May sunshine brighten your day,
And all fears faith allay.
May you walk in joy and peace,
And enjoy God's sweet release.
***
©Sandra Johnson/Draw Nigh To Hope
Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts
Run Into The Strong Tower
There will be lies and threats through Satan and his helpers.
God, however, is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who trust in him.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe.
Remember who you are in Christ Jesus!
Nahum 1:7
Proverbs 18:10
Ephesians 6:10-18
*****
Poetry: I Met God In The Morning by Ralph Spalding Cushman
I met God in the morning when the day was at its best.
And his presence came like sunrise like a glory in my breast.
All day long his presence lingered all day long he stayed with me,
And we sailed with perfect calmness o'er a very troubled sea.
Other ships were blown and battered.
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to me a peace and rest.
Then I thought of other mornings with a keen remorse of mind
When I too had loosed the moorings with the presence left behind.
Now I think I know the secret learned from many a troubled way.
You must meet him in the morning if you want him through the day.
All day long his presence lingered all day long he stayed with me,
And we sailed with perfect calmness o'er a very troubled sea.
Other ships were blown and battered.
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to me a peace and rest.
Then I thought of other mornings with a keen remorse of mind
When I too had loosed the moorings with the presence left behind.
Now I think I know the secret learned from many a troubled way.
You must meet him in the morning if you want him through the day.
by Ralph Spalding Cushman
God Is A Reveal-er Not A Stealer
Those of us who are saved can remember when we did not want to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. We felt that we had to quit this, stop that and cease things. Most of those fears stem from religion. Man has turned God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ into religions. Religion binds us. The way that many Christians promote religion hinders God.
God's purpose frees us. He is not a religion, nor is His Son or His Holy Spirit. They are. God is and he wants the best for us. He loves us. He simply wants us to come into the knowledge of the truth.
God wants us to receive a power and understanding that we never knew existed. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and he was obedient to Our Father. All that Jesus did was for us because the Father said so. The works of the devil are to deceive, cheat, mislead, blind and keep the lights out.
Jesus said that he came into the world as a light so that whoever believes in him will not have to live in darkness. (John 12:46). The love of God takes us out of darkness and ignorance and brings us into his marvelous light. We can then understand and receive from him all that pertains to life and godliness. (II Peter 1:3)
When we understand and accept that God always wants to give to us, it helps us to be more obedient to the guidance of his Holy Spirit. There is nothing there to steal from us and to make our lives miserable. It's all about the revelation of light.
Pray & Sleep On It
~ Proverbs 15:1 Are you angry, upset or disappointed in someone? Do you want or need to respond to them? Don't do it until you pray. Also, sleep on it for at least one night if possible. It will make a world of difference in your response, your relationship with God and in your Christian walk. ~
Righteousness, Peace & Joy
~ The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ~
Rom 14:17
Mistakes Now Serve A Purpose
Was listening to R. C. Blakes, Jr. recently at Youtube and he made a profound statement which blessed me. His message was about how difficult it often is for us to forgive ourselves. His message encourages us to allow the shackles of guilt and shame to be broken off of us. He ministers to help us to step into that place of the forgiveness of the Father towards us and the forgiveness of ourselves from within.
At a point about 3/4 of the way he said, We are not defined by our mistakes. We are refined by our mistakes. That statement caught more of my attention. As I pondered it, it seemed to be saying that the things for which I am sorry for in my recent and distant past are helping to mold and shape me into someone who is useable by God. My mistakes are not the end. They don't have the last say-so.
You can listen to his message here:
FORGIVE YOURSELF AND MOVE FORWARD WITH YOUR LIFE by RC BLAKES
His statement reminded me of another one from the website Homeword.com about grace.
HomeWord shares this about their mission:
HomeWord seeks to advance the work of God in the world by educating, equipping, and encouraging parents and churches to build God-honoring families from generation to generation. At HomeWord, we believe in STRONG MARRIAGES, CONFIDENT PARENTS, EMPOWERED KIDS and HEALTHY LEADERS. We exist to strengthen and equip parents, couples, families and leaders.
God already loves us. He loved us from the beginning. He commended his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). When we did not know God and did not care about his only, precious Son, he sent him to suffer and die so that we can be whole and have our souls redeemed. Since God did that for us when we could not have cared less, we know that he is always willing to take our blunders, errors and slip-ups and turn them into good. He works our sorrows out for good to bless us and glorify his name.
We should work to forgive ourselves. We should not worship God with shallow and ineffective babblings which make Jesus' precious blood to none affect in our lives (Galatians 2:21, 5:4, I Corinthians 17). Accept God's forgiveness and grace today. We are worthy, because of Jesus Christ.
Living In Harmony With God
The love of God shed abroad in our hearts will not allow confusion, dishonesty, deviousness, deceit or ulterior motive.
Is God's love ruling and reigning in your life? Have you allowed his divine love to break down all of those waste places in your life so that his love can flourish and produce in like kind? Some characteristics of God's love are:
- Organization
- Honesty
- Straightforwardness
- Trustworthiness
- Openness
God's love is supreme and corrects everything! When we are allowing God to work his love in our own lives, we inspire it in the lives of others. It multiplies outward all around us. Where God's love is there is harmony in all of its various forms.
Allow God's love to take over YOUR life and experience the evolution and expansion of harmony!
***
Peace
Thank you, Father, that our peace is not based on our circumstances, which change. Our peace is based on the truth in your Word.
God's Love Overshadows All
Nothing else matters when we know who we are in God. Any abandonment, dismissal or spurning that we may endure no longer matters when the value that we are to God through Christ Jesus becomes real to us.
How we are accepted, received, approved and validated by our Heavenly Father everyday can overshadow any rejection that we may encounter. We need to give in more to God's love, which overshadows all, and live in the truth of it everyday.
Choosing One Day Of Rest
We are often reminded that God rested the seventh day after he created our world and Adam and Eve. How often do we follow his example and the admonition of the scriptures? We should be more pro-active in enjoying a day of rest each week because the spiritual blessings are many.
It is good to have one day per week when we totally wind down. A day when we don't do all of the stuff that we usually do becomes a day of renewal. Christians feel that Sunday is that day. We use that day for special worship-of-God activities, special Sunday meals and peacefulness.
Some people have to work on Sunday, so they choose another day of rest. Some Christians choose to set apart Saturday for special worship and renewal. It's not so much the day but the obedience to God and the scriptures that blesses us.
Like with fasting, our minds are brought back to the knowledge, every hour of that chosen day, that we are honoring God through sacrifice. Throughout that day when we think of things that we want to do but shouldn't, we are reminded that we are sacrificing and that Jesus Christ sacrificed for us. We draw closer to God on this day of rest.
Whatever day you choose, be sure to do something different than what you usually do, something restful, peaceful and calm. Cultivate serenity, tranquility and elevated worship. Use it as a prayer-building day. Be refreshed, restored and renewed one day per week, not just spiritually but physically as well. The blessings will be abundant!
Hebrews 4:1-11
Deuteronomy 5:14
Exodus 20:10, 23:12
Genesis 2:2-3
Believing What We Pray For
In order to see the realization of our fondest personal prayers, we have to first believe what we pray for. We don't have to believe that we can do it through our own planning and orchestration but we do have to believe that we CAN receive them from God.
We also have to believe that we can be faithful in managing them after we receive them. This is one way to believe that our prayers will happen, that we'll be getting a favorable answer from God.
The problem is that we pray for things that we're not committed to, that we're afraid of and that we don't even believe that we can really do. We pray pipe dreams, fanciful hopes or plans that would come to naught if we were given them. This is one reason that in our hearts we secretly say, "I don't believe my prayers will come true." Why don't we truly believe what we are praying?
Many Christians promote that we should ask God for big things, impossible things, things that are beyond what we can do on our own. Yes, we should, but we still have to believe in our own prayers. We have to believe in what we are asking for to improve our lives. We have to believe in the prayers that we pray on our behalf.
How is it possible to receive what we unconsciously don't believe? It is not possible because we would miss all of the signs and open doors that would lead to obtaining the favorable answers that we desire. The challenges that we would see would be obstacles to us instead of opportunities. Because of that, we would blindly pass them by.
In fact, we already see many challenges as insurmountable obstacles or we would not be asking God for help. What exactly are we asking for though? How can we start our journeys to believing what we pray for?
There's something between the prayers and the receiving of the answer to the prayers that we ask. It is us. We have to work with God and it's up to each one of us to work out what our place is in the fulfillment of the desires.
When we understand that, we can then work with God and receive favorable answers to our fondest supplications. What if we can't see our part in it? What if we just wait for God to do it, like we've been doing?
If we can't understand what our place or part is in believing in our prayers, then maybe we should not be praying for those things or praying in that way. Maybe that is why deep down in our hearts we don't believe what we are asking.
Maybe our prayers need to be adjusted or re-designed. Maybe the focus of our fondest hopes needs to be altered. Is it possible that we even need to replace a long-standing prayer for another, more accurate one?
If we ask our Father God to help us to develop accurate prayers, he will do it. We don't want to keep spending time and energy on prayers that are never going to happen because we don't believe them. We don't want to spend a lifetime praying inauthentic prayers.
We want to pray prayers that move things, that change things, that bring things to pass. We want to pray prayers that are faith-filled, accurate and effective. Words come first and powerful, faith-filled words bring things into being. These scriptures make it plain:
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Hebrews 11:3 Things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Our prayers are our tongues, our words and the things which are not seen, the invisible things. The things that we are praying for, on our behalf, are the things which are seen, that can be brought into being by our unseen prayer words, if they are accurate.
The world does not respect or honor God, but the world understands many truths that we ignore. We can learn from the truths that those who do not love God nor his Son are telling us everyday. The knowledge all belongs to God. They don't care to realize it but their knowledge belongs to God. We can take it, along with the Scriptures, and work with God to pray prayers that we can believe in.
I don't know if Dr. Margie Warrell worships God or not but she says this in her article Your Words Create Your Reality:
The words you speak hold power. Power to create new possibilities or to close them down. We unconsciously sabotage our success. Whatever direction your words lead, your mind, body and environment will follow. It’s therefore extremely important to be intentional about the words you use.
We can make our prayers, our words, the fruit of our tongues authentic so that we can believe them and work with God in bringing them to pass.
God's Blessings Through Transitions, Transfers And Changes
We think because God did
it that it is engraved in stone and can never change. God gave it and we have it, for good! When the blessing circumstances begin to change, we are apt to and often encouraged by less-enlightened Christians, to believe that we
made a mistake. Maybe God did not do it after all, because things are now changing. If God did it, it would not change, right? As we grow in Christ, we learn that this is not true.
God
gives and takes away, shifts and turns things in our lives, opens a
door for a season and then closes it and opens another door. He even brings people into our lives temporarily to bless us in various ways. He then moves them out because they were not meant to stay. We are confused and wonder why these relationships are not retained. We lament and look back, when we need to learn to let go and move forward.
We should anticipate the new things that God will do. It helps to remind ourselves that everything in this fallen world is temporary. It all seems so solid to us because we endure time while we are here. Time seems to make permanent things but that permanence is all temporary. God shifts all according to his will and we are not to hold on to what he allows to change.
When things begin to change, however, regarding a blessing that you know came from God, don't degrade your relationship with Your Heavenly Father by choosing to believe that he never blessed you. Don't allow others to convince you to demean your spiritual growth and your commitment to God. Know that God does not change, but he changes things.
Our Father does not intend for the changes to hurt us. Because of the condition of this damaged and swiftly-deteriorating world, hurts and pains must come. God allows his planned and ordained changes to bring about his purposes. His end result is not for us to suffer for no reason. He plans and allows changes in his blessings to benefit us now and in the New Heaven and the New Earth, in ways that we cannot imagine. We just need to stand firm in what we know and accept what Our Heavenly Father changes, as we grow in our understanding of how He does things.
God's Light Shines Through You
No matter what it looks like,
the God of Peace is with you.
You are a channel for God's goodness.
It is not your flesh that is the channel.
It is your reborn spirit.
No matter what is going on with you,
your body is still the
Temple of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes it may not seem like it
but you are valuable to God.
The light of His life is always
in you and shining through you.
Be encouraged that the Spirit of God
operating in you is always working
to promote life and peace,
in you, through you and around you,
to the far reaches of the earth,
to the end of time.
Overcome Evil With Good And Grow
Have you been feeling fearful or maligned lately? Been the target of malevolent or hateful treatment? What about persecution, harassment or oppression in it's various psychological and emotional ways? Do you wonder where your Father God is as you struggle to righteously endure the unceasing unfairness that he seems to be allowing?
Do not doubt that he is aware. Furthermore, he knows why you feel the way that you do. He knows the causes of your confusion and anger and he is not mad at you. When will he ever do something about what you are suffering? I don't know. Will he ever stop it? I don't know. Despite our uncertainties and intense anxieties, there is always a place where we can take refuge in a way that pleases God. We should always want to please and glorify him, no matter what.
I pray every morning before I speak to or encounter anyone in person or online. I also do talking prayer to God throughout the day. When these distressed feelings are particularly severe, however, I need something else to help me. Rather than attack others (in my mind or outwardly) who may seem to be the cause of my troubles, I like to quote Psalm 91. I have it written on three little sheets of paper that I've taped together.
I keep the little packet in the place where I am most of the day. I can find it either on my art work table or at my computer. When I feel particularly distressed, I pick it up and walk around my home reading it aloud.
I bring the words out of my spirit and put them into my atmosphere, where they will grow and bear good fruit, within and all around me. I listen to myself speaking the Living Word of God, that which will transform and convert. I always feel better and equipped for the next stage of battle when I do this.
Don't fight with others. Don't attack others in mind, spirit or physically. Don't repay evil for evil. Do good by speaking the Holy Scripture passage that will carry you to the next level of walking in God's light and growing in Christ.
How Can I Solve My Problem?
The human mind is so constituted that if you pour your attention onto a problem without panic, keeping yourself calm and your mind unruffled, and if you maintain faith in God and firmly believe that you are going to get an answer, the answer will appear. Moreover, the more spiritual your mind is, the more definitely will it produce in this manner.
What is your problem? Is it one of health, of business, of your children, of your future? It makes no difference what it is. Do not get agitated, nor depressed over it. Do not try so hard. Do not be in a panic. Do not over-stress it.
Whatever your problem, when you lift your spirits, clear your mind, believe in your potential, take the worry and fear out of your thoughts, and have faith in God, you can do the impossible. You surely can.
How to Handle Tough Times by Norman Vincent Peale
©1990 by Peale Center for Christian Living
Guideposts Outreach guidepostsfoundation.org
Dear Lord Help Us
 |
| A prayer and reminder for when you are feeling anxiety, distress, depression, hopelessness or unhappiness. |
DEAR LORD:
Help us to keep our minds on you.
We thank you for the peace that passes all understanding and for joy unspeakable in the midst of struggle, fear and disappointment. We know that our joy in you is where our strength will always lie, and that YOU will keep us in perfect peace, because we choose to bring our minds back to you always.
AMEN.
POETRY: I Choose Joy
I choose to laugh
In the midst of trouble,
And in the midst of sorrow,
I choose joy.
~ SJHolland ~
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Rom 15:3 NIV
I Prayed And It's Getting Worse! Why?
Often, when we are believing God for big changes, and praying and standing on his promises, the opposite will seem to happen. When we think things should be getting better, some things may seem to get worse. Some areas in our lives may need to collapse, so that God can build upon a stronger foundation that which we desire.
This is not pertaining to the foundation of the life of a Christian, for that main foundation is already built upon the Rock of Jesus Christ. The foundations that I'm speaking about are the areas of our lives that are a hinderance to obtaining what we want. They are superflous things, people and circumstances that need to go, that usually were not introduced by God into our lives to remain in the first place.
Some definitions of superflous include unnecessary; uncalled-for; wasteful. The best definition, though, is obsolete, which means no longer produced or used; out of date. They may have been useful at the time, according to God's plan, but are no longer so. We don't realize that many advancements, relationships and situations that we encounter are not meant to continue along the road with us.
God rarely reveals to us that what is a blessing at one time will become dispensible at his appointed time. These invited-turned-uninvited blessings must be wrenched from our lives in ways that we don't expect, because we don't understand that we must let them go. While God is permanent, the circumstances that he allows or places in our lives are not always so.
How do we handle these potentially upsetting and distressing developments? We continue to stand on the original promise of God. While doing so, we also do what is best at any given time, facing the challenges that God places before us. We determine to continue to have faith in him, while doing our part to fearlessly manage our daily lives, fearing no thing.
We go with the flow and recommit to God daily, loving and praising him with every fiber in our being. The course may veer off along the path at times, but if we are sure of what God is doing in our lives, then the path is the same. It is time to move upwards and onwards to what we asked God for.
Definitions: dictionary.com , Google
Image: pixabay.com
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