Choose your words wisely Part one

10 January 2019

Choose your words wisely Part one
In other words, 'Keep your mouth zipped'. Very hard to do at times but so important
Proverbs 18: 20 - 21 reads:

A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth.
From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.'

Again Ephesians 4:29 reads:

'Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary
edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers'

That last bit is very important: 'that it may impart grace to the hearers.'
You are a hearer too. What you are saying has the power to build you up pr tear you down.
If your glass is always half empty and you say things such as, 'It'll never happen to me. Other people are blessed but God will never bless me.' Chances are you'll hardly ever be blessed with an attitude such as this. Change your, 'I can't do this' into, 'I'm going to give this my best shot. I reckon I can do this,' and then sit back and see the difference.
Our words carry either Faith or fear, Blessing or cursing, Life or death. We have to choose what comes out of our minds, wisely. Speak positively not negatively. I've often worked in a counselling situation with people and the most common word that comes up is, 'But'. 'I know what you're saying, but.' 'Ive tried that so many times, but". As soon as that small word is uttered from the lips it produces negativity. Change that. What you confess - you get. Make your words productive.

Today, try practising using positive words instead of negative ones. In other words, seek what the bible says. It's full of faith. If something bad comes along, don't just throw a wobbly and give up - stand up in the power of Jesus Christ. The Name above all names. Your Friend and Saviour.

Subject to Change

9 January 2019

Subject to Change
Romans 4:17 says, "God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did."
It's a faith thing and God is a God of faith. He called the world, which at the time did not exist, and brought about the lovely planet that we live on. There's been many things, over the years, that didn't exist and God called them into being. And He wants us to live like this too.
2 Corinthians 5:7 reads, "We walk by faith not by sight," This is saying the same thing. We need to be looking at things the way Jesus would. Instead of getting all upset because we're sick and despite constant prayer, we are still sick, we need to look at the sickness through the eyes of faith and declare that the sickness is subject to change.
Let's read 2 Corinthians 4:18 "while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not are eternal."
We either believe the bad report that the doctor has given us or we refuse to accept that and start believing that a good report is coming.
Now I don't mean that we should refuse to take our medication and not have tests. Some people would and if they have the faith for that, that is fine. What I am saying is to believe for a good report so that when the doctor says there is nothing wrong anymore, we can then stop taking the meds. That is what happened to me when I had a bad dose of Bell's Palsy. The doctor told me that he felt after all the treatment I had had, with no sign of improvement, my face would stay twisted and paralysed. However, God thought different and when I called out to Him, I was healed overnight. (See my testimony - the first of my blogs. If you can't find it, contact me. I'll send a copy to you.)
Things are subject to change. Stop accepting things just because they are that way. Start believing for a miracle. God is still on the Throne. He still cares and He wants you well!

The best is yet to come

8 January 2019

The best is yet to come (John 2:1 -11)
There was a family wedding and Mary and her family were invited. Now this also included Jesus and His disciples. Things were going well until they ran out of wine. This would have disastrous connotations on the bride and her family. It would bring total shame upon them all.
Mary is quick to mention this to Jesus (V3). Jesus' answer, in V4 reads "Woman what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." Some scholars think that Mary was wanting Jesus to present Himself openly as the Messiah. However, there is nothing really to suggest this. Many feel, and I agree, that she was concerned and mentioned it to Jesus - her son - to see if any normal thing could be done to help the family here. Mary therefore, told the servants to do whatever He told them to do. She knew Jesus could change the situation supernaturally but at this stage, was hoping that something, at least could be done to eradicate the shame the family would suffer.

Jesus noticed that there were six empty stone pots standing around, each capable of holding twenty to thirty gallons. He told the servants to fill the pots with water and draw some off for the master of the feast. Now just check this out, six pots with say 30 gallons in each would be 180gallons in total. This would be the equivalent of 1440 pints. If we were to say that 3 glasses would equal a pint, that would be 4320 glasses of wine.
If the pots contained 20 gallons of water, that would be 120 gallons with a pint equivalent of 960 pints and 2880 glasses of wine. Wow, that would have been some party and it would be a great idea to have Jesus at your party.

The master of the feast was amazed. He said, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"

Jesus had saved the day. He had rescued the family from certain shame. He led the master of the feast to believe that the best wine had been saved to the end.
Are you struggling with something in your life. Hanging on to a dream that never seems to come. You've asked God for a certain thing but you haven't received it yet, even though you know in your heart that it is His will. Don't give up. It may be just around the corner. The best is yet to come.
Jesus is well able to take your situation and turn it completely around. Hang in there and keep praying and reading your bible.

Don't miss it

7 January 2019

Don't miss it John 1:1 - 14
The first verse in the Gospel of John reads:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" John 1:1
Who was/is the Word. The Word was and is God. Scripture tells us that the Word - Jesus was there in the beginning. That means at creation, the Word was there; He was involved. He was with God and He was and is God.
It may seem complicated but really, it isn't. God the Father, God the Son and God The Holy Spirit. They are God yet in three persons and that is called, The Holy Trinity. You see right back to the Fall of man, sin had crept  into the life of man and God who is holy, could not look at this. There was the Law of God but these were a set of rules that no one could obey. It was impossible. People were dying in their sin. Therefore, God decided to do something about this. Verse 14 shows us what He did. 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" However, people did not recognise who He was. Verse 11 reads, "He came to His own and His own did not receive Him." 
The King of Glory came down to earth as a man and people refused to recognise He was who He said he was. He was healing the sick and spreading friendship and love, hope and blessing all over the place and it all fell on deaf ears, except for the very few who realised who He was and followed Him.

You know, it's very similar today. Verse 5 tells us, "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." Who is the Light? It is Jesus. What is the darkness? Those people and areas who reject Jesus as God. Who fail to accept Him as Lord. Those who do not accept that He is the Word, that He is God and was with God in the very beginning.
He is in the world today, but the darkness refuses to recognise Him, even though He shines His Light into each one He comes near. Haven't you ever felt that something strange has been happening to you? That all of a sudden a great sense of happiness has come upon you and you don't know from where? Haven't you ever been in the company of someone who you look up to and feel strangely drawn to them? Do you realise that it was more or likely Jesus who was whispering to you?
The Light has been shining in the darkness of your life. Are you going to invite Him to be your friend?

Conquerors

6 January 2019

Conquerors
Down the ages, there have been a few people who could claim to be conquerors. William the Conqueror obviously springs to mind, together with the rulers of the Roman Empire.  Then there are the dictators, such as Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin etc etc. Each of these at some stage have ruled with a rod of iron and been responsible for the deaths of many people with outrageous and disastrous  consequences.
Conqueror brings to mind the expression of power, however God wishes to make us - His children, more than conquerors. Let's look in the book of Romans:

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37 - 39.

This is the Apostle Paul speaking and declaring God's love for us and how we will never be separated from Him.
Goliath, who was a massive giant who had slayed many men, was a domineering and frightening spectacle as he stood before David, who at the time was a skinny young boy. Goliath had all the weapons, David had only a sling and five smooth stones. Yet that day, David, who was later to become King, slew the giant with one stone. Height or strength such as this was not going to stop David.
Death cannot separate us from God, as a Christian our insurance policy is paid up in Jesus and we'll go straight to be with Him.
In this day and age, there is so much evil around. Murders practically every day; terrorists killing innocent people in the name of their so-called religion. It's scary, but as Christians, we belong to the King of kings, Jesus and we are more than conquerors.
Think about your life. There may be some scary things going on in your life at this time. As a Christian we can give it all to Jesus with the knowledge that He will help us. As a non-believer, we need to become a believer pretty quick for the day is coming when Jesus will return to clear all the mess up that we humans have made and it will be too late by then.
Are you ready? If not:

Lord Jesus, please come into my life,

Forgive me my in,

Fill me with Your Holy Spirit,

And be my friend, Lord and Saviour

Do not fear

5 January 2019

Do not Fear
Let us take a walk through Psalm 23 today.
Verse 1 tells us that The Lord is our shepherd. This phrase reveals to us one of God's redemptive names - Jehovah Ra-ah. He is our shepherd and as we trust in Him, we will want for nothing. In other words, He will provide all that we need, and more. A shepherd looks after his sheep, he keeps them refreshed and fed and protects them. Verse 4 talks of a rod and a staff. The shepherd would use the rod to ward off any ferocious animals that would come near to the sheep. Also, he would use his staff, or crook to prod the stubborn sheep or hook then out of holes and such like. He was their protector. God is our protector too.

The sheep would know the shepherds voice and would feel at peace with him or her. They would not be fearful when their shepherd was with them (Verse 4). Jesus does the same for us. He wants us to take care of ourselves and not to worry; He is our source of life, not the world. He gives us rest and restores our souls. The word 'soul' here in verse 3 is Mind, Will and Emotions. If we're not careful, our minds can run riots with our thoughts taking over and causing us mayhem. He wants to restore our minds. Our will, can make us stubborn and headstrong, thus unteachable leading us into all kinds of trouble. He wants to restore our will and help us to make our will, His will for our lives. Finally, our emotions can lead us into all kinds of problems, from anger to complete nervous breakdown because we cannot see a way through the pain, fear and worry. He wants to restore our emotions.

Whatever we go through in our lives, Goodness and Mercy (Verse 6) will be there. There may be changes to negotiate  but God never changes . He just loves us! Something good will come out of what you are going through at the moment. Possibly the thing you are struggling with at present cannot be taking away. It can though be changed or you can receive super strength to get to the other side.
Turn to your shepherd now. His name is Jesus or Jehovah Ra-ah. He will protect you, feed you, bind up the wounds of a broken heart, marriage or a life. Hs arms are open wide for you to run into

Difficult days can be good days

4 January 2019

Difficult days can be good days
1 Peter 4:12 says
"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you."
When the chips are down and nothing we touch appears to go right, it is difficult to think that God is anywhere around and if we feel He is, that He cares. We're tempted to think, 'If God loves us so much, why has this happened to me?"

Let's look at The Message version of this verse:
"When life gets difficult - don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job."
I much prefer TheMessage version because it says it as it is. We are tempted to think that He doesn't love us; that He has left us when we need Him the most etc. etc.
God will never leaves us. Hebrews 13:5. He is committed to us and cares so much. However, at times we have to go through some things so that He can see if we can handle stressful times. If we can't what is the point in Him putting us in a place if we're going to fall at the first hurdle.
No, when we're going through difficult times, He is right beside us.

In Isaiah 41:10, we read:
"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."
You may be thinking that 'it is all right for me to say this, he doesn't know what I'm going through'. And yes, that is true, I don't know what you're going through anymore than you know what I've been through. We all have bad times that floor us. However, we have a choice. One is to wallow in the pain and let it completely disable us, or we can rise above it by calling out to God and asking Him to get us through this bad time.
Bad times can be turned into good times. The glass is either half full or half empty. It's just the way we look at things.
If you throw yourself on God's mercy, He will meet you where you are, take your hand and walk you through these difficult times. The water may be wide but you can cross over it, with His help.
And by the way, He loves you amazingly!