Monthly Archives: October 2009

Time Alone With God

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The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor;  he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn,  to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3

Time with GodTime alone with God has a divine purpose.

We set time aside for hair appointments, doctor and dentist appointments and they seem so important that we schedule them even months in advance.  However, time alone with God is where the real change takes place.

During our time alone with God, we are forgiven, released, refreshed, and renewed.  In the presence of God, we are healed, encouraged, restored and transformed.  A divine exchange takes place: beauty is given for ashes, strength for weakness and joy for mourning.  This divine exchange can only happen as you commit to spend time alone with God.

Hold-on To Your Gifts

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GiftsCelebrate God’s gifts everyday and you will always have them.

God’s gift, Jesus Christ was the greatest gift that was ever given.  If you were living during the special time in history and observed the humble birth of our Lord, would you have overlooked this wonderful gift?

Think about it – the only ones recorded who recognized, and cherished the gift were Mary, Joseph, the wise men, and the shepherds.  But, there were many people living in that day who passed right by and never recognized Jesus as a gift.

Look all around you.  Are you overlooking some of God’s precious gifts?  Are you celebrating and thanking Him for your children, your husband, or your wife and others in your family?  Let us not get so busy that we pass right by a gift and fail to thank God.

Those we fail to celebrate we begin to just tolerate and those we just tolerate soon fade away.  You must hold on to the gifts God has given you by being thankful for them.  Those we are thankful for – we will cherish and hold them carefully in our heart.

Pray this prayer: “Lord, open my eyes so I can see Your gifts all around me.”

Expect to See The Impossible

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 “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13

We read of the children of Israel in Psalm 106:12, “Then they believed His promises and sang his praise.”  Unfortunately, they did not believe until after they saw Him work in their situation.  They were in doubt when they came to the Red Sea, but when He opened the way and led them across safely and Pharaoh and his army drowned–“then they believed.”  They continued to live this kind of seeing-is-believing, up-and-down existence, because their faith was dependent on their circumstances.

This is certainly not the kind of faith God wants us to have today.  Faith is believing what you do not yet see.  God wants us to believe first, so that then we can see.  The psalmist said, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
 
Do you believe God only when your circumstances are favorable?   Faith is believing God will intervene in your situation, even when things look impossible.  The reward for this kind of faith is: what was impossible will be possible. When we come to the point that we believe in God’s goodness, we will no longer be pulled into despair.  We will live above our circumstances in every aspect of life: finances, relationships, or sickness.

Your Burdens Roll Away

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“Commit your ways to the Lord (roll and repose each care of your load on Him); trust (lean on, rely on and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.”  Psalm 37:5 Amp

You have probably found, as I have, that every problem has a weight to it, and some are heavier than others.  If you have committed your ways unto the Lord and are trusting in Him to work things out, then you must release the heavy weight and not take it back again.
 
Do not worry about it; trust Him.  This does not mean you are not involved or concerned about the situation.  It simply means you are not anxious or worried about it anymore.  And most of all, it is not up to you to fix it.
 
You are now trusting in the Lord and waiting on Him to work everything out for good.  Waiting is hard, but you can trust God to be faithful to His Word.  Grab hold of His promise and then wait.  It is hard to wait at first, but the more you resist taking things back into your own hands and working them out yourself, the easier waiting becomes.  So today, if your problem feels heavy, just pray and release it to the Lord.  Roll it over and reposition the weight on Him, and He will carry it for you.  All you need to do now is stand back and watch as He works everything out according to His plan and purpose.
 
Be aware that if you have never lived life without a weight on your back, it may feel funny at first.   If so, resist taking the weight back again. Psalm 37:3 says, “Trust in (lean on, rely on and be confident) in the Lord and do good, so shall you dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness, and surely be fed.”   This tells me we are not to worry, because He will provide for all our needs.  We are to feed on His faithfulness, and He has a banquet table prepared for us.

What is Perfect Love?

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“Perfect love casts out all fear, for fear hath torment. And he that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:18

Perfect LoveWe are born with a need for love and fear is waiting at the door when we don’t receive it.  The first time we are touched and held as an infant, the need for love is met, but only for a moment.  As an infant, the ability to hold on to love has not been established.  The ability to hold on when someone says they are holding you is what we call “trust”.

Just as a baby will continue to cry until he/she learns how to trust, we as adults will continue to cry and complain until we mature and learn to trust God completely.

We first learn to trust through loving, nurturing parents.  We learn that we can trust them to return, even when they are away for a day.  Once trust has been established, they can be away for longer periods of time and we still feel secure and loved.  Their continual flow of love keeps our hearts soft.  A lack of love due to neglect, rejection or abuse is painful and causes emotions to shut down, so the heart begins to harden.

Each time pain is felt, a stone is formed in the heart.  After a period of time, the stones form a wall around the heart for protection against further pain.  A person with a stony heart has a difficult time receiving love from God or others.  The very thing that is needed is blocked out.

We all have areas of our heart that are stony due to the fact that we all have been hurt when love did not flow properly from our parents.  They could only give what they received from their parents.  You cannot drink water from an empty cup.

Women, did you have long periods of time when your father wasn’t in your life?  You may have built a wall around your heart making it difficult to trust and receive love from your husband.  Men, did you have a long period of time when you were not receiving nurturing from your mother?  You may experience difficulty trusting and receiving love from your wife.

Ask God for His perfect love to fill you; for God is the only one who has perfect love, (I John 4:18).

Imperfect love hurts; perfect love heals.

Written by Denise Boggs.