“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all”
(2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV) Aren’t you glad that your troubles and trials are only temporary? In fact, today’s verse tells us they are momentary. Compared with eternity, our troubles don’t last long at all! As you stand strong in faith during times of adversity, scripture says that you are achieving eternal glory. When you confess your trust and reliance on God, you are passing the test. If you are in the middle of tough times today, look to Jesus! The Bible says that He is the Author and Finisher of your faith. He is the one who writes faith on your heart and then develops it to completion on the inside of you. Your part is to open your heart and choose words of faith and victory. Remember, your words set the course for your life. As you remind yourself that your troubles are only momentary and confess your trust and hope in Him, you will see His hand moving in your life. Focus on that eternal glory every day. As you do, you’ll move forward in victory and experience all He has for you! PRAYER Heavenly Father, thank You for working Your eternal glory in me. I cast my cares on You, knowing that my trials and troubles are only temporary. Thank You for Your eternal blessing on my life today and always in Jesus’ name. Amen. “ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea,
and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. MARK 11:23 .. FAITH .. YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE FAITH .. THE QUESTION IS HAVE YOU TURNED IT LOOSE AND SET IT FREE TO BEGIN WORKING IN YOUR LIFE ? .. GOD OUR FATHER .. There are simply not enough hours in the day for us to truly appreciate and thank God for all that He is and all that He does for us .. Through it all .. our good, our bad and our ugly .. undeserving as we are He loves us unconditionally and He remains faithful to us .. His Word is solid and true .. unchanging .. just as He is .. God has given us His everything .. His Word, His promises and His blessings .. God’s gifts were given and He expects them to be taken .. Keep in mind also that God is a Father of equal opportunities .. He has absolutely no favourites .. which means that the promises and blessings He gives to one of us are available to all of us .. God has given each one of us a measure of faith .. and He is calling on you to turn your faith loose so that you can move into position in order to receive His abundant grace and favor in your life .. God gave .. and He expects you to take .. but in order to receive you first have to believe that the gifts are already yours .. IT IS TIME TO TURN YOUR FAITH LOOSE !! Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven .. ( Matthew 18:18 ) SO HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT ACTIVATING YOUR FAITH AND TURNING IT LOOSE ? .. Well it is simple really .. you only have to apply one little formula .. and you are blessed by the fact that the formula is one that you are already familiar with .. Believing + Confessing = Faith Turned Loose !! Now as much as many of us would prefer this to be some groundbreaking new secret .. it is not .. it is just an essential, basic truth .. one that we have all heard many times before .. Isn’t it amazing that we all love to voice our opinions on various situations and circumstances that come across our paths .. and because we stand fast on our opinions we seem to have no problem opening our mouths to confess how good or bad .. how fair or unfair .. how kind or rude .. how irritating or friendly .. how happy or sad .. etc .. On a daily basis we openly and honestly confess so many opinions and beliefs that we have regarding a wide range of people and issues .. and we do this without even giving it a second thought .. What about God and His Word ?.. Why is it that we believe and confess in full faith all the rubbish that the world is polluting us with .. BUT when it comes to God and His Word we are still walking around doubtful and unconvinced of what He says .. Existing this way just does not make sense and it was never, never God’s intention for your life .. He did not create you to merely exist, miserable and frustrated in a sad and dying world .. He called you to live and enjoy a life filled with His abundant grace and favor .. And God has armed you with everything that you require to start this new life of yours .. you have His presence .. you have His Word .. and you have faith .. TURN YOUR FAITH IN GOD LOOSE .. AND LET satan KNOW THAT YOU ARE HIS NUMBER ONE ENEMY !! JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER Hebrews 13:8 Wherever you are right now.. will you just stop for a moment.. stop and allow your mind to take a brief journey back in time.. think about past situations that almost broke you .. think about the times you wondered how you were going to make it through .. think about the times where everything was going wrong and you were ready to just give up .. O.K. so after reflecting a little on the past .. doesn’t it amaze you to realise how your faith has delivered you so many times before .. every trial or tribulation that you once faced is now nothing but a distant memory .. God has always been with you and every time you have called out to Him in faith He has shown up and fulfilled His promises in your life .. so why should today be any different .. God does not change like the blowing winds .. He is the same yesterday, today and forever .. which means that if He was there for you yesterday .. He will be there for you today .. and He will surely continue to be with you forever more .. But in order for you to receive anything from God .. no matter how big or small your request to Him may be .. you are going to have to turn your faith loose and stand in absolute agreement with Him for the things He has already spoken into your life .. BELIEVING + CONFESSING = FAITH TURNED LOOSE !! You have to understand that everything .. absolutely everything .. that you receive from God is all received in exactly the same way .. through your faith !! .. and your faith will definitely be activated the moment you start believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth .. Take a look at what Jesus is saying in our above Scripture from the book of Mark .. Do you notice that as Jesus is teaching He mentions the word “believes” once .. and yet He mentions the word “say” three times .. Interesting isn’t it .. and funnily enough that seems to be where our problem lies .. for the most part many of us are not actually messing up in the “believing” part .. but we are unfortunately still missing it in the “saying” part .. There is no doubt about it .. You are going to have to confess with your mouth what you believe in your heart for God’s Word to have any impact in your life .. Nowhere in His Word does God teach us that if we just believe in our hearts that we will receive the answers we so desperately seek .. BUT .. in various Scriptures He does teach that if you believe in your heart and follow that up by confessing what you believe with your mouth .. whatever it is that you are requesting from God’s Word WILL become a reality in your life .. However, what else does it say? "This message is near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart." This is the message of faith that we spread .. ( Romans 10:8 ) Faith .. Faith .. Faith .. without it, it is impossible to please God .. and that is why He so lovingly gave you a measure of faith in the first place .. Get your word of faith in both your heart and your mouth .. and start thanking God for the answers to your requests .. because as you believe so will you receive .. As God sees your faith in Him beginning to shine .. He will richly reward you with His greatness .. .. FAITH .. USE IT .. DON’T LOSE IT …… LOOSE IT !! So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. JAMES 4 : 7
A new year has just broken her beautiful dawn into our lives .. and the one thing that we do not want to do is enter into this new, exciting time the same way that we came out of last year .. filled to overflowing with fear and doubt .. Each one of us has a very important responsibility that lies ahead of us .. and the responsibility is this .. DO NOT CONFESS DOUBT AND FEAR .. RESIST THEM !! Doubt and Fear .. two of the worst emotions for us to try and cope with .. and yet at the same time two of the hardest emotions for us to resist .. but resist them is exactly what we have to do .. Do not open your mouth and confess your doubts .. Do not open your mouth and confess your fears .. Now if you are feeling doubt at this very moment in time .. you are not being told to say that you are not doubting .. And if you are feeling fear at this very moment in time .. you are not being told to say that you are not dealing with any fears .. The lesson that you have to learn here is .. Do Not SAY Anything About Doubt and Fear At All .. What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words .. ( Proverbs 18:21 ) We use our mouths and our words to confess, acknowledge and declare things in our lives .. so instead of confessing doubt and fear .. you must resist them .. Turn to .. Rely on .. and CONFESS GOD’S WORD INSTEAD .. Doubt .. Fear .. Doubt .. Fear .. Are you aware that in reality dealing with doubt and fear is actually none of your business .. That’s right .. doubt and fear come from the devil .. which makes them a bad thing .. therefore talking about doubt and fear is none of your business .. because they do not belong to you .. For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self control .. ( 2 Timothy 1:7 ) You are a very precious, chosen child of our Most High God .. and for this very reason you do not have a heart that is full of doubt and fear .. Yes it may be possible that as you face certain situations and circumstances in your life that you may have been tempted to doubt and feel afraid .. and yes it is also possible that for a brief moment you may have listened to the devil and surrendered to his temptation .. but the good news is .. no wait .. the great news is .. you have all the power that you require to run the devil right out of your life .. permanently .. if you will start to resist him .. CHANGE YOUR CONFESSION .. Stop talking negatively .. Stop confessing your doubts .. Stop confessing your fears .. that is not what you have .. and that is not who you are .. CHANGE YOUR CONFESSION .. Start declaring who you are in Jesus Christ .. Start declaring what you are in Jesus Christ .. You are a believer .. You are a brand new creature .. You are blessed .. You are anointed by the blood of the Lamb .. You are the apple of God’s eye .. You are God’s favourite child .. Say that .. Think that .. Believe that .. Live that .. so that next time you are tempted to feel doubt and fear .. which will happen because none of us are above temptation .. you will have the right attitude and the power to resist the devil and his lies .. and when you resist him he has no option but to run away from you .. Confess with confidence that you refuse doubt and fear in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ .. and doubt and fear will leave you .. But if you allow doubt and fear to be entertained in your thoughts and by your words they will march right into your life .. they will become constant companions .. who will steal from you .. who will destroy you .. and who will ultimately defeat you if you allow them .. Doubt and fear are tempting, provoking twins of the enemy .. and you need to know that if you are going to say anything .. it would be far better for you to start speaking the words that God speaks .. Now what God says is “Fear Not”.. so what you need to say is .. “No, no, no, I will not fear, I am a child of God, and my Father has not given me a spirit of fear so I absolutely refuse to be afraid. I resist you, satan, in Jesus Name.” Remember that doubt and fear is none of your business .. well the same applies to all the negative confessions .. you have no business allowing doubt and fear based words to come out of your mouth .. doubt is the devils language and it is high time that you stop talking the devils language and start talking God’s language only .. God is a faith God .. and you are His faith child !! The temptation of fear and doubt may very well come knocking at your door .. but you have got to learn not to answer when they do .. Stop entertaining doubt in your life .. stop confessing fear and doubt into your life .. you have the choice !! You do not have to live in fear and doubt unless you want to .. you are not a doubter .. you are a believer so keep on believing .. If you continue to confess fear and doubt .. then you will continue to allow fear and doubt to have authority over you .. and if you continue to confess fear and doubt it is a guarantee that those very fears and doubts will only grow stronger dragging you deeper and deeper into despair .. But if you boldly and confidently confess, think, believe and live in God’s love for you and His protection over you .. and you boldly confess, think, believe and live a life that declares that every word God has spoken about you is true .. then you will always have more than enough power to resist .. resist .. resist .. After reading this .. each one of us should take a little time alone to seriously, seriously, seriously think about the things that we are saying and confessing on a regular basis .. As believers it is important for us to understand that each time we confess our fears .. each time we confess our doubts .. each time we confess our weaknesses .. each time we make a negative confession .. in essence what we are really saying is that God’s Word is not true and that our Father has failed to make His Word good and fruitful in our lives … CHANGE YOUR CONFESSION .. We must continue to hold firmly to our confession of faith. The one who made the promise is faithful ..(Hebrews 10:23) ALL THAT I HAVE SEEN TEACHES ME TO TRUST GOD FOR ALL THAT I HAVE NOT SEEN Deuteronomy 28:12
The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. - God wants to bless you. - Ultimately God is the source of every blessing. - We must depend on God for His blessing. - And we must pray for it every day! PRAYER: Lord, thank You for Your blessing on my life. I will look to You as the source of every blessing. Amen. I can do all things in Him that strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
There are times in our lives when we wonder how we are going to do something, how we are going to handle a certain situation or where we would find the strength to do it etc… Your problem can be the pain of sickness or death; it might be connected to a setback in your business dealings; you might be confronted with a completely new way of living, or a new place, town or country; you might be asked to undertake a task that you are not equipped for. Often on such circumstances we tend to give in to anxiety to such an extent that we become powerless and no longer have the ability to make well-though-out decisions. The result is that we risk the danger to act irrationally and fail as a consequence. Make Jesus your mentor and partner in every aspect of your life and decisions. Take your worries, whatever they might be, to God in prayer. Open your life and thought to His guidance by being sensitive to the whispers of the Holy Spirit. He will not let you down, He will give you the ability to handle anything – do not fear the future, Christ is already there. If you are right then there is no need to get angry, And if you are wrong then
you don’t have any right to get angry. Patience with family is love, Patience with others is respect, Patience with self is confidence and Patience with GOD is faith. Never Think Hard about PAST, It brings Tears… Don’t Think more about FUTURE, It brings Fears… Live this Moment with a Smile, It brings Cheers.!!!! Every test in our life makes us bitter or better, Every problem comes to make us or break us, Choice is our whether we become victim or victorious !!! Search a beautiful heart not a beautiful face. Beautiful things are not always good but good things are always beautiful. Do you know, why God created gaps between fingers? So that someone who is special to you, comes and fills those gaps by holding your hands forever. Enjoy serving the LORD, and he will give you what you want. Psalm 37:4 When we submit to God's plans, we can trust our desires. Our assignment is found at the intersection of God's plan and our pleasures. What do you love to do? What brings you joy? What gives you a sense of satisfaction? Some long to feed the poor. Others enjoy leading the church… Each of us has been made to serve God in a unique way… The longings of your heart, then, are not incidental; they are critical messages. The desires of your heart are not to be ignored; they are to be consulted. As the wind turns the weather vane, so God uses your passions to turn your life. God is too gracious to ask you to do something you hate. Just Like Jesus (Max Lucado) The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. |
Ana & Andre Schoonbee God uses us to motivate and encourage the body. Authors
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