Do you feel alone or discouraged today?

I was greatly encouraged this morning as I read 2 Timothy chapter 4. This chapter outlines some of Paul’s struggles and how people loved the world and followed their ways and in so doing caused much harm towards Paul and his ministry, but his hope remained in the Lord and His reward comes from Christ alone.

Verse 10 “Demas has forsaken me”

Verse 14 “Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm”

People can come and go out of your life. People can cause trouble, but we are called as Christians to endure hardship as it says in 2 Timothy 2:3

“Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a solider”.

2:10 “Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.’

We go through many things in life, many challenges and it is easy to look to man, to get discouraged by what you may see happening all around you, but through it all, I believe the Lord is wanting to teach us to trust in Him alone and look to Him alone. That we are here to please only Christ. The Lord is faithful and those times we feel we cannot take much more, he strengthens us and gives us grace for a new day.

4:17 “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

Through Paul’s trials the message of the gospel spread to the Gentiles. Through the pressures that may happen around us, it forces out the message of the gospel that is in us to go in directions and ways that we never thought it would go. God uses everything for good and He is faithful and He will strengthen us and preserve us for Him. Keep your eyes on the prize which is Christ Jesus and wait for him to deliver you because He is faithful and will do what He said He would do!

A challenge from the Book of Haggai

“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in paneled houses while this house remains a ruin?” This is the word that popped up to me this morning as I sat down and felt I needed to share it here. Haggai is a wonderful book that reminds us of the right priorities in life, it is only a couple of pages long so take the time to read it in one sitting. I quote from the NIV application study bible; “Pressures, demands, expectations, and tasks push in from all sides and assault our schedules. Do! Be There! Finish that! Call them! It seems as though everyone wants something from us – family, friends, employer, school, church, clubs. Soon there is little left to give, as we run out of energy and time. We find ourselves rushing through life, attending to the necessary, the immediate, and the urgent. The important is all too often left in the dust. Our problem is not the volume of d...

The rats where running....

Last night I saw this picture where we went into this room to collect stuff with lots of other people and all these rats ran away as we came in and the stuff in the room was just all bits of rubbish now and the word that came to me was Matt 6:19 "Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." It is so easy to think you are storing up treasure in heaven but the reality is that if you are wanting praise from man in any way then you are actually receiving your inheritance now. When you work for the Lord the things done in secret I believe, is what is stored up in heavenly places awaiting a time of release and when that release comes is unto the Lord, it may be on the earth while you are alive but it may also be later....

Does your boat have life jackets?

Do you go out fishing on a boat without a life jacket? Do you go out on the water unprepared for what may happen? And yet for many Christians this is the state of their Christian walk, they are not prepared for what may come and so when things go wrong they have not spent the time in the word of God, which teaches them truth so that when the enemy comes in like a flood and overwhelms them, they have no where to go except down, because the belt of Truth is like our safety be lt that holds us up when the flood threatens to overwhelm us. Truth is the word of God, truth sets us free, truth brings us life and helps us discern what is of God and what is not of God. A word the Lord was bringing last night is to be prepared and so I encourage you to take the time, set time apart, go in and shut the door to distractions, shut the door to the words the enemy would try and bring, shut the door to discouragement or whatever may be coming that is trying to take your eye, the phone, Facebook, tv...

Prov 4:23 "Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life"

"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me" Yeah right! Peoples' comments and judgements toward us hurt very much and hinder our walk with the Lord and with others, but the Lord would say this morning from Proverbs 4:23 to "guard our heart for it is the wellspring of life." God judges very differently than man and we see in the story of 1 Samuel 16 where the Prophet Samuel is called to anoint a new King and in verses 6&7 "Samuel saw Eliab and thought, 'Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord'. But the Lord said to Samuel 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." How quickly we judge by what we see and hear, but the Lord calls us not to do that, but to look at the heart. Psalm 139:23-24 "Search me, O God and know my heart, tes...

Don't be deceived - be careful who you are following

I had this dream the other day where I saw a whole bunch of my friends following after a lady who was popular and well known and they were going to hear her but as they got in her possession she was evil and was out to kill them, she was deliberately deceiving them. I found myself in this dream warning the people not to follow her and so now I find myself warning people about being deceived and not to follow after people. We are not to follow after people, we are to follow after God and Jesus Christ. We are not to look to people for what they can give us but we are to look to God. If we look to God and read his word then it is harder to become deceived because the word of God is truth and it reveals truth as we read it and we find the areas of error that may be coming in. I find myself sometimes heading down a certain direction and becoming a little unbalanced in my theology (my beliefs) until I read the word again which brings me back in line ...

Dealing with a poverty mindset

This morning I had a dream and what the Lord was saying is that there was a 'begging' mentality happening and instead of believing God would give everything we needed and responding and walking in the authority that He has given each one of us. That He is our daily bread, our daily provision. Instead many of us are like a people begging going around asking for the little scraps that people or God would give. Whatever it is you need today - God is able, in fact more that ab le to do exceedingly more than you think of, ask or imagine. So I pray for you that every poverty mindset that limits who God is in and through you today would be broken in the name and blood of Jesus and that you would walk in the abundance of all that God has for you and those around you. Many blessings - Sarah. If you recognize any of these seven signs in your life, you may have a poverty mentality that God wants to heal you from: This list comes from Kris Vollotton https://www.charismamag.com/spi...

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