Be Still and Know.

Yesterday's Devotional in Celebrate Recovery...

Then today's Devotional in my Bible App

Grace from Start to Finish

Do you expect to hear God’s voice? Seriously, when you pray, do you wait for Him to answer? I’m just going to tell you point blank: you will not hear His answers if you don’t expect Him to speak or open your spiritual ears to listen.

So many people think God doesn’t speak anymore, like He got laryngitis and just stopped speaking to people somewhere in the past. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Some have been taught this, while others just think it can’t happen for them—like maybe God speaks to big-time church leaders, but they’re a special exception. 

But does God speak to regular people like you and me? 

Yes! He does. He never changes, and He has never stopped speaking to His children. 

But we often have stopped listening!

Let me paint a picture for you. Let’s say I call my wife, LaKendria, and in one big breath I tell her all about my day, all this stuff I want her to know, my shopping list, my concerns about our two sons, and challenges going on with my business—and then immediately hang up.

What kind of conversation was that? A good one? Definitely not—I’d hear about it later and probably get an “EXCUSE ME!” if that’s how I talked to my wife all the time!

So why do we do this to God?

In today’s reading, you’re going to see how incredibly patient God is with us as He teaches Elijah how to hear His voice. Elijah performed many mighty miracles for God, but beyond the shock and awe of gale force winds, an earthquake, and a firestorm, Elijah found that the sound of God’s voice was not a shout.

It was a gentle whisper. 

If you’re not listening, you can easily miss a whisper.

Are we listening? Or do we pick up the phone of prayer, call God, dump on Him, give Him our To Do List, and then hang up?

I want you to finish this fast expecting to hear God’s gentle whisper. Jesus said His sheep—and that’s all of us—hear His voice. He has not grown silent, and you’ve never really prayed and fasted until you’ve done so with the hopeful expectation of hearing God speak back to you. 

He has a word for you today: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). 

Now, listen.

Psalms 46:10 NIV

[10] He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Love this message because this is my life scripture and a friend even gave me a book marker with it on it. What made it so special was it matches the boys markers and I love humming birds xx

Give to others

Share With Others in Need When you share with others, God shares with you. The world says, "Get everything you can and you will be financially secure." The Bible says share with others in need and you'll sow what you reap. God says that when you give to somebody else, you're not throwing it away. It's an investment in the lives of others. And God says the one who gives will gain even more. When you see somebody in need and you give to them, God looks at this as if it were a loan to Him. He says, "I will reward back." That's why I never hesitate to encourage people to give money to other people when they see somebody in need. I know God is always going to take care of it. He'll always repay them. Generosity is a matter of faith.

Proverbs 11:25 NIV

[25] A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

Luke 6:38 NIV

[38] Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Proverbs 19:17 NIV

[17] Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.

Budget your mobey

Do You Have a Budget? Solomon in all his wisdom tells us that haste leads to poverty. Haste -- as in impulse buying. I see it and I want it. I've just got to have it. The average American is overloaded with debt and one of the primary reasons is impulse buying. It is the easiest way in the world to do is go into debt. This week I got something in the mail that said, "Just 142 easy payments." There is no such thing as an easy payment! Payments are always hard. Going into debt is like drug addiction. You say, "Just this one time" and you get hooked and end up giving all your money to impulse buying. How do you get control? By keeping good records and planning your spending, that's called a BUDGET! A budget is simply planned spending. A budget is telling your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went.

Take A Faith Based Risk.

Take a faith-based risk (1)

Monday 2nd September 2024

'The Spirit gives us power, love and self-control'. 2 Timothy 1:7 CEV

Peter gets unfairly criticised. He is the disciple who denied Jesus three times, but he is the only one who got close enough to Jesus to get caught. He is the disciple who impulsively cut off Malchus's ear when the lynch mob came to arrest Jesus, but he is the only one who came to Jesus' defence. He is the disciple who sank in the Sea of Galilee, but he is the only disciple who walked on water. It's so easy to criticise people from the comfortable confines of the boat.

As we journey in our faith walk, we can choose to be creators or criticisers - creators take a risk and get out of the boat; criticisers are more likely to stay in the boat and criticise those stepping out. When everything is said and done, our greatest regrets will be the God-ordained risks we didn't take. German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, 'Hell begins the day that God grants you the vision to see all that you could have done, should have done, and would have done, but did not do.' What is leading you to do? What is the persistent prompting of the Holy Spirit urging you to do?

Failing to take a faith-based risk is like permanently misplacing a piece from the jigsaw puzzle of your life. It leaves a disappointing hole. When you reach the end of your life, your biggest regret will be those missing pieces. So today, take stock of your faith journey, then go ahead and take a faith-based risk, knowing that 'God's Spirit doesn't make cowards out of us. The Spirit gives us power, love and self-control' (2 Timothy 1:7 CEV) to do what you need to.

After reading today's message I thought about helping people with addictions. I need help with this though, because when I'm face to face with someone I'm afraid to say the truth. Then something pop into my head that I read in the Bible. It was about The Disciple Paul. So I google it and found this ....

AI Overview.....

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul says, "I, Paul, who am 'timid' when face to face with you, but 'bold' when away!" in 2 Corinthians 10:1. 

 

Paul's statement is a response to criticism that he is weak. He asks that when he returns, he doesn't have to be as bold as he expects to be towards some people who think that Christians live by the standards of this world. 

 

Some say that Paul's boldness came from the Lord and His Word. Others say that Paul's timidity was a gift of God's grace that kept him dependent on the Lord.

So I need the boldness of Paul that comes from The Lord And His Word. And I am glad that my timidity is a gift of God's grace that keeps me dependant on Him.

While I was doing this post I noticed a crane fly on the patio door so i looked to see the symbolic meaning of it

As with most insects, (it would seem to the scientific eye) these little guys mostly have one purpose. To procreate. This can be a symbolic message to use our time wisely, and be mindful as well as passionate about what we create for ourselves and others in the life-span we have.

Maybe this insect meaning carries a motto that says something like…

“This life is what you’ve got right now, so give it the best shot you’ve got.”

Like this motto and it fits in well with today's message 💖

Kevin and Sophie came back from their weekend away and gave me this gift just now. Which I just love ❤️ I love the message Bee 🐝 different Bee 🐝 Yourself 🐝 

So I need to give it my best shot as the motto of the crane fly just told me. Love when it fits like a jigsaw puzzle