Category Archives: God

I am Safe During any Storm!

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   “For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock.” –  Psalm 27:5

If tomorrow you have a “day of trouble” can you keep your heart fixed on the goodness of the Lord? When you keep your heart fixed steadfastly on His goodness you are able to weather any storm. You will travel safely though the terrible storm just like Noah was kept safe inside the Ark.

Think for a moment, what if the Holy Spirit quickened to your heart that you must be prepared for a “day of trouble,” what if He said this day is coming soon and you must get prepared. The way to be prepared is in that same verse. David said: “He will hide me in His shelter.” I believe that being hidden in His shelter works in two ways:

  1. As a Christian we are safe and hid in Christ, so we must never give in to fear. (Colossians 3:3) If you are in Christ, you are hidden from the powers of darkness.
  2. We must hide God’s Word inside our heart.  You hide the Word of God in your heart by memorizing it, and meditate upon it.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” -Psalm 46:1.

In a time of trouble He is there.  As you hide God’s Word in your heart your spirit man is prepared to be steadfast, unshakable, and unmovable even through the toughest storm.

Enter into the Presence of the Lord

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“By this I know that you favor and delight in my, because my enemy does not triumph over me. And as for me you have upheld me… and set me in your presence forever.” Psalm 41:11-12 amp

This verse is talking about the secret place in the presence of the Lord. He calls us to come and enter into His presence. How comforting to know that even when we are tired and weary, it is God who actually lifts us up and sets us in His presence.

Nothing can harm me when I am in his presence!
Nothing can rob me of my joy and peace as long as I stay where God has positioned me!

And although He sets me in his presence, I have the freedom to leave any time I choose. If I step out of His presence any time, and I begin to look at what the enemy is doing or worry about past mistakes, I am at that moment out of the presence of the Lord, I am now in a state of fear, doubt and unbelief. God says he set me in His presence forever. If you have left the safe haven of the presence of the Lord, just ask Him to lift you back up. He delights in you so ask Him to lift you back up so you can be seated again in heavenly places with Christ.

When you just don’t understand…

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not onto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path”.  – Proverbs 3:5

Do you have a difficult time trusting God? Do you worry, fear, or stress about circumstances in your daily life? If you’re having a difficult time trusting God, I want you to understand something. Take a look at your relationship with your earthy father. Like looking through dark sun glasses, you may be seeing your heavenly Father dimly.  The way we viewed our earthly father can hinder us from seeing God as He really is.  As a child you look to your father for direction, if he was not trust worthy then it hinders you from trusting your heavenly Father.

Take a minute and reflect back, have you been defiled by your father’s actions?

If you were rejected by your father you may be fearful God does not love and accept you. If you were abandoned, you may be fearful that God will leave you.  These fears are defiling you and blocking your view disabling you from seeing God clearly.

Forgive your father for all his wrongdoing and release those bad memories of his mistakes.  Ask God for a pure heart so you can see Him clearly. Through healing you will be able to trust God as your loving Father.

 

Surrendering to God’s Will

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“Our Father which art in Heaven, hollowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…” Matthew 6: 9-13

Have you ever wondered what God’s will for your life is? His will is simply for us to live and maintain His kingdom here on earth. God’s kingdom is distinct and a different way of life. Jesus taught us how to pray for the kingdom to come on earth, how He would work in us, and showed us how to live and work inside the kingdom. When Christ is in you, it is a perfect fit! He is in you, you are in Him, and you are both in the kingdom. It is Christ that works in both of you to accomplish His good pleasure.

I have found that I can pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done”, and then resist the work of Christ in me. I had to learn the difference between my will and His. My will consists of doing whatever I want to do, as much as I want to do it. If I live according to my will, then I will eat all the food I want, spend all the money I want, and then whine because I am overweight and broke. When I submit and abide by His will, then I have boundaries and parameters. I am doing what He wants me to do when I surrender my life to Christ and ask Him to be in charge.

Your life will not be complicated if you surrender to God’s plan and will for your life. It is Christ working inside of you, changing your will to do the Fathers will. Take time to read His Word and you will soon see who you are. You are His child and an heir. You will live as an heir, a joint heir with Christ. When you get a glimpse that you are here on planet earth as an heir to establish and maintain your Father’s kingdom, it will change your agenda for the day.

Pray this simple prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Come and Drink!

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“For He satisfies the longing (thirsty) soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” Psalm 107:9

Come and Drink  

One of my favorite things about where I live is that I can see the deer out in the morning and evening as they are looking for fresh water.   They remind me of that Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who are thirsty and I will give you a drink.”  Jesus is inviting us to come and drink and be restored.  He has living water that will satisfy the longing of your heart and soul.

When you spend time with Jesus and receive a drink of this living water first thing in the morning you will be full of life all day. Then when you get to the end of your day, you simply return to the fountain that never runs dry.

“As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul longs for you, O God” Psalm 42:1-2.

Come and DrinkNo matter where you are on the planet, this living water is available to you. Jesus says “come and drink.” The Word of God is the Living Water and as you drink, it will begin to flow into every area of your soul. Even into those dry desert areas where there has not been life in a long time. You will know when the water has reached the desert areas because all of a sudden, life will begin to appear; a new thing will begin to happen, and you will see it spring forth. Living Water produces new life!

 

God says, “Behold, (watch) I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth….I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Is 43:19

 

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Finding a Safe Place

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  “Create in me a pure heart, Oh god and renew a right spirit within me.”  Psalm 51:10

There was a time in my life that I needed a safe place for God to do open heart surgery. My heart was broken and as hard as I tried, I could not recover. During that time, well-meaning friends said things like, “Can’t you snap out of it and just get over it?” No, it wasn’t that easy. I needed someone safe to understand what I was going through- to listen to how I was hurting and help me release the pain. I cried out for a miracle and God heard my cry, He created in me a pure heart and renewed a right spirit within me.

My healing didn’t happen overnight; it lasted for two years. At the end, I asked the Lord, “Why did it take so long?” The Lord told me I had taken the long journey so I could minister the shorter journey to others and help them find a safe place for their healing.

For the next few weeks you will be on a “journey of healing.” Each day as you read the devotionals you will be looking at your past to identify wounds that have not been healed. Unhealed wounds are painful and very sensitive, and they can affect how you feel about yourself.

Once your heart is healed, you will be free from the fear of rejection and you will be able to love others unconditionally, regardless of their mistakes and shortcomings. Unconditional love never fails, and it turns a home into a haven.

Heavenly Father,
As Your Word says, “Create in me a clean and pure heart, and renew a right spirit within me.”

You Are Chosen and Have Purpose

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“He hath chosen us in Him…” Eph 1:4

Have you ever thought about what it really means to be chosen by God?  Do you remember an event or a series of events when it became clear that you were chosen?  Did you feel God’s sovereign hand protecting and guiding you?

You have been chosen to be God’s child so you can be His representative on the earth. Paul said in Ephesians 1:5, that He planned for us to be adopted and revealed as His own children. This is our identity and purpose in one verse.

Once you discover your identity and God’s specific purpose for your life, you will no longer get all tangled up in the world around you.  He has chosen you to carry His peaceful plan into a world of chaos and confusion.  Represent Him, speak what He says, and carry His peace into every situation.

The world can not produce peace.  Your presence should bring peace and order into the world around you.  You walk in a very special purpose and calling.  Let that calling shine to others around you.

“Grace be to you, and peace, from our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Eph1:3.

You Can Trust

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path”.  Proverbs 3:5

There is a reason why Proverbs 3:5 says, “all your heart.”  Trusting in the Lord with all your heart means that He alone is the One you are trusting to direct you to the right path.  You simply ask Him and wait on the answer. I like to write out my questions and then record the answer in my journal.

When you ask the Lord for direction and He gives you the answer, you trust Him even though you don’t fully understand it.  You can’t wait until you understand everything.  If you wait until you understand then you are trusting in yourself.  There are some things we will never understand and that is why we need faith to trust God.

Holding on to the past can be a major block when you are trying to trust the Lord.  If you are rehearsing all of your past mistakes, then you can’t hear what He is telling you to do.  You will be hindered from moving forward until you let go of the past and release all the people who let you down.  Forgive yourself and others and then trust God to direct your steps from this day forward.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I need Your help. Please help me to stop looking backwards at the mistakes of the past. Lord, help me to overcome all fear and put my full trust in You as I move forward.                                                                                                   In Jesus’ Name,       

I am Accepted!

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I will praise Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right will.

Psalm 139:14

We all have our insecurities. Some may want to change their personality, appearance, height, or weight. We live in a world that is hard to please, so the pressure to change in order to be more acceptable is very great. But, in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, He declared it was good. When He created man and woman He said it was very good.

Can you see it now? Imagine the God of the universe taking a step back while viewing His work and gently nodding His head and saying, “Yes, this is good.” You were included in His beautiful work. He formed and fashioned you just right. He knew what He was doing; you were no mistake. Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy telling you that you need to change to be more satisfying to this world. The Lord sculpted you and held you up and said, “My child you are good enough!” Relax and let Him do His work in you.

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:6

Declare your praise to the Lord because you are fearfully and wonderfully made! Confess that you are good enough and acceptable to Him. Speak only uplifting and wholesome words about yourself from now on.

Father God, I need Your help. Help me to see myself the way You see me. I confess I have been trying to measure up to the world’s standards. I have believed the lies _________________. I choose today to renounce each lie and to embrace the truth that I am accepted in the beloved and I am one of your marvelous works. Thank You that when You look at me you say “very good”. Help me to only think and speak uplifting words about myself.

In Jesus’ Name
Amen

How to Discover Your Spiritual Identity

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“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” Galatians 4: 6-7

God has a place and a purpose for each of us in His kingdom.  In order for you to know where your place is, you must discover your identity.  Your spiritual identity is not based on worldly criteria, social status, or education.  You may be very successful in a profession, but still feel something is missing if you have not discovered your spiritual identity.

Healing is essential in discovering our identity.  Pain and scars from the past keep us connected to the past and distort the way we perceive ourselves and who we are to God.  God speaks to our hearts, telling us who we are, but we can’t clearly hear Him until we are healed.  Pain blocks and distorts our spiritual hearing.  Through the healing process we experience restoration, being restored into favor and fellowship with God.  Sin separates us; healing restores us!

In the past several years, I noticed a block in hearing the Lord, especially through dreams.  At the time, I could not understand why I wasn’t hearing Him or why I felt somewhat separated from Him.  But as I continue down the path of my healing, I am able to hear God speaking to my heart, speaking to me through dreams, and I feel a stronger connection to Him now than I ever have before.  It was because of my sin and pain that I was disconnected from God.  Communing with the Father is opening my eyes to how He sees me and showing me who I really am.

In Jeremiah 1:5, we read that God knew Jeremiah before he was in his mother’s womb.  God knows you and He is waiting on you to know yourself.  He wants you to know yourself as He knows you.  The prodigal son is an example of a spiritual son who finally discovered who he was.  He didn’t fully embrace his position and inheritance until he went astray and was restored to his family.  He had to go through the death of who he thought he was so he could experience life; and the same is true for us today.  The prodigal had a ring on his finger and a robe on his back as he sat at the banquet table that was prepared for him.  He heard his father say, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” Luke 15:2

“Thy Kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Matthew 6:10