Showing posts with label seek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seek. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Making Any New Year's Resolutions?




It’s New Year’s Eve. We’re on the brink of a place and time we’ve never been. One of the things people like to do to make the year more exciting is formulate a few resolutions. Resolutions are intended to help make the new year profitable and blessed. They are declarations of sorts. 

Our granddaughter and her friend have really enjoyed being at their youth event. Cassidy told us that all she wanted was to be there. Along the way though, she’s had to text us for this or that to help make the event better. Sometimes she asked for something on behalf of the friend she brought with her.  Even though she resolved to ask for nothing but to attend, she’s made a few declarations by sending us texts. Each time she’s asked for something we’ve done our best to get it for her. She trusts us enough to let us know what she needs. She has confidence that her declarations/ her resolutions will be met by us. She knows we love her and we would do anything we could to help her. 

Just by the fact of our acceptance to the Lord’s plan of salvation we are satisfied with entrance into heaven one day. That’s enough we say. And it is. Fortunately for us we have the opportunity to make petition to God for our needs along the way. Because of our relationship with God, we know we can ask Him for our life’s needs and He will answer. We know He loves us and we have confidence in His answers for our every need. We know He would do anything for us because He gave His very life for us.

What are your resolutions for the New Year? God knows this past year has had it’s ups and downs. There have been moments of great highs – joy beyond measure. He also knows there have been low moments – sorrows, rejections, pain, longings of the heart. How would you like this New Year to be different from the past? What do you really need? What do you want to declare? 

Oh beloved, God has a magnificent storehouse brimming full of everything you need for life and godliness. You can live a productive, meaningful, blessed life here and now. Although He’s saved you and you are headed for heaven, He is standing ready to supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.  Because you are His child, His declarations in the Word of God can be your declarations, your resolutions for the new year. 

Open up the Book of Resolutions and ask God to direct you to new heights with Him in 2014. He loves to grant His children’s desires, especially those which glorify Him. You can ask for more than heaven. You can ask to be more Christlike. You can ask to be more authentic. You can ask for greater faith, a deeper walk with Him or a better understanding of His Word. Do you need to be more loving? Ask Him for more love. How about more power over the enemy – his tactics, his lies, his deception.  He will answer those things that you have need of without batting an eye when they are according to His Word. More prayer, more diligence, more forgiveness, more gifts, greater understanding, and more. All those resolutions are met in Christ and sitting in the storehouse of God’s love.

Yes, heaven is yours. But because He loves you and He’s for you, there is oh so much more! Resolve to live in the light of His Word and let 2014 be the greatest time of faith you’ve ever had. Unlike New Year’s resolutions that get made and then forgotten, your resolutions and declarations of faith will be met in Christ who secured all the promises of God for you. Rejoice that where you are weakest, He is greatest. Ask Him for His will in everything and watch as He performs His will in you and through you in greater ways than you’ve ever seen before.

Isaiah 55:6  Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.  

Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Psalm 40:5 Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.

John 15:16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.


Matthew 9:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Psalm 27:4 One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Prayer is the Ultimate Anti-Spyware


Over the week-end my computer got very slow. Even typing and using the word processor program got laborious. I did a system restore and that didn’t accomplish a thing. I also downloaded new spyware applications and got rid of a few spy programs that were hidden in the system. I finally changed the batteries in the wireless keyboard and mouse. It seemed to work a little better, but who knows which change made the difference? It wasn’t fast enough though. Finally I resorted to what I should have done first – I prayed! Yes, I prayed for me and my computer. I asked God to help because He knows the computer is important to me and I am important to Him. 


Pray for a computer you say? Pray for yourself? Yes! If you’re like me your time is valuable and short. There are many things vying for every hour of the day and if one thing runs down it all comes to a halt. So I prayed.  Spyware abounds everywhere. The enemy of our souls wants nothing better than to derail and dislodge our walk with God.  First he attempts to distract us with pressing events and issues. If that doesn’t work he’ll try to disarm and disengage us. His spyware is very sophisticated – so much so that we often don’t even see it until we’re bogged down with rage or fear or worry or frustration.  


Prayer is the ultimate anti spyware. Through prayer we can do a thorough system restore. We can go back to our Father and restore the things we left behind while we were getting busier and busier.  Praying His Word dislodges bad programming that threatens our hearts and minds.  We need time talking with the Lord to restore our spiritual batteries and make our hearts stronger and more effective. Prayer for ourselves is the first line of defense-as we pray for God to restore us and renew us, He gives us a clean heart and fresh mind for the day ahead. As we ask God for the very things we have tried to fix ourselves, He gives us His design for repair and we find ourselves feeling rejuvenated and better able to hear from the Lord.


Oh beloved, are you having a hard time hearing from the Lord? Has your heart been loaded with weariness, guilt, insecurity, comparison, and perfectionism? Are you wondering what’s going to happen next? The Lord knows your weaknesses; He knows the enemy’s first line of attack to your system. He knows you personally! And because He knows you, He has a plan to thwart the enemy’s plans. When you seek Him first, for yourself, your loved ones, your life and your plans He will steer you in the right direction! He will speak love words over your entire being, so that you will be so filled with His love that nothing else can come in! He will speak His care over your life so that you will be so filled with the knowledge of His mercy and grace that nothing can come in to bog your life back down!


Oh how He loves you! Wherever you are and whatever situation you find yourself in, God is with you and as you turn your heart to Him in prayer He will do whatever it takes to restore you so that you can praise, honor and glorify Him!


Psalm 5:2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but You.


Psalm 142:5 Then I pray to you, O Lord. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life.


Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.


Isaiah 55:6  Seek the Lord while you can find Him. Call on Him now while He is near.