Tag: faith

Overwhelmed?

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“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.” Phillpians 4:6-8 The Message Version

How do you survive in a world that is pulling on you in all directions?

There is so much to know, too much to know.

Knowing everything that is going on in the world is overwhelming and undermining at the same time.

It is overwhelming because we are finite beings who are limited to one place at one time.

It is undermining because it erodes hope and breeds fear giving birth to an epidemic of anxiety.

How do we survive? 

We choose to withdraw in the grace filled arms of God before we look into the lens of world.

We step into a shower of worship and allow God to saturate us with His presence before we step onto the sidewalk of humanity.

We go to Him without fear of judgement or censure. 

We speak to Him about what is really going on in our hearts and hold nothing back.

We aim our thoughts on the target of that which is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind.

Not to ignore what is happening in the world around us but to be free to see it through the perspective of something bigger, someone bigger, someone who spoke it into existence, walked among it, died for it and is redeeming it one life at a time. 

Someone who is a Savior and the only One who can save it.

God is still doing glorious work in you and in me.

I am overwhelmed by it. 

Which is so much better than being overwhelmed by everything else.

When You Are Tired

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When you are tired, don’t quit, rest.

When you are tired, go to Jesus.

When you are worn out, His arms are open.

When your To-Do List is too long and you are overwhelmed, lay it down.

Get away, get out and get renewed.

With Jesus.

So you can be reminded that He is God and you are not.

So you can be reminded that the world keeps turning because He IS.

So you can learn to live in the unforced rhythms of grace instead of the anarchy of urgency.

So you can live free and rested in His love.

Jesus said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” MATTHEW 11:28-30 MSG

God’s Faithfulness Knows No End

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

There was a time a few years ago when I was discouraged and heartbroken.

I didn’t know how we were going to make it.

We were living in Las Vegas and our neighborhood edged the Red Rock desert.

One morning I got up early and took a walk.

With worship music loaded on my iPod, I set out to pray and breathe in the presence of God.

The sun was just rising over Red Rock Canyon and it was so beautiful that I almost dropped to my knees. As I turned the corner out of my neighborhood and onto the desert road behind it, the song “Great is Thy Faithfulness” began.  

I heard God’s whisper in my heart, “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.

Hold on, my friend, your hopes are not lost. 

Jesus is faithful to complete what He started in you. 

He will sustain you and strengthen you in it. 

God’s faithfulness knows no end.

Unlimited Riches

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“And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.”-EPHESIANS 3:16, THE PASSION TRANSLATION

Don’t you just love a big unveiling?

A new car, a new product, a new vision that will change life as you know it.

Today there is to be a great unveiling for you.

It is the unveiling of the unlimited riches of glory that God has already given you through Jesus.

It is the lavish outpouring of God’s favor upon your life. 

It is the glory and favor of God’s limitless love continually filling your soul to the brim until you can’t contain it any longer.

This is the life you and I are called to in Christ.

It is a life of living in unlimited divine love that fills you with supernatural strength and power.

It is yours through Jesus.

All yours.

To live in today. 

Stuck?

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Are you stuck and don’t know how to go forward?

Ask God to show you what your next step is and then do it.

Faith is not a feeling.

Faith is an action.

It is the choice to believe something that leads to doing something. 

To trust God with the impossible.

To put actions to your words.

“The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.“

Hebrews 1:1-2 MSG

If God is asking you to do something that means that He has already given what you need to do it.

Joyce Meyers says that “Faith is taking the first step before you know what the second step is.”

It is time to put your faith into action.

It may help you to get unstuck?

What is God challenging you to do today?

Walking in Faith

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“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”     ‭‭

2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Walking is taking one step at time.

Walking in faith is the same.

Taking the step before you feel like it.

Then take the next step according to what you know of God instead of what you know of yourself.

It is about trusting God, following God and asking God to help you do the thing that seems impossible.

Determination is needed.

Courage is indispensible.

Perseverance required.

Don’t give up.

Your Heavenly Father is cheering you on.

He is proud of you.

So am I.

Take the first step, then take another step.

Soon you will be walking everyday by faith.

But just start with one day at a time, one step at a time.

You can do this.

My friend, I am praying for you to take the first step of faith today and trust God for tomorrow.

Love Never Gives Up

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“Love never gives up.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4 MSG‬‬

So much can be communicated through a small touch.

A reassuring pat of the hand.

A hug.

A gentle tug on the elbow of someone who you want closer.

Holding a hand.

A small touch can make a bad thing okay, an okay thing good, and make a good thing great.

Small touches are difference makers in a relationship and in our lives.

They can be the first thing we unconsciously give and the first thing that we unconsciously withhold.

When we struggle, when we are angry, when we are hurt, we withhold the small touches.

It’s easy to forget how important they are to us and to those we love until we can’t give them anymore.

Love never gives up.

If you need to reconnect to someone today, a small touch may be a great way to start.

Joy Over Circumstances

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Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!   Philippians 4:4 NIV

Rejoicing is the theme of the book of Philippians, even though the circumstances with which it was written seem to hold no reason to rejoice.

The Apostle Paul is under house arrest in Rome waiting to go before Caesar. He is cut off from his friends and chained to a guard 24 hours a day. He is not comfortable and knows that he will probably be executed.

As Jesus’ followers, joy is not contingent on circumstances, it bursts through in spite of them.

Are you missing out on joy today because you are waiting for your circumstances to warrant it?

Don’t wait one second more, joy is a fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of your circumstances (Galatians 5:22).

Receive the gift, invite some friends over and throw a joy party!

What To Do With Obstacles

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Is there an obstacle in your life that just isn’t budging?

Jesus told His disciples in Mark 11:22-23, And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” 

A “mountain” was a term used in that day to mean any insurmountable problem and Jesus says to speak to it. 

Use your words. 

God has given you words to speak out, to pray and to proclaim as you trust Him to do what you cannot do. 

While Jesus walked, taught and brought the good news of God’s amazing love to everyone who would listen, He told His disciples to activate their faith in it (God’s love for them) and use their words to move the insurmountable problem before them. 

What mountain are you facing today?

How does God’s love for you empower you to move it?

Need Peace?

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“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”

2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NIV)

Is worry ruling your life?

There are a lot of things to worry about right now.

Some of them are things you worry about all the time.

Some of them are things that are brand new.

Either way, you can collect worry like it’s your job or you can run into the tower of God’s love for you.

A love so strong that it is not moved or changed according to circumstances.

A love so constant that it is not dictated by behavior.

A love so giving that it will never run out and a love so powerful it will not be stopped.

Out of all the decisions you have to make today, the most important one will be if you choose to hold on to God’s love for you or your worry.

May you be filled with God’s immutable love and your soul overflow with the peace of it.