Category Archives: Faith

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…

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!!!