Expect to See The Impossible

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 “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13

We read of the children of Israel in Psalm 106:12, “Then they believed His promises and sang his praise.”  Unfortunately, they did not believe until after they saw Him work in their situation.  They were in doubt when they came to the Red Sea, but when He opened the way and led them across safely and Pharaoh and his army drowned–“then they believed.”  They continued to live this kind of seeing-is-believing, up-and-down existence, because their faith was dependent on their circumstances.

This is certainly not the kind of faith God wants us to have today.  Faith is believing what you do not yet see.  God wants us to believe first, so that then we can see.  The psalmist said, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
 
Do you believe God only when your circumstances are favorable?   Faith is believing God will intervene in your situation, even when things look impossible.  The reward for this kind of faith is: what was impossible will be possible. When we come to the point that we believe in God’s goodness, we will no longer be pulled into despair.  We will live above our circumstances in every aspect of life: finances, relationships, or sickness.

Your Burdens Roll Away

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“Commit your ways to the Lord (roll and repose each care of your load on Him); trust (lean on, rely on and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.”  Psalm 37:5 Amp

You have probably found, as I have, that every problem has a weight to it, and some are heavier than others.  If you have committed your ways unto the Lord and are trusting in Him to work things out, then you must release the heavy weight and not take it back again.
 
Do not worry about it; trust Him.  This does not mean you are not involved or concerned about the situation.  It simply means you are not anxious or worried about it anymore.  And most of all, it is not up to you to fix it.
 
You are now trusting in the Lord and waiting on Him to work everything out for good.  Waiting is hard, but you can trust God to be faithful to His Word.  Grab hold of His promise and then wait.  It is hard to wait at first, but the more you resist taking things back into your own hands and working them out yourself, the easier waiting becomes.  So today, if your problem feels heavy, just pray and release it to the Lord.  Roll it over and reposition the weight on Him, and He will carry it for you.  All you need to do now is stand back and watch as He works everything out according to His plan and purpose.
 
Be aware that if you have never lived life without a weight on your back, it may feel funny at first.   If so, resist taking the weight back again. Psalm 37:3 says, “Trust in (lean on, rely on and be confident) in the Lord and do good, so shall you dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness, and surely be fed.”   This tells me we are not to worry, because He will provide for all our needs.  We are to feed on His faithfulness, and He has a banquet table prepared for us.

What is Perfect Love?

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“Perfect love casts out all fear, for fear hath torment. And he that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:18

Perfect LoveWe are born with a need for love and fear is waiting at the door when we don’t receive it.  The first time we are touched and held as an infant, the need for love is met, but only for a moment.  As an infant, the ability to hold on to love has not been established.  The ability to hold on when someone says they are holding you is what we call “trust”.

Just as a baby will continue to cry until he/she learns how to trust, we as adults will continue to cry and complain until we mature and learn to trust God completely.

We first learn to trust through loving, nurturing parents.  We learn that we can trust them to return, even when they are away for a day.  Once trust has been established, they can be away for longer periods of time and we still feel secure and loved.  Their continual flow of love keeps our hearts soft.  A lack of love due to neglect, rejection or abuse is painful and causes emotions to shut down, so the heart begins to harden.

Each time pain is felt, a stone is formed in the heart.  After a period of time, the stones form a wall around the heart for protection against further pain.  A person with a stony heart has a difficult time receiving love from God or others.  The very thing that is needed is blocked out.

We all have areas of our heart that are stony due to the fact that we all have been hurt when love did not flow properly from our parents.  They could only give what they received from their parents.  You cannot drink water from an empty cup.

Women, did you have long periods of time when your father wasn’t in your life?  You may have built a wall around your heart making it difficult to trust and receive love from your husband.  Men, did you have a long period of time when you were not receiving nurturing from your mother?  You may experience difficulty trusting and receiving love from your wife.

Ask God for His perfect love to fill you; for God is the only one who has perfect love, (I John 4:18).

Imperfect love hurts; perfect love heals.

Written by Denise Boggs.

Our Greatest Need

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“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believed in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Our greatest need is love, and the greatest gift is love.   Everyone in the entire world needs the gift of love, but it is not the world’s kind of love- it is God’s kind of love!

God’s love is unconditional, which means we do not have to do anything to earn it or deserve it.  We just receive it.  Love that must be earned is conditional love.  When certain conditions or requirements must be met for love to be expressed, it is harmful and the relationship will not grow.

People who have never received the gift of unconditional love have come to believe they must work hard to earn it.  Their life is full of striving, trying to be good enough or do enough just to be loved and accepted.  They become people-pleasers, and everything they do is out of a need to feel loved, even if it is only a drop.

This is not God’s plan for your life.

Spend time with Him daily, waiting before Him until you feel saturated with His presence and filled with His love.  As you begin to sense His Love, you will feel compelled to share it with others.

Our greatest need is love, and God has provided for our need.

Written by Denise Boggs.

The Lord is My Refuge

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But let all those who who take refuge and put their trust in you rejoice; let them ever sing and shout for joy…   Psalm 5:11

Lord is my refuge

God designed us with feelings to be able to monitor our environment.  He also gives us the wisdom to learn from our mistakes and failures.  This wisdom can be used alongside our feelings so that we will not get trapped in unhealthy relationships or stay in dangerous or unsafe places.

When we take refuge in the Lord and trust in Him, He will direct us to a safe place, and we will know it is the right place by a sense of His love and peace.

We can live a life of trusting in the Lord and living in purpose instead of need.  When we turn our lives over to Him, He knows our needs;  He is the Good Shepherd who will guide us to green pastures or a place of safety where all our needs are met.

God wants you to dwell in His love in a safe environment where love is flowing.  God is love, and if He is present in a person’s life, love will flow from them.  Out of an unmet need for acceptance, many times we will choose to remain in unsafe places just to get one trickle of acceptance, while all the other more-important needs are overlooked.

Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord, is your provider.  He will provide everything you have need of if you will trust Him.  If you are in harms way, don’t remain in unsafe places but rather take refuge in the Lord, under the shelter of His protection.

In Psalm 5:11, David asks God for joyful and high spirits to be given to all those who love the name of the Lord and put their trust in His Name.  We must not give up or give in and fall into the trap of self-pity.  If you find that you have fallen into this trap, you can get out quickly by repenting for not trusting in the Lord.   Then begin praising the Name of the Lord. The songs of praise will precede your victory.

Written by Denise Boggs.

God Uses Broken Things

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“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17

GodWe can look at Scripture and be assured that God uses all things, even the broken pieces of our lives.  He will carefully hold each piece in His hand until just the right time, and then He uses it for good to help someone else.  After we have been healed of painful hurts and then repent for our own sinful responses, our testimony of God’s redemption is complete.

Before repentance, we tend to blame others or live in denial, thinking we do not have any problems.  It’s as if we have pure water flowing from our lips and they have muddy water coming from theirs.  After being healed we can begin to see our sinful responses and how they have hurt the one who hurt us, as well as others around us over whom we have influence.  It is during the process of repentance that our pride is broken and we can clearly see our own sin.

It was not until Jacob’s natural strength was broken, when “his hip was wrenched” (Gen. 32:25) at Peniel, that he came to the point where God anointed him with spiritual strength.

Once the poor and humble widow broke the seal on her only remaining jar of oil and began to pour, God miraculously multiplied the oil to pay her debts and thereby supplied her means of support (2 Kings 4:1-7).  All her needs were met because God used what had been broken.

Once Jesus took “the five loaves…and broke them” (Luke 9:16), the bread was multiplied to feed the five thousand.  It was through the very process of the loaves being broken that the miracle occurred.

Once Mary broke her beautiful “alabaster jar of very expensive perfume” (Matt. 26:7), the true value was revealed.  God uses broken things. Humbly take every broken piece of your life and give it the Lord.  Don’t try to glue it, fake it or fix it; simply release it.

Now, trust in Him to pass His hand over every broken piece of your life and use every piece.  Trust and wait on Him to turn all things around and use them for your good.  Stay humble before the Lord and He will lift you up.

Written by Denise Boggs

Take the High Way

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God’s ways are higher than our ways. Have you ever stopped to think that if you are trusting in what you see with the natural eye or your own abilities you are living in a lower level than where God intended for you to live? His way of life is much higher than your way of life and standard of living.

In comparison, your standard of living is as backwards as living back in the day when the weekly trip to the grocery store was made in a horse and wagon. Back then they couldn’t fathom flying across country in a few hours. In the buggy days they could only go as high as their hands could reach, or as hard as their hands could work.

In spiritual things, you need to check and see if you are living life as if you were back in the buggy days. God’s ways and principles for living are higher than our ways, and His ways make it possible for every believer to live in a better place. You cannot trust your tiny mind to comprehend what God has planned for you. You simply listen to His voice as He is calling you upward.

God’s plan and purpose for Moses took him up the mountain and what He has planned for your life will take you up to a higher place too. God’s plan for you is so great that your mind can not wrap around it, you can only grasp it with your spirit and the road that will take you there is an unseen road that is much higher than the natural road that you see.

You can only rely on His Way; the High Way and His voice that you hear by the spirit,   “This is the Way walk ye in it.” You can trust His Way; the Highway that will take you to the destination He has planned for you.

Written by Denise Boggs.

Watch God Work

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PrayerGod’s Word does not return to Him void! His Word will accomplish what He sent it to planet earth to accomplish.

Twenty five years ago I was given a scripture based prayer and encouraged to pray it diligently for each family member. At the time my husband and I only had one daughter, so that seemed do-able. I printed the prayer out, placed it in my Bible and prayed it every day, with my husband and daughter’s name in the prayer.

As I read this prayer today, in the Amplified version, I was amazed at how this simple prayer had been answered. I would like to encourage you to take this scripture prayer that Paul wrote in Colossians and pray it out loud daily, inserting each family member’s name as you pray. You will not be praying your opinion or thoughts for them, but God’s will. Then all you do is stand back and watch God work in their lives.

Twenty five years later, my husband and I have often been asked how we were able to raise three children who love the Lord and have never rebelled. I believe with all my heart this scripture based prayer answers that question.

“Since the day I heard it, I have not ceased to pray for ( husband/ wife/ child’s name) that he/she will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That (husband/wife / child’s name) _will walk worthy of the Lord, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of Christ” (Colossians 1:9-11 paraphrased).

This is the Amplified version of Paul’s prayer:

Verse 9 – “For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make [special] request for you, [asking] that you may be filled with the full (deep and clear) knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God] and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things.

Verse 10 – That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition.

Verse 11 – We pray that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, to exercise every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy” (Colossians 1: 9-11).

Written by Denise Boggs.

Holding on in Times of Trouble

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“Peace I leave with you…”John 14: 27

In my quiet time this morning I realized Jesus gave instructions how to hold on in a time of trouble.  He said in John 14:27, to stay in peace.  He left us with His peace to grab hold of and hold on to it; His very own peace.  Imagine that, He took the peace He had while here on earth; the peace that covered Him and kept Him resting during times of trouble.  He knew the cross was ahead of Him but, He remained in peace.

He didn’t get fearful-  He remained steadfast and unmovable always abounding in the will of His Father.  This peace was like a warm blanket, once His work on earth was completed.  He no-longer needed it, but, He knew we would need it so He gave it to us.

How do you maintain and hold on to this peace?

You first receive peace as a gift from the Lord; a wonderful gift that you hold on to.  You must be conscious where it is; think about it this way, whatever is important to you, you know where it is at all times.

For instance, where is your cell phone right now? is it beside you?  Most of us know where our cell phone is because it helps us get through our day.  If I leave mine at home, I turn around and go back and get it.  The peace of the Lord is far more important; don’t leave home in the morning without it.  Get up early and spend time with the Lord, as you spend time in His presence, His peace will rest upon you.

Written by Denise Boggs.

He Heals the Broken Hearted

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“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

Connecting with people is sometimes very difficult to do.  And how heartbreaking it is when – for whatever reason – we can’t seem to connect even with those who are closest to us.

If you have been hurt in a relationship, you may be guarding your heart and fearful of being hurt again. It is very hard and even impossible to connect when you can’t lay your guard down and open your heart.

Trust God to heal your heart that has been wounded or betrayed and is now broken.  If you find it hard to connect with others you may have a wounded heart that needs to be healed.  Healing comes by faith.  The prayer of faith shall heal the sick and the prayer of faith shall heal the heart.

Pray this simple prayer right now and by faith begin receiving your healing:

Father God, It is hard for me to connect to others. I have been hurt and I want to be healed. I ask you to heal my broken heart and bind up my wounds.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Written by Denise Boggs.