All Things Encouraging

1 Thessalonians 2:11: Encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, Who calls you into His Kingdom and glory.

By Me

Isaiah 11:6:…and a child shall lead them.

Hi everyone!

Talk about being educated…I learned a great lesson from my daughter Katrina yesterday!

There’s a scratch-off game going on at our local grocery store. Little Katrina has been scratching off numerous cards in order to win, ending up disappointed each time. Finally, she was down to her last 2 cards. I asked her if she was going to scratch them, and she said no. She was dejected and stated that she would give them to her sister, Kendall, as it was now “too boring to do.” I told her to go ahead and just finish them off, so, reluctantly, she did. The first card again was a non-winner. On the second card, she scratched the first circle off, revealing a cupcake. She scratched the second circle off, showing ANOTHER cupcake. Now, she (and I) was becoming very excited and nervous. She was almost TOO SCARED to scratch the third circle. Which should she pick? She really wanted to win. I heard her say to herself, “I have to think POSITIVE, I have to think POSITIVE.” Finally, she took the plunge and scratched off the third circle…REVEALING THE THIRD CUPCAKE…SHE HAD WON!!! And Katrina was EXCITED! She BOUNDED up and proceeded to JUMP UP AND DOWN AROUND THE HOUSE. She looked like a little Mexican jumping bean!

Of course it touched my heart that she won, but what REALLY got me was when she said, “mommy, I looked up at God, I thought positive, and I won.” WHAT A LESSON for BOTH HER AND ME! A lesson on BELIEF, FAITH and POSITIVE CONFESSION. Also, a lesson on PERSEVERANCE, as she was about to give up, but ended up WINNING WHEN SHE PERSEVERED and tried JUST ONE MORE TIME! Sort of like the men in the Bible who were fishing and had toiled all day, catching nothing. But, AT JESUS’ WORD, they TRIED ONE MORE TIME, bringing in a HUGE HAUL!

May we ALL be like little Katrina. May we live our lives full of CHILDLIKE FAITH and POSITIVE CONFESSION. May our words line up with our belief that is based on what is said in God’s Word. And may we NEVER GIVE UP but HOLD ON and PERSEVERE through whatever test or trial may come our way. Most of all, may we remember that our God IS THERE FOR US, to HELP US in all we do. All we have to do is LOOK UP TO HIM!

Talk about a life-lesson from your child! Thanks Katrina. Mommy loves you!

Have a GREAT day!

Janine

By Joel Osteen

Psalm 30:11: You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have put off my sackloth and girded me with gladness.

Many individuals spend their lives looking in their rearview mirrors, thinking about what COULD have been, what SHOULD have been, always dwelling on the pains of yesterday. If you’ve had unfair things happen to you, you must MAKE A DECISION TODAY that you’re going to LET ALL THAT GO or it will interfere with God’s doing GOOD things in your life.

The Scripture says that God WANTS to give us BEAUTY for our ashes, JOY for our mourning (Isaiah 61:1-3). But, here’s the key: WE have to LET GO OF THE ASHES BEFORE GOD CAN GIVE US THE BEAUTY. Ashes represent what’s LEFT OVER after something’s been burned up–our broken dreams, our disappointments, our hurts, our failures. We all have our share of ashes, and God wants to give us BEAUTY in exchange for them.

Lord, Thank You for giving us the opportunity to let go of the ashes in our lives, and exchange them for Your beauty. Lord, today, we MAKE A DECISION to LET GO. We sill STOP looking through painful rearview mirrors, and LOOK FORWARD towards You and all of the GOOD that You YET HAVE FOR US in our lives. We love You, Lord, today and forever! In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen!

By Me

Genesis 1:2: But the seventh day, God completed His work which He had done, and He RESTED on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

Labor Day. A Day that we celebrate REST from our labor and from our work. A day when we enjoy time with family and friends. A day when we cook out, eat out, or eat in…either way…we EAT. A day to enjoy.

And enjoy we should. We were not meant to continuously toil and work, all day, everyday, 24/7. Actually, if we go according to the Word, we should not be having just ONE day where we enter into this rest, on Labor Day, but we should observe the Sabbath, where we should rest on EACH SEVENTH day. I know there is debate about which day is really the Sabbath (whether Saturday or Sunday). I won’t get into that. The point is that we should observe at least ONE day of rest each week. So that we can be replenished. So that we can be rejuvenated. So that we can enjoy the fruit of our labor. So that we can be thankful, and remember the Lord our God, for it is HE who gives us the ABILITY to work and produce wealth during the other 6 days (Deuteronomy 8:18).

So, enjoy this Labor Day. I think it should actually be called the “Rest-from-your-labor” day. Enjoy the rest. Enjoy the fun. And enjoy the blessings of your Lord!

Happy Labor Day!

Janine

“Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.” (Exodus 34:21)

From “Streams in the Desert”

Matthew 9:29: According to your faith will it be done to you.

“Praying through” something might be defined as follows: “Praying your way into full faith; coming to the point of assurance, while still praying, that your prayer has been ACCEPTED and HEARD; and in ADVANCE of the event, with CONFIDENT ANTICIPATION, actually becoming aware of HAVING RECEIVED what you ask.”

Let us remember that ***no earthly circumstances can hinder the fulfillment of God’s Word (Amen!) We must look STEADFASTLY at His IMMUTABLE Word and NOT at the uncertainty of this ever-changing world. God desires for us to BELIEVE HIS WORD WITHOUT OTHER EVIDENCE, and THEN He is ready to do for us “according to [our] faith.”

When once His Word is past,

When He has said, “I will,” [Hebrews 13:5]

The thing will come at last;

God keeps His promise still [2 Corinthians 1:20]

The prayers of the Pentecostal era were prayed with such SIMPLE FAITH that they were like CASHING A CHECK.-Robert Anderson

And God said…And it was so! (Genesis 1:9)

By Me

Job 42:10, 12: The Lord RESTORED the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord INCREASED all that Job had TWOFOLD. The Lord BLESSED the LATTER days of Job MORE than his beginning.

Don’t you love the Chapter 42 moments in your life? I am talking about what happens in the book of Job, Chapter 42. Job has already gone through some MAJOR SUFFERING and loss…he lost his family, his wealth, and even his health. From chapters 1-41, he had it pretty rough. Also, those who were supposed to be his means of support weren’t too strong as well. His wife wanted him to curse God and die. Even his friends thought that he somehow brought his misfortune on himself, and that he needed to repent and get it right, then things would turn around for him; but their assessments simply were not true, and fortunately, Job did not heed their advice. As a matter of fact, Job 1:22 says “through all of this, Job did NOT sin nor did he blame God.” (wow, can we say the same in OUR times of suffering? Lord, help us!) Now, Job was NO saint. He didn’t go through smiling and praising, singing blessed psalms each day. He DID have his complaints and his questions, but he did NOT turn from the Lord.

THEN COMES CHAPTER 42. The chapter begins with Job’s CONFESSION and REPENTANCE. He realized that he didn’t TRULY UNDERSTAND the ways or the purposes of the Lord. God’s ways were “too wonderful for him.” Job THOUGHT he knew, but he really didn’t. What he did COME TO KNOW was that God can do ALL THINGS, and that NO purpose of His can be stopped from happening (42:2). Therefore, Job RETRACTED his former complaints, REPENTED to the Lord, and was FORGIVEN. Job had HEARD of God, but now Job had SEEN God FOR HIMSELF (suffering has a way to move you from head knowledge to a heart knowledge of the Lord, don’t you think?)

It is important to realize that ONE MORE THING had to happen before Job received his double portion blessing from God. Like Joseph, who had to FORGIVE his brothers for betraying him and selling him into slavery, Job had to PRAY FOR his friends and ask the Lord to FORGIVE THEM for their false talk and accusations. Wow!!! Job had to PRAY FOR HIS ENEMIES; Joseph had to FORGIVE HIS ENEMIES…I have an idea that WE have to do the SAME as well! This is an IMPORTANT thing to do, because, as we FORGIVE AND PRAY, it releases all of the negative emotions/hurts/etc related to those situations and ushers us into a place of HEALING. We are then FREE to EMBRACE all of the WONDERFUL things that God YET HAS IN STORE FOR US, “on the other side of forgiveness.”

And, what an “other side” there is. TWO-FOLD BLESSINGS for Job, and SECOND IN COMMAND in all of Egypt for Joseph. Family, fortune, and health not only RESTORED, but INCREASED. God truly was GOOD to these men…their SEASONS OF SUFFERING were WORTH IT ALL, and so will OURS be…if we go through them God’s way.

Have a WONDERFUL day, and let’s all get to our Chapter 42s–on the other side!

Love you!

Janine

From “Moments of Peace”

Romans 8:18: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

This is a PROMISE for us to claim today. Our pressures and trials–however difficult they may be–will be like NOTHING to us when God’s glory is revealed.

Hurts, stresses, and frustrations–they all belong to this world. God uses them for GOOD to teach us CHARACTER, PATIENCE, HUMILITY and FAITH.

Yet, the GLORY BELONGS SOLELY TO GOD. It is the achievement of His GOOD PLAN and the splendor of HIS PRESENCE, and He freely shares both with us.

Let’s CLAIM THIS PROMISE today, and LOOK FORWARD to the GREAT THINGS God will reveal to us. Let’s ANTICIPATE the FABULOUSLY GLORIOUS FUTURE.

Romans 8:17: If we are God’s children, we WILL receive BLESSINGS from God TOGETHER WITH CHRIST. BUT, we must SUFFER AS CHRIST SUFFERED so that we will have glory AS CHRIST HAS GLORY.

Dear God, I can endure my present problems BECAUSE I KNOW THAT YOUR PLAN WILL BE FULFILLED and that I WILL SEE YOUR WONDERFUL GLORY.

From “Moments of Peace”

Isaiah 43:19: I am doing a NEW THING; NOW it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I WILL MAKE A WAY in the wilderness.

Some days your heart will cry out for GOOD news–some indication that you can be OPTIMISTIC about the future. When God spoke the words to Isaiah, He was telling the prophet to look for the HOPE ahead. He says the same for us today.

The GOOD NEWS for us is that NO MATTER WHAT IS GOING ON IN OUR LIVES, God has the POWER, WISDOM, and LOVE to HELP US. He is doing something NEW today–whether we see it or not–providing NEW OPPORTUNITIES for us and ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES. Giving us HOPE.

God is MAKING A WAY IN THE WILDERNESS for us. Let’s LOOK FOR IT with a GLAD and HOPEFUL heart!

Dear God, THANK YOU for providing new opportunities and for giving me hope. I PRAISE YOU for ALL the GOOD things You are doing. Amen.

1 Peter 1:3: PRAISE GOD, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is SO GOOD, and by raising Jesus from death, He has given us NEW LIFE and a HOPE that lives on.

By Joel Osteen

Philippians 4:11: I have LEARNED to be CONTENT, WHATEVER the circumstances.

Perhaps you have a big dream in your heart–a dream to have a better marriage, to own your own business, to help hurting people–but you don’t really see any HUMAN way your dream could happen.

I have GOOD NEWS for you! God ISN’T limited to NATURAL, HUMAN ways of doing things. If you’re not seeing God move in your life right now, either your requests are not God’s BEST and will probably not be answered the way you’d like, or it must not be the RIGHT TIME. If you will TRUST God, and keep a GOOD ATTITUDE (Help us, Lord!), STAYING FAITHFUL RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, and NOT GETTING IN A HURRY, trying to FORCE THINGS to happen, God WILL promote you at the RIGHT TIME, in your DUE SEASON. He WILL bring your dreams to pass, so REST IN HIM!

From “Streams in the Desert”

Isaiah 43:2: When you PASS THROUGH the waters…they will NOT sweep over you.

**God does NOT open paths for us BEFORE we come to them, or provide help BEFORE help is needed. He does not remove obstacles out of our way before we reach them. Yet, when we are at our point of need, God’s hand is outstretched.

Many people forget this truth and continually worry about difficulties they envision in the future. They expect God to open and clear many miles of road before them, but He promises to do it STEP BY STEP, only as their need arises. **You must be in the floodwaters before you can claim God’s promise.

“When you pass through the waters”
Deep the waves may be and cold,
But Jehovah is our REFUGE,
And His PROMISE is our hold;
For the Lord Himself has said it,
He, the FAITHFUL God and TRUE;
“When you come to the waters
You will NOT go down, BUT THROUGH.”

Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,
Bitter anguish, fiercest pain,
Rolling surges of temptation
Sweeping over heart and brain–
They will NEVER overflow us
For we KNOW His Word is TRUE;
All His waves and all His billows
He will lead us SAFELY THROUGH.

Threatening breakers of destruction,
Doubt’s insidious undertow,
Will NOT sink us, will NOT drag us
Out to ocean depths of woe;
For His PROMISE will SUSTAIN us,
PRAISE THE LORD, Whose Word is TRUE!
We will NOT go down, or under,
For He says, “YOU WILL PASS THROUGH.”
–Annie Johnson Flint

By Me

O Lord, our Lord, how MAJESTIC is

Your Name in all of the Earth.

O Lord, our Lord, how MAJESTIC is

Your Name in all of the Earth.

O Lord, we PRAISE Your Name.

O Lord, we MAGNIFY Your Name.

Prince of Peace, Mighty God,

O Lord our God Almighty.–Sandi Patty

The words to this song just resonate in my mind today. Not for any reason, just because. Just because God is GOOD. Just because He is GREAT. Just because He is WONDERFUL. Just because He is KIND. Just because of His abundant MERCY and GRACE towards us. Just because of His NEVER-FAILING LOVE. Just because of His CONTINUNAL PROTECTION. Just because of His ABIDING SPIRIT. Just because…

There are SO MANY things that we can PRAISE GOD FOR. Truly, if we had 10,000 tongues, they would not be enough to tell it all. But, we DO have ONE tongue, with which we can give God our praise.

So, let’s take the time today not to ask for anything from Him. Le’t just LOVE ON OUR DADDY…just because.

Psalms 9:1: I will PRAISE THEE, O Lord, with my WHOLE HEART; I will show forth ALL thy MARVELOUS works.