In Due Time

The salvation of the righteous will be the Lord's doing. He will help them to do their duties, to bear their burdens; help them to bear their troubles well, and, in due time, will deliver them out of their troubles. Seek and trust Him, and Him only, for help and deliverance.

Be patient - God wants us to trust Him and to keep trusting Him in and out of season. And being patient is how we show God that we have firm confidence and believe in his sovereignty. As believers trust is crucial to receiving every promise God makes to us.  

Wait on the Lord - Let your hope be from the Lord; depend wholly on Him; have such confidence in Him as to expect His graciousness and for Him to act on your behalf. 

Keep His way - Or, walk in the path which He commands. Do not turn from that at any point. Do not allow any temptation, or any opposition, to cause you to swerve from that path.

The way to achieve victory when the enemy attacks is to wait on the Lord to act and to keep His way. Trust in the Lord and obedience to His commands are powerful weapons. If we trust and obey, the righteous will be exalted by the Lord and will dwell in the Promised Land.

Father God, help us to live in the spirit of obedience. May we trust You enough to let You take the lead and follow You. In Jesus' name, amen 🙏. 

Tired of Waiting?

Wait upon the Lord and your strength will be renewed (Isaiah 40:31).

What God does IN us while we wait, is as important as WHAT we are waiting for. AS WE WAIT, God is at work in us ... molding us ... shaping us ... maturing us ... strengthening us.

When we patiently and expectantly wait on God in the midst of horrible circumstances, suddenly God breaks through.

My soul, wait thou only on God; for my expectation is from Him. Psalm 62:5

If there’s a hold up … God’s allowed it for a reason. Continue to be open to His leading and He will open doors in His timing.

Don't give up. Don’t stop believing. Stay full of hope and expectation. God's power is limitless, and He'll break through for YOU.

Father, life is really hard sometimes. Especially when we pray in faith for help and relief and it seems like we await forever for Your hand of favor to reach down and rescue us. Give us grace to wait on You, Lord. Do the work in us You must. But please, just hurry up! In Jesus' name, amen.

What are You Expecting?

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we can't see. Hebrews 11:1

We usually get what we expect (where our faith is), so ... are you expecting good or bad to happen? Since it's all BY FAITH, make sure your faith is in the direction of what you want/want to happen.

He does not fear bad news (not afraid of evil tidings), nor live in fear or dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind (his heart is fixed) that Jehovah will take care of him (trusting in the Lord). That is why he is not afraid, but can calmly face his foes. Psalm 112:7,8

We should not be afraid of evil tidings ... of bad news, of reverses and losses, of the destruction of our property, or disaster by flood, by famine, or by war. Our heart should so fully confide in God that we can commit everything calmly into His hands. We should feel assured that all will be well, somehow. That nothing occurs but that which the wisest and the best Being in the universe sees that it best should occur, and that in all which does take place HE IS ABLE TO SUSTAIN the sufferer.  

There is NOTHING so well-suited to make the mind calm as to trust in God. What has a person to be afraid of who does trust in Him? TRUSTING IN THE LORD - this is the reason why our heart is 'fixed' or 'firm' ... simply because we have confidence in God, and feel assured that all things will be well. It may not be right now, but it will be. 

Father, help us to no longer expect bad or expect things to be the way they used to be, the way they happened in the past. Help us to believe for better days. Don't disappoint us. Use our faith to do a NEW THING. In Jesus' name, amen.






 

Be Hopeful

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord. Psalm 27: 14

Don't ever think that you or your circumstances won't change. You ARE growing and evolving every day you just don't see it yet.

Let none who trust and wait hopefully and look for You be put to shame, disappointed or let down. Psalm 25:3

The enemy wants us feeling like nobody cares and that we don't have purpose so we'll get depressed, because it's hard to bless others when we're depressed.

Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the help of my sad countenance, and my God. Psalm 43:5

So as a reminder ...

- you ARE loveable
- God DOES care about you
- you DO make a difference
- you DO have lots to offer

... so hold your head high and BE HOPEFUL.

Father, thank You that those whose hope is in You won’t be disappointed. May You, the God of our hope, so fill us with all joy and peace in believing (through the experience of our faith) that by the power of the Holy Spirit we may abound and be overflowing and bubbling over with hope. In Jesus’ name, amen.



see also related AFTA blog: The Man with the Plan

Hindrance to Your Destiny?

 
So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my Helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?' Hebrews 13:6

Worrying and angered at those who try to steal your thunder, use you, try to force themselves on you, pick on you and/or speak lies behind your back? Wondering if your reputation is going to be tainted and stop you from God's best? Wondering if people will reject you because of it?

I don't know about you, but I've been lied to, lied about, made fun of, harassed, stalked, beaten, and pushed around. Words are sharp and they hurt. People can be SO cruel. The enemy really works overtime trying to make sure God's will doesn't come to pass in our lives. BUT GOD is our defender and will only allow people to hurt us and take advantage of us for so long, before He comes on the scene and says, 'that's enough, that's My child' and stops it.  What God has destined ... NO demon or devil in hell or on earth, NO person, NO circumstance ... can stop.

No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]; this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me [this is that which I impart to them as their justification], says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17

We're not built to handle it all, it's ok to break down and cry before the Lord and allow Him to bring refreshment. Tell Him what's weighing heavy on your heart. Tell Him who's hurt you. Give it all to Him. Sow those seeds of offense and allow Him to bring better into your life. There's NOTHING like the presence of Jesus to wash away the hurts and pains that people and life have inflicted on us. You may not have the approval of who you think you need it from, but God approves of you and will give you what you really need, not what you think you need.

Quit stressin' over things that the Lord has already told you He would take care of. EXPECT God's blessings. Trust God to protect your reputation. God promised He's our vindicator, EXPECT Him to defend you. God is always there for you --- He is your hope --- He is all you need. And hope maketh not ashamed, i.e. if we put our hope in God, He WON'T disappoint us.

God loves you too much to put you in a position you aren't ready for. He wants to build your character before He brings you to the next level. There will be tests and trials and most won't be fun at all, in fact they'll hurt, a lot. Rejection, betrayal, gossip, abuse, being left out, feeling all alone - they're all part of the plan the enemy's made to cause you to withdraw and stop moving forward. God's using those same things to mold you to be more like Him. Be willing to go through the process. Advance. It's SO worth it.
 
You are RELEASED from having to please everybody ... because you CAN'T. You are RELEASED from having to be Ms. or Mr. perfect ... because you CAN'T. Relax. Be yourself. Don't back down, stand your ground. Keep doing what you believe to be right. Whether others approve or understand or not. God knows how to 'fix' peoples little red wagon when they get in the way of our destiny. 

Those who BELIEVE and EXPECT the good plans God has for them are the ones that SEE them. Wait for it.

Hindrance to your destiny? Nope, I don't think so. More like a springboard to propel you forward.

Father, I pray for all who feel weary. Help us not to give up. Give us courage and faith to continue on. You, Lord God are faithful. Help us to press thru to victory. Remove any hindrances that are in the way of our destiny. Defend us. Protect our reputations. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

Yes, You Do Know It

 

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars ... The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in His temple all cry, “Glory!” Psalm 29:3-9

 

If you belong to the Lord, you DO hear His voice. If you didn't, then there would be no reason for the enemy to try to convince you that you don't.

Don't listen to the voice of confusion, it's NOT of God. God is the author of peace, the peace that passes understanding. BELIEVE that you hear God's voice ... by faith. Don’t just have selective hearing, when it’s something you like it’s Him and if it’s something you don’t like it’s the enemy, it doesn’t work that way.

Be careful about these “still small voices” that we hear in our heads and our hearts. We need to be sure that it is God that is talking to us. Sometimes our flesh and even the devil will put thoughts in our heads that are not of God. You can usually tell if it’s actually God that’s talking if the thing that He tells you is in agreement with the Word of God. He doesn’t go against His Word.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for Him, and the sheep listen to His voice. He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” John 10:3-5

Elijah described God’s voice as a still, small voice (I Kings 19:12). God does speak with an inner audible voice at times. However, I’ve found that usually, God's voice comes as spontaneous thoughts, visions, feelings, or impressions.

God told Habakkuk to record the vision (Habakkuk 2:2). This wasn’t an isolated command. The Scriptures record many examples of individuals' prayers and God's replies (i.e. the Psalms, many of the prophets, Revelation). Journaling is the writing out of your prayers and God’s answers. I call the process "two-way journaling," and I’ve found it to be a catalyst for clearly discerning God's inner, spontaneous flow, because as I journal I’m able to write IN FAITH for long periods of time, simply believing it is God. I may write a prayer of thanks or something that’s weighing heavy on my heart, and then I’m still before the Lord to see if He wants to respond back to me. He ALWAYS does.

When you pray, He answers. Expect God to talk back to you. Answers and responses may come at a time other than when you’re praying, but they do come.

Things that will help give you discernment for God’s voice - Spend time with Him. Be still before Him. Focus on Jesus. Get in the Word. Listen. Journal. Repent when you sin. Shake off offenses and pray for those who despitefully use you. Get to know God and be obedient.

Yes, you do know it …God’s voice that is … believe you know it.

Father, I pray that You give us the faith to believe that we hear from You. Help us in turn to be obedient when You ask us to do something. Help us to ignore the voice of the enemy. Speak words of comfort, peace and edification to our hearts to give us encouragement to continue on. In Jesus’ name, amen.