Four Simple Words

New Years Resolutions... Did you make one? I didn’t, but I decided to start the New Year and pray everyday that I can say a new phrase. It’s simple, only four words and it’s something you can hold on to and to find comfort in it.

The busyness of life or our worries tend to push it to the side but we need to make saying this a habit.

So my challenge to you is for you to say this simple phrase in response to whatever   happens to you.  It’s hard to do when things are crashing down around you– but say it anyway.

My new phrase:

“I trust You, Jesus”

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 139:7-10

Have a good week and always remember to look up!

Lean Not

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

That verse is what I have been saying over and over this past week. It’s a verse we can hold on to, one that strengthens us each time it’s said.

I don’t understand a lot of things that happen, but what we must learn from this passage is this:

When something happens to us or around us, through God’s word we learn to trust in Him that there are times we may think we know what’s happening but in reality God has the plan, he sees the bigger picture and our job is to trust him and acknowledge that His will be done no matter what the outcome or the circumstance.

And Romans 8:28 tells us;

And we know that in in all things God works for he good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

“lean not on your own understanding”... God’s got the plan, we trust him and we acknowledge his ways are better than ours.

Have a good week and always remember to look up!

Take Heart!

Last week Pastor Gary Simons gave us a message on living from victory to victory not  crisis to crisis, the scripture he used was from John 16:33. It says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Jesus is telling us to take heart with an exclamation mark !.

He’s encouraging us to be brave and courageous, that what ever we may be feeling is not lost, but to keep hope.

I for one, need that reminder. I for one, need to live victory to victory knowing that God will give me peace in midst of the storm.

⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1John 4:4

Have a good week and always remember to look up!

Having Compassion

Yesterday I stood at the front of our local market and handed out brochures for Operation Christmas Child. My goal was to try to get our community involved in this ministry. The longer I stood there the heavier my heart became. As people walked by I asked, “would  you like to pack a shoebox for a needy child”? Their reply was pretty much the same, no thank you. But what got my attention was how it was so easy to say no, not now. My whole being wanted to cry out– WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO, NOT NOW? THIS WORLD IS HURTING AND YOU SAY NO-WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? You say no yet comment on how beautiful the tree standing by the door is.

I think you get the picture on how it was. I really came close to tears a few times.

I was reminded of Jesus so many times as his heart cried out for the people of this world and how he was moved with compassion. I know what I felt yesterday doesn’t compare to what Jesus must have felt and probably still does.

 

³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Matthew 9:36-37

 

Have a good week and remember to always look up!

 

Planting

So the other day I found out something that really bothered me. I found out that something I tried to do 3-4 years ago was being done by someone else and my 1st thought was WHAT? They can’t do that!                    I was the one who thought of that idea, I was the one who tried to get people involved, they have no right–

but I heard the Lord softly say to me one man plants another waters.

I began to ponder that and ask forgiveness for I know God was right.

I then called the person up and told them what had happened and began to share the vision I had a few years ago. I also shared what God had put on my heart. I told them I would be praying for them and that to keep our church in mind if it is offered again next year.

I am just a servant and the Lord is the one who makes it grow.

⁵ What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁶ I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  1 Corinthians 3:5-7

Have a good week and always remember to look up!

Be Blessed

The following are just a few quotes I came across this week. All powerful in there own way.

 the silences of the Scripture were as much due to divine inspiration as were its statements - F..F. Bruce

 

Remember this today: the smallest things you do or say sometimes have the greatest impact on others.

 

"God does not command that we do great things, only little things with great love." ~Mother Teresa

 

Have a wonderful week and remember to look up!                                               

Trusting

Thursday night Ohana group discussion was on stewardship of time, money, gifts and was grounded in Matthew chapter 25 verses 14-30.  We talked about this passage and what it meant regarding money and talents (gifts that God had given us).

But there is something that wasn’t mentioned and that was the Master and his character in this parable. The master, as it says in verse 14 called his servants and entrusted his property to them. In other words the master trusted these servants.

So if we look at it a little differently we see this man was full of kindness, wisdom and was respected. We also see him as someone who didn’t ask these servants to do anything with the money he gave them. Yet two of them did and one didn’t.

As I continued to think about this I thought about the parallel of this man and Jesus. I thought how this man trusted his servants and that Jesus freely gives us the gift of salvation, He trusts us to take that gift and tell others about him.

Why then, is it so hard for us to trust Him with the things in our life? Have we become  the servant in this parable that is afraid of sharing, afraid of investing our time or even afraid of speaking God’s truth? 

 

2Timothy 2:15 tells us,

¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

 

Have a good week and remember to look up!