We Can Do It!

God helps us to extend beyond our limitations.

I think all of us are in denial of our physical and other conditions and limitations sometimes, especially as we age. God can help us consolidate the practical truth with the can-do living that we love to cultivate. God also gives us a chance everyday to extend beyond our limitations. There is an important point that we must remember as we reach up to achieve and realize our hopes and dreams.

We must be careful with whom we share our aspirations and not cast our pearls before swine. We must be careful to not allow others to trample upon our precious plans and pursuits. We want to be encouraged by those who support us and believe that we can do what we determine to do, in Christ Jesus.

God expects us to extend ourselves in order to manifest his blessings.

God's Word tells us that The things which are impossible with men are possible with God (Luke 18:27) and All things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). 

These and other similar scriptures refer to ALL THINGS, not a few things, not some things, not certain things in specific circumstances, not things for some people, but ALL THINGS. If we can believe, then a way will be shown unto us by God's Holy Spirit. We have our parts, however, that we must play and procedures that we must do to realize what God has already secured for us. God expects us to extend ourselves in one way or another to embrace and manifest his blessings.

I am learning to remind myself of the truth every day, that despite aging and regrets over so much time that has passed, I can do more than I've ever done. I confirm it. I declare it. I pray it everyday.

I thank my Heavenly Father for broadening my scope and widening my horizon, for giving me a seeing eye and a hearing ear, for helping me to stay on the straight and narrow path that leads to life, for helping me to not look to the right hand nor the left and for helping me to keep my eye single so that my whole body will be full of light.

Be encouraged through the truth of

Matthew 21:21 and 17:20.

I pray for you that your way will grow brighter every day!

 

He Cares For You

Jesus has truly suffered it all.

Turn To Jesus, The Lover Of Your Soul

No matter what it is, you know that Jesus understands. He who suffered everything that you have and will suffer offers comfort in a way that no one else can.  Though he may not have experienced what you have in the way that you did, he has truly suffered it all.

He suffered it for you.

In his divine spirit and in his human heart and emotions, he experienced all of human horror. It is in the spirit and heart of man where the roots of true suffering are for all outer suffering. Jesus truly suffered it all for all mankind in the way that only God can. He suffered it all for you. He does know what you are feeling and why.

He did it for love, a special kind of holy love.

Jesus felt it all in a few moments of time, when he took into his human body all of the hurt, terror, depression, fear, discouragement, anxiety, hopelessness, rage and despair for each and every human who has lived, is alive today and who will come into this world. He did it for your soul. He did it for love, a special kind of holy love. Just tell him about it.

Talk to Jesus and remember that it is our Father God who raised him from the dead. 

 

Poetry: God And Son As One

 

How hard it must have been

For you to know, Lord,

That you are the Light of the World,

And to walk among hatred and blindness.

How hard it must have been

For you to live under

Being harassed and hated,

And to walk among

That determination to murder.

 

But you were determined

To enforce God's will.

Your Father, who gave you up

To a vicious world of dark haters,

Lived the horrific sacrifice through

And with you.

~ Sandi Holland ~

To Do Good And Share With Others

 

Whoever Gives To The Poor Will Not Want

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.

Luke 6:38

Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Proverbs 28:27

She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.

Proverbs 31:20

If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

Isaiah 58:10

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:4

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 13:16

You Have To Do What Is In Your Heart And What Is Between You And God

I had gotten to a place where I could tithe again and the savings had grown to a few hundred dollars because I was deducting it from my income but accumulating it. In the past, I've tithed to any local church where I was heavily involved. I've done it the traditional way, giving hundreds of dollars, over time, off the top and faithfully to churches, even though I could not financially afford to.

I have also given to various TV and online ministries through which I enjoy learning, even though they operate with millions of dollars and always feel like they need to grow more. During the times that I struggled financially, barely being able to pay bills and often not being able to pay them at all, my tithing fell by the wayside. In my heart, I always carried a desire to begin a tithing program again.

In this new, retirement-era of my life, I talked to God about it often and chose to wait until I got to a point where my leftover funds after bill paying were 10% of my income. Some Christians would say that I am doing it backwards and that I should have been taking the 10% off first, like I used to. I don't believe that I should take bill money and give it away. My heart does not condemn me in this. I talk to God about it all of the time. You have to do according to what is in your heart. That is between you and God.

Maybe God Wants Us To Give Away Our Vacation Money Sometimes

I believe that we are to be good stewards of our money and manage our financial affairs with the utmost care. That means paying bills on time, not over spending and not living beyond our means. That means not giving away money that should go towards bills and then expecting God to make it up when the bills are due. I know this is totally against what some teach and preach. It is hard to think like this. You don't have to. This is for those who are of the same mind and did not think there was anyone else who understood.

Last week, Joyce Meyer said something to this effect, that God does not necessarily want you to give money that you won't miss. Maybe he wants you to give away your vacation money sometimes. It's the second part of what she said that illustrates my belief about tithing and giving. If a person donates their vacation money, that means that their bills are paid. They wouldn't be able to save for vacation if their bills were not paid first. To give away money that you have earmarked for yourself is truly a holy sacrifice.

Each Of Us Must Give As We Have Decided In Our Hearts

I understand that tithing and donating are different. The only real difference, however, is the amount and the order. Tithing is generally a set % and giving is anything beyond that amount. Some Christians don't bother with a tithed %. They are happy to give whatever amount they want to give. The Bible teaches, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:7  Whether it is tithed or donated, giving is giving. Whether it is given before or after our life needs are taken care of, it is giving that is honored by God.

I distribute my tithes how and where I see fit and I give a little above the 10% that I choose to honor. I don't feel that I need to give my funds to any one place or any certain place. As long as it is not used on myself, I consider that I've given it for the work of God, because it is given to the needs of others. I've always had a heart for homeless people and those who are struggling financially. I don't hand out on the street anymore, because it has become so dangerous. God wants us to be generous, not foolhardy and unaware.

Give With A Heart That Is Comfortable With The Giving

I didn't want my tithes to continue accumulating because it becomes more challenging to not spend them. I began to ask God to show me people online to give to because I am retired and spend most of my day online doing many creative things. I wanted to be led to people in need, struggling, homeless, hopeless and unhappy. I'd always been impressed by GoFundMe campaigns, so I started looking there. I am happy to say that so far I've given to 7+ campaigns. I searched in certain states and cities, which narrowed the number of campaigns I found that I wanted to give to. 

Though I may give to some of them a 2nd time, I can expand my search area to find more suitable causes to which to give. In addition to homeless, ministries and churches, I also searched for struggling single mothers raising a son. I struggled so much raising my son and working and so many times I wished someone would reach out and help me with just $5. I promised myself that if I ever got to the position that I would reach out and help others.

Find Persons And Causes To Give To

I am thrilled to be giving at GoFundMe! It's a dream come true. I like using my tithes and giving in this way because I'm giving directly to the person. There are too many times when people can't get the immediate financial help that they need from organizations and funds. I prefer to give direct, personal help, for the most part. I divide my funds out and decide who gets what, as the Holy Spirit leads. Here are some of the campaigns that I've given to:

• A homeless woman who obtained a tiny shed house and put it on the land of a kind person who offered her the space for free and the city is going to condemn her house if she does not come up with hundreds of $$$ to install utilities on the undeveloped plot.

• A homeless man who wants to buy a fixer upper home and who recently was able to get a mobile home fairly cheap because a tree had fallen on it and has been doing his best to keep dry.

• A homeless woman who is living in her car.

• A non-profit, mobile services organization that reaches out to provide hair cuts, manicures, personal products and other to senior citizens, homeless, low income persons and veteran communities, also aiding churches, schools and small businesses.  

• A man and his fiance who want to buy 3 buildings to house at-risk homeless and runaway children and who have been helping people living on the streets and under bridges for several years now.

• A young lady who is collecting $250 to get food, socks, gloves and beanies hats for the homeless and who wants to do this because "growing up me and my brothers didn't have much but we always had a roof over our heads....as i got older i realized how blessed we were to have a place to call home that was warm....and when i look around it saddens me how so many people are walking around in this weather without even that."

• A man, when going to the barber shop, noticed a homeless man sitting outside in the freezing weather who looked like he hadn't eaten in days and, who gave him warm clothes, a hotel room and food.

• A woman with her son trying to get on her feet after being stabbed in the neck and chest when leaving work from an upscale, 4-star hotel and who was so traumatized that she lost everything and lost all friends when she became homeless, who has been painting houses and stands outside Home Depot or Lowe's trying to get work but is not often picked.
  

God gives us a lot of flexibility in this life, flexibility that too many Christians don't take advantage of. Don't feel bound, constricted and secretly miserable about what you feel you have to do. Don't allow other Christians to impose their fears and restrictions upon you. Study, pray and learn about the freedoms in Christ Jesus that are available to you today.

I'm so grateful to God that he has led me to a place where I can regularly give to the needs of others in the way that I've always wanted to. It has made a tremendous difference in my life and I'm not doing it to be blessed. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do and because I finally can. I always pray that the Lord will increase to the recipient what I give to them and I plan to consistently increase my giving, in Jesus' name.

Don't Accept What You Don't Want

We have to know within ourselves when we are going or not going in the right direction.

The Holy Spirit said to me one day, How can I give you what you want when you keep accepting what you don't want? You know how God is. When he speaks something profound to us, in one sentence we get years of revelation and learning. Only God can squeeze an extended time of learning into a few words. 

His question that day seems elementary, right? It seems to be a simplistic question, one that requires no answer and, indeed, didn't even need to be asked? Well, if that is the case, why do we do it? Accept what we don't want, that is, instead of waiting on God?

Well, some reasons are:

• we think we'll never get it,
• we think we'll miss out on a deal,
• we're afraid we are not doing God's will by waiting,
• we feel we'll be destitute (or more destitute) or lose a lot
  
• we want to do it now,
• we trusted God before and were disappointed,
  
• our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak, we're simply tired of waiting. 

I don't have an answer for all of these concerns, except to say that we have to know within ourselves when we are going or not going in the right direction at any given time. Sometimes, we have to advance into the territory of not doing God's will before we understand how he works. It is always a learning process but he is always there to help us along, whether it be onto a new path or over the same old path from which he tried to deliver us.

God wants to fill our cups with what will help us to be successful.

When we accept what we don't want to end up with, we become immersed in living a small fraction of the life that God planned for us. We think that we are living our best life and that all is good, so we no longer focus on God in that area. In this scenario, there is no place for God to give us what he had for us. The cup that he wants to fill to overflowing is not only partially filled by our own doings but what it is filled with is more than likely not good for us. It certainly is not the best for us.

Once we realize that something is wrong with this picture, we're way down the road and God has to lead us back to the crossroads. He is always willing, but this takes more effort, time and sometimes even money. By the time we do this several times, through a lack of patience, our lives are almost spent. We're almost to the end when it's time to leave here. Well how is that bad, you ask. I'm going to the Lord now, so it doesn't matter anymore.

What if to get you where you are living your best life yet God needs you to lose some things?

It does matter, however, if near the end of our lives we tarry and can't do much. In our declining years, it's sad to leave this world mulling over regrets about what we could have accomplished, the dreams we could have realized, the people we could have helped had we been patient and learned to do it God's way.

So what if doing it God's way seems to cause you to sink to a level where you did not ever think you'd be? What if you lose something? What if you give up something, a chance, an opportunity? What if you feel fear? Anxiety? Ambivalence? What if to get you where you are living your best life yet God needs you to lose these things, be in these places, experience these uncertainties?

A successful spirit births a successful life that reflects doing it God's way.

Experiencing them God's way with a favorable earthly as well as a blessed eternal outcome is better than experiencing them through doing things our own way with a failed and eternally-devoid outcome. You see, the things that we do God's way, in Jesus' name, last and have eternal significance. The things we do our way do not last and do not store up for us eternal riches in the spirit.   

It's very simple. When we persist in opening doors that God has obviously closed to us or we turn our backs on the doors that he has opened, we accept flawed ways of doing things and reject new ways in Christ Jesus.  God cannot give us what he wants us to have if we keep filling our lives with what we think we need or with the thinly-veiled decisions of failure that we've utilized before. God has our best interests at heart and his will is for us to succeed, first of all, in the spiritual way that gives lasting success. A successful spirit births a successful life that reflects doing it God's way. 

God has our best interests at heart and wants us to first succeed spiritually.

There's no space or place for God's best once we fill our needs in the same old ways that are not subject to God because their origin is in the flesh. God's ways can be initially painful, scary or unsettling, but the Christian life is a New Way, after all. That in itself is unnerving but our Father God is ever willing to help us to successes that we cannot contain, as we learn to do it his way and stop accepting what we don't want.

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:13

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

 

Bible Power Is Between The Lines

The Bible Can Be More Than Just An Icon To You

Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible is just a book with words on paper like any other book. God's Word is the spirit of what is being taught in between the lines of all of those scriptures.

The true meat is what we can only discern through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. This Power opens our spiritual eyes and gives us revelations, secrets and keys.

The True Bible Is The Spirit Between The Lines

What the Bible's words do in our spirits and in our hearts is the most important thing, not the Bible itself. That's why we should read it everyday and regularly memorize the scriptures.

If the time should ever come when Bibles are being confiscated and burned in the country where we live, we'll have much of it inside of us.

Memorize Scripture And No One Can Take The Bible Away From You

Quote scriptures and defeat spiritual enemies! Strike them down with the precise Words of God! Crush them in the many ways that the Sword of the Spirit provides for you to do it! Speak the Word with accuracy, confidence and power. 

Hide God's revelation Word in your heart so that no one can ever take it away from you! Be quick to draw the real Sword when needed!

If you haven't, start a scripture memory program today!

Guide your children in memorizing scriptures at a very young age! 

It is the very best weapon that you can give to them

to navigate this evil and wicked world!

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You!

Psalm 119:11 

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Psalm 119:105

 

Choose Joy

I choose to laugh in the midst of trouble.

In the midst of sorrow, I choose joy.

All things will always work together to

strengthen me and bless my life.

My Heavenly Father has promised it.

I can trust in what He says.

He is the One True God!

 

© SJHolland

 

Romans 8:28
 

 

Due Time: Christian Poetry

Just like this man who has gotten this kite to fly, we can also get it right with God's help.

It is when you see something happen in your life.

Something that you feel is not right.

There is that feeling that you were wronged.

One thing that you have to do is give it to the Lord.

You have to trust in the Lord that things will work out.

That is having faith in something that you do not see.

I know that it is something that is hard to do.

It is just something that you have to do.

©Leo

Leo  is a poet who has shared some of his poems at WritersCafe.org. He says that this poem is about things and time. He lives in Florida, and says about himself, "I am one that just loves to write."