Proverbs 19:23 “Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm.” ~NLT
When I was young, I felt the most safe when my dad was around. He was a strong man and seemed like he did not fear anything. I knew that whatever would try to come into our home or threaten our family, had to deal with him first. Nothing bothered me because of that security I felt. When he wasn’t around, I was more nervous or afraid. I felt like we and our home were vulnerable. This can also be a reference on how we should view God’s love and protection. Often we forget that God is watching over us. The world and its distractions weigh heavily on us. Makes us afraid and that fear causes us to make bad decisions. These bad decisions take us in different directions. From those decisions come struggle and pain. But if we can remember God, we can become aware of his power and promise to us. God stands alone. There is none greater. Because of this He is our protector. In Jeremiah 29:11 He says, “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.” When you understand this, we take hold of this awareness that God did not cause this fear around us. This fear was only put in place to keep us from seeing and knowing God as our Father. To keep us from having a relationship with Him. But when we realize that God is bigger than our biggest problem; when God’s security is stronger than what the world is using to scare us; then we will know that our Father will protect us from anything that will try to come after us. Nothing the world can do, will keep God’s promises away from us. So live with joy under the umbrella of God’s promises of protection, provision and love. Knowing that the best in blessings have already been gift wrapped just for us. “Fear of the Lord leads to life…” and it brings, “...security and protection from harm.” May God continue to bless you with His peace as you journey in Jesus name. Amen
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John 15: 1-2 “I am the True Vine, and my Father is the Gardener. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.” ~CSB Jesus is the ‘Vine’, the Source. Meaning we can do nothing fulfilling without Him. Without Him nothing lasts. To remain connected to Jesus means we must be productive in His name. Jesus says that, “...My Father is the Gardner…” This means God will take care of the removing and pruning. Let us not get this text confused and understand what is meant by ‘removing’ and ‘pruning’. We know that God loves us and wants us to get it right. He allows us opportunities for this. Those opportunities are found in our pain and struggles. Remember He has a plan. We are the ones that miss this plan because we mature in life and want to develop our own plans when one is already set in place for us. In the book of Jeremiah Chapter 29:11, God says, “For I know the plans I have for you”-This is the Lord’s declaration-”plans for your well being, not for disaster, to give you a future of hope…” Going back to the text in the book of John, God doesn’t mean ‘disaster’ by removing you if you are not productive. Instead, in the trials you go through God removes what’s keeping you from being productive. Maybe you don’t love like you should because you are holding onto hate, anger, jealousy, or unforgiveness. These things must be removed before God can fill you with His powerful blessings. And then there’s pruning. Let’s consider this a spiritual fine-tuning. We may be the Christians that go to church, attend Bible Study, preach or teach. But we also may be holding onto some things. Things in our hearts that we have tried to forget, things we don’t want to remember. But God wants to prune those suppressed feelings so that the devil won’t get the chance to use that against us one day. Also it will allow God to release His full power in you to bless others with those feelings of pain in your heart as He already has victory over all of them. So stay connected to Jesus, “...The True Vine…” and allow the Gardner to do His work in us through our trials and struggles so that we can be the ‘Fruit Providers’ we were created to be. May God bless and keep you in Jesus name. Amen John 7:37 “...If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink…” My addiction to alcohol was rooted in me finding something to fill a void inside me. Whether consciously or unconsciously, I thirst for what was missing and I needed a replacement to fit in the hole or void in my soul. One of the things I sought to quench that thirst was alcohol. It helped me to run away. At first I may have tried watching a lot of movies. When that didn’t work, I’d find something else. I kept skipping around until I found alcohol. That was my escape and I allowed it to take over my flesh. The desire grew to become an overwhelming addiction. I became even more thirsty. Now, this was my way to fill a void inside me. Others may thirst for something in other ways, like eating during depressed times. Committing adultery or maybe just using drugs. Whatever the case may be, we become dependent on something in our efforts to fill voids in our souls that lead to many failures in our lives. Here is the problem…those voids never stay filled with what we ‘find’ to fill it with. We are searching in the wrong place. The world may give us its way to fill our voids but they do not last long. And before we know it, we are looking for another ‘fix’. In the book of John, Chapter 7, we find that Jesus offers us a way to quench that thirst and fill that void. We were created by God to do His will in this world but we cannot be successful Christians without Him. That void we have is like a ‘USB input port’. And the USB is Jesus. We need Jesus inserted in that port for us to make it in this world as believers. Nothing else is supposed to fill that void, or go into that port. Jesus tells us that, “...If anyone is thirsty…”, like the thirst we have when we seek the ‘quick fixes’, He says to, “...let him come to Me and drink…” That void is the place where we fill it with the Word of God. When we have this, life becomes sustainable! You will find that you don’t need to go here or get there. You find that you don’t need a drink or certain foods to ‘take you away’. All you need is the peace of God and that void will forever be filled. Jesus continues in verse 38 by saying, “The one who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow deep with him.” God has the power for you to only ‘want’ from him. There is no power like this that the world can give you. So look up to God! Believe in the Son and that void in our souls will cease to exist. Remember, God promises us life and He wants us to have an abundance of it! May God bless you and keep you under the umbrella of His love, protection and healing in Jesus’ name. Amen 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” ~HCSB God has given us everything we need. Yet we have been taught to receive things we don’t need. We have been taught to ‘want’ and go get that unneeded ‘want’. And as a result, we take up space and have no room for the blessings that God has in store for us. What do we do about that? We figure out what it is we don’t need, get rid of it and make room for what God has already given us! The world has taught us that we can do things on our own. We don’t need ‘anybody’. When we train ourselves in this way of thinking, it is easy to hold on to the concept of not needing God in some situations we encounter. We show this by not calling on Him when we should. Let’s get rid of this way of thinking! First of all, we need God in everything. He created us and He created the plan for our lives. He says in Jeremiah 29:11 that He has plans for us, “...for your well-being, not for disaster…” We will know this when we build a strong relationship with God. We should learn, know and walk in this knowledge of Him. It may be hard at first, because we have to unlearn so many bad habits. But just like going to the gym, we have to continue to seek God’s will for our lives everyday. Read scriptures here and there so that we can not only develop the habit of studying God’s Word, but we also allow nourishment to our spirits. Once our spirits receive that nourishment, the strength from our spirits will allow our walk with God to become easier. Let’s do some ‘Spring Cleaning’ this month! Make some room within ourselves by throwing out bad habits from inside. Then we are able to receive the wonderful blessings God has in store for us. Those blessings meant for our well-being, not disaster. Remember, God has created in us everything we need to live righteous in this world. Claim it, and use it. May God continue to bless and keep you in His love, protection and healing power, in Jesus’ name. Amen |
Authors Billy & YolandaThis is the place where we share our heart through God's Word in faith that will inspire and empower you to live in peace. Archives
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