No Matter What

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“God is all about redemption. His love for humanity runs deeper than the deepest recesses of our depravity. His love extends further than your past, higher than your disappointments, wider than your heart wounds, and deeper than a cavernous pit of depression. God’s plan of redemption is for every person, no matter where you’ve been, no matter what you’ve been through, no matter what you’ve done.” ~ Gwen Smith, Knowing God by Name, https://amzn.to/2GZPVRW

“No matter what your circumstances are, God’s love never changes. The cross, the death of Jesus Christ, and His resurrection are God’s final, total, and complete expression of His love for you. Never allow your heart to question God’s love. Settle it on the front end of your desire to know Him and experience Him. He loves you. He created you for a love relationship. He has been pursuing you in that love relationship. …. He created you for fellowship with Himself. That is the purpose of your life” ~ Henry and Richard Blackaby, Claude King, 7 Truths from Experiencing God, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, p 18, https://amzn.to/2HBaz8f

“What was intended to harm, God intended all of it for good, and no matter what intends to harm you, God’s arms have you. You can never be undone.” ~ AnnVoskamp, The Greatest Gift, Tyndale House Publishers, http://amzn.to/1NHYDl5

“Satan cannot do anything to us God cannot use through us! No matter what gains the enemy has had in your life, if you will cooperate with God and allow Him to direct your life henceforth, God will turn defeat into victory! Satan does not have to have the last word in the circumstance he authored in your life.” ~ Beth Moore, To Live is Christ, B&H Books, p 47, http://amzn.to/1T11BUb, 

“No matter what you’re going through today, you can cling to the truth that God is El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient One. He has within Himself the life-giving sustenance you need…the life-giving sustenance your heart longs for.” ~ Sharon Jaynes, Knowing God by Name, Multnomah, https://amzn.to/2GZPVRW

“No matter what we pray for, whether it be temporal or spiritual things, little things or great things, gifts for ourselves or for others, our prayers should really resolve themselves into a quiet waiting for the Lord in order to hear what it is that the Spirit desires to have us pray for at that particular time.” ~ O. Hallesby

“God’s names reflect His character, and He is El Hanne’eman—the Faithful God. So, no matter what you pray for or desire, you can trust Him whether His answer is no or yes.” ~ Gwen Smith Knowing God by Name, Multnomah Press, https://amzn.to/2GZPVRW

“Abram showed that when you have faith in God, you know God will take care of you no matter what someone else chooses. Faith lets other people do their thing without getting anxious and worried. It leaves its case in God’s hands.” Jim Cymbala, Fresh Faith, Zondervan, p160, https://amzn.to/2JNvm92

“No matter what direction our earthly country may be going, it is our heavenly country that we should represent.” ~ Randy Alcorn

“No matter what difficult times we encounter, God is worthy of our praise. When we choose to praise, we choose to trust God. When we choose to trust God, the broken world around us lifts their eyebrows in wonder – just like the Roman jailer. Sometimes a sacrifice of praise is required. Offer it. We can and should choose to bless His name through the pain, which astonishingly can bring His joy into our hearts.” ~ Gwen Smith

“In Africa a tree produces the ‘taste berry,’ a unique fruit that literally alters taste buds so that everything that’s eaten after eating the berry tastes good and sweet. Praise is the ‘taste berry’ of the Christian’s life. When our hearts are filled with praise, when we choose to praise God, no matter what, stress fades into the background of a battle won before it begins, life is sweet, and all is good” ~ Mary Southerland

“Scripture reassures us, ‘No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.’ It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.” ~ Romans 10:11-13 (MSG)

Sometimes ya just gotta shake things up

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Hints of green play in the top of the trees and early flowering plants bless with colorful blooms. Spring is finally starting to show signs of new growth, and I’m so ready for a season budding with fresh hope. I’ve been frazzled and antsy, desperate for answered prayers and to find a balance.

With the start of a new Bible study, Kelly Minter’s No Other Gods, I realized my time on social media is a major problem. Sure, I can tell myself I’m ministering to others, connecting with friends, reading devotions, and encouraging others in ministry. Even though I hope to do those things, when I’m truly honest with God and myself, I waste more time online than doing anything worthwhile.

God gave me a visual the other morning. Our Maple tree is sprouting new growth. Unfortunately, the squirrels find the leaves a tasty temptation, and they do not resist temptation. Our poor tree is looking rather stressed. A Bluebird, who has a nest in our yard, will knock on our window to tell us the squirrels are too close for comfort. After taps on the window from our feathered friend, I stepped out on the patio. A squirrel jumped off the tree and ran for cover. Then, another four jumped off the branches and ran. Yikes! If we don’t make changes, the Maple tree might be stripped bare by long-tailed, furry rodents.

In the same way, social media seems to be stripping bare my time and sanity. I need to make changes.

God blessed with another visual from a squirrel. Sweet hubby moved one of our bird feeders to a shepherd crook further back in the yard to try and keep the critters from climbing on to the feeder. A few minutes later a squirrel climbed up a few feet on the pole and couldn’t go further. He returned to the ground to study and analyze the situation. Not to be dissuaded, he again climbed up the pole about a foot, then shook his body. The quaking of the pole caused some of the feeder’s content to scatter on the ground. He then happily munched on what had fallen. Squirrels are clever little things, aren’t they?

Like the squirrel that shook the pole, sometimes we have to shake things up to get the good stuff. I too need to shake things up for my spiritual, emotional, and physical health. I need to chase away the things that chase me away from God. I need to spend time with God without running to immediately post what I’m reading, writing, or learning. Instead, I need to wait for the Holy Spirit’s prompting to share. I’m shaking things up, I’m chasing away things that strip bare my soul and chase me away from God, and I’m relaxing into the strong arms of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Are you looking for the good stuff? In your spiritual walk, what do you need to shake up and what do you need to chase away?

Heavenly Father, please forgive me for being so distracted. Help me to use my time better and to use social media in a way that honors You. Help me to chase away and throw aside everything that keeps me from running the race You have given me. Thank You for shaking me up and showing me the things that have come between us. I ask for Your forgiveness. Thank You that Your kingdom is never shaken. Help me to cease striving and know that You are God.

Thank You, Father for this day. Help me to rejoice and be glad in the days You have given. I love You, Father. I’m resting in You and praising You.

I ask these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who is my Savior. Amen.

“Only the things that cannot be shaken will remain. So let us be thankful, because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases him with respect and fear… throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us.” ~ Hebrews 12:27b-28 (NCV), Hebrews 12:1 (AMPC) 

Emphasis added on scripture.

Sometimes ya just gotta shake things up first appeared on https://lisabuffaloe.com

 

Not consumed

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Desperate prayers pound on heaven’s door for loved ones, for those who are hurting, ill, weak and frail, for those who have loss, grief and pain, and for those who have wandered away from God. Despair threatens to consume me, and then I remember…

“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!” ~ Lamentations 3:21-24 (NKJV) 

When prayers go unanswered, hope returns as I remember God’s mercies and compassion are new every morning.

When fears and doubt assail me, hope returns as I remember God’s mercies and compassion are faithfully great.

When trials and difficulties attack my family and friends, hope returns when I remember God’s mercies and compassion will be there for my family and friends.

When loved ones stray, I remember God’s compassion and mercies will not allow them to be consumed by the enemy nor will my hope be consumed because of God’s loving compassion and mercy.

The same God who kept the burning bush from being consumed, that kept Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego safe in the fire, will keep you also from being consumed.

Hold on to The Hope that will never let go, hope that is new every morning with compassion and mercy. God’s compassion, mercy, and faithfulness will never fail.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” ~ Isaiah 43:2-3a (NIV)

Not consumed first appeared on https://lisabuffaloe.com

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