I desperately wanted to stay in bed this morning. Did anyone else feel that way? lol. But something…very deep inside of me was stirring…and I knew that I had to get up.
I have been getting this feeling almost everyday now for the past couple of months. It’s the feeling that comes with thoughts of “I wish life would just slow down for a second”. Although there are other factors to consider in my case.
But no matter how weary I may be, the spirit inside of me keeps telling me “go on!”
Everyday comes with challenges. Battles to fight. In our minds, in the office, at school… where ever. But there’s something that God wants us to remember daily:
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9).
Inside of you there lies a giant of strength that has been untapped. No matter how weary you may feel, God always gives you sufficient grace for the next battle, as long as you ask. So what is there that you are facing right now that you think you can’t handle? That seems too much? Ask God for the grace to go through it. After you’ve asked, receive. You will realize that you will always have enough ‘umph’ to get through life.
I always find it amazing when people ask me to pray with them about stuff and then they make statements such as “I need all the prayers I can get” or “that’s all we can do”.
To me, it’s as if we place limits on the power of prayer. I will be blunt here…why bother pray if our faith doesn’t believe in what we are praying for?
I heard someone say over the weekend that if your faith isn’t moving you, don’t expect it to move anyone or anything else.
As believers in Christ, I think it’s important for us to have faith that can move things. Maybe not mountains, but we should be able to move things… a pin even.
Before we can even begin to move things we have to have confidence in our God that He can. We have to be moved by our faith, that when we ask, we do receive. When others see us holding fast to our faith and the word of God, they too will be moved by it. But if we operate in disbelief, our faith won’t work. It won’t move us to do anything, let alone, move others.
So I ask you today…although this was supposed to be asked yesterday (smh), Is your faith moving you?
What is it that you are believing God for? Have you gone cold, lethargic? I encourage you to change that!
I’ve been waiting for a while to actually have this testimony. But now I finally have it.
Being a grad student, I had the privilege of being a teaching assistant while I studied, which enabled me to earn a few bucks to help with cost of living. However, realizing that I needed to finish my thesis and really get out of the school environment for a while, I opted to not take another teaching assistantship and just focus on righting my paper. (I am not sure if I would have gotten the job anyway, because the University tends to prefer new incoming grads than older ones when it comes to giving those positions. In any case it was a four month contract
I didn’t renew my contract in faith that I would find a job. And unlike the times before, I wanted a full time job. But I needed to take my chances. I was going to trust God for a job.
Of course you can anticipate the outcome of this testimony. But I want to put the variables and the doubts that I had.
It’s a bad economy. Everyone’s complaining about that. And my field is Political Science with a concentration in Econ Development. I can’t tell you how many ‘career experts’ have said to me “there’s no jobs for your field right now”.
People are laying off not taking on more people.
I have no skills in Mcdonalds, retail, waitressing, etc. So some jobs, while I don’t mind working them, just wasn’t going to work for me.
Money was running low….really………..low.
I began to pray to God for the job. And you know what? I’d be honest. I had my doubts. It was like everyone that I prayed for got a job. Two for some people! And so I began to doubt myself. Not my faith in God. But I began to doubt whether I had done something to offend HIm. You know what I mean? That;s when the enemy puts you on a guilt trip to tell you there’s something you’ve done wrong. And that’s why God wasn’t coming through for you.
So from January to August 1st, I prayed. I cried. I also applied for jobs all over the world. But I got so many rejection notices, it just made me feel really bad and unqualified. In the mean time, life went from bad to worse financially. Like really, really bad. Like account in overdraft position-can’t use credit cards- emergency funds low—-bad. And it seems as if the bills just kept coming in, despite the fact that I had no income coming in.
In the back of my head though. I had some thoughts. And it was these thoughts that I held onto for dear life.
I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25
He knows my name. He knows my desires.
What father gives his child a stone when he asks for bread? Matt 7:9
God loves me. I don’t understand why things have to come to rock bottom. But I trust that He loves me. John 3:16
God has always provided a job for me in the past. Since I returned to Canada, I have never been without a job. He’s given me so much favour with man, that jobs were created just for me when I needed them.
I continued to do some other things too. Because faith without works is really dead.
I continued to tithe. No matter how small it was. My tax refunds, a small gift from someone. mysterious money appearing in my account. I tithed.
I continued to give and sow into other people’s lives.
i continued to give thanks (hence the 21 days of gratitude fast)
I continued to trust Him no matter how difficult.
I kept smiling
Then I told God my Father, what I want:
I said I want to stay in THIS city or close by, because I want to be connected to my church. That’s where i am fed. I also believe that this is where I need to be right now. (Mind you, Windsor ON, has the worst unemployment rate in the country)
I want a job based on my qualifications. What you have called me to do.
I want a job that is full time, and that will pay me a decent salary so that I can give back to your work (PS: When God gives you favour, you use it for your glory. I didn’t want a job to make myself look prettier. I wanted it to increase His Kingdom).
Well, God provided a job for me. It’s not just any job. It’s a launching pad to the start of my career, because it’s in my field and it’s exactly what I’ve been called to do.The economy may be bad, but OUR GOD is ALWAYS GOOD. All the times when I compared, myself to people that had been given jobs, I actually got a position that is in my field. I didn’t settle. I didn’t get desperate.
In His own time, people, He makes everything right. And I know it doesn’t seem that way right now for you. But you keep believing, you keep trusting God and you will have what you’ve prayed for. God is preparing something so great for you, that it will blow your socks off. Don’t give up. When He presents it to you, you will have no other choice but to say,
“this is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in my eyes”- Psalm 118:23
I know it’s cliche. But life is something that we should truly be grateful for, and I am truly thankful to God for my life.
I was told that when I was born, I came out with my fists tightly clenched. Born a month premature, and even after I had already broke through the ‘barriers’ and into the world, I struggled to take my first breath. For a good minute, the doctors thought I was going to die because I wasn’t breathing. But my mom insisted, “she’s come too far to give up now. She’s gonna live”. It was on that basis that she gave me a name that meant ‘I have a zest for life’ (Well actually, the name that she gave me didn’t mean that, but she had pretty much made up the name, and so she gave it its own meaning).
That was almost 30 years ago, and at least once a year, the enemy tries to take me out. At every crossroad of my life, he tries to steal my joy, my peace, my health, or he tries to destroy me in some way. And if he can’t do that, he’ll try to make me complain about things… anything…: my finances, my family, my home, my past, my future…anything. Because once he can get me to complain about my circumstances, then he can get me to destroy my own ‘self’. Because if I complain, I will lose hope in life, and hope deferred does make the heart sick (Provs 13:12).
I realize though that he’s not so much after me. He’s after my ‘zest for life’- my purpose. And so when he attacks, I cannot give in. I have to respond. I have to arm myself with weapons of praise, with the word and with a positive attitude, and fight back, knowing fully that the fullness of the Godhead is backing me.
When he attacks, I have to muster up whatever little energy I have left and declare that I have a zest for life, that I have a right to live—abundantly and on this earth. That joy and peace, and every good gift is my portion and I am taking all that God has for me.
When I think about it, life is not short, or long. it’s what we make of it. And we could spend day after day, after week, after month, after year, complaining about the same things. Or we can see that life is a precious commodity that God has given us, a commodity that must be kept, defended, and showcased for His glory.
So day 21, I want to thank God for life. My life. It was one of the best gifts that He ever gave me. So precious that He sent His son to die so that I could have life abundantly. So with all of its ups and downs, and merry-go rounds, I thank Him for life. And I promise to not complain about things that happen in life anymore, but everyday to be grateful for life itself, and to live it with zest.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
The true nature of God is his love for relationships. He does not exist in a vacuum, and He didn’t create us to live that way either. Unfortunately, many of us miss the true blessing of relationships and the people that God has sent to us to make our lives better.
This morning as I was reading my emails, I came across one from a friend that said “we’re in this together”. I don’t suppose she knew what she was saying, but I thought of how God always positions us in good relationships because he wants to bless us. So today, I want to thank Him for Angels unawares.
What do I mean by “Angels unawares”.
In Hebrews 13:1-2, the author writes:
Let brotherly love continue.Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Everyday, if we allow God to do His bit, we entertain angels in ordinary form. I am not talking about those close people in our lives. But have you thought about
The postman who delivers your mail.
The person who walks by and offers a sincere smile to you
The friend who sends you an email to comfort you.
The attendant at Mcdonald’s who unwittingly declares “have a good day” over your life.
The pastor/youth leader at your church who always knows exactly what to say about your situation.
The random sister, who gives you a big hug even though she doesn’t know you
The colleague who brings you an ice capp to help your work a little easier.
Even the little cat or dog, that you have that’s always licking you when you need it.
There are so many examples around us where God is blessing us in little teensy bitty ways. But the enemy will trick us into believing that these people are bothering us, nuisances, distractions, just so we can foster the cycle of discontentment. The truth is God has positioned people all around to show His light and love.
We should be grateful for each person that’s in our lives. They may not be as close as family or friends, but God has placed these strangers as ‘angels’ to be a blessing to us in some small way. Not only should we give thanks to God for them, but from time to time, we should also convey our gratitude to those people. Take time out of the busy schedule to encourage them, talk to them for a few minutes, or return a coffee favour.
In everything we must give thanks. God has orchestrated all of the happenings of our day and has positioned angels to bless us.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11
This is one of my favourite scriptures, and yet I often don’t remember it when I need to. But isn’t it amazing that God has plans for us? And what kind of plans are they? He said that they are plans to give us hope and a future.
Today I want to thank God that everything is going to be alright.
You may be thinking “why would you want to do that?”. And 3 years ago, a year ago, six months ago, I would have thought the same. I remember waking up a long time ago and wondering what kind of future I would have. In fact, when I closed my eyes to imagine my future, I couldn’t see anything except darkness. I couldn’t imagine my future being anywhere close to alright.
You may know what I mean. It’s the thought that you have when you lose your job, your husband/wife walks out on you, you’ve lost a child, you just figured out that you’ve been pursuing the wrong thing for 20 years.
But even though the place where we stand may seem as if we’ve reached the end of the world, God always has a plan for our future. We may not see it, but He has the blueprint, and He’s smiling because the outcome is good.
That’s the thing with blueprints. Nobody really gets them except the Architect who design them. But if you trust your architect, then you know that His finished product is going to be great.
Sometimes, I imagine God singing Bob Marley’s “Everything’s gonna be alright” (And no. Let’s not debate about the song. It’s a positive confession). Why would he sing that, because He already knows how the end is going to be: Great! So we need to asked ourselves, “If God has the blueprint for my life, and He’s smiling… why should I frown?” We already know that
1. No good thing shall He withhold from those who love Him
2. All things work together for good to them that love Him
3. He gives us the desires of our heart when we delight in Him.
4. He is a good God.
(PS: Those are all scriptural texts).
So even though things may not be the way we want them to be right now, we need to thank Him anyway because His plans for our future is amazing.
So these days, i find myself daydreaming when the present circumstances around me seem hopeless. I think of my future home, and my children, I think of the husband that I will have, and all the great family trips that we’ll take. I think of my career, and all the great things that I will be doing for God. Do I have any of those things right now? Nope. But I am going to thank God for them anyway. Because His plan for me is great and it will include every good thing that I need.
Don’t look at where you are, look at where you’re going…And thank God that everything is going to be alright.
During my devotions this morning, I read something that I thought I’d share with you:
When the foundations are shaking and you wish you could hide, remember that God is still in control. His power is not diminished by any turn of events. Nothing happens without his knowledge and permission. When you feel like running…run to God. He will restore justice and goodness on the earth in his time. – Life Applications.
It’s day 14. I am technically two thirds of the way with this fast. I won’t lie, there are days that my body and my soul don’t really want to be thankful…but that’s when I have to learn to put on the whole armor of God and thank Him anyway.
In spite of how I feel, I know praise is the gateway to victory. I don’t know how the principle works, but that’s ok. I don’t know how a brown cow can eat green grass, produce white milk, red meat and yellow cheese. But as I am going through this fast of not complaining, I see God doing some things in my life. So far, God has send 3 angels to pour into my life just when I needed it, He’s opened doors that I thought were closed, and He’s really giving me the unction to keep pressing on despite what the enemy throws my way. Some areas that I am praying for are still being worked on, but God is just doing awesome and unexpected things in other areas.
Over the next few days though, I’ve been instructed to thank God for those things that ‘be not’. That’s not so easy. Because for many of us, from where we sit, things don’t look too good. It looks like that relationship/marriage will never work out, that you’ll never be able to pay off your mortgage, that you’ll never find a job, that you’ll never finish that degree. But that’s the thing when you’re on these long fasts: they are supposed to get harder by the day.
The enemy can’t do much about you thanking God for your past. Because as long as it happened, you have the choice to recall it. But he will try his damnedest to stop you from thanking God for your present and for your future.See when you can thank God for what you cannot see, I think it shows that the devil has no control over you. Because no matter what he brings, you’re gonna praise God ANYWAY.
So to start on this chapter, I want us to thank God for restoration.
I have to be broad about this, because I know that each of us may want something different restored. It may be a house for someone, a marriage for another, hope for another, joy for another, trust for another. But this is where we get into crazy faith, and shame the devil. I know exactly what I need God to restore for me. But whatever it is that you want to see restored, position yourself in ‘it’ in the future. I can guarantee that it won’t be easy. Envisioning a bright future in your head is always clouded by the grey ‘present’ in your heart. So you’ve got to push through that, and see with spiritual eyes what it is that you want God to restore. Once you get it, thank God for it. So if you can see yourself laughing and being joyful, Say “Lord I thank you that my joy is restored”. “…that my trust is restored”. “that my marriage is restored”.
You don’t have to understand it. I’ll guarantee you that it won’t make sense. But the more you give thanks for what you want God to restore, the less likely you’ll be to complain that it will never happen. And the lesser you speak death about the situation, the more you’ll give God ‘fertile’ soil to restore it. So today I am giving God thanks for restoring my peace, my joy, my strength, and everything that died contrary to His Word for my life.
Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that Iam the Lord.”’” Ezekiel 37:4-6
Good Monday morning people! I wanted to encourage you today to arise with a joyfulness in your heart. Don’t complain about how you wish you didn’t have to go to work or school today. But rather, be excited that God is going to do something great for you today. This is the day that the Lord has made. WILL yourself to rejoice and be glad in it. Rejoicing as you may know by now, is not a feeling, it’s a choice. Enough said on that.
Over the last few days, I’ve been meditating on Jonah and how he rebelled against God. Jonah’s reason for rebelling against God (if you read the whole book), was quite rational. He knew that even though God had sent him to give Ninevah a word, that He (God) would not destroy His people. But of course Jonah was really angry when God didn’t destroy Ninevah as He had told Jonah He would. But God is so loving and just, and He said something that really stuck out at me…perhaps because of where I am personally. He said:
|”Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”- Jonah 4:10b.
I know I’ve written about this book before, but I just want to draw on something from here that makes me so grateful. And that’s God’s love.
We as humans can be really selfish…really. Eighty per cent of the time, we are concerned about “me”. The “me” factor is so selfish that it really prevents us from truly loving people 100% of the time. That’s okay, because we are on a journey called ‘life’. Think about it, if your spouse leaves his socks in the middle of the floor, you’re likely to get irritated, especially if you’re a neat freak. And if your friend doesn’t do things the way you like ‘em to be done, or does something to offend you, you are less than likely to ‘turn the other cheek’. Because of our selfish nature, we hold on to things from yester year: hurt, bitterness, notions on relationships… and we form logical conclusions as to why we can’t forgive, why we can’t love 100%.
But aren’t you glad that God’s love is not like that. Can you think about what it would have been like if God did not forgive you for all of your sins? What if God said don’t leave your smelly socks on the floor, and you did. What would it be like if He just got really irritated about that? Can you think about how you would feel if God kept a journal of every offense that you did to him? Can you think about what it would be like if God was so selfish that He decided that right now, He needed a break from you because you’re ‘interrupting’ his program?
He tells Jonah that “Look, these people don’t know left from right. I see they are making an effort. It might not be a big one, but I love them and I simply won’t wipe em out”. That’s basically what God probably says about us each morning. He looks at how messed up we still are, how imperfect we are, and He says, “I love you…still”.
So this morning, I want to thank God for loving me, the way He does. He loves me unconditionally. He loves me in spite of. He loves me when everyone else seems to have stopped loving me. He loves me when things are great, and when things are not so great, He adds a little extra love. He loves me when I do right, and when I make mistakes.
We sometimes take God’s love for granted. And people’s as well. But the fact is… and I am getting to realize this daily, Love is a choice. God does not HAVE to love us. He could wipe us out at a snap of his finger. But He loves us anyway. Because Love is part of who He is. So let’s be grateful to God for His love.
In the same token, I want to thank God for the few people that really love me, despite my flaws. They don’t have to love me, but they do… lol. I think my Mommy is a good example. But realize that there are some people that are with you that love you to pieces. Realize that they don’t have to. They choose to. There are others who don’t love you. They chose not to. You can’t harp on the ones that choose not to love you. But for those that honestly do care about you… be grateful for them and acknowledge their efforts to love you.
Love… it is truly a great thing. And we should be grateful that we have at least One Person to love us.
As I was doing some long overdue chores this morning, and worshipping at the same time, I began to think about…things…(I think a lot. lol).
I thought of the days when I thought I would never get out of bed. But somehow I did. And the times I thought I would never live again…But somehow I did.
Today, I want to thank God that I am making it.
Someone used to tell me that “I’m so much stronger than most people.” As a matter of fact, many people when they hear some of the things that I have gone through, or that I deal with regularly, they say that. The truth is I don’t always feel strong. And many a day, I get up wondering “God how am I going to make it through this day?”.
Do you know what I mean? Have you ever had a moment when you thought, “God how am I going to get through this?” And it’s not that you didn’t believe that He was able to bring you out. It’s just that you didn’t believe you had the strength to even lift yourself out of “it”, whatever “it” is. It may have been the loss of a loved one, the breaking away of a friendship, a lay off, a car accident… .We all have times in our lives when we feel as if we are not going to make it.
Whenever I ask God questions like that, I don’t always wait for the answer. But I believe that God always answers back “you’re going to make it…with Me”.
I want to talk to the young woman feeling as if what just took place in her life was basically the end; The woman who just lost a baby; The man who is wondering if life will ever be normal…and all the others reading this:
Look at your life… You are making it. The enemy told you that you wouldn’t be able to survive, but God has shamed him yet again, showing in His great mercy, that He is a sustaining God. Ten minutes ago, 3 days ago, 2 years ago, a decade ago, something happened and you thought that you would never be able to stand. But by the grace of God, you got up, day after day, putting one foot in front of the other, and you fought defeat. You’re making it.
Thank God for that!
The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know. ”4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 37:1-6)
The enemy loves to get you so focused on ‘you’ that he will remind you of how many things are NOT working. Well you know what? Thank God for those too!
I’ve learned that there is a common trick that the devil likes to use: “Well I’ve run out of things to thank God for”, you say. That’s fine. But whenever we run out of things to be grateful for, it’s probably because all along we’ve been thanking God for the good things in our past. For some of us, it seems as if there has been ore good than bad. But do you know that even some of the seemingly bad things that happen in the past, God allowed it?
Yesterday, as my friend and I were talking about some of the really bad experiences, we realized something. Whenever there was something (or someone) that was not good for you, or good for you at the time, God removes it. It might not make sense to you, but God has hindsight, present sight and foresight all at once.
Let’s take for example some of the relationships/friendships that you were in. Now, I am firm believer that God does not like separation. But whenever He has His hand on your life, and He has a purpose for you, He will always uproot and remove people and things from you that are dangerous to your welfare. Yes, it may hurt. And I can attest to how painful it is when someone that you care about is ripped away. But in every bad experience, we have to remember that God loves us.
Man… He loves us so much that He will not allow us to be destroyed. So He takes us away from danger, or…He takes danger away from us. He blocks every path that will lead us down a terrible road. That’s our God.
Now, you may not see it at the time. You may not even see it now. But somewhere in the future, you will say, Lord thank you for taking me out of ________when you did .
Sometimes He takes you out of _______just for a season. But if you had stayed in that particular season, you would have been a goner.
So today, I challenge you to give thanks that God took you out of every destructive relationship, friendship, experience. Looking back, can you think of any bad relationships? What would have happened if you had stayed in them? You may not have understood it then. You may not even understand it now, but thank Him anyway for delivering you from every toxic thing. Because He loved you so much that He snatched you from the traps that the enemy set for you.
15 When they call on me, I will answer;I will be with them in trouble.I will rescue and honor them. 16. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”
