I believed that blessings were reserved for other people. Something was missing in my life. At least that is what I thought. I was under the impression that I lacked the “lovable gene” that other people seemed to have. It was more than a gene. It was a blessing that I longed to have. All of that was not true. I had Jesus and I needed to focus on who He was and dig a little deeper.

God’s love transformed me and it kept me going. His love told me that I deserved the best and His mercy and grace were enough for me. His mercy was wonderful and it was always there. God’s grace was sufficient and I was blessed. Friend, you are blessed in the name of Jesus. You are highly favored and God adores you. Don’t let the lies stop you from receiving God’s best. A wonderful relationship with Him is what you can expect. Enjoy Jesus. Enjoy your connection with Him. You deserve God’s love every single day no matter what you have done or what you do. May God bless you and protect you and remember that He will always love you!
Suggested reading: Luke 4:18; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Hebrews 4:16

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