Do you feel like Uriah sometimes? Do you ever feel as though you have been in the heat of life’s battles and all of a sudden you feel as though you are standing and fighting alone? Oh, you know God is with you or you wouldn’t still be standing but other than that, you feel alone. It’s like the battles are coming at you from every side and there’s no relief in sight! It’s strange how sometimes when you are struggling the most, you can almost feel as though instead of drawing people in to help strengthen you in your battle, it seems that everyone close to you has disappeared. It isn’t that they don’t care, but sometimes I believe satan finds a way to make us too busy and it appears to those in need like we aren’t there for them.
Satan wants you to feel alone. He wants you to feel as though all is lost and hopeless. He wants you to feel as though no one cares and yes, if he can he will make other people feel uncomfortable around you in order to keep them from you in your time of need. You can know that you are never alone! God is always right there and He wants to protect, strengthen, and guide you through it all! Psalm 61: 1-3, “Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.” Pray that prayer, write it down, and keep it with you knowing that God will be your refuge and strength! He loves you!
When you get to that point where you have put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-17) and you have stood as long as you can and you don’t feel as though you can stand one more minute ~ then what? Grab on to that shield of faith and back right up to “that rock” mentioned in Psalm 61 which is The Lord and sit your bum down holding on to your faith and allow Him to have your back and strengthen you so you can stand again! Don’t give up! God’s got you! You never know but what today may be the day he delivers you so hold on to your hope in Him! Know that He loves you and you are never alone in your struggle! Truly His best is yet to come!
]]>If you are in need of some extra encouragement for your situation today just pull up biblegateway.com and do a word search of the words, “But God”. There seems to be a “but God” for just about everything you can imagine and some things you couldn’t imagine going on in your life! In this verse it was Noah, there are others about Abraham and of course, Joseph, and the list goes on and on!
Whatever you may be facing today there is a “but God” headed your way if you will just hold on to your faith in Him! That doesn’t mean that everything will turn out the way you may have planned, but it means He does have a plan and He will always do what is right and best. If we knew what He knows, we would always rest assured that His way is always best! That is why you need to trust Him! He knows, He sees and He has the best plan and you can trust His character to always do what is right and best! You can also count on the fact that your current condition is not your final one ~ God has a plan. Make sure you are listening and not stuck in a rut doing your own thing. Sometimes God’s plan requires stepping out of the “box” and doing something new and different than what you may have done or seen in the past. Follow Him, ask Him, and trust Him as you let Him lead. Spend time alone with Him and seek Him with your whole heart. Too often God gets blamed because people don’t follow Him and seek Him and then they want to blame Him for their bad circumstances. Other times, life just happens and He allows it because He is teaching us to trust Him. If you choose to seek Him with your whole heart and you follow Him then you can know that you can trust where He is leading you no matter how big the storm or strong the battle, He’s got you!
Cling to Him today! Ask Him to show up in a mighty way in your life so He will be glorified and other people will be drawn to Him as they look on saying, “Wow, that was clearly God!” Don’t underestimate the power of God in your life. It is often when you come to the end of yourself, realizing that you are unable to do anything about what is going on that He steps in, if you allow Him to, to show up mighty. Pray about it and seek Him with your whole heart knowing that truly His best is yet to come!
]]>Unfortunately, building endurance takes time and effort. We are called to be steadfast and that would indicate that things aren’t always going to run smoothly in our lives. God has told us in His Word that life on earth will be hard, if you aren’t ever facing battles maybe you need to take a close look at your walk with God. Yes, we have seasons of awesomeness and God’s blessing, but if satan is never fighting you on any level then somehow he doesn’t see you as a threat. We all face Spiritual battles in life, I am so battle-weary some days I wonder which way is up. When you feel like that you must ask God to give you strength for one more day to fight the lies that satan tries to tell you to make you feel hopeless ~ resist him! Ask God for the strength to stand and to wait on Him trusting that as it says in these verses that “He, Himself will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
When you feel anxiety-ridden, and let’s face it there is a lot of craziness going on in the world and satan seems to be on a rampage to destroy us, give the anxiety to Him reminding yourself that He loves you deeply and He has a plan that He is working out. I know that may sound trite if read the wrong way, but I am right there with you. I don’t say these things sitting on a mountaintop, making light of anyone’s situation, believe me. The best way to learn to trust God is to keep reminding yourself that He is trustworthy and He is always true to His Word, but you must follow Him. You cannot expect God’s best and His plan if you choose to do your own thing.
Of course, my favorite part of these verses is, “And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen”. ~ “ A little while?” you may say, “This hasn’t been, a ‘little while!” I get it, but think about this… if it has been “forever” then you must be closer than you think to your victory and answer. I know this ~ you can trust Him! He will come through! He will do what is best! He loves you more than words can say and not one tear you have shed has escaped His notice.
Give it to Him, whether it is a struggle or a simple decision. Take it all to Him and stand firm on the Word of God knowing that you can count on the fact that truly His best is yet to come when you are sticking close to His side!
Quote: “It’s in the struggle itself that you define yourself.” ~ Pat Buchanan
]]>This is just the “Beginnings of our Store”. There’s so much more to come, but I didn’t want to wait and this allows me to move the current inventory and as we can we will add new! I am so overwhelmingly grateful for your prayers and gifts for the ministry!!! chocolate-and-god-104345.square.site. This is our temporary store until we can update the one on the website.
Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts to the ministry ~ together we are and will continue to reach thousands of people around the world with the goal of reaching thousands more with the Gospel!
Have a blessed week! ~ Janet
For anyone who would like to give a gift to the ministry to help:
My Venmo is @Janet-Scott-11, and my CashApp is $JanetScott7773 OR you can email me and I can send you my Square link for debit and credit cards. Email me at [email protected] or [email protected]. Thank you so much!!! God Bless! ~Janet. I so appreciate your prayers and generosity!!💕
]]>Isaiah 49:15-16, “Can a woman forget her child at the breast, not show pity on the child from her womb? Even if these were to forget, I would not forget you. I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, your walls are always before me.”
Not today! What lies has satan been after you with to keep you where you are? God hasn’t forgotten you or His plans for you and your loved ones! No matter how long you have waited or what your circumstances are screaming ~ He hasn’t forgotten! Is there a dream you had of what you thought God would do in and through you? When I was 12 years old God put it on my heart when I was at Lake Ann Bible camp to be a missionary. I went to college and I was told that wasn’t a good idea because I was single, I got married but he didn’t feel we were called to that either, then I went through a divorce and I fully believed I had totally missed it. Either I didn’t hear right at 12 or I messed up and missed it. Then God opened the door and put it on my heart to write Bible studies ~ talk about feeling unqualified… God doesn’t necessarily call the qualified, He qualifies the called. I started out hoping to maybe have 50 women but God has sent it all over the world. God’s plan is typically always much broader than our plans. I was willing to go to another country but His plan was to reach “Countries” and believe me ~ it’s ALL HIM! I could never do this on my own, but when you put your “yes” on that table before Him and say “Not my agenda but Yours” He will do more with what you have than you can on your own! What dreams do you need to dust off?
I have a sweet friend whom I wish we lived closer to each other because her heart for God, people, and ministry is so much the same as mine. Yesterday I watched a reel she did that just really stirred me up because we all get attacked by satan to get us discouraged thinking maybe we just can’t fulfill our calling. Her reminder to fight that and just do it was powerful. We cannot give up. Satan is out to keep the world under his thumb and to keep Christians silent! We must fight back! We need to take every opportunity we get to share the Gospel and encouragement with everyone we can. So whether God is calling you to launch out into a local Bible Study or to head to the mission field, get going! You just never know what may come of what you think is small. You don’t know who else may be inspired by you and then who will be inspired by them and on and on! We have to start somewhere and some time so why not “here” and why not “now”? If what is on your heart lines up with the Word of God and it’s going to further the kingdom and inspire others in their walk with Him then don’t allow satan the opportunity to silence you. Pray about it and ask for God’s leading. Ask Him to open and close doors as He sees fit! Our mission is to reach the world with His truth and we can’t do that if we keep silent. Take a look around… those lost people you see will be left behind if Jesus comes soon, and worse still their eternal fate is Hell if they don’t accept Him as their savior. How many Christians do you know who could use some encouragement?
Let’s determine to be His hands, feet and mouthpiece by dusting off those dreams and callings and start reaching out. Start in prayer, asking for His guidance and He will show you the direction to go. There’s absolutely nothing more important than doing what He puts on your heart to do. I am praying that God will stir up a mighty bunch of men and women who are determined to not only become who He created them to be but for them to also have a passion to stir that up in everyone around them! No call is too small if you are working with Him! You just never know all He can and will do with your simple “Yes”!
]]>The Israelites had a habit of doing really well following God and then they would turn to other gods or start grumbling because everything wasn’t the way they wanted it to be. They were up and then they were down but they seemed to have a difficult time staying steady in their walk with God. Have you ever felt that way? You are steady for a while serving God with your whole heart and then you find yourself sliding back into either taking it all for granted or back into old habits that you know are not of God.
God wants His best for you and He knows that the only place you are going to find it is by following Him. The roller coaster rides of following God and then choosing self-destruction, following God, and then self-destruction keep you from all that He has for you. We are so much more fortunate than the Israelites were having to live under the law and they had to provide sacrifices to cover their sins there were feasts and fasts, they had a lot to do in order to be obedient and to be in right standing with God. Once Jesus died on the cross His blood released us from all of that when we accept Him as our savior, and His spirit lives within us to help us live the way we ought to live! It didn’t release us to just live however we choose, instead His spirit gives us the ability to become more like Him if we allow Him to. Sin still has consequences, we may be forgiven when we ask for forgiveness but the consequences of sin are still there.
Choices we make today affect us as well as our children and sometimes even our children’s children. We see that all through the Bible and you can see it everywhere you turn. Decisions made and examples set by the parents affect their children down the road. God isn’t being selfish, wanting you to follow His plan, He wants what is best for you. He isn’t sitting there waiting for you to do something wrong so He can pounce on it, He has given you a plan so you can avoid the destruction found on the path you want to take outside of His will. God’s plan is for your good, Jeremiah 29:11-13, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for good and not for evil, plans to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
It is your choice every day which path you will take. Choose wisely. Choose God’s favor and blessing on your life by following Him!
]]>If we had to follow the law and sacrifices how much more careful would we be? When I read this it made me realize how lightly a lot of Christians take Jesus dying on the cross for all of these things. I have had people throw a fit over my using Joshua 1:8 because they don’t want anything to do with the Law which is concerning because what standard do they want to live by? We are saved by grace and we are not under the law but Jesus said that He didn’t come to abolish the law and He said that our standard should actually be higher than the law because we have His Spirit living within us. Too many people act as though “It’s all good because we live under grace.” But that is not what it’s for! We are not free to behave any way we choose because of grace ~ Grace should be what motivates us to live lives that honor Him! Recognizing all He has done because of His love for us including dying for us because He knows we could never “keep the law” should fill our hearts with love for Him. Have you ever done something for someone, or maybe you made something for them and then realized that while they were excited to get it they really didn’t take care of it in a way that you would expect because of all you put into it or what it cost you? It would make you rather sad to think that it meant that little to them…
We serve a holy God who paid a very dear price in order to redeem us so we can spend eternity with Him! He didn’t have to, He chose to because of His love for us and that should move in the hearts of all Christians to show their love by following His leading, not taking His love for granted. That’s something many people can relate to ~ that feeling, the heartache of realizing that the person you love so dearly has taken your love for granted. They were excited in the beginning of the relationship and said and did all of the right things but then it all gradually seemed to wear off or sometimes just a day or two after you got married and you realized that the love only seemed to flow in one direction. His love for us ~ His sacrifice ~ His mercy and grace should just cause our hearts to overflow with gratitude, love and the desire to honor Him in all that we say and do! I know for many it does, but our world is a mess and more than ever our love and respect for God should be obvious in all that we say and do so others will be drawn to Him. They should be curious as to why you love Him the way you do. Remember ~ it is His Love, mercy, and grace that will draw others to Him and to live for Him, not beating them over the head with what you think needs to change in their lives. Be the example and love and guide and above all else pray for God to work in their lives and for their hearts to be open to His leading. Be there for them and when the time is right, if it ever is, God will give you the opportunity and the words to speak into their lives. There are times to speak in love and times to pour your heart out in prayer and wait.
Don’t misunderstand, I am not suggesting we “ live by the Law” clearly that is not the way and I am not suggesting legalistic rules, I am saying that our lives should be full of the fruit of His Spirit living within us. As it says in Galatians 5:18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Verses 19 -21 explain the life of someone living according to their own desires and verses 22-26 say, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with it’s passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Let’s pray that God will help us rise up and be the examples we should be, living lives that are different because we are led by His Spirit and His love just flows out of us because we are overflowing with it! Let’s make it our prayer every day that all that we say and do will draw others to Him and reflect our love and respect for Him! May the Lord bless you and cause His face to shine upon you and give you peace, confidence, love and the ability to shine His love and mercy to everyone around you.
Quote: “All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” ~ Helen Keller
]]>How long have you been praying for it? I know we all have some things that are so dear to our hearts that we pray about that the wait can some days almost seem unbearable. I know the words, “ He will judge in their favor and quickly” can cause us to pause and say, “Wait ~ what?! Quickly? It’s been years….” Our “quickly” and His “quickly” don’t always quite seem the same but there are reasons for any time God seems to be delayed, sometimes it’s for our growth and sometimes it is for someone else’s, so we must persevere in prayer and not give up! That reminds me of a funny story I heard the other day about a young man talking with God and he asked, “God how much is a million dollars to you?” God replied, “ Oh, a million dollars is like a penny to me”. So the young man asked, “Well, how long is a thousand years to you?” And God said, “A hundred years is like a second to me” So the young man asked, “ So God will you give me a million dollars?” And God said, “Sure, just a second!” LOL ok, so while that is a silly joke, sometimes we forget that God sees the whole picture and He knows the best timing and we just need to persevere in prayer! Don’t give up because it has been a while.
Writing down what you are praying about and putting dates for when the prayer is answered is a great way to remind yourself of the answers you have received. Another important thing to do when you are writing out your prayer list is to take the time to write out the promises of God next to them and pray that scripture too! Prayer is such an incredible opportunity we have to draw close to our incredible God and we should be intentional in every aspect of it! Too often it is that thing we rush through because we have so many pressing things in our life we need to get to and yet it is a time to meet with The ONLY ONE who can do anything about everything in our lives! You would think we would be the opposite and we would have to be dragged away from our prayer closets, but that is sadly, rarely the case. Prayer is very important, not just to get answers but to our spiritual growth. There isn’t a relationship out there that would grow if there was no communication! Same with your relationship with Him!
Let’s all take the time to evaluate what we can do to grow and be more intentional in our prayer lives. It’s not as much about the words you pray as it is about the heart you are praying with. Seek His face! Take the time to read your Bible so you know what His word says and write down verses that relate to what you are praying about. Pour your heart out to Him, pray for the faith and trust you need to grow, and ask Him what His dreams are for your life! He has a plan and His timing is perfect! Trust Him, knowing He is always working out that plan of His, regardless of what we may see or don’t see, the important thing is to make sure you are walking with Him in order for His plans to be fulfilled in your life! If you aren’t already ~ start today by getting intentional and persevering in prayer!
Quote: “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” ~ Martin Luther
]]>Who you choose to spend the majority of your time with does make a difference in who you become! We see it in our children but we have to remember that as adults as well. For some reason, negative influence tends to be picked up quicker than good. Who knows why that may be and it doesn’t really matter why, it just matters that it is! If you want to be successful in life, coaches will tell you that you need to attach yourself to successful people! If you want to be more godly then you need to find godly people to spend time with. Who do you want to become? You can’t hang out with negative people for long before they begin to rub off on you. You can’t be around people who have standards that are in the gutter before you find yourself in the gutter with them. Ask yourself why you are clinging to a friendship that you know is not good ~ is it money or influence? What price might you pay in the long run for it? Take your friendships to God.
Just like we need to be careful what we read or watch on TV, we need to be careful of the influence we allow in our lives by other people on a daily basis. Clearly, we don’t have choices in most cases of who we are around at work, but we do have a choice on how much we consume and what they have to say. I am constantly reminding Abby (13) “garbage in ~ garbage out”, so she will remember that when she is choosing what music to listen to, what books to read, what videos to watch, and what she allows her friends to say to influence her. The only one we need to impress in our lives is God and it is our obedience to Him that draws a smile.
Care about your morals! Care about how you live your life in front of others. Choose high standards. Choose to spend more time with God and less time in front of your TV. Remember that we tend to only become as successful as the people we choose to spend most of our time with, that is why sometimes God seems to pull us aside for a while so He has us to Himself. Have you ever felt that way; like all of your friends and family seem distant and you have no one to go to? God allows that at times when He needs you to focus on Him and Him alone! He loves you and He wants to be your influence so you can grow into all He has created you to be! He doesn’t want you to miss out! There are also times when God may clean house and remove some people from your life which can be painful, but He will replace them with people who are going to help move you toward the next level if you allow Him to work in and through you. (I am not including family members and I am not talking about losing someone who passes on to eternity)
Choose today and every day, what sphere of influence you are going to allow in your and your family’s lives! It matters in the bigger scheme of things. The choices you make today will affect all of your tomorrows! Choose wisely!
Quote: “A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder.” ~ English Proverb
]]>OKAY! I have no clue what happened to the link for the store last time, but let’s try this again! It should NOT take you to Google! This is just the “Beginnings of our Store”. There’s so much more to come, but I didn’t want to wait and this allows me to move the current inventory and as we can we will add new! I am so overwhelmingly grateful for your prayers and gifts for the ministry!!! chocolate-and-god-104345.square.site
Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts to the ministry ~ together we are and will continue to reach thousands of people around the world with the goal of reaching thousands more with the Gospel!
Have a blessed week! ~ Janet
For anyone who would like to give a gift to the ministry to help:
My Venmo is @Janet-Scott-11, and my CashApp is $JanetScott7773 OR you can email me and I can send you my Square link for debit and credit cards. Email me at [email protected] or [email protected]. Thank you so much!!! God Bless! ~Janet. I so appreciate your prayers and generosity!!💕
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