Love

We love the people in our lives not because we feel like it or because a person has done something to deserve our love, but because God loves us in that unconditional way and we are to imitate God in all that we do, say, and choose. 

And not because they always act in a kind and loving manner, but we love because Christ expects it and instructs it. 

Prayer

This week, during your prayer time, ask God to give you divine appointments. 

Ask God to “set you up” with people who need a friend or need practical help. 

Ask God to give you creative ideas on exactly how to love those around you, especially those situations that are most difficult to show love in. 

And then watch what happens! 

Control

The challenge of living a life of self-control. 

Self-control will become God-control when we are courageous enough to spend time on our knees asking God to make us strong where we are currently weak. 

Submitting our weaknesses to Him is the first step to our victorious ending. 

Faith

Faith, once applied comes with a holy fervor and strong conviction. 

When a person believes in something strongly enough, or has decided faith in something, action will always follow belief. 

Faith is more than a heart attitude or a moral compass; faith eternally propels and compels the believer to action and response. 

Diligence

Our commitment to embrace joy at the very worst moments of life takes extreme diligence. 

Do it with the best attitude :)

Replica

The Bible teaches us that God’s promises promise that we can share in God’s very own nature. 

We can savor all He is and then marinate in it to the extent that we become it! 

We have the potential and are positioned to ingest His very personality and exhibit His very character. Our lives become a place of demonstration of His fruit and His power. We are no longer like what we know.... because of the promises ... We are now like Him. 

He became what we are to make us what He is.

- unlisted 

Dwell

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

http://bible.com/1/psa.91.1.kjv

Possession

Don't allow your earthly possessions be a wall between you and your salvation 

Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

http://bible.com/1/luk.18.22.kjv

Cultivate

The Lord spoke to Moses simply because they were friends. 

This ought to resonate within all of us as abundant life at its finest. Having God consider you as His very own friend, as someone He loves, and as an intimate companion is truly the most magnificent aspect of life this side of Heaven. 

All other friendships pale in comparison, all other experiences fade on the horizon, and all other pursuits seem trivial in comparison. 

You, as the object of His undying love, have been selected to cultivate a friendship with God. 

Blessing

God has blessed you and then He has named you “blessing”! 

You have been chosen to be a source of God to your world; you are a gift to history at this moment. Your life is a present, wrapped in God’s love, delivered with God’s blessing as a rare and valuable treasure that reveals His heart. 

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

http://bible.com/1/gen.12.1.kjv

Resurrection

Jesus is all you ever need. He is your hope, your direction, your strong tower and loves you forever. 

Happy Easter!!!

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

http://bible.com/1/jhn.11.25.kjv

Wait

When it’s hard to see God's hand in our lives -- know that the great, sovereign God is still very much at work! 

Our part is to be faithful in the waiting, though it be hard and unclear. Praise Him now for the victory....

And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

http://bible.com/1/exo.1.22.kjv

The story of Jesus

Think on these things: 

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

http://bible.com/1/isa.53.5.kjv

Beauty

What physically greets us in the mirror each day may not be what others define as “beautiful".

But I promise you this, ladies—in God’s eyes, we’re all stunning beauties. He wants us to forget what the world thinks is beautiful and remember the beauty He created in each of us. 

He wants us to desire His admiring glances above anyone else's'. 

Rich vs Poor

Ladies, do not believe that riches are a consistent source of life. It is so very important to separate who you are from what you own. 

As believers, we do not fix our hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God, the Giver of all good gifts. 

Whether one is extremely rich or devastatingly poor, we are all to fix our hope on God who is the rich One and who gives richly, extravagantly, and abundantly to those who are His own.

Wait in God

As women, sometimes we like to take matters into our own hands. 

We all can picture times in your own life when this has been an absolute fact! We get anxious, our toes start tapping and the clock gets ticking as we wait for someone, anyone, to do something about something. We want action, on our own terms, and we want it now. 

Such striving can sometimes cause unintended consequences. It can also wear us out and keep us from all the richness of God’s blessings ..... because we’re not resting fully in His power and His timing.

Ladies, we have to learn to wait AND truly wait ;)

Identity

Ladies, it can be very tempting to let what others say about us define who we believe we are. But that’s not where our identity comes from. We are not what others say and think we are; we are what God says and thinks we are.

We are not on our own; we belong to God. We are His, and always will be. People will always look at us on the outside. They’ll think who we are depends on how we look and whether we’re cool or not. But God looks at our hearts, and we’ll only have peace when we believe who God says we are: His precious creations that He loves.

But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

http://bible.com/1/1sa.16.7.kjv

Trust

One thing we as women are often guilty of, is that we sometimes fail to truly lean on God's promises. 

We take things into our own hands, we think we know what's best, and inevitably, we often bring much heartache upon ourselves in the process. 

Today, as a body of women, let’s meditate on and memorize Proverbs 3:5,6. Not for our own glory or honor, but for the joy of our Father and the growth of His Truth in our hearts.  

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5,6 (ESV)

Standards

Ladies, hold your standards high. Don't compromise for anything or even anyone. 

Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

http://bible.com/1/2ti.2.22.kjv

Faithful

Even as transformed women, we will have our moments of hesitation. We will have our own times when we have the glory of God right in front of us, and we will do nothing about it. We will hear His promise and, in spite of ourselves, laugh, partly out of joy and partly out of disbelief. (Genesis 18:9-12)

But YET, God will respond. He will be faithful. He will fulfill His promise, blessing us with the desire that He alone put on our hearts. 

And, as it often does with the stories of our own lives, everything makes sense in the end.

Restless

You want to be obedient to God’s plan; and say “yes” to the things He calls you to do....you get excited about them. You get so fired up that it starts becoming a restless feeling which can lead to impatience.  And then suddenly—though well-intentioned and innocently enough—God’s plans become our plans.

And you start entertaining the thoughts of "Why should we wait?" Maybe God’s plan is flawed or He’s just busy. "Why can’t we just solve the problem ourselves?"

Sarai, tired of waiting for God to carry out His plan and blaming Him for the delay, decided, as we all so often do, to take matters into her own hands. - “The Lord has kept me from having children… perhaps I can build a family….”  (Genesis 16:2, NIV). 

Hence, Ishmael ....

This—this distrust for God’s plan and His timing, this need to take control, this manipulation of circumstances to fit our “needs” instead of His will—this is when disaster happens.

Ladies, He will wait with you if you ask and He will sustain your faith. He will assure you that He is in control. His plan is not ours to figure out.

Allow God to turn your restlessness into rest. Rest in Him.

Yes, lord

Sarai. 

Unspeakable beauty. 

Wife of Abraham. 

Obedient servant. 

Restless waiter and muddler of His plans. Living proof of God’s redemption, His sovereignty and His working of miracles. 

Genesis 11&12 - When Abraham told her they were going to move, and she was going to have a child in her old age (both, by God's prophetic word); Sarai didn’t have questions. She didn’t furrow her brow. She didn’t come unglued.

She simply obeyed.

She simply said, “Yes.”

Lord, help us put our doubts aside, to answer your call no matter the questions we may have.  May we make obedience our first priority and submit to Your plan and rest in Your faithfulness.  Out of the greatest and deepest of loves, let us say “yes” today.

Enough said....

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

http://bible.com/1/2co.6.14.kjv

Exit

No matter what you are going through, your exit route is already on its way (orchestrated by God).

You just hang in, stay faithful and keep your hope and trust in Him.

The three and one

Many people have received Jesus as their Savior and Lord. They will go to heaven, but will never draw on the full capacity of the Holy Spirit that is available to them or experience the true success God wants them to enjoy while here on Earth. 

Simply put, many will be on their way to heaven, but they won't enjoy the trip. 

Learn to depend completely on God the Father, Jesus the son, and the comforting power of the Holy Spirit. 

Bitterness

If you get hurt, don't ever blame God. He is the best friend you have. 

Bitterness Hinders Hearing 

Bitterness toward God is a sure hindrance to hearing His voice. Any-time bitterness tries to take hold of you, rebuke and refuse it. 

Many times, the devil tries to make us think we are the only ones having a hard time but remember, no matter how bad our problems are, someone else always has a worse problem.  If someone makes a choice that hurts us, we shouldn't blame it on God and become bitter toward Him. 

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

http://bible.com/1/eph.4.31.kjv

Expectation

God's power is released when we pray in faith, trusting and believing Him, because faith pleases Him. 

Expectancy is an attribute of faith that carries its own kind of power - the power of hope. Faith reaches out into the spiritual realm and expects God's supernatural power to show up and do what no person on Earth could do. Doubt, on the other hand, is afraid nothing good will happen; it does not please God and is not something He is able to bless. We are powerless when we live with doubt, disappointment, and a lack of confidence in God. 

Just think about a time when you were not really sure God would come through for you. You were not able to pray very powerful prayers, were you? 

Now recall a time when your heart trusted completely in God and you really believed that He would come through for you. You were able to pray then with a certain sense of power, weren't you? 

That's the power of expectation in prayer. Even if things don't work out exactly the way you hoped they would, trust God to know what is best and keep expecting Him to do great things. 

A friend

Most likely, no one is more often referred to as "God's friend" than Abraham. While the Bible refers to David as "a man after God's own heart" and to John as "the disciple Jesus loved," Abraham has the distinct honor of being called the friend of God in more than one place in Scripture. 

When God decided to execute judgment on the wickedness of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, He told Abraham what He planned to do - just as a friend would share with another what plans they have. 

On the other hand, when Abraham heard about the devastation God intended to release against Sodom and Gomorrah, he "came near and said, 'Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?' " (Genesis 18:23 NKJV). 

As God had shared His plans with Abraham because they were friends, Abraham "came near" to God and spoke openly and boldly about His plans - because they were friends. They had a relationship in which they could communicate freely; they could talk openly. The type of intimacy Abraham enjoyed with God comes from being secure in His love. 

God wants to be your friend, too - to speak to you and to listen to what you have to say to Him. Begin today to accept in a whole new way the fact that you are God's friend and that you can approach Him as such, with anything. 

Moral: Develop a relationship with God in which you can speak freely to Him and you can easily hear what He speaks to you.