Excited for the future

My friend and I were talking yesterday about what we wanted in life and what we are excited about for the future. :) 

We talked about making vision boards that capture our goals and dreams. It's important to put a vision board where it's always in my vision. Somewhere that I'm always going to see it and be reminded of my dreams and be encouraged to achieve them. 

My friend went on to encourage me that instead of waiting for something to happen that I should start preparing like it's going to happen. Amen! What a great idea! 

I'm going to start preparing in faith for something specific and I know God will work things out beautifully as He always does. 

More notes from Christine Caine sermon

As promised, here are some more of my notes from the sermon that Christine Caine gave when she came to visit my church. 

This sermon is based on the book of Joshua from chapters 5-6 when the Israelites were preparing to take possession of Canaan. These chapters also talk about their conquest of Jericho. 

Her sermon is about how to get to our "promised land" and lists a few examples of what might be holding us back. I added my own thoughts in parentheses.  

There is a process to possessing the next phase of what God wants us to do:

We have to pay our own price of our own promised land. (It requires our participation, faith, and perseverance.)

Sometimes a sense of entitlement creeps up on us and we expect to be given the inheritance that was given to those that lived before us. 

It is possible to be delivered in the wilderness but not free in the promised land. (How?) Sometimes a weight can be holding us back from our destiny. An example of a weight can be a bad relationship, unforgiveness, etc. These weights keep us from moving into our next phase. 

If the person that you are getting all your advice/wisdom from is going a different direction in life than you, and they are leading you away from where God is leading you, then they aren't leading you to the promised land. 

"Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in." (Joshua 6:1 NKJV)

The Israelites paid the price, they let go of the past, moved on, and moved in to their promised land. 

So what do I do when I walk into my promised land and there is a big, impenetrable wall? (Like the wall of Jericho.) 

I recognize that He is God and I am not. 

In the book of Joshua, the Israelites faced a giant wall in Jericho, in their promised land. Then God gave them a unique and unheard of battle strategy: they were to walk around the wall of Jericho seven times. 

(It pays to be willing to do what God is asking us to do to get to the promised land. Even if it's a little out of the ordinary. He will come through with all He promises. Sometimes we have a part to play and we have to make that brave effort to follow His leading because He will lead us to victory.) 

If your words don't line up with the promises of God then don't say anything until you can say what God says. (Keep your faith alive.) 

So keep moving forward to your own promised land, march around 7 times (obey God in what he asks you to do and don't give up). And shout with praise because the wall is coming down. :) 

Encouraging myself

Get rid of the voice of doubt. Praise Him in good times and in the middle of disappointment. Get rid of fear and it's lies. Get rid of people pleasing. Get quiet on purpose. Listen to the still small voice and dare to follow it. Believe that He will lead you. Believe the Word of God over your own thoughts. Let the Word of God become your truth instead of what the world says is true. Let God, your creator, define you, not the people who put you down. Let the Word of God be more influential to you than the negative and discouraging words of others. Don't give up and don't stop believing. Don't look at what the world says is impossible but look at what God says IS possible. Follow God even when it doesn't make sense to the world. You are not here to please the world but you have a much greater purpose in Him. 

Don't listen to the fears of "what if?" because they hold you back and distract you from what is. The fear of "what if?" tries to rob you from what is rightfully yours - what God wants to give you. Believe even when you don't see and you will see what at first you didn't believe. 

Giving God 10%

In Malachi 3:10, it says, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10 NKJV)

When we give God 10% of our income (our tithe), He blesses the rest of our 90%. Everything good we have comes from Him and it's the least we could do to give Him what He asks. God loved us so much that He gave us His one and only son. (John 3:16) Jesus gave all He had and held nothing back - He gave His life so that we could have life. 

I recently heard a story on the radio that showed me a different perspective about how God blesses our 10% even when it looks like we can't afford to give it. 

The story on the radio told about a guy that had a 10% chance to live because he needed surgery to remove a brain tumor. He trusted God and reached out to people for prayer before going in to surgery. He not only survived the surgery but he came out healthy and had no complications or disabilities afterwards like they thought he would. He gave God his 10% chance of living and that was all that he had to give. He trusted God with his 10% and God came through and miraculously blessed the other 90%. 

This same guy had to go into surgery a second time, related to the same brain tumor,  and again he only had a 10% chance to live. He not only survived but he is doing very well and has no complications or disabilities after the surgery. 

At times it may seem like we can't afford to give that 10% because of hard financial situations we are facing or bills that need to be paid but God sees your heart and knows your situation. His word does not come back void. He says in Malachi 3:10 to test Him as you give Him your whole tithe and watch Him give you so much blessing in return that you won't have room enough to contain it. 

I encourage you to give what God has spoken to your heart to give. We often say at my church, that it's not about equal giving, it's about equal sacrifice. 

It's ok, if I am not able to give as great a quantity as the person sitting next to me. What matters is that I'm giving to God what is His and that I'm obedient in giving the amount I know that God has asked me to give. 

New Testament

This entry is short and sweet :)

I'm so in love with The Word of God. I just finished the book of Galatians and I am currently reading 1 Corinthians. (I'm skipping around a bit.) 

Praising God

Here are some great words that my friend shared with me last week. It encouraged me in my faith and brought me joy. 

"We will pray about that when the time comes but in the mean time, we will praise God for this good news!"

She was responding to a praise report I shared with her but I also told her about a few disappointments that I had faced that day too. I started getting concerned about the disappointments and started planning for how I was going to handle them. I started getting my plan of action in place (months in advance I might add) and then I read her words...

"We will pray about that when the time comes but in the mean time, we will praise God for this good news!"

I was losing focus and was not fully seeing the great thing that God had done for me. God deserved to be praised but I immediately started to think about how I was going to solve my problems instead of how I was going to praise Him for all He had done.

God definitely used my friend to bring me that timely message that turned my heavy heart into a hopeful heart. I believe God wanted me to hear those words. It really helped me to get my mind off of what I thought was disappointing news and praise God for the good news! It really spoke to my spirit and instantly helped me to have a grateful heart.

Since then I have maintained focus on the good news and made an intentional choice to praise God even when I'm facing disappointment. I can tell it has strengthened my faith. It has also helped my mind to focus on what's healthy. Why should I dwell on the negative when I have something to be thankful for? 

The disappointing news is still there but my determination to praise God for the good news has helped me to trust Him more and be joyful about how He always takes care of me. 

"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalms 34:1 NASB

A loving God

I heard this on the radio today: "God uses imperfect people to share His perfect love."