Count It All Joy

TGIF!!! God may lead us into troubled waters to deepen our trust in Him. Feelings of discouragement or doubt are a part of life. When trials come, we can easily panic or lose heart. But these difficult circumstances can become the instruments our loving heavenly Father uses to make us more Christ like. In Romans, Paul says, "We can rejoice.....when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.

 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation." But that doesn't mean we always feel the joy. We may just need someone to sit down and listen to us pour out our hearts to them, and to talk with God. Sometimes it takes looking back on the situation before we see how our faith has grown during trials and doubts. Knowing that God wants to use our difficulties to strengthen our faith can help us to trust His good heart for us. We are not expected to enjoy trials or to celebrate suffering.

 But when these unwelcome visitors arrive, we can look for God's hand in them and trust that He can use them to make us more like His Son. Trials may visit us, but our God is always there with us. ( Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. James 1:2-3 ). Have a blessed day.

~Trina Cole~

You Are Not Alone

Good Thursday morning Confidence in God's presence is our comfort.

Have you ever experienced the overwhelming feeling that no one cares for you? It's a real and excruciatingly painful feeling. But even though people may abandon us, God's love and presence is assured. The Lord promises that He will never leave us.

He will be with us wherever we go, "always, even to the end of the age." The Lord will never falter in His commitment to His children. Even if we have been abandoned by others, we can find confidence in His promise that nothing will ever "separate us from His love." (I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. Isaiah 49:15-16 ). Have a great day.

~Trina Cole~

It's All About Him

 

Good Wednesday morning. When we die to all about us, we live to God above us. Life is not all about us, though we might wish it to be otherwise. Everything revolves around the Lord. He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the ocean in vast reservoirs. Everything in nature operates in accordance with the laws He has set.

 The nations also revolve around the Lord. No plan or scheme can stand up against God's. Ultimately, it is the Lord's plan that will stand forever. His intentions can never be shaken. The lives of all humanity revolve around the Lord. God sees the whole human race. He made our hearts, and He understands everything we do.

 And He has the power to intervene in our lives and deliver us from situations spinning out of control. Our life is created to be centered on God, not self. How thankful we can be to serve such a powerful God, who has every aspect of our lives under His control. ( The control of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. 33:11 ). Have a great day.

~Trina Cole~

Good Tuesday morning. We need never be ashamed of our tears.

Even though the way of sorrow is hard, God sends reminders of His enduring presence. To the Israelites expelled from the Promised Land due to disobedience, God made His presence known by sending prophets like Jeremiah to offer them hope, hope for reconciliation through repentance. 

 And to those He leads through tough times of testing, He shows His presence through a community of believers who "love one another fervently with a pure heart." These indications of God's presence during trials on earth affirm God's promise of the living hope awaiting us at the resurrection.

 ( In this living hope you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. 1 Peter 1:6 ). Have a great day.

~Trina Cole~

The Whistle Of The Shepherd

Good Friday morning. The call of God can always be heard. The practice of whistling is found in the Bible. God is described as a shepherd whistling for His sheep. This image could be what Zechariah had in mind when he described how God will one day whistle to bring a wandering and scattered people back to Himself.

Many years later Jesus said, "Many sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me." That may be the whistle of a shepherd. Sheep don't understand words, but they know the sound that signals the shepherd's presence.

Misleading voices and distracting noises still compete for our attention. Yet God has ways of signaling us, even without words. By events that can be alarming or encouraging. He reminds us of His guiding, protecting, and reassuring presence. ( I will whistle for them and gather them, for I will redeem them. Zechariah 10:8 ). Have a great day. TGIF!

Trina Cole~

Just Believe

When you pray for something do you believe that you are going to have what you pray for? When you ask God for something, do you rise up off of your knees and begin to undo your prayer by saying things that are doubtful, full of fear and unbelief? Or do you rise up from your talk with God knowing that what you have asked Him for in faith, He will give to you? 

The word tells us in Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. So, why then are we doubtful, fearful, worried and discontented? Don't we believe the word? Don't we know that God is not a man that He would lie to us? I tell you right now, He is a good God and He will give us what we ask for in faith believing that we are going to receive it. He gives us the desires of our heart.

 When we have a heart after God, when we are like that dear panting after God like He is our living water, we will begin to see things change in our world. In our families, in our cities, in our country and in our world. We must only believe!
~Priscilla Hinds~

Feeling Overwhelmed? Look to Jesus

The last few days I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed. So many things going on in my family right now and not any of them are good. I rarely pray for myself but, today I just broke down and cried out to God and said Lord I need you!!!  I just need you to help ME!!! I am overwhelmed. I trust you, I know that you love me and that you are going to help me. Immediately I started feeling a little lighter and more hopeful. Folks He wants us to say God, Father, Lord, Jesus help me! I need you! He is our Abba Father, He is our very present help in time of need. He is our strength, our high tower, He is the one that we run to. I haven't written in a couple of months and everyone has been wondering what was going on with me. I don't want to go into specifics about my family because of their confidentiality however, I will say this, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him. When things seem out of control, and the problems are insurmountable He is there saying speak to that mountain!! He has given us dominion and authority in this earth realm. He expects us to use it!

I was reading this morning in

II Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

After I finished reading this chapter, I sought the Lord in prayer and got up from prayer ready to fight the good fight of faith. We can't let the enemy of our souls get us down to the point that we are no longer able to fight. For some reason I am like a prize fighter, I fight better when I am mad. Well I am sufficiently mad at the enemy enough that I came out swinging!!! He has gotten a few good licks in on me but no more. I will speak to this mountain and say mountain!!! be removed and be cast into the sea. My God has given me authority in this earth realm against sickness, disease, pestilence, trouble and I say no more!!!! I will fight the good fight of faith for my family and I will not falter or fail. I will not lose hope in my God that is not only able but willing to take care of any problem that comes my way.

He is faithful. He will do what He says He will do. He is true, just, faithful,loving,kind and He loves me with an everlasting love and I will not be defeated in Jesus name! Greater is He that is within me than he that is within this ole sin sick world. Glory to God I am a redeemed child of the Most High God and I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me and gave Himself a ransom for me. Glory to the most High God. I shall not be moved. For years the spirit of fear ruled my life. I was fearful of everything and everybody. Once i got hold of the word of God that told me that God had not given me a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind. The fear left me and no longer had a stronghold in my life. He has caused me to triumph in so many areas in my life. I have more things to overcome but thank God I am not where i used to be. Because of what I have overcome through Christ I can now help and minister to others that are in the same boat that I was in. This is why my lifes verse is Romans 8:28 For we know that all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose. Oh praise be to God for that verse! He has truly done just that in my life and I praise Him for it!

If you are at your wits end tonight, just hang on. Talk to the Lord, let Him help you up and prop you up. Get into the word of God and seek His face. I promise you, He will never leave you or forsake you. He is a good God and without Him we cannot accomplish anything of lasting value. Its in Him that we live and move and have our being. Seek Him, He will not let you down.