It's personal

We understand faith up to a certain level, but last week God told me to have faith in my relationship with Him and it got me thinking. Ok, so not just faith in Him, but faith in our relationship, because it's personal. Think for a second what the difference is. When we meet God we start to build a relationship with Him, the same way that we would start any friendship.

At the beginning you are unsure of who this person really is, what he likes, how he reacts, how he loves, how he speaks etc. As the relationship develops you see His kindness, you experience His love and blessings and you learn about His character and personality. At some stage you reach a point where you can put faith in the relationship that has developed. You can rely on the relationship, because you know Him as a person. You know that the relationship can withstand ups, downs and misunderstandings and you come to know that He always has your back and loves you with an unconditional love.

It is during challenging or teaching times that we can put our faith in our relationship with Him. We can know that even though He seems silent, He will speak again. We know that even though we think we might have messed up, He will never turn His back on us. Even when the enemy or people around us try and convince us otherwise, we can know and stand sure that He will never leave us or forsake us and that He is a good God.

Just because the circumstances in our lives change, doesn't mean that God changes as well. He is always consistent and when times are tough, we need to exercise faith in our relationship with Him and hold on to what we know and not to what we feel.

Ensure today that you know God personally so that you can rely on your relationship with Him when times are challenging. He will never leave you or forsake you and He has a plan. Hold on tightly and find peace in the midst of the storm. He will quiet the wind and the waves and you will be able to see clearly what was going on all along.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

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Ask!

“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matt 21:22

Ask and you will receive. The problem is not that we don't ask, but that we don't wait to receive. We ask, but we leave our prayer times and go find our own solutions instead of waiting on God's plans and answers. Then we find ways to satisfy our desires temporarily with the wrong things or people, instead of waiting for the right things or people. This can often lead to disappointment and then we blame God again for not providing. Meanwhile we went chasing the wrong thing and totally missed the blessing. Scary hey?

I totally understand why this is happening. We live in a culture where everything is fast, comfortable, convenient and accessible. We tend to subconsciously think that God also needs to jump when we push the prayer button and when He doesn't we assume that He's not listening or that He doesn't care. Those thoughts are such lies! We know that the Bible says "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31 So clearly God does care and wants to be intimately involved in the detail of our lives.

We need to be confident in who God is. He is a God who speaks and leads and He will not leave you alone on your journey. If He hasn't given you an answer yet, then the answer is still coming. We need to grow in patience, knowing that God has our best interests at heart. He knows what the right timing is for everything in our lives and we can cast our cares fully on Him and trust Him completely.

Waiting isn’t easy, but it is totally worth it! I know how hard waiting can be, but the best is yet to come. Choose to exercise some patience today and accept (and find rest) in the fact that your answer might take a while, but it’s on its way. The plans that God has for us far exceed our wildest dreams and expectations and if we are willing to seek His face and wait on His instructions then we open the door to His throne room full of blessings.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

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Perfect love

It always amazes me how many times I can read the same scripture and then, after I don't know how many times, get something completely different or new from it. Or I just completely forgot about the scripture and then when I read it again it is so refreshing to me. It really is amazing how God put so many layers in the Bible for us to discover!

I recently read the following scripture "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." 1 John 4:18

This scripture really is amazing! When we have a revelation of how much God loves us, we cannot fear Him. With the word 'fear' I'm referring to 'being afraid of'. Have you ever thought of why you would be afraid of someone? You might be afraid of someone because they can hurt you physically or emotionally or punish you. But God has no intention of hurting us or punishing us. Jesus has already died for every sin that we have ever committed and will ever commit and He has taken the entire punishment upon Himself. There is no more punishment left for us.

Thus if we receive the revelation of God's love for us, we will fear no more and we will be free to walk without feelings of fear, guilt or condemnation as His love casts out all fear and keeps us in relationship with Him. If our revelation of His love is too small, then we are not yet perfected in love and fear might overtake us from time to time and make us feel condemned.

When God looks at us He sees us clothed in righteousness and in right standing with God, because of what Jesus has done. There is no disappointment in His eyes, only love for us. It is His love that sets us free, it fills us with peace and joy and gives us a foundation of security, knowing that we are always in the palm of His hand, that His favour is on us and that He is always in control.

Do not be afraid and do not be ashamed, but run into the arms of God. Ask Him today to give you a greater revelation of His love for you, so that you can be perfected in love. There you will find acceptance, love, rest and a peace that transcends all understanding.

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

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God knows

I think the subtitle to this post should be "Keep calm, God knows".

He knows. He knows. He knows. I just want to keep on writing that for an entire page. He knows the desires of your heart, He knows what you need and He knows the plans which He has for you. He is a good God, a loving father and a best friend. He knitted you together in your mother's womb. His heart is for you, His love is over you and His favour is upon you.

He sees your every need and hears your every heart cry and He is not panicking, He has a plan. He has plans for good and not for evil, plans to prosper you, for a future and a hope. He knows every desire that you haven't even discovered yet, He knows what you are going to ask before you even ask it and He plans how to meet it. He knows what will fulfil you and what you enjoy doing the most and He works everything together for your good. Sometimes we might not understand things or the reasons for things changing, but He knows. He's protecting you, shaping you and changing you or moving you into the person or situation which He knows you will find most fulfilling. He is a good God and that is something we should never forget. He is in all the details and He planned it all in advance.

His ways are perfect and often unconventional, but beauty will always be evident, His grace will abound and His love will overflow. He looks at the heart, not the face and He listens to the story, not judge the consequences. His mercy is great and His arms are wide open. He is a comfort to all who seek Him, He rebuilds whatever is broken and restores all that was stolen. He is the epitome of kindness and the lover of our souls.

Come today and bring it all to Him. There is no prerequisite, no perfect way, just come and bring it all. He sees you, the hurt part of you, the broken you, the misunderstood you, the beautiful you, He knows you and He still loves you.

“He fulfils the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” Psalm 145:19

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1

“But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14

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These words...

How often do we monitor the words that come out of our mouths? The Bible says that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21

Recently I was sitting at a cafe eating breakfast and just enjoying the view. I couldn't help but pick up on some of the conversations going on around me. As I heard little snippets, I realised how much people had to complain about. I didn't consciously follow the conversations, but negative thoughts and complaints were all over the place. It is so sad that negative stories are made so much more sensational than all the good things and beauty around us.

I do realise that sometimes we just need to talk about the things that we are struggling with or dealing with in our lives. We confide in a friend, we encourage each other and we talk about solutions and this is all up building. When our conversations stray from solutions and struggles and only focus on criticism, slander and everything that is wrong in the world, we start sowing bad seeds and soon we will reap a negative attitude.

A negative attitude has never changed the world, needless to say changed the conditions surrounding our own lives. Attitude is everything and when we sow good seeds with our words our focus moves from everything that can be wrong or go wrong to the beautiful things in life and those things that we can be thankful for. A positive attitude cannot always change the issues in our lives, but it can help us deal with them in a better way.

There is so much power in our words. We have the ability to change our friends, family, children and the people around us by speaking life over them and encouraging them to be all that they can be by focussing on their strengths and appreciating them for who they are. When we start seeing them in this light, love will flow freely and relationships will grow stronger. It is too easy to spot the faults and it's a decision to move them aside and focus on the positives. Maybe your words of love are all someone needs to boost their confidence and initiate a change.

There are too many people in this world walking around feeling useless and worthless and most likely they didn't choose to have this attitude, but was told over and over again by people in their lives that they will never amount to anything. Consequently these feelings don't encourage them to take pride in their work or to love people around them, how could they if they don't even love themselves? My heart breaks.

But we have the words of life, we can make a difference, because when we speak, we speak life and Jesus flows through us. You can be the change that someone needs. Let's instead of criticise, speak life and encourage with love and change the conditions around us by our words. Let's lift our gaze to heaven and get a perspective of love and tame the tongue. Let's put on positivity and walk confidently in the abundance of love which Jesus gave to us. Let’s be the difference that we want to see in the world.

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No judgement

When we realise that God is not "out to get" us and that He does not condemn us, then our view of God and the world will change so dramatically. God is more interested in loving people than pointing out their flaws and sins. We all have flaws and sins, but God is not panicking about them. Jesus has already died for all of our sins and any flaw that you have, God can overcome with the power of His Spirit that is in you.

When our revelation of God's love for us starts to grow, our vision will grow as well. We will start to see people through God's eyes and with a heavenly perspective instead of with our own judgmental eyes.

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5

It is a process and the journey starts with us. As we grow closer to Jesus our definition of love will change and our perspective will change. We will see ourselves through the eyes of God, we will see who He made us to be, perfect and in His likeness. He will reveal to us our strengths, abilities and gifts and shower us with His love. This will make us less critical of ourselves and will enable us to love ourselves more as His love covers every hurt, failure and wound and empowers us with confidence. As we learn more and more who we truly are, we become more comfortable in our own skin and around other people.

Naturally this will also flow out into the way that we view the people around us. We will stop seeing people as they stand in front of us and start seeing people for who God has made them to be. We get a download from heaven for each person and we see them through God's eyes and with His heart. This ability is absolutely amazing and enables us to unconditionally love others, to speak life over them and to encourage them to be who God made them to be.

There is so much beauty in the world and God has enabled us to love people and to help them shine. Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to inspire others and to see the potential that God has placed in each one of them unfold!

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No condemnation

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

Even though the Bible clearly says that there are now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, we still so often feel condemned or guilty. Maybe you do something that goes against what you learnt as a child or maybe it's judgemental words from a friend or family member? The point is that the devil will use any opportunity to make us feel guilty, because guilt makes us feel unloved and unworthy and ultimately makes us feel like God cannot use us or doesn't approve of us. These are all complete lies!

Jesus has already died for everything which we can ever possibly do wrong and not accepting His sacrifice and feeling guilty about it is a slap in the face. Facing the cross was not easy for Jesus, it was a massive sacrifice on His part and it was all for us, to allow us to walk in freedom and relationship with God. We should never let our communication or relationship with God be broken or become 'disconnected', because we feel guilty or condemned. God does not condemn. If you have strayed off track or if you are busy hurting yourself He will tell you and the Spirit will convict you. You will immediately know and He will at the same time give you the grace to deal with it. He always wants us to run into His arms and not away from Him. When we do something wrong we should run to Jesus, not hide from Him. There is nothing that we need to be ashamed about, He knows it all and He loves us despite our shortcomings and sins. His mercy is great and His grace knows no bounds.

The point of guilt and condemnation is to push us away from God and make us feel disconnected from Him. This is definitely not from God and red flags should pop up in your heart when you have these feelings. God knows that we are not perfect, but He loves us regardless and when He looks at us, He sees us through Jesus and that makes us look perfect. He is far more interested in what He can do in you, so that He can work through you, but the devil tries to convince us that God continually looks at our sins and tries to make us feel useless and worthless.

Do not fall into the devil's trap, but run in the freedom which we have in Christ. His love for you is unimaginable and He desires so much to spend time with you. He is the good Father and we are always welcome in His arms.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 2 Corinthians 3:17

"For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:10 - 11

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