Do Not Be Discouraged.

Even the most committed believer has those moments when fear or worry can kick in.

Anxiety can overtake us. Maybe we're concerned about our future, feel discouraged about some of our failures and shortcomings, or find ourselves anxious about the lives of our family members.

Far too often, though, we are afraid of the wrong things in life, and not afraid of the right things . . . or the right One. Many people don't fear God, giving Him the awe and the reverence that is His due. Yet the Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom.

What is the "fear of the Lord?"

The Bible says that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever" (Psalm 111:10).

To fear God doesn't mean that we are in terror before Him. But the fear of God has been properly defined as a wholesome dread of displeasing Him. If I have sinned, my fear should not be based on the anticipation of what God will do to me, but on what I have done to displease Him. I love Him so much that I would never want to grieve His heart by turning my back on Him or going my own way. That is what it means to fear the Lord.

Don't be discouraged today

David wrote, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever" (Psalm 19:9). It is good for us to fear Him. When we fear God, we fear nothing else. On the other hand, if we don't fear God, then we fear everything else, and we find ourselves running from shadows.

In another psalm, David stated, "The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1). Only the person who can say, "The Lord is the strength of my life," can then say, "Of whom shall I be afraid?"

Maybe you feel that your life has been a failure, or perhaps find yourself discouraged, depressed, or afraid of something. If you're gripped by fear and worry today, then let the Lord be the strength of your life. Trade in all your lesser and destructive fears for the fear that will bring wisdom and peace.

Philippians 4:13
Love and Blessings x

Made for his Glory

"Bring all who claim me as their God , for I have made them for my Glory, It was I who created them" Isaiah 43:7

In Matthew 25, we find a story Jesus told about three servants who were each given a certain amount to invest while their master was away. When he returned, two of the three servants had multiplied their gifts, while the third had simply buried it in the ground.

The third servant offered this excuse: "Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back" (Matthew 5:24–25). To loosely paraphrase, "It's not my fault."

Sometimes they have a sense of entitlement. And when they are irresponsible and squander what has been given to them, we have the audacity to actually blame the person who gave it to us.

The master told this man, "You wicked and lazy servant! . . . Why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it" (verses 26–27).

You know, there are people like this today. They are believers. They have been forgiven by God. And they are going to heaven when they die. But they are lazy. They don't take the life that God has given them and use it for His glory. They think it is all about them, how everyone should cater to them, how everyone should be serving them. They never think about serving others. They never think about glorifying God.

We have to ask ourselves the question, Why am I here on this earth to begin with? The answer is that we are here to bring glory to God. We are here to honor His name. So let's take what God has given and use it for His glory. 

What do you think God wants you to do?

Love & Blessings x

You are what you Speak

Proverbs 18:21
"The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences
What ever you speak can bring life or death into your life".

The life we are living today is the harvest from the seeds we have planted in our past; and today, we are planting seeds for our future.

When we speak positive words, the angels will move on our behalf and your circumstances will change for the better.

It's so easy to talk during the day about what wrong or what we believe to be worthless. Whether it's our jobs, our health, our family or relationships.

It can get so deep it becomes part of our subconscious.  This is a trap from the enemy.

It is very important to be aware as to what we are filling our minds with.

We need to fill our minds with the word of God. No what the Doctor says, no what our bank accounts look like.

Whatever is in our mind in abundance, we will speak and whatever we speak it will become an action, and then a lifestyle.

Replace Negative Statements with the Word of God.

Philippians 4:8 (CEV)

"Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don't ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise"

 

We need to think and speak good about our health, our finances, our family, our friendships ,and believe What he says about us. and who WE ARE IN CHRIST.

Be a Living Hope

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter1:3

Some friendships are what I would describe as high-maintenance. These are friends who get easily offended and get upset if you don't call them every weekend and do something with them and give them a basic, daily update of everything you are doing.

But then there are friendships that go on for years. I have friends whom I have known for more than 20 years. I won't see them for a year, and when I do see them, we actually will pick up where we last left off. It is like we were just together.

In heaven, we will be able to pick up where we last left off with our friends and loved ones. There are things we wish we could have said to them. And there are things we wish they would have said to us. But the conversation was cut off.

Have you ever been talking to someone on the phone and lost service? You were in the middle of a conversation, when suddenly it began to feel like a one-way conversation. This happened to me recently. I was talking to my friend, and we were going back and forth. I asked her something and, after a long pause, wondered, Why isn't he answering me? He had been off the phone for awhile. We had been cut off.

In heaven, there will be reunited relationships and continued conversations. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we will have resurrected relationships.

The gospel is needed

Needless to say that attitude would be the epitome of selfishness, even criminal.  The correct answer is that you want to get the cure out to as many people as possible and as quickly as you possibly can.

To use another example, lets say that you were walking down the street and you heard someone screaming who is trapped in a house that is burning down. What do you do? just hope someone is around who can help or do you take action and do something?

How much more important is the truth of the gospel message, for it is a cure that is even more significant than a cure for cancer, that does not mean doing it rudely or harshly, or look at people as "notches on your belt." It means lovingly, yet boldly engaging them with the gospel message.

 

It's a option of freedom, a new life. we can actually have an impact into the lives of anyone around us, When we share the gospel with others, it's like we are going to a person who is trapped in a burning house, with only moments to live, and pulling them to safety. Scripture describes it as "Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment" (Jude 1:23 NLT).

Evangelism is such an important part of our journey, its the reason we are here to share the good news with everyone we have contact with. Surely surrendering our pride and what people think of us is worth giving up if it means someone can be set free and have Salvation.

His work, His Way, His Timing!

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from the beginning. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Some people start projects with great enthusiasm but then don't always finish them. That is me. I get really excited about starting something, but sometimes I lose interest. For instance, when I cook, I am excited about getting the meal ready and eating it, but then I don't really like to clean up. Or when it is time to clean \my bedroom, I will get three-fourths of it done, and then I will say, "I will finish up the rest later on today." And guess what? I never do.

Aren't you glad that God isn't that way? Imagine if God said, "You know, I love you. I have chosen you. I want to transform you into My image. But I am kind of bored with you. I am moving on now."
 

"What? Wait. You are not going to finish?"

"No. I have moved on. I found someone more interesting than you."

But God finishes what He starts. Scripture tells us that He is "the author and finisher of our faith" Hebrews 12:2."We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew that later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right side of God's throne! 

And Philippians 1:6 says, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

But here is what we need to remember: God does His work in His way in His own timing. As Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." But sometimes we grow impatient with God. We say, "Lord, finish this!"

He will finish it—you can be confident of that. But sometimes if we don't see any tangible progress, we think that God has lost interest in us or perhaps has even abandoned us. We need to remember that is never the case. He will complete what He has started.

So if there is anything you have been asking God to do or have a prayer unanswered, my challenge to you is - Keep praying and seeking the Lords will for your life, he will answer BUT in this timing and not ours,

Love & Blessings x

Michelle Hardisty

31/01/2012

Today We looked at Colossians 1 We follow a series called Haverim Devotions and today we looked at the First part P'shat”which means the intended meaning, we looked at the different things Paul was praying for the people of Colsse and then prayer these thing over each other.

Then we went to a school where we did some Teacher assistant work in a RE class, we looked at the topic of the Bible and the reasons why Christians read it, they discovered it was and has been for the past 500 years the best selling book, this gave us the opportunity to share about the Bible and stories within it in more details, the children had lots of questions.

Then we came back and did ministry prep for kids club tomorrow and academy. I had my first mentoring session where we talked about Nehemiah and the things that we struggle with and what we need to do to keep building the walls in our lives and prayed against all the barriers that stop us from doing this.

We finished the evening off at a youth group where I had the opportunity to heap lead worship we sang a great song, set me a fire within in my soul, that I can't that can't control, I want more of you God” this is the cry of our heart. where we watched the “ Noise Nooma” DVD there was a point where all the young people had to be quiet and it talked about reasons why its so hard to be in silence,

We then split into small discussion groups, we had a great discussion in my group, they said how there is so much noise around us and distractions its harder to hear God talk to you, we looked at the passage Matthew 11:28”.......”

- I asked them if there was any problems in their lives they need God to bring rest to and one boy really opened up to us about things he struggled him so we had an opportunity at the end to pray for everyone.