Today I Choose Life

Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices and instruments and making melody with all your heart to the Lord. Ephesians 5:19

The King James version translates this verse as "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heat to the Lord." I like to apply it both ways. The way I speak to myself is important, and the way I speak to others is important too. It is easy to fall into the trap of talking about negative things, problems, disappointments, and struggles. But none of that helps us stay filled with the Spirit and none of that reflects what the Holy Spirit wants to speak to us because He is not negative in any way. Even when He speaks to us about a problem, He speaks to bring a solution; and when He speaks to us about difficult situations, He does so to bring us comfort and strength. The more we think and talk about our problems, the weaker we become, but we are strengthened as we talk and think about Jesus and His promises to us. Life is not always easy; we all face difficulties at times. God has filled us with His Spirit to enable us to do difficult things with ease. When you are going through a hard time, keep your ear tuned in to the voice of God. Speak the positive things God says to you through His Word and through the voice of His Spirit in your heart. We all feed on our own words so it is very important to speak good words that are full of life.. Choose your words wisely, for they have the power of life or death.

 

 

Dealing With Rejection

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God (Who is the Source) of every comfort (consolation and encouragement) 2 Corinthians 1:3

We all desire to be accepted, not rejected. I hate the lonely, isolated feeling and emotional pain that come from feeling rejected, yet at times I experience it. There was a time that I did not know that I could do anything about it. Thank God, all that has changed! Years ago, something happened that brought back those old pains of rejection. I reached out to someone who had hurt me greatly during my childhood. Instead of an apology, I got excuses and I was essentially blamed for something that wasn't my fault and received a pretty clear message that this person didn't have room for me in their life and no interest in me whatsoever. I wanted to hide and feel sorry for myself, but instead I immediately asked God to comfort me. I asked Him to heal my wounded emotions and my bleeding heart and to enable me to handle the situation as Jesus would have. As I continued to lean on God, I felt warmth come over me, almost as though a soothing oil was being poured over my wounds. I asked God to forgive the person who had hurt me, and He brought to my mind sayin, "Hurting people, hurt people." His intimate, personal response brought healing to my wounded spirit. God is the source of all comfort, consolation, and encouragement. Please, do everything you can to develop and maintain an intimate relationship with Him because that is the context within which you will be able to hear His voice, receive His comfort and healing, and be strengthened by His encouragement and care.

 

Firey Furnace

Because he loves me, says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name." Psalm 91:14

What do you think it would feel like to have the Lord reach down and rescue you when you are in trouble?

Without audibly hearing God's voice or feeling His bodily presence, we often forget to seek His wisdom, and instead make decisions on our own. But the Lord is with us, no matter what we need. We must constantly remind ourselves that we will never be alone.

"As sure as ever God puts His children into the furnace, He will be in the furnace with them." Charles Spurgeon

 

God's In Love With Me!

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2

I am always on His mind, the Lord dreams about me, therefore I will set my mind on Him. With my whole heart I will love him, with my mind and all of my strength. I choose this day to set my mind on all of Your ways...the ways of heaven...not on the things that I can see in this earthly realm. I will acknowledge the supernatural realm that is taking place behind the veil...the veil that seems untorn to most. In the day I will dream of You...You are always on my mind! Wasting my life searching you...Though you are holy, I know that I too am always on your mind even though I am weak and lowly. In You I am made strong.....For I am in love with God and God is in love with me!! How far will you let me go? How better will you let me be?

 

Attitude Determines Our Destiny

Keep guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life Proverbs 4:23

"Attitude is very important; our attitudes become the behavior that we display. Attitude, good or bad, begins with thoughts. A well known quote says, "Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny." Destiny is the outcome of life; character is who we are; habits are subconscious patterns of behavior. Our destiny, or the outcome of our lives, actually comes from our thoughts. That is where the entire process begins. No wonder the bible teaches us to entirely renew our minds, developing new attitudes and ideals. We are to be good students of God's word and by it develop new thinking patterns, which will ultimately change our entire destiny, the outcome of our lives. We can hinder the Holy Spirit with bad attitudes such as bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, mean-spiritdness, disrespect, seeking revenge, or being ungrateful- and that list could go on and on. The Holy Spirit flows through a godly attitude, not an ungodly one. Satan will always to to fill our minds with wrong thoughts, but we do not have to receive what he tries to give us. I would not take a spoonful of poison simply because someone offered it to me, and neither would you. If we are smart enough to refuse poison, we should be intelligent enough not to allow Satan to poison out thoughts, our attitudes, and ultimately our destiny." 

 

We Can Change Gods' Mind

The Lord turned from the evil which He had thought to do to His people. Exodus 32:14

Do you know that this verse tells us that prayer can change God's mind?  As a result of someone who will simply take the time to talk to Him and listen to Him, God can actually reconsider something He had planned to do.  When Moses went up Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments, he was gone longer than the people wanted him to be.  In the absence of their leader, they forgot the Lord, gave in to their fleshly desires and decided to melt all their jewelry, make a golden calf, and worship it.  God spoke to Moses on the mountain and said, essentially, "You better get back down there, because the people have really gotten themselves in a mess. And I'm angry about it."  Thank God Psalm 30:5 says that His anger lasts only a moment, but His mercy is forever!
Moses began to intercede for the people because he cared so much about them. God had already said to him "Leave Me Alone, for these people are stiff-necked and stubborn" Exodus 32:9-10. But Moses refused to give up because the issue was not settled in his heart.  He loved the people, he knew the nature of God, and he knew the character of God.  On top of that, he knew that God really loved the people and did not really want to leave them stranded.  Moses asked God, to change His mind Exodus 32:12 and according to the first verse, God did.  We can make a difference when we pray!  Today when you pray, know that God hears and He will answer!!!  Joyce Meyer

God......Speak To Me!!

Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord receives my prayer Psalm 6:8-9

When we pray, God hears us and He answers. We need to become like David, confident as he was when he wrote the verses in Psalms. We can live with confidence as long as we know that God is on our side and that He will help us win our battles in life. We are not alone. God is with us! I find that reading the book of Psalms is a great way to hear from God. He speaks to us through His word and He watches over His word to perform it. Psalms are especially encouraging in times of trouble. As we read them, we need to take them personally. Don't meditate on them as if they are not for you. Meditate on them as if they are yours, words directly from God. His personal letter to us. He wants us to know that He has good plans for us and no matter who comes against us, HE IS FOR US!! God delivered David from his enemies and He will do the same for us if we remain confident in Him. Stay in peace and continue thanking God that He is working in our lives. God has not forgotten us. He will not be late in delivering the answer to our prayers. He may not be early, but He won't be late! Keep your vision in front of you and don't ever give up!! God will send us help; He will support, refresh, and strengthen us!!