Clinging to a worthless idol?

 Jonah 2:8 “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”  What worthless idols are you clinging to?   Sometimes I cling to the security of the gifts and talents God has given me verses clinging to God.   At any moment everything can be taken away.  The only one that will remain is the Lord.  Cling to Him!! He is our TRUE HOPE!!  Matthew 28:20 “Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.”

When I trust my  “right” works will produce “right” things;  then I am trusting in me.   Bad things happen even when we do everything right.  When I trust in God, knowing He will make even the bad things right,  my anxiety lowers and I can breathe.   Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”  Are you trusting in God or a worthless idol? TRUST GOD.  Find true peace.

Turn away and stay turned

 Jonah 3:9 “Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish.  10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He has threatened.”  Have you ever turned from your evil ways to avoid the consequences? Then go back to those same old, same old ways.?  Be inspired to keep turning from the old, pressing forward to the High calling of God no matter what you are facing!   😇🙏❤️

If it’s causing anxiety reevaluate!

 Psalm 139:23 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  24 See if there is any offense way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting.”  

Do you have anxious thoughts?   Pay attention to those!! If your reaction to something is anxiety, evaluate whether that person, project or  event should be in your life. God gives us an unsettled Spirit to recognize things that are not of Him.    Lord, see if there is any offense way in us and lead us to the way of everlasting.   😇🙏❤️

He has plans for you!! TRUST

 Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”    Are your plans failing?   God’s are not!!   Some of our toughest times produce the greatest harvest.   Be still and know that He is God and He has plans for you!! Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future .   TRUST His plans today!!!😇❤️🙏

Dont ho astray, plan good

 Proverbs 14:22 “Do not those who plot evil go astray?  But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.” When I was an addict I would plot how to get my alcohol and how to keep my addiction a secret.   It was an all consuming frame of thinking.     It was an evil desire that made me go astray.   I hated it but couldn’t let it go for years.   Today I recognize how it poisoned my life and hurt my children. Today, I try my best to plan what is good even when it’s hard.  My life is infinitely better when I first seek the Lord and His righteousness.   It is truly filled with Love and Faithfulness not because of me but because of Him.    Today, be inspired to recognize if you are plotting for your evil desires and turn and plan what is good!  😇🙏❤️

His works are wonderful.. know this full well

 Psalm 139:13 “ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know full well.”  

Each of us are fearfully and wonderfully made!    His works are wonderful!!! Each of us are wonderful!!! Oh yes we do stupid sinful things.  Our identity is not what we do, or what people say or think about us.  Our identity is who we are in Jesus Christ.    Forgiven, restored, set apart, able to shine.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made!! His works are wonderful!!! Know this full well!!  

If you are tempted to take on self doubt, low self esteem or self condemnation.   STOP that is not true!  God word is TRUE.   You are wonderful through the powerful gift of Jesus.   Know this full well!!  

Runnig away from God?

 Jonah 1:3 “But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.  After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.”   Have you ever ran from the Lord?   I do it all the time.  I know the good God is telling me to do, but let sloth take over.  Or I may go down the wrong path….justifying in my mind, what I am doing is “fine”.   When I am deliberately or lazily, going in the wrong direction, with an unrepentant heart, I better watch out;  because the big fish is coming!!   God love each of us too much to let us run away.   Be inspired to run to Him today!!

Love even if you dont feel like it

 John 15:12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”  Do you love as Jesus loves?   Think of how you think about each other.   Is it loving?  Or do you harbor anger and resentment if things aren’t the way you think they should be?  Today, be inspired to love each other with a pure heart.  Not because people are who you want them to be.  Love because Jesus commands us to do so.   You can love a person and not love their actions.  Usually people with bad behavior are the people that need love the most.

But his word be a rock

 Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”  When I first quit drinking and turned my life back over to the Lord, I had been in worldly behaviors for so long I had no idea how to do life  God’s way.   I made a commitment to start reading the Bible daily and thinking about how it applied to my life and tried to put it into practice.    This is not a one and done this is a daily commitment to keep trying to apply God’s word to the life I live.   When I do, I walk in His peace.   When I don’t, I walk in my anxiety.    May God’s word be a lamp to your feet today too.😇❤️🙏

Survive it in hope

 Have you ever had a pain, that just won’t leave?   Jeremiah 17:7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.  8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of draught and never fails to bear fruit.”  …..17:14. “ Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are The One I praise.”       These verses help me in deep pain.  Many things in life, I cant understand and can’t control.   When I TRUST God in it all, I  survive in hope.   

The Lord never forgets us

 Isaiah 49:15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  16 See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” 

Our Lord never forgets us!!  God knows each and every one of us. There are about 8.3 billion people on this earth and God knows each of us intimately!!   This is mind blowing!!! I can’t even  in billions.  As parents when our children are hurting we are hurting.   Know today, God loves your child even more than you do!!  He will not forget them.  They are engraved on the palms of His hands and so are you!!!  Live in His perfect peace today trusting this is true.”

Don’t wear yourself out for riches

 Proverbs 23:4 “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have wisdom and show restraint.  5 Cast a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”🦅.   What do you wear yourself out for?   “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33).    I have chased many things that are not God’s will for me.     When I do and get those things, it often leaves me emptier than before.    Only God can truly fill us to the full.  Let’s be drinking His living water today and always!! Let Jesus fill the emptiness within, and you will never thirst again even in a draught.

Leave the old pursue the new

 Ephesians 4:22 “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted  by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  Put off the old and put on the new!!! If I want to change my old ways I have to replace those ways with something better.   We all have 24 hours in a day.  If we stop a bad behavior that has consumed us we have to fill that time with a new edifying behavior or the  void we leave will be filled with an all consuming desire for the bad thing  that is destroying us.    Today, to be healthy and well.  Replace the old with the new and stay with the new!!