Tag: Christianity

Seeing The Good

This phrase came to my mind recently, “Seeing the good”. As I pondered it, I thought of how it can be hard to see good when things seem less than good. Our vision is limited when we only look at the natural circumstances that are before us. However, when we look at circumstances through our eyes of faith, we are able to see past the natural and have hope. We can “see” the good that the Lord wants to do in our lives according to the promises in His Word.

Ephesians 3:20 NIV, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,”

Photo by: Davis Sanchez of Panama 🇵🇦

I was also reminded that when the Lord Himself looks at us, He can see good. He sees all that He can accomplish through us. I can’t imagine the excitement that flows from His heart when He sees us becoming who He desires for us to be. When He sees us taking steps of faith to see past the natural and believe Him for good things, I know He is delighted.

Zephaniah 3:17 NIV, “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Our Heavenly Father is proud of us when we work to fulfill His purpose for our lives. Sometimes we can feel discouraged if things are not happening as fast as we would like. But our Father makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Even now, there is beauty in the process as we are growing day by day. If you struggle to see the good in where God has you today, don’t lose hope. Embrace His promises and choose to believe that what He says is true. And also remember that…

“Those who hope in the Lord will never be put to shame.” Psalm 25:3

Keep “seeing the good” through your eyes of faith. And wait expectantly for God to move on your behalf!

Photo by: Kenex Media sa of South Africa 🇿🇦

Keep The Lord First Place

Psalm 37:5 ESV, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.”

The Lord always takes notice of our dedication to Him. When we give our hearts and lives to fulfill His purposes, He will act on our behalf. He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Committing our ways to the Lord does require humility and sacrifice. Having a humble heart will allow us to be open to the Lord’s direction. His direction can come from His Word, the voice of the Holy Spirit, or He will sometimes use other people to speak into our lives, just to name a few.

God is not limited in His ability to get through to us, but we must be willing to listen. In order to go deeper with the Lord, we must also be willing to make sacrifices or give up things that are hindering our progress in our relationship with Him.

Photo by: Garon Piceli of Brazil 🇧🇷

Learning to trust the Lord, requires spending adequate time getting to know Him, the same way we do with our earthly relationships. There are many things that we commit to as we go through life, but our relationship with the Lord should always be number one on our list.

I pray that we would make the Lord first place as we commit our ways to Him. We can be confident in His faithfulness, as we trust Him to act on our behalf.

Trust With All Of Your Heart

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

No matter how familiar this verse is to us, it will never lose its essence. As we trust in the Lord, He promises to make our paths straight. Even if we feel lost, we aren’t, because as long as we are trusting in Jesus and acknowledging Him in all of our ways, we know He is directing our paths. Every twist and turn we encounter is part of His divine plan. We don’t even have to understand everything, all we have to do is trust Him.

Photo by: Quang Nguyen Vinh of Vietnam 🇻🇳

Submit every worry and uncertainty to the Lord in prayer and trust Him to work out what is best for you. Even if things don’t go exactly like you thought it would, still choose to trust God. Some of our greatest joys will come from allowing the Lord to lead us into unknown territory. When we are depending solely on the Lord for guidance and provision, we will grow in our faith in Him, grow in our relationship with Him, and we will experience His abundant blessings like never before.

I pray the Lord will continue to empower you to trust in Him with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, and acknowledge Him in all of your ways.

Florida Memories: The Sweet Fragrance of Jesus

2 Corinthians 2:14 ESV, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”

A couple of days ago I finally got around to cleaning out my purse. I had been putting it off for awhile, but as the old saying goes, “better late than never”. There were so many papers and other unnecessary items stuffed in there, and it was so heavy. Florida’s tropical climate produced a lot of rain, so it was also nice to remove the little umbrella I kept in my purse at all times.

Amongst the many papers, I even found a few Publix receipts from last summer. If you’ve ever been to Florida, then you know Publix is the main grocery store there. By the way, I do miss the five dollar sushi rolls special that Publix had on Wednesdays. Here’s a picture of the vegetable rolls I loved to eat with soy sauce…

$5 veggie rolls!!

Anyway, while working at my company in Florida, there was this really nice lady. She had worked at the company for quite sometime. I vaguely remember her introducing herself to me in the hallway shortly after I started working there. Although we worked in different departments, I would usually run into her in the hallway or the break room. I always enjoyed our short chats because she seemed so genuine, and was always very kind and peaceful. There was something very unique about her.

Well she ended up becoming very ill and was out of work for several months. I can remember the morning they informed us that she had passed away. After she passed away, her son, who also worked at my company, sent out an email expressing his appreciation to everyone for the kindness shown toward his family during the passing of his mother.

At the end of the email, he shared his mother’s favorite prayer with us. While I was cleaning out my purse, I found a copy of the prayer. I had printed it out and put it up on my desk when her son shared it with us. And during my last week of work, I took it down and put it in my purse. So while I was cleaning out my purse, I found it.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, Help me to spread your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so completely, that all my life may be only a radiance of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that everyone with whom I come into contact may feel your presence within me. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only you Jesus. Amen. (author unknown)

Photo by: Mareefe

Coming across this prayer not only reminded me of my lovely coworker, but it also reminded me that when we walk in the ways of Christ, people truly notice. When we are devoted to Him, we will give off a sweet fragrance that will be pleasing to those around us like my coworker did.

My coworker had a desire to, “spread the fragrance of Jesus” everywhere she went. Although we never talked about Christianity, I saw it through her actions and could feel her love for Jesus through her warm and gentle spirit. She allowed the Spirit of God to live through her. When her son shared her favorite prayer, it confirmed what I had already experienced in my encounters with her. I’m glad I had the chance to meet her.

What a privilege it is that we as Christians are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are privileged to spread His fragrance everywhere we go. When people meet us, they should also meet Jesus.

🌼Previous Florida Memories post: Florida Memories: Sharing With My Sister

Have No Fear Of Sudden Disaster

Proverbs 3:25-26 NLT, “25 You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, 26 for the Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.”

These verses always bring me comfort because there are so many unexpected and tragic things happening in the world today. The media is filled with depressing news reports and shocking headlines. It can certainly invoke feelings of fear and insecurity. Since life changing things beyond our control can happen suddenly, we may find ourselves feeling uneasy. However praying for those who are hurting due to tragedy and offering assistance when possible is how we can intervene to help.

God reminds us through these verses in Proverbs not to fear sudden disasters and destruction. He is our security as we live each day. Although there is no way to know what each day will hold, we can be at peace knowing the Lord is sovereign over each day and He will provide what we need and protect us.

Proverbs 2:8 NLT, “He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.”

Photo: Denniz Futalan of Philippines 🇵🇭

Tragedies will sometimes happen because it’s a part of life. Of course knowing they will happen doesn’t make it any easier when they do, but focusing on the Lord keeps things in order. He cares deeply about every detail of our lives. We can share anything with Him in prayer. It’s important that we stay anchored in the truth of God’s Word, because having His Word hidden in our hearts, will strengthen us and keep our souls secure during trying times.

When life leaves us speechless, the Lord understands the cries of our hearts. We don’t have to always have the right words to say, or understand all the why’s. We’re human and He understands our pain.

I’m thankful that we have the peace and comfort that the Holy Spirit provides to us. He is our ever present Help in trouble (Psalm 46:1), and we can depend on Him to keep our hearts in perfect peace as we keep our minds stayed on Him.

Isaiah 26:3-4 ESV, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

Photo: Public Domain Photography

In Awe Of His Love

Psalm 63:3 NLT, “Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!”

Praise the Lord for His unfailing love! There is no limit to His love. His love can accomplish anything. The closer we walk with the Him, the more we will experience His love. Knowing Him is knowing love.

Even though at times the depth of His love goes beyond our limited understanding, He still knows how to reach our hearts so that we will know He loves us. His love always finds a way to shine into our lives. There is no peace like knowing the love of God. I pray that you would feel the presence of the Lord and rest in the assurance of His unfailing love today.

Photo by: James Wheeler of Canada 🇨🇦

When All Else Seems To Fail

We’ve all had those times in life where things didn’t work out the way we had planned. It seems like everything you have tried in a certain situation has not succeeded, or you are in a season of trusting God for the next steps because in the natural there seems to be no more solutions.

It can be tempting to want to give up during these frustrating times. It can be difficult to admit, but we sometimes even wonder why a God who loves us would allow certain things to happen in our lives or in the world around us. However, it’s knowing that God loves us that gives us strength to keep persevering. He has a way of revealing His love and light in even the darkest times.

Photo by: freestocks.org of Poland 🇵🇱

The reality is that we are not going to always know everything or understand everything. Things will not always make sense to our natural minds. I heard a minister once say that if we are going to serve God wholeheartedly, there will be times we have to be comfortable with “not knowing“. He reveals things He wants us to know in His time and in His way, and certain things He may choose to leave a mystery to us.

One of the many joys of walking with Jesus is that He is never void of solutions. Everything that we encounter is part of God’s greater plan. Nothing that we go through is ever wasted, because He promises to work all things together for our good when we love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

Photo by: Segopotso Makhutja of South Africa 🇿🇦

When all else seems to fail…

We can be thankful that Jesus Christ is always the same:

Hebrews 13:8 NLT, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

We can be thankful that we serve a God who is all wise and all knowing:

1 Timothy 1:17 KJB, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

1 John 3:20 NLT, “Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.”

We can be thankful He promises to supply our needs:

Philippians 4:19 ESV, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

We can be thankful the Word of God will stand forever.

Isaiah 40:8 NLT, “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”

When all else seems to fails it just means we have finally come to the end of ourselves and we get to see the glory of the Lord revealed in our lives. The hope that we have in Jesus will never leave us empty.

Romans 10:11 NKJV, “For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

When all else seems to fail keep trusting Jesus one day at a time. He is faithful and will never fail you.