Luke 1:37  For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Our outlook on things can make a difference in the outcome.  The scriptures are full of verses about having faith and then there is the verse that says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him”.  How big is your God compared to how big your problem seems to be?  Let’s head into the future with the confidence that nothing is too big for God.  With God nothing will be impossible!

God has great things planned for you as it says in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you”, saith the Lord, “thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and hope, to give you an expected end.”  We don’t want to stifle those plans by thinking and talking negative.  Let’s look toward our future with the anticipation of it being a new beginning and a great year for the Lord to do wonderful things in our lives!  God can and will accomplish by far more than you could ever think possible if you allow Him to and you open yourself up fully to His will for your life.

Don’t let those lies of defeat get you down!  Toss aside Satan’s attempt to destroy God’s plan for you!  As it says in James 4:7 submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.  There is no reason to live a life of defeat and what better time to start living a victorious life in Christ than now?!

Seek God’s will for your life, look for His promises in His word, claim those promises and live the life of victory you are supposed to live.  The best is yet to come!

Quote:

“Faith believes in spite of circumstances and acts in spite of the consequences.”  Adrian Rogers

1 Samuel 23:16-17    And Jonathon Saul’s son arose and went to David into the woods and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, “Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto you; and that also Saul my father knoweth.”

Jonathon, being the king’s son, could have taken a very different attitude toward David but Jonathon had the type of relationship with God that allowed him to love David and want God’s best for David.  It would be no small thing to know that David was taking your place as King over Israel but Jonathon didn’t allow that fact to keep him from following God himself and supporting David.  Saul was a very bitter jealous man and desperately wanted revenge on David for God’s blessing on his life.  Which one are you?

Is there someone in your life that you need to seek out to encourage them in God? Maybe there is someone who you know is struggling due to a loss in their life that makes life hard to bear at times.  Maybe there’s someone who just needs that extra push to go for it and do the will of God!  The greatest gift you may be able to give someone is the gift of encouragement and support and what better way is there to show the love of Christ for Christmas?

If there is someone in your life that you know you should be encouraging but you hold resentment or jealousy toward them for what they have or what they are called to do then ask God for His help to let all of that go to be the woman of God He has called you to be in this situation.  Jealousy has never won any prizes when it comes to showing God’s love.

I would encourage you to look around and ask God to show you someone you can be an encouragement to.  It could even be an elderly person who has served all their life and they seem to be a pillar of strength but deep down they just need an act of kindness this year to remind them of just how much God cares and loves them.  You will truly be amazed at what a difference it will make in your life when you take the time to encourage someone else.  If you need encouragement today ask God to bless you with someone who can walk through this season of your life and help you go to another level with God.

Quote:  ”He climbs highest who helps another up.”  George Matthew Adams

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

What are you afraid of?  What fear is it that is keeping you from doing something you either have a desire to do or you have felt is the will of God for your life?  Fear is the number one tool Satan often uses to keep people from making progress in their lives!  You may be the only one who knows just what it is that you are supposed to be doing, maybe part of your fear is telling anyone else what you believe God has called you to do.  Maybe you fear what other people may think, maybe you are fearful of failing or you are afraid of taking that first step of faith trusting God to be there to get you to the other side of whatever it is you are facing.

Ladies, let’s face it, we all have our little fears that come along day to day, but is there something that just grips you to the point that it is hindering you?  Fearful people always think, “what if” and it is always the negative side of “what if”?  Don’t spend so much time mulling a problem over until you get confused and upset!  Let’s face it as women we can take ANYTHING, it might be a short conversation or a look or maybe silence from a boyfriend or spouse and we can go over that thing in our minds until we have had an entire conversation that never existed with the other person and we blow the entire thing way out of proportion!  Don’t allow Satan the chance to tell you lies to make you fearful of your situation, get the victory and focus on God.  Fear can ruin your marriage or any relationship, it can ruin great opportunities and steal your joy IF you allow that to be your focus!

God has proven over and over we can trust Him, we may not always have the most trustworthy people in our lives and they do all have a free will, but God is always trustworthy!  He loves us so very much and wants His best for us!  If you allow yourself to live in your fears instead of putting your trust in God, you will live a little itty bitty life in comparison to what God has in store for you!

Don’t let worry consume you when God is on your side!  Focus on Him and allow Him to guide you through life’s “situations” to the place He has called you to be, whatever that is.

Quote:  ”The only things that stand between a person and what they want in life are the will to try it and the faith to believe it’s possible.”  - Rich DeVos

Zephania 3:17  “The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

If you let Him, He is wanting to be there for you!  The Lord Your God in Your Midst – remember that today, He is with you!  Whatever you are facing remember that “The Mighty One will save you, He will rejoice over you with gladness, He wants to quiet you with His love and rejoice over you with singing!

What’s that you say?  You don’t feel like you deserve all of this today?  Does the sin of your past seem too close to your present?  The fact that you love God and you have asked for His forgiveness is enough reason for Him to want to rejoice over you with singing!  He wants to quiet all of your fears and frustrations with His love!  When we have a child that is rebellious there is nothing more exciting than seeing them turn around and get their lives back in order – how much more do you think your creator feels that way about you?

Are you afraid you may make the same mistakes again or maybe someone else will hurt you again or maybe you are afraid that your finances will never turn around?  Whatever you are afraid of He will save you from yourself and He will give you the strength to face anything that comes your way in the future.  He, The Lord Your God has chosen to be in your midst today so don’t allow Satan to feed you lies that will keep you defeated and down hearted today!

I would encourage you today to rejoice in the fact that you have a God who loves you and wants to rejoice over you and be with you!  Don’t push Him away, draw close to Him and allow Him to love on your hurting heart.  Remember Jeremiah 29:11 today; “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope!”  The best is yet to come so don’t allow Satan to rob you of that today!

Quote:  “Failure is an event, not a person.  So regardless of what happens along the way, you must keep on going and doing the right thing in the right way.  Then the event becomes a reality of a changed life.”  Zig Ziglar

Hebrews 11:6  For without faith it is impossible to please Him:  for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

God does everything by faith! Without faith it is impossible to please Him.  Someone once said, “God our Father has made all things depend on faith so whoever has faith will have everything and those who don’t will have nothing.”  Now I’m not teaching prosperity thinking where if you think you should have a Mercedes, poof there it is!  But our spiritual maturity comes as we develop our faith!  In James 1:6 it says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”

We have to be careful when we speak especially when we are having a pitty party for ourselves.  Words are very powerful things and we need to be sure we are speaking truth and not allowing the lies that Satan tries to get us to believe to come out of our mouths at a moment when we are down or depressed.  We must protect our faith!  God has promised us many things and one of those is to show us “Great and mighty things in our lives!”  Claim that and ask God to help you to have the faith you need to get you out of the tough times and into a place where He can do what He has promised to do!

Don’t believe the lie that whatever you are facing right now will never change, remember “suffering is only for a moment”, “and it came to pass”. Don’t accept the lie that Satan is trying to convince you of like; things will never change, your marriage will never be better, you will always have that health problem, you will never overcome the area you are struggling with, self injury, eating disorder, pornography, drugs, your finances will always be a struggle, whatever the lie is you are the one who has to STOP IT!  If you accept it you are stuck there.  Instead try meditating on God’s Promises and you will find that when your understanding changes of what God has in store for you and you make Satan back off on the lies, you will find deliverance and healing and God will show you those “Great and Mighty” things!

THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Quote:  “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  -Chinese Proverb

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2 Samuel 22: 18-20  He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me; For they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the LORD was my support.  He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.

He delights in you!  God delights in YOU!  It doesn’t matter where you have been, where you think you are headed or what your struggles are God loves and delights in you and would love to deliver you from it all.

This is part of David’s song to God and he spoke with confidence when he said that God delights in him.  There are times when David says things that you could get the opinion that he was maybe a bit full of himself, but he was the king and he did have many accomplishments but when you really look at all he says over and over God gives the glory to God for all he did. David made mistakes just like anyone else but he knew God well enough to know and believe that God’s promises are true and if God said he forgave him, David moved on and put defeat in his past he didn’t let it affect his future in any way.  God could deliver David and give him victory because David was always ready to move forward in his life.

What are you hanging on to?  I really get tired of hearing people say, “well, that’s just the way that I am.”  We are fortunate enough to live in a day where we know that Jesus died on the cross for that, “just the way that I am” attitude!  There is no excuse to live in defeat or discouraged because of your past!  Today is a new day and if you will allow God to deliver you from those thoughts of defeat He will because He delights in you and wants you to live life to the absolute full degree He created you for.

What is your strong enemy?  (Identify it now and ask God to deliver you from it)  Who hates you?  (Well, Satan does because he fears you; he knows God has a plan for your life and he is afraid of what affect it could have on his little disgusting kingdom)  People also have a way at times of kicking you when you are down. (Allow God to lift you up and show you off as the strong woman you really are.)  Pray and ask Him to day to bring you into that broad place of freedom because He truly does delight in you!

Quote:  ”It’s in the struggle itself that you define yourself.”  Pat Buchanan

1 Corinthians 13:13     So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Don’t underestimate the power of love in your situation!  There are times when maybe you don’t feel like extending the love of Christ to someone but you will be amazed at what God can do in that relationship whether at work, home or between friends if you do.

We cannot base whether or not we act out of love toward others on whether or not they deserve it.  Too often they probably don’t if we are basing it on our “human standards”.  We need to always remember that God loves all the time even when we don’t deserve it.

How do you expect God to be able to move in your situation if you are acting out according to your flesh instead of praying for His love and attitude toward the other person and situation?  People always respond quicker to love than they do anger and frustration.  I get the fact that we don’t always feel like “loving” but that is when we are called to pray for God’s love for someone.  There are no verses that say, “love your neighbor when you decide they deserve it.” we are called to love regardless of what we may think or feel.  Now does that mean we never take a stand or correct when someone is wrong?  No.  That means that we pray that God will allow His love to help us respond to wrong on every level in love.  It is right to even get angry on a political level when things are done wrong but it still needs to reflect the love of Christ when we respond; in other words killing a doctor that performs abortion is not the route to take.  “Be angry and sin not!”

I would like to encourage you today to approach your situation from a different angle today and ask God to give you His love for the people in your situation and for the strength to show that love even when you don’t feel like it.  You will be amazed at how much quicker God can work in someone else’s life let alone your own when you allow His love to penetrate all that you do!

Quote:  “Caring about others, running the risk of feeling and leaving an impact on people, brings happiness.”  Rabbi Harold Kushner

Isaiah 1:18  ”Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Whatever you have done in your past if you have asked for forgiveness, it is settled!  In God’s mind it no longer exists, it is under the blood of Jesus and He has forgiven you and moved on.  What about you though, have you moved on or are you allowing satan to use past failures to discourage you right back into making the same mistake again because after all you’ve done it before.  Don’t allow Satan to have victory over something that you have been forgiven for and God no longer sees.

What about the other people in your life?  Is there someone who has committed a sin that was so overwhelming at some point in their life that it is hard to get passed?  Ask God to help you to leave it in the past, do NOT hold hands with Satan to tear that person down and keep them in a life of defeat over past failures!  God will help you put in behind you and will help you to see the new character of the person if you allow him to.  It is not our job to punish, sin comes with it’s own punishment.

Today is the day to start living the victorious life God has called you to! Whatever is haunting you, let it go and remember that is just not who you are today!  You are a new creation in Christ and you possess all you need to live the successful life God has in store for you!  Tell Satan to back off, he has nothing to say that you want to hear!  Take charge and move forward in your life, you deserve it!

Quote:  ”Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”  George Sheehan

1 Corinthians 10:5   Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Don’t lose the battle in the Wilderness!  If you are waiting for God and you are following Him through the Wilderness waiting to be brought into the “Promised Land” of the answers you have been waiting on from Him, don’t allow Satan to win the battle.  The Israelites were moments away from the land that God had promised them and they hadn’t even begun the battles and they were overtaken by letting their guard down.  They were so busy feeling sorry for themselves they lost sight of God and He was right there with them all the time.

What is it you are waiting on God for?  What should you be learning in your Wilderness?  God was trying to teach the Israelites to trust and follow Him but they were too busy looking for other answers and other gods.  I would encourage you to trust God and ask Him if there is anything else you need to learn while you wait.  Ask Him to be your “cloud and pillar of fire” guiding you through this season and then don’t allow Satan to have a foothold in your life.  Choose your thoughts carefully and guard your heart from the thoughts Satan would like you to have.  Satan is always looking for the opportunity to win and he managed to overtake them before they even had a battle to fight!  What about you?  Are you allowing Satan to win battles in your life as you wait on God by allowing him to feed you lies about yourself, your finances, marriage or some other area of your life?  Take charge today and just like Joshua decide, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” and that includes in the Wilderness of life.

Just like the Israelites God has given you all you need to win the battles of life and part of that is to know when to just lean on Him.  You can make it through this wilderness and you will be ready for what lies ahead if you just trust Him to bring you through to the other side!  The best is truly yet to come!

Quote:  “True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done.”  John Wayne

Matthew 18:15  Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.  If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

Note it doesn’t say here to first go tell all of your friends and make sure that everyone else knows the wrong that has been done to you, it says to go and talk about it alone with the one who has sinned against you.  There are times when the other person won’t hear you and they won’t apologize and you cannot fix it so I do understand in those situations there are times you need a good friend or counselor to confide in so you can talk through the situation and you can forgive and move on but start with your friend who has sinned against you first.

There are more reasons than one for God to want us to resolve problems we have with others.  For one, I don’t know about you but I lose sleep if I have problems in a close relationship and that isn’t good either because then I am messed up for the day because I am too tired and then the problem seems even more overwhelming.  Another reason is because when we become consumed with a wrong done to us we can focus so much on that problem with the other person that our focus is no longer God.  We get so wrapped up in it that we are hurt and angry and we can focus on nothing else.  God wants us to be rested, alert, and focused on Him and we cannot do that if we are harboring problems with others and allowing a problem to fester.

Pray about it today, is there someone you haven’t talked to in a long time because they have sinned against you or maybe it has happened just recently.  Don’t waste another day.  Ask God for wisdom and the right words to work things out between you and even if that relationship is never restored make it all right before God today so you can move forward in your walk with God!

Quote:  “Our words reveal our thoughts; manners mirror our self- esteem; our actions reflect our character; our habits predict the future.”  William Arthur Ward