Thinking

It is very easy to feel overwhelmed by all the decisions we need to make daily ..... unless we have the confidence in our ability to make the right ones. 

We often tend to say, “I have a hard time making decisions,” .... The problem with that is when we think and speak like that we are setting ourselves up for confusion. Instead, we need to believe that the next time we need to make a decision that we will really pray first, hear from God, be led by the Holy Spirit, and know what to do. 

Even if we have had difficulty doing so in the past, this is a new day, and we are in charge of our thinking—it is no longer in charge of us! 

Amen ;)

Start your day right

Many people pursue possessions and awards to satisfy their inner need for contentment. But we can be fully satisfied in lean times and in times of abundance, whether we abase or abound (Philippians 4:12), when we learn to enjoy fellowship with the Lord as soon as we wake up. 

Before you are fully awake, you can start talking to God. Just thank Him for seeing you through yesterday, and for being with you today. Praise Him for providing for you, and for working out all the situations in your life for your good. 

Peace fills your heart when your mind is on the Lord. 

Be secure

Be secure 

God can strengthen us to the point that we can make progress even during our troubled times.

The psalmist said of God, "He makes my feet like hinds' feet. You have girded me with strength for the battle" (Psalm 18:33). 

Trials and testing do not come to cause us to lose stability. They are opportunities to prove the strength of God. We don't have to waver in our confidence. Nothing will keep us from making progress today because God is our strength. 

Cast your care

You can pray about everything and worry about nothing. 

When you worry, it says you think you can solve your own problems better than God can. But you were not built to handle problems in your own strength. 

You were created by God to be dependent upon Him; so bring Him your challenges in life and allow Him to help you with them.

Vision

If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible—not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. 

If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. 

Don't lose vision..

Still

Resting on God's word and in His promises is the best place to be. 

No worries there

No stress there

No sleepless nights there

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Jehovah of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.

http://bible.com/12/psa.46.10.asv

Approval

So many of us go throughout our life trying to please people, trying to make people happy, trying hard never to disappoint those we love. The reward may be their smile, but the consequence can be exhaustion, depression or constant self-criticism. 

You don’t have to work hard to please God and win His favor. You are favored because you are His daughter. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, He’s pleased with you today. There’s nothing you can do for Him that will make Him love you anymore than He already does.

Prayer: Forgive me for looking to man for something You have already provided for me: acceptance, approval, a sense of belonging. I belong to You Lord and truly there is nowhere else on the planet I’d rather be. Keep me in Your love. Hide me under Your wings. I live for You and for You alone. In Jesus Name, Amen.

A Surrendered Life

To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. 

Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. 

And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. 

Courage

Lord, help us to always have the courage to not allow others to take what is rightfully ours.

Help us to be bold in the things that concern you. Amen. 

Bold

Standing up for yourself on the inside does not mean being rebellious or having an aggressive attitude toward those who don't understand us. 

It means having a quiet inner confidence that takes us through to the finish line. It is knowing inside that despite what is happening on the outside, everything is going to be all right because God is on the scene, and when He is present, nothing is impossible. 

Consecration

In the prayer of consecration, we dedicate our lives and all that we are to Him. In order for God to use us, we must consecrate ourselves to Him. 

When we truly consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we lose the burden of trying to run our own lives. I would rather voluntarily follow God than struggle to get Him to follow me. He knows where He is going, and I know I will reach my destination safely if I allow Him to lead. 

Boldness vs pride

Such a great read:

A confident woman takes action. I have heard that there are two types of people in the world: the ones who wait for something to happen and the ones who make something happen. Some people are naturally shy, while others are naturally bold, but with God on our side we can live in the supernatural, not the natural. 

We all have something to overcome. A naturally bold person has to overcome pride, excessive aggression, and false confidence, while the naturally shy must overcome anxiety, timidity, the temptation to withdraw from challenges, and low confidence. 

A bold person can often be assertive to the point of being rude. What some people think is boldness is, in reality, pride - which is one of the things God's Word says He hates. It seems that bold people just naturally assume they are right about most things, and they don't mind telling other people just how right they are. And, while confidence is a good thing, egotism is not. Thank God we can benefit from our strengths and overcome our weaknesses through His help. 

Prayer: Lord, I want to make something happen through my life, but with the confidence that comes through Your strength. I humble myself under Your mighty hand and refuse to trust in myself alone. Amen 

Creators priced jewel

If you have been under a lot of stress lately, I encourage you to take an honest inventory of not only what you are doing, but why you are doing it. 

If fear is the reason you're involved, eliminate some stress by getting your priorities straight. Your priority is not to keep everyone else in your life happy by doing all the things they expect; it is to live a life that is pleasing to God and one that you can enjoy. 

Too many people are not living their dreams because they are living their fears. In other words, instead of doing things out of their heart, they do them because they are afraid of what will happen if they don't. "Someone will get angry! I will get left out! People will talk about me!" It is time that you started being the person you really want to be. It is time to reach for your dreams. 

Prayer: Lord, I will delight myself in You today. You know the desires of my heart, and I entrust my dreams to You. Help me to be the person You created me to be. Amen. 

Vindicator

We can learn a lot from Job; and the challenges he faced. 

He lost his whole family, had boils all over his body, and all of his friends turned against him. Yet what does Job say? God is a God of justice. WOW!

Job knew who he was. He knew his own heart. He knew what he was doing. He knew his motives for doing what he was doing. He didn't really care what others thought about him. He knew that his Vindicator was God. He didn't have to defend himself, because if he needed to be vindicated, God would do it. 

It might take a year or five years or ten years, but sooner or later God would come around and vindicate him. If he didn't know that God was his Vindicator, he would have had to try to vindicate himself. 

Lesson to learn: we have to let God be who He is ..... over and for us. He is our Redeemer and Vindicator. He knows our hearts, and His approval of us is all that we will ever need. Help us Lord, to not listen to others' judgments. 

Amen. 

Woman to woman

If we want to be encouraged in our own individuality and independence, we must sow the same type of freedom and respect into other women's lives. 

Don't hold back on encouraging, celebrating, or acknowledging someone else. It's the God thing to do ...

Look to The Lord

The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. 

We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. 

Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.

Thanks!

In what ways, as you look back at your life, can you see how God has done a work in you: 

before you were even born?

before your conversion?

since you've been a Christian?

Speak to God now, thanking Him for His work in your life, for the seen and the unseen.

Overcoming fear

Fear does not mean you are a coward. It only means that you need to be willing to feel the fear and do what you need to do anyway. 

Pray: Lord, thank You for the many examples in Your Word of individuals who stepped forward in faith despite their fears. 

Help me to do the same. Amen. 

Possible

I choose to focus on Jesus' power, not my own, to change my circumstances.

Only He can bring me through each and every situation that is before me. 

What is impossible for you to do, is very possible with God. 

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:

http://bible.com/1/jer.32.17.kjv

He is able

God is able AND willing to do super abundantly above what we can think, plan or ask.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

http://bible.com/1/eph.3.20.kjv

Finances

Just like you would seek wisdom and counsel before deciding whom to marry, taking a new job, or agreeing to a business deal, you should also always seek Him in regards to your finances. Whether it be the receiving, gathering, storing, saving, spending or blessing etc....all of it. 

God reminds us in His Word that He can provide us with wisdom, if we simply ask. Read James 1:5.

Thanks

I am aware that because of Jesus' love for me, I am more than a conqueror and in that I will enjoy the overwhelming victory in my spirit, soul and body.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

http://bible.com/1/1co.15.57.kjv

Possibilities

Sometimes we are in these health situations that seem completely impossible to come out of. I personally have experienced this before and I know some others who have too. 

In my case, I would basically rehearse these words: "what may be impossible for my doctors is possible with God". 

Why?? Because my bible tells me so.

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

http://bible.com/1/luk.1.37.kjv

Wait

When God gives you a vision, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. In the meantime, never try to help God fulfill His word. 

You may experience days, weeks,  months or years of silence, however, they are a time of discipline, not a period of murmuring or being displeased with God’s word . 

Just wait upon God and be grounded in Him; and you'll see His word come to pass

Declare and decree

Wake up each morning, and just like most things, declare and believe that your financial goals will come to pass. 

Post your goals somewhere you can view them throughout the day. Whether they are posted on your refrigerator or vanity mirror, allow your goals to serve as a constant reminder of where you are going. 

Seeing them visually can also encourage you when deciding whether to purchase things like a new pair of shoes, tickets to your favorite sports game or your usual morning coffee latte. 

Understand how making these small sacrifices may ensure your children’s education is funded, reduce your financial burdens or allow you the ability to live a financial healing lifestyle. 

Going deeper

In the Bible, Jesus calls himself "the light of the world" (John 8:12). 

Although we cannot see Jesus with our eyes, we can better recognize His light by learning His Word and knowing His character. 

Disappointments at work, school or struggles at home can be hard to endure. Even if we don't understand why God is allowing us to struggle with something, Jesus proves through His faithfulness that He is deserving of our hope. 

If we focus on Jesus during our "dark times," we can have hope.