Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I Trust

The Serenity Prayer

I just needed this today..... I just want to feel normal in this life. I want the tears to stop. I want to have some kind of assurance that everything will work out, but I know I need God to guide me! I need to let Him do so.

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God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

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Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him

Forever in the next.

Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

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Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3, 5-6

 



I Need to Remember This

"Love is patient; love is kind

and envies no one.

Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;

never selfish, not quick to take offense.

There is nothing love cannot face;

there is no limit to its faith,

its hope, and endurance.

In a word, there are three things

that last forever: faith, hope, and love;

but the greatest of them all is love."

 

God's Plan......

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope for the future." - Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

God has a plan for your life. He brought you into this world to fulfill that plan. It is the best plan that anyone could ever make.

God's Plan may not take you in the direction you were expecting, it may not fit into your natural way of reasoning, and it may even seem to contradict what God has promised you.

As you follow God's plan for your life, you do so by faith. It is important to remember that He is the guide and you are the follower. He is not going to bring you into His planning room as a consultant to help Him decide what is best for your life. God has not called you to question Him, but to trust Him and to take the next step of obedience according to His will.

If your life was like a painting, the strokes that are being added to the canvas today may not make much sense when viewed alone. However, God doesn't waste any strokes when He uses His divine brush, for He sees the final picture and knows exactly how each stroke will fit into the painting's finished image. You may think the color being used today is too gray and needs more brilliance, but the time will come when you will see that the painting would not be complete, and the meaning of the painting would be weakened, if the gray strokes were not included in the exact places they appear.

- Taken from Roy Lessin "Today is Your Best Day" pages 59-60

Got Spiritual Milk?

1 Peter 2
1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

 
I heard this today on my way home from work on the Joy FM.  What a great message. 
 
What I got out of the message was that I need to be nourished by the word of God on a daily basis.  Babies need milk on a daily basis to grow physically - as I need spiritual milk on a daily basis to grow spiritually.  If you withhold milk from a baby for a week, they will become very malnourished and unhealthy.... that is why we feed them on a regular basis.  As a Christian, I need the word of God to have spiritual health and to maintain my relationship with Christ. It really is a simple concept, isn't it!  I know in the past when I read the Bible, or a devotional daily I felt much closer to God and felt at peace.  As I let days and weeks go by without picking up the Word, I start feeling uneasy about everything in my life.  When I let God in, I am very comforted.  When I keep him out, it is a very empty feeling. 
 
I have not been to church in a long time, at least 2 months...... WOW - I really want to go back.  I think I will be there Sunday...... I'M THIRSTY FOR MILK!
 
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So, after I wrote the above - I found this.....  it is "cut and pasted" from The Living Word Library.
 
I like how I said it - but I think they said it a little better.  I do think that I totally got the point though!
 
Spiritual Food
1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (NIV)

Milk is an essential part of a baby's diet. Without milk they would die.

When we are "born again" into the family of God we become babes in the faith. Without spiritual milk we would die. This milk is the word of God.

Whether you are new to the Christian faith or have been a Christian for a number of years, the progress of your spiritual growth depends, to a degree, on how much time you spend with the word of God - The Bible.

Physical and spiritual growth have many similarities. A Baby (and even adults) normally require their food immediately they wake up (or as soon as possible). The same should also be true for spiritual milk. As a new Christian (and even a more mature one), you will discover that your hearts desire is to know more about God. God has revealed Himself in his word. Take time to read the word daily. Preferably let this be the first thing in the morning or the last thing at night.

Never starve yourself of the word. If you do you risk loosing your appetite altogether. This could result in stunted growth or death (i.e. backsliding from the faith). A Christians who refuses to live constantly on the word of God will remain a spiritual baby (1 Corinthians 3: 1-4). The qualities mentioned in 1 Peter 2:1 (quoted above) are symptoms of a spiritual baby.

Reading the word daily is how you drink spiritual milk. The gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are a good place to start reading. However if you are to grow strong you will need more than the milk of the word (Hebrew 5: 12-14). You will need solid food. Getting solid food out of the word involves more than just reading it.

Trust in the Lord...

Let's try it again.....

I've done it before, but along came facebook and I stopped blogging. I miss it. I have no idea what I am going to write about, but I am going to write.

I find myself in the midst of a life that I never imagined. I am 35 years old, divorced with two beautiful children. I have no idea which way my life is going to go. I do know one thing, I need a guide. I have a guide - his name is Jesus, I just need to follow Him. Why is following Him so difficult. He tells me exactly what to do, and yet I don't..... I want to do what he says, I want to TRUST!

Proverbs 3:5-6 (New International Version)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

I hope that by taking time to write my thoughts down and reflect - I will feel less stressed and more open to what God is telling me to do!