Today’s Journal (Delight) – 23 December 2022

 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4).

Sarah Martin from iBelieve shares, “The concept of delighting in God is closely intertwined with intimacy with God. A desire for more of His presence. A depth of relationship where we want to know more, feel more, experience more, worship Him more, converse with Him more, and find more freedom from sin.”

Isaiah 61:10 says so beautifully, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Not only do we delight in God, but He also delights in us. One of the greatest blessings is to discover the joy of a relationship with the Lord. We can do this by making time for Him in His Word, worshiping with praise music, staying in communication with Him throughout our days, admiring who He is in nature, using creativity to glorify Him, and having a heart of thankfulness.

So simply put we need to spend more time with our Lord and give Him more than just a now and then quick prayer. God wants a relationship with you where you delight (please (someone) greatly) in Him and He will do the same. When God returns His delight in you it is in blessings and love beyond our understanding.

Today I want you to walk with me as we create a daily desire to delight in the Lord. Let us take this moment and just reflect on the greatness of our Lord and His amazing life-giving gift in His own sacrifice. In this crazy time of the year, we get so many chances to show Jesus to a world in need of salvation and restoration. Do not let the opportunity slip by when you could have shared the Gospel and delight in the Lord.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today’s Journal (Fear) – 22 December 2022

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33).

Fear is a liar! I think we fail so many times in our journeys due to fear. Fear is a method that the enemy moulded to perfection to create a gap in your relationship with God. From the very beginning in the garden of Eden God created us to live in a relationship with Him. If that relationship is not sound your world will fall apart despite what you think. I fail at this miserably on a weekly basis. When the storms around us blinds us and we move away from God, and we try to fix it on our own we fail. I am guilty of that in so many ways so I can speak from experience. The minute I quiet down, and I listen, and I just give it all back to our Father, you see an immediate change.

Jesus made a huge promise here and personally I love this verse, but do I get it right? Now there is a question. Jesus said seek the kingdom of God above all else, now what is that?

Before we can answer how to seek first the kingdom of God, we must understand what the kingdom of God is. The kingdom was so important to Jesus that He mentions it 126 times in the gospels. Jesus clearly wanted to get our attention and focus our gaze on the kingdom.

However, the kingdom is not a palace like the Windsor Castle, floating around in the heavenly realm. The kingdom of God, in the Bible, is simply God’s redemptive rule and reign. The word kingdom points directly to God’s kingship, or His rule, action, and sovereign governance over all created things.

Jesus is the kingdom personified. So, we must seek Him in all we do. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If your focus and your journey is all with and by Jesus, then you are placing Him above all else.

“Seek first God’s kingdom.” In other words, when you think about your life or your food or your clothes or your spouse or your job or your mission, don’t fret about them. Instead, make God the king in that affair and in that moment, and hand over the situation to his kingly power and do his righteous will with the confidence that he will work for you and meet all your needs.

To seek the kingship of God first in every affair and every moment of life is a thrilling way to live. It’s full of freedom and peace and joy and adventure — and hardship, and it’s worth it all. If you believe in the kingship of your heavenly Father, you do not need to be anxious about anything.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today’s Journal (Strength) – 20 December 2022

I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! (Psalm 121:1-2).

How are you, my friend? As we enter the last days before Christmas the world around us seems to go into a spending frenzy. People rush to get the last gifts, and some are preparing to go on leave, and some are stuck at work. No matter your circumstances or where you find yourself in this buzz it can be a very lonely time for some and a very hectic time for other.

When you are all by yourself and the world calms down around you, where do you find yourself. Are you happy? Are you content or are you broken and sad and in need of a rest that sleep just does not give you. Do you feel the excitement of this time of year or are you hurt and broken after a year of thousands of ups and downs that got the better of you?

Jesus came into this world, and He said that He came for the broken and the lost and worst of us. Paul went on an wrote the no one is good not even one.

The Lord just laid it on my heart to share one of my favourite verses. I have been in this place so many times before and believe me I am no upstanding Christian. I feel just like Paul did so many times when he said that the things he does not want to do, he did, and he also struggled with challenges on a daily basis. Yet when this man was in jail bound by chains, hurting, hungry and cold he sang praises to the Lord. In his most broken moment, he sang and praised our Lord. And then the angel came and opened the doors to the jail and Paul saved a man and his family.

Today I want you to look up at those mountains and ask this: Where does my help come from? My help comes from a star breathing, life giving, sin consuming living God. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

With Him all things are possible. Come today and just give it all to Him. Your challenges, your hurt, your blessing, your struggles, your hopes, your dreams and all your praise. Let Him hear your heart and let Him fill you today with His amazing love and presence. You are not alone, and you are surely not fighting alone. Let us praise Him today and just give Him all our love and faith. He gave His life for you and believe me He will not let you fall.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today Journal (Back) – 19 December 2022

Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honoured by every nation. I will be honoured throughout the world (Psalm 46.10).

It has been a while since I wrote on my blog. I have been contemplating about this for a while. I think the enemy had me in a bad place cornered in fear and bound by insecurities for a while. It took a huge battle and an amazing God to pull me out of this pit and back into reality. I think sometimes the enemy blinds us so badly with his lies that we find ourselves shipwrecked on our own little island lost and afraid to return to the fight.

Today I make a new stand against the enemy and his lies, and I will rise with my God to face the battles and journey with you once again. I got this amazing word this Sunday in church, and I think that just fired me up again.

So, today is simple. I want you to know that you are not alone, and that God is far greater than what our concept or thinking will allow. I am reminded by Louie Giglio’s “How great is our God” sermon and how small our entire galaxy is in comparison to the universe and what lies out there. I am reminded again that our God created the heavens and the earth by mere words and that He took His time to form each of us in His likeness.

You are special way beyond any lie the enemy can muster up and you are far more precious than any mistake you have ever made. This is the silly season, but it is also a time that we are reminded that a saviour was born, and He gave His life to free us from this world and its misery.

 Today I am reminding you that God is great, and He wants us to trust Him and spend more time with Him. Anything is possible with Him, and no mountain is to high. Just see it from His perspective. Therefore, I leave you with this thought – If God can pull me out of my pit back into His path with a simple word, how much more can He do through me when I am all into the fight. How much more can you do when you put all your hope and faith in Him. Let’s take on the storms, my friend. You are in for a big change and a massive year ahead.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers