New Blog Post: In Touch Magazine – Charles Stanley

“The Blessings of Inadequacy”

2 Corinthian’s 3:4-6 NCV We can say this, because through Christ we feel certain before God. We are not saying that we can do this work ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from Himself to His people. This new agreement is not a written law, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

Life is filled with struggles that reveal our human inadequacy: Physical problems leave us week and unable to cope; relational troubles bring confusion and stress; continual battles with bad habits and addictions make us feel defeated; and financial pressures damage our self-worth. No one likes challenges that are too big to handle, but God can use them for our good.

Maybe you have never considered inadequacy a blessing. After all, it stirs up all sorts of uncomfortable emotions that make us feel insignificant and weak. But God can turn the negatives into blessings if we acknowledge our helplessness, depend on His strength, and step into our challenges with confidence in Him.

Inadequacy can be a blessing since it:

·         Drives us to God as we recognize our helplessness.

·         Relieves us of the burden of trying to do God’s will in our own strength.

·         Motivates us to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

·         Provides an opportunity for the Lord to demonstrate what He can do.

·         Increases our usefulness to God by replacing pride with humility.

·         Allows Christ to receive all the glory.

·         Gives us peace as we rely on Him.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, believers have the ability to endure difficulty and accomplish whatever the Lord calls them to do. By claiming the adequacy of Christ, we can face every circumstance with a sense of confidence – not in ourselves but in God, who is capable.

New Blog Post: “Let God Lead You”

Psalm 32:8 KJV “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way thou shalt go.”

Prayer

Father God, I desire for You to take me out of my comfort zone. I relinquish my plans back to You in Jesus’ name. I know my plans are imperfect, but You know my heart’s desire and You have promised to work out everything for my good and for Your glory.

I ask for Your ideas and direction and I will follow Your instructions and plans. I will be persistent in following You and I will not run ahead of You. I know it is impossible for me to follow You without Your presence being within me. When I feel uncomfortable and dissatisfied in my soul and spirit I know You are stirring me up to jump out of the nest enabling me to put my trust in You. You give me strength, courage, power and faith to encourage me to do this.

I know without Jesus I can do nothing, but in Christ Jesus, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.  Amen. 

Lessons to be Learnt

God has taught me to trust Him. When I felt I didn’t have enough faith to trust the plans He had for my life I would pray and ask God to increase my faith and put the confidence within my heart to enable me to believe in Him.  This has taken me many years of being persistent with God through prayer. It takes time for God to develop our faith with Him. He wants His children to have willing hearts and open up our hearts so He can instruct and teach us the way He wants us to go. Allowing God to have access in all the areas of our lives is the sensible thing to do. He gives us wisdom, insight, knowledge, understanding to do what is right in accordance to His will but He will never go anywhere He is not invited to go. We must want to step out of our comfort zone and trust Him that He knows best what is right for us. The Lord says in Isaiah 43:18-19 NCV “Forget what happened before and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land.” God gives us everything we need to fulfil the plans He has made for us we must follow His instructions and plans. He will enable and empower us from heaven above. He is persistent in His leading; this is why time is on our side.

New Blog Post: “Don’t Be Negative”

Romans 15:13 NLT So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in Him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit?

Prayer

Father, You have forgiven me all my sins, past and present. In the precious name of Jesus He took my punishment upon Himself, and paid the price for my sin debt in full. He has washed and purified me through His shed Blood and set me free making me righteous in Himself.  He has accomplished this through my faith and belief in Him. How grateful I am to You O God for rescuing and setting me free to have a relationship with You.

Father, thank You for shining Your light into the darkness of my life and showing me I have a spirit of doubt and a spirit of unbelief. I lay down these sins on the altar to the Cross once and for all. I ask You to forgive me and to deliver me so that these sins will have no more hold upon me anymore. Jesus, You do not hold my sin against me so neither do I. I will not listen to these evil lies any longer.

You O Lord have filled me with Your hope and You will keep me happy and full of peace because I believe and trust in You. May I be filled afresh and anew with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit of God, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes? May His love and power overflow with hope and love within me, enabling me to bring all the honour, glory and praise to my Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ my precious Lord. Amen.

Lessons to be Learnt

We should never be ashamed of talking about the Good News of Christ to other people. It is when we ourselves have acknowledged we are sinners before God; we begin to see the truth of who God really is. He shines His Light into the darkness and where sin once was He unfolds the truth of His Word within our hearts and He exposes the darkness within us.

Jesus has already paid our sin debt in full so we have no need to hold onto sins anymore.

The joy of His salvation reigns in us and we must get the Word of God out to others who may have been deceived as we once had. If we do not tell them the Good News about the Gospel of Christ, how will people ever know the truth? Yes, at times it can be hard to speak out especially to strangers, but God promised through the Holy Spirit of God He would give us what we need when we need it. Its God’s saving power at work saving everyone who believes – Jesus first and also the Gentiles. This good news tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scripture say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life” (Romans 1:16-17 NLT).

New Blog Post: "Into His Presence – Daily Devotions For Prayer"

Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Everywhere God works by law, by order, by method. But our Lord taught us that prayer is not the attempt to drag down the divine operations to the level of our folly; prayer is a method by which we lift up our will into correspondence with the methods of God. There are stores of blessings which God intends for us but which He will not give unless we energetically correspond with His law, with His method, by prayer. Prayer is as fruitful a correspondence with the method of God as work – as fruitful and as necessary.

C. Gore

We so often fail in our praying because we have already prepared the track along which we want God’s blessing to come, whereas we should most sincerely adjust our desires and our will to His will and His way of blessing. It is well to ask as we begin to pray – Am I in this matter delighting in the Lord, and fully surrendered to His will.

New Blog Post: “Learning to be Content”

Philippians 4:11 NCV I am not telling you this because I need anything. I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens.

Prayer

Precious Lord, I know in You I have to do my part in the plans You have made for my life. No one in all God’s heritage will be able to fulfil the plans as well as You say I can do. I desire only to do what You want me to do and so I strip myself of everything that would hinder my walk with You and come before You and ask You to restore and replenished me in Your glorious name.

I pray for the wisdom and the strength to defeat the devil and all of his works. I know in Your name he is a defeated foe.  I have been tempted and bothered by him, but I thank You for remaining with me to comfort me, to minister to me and for encouraging and teaching me never to give up. With Your help You have enabled me to fight off the battles in life with the energy and comfort of the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit of God. He has given me the knowledge and wisdom needed to pray in the name of Jesus Christ at the mention of His name, He defuses all the obstacles which stand in the way of my walk with Him.

I acknowledge God is in complete control of my life and I trust Him to deliver me through all the trials and tribulations in the name of Jesus Christ my precious Lord. Amen.

Lessons to be Learnt

When we learn who God truly is we are in a state of contentment and only want do what will please Him. The Holy Spirit of God places a desire within our hearts to walk in submission and be obedient to His sovereign will. We should want to please God and know we have to take part in the plans He has made individually for our lives. This is God’s heritage given to us to fulfil His plans and do what He says we can do. We must strip off everything that would hinder our walk with Him and come before the eternal throne of grace to be restored and replenished in His name.

We must continually ask for wisdom, knowledge, discernment, insight and the strength to defeat the devil and all of his works. In Jesus’ name the enemy is a defeated foe. Yes, we will be tempted and bothered by him, but we can thank God for always remaining with us to comfort us, to minister to us and for encouragement given to us never to give up. With the help of the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit of God, He enables and empowers us and gives us the energy and comfort we need to fight off the battles in life. At the mention of Jesus’ name this defuses the enemy and all the obstacles he puts in our way to try to hinder our walk with God.