Don't Give Up...Give Over

Surrender all your worries to Him because He cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7 FBV

What's weighing you down today? Is there a worry that keeps you awake at night? A concern that creeps into your thoughts as you read scripture or pray? Do you struggle to give these things to God and leave them with Him? That's a hard thing to do because you have to patiently wait on His timing and then you must trust His answer because you trust His heart.

The thing is that God truly cares about any worries that keeps you awake at night He wants to take away whatever struggles intrude in your Bible reading and prayer time with Him. No concern or struggle is too small for Him to care. Nothing is insignificant because He cares about every aspect of your life. You are truly cared for…by the One Person who can do something about the things that worry you! Trust His Love. Trust His heart.

God is completely sovereign. God is infinite in Wisdom. God is perfect in Love. God in His Love always wills what is best for us. In His Wisdom, He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty, He has the Power to bring it all to pass.

Surrendering isn’t the same as giving up…not when God is involved. It means humbly placing ourselves at His feet. Then, we give up our desire for control and our pride. Under the care of God’s mighty hand, we give over the need to know when, why and how. So don’t give up…give over. Surrender is not a sign of failure. It’s a powerful step of faith.

Fear Is Not An Ingredient In Love

“Where God’s Love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect Love drives out fear”. - 1 John 4:18

How do you learn to live in God’s Love so that you can live free of fear?

Every day, you have to surrender your heart to God.

When you wake up each morning, before your feet hit the floor, you have to say, “God, before I even start this day, I surrender my emotions to you. I want you to be Lord of my feelings. I want you to control my mind and my emotions. I surrender my heart to you. I want you to fill me with your Love.”

Job 11:13-18 says, “Surrender your heart to God, turn to him in prayer, and give up your sins…even those you do in secret. Then you won’t be ashamed; you will be confident and fearless. Your troubles will go away like water beneath a bridge, and your darkest night will be brighter than noon. You will rest safe and secure, filled with hope and emptied of worry”.

We find three commands and eight promises in this verse. God says if you do this, then He’ll do that. Every promise has a premise.

First, He gives you the commands: Surrender your heart to God every day. Turn to Him in prayer. And give up your sins or confess your sins to God.

Then notice the eight benefits: You won’t be ashamed, you’ll be confident, you’ll be fearless, your troubles will be like water under the bridge, the dark night you’re going through is going to be brighter than noon, you’ll be able to sleep well because you are safe and secure, you will be filled with hope, and you’ll be emptied of worry.

Wow! Who wouldn’t want to experience those benefits? You ought to write that Scripture on an index card and put it somewhere you will see it throughout the week. Let it remind you to do those three things: surrender your heart to God, turn to Him in prayer, and confess your sins…so that God’s Love will fill your life and cast out all your anxiety and fear.

Try it this week, and then watch how God fulfills His promise as He fills you with His love.

Faith Works!

And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Mark 5:34

Faith is believing God for what seems impossible. The Bible says, without faith it is impossible to please God.

I know we hear about faith all the time and may feel like not that subject again. God wants to remind us that faith works. Recently, I dreamt I was in a store. The store owner was relocating to a bigger building to continue doing business. There were a few items still in the store that needed to be packed and transported to the new location. When I looked around the store, there were on every shelf a decorative piece that read ‘faith works’. It was colored in red.

You may say that is my dream, but I believe the Lord wants to convey a much - needed message in this time to all of us. He wants to remind us that ‘faith works’. The challenge many of us face is we may have been believing for a while. Holding on to faith and now feel like giving up. The truth is we don’t know when our faith will work for us, so we need to keep believing.

The woman in the scripture reference of today had an issue of blood for 12 years. My God! The Bible said, ‘And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse’ Mark 5:26. This woman had every reason to just give up and die. But she heard Jesus was in town and decided, let me try this man that everyone is talking about. She must have heard about all that Jesus did and so she moved with faith and said, ‘if I can but touch the hem of his garment, I will be made whole’. Now listen! She did not think of touching Jesus or His full clothing. She said, just the hem! My God, that’s faith! What she heard about Jesus was so convincing, she so believed that just by touching the hem of His clothes, she will be heal, and indeed, she was completely healed. Hallelujah!!!!!

Were you believing God before to do something in your life and have given up? He is saying to us today, FAITH WORKS! Get back to the place of believing and exercise your faith. We do not know the day nor the hour that our faith will work for us. Keep believing, keep having faith. Take some time and read the word of God to build up your faith. Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.