What makes a Woman Beautiful?

Dear Brothers and Sisters

 What makes a woman beautiful?

 Is beauty really just skin deep or is there more to beauty than what we are aware of?

 We as woman are so concerned about what we look like on the outside that we often neglect the very important inside!

 So what makes you beautiful on the inside? Well for starters a woman is beautiful on the inside when she realizes who her God is.

She is beautiful when she discovers that her strength is not found in her abilities to perform but in her ability to submit to her heavenly father and have him work through her.

 A woman is beautiful when she allows the Holy Spirit to transform her mind. The way she thinks about herself, her God, her Children and her Spouse.

A woman’s beauty becomes even more pronounced when she learns to guard her heart so that what she allows to become a part of her does not contaminate her.

True beauty comes when we allow only the things that encourage us and make us healthy and whole to enter into our hearts.

 When we as woman, take our broken hearts to our heavenly father and ask him to fix them and ask him to heal the wounds of things that people have said or done to us, that makes us beautiful.

 When we as woman, put a guard on our mouths and purposely choose not to speak anything that will tear those around us down, that makes us beautiful.

 When we as woman, purposely fill our hearts and minds with good things so that good flows out of our mouths, that makes us beautiful.

When we as woman, choose to submit to our spouses and respect them as men, encourage them, pray for them and support them, that makes us beautiful.

 When we as woman, are kind to others, prepare good meals as a ministry for our families, are generous to those around us that have less that makes us beautiful.

 When we as woman; stop believing the lies of the Devil, when he whispers that we are no good, cannot do anything, are fat and ugly, useless and unclean. When we stop believing those lies and instead believe God and who he says we are in Him.

  That makes us beautiful.

 So sisters in Christ, embrace your God given beauty today, don’t let the lies of the Devil rob you of what God has placed in each of you. Embrace your womanhood and display your beauty to the world around you. They need to see God’s beauty displayed through you!

 

Living Faith

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

I have had the privilege of walking alongside a very good friend of mine on her journey of faith this summer. To say it has been a rollercoaster of faith and adventure would be a complete understatement.

Earlier this year my friend had the desire to relocate. Together with her husband they started looking around for a perfect place for their family to move to. In the summer they found such a place and took a faith plunge. They put their house on the market and bought the other place.

Their house has not sold yet and they have moved into the other house, but before you get all panicky I believe that this was all part of God’s perfect plan for growing their faith. At the moment, with conditions coming off of their sale, the whole situation seems a bit nerve racking.

I know that God is never too late and he is never too early. God loves it when we exercise our faith and rely on him to see us through. He tells us in his word that without faith in him it is impossible for us to please him. (Hebrews 11:6)

So as my friend stands in faith on the promises of God, to never leave her nor forsake her, she knows that he will without a doubt come through for her this time as well.

I have written this little article as I would love for you to go to her blog and read an amazing insight she had about our faith walk with God. I know that you will be completely blessed by it.

Please follow the link and take the time to read this amazing article about walking in faith with Jesus.

http://prairiejuan.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/blind-faith-on-a-branch-over-a-ravine/

 

Jesus the vine and we are the Branches

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

I have included this reference here so that you may be able to read it and enjoy it. It is a very rich portion of scripture where Jesus encourages us to stick close to him, be led by him and to feast on the living word which is the bible.

When we accept God into our lives, he promises that we will be pruned (our sins exposed so that we can repent and turn away from them) and that we will bear much fruit. The fruit that will come from our lives will look like this, instead of hated we will show love, kindness, compassion, hope, longsuffering, joy and an aversion for sinful living.

I pray as you read this scripture that God will open up your eyes to the richness of his word.
John 15 
The Vine and the Branches
  1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 
2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes£ so that it will be even more fruitful. 
3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 
4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 
6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 
7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 
8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 
10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 
11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 
12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 
13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 
14You are my friends if you do what I command. 
15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 
16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 
17This is my command: Love each other.

Psalm 15

 
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

I asked the lord a few years back what he required of me as a christian and as his child. He led me to this verse and I have endeavoured to live by these words.

I Pray that as you read them that you to would be encouraged to live the way God intends for you to live. That you will surrender your will to him and ask him to help you to live his way of righteousness and holiness. It was most definitely without a doubt the best decision that I ever made in my life.

Psalm 15 

 A psalm of David.     
1LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?  Who may live on your holy hill?     
2He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart     
3and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his Fellowman,     
4who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD,who keeps his oath even when it hurts,     
5who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.      He who does these things will never be shaken.

Amen

The Lord wants to speak to you – 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Part 2 – The lord wants to speak to you – click here to read part 1

How did he lead me and speak to me?

By taking the time to study my bible every day and praying I realized that it mattered to me what God thought of my situation and because of that, I started to read his word (the bible) with new eyes.

What do I mean by that, well through the guidance of the Holy Spirit I would read my bible and it was like the words would jump off the page at me.

  If I had asked him a question I would find the answer when I was reading the bible text that he showed me. At first I thought it was my imagination but the longer I walked with the lord, the more I realized that it was the Holy Spirit’s way of speaking to me.

 In the busyness of my day I would find myself thinking about what I had read that morning in my bible; often something would happen that would jar my memory and then the Lord through the Holy Spirit would show me how that scripture related to my situation or the question that I had asked him. Again he was using scripture and everyday situations to speak to me.

 All of this would have been useless to me if I did not purposely apply those different scriptures to memory and my life. I would no longer just see them as words on a page but real and relevant to my life and spirit and of course my emotional health as well.

 As I applied these new found truths to my life, the word of God slowly started to change my thinking, attitudes and consequently my outlook on life changed accordingly. He was teaching me various principles about living a life that pleased him.

 I want you to realize that there is no set formula for hearing the voice of the lord in your life; but if you will admit your need to God for his guidance. If you are willing to listen to the things that he reveals to you and apply them to your life, you will be well on your way to practicing walking in His presence daily.

 The more I listened and obeyed, the clearer I would hear and understand what he required of me through his word. He graciously would confirm to me what I had thought he was saying to me in his word by the things that others would speak to me. It could be something small to them, but to me it was a confirmation of what God had been teaching me.

 I want to encourage you to apply these few simple principles to your life. They really are just the beginning of all that he has taught me in staying close to him, but that will come in the next few articles.

 God really does have great and wonderful things that he wants to share with you. Listen and obey and you will be amazed at the changes that will happen in your life.

 I pray that you will be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding and I pray this that you may life a life worth of the Lord and please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might that you may have great endurance and patience and joy and full giving thanks to the father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

 (my paraphrase of Colossians 1:9-12)

 

Amen

The Lord wants to Speak to you -1

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

 Did you realize that God desires to talk to us? His desire is for us to learn to recognize his voice when he is speaking to us, not just on special occasions but all of the time. He wants to be an integral part of your every day life.

 When a young couple meets and falls in love they often cannot wait to talk to one another at every chance they get. Together they build the foundation for a relationship that will hopefully last a long time. They eagerly share everything about themselves, what they like and don’t like, their joys, fears, hopes and dreams. Through sharing they cement their relationship further.

 God wants to do the same with us, he desires to talk to us, he desires to share his heart and will for our lives with us. So how do we as his children train ourselves to hear him in the midst of all of the noise and busyness in our live?

 Can we distinguish his voice from all of the others in our lives that vie for our attention? I believe without a doubt that we can. But in order to do so we need to put a few things into practice in our lives.

 I am going to share with you some of the very important principles that God has taught me over the years. I have no doubt that if you apply these principles to your walk with God you to will start to see and hear God all around you.

 The first thing that I believe God taught me is that even though He is invisible; I need to treat him like He is not. He is always with me and I have the privilege of speaking to him anytime I need to. God tells us in his word that he will never leave us nor walk away from us in times of trouble. He can see, hear and know my thoughts and feelings. I need to relax in his presence and talk to him like He is there in the flesh. (Which he is).

 Admittedly this has been easier said than done sometimes, because people ridicule someone if they are “speaking to themselves” well the truth of the matter is, that even though you cannot see the wind it does not make it any less real. God is always with us and if we acknowledge that, we will find that our relationship with him will take on a whole new dimension. Our relationship will develop the true intimacy that he desires to have with us.

 The next very important principle that he taught me was that without his leading me I could do nothing. I was stunned; what did it mean that I couldn’t do anything without Christ. I was doing ok without him and his input into my life and now he wanted to be involved in every little detail.

 Yes I admit that not everything turned out as well as I would have liked it to when I was  living life my own way, but I couldn’t see the need to have him help me with everything.

(John 15 Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, without him we cannot bear any good fruit in our lives)

 That was until I started to have a family of my own. I was falling apart at the seams emotionally and I was physically exhausted. I had no idea how to be a mother and even less of an idea on how to be a wife. I finally realized that unless I got some help there was no way that I was going to survive.

 My parents lived on another continent and I was so far away from all that was familiar to me that I was desperate. I cried out to God and asked him to help me. I needed the direct intervention of God in my every day life.

 In prayer I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to take control of my life, I told him that I understood from his word that without him giving me his life giving instructions on how to live my life then I would not be able to produce a harvest of good fruit. (John 15) I asked him to light my path (Psalm 119:105) through his word and to help me not to be prideful and arrogant when he revealed his truth to me about how I was living or the choices I was making.

 I prayed this kind of prayer for years, as I wanted to be taught by him and I wanted to hear him. I knew that my pride would rise up within me and try to keep me from changing my ways but I wanted to know his will and thoughts for my life way more than I wanted to hold onto the sin that kept trying to creep up on me.

 A friend said to me once that if you want to know what God’s telephone number is, look in the book of Jeremiah chapter 33:3

It says “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know”

  I have to be honest that I did not always pay attention to the direction that he gave me but my heart was set on the course of learning how to pay attention to his leading.

   To read the rest of the article please see “The lord wants to speak to you – 2”

A Prayer of Blessing

 I pray that God’s blessing will be upon you.

I pray that from today forward and for all of your days on this earth, that you would apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. (Prov 23:12) I pray that you will diligently seek the lord with all of your heart and that you will never be tempted to lean on your own limited understanding of things but by trusting in the Lord, the creator of  all things, you will find the path that is right for you. (Prov 3)

 I pray that you will learn to walk in Reverent fear of the Lord all of your days, this as the bible says is the beginning of all wisdom. The reason that it is, is that everything comes from his hand and you will be wise to acknowledge that always. I pray that the Lord will strengthen you in your spirit and that you will come to the realization that the fear of man will only become a trap for you, but the fear of the lord will bring life, wisdom, righteousness, joy and peace.

 I pray that you will always choose your friends wisely. Friends can either build you up or tear you down. They can either bring life to you, happiness, joy, excitement, purity and hope or they can lead you into things that will cause bondage, heartache or loss. I pray to that you will always ask the lord for the wisdom and discernment to distinguish between the two so that you will be free from the heart ache that sin brings.

  I pray that you will never think to yourself, “hey those friends over there who are following the world are having way more fun than I am, they can do and say and think whatever they want, I wish that I could do that to” The bible says that the wages of sin are death, you don’t want that as your reward.

 I pray that all of the days of your life you will be zealous for the things of God. That you will always place him first in your life, as in doing so it God promises that you will find him and that all of the things that you need in life will be given to you.

 I pray that you will put a guard over your heart, this is so important as you navigate through life as your heart will determine what kind of life you end up having. One of righteousness that leads to eternal life or of stubborn sinfulness that leads to bondage and death. Guard your heart against things that will contaminate it.

 I pray that you will also purposely guard your mind, the devil our enemy, wages his greatest war in this area of our lives and he is very crafty at getting us to think wrong thoughts. I pray that you will fill your mind with the word of God diligently so that when thoughts come that are not of God you will be able to compare it with the word of truth which you have hidden in your heart.

 I pray that you will always guard your mouth. The lord says that one day we will be held accountable for every word that we have spoken, so choose your words wisely. This will become way easier for you when you guard your heart and your mind, as Jesus taught us that out of the wickedness of our hearts our mouth speaks. So it is like a cascading affect. Guard your heart and mind and the things that come out of your mouth will bring life and encouragement to everyone around you.

 I pray that you will always ask yourself if what you have said has brought life to someone or death. If it has brought death I pray that you will humble yourself and go to that person and ask for forgiveness.

 I pray that you will also learn to walk humbly with the Lord, searching your heart and acknowledging when you are hiding things in there that will lead you to sin against him. I pray that in this process you will be quick to repent in order to keep “short accounts” with the Lord.

 I pray that as you mature in him that His will for your life will become very important to you and that you will diligently seek it and live it out. That is where you will undoubtedly be the happiest.

 I pray to that you will train yourself to be thankful to God for all the big and small things that God has done and given to you, the more grateful you are, the more you will realize the multitude of blessings that you have been given.

 I pray that your feet will be bound to his perfect path for your life, your mind and heart will always be soft and sensitive to him and that what ever your put your hands to will prosper you all the days of your life.

 I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and that his face will shine upon you all the days of your life.

 Amen.

God’s mighty Promises – Psalm 91

Deares brothers and sisters

I thought that I would share with you one of my favourite chapters of the bible. I recognise that it is in your bible already and you can read it there, but it ministers to me every time I read it and therefore I would like to share it with you today.

Psalm 91


Psalm 91      
1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.£     
2I will say£ of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”     
3Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.     
4He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.     
5You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,     
6nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.     
7A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.     
8You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.     
9If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the LORD, who is my refuge—     
10then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.     
11For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;     
12they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.     
13You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.     
14“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.     
15He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.     
16With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

The promises of God are true and he will always do what he promises. So I encourage you to hide yourself in Him today, believeHim whole heartedly and rest in the shadow of His almighty power. You will never be dissapointed and you will be strengthened all the days of your life. The lord’s protection will follow you all the days of your life. You will encounter trouble, but that is for the strengthening of your faith. Know that God is truly your shield and only in him will you ever find true satisfaction for your soul.

I pray that God’s mighty hand of favour and blessing will be upon you today as you read these words and see how much he loves and cares for you.

Amen