Category Archives: self improvement

Blogroll, choices, Control, emotions, Enlightenment, Expectation, faith, God, Gratitude, Growing, happiness, ideas, Jesus, journey, joy, Lessons, life, love, mental challenge, Mystery, Life,, personal growth, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, Spititual Development, Values, vision

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!

Just when you think you have everything lined up exactly the way you want it, life has a way of blowing in and rearranging everything. It is true that we never know what’s just around the corner, but that is okay, because we don’t have to know. We just need to make sure that we know the ONE, who does know what is just around the corner and the ONE is God our Creator.

Good News: God Is Not Surprised By Anything!

There are good surprises and then there are bad surprises. Not knowing which we are going to get makes most of us just want to roll through life with as few as possible, but good or bad, surprises always have a way of making life better in the long run. If it’s good then it’s good and if it’s bad, then it’s usually a lesson and has the opportunity to grow into something good.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:4-7

Below are a few truths to keep in mind as we face the good and bad surprises of life:

1.) God Is Not Surprised By Anything, Because God knows everything! God created us, the world we live in and so much more that we don’t even have any idea it even exists. God created it all and therefore He knows it all intimately from the inside-out and from the outside-in. While you and I are surprised by a lot of things, nothing catches God by surprise, which means He is ready, willing and able…

2.) God Is Not Surprised By Anything, Because God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent! That’s some great big theological words that describe God and give us a better understanding of just how amazing our Creator really is and why He is worthy of our trust. Omnipotent means that God is “All Powerful”, which means there is nothing God ever faces that is bigger or better than Him. God’s got the power, because God is the power. Omniscient means that God is “All Knowing”, which means that God knows everything and there is nothing that God does not know. Omnipresent means that God is “Everywhere At All Times!, which means there is never a place or space where God does not exist. God is – period.

3.) God Is Not Surprised By Anything, Because God is for you and with you! And He has promised to never leave you or forsake you as you love Him and live your life according to His calling. God is on your side and He wants better for you than you want for yourself, because He knows better than you, so trust God one moment at a time, one day at a time and allow Him to direct your steps. As you follow the path that He has marked out for you, it will take you into and through His greatest blessings and you will be grateful for the journey…

happiness, joy, personal growth, positive, Problems, scripture, self help, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, Spititual Development, Values, vision

Take A Joy Pill And Call Me In The Morning!

We live in some of the most uncertain times that we have ever lived in. We have no idea what the economy is going to do? There is the continual threat of another pandemic and the same ole, same ole, general stress of working hard everyday and paying bills.

It is very easy to get distracted by all that is wrong and miss out on what is right. And if we stop to think about it for just a minute, there is a lot that is right. We need to be careful not to miss the joy of today, because we won’t let go of yesterday or because we are worried about tomorrow.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:4-7

Anxiousness has a way of eating up our minutes and before we know it, we’ve lost hours and then, if we are not careful we have wasted another day. The best way I know to not waste a moment is to be grateful for it. I have found that gratitude creates a space and place where the “joy of the Lord is my strength!”

The Anxiousness Antidote Is Joy!

In Philippians 4:4 we are told to “Rejoice in the Lord always” which means that we are to have joy in the good and the bad, in the ups and the downs of life. We have joy not because everything is going the way we want it to, but because we have a relationship with the One, Who created us and we know that He uses all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

The Scriptures goes on to say: “Again I will say, REJOICE!” It’s Repeated For A Reason and the reason is that we often need reminding to shift gears and pull out of misery and heartbreak and pull into blessing and favor.

We don’t need to deny our feelings. It’s okay to feel your feelings. In fact, I believe it is very necessary to feel them. I think it is very important to feel them and process them, learn from them, grow from them and then move beyond them to the something better that we were created for. We need to process our feelings in light of the relationship we have with God our Creator. In other words: I feel what I feel, but God loves me and has a plan to bless my life, so I have the power to choose what I focus on, so I feel it and move onto the something better I was created for.

There are times when it seems that nothing is working right. We can’t ignore these times and hope they will go away. Instead, we need to acknowledge that circumstances aren’t good, but God is. When we take the time to make this acknowledgement, we are shifting physical, mental and spiritual gears and we cant help but to be filled with hope and blessing over worry and despair!

It really is just as simple as praying about it! When we pray about everything with Thanksgiving and bring our cares, concerns, worries and anxieties to God, we experience His comfort and peace, a peace that transcends all comprehension. We can’t explain it, just experience it, but experience is more than enough.

As a little boy growing up in Church, one of my favorite hymns that we sang was “What A Friend We Have In Jesus!” It went like this:

“What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear.

What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear.

All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer…”

Give it to God, get your joy and love every minute of it! ><>

Blogroll, choices, Discipleship, Enlightenment, faith, God, grace, Growing, humility, ideas, Jesus, journey, Lessons, life, love, peace, personal growth, positive, responsibility, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, Spititual Development

You’ve Tried It Your Way???

In this thing we do called life, we all need someone we can trust. And most all of us have lived our lives long enough to have trusted and had that trust broken. Once trust is broken, it is hard to ever give it again to anyone, so we just sort of mettle through doing the best that we can. The problem with that approach to life is that we were created for relationship and we can’t really have a growing and meaningful relationship without trust. In other words: To get the most out of this life, we have got to trust someone!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” -John 3:16

God loves you and He created you for relationship. The purpose of the relationship is so that God can bless you and you can glorify God. We glorify God by trusting Him. We trust Him by receiving His blessings and we glorify Him by sharing those blessing with one another. We can call it whatever we want to: “trust/faith/belief”, but regardless of what we call it, the results are the same, it allows the stuff of God to flow to us and through us…

If Not God, Then Who?

I hate to say it, but others don’t have your best interest at heart and even if they do, they can’t even get themselves to where they need to be. There is an old saying that “Misery loves company!” Others don’t really want you to be blessed and succeed, because then they would have to feel bad because they are not being blessed and succeeding. The truth is: We can all be blessed and succeed, but someone has to be willing to trust God and start the process.

You’ve Tried It Your Way!

You’ve tried and failed, so when are you going to learn? If we will take a moment to get still, quiet and look into ourselves, we will know that we can’t, but God can and has and will if we will just trust/believe/have faith in Him. We know our ways don’t work, so let’s honestly and wholeheartedly give God’s way a try!

God has always been the way, is the way and will be the way! The Bible teaches that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. I challenge you to trust Him in all things, not just some things and watch your life line up with His blessings and before you know it – you will be blessing others for His glory…