Our spouse is our team mate notbour enemy

 Genesis 1:18 “The Lord God said,”It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him.”  …24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”   God makes a husband and wife to be on the same team!!! One flesh!! Husband’s are to cherish their wives and wives are to respect their husbands (Ephesians 5)    I am thinking of the Muslim culture….as I understand it, they are allowed to beat their wives treating them more as property than as a gift from God. If you are beating up or hurting your spouse in any way, you are hurting half of yourself.  If you are blessed with a spouse, he or she is your #1 team mate next to Jesus.   Often when people are stressed they take it out on the ones they trust the most, they hurt their teammate.  Remember if you are tempted to hurt your beloved in anyway, you are actually hurting yourself.  Be encouraged today to treat your spouse as your number one team mate next to Jesus.  Help each other, no matter how you “ feel”.  Choose love!!😇    The destruction of our country is largely because of the destruction of our families.   Do what you can today in your own family to love each other through the powerful gift of Jesus.  Choose love!  Choose to be on the same team!!

Be still, Trust God

 Psalm 46:10 “ Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”    Be still and know that He is God!!!  TRUST Him today in all things!!! His way , His timing, His best plan for you and the ones you love!!

Prosperity can be prideful

 Daniel 11:28 “The king of the North will return to his own country with great wealth, but his heart will be set against the holy covenant.”   I have been guilty of forgetting, all my prosperities come from the Lord.   When I forget it is He that gave me the talents and circumstances I become full of pride.  There is nothing pleasant about being around a prideful person. Today, if God has blessed you beyond all measure; instead of saying, “look at me” say “ Look at all God has blessed me with, how can I be the best steward of it all?”  Prosperity is so much more than finances.  Be inspired to be thankful for everything He has provided you and the things in His infinite wisdom has not. 😇🙏❤️

His Peace or our anxiety

 John 14:25 “All this I have spoken while with you.  26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”   We have the Holy Spirit living in us guiding us moment by moment.   We can listen and walk in His Peace or we can harden our hearts and walk in our anxieties.   Which will you do today?

Team work!!

 Psalm 121:1. “ I lift my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from?  2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3He will not let your foot slip-He who watches over you will not slumber.”   Have you ever been on a team?   Together the team purpose is to work toward the common goal using everyone’s unique talents for the team goal.  Having a good teammate is fantastic!!!  Marriage is this a true “team”.  Many of us are single, yet we are never “team-less”.    The Lord is with us always He is always on our team!!! May we each TRUST in our ever present, omnipotent Team mate today and always!!!😇🙏❤️

Worldly or Wordly

 Joel 2:12 “Even now”, declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”   13.Rend  your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.”   Repent and return!!! Have you been seeking your will and not God’s?   Seeking worldly pleasures over WORDLY is so easy for me to do.      What are your goals for today?  Do they line up with the Word of God?   Be inspired to seek Him first!!

Keep your head up in the storm

 Psalm 103:1-5 “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.  2. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits-3who forgives all your sins and heal all your diseases, 4who redeems your life from the pit and  crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”    One of my dearest friends suggested her Bible study group memorize these verses.     When we focus on how good God is, we can keep our heads up in any strom!  

Perfect love casts out fear

 Christ assurance verses Self assurance.  Christ confidence verses self confidence!   1John 4:4 “You dear children, are from God, and have overcome them, because the one who is in you, is greater than the one who is in the world.”  18 “There is no fear in Love.  But prefect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 “We love because He first loved us.”   Today, dont trust in your abilities to get things done, trust that Christ through, you will take care of everything.   If He has given you much ability and drive fantastic!! Use it for His glory, remembering He is the one giving it to you moment by moment.   Perfect love casts out fear.  He perfectly loves each of us….fear not!! Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!!

The sovereign God of the universe perfectly loves you!! He didn’t get you this far to drop you now!  TRUST in His Love for you today!!

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.