God has a purpose for your life. Not many people understand that. Not maybe people comprehend that you were put on this Earth randomly. It wasn’t because your parents got together and created you. No, God picked you out, chose you from the beginning of the world to complete a specific task He had in mind for you. But the task wasn’t tailor made for you. No, you were tailor-made for the task. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, God fashioned you with just the right combination of smarts, talents, abilities and personality to accomplish that task. To Him, you failing to fulfill that task, your destiny, wasn’t an option.

But we, His chosen people, have made it an option. No longer is it “I will fulfill my destiny” and “God, use me for your purpose.” Instead we say “I hope and pray I fulfill my destiny. I hope I am in God’s will” or “If I complete my purpose…”

If failure is not an option with God, it shouldn’t be with us either. We are His children, created in His image. We are suppose to be imitators of our Heavenly Father. And failure is not an option to Him, so we need to banish it from our vocabulary as well.

What does the word fail mean? Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Fifth Edition, describes fail as “to be wanting; to fall short; to come to an end; to err; to be mistaken.”

And what is a failure? Someone who fails.

It was never God’s intention for us to be failures.

But somehow we see ourselves that way. In fact, we think that God is up in Heaven waiting for us to screw up, so that He can whack over the head or strike us with lightening. We see God as wanting to trip us up, wanting us to fail, but God isn’t like that.

God is on our side. On our side.

What does it mean when we say that someone is on our side? If you are gang member, or a cop, it means that your partners are ready to stand up for you, defend you and back you in a fight.

And that’s the way God is. Because we are His children–if we have accepted Jesus into our hearts–God is ready to stand up for us, defend us and back us up in a fight.

Imagine that! God is ready to back us up! He is ready to help us in time of trouble. He is ready to give us answers when we aren’t in trouble but are simply confused.

God loves us. No matter what we say. No matter what we do. There is nothing we can do that will get God to stop loving us. Nothing!

He doesn’t look at your behavior chart and say, “Oh, well, you haven’t been good, so I can’t help you.”

No, because you have accepted what Jesus did on the cross, you are in right standing with God. Your salvation and your right standing has nothing to do with your behavior and everything to do with Jesus’ shed blood on the cross, which covered all your sins–past, present and future.
God loves you. If He doesn’t see you as a failure, either should we.

So how do we change our perspective of ourselves? The first thing is to get into God’s Word and see what God says about you. What does He think about you? How does He feel about you? What can you do through Christ? What can you have through Christ?

Then you will learn that God loves you unconditionally, that you are the apple of His eye, that He sent His only begotten Son to die in your place, that He bottles your tears. You will discover the benefits of being a child of God–total life prosperity (healing for your mind, soul, body and finances). Every thing you need, God has provided for you.

Once you realize you are more than a conqueror, that you are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, that God is on your side, you need to start agreeing with God’s Word by speaking those words over your life.

The more you do that, the more you will be changing the image on the inside of you. You are like Michelangelo when he chiseled away at that block of marble, waiting for David to emerge. You are chiseling away at that bad self image, that failure perception, until the real you, the you that God created, appears.

It takes a lot of time, patience and effort to change your internal image to reflect the way God see you. But all that time, patience and effort will pale in comparison to what you gain. A healthy, godly image of who you are and who God created you to be. You are more than a conqueror. You are a child of Almighty God.

#God #childofGod #purpose #notafailure

#Christian #GodsPromises #Peace #Mind

#blessings #ChangeYourCirumstances #FocusOnGod

Who do you run to? When you are in trouble, when you are down and depressed, when you do not see a way out of your current circumstances?  Do you turn to your spouse?  Best friend?  Neighbor?  Anyone who will listen?  Or do you turn to God?

Do you think that He is going to scold you?  That He is going look at His record of whether you have been good or bad and decide whether you deserve His help?

God is not Santa Claus.  God does not keep records of your wrongdoing.   That was settled once and for all at the Cross where Jesus took the wrath and punishment for all sin–past, present and future   (Romans 6:10).   All sin.  Period.

But God doesn’t help us if we made the mess ourselves.  Psalm 107:20 says God delivers us from our destructions.  Our destructions.   We created them,  yes, but God will still help us if we ask.

But God helps those that help themselves.   This isn’t in the Bible.   It  goes against what the Bible teaches.   The Bible shows us that Jesus helped all that came to Him.

Yes, they had to make an effort to come to Him, to give Him what they had–their broken bodies,  their fish and loaves,  their boat–and He healed what was wrong in their lives.

We have to come to Him.  We have to give Him what we have and believe Him to heal it.  No matter if it is our health, our finances, our relationships.  It doesn’t matter.  When the lady with the issue of blood came to Him, she needed healing (Mark 5:25-34) .  He gave her healing.  When the disciples didn’t catch anything all night, they needed fish (Luke 5:5-6).  He gave them fish.  When the boy gave Him the loaves and fish, they needed more food.  He multiplied it and fed everyone (Matthew 14:13-21).

When we come to Jesus, when we ask for His help, He will give us what we need (Philippians 4:19).  We just have to believe that we He said, He will do.  Period.  End of story.

#healing #provision #GodsHelp #RunToGod

God has given us gifts and talents. Only most of us are not using them.

Remember the story in Matthew 25: 14-30 about the talents? A master who intended to travel called together his servants. He gave one man five talents, another two and the last one he gave one.

Verse 15 tells us that he gave each according to his ability. He had great faith in the one who gained five talents and little faith in the man he gave one.

When the master returned, he again gathered the servants together. This time to give account for what they did with what he gave them.

The man with five talents earned five more. The one with two talents gained two more, but the man with one talent buried it.

The man with the five talents and the one with the two pleased the master, but the one who buried the talent angered the master.

Why? The men with the five and two talents put their talents to work for them. The servant who buried it did not.

Even though a talent was a form of money in the Bible, I cannot help but think that this parable is more than about our money. I believe it is about the resources that God has given us.

II Peter 1:3 (NKJV) says, “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,”

What if the solution to our every problem has already been given to us?

What if we just have not realized that our talents and gifts and what we like to do will not only open doors for us to minister to the lost but would also open doors for financial blessings?

What if the solution to every problem could be found in our own backyard? In that dusty old Bible that rests on our nightstand? What if there were gifts that God has given to us that we have not tapped into yet?

What if it is true that God has already given us everything that pertains to life and godliness? What if it is true that when Jesus died, He already gave us righteousness, His righteousness (II Corinthians 5:21), healing of mind and body (I Peter 2:24) and took the curse for us (Galatians 3:13)?

What is preventing us from believing that? We are looking at the world and not at the Word. We are burying our talents, gifts, resources that God has already given us for what we see going on around us.

What we see is temporal (II Corinthians 4:18). God’s Word is forever (Matthew 24:35). God’s Word is truth (II Timothy 3:16).

Are you going to believe God, or are you going to believe what you see? Life will be for you as you believe (Mark 9:23).

#believe #God #seenorunseen #talents #gifts

may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 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, – Ephesians 3:18-20 (NIV).

Most of us that have lived the Christian life for any length of time have heard Ephesians 3:20. We quote it, pray it and hope that God doing exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think will happen in our lives.

What is that power that works within us? For that, we have to go to the previous two verses. What is being discussed? Love. God’s love, to be exact. We go to church and listen to sermons about how we need to love God more, how we need to serve God more, how we have to be constantly on point for God to love us. Only God is not concerned with our love for Him. God is more concerned that we know how much He loved us. How much He still loves us.

That is what Ephesians 3:18-19 is talking about. It is discussing how much God loves us. I submit to you that knowing God loves us is the power that works within us.

Do we truly get how much God loves us? He sent His Son to become sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21), to die for our sins, to be judged once and for all for all our sins–past, present and future (I Peter 3:18). Do we truly understand the depth of God’s love for us that although He gave us free will, although He knew that we would choose to sin, He still made a way of escape to allow us to be reconciled back to Himself? When we get this, when we are rooted and grounded in knowing and believing that God loves us, that is when God is able to do abundantly above all we can ask or think.

Why? Because then we know that God is not out to harm us but to prosper us (Jeremiah 29:11). Then we are able to surrender to His plans for our lives. When we put our lives, our plans, our thoughts, our dreams, in God’s Hands, He will return them to us a million times better than we gave them to Him.

Begin every day by telling yourself how much God loves you. In fact, under your breath throughout your day, while you are driving, in the restroom, at lunch, before you go to bed, say under your breath, “God loves me.” Keep doing this until you believe it.

Take scriptures on God’s love for you and speak them under your breath over and over again until you believe them. Then surrender everything to God and watch Him do the miraculous in your life.

#Miraculous #AbundantlyAbove  #GodsLove

I went to a concert on Tuesday.  Four old-school groups in one concert.  I loved being in a room with such high energy.  We were on our feet, singing along and dancing to the music.  Music that we listened to on the radio when we were kids, that played at the roller rink and at our dances.  Music that brought back fond memories of simpler times.

I attended the concert for the last act. I realized quickly that his new music had taken a decidedly darker turn. Songs that are so against what I stand for and what I believe.

I know this man’s music. I have heard his earlier song about talking to God, and now…these anti-God lyrics?

Music gives us a false sense of intimacy with the artist, so when I heard the new music, it disturbed me. The music is still great, but the lyrics…

What causes a person to totally be against God like that? What do they have to be going through? What did they go through to believe God doesn’t care about them?

I get it to some extent. If you look at the world, with people dying all over the globe, people living in poverty and going hungry, it does seem like the cruelest thing God could have done was give human beings free will.

I even have days where I wonder where God is and why He has not intervening in my life, but I quickly get over it because I have experienced God.  I know better. God has save  my life countless times. God has healed me multiple times as well.

But my experience is not others’ experience. Each of our  journeys is unique.  I cannot make people believe as I do. I can only present my testimonies of what God has done for me.  I can only pray, then leave the rest to God.

When we encounter people in our lives, we need to be compassionate, knowing that they are going through something. Instead of doing battle with them, we need to take them before God in our war room. Then let God fight the battle.

#GodsBattle  #GodIsInControl #ExperienceGod

What do you say to yourself about your current situation?  Maybe you are struggling financially.  Perhaps you are single.  Maybe you see all your friends as successful, and you, in your opinion, are not.  What is it that you tell yourself?

Do you tell yourself that this is it?  That things will never change? That things will always be this way?  Or do you tell yourself that this too shall pass?  That things will get better?  That your best days are ahead?

What we tell ourselves is very important.  It shapes what we think, what we believe and how we live.

If we tell ourselves that we are nobody, that things are never going to change, everything we do–from the way we walk and interact with others to the choices we make–will reflect that belief.

If we believe, however, that we are special, that we are unique, that we were put on this planet to fulfill a purpose, then our mannerisms, our speech and our actions will mirror that belief.

What we believe is going to happen in our lives, so we need to control what we believe.  Are we going to believe that we are beautiful just the way we are, that we have gifts and talents that will bring light to this dark world, that we are enough just the way we are–faults and all?  Or are we going to believe that nothing will ever change, that there is too much wrong with us, that no one would ever want us?

Choose today what you will believe because that is what is going to happen in your life.  Believe good.  Get good.  Believe bad.  Get bad.   The choice is yours.

#BelieveGood #YouAreEnough #WhatDoYouBelieve

Sometimes I forget that people, even people ministering in the pulpit, do not grasp the core of the Gospel.

Every Monday, while working in my cubicle, I listen to Sunday’s sermon from my old church. This particular week they had a guest speaker. The minister did great until about ten minutes from the end. He made the Gospel and the message of the Cross all about us and not Christ.

Literally I sat in my cubicle praying for him. Under my breath, of course.

No part of the Gospel is about us. Christ died for our sins (II Corinthians 5:21). He is the One who delivers us from our addictions. He is the One who causes everything to work out for us (Romans 8:28). Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

For the most part, we are taught that we have to sin less. We have to overcome those habits, those addictions. What happens when we focus on sinning? WE sin all the more.

Instead we need to focus our attention on where we want to go. Racecar drivers are told when they are about to crash not to look at the wall but to focus on where they want to go. The car will automatically move in the direction of their focus.

Same goes for us. Whatever we focus on is the direction our lives will take. If we focus on sin, we will sin more. If we focus on Christ and what He has done for us, like saving us (John 3:16), healing us (Romans 8:11), protecting us (Psalm 91) and providing for us (Philippians 4:19), then we will become the people He created us to be.

What are you going to give your attention today?

#attention #focus #Gospel

As human beings, we tend to look at what we don’t have rather than what we do. We focus on how much money we don’t have, the spouse we haven’t met yet, the children we haven’t conceived yet, the job we hate.

We make it an all or nothing proposition. We think that if we haven’t received it by now that God just doesn’t want us to have it, that we will never have it.

God is all about timing. Not ours but His. He sees the Beginning from the End. He knows why the men you have been dating are not His best for you. He knows why you didn’t get that job.

Many times we are settling for less than God’s best for us. God wants to send us the best, like He did when He sent His Son to die for our sins (II Corinthians 5:21). Instead we settle. We settle for a mediocre existence. We settle for Ms. Right-Now. We settle for a life far from what God has for us because we don’t want to wait.

We have been waiting, but we can’t wait a minute longer. We decide to help God out like Sarai did when she sent Abram in to lay with her handmaiden Hagar (Genesis 16:2). This is where we run into trouble.

To this day, the descendants of the son conceived by Hagar and the ones of the promised child Isaac are still fighting.

When we try to help God out, we add drama to our lives that would not have been there otherwise.

We need to focus our attention on God, our Provider (Philippians 4:19), God, the Source of all that we need When we do, we find ourselves at the right place at the right time to receive the miracles God has for us.

#miracles #waiting #God’s_Best