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DONT WORRY (PART TWO)

MATTHEW 6:28-34

28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing,  

We worry about minor things and big things, whilst the word is assuring us that the fields grow and produce harvest in set times and it’s not like they can work to make it grow itself, they aren’t humans but are taken care of by humans and these same humans - you and I shouldn’t need to worry about what we wear because God will never make us go without, but will always make sure we have in abundance and are taken care of. That is beyond satisfying and assuring and a truth we must all hold onto. So as hard as it may be take the step not let worry consume you any longer – pray and release all to God to help you.

29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

God cares for us more than we could ever imagine and so when things try to consume us and shake our faith, we can have the tendency to forget all this and act out the worry in our actions and how we treat others. But when we worry for tomorrow and question His care and love we are also showing that we have little faith in Him to perform what He said He will do.

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

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The word is saying to not worry about the external factors, but that God has it all under control. How beautiful it is to know that He assures us and also shows us the way to go.

We have Him and unbelievers don’t, so when they complain and question life, we shouldn’t entertain that way of living too and questions things because of who our Heavenly Father is. To supply all our needs according to His riches in glory and the beauty is He knows it all, there is nothing hidden from Him. All that we need He provides.

Unbelievers have negative thoughts and never ending questions and doubt in their circumstances, the moment we think and act like them we are doubting God and taking Him away from the circumstance and encouraging room to sin and do things the short cut way.

33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

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The requirement is to seek the kingdom of God first and all other things that we need will be added unto us, He has us so we shouldn’t worry or question, let your faith rise up and all negative thoughts be scattered. We must follow this with faith and trusting that God has not left us, knows what we need and also says clearly what to seek, and that is not what the unbelievers seek. We should be able to put God first in all we do, in our thoughts, actions, character, day to day – in everything.

Material things and people are all temporary and shouldn’t be made to be priority in our lives, we ought to put God first always and everything else secondary. We can plan things out and be productive, but then to worry and doubt is to waste precious, valuable time.

But we shouldn’t be so consumed in planning to block out the worry, but should rather address it because then that becomes a problem and can interfere with you and God. Don’t let what you focus on and worry about for the next day; affect you in the moment with God. Embrace the moment and don’t rush ahead, He has you and knows what you need.

  

POINTERS FOR WORRY-

-      PRAY OVER IT AND TAKE STEPS TO OVERCOME IT DAILY

-      Know what the word of God says about you and His promises

-      Do a study on worry and break them down into prayer points

-      Don’t worry over the future, pray over it and leave it to God

-      Build up your faith and let His peace that surpasses all understanding calm you

-      Live in the now and have faith for tomorrow, not worry.

-      Make a list of what you worry over and take it to God

 

Be blessed and encourage

ENCOURAGEMENT IN OUR DARKEST MOMENTS.

DEAR FATHER,

I want to thank you for our lives, I want to thank you for your strength, love, guidance and forgiveness. There are times when things don’t always go our way but it is important for us to keep you at the centre of it all, pray read the word and walk in obedience. There are many times we fall short of your glory and try to do things in our own might, but I pray that in those darkest moments you will strengthen us and cause us to follow your will with patience and wisdom. So help us father in all that we do. Help us to remain firm in the word, help us to learn, help us to grow, help us to love and help us to walk in the spirit at all times. In your name we pray. Amen.

 

We can all relate to the fact that we will go through things that will hurt us, change us, cause bitterness, anger, life changing moments and more. But it is in those times that I have learnt the importance of self-development, strength, patience and maturity. You see it is easy to smile and give God thanks when all is going well and we have everything under control. But the moment things get tough, or don’t go our way then we begin to panic, become anxious and doubt why it is happening.

 

One thing I always remind myself of is the fact that to get to the good one must first pass through the bad. You need to have your character refined and endure the process to be able to be trusted by God with what He wants to share with you, the works He wants you to do and how to be relational with others. What you pass through is not for you alone to say that you overcame it and are much stronger, but for you to be an example to others out there who are also going through similar and are assured that they are not alone, but the same God they serve is the same God who did it for someone else.

 

So what is encouragement?

Yeshua told His disciples ‘In this world you will have trouble but take heart, I have overcome the world.’ John 16:33

 

Yeshua made them aware that troubles will come – this walk isn’t easy and trials and tribulations can’t be avoided. You will be mocked, hated, spoken of badly. But remember each time people try to bring you down, that are set apart and created in His own image- Gen 1:27, you won’t be liked by everyone even though you do good. Pain will come and cannot be avoided or complained away or cried away. But thank God He is greater than all we face, that alone is encouragement for us all to stand firm on.

 

When I think of God’s encouragement it makes it easier to go on in this messed up world, knowing He has me and will never leave me or you, and will continue to guide us to walk in holiness and righteousness. It is also a reminder that He loves us despite our mistakes and falling short of His glory.

He is there for us, don’t doubt this, trust and believe and know that you are a conqueror and will never lose. 

Joshua 1:9 ‘Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid neither be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’

 

Notice here that God starts off by reminding Joshua, ‘Have I not’- serves as a reminder to show that He is not only reminding us, but commanding us to be of good courage. He commands us to be strong, in saying this He expects us to pull through, to not be afraid, anxious or distressed. He is assuring us that He will always be with us wherever we go- knowing that we will face trials but are always able to overcome those trials.

 

Our darkest moments are not a punishment, but the fact that He commands us, shows the seriousness to follow and align our actions to His- not emotions – not people – or things. But sadly when trouble comes we are so fast to do the opposite and rather than go to the word and go in prayer, we become fearful, distressed, low, bitter and negative. We are humans and so emotions do run wild when the going gets tough, but we must learn to cause those emotions to submit to the word of God for peace, wisdom and understanding. Yes we read the word, but in our darkest moments of family issues, friends issues, work disappointments, relationships ending etc do we still seek God and pray? Do we still read the word? Do we still worship God?

You see many of us have carnal minds, which are in need of being renewed to refocus on the word of God, so that when a dark moment comes we are equipped to read the word and fight in prayer, to get your peace and direction.

Psalm 34:4 ‘I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.’

Another word for sought is to seek – when you seek you are attempting to find something, help, shelter, answers, direction etc. This scripture is telling you to therefore seek the Lord, here we are told to do this one thing, and in this same scripture we see that God does two things in return for us. He first of all hears us and then He delivers us from our fears.

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 You see God knows what we will go through, He knows we will have bad day, He knows we will complain, BUT with all this He assures us that what He will do will be to bring us through all our trials to the end- But we must seek Him. You cant expect God to do these things if you do not seek Him and put Him first. Now if we were to look at the opposite of this scripture one can say that it could say ‘I fled and sought help in people and things and was temporarily free from my worries.’ We tend to distant ourselves from God when dark moments come, because we have the I can do it my way mindset, but when you pray and seek God remember it will be His will that is done in our lives at the right time in His own timing not ours. So when you take it upon yourself, though things will happen quicker doesn’t mean it will lead to peace of mind and healing from that dark moment, if anything you will make it worse and go around in circles.

 

You need to get into the habit of running to God for everything and in every moment, not just in the good moments but the bad moments too. For assurance, help, comfort, healing, strength, wisdom, guidance and direction. Our ways will always fail, but His never will. It is also very important to remember that each time we read the word we need to pray for understanding and fresh revelation, to read the word with our spiritual eyes, because if you read the word with your natural eyes you will become more aware of the issue rather than the solution (God’s word) you will begin to doubt yourself and even God and by doing all this will distance yourself from God.

 

He delivers us from our fears because we cannot say we serve Him and also fearful too. Light and dark ways can’t mix. Fear will have you doing the opposite to the word of God to get quick results, leading to a dead end of no fruitful results. As it says in 2 Timothy 1:7 ‘For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of POWER, LOVE and SOUND MIND. So the moment you feel fear, anxiety and worry creeping up on you go into prayers and let God have His way in renewing your mind and outlook on the matter at hand. After all He does say that we can do all things THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS US- Phil 4:13.

 

Proverbs 16:24 ‘Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.’

The soul consists of the mind, will and emotions, with this God bring healing, strength, wisdom and guidance, instruction, protection and answers. We need to be careful of what we feed our souls with because not all things that are said to us and information out there provided is good for us. You have to guard yourself (Proverbs 4:23), don’t fall victim to being led astray by false information appearing real, or what people say which doesn’t align to the word of God. Not all sources are genuine. We cannot go to people to fill the voids only God can fill, because He knows everything about us and what we need as opposed to what we think we need. He has all we need and even if you lose everything and all the people around you, He will always be enough for us.

 

We have it in mind that when something happens we are to go to our friends, pastors, family etc but then we don’t go to God first rather He is usually the last resort. The people around you can help only to some extent, we are all limited resources they can only do so much for you. They may mean well and have your best interest at heart but God’s word gets to the root of the issue, heals, edifies and equips us- His way will always work for us.

 

Go to word of God every day, at all times to get your own understanding, apply it to your issues and learn to walk in obedience. This will help you to seek out the error of your ways and live a Christ like standard, not to people please, but to God please in every action and thought.

 

Whether it is a sickness, friendship issues, job cuts, death, whatever disappointment it may be, God is not smaller than those issues and will see us through each time something we can’t handle alone arises. The enemy is very crafty, as we all know he comes to kill, steal and destroy John 10:10. He always works to turn our thoughts around to go against what God says about us, to cause a distance from Him and please ourselves rather than living to please God.

 

But we must remember that ‘Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.’ Ephesians 6:12. So with this it serves as a reminder that it is not just matters of worldly things we face but the battle spiritually- so the encouragement in Christ provides the strength, willpower and spiritual armour to overcome. Ephesians 6:10-18.

When we are discouraged we shouldn’t – take matters into our own hands to try to handle it, we shouldn’t stop praying and reading the word and we shouldn’t distract ourselves from God. Look at Elijah, one of the greatest prophets who struggled with discouragement 1 Kings 19:3-10. So it doesn’t matter who you are, discouragement happens but it can be defeated with the word of God always.

 

FINAL POINTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT-

·         The spirit of rejection is very common and many are battling secret battles which need to be addressed not ignored.

·         Our darkest moments are for a purpose too – Romans 8:28

·         Just because you don’t believe it in the moment doesn’t mean it won’t change or get better – Must work on the mind (Romans 12:2) and guard your heart (Proverbs 4:23).

·         Life can be so difficult but we must not fall into the victim mentality and get depressed.

·         Never give up – God makes all things possible in His own time

·         In all things whether good or bad there is always something to learn

·         God calls us to be faithful, and gives us the power to be faithful

·         Like Elijah God will always meet our needs at the right time. Psalm 183:3 ‘As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.’

·         He is our strength when we are weak

·         God loves us and will keep us – He won’t leave us

GOD BLESS YOU ALL

CHILD LIKE FAITH

Dear Father,

Thank you for your love, strength, wisdom, healing, direction and comfort in our lives, it truly is a blessing to have you as our Father, no matter how difficult it gets may we always believe and know that in you we will always have our rest, direction and guidance. No matter what is thrown our way may we continue to look to you alone in everything. So help us Father in our name we pray. Amen.

 

I was driving recently and got stuck in traffic so as a distraction I looked around and observed some children playing in the park on the swings, with their parents pushing them, their little legs swinging and their faces innocent and sweet just having fun enjoying what they found fun, to be pushed on the swings in the park. Then it dropped in my spirit the reminder for us to have child-like faith.

So in a nutshell what is faith? –

We can see that in Hebrews 11:1 it states the importance of faith, ‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’ To be sure of what we trust and believe God for, to come to pass in what we do not yet see, in what has not yet manifested from the spiritual to the natural realm. Our faith is the substance of our Christian lives, it is so crucial to have and as it speaks of in Romans 12:3 that we all have been given a measure of faith from God.

So it is important to continually to feed our faith daily with His word, prayer and intimacy with God. We cannot go through life with no faith and say we trust God, when the foundation is to have trust faith and believe that God is able, and that we know Him not just for what He gives but for who He is. Never allow the worries of the world, fear, anger, discouragement or comparison etc shake your faith to make you feel you aren’t enough or God can’t do wonders in your life.

 

KEY POINTERS –

Faith must be fed and worked on daily

It is the true substance of our walk in Christ

Fill it up daily and neglect the negative thoughts that come in to shake your faith.

Put God first in all things and you will never be last

No other thing is more important than our faith in God- Do you have faith?

Very simply, we need faith to please God, even though we cannot see Him and as it says in Hebrews 11:6 we are reminded that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”

God blesses those who keep His commandments, are faithful, obedient and love Him wholeheartedly.

Faith is what sustains us in life, and reminds us that we will have eternal life in heaven with God.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9)

I love this – ‘The dictionary defines faith as “belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof.” It also defines faith as “belief in and devotion to God.” It is so important that, without faith, we have no place with God, and it is impossible to please Him. According to the Bible, faith is belief in the one, true God without actually seeing Him.

Yeshua expects of us to seek Him in a way that possess a childlike modesty in addition to the faith we have in Him. To take the lowest position in our walk in Christ shows humility and in God’s eyes is taken seriously, it shows that you are reliant on God and willing to learn and moreover willing to be taught the right way in life. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).

Take God’s truth as your truth and apply it in your everyday living.

As children trust their earthly fathers to care for them and look after them, we should also trust that our heavenly Father will give good gifts to those who ask him.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 states that faith is a gift from God, not at all because we deserve it, or have even earned it. Not from us we give the faith, but from God who gives us the measure of faith, we must daily work on. Faith is not from our free will or free giving.

God gives and makes it possible for us to have this faith and the moment you feel it is being shaken because of circumstances, pray and let God intervene to renew your mind and strength and let your faith be fed with His truth and not your tainted perception of what you feel to be true. The same way we have faith given to us, is the same way we have His grace and mercy given to us too. We don’t deserve it but yet again our loving, faithful, giving Father gives and loves us more than we can ever imagine. He has a beautiful plan and purpose, for each one of us and so in all things big and small, He alone deserves all the glory and all the honour.

I like to say faith is like having petrol in our cars, we know that for our cars to take us from A to B we need to have petrol in it to do so and the moment there isn’t enough, the journey becomes tiring and longer and the car stops. You are annoyed and frustrated and now delayed in your movements because your car isnt functioning well.

But had you filled the tank in the first place, you wouldn’t have gone through all the stress and annoyance, you would have been in a peaceful state of mind, on top of everything, on time and effective and productive. Liking it to faith and the exact same point made, the moment we do things ourselves and feel we know better is the moment the frustration, anger, weariness and impatience kicks in and the importance of faith is out of the window. What should have taken a little while to accomplish, now takes months and years, just because of your inability to see the truth and walk in faith.

The analogy I took away from the children playing – For the child to get the benefit of the swings they needed to rely on their carers or parents to push them on the swing to feel the effect of the swing and have their fun. If they weren’t pushed they couldn’t move forward and would therefore be stagnant on the swing. The responsibility of the parent is to push the child at a suitable pace, to ensure their child’s safety and be alert of their surroundings as well as pushing them on the swing.

Though the parent wants the child to enjoy, they also have the responsibility to protect them from harm to not push them too hard. So that they don’t hurt themselves, their thoughts for the child is for the child to enjoy their time on the swing under their guidance and care… Now use this and put God and yourself in this analogy, you are on the swing and God is pushing you and protecting you as you go along, you are totally dependent on God and under His guidance and safety you are covered and He will excel you at His pace not yours. Working on your faith, patience, love and trust in God daily will help in building your intimacy with Him. The same way a child depends on their earthly parent in everything, is the same way we too must be dependent on our Heavenly Father in life.

Notice it says childlike faith and not adult like faith, let us not bring age into this and look at this thinking we must only have faith when a child in X years on this earth, whether a child in age or adult in age. Childlike faith portrays the fact that no matter the age, we must come to God as children come to a parent to trust and rely on Him to guide us. Provide for us, strengthen us, develop us and use us for His glory. Faith shows that no matter what happens in life you can trust in God and that sets you apart from people in the world. Who rely on themselves to get through in life, notice that we put our faith in God and die to self to be more like Him, but doesn’t exempt the fact that there will be trials in our lives. But because of your faith you trust in the truth that it may not be happening at that point in time, but it will manifest in the natural at God’s own appointed time.

Matthew 18:2-5 Jesus says that we must “become as little children” to enter the kingdom of God. ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me’
 

TWO KEY EXAMPLES OF THOSE WHO HAD STRONG FAITH IN GOD-

-       Abraham left his home and obeyed God’s command to go He didn’t know where, then willingly offered up his only son.

-       Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL

 

GENESIS 12 - ABRAM - THE MAN OF GREAT FAITH

Hey Lovelies,

Let us pray,

Father I thank you for the lives of these men and women, I thank you for the word of God that is there to encourage us, bless us, strengthen us, uplift us, clarify things for us, bring healing, instruction and more. I pray the word of God will never depart from our mouths, our minds, and our actions. In all that we do we continue to honour you, exalt your Holy name and more importantly place you above and at the centre of all that we do. Halleluyah

I want to talk about Abram and share with you what I took away from my personal study on Genesis 12:

Genesis 12: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:

Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, this is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.

Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

And Pharaoh called Abram and said, what is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou, She is my sister? So I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had."

 

These are the main points I took away from this chapter and hope it encourages someone to have the type of faith Abram had, to take that bold step to their new growth, blessings, new direction and more..

  • When God promises He will always deliver, the bible is filled with His promises for us, trust in Him alone.
  • What doesn’t make sense to you, He will always clarify in due time for us to understand why things happen.
  • Coming out of your comfort zone is necessary to elevate because God is a limitless God- He will equip you, teach you and elevate you.
  • Those who do you no good, leave them to God and He will handle them, it is not your job to take matters into your own hands- Just pray and leave it to God.
  • Trust in His timing it’ll get uncomfortable but it’ll get better in time.
  • Despite your age God can still use you mightily.
  • Where you progress to, will not be common to you but it’ll test you and will be worth it.
  • To protect you, God will ensure there is a shift and change in your circumstances.
  • When God gives you an instruction it will require a special covenant with Him. For Abram it was a great nation, and that His family will be taken care of. God was to make Abram great which would in turn require Abram to leave His stability, friends and family.. This is where the COVENANT COMES INTO PLAY.
  •  
  • Through Christ, people can have a personal relationship with God and be blessed beyond measure.
  • To cleave onto God Abram would have to leave behind what He knew with faith, leaving where he knew to build a great nation.
  • When God tells you to leave somewhere, please believe that it will be for something greater than what we left behind. God will always lead us to better- but requires greater service and usefulness from us.
  • Don’t let comfort and security that is common to you, cause you to miss God’s plans for you
  • God’s plan was to use Abram to go out to develop a nation God can call His own. From a godless city Abram left and went to a fertile region of Canaan where God was to be centred.
  • So it shows the importance of faith and obedience. 
  • God is calling His daughters out and with this there will be a shift in the kingdom to do exploits – but you would need to leave your comfort zones.
  • Despite what your circumstances say, keep it all in prayers and relax knowing God has it. But then why continue to worry and be fearful after prayers? Why did you pray in the first place? 
  • Remind yourself of His promises and speak life into your circumstances. 
  • Where you are now is not your FINAL stop – Stay focused your greater days are ahead.
  • Jeremiah 29:11 – His thoughts for us are of good and not of evil with an expected end.
  • 1 peter 5:7 – Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.
  • No two days are the same – Storms come, but don’t be shaken by what you see. God operates in the spiritual not in the flesh, so pray to contact Him in spirit and in truth especially when the trials comes.
  • The level of your faith determines how far He will move in that circumstance
  • God can still use you, when you are low on funds, He doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. You are not perfect and will make mistakes but His grace and mercy is sufficient.

God bless you all

Stay encouraged

HEALING

One thing I love God for is His love for us, He loves us unconditionally a love that is like no other, a love that is second to none and when you experience it will never want to depart from Him ever. Indeed He wants the best for us and nothing less than we deserve to have and be in life. Peace, love, restoration and wholeness to become what He has destined us to be. That is one of the reasons why I hold.

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