God Gives Us Strength

 

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

It is said that the greater the risk the greater the reward.  This means that we sometimes have to give up something to get something.  Think about students.  They give up years of their lives for education and may forgo a higher paying job in order to devote time to their studies so they will graduate and be able to pursue the career of their choice.

The same is true of many other things in life - like buying a house, which may mean we forgo fancy vacations and expense entertainment to save money in order to amass a down payment.  And, there are children who devote hours practicing a sport so that they will make the team.  

All achievements require strength and God is right there to help you along.   

It is God who give us the strength to meet our goals.

God Is Here For You

 

The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Deuteronomy 31:8

We all have been afraid at sometime of someone or something.

But in all this God tells us that He is with us.  God does not forsake us when we are afraid, He holds us close and says, "Do not fear or be dismayed."

In all things God loves us and has plans for us.  Don't give up. Get up.  Look for God's direction.  

God is here for you.

Nothing Can Separate Us From The Love of Christ

 

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Just as it is written, “For your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

Recued and Redeemed

 

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:13-14

When God comes looking for us, He comes looking in all our secret places, where we hide our sins, both big and small.  He is not worried that we are not good enough, because He makes us good enough by forgiving our sins and transferring us from the darkness we deserve, into the kingdom of His Son, Jesus.  

God is our redeemer, and He is there not just for us, but for everyone.  When you find someone who seems far from God, take a minute to tell them about God's love and that He is waiting for them.

Have a blessed day.

Take A Break

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:28-29

We are all so busy.  Working and running here and there to events and the gym and then there are the kids, so many activities.  Some of us are too busy to grocery shop, so we order everything on-line and have it delivered. We rush and we rush.  

I can't help but think that maybe we are too busy.  

Jesus tells us to find rest for our souls.  When we take time to rest, life becomes less of a chore and more of a joy.  

Give yourself a break - take a break.

 

Be All We Can Be

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25

These characteristics are big goals. Our human nature causes us to respond to the grating of everyday aggravations with irritability and grouchiness.

Yet, here we are given what we are to aspire to – love, joy, peace and the rest, all of which roundly defeat our natural tendencies to be angry.

And, how do we do this? We do this through prayer, reading the Bible and most of all through the grace of God.

God did not create us to be miserable, angry people. God created us to be filled with love and joy. Let us work to be all we can be with God’s help.

 

Better Than We Think

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Mitch Albon in his book The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto (Harper Collins, 2015) wrote: “… when a higher power has a plan for you, life can be full of near misses.”

We tend to regard near misses of bad things as good for us and near misses of good things as bad for us, but what if both play equally into God’s plans?

This makes us reconsider how we are doing, doesn’t it? Perhaps when we think we are not doing too well, we are doing better than we think.