Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. – Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)

How many would agree that we are blessed more than we deserve? God’s best is ours! We are a blessed people!!

What does that mean to you? Are God’s blessings just in the financial area of your life? Or do you see that His blessings are in every area of our lives: spiritual, emotional and physical?  God’s blessings are so much more than what we can ever imagine and then some. He has completely filled us to the brim with Himself and His goodness. We have been blessed with the fullness of heaven to fulfil our purpose and destiny here on earth. We are fully equipped and lack of nothing! Grab ahold of that wonderful truth.

If you really think about it, We are blessed to be a blessing to others. God’s blessings flow from His storehouse of Heaven down to us. And when it does, that should in turn, flow out to those around us.

You are blessed AND highly favored!!

“…And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you…” – Matthew 6:13-14 (KJV)

Forgiving others can be really hard to do – especially if we have been hurt at the hands of another person. Many times, we feel justified in harboring unforgiveness in our hearts. But that only leads to bitterness.

Before a person realizes it, that unforgiveness becomes a lifestyle, it becomes a learned attitude. We get to a point that we may find it a lot harder to forgive any offence that happens in our lives.

We need to take on an attitude of forgiveness.  It’s the first step we must take in being healed. If we would begin to see people through God’s eyes, we would see a mirror of ourselves, because each of us have sinned. We have all hurt someone at some time in our lifetime. Sometimes purposely, other times not meaning to do so at all!

Let’s give our hurt up to God and ask God to help us forgive those who have hurt us.

Don’t allow bitterness to take hold in your heart and spirit, you will discover that forgiving others will free your souls.

We live and move in Jesus. Our existence is in Him— being totally surrendered. HIs will is our will, whatever He asks that will we do without question because we are totally surrendered. 

We were made for God, not for ourselves. We are to serve Him with our lives. We need the Holy Spirit to teach us this great truth so we can fully grasp it in our hearts and minds.

We get so caught up often times in our own little world, living as if this life is the only life we have to live and will ever have, and we seldom think of living for eternity. So much of our thinking is concentrated to our existence here, on earth, in the temporary time frame we call life. But the Bible clearly states that our lives are like a vapor, it’s only here for a little while and then it’s gone. Let’s remember that our lives are lived out for God as we walk according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh, so that we can live out what He has called us to do.

We need to choose today, to stop living for our tangible, temporary existence and live with eternity in our hearts and heaven on our minds.

“…The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. ²⁵The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him….” – Lamentations 3:24-25 (KJV)

There’s a difference between waiting and waiting ‘expectantly’. It takes faith to wait expectantly for the Lord to come through for you. How many times do we ask God for something and then wait lacking in faith and hope? When we do that, we feel like God’s not gonna to come through for us so we might as well give up waiting for Him to do so.

We need to remind ourselves that God is totally trustworthy and His ever faithful! He knows the situation you’re facing and every situation that you find yourself in. He promises that He will never forget not forsake us. He will never leave it to us to face it alone. He can be trusted completely with anything and everything in our lives. As we keep constantly reminding ourselves of this and remember when our experiences where God came through, our faith will be strengthened and give us the ability to wait “expectantly”.

When expect the Lord to come through for us…
We can wait with hope, faith and trust.

“… Confess your faults (your slip-ups, your wayward steps, your sins)  one to another, and [also]  pray one for another, that ye may be healed (for your mind and heart to get back in the spiritual balance needed). The effectual fervent (heartfelt and continued) prayer of a righteous man availeth much….” – James 5:16 (KJV)

Who needs Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat anda  hundred other social media networks,  when you have a network of friends like your church family and your Brothers and Sisters in Christ?

Praying for each other has tremendous power – it releases tremendous power, and truly dynamic in the way that it works. Each time we share our needs with one other we can bring them to the Lord and He will bring the healing, restoration and intervention needed in our lives. Another good thing about sharing with one another is that there may be someone else in your “network” may have gone through and experienced the same thing and, we can give support and understanding that is needed.

Having a network of friends around you praying for anything that comes up, is such a powerful thing. I would dare say it is a force to reckoned with! There is nothing that stop a church or a Child of God on their knees!! AMEN! It can bring comfort and support to the one who is in need. We need to continuously bring those needs as they arise before the Lord.

There is unmatched power available from our Lord!

Can I get an AMEN????

“…To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” – Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)

Just reading those words and knowing that truth can be encouraging. There are different times and seasons in our lives. We have some wonderful dreams of what we want to do in life, but there is a season for it to become a reality. Sometimes things can get put on the back burner (which a lot of us do), because it’s just not the right time. Just like there is a season for all the different types of fruit and vegetables to ripen, it is the same for all the things we want to become a reality in our lives.

If you are longing for the things God has planted in your heart to become a reality, just be patient and be encouraged, because seasons change. You’ll come to the season for these things to be birthed and produce fruit.

Our times and seasons are in God’s hands
For these are part of His master plan.

“…When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee…” – Isaiah 43:2 (KJV)

I have always loved this verse. I’m so glad that no matter what we go through in life, God is right there with us, walking every step of the way. He won’t let troubled waters overwhelm us. He won’t let fiery trials burn us and consume us. Even though we may feel like we’re overwhelmed and drowning in the sea of despair, He will uphold us. There are many times that we can’t see a way out when we’re in the midst of the storm. But that’s exactly why we need to stay close to God. God tells us that He is always, and will always be with us every moment, of every day. He’s already into tomorrow, He knows what lies ahead and He knows what we will face. We can completely trust and depend on Him to walk us through whatever comes our way and to be there when we come out on the other side. And we will get through it, as long as we trust the Lord and keep our eyes focused on Jesus. He is the source of our comfort and hope!

If you’re feeling overwhelmed right now with what you are facing, let me encourage you today to keep looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Even when you can see Him or feel Him around you, He is.

When going through the storms of life,
Keep on trusting in Jesus, and He will see you through!

“…..And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief [your lack of firmly relying trust]: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” – Matthew 17: 20 (KJV)

There’s a song by the same the title that I just love! It’s such a great reminder to all of us that it only takes a little bit of faith!

Sometimes we think that we don’t have much faith. We often look at others and think they have a lot more faith than we do. But Jesus in our verse, that even if we had faith as small as a mustard seed, we could do incredible things in God – nothing will be impossible because with God all things are possible. We can speak to our mountains and conquer them with our faith firmly placed in God.

So don’t limit yourself. Take your mustard seed of faith (which is a VERY tiny thing) today and see what God can do with it.

It only takes a little bit of faith…
To conquer whatever mountain it is that we face!

“…Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets….” – Matthew 7:12 (KJV)

What a verse!! This is a great principle that everybody in the world should be living by! Everyone knows how when we’ve been mistreated – so you would think that would prevent us from mistreating others. How we react to people, is how they will react back. If we respond with hatred and harsh words, most times harsh words come back to us. We need to always need to keep in mind of how we’d feel before we respond negatively to a situation. I know as I wrote that some just thought, “that’s not always easy when I’m feeling angry or hurt.” And I agree, but it so important to cultivate that kind of thinking in our relationships and dealings with people.

Doing this we will change our world for the better!

“…⁴ Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.⁵ Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass…” – Psalm 37:4-5 (KJV)

I was reading these two verses and wondered, “What exactly does that mean? Delight thyself in the Lord.” Delighting ourselves in the Lord to me means to live in obedience and commitment to Him, to talk with Him and enjoy His presence. He will give us the desires of our heart – because the desires of our heart will become His desires for us. And here is what I want us to get out of our post today, What we desire should be what the Lord desires, and God will bring it to pass as we commit our way to Him and trust in Him.

Whatever desire God has placed in your heart – keep trusting and believing in Him and committing it to the Lord, because before you know it, He WILL bring it to pass.

As you delight yourself in the Lord,
What you desire will be your reward.