Always ready to do what is good!

 Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. ² They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. (Titus 3:1-2)

 

 

Hello Everyone! This has been an area that I have been dealing with for a few weeks now. Doing good! I believe that I am a good person at heart, we all are. It's just the choice that we make can sometimes be evil and disobedient to what God has spoken to us about. Sometimes, God will speak to me to do something nice and sincere for a person or just offer a kind and encouraging word and I get discouraged. Negative thoughts creep into my mind.(we have to stay on top of our thoughts, this is not an area that we can allow to control us) Some thoughts that would come to mind are, why should I do this or say this to this person, they will never be appreciative of my gesture. Maybe they won't respond the way I expect or if at all.  

 

 For example, when we pray for people and want to see a change in them or our situation, encourage them! We can not change them, but God can. So as God does his work in them, encourage them along the way. It will make them desire the change that God is working on with-in them more and more. Remember, often times when we pray for change in someone else or a situation, God will first work a change in us! He is stretching us to deal with the situation.  Don't stop encouraging them because you don't see change or the person isn't responded the way you imagined right away, they may fight against it, haven't you done this before?! Be like Christ,  do not judge, learn to forgive and be compassionate and loving to others. Love others for who they are in that moment! They are a work in progress just like you and me!

 

So, no matter what the outcome you have to sow good seeds. Do good unto others ALWAYS. "Do the right thing when you don't feel like  it , those are the times of growth and really see God work"- Joyce Meyer!

 

Be Inspired,

 

Sweet Lady! :)

Peacefulness

This post comes via my devotional this morning from Joyce Meyer and I wanted to share it with you. This devotional can be found at  http://www.joycemeyer.org/Articles/Devotional.aspx

The Peaceful Mind

by Joyce Meyer - posted February 15, 2012

You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. —Isaiah 26:3

What is it about nighttime that makes us more vulnerable to satanic attack? Is it because daylight is gone and it’s dark? Is there some kind of association between evil and the dark hours of night? We are usually able to cope with whatever happens to us during the day, but sometimes it’s a different story at night.
My theory is that by evening, most of us are tired and weary, and we just want to lie down, close our eyes, and drift into peaceful sleep. That is one of Satan’s favorite times to engage us in the battle for our minds. He knows that when we are exhausted and sleepy, we are not as resistant to his attacks. And just as we are about to drop off to sleep, he makes his move.

If we recognize that we’re more susceptible to the attack of the enemy at night, we can take steps to be better prepared to stand against him.

Some of my friends tell me that they find it helps to meditate on scriptures such as Philippians 4:8, which tells us to think on good things—things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and excellent. Or they claim the promise of Isaiah 26:3: “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You. . . .”

These words from the Bible enable us to remain vigilant even in the dark hours of night. By using the Word of God, we can defeat every onslaught of the enemy—even in our weakest hours.
But if we have not armed ourselves with the Word and spent some time in prayer, we will fall for Satan’s plan when he brings to mind some troublesome event of the day, and asks, “Why did you say that? How could you have been so insensitive?”

He takes advantage of us when he knows we are weak and the most vulnerable to his influence. His goal is to disturb our thoughts and rob us of the peaceful rest that our bodies need. One of his tricks is to cause us to focus on the problems of the day, suggesting that we must immediately—in the middle of the night—determine the best way to settle the issue.

I experienced nights like this years ago, and I didn’t always win the battle. But as a mature Christian, I now know how to fight the good fight of faith. Here’s one thing I figured out a long time ago: It is not wise to make decisions in the middle of the night. There may be times when God demands an immediate surrender, and those are powerful moments in our lives. But most decisions can wait until the next day.
Perhaps we spoke hastily or didn’t respond kindly to someone’s need. The issues are often little things that we probably could have handled better. But as Satan wages his battle in the dark of night, those little things seem to take on importance and urgency—so much so that we believe we will never sleep unless we settle the issue immediately.

When Satan tries to pull that nighttime trick on me, I’ve learned to say, “I’ll deal with this issue in the morning, when the sun is shining. After I’ve rested, I can cope.” I’ve also learned that I can say, “Lord, I surrender this to You. Give me Your rest, Your peace, and help me to make the right decision in the morning.” That works for me!

All you need

Recently I asked God to remove me from a situation in my life, if it was not apart of His will. I have asked Him numerous times, yet I never received an answer until now! Yesterday when reading 2 Corinthians, I came across this scripture...

    Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." 2 Corinthians 12:8-9.

God has been pushing me to grow EVEN STRONGER through this situation. I have learned that I am not putting all of my trust in Him and I need to learn to DEPEND ON HIM and not give into my weaknesses. He is not going to remove me from the situation but He is giving me the grace to withstand it. When I cannot do anything else, I need to REST and STAND on his promises. I need to STOP trying to figure out things on my own! It never works anyhow! (smh at myself) That's when confusion comes into our lives through our mind (Our mind is cluttered with thoughts of different strategies of how we can figure out the unknown). God is not a God of confusion but of decency and order!

In those verses above, Paul is telling us that we should boast about our weakness because through them the power of Christ can work through us. Everyone of us can remember singing Jesus loves me in church as a child, remember this one line, They are WEAK but He is STRONG.

So when your weakness gets the best of you or u feel as though you are becoming frustrated  because you have done all you can, just Rest on His many promises and begin to sing that Hymn as reassurance that He loves you, this I know! ;)

Here are a couple Bible verses that I have been studying recently:

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:31-34 NLT)

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2-4 MSG)

Be Inspired,

Sweet Lady ;)