Monday, July 26, 2010
:)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Undivided attention
Lately I've been trying to find time to hang out and give my time to as many as I can before I leave. And just the other day I was hanging out with a friend.. when we were hanging out I noticed the person's attention was not there at all, it was somewhere else. My friend was distracted with texting n I don't know what else and ofcoz I'm human. I got offended because I had little time and here I was trying to love on as much as I could but it didn't matter..in my mind I'm like this is so disrespectful, so rude.. why oh why do I do this to myself. Then later that day I was humbled, I'm not justifying what was going on but later that night I was reminded 'Jesus wept' He weeps when I give Him undivided attention. How crazy was it that during bible study we talked about 'idols' or distractions ..and how they can keep our eyes from the 'one thing' God.
Oh every part of me was offended with me not getting the attention and I felt like I wasted my time but more so I learned a lesson and was humbled and was reminded and almost was made to feel how God feels when my eyes are set on other things. And yet He is so compasionate and so gracious, so merciful that when I go away or my eyes get caught up with the things that's not God he is so merciful and give's me a clean slate.
My mind could not get around the whole thing of focusing on 'God'. I was reminded how when one has a crush on someone..that's all you think about, that is what becomes your focus. And oh how I've failed so many time's but Jesus oh gosh He's grace, mercy, love is unending He gives us a clean slate when we fall short. I woke up early and I'm thankful for yet another day..that I get to chose to love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength. And to remember He sent the Holy spirit to be our helper. And I'm thankful for another chance to get to pursue my Lord, and love Him with all my heart. It's hard especially when life gets on the way but it's not impossible. I'm choosing to be more careful on what I set my eyes on, how I take my step and my prayer is that the Lord will help me take every step with purpose pursuing Him and Him alone.
David possessed a yearning and a longing for God-it was something that motivated and moved his inner man. He said, I long for this one! This desire is so alive in me, I am willing to give up pursuits and pleasures of this life, with the understanding that I will encounter this one. Though I'm slandered, I don't care. I want God! something has touched my inner man, and it has awakened hunger. And not even kingship will satisfy this hunger. The only thing that will satisfy me is to touch the depths of the Creator. One thing I desire. One thing I long for-my God. I believe we like David can touch the heart of God.
I'm drawn to ask myself...
what's my purpose?
what's my desire?
where is my heart?
where is my attention?
oh the word says clearly seek first the kingdom of God.
When the Lord looks at my heart, what does He see? He looks at the inside and with my thoughts, attitudes, motives,Where are they found?, where is my heart found?
Oh I know the Lord is asking for my undivided attention. A hunger has been birthed in my heart that just won't go away. Better is one day in his courts than a thousand elsewhere. my prayer is for eyes to be opened and complacent hearts to be revived as wholehearted lovers of Jesus.
"One thing I have desired, and that will I seek,"-psalm 27:4
May I be found faithful, my Your eyes Lord find this heart loyal to You. May I be found with a heart after YOU. Oh God help me this I pray
I really rullyyyy ♥ u God
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Preparing for the Harvest
“I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit”
(Leviticus 26:4, AMP).
God has set up seasons in our lives. There are plowing seasons. There are planting seasons. There are watering seasons. Sure, we would love for every season to be a time of increase left and right and good breaks here and there. But without the other seasons, we wouldn’t be prepared. For example, it’s during the plowing season that God brings issues to light that we need to deal with. He’s getting us prepared for promotion.
If you’re not making as much progress as you would like, the key is to not lose any ground. Don’t go backwards. Hold your position. Keep a good attitude and do the right thing even when it’s hard. When you do that, you are passing the test, and God promises that your due season of harvest is coming. Be encouraged because your appointed time of increase, favor and promotion is on its way. He’s preparing you for the harvest—to see every dream and every desire filled in Jesus’ name!
A PRAYER FOR TODAYFather God, I bless You today. I thank You for preparing me for the blessing and promotion You have in my future. I surrender my heart, mind, will and emotions to You so that I can live as a testimony of Your work in my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Seed for Sowing
“Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness”
(2 Corinthians 9:10, NIV).
God desires to bring you increase. He’s provided you with seed so that you can invest into the lives of others. There is tremendous potential in any seed. A single seed can produce harvest of 30, 60 or 100-fold return! But that seed has to be planted. You can have a package of seeds sitting in a drawer for years and nothing will happen. But when you plant that seed in the ground, water it and tend to the weeds, that seed will begin to grow. It won’t take long before the beautiful harvest is ready to be received.
Remember, you have seeds of greatness on the inside of you. God has placed within you everything you need to be successful. But, you have to step out and sow those seeds. You have to boldly declare your faith and put action behind it. Keep an attitude of expectancy and go out believing that great things are coming your way. Be obedient to His Word because those seeds you sow will produce an abundant harvest of blessing all the days of your life.
A PRAYER FOR TODAYFather God, thank You for entrusting me with seed to sow. I want to be a wise steward of all Your resources. Give me wisdom and discernment to be obedient with my words and actions. Let everything I do bring honor to You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen
Monday, July 12, 2010
Resigned to the Absolute Faithfulness of God.
Finding Favor with the King, p. 140 Scripture Reading Luke 1:46-55,
Mary resigned herself to God’s absolute faithfulness and surrendered to His purposes—even though she didn’t know why or how the things would come to pass spoken by the angel of the Lord.
At some time in your life, you may find yourself in Mary’s position. Faced with a situation that is hard to understand, and armed only with a word from the Lord, you will have to choose:
• Will you embrace God’s purposes along with the unknown consequences of your obedience ; or…
• Will you decline the uncertainty of the unknown and seek comfort in the seemingly “less risky” environment of life outside of God’s purposes?
The Bible tells us “without faith it is impossible to please God.” It seems that faith is the “currency” of God’s kingdom on earth. By biblical definition, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
In the fullness of time, the young Jewish virgin named Mary made a fateful decision to risk all in response to the words of the Lord. She decided to resign herself to the faithfulness of God in the face of the unknown. She declared to the Lord, “Be it unto me according to thy word,” and the result changed human history and fulfilled the highest divine destiny of all time.
Another young Jewish woman named Esther faced a fateful choice between what seemed to be certain death at the hands of Persian bodyguards and possible deliverance by the hand of the Invisible God. Would she choose the false safety of passive observance and watch as her people were systematically hunted down, or would she take the active path of obedience in the face of clear danger and possibly save her people?
Mordecai reminded Esther that while obedience often has unpleasant consequences, disobedience always has dire consequences connected to it. He warned her that even if she was silent, God would save His people some way, but it wouldn’t help her and her family. Esther resigned herself to God’s faithfulness and faced death to preserve life.
What about you? Are you tempted to step back, hole up, or remain silent in the face of a difficult challenge in your life—when you somehow know you were born to do more ? Each time you find yourself in a crisis or situation that is beyond what you can “fix” or handle on your own, you have a perfect opportunity to lean upon the One Who loves to save, heal, and deliver His children. Following Christ in this life is a faith action from beginning to end.
It takes faith to receive Christ as Lord and Savior, and it takes faith to trust Him with family members, daily challenges, business or job-related needs, and with provision in times of crisis.
Prayer: Lord, know that I have questions and concerns about the future, and whether or not things will work out in the problem areas I’ve told You about. I often wonder how You will fulfill Your promises and purpose in my life, but now I realize that sometimes Your purpose in my life requires me to resign myself to Your absolute faithfulness. I trust You, even when facing the unknown possibilities of tomorrow. ♥ u =)
Friday, July 9, 2010
His mercies are new every morning
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Fulfilling your calling
When Peter preached at Pentecost, 3000 souls came to Christ. But when Paul preached a guy nodded off, broke his neck and killed himself by falling out of a third story window. Hardly an encouraging sign! But Paul admitted that preaching wasn’t his chief calling: ” I came to you…timid and trembling..my message and my preaching were very plain” (1 cor 2:3-4). Yet while he might have been the most dynamic speaker in town, God empowered him to raise the man from the dead after he fell out of the window!
Listen: let every man abide in the ..calling wherein he was called.’ What Paul lacked was a speaker, he more than compensated for as a writer. His pen changed the world. He was responsible for more New Testament doctrine than those who spent every waking minute with Jesus. He judged cities, straightened out fornicators, stopped incest, rebuked idolatry, and established truth. Paul didn’t need to preach; he wrote the inspired Word that enable others to do it.
Something so powerful was released through Paul’s writings that even when they threw him in jail he didn’t ask for a lawyer or a gourmet meal because he was tired of prison food. No he asked for more paper so that he could keep writing. in fact, Paul wrote all the way to the end of his life. And because he did, souls are still being reached today! What a legacy! And all because one man devoted himself to his calling! Now for the question— are you devoting yourself to yours?
I asked myself the same question this morning..but I believe this time is different and even if we feel like we wasted time, God is faithful to give as a second chance and renew the passion and the calling to our hearts again. I encourage you today in that place you are in, whether you know your calling or you don’t; continue to love the Lord God with all your heart, mind and soul. Take a step forward knowing He who started a new thing in you is faithful to complete it.
I’m just encouraged that the Lord wants to use each one of us. My passion is renewed and I can’t wait to continue to leave Jesus freebies wherever I go.
Have a beautiful day and live each min with purpose and authentic* He loves you and wants you to be part of it too =)
Monday, July 5, 2010
Will You Risk It All?
Sometimes you must risk everything to become the “very thing” you are supposed to be.
Finding Favor with the King, p. 135
Daniel 3:1-30 tells how Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego risked everything, even the possibility of death, to remain faithful to the Lord.
How much are you willing to risk to fulfill your destiny?
Every worthwhile achievement in life involves risk. The business axiom “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” is true for all of life. You cannot move ahead into your destiny by staying where you are. Many people never realize their destiny because they are afraid to risk anything. How serious are you about fulfilling your destiny? What are you willing to risk?
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego risked everything to remain faithful to God. They refused to worship the golden idol that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon , had set up. Even on pain of death they would not prostitute their faith to follow a false god. Love and loyalty to the God of their fathers was more precious than life itself.
They chose death over disloyalty when they said to king, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand O king. But if not, then it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” The enraged king had them thrown into the fiery furnace.
Where was God during all of this? He was in the furnace with them. Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace and saw not three men but four, unbound and unhurt in the midst of the flames. Nebuchadnezzar described the fourth man he saw as “like the Son of God.” Once you dare to risk everything for your destiny in God, you will discover that He is right there with you.
Risk is scary because there is always the possibility of failure. Such is the nature of risk. Are you willing to risk everything to fulfill your destiny? Are you willing to trust that the God who walked in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego will also walk with you as you pursue your destiny? How far will you go to follow God? How far will you go to see your destiny fulfilled? Will you risk it all ?
PrayerLord, risk is scary, but I know I am secure as long as I am walking in Your will. Increase my faith and grant me the courage to risk everything to become the “very thing” I am supposed to beFriday, July 2, 2010
Emails and the Internet
Esther 9:30 (NAS)
The Bible consistently reminds us about the power of words. ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue’ (Proverbs 18:21). In the Book of Esther, we see a public relations campaign in action. Esther and Mordecai, her uncle, sent a Biblical broadcast to thousands of people.
Today we have electronic communication: emails, videos, texts and blogs. With the power of the internet, we speak our words to dozens, hundreds or even millions of people with one click of a button. It brings the power of those words to a whole new level. The benefits and harm of spoken and written words are increased exponentially. Wow. And uh-oh!
Contradictory words and images flood our screens from every Google search. Unwanted advertisements and ugly graphics pop up before our eyes like a bad magic show. Gossip and blatant lies plaster cyberspace. We know ‘God is not the author of confusion’ (1 Corinthians 14:33). Therefore, it is the enemy who creates chaos on the worldwide web.
The name itself, ‘worldwide web,’ is a Godly warning. We can become stuck in it all-too-easily, just like the victims of deadly spiders. We must guard our minds and fingers against easy participation in this slander network, including ‘malicious gossip’ (1 Timothy 3:11), ‘grumbling’ (James 5:9), ‘lying’ (Psalm 31:18), ‘provoking’ (Galatians 5:26) and all negative speech.
In today’s scripture, Esther and Mordecai wrote ‘words of peace and truth.’ We are wise to follow their example. God watches every click.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
prayer
Lyrics:
Father, Father, You hear our hearts this morning
We did not want to settle;
We did not want to find our comfortable position and
Put up our tent there and be happy with you blessing me and mine
Father we understand today, that forgiveness, and reconciliation,
And blessing and favour is given for reason Lord God,
It’s given for purpose father, and today God
We say forgive us, forgive us father
When we have taken on this attitude
Lord God of all you’ve done,
Father use us God, use us, pick us, choose us Father
We want to spend ourselves, father I want to get to heaven
With a life poured out, not with a life that looks perfect,
I want it to not look good; I want it to be good father
We love you today father God, we love you today father God,
We love you today father God
Let our love be seen father God on this earth
Let our love be carved out Father God,
On the pavements of our neighbourhoods,
Let our loved be carved out for you father
Lord Jesus, for the lonely, Lord for the state that we were in,
We were in that state God, yet someone bothered
To take the time and present you to us,
We’ll never ever take it for granted
And in turn we live our lives as a thank you,
As a thank you father, as a thank you
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus
