Tag: encouragment

His Love is Strong

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“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6 NIV

My prayer for you today is that you will be so strongly connected with Jesus that His strong bands of love, loyalty, faithfulness and grace will invade every area of your life like the roots of a tree. 

I pray that you will experience this love, His love, that is higher than the highest mountain summit, deeper than the deepest cavern of the sea, wider than the expanse of east to west and with a reach long enough to rescue you from the darkest, dingiest place of shame that sin sucks you down to.

I pray that you will have power to truly take hold of God’s all encompassing, crisis surpassing, past erasing, future embracing love.

And that when you grasp this, even just a little bit of it, it will give you wings to rise above your circumstances, face the obstacles before you with courage and walk fully in your God given purpose.

The Impossible Dream

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Monday

By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said.  Hebrews 11:11 MSG

We are born dreamers.

As children, we see that world around us and dream about being a part of it. We dream about what our place in the world will be, what we will do, and who we might become.

The dreams revolve around us and what it will mean for us if those dreams come true.

As we grow up, there are some dreams that hold onto us more than we hold onto them.

It is those dreams that feel devastating when they shatter and remain unfulfilled.

We put them in the realm of impossible.

When the Lord told Abraham that Sarah would give birth, she overheard it and laughed (Genesis 18:11).  She laughed not because she thought it was funny but because she thought it ludicrous. The dream of having children probably died when she was in her 60s or 70s.  She had accepted her barrenness.

My friend, God often challenges what you have already accepted.

He will speak a word to you that seems impossible.

Something that seems ludicrous.

Something that you gave up on and now He is asking you to pick up again.

He is asking you to dream again but this time to dream it differently.

How? By placing your hope not in what the dream will do for you but in what God wants to do through you.

God asked Sarah to dream again. She knew she could not make it happen, she already tried. But somewhere deep inside she chose to trust God to do the impossible.

My friend, put your hope in God today.

And when He calls you to dream again, say yes.

 

Humble

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I know that the word humble can be a hard one to grasp.

First of all, it has nothing to do with being humiliated or feeling humiliated.

Second, it is not about doing but about being.

It is about identity and living out of it.

It is leadership but it doesn’t look like what you are used to.

It is knowing who you are in Christ as well as knowing who Christ is in you:

He is your Savior, redeemer, creator, all-powerful God.

He is your guide, strength, hope, and peace.

He is the great I AM and has unlimited power and reach.

Jesus is the greatest in heaven and made himself the least on earth. Not because He had forgotten who He was but because He knew with full confidence who He was.

In the first three chapters of Ephesians after encouraging the church in Ephesus to live out of their new identity in Christ, He tells them:

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Being humble means you can lead others without being bossy.

Being humble means that you can be happy and content when you are not in control.

Being gentle means that you have unclinched your hands from steering the direction of your life and have let Jesus take the lead.

Being patient means bearing with those who don’t deserve your patience and loving people who are not easy to love.

This is about the little things that can undo our composure: the unexpected phone calls, the interruptions that add or postpone your to-do list, the change of plans because some people are unorganized.

These are the moments when being humble matters the most.

There are moments when being gentle makes all the difference.

These are the moments when others will recognize that the patience you are extending to them is not natural but God-given.

These are the moments Jesus shines bright through you.

May you so confidently know who you are in Christ that you are able to gracefully engage with all that challenges it today.

Don’t Go It Alone

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Dont-Go-It-Alone
You are not created to exist alone.
Introvert or extrovert- you are created in Christ to be in healthy relationships.
First with God, then with those around you.
Love God, Love People (in that order).
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬
Relationships are not easy and they are endlessly complicated.
They take grace, forgiveness, honesty, and courage.
You may think that it would be easier and simpler to withdraw altogether but God created you to be connected.
Don’t cheat yourself or others by withdrawing in fear.
Persevere.
Quiet the fear-filled beat of your heart and listen for the encouraging whisper of the Holy Spirit.
God can make a way where there seems to be no way.
Be brave and reach out today.

Strength to Get Up 

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Inexplicably and when it seems completely impossible, somehow- God can and will give you strength.

Strength to get up. 

Strength to take care of what needs to be taken care of. 

Strength to make the hard decisions.

Strength to hold onto hope. 

Strength to hold onto Him. 

He gives strength to the weary.

I know that many of you are facing situations that are draining your strength and leaving you feeling powerless. 

It is okay to admit you are not okay.
That you are tired and feel powerless right now. 

God does not ask you to “fake it until you make it”. 

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:29‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What do you need strength for today? 

What does it look like to admit you need help rather than “fake it until you make it”?

May you find the strength to do what needs to be done,find your way into His rest, be replenished by the Savior Himself and walk forward in a power that is not your own.

Your Faith

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Your faith, your relationship with Jesus,  is more precious than the finest gold. It will last longer than your job, your goals and your body. It is the inside eternal life that sustains you through the trials of the outside temporary life. 

The same fire that destroys the wood purifies the gold. 

God will use the very thing that is discourging you to purify you.  

He will use the disappointment you are experiencing to make wrong motives and false beliefs rise to the surface so He can skim them off. 

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭23:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You have a promise here that God knows where you are, knows how to use it do an important work in you and that you will come out of it shinning.

Hold onto God during this season because He is most certainly holding onto you. 

Faith is Verb

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Faith is not a feeling.

Faith is a believing, a believing that leads to action.

A faith that is silent in word and deed is no faith at all.

Do something. Do the thing that faith is prompting and fear is resisting. 

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? 

‭‭James‬ ‭2:14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Make your faith ‘more than a feeling, make it a verb. 
– Cindy G 

Sustained 

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‬‬I remember a time a few years ago when I was discouraged and heartbroken. My hopes had been swept away by a flood of circumstances I could not have forseen. I could not go back to where I was before and I could not stay where I was at. I could only walk forward into a future that I had not anticipated or imagined. 

I clung to Jesus. I grabbed hold of the promise that He would never leave me or forsake me. I tried to trust that He could redeem the circumstances as I watched everything crumble around me. I tried and failed- I couldn’t find trust or hope within my soul. Only heartbreak and fear.

The following verse became the words I held onto: 

“Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed.” Psalms 119:116 NIV

One morning I got early and took a walk. We were living in Las Vegas and our neighborhood edged the desert. With worship music loaded on my iPod, I set out to breathe deep and breathe in the presence of God. As I turned the corner out of my neighborhood and onto the desert road behind it, the song “Great is Thy Faithfulness” began. The sun was just rising over Red Rock Canyon and it was so beautiful that I almost dropped to my knees. 

I heard God’s whisper, “Hold on, your hopes are not lost. I am faithful to complete what I have started in you. I will sustain you through this and strengthen you in it. My faithfulness knows no end.” 

It was a turning point for me. I carried that promise through a time that got harder long before it got better. 

That moment came back to me yesterday when I listened to Jordan Smith’s rendition of “Great is Thy Faithfullness” on The Voice. It was a beautiful and powerful performance.

God IS faithful. 

It is in the midst of the hardest of times that you discover God’s faithfulness. It is through the darkest of times that God sustains you when you can’t sustain yourself. It is when you don’t feel like you have any faith left that His faithfulness carries you. 

Hold on, your hopes are not lost. Jesus is faithful to complete what He has started in you. He will sustain you through this time and strengthen you in it. God’s faithfulness knows no end. 

What Amazes God

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There are two times recorded in the Bible where Jesus stood amazed:

1. At the unbelief of people from his hometown. (John 6:1-5)
 
2. At the faith of the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant by sending His word. (Luke 7:7,9)

‭”We never read that Jesus marveled at art or architecture or even the wonders of creation. He never marveled at human ingenuity or invention. He didn’t marvel at the piety of the Jewish people or the military dominance of the Roman Empire. But Jesus did marvel at faith – when it was present in an unexpected place, and when it was absent where it should have been.” 
— David  Guzick 

Have you ever been amazed what God is doing in someone else’s life but unable to believe that He could do anything in yours? 

You can get sidetracked by looking at natural facts instead of looking into the face of Jesus. 

You can build your faith or tear it down according to what you focus on. 

Your faith does not add to God’s ability.

Your lack of it does not limit it either.

Jesus is Almighty God, Advocate, Savior, King of kings and Lord of lords. He can do more than you can ask or imagine. 

The difference between the faith (or lack of faith) of those in Jesus’ home town and that of the centurion was that the first group never even asked Jesus do something. They rationalized away His power with their  knowledge and past experience.  The centurion knew how authority worked, looked at what Jesus had done for others and took a risk.
He asked.

Faith asks.
Faith acts.
Faith risks.
Faith obeys.

You may be waiting until you have more faith to ask. More faith to act. More faith to risk. More faith to obey but Jesus said it’s not the amount of faith you have, it’s what you do with it. 

“So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”. Matthew‬ ‭17:20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I am not saying I understand it all or have wrapped my brain around it. 

I am only asking myself (and you) a couple of questions:

“Am I using the faith I have and doing something with it, no matter how small I think it is?”

and

“How am I amazing God today?”

Finisher

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Death and taxes- isn’t that how the saying goes? There aren’t really too many sure things in life. 

And yet.

There is one sure thing you can count on if you are in a relationship with God: He finishes what He starts.

He started something in you.

A good thing.
A precious thing.
A powerful thing.

A change.
A transformation.
A glimpse of His purpose.

He started it- He will finish it. He will develop it, perfect it and bring it to full completion.

Because beside death and taxes, it is a sure thing that God will complete what He started in you. 

“And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.”(Philippians 1:6 AMP)

You don’t have to worry or strive, work or manipulate.

Rest. Worship. Trust. Focus on God.
Jesus is greater.