Tag Archives: power

Necessary

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“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statues”
Psalm 119:71

Already at the beginning of this a New Year most of us if not all of us have already experienced some type of loss, hurt, pain, betrayal, and disappointment. With extreme anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and fear.

By the end of January people were ready to give up and throw in the towel. I had seen post that said, “Thank you January for a good year.” Because of the magnitude of their afflictions, they have already counted out the rest of the year.

Today’s Word

af-flic-tion
suffering, distress, pain, trouble, misery, hardship, misfortune, adversity, sorrow, torment, anguish, grief

“We are troubled on every side, yet not destressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body”

2 Corinthians 4:8-10

In life we will experience things coming from all different directions and sometimes several things all at once, yet God will give us peace even during our storm. Life happens to us all and there are somethings that will throw us for a loop, have us scratching our head, baffled, puzzled, and confused. But because our hope and our faith lie in Jesus Christ, we don’t become desperate, thirsty and hungry after the wrong things.

Have you ever been talked about, lie on, cheated, used, and abused, but when you look around God was still there? He promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us, and He is always true to his word. Even in times when things are not going well in your life know that God has not forgotten about you. Though we are tossed to and fro, thrown away, disregarded, and rejected, I find the strength to push through because I know though the weapons may form, they want to prosper.

As Jesus hung on the cross, he had a moment where He questioned God, but he said not my will, but thine will be done. He said, “IT IS FINISHED”, hung his head and gave up the Ghost. Now as a believer we have to walk out the finish work on the Cross. So, in the end we still win. God will complete the work that he has started in us, but we must participate in the plan that he has for our lives.

NECESSARY…

Despite our afflictions when we trust in Jesus Christ, we are able to overcome and conquer the very things that should have taken us out. Through these scriptures I found encouragement and strength of some of the things that I will experience even while going through, if I faint not.

Psalms 34:19 Deliverance
2 Corinthians 12:9 Grace
1 Corinthians 10:13 Way of escape
Romans 8:18 His Glory revealed
Roman’s 5:3-4 Patience, Experience & Hope
Philipians 4:13 I can
James 5:11 Mercy
Psalms 22:24 Continual Praise
John 16:33 Peace

So why in the world would a God want us to go through affliction?

NECESSARY…

When David the Psalmist talked about “it was good for me that I have been afflicted” he was referencing to the fact of the change that it was rearing within him. No, it did not feel good, no he didn’t like it, nor appreciated it initially, but yet it allowed him to know God in a different way.

There were 3 continual prayers throughout David’s journey which were:

1. Psalms 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in my mine heart, that I might not sin against thee”
In order for God’s word to be hidden in his heart, meant he had to learn it, study it, meditate, contemplate, ponder, consider, reflect, digest on it day and night. Because of his love for God, his desire more than anything in the world was to know him and to please him by keeping his commandments.

2. Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”
Through God’s word it will give us clarity, direction, a guide and a light even when the path seems dark. In Psalm 23 it talks about the Lord being a shepherd, so even if you were to get off the path his word will be like a GPS system and put us back on track. We must be willing to follow his direction and his plan for our life even when we don’t understand, or the way seems is unsure.

3. Psalms 119:133 “Order my steps in Your Word: And let not any iniquity have dominion over me”
He wanted God’s word to guide him, to align him and to not allow anyone’s wicked, sinful, evil, scandalist, unjust, and unfair actions of man to overtake him.

NECESSARY…

It is through the pressing together that the oil in your life is manifested. So, when you feel the pressure or the fire might intensify, it is because God is pruning and refining you into something greater. Do not be overcome but overcome through Christ Jesus.

Song List

I am who I am today
Because God used my mistakes
He worked it for my good
Like no one else ever could
God told me to tell
It was NECESSARY

Necessary by Fantasia & Dennis Reed

Strength For The Journey

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“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint”

Isaiah 40:29-31

Can I tell you how happy I am now that Spring has finally decided to arrive. I thought that it would never get here.  The only thing though is that along with that comes allergy season.  You also don’t know how to prepare yourself with what to wear from day to day, because the weather is back and forth. I guess I would rather deal with that than snow.

So, I look at the weather every morning and try to gauge what to wear.  As simple as that may sound, it isn’t. As you know mother nature has a mind of her own and will switch up at any given moment without a notice. The only thing you can do is try to be prepared and then adjust with whatever may happen.

Don’t allow the reality of where you are now, cause you to miss out on your destiny to where you are going

Today’s word:

delay

  • postpone or defer an action
  • a period of time by which something is late or delayed
  • to put off until a later time

In life’s journey it can be very fickle and can change on you in a heartbeat. It can sometimes be very long, hard, tiring and can cause a lot of delays. What I have come to realize is that God will always give you strength for the journey. I know sometimes our strength fails us, but when we can rely on his strength we are then able to make it through.

              “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait,                    I say, on the Lord”

Psalm 27:14

Recently, my daughters and I were on our way to Los Angeles to visit my oldest daughter. This was their very 1st time flying.  Our flight was suppose to leave at 2:45 p.m. Every 30 mins we kept getting a notification that our flight had been delayed. It is a little easier when the delay is 30 mins to an hour.  But what happens when your delays turn into days, weeks or even years?  It wasn’t until 7 hours later that we were able to board the flight, which was 10:45 p.m. This meant that we would not get into L.A. until a little after 2:00 a.m., which was 5:00 a.m. our time. As frustrating, overwhelming and unbearable that was at times, somehow while I was waiting I was reassured through my faith that if my delay is designed by God then he sitll has a purpose and a plan.

Your delays don’t mean that you won’t ever get to your destination, just that it’s going to take a little bit longer than you anticipated.

I believe our biggest frustration comes in the moments when we are delayed along the journey.  That holding and waiting period when we don’t know what to do or where to go. We know that the season has passed, but yet God hasn’t given us direction on where we need to go.

The frustration, the overwhelming feeling we get from being impatient, tiredness, discomfort, etc. can sometimes come when we don’t know how to utilize the time we have while we wait. Could it be that God  is trying to get your attention because he needs your time, that he wants to speak to you or maybe there is something he is trying to do in you and through you?

I have never had to wait that long in an airport especially when weather wasn’t involved. To come and find out our delay was all because we didn’t have a flight crew. Like what, are you serious, how can you not have a flight crew?  What we may call a delay is perfect timing for God.  Is doesn’t mean it won’t happen, just not yet.  God protects the things that he loves. Later finding out the the tornado storms that happened during the week caused other flights to be delayed, cancelled or them being at the airport for almost 3 days. It caused others to work overtime, which also caused conflict with the scheduling of other flights. Someone else always has it worst off than you.  It made me be more appreciative for where I am.  Thank God for clearing the way before I got there.

Though the journey is unpredictable and sometimes the mountains are hard to climb, his GRACE is sufficient

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficients for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.                                                Most gladly therefore will I rather flory in  my infirmitis,                                                              that the power of Christ may rest upon me”

2 Corinthians 12:9

I realize that no matter what I go through in this journey that God is always there for me and that he will never lead me astray.  It is for me to trust him even when I don’t understand, when I can’t quite see or even when I don’t know exatcly what to do. In those times that I am waiting or even delayed to not allow it overwhelm me or frustrate me because I know he is yet preparing me as he is clearing the way for me to make it safely through.

So many loose out in the journey because they get lost in the destractions that are on the side of the road.  They try to do it on their own and don’t totally trust in the God in which they say they serve.

This journey requires that we trust in a God that we can’t physically see, but yet we know that he is there. Above all, that we STAY FOCUSED on his plan for our life. Turning over our control and will to allow him to lead.

SONG LIST:

“How Much We Can Bear” Hezekiah Walker

LYRICS:

If in your life you are going through

And you don’t know really what to do

Just call on Jesus, he will see you through

For he knows, Jesus he knows

How much we can bear

If there are trials that have come your way

And you are looking for a brighter day

Just call on Jesus, he will make away

For he knows,  Jesus he knows

How much we can bear

 

 

 

Taking It Back

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“You are worthless, you will never amount to anything, you will never be anybody special, you are no good, you are a failure, you mean nothing to me”

Those are some of the words we have heard in our life time. As we kept hearing them over and over again, we thought, it must be true. At some point we took those things in and gave up our power to be. Even when someone tried to tell us different we didn’t believe it because we had already posioned ourselves with those other negative thoughts and images. They came from people who were the closest to us, the people we loved and who we thought loved us in return. What we failed to realize is that the negative words they spoke over us were the things they felt about themselves. As long as they weakened others, in their own eyes they felt and remained “strong”. That’s not strength, that’s being a coward. True strength comes from being able to lift someone up, not by tearing them down. No one can take anything away from you unless you lay it down. You gave away your power and your strength. Well I have good news for you, today is a new day. Today is, “TAKE BACK MY POWER DAY”. You are not those ugly things they have said about you or to you. “You are priceless, you are somebody, you are going somewhere, your failures are making you into someone great, there is someone out there just for you, you are loved beyond measure”. Today transform your mind and replace the negative thoughts and images with postives ones and watch your life transform right before your eyes. Today is a good day to take another step forward. Reposition yourself. I BELIEVE in YOU. NOW YOU BELIEVE in YOURSELF. 

I Didn’t Know My Own Strength

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As I was taking my girls to school the other morning, I was talking to them about the opportunities they have available to get their homework done instead of waiting until they get home.  I mentioned the ride on the bus and one of my girls said no because I might loose my paperwork and then she went on to say that they might rip up my paper. Some of those people on that bus are mean.  We then started talking about bullies. She agreed with what I had said and how they had just talked about that in class the day before. Bullies only have power because they prey on those that they think are weak and innocent. Their need of power and control is because of their own insecurities and weaknesses. In their own eyes they really see us as giants and themselves the size of a grasshopper which is intimidating, but in our own inabilities to recognize our own strength then are they able to gain control. Superman’s greatest moment wasn’t in the fact that he was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but the moment in which the kryptonite no longer had control over him. People and things gain control over us when we don’t know who we are and what we possess.  Proverbs 23:7 “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee” Bullying is a learned behavior and if that behavior is not addressed at an early age as an adult it turns into a great power of manipulations and control which we know is a form of witchcraft. It is sad to say, but bullies don’t just exist on the school ground, but they can be our church leaders, our spouses, our bosses, our family members, etc. and some don’t even realize what they are being controlled by. I am sure that in all of our lives at some point or another that we have walked in fear of these. 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, power and of a sound mind” Fear is not from God, but a work of the flesh and we don’t have to walk or live under that. You have the power to overcome anything with the help of the Lord. What is in you is greater than the force on the outside of you. The moment you can realize your own strength they become weak, helpless, powerless and loose all control over you. No one should EVER have that much power and control over you, but God.  Romans 8:31 “What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who is against” There is a greater power that lives on the inside of you. You’re much stronger than you think.

The Power Of A Thought

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One word that comes to mind is “THINK”,  which means:
*to have a particular opinion, beliefs, or idea about someone or something

*direct ones mind toward someone or something, uses one’s mind actively to form connected ideas
*call something to mind, remember *imagine
When you think about certain people or certain things it causes a reaction good or bad. For example, when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he’s done for me my soul cries out Hallelujah. Just that thought could cause me to go into shout or a praise. It will cause my hands to go up, it may even cause tears to fall from my eyes. Like wise if I think of someone who has hurt me and I am not fully healed it may bring up pain, anger or take me into a not so good place.   Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”
What ever you keep replaying or rehearsing in your mind becomes a part of who you are. You give it power and cause it to come alive as that one thought can control or consume your life. You have power to take control over the thoughts that go on inside your mind. Once your thoughts enter into your heart it then produces into your life. Take control of them before they take control over you.