The Bible tells us that when we are happy we are to sing praises.  It’s a wonder that God had to remind us to do that.  We have no problem seeking God when we are going through difficult times.  Unfortunately, people forget to seek God when they are not facing trouble.  Why most there be a need before praise?

King David showed us what it should be like when we are in a time of peace and rest from trouble.  He danced before the Lord with all of his might.  He laid aside his title and position and gave Almighty God the glory and honor that He is due.  Rejoicing should be as much a part of our lives as prayer.  Many people pray only when they have to; but prayer is not to be considered a spare wheel.  Prayer is the steering wheel that guides us every day of our lives.  Prayer and praise is the fuel that carries us through the good times and the hard times, and our relationship with our heavenly Father should be consistent and not on again – off again according to what emotional state we find ourselves in. Ask yourself how you would feel if you had a friend that only contacted you when they needed something from you.  It would break your heart and we should not treat God in the same manner.

Purpose in your heart that you will praise God continuously and not let circumstances dictate your praise.  God deserves to be honored and glorified solely because of who He is and not only for what He does for you.  God is holy and worthy of all praise!

To every man who has children, or who serves in the role as a ‘father’ figure in someone’s life – Happy Father’s Day!

Mothers have their special place in their children’s lives, but fathers are just as important and have an enormous influence on their children’s lives as well.  Statistics prove that a child who does not have a father or father figure in their lives during their developing years,can be hindered in their maturity as an adult. Fathers have a purpose and a place in the home that cannot de denied and should be recognized.

If you are in a home with a father and feel loved, safe and secure, you are truly blessed, but many people live far different lives.  Some children are abused in one way or another and do not know what the love of a father is.  If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it is not too late to know the love of a Father.  God’s love for His children is unconditional and ever-lasting.  Even when we sin and come short of the glory of God, God does not give up on us.  He allows us to make our choices but He also allows us to suffer the consequences of our mistakes just like any good father does.  God knows all about every one of us and He wants us to live a life that is safe and secure.

Thank God today if you have a wonderful father who is there for you.  Give thanks if your father did his best to raise you and make you the person who you are today but he is no longer here with you.  If you are looking for a father to love you, to guide you and to protect you, look to Jesus.  Ask Him into your heart today and let His Father become your Father and He will fill that hole in your heart with a love that cannot be compared to anything you have ever known.

The Bible tells us that God has a plan for every one of us.  His plan is not an evil one but it will bring us peace, and if we have the patience and courage to follow His plan, we will find the success and happiness that has been ear marked just for us.

Being in the will of God, and staying there, is a life long process whereby we totally surrender our will to the will of God.  We will have to master the art of obedience and refrain from getting ahead of God.  God knows everything about us.  He even knows the number of hairs on our head.  That alone should give us the confidence to persevere especially during the difficult times in our lives.

It’s amazing to know that of all the millions of people who have lived on this earth before this time and the millions living now and those yet to come, all are unique.  No two people are alike and God’s plan for our lives has been designed with our specific personalities and gifts in mind.  No one can steal the future God has for you.  Each person has a path that was pre-destined.  Scripture tells us that even while we were in our mother’s womb God knew us.  God knows our strengths and weaknesses.  God knows our past and our future.  It is up to us to find out from our heavenly Father what His plan is for us.  Don’t assume you know.  Take the time to ask and as promised, when we seek God with all of our heart, we will find Him.

Live your life on purpose.  Live with a dream that honors God and commit your ways to Him and He shall direct your path.  Together, you and God are a team of two that will accomplish whatever you set your heart on.

When Jonah disobeyed God by not going to Nineveh and got on a boat going to Tarshish, God showed His displeasure by causing a great storm to arise.  Jonah knew immediately that he was the cause of the storm so he shared his story with the others on the boat and told them that he was running from the presence of God.  Jonah instructed the men to throw him over-board.  As soon as he was thrown over-board the ranging storm ceased and calmness prevailed.  God caused a whale to open his mouth and consume Jonah.  God put Jonah in a position where he had the time to think about the mistake he had made.  Jonah then spent three days inside the whale but the end result was Jonah repented and did what God had previously told him to do.

One of the hardest things we must learn to do is to surrender our will to the will of God.  When we do, we receive the strength to do what God has asked us to do and the end result will be peace and calmness in our lives.  It is a blessing to trust that whatever God tells you to do, it is the best thing for everyone involved.  You will not have peace until you align your will to God’s.  Fear prevents a lot of people from obeying the commandments of God but obedience is what gets God’s attention.  We honor God when we submit to His will.  There is no place where you can run away from God or get beyond His reach.  It is best to let faith conquer your feelings and allow God to take control.

Jonah found that being in the will of God brings calmness.  No one should live a life of turmoil.  Trust God enough to submit and surrender and you will have the abundant life that Jesus Christ promised.

If you saw a friend on the side of the road with a flat tire, you would not hesitate to pull over and assist them.  You would help them take the old tire off and put on  the new tire.  You would not just look at them and drive by.  That is your friend and you would do whatever it took to get them back on the road.

Certain life events can slow anyone down and even cause them to stop and not be able to go any further.  That is where you come in.  Everbody is going somewhere on our journey through life and God wants you to help those who need it.  You never know when you will be the one in need.  It’s a sin not to help if you have it in your power to help someone else.  A word of encouragement, providing a meal to a family in need, mowing a neighbor’s lawn or just calling someone up just to say ‘hello’ will go a long way to impact the life of someone who needs a friend today.  We are all so busy and many of us do not even slow down long enough to see a brother or sister in need.  We are so self-centered that nothing else matters but what we are going through.

Lend a hand to someone; let them know that you are willing to pull over and help them get back on the road.  The Bible tells us that what we have done to the least we have done to our Lord Jesus Christ.  Become the hands and feet of Jesus.  You may be the light that opens their heart to receive the greatest gift of all – eternal life.  We are known by our love for one another.  Make a difference and remember what you sow, you will also reap.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

It’s not easy to let go and accept the things we can’t change, and sometimes it’s even harder to change the things that need to be changed; and harder yet, is to have the wisdom to be able to distinguish between the two.   Wisdom is the key to living a successful life and if you don’t have it, the good news is all you need to do is ask God for it.  God will not hold back.  He has promised that if you ask for wisdom, He will give it to you.  The Bible tells us that wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy.  You know when you have wisdom.  Some people describe it as that gut feeling you have deep inside that is directing you on what you should or should not do.  It’s been said that wisdom is a lifetime of listening when you would rather have been talking.

Wisdom begins with prayer.  When challenges come in your life, the first person you should talk to is God.  God not only hears your prayers but He will answer your prayers.  God will speak to you through a word from another person you trust.  God will also make sure you hear a certain sermon, or song that will minister to your soul and you will immediately recognize that it was not just coincidence.  Pray daily.  Make God a part of your personal life every day and ask Him to get involved in everything you are involved in and you will feel His presence because He is faithful.

Often, God makes us wait and it is not an easy thing to wait upon the Lord.  It is difficult but it is also rewarding.  Waiting is not a waste of time.  It is for your benefit.  Know that God is working behind the scenes not only on the matters that concern you but He is also working on you.  Over time, you will discover that the things that use to bother you no longer bother you.  You will discover that your compassion for others has grown.  You are able to see the little things going on all around you and it is all making you into a gentle and loving person.

Wisdom will also help you to accept what God allows to happen in your life.  In this life we will have trouble so says the Word of God.  You cannot get angry at God because He let trouble come your way.  Wisdom will help you to understand all things will work together for your good.  Your part in trouble is to be faithful to God and trust Him.  Surrender everything to Him and know that God has not stopped loving you, but it is because He loves you, He will turn things around for your good.  When you are able to say as a child of God “not my will but your will be done” you have obtained wisdom that will enable you to live a victorious life.

God wants you to be happy and fulfilled and the only way to do that is to have wisdom, pray, learn to wait on God and to accept what God allows into your life. Then, you will be able to accept the things you cannot change; change the things you can and be able to know the difference.

I’ve often wondered why athletes always say “Hi Mom” when they are being interviewed and never “Hi Dad.”  Could it be that Mothers hold a special place in the heart of their children that no one else comes close to?

Today is the day we honor our Mothers.  You can’t put a price tag on her value when you consider all the many roles she has to play day in and day out.  Mothers protect, support, teach and remain loyal all the days of their children’s lives.  Mothers have a natural instinct that is amazing to watch.  Mothers are the first teacher that a child will ever have and their influence will go far beyond any other influence in a child’s life. No matter what her child goes through, whether it be good or bad, whether her child follows her advice or not, a Mother will never stop loving her child.

Children, if you are blessed to still have your Mother with you, show her that you appreciate everything that she has gone through for you.  If your Mother is no longer alive, stop and thank God for all that she taught you.  You will never know all that she went through to mold you into the man or woman God wants you to be.  Fathers, show your appreciation to your wife for being the Mother of your children by blessing her with something special today.

Mothers, I salute you and I pray that you are known as a Provers 31 woman.  Thank you for all the tears you have shed; the times no one stopped to thank you for the sacrifices you made both seen and unseen and for your faithfulness and comitment to your Family.

Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless Mothers all over the world today.  Give them the strength they need from day to day.  Give them wisdom and courage to face tomorrow and give them the desires of their hearts.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

It’s safe to say that not all of us have a true friend.  You might have many aquaintances and a few people that you spend time with but a true friend is hard to come by.  A true friend is there with you when everyone else has left you.  A true friend is loyal, dependable and committed to helping you to become all that God wants you to be.  A true friend refreshes you when you are down and reminds you of all the times you have bounced back in the past and assures you that you will do it again.  A true friend remains by your side when everything is going right and refuses to leave when everything is going wrong.  A true friend is not with you only for as long as you meet their needs, but is with you when he/she has to do all the giving because you are not able to. There is a beautiful illustration of a true friend in 2 Timothy 1:16.  Paul gives us insight as to his relationship with Onesiphorus, the one who ‘refreshed’ him.

Refreshing each other should be the goal of every true friendship.  People will come and go in your life.  Each has a specific part to play in making you who you are intended to be.  Some will be in your life for a season; others will be there during the good, the bad and the ugly.  Once the people in your life have proven what part they are to play, you will cherish the ones who define what is real and what is not.  Unfortunately, some people will want to be a part of your life only because of what you can do for them.  They are not real.  Fortunately, some people,maybe one or two, will  take your hand and go with you no matter where your journey takes you.  Thank God for those people and make it a point to be as good a friend to them as they are to you.  Iron sharpens iron so do whatever you can to refresh your friend(s).  A little act of kindness may be just the thing to heal their broken heart.

If you are wishing for a true friend today, there is a friend who will stick closer to you than a brother.  This friend will never leave you nor forsake you.  This friend will take you by your right hand and tell you not to fear because He will help you.  (Isaiah 41:13). What a friend we have in Jesus.  Jesus Christ is the best friend you will ever find.  Seek Him today and you will find him.  He will impact your life in such a way that you will eagerly want to introduce Him to others who are lonely, hurting, fearful and afraid.  You don’t have to be alone another day.  Jesus will love you like no one else.  Jesus is a true friend!

The Bible defines faith as the ‘substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.’  It is faith that makes you more than a conqueror.  Faith will cause you to get back up when you have been knocked down.  Faith will not allow one to quit when the going gets rough.  Faith will hold you steady when everything around you is falling apart and faith will cause one to focus on the things that are not seen and not on the things that are seen.

There are many things that can cause you to become discouraged in life but Believers have victory through Jesus Christ.  Therefore, you must believe that all things work together for good, and when tough times come, it is faith that will help you to move forward.  Today’s strength will come from remembering what God has already done for you.  If you are a child of God, nothing can ever separate you from His love so guard your heart with that thought.  You will never have a problem that God cannot solve and no matter what the circumstances of your life might be right now, encourage yourself in the Lord.  You have this present victory.

The just shall live by faith and if you follow that rule, you will win.  You have much to not only be thankful for but you have much to rejoice over because ‘your light afflictions cannot compare to the glory that will be revealed. (Romans 8:18).

Jesus Christ came to this earth for one purpose and that was to reconcile mankind back to God.  Through  the sin of Adam and Eve, every man and every woman lost that divine intimacy that had once existed between God and man.  God is a God of love and He is a just and righteous God.  Once sin came between man and God, God’s love and mercy would not allow Him to stay separated forever.  It was out of love that God gave to the world His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. God’s gift cost Jesus His life and because he was crucified for our sins, every one can be forgiven; because Jesus was raised from the dead, every one has been redeemed.  All we need to do is ask Jesus to become our Lord and Savior and live a life worthy of a child of God.

Jesus died for our sins but He arose on the third day and because He arose, every child of God will never see death but will pass from death into a life that we can only imagine.  As Jesus was hanging on the cross, He made the statement “it is finished.”  What He meant was that everything had been done according to the will of His Father to restore a relationship that could not be restored any other way.  No one could ever work hard enough or be good enough to merit eternal life on their own.  Once you accept Jesus as your Savior, you become part of the family of God.  No one can then pluck you out of His hands.

It’s amazing that all it takes is a believing heart when you consider the price that Jesus paid for redemption but it is true.  The blood of Jesus that was shed was and is good enough for the salvation of every one no matter who you are.  If you are living you life without Jesus, don’t go another day without asking Him into your heart.  If you are walking with Jesus, reflect on the goodness and grace of God.  No greater love can be found than the love Father God has for you.  Believe it.  Trust it and thank Him every day for it.