4GIVEN

Stop thinking that you are not good enough for God to use you! The only credentials you need is a heart bent towards God! You are not called by man but by God to be the salt and light of the world and the Message Bible paraphrase nailed what Jesus told the people in the greatest sermon ever preached in Mathew 5:16, “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” Jesus also said in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world.” This is the second of seven “I AM” declarations of Jesus, recorded only in John’s gospel, that point to His unique divine identity and purpose. In declaring Himself to be the Light of the world, Jesus was claiming that He is the exclusive source of spiritual light. No other source of spiritual power or truth is available to mankind. Now look at that Jesus placed us at His level!!!!! Do you need more motivation to come from underneath that basket?? Beloved, let your shine today and believe that you’re divinely purposed to live an illuminating life that glorifies God through service to Him and His people!!

It’s a 2 step process! If you claim to love God who is the very essence of love (I John 4:8), you must also love God’s people. You can’t legitimately love the One without loving the other. I John 4:20 says, If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving [HIS] people. You’ve got to love both.” Fact is people respond to love and appreciation. Personally, when I am loved, I feel good about myself; I feel relaxed; I feel free to be myself. When I am loved, I feel the freedom to be honest, to be open, and to share myself with others. Being loved gives me the freedom to laugh and cry with the person I feel loved by. I want to be with them. I am willing to be vulnerable with them and to trust them. That is the way I feel about God and the people that love me. I feel drawn to them. I get it, everyone ‘love language’ is different but the foundational principle of each of those expressions is love and you can’t have one without the other! Love is not something we opt to do rather it’s something that God requires that we do and if He can love the ‘you’ in you…..you can do the same for others!

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Seeking the Lord means seeking his presence. “Presence” is a common translation of the Hebrew word “FACE.” Literally, we are to seek his “FACE.” How many times have you sought God just to sit in His presence face-to-FACE? Sometimes we get so tied up with life in our situations that we forget about seeking the “FACE” that created life. We all love and commit to memory Jeremiah 29:11 but take a closer look at verse 13 of the MSG paraphrase, “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” GOD ’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”— GOD ’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.” So today remember when you draw near to God, He will reveal Himself to you. God will never hide Himself from the one that possess a seeking heart. The Lord said in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my ‘FACE’, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

What would happen if you found out the enemy you’ve been fighting isn’t the devil or other people? What if the enemy is you? Accountability is best defined as the willingness to accept responsibility or account for one’s actions. James 4:17 says this, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” Recently, I was reminded that accountability can be very humiliating and mentally/physically draining. However, the end result of transparency is far more rewarding both carnally and spiritually. The stark reality of Scripture is that one day we will give an account of all our actions be it good, bad or indifferent (Romans 14:12). Look at it this way, truth is like light and light will always expose darkness. Ultimately, accountability can be a means in which God draws us, through the friendship and fellowship of others, to himself. Self-sufficiency and pride says we don’t need anyone, but humility shouts for help from those God has placed in our lives. This habit of sharing and praying with others will inevitably teach us how to cast our cares [failures and mistakes included] on the only One who can fully bear their weight and who loves us with an unfailing love (1 Peter 5:7). God graciously reminds us that apart from him we can do nothing. And one great means of that reminder are the brothers and sisters he puts in our lives. Here’s a simply formula that I use to measure whether or not I am being a steward of accountability or the enemy of accountability: 1%=100%. Think about it!!

Life has taught me that praise is my weapon to win and in order for me to turn my focus from my problems and pain to God promises and purpose, I must press my way through! I have learned that worship will get you through the toughest times in your life, because it shifts your attention from the problem to the one who can solve your problem and remove your pain. No matter what goes on around us, God desires that we press in close to Him, so close that we can hear the glorious beat of His heart, we hear His voice louder than any other voice, and that we feel the peace of His presence surrounding us. In the midst of all we face in life, there remains the amazing story of Christ, who never changes and without Him, we have nothing. He is what it’s all about. And though we may know this in our heads, how we live out or faith during times of trouble might tell a different story. If God can birth beauty in a manger and out of the brokenness of the cross, He can also birth beauty out of our ashes. Jesus not only offers forgiveness for our sins but He also gives us power of the Resurrection which in turns gives hope for our future!! God says, “Behold, I am making all things new…” (Rev. 21:5) and our response should be, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).

Father God, I come to You, confessing that I tend to have a heart that is filled with whining and complaining instead of gratitude and praise. Please forgive me O’God! Holy Spirit, help me learn to see Your hand at work in every area of my life good, bad, or indifferent. In all things, I have chosen to trust You even when I don’t understand my circumstances. Therefore, I choose to accept Your will, plan, and purpose for my life because I know that horizontal problems only leads to vertical praise for Your glory and my good! Thank You for caring enough for me to lead me and never leave me! In Jesus’ name

I boldly and yet humbly pray, amen and amen!!

Father God, teach me to offer You a heart of thanksgiving, gratefulness, and praise in all my daily experiences of life. Holy Spirit, teach me to be joyful always, to pray continually and to give thanks in all my circumstances. I accept them as Your will for my life (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). I long to bring pleasure to Your heart daily. Break the power of the enemy in my life. Defeat Him through my sacrifice of praise. Change my outlook and attitude into one of joyful contentment with my present circumstances. Father God, I thank You for my strengths and I praise You because I know that your greatness is perfected in my weaknesses! You are truly the best and worthy of my praise O’God!! Hallelujah, in Jesus’ name Amen and Amen and Amen!

When God seems silent doesn’t mean He is absent. God’s silence is how it feels, it’s not how it is. God is always actively moving, orchestrating, and weaving the affairs of our lives. Nearly everyone throughout biblical history has experience God’s silence but never was He not present. So recognize that you are not alone in the stillness. In fact, you are in good company. A right biblical outlook will cause you to think rightly about your experiences. When you realize that Abraham, Isaac Jacob, Joseph, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Noah, Moses, and Jesus all persevered and were all eventually promoted through God’s silence, you will truly embrace the fact that you are not alone.

When God delights in in us, He will open the heavens to us (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” Now some will take this scripture literally, however, David is not referring to the human heart because he knew all to well that the human heart is wicked and filled with evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander (Matthew 15:19). Fortunately, God does not abandon us in our struggles with hurtful tendencies and sinful propensities. Instead, He literally plants His own desires into the heart of man, the heart that, without Him, is desperately wicked and deceitful. This heart transplant can only happen when we come to Him in repentance and accept the gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. At that point, He removes our hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19). He then implants the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Then our heart’s desires become His desires, our wills seek to do His will, and our rebellion turns to joyous obedience.

Is God listening to me and if so, when will He answer me? Yes of course, our prayers never land on deaf ears and God will never leave us hanging. God responds to our prayers with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or ‘Wait’. When your prayers appear to go unanswered, you may need to evaluate your motivation behind your prayer. God not only hears our words in prayer, He also discerns our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). The apostle James writes, ‘When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives’ (James 4:3). In other words, your prayers will go unanswered when the motive behind them is spawned out of your own selfish desires. This is just one of many obstacles that can impedes God’s response to our prayers. Proverbs 16:2 says, “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD.” Because the human heart is very deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), we can easily fool ourselves about our own motives. Conversely, the right motivation is always found in a surrendered heart. I John 5:14 confirms that when we pray according to God’s will, plan and purpose He not only hears us, He will also grant us that prayer. Jeremiah 33:3 says, “God will always answer our prayers: “This is GOD’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as GOD: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’