Scab Picker

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

When you have a scab on your body if you continue to pick at it, it will never heal and may even become infected. With relationship hurts, if we keep 'picking' and talking about the issues and do not move past them, it is like a scab that will never heal. Don't keep fighting and picking at each other but learn to let things go and let them heal.

Is there something in your life you have been picking at that you know you need to let go and let God heal it? Trust Him and cry out to Him. Don't allow problems to fester and become so major that they are out of control.

Release your problem to the Lord. He can and does heal those 'emotional scabs' we continually can not let go of. 

PRAYER: There are times I can not seem to let things go and just keep picking and picking at them.  Help me Lord as I seek to let go and trust you to heal wounds in my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Problem Solver

I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

A new business sprang up in my town with a sign the same as my title. It does not indicate it is a counseling service but simply has a phone number to call. Interesting approach to being an entrepreneur. But what kind of problems do you suppose people will call in with? Leaky faucet? Disobedient children? Abusive spouse? Problem weeds? Out of control pets? Mechanical problems? I am not sure and I certainly hope the person on the other end of the line is prepared to do referrals.

All of us have problems in life. They may not occur daily but things are bound to occur that will be put in the 'problem' category. It is how we deal with problems that matters. Do we melt down or do we realize 'this to shall pass'?  God can and will see you through if you cry out to Him. First thing to ask is if you are living  for Him or do you just give Him lip service and one hour on Sunday? You can handle things better when you have been equipped by studying  God's manual for life, The Bible. If you have not made a regular habit of reading God's word for whatever reason, why not change that today. If you are uncertain where to begin just start in the book of John. Also Psalms and Proverbs  and ideal places to read. The whole Bible is ideal but saying "I will read through the Bible" may not necessarily be the best method as you have a worthy goal but may be just doing it for a goal. Do a subject study. Just ask God to give you a hunger to know Him better. When you keep away from God's word you are making Satan so happy.

Today start calling out to God not just in problem times but all the time. 

PRAYER: You are my Lord and my God. I thirst for you in this dry and hungry land. Father I know you can give peace in the midst of problems. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Kerplunk

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been calledaccording to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Recently in northern Alabama sink holes developed on I-65 Northbound. Not sure if any cars or trucks wrecked as a result. Can you imagine if you were driving along then 'kerplunk' into the sinkhole you go. Hopefully it would not require an emergency room visit but still would be frightening and unexpected. 

In life we have 'sinkholes' of sorts that happen unexpectedly and send us to our 'emergency room' which is at the feet of Jesus. Unexpected events such as deaths, finding out a family member has a drug or alcohol problem, being fired or laid off, finding out your son or daughter is gay, being told by a parent he or she was remarrying after having just lost a spouse, being given a terminal diagnosis, failing to get into a school you had hoped for, being passed over for promotion when you clearly expected it to occur and many more things. Stuff just happens and life goes on. We deal with things the best way we know how. What do you do when life has unexpected events happening? The first thing is to not lose control but to pray and ask God what He wants you to gain from the journey you are now on. Don't try to figure things out but go to God. Pray. Search the scriptures daily and realize you are not alone.

Now is the time to not think God has forgotten you but to know He loves you and everything is going to be okay.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus when things around me seem to not go according to what the life was I envisioned I still trust you and know you love me and have a plan. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Listen to the following praise and worship song to help you start your day. Be blessed to be a blessing. 

http://youtu.be/zC1MgLr2LqE

WHAT ARE YOUR "GIANTS"?

Do you have a situation looming over you in your life that seems like it is way too big and will never go away? There is a saying "this too shall pass" but when you are in the midst of your "battle" it sure does not seem that way. During times like these it is essential you practice focusing on "things above" and to try to not dwell on that which drags you down. Problems can, and will, overwhelm you if all you do is think on them.

I loved the movie "Facing The Giants" which dealt with many issues in life that seemed humanly impossible but with God in the equation nothing was impossible. Matthew 19:26(NIV) clearly lays it out 'Jesus looked at them and said,"With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible"'. Pretty clear wouldn't you say? You have to have faith and you have to believe.

In the Bible it says in Mark 9:23(NIV) 'And Jesus said to him "If you can?All things are possible to Him who believes."' Do you have that kind of "mountain moving" faith? "But my problem is way too big and nothing is going to help." Who puts thoughts like that in your head? Not God, that is for sure.

I heard someone once say "Believe receive, doubt do without." God is way bigger than anything overwhelming we humans here on earth. Don't stop praying or believing your situation can't change.

Right now start having positive thoughts and do not allow the enemy to get you fearful or doubtful. God is a miracle working God! Believe it and keep praying!!

PRAYER: Today Lord I choose to believe and not lose hope. I choose to focus on good and not bad that cam create gloom and doom. I will seek your peace and pursue it .In Jesus' name. Amen.

Click on link for awesome song:

http://youtu.be/68q8y5nkdPo

BIG PROBLEMS? BIGGER GOD!

What kind of problems and concerns are weighing on your mind and heart today? Financial troubles? A wayward child? Loss of a job? Potential loss of a job? Betrayal by a friend? Whatever it is my friend know that God is bigger and mightier than Satan and your problems. 

In Psalm 40:11-12(NLT) says ' Do not withhold your mercy from me  Lord;  may your love and faithfulness always protect me. For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, I can not see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.' 

Sometimes a situation may seem so huge you get overwhelmed and start conjuring up things in your mind that may happen. This goes back to the devotion on worry. We can not allow Satan to hold us captive with fear and concerns. Our God is a big God and no problem is too big for Him to handle. You have to believe that. 

James 1:2-3(NIV) reminds us 'Consider it all joy brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.'  All of us could probably use a good dose of persevering. When you go "through" trials you know they will eventually end. 

What is it that is bothering you today? Can you trust God to see you through with only strength He provides? 

PRAYER: Today Lord I choose to let you handle my burdens. I often fear for things that have not even happened. I know when  I do this I enable Satan to capture my thoughts. My choice is to demonstrate your perfect peace in a storm. In Jesus' name. Amen.

DON'T WORRY ABOUT MAN

 

Have you ever put your trust or faith in a 'mere man' only to be let down and disappointed? Take a sports figure who is caught doping or cheating. Maybe it is a preacher who fell from grace. Perhaps a respected school teacher caught in a criminal act. Maybe it is a friend who has betrayed you in some way. For some maybe it is finding out a spouse has cheated on you. It could be an individual you trusted that it is found they embezzled money. Perhaps you shared something in confidence and found out it was not kept a secret. These are just a few examples. The point is humans can let us down but God never let us down.

When bad things happen to people, and they will at times, we are not to be the judge. Beware or the same scenarios occurring in your life. Pray for protection and for individuals caught in these traps. God does and can restore, redeem, and forgive. Often tragedies and downfalls in life cause the individual to get closer to the Lord.

Our hope and our trust should not be placed in mere man. Now in the case of the mention of an unfaithful spouse, those individuals, if they had a Christian marriage, took a vow before God to stay true to each other so that in fact should be followed as you grow in love daily putting God first and your spouse second. Don't ever put yourself in a tempting situation where you might fall. If one of the partners failed it is time to seek reconciliation and counseling to restore what God brought together. Stay best friends and this is unlikely to occur but still make sure God is number one.

Turn to the Lord and look to Him for your strength. Pray for you to stay strong and not led away by temptations and roadblocks man may put in your path.

Isaiah 40:31 says "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint."

Who do you trust today?

PRAYER: Lord I thank you for being there for me when it seems the world around me and people are faltering. Lord I thank you for being supremely in control. I look to you for my source of strength as I go through life. In Jesus name.

Click on link for a wonderful song of praise:
http://youtu.be/W48NfLLSFNc

PROBLEMS?

 

Have you ever considered that when things do not go right in your life that you are being sanded and molded into God's image through these situations?Life is not always fun. Bad things happen and you wonder why God abandoned you or did not listen to your prayer. You become impatient and angry at God. God is working things out in His time. The thing you may consider so terrible may just turn out to have a silver lining.

Our ways are not his ways it says in Isaiah 55:8. Further in James 1:2-3 it says " Consider it pure joy my brethren when you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance." In Genesis 50:20 it says "You intended to harm me but God meant it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of lives." Probably most of us who grew up in church know the story of Job and the terrible things he went through which would cause most of us to go crazy. But yet in Job 13:15 it says " Thou he slay me, yet I will trust in Him." How many of us could say that when the worst case scenarios came into our lives?

Don't keep looking at your problem but look up to Jesus as He is the way out and will see you through to the other side.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus it is hard sometimes when bad stuff happens in my life or a family members. Satan wants to keep us defeated and worried but I know the end of the story has not been written and you are there working. Thanks for the promises in your word. Help me cling to them and not caves in. In Jesus name. Amen.

RISE UP FROM THAT PIT!

What has you down in the dumps? Maybe nothing does and if so praise God for that. But many people struggle with worries, fears, concerns, strife and turmoil in their life. Maybe the problems are real and valid but still God does not want you disabled by fear and worries. He wants you to be set free. When you are paralyzed by fear, chaos, and things in the world it is difficult to praise God. It is easy to start being a 'pit dweller' and be overly consumed with our self and our problems. The good news is God wants to set you free. Freedom comes by trusting Christ and believing He will take care of you. He is behind the scenes. Fear glorifies Satan and peace glorifies God. Who are you giving glory to?

Psalm 107:20 says " He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction's." Destruction's are things that put you in that 'pit' you are in when you can not seem to get your mind off the past, fears, problems, and things dragging you down. People who are drug down are not very close to God when they are dwelling in the valley. God wants to raise you up to the mountain top with Him.

Psalm 30:3 says "O Lord you brought me up from the grave , you spared me from going down into the pit." The remedy for 'pit dwellers' is to praise God even when you do not feel up to it and to stay in the word of God. A good book of the Bible for pit dwellers is to read a Psalm a day.

So choose today where you will be. Are you going to sink into a pitiful pit or raise yourself up to be on God's mountain. 1 Corinthians 15:57 says "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

PRAYER: Lord you are my rock,my redeemer,my strength. When I am afraid I will trust in you. Lord I love your word for in it I grow and learn to have your peace. Thank you Lord for setting me free. In Jesus name. Amen.

Click on link to worship the Lord in song.

http://youtu.be/VTByzluCtMo

STAY JOYFUL ALWAYS

There is enough going on in our world today to cause us despair and even in your own circle of life there may be things causing you grief and pain. For instance, a wayward child. Let's say you had trained your child to follow the Lord and he or she goes their own way. Bible teacher and author Joyce Meyer says "Do not let others wrong choices steal your joy." You are not responsible for someone's wrong choices so do not beat yourself up. Do not allow others to be 'joy robbers' in your life.

Satan especially is the chief joy robber. He does not want you happy and at peace. Satan would love it if you would just cave in to your emotions and not ever to be able to be at peace. You perhaps compare your life to others and that too can rob you of joy and keep you from attaining a peaceful spirit. Satan is the 'accuser of the brethren' it says in Revelation 12:10. Satan may make you feel if you had not done 'such and such' then 'so and so' would not be living a certain way or doing a certain thing.

 You can not and should not condemn yourself. You are not responsible for the choices others make.
If you have a child you raised for the Lord but they have made wrong choices all you can do is keeping praying for them but do not allow their bad choices to make you not live your life to the fullest. Just keep praying. Keep believing. Remember the promise in Proverbs 22:6 which says " train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it?" God hears your prayers.  3 John 1:4 says " I have no greater joy to know that my children are walking in the truth." I say a hearty "Amen" to that!

God is your source of peace and joy no matter what life throws at you. Things happen and sometimes they happen in order to make someone stronger. Just believe God can see you through and help the other person as well.

Let's say you are living with an unbelieving spouse and you are 'on fire' for the Lord. Then what do you do? 1 Peter 3:1-2 says "wives, in the same way, submit yourselves therefore unto your own husbands, that if any of them do not believe the word they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives." 

What if I friend or colleague has hurt you? Say you did nothing and you are getting pushed aside and treated poorly.Do not allow these things to rob you of your ultimate joy in Jesus Christ!

John 14:27 says " My peace I leave you, my peace I give you, not as the world gives you. Do not let your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid."

PRAYER: Lord it is my desire to not let others rob me of my peace and joy. I have no control of others lives and I can only pray and trust you for the answers. Help me Lord to always have your joy in my life to share with those around me. In Jesus name. Amen.

Click on link below to worship the Lord in song! Be blessed now go be a blessing!
http://youtu.be/NLhb3qUA3uc

IT'S ALL GOOD. IT'S NOT THAT DEEP. NO WORRIES

 My title stems from the expression you hear nowadays where people are meaning, " it is okay" or " no problem". Sometimes we may get all keyed up about something and tend to worry or just can not be still and relax. The expressions in my title are 'right on the money'  so to speak, and mean just what they say or in other words "calm down, chill out!" You may think you have hurt  or offended someone and their response is one of the three statements in my title.

How many of us can really do that in situations in life that occur? You may worry what others think or worry about something you have no control over. So let it go already okay? You tell someone it is okay or "not that deep" so let your actions follow that. Basically we are 'not to sweat the small stuff' as they saying goes.

The Bible has lots of wisdom in basically saying the same thing and  before these phrases even were uttered. Philippians 4:6 says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Romans 8:28 says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Mark 10:18 says ""Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone." Matthew 6:31 says "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'" Matthew 6:27 says "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

Forgive people. Don't hold grudges. Stop worrying. Stop freaking out. Everything is going to be okay. It's all good!

 PRAYER: Lord I thank you that you see me through things in life I sometimes initially see as overwhelming. Things aren't that bad if I keep looking to you. Thanks for your promises in the word of God. Help me to remember to keep smiling. In Jesus name. Amen.

GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOUR PROBLEM

Storms of life will come and problems will arise but God is way bigger than any situation you find yourself in. Maybe at the time when you are going through something you feel in despair but God uses all these things to grow you up in Him. God is your best friend. When your earthly friends have run out on you or betrayed you God is still God and He has gone no where. He loves, He listens, He cares. God forgives when man can not. God redeems and restores. God wraps you in His loving arms and says "Child I am here. Come to me." Matthew 11:28 says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  Jeremiah 31:25 says "I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." Psalm 145:14 says "The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down".

Isaiah 43:2 says "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." You will have to control what comes into your mind. The enemy Satan is there to try to take you out and get you down in the dumps and hopeless. There is always hope with God. But you have to purpose to not think bad thought and dwell on problems of life. You have to think on what God has in store for you and the Hope that is in Him.  Deuteronomy 31:6 says "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Satan will put negative thoughts in your mind and get you to feel like giving up. God does not want you to give up. He is mighty to save and can get you out of the pit you are in. He has a plan for your life and will lift you up and out of your pit. Some bad things happen due to wrong choices but others you have no control over. regardless God cares for you and He will lift you up and make you victorious in Him.

In Genesis 28:15 it says " I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Keep your mind on Jesus. He does not want you to try to get out of your pit alone. He is there to help you and be your friend when all your other friends have run out on you. Jeremiah 29:11 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." Psalm 147:3 reminds us "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Do not let the enemy lie to you and make you feel there is no hope for you.

When the storms of life are pressing in on you look to Jesus. Do not look to drugs or alcohol or run away and feel like this is it.  There is always a way out and up with God. Satan will be the one trying to get you to feel hopeless but God is the author of hope. Run to Him. He is mighty to save.

John 14:27 says "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." Believe God and not the enemy. You are worthy and God is good and He has a plan for you.


PRAYER: Lord I know you care for me no matter what is going on in my life. I know Lord that your hand is on me and you are watching over me.Father help me as I struggle to get out of my pit to hang on to you. I reject the lies of the enemy. I am covered by the blood of Jesus. Thank you Lord for your promises to never leave me nor forsake me. I will put my hope in you and from this day forth reject the lies of the enemy who is out to take me down. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Note: I always like to include an appropriate worship and praise song to help lift your spirits. I hope you take the time to grab a cup of coffee and sit and worship God.Click on link.I have included two today.

http://youtu.be/sR8rlTIU8_Y  (Mighty to Save)


http://youtu.be/LF4dLOTQNqk (My Glorious)