This encouragement comes from one of my favorite devotionals, "Day by Day, A Daily Praise Offering; Heavenly truths as given by the Holy Spirit to Gwen R. Shaw" (End-Time Handmaidens, Inc, Jasper, ARK)
Be shifted back to courage as you read and apply this to your life:
March 26
Why Art Thou Cast Down, O My Soul
Scripture Reading - Psalm 43:5
"Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." (Psalm 43:5)
"It is good to ask this same question. Why is your soul cast down? Have you taken your eyes off Me, your Lord? Do you think that I have stopped leading you with My light and truth?
Why are you disquieted within your soul? Have you lost your faith and hope in Me? Have you lost that unique, simple, child-like trust that you used to have? Why are you disquieted within your soul? Do you think that I don't love you as much as I did? Do you think that I am not the same mighty, powerful God that I was to you in the days gone by?
Why are you cast down, dear soul? It is only because you have allowed your heart to become troubled and entangled too much with the things of this world. Your mind has dwelt on the negative. The doubts of others and their wrong doings have oppressed you. Forget about them. Think about My greatness. Count the blessings I have given you in the past. I have never failed you and I never shall. I shall always be with you. I shall always protect you, lead you and guide you.
And you shall go to My alter and you shall make sweet music unto Me. And you shall praise Me, because I, alone, am your exceeding joy, and if it is true that I am your exceeding joy, then why is your soul disquieted within you?
Let Me fulfill every need of your life. And then you shall be full of joy and you shall praise Me, and I will be the health and the glory of your countenance, and your God.
Be IN courage,
With love,
Linda Mihcelle
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
A Reflection on Faith
Faith without works is dead. And dead faith don't work!
1 Kings 11:9
God was furious with Solomon for abandoning the God of Israel, the God who had twice appeared to him and had so clearly commanded him not to fool around with other gods. Solomon faithlessly disobeyed God's orders.
Hebrews 11 (The Message)
Faith in What We Don't See
1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see...
4 By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain....
5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely...
7 By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land... As a result, Noah became intimate with God.
8-10 By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home... Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
11-12 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
17-19 By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God...
20 By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.
21 By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph's sons in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.
22 By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.
23 By an act of faith, Moses' parents hid him away for three months after his birth...
24-28 By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house...
29 By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.
30 By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.
31 By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.
32-38 I could go on and on, but I've run out of time. There are so many more— Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets....Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn't deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.
39-40 Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours."
ACT ON YOUR FAITH...
Faith is opposite of fear:
FEAR -
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
FAITH -
Fantastic
Adventures
In
The
Here (and NOW)!!
Act on your faith, that which God has called you to do.
Be IN Courage.
United with you in strength and victory,
Linda Michelle
1 Kings 11:9
God was furious with Solomon for abandoning the God of Israel, the God who had twice appeared to him and had so clearly commanded him not to fool around with other gods. Solomon faithlessly disobeyed God's orders.
Hebrews 11 (The Message)
Faith in What We Don't See
1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see...
4 By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain....
5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely...
7 By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land... As a result, Noah became intimate with God.
8-10 By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home... Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
11-12 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.
17-19 By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God...
20 By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.
21 By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph's sons in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.
22 By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.
23 By an act of faith, Moses' parents hid him away for three months after his birth...
24-28 By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house...
29 By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.
30 By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.
31 By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.
32-38 I could go on and on, but I've run out of time. There are so many more— Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets....Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn't deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.
39-40 Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours."
ACT ON YOUR FAITH...
Faith is opposite of fear:
FEAR -
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
FAITH -
Fantastic
Adventures
In
The
Here (and NOW)!!
Act on your faith, that which God has called you to do.
Be IN Courage.
United with you in strength and victory,
Linda Michelle
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Encouragement for Pressing Through the Hard Places
The Poem "Don't Quit" has a line that says "... When care is pressing you down a bit, rest, if you must, but don't you quit." Sometimes that's easier said than done, especially when you the "pressing" is heavy on your shoulders and on your mind.
A devotion I read today, served to give me added hope and strength. The amazing "God-thing" about it all is that a dear friend called me shortly after I read it and through the tears of her heaviness she began to praise God as I shared this same massage of hope. I pray you too will be inspired.
From Steams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman
March 1
Consider what God has done; Who can straighten what He has made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:13)
God often seems to place His Children in places of deep difficulty, leading them into a corner from which there is no escape. He creates situations that human judgment, even if consulted, would never allow. Yet the cloudiness of the circumstances itself is used by Him to guide us to the other side. Perhaps this is where you find yourself even now.
Your situation is filled with uncertainty and is very serious, but it is perfectly right. The reason behind it will more than justify Him who brought you here, for it is a platform from which God will display His almighty grace and power.
He not only will deliver you but in doing so will impart a lesson that you will never forget. And in days to come, you will return to the truth of it through singing. You will be unable to ever thank God enough for doing exactly what He has done.
selected
We may wait till He explains,
because we know that Jesus reigns.
It puzzles me; but, Lord, You understandest,
and will one day explain this crooked thing.
Meanwhile, I know that it has worked out Your best -
Its very crookedness taught me to cling.
You have fenced up my ways, made my paths crooked,
To keep my wand'ring eyes fixed on You,
to make me what I was not, humble, patient;
to draw my heart from earthly love to You.
So I will thank and praise You, for this puzzle,
and trust where I cannot understand.
Rejoicing You do hold me worth such testing,
I cling the closer in Your guiding hand. - F.E.M.I.
(end quote)
The last portion of the Don't Quit Poem reads:
"Success is failure turned inside out,
the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're har'dest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God..." Ephesians 6:10
"I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]. Philippians 4:13 (Amplified Bible)
"He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 NIV
Be IN courage.
With love,
Linda Michelle
A devotion I read today, served to give me added hope and strength. The amazing "God-thing" about it all is that a dear friend called me shortly after I read it and through the tears of her heaviness she began to praise God as I shared this same massage of hope. I pray you too will be inspired.
From Steams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman
March 1
Consider what God has done; Who can straighten what He has made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:13)
God often seems to place His Children in places of deep difficulty, leading them into a corner from which there is no escape. He creates situations that human judgment, even if consulted, would never allow. Yet the cloudiness of the circumstances itself is used by Him to guide us to the other side. Perhaps this is where you find yourself even now.
Your situation is filled with uncertainty and is very serious, but it is perfectly right. The reason behind it will more than justify Him who brought you here, for it is a platform from which God will display His almighty grace and power.
He not only will deliver you but in doing so will impart a lesson that you will never forget. And in days to come, you will return to the truth of it through singing. You will be unable to ever thank God enough for doing exactly what He has done.
selected
We may wait till He explains,
because we know that Jesus reigns.
It puzzles me; but, Lord, You understandest,
and will one day explain this crooked thing.
Meanwhile, I know that it has worked out Your best -
Its very crookedness taught me to cling.
You have fenced up my ways, made my paths crooked,
To keep my wand'ring eyes fixed on You,
to make me what I was not, humble, patient;
to draw my heart from earthly love to You.
So I will thank and praise You, for this puzzle,
and trust where I cannot understand.
Rejoicing You do hold me worth such testing,
I cling the closer in Your guiding hand. - F.E.M.I.
(end quote)
The last portion of the Don't Quit Poem reads:
"Success is failure turned inside out,
the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're har'dest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God..." Ephesians 6:10
"I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]. Philippians 4:13 (Amplified Bible)
"He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 NIV
Be IN courage.
With love,
Linda Michelle
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