Be #Humble Enough Listen and Learn! –

Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish (Prov 12:1)~~ To grow in knowledge, we must admit ignorance or error. For either we did not know the truth about a subject, or we held a false position on that topic. We may even have taught others wrongly, and we will have to admit we taught them an error. Only noble souls can admit ignorance or error, for many will protect their reputation at any cost. To grow in knowledge, someone must teach us. We must submit our mind and will to them. We must admit their superiority in knowledge. We must admit our inferiority. This requires humility, which many people do not have. Only noble souls can willingly submit and be taught by another person. In order to love knowledge, we must love to be taught by others. To grow in knowledge, we must change. Progress requires change, but change is humbling and difficult. Change means letting others see we were lacking or wrong; change means altering long-established habits; change means explaining our new actions to others. Only noble souls can change, for the cost of changing is too great for most people. 

The greatest key to progress and success, in any area of our life, is our appreciation and acceptance of instruction and reproof. Jesus Christ has much to teach us to make us perfect. And it will only happen if we are ready to receive instruction, and if we appreciate reproof. If we are humbly eager to be taught of Him, He will send teachers to increase our knowledge. Do you love to be taught? Are you okay with being corrected? Can you take being told when you are wrong? Do you appreciate those who tell you how it ought to be done? Are you thankful for reminders to change? Wise and noble hearts will strongly answer, “Yes!”.

Stop Worrying About So Many Things! Forward – Fearless in #Faith –

…If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matt 17:20)~~ It is good for us to distrust ourselves and our own strength. In our abilities and ways, we concern ourselves with those things that we see as limitations. So much so that many times we stress out over things we think about when we’re trying to succeed in life. We literally start doubting and losing the very foundations of our faith because of things we think about as challenges to us. Our obstacles in life are not physical artifacts (literal mountains) that tangibly impact us, but more about the thoughts and fears in our minds (that seem bigger than anything we could overcome)! This is the most prominent devilish attack…

The extraordinary power of Satan must not discourage our faith, but quicken us to more earnestness in praying to God for the increase of it. By faith, we can overcome those fears…not in an embattled standoff, but bringing our very thoughts captive to the word of Christ; to means by which Satan’s strongholds in the soul are beaten down. When you walk in this faith in the Lord, He keeps in perfect peace the mind that is stayed on Him; because that mind trusts in Him (Isa 26:3). When you praise the Lord for His hand on your life, He clears that obstacle from your mind (moves the “mountain”) and rewards your faith…you are no longer held hostage by that obstacle…For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear (Rom 8:15); For God hath not given us the spirit of fear (2 Tim 1:7)…Friend, go forward FEARLESS in FAITH today, knowing that God has made the way for you and He has made your path clear…moving that mountain out of your way!!

There is a #Blessing in Seeing Someone Else Blessed! ->

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 27:13)~ There is nothing like the believing hope of eternal life, the foresights of that glory, and foretastes of those pleasures, to keep us from fainting under all calamities. Life can be awesome one minute and a downpour of trials the next, but seeing God work, even in someone else’s life somehow strengthens me to bear up under my own burdens. Knowing that God is always at work for us keeps me inspired to pray in faith, knowing that ultimately He will deliver me in trials and keep me from destruction.

Sometimes YOUR blessing comes from seeing Him bless SOMEONE ELSE!  Let us encourage each other to wait on the Lord, with patient expectation, and fervent (passionate) prayer. Since we know that much comes from the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous in God, we should be that much more inspired! Plus, It may bring the deliverance of your own favor! Try praying for someone else today and even better, try praising The Lord for blessing someone else’s life; and watch what these selfless acts bring you! The key here though is not that YOU get something out of it, but that to GOD goes the glory! When you are truly asking the best for someone and truly thankful and praising because of what God does for them, the blessing of warmth in your own spirit will take place. Believe me, you will find that blessing to be much more than you might ask or think! Take true joy in seeing someone else blessed and in turn may YOU be blessed! 

Stop Sitting In What You’re Going Thru; Move in #Faith of Where God is Taking You! ->

Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk (John 5:8)~ You’ve employed every attempt of desire for whatever it is to be better. You’ve prayed, wished, hoped and believed; but you still seem to be sitting here in this ‘infirmity’. You’ve even reminded God dozens of times how hard this is on you and how much you want things to be better and you wait for His blessing; and you wait and you wait. “I’m just waiting on The Lord” you say… Singing that song to yourself…”They that wait on The Lord shall renew their strength….”; yeah, that’s you! 🙂  God’s response: “Turn and Live!”. 

See my friend, God has placed everything you need to make things change already in you! You already believe in Him and Jesus already took care of everything else. The problem is, you’ve been “waiting” for eons for something to fall in your lap: that blessing to call on you, that moment to come along, the other thing to happen. You want change, but you’re still being who you always were. You’ve taken so much comfort and pride in being the same old you that YOU have been the reason things haven’t changed for you! And you sit… “waiting” in that jacked up situation!

One thing that every person you’ll see in the Bible that had a breakthrough with God was that if they had faith, the next step was to MOVE! We can’t sit there with our hand out and expect things to change just because we believe – our responsibility now is to turn and live! By the grace of God, His distinguishing grace, this command calls on His already given power in you. To Him be the glory. You honor His glory by doing what He has made you to do! The proof of spiritual cure, is our rising and walking in the faith we profess. As Christ has healed our spiritual diseases, let us go wherever He sends us, and take up whatever grace He lays upon us; and walk before Him! Stop sitting there in what you’re going through; show your faith and MOVE – turn and live for where God is taking you!

…and I will show you my faith by my works!

O Death Where is Thy Sting; O Grave Where is Thy Victory?

Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it; Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 2:24, 26-27)– But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:57)~ O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Cor 15:55)~ my heart is saddened to know a young man who passed away today after an accident – he was only 15 but I’d known him and his family since he was around 5 and this loss is so tragic!  Our young friend is gone way too soon and this just hurts so many of us! 

It’s a struggle to come to grips with it but I’m rejoicing in that the finished work of Christ means that the death that took our young friend to the grave will remain there when He gets his incorruptible risen new living body in Christ. His earthly body is now truly empty as His soul now rests in The Lord. The feeling of loss may seem a defeat to us when we lose a loved one… it truly hurts but God’s promised comforter reminds us that our friend is now standing in Victory circle, forever rejoicing and praising The Lord our God in Heaven! Blessed be the mighty name of Jesus, without whom none of this would be. Once again, the devil thinks he’s won and destroyed lives, but once again because we believe, the enemy and death are defeated and the devil is a LIE! 

Forever rest in the peace of God my young friend! Amen! 

God Will Show Up and Send The Enemy Running From You! #Favor

I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you (Ex 23:27). I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust (Ps 91:2)~ To have seen the dangers I’ve seen this week and to see it avoid me! The enemy set out to eliminate me but the Hand of God was on me. I came within seconds of being a crime statistic but He moved the enemy on and moved me and my family out of harm’s way and we were spared and unharmed. In that fearful situation I had complete confidence and calm… Perfect peace. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident (Ps 27:3) – I’m so thankful today that He has His hand on me. Let this be a confidence for YOU: God is able and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! 

#GimmeABreak – When’s The Last Time You Took Some Time Away? –

But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. — Luke 5:16

Our society wants us to spend every waking second of our lives doing something. As a result, the pace of life can become quite daunting. There are clients to meet, deadlines to make, calls to return. We run at 10,000 RPM for the entire day, then make our way home and have to deal with cooking dinner, washing laundry, and getting the kids to bed.

We must learn to slow down in life. Racecars cannot be repaired while on the track, so why do we think we can “be still, and know” God (Psa. 46:10) when we cannot find the time to take a break?

But there is a way to slow down when we’re running full throttle all day and night. It’s called margin. Put another way, it could be considered a reserve or simply breathing room. Jesus thought it was important enough that he made it a routine part of his life on earth–he recognized his earthly limits and took time to get recharged.

Consider this: When you don’t have any margin in your life, you cannot fully accomplish the things God reveals for you to do.

There are numerous ways we can introduce breathing room into our lives. We can learn to say no when we’re already overloaded with tasks. We can anticipate the unexpected and add some time to the front end of meetings. We can take opportunities to laugh, cry, and rest. We can also take time to help others in ways that allow them to experience breathing room in their lives.

Don’t move so fast that God’s voice is lost in the everyday. Take time to slow down and breathe so you can grow and get to know the Savior as a friend.

Take Time to #Relax #Renew #Rest #Reset –

Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat. (Mark 6:31)~ How many hours do you think you work a week? 50? 70? It’s amazing if I chart the hours I work each week, counting the times I work at home, not just the projects, but the conference calls and late calls (including checking voicemail and e-mail). It’s a wonder I even have time to stop and eat, especially when I add the things I do at home to the mix. When do you get a chance to refresh, renew and replenish your life, your spirit, your health, your body???

People say you only live once, but are you living or just working yourself to an early grave? My late Grandmother used to tell me in her own ’southern’ draw “baby you ain’t no iron – you got to rest”. Now, years later I realize what she meant by that. There are some of us that think we can’t function unless we are going 100 MPH with our hair on fire! It is a trick of the enemy to make you overwork and be so busy occupied with the things of this life; careers, activities, events and busy-work; that you miss going through this life! And you work your mind and body so much you become exhausted to the point that your body can’t respond to the call of the Spirit.

You might think you’re living a great life by being so busy and always on the move and always doing this or that, but is your life really fulfilling? You’re so busy that you gather impressions but have no experiences, you make acquaintances but make no friends, you attend events and church and meetings but experience no encounter…your work is never done. You’re keeping up so much NOISE that you miss that still, small voice of the Lord speaking to you… I think you get the point… How’s that really working for you? Look my friend, we all know that on the seventh day, God rested (Gen 2:2). But, God did not rest as one weary (because we know the Lord never sleeps or slumbers), but as one well pleased. He took that day of rest to stop and reflect.

There has to be a point in your life where you shut it down – take that vacation, that weekend, that day off…and enjoy the blessings around you. There are benefits to what God placed before you and there is output even from your own works…that you need to get to enjoy. What’s so great about all that you work so hard for if you can’t enjoy it? That career..will be there when you get back. Those people that depend on you so much, will manage and might even impress you with their resourcefulness. Yes, you only live once but I often see this when I think about all I just HAVE to do: My family knows I’m doing it FOR them, but sometimes, they’d love to just have me doing it WITH them! Take some time and REST…GOD did it…Jesus did it…and I’m about to do it…what about you???

Be Blessed! See You in a week! – 😉

BTW: My pastor, Joseph W. Walker III (Twitter: @JosephWalker3) wrote a book called Reset Your Life. Reading it while you rest might just change your perspective and make you a new person when you come back. Try it!

How Are YOU Gonna Handle a Mess You Won’t Even #Trust God With? –

Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee (Jer 32:17)~ God is the fountain of all being, power, and life; with Him no difficulty is such as cannot be overcome; He is THE God of boundless mercy; that He IS God of strict justice; and He directs every thing for the best! There is no other ‘god’ that has created anything, but “GOD” is the creator of ALL things… all things by Him and for Him. He is the King of Glory – the Lord God strong and mighty! Don’t ever think your situation, your issue, your problem is too much to take before Him! To hold it from God and try to handle it yourself is to say He’s not good enough… If God isn’t good enough to share with, to turn to for help, to confess to and confide in; then how can you be all that on your own??? Don’t place yourself above what God can do. Unlike you with your limits, flaws, fears and liabilities, the only thing God cannot do…is fail! Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken (Prov 3:5-6,26).

#TooBusy -Take A Break – It Will Be There When You Get Back! –

---

Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat. (Mark 6:31)~~

You’re so busy that you come home but you’re not there. You gather impressions but have no experiences, you make acquaintances but make no friends, you attend events and church and meetings but experience no encounter…your work is never done. How’s that really working for you? Look my friend, we all know that on that seventh day, God rested (Gen 2:2). But, God did not rest as one weary (because we know the Lord never sleeps or slumbers), but as one well pleased. He took that day of rest to stop and reflect. There has to be a point in your life where you shut it down – get away from that craziness. Take that walk, take that vacation, that weekend, that day off! That career…will be there when you get back. Those people that depend on you so much, will manage and might even impress you with their resourcefulness. Get off to that quiet place and just let God have His way. You never know what you might hear!

 

Listening for that still small voice!