Worrier or Warrior? My sister was sharing g how she went from being a woman shouting out loud that she is a missile in God's hands against the enemy of our souls to a emotional mess of a woman worrying if she was enough.
It is possible that you have toggled between being a warrior one week and a worrier the next. You are not alone in this but I believe that we ought to pursue being more on the end of a warrior versus a worrier.
Worries really never ever produced good fruit. In fact I believe it is a seed that flourishes in a soil void of faith and watered by fear and doubt. It causes us to lose our grasp on reality. It causes us to shift our eyes from the Father our Creator to the created. It makes us act in our own efforts and plan our pathway. It makes us sick in body and never ever victorious in battle.
Warriors have a different mindset. I say this because I don't mean fighting it out with swords and shields. I mean having a renewed mind daily that is focused on God. A warrior like David against Goliath goes forward into battle in the name of the Lord. A warrior trusts in God. A warrior has developed a relationship with Him and depends on Him for direction. A warrior doesn't try to conjure up their own somutions or way out but is unashamed to be dependent wholly on God. A warrior knows that it is not about themselves but about their God.
So I ask myself and to whoever may one day read this post, Worrier or Warrior? Which one am I today?
Thursday, March 21, 2019
What would it look like to trust God?
It's 5am and I'm driving my mom to work. On the radio a speaker I never heard before is in the radio. He is talking about Nehemiah and his stance in God. He is talking about Hebrews faith chapter. He is reminding me that God's purpose is not for me to be good but to trust Him.
It touches a chord within me as that word Trust is repeated. God is speaking. Often times I try hard to be good. I try to do the right thing. I try to be and do what I think I should have done. However just as Jesus said no one is good but God. I must face the truth and that is I will never be 💯.
What God is asking of me is more straightforward and attainable. Trust him. So the speaker asks the question that I should always ask myself. "What would it look like to trust God?"
What does it look like to trust him for my provision? What does it look like to trust him for a husband; trust him for my healing; my children; my job; my life and all it entails?
It has caused me to stop because I realize that trusting Him is having faith in Him. That is what pleases Him. That is what causes Him to be unashamed to call Himself my God, just as He did for Abraham Isaac and Jacob. To trust Him means to be sure of the things I don't see because I believe what God has said. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
I will trust Him!
It touches a chord within me as that word Trust is repeated. God is speaking. Often times I try hard to be good. I try to do the right thing. I try to be and do what I think I should have done. However just as Jesus said no one is good but God. I must face the truth and that is I will never be 💯.
What God is asking of me is more straightforward and attainable. Trust him. So the speaker asks the question that I should always ask myself. "What would it look like to trust God?"
What does it look like to trust him for my provision? What does it look like to trust him for a husband; trust him for my healing; my children; my job; my life and all it entails?
It has caused me to stop because I realize that trusting Him is having faith in Him. That is what pleases Him. That is what causes Him to be unashamed to call Himself my God, just as He did for Abraham Isaac and Jacob. To trust Him means to be sure of the things I don't see because I believe what God has said. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
I will trust Him!
Friday, March 8, 2019
I love you too God
I am sitting at my desk and just so aware of God's presence. He is right here with me in my wilderness, in my desert. He is here and I don't want to forget this moment of awareness.
I was listening to Beth Moore and she told us how God told her to stop say I love you, but to say I love you too God. Every time we are moved to breathe those words out loud it isn't because we just felt it alone. He, God, has whispered those words of His love into our hearts. I am tearing up because I know that this is true.
He is my lover. The lover of my soul. The lover who sees all of me and rejects me not. The lover that calls me by name to be with Him and to delight in Him. He is the lover that says I am precious to Him and lays down His life for me. He is the lover that gives me my hearts desires and more. He is the lover that never holds back every good and perfect gift from me. He is the lover that sings new songs over me, dances and rejoices over me. He is my lover and I'm overwhelmed by a love that is so perfect and unfailing.
Oh my soul, bless the Lord. Oh soul, forget not all His benefits. Oh soul, magnify the Lord.
I can imagine that as these words exploded from the lips of the psalmists and virgin Mary that they might have experienced His love right before. I love the Lord and I am never going back to the place when I didn't know nor want Him. I love Him more every day and yet I am aware that it is never enough. Yet, He invites me to stay and be filled upon Him.
Lord how I love you.
Lord I cannot imagine how I went the yesterdays of my life without you.
No. He was always there - wooing me to Himself. Drawing me out. Calling me to what I didn't know at the time was the best thing of my life.
So Lord, again I feel the words coming out of my soul - "I Love You Too God."
I was listening to Beth Moore and she told us how God told her to stop say I love you, but to say I love you too God. Every time we are moved to breathe those words out loud it isn't because we just felt it alone. He, God, has whispered those words of His love into our hearts. I am tearing up because I know that this is true.
He is my lover. The lover of my soul. The lover who sees all of me and rejects me not. The lover that calls me by name to be with Him and to delight in Him. He is the lover that says I am precious to Him and lays down His life for me. He is the lover that gives me my hearts desires and more. He is the lover that never holds back every good and perfect gift from me. He is the lover that sings new songs over me, dances and rejoices over me. He is my lover and I'm overwhelmed by a love that is so perfect and unfailing.
Oh my soul, bless the Lord. Oh soul, forget not all His benefits. Oh soul, magnify the Lord.
I can imagine that as these words exploded from the lips of the psalmists and virgin Mary that they might have experienced His love right before. I love the Lord and I am never going back to the place when I didn't know nor want Him. I love Him more every day and yet I am aware that it is never enough. Yet, He invites me to stay and be filled upon Him.
Lord how I love you.
Lord I cannot imagine how I went the yesterdays of my life without you.
No. He was always there - wooing me to Himself. Drawing me out. Calling me to what I didn't know at the time was the best thing of my life.
So Lord, again I feel the words coming out of my soul - "I Love You Too God."
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
BRINGING YESTERDAY INTO TODAY
We are doing the theme on the Embrace Women's Service Prayer line called Lord Make A Way! Isn't that everyone's prayer? I know it's mine. I am in need of his daily help and direction and I am sure you are probably nodding in agreement. However, I digress from my point of this post.
The golden text we are focused on is taken from Isaiah 43:18-19
18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
God is making a way for us. He says in this text that it is a new thing that He is set to do. However, He instructed that the former things need to be put to the curb. This is the problem for many of us - me, you and Lot's wife and his children.
In Genesis 19 the bible tells us that Mrs Lot was so focused on her yesterday - she couldn't resist the temptation to look back. As a result she was iodized. To be honest I don't even know why I thought of that word. What happened was she was turned into a pillar of salt - a preservation of her past. Salt, I learnt this morning, was used to preserve meats from going back. As such this salt was such a symbol of what she wanted to preserve. Her yesterday was still her focus. Yet, God is doing a new way.
Lot's children left the place of Sodom and Gomorrah, but they were stained by it's culture. They did not leave unscathed but brought with them the stench of their yesterday. That stinking thinking and perverse nature contaminated them and led their decision to sleep with their father. Oh yes friends, they went there. Incest by choice.
They didn't perceive the new thing God wanted to do in their lives. They couldn't trust God to provide husbands for them. They wanted what they wanted and literally they sought it at any cost. Now don't throw that stone of judgement just yet. I ask you to examine your own life for just a moment. I may not have done that, but when is sin not still sin? Have I not been guilty of trying to make my own way in this journey of life? Have I not also romanticised my yesterdays to the point where I wanted to return? Have I not also committed the sin in the eyes of God? Have I not also been guilty of being faithless while I waited on the way of God?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
So, this morning's devotion has inspired me to look in the mirror. The reflection doesn't look great. However, just as God extended mercy to them, I have been given new mercies - today. Time to release the former things and instead look to God for the new thing He will do in my life.
Amen.
.
The golden text we are focused on is taken from Isaiah 43:18-19
18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
God is making a way for us. He says in this text that it is a new thing that He is set to do. However, He instructed that the former things need to be put to the curb. This is the problem for many of us - me, you and Lot's wife and his children.
In Genesis 19 the bible tells us that Mrs Lot was so focused on her yesterday - she couldn't resist the temptation to look back. As a result she was iodized. To be honest I don't even know why I thought of that word. What happened was she was turned into a pillar of salt - a preservation of her past. Salt, I learnt this morning, was used to preserve meats from going back. As such this salt was such a symbol of what she wanted to preserve. Her yesterday was still her focus. Yet, God is doing a new way.
Lot's children left the place of Sodom and Gomorrah, but they were stained by it's culture. They did not leave unscathed but brought with them the stench of their yesterday. That stinking thinking and perverse nature contaminated them and led their decision to sleep with their father. Oh yes friends, they went there. Incest by choice.
They didn't perceive the new thing God wanted to do in their lives. They couldn't trust God to provide husbands for them. They wanted what they wanted and literally they sought it at any cost. Now don't throw that stone of judgement just yet. I ask you to examine your own life for just a moment. I may not have done that, but when is sin not still sin? Have I not been guilty of trying to make my own way in this journey of life? Have I not also romanticised my yesterdays to the point where I wanted to return? Have I not also committed the sin in the eyes of God? Have I not also been guilty of being faithless while I waited on the way of God?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
So, this morning's devotion has inspired me to look in the mirror. The reflection doesn't look great. However, just as God extended mercy to them, I have been given new mercies - today. Time to release the former things and instead look to God for the new thing He will do in my life.
Amen.
.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Enjoy the season you are in today - God has a purpose
I live in Canada, in case you wondered. So we have been going through the season of winter. I can also tell you that I am not a fan of this season. I am not a lover of the snow or the cold or the cold or the cold. I am sure you get the drift of what I am trying to say right now. I don't like winter - but I really am trying to be thankful for it.
I have been talking to God about it - telling Him that I don't often see what is happening behind the scenes of this seasons wintery winds and multiple precipitation. We go from snowing to freezing rain to stormy wind blasts to snowing and frigid temperatures that literally bring tears to my eyes. I have been trying to look beyond all this and be as excited as a skier on a cool slope.
God makes no mistakes. He made this season for a reason and me whining and complaining will not make it disappear. God, who made all things good, has declared that this season is good. It is good and you know what? I am not going to miss out on anything that God says is good.
So after the wintery storm we had recently, I took pictures. I saw this beautiful picture of white snow and ice on the try. I saw the skies that displayed their best blue ever! It was a sight for me that took my breath away in gasps. Wow. God is good.
I am still waiting for spring, and I can see that it is closer now than it was yesterday. However, in the mean time I pray that my eyes will be open to the beauty and wonder of winter.
I have been talking to God about it - telling Him that I don't often see what is happening behind the scenes of this seasons wintery winds and multiple precipitation. We go from snowing to freezing rain to stormy wind blasts to snowing and frigid temperatures that literally bring tears to my eyes. I have been trying to look beyond all this and be as excited as a skier on a cool slope.
God makes no mistakes. He made this season for a reason and me whining and complaining will not make it disappear. God, who made all things good, has declared that this season is good. It is good and you know what? I am not going to miss out on anything that God says is good.
So after the wintery storm we had recently, I took pictures. I saw this beautiful picture of white snow and ice on the try. I saw the skies that displayed their best blue ever! It was a sight for me that took my breath away in gasps. Wow. God is good.
I am still waiting for spring, and I can see that it is closer now than it was yesterday. However, in the mean time I pray that my eyes will be open to the beauty and wonder of winter.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Amazing Grace
Did you ever realize that the apostle Paul in all his letters to the church began with grace and peace? He spoke it over their lives and after hearing it preached I am really intrigued. The pastor said he not only said grace and peace but he told them from who it came. May grace and peace be with you from God the Father and Jesus the Son. No one else gives us this kind of grace or this kind of peace. Only God. Only Jesus.
I can't imagine my life without God's grace. I mean really, where would I be? Who would I be? Oh God, thank you for grace. Now, perhaps you are perplexed as to why I am so overcome with gratitude. Maybe your life was not like mine.
You see I know who I was and who I struggle not to be sometimes today. Grace has been the Avenue for forgiveness of my many, many sins (double word intended). I love what Justin Holcomb wrote "Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God."
That was me, unlovely and restless. I was deserving of the judgment and penalty of sin but grace. God's grace. God's amazing grace. Oh, I could sing that hymn with lungs bursting.
Praise God for His amazing grace!
I can't imagine my life without God's grace. I mean really, where would I be? Who would I be? Oh God, thank you for grace. Now, perhaps you are perplexed as to why I am so overcome with gratitude. Maybe your life was not like mine.
You see I know who I was and who I struggle not to be sometimes today. Grace has been the Avenue for forgiveness of my many, many sins (double word intended). I love what Justin Holcomb wrote "Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God."
That was me, unlovely and restless. I was deserving of the judgment and penalty of sin but grace. God's grace. God's amazing grace. Oh, I could sing that hymn with lungs bursting.
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I am found.
I was blind but now I see.
Praise God for His amazing grace!
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Help
I live in Canada. I live in a place where it gets cold in the winter months and so it is not unusual to see cars not working or be caught behind one that didn’t make it off the road way. On one morning, the traffic was stalled because of such an occurrence. A car was not working. Everyone was pulling out from behind it to zoom past as this man with the help of another man tried to push it into a gas station.
I was able to pass it and before I got too far pulled into the gas station lot. I was dressed in my jean and boots so it wouldn’t hurt me to add some muscle to the effort. To say the guys were shocked to see me as their help is an understatement. Yet I was the one God sent. It was then another man stopped his car and jumped in. Between the three of us, we pushed the car off the road and up to a pump. His car really just needed some fuel to be alright again. The owner was over joyed and hugged all of us saying “I love Canada!”. To be honest right in that minute I loved it too. I loved the kindness of strangers in a land where cold sometimes is the temperature of the people around us.
However as I am telling this story it affirms something else. God sends us help in ways we do not often expect. He sends us help and sometimes we miss it. That guy did not expect a woman to stop and help him push a car. He didn’t think I was strong enough to do that. However even as the other guys patted me on the shoulder saying after “You are strong!” I realize how they wouldn’t know that to look at me prior.
I cry out to God for help and I wonder if I have not missed His hands extended becaue I was too preoccupied looking at the package it came in. I have said to God my expectation is from You however I trip over my own expectations of things. So today I record thi for me. Today I am asking God to see His Help clearly so that I may accept it readily and quickly. He is my present help in times of trouble. I pray that for me and for you in Jesus name amen.
I was able to pass it and before I got too far pulled into the gas station lot. I was dressed in my jean and boots so it wouldn’t hurt me to add some muscle to the effort. To say the guys were shocked to see me as their help is an understatement. Yet I was the one God sent. It was then another man stopped his car and jumped in. Between the three of us, we pushed the car off the road and up to a pump. His car really just needed some fuel to be alright again. The owner was over joyed and hugged all of us saying “I love Canada!”. To be honest right in that minute I loved it too. I loved the kindness of strangers in a land where cold sometimes is the temperature of the people around us.
However as I am telling this story it affirms something else. God sends us help in ways we do not often expect. He sends us help and sometimes we miss it. That guy did not expect a woman to stop and help him push a car. He didn’t think I was strong enough to do that. However even as the other guys patted me on the shoulder saying after “You are strong!” I realize how they wouldn’t know that to look at me prior.
I cry out to God for help and I wonder if I have not missed His hands extended becaue I was too preoccupied looking at the package it came in. I have said to God my expectation is from You however I trip over my own expectations of things. So today I record thi for me. Today I am asking God to see His Help clearly so that I may accept it readily and quickly. He is my present help in times of trouble. I pray that for me and for you in Jesus name amen.
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