10 nuggets of wisdom for your Saturday (Part 123)

You will be fine. The Lord helps you define fine. His definition defies the world’s definition. You will be more than fine. Let the Lord define your situation and put into words the joy and the peace that are coming your way.

God is up to something incredible. Rejoice, dear recipient. What is coming your way is bigger and better than what you went through. Expect great things. Our great Lord is with you every day!

Testify for the Lord. Be His witness and spread love. Bring joy. Be outspoken for God’s justice. Treat everyone equally. Show extravagant love and be a bearer of the good news of the Gospel.

Give people a chance. Someone who was a nightmare can become a dream. God can chance anyone. Think of Saul who became Paul.

God will pierce your heart with kindness and He will make your fears melt and your worries fade away. Let God get ahold of your heart and you will see an amazing transformation!

The dreams you have that are inspired by God are never too big. Your mind might be too narrow to allow those dreams to come in but God can enlarge it. Let your biggest dreams expand your mind and give you God’s vision for your life.

God gives you what you need even if you don’t know you need it. Sometimes it takes a while to realize that you needed God’s plan and that it was the best plan all along.

Jesus walks on water in peace. His heart is not troubled. His confidence is strong. He can walk over all kinds of waters and He is inviting you to join Him. Walk with Him over the waters that have been stirring anxiety and stress. You are above them thanks to the Lord who is holding your hand.

There is a new song you are about to sing. There is a new psalm you are about to learn. There is a new story you are about to write. There is a new day that is about to start. New hope, new love, new faith, new peace. God has something new for you!

The truth will set you free. It will deliver you from the bondage of lies that have been dropping into your mind. God’s truth will set you on fire for the Lord and it will put out the fiery darts of the enemy!

Suggested reading: Proverbs 17:22; John 16:24; Romans 15:13

Give Jesus credit

The message I woke up to the other day was “Give Jesus credit.” I sat with that message for some time after I got up. Giving Jesus credit is so important but what does that mean? I used to give credit to people a lot for the nice things they did for me. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that but it was problematic when I saw people’s actions as the ultimate act that brought about a blessing into my life. I wasn’t giving God enough credit for His blessings. I think it is more than acceptable to thank people and to show them appreciation for what they do but we should never forget who’s behind the scenes. When something good happens in our lives, it comes from a pipeline from Heaven. The Lord orchestrates the blessing and people are sometimes the operators that are used to make it come to pass. Everything that is good comes from God. We might not see it directly but it is His doing. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, that act was the biggest blessing, the biggest miracle that has ever taken place. That alone deserves our daily praise and we ought to give Jesus credit for His powerful sacrifice and for giving us life. Jesus brings life and His power of resurrection is here with us. When our situations die and then we get a breakthrough or a miracle, it is God’s resurrecting power in action. The Lord deserves credit all the time for His love and His goodness. You and I woke up this morning. Let’s give God credit for that. You and I are blessed and favored. Let’s give God credit for that. You and I have access to the Bible. Let’s give God credit for that. You and I can pray and worship today. Let’s give God credit for that. You and I are going to make it no matter what. Let’s give Jesus credit for that. You and I are never alone. Let’s give Jesus credit for the Holy Spirit. Let’s give the Lord credit all the time. He is more than worthy of our honor and praise. Let’s be grateful for the people in our lives but above all let’s be thankful for Jesus.

 

Giving Jesus credit for who He is makes a difference in our spiritual lives. It shows that we recognize His impact on who we are and that He is the anchor of our salvation. Salvation is such a powerful deliverance from death. It is also defined as preservation. We are preserved from eternal death. We are kept safe from harm and ruin. Harm will happen. Plans will be ruined but because of Jesus we can expect an escape plan and we can be sure that everything will work out for the best. Jesus deserves a round of spiritual applause for that. Our gratitude to Him should be eternal and it should be expressed as much as possible. I am convinced that my mind and my spirit need to be reminded of the goodness of God and that should be a recurring event. Why? The world will make us forget how good our God is very fast. Just turn on the news. Just step outside. Just sit there and overthink and you will start believing that God’s goodness is gone. God is good all the time. He is a blessing all the time and we should be thanking Him all the time. When we believe that there is nothing to be thankful for because our lives have been too devastated, we should go back to the basics of our faith and thank God for being God. We can give the Lord credit for being the creator of the universe and for creating us. He has a plan for our lives and even when we don’t see it or we don’t understand it we can still thank Him for that. God is love, unconditional love and that merits a huge “thank You” on our parts. What are things in your life you can give God credit for? I suggest you make a daily list and you give Him credit not just when you pray but every chance you get.

 

Giving Jesus credit for His intervention in our lives is beautiful. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit so He could dwell in us. When was the last time you gave Jesus credit for the Holy Spirit? I know I don’t do it enough but I go through phases when I can’t stop thanking Him for the Holy Spirit. Having the most amazing Person in my life is just incredible. What did we do to deserve the Holy Spirit? Nothing. He is a free gift that keeps on giving and keeps on loving and He is with us all the time. That boggles my mind. Jesus should be given so much credit for His Spirit. We can make a habit to thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit. When we do, His Spirit will become even more real to us. Jesus is the giver of life, of love, of miracles, of all good things including His Spirit. Think about that. He gave His Spirit for us to be comforted, counseled, guided, protected and loved. He could have left the earth and said “Good luck you are on your own. Pray to the Father in your own strength.” Instead He stayed with us through His Spirit. Let’s give Him praise and honor for His mighty gift. Jesus will always be with us and He will always listen to us and talk to us thanks to the Holy Spirit. Your next blessing comes from Jesus and His Spirit is the One who will show you the blessing and give you the desire to thank God. With the Holy Spirit we can see the light and we can see hope. The flames of your faith are being fanned by the Holy Spirit. The display of God’s goodness is being revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. The good ideas and the advice you receive when you seek God are being sponsored by the Holy Spirit. Your innovative ideas should be credited to the Lord. He is behind them. Your spiritual growth, your emotional healing, your blessing in disguise should all be credited to the Lord. Today is a good day to start giving Jesus credit for all the good things in your life. Be relentless with it. Keep doing it. Give God all the glory!

Suggested reading: Psalm 50:23; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 10:31

Respond to life with love

I can see how hardships can make people bitter toward life and toward other people. A tough life usually hardens the heart. I admire those who despite trials and suffering can still love and be kind to anyone. Keeping a good and positive attitude toward life is commendable. I have met people in the church who are great role models of love. They love others all the time. They probably have “off days” but I have never seen them on those more negative days. Then there are people who don’t believe in God but whose love is massive. They love unconditionally and they can teach anyone that love is the best way to live. Their love is exemplary and they fight for love. I thank the Lord for love and I am so grateful for the hearts of those who always stand for love no matter what is going on in their lives. As followers of Christ, we have the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and love is the first fruit. At least love should be the first fruit but oftentimes it is not. Faith, peace and joy are regarded as crucial fruit and love comes after. However, without love the rest of the fruit doesn’t make sense. It is like having fruit that has no seed in it, not core, no substance and no taste. It is like an empty vessel whose exterior looks solid but it is missing the most important content. God is love and He desires for us to have love more than anything else. We pursue treasures and wealth of the earth when God wants us to pursue love first. We pray for financial blessings and worldly success because after all we live in this world, but the Lord tells us to seek love and to walk in love. Seek first the kingdom of God means seek love. Seek God and God is love. If only our most repeated prayers were about having more love, we would see a change in this world. We would see an army of soldiers  whose love is the most powerful weapon they own and whose mission is to eradicate hate and division. Division is what the enemy wants. He wants us to be separated from God and separated from other people because the first commandment is to love God and love others like ourselves. The enemy also works hard at making us not love ourselves. He knows that low-self esteem leads to disliking others and it is a hurdle on the track of walking in love. Today I want to encourage you to seek love first. I want to encourage you to make love your goal in life and to focus on the King of love so you can see His kingdom manifested here on earth.

 

The unrest in this country and in cities across the globe is devastating. It looks like we are heading toward a war. A political and religious war. Injustice and discrimination have taken a toll on people and violence is rampant. People’s hearts have been violated and anger is growing all over the place. Love has taken a backseat and people’s number one agenda items are anything but love. I am not taking sides and I don’t want to make this political but what I know is that the Lord calls us to walk in love and to react to life with love. There is a need to start anything we do with love and this implies nurturing love and making it our priority. We might have to rewrite the order of our spiritual harvest. If we are collecting the fruit of peace and the fruit of joy but we are neglecting the fruit of love, it’s time we start looking for the bigger fruit. The Spirit of God put love in our hearts. His love needs to be activated and for some of us this requires work. Disliking others is very easy and simple but it doesn’t have to be our default setting. As a matter of fact, we ought to reset our hearts and let God invade the space in our spirits. If love is not what we allow to grow in our hearts guess what’s going to take its place. Love just like faith needs to be exercised. It should be seen as a muscle and it should be developed over time. We can always love more just like we could always have more faith. If love is more important than faith, and it is, love is a bigger seed. Faith and love work together. Let’s take our mustard seed of faith and the seed of love and give the Spirit of God a chance to grow a tree of love in us. That fruit of love can grow and grow and reach great proportions. It is that tree of love that can uproot negativity and hate.

 

We can choose how we react to life and reacting with love is key. It is reacting to life the way Jesus does. He is love 24/7 and He knows nothing but love. His love is unconditional and it can conquer anything. His love can go into the valleys of hate and leave the land filled with peace and hope. His love is the best response to the worst expressions of hate. Today we ought to walk in love even more because hatred has gained momentum and it is moving across the world at a fast pace. Let’s stop hate in its tracks and put our foot down by showing love. Let’s refuse to succumb to discrimination, hate and segregation. Let’s replace the jars of hate with vessels of love. Let’s be fruitful and give love from the heart as the Holy Spirit directs us. Let’s fall in love with love again and give it our best shot. Let’s make love contagious again. Let’s make love the language that people long to learn again. Let’s love for no reason. Let’s love with no motives other than to love others like Jesus said we should. Let’s resist the temptation to get angry and mad. Let’s give in to God. Let’s give life the God response and not the hate response. You and I can make an impact and we can make love famous (again). My prayer is that we reach the hearts of those who have gone cold and that we can warm them up with showers of love. Let’s treat life with love and we will create a chain reaction where people will pass love around and squash hatred. Let’s walk in love!

Suggested reading: 1 Corinthians 16:14; 1 John 4:8; 1 Peter 4:8

God will make a way

God will make a way where there is no way. Let that sink in. Remember that truth every day. There is nothing the Lord can’t do. There is nothing too big for Him. He opens doors that didn’t exist. He paves the way for amazing blessings. He parts the sea and makes you walk on dry land. You might be drowning in debt. You might be down at the bottom of the ocean of fear and worry but you are about to walk on dry land again. You called the Lord your Savior for help and He is going to make a way. Let Him take the lead in how He is going to do it all. All you have to do is pray and stay the course. This sea of misery is going to end. God won’t let you down. It is you and your Lord and this dynamic duo always wins. God has the victory and He is getting you into victory mode as you keep trusting Him. He is going to make a way. Don’t lose hope. He has all it takes to remove the hurdles and to reveal that dry land you have been waiting for. 

 

God will make a way. You are going to walk again on this great path He has set before you. There might have been delays but delays don’t change God’s plan. His plan remains intact. There is going to be a way for you to get out of your current mess. Look up at the Lord and look down on your problems. They won’t get the best of you. God has what’s best for you and it is coming your way. His Spirit is the buoy you should hold on to. You are going to stay afloat with His help and you are going to make it to shore. Even if you are in the middle of an ocean now, be assured that dry land is going to be there soon. You don’t have to be near the shore to experience God’s blessings. He can bring the shores to you by parting the sea right when you are going through a series of trials. Today I want to encourage you to trust that God is going to make a way and you are going to walk on dry land again. God has not forgotten about you but He will make you forget what you have been going through.

 

God will make a way. It’s not for you and me to figure out how it is going to happen. It’s our duty to believe that it will happen. We need to take the pressure off of our minds and give them some rest. When things are not going well, our minds go into overwork mode and the overthinking that takes place is nothing but an endless cycle of confusion and chaos. God wants our minds to be clear so we can see Him better. We should get rid of the fog of worry that keeps our minds in a place where God can barely be found.  He is in the fog. He is right there behind the clouds. His silver lining is present. Let’s give Him praise and let’s be thankful. We will see the sun again and our eyes will be open to the possibilities and to the miracles that He has in His hand. In His hand is the trajectory that will get you to your next breakthrough. In His hand is the answer that you need and the Lord holds you in the palm of His hand so your answer is near you. God’s way out of your dilemma is always right next to you because the Lord is with you. Don’t look for a way out where there are no exit signs. The world will give you ways with stairways that will take you down to the basement of disaster. Your way out is in the Lord. Knock on His door. He will open many doors and give you what you need.

 

God will make a way. The waymaker has ways that are beyond what we can understand. He can do the impossible and to Him none of your problems is too difficult. He never runs out of ideas. As a matter of fact, He knew how He would make a way for you way before you were born. Don’t get discouraged today if all you see on the horizon are trials and difficulties. God is beyond the horizon and His light is the sunshine that will pierce all the clouds of sadness that are sitting above you. You are going to find a great way out of this because the waymaker is on your side. The way the Lord is going to make will get you to your destination without you having to do anything other than trust Him. Honor Him and thank Him for making a way. Use the name of Jesus every day. His name will make a way and it will get you through the toughest times. When you walk down the valley of death, Jesus’ name will bring you back to life. His name will lead the way and it will protect you all the time. God will make a way for you. I declare it and I believe it and I know that nothing you are experiencing now is too difficult for God. There is a way and God is taking you there. Stay encouraged!

Suggested reading: Isaiah 41:10; Isaiah 43:19; Romans 8:31

Thank God for patience

I appear to be a pretty patient person and I am for the most part but there are times when patience is a fruit that is not part of my fruit basket. Times when I keep looking at the clock for my next life event to happen. I wait and wait but I don’t wait patiently. My focus is too much on the waiting and I don’t enjoy myself. All I have to say is thank God for patience. When I get impatient, I turn things over to God. I need His patience. I need the fruit of the Spirit in my life. All of it. Not just faith, love, peace and joy. The fruit has a patience component that is crucial. I have dismissed it too many times but now I am making sure that I am watering the whole fruit and patience is part of that amazing package. Patience coming from God is supernatural and it surpasses all understanding just like His peace. It is when we plug into the Holy Spirit that we get access to this beautiful patience. The Holy Spirit dwells in us but if we ignore Him, He is dormant for lack of a better word. He is a gift from Jesus that we should unwrap and embrace. Have you ever received a gift, loved it and then let it sit on a shelf? That is what happens with the Holy Spirit at times. We love Him. We are grateful for Him but then we put Him on a shelf and go about our business without considering Him. In other instances we enjoy the Holy Spirit but we don’t get to know Him. We love the gift but we never read the manual so we don’t understand how to interact with the gift and what to do with it.

 

The Holy Spirit is a comforter, a counselor, a coach, a Jesus promoter and a fruit producer among other wonderful things. Today I am focusing on the fruit of the Spirit and I want to talk specifically about patience. God is a patient God. Imagine if He weren’t patient with us. We would never be changed. We would never be blessed. We would never be loved. Sin would separate us from the Lord forever but God sent His Son for us. He was patient enough to let the process happen for humanity even though people were and are rejecting Him. God was patient with Saul and then Paul was born. God is patient with every single of one of us. Someone could live his or her life in rebellion against the Lord and be saved five minutes before they die. God will wait a lifetime. God is in no rush. He doesn’t lose His temper and He doesn’t get out of control. My prayer is that we adopt His patience and we keep it in the middle of our hearts so it guides what we do, it influences how we deal with people and it gives spiritual fuel to our faith. Patience is needed when it comes to faith. Faith waits patiently.

 

It is hard to have faith without patience. Faith like I said, always waits and it is sure of the outcome. Faith allows you to be patient because it lets you know that God is in control and you know without a doubt that there is nothing to worry about. Patience doesn’t look at time as an issue. It sees time as being on our side. Patience savors the minutes that go by. Patience keeps you in the moment. It doesn’t project and it doesn’t live in the future. Patience loves today. Patience loves what the Lord is doing today. It doesn’t count the days and it doesn’t pay attention to all the signs that point in the wrong direction. When we are waiting for something, it’s easy to focus on the details that are imperfect in our lives. It’s easy to make a list of all the negative things that come to pass. Patience puts that list away and it takes out the list of blessings the Lord promises. Patience stays in the positive. It doesn’t associate with negativity at all. Patience says “Things might not look good now but with the Lord everything is going to be fine and I am enjoying my life today.”

 

When you take a bite at the apple of patience, you can’t stop eating it. Patience makes you feel great. It touches your soul and it blesses your spirit. God’s patience is phenomenal because it is stronger than irritation, chaos, anxiety and defiance. With the fruit of the Spirit we don’t defy God. We wait on Him. We love seeking His face. We get blessed internally and it shows on the outside. Patience gives us the strength to wait even when our minds tell us to start moving and to keep going when we shouldn’t. Patience suppresses panic and makes us pause and take a break. It is needed in prayer and meditation. When we pray and meditate on the Word, rushing around will never help us get to where we need to be. Patience is the power behind a good prayer life. It is the power that enables us to receive messages from God. It is the power that helps us love our neighbors. Love is patient. We should also direct God’s patience toward ourselves. Let’s be patient with ourselves. The fruit of the Spirit grows and we need to be patient with our own pace. God has given you and me patience. Let’s thank Him for that and let’s keep on nurturing the good fruit of the Spirit!

Suggested reading: Proverbs 15:18; Galatians 5:22; James 5:8

God is never at a loss for words

As a high student I was pretty confident in my abilities in school. I thought that there was nothing I couldn’t learn and nothing I couldn’t understand except maybe for Math but I did whatever it took to learn. I was a bit cocky intellectually and it spilled into my spiritual life. I became too confident too fast and I thought I had all the answers until a problem would arise and I would fold under pressure like a chair that had been sat on by the weight of trials and tribulations. Everything was fine until things went wrong. What I mean by that is that as long as I didn’t have to face challenges I believed that I could face anything. Life put me back in my place and I lost that cockiness very quickly. Now, I don’t see myself as having all the answers. I find myself puzzled often and even though I know God is in control, I try to control Him so to speak by predicting how He is going to help me and bless me. I dictate what He should do. It never works that way and I have gained an understanding that I should let God be God and take Him at His Word. When I am at a loss for words because I don’t know how to talk back to the adversity, I know God knows what to do. He is never at a loss for words. He has all the words required to repair and fix everything. 

 

God has the words it takes to deal with any situation. He talks back to the enemy in a calm and control way. He is never taken aback by anything the enemy does. He doesn’t stumble on His words and He doesn’t go silent when problems get loud. When I don’t know what to say, I now let God do all the talking. I borrow His words and I let them roll off my tongue and hit the ears of the enemy. The enemy can’t stand God’s words so we need to feed them to him until he runs away. He will always come back but if we resist him he will flee. The more we do it, the more ammunition we have for the next time he shows up. Today I want to encourage you to trust that God is never at a loss. Your situation might seem huge and dramatic but the Lord can deal with all the drama and He is bigger than the pile of all the problems the world will ever face.

 

God is never at a loss for words and we can understand that when we look at His Word. He has many words for many situations. He has all the words we will ever need in this life. He has answers for everything and He is never stomped. I got stomped a few times in school despite my intellectual arrogance. Getting stomped is a bad experience but it is also very humbling. It helps us more than we think. God doesn’t have to go through that kind of experience. He will never ever get stomped and that just boggles my mind. When we embrace how God can never be stomped, it opens a whole new way of seeing things. It opens our minds to a God who is larger than life. He truly is and we need to get to the place where we accept that. New problems that we have never gone through before can create major anxiety because they destabilize us and they shake our faith. New problems necessitate a fresh coat of faith. They require an extra layer of confidence in God. When we know that God can never be shaken, that extra layer of trust is there and it comes in handy when we face new challenges. Look at how Jesus responded to people. He always had something wise to tell them. He was calm and composed and sure of what He said. The confidence that Jesus displayed in His Word is still alive today. He can help you with anything because He knows without a doubt that He can do anything. He can tell you exactly what to do with confidence because He knows He holds the truth and what He says comes to pass.

 

God is never at a loss for words and His words create life. God speaks life into the most devastated situations. God speaks life where there is death. When hope is dead and peace is buried in a grave of chaos and anxiety, the Lord resurrects them with His words of creation. God can speak into your life today when you have no idea what to say. He can turn things around. He can call things into life. His faith has no bounds and as a child of God, you have access to what God speaks into your life. Get on His  page. Trust and obey. Give Him free reign in your life. Let His words be yours. He can stomp the enemy through the testimony of your faith. You are made invincible because the Lord who can’t be defeated is speaking blessings over your life. Don’t focus on the enemy’s words to your mind. Those words don’t hold any power unless you give them power. Replenish your head with words that are filled with love and faith. God is never at a loss for words so when nothing comes to mind, let God fill your mind. You are going to make it in this life because the One who creates life is in you. Let Him express Himself through each and every word you utter. When you give God first place, you are never at a loss for words. His words become yours and you are eloquent, confident and strong in Him. God is never at a loss for words and even when He seems silent, His words are still working in your life. Stay encouraged!

Suggested reading: John 6:63; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 nuggets of wisdom for your Saturday (Part 122)

Don’t worry about earthly things. There are treasures from Heaven here on earth for you. Thank God for earthly things but don’t praise them and don’t worship them. Thank God you are here on earth but remember that Heaven is your final destination.

Nothing compares to You Lord my Savior.

Nothing compares to You Lord my treasure.

Nothing is lord over me except for You my Savior.

No gold is worth more than You, Lord my treasure.

Take the time to be patient. Take the time to wait for God. Take the time to enjoy the time. Take the time to know God. Take the time to give back some time. Take the time to love people. Take the time to thank the Lord for this time. It’s one of the things you won’t get back!

With the Lord, hope has a new meaning. It means what was dead is coming back to life. What was lost is found. What was impossible is possible. Keep your hope in the Lord and your world will change forever!

Love should have no conditions and no limitations. Love should have no judgement and no criticism. Love should see no color and no discrimination. Love should have no boundaries and no restrictions. Love should be free and should never be purchased with deeds and good actions. Love should always be founded in Jesus because He is the definition of true love!

Falling happens. The fall can be rough but every time you fall, know that God is tougher than the fall and He will get you back up. Let Him take your hand and help you up. Jesus fell when He died on the cross but He rose again. You will rise. Your resurrection time is coming.

The fruit of the Spirit grows on trees that are anchored in the Lord. The fruit of the Spirit grows in the lives of those who water the tree with the Word. Let the fruit of the Spirit be your main harvest. You will reap peace, love, faith and joy and many other wonderful blessings!

The Lord is always smiling. He is smiling at you and me. When the world is frowning, turn to the One whose smile is always shining. Focus on His love and turn away from the hatred you see in this world. God’s love will teach the world around you how to smile and how to shine a light a hope where there is darkness.

There is a power in saying thank you before your blessing comes. Thank the Lord for all the things you can’t see. Thank Him for being faithful and true. He will never let you down. He will never fail you so thank Him all the time!

Life is a puzzle. Trust that God has all the missing pieces. He even has the ones that don’t seem to fit anywhere. He makes things work for the best and the pieces that He has will always come at the right time and at the right place.

Suggested reading: 1 Chronicles 29:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; Ephesians 6:10