A Minute In It - Feeding Your Faith

Ever get to the end of the week and feel spent? Everything is going along just fine when in the span of 24 hours a few balls drop that leave you discouraged and wondering. Wondering things like “Where are you God?” “Why do you not step in and fix this?” “Why can’t we just have some good news for a change?” “Why does this have to be so hard?”

That’s how I felt in the middle of yesterday. So, I prayed. I prayed and asked God all of those very same questions. And I ended with “I need to see you.”

God is so faithful. As I continued to go through my day, he spoke in very clear ways. Overall, the message was “Remember. Dig into my Word. Remember my promises. Feed your faith with Me, not your circumstances.” So today, we are going to do just that.

Here are just a few of the promises I found yesterday. I am sure you have some favorites. When you get discouraged and it doesn’t feel like Jesus is in the middle of it, dig in to his Word. It will help you remember that He is.

But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NLT)

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Isaiah 46
3 Listen to me, descendants of Jacob,
all you who remain in Israel.
I have cared for you since you were born.
Yes, I carried you before you were born.
4 I will be your God throughout your lifetime—
until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I will carry you along and save you. (v 3-4)
9 Remember the things I have done in the past.
For I alone am God!
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 Only I can tell you the future
before it even happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass,
for I do whatever I wish. (v 9-10)

He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever. Psalm 146:6

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:6

A Minute In It - Back And To The Future

A minute in Gods' word will change your life.  These verses are a reminder that life will not always be as we see it now. Because Jesus came and overcame, we will one day live in peace; delivered from the struggles of this world.

1-5 A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump,
    from his roots a budding Branch.
The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
    the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
    the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God
    will be all his joy and delight.
He won’t judge by appearances,
    won’t decide on the basis of hearsay.
He’ll judge the needy by what is right,
    render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.
His words will bring everyone to awed attention.
    A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.
Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots,
    and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.

6-9 The wolf will romp with the lamb,
    the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
    and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
    their calves and cubs grow up together,
    and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
    the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
    on my holy mountain.
The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
    a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.
Isaiah 11:1-9 (MSG)

Involved With Each Other

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Hebrews 10:24 (NLT)

Last night my husband and I met with some friends for dinner. I’ve known this couple for many, many years. As we reminisced a little about some of the people we’d known in the past, they recounted a story about something that happened in our church quite a few years ago.

Their family was going through a really difficult time. Things were heading in a downward trend. His wife called a friend from the church and said that she was ready to give up. Not too long from when they hung up the phone, a group from the church was standing on their door step. They were there to sort through it with them, lend support and encourage them.

That act of brotherly love changed the course for their family.

We talked about why we don’t do this more often. The Bible is clear (in today’s verse and others) that we are to help each other. Of course, that doesn’t mean going around interjecting your opinion and trying to force people to do what you think; but truly encouraging and supporting each other through difficult times.

These acts of love are to start with prayer - lots of prayer. Through prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit we can move forward and support. It is not our job to convince someone to do something, it is the Holy Spirit’s job. Our job is to be Jesus with skin on and to encourage each other with Godly wisdom and support.

Maybe, just maybe, if we took this more seriously and loved each other selflessly, our world would have less families in crisis and more stories of healing. What do you think?

For A Limited Time Only - Not!

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace.  Hebrews 13:8-9a (NLT)

Ever hear these statements?

For a limited time only
Call today for the best offer (does this mean if I call tomorrow you won't give me your best offer?)
Can be finished in as little as one day (it probably won't be but it could be)
Change your apartment change the world (Really? If this were true I would have changed the world many times!)
Up to 70% off (and there is only one thing in the store that is 70% off - the rest are not on sale)

The other day I was cooking and I had the TV on in the background. I heard the line "Call today for the best offer" and I started thinking about how we are duped by all of the media, commercials, and twist on words that we hear. We are bombarded with information and with images that trick our souls. I started wondering why we never see a car commercial with a mom wearing no make-up driving the child who is screaming in the car seat because he wants to get out. And I wondered why we don't see a man sitting in his car who is covered with drywall dust because he was in the middle of a home project and the pipe burst and he doesn't have the right part to fix it or a woman who overslept and is putting her make-up on in the parking lot of a building because she's late for her meeting.

We look at the things we see on TV and we are subconsciously told that if you buy/own this particular thing your life will be all put together. And somewhere deep in our recesses, we believe it. But, it is a lie. Very good lies that Satan spins so we spend too much money and are always living in discontent. 

Ahhhh, but all is not doom and gloom. There are promises that are kept and statements that are made that are 100% true. They are found in the Word of God. No matter what, he does not change. Our verse today tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. When he says something, it holds. You don't have to call on the right day, it is not a limited time offer and there is not a bait and switch. 

Will you still have days when your child is screaming in the back seat as you are driving somewhere? Yes. Will you still break pipes during home improvement projects and not have what you need to fix it? Yes. Will you still oversleep and feel out of sorts as you try to catch up?  Definitely. But deep inside you will also have a peace that you are not in this alone and that there is something better waiting. That, is a statement you can take to the bank. 

It's a No Good - Nothing Is Working Kind of Day

There are some days when no matter what I try, I can't seem to get over myself. Everything seems so hard. I want to curl up in a ball and give up. I can't get past the feeling that it's a nogood - nothing is working kind of day. And what's worse is that on these days I am tempted to believe God is not there. I question Him, His love and His plan. What do you do when you can't get it straight? Go to the Word.

If today is one of those days for you, here are some Bible texts that offer encouragement. Pick one that hits home. Write it down/put it on your phone. Carry it around with you. Even better, memorize it. And when that really negative, down-right depressing, thought pops into your head, read/recite/remember the text. It'll get you through the day.

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
Psalms 138:8 (NKJV)

We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you. 2 Chronicles 20:12 (NIV)

The battle is not your battle, it is God’s. 2 Chronicles 20:15 (NCV)

No weapon forged against you will prevail. Isaiah 54:17 (NIV)

Nothing I plan to accomplish in your life can be stopped. Job 42:2

And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (GNT)

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 (NIV)

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)

Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness
    while I am here in the land of the living.
Wait patiently for the Lord.
    Be brave and courageous.
    Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
Psalm 27:13-14 (NLT)

Carry on! God's got this!