God Will Supply Your Needs

I'm so sorry that I've been absent for a month on my blog!  I've had a busy month on the author front, touring my books, searching for agents, and trying not to stress over it all.  That's partly why I've written this post.  It's not just my worries on the financial front, but others that sparked this post.  

There seems to be a lot of unnecessary worry over things that we don’t have control over.  The money for this month’s bills isn’t in.  If we have the money to pay the bills, we don’t have money for anything else.  Making ends meet is difficult, and it’s stressful.  But that doesn’t mean God doesn’t love or care for us.  Because Paul said, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

But what happens when we’re still struggling?  We pray and pray and pray.  We cry out to God, begging for answers, but it doesn’t seem like our need is being met.  But we’re human, and our eyes are deceiving.  When was the last time you went hungry?  What was the last bill that you couldn’t pay? 

Psalm 37:25

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

God has made us a promise.  God has promised to supply all our needs, and in return, His seed (us) will not beg for bread (or anything else that you need.)  God doesn’t want His children struggling.  Why?  If we’re struggling, we can’t focus on Him, because our minds are on something else.  If we’re worrying, we’re pushing God out of the equation, and God needs to be right in the middle of that equation.

Your equation needs to look like this: 

God + Tithes/Offerings – Worry – The Devil = Peace and Needs Met

Take the worry out of your life.  God cares about you.  God is not going to let you suffer.  He has proven to me over and over again just how much He loves me.  I’m not rich, nor am I famous (yet), but God has supplied my need!  He’s given me money to pay my bills, to sow into other ministries and church, and the money to go out with my friends.  I may come close to being extremely low on cash, but God never fails in giving back what I sow! 

Notice that I’ve been talking about sowing seeds.  God loves a cheerful giver!  (2 Corinthians 9:7)  Don’t be stingy in giving God your money because really, you wouldn’t have gotten that money if it hadn’t been for God. 

Malachi 3:7-12

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

When we give tithes and offerings, God gives back to us.  He supplies us with His riches and glory!  Every need that we have will be met with blessings that we won’t have room to receive!  Oh how good God is!  He doesn’t let His children suffer.  We cause the suffering.  The devil causing our suffering.  So kick him out of the equation, kick worry out and you’re left with peace and every need supplied. 

Psalm 23:1

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Victory is Ours for the Taking!

It's not big news when I say that Jesus died on the cross.  It's not big news when I tell you that in dying on the cross, He died to take away our sins and make a way straight to Him that isn't through sacrifice.  But when Jesus died, crying out, "It is finished," (John 19:30) what was He really saying?

I'm sure there are many different things that Jesus meant when He cried out these words.  He could've meant that His reason for being on Earth was done or that He knew it was His last moments.  What I think it means - well, one of the meanings of this phrase - was that He had given us victory.  That when it was finished, the victory, over situations in our life, battles, is ours. 

See, as a Christian, we are in constant battle with Satan's forces.  The devil will come against us faster than we can think.  He tells us lies, very convincing lies, brings us down, strikes us with fear and sickness, but we don't have to live that life.  Why?  Because the battle has already been won!  When Jesus died, He took care of that for us!

When God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us on the cross, He knew that with His death we would have victory.  So why are we still fighting these battles that have already been won?

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

It's simple.  We're human, and we want to do things on our own.  We want the doctor to fix our aches or medicine to take away the depression.  But we have to learn to let that go.  Reach out and grab your victory.  It's there for the taking.  

God wants us to live a life of honor and glory in His Name.  That also means that we can use His Name to proclaim our victory because it gives GOD the honor He's so deserving of.  We have power in the Name of Jesus to overcome devils, make mountains move!  That means that our mountains, the things that cause us to stumble or completely stop us from having faith because they are weighing us down, will MOVE simply because we have victory through Jesus!

Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: (Zechariah 4:7)

Put your faith into that victory.  I know that it's hard, but if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed  (That's about the size of a poppy seed.), we can move mountains, casts trees into seas, and they will have to obey us because we are speaking this in the Name of Jesus.  (Matthew 17:20, Luke 17:6) 

That's not a lot of faith that is required of us if you think about it, but somehow, we make it into a lot.  We make our molehills mountains instead.  Step back, take a deep breath, and step over that molehill before it becomes a mountain.  Who art thou, O great mountain?   Who is this mountain to stop us?  In the Name of Jesus, it will be nothing but a plain - flat land for us to walk across instead of being stopped by a gigantic rock.  

Step into faith and cast away that mountain.  WE HAVE THE VICTORY!  CLAIM IT TODAY!


For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.  (1 John 5:4)

Too stressed to be blessed?

Do you know the old saying, "Too blessed to be stressed"?  Well, it's actually true, but we tend to lose sight of that during the stressful moments of our life.  Sure, we know that we're blessed, but when the world is weighing on your shoulders, it's hard to see that.  Really hard.

I battle stress and worry on a daily basis.  It's hard for me to overcome.  Hard but not impossible. 

I picked up my Promises for Women from God's Word book and was flipping through it.   I just wanted to read a few verses of something before going to sleep.  I notice the header, Stress, on one of the pages.  I began reading the verses it gave.  One of them was, Psalm 23.  I thought Well how on earth is that gonna help my stress?  I kept reading, hoping that I would come across something to use for when I'm stressed.  I ended up reading through seven passages about stress. 

You know, I was uncertain about how those certain passages spoke to my stress.  Until I came to the last passage.  Phillippians 4: 6-7

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

I'm not sure what version of the Bible is used in this book, but I like the wording of it.

Never worry about anything.  But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.  Then God's peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus.

Now, I've read these verses a hundred times before.  But, it struck me.  Why was I worrying about things that I couldn't control?  Why wasn't I seeking God about my worries and asking Him for help instead of doing things my way and by myself.  And God, well, He will guard your emotions and give you peace!

It's hard, I know, to let God take things in His hands.  Heck, we're stupid little fleshly humans.  We want to do things ourselves and not trust God.  When we shut Him out like that though, we're keeping ourselves from experiencing peace of mind.

Think about that for a moment.  We're giving up our peace solely because we don't want to trust God and stop worrying. 

My challenge for you (and me) is to give up the things that are stressing us and talk to God.  He'll guard us and give us peace.


As an author, these mostly pertains to fellow authors, but the tips may be helpful in addition to this post, at helping you de-stress.  Check out this blog post on my writing blog.

Stop Talking, Start Praying - Moving beyond our worries

Some things have been on my mind lately.  Mostly, they’ve been revolving around our country, what’s happening with it, and all these politics.  I’m not a very political person, and I usually don’t speak out about my politics.  This is still one of those times.  This post ISN’T about politics or how I view the running of this country.  This post is about something we’ve probably forgotten to do. 

PRAY.

I’m not saying that you don’t pray.  That’s between you and God, but what I’m saying is that it’s easy to FORGET to pray about important things.  Instead, we want to talk about it, get our feelings off our chest.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but sometimes, that can do more damage than good.

I strongly believe that we need to stop talking about it and start praying about it.  Talking won’t do any good.  It will lead you to worry unnecessarily or start unintentional debates that might not lead to the best of times. 

My family and I were discussing politics and some decisions we weren’t too thrilled about our president making, but I stopped the discussion and said, “It’s time we stop talking and start praying.”  Because, you know what?  God has us in His hands.  God will be the one who delivers His people out of the mess we find ourselves in.

Psalm 29:11 (Amplified Bible) says, “The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.”

So why should we keep talking about our problems, or the problems we MIGHT face when the Bible says that The Lord will give us strength; He will bless us with peace?  Isn’t that enough that enough to know that no matter what happens in our life, that God will give us strength and peace?  He isn’t going to let anything bad happen to His people. 

Sure, we all face trials and tribulations, but God will give us that peace and strength we need to survive it. 

This goes beyond politics.  This applies to everything in our lives.  We need to stop worrying and talking about it to praying about it and seeking out the only person who can help us – God. 

I’m not saying don’t discuss your problems with friends, family members, counselors, etc.  What I’m saying is, sometimes we need to talk to God about it.  Prayer changes everything.  So, stop talking about it and start praying about it.  You’ll feel much better about it in the end.