Monday, June 14, 2010

Take Courage

Joshua 1:5 says, “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
I really felt the Lord pressing on my heart these two words……”Take Courage.” As I was praying I was reminded of three people whom God told this too. Let’s look at them:
Joshua:
Joshua 1:6,7, 9, and 18, Be strong and courageous, Be strong and very courageous, Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go, Only be strong and courageous!
Why did God repeat himself here? Well Joshua was told to take the Israelites’ into the promised land and did not know he had to defeat 31 kings prior to doing that. God was encouraging him.
Peter:
Before Peter walked on the water, it says the disciples were terrified when they first saw Jesus on the water and He said to them in Matthew 14:27, “Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.”
Peter ended up being hung on the cross later in his life and had it done upside down.
Paul:
Acts 23:11 says, “The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."
Why did he tell Paul this? Check this out in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28;
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
My encouragement to you today is to Take Courage, don’t allow the enemy to take any of your courage away. Don’t be easily discouraged, don’t be afraid, and don’t show any lack of faith so God can do inside you and through you what you are purposed to do.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Right On Time

Lately God has really been working on me in my area of patience and waiting on Him. God is never early or never late he is always right on time!
Recently we had had some issues with our AC unit. We have 2 units and our old one that cools our living room and the children’s room went out. I had a close friend who does A/C work for a living and put in our other unit several years ago check it out. He said it is shot and in order to purchase a new one it was going to be in the thousands of dollars.
Well let’s just say that at the same time God is working on my patience He is also working on the discipline in our finances. God usually is working on multiple things at a time on me  We were having to depend on God to pull through for us. We heard Him keep telling us to be patient; I am going to take care of this. We had the kids sleeping in the dining room since it was still cool. We were prepared to shut down half of the house just because we wanted to be disciplined with our finances and save up for the new unit if it would come to that and pay cash for the new AC.
I wanted to take matters in my own hands several times and just get it fixed. God kept telling Stacey and I that He was taking care of it. My close friend had an old unit and we were not really sure it was even going to work, but he was a man of God and prayed about it. God told him to put the unit in and it will work and to donate the unit to us.
Needless to say, God was at work. The unit is working like a charm and had no expense to us. Thank you Lord for great friends and for providing all our needs according to your riches and glory.