DEUTERONOMY 28:6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
In the Jewish community, the promise, “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out”, refers to being blessed in the affairs of one’s daily life, whether in or outside one’s home. So here, God is saying that you are blessed in your everyday life. Do you believe it? Do you believe that every day, your family and work life are blessed? Or do you think that you are blessed only during Christmas when you receive your gifts and year-end bonus, or when you get that promotion you have been wanting? Perhaps you think that the blessed life only begins when you meet the man or woman of your dreams! No, my friend, you are blessed every day and you have God’s Word for it. Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!” And because God’s Word says so, believe that every day of your life is loaded with benefits. Every morning, when you get up, believe that it is a day that the Lord has made, and rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24) Start the day expecting it to be loaded with the benefits that God has prepared just for you. At night, when it is time to sleep, know that you will be blessed when you get up in the morning because there will be another load of benefits from your heavenly Father, who so loves you unconditionally, waiting for you! You can’t make your blessings happen. But if you will just believe what God has said in His Word and act like it is so, the blessings will manifest in your life. In fact, God wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed! His Word declares it: “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out…Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!” Beloved, believe God’s Word. Believe Him for the blessings and you will find yourself loaded with His daily benefits! I am a soldier in the army of my God. The Lord Jesus Christ is my Commanding Officer. The Holy Bible is my code of conduct. Faith, Prayer, and the Word are my weapons of Warfare. I have been taught by the Holy Spirit, ...trained by experience, ...tried by adversity, ...and tested by fire. I am a volunteer in this army, and I am enlisted for eternity. I will either retire in this Army or die in this Army; But, I will not get out, ...sell out ...be talked out ...or pushed out. I am faithful, reliable, capable, and dependable. If my God needs, me, I am there. I am a soldier. I am not a baby. I do not need to be pampered, ...petted, ...primed up, ...pumped up, ...picked up, ...or pepped up. I am a soldier. No one has to call me, ...remind me, ...write me, ...visit me, ...entice me, ...or lure me. I am a soldier. I am not a wimp. I am in place, ...saluting my King, ...obeying His orders, ...praising His name, ...and building His Kingdom! No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy, or give me handouts. I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for, or catered to. I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around. I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside. I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit. When Jesus called me into this Army, I had nothing. If I end up with nothing, I will still come out even. I will win. My God will supply all my needs. I am more than a conqueror. I will always triumph. I can do all things through Christ. Devils cannot defeat me. People cannot disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me. Governments cannot silence me, and Hell cannot handle me! I am a soldier. Even death cannot destroy me. For when my Commander calls me from this battlefield, He will promote me to a captain. I am a soldier, in the Army, I'm marching, claiming victory. I will not give up. I will not turn around. I am a soldier, marching, Heaven bound. Revenge builds a lonely house. Space enough for one person. The lives of its tenants are reduced to one goal: make someone miserable. They do. Themselves!
Keep a sharp eye out for the weeds of bitter discontent. God’s healing includes a move out of the House of Spite, toward the spacious ways of grace, away from hardness toward forgiveness. Can he really, you wonder? Can He really clean up this mess? This history of sexual abuse? This raw anger at the father who left my mother? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart? Begin the process of forgiveness. Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Jesus did for you. Stay the course. You’ll spend less time in the spite house and more in the grace house. And as one who’s walked the hallways of both, believe me, you’re going to love the space of grace. You’ll get through this! “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.”(Mark 4:39, NKJV)
Have you ever thought about the fact that a boat can be surrounded by water, sailing through a vast ocean with water for miles in every direction, but it’s not any problem unless the boat starts taking on the water? If the boat starts allowing the ocean to come inside, before long, it will sink. The same principle is true in life. You can have trouble all around you — stress, frustration and worry. But the good news is, just like that boat, you don’t have to allow what’s on the outside get on the inside. When difficult times come, you don’t have to be overwhelmed by the waves of worry or fear. What should you do? Follow the example of Jesus. When He was in the midst of the storm, He stood up and spoke to the storm. Always remember, no matter what storms may come against you, the Greater One lives on the inside of you. Turn to Him and walk in His power. Don’t let the storm in, and speak peace to every area of your life! Father, thank You for filling me with Your Holy Spirit and empowering me to stand against the storms of life. Today I declare peace over every area of my life and thank You for working things out for my good in Jesus’ name. Amen. “Your iniquities have separated you from God; and your sins have hidden His face from you.” (Isaiah 59:2)
Disobeying God came with a huge price; humanity’s relationship with the Divine was sundered. To this very day, mankind’s iniquity separates us from God. We can no longer see His face. “We grope from the wall like the blind” (Isaiah 59:10) When we have no relationship with the Lord, when the power lines are down, when doubt, denial and disobedience leave us in darkness, how can we communicate with God? Thankfully God planned to turn the lights back on again through Jesus Christ; “Unto the upright there arises a light in the darkness; he is gracious and full of compassion.” (Psalm 112:4) “And I will bring the blind by a way they do not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known; I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. These things will I do to them and not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16) “Then Jesus spoke again to them saying: I am the light of the world, he that follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Prayer: Heavenly Father give me today the light that leads my paths, my ways and show me the light of Your glory in Jesus’ name…amen Meraai sê vir Gatiep: "Djy moenie dink djy sal by die hemel se hek kan ingaan as djou asem so na drank stink nie!" Gatiep: Dja Meraai, djy hou djou baaaie slim né. Maar daar is n technical point van hemel toe gaan wat djy nie van weetie. My asem ganie saamie, ek blaas hom mos hier yt!" The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for GOD to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he
eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. "GOD, how could you do this to me?" he cried. Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" Asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied. It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because GOD is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember that, the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of GOD. God bless you "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound." - Isaiah 61:1 According to Isaiah 61:1, Jesus has His heart set on helping three different groups of people. See them there? The poor, the brokenhearted, the captives. Who are these people? They're us! If you haven't figured out that you're that person yet, then you're not ready to get what it is He has to offer. But if in your heart you're saying, "You're right - I see myself there," then hang on. Christ has something phenomenal to offer you. He offers good things to humble people. The first specific people in this passage that need help are the poor. Some translations say afflicted. A good translation from the original Hebrew would be humble. This humility thing isn’t a surprise. In Matthew 5:3 Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," that is, people who aren't always 100% out for themselves. Are you the kind of person who lives your life for others and don't always think about what's best for you? You say, "Well I'd like to be, but then who is going to take care of me?" God is! This verse tells us that God takes care of the humble who will let Him meet their needs. Christ brings the good news - but you must be humble to hear it. He offers healing to the brokenhearted. Is your heart broken? This word describes people who have been hammered by some devastating blow. This difficult circumstance may have scarred you emotionally. There might be a profound sadness to your life because of something terrible that happened in your past. Isaiah 61:1 says that Christ came into this world to bind up the brokenhearted. Like a doctor attending a broken limb. Like someone ministering salve over an open sore to bring soothing and comfort to some emotional pain that's part of your life. Even here Jesus is "the great Physician." Now how great is that? He offers to set the captives free. If you've had a week of failure and feel trapped in a cycle of sin/confess and sin/confess and sin/confess then you know what it's like to be held captive. You are so tired of that same old sin. "When will that ever be gone from my life?" What you desperately need is some freedom. If you are chained to some sin, Christ wants to break that cycle in your life and bring release from that bondage and give you freedom. I tell you in Jesus' name that is what He came into this world to do - to bring freedom to those held captive to sin. A few days ago I was having some work done at my local garage.
A lady came in and asked for a seven-hundred-ten. We all looked at each other and another customer asked, "What is a seven-hundred-ten?" She replied, "You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine, I have lost it and need a new one." She replied that she did not know exactly what it was, but this piece had always been there. The mechanic gave her a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like. She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710. He then took her over to another car which had its hood up and asked "is there a 710 on this car?" She pointed and said, "Of course, it's right there." If you're not sure what a 710 is, scroll down and see it! |
Ana & Andre Schoonbee God uses us to motivate and encourage the body. Authors
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