No Worries

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“Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving,continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

Are you dealing with a situation right now that has you feeling anxious or worried? Many times it seems that on a daily basis there is something new we could be worrying about. For some, worry is a constant companion. ‘What if this happens?’ ‘What if that happens?’ And the news doesn’t help the situation!  But God never intended for any of us to live a life of worry. He tells us that we never have to worry about ANYTHING. Did you catch that in the verse above? It said, “do not fret or have anxiety about anything.” But instead, in every circumstance and in everything (I think that covers it!) we should pray and tell God what we want and need. Not because He doesn’t already know, but because we need to come to Him to remind ourselves of our need and His provision. So often we go through life and little situations come up and we deal with them and move on. But I think this causes us to get a false idea of reality. We start to get too confident in our own ability to handle our problems and begin to rely on ourselves more and God less. Often during these times we flat out forget God. Until some “big” situation arises. Then we think, “now I really need God.” But the truth is that you ALWAYS need God. Duh! And even in those so-called “small” situations you had that you think you handled yourself, it was still God making things happen and helping you. Because “every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). And anything we have, do, and are is only because He allows it and gives us what we need.

So, if we really think about it like this, we realize how much we have to be thankful for and this should reassure us that God will remain faithful and continue coming through for us. And that is what the verse goes on to tell us; we should pray to God about our needs with thanksgiving. We can give thanksgiving for His past deeds that give us confidence in His ability and love and provision, and thanksgiving because we know and trust He will do it again and everything will be okay. When you really believe this, the peace that passes understanding which is promised in the next verse will take over you. You will be surprised at how much peace and joy you can feel when you decide to just trust and believe what the Word says and follow it! I’ve experienced this peace before when I really surrendered my problems over to God and allowed His word to comfort and encourage me through.

Remember…don’t worry about ANYTHING, but PRAY about EVERYTHING (from the biggest to the smallest issues) GIVING THANKS for what God has done and is going to do. Knowing and trusting that God heard your prayers, heard your thanksgiving, and will deliver.

Prayer:
Lord, from this day forward, I cast all my cares on You because I know you care for me. I know You do because Your Word tells me many are your thoughts towards me, O Lord, if I should count them they would outnumber the sand. Jesus said that You know everything we need before we even ask You Father, so I trust Your plans for me that you decided even before I was born. Plans for welfare and peace and not for evil; to give me hope in my final outcome. So I will not fret, worry, or be anxious about anything. But in every situation and in everything, big or small, I will come to you in prayer, making my wants known to You with thanksgiving in My heart for Your provision. I know when I do this, Your peace that passes understanding will take over my heart and mind and I will not entertain worry but I will trust that everything will be alright and work out for my good, because I love You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Looking For A Gift?

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A gift

Imagine you purchased a great gift for someone simply because you loved them. Or even better, you saw someone in deep financial crisis and you paid off all their debt and bills for them free of charge just because you love them and know there is no way they could ever pay it off on their own. So you do it and you go to them with the good news that you have paid everything off, they are completely free of all their debts and money problems and they are now free to enjoy their life! You even promise that if they ever get into another jam, you have those future money problems covered too! So they can go on and live their life without those burdens weighing on them anymore. You are excited to tell them about what you’ve done because you just know they will be elated and relieved!!
But to your surprise, when you tell them the good news, they respond by saying…”Yeah right!!! I don’t believe that for one bit!!! And even if you did do such a thing, why are you all in my business? Nobody asked for your money, nobody asked for your help! You could have kept that! I can take care of my own problems! I don’t need you and I don’t want your money either!!!”
At that point, I’d imagine every bit of excitement would leave your mind and all you would be left feeling now is anger and deep hurt. You start thinking…”How could they say that?  After all I just did for them…I feel like I just wasted my time and my money!!! Why wouldn’t they appreciate when someone has just done something wonderful for them?”
I bet that’s how God feels when people reject Jesus…
Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice to remove all our debts. And Jesus is our ultimate gift to clear all our sin debt away…past, present, and future. He is a gift God gave us simply because He loved us too much to leave us without any way out. If we don’t accept Him, we reject God’s ultimate gift to us and it’s as if we are saying Jesus died for nothing, and we don’t want what He’s offering anyways. Please don’t make that mistake!!!

He is a GIFT….

JUST RECEIVE HIM BY FAITH!!!!

…the name of the only begotten Son of God is JESUS…

Do It Again

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never-give-up

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. – Galatians 6:9
Pay close attention, because the verse above holds the key to achieving ANY kind of change you want to see in your life.  Because the key to success is CONSISTENCY.
There have been many times in my life where I was so excited to start a new venture that had the prospect of bringing about major changes in my life. For instance, I might decide to start a new weight-loss program or some new business project or plan to read my Bible through in a year. I would be so excited to start and so gung-ho about my new “project” for the first few days. But then after I had been doing it for a few days, if I didn’t see any immediate results from my efforts, I would start to get discouraged and lose sight of the reason I even started it! After that point, sticking to the program would seem harder and harder and eventually I would just quit because this project that I thought was sure to make a big change in my life didn’t really work after all. Have you ever been there?
Well, I’m starting to realize now that the program wasn’t the issue. Because honestly, there are no “magic” formulas when it comes to success in any area of life. Oh yeah, many things are advertised as quick solutions, but in reality, the truly successful have usually done much hard work to get where they are and you just don’t know about their journey because you didn’t know them before they became successful. And this is true whether it’s someone who has a successful career, has a nice, organized home, has gotten out of debt, or has lost a lot of weight. Whatever the case may be, they’ve worked at it, usually daily or at least weekly and they continue working at it regularly in order to maintain their results. Once I noticed this I began to understand that many times it’s not so much that the new program I started didn’t work, but that I didn’t work the program. And by “working the program”, I mean I didn’t consistently take the necessary action to achieve the result I desired.
Imagine you need to hammer something together. You hold the nail in place and hit it with the hammer, but the nail only goes in a little bit. You wouldn’t just give up and say, “This hammer doesn’t work!” No, you would keep hitting that nail, over and over again until it was all the way in. Well that’s how changes in life are, you have to keep hitting at those problems with effective actions over and over again until you breakthrough those problems and see success!
But the reason we usually get hung up and quit is because we are impatient. The verse says in due time we will reap, but we want to ignore that part, we want it NOW! 🙂 But the truth is that seeds take time to grow. And just like an actual seed sown into the ground doesn’t sprout 10 minutes or sometimes even 10 days after it’s planted, the various things we want to reap in life will not just “grow” that fast either. We must decide that we will do our part and keep patiently looking for the changes to sprout and prove our hard work is not in vain. And if we do not grow weary and give up we will see the fruits of our good work.
So, the next time you feel like giving up and start thinking, “I’ve been doing this for X days/weeks/months and I haven’t seen anything happen yet!” Get rid of that thought and tell yourself, “I don’t care what it looks like right now, I’m going to DO IT AGAIN!” Because God’s word is true, and He says that in due time YOU WILL REAP if you do not grow weary!
Remember, you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to keep going!!! 🙂 You can do all things through Christ Who strengthens you!
“The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Enemies, caution lights called Family. You will have flats called Jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, and a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called Success.” – Unknown

 

How To Fear Nothing

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Fear Not

 

“Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you…” Isaiah 41:10 AMP

Do you struggle with fear and anxiety? Do you ever feel like your fears are holding you back?

I felt the need to address this issue of fear because I am really starting to believe it’s one of the biggest problems most of us face. It seems there is no shortage of fearful situations and circumstances ready to bombard us on a daily basis. Maybe you are fearing that you won’t have enough money to pay your bills, or that your partner will cheat on you or leave you, or that you’ll lose your job. Maybe your afraid that you’re not good enough or that you’ll never see your dreams come true. But no matter what your fear is, God gives us a simple solution. He tells us “Do not fear!”

 

Now, perhaps you read that and thought to yourself, “Yeah, I’ve heard that…But it’s easier said than done!” I understand, because I too began thinking to myself, “I know that’s what it says, but in the face of fearful situations, how can I really have NO FEAR? Isn’t fear normal? Isn’t it just a part of life?”

 

The answer to that is NO!

 

Fear isn’t just something we have to put up with and accept as a part of life. The truth is that the Bible tells us plainly in 2 Timothy 1:7, that God has not given us a spirit of fear. So we know that fear is not from God and it’s never part of His plans for us. Now, let’s be clear, I’m not talking about completely getting rid of the physical effects of fear/anxiety (sweaty palms, heart racing, stomach churn, trembling, etc.) that we may experience when fear first comes up. Because I don’t think we’ll ever fully get rid of those initial feelings. But we don’t have to BOW to them. Feelings are not commands or instructions. We don’t have to let them CONTROL us. We still have the POWER to make decisions about how we will handle the fear. And that’s what God is telling us to do when fear comes up, to make a decision how we will respond to it.

 

So, how can we fear nothing? Honestly, alone we cannot do it. But that’s why almost every single “Do not fear” in the Bible is followed by “…for I am with you.” God never asks us to simply not be afraid; but He also gives us the very reason we don’t have to: because He is with us. And guess what? He isn’t afraid of ANYTHING!  How can He be? For any situation that arises, He already knows the perfect solution. Nothing is able to catch Him off guard or surprise Him, because He already knew it was going to happen before it did. And even in the most fearful situation you can imagine, I’ll bet if you imagined God in that same situation, you already know that He wouldn’t be afraid. Do you think when something happens, that God is up in heaven shaking and trembling wondering what to do? So it would seem safe to conclude that God doesn’t have any fear. And since He’s always with us, and He is never afraid, then we don’t have to succumb to those feelings of fear. We don’t have to bow to it in any way. In fact, FEAR should be afraid of us! Because we have a mighty God who is always there and always ready to fight our battles for us if we trust in Him.  So in the face of fear, shouldn’t we just laugh at it and say “Bring it on, you just don’t know what you’re in for”?

 

I hope this has encouraged you and prepared you for the next time fear tries to rear it’s ugly head! Remember Who you have with you on your side, ask Him to take care of the situation, and trust Him to do just that!

 

God bless!!

What Are You Believing?

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'Believe necklace' photo (c) 2010, Indalo Art - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

What goes through your mind when you first wake up? Do you approach each day with excitement and expectation? Or do you wake up dreading the day ahead? I think for the most part, many of us start our days with dread. We wake up thinking about all the things in our life that aren’t right or how we would like them to be. And I’ve found that this is a surefire way to have a bad day. Jesus said “…it shall be done for you as you have believed.” (Matthew 8:13) So if you’re expecting to not enjoy your day, you probably won’t. 

Honestly, most of us don’t even want to start our day with excitement and expectation of anything good because we actually FEAR thinking positive. We believe we’ll be let down. So we think, “If I don’t expect any good, I won’t be disappointed when I don’t get any.”  But with that you’re basically saying…”I don’t believe anything good will happen, so instead I’ll believe for bad so I’m not surprised.” Notice what you’re “believing” for…that you’ll be let down. Hmm, no wonder you keep getting let down…you’re faith is in action.

Faith simply put is belief in something; and it works on whatever you’re believing, whether that’s for the positive or for the negative. Generally we don’t call it faith when it’s negative, we call it fear. We say I’m afraid this is going to happen or that is going to happen. So you’re basically putting your “faith”, in the thing you don’t even want. How about instead of saying “I’m afraid that I’m going to get sick”, you say “I believe God is protecting me from every sickness”. Or if you’re worried that you might lose your job,  when that fear comes instead of focusing on that you say “God knows I need a job and He is making sure that I have one at all times!” Stop believing for the worst to happen, and start believing for the BEST to happen. 

Think about how you feel on a day when you’re expecting something good to happen. We wake up totally different on those days, with a whole different attitude. We are happy and excited, and even when we go to sleep the night before we are anxiously anticipating the next day. We don’t have any trouble getting out of bed that day! 

But why can’t we start EVERY day like that? Psalm 118:24 says,  “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Everyday is a day that the Lord has given us, so for that reason alone we should be happy. Many people didn’t get to see today. So, I think we should approach each day with excitement, looking and expecting for God to bless us and come through for us in whatever way we need Him to. For instance, if you’ve asked God for something, and you’ve been waiting to see it come to pass, don’t go around sad and depressed because you haven’t seen it yet. Instead, start looking for God to be working on your behalf. 

Starting today, when you feel afraid about something, determine the reverse of that, pray to God for the positive thing, and then watch Him go to work for you! He really wants to! In fact, He’s looking for someone like this…

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! Isaiah 30:18 AMP

Did you catch that? He’s actually looking for someone to be gracious to. He wants to lift Himself up so He can show you mercy and loving-kindness. And it even says that if you wait and expect for God to be all those things to you, you will be blessed. Now that’s something to get excited about!! The God who is in charge of everything and has all power, is waiting to do something for YOU! 

So, go to Him, tell Him what you need, and expect Him to listen and help you. It might not be how you expected it to happen, but God is surely full of surprises! All you have to do is BELIEVE…

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5:14-15 

God bless you!!!

The Call

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Hello! Did you know that God had a specific purpose in mind when He put you here? It’s TRUE!!! Everything that God wants to do on the earth, He uses a PERSON to do it. And all throughout the Bible, whenever there was a need, He would select a person, and then tell them what He wanted them to carry out for Him. The most interesting thing is that, most of the time, the people who He called could not understand why He would choose them. In their own eyes they didn’t have any special talent or gift and in fact they would look at the things they DIDN’T have and basically tell God that they thought He had made a mistake in choosing them! 
Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5 AMP
 
In the verse above, God told Jeremiah He had chosen him to be prophet. Jeremiah responded by saying, “Oh Lord, I cannot speak, for I am only a youth.” He was basically telling God, I’m too young to do what you’re asking me to do! But God answered him by saying “Don’t say that you’re too young and can’t speak, because I will tell you what to say. Don’t be afraid!” And then God actually touched his mouth and put His own words in Jeremiah’s mouth. (Jeremiah 1:6-9) The end of the story is that Jeremiah went on to become a great prophet, predicting future events!! 
 
So the question I have for you today is, what has God called YOU to do?? And are you doing it? Or are you still arguing with God (and yourself, and possibly others) about why you CAN’T do it? If that’s the case, I’m here to tell you that whatever you think you’re “missing” that would prevent you from doing the great things God is calling you to do, God is saying that He Himself will give it to you (whatever it is)…if you will just decide to step out in faith and do it!!
 
Maybe you’re someone who is saying, “I don’t have a call on my life”. I would beg to differ! God is very purposeful. And you simply would not be here on this earth if He didn’t have a reason for it!  So, if you don’t think you have a purpose in life, then you have some homework to do! 🙂 And because God created you, He is the only One that knows what that purpose is, because it is precisely the reason why you are here. The first thing you need to do is ASK HIM what that is, so you can get started on that path! I can assure you that whatever it is, IF you accept the call, He will bring tremendous joy and blessings into your life! 
 
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11
 
Here’s a short prayer to help you get you started… 
Lord, I know you’ve called me to do something great for You. Please show me what that is and give me the courage, so I can do it! Help me to not to look at my own abilities, but at Your ability, because I know that You will be with me every step of the way! In Jesus name, Amen. 
 
If you prayed that prayer, I already know that you are on your way to something WONDERFUL! I am so happy for you!! 
 
God bless you!!! 
 

Do You Have a Dream?

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'4:365 Dream' photo (c) 2008, RandyA38 - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

 

“How could you have a dream and not make that dream come true?” -Unknown

When I read that quote, something inside of me was awakened! It’s such a simple question, but it points out just how much power (and responsibility) we have for making our dreams come true. For most of us, when we think of our dreams, we think of a distant future where everything in our lives will finally be just as we would like it. Where we finally have that nice beautiful home we’ve always dreamed of, really nice cars that will bring us lots of haters, a great career doing what we love to do and makes us lots of money, and wonderful relationships with those we love. We think about it often, and when things aren’t going well in our current reality, we say things like “I can’t wait until…” and fill in the blank with descriptions of what our lives will look like once all of our dreams come true. 

Most often though, we aren’t actively making any plans to see those things become a reality. We just believe that somehow, someway, all those things will simply fall into place one day. God will “work it out” and make it happen for us because we’re good people and we deserve to be happy and live a good life. Right? 

But that’s rarely what happens. Most often people live and dream, live and dream, and eventually get to an old age wondering, “What happened?” They think about all the hopes and dreams they had for their lives, and they look around and wonder where the time went and how come they never got to live “the good life.” Some of you may feel this way right now, and you’re not old at all. 🙂 I know because I’ve had these thoughts myself at various times! 

I don’t want that for any of us! And I bet it scares you to even think that you might get to that place one day. But it doesn’t have to be that way! YOU have the power to ensure that doesn’t become your future. 

The first step is to pray about your dreams and ask God to show you what you need to do to make them a reality. God will help you, and He will give you the ideas, insights, and resources necessary to see your dreams come true. But you have to do what you CAN do in the natural, and God will add His super-ability to your natural ability.

I want to encourage you to dream big, and not only dream, but make plans to bring your dreams to reality. And don’t just think of all the big huge things that most people dream about. Think of your mind as a dream factory. Where you are constantly dreaming and implementing. Once you achieve one dream, start on a NEW one! I bet you will find that your life could be much more fruitful than it is now. No dream is too small or too big. Whatever you can conceive, you can achieve, if you just believe. That’s not just a cliche!


Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. Proverbs 16:3 AMP

May God richly bless you!!!

Hello World!

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Hello World!

Hello World! When I say “WORLD”, I’m referring to the one that God loved so much that He gave His only Son just to save every soul in it!! (John 3:16) Wow, that’s LOVE!


Welcome to what I’ll call my “virtual abode”…for the time being anyways! I guess I should say today marks my journey into the world of blogging. I never really envisioned myself writing a blog. But the more I go on the web and read articles and blogs written by others, I consistently find myself amazed by the amount of untruthful and judgmental information out there. So I figure, why just sit back getting aggravated about it when I can (as my hubby so clearly puts it) Speak My Mind too, just like others, and allow my voice to be heard. And let’s be clear: it’s not that I want to be just a loud voice telling everybody what “I” believe, but I’m convinced that the Bible is God’s voice to the world and therefore I consider that to be ultimate Truth. So I hope to shed light on the issues of today with the flashlight of God’s Word. I completely understand that there are some who don’t like this approach. But I hope and pray that God will use this to change even your thinking about that eventually. Ultimately, I guess I’m just crazy enough to believe that once the world believes in Jesus and really understands and applies the truths of the Bible, they can change their lives for the good, which will in turn, change the WORLD for the good. Because lets face it, looking at the world as its going today, and its hard to have hope for the future. But as Jesus put it: 


“With men it’s impossible, but not with God; for ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD.” (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27)


And I wholeheartedly believe that. 

But in order for wrong mindsets to be transformed, they must first be exposed. So that will be one of the goals of this site.

I’m not sure exactly where this online journey will take me, but where ever it goes, I know I’ll be going with Jesus. And that’s also where the name of this blog comes from, SON&Rain. The SON is for Jesus, and the Rain is for me. So it’ll be me and Him, and I surely hope you will join me in learning from Him!

God Bless!!!