Posts Tagged ‘Faith’

Posted on October 4, 2009 - by Mary

When You’re feeling the Squeeze, God has room to Move

Today as I was listening to the message at church, I “heard” God say something along these lines: “When things are tight, tough and even very difficult, it just means it’s an opportunity for Me to move in your life.” I got really excited when God laid that on my heart! It made me stop and look at life’s struggles in a whole new light.

When life gets tough, and believe me, life gets tough, instead of looking at it in a negative way, like “poor me” or “why does this happen to me all the time” or “why can’t I ever make ends meet”, God laid it on my heart to look at each struggle in life as an opportunity for Him to move in my life.  That’s right, an opportunity for Him to move in my life. That means there’s an opportunity for a miracle in my life! I got so excited when I thought about that!!! Think about it! How many of you would like to see an actual miracle in your life? I know I would!!! And I’m not saying I’ve never experienced God’s miraculous healing power or his miraculous provision in my life, because I have, many many times. But there are also those times when times were tough or I was struggling with something, and instead of thinking of it as an opportunity for God to move, I got down about it, frustrated or even mad and upset.

Right now, things are pretty tight, really tight for Jeff and I financially, really tight! To the point where we don’t know where we’re going to get the money for gas for him to get back and forth to work and for Karlie to get to school and back. But, as I was writing out my tithe check this morning, and believing in faith that God will provide all our needs, God began to speak to my heart. The bible says we are to “be a cheerful giver”…that scripture has a whole new meaning to me now. Sure, we could have chosen not to tithe this morning or even worse, given reluctantly, but this morning I got excited to give our tithe…I just gave God room to move in our lives and our finances! In the past as I wrote out our tithe check, I would say a quick prayer, kind of along the lines of “okay I’m being obedient, so now You’re going to have to provide God”, because I knew that while we’re supposed to tithe, we sure could use that money to pay some bills with or even just buy gas and groceries with. And I need to add that God did provide and continues to, although I wasn’t exactly being a “cheerful giver”. But, now I get it! When we faithfully tithe, especially when things seem impossible, God has room to move! We just opened the door for Him to be able to provide our needs. If we didn’t tithe, sure we’d have that extra money for gas and groceries, but we would also have closed that door to God’s loving provision.

Please don’t think I’m trying to brag or be boastful about tithing. I’m excited about God being able to move in our lives and that I finally realize why God wants us to give 10% of our increase to Him first! He wants us to make room in our hearts for Him and have faith that He will do as He has promised in His word.

Sometimes, often times, when we are going through struggles or tight financial times, our flesh gets the best of us and we forget that God wants us to depend on Him. God wants us to depend on Him.  And when we get our flesh out of the way, God can move in our lives, and does.

If you’re going through tough times, no matter how difficult, pray to God and ask Him to help you not see your circumstances through your fleshly eyes. Pray to be able to see the wide open opportunity that God now has to move in your life. And then let Him.

What are you going through right now where God has room to move in your life? What struggles are you dealing with that God wants to carry you through or release you from? Health, finances, relationships? I pray that God will remove the blinders from your eyes, get your flesh out of the way, and the see the awesome miracles God is going to do in your life. If you’d like prayer for a situation you’re going through, please leave a comment and I’ll be glad to pray for you. And I encourage other readers to pray for one another as well. Be blessed my friends!

photo credit: Michell Zappa

Posted on September 3, 2009 - by Mary

God Answers Prayers

If you’ve been following my blog at all, you know I’ve been struggling a bit in my walk. Mostly due to the fact that I’ve not been spending time in the Word and in prayer like I should, need and want.

Well, as of late, I have been spending time in the Word each day and have been seeking God through prayer and let me tell you, what a difference I feel already. I must say, “I’ve missed God”. I’ve missed feeling His presence in my life and I’ve missed just walking with Him.

There were times I felt like not even going to church because I thought it was pointless and I questioned whether I should continue in the youth ministry because of where I was at in my faith. However, I did not stop going to church because I knew God was there and I knew the issue was with me, not church and definitely not God.

I’m glad I persevered through this attack from the enemy I was under, and now I’m getting back on track with my personal prayer and bible reading. Yes, I read the bible online and I even receive my daily devotions in my email. But, there are still times when I do get alone with God and pull away from the distractions of the Internet.

My prayers have been those of seeking God and His presence, as well as for our finances. And He has answered both! (Oh God you are so faithful.) I am feeling His awesome presence in my life again, like a block has been removed, or a wall has been lifted. It’s amazing the difference I feel in my spirit.
photo credit: constantly_Jair

As for our finances, I’ve been praying for more clients and more work for my business and God has answered those as well. In the last 24 hours, I’ve been contacted by 3 new clients who want to use my VA services! Plus, my current clients are continually giving me more work.

God is amazing, faithful and awesome. If you’re not feeling His presence in your life, seek Him out. He is there, just waiting for you. He loves you!

If you have questions, or want more information about God, the bible, Jesus, faith, or whatever, feel free to leave a comment. Also, check out the prayer page right here.

God loves you and wants relationship with you, but it’s your choice. He’s given us freewill and will never force himself upon you. Seek Him and you will find Him. (Matt. 7:7-12)

Posted on August 23, 2009 - by Mary

ASNF and RISK

The two acronyms above were the topic of today’s message at church. One of our associate pastors delivered the message because our Pastor is out of town taking his youngest daughter to college.

Anyway, I know I won’t be able to deliver the message here on my blog the way he did at church, but I will do my best to get the gist of it across. It was a very empowering message, for me at least, because as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I’ve been struggling in my walk with the Lord lately, just feeling dry and not feeling God’s presence in my life. I mean, I KNOW He is there and I know the issue lies with me, but there seems to be some sort of block there.

Well, today’s message sort of nailed it. The Pastor’s message started out on the topic of memories: we all have them, good or bad, we have various means of preserving our memories and studies have shown that if we could somehow extract all of our memories, we would be able to remember every single thing from our pasts, all the way back to the womb. I personally think it would be creepy to remember being in the womb, even more so being born. Could you imagine remembering being born??? I know how awesome and amazing it is to give birth, but I also know how traumatic it must be for the baby. But I digress.

So, after he talked about memories and how they affect us, the Pastor started talking to and about fathers. Many of us have grown up with no father or a bad father, while there are some amazing fathers out there. The way we view our earthly father is often the way we view our Heavenly Father. Coming from a very dysfunctional home and sexually molested by my step father, I did have a warped view of my Heavenly Father. I didn’t understand a father’s love and that he could love me unconditionally. Part of this also comes from being raised Jehovah’s Witness. Without going into all that detail, I’ve written a post about my past here.

After speaking to the fathers in the room, the Pastor then spoke to and about the ladies. Using Romans 8:14, Pastor pointed out that we are all “Sons of God” if we are led by the Spirit; both men and women. He also gave reference to the scriptures that talk about Christians as being the “Bride of Christ”; both male and female. It’s hard for us girls to wrap our heads around being called “sons” as it is for guys to be called “brides”. With that in mind, Pastor began to explain what ASNF is: A Son Never Forgets.

The Pastor also tied in the story of a teenage girl whose parents were noticing that she was more distant and withdrawn recently. As they searched her room time and again, they found evidence that she was involved in witchcraft, drugs and alcohol. They took drastic measures and began to intervene in their daughter’s life by limiting which friends she was allowed to associate with, setting boundaries such as time limits and locations, etc. Their daughter began to respond positively to the limits and boundaries her parents were setting and they began to notice her grades and attitude improving. Their daughter ended up attending a Christian retreat and at that retreat she gave her life to the Lord. Afterward, her mother reported that she stated to them on one occasion that she wasn’t afraid to die and knew where she was going. She really loved the Lord. A couple of days later, I believe, Cassie Bernall confessed her faith in God and was shot in the massacre at Columbine High School. It was later reported that her parents confessed in an interview that they weren’t sure how they would have answered. Cassie’s father, it is reported, is to have said something along the lines of “I think I would have begged for my life”.

RISK: Right view of God, Identity is settled, Sacrifice and Kingdom Building. Our lives should be about and involve RISK. And to be able to do this we should never forget our Father; who He is, what He is, and everything He is about. This can only be done though if we truly KNOW Him and the only way to do that is to dig into His word and speak to Him through prayer.

Pastor then had us all pray together and really repent if we have not been doing this, and of course the opportunity to accept Jesus into our heart if we have not done so yet. My prayer was that of repentance for not getting into the word like I need, want to and should and for not getting alone with God like I need, want and should. I felt like the message today was meant for me. And though I’ve let go and have forgiven my step father for what he did to me several years ago, it was good to do it again.
photo credit: jimwolffman