Over and over throughout your life, you will be faced with this question.  Hear me out… while you made that decision when you accepted Jesus as your Savior, satan isn’t giving up on messing you up!  Let’s look at a few examples:

The obvious would be when you are tempted to do something you know is wrong ~ “Whom will you serve?”  But what about the more subtle things like taking those defeating thoughts captive that you know are not from God, “Whom will you serve”?  Will you take those thoughts captive and fill your mind with the truth from the Word of God, or will you allow them to drag you away captive?  How about when you have waited, and waited, and waited and nothing has changed other than everything seems to continue to get worse, “Whom will you serve?”  Will you stop in the middle of it all and turn on a worship song and give God glory for His faithfulness and all of who He is or will you get angry because He hasn’t seemingly fought for you?  When you praise God for who He is not only are you giving Him glory, you are encouraging yourself in Him and that is where you will find your hope and peace!  That is a choice, “Whom will you serve?”  When you are worn out and weary and you feel like just throwing in the towel, “Whom will you serve?”, satan is waiting for the moment to tell God, “See I told you he/she couldn’t make it…”.  Oh yes you can, all you have to decide is “Whom will you serve?”  Serving God is not always a physical action, it all begins as a heart decision.  All of the outward shows of “serving” God are just that, outward displays for others to see, but God looks at your heart because that is where service to Him is fulfilled.  

All throughout our days there are choices for our attitudes, reactions, actions, thoughts, and on and on the list goes but if you determine in your heart to allow God to work in you so others will see Him through you, He will guide you.  

While satan is out to defeat you God wants to help you overcome whatever comes your way and the best place to start is being in His Word, on your knees in prayer, and praising Him because He is so good!  One of my constant prayers throughout my days is, “Create in me a clean heart and renew a right attitude within me!”  I don’t want to give satan a tiny toe hold, he is often like an irritating mosquito that starts buzzing the minute you turn the light off to go to sleep.  He doesn’t stop until you turn the light on, but then when you turn the light off …. There it is again!  The less time you give him by entertaining those thoughts or other areas you are struggling in the stronger you will become in your faith and walk with God!  So, no matter what may come your way, “Choose whom you will serve” and allow God to do a mighty work not only in you but through you!  His best is yet to come, we don’t have long.

There was a terrible famine in the land and when the king heard the horrific things people were doing to survive he was overwhelmed and gave up on waiting on God.  He was not just giving up, but he was ready to kill Elisha out of his anger that God hadn’t rescued them yet.  

Don’t be discouraged if what you are waiting on has taken forever because just like in this case, your answer could be here soon.  God hasn’t forgotten you!  Things had just kept getting worse and worse and people were starving and there was no sign of relief in sight.  No one was speaking of coming to help them, the city was not only trying to survive the famine but they were also under siege.  People were paying for Dove poo to have something to eat!  It was bad and getting worse every day. Satan loves to just keep throwing one thing after the next at you trying to get you to give up on God so it is important to stay in His Word and seek Him.  Don’t lash out at others and don’t allow bitterness to take root.  Ask God to cleanse your heart and mind every day from all of that and ask Him to show you what you can learn from the situation.  Notice that the King was told by Elisha that the relief and answer would be there in the morning, the King believed the word of God spoken through Elisha and went home.  His servant on the other hand mocked and didn’t believe and was not able to enjoy the answer God was bringing to the people.  We must take God at His Word and we must walk with Him.    Too many people want to partake in the promises of God but they don’t follow Him.  They treat Him as though He were a fast food restaurant, they just pull up to the speakers and order what they want, and expect God to hand it all over.  A good parent doesn’t raise a child to think that they can behave any way they choose, living in their house but not obeying the rules and yet expecting Mom and Dad to “bless them” with everything they want and God isn’t going to raise His children that way either.  

It is sad to me to see so many Christians who are just going through the motions but they don’t really have a relationship with God ~ Ohhhhh how much they miss. Like the king of Israel’s servant, they may see it but they will never fully experience what God has for them. The best blessings of God are not material things, it’s His presence, His peace, and His love… it is KNOWING with everything in you that He is there even when the storm is raging and when all Hell is coming against you.  Money can’t buy that.  God does bless His children by providing financially for us as well, but that doesn’t always happen when we think it should either.  He knows, He sees and He is working in every area of your life and if you are waiting then one of those areas is for you to learn to trust Him even if it seems like He is late.  He is never late.

My encouragement for you today is for you to ask Him to help you trust Him in good times and bad.  Don’t give up even if you have seemingly waited forever!  He knows your heartaches, your needs and He is working.  He loves you and He wants to grow you into all He created you to be.  Don’t hold anything back.  Pour your heart out and trust Him to do what He knows is best!

The words of ADONAI are pure words, 

silver in a melting-pot set in the earth,

Refined and purified seven times over.

You, ADONAI, protect us; 

Guard us forever from this generation ~

The wicked strut about everywhere

When vileness is held in general esteem.

The world has turned into a crazy place where wrong is right, right is wrong, the level of confusion is over the top and no one is supposed to oppose the destruction.  If you aren’t grounded in your faith in God that could turn into a very insecure and scary place.   God laid out in His word that all of these things would come and that is why we must put all of our faith and hope in Him!

This Psalm is a psalm of David and let’s face it, that man faced a lot!  The more he did the right thing the more he was opposed at times.  He had to flee for His life countless times, but he held onto his faith in God’s faithfulness!  That is what you have to do when everything around you is chaos ~ you must take the time to remind yourself of who God is!  That is how David encouraged himself in God.  He reminded himself of all of the times God showed up faithful in Israel’s history and even in David’s personal life.  Life can be a bit crazy out there, but regardless of how crazy it may get God is still on His throne!  Fix your eyes on Him and spend quality time alone with Him.  Don’t allow fear to sneak in because “He who called you is faithful!” (1 Corinthians 1:9) satan wants to distract you with everything going on in the world so you must focus on God and what He has for you today!

Trust Him!  He alone is God!  He is your protector, provider, vindicator, and healer, He is everything you need and He is faithful!  Whatever is going on around you, in your life, or in the lives of those you love, take it all to Him!  Trust that He will be there and He will see you through whatever comes your way!  Our time is short here and truly His best is yet to come!

Whether that burden is seemingly little or so overwhelming you have about lost all hope, give it to Him.  Allow Him to sustain you and take care of those things that you aren’t sure what or why they have come your way.  Maybe it’s a co-worker that is on your last nerve, instead of lashing out, give them to Him and ask for His grace to deal with it.  Maybe you have been battling an illness that you feel you just don’t have the strength to battle anymore, I have been there!  Give it to Him and allow Him to sustain you and heal your body.  Sometimes the stress of fighting mentally when you are ill doesn’t help because that alone will wear you out.  Ask God to sustain you and guide you regardless of what it may be you are dealing with today.  He doesn’t expect you to face it alone, even if it is just an annoyance that has you ready to burst, He wants to guide you in how to deal with those things too.

If you cling to it instead of giving it to Him then you are left doing it in your own strength.  Why would you want to do that when He has promised to sustain you?  If the problem is, that you need to forgive someone, I would encourage you to forgive so you can move forward.  Not forgiving just builds anger, hurt, and frustration in you, not them.  They may not even know you are angry and if they do they may not even care which I know just makes you that much more irritated or hurt, but what good is it to keep holding on to it?  I had that conversation with God when I was having difficulty forgiving someone.  I was just so hurt!  I was consumed with all that this person had not only done but was continuing to do and more and I wasn’t sure how to let it go.  I can remember telling God that I was just so angry about it all that I didn’t know how to let it go.  Then I knew the Lord was trying to teach me that my anger was hurting me and doing nothing for the situation.  So what ~ I was angry ~ “woo, that will teach ‘em!”  How was it helping?  It wasn’t!~. It was consuming me and making me miserable and I was keeping God from dealing with the situation by holding onto it.  Unforgiveness will eat you alive and achieve nothing.  It will keep you from God’s best.  There are times you will need to forgive that same person over and over, possibly every day, but do it and give them over to God and allow God to do what only He can do in your situation! You don’t have to trust that person and you can do your best to minimize their activity in your life, but forgiving is not an option if you desire to move forward.  Don’t allow that situation or that person to have that power over you by hanging onto unforgiveness. Let God carry the burden of your hurts, vindicate you, and sustain you. 

God loves you and He wants to lift you up and guide you in all that you do.  He never intended for you to go it alone.  He sees He cares, He knows your name, and He wants to have a close relationship with you so you can experience His presence every day and in all that you do.  Cleanse your heart and mind by releasing everything to him and fully trust Him with it all!

Quote:  “I don’t pray because it makes sense to pray I pray because my life doesn’t make sense without prayer!”  Noah ben Shea

NOTE: PLEASE PRAY! The ministry still has an URGENT NEED of $750 that hasn’t been met! If your are able please prayerfully consider helping. Thank you all so much for your continued prayer and support. ~Janet

I find when I am reading the book of Job I often find myself wondering and concerned about how long his suffering lasted.  Was it weeks, months ~ a year…. How long did that poor man not only suffer but have to deal with his condemning, judgmental friends who clearly were clueless?  I don’t know, it doesn’t give us any clue really for sure how long it lasted but God spoke to him out of the storm going on in his life.

God doesn’t always wait for the storm to pass to answer you.  Just because God hadn’t set things right yet for Job He answered Him.  I’m not sure I would have wanted to be on that end of God’s answer and yet I am sure there are many times we are, we just don’t audibly hear Him.  Whatever the case may be Job was answered by God and then He rebuked Job’s “friends” and blessed Job beyond what He had experienced before.  

Are you taking the time to hear what God is trying to tell you today?  Sometimes we can get so caught up in what is going on and caught up in telling God what needs to be done and how we think it should happen and we miss out.  Remember that God has a plan and unless He is telling you what you need to do you may just need to get out of His way and let Him do what He needs to do and sometimes you need to listen to the people that He has put in your life to help guide you.  Seek God’s face at all times and ask Him for the discernment you need for every situation and then trust Him to do what only He can do! 

On the other side of this, if you aren’t experiencing a storm in life right now, this still applies to you.  Don’t get so busy or caught up in the goodness that you miss out on hearing God either.  God still has a plan so don’t block Him out with your own agenda and plans.  Take the time to seek Him and allow Him to speak into your life and plans.  We are all so busy it seems that it is easy to just get caught up in the everyday stuff figuring that it is just the same old thing and we don’t take the time to stop and see if there’s something He is trying to show us along the way.  It takes being intentional in all we do to truly walk with Him.

God wants to guide you into all He created you to be and sometimes that means He allows storms in your life in between those mountaintops.  Ask God today regardless of where you are in life what He may be trying to teach you.  God is always moving forward and He wants to guide you forward in life as well.  Trust Him and His plan and strive in your walk to be more like Him every day!  His best is yet to come!

Have you ever seen videos of the avalanches of snow?  How crazy would that be, to be driving down the highway and all of a sudden you are covered in massive amounts of snow and ice?  I cannot imagine!  Some of those cars were completely buried and had to be dug out!  Life feels that way at times!  All of a sudden something totally unexpected just runs you over and it leaves you waiting for God to rescue you.

We have choices!  No matter what is going on in your life, you have choices!  Whether things are good, bad, or absolutely unfathomable, you have a choice to make for how you are going to handle it.  Now, your first reaction to it all may not have been quite right, but where do you go from there?  Are you going to allow that avalanche to run your life or are you going to trust God to clean it up and fix it so you can move forward?   It will also help you if you refute the lies that satan is trying to get you to believe about your situation.  Ask God to help you handle whatever comes your way in a way that will bring Him glory.  Ask Him to help you to stand strong in your faith and trust in Him and His character!  

Please, let me encourage you that while you wait you can grow and become stronger in who you are.  Even if you are on a mountaintop right now, take this time to allow God to mold you into all He created you to be!  Ask Him to show you His dreams for your life!  Ask Him what you may need to learn going through the storms of life, but take heart that it has come to pass!  If you seek His face, follow Him, and allow Him to work in your life, you will come through this better instead of bitter in the end.  You may find that there are days when you are really angry.  Angry with everyone and everything, including God because nothing has changed, but He still has you in the palm of His hand.  He still cares and He still loves you and He is waiting on you to calm down and seek His face so He can lead you through to the other side.  This didn’t come to stay!  It came to pass and just like the seasons outside change from month to month, so will your life!  There are ups and downs, there will be Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall and there will be mountaintops and valleys; how will you choose to handle yours?  Give it all to Him!  Maybe you feel you already have, but I would encourage you to ask Him to give you the strength to not waiver and to show you any area that maybe you haven’t quite fully given Him.  Give that anger to Him!  Ask Him to fill you with His love and peace!  Forgive whomever you need to forgive!  Let it all go and ask Him to fill you with His love, mercy, grace, and peace!  Maybe you need to give Him your desire to retaliate!  Whatever it is, give it to Him today!

Be strong today by giving it all to Him and holding on to your faith in His character and His Faithfulness!  Take courage in the fact that nothing is too big for God!  Trust Him to see you through and to help you become all you were created to be!  Tell satan, “Not Today!  My God will carry me through!”  Things don’t always turn out the way we plan and often times our hearts are broken, but you can trust Him to get you through all that you face, both the good and the bad!  Take heart today and trust Him, knowing that His best is yet to come!

Quote:  “Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.”  ~ J. Phillip Everson

Do you ever wonder when someone else is doing you wrong, why God doesn’t do something quickly?  We all want His grace and mercy on our own lives, but we also tend to want His immediate judgment on those who sin against us!  We aren’t quite as patient as He is when it comes to giving them time to get it together, that’s human nature.  We are an impatient lot when it comes to wanting justice.

I was praying about this the other day because the wickedness in the world is overwhelming and I have to admit there are times I have wondered about His patience with wicked people who are terrorizing other people and just seem bent on hurting people.  Then this word came to me:  How would you feel if you had 20 children and there was a natural disaster headed your way?  As you are trying to get all of your children together and out of there, people are telling you that you just need to hurry up and grab a couple of your children, don’t worry about the rest, would you be ok with that?  Would your heart not be wrenched out of your chest to think of just walking away and leaving some of your children behind?  The Lord loves us all and He doesn’t want to lose anyone due to a lack of patience.  

So, I would like to encourage you to pray for the salvation of that person who is tormenting you!  If they have accepted Him as their savior, then God will deal with them and their sin against you.  You can trust Him to move in their life and deal with them.  Ask God for the grace and strength to be who you are created to be for Him through it all and despite what they are doing!  You can still be the godly woman you are called to be regardless of their behavior.  No, it isn’t easy, but He will carry you through to the other side!  Ask Him for His love for other people, even those who are doing you wrong!  Hold on to Him and His promises to reveal the truth and hidden sins and His promises to fulfill His plans for your life, in His time! 

Quote:  “Each of us will one day be judged by our standard of life, not by our standard of living: by our measure of giving, not by our measure of wealth; by our simple goodness, not by our seeming greatness.” ~ William Arthur Ward

On an exciting note, I will be turning the transcripts in for the Book! This has been years in the works with a lot of research and studying. I can’t wait to share it with you and I am praying that I will be able to bless many of you who have been such an encouragement and have supported the ministry through this season!! If you are supporting the ministry and would like to be on that list, please be sure to send your address along with your donation. Thank you! I will keep you all posted when I hear when it will be released. Please be in prayer for this, I am sure there’s a reason satan has fought so hard against it!

Now, I am just going to cut straight to the chase ~ We have an absolute URGENT NEED DUE TODAY of $820! The current financial needs for the ministry that are beyond what I can cover are $896 for the month, of which $820 is URGENT. I appreciate you all ~ Please keep praying and please prayerfully consider helping us so we can continue to reach thousands of men and women around the world!

For anyone who would like to give a gift to the ministry to help, here’s the link to give by debit or Credit card:  https://square.link/u/VMrHVTwb

Please Email me for CashApp, PayPal or Venmo at [email protected] ~ Thank you!

Have a blessed week! Love you all!!! 💕

~ Janet Scott

There’s not a day that goes by that we couldn’t all use more hope!  When you read these verses it’s easy to look at the first phrase and think, “Rest?  What’s that?!”  I totally understand that, when we were putting our house on the market I went from getting the house ready to sell by painting everywhere and fixing things, to selling it and then packing and cleaning, and trying to figure out where we were going to move.  So…. About that “rest”.  That’s not the kind of “rest” that verse is talking about.  You can have a restful spirit even in chaos by resting in Him.  He loves you so much.  How can you do that?  Take a look around:  have you done what God has asked you to do?  Are there things weighing on you that you can do absolutely nothing about?  Give everything to Him and spend some time praising Him!  Yes, in your own home, turn on some praise and worship music and sing along.  Praise Him with your whole heart and spend some time in His word!  Read Psalms, they are so encouraging and pour your heart out in prayer. 

He is your hope and He wants to walk with you.  He wants you to learn to trust Him with it all.  He is more concerned about the details than you are and He is always working on your behalf when you are following Him.  You just aren’t going to see everything He is working on when you want to see it, some things have to wait to be seen when it’s done!  Have you ever watched one of those “makeover shows” on HGTV?  It’s fun to see the excitement and surprise of the people who own the house when they get to see the finished project, but there’s a reason why they aren’t allowed to see it as it is going for most of those shows. Part of that reason is so they don’t get involved in every detail as they go or they may never get it finished.  Yes, they have a say, but there’s some creative licensing there for the designers to do what they believe the owners will like.  Sometimes God puts his hand over your eyes so you don’t see it until He is finished, so you just have to trust that He knows you better than you know yourself!

So, rest in Him today!  He is your rock and salvation, He is your fortress and you don’t have to be shaken.  Everything in your life depends on Him.  He is your mighty rock and your refuge so trust in Him at all times and pour your heart out to Him knowing that He is your refuge and strength and His best is yet to come if you will just walk with Him!

Quote:  “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.  Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”  ~ Helen Keller

On an exciting note, I will be turning the transcripts in for the Book! This has been years in the works with a lot of research and studying. I can’t wait to share it with you and I am praying that I will be able to bless many of you who have been such an encouragement and have supported the ministry through this season!! If you are supporting the ministry and would like to be on that list, please be sure to send your address along with your donation. Thank you! I will keep you all posted when I hear when it will be released. Please be in prayer for this, I am sure there’s a reason satan has fought so hard against it!

Now, I am just going to cut straight to the chase ~ We have an absolute URGENT NEED DUE TODAY of $875! The current financial needs for the ministry that are beyond what I can cover are $951 for the month, of which $820 is URGENT. I appreciate you all ~ Please keep praying and please prayerfully consider helping us so we can continue to reach thousands of men and women around the world!

For anyone who would like to give a gift to the ministry to help, here’s the link to give by debit or Credit card:  https://square.link/u/VMrHVTwb

Please Email me for CashApp, PayPal or Venmo at [email protected] ~ Thank you!

Have a blessed week! Love you all!!! 💕

~ Janet Scott