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“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians‬ ‭6:9‬ ‭ What if the trial you are facing and are in right now is the future testimony that will save someone from what they're going through in the future? How many times have you faced a trial and asked God why? I know I have because when we are in those times we don't understand it. We pray to have a testimony and to be used by God, but we crumble and ask God to remove the trial soon as we get started through it. I know trials in life are difficult, but I go through them myself. I struggle with a lot and one day I will tell my testimony of it. Next time you face a trial you need to remind yourself without a test there is no testimony, I'm not only talking about the spelling of the word. If you want a testimony to tell you're going to have to go through a trial or maybe a few. Things are not going to be perfect in your life, and neve...

““Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”‭‭ Matthew‬ ‭7:7‬ ‭ Do you ever ask God something in prayer and feel as though you annoy Him? I feel sometimes that my prayers are repetitive and that it annoys God. Tonight, I had a new perspective on it. I saw this verse and it reminded me that is exactly what God wants, He wants us to keep asking. We take God's not nows as a no a lot of times, but the reality of it God doesn't mean no. In the past I prayed for a car, for what felt like ever, I thought that God wouldn't answer me because it was impossible from my point of view to be able to afford something reliable. I really wanted a white car with black stripes and whatever model we could afford at the time.  I kept asking God for it, even through the doubt, through the pain, and though I could not see it. As time went on I decided to settle for less than I had originally ask...

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans‬ ‭3:23‬ ‭ The enemy wants you to focus on your past so you cannot see God's beautiful things ahead in your future. Next time the enemy throws those mistakes, sins, and failures in your face remind yourselves that is who you once was, not who you are. You are free, chosen, and a child of God. The enemy has no hold on you except what you let him. You have to think about it this way, the woman at the well that had been married five times and people didn't want to be around was the one Jesus came to see. He didn't come to see the women that shunned her and made her feel ashamed. He comes to the well for you. If she had focused on her past and all the mistakes she had made she wouldn't have felt the peace and forgiveness from Jesus to go tell the world that He was and is the Messiah. Jesus comes to remind you that your past, is exactly that, the past. He forgives and when God forgives He instantl...

‭ “Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭9‬ ‭ Sometimes God brings us to our weakest place where we cannot trust in man and we cannot trust earthly things. God oftentimes takes things away from us, not as a punishment but to make us put our hope and trust in Him alone. When God takes things away we oftentimes want to blame Him, instead, it should make us cling to Him. God takes things from us and breaks us down, but He also gives us unexplainable peace. What I mean by that is when things happen in your life that would normally make you spiral you will have peace come over you, things will hurt but they will never be able to break the peace of God that is inside of you. Becoming a true child of God doesn't mean that life doesn't have ups and downs, but it does mean that God will give you the strength and peace to deal wit...

“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.””Genesis‬ ‭2:18‬ ‭ If you're in a season of waiting for the right person for you, you first need to learn how to pray for just that. So many times we spend our time praying for the person that we should be with that we forget to take a look at ourselves and see if we are the person that they would need to be with. You cannot pray to be with a godly Christian person and not live a godly nor Christian life. You need to begin to pray that God will use you in ways that He wants, that He will mold you into all that you need to be, tell Him that you are the clay and He is the potter, that you are willing to be broken down and built into the person He wants you to be. When you become that godly person, then God will send you the person meant for you. You need to begin to work on yourself and make sure that the fruits you bare are in line with God's word. If you're sing...

“A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:8‬ ‭ God has perfect timing for everything. You have to focus on the fact that no matter how you see things not working when it is God's timing it will happen. God's timing is perfect, He sees the past and the future and knows when it's best to do things for you. You have to remember that sometimes what you want at this moment is not meant for you yet. Often times when God says, "No" in our spirits, it's really a, "not now." We have to be patient that things that are meant for us sometimes take time to be for us. You cannot spend your entire life expecting to get everything you want immediately. You have to be patient with God's timing. Your life will constantly be full of waiting whether it be, waiting in line at the grocery store, waiting for your paycheck, waiting for the one for you, waiting for an answer for the job you want, or anything else you can t...

“He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.” Psalms‬ ‭107:29‬ ‭ When I got up this morning I knew that we had been told for over a week that storms would be a bad storm in my area. As I walked outside I felt a feeling I knew too well by living in the south, it was that gut-wrenching feeling of something terrible happening. Most times I think this does get bad around me. All day I felt it hit me in my gut, and was almost nauseous from it. I prayed all day over the storm. I prayed it would not hit anywhere but instead not be as bad as expected. Storms started about 8PM and they were about 100 miles southwest of us, heading north there was a confirmed tornado on the ground when our meteorologist went live. I watched the weather all night and prayed. As the time came closer they showed my city on the map and it was headed for me, it turned and hit about 7 miles south, traveling north and hit a town about 10 miles from me. It is devastating how things like this happen to good p...

“God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.” Psalms‬ ‭46:5‬ How many times have you looked at things and thought that they were impossible for you to accomplish? Things that are something you could only dream of, but you feel like they will never happen. I read the life story of a very famous person, but He started from nothing. He didn't even have the money to make it to an event to start his career. He borrowed money from someone and he made it to the event. If he had given up and said, "I just don't think I will make it. I'll just give it up here." Then he wouldn't have had that start to his very successful career. The dreams that are in your heart that are pure and of good intentions matter to God, He cares and He will help you succeed in your life. When you take your plans and dreams to God you will not fail! You are bound to be blessed and succeed when you let the Spirit of God fill you up. You have ...

“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Galatians‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬ ‭We all are people pleasers in some shape, form, or fashion. Whether it be, getting into the college your parents want for you, getting the job your spouse said was best fit for your life, or even buying the house that your friends said was the nicest even if you didn't like these things really, each of us makes decisions based on other peoples opinions instead of our own to please them. You can please everyone in this world but at the end of the day their approval will never get you into heaven, the only person's opinion that can and will get you into heaven is God's. It's okay to do things to please other people, and it's even better to take advice from people that want what is best for you, but trying to fill up your heart by getting approval from them will never fill that void. The one person's approval ...

“We love each other because he loved us first.” 1 John‬ ‭4:19‬ ‭ Not every relationship you get into is sent by God, not every person you like is meant for you, and not every person you love will love you like Jesus says they should. I know that hurts to hear, but it is reality. You have to stop getting into relationships and expecting them to be perfect and to be the person meant for you. Sometimes relationships don't work, and it hurts us because we are human and we have emotions but that is normal. God can heal the broken parts in us. I always heard the quote, "we can't love someone until we love ourselves first" which might be accurate, but take it a step further, we cannot truly love someone until we fully give our lives and hearts to God. We love others because He first loved us. We love others by the way God taught us to love by showing us the example of Him loving us. Sometimes relationships take forgiveness, a lot of it. Next time you get in a fight with the ...

“Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.” 1 John‬ ‭3:20‬ ‭ God is omniscient, I would always think of this, but I never understood the meaning truly. It means "all." I've always heard the saying, "When He was on the cross, You were on His mind." I always would think, how is that even possible I wasn't born yet, my great grandparents weren't even born, and there is no way possible that I could have been on His mind. The reality is that we were on His mind. God is omniscient, sees and knows all at once. He didn't need you to be on earth yet for Him to know you. See the Bible says, "He died for us while we were still sinners." Although He didn't know what sins we would end up committing, He did know we were human and would indeed not be perfect. He knew that every person to ever be created would be saved due to this huge sacrifice that He was making. Know that you indeed were on His mind when He w...

“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬ ‭ One thing we cannot do is force the outcome of what is meant for us. It doesn't matter how much we love someone we cannot make that person be the one meant for us, it doesn't matter if we want that job more than any other job if it isn't the job for us we will never be able to make it be the one, it doesn't matter if the house is your dream home if it isn't meant for you then you will never be able to make it your home, so many more things in life we so desperately want but maybe it just isn't meant for us. You cannot force what you want to become what you have. The Bible says, "We make our plans but the Lord determines our steps." When you want something go to God first about it because what God has for you will always be the best. Often times we chase things we know that aren't meant for us in desperation to fill a void we cannot seem to fill, once we realize that vo...

“If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:3‬ ‭ I read a quote once: "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever. Verses 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, it tells you everything you need to know. If you are thinking of being with someone replace their name with love, if they don't show these characteristics then they are not for you." Think about it slowly, each one of these is the things we should show daily to those we love. We should have all of these thin...

“And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬ ‭ Often times when taking a leap of faith it isn’t quite what we imagined, it might be easier than we thought, or maybe much harder than expected. One thing is for certain God is there in that leap. The leap will only lead you closer to the promise. You might not end up where you want to be once you take it, but you will end up one step closer to where you want to be. I took a huge leap of faith today, although I didn’t end up where I imagined or as good as I hoped I still made progress in the situation I was dealing with. Think of the story in the Bible where Peter walks on the water to get to Jesus. That is a grand example of a leap of faith. Notice in the story Peter did not run to Jesus, it was a slow process of getting to where he needed to be. He did take his eyes off Jesus and almost fell, but once he ...

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah‬ ‭29:11‬ ‭ When our prayers involve other people, such as waiting for the one we tend to want to rush things. We want God to do it now because we are ready. Often times God doesn't do it when we ask not that we aren't ready, but maybe the other person in the prayer isn't ready. See when we pray for the right person for us, we have to realize that God is not only preparing them but teaching them things they have to know. If God gave us the person we are waiting for when we asked, then they wouldn't be able to love us the way that God has created them to. See when we go through heartbreaks we often ask why God allowed it to happen. The answer could be a million different things, but one thing is for certain if that person is meant for you God will send them back to you. You never will have to chase what is for you, I've always...

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”Romans‬ ‭10:17‬ ‭ Do you ever feel low on faith? No matter how many actions you take you can't seem to grow any stronger? This verse really spoke to me tonight, often times we try to grow our faith but we have to realize the only way to grow it is through the word of God and hearing it. You have to dive into the word and understand it to grow. It's like planting a seed and never watering it, if we never water it then it will never grow. It's the same as having faith and saying we believe in God but never trying to grow our faith by reading the Bible. We have to teach ourselves to read the Bible even when it feels like a chore. Today, remind yourself that the Bible isn't like a history book, it's a love letter written from God's actions, words, and miracles to you. It's what we have to build our relationship with God on. We have to make sure that the w...

“Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.” Exodus‬ ‭14‬:‭16‬ ‭ Often times when you're waiting for God to change your situation and He is preparing the way you can't see it. Think of the story of the Red Sea being parted for the Israelites, Moses stretched out His hand and God did it, that's how it is in life sometimes. God doesn't warn us before He does it. He most of the time fills us with His power and He does the rest for us. If you're in a situation where you see no way to get out, think of the Red Sea story. If you were there in that time think of how being chased by the Egyptians and seeing no way out must have felt, because you come to a large body of water that you know you cannot swim across. God will do the impossible for you just as He has done for the Israelites. He will make a way where there seems to be no way. You have no reason to fear anything right...

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews‬ ‭11:1‬ ‭ When God blesses us we tend to think we are "lucky", but we aren't lucky at all. Life has nothing to do with luck. It's all about blessings from God. We aren't lucky we are blessed. We have to remember the moments we prayed for the things we have now and are yet to have. As I had dinner with my family and some family friends tonight, my family friend asked a question as to if we can lose God's blessings and mess up His plan by having a wavering faith? I thought about it and said, "No, what do you think and why?" They responded, "No. I don't think so at all. If you look at the story of Abraham, he lost faith in having the promised son. Although, God didn't stop Issac from being born later on." It Hit me so deeply. The fact that God loves us so much that He still blesses us even when our faith is small, even when we doubt, and ...

“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭14‬ ‭ Have you ever noticed the person that is the harshest and the hardest on you is yourself? We tend to forget that what we think of ourselves often shows to others. We are always downgrading our feelings and how we look at ourselves. We have to uplift ourselves as if we are our own best friends because in a way we are. What we think of ourselves really does matter. We are what we make ourselves out to be. If we constantly tell ourselves we are a failure, we will never be good enough, we are broken, we cannot be fixed, we are damaged, we are ugly, we have too many imperfections or anything else in that nature then we are making ourselves become that. We can't expect to have the confidence to become all that we know we can be if we are always making ourselves feel down. We have to uplift ourselves. The best way to change the way you talk about yourself and think of y...

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ ‭ The only way to grow is to stop dodging being uncomfortable. You must realize that God sends us to awkward places to get us where we need to be. If you're in a position of being uncomfortable know that it is only a stop on the way to the main destination. It's like a bus, it makes many stops before reaching the destination. You just have to trust God with the process. I think of it like a butterfly, when in a cacoon it can't be comfortable but in order to become beautiful and fly it has to go through that process. When you're in uncomfortable moments know that God is teaching you something, He couldn't let you stay comfortable or you would have never moved or changed. When God has a plan for us He also has a process for us to grow through. If you feel uncomfortable today, think of how God is...

 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11 ‬Life oftentimes feels as though it is a competition sometimes with friends and sometimes just in general. The thing we have to realize though is we never have to compete for what is truly meant to be ours. If the job is meant for you then God will make it work, if the house is meant for you somehow you will end up with it, if that person is meant for you then you won't have to compete for them they will naturally end up with you. I'm not saying that you don't have to take a chance on things and try for things but what is meant to be ours always ends up being ours. I know things happen and sometimes things don't go as we want, but when God has a plan He has a way to make that plan work also. You never will have to second guess what God wants for you. No matter what stage you're at in life know that what is truly m...

“God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.” Psalms‬ ‭68‬:‭6‬ ‭ We all have seasons of our lives we feel lonely whether it be when we start high school, start college, get married, have kids, or even just in random seasons of our lives. Lonely is something that we all feel in certain periods of our lives and it's something that we can feel even when around others sometimes. Being lonely isn't always just because were alone, being lonely can also be feeling alone in a crowded room and being an outsider. The best way I have found of finding a way to cope and become less lonely is to go to God. I go to God when I feel alone because I have come to realize over the years that the only way I could ever fill any void in my life is through the one who created me. You have to realize that any void or feeling that isn't good in life can be filled and fixed by God. You have to go to God wit...

““So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭34‬ ‭ Often, whether it be a relationship, a friendship, or even a decision, we feel unsure about things in life. Being unsure sometimes is just a feeling but sometimes it's the truth. When you feel uncertain about anything in life go to the one person you can be sure of, God. Going to pray when you're unsure about things is the only way you can figure out what is best to do, and what is best for us. God will never lead us wrong, He always knows what is best for our lives. Prayer is the best communication for us because it is the foundation of our relationship with God. When life is uncertain God never is. You can count on God and His plan for your life. He is waiting for you to ask Him in prayer what you should do. If you let your feelings rule every decision in your life then your feelings will fail you at some point. God's advice and guidance to u...

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭38‬ ‭ Sometimes we forget in the midst of our troubles, that God still loves us and wants to help us. We forget that the same God who works all of our problems out is also the one who loves us the very most. We all have things that we feel like we fail God on, we all have insecurities but we also serve God full of mercy and full of love. When God looks at us He doesn't only see us as people He created He sees us as the most beautiful creations on earth. You are worth more than you can imagine. Nothing can ever separate us from God's love. God sees every mistake, every so-called flaw you have. When God created you He spent nine months slowly making every piece of you perfect. You were created for a purpose, you are called for s...

“But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” Matthew‬ ‭10:33‬  ‭The world usually thinks we as Christians are crazy, and that is okay. We have to be confident in who we are and who we serve, that is the one true God! We are made to stand out to the world, because if we fit in then we would be a part of the world. You should be confident in being different than others. I know it's scary to take a stand and be bold about your faith in school or at work, but that is what God wants for us. We cannot be the full and best versions of ourselves in God if we constantly live in fear of not fitting in with the world. I grew up a Christian and I often times felt that I didn't fit in with people, but as I grew older I came to realize that I would rather take a stand for God and not fit in than stand before God and not fit into Heaven. The Bible teaches us that if we deny our Father here on earth then He will be denied before our Father in Heaven....

“He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”” Luke‬ ‭18:27‬ ‭ When we look at our circumstances we think that they are just completely impossible to be fixed or changed, and maybe that is so from our points of view. If we took a moment of our time to look at it from God's point of view we would see a million ways we could have it fixed or changed. God loves to take the impossible and make it possible. See if we go to God with situations that are impossible He loves to help us change them and fix them because God changes the impossible to show that He can and will do it. When God fixes the impossible there is no way that He can't get the glory for it. God works on things that He knows He will get the glory for. We can't take credit for things that God does for us, because it isn't our own selves doing it. God often gives us small blessings to see if we will tell others of what He has done for us to prove to Him that we can give Him credit for the bi...

“The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.” Proverbs‬ ‭18:10‬ ‭ Whatever you may be going through right now remember that God is using it to grow you. When spring comes we all love to see the flowers grow and the trees blossom, it's so beautiful but without rain that wouldn't be possible. We couldn't even have vegetables and fruit without rain. When life seems like it's pouring rain and nothing is going right remember that it takes some rain to make you grow. You will never be able to grow without the hard times. Take the battle you are facing, and let God strengthen and teach you through it. Whatever you have to go through during this time remember that God is just as good on the good days as He is on the bad ones. God is good even when life isn't. That is something we all have to see the good side of. We can't always blame God for the things we go through, but we can always run to Him and be safe. The Bible says that God is ...

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬ ‭ It's easy to trust God's plan when God is speaking to us in every little thing we see and do, but what is hard is trusting God even when He is silent. You have to trust God even when He doesn't speak a word. Everyone goes through a season of silence from God, and often times we think that God is angry or disappointed with us but the truth is sometimes God is only silent because He is at work in our lives. If God told us every detail of everything He was done for us then why would we need to have faith in the unknown. Faith is the foundation for our relationship with God. I recently had a thought as to why Jesus couldn't have waited to come when cameras or social media were here. It would make the world see that He was real. At that moment God spoke to me and said, "Faith is believing without seeing. If I came when everyone could see me then where would the...

“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭18‬ ‭ Doing devotions every day can be tiring and oftentimes feel more like a chore than something we enjoy, but being persistent in the word of God is the best thing we can do. See being persistent means "continuing to exist or endure over a prolonged period." If we stay persistent in reading the Bible, praying, and even devotions we are showing our faithfulness to God. If we want God to trust and bless us with big things then He has to know that we will be faithful to Him in the small things. It's easy to be close to God and pray when we go through hard times because we often lean on Him for support but where it really shows is if we will be faithful to God when everything in life is going exactly right. Being persistent in prayer, worship, devotion, and going to church is the best way to show God that we are more than capab...

“If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”” Esther‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭ Have you ever been in a place where God wants you to do something but you really don't want to do it? Look at the book of Esther, she didn't go and try to be the queen because she wanted to, instead God called her to be the queen, to save the Jews. Whatever God has called you to do whether it be a counselor, a preacher, a teacher, a singer, or anything you can think of, know that God has called you for such a time as this. God plans our futures for us long before we can even think of them, when God thinks of the future for us He always knows that it will be good if we follow His plan for our lives. His plans are to always prosper us. Today, if you feel as though God is wanting you to take a leap of faith then know that if He has prepared the way...