Failed system

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:32

God is setting me free from my past. He is breaking the chains of  the obstacles that I once found as my security. Those things stood in the way of God being my Father. I am now on a new road surrounded by old signs. God is making it clear that those old signs are nothing more than myths to prop up a failed system.

I used to believe that suffering was a sign of God’s disappointment in my life but then I studied Job.  Instead I’m learning that suffering often indicates something different. It is a new work being done so that I am free to know Him more deeply and follow Him faithfully. Walking by faith and following Him is not easy. It means going against the grain which means our circumstances will not just fall into place and line up to the journey we are taking. There is resistance at every turn.  So God must teach me how to walk with Him. Only through His teaching and my brokenness am I able to experience and know His great joy and peace.

God is leading me on an incredible journey. It is more amazing  than anything I can imagine. If I follow Him in obedience, His work in my life will not only astound and amaze but bring great glory to His name.

God will and always provides. The fact that there is no money in the bank or that others are destroying my reputation with words does not mean a thing. God does not wave a magic wand and make everything right according to my wants and desires. I will never truly experience His love if I question His ways each time my expectations are not met. He knows me better than anyone else. He knows my needs better than anyone else. He provides better than anyone else. He is bringing me into a life aligned with Him. Instead of rescuing me from the things I’m having to endure, He has chosen to use every trial and circumstance in order to show me what true faith, true freedom and life really are when He lives within me.

Rejoice Always

Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:13-23

Rejoice always.  Just what exactly does that mean?  Does it mean to rejoice the birth of a baby?  Yes.  Does it mean to rejoice when you receive a bonus check from work?  Yes.  Does it mean to rejoice when a prayer request has been answered?  Yes.  Does it mean to rejoice when someone has gossiped about you and hurt you?  Yes.  WHAT?!?!  God wants me to rejoice when I am hurting and someone has done me wrong?  ABSOLTELY!!

What a strange way of thinking in a world full of selfish people.  The thoughts of even having to find any kind of joy in our times of hurting are completely ridiculous.  Is it ridiculous?

We are told to rejoice always and give thanks in ALL circumstances.  Whether good or bad the above passage says, “For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. Read that again.  Not only the good but also the bad as well are both part of God’s will for our lives when we are a child of God.

Made me stop and think when I read that verse again.  I have read this passage over many times. I can check it off my list as one that I have memorized but it was not until this morning that it all sunk in and the blindfold was removed from my eyes.

Everything event, every moment of joy, every storm and every trial are part of God’s will for my life.  He is able to take every aspect of my life and work it out according to His purpose and plan and He does so in order to bring glory to Himself.  Is that not amazing?  He allows us to make our own stupid choices and even mess up in major ways and then He is able to turn every one of our mistakes into something that brings Him glory.  WOW!

I have had people tell me that they feel incredibly sorry for what I (as well as my children) have had to go through.  They have “cursed” the presence of certain people in my life.  Let me say this…I am so incredibly THANKFUL for every person and every event that has transpired in my life over the past two years.  Do not feel sorry for me but instead rejoice with me at the work that God is doing in my life.  It is amazing!  I know it is difficult for many to see the awesome work that He is doing because you are unable to witness every event with me and only hear things through the “grapevine” but trust me when I say, I would NOT change a thing. 

I heard a sermon this morning that spoke of God allowing us to sin and make our own choices for a reason.  For those of us who are careless and often act before we think or speak, we end up making some pretty dumb moves.  I am thankful for a God who gives me those choices and does not treat me like a puppet.  He allows us those choices in order to draw us back to Him.  In order for us to become broken and realize our great need for Him in our lives we must fall sometimes.  God knows what He is doing.  His plans are perfect and are not to cause us harm.  That is what I have learned and that is what I am experiencing.

So to all my blog followers, rejoice with me!  Give thanks for every event that has transpired over the past two years because God is GOOD and He is up to something AMAZING!!!

God’s Gentle Reminder

Do not try to punish others when they wrong you, but wait for God to punish them with His anger.

Romans 12:19

Do not repay
evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay
evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

1 Peter 3:8-10

 

This morning as I was driving home from taking the kids to school, my mind was racing. In my mind, I was devising a way to take revenge on those that have hurt me over the past couple of years. I was working it all out, mapping out the words I would say, the actionsI would take and how I would justify every part of it and then I got home and opened my bible. As I began my quiet time, I turned to 1 Peter because over the past two weeks, our pastor has been preaching from this book. As I was flipping through the pages, I came across 1 Peter 3:8-10 and immediately, God got a hold of my heart. He is pretty amazing that way. Funny how Satan will get in our heads and try to lead us down an un-Christ like way if we are not careful. What if I had chosen to come home and take a nap or type a nasty email instead of opening my Bible? This is why quiet time with the Lord is so important. He guides our steps and takes us down the path that leads to a righteous way of handling things. This is the lesson I have been learning over the past couple of weeks. It is not always easy, especially when we are being hurt but I have had to learn to trust God and His promises to me. When someone has wronged me, my job is to return their evil with kindness and love and this is something that can only be done with the help of God.

If you stop and think about it, you can probably think of someone you have heard spouting off about someone they are angry with and in that moment you have probably thought, I hope never to get on his bad side. It is best to avoid those cantankerous sorts. Best to just stay away and avoid being put in that situation yourself. Those who try to take revenge end up lonely and unhealthy and find themselves sad, unsettled and alone. Why? Because when we are angry, we distance ourselves from God. When we try to take control from Him and do things our way, we compromise our relationship with Him.

If you find that your mission in life is to settle the score with someone that you feel has wronged you, I can promise you, there will be no peace. First, you may never get your revenge and as much as you think you are owed an apology, chances are, you will never get it. On top of that, the justice you think is deserved will never be enough. It is just the way we are wired. The only peace that we will ever find when we have been wronged is the peace that can only come from God and allowing Him the control of our circumstances. It is a hard lesson but a beneficial one to learn.

Watching the consequences of someone trying to execute revenge has been enough for me to be still, keep quiet and allow God to punish them with His anger. This is the command of our amazing heavenly Father and so far, it has worked for me.

 

Delighted

The Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with salvation. Let the godly celebrate in triumphal glory; let them shout for joy.

Psalm 149:4-5

 

Times will come in our life where we find that we may feel like we are completely on our. We begin to question whether anyone cares or understands. In those moments, it is greatly important that we remember our Father, our Creator who loves us and cares for us. We are important to Him because He works through our life to fulfill His great purpose.

His heart breaks when we sin because we bring hurt and devastation upon ourselves but He gives us the power to turn from those sins and be triumphant. When you find yourself feeling unloved or rejected, that is the time to give up your opinion as well as others about yourself. Take comfort in knowing that God loves you and has a vision for your life.

 

       The Lord your God is with you,

He is mighty to save.
       He will take great delight in you,
       He will quiet you with his love,
       He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

Thank you for the Cross

Thank you for the cross Lord
Thank you for the price You paid
Bearing all my sin and shame
In love You came
And gave amazing grace

Thank you for this love Lord
Thank you for the nail pierced hands
Washed me in Your cleansing flow
Now all I know
Your forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb
Seated on the throne
Crown You now with many crowns
You reign victorious
High and lifted up
Jesus Son of God
The Darling of Heaven crucified
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb

 

I am thankful for an amazing morning of worship. I am thankful for being reminded that I was chosen by God, purchased by the blood of Christ and set apart by the Holy Spirit. I am thankful that before the heavens and the earth were created, God saw me and called me His own. I am thankful I belong to Him. That I am His child and NOTHING can remove me from His hand. I am thankful for His mercy and His grace but most of all I am thankful for His unfailing, unconditional and amazing love.

And he
made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

 In him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:9-14

 

A Gift

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Ephesians 4:29

When our resistance is weak and we have grown tired, we need someone who will come beside us and show us understanding. We need someone to root for us and motivate us to have the strength and dedication to move forward. When jobs are lost and the money is gone, we need an encourager. When we become a single parent and the world seems against us, we need an encourager. When friends and family turn against us, we need an encourager. Those who encourage inspire us with courage and hope. What we would not give to have someone to come alongside of us and comfort us. We must make the choice to follow the example of Christ and choose to encourage others. “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus” Romans 15:5 Encouragers give us a beautiful gift when they bring renewal through encouragement.

Evident

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:4-7

 

The joy came but as it came, so did the testing. Scripture tells us to take joy in the testing of our faith but that is not always easy and often times require a lot of faith and a ton of patience. It is amazing though that through our testing we can still experience a great amount of peace as well as joy.

People seek after things like peace and joy and most definitely hope but often do not find them very easily because they are searching in the wrong places. These things can only be obtained when we have a relationship with God. Joy, peace and hope are benefits that we receive when we choose to walk with Him and are willing to sacrifice for that relationship. We know that more often times than not, sacrifice goes hand in hand with suffering. Does God want us to suffer? Absolutely not but He knows that through our suffering, hope, joy and peace will be most recognized in our life.

We are only able to obtain true peace, joy and hope in our life when we have a true relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We can read the Bible, attend church and countless bible studies but doing these things will not bring us that which we seek out. We must choose to walk with God, obey His commands and seek to have a heart like His. We must accept our circumstances and choose not to worry about those things for which we have no control. If we fix our eyes upon Christ instead of our situations then our future becomes full of hope and in that, those around us will see Christ living within us. Our actions and words will be reflective of a life lived walking with God and not focused on ourselves.

Choose to lay all your hurts and worries before Him and accept the circumstances you find yourself surrounded by and in Him you will find comfort as well as hope and peace.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

 

Joy in God my Savior

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature
God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature
of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

As I am writing this, I find myself in the middle of my own storm and am now grasping at straws to find my out. It is amazing to me how easy it is to give advice to other people but how hard it is to heed my own. I hear myself saying things to other people and truly believing it but then find it down right impossible to follow through with it myself. Lately I had found myself disheartened and discontent and nothing brought me any kind of happiness whatsoever. Simply put, I had let go of my joy. It was gone. Lucky for me I recognized that fact and so I began asking myself why? Were there things in my life that did not need to be there or maybe certain people in my life that I needed to distance myself from or maybe rearrange my priorities? This morning I spent hours listening to the playlist that is on this blog and just spent time praising and seeking after God. I spent time acknowledging who He is and what He has done in my life. I spent time confessing and repenting and finally I began to feel true joy in my life, a joy that I have not felt in months.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Colossians 3:1-10

The evaluation of one’s life can be a humbling experience. For months now, I have been seeking answers and looking for reasons as to why things in my life are the way that they are and how it is that I seem to find myself in the same places. My discovery came down to one simple fact. Self-centeredness and wanting the things that I want and the things that I think are going to bring me happiness instead of those things that God has for me. It is not that I did not want what He has for me but instead I was blind to them because the things of this world, the things that I wanted, were blocking the view of His presence and blessings in my life. I found myself at a distance from Him. It was like being in a very dark tunnel and all I could see was this pinhole of light at the end but the distance was so great that I truly did not think I would ever reach that light. Today I made it a bit closer to the end of that tunnel and began to feel Him stirring my spirit and rejuvenating my life.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1:17-19

Now does that mean that all of my worries and cares are gone and suddenly everything is perfect? Absolutely NOT! It does not work that way. Old habits and sin do not just go away over night and at times can lead to places of deep frustration but we have to recognize where our victory lies. We have to recognize that God has given us the strength to overcome all obstacles through His power. It means that my heart has to seek after His and to be in tune with His once again and that only He can be my lifeline and nothing else. He has to be my everything in order for me to find any real joy in this life. He ALONE can only meet my every need and only His love can bring me joy, peace, and true satisfaction in my life.

My desire is to love, honor and bring glory to my Heavenly Father, to make His name known and to be a reflection of Him so that my life may be a light to those around me.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

In the end, I discovered that I have to let go of my past failures, the sin in my life, take hold of His truth and what He has done for me and then move forward focusing on His face. I cannot strive to live like Jesus but instead allow Him by His Spirit to come and live in me and have full control of my life. I must choose always to rejoice in Him and His work in my life and then and only then will I know the fullness of joy in my own life.

Yet I will REJOICE IN THE LORD, I will be JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOR

Habakkuk 3:18

“Father thank You for Your faithfulness in my life and for not letting go of me when I let go of You. May my eyes stay focused upon You and my heart beat in tune with Yours. I give You control of my life and will choose to rejoice in You always.”

Joy of the Lord

“Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10

Such a simple verse but often times we totally lose sight of our joy and find ourselves weak and vulnerable to the woes of life that surround us. Many deal with financial issues or failed marriages and often times just want to walk away thinking that things would be so much easier. We all at one point or another deal with things like sickness, death, disappointment, a broken heart or betrayal but we choose whether we will use these things as an excuse to remain frustrated and troubled or rejoice and allow God to grow our faith and trust in Him.

According to Paul, we are to rejoice always and not just when things are going our way or we feel like it.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
Of all the fruit that the Holy Spirit offers to us joy is the easiest to lose for when we face discouragement and trials we quickly find ourselves down and out in the midst of a storm. We must choose to rejoice and when we choose joy, we are given the strength to endure another day of hardship and pain. We cannot live off the joy we experienced yesterday and use it as our joy today. God knows that we are not always going to feel like rejoicing but in order not to lose strength to fight, we must rejoice always.

Scripture says that we are to consider it pure joy when we face trials. (James 1:2) Joy is not happiness. Happiness is the result of things happening around us and it is based on our circumstances but joy comes from an attitude of gratitude and love from wanting to praise our Creator for all He has done. When we find ourselves in the midst of a trial, we choose to find joy in that trial so that we may in fact endure that storm. We should have the mindset that we will have victory over our circumstances to overcome instead of accepting them and surrendering to defeat. When our attitude is that of gratitude for the many blessings in our life it becomes much easier to rejoice in every circumstance. Even when we feel like nothing good is happening in our lives, we always have a reason to rejoice.

“Yet I will REJOICE IN THE LORD, I will be JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOR”

Habakkuk 3:18

This world will often try to steal our joy and Satan will always be there to attack but he has no power to rob of us our joy. When we have the Holy Spirit living within us, we are given His joy and it is always there to bring us strength when we choose to rejoice in Him instead of succumbing to the attacks of Satan. When you find yourself feeling beaten and abused just turn your eyes upon the One who loves you and gave His life for and there you will find the only reason needed to rejoice.

May we always find our joy in God our Savior and rejoice in who He is in our lives. May we choose to rejoice always in our circumstances and draw our strength from the unending joy offered to us from our Heavenly Father.