Bread of Life, JIL

” IF YOU CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS LORD AND BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART THAT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD YOU SHALL BE SAVED. FOR IT IS WITH YOUR HEART THAT YOU BELIEVE AND ARE JUSTIFIED, BUT IT IS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT YOU CONFESS AND ARE SAVED. ” ROMANS 10:9-10

Believing and confessing in what we believe is vital to becoming right with God. As we continue to build our faith we should become more bold in our belief of our God in heaven and what he does for us. If we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are charged with telling that to the world. We must let them know of the great miracle that has taken place within our being. We must always confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior and we must believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead. We must stay strong. We must always stay surrounded by our Lord and Savior. That is the intention of the Lord. Remember, he sent the person of the Holy Spirit to live within us and direct us. Do we listen to the Holy Spirit? Or, are we so busy with our daily lives that we miss what he is telling us. If we stay plugged into our source we will always be successful. If we are totally depending upon our Lord and Savior for our every need, then we will be successful. Yes, we will continue to have trials and tempatations but the Lord will always be there to help us through. Life may seem impossible but all things are possible through Christ who gives us strength! PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL SITUATIONS!

“ REJOICE IN OUR CONFIDENT HOPE. BE PATIENT IN TROUBLE, AND KEEP ON PRAYING.” ROMANS 12:12

Our hope in Christ is not mere hope, it is CONFIDENT hope. We have no doubts about our Lord and what he has done for us. We have no doubts as to what he continues to do for us. As we live in this world and it’s many troubles the Lord tells us to be patient and to keep on praying. As we pray we are to trust in his word and his many promises. Remember, God never fails on a promise. This world and the time in which we live is very troubling. We are surrounded by evil and all it stands for. We each have been chosen to live in this time period. We were not born just by accident. We have a purpose and we must ask God to reveal that purpose to us and then we must fulfill his purpose in our lives. We must stay plugged into our source, our God in heaven. We must continue to build our faith so that we can continue to have that “confident” hope. We are living in the end times. The time of this earth as we now know it, is short. Some of us have heard these words for years and some have fallen away, thinking that the Lord’s return may never happen. I can tell you with extreme confidence that we are living in a special time. Our Lord is about to do something very special. Because of what has happened and what is currently happening in our world today more people are becoming open to God’s word. It is up to each of us to know the work God has set before us and complete it. The time is short! Continue to pray, listen, trust and be patient in Jesus! He never fails! PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL SITUATIONS!

” FOR EVERYTHING COMES FROM HIM AND EXISTS BY HIS POWER AND IS INTENDED FOR HIS GLORY. ALL GLORY TO HIM FOREVER! ” ROMANS 11:36

The Lord our God in heaven is the creator of all things and deserves our undivided attention. Everything that we have been given, every trouble that we have been delivered from, and every disease we have been delivered of is a result of the great mercy and graciousness of our Lord God. Even when we go through struggles the Lord will use those struggles for his own good if we allow him to. We must be fully aware of our Lord in all situations. We must continue to praise him in and through all things. We must continue to build upon what faith we have and all allow him to work in our lives all of the time. Train yourself up to go to our God in heaven in good times and in hard times. He should always receive our praises for his great mercy in our lives. Always give God the glory! PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” AND THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US IN OUR WEAKNESS.” ROMANS 8:26

The Lord has known since Adam and Eve that those he loves are weak. When we are weak we are open to hurt, anxiety, failure, disobedience, worry, doubt, lust, lying, cheating, bitternes, unforgivness and many other areas of evil. He has sent his precious Holy Spirit to help us through all of our times of struggles. I don’t know about you, but my daily life presents itself with many struggles that test me. They expose my weaknesses and allow me the opportunty to humble myself before God. I have learned throughout these past years that if I am about to do something, and I am not completely sure about it, I should take a step back, pray and listen. That little check in my spirit is the Holy Spirit telling me to wait. Either the timing is not right or I am not to do what I was about to do. My problem has always been that I don’t listen. I go ahead and jump in and then if it doesn’t work out I go crying to the Lord for help. Yes, he is always there to answer my prayer, but I could have saved myself some anguish if I had just listened. We should all be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We should be quiet and listen carefully. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL SITUATIONS!

” LOOK! I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK. IF YOU HEAR MY VOICE AND OPEN THE DOOR, I WILL COME IN, AND WE WILL SHARE A MEAL TOGETHER AS FRIENDS. ” REVELATION 3:20

As children of God we have been given a responsibility. We are to spread his word and help in bringing others to Christ. As each day passes, that responsibility becomes even more important. We are to walk and talk a life that is representative of Jesus. We are to live this life even in times of trouble. We are not perfect but when we stumble we should get back up, dust ourselves off, ask our Lord for forgiveness and move forward. Even when we stumble in our Christian lives we are being watched closely by others to see how we respond. It is even more important that we represent Jesus in our times of trouble. Others are watching. They are learning and being influenced by the way we react to this world. It is not easy leading a solid Christian life in times of trouble. It is important that our faith continues to grow in the Lord. Through our faith others will see, hear and come. The Lord has put us here for a purpose. Let us not miss our opportunities. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL SITUATIONS!

” SO WE ARE MADE RIGHT WITH GOD THROUGH FAITH AND NOT BY OBEYING THE LAW. “

The Lord has continuously dealt with me, throughout the years, about how important it is to build up my faith and to use my faith to obey him, to have faith for healing, and for confidence in moving through the struggles of life. I have found that as much as I want to be perfect like Jesus, I am far from it. I will never reach that goal here on earth. However, by strong faith in his power I am totally able to overcome all of my shortfalls in life because of God’s love for me. He has given me the power of the Holy Spirit to live within me. He guides me and gives me strength and confidence in my times of need. Faith is everything. If we do not have strong faith then the evil one will win his battles against us. With faith in all of the promises of God we have the confidence that we cannot be defeated by evil. Even if we do stumble the Lord is there to pick us up. We must stay plugged into our source of strength and continue to build our faith by using our faith. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

“ LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD, AND FIX YOUR EYES ON WHAT LIES BEFORE YOU. MARK OUT A STRAIGHT PATH FOR YOUR FEET; STAY ON THE SAFE PATH. DON’T GET SIDETRACKED; KEEP YOUR FEET FROM FOLLOWING EVIL.” PROVERBS 4:25-27

The Lord has shown me in the last day that it is so important that I keep my eyes on him and on him only. He has focused in on the idea that if I am out spreading his message that I must be living that message. That is not as easy as it sounds. Many things get in our way. Humbling ourselves before the Lord and before others will make living the message much easier. Pride is one of the worst obstacles that stands in our way. Pride of what we have done and pride of how much we think we know. We must listen to the thoughts of others, and even though we may not agree we must respect the thoughts of others. We must handle these situations carefully and prayerfully. We must know what the Lord wants us to do and how we are to act. We must not condemn. We must watch our words. We should be building others up and not tearing them down. We are not all made the same nor have we all been influenced in this world by the same things. However, if we have accepted the Lord as Lord and Savior then we are all headed in the same direction. We all have the same goal. The Lord may have different ways for each of us to present his word. Who are we to condemn others? We are to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow his ways. Continue to pray and carefully listen to the Lord for answers. That is the only way we will be successful. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” WE ARE MADE RIGHT WITH GOD BY PLACING OUR FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.” ROMANS 3:22

As I was reading God’s word this morning he reminded me that my focus must stay on him. I can become very busy in my daily life. As I do, I sometimes forget where my source lives. He lives in heaven. He lives in my prayers. He lives in me through his precious Holy Spirit. I have been reminded to keep my eyes on my God in heaven. I am reminded to use my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who so graciously defends in me in heaven, to pray and praise my loving and merciful God. I am reminded that God has given me the Holy Spirit to guide me in this life. However, I must do my part. I must stay plugged in and stay focused. No matter the the situation my God is my source for all things. He has provided me with all the necessary tools to be successful but I must not allow the evil one to trick me into listening to him and the things of this world. Our faith must be in Jesus Christ who was sent to die for our sins. We are to stay focused on the one who loves us unconditionally, our God in heaven. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” THOUGH A THOUSAND FALL AT YOUR SIDE, THOUGH TEN THOUSAND ARE DYING AROUND YOU, THESE EVILS WILL NOT TOUCH YOU.” PSALM 91:7

Psalm 91:7 is a wonderful promise. Our God in heaven is with us in all things. We must, however, totally believe in what he says. Our God does not fail on his promises. He is always with us. He sent his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our evils and has sent his Holy Spirit to lead us through this life. There is a lot of evil going on around us. For those who do not know Jesus this must be a very confusing, and in some cases, terrifying time. But, for those of us who do know our Lord and Savior we know how this whole story is going to end. The devil also knows how things are going to end. He is going wild in this world and is pulling out all of the punches as his time is running out. He is fighting hard and is determined to take as many of God’s people with him to hell as he can. We must continue to stand strong. We must continue to build our faith and stand upon our faith. God has promised our survival without harm. We must however, believe and not doubt. We must live our lives representing the faith that we have in his promises. We must stand up and be great testimonies for Christ. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, DO NOT BE AFRAID OR LOSE HEART.” 1 CHRONICLES 22: 13

As we continue to push forth and build our faith, there will be many stumbling blocks put before us. We have to stay the course. We must stay focused on the end result. We must continue to pray to the Lord and stay courageous as we are confronted with fear. We must never allow doubt to enter and we must never lose heart. The Lord has given us many weapons to help us through. We must continue to use them and then we will become victorius and live the life God has intended for us. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL SITUATIONS!

“ A GOOD PERSON PRODUCES GOOD THINGS FROM THE TREASURY OF A GOOD HEART, AND AN EVIL PERSON PRODUCES EVIL THINGS FROM THE TREASURY OF AN EVIL HEART. WHAT YOU SAY FLOWS FROM WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART.” LUKE 6:45

If we put bad gas in our cars then they will not run properly. They will not get us from one place to another. If we eat food that is not good for our physical bodies, our body will eventually show the bad effects of what we eat. The same principle stands for our spirit being. Our God in heaven has given us the joy of the person of the Holy Spirit. Do we listen to what the Holy Spirit tells us? Do we surround ourselves with the things of God? Do we surround ourselves with the people of God? Do we routinely read God’s Word? Do we pray and talk to our Lord on a regular basis? Do we thank him and praise him for all of his mercy and grace? If we do, then we are successfully training our spirits and we will demonstrate a life worthy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our words will speak joy and our voices will display compassion. Our lives will reflect that of Jesus. People around us will feel his presence through us. However, if we surround ourselves with the things of this world our voices, our words and our lives will represent the ways of this world. We are to stand out. We are to be different. What we speak and what we do will reflect how we prepare for each day. Stay close to God. Never lose touch. Always stay in communication and believe that you receive because God is our Source! PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL SITUATIONS!

“ WE CAN REJOICE, TOO WHEN WE RUN INTO PROBLEMS AND TRIALS, FOR WE KNOW THEY HELP US TO DEVELOP ENDURANCE.” ROMANS 5: 3

There is not one of us who have or will live a life without problems or struggles. However, God’s Word tells us that God uses those struggles and problems to help us to develop and strengthen endurance. They help us in our process of strengthening our faith. As we plow through and endure each trial, our faith in our Lord continues to become stronger and stronger. Don’t allow your trials and problems to win the battle. Depend upon your Lord God in heaven to answer your prayers and help you through. Endure and be strong in the Lord! PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, O LORD, THAT I MAY LIVE ACCORDING TO YOUR TRUTH.” PS. 86:11

No matter how much we read God’s Word, nor how long we have been saved, we are in God’s classroom constantly. There is always something new that God is trying to teach us. We continue to strive each day to meet the goals that our Lord has set for each of us. It is important that we continue to strive for this success in the Lord. We need to continue to feed the fire and keep the fire burning in our hearts. It is when we let the fire get low or burn out completely that the devil slips in and tries to steal us away. We must stay alert, know what God’s Word says, and use the Word by speaking it and putting it into practice. If we do, we will have success. God is with us in all situations. We are not to be complacent but we are to be active and a positve witness for Jesus. We must continuously build up our faith and never give into the evil of the world around us. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

“ SINCE THEY THOUGHT IT FOOLISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE GOD, HE ABANDONED THEM TO THEIR FOOLISH THINKING AND LET THEM DO THINGS THAT SHOULD NEVER BE DONE. THEIR LIVES BECAME FULL OF EVERY KIND OF WICKEDNESS, SIN, GREED, HATE, ENVY, MURDER, QUARRELING, DECEPTION, MALICIOUS BEHAVIOR AND GOSSIP. THEY ARE BACKSTABBERS, HATERS OF GOD, INSOLENT, PROUD, AND BOASTFUL.” ROMANS 1:28-30

Our Lord is a gracious and merciful God. He has provided for us all of the tools necessary for salvation, forgiveness and healing. All we have to do is believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. He has provided all of the necessary instruments to live a confident and peaceful life here on this earth without fear or anxiety. It sounds like the easist thing in the world to do. However, we are surrounded daily by the words, deeds, struggles and anxieties of this world. If we allow ourselves to become involved in the things of this world, without a solid foundation in Christ, we will find that we are living stressful and unbecoming lives that represent this world and not our Lord. It is so easy to become totally entrenched in the ways of the world because of our work, the news, and the way others around us live and influence us. We are in the world but not of the world. Our God will not force our hand in anything. We must be able to go to him and ask for his help. We must then be able to believe. The only way we are able to do this is to allow ourselves to be totally surrounded by our Father and not the world. We must train ourselves up in the Lord, go to him in prayer, praise him in his glory and believe that we receive. If we stay in the Lord, all doubts, worries and fears of this world will be defeated. He has promised and our God never fails on a promise. PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!

” THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHAT IS RIGHT, JUST, AND FAIR, AND YOU WILL FIND THE RIGHT WAY TO GO. FOR WISDOM WILL ENTER YOUR HEART AND KNOWLEDGE WILL FILL YOU WITH JOY. WISE CHOICES WILL WATCH OVER YOU. UNDERSTANDING WILL KEEP YOU SAFE. ” PROVERBS 2:9-11

Hearing from God is a wonderful thing. He speaks to us in many different ways. Each of us are on our own path to strong faith. Along the way we must acknowledge that we live in the world. God has given us honest and good people who he has trained as lawyers, doctors, nurses, teachers, plumbers, mechanics along with many other occupations. He has given us these trained professionals to serve us while we live upon this earth. As we continue in our faith walk we need to recognize that God does give us the wisdom to make wise decisions on who and how we use these tools. All we have to do is listen. He uses each of us in different ways and he uses each of us with a different set of people in different situations. Some of us are dealing with people with great faith and others are dealing with those who are just beginning the faith walk. Both kinds of people must be dealt with in different ways. The Lord has given each of us the tools and the wisdom to deal with those around us. We must be an example to others but we must also be a able to deal with others on their level. God knows our hearts. He knows where we are in our relationship to him. He puts us in situations to win others to Christ. Listen carefully to him. He has a plan and we must be able to follow it. We should not be putting our faith in the doctors, lawyers and teachers but we must be alert to the fact that God uses them in his plan for our lives. Our faith should be totally in the Lord our God but we must not be afraid to use the tools he has provided. He has put these trained professionals in our lives for a purpose. The key is keeping our faith in God and being able to use the tools he has provided to us. Pray and ask for wisdom. He will provide. PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!

” FOR MERELY LISTENING TO THE LAW DOESN’T MAKE US RIGHT WITH GOD. IT IS OBEYING THE LAW THAT MAKES US RIGHT IN HIS SIGHT.” ROMANS 2:13

We can spend all day reading a book of instructions on how to fix an appliance but unless we actually do what the instruction manual tells us to do we will never succeed. The same applies to God’s Word. We can read it all day long, everyday, but if we don’t understand what we are reading, and we don’t apply the principles that it sets forth, we will never succeed. We need to not only read his word but we need to study his word. We need to pray for understanding, use the resources provided to us, so that we can understand the different meanings of his words and phrases. Once we understand what God is saying we must then apply those principles to our lives. His word is our roadmap to a successful life here in this world. His word helps us to overcome our own struggles so that we can help others to find the Lord and be able to overcome their struggles. We are to live a life of joy and peace not a life of fear and doubt. We all know that the devil is always trying to shut us down but sometimes we give him too much credit. Sometimes we get in our own way with attitudes of arrogance, self control and just plain blindness on our part. It is important that we listen, hear, and do what our Lord is telling us. It is not easy, but if we do we will have a life so much more peaceful and powerful. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD AND PROCLAIM HIS GREATNESS. LET THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW WHAT HE HAS DONE.” 1 CHRONICLES 16:8

” LET THE WHOLE EARTH SING TO THE LORD! EACH DAY PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS THAT HE SAVES.” 1 CHRONICLES 16:23

As a new born Christian I remember how excited I was to spread the good news of Christ’s salvation to others. All of the sudden I didn’t want to do the worldly things that I had been doing. When I accepted the Lord as my Lord and Savior I became hungry for as much of God’s word as I could get. I not only wanted to spread the word but I wanted to live the word. As time passed the devil began to put the pressure on. I became surrounded by the influences of the world once again and it became harder to stay in the word and became harder to spread the word.

Strengthening our faith in God helps us to overcome these anxieties, these pressures and the huge mountains we must sometimes climb. We must grow in faith because each assignment the Lord gives us demands a certain amount of faith for completion. Part of strengthening our faith is continuing to praise our Lord for all he does. As we praise him we are blessed by him. As we praise him our faith in him becomes stronger. The Lord loves us very much and he loves to hear our praises for his grace, mercy and miracles in our lives. We are living in a world that needs the message of the Lord more than ever. It is so easy to fall away. We must continue to stay plugged into the Lord with praises and prayer. Stay strong in the Lord. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” IT IS THROUGH FAITH THAT A RIGHTEOUS PERSON HAS LIFE.” ROMANS 1:17

We cannot know Jesus without faith. We have all been given a measure of faith. That measure is the same for all of us. However, the Lord makes it very clear that in order to live a healthy and righteous life we need to continuously build upon our faith. Our God in heaven provides everything we need to lead a righteous life here on earth. He has given us all we need to stay healthy, wealthy and wise. But, we must believe. We must believe what he tells us. We must believe in things unseen. In other words, we need to believe to achieve. We have to do more than just say we believe. We need to speak our belief and then act upon that faith. He has provided us with many promises. Don’t let the devil steal these from you with lies and deception. The devil is ruthless, deceptive and unforgiving. He is everything that we don’t want to be. There are many struggles that surround us each and every day. Build upon your faith, act upon your faith and believe God for the answers. PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!

” BUT ALL WHO WHO LISTEN TO ME WILL LIVE IN PEACE, UNTROUBLED BY THE FEAR OF HARM. ” PROVERBS 1:33

Each and everyone of us have a distinct purpose in this life. How we fulfill that purpose and live our lives is up to us. Our God in heaven sent his one and only son, Jesus Christ, to this earth for each of us. He walked this earth and endured persecution and ridicule. He went to the cross and died the most terrifying and dreadful death ever, so that you and I could have life. And, if that wasn’t enough, he went to hell and back before he went to set at the right hand of God Almighty. But, God wasn’t done. The Lord then sent us his precious Holy Spirit to help lead us along the path of his righteousness. He has provided everything that we need to live a powerful, successful and God fearing life. The problem is that he loves so much that he will not force anything upon us. He has given each of us a free will to choose, on our own, how we will live our lives. It is very important that we listen carefully, pay close attention to his holy word, and pattern our lives according to his roadmap. Our Lord has provided each of us a measure of faith. It is up to us as to strong our faith becomes. We are to continue to build upon our faith each and everyday by surrounding ourselves with his word. If we do, we will see that we are more willing to listen and learn from the Lord. Follow the Lord and live in peace. No matter our struggles we will have no fear because we know that there is no fear in our God in heaven. PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!

” FOR THE LORD IS OUR SUN AND OUR SHIELD. HE GIVES US GRACE AND GLORY.” PSALM 84:11

As children of God everything we are and everything we stand for is defined by the Lord. Every action that we take and every word that we speak should refect the brightness of God’s glory for our lives. If we are plugged into him our actions will be a reflection of his grace and mercy in our lives. He makes us stand out in the crowd because we are different than the world. We have different values and different beliefs. As he shines his bright light upon our lives we become more prone for riducule by the world. Our Lord is also our shield and will protect us from any idle word or action taken against us. Our God only works in our lives if allow him to. We pray, he answers and then we must believe. Our faith in God and his grace, mercy and protection will only happen if we stay plugged in and completely charged by the Lord. We must not allow doubt, worry or fear to steal away our wonderful gifts from God. It basically comes down to what we believe and how strongly we believe. Our source as children of God is our Lord in heaven. We must continue to stay plugged into him and stay strong in the faith. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO DO NOT TURN AWAY BECAUSE OF ME.” REV. 3:20

We are living in a world that is displaying a great hatred for God’s church. There is great turmoil in store for this world. We currently continue to live in the time of God’ grace but God’s wrath stands at the door. Until that door is opened we are to be faithful to our God in heaven. We are to be strong in faith and continue to testify on his behalf. As persecution of the church begins to unfold it becomes even harder to stand up for Jesus. However, as we continue to build our faith we become more confident in God’s mighty wisdom. It is not our desire to be in the middle of a spiritual war but that is where we are. We are living in this time of great turmoil and God has prepared us for it. We cannot allow the tools of the devil such as fear and doubt to steal away the gifts that our God has given us. ” We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” Phil. 4:13. We must continue to stay strong in spreading his good news for as long as we are allowed. Remember, God will only take so much of the evil being displayed around us. His wrath is at the door. Our lord is returning for us soon! PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” I WILL ASK NOTHING MORE OF YOU EXCEPT THAT YOU HOLD TIGHTLY TO WHAT YOU HAVE UNTIL I COME.” REVELATION 2:24-25

Our Lord has given us clear direction in these last times. No matter what is going on around us or what is being said about us, we must hold tightly to what our Lord has provided to us. He has provided many promises for what little time we have left on this earth and for what is to come in the future. We are to stay close to him and keep our minds fresh each day with his Word. If we do not, then we may stray from his word, and open ourselves up to failure. We are not to fail. We are God’s children and he has given us the tools to succeed through his son, Jesus Christ. He has sent us his precious Holy Spirit to live within us, to guide us and help us. But it is up to us to make the decision each day to praise him, to go to him in prayer and to continue to study his word. God has a plan for each of us, but unless we read his roadmap for our lives, we will wonder around aimlessly searching for his promises that are right at our fingertips. Stay close to God through prayer, praise, study of his word and by being a good listener to his voice. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” YOU ARE THE GOD OF GREAT WONDERS! YOU DEMONSTRATE YOUR AWESOME POWER AMONG THE NATIONS. ” PSALM 77:14

There is only one God who provides great wonders. That God is our loving, merciful and gracious Lord God in heaven. He performs great wonders and miracles each and everyday. He shows his great power to all of the nations and to all of us who believe. Sometimes it is easy to take God for granted or even forget about him. We must stay in touch with our Lord on a regular basis in order to not miss his wonderful power in our lives and in the lives of others. We should stay alert to the things going on around us. We need to continue to invite the Lord to intervene in our struggles. We then need to set back and take in all of the goodness and beauty he has provided. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” I WILL RESCUE THOSE WHO LOVE ME. I WILL PROTECT THOSE WHO TRUST IN MY NAME.” PSALM 91:14

Our God in heaven is such a loving God. He is merciful in all of his ways and gracious in all that he does. We are so blessed for his presence in our lives. However, there are times that we become trapped into thinking that we need to earn our salvation and the other gifts we have been given. We couldn’t be farther from the truth. Our good deeds are a product of our close relationship with the Lord. They are not a way of receiving our salvation. If we are living a life in Jesus then we are producing good deeds. We are loving others and serving others with a glad heart. Living a life in Jesus is loving him without conditions. Living a life in Jesus is trusting him in all situations and not just those we find convenient. It is so important to remember that we do not have to pay for anything we receive from God but that all we have to do is believe for it. PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL SITUATIONS!

” IF YOU CONSENT AND OBEY, YOU WILL EAT THE BEST OF THE LAND; BUT IF YOU REFUSE AND REBEL, YOU WILL BE DEVOURED BY THE SWORD.” ISAIAH 1: 19-20

The Lord our God gives us great opportunities but you and I must make our own indivdual decisions on what to accept and not to accept. Our Lord has given us a free will. He will never force himself upon us. It seems so unbelievable that we would or even could turn down any blessing or gift from the Lord. The problem is that we live in a world where belief is founded upon what is seen. To receive from God we must believe in what is unseen. We must have a faith that enables us to believe what our God is telling us, even though we may not instantly see it. This takes a lot of work and prayer on our part. We need to train ourselves to live in the spirit world rather than the physical world. We need to train ourselves to understand that we are involved in a great spiritual warefare and that if we are to belong to the winning side we need to believe what our spiritual God is telling us. We need to stay plugged into our great source, our God in heaven. He has given us great gifts and strong tools to use in our daily lives here on earth. Remember, “we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength!” Phil. 4:13 PRAISE THE LORD IN ALL THINGS!

” IF YOU OBEY THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD AND WALK IN HIS WAYS, THE LORD WILL ESTABLISH YOU AS HIS HOLY PEOPLE AS HE SWORE HE WOULD DO.” DEUTERONOMY 28:9

Our Lord God in heaven has promised that he will establish us as his holy people. As the Israelites were told in Deuteronomy there was a condition to this promise. That condition was to obey his commands and walk in his ways. We are no different. Our lives must reflect our Lord God and all of his goodness. Yes, we will stumble along the way. When we do we have been given Jesus to stand before God pleading our case for forgiveness. No Christian has been called to, ‘go it alone’, in their walk of faith. As we obey his commands and walk in his ways we are staying close to him. He anchors us in our times of need. His presence in our lives energizes us for the work we are to do. And, obedience brings blessings. The Lord wants us to be at the forefront and not at the tail end. We are to the head and not the tail. Stay in touch with God’s word and receive his mighty promises. PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!

” MANY SEEK THE RULERS FAVOR, BUT JUSTICE COMES FROM THE LORD.” PROVERBS 29:26

So often we seek the approval of those around us. In this process we sometimes do things that are the opposite of what our Lord is asking us to do. There are many unjust things happening in the world. As we live our lives we sometimes find ourselves entangled in these unjustices. We find ourselves living our lives in accordance with the values and morals of this world. If we don’t stay in tune with the Lord we will continue to follow these ungodly ways. However, we must be aware that justice is coming. Justice comes from the Lord and not the world. If you are waiting for this world to become just and fair, you will have a long wait. As we continue to read God’s word we can clearly see what we are to be doing. We must have faith in him and continue to live in that faith. If we do, God will grant us a life that is faithful and one of joy and free of doubt, worry and fear. Our God will will bring justice upon the evil that the devil is so strongly displaying. Justice will soon be served. PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!

“I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.” PHIL. 4: 13

” WHEN THEY CALL ON ME I WILL ANSWER.” PSALM 91:15

The mighty power of God comes in many different shapes, from many different directions and in many different ways. He is gracious and merciful. For those who come to him he will never fail. As we go to God in prayer God hears us and answers us. He is very clear about that in Ps. 91:15. If we believe that he hears us then we should also believe that he answers us. We should continue each day to stand upon his word, confess his promises and believe that we receive. Our God has great power and performs great miracles in our lives daily. Even through the mightiest of our struggles and fears he is there to help us. However, we must train ourselves up to put him first in all things, good or bad. We must be able to go to him first and foremost when we are going through valleys or climbing tall mountains. He will help. He will give us the strength we need to handle anything we are going through. But, we must believe we receive because he is our source. We must not allow doubt, worry or fear to overtake the belief we have built. We must continue to surround ourselves with his mighty word and his mighty promises. If we do, he guarantees us victory in our lives on this earth. PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!

” THE SCRIPTURES ALSO SAY, ‘ YOU MUST NOT TEST THE LORD YOUR GOD.’ ” LUKE 4:12

The Lord has given us many gifts and promises. He is such a loving and gracious God. We must, however, be very careful not to test the Lord. We must be very careful not to continue to do things that go against the word of God. Yes, he does forgive us our sins but we are to confess our sins and then work hard at not committing them again. Jesus was given the opportunity, when he was tempted by the devil, to test God. The devil pushed hard in getting him to do just that. But Jesus made it clear that testing God was not a deed that we should perform. This is not magic. This is a relationship between each of us and our Lord God in heaven. A relationship that must be lived out in our lives each and every day. We should not test the Lord but instead trust the Lord! PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!

” EVERY WORD OF THE LORD PROVES TRUE. HE IS THE SHIELD TO ALL WHO COME TO HIM FOR PROTECTION.” PROVERBS 30:5

What a statement! Every word of the Lord proves true. In order for us to take advantage of the word of God we must, not only be familiar with it, but we must be built up enough in faith to believe. The more we praise our God in heaven, the more we pray to him and the more we read his word, the closer we get to him, and the greater and stronger relationship we develop with him. We need to build a strong relationship, where we talk to him, believe him and trust him. He loves us so much that he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to earth to suffer and die for us. He did this so that we wouldn’t have to go through the terrible death that Jesus did. A relationship is something we live and not something we are familiar with. We must believe that we receive because EVERY WORD OF THE LORD PROVES TRUE! PRAISE THE LORD ALWAYS!