Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
Joshua 1:9
![]() My recurring theme throughout my blogs is that God never fails, He is consistent, He is reliable, He is able. When I first heard the song, “Same God” performed by Elevation Worship, I had only heard a snippet of it during which time what resonated in my mind and spirit were the words, “You are the same God, You are the same God.” It wasn’t just the mere words I think but the idea that the God of the past, was the same God of the present and He would be the same God of the future. This is comforting to me and should be so to many of us. The problem is, we forget so easily what God does for us, especially when a fresh problem, challenge or situation pops up. It was pretty much the same for the children of Israel in the Old Testament. God performed miracle after miracle proving that He was able to take care of them, He was able to keep them, He was able to do even above and beyond what any other had done for them or could do for them. Firstly, He preserved and kept them in Egypt. Instead of decreasing in number under all the hardships and trials they faced, they increased (Exodus 1:8-12). When God sent the plagues against the Egyptians, these did not affect the children of Israel even though they too were living in Egypt (Exodus 8:20-22; 9:6, 25-26; 10:22-23). God Himself finally miraculously delivered them out of Egypt (Exodus 12:31-32) and when they faced the Red Sea God made a way through it (Exodus 14:21-22)! Nothing was impossible for their God. Yet, in the wilderness, they complained and complained whenever anything happened that brought them discomfort. With each challenge they seemed to forget what God had done for them before. The God who delivered them from their Egyptian life of slavery, made a way for them through the Red Sea, helped them overcome every challenge they faced in the wilderness, made a way for them through the Jordan River (Joshua 3:14-17), got them safely into the Promised Land and helped them conquer and displace their enemies to possess what God had promised them!!! God did not stop until they had received the promise! What is the list of things that God has done for you? Even as you face challenges now, have you forgotten what God has done for you five years ago, ten years ago or even ten minutes ago? If God has brought you through challenges in the past, He will bring you through that hell you are going through now. God never forgets ... we do. He knows exactly how to deliver us from every situation. Some simply take longer than others. Some are more painful than others. And some seem more impossible than others. But, the one constant is that our God is the same God who brought us through each one and He will bring us through this one. I too forget ... OFTEN! God has done so many things for me in the past and present yet, with each new challenge it’s as if my faith needs to be rebooted! I have to choose to remember His faithfulness to me and choose to be confident that He will take me through yet another challenge. Here are just a few lines of the song: You heard Your children then, You hear Your children now You are the same God, You are the same God You answered prayer back then, and You will answer now You are the same God, You are the same God You were providing then, You are providing now You are same God, You are the same God What I like is the repetition in each last line: You are the same God. But what I see in the first line of each verse is that the God who heard in the past, will hear now; the God who answered prayer in the past, will answer now; the God who provided in the past, will provide now... What God has done before, He will do again. He doesn’t change. Even when people, circumstances, situations change, our God remains the same. He continues to hear, to answer, to provide, to save, to heal, to deliver, to move ... many actions, past and present, but ONE God. So, my encouragement to us today is to stand on His faithfulness. As I said in my post last week, if He did it for you before, He will do it for you again! If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Savior, I encourage you to invite Him into your life now. God wants to be the God of your past and present. He wants to show His faithfulness to you. He will never fail you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:8).
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![]() I am continuing from my post last week where I highlighted the song, “Be Alright” sung by Evan Craft, Danny Gokey and Redimi2. That song continues to play regularly in my mind over and over and I know that God wants me to know that no matter the situation, He’s got it under control and it’s going to be alright. I just want to focus on the verses a bit today, specifically the second verse. It seems to me like a battle is going on between what the singer knows His God can do, what people say His God can do and what he actually believes based on what he is experiencing in the natural: “Father, you say everything is gonna be alright, but my circumstances say I won’t last through the night...” Isn’t that pretty much like all of us? Even though God may assure us that we are going to make it, what we see with our natural eyes causes us to become fearful and to wonder if God will really pull through for us after all. Let’s be real, faith may only be five letters long but it’s a pretty difficult thing to actually live out. It is hard to trust when all we see is hopelessness and despair. It is hard to trust when everything around us seems to be saying it’s over, just give up. The pain we feel is real, the fear we feel is real - more real than the Word God may have spoken to us. The singer’s battle continues as he focuses on his world falling apart and the difficulty he faces to see and believe how God could possibly work things out. I think this verse aptly describes the battle we all face when we go through trials and tests. There is fear, there is doubt, and yet there is hope. We cling to our God and to His Word because sometimes we realize that that is all we have to hold on to. I think that when we have reached the end of ourselves, when we realize we can’t go on or can’t go further, this is where God can finally step in and help us. It can be so easy to try to fight it out on our own, to battle it out on our own as we struggle to make it happen ourselves, as we struggle, in fear, to force the end result that we want. We can’t even see God at this point because our vision is so blinded by the reality of what we are going through. Let’s face it, pain is real, the doctor’s report is real, sickness is real, a marriage and family falling apart is real, losing a job is real, not having enough money to meet needs is real, rejection is real, betrayal is real ... and the list can go on and on. But, as real as all of these things are, God is even more real. He may not prevent the problem from coming our way, but He will give us the grace and strength we need to go through and to finally make it through. I love the ending lines of this verse: “Let the past remind me You never fail, tell my soul ‘it is well.’” God has been teaching me to remember what He has done for me in the past. He keeps reminding me that if He did it for me before, He will certainly do it for me again and I extend the same encouragement to you. God does not change. What He has done for you in the past He will do for you now in the present and in the future. God is consistent. He does not shift and change like we do, He remains the same. It is this confidence that He speaks into our souls. It is well not because of our ability. It is well because of His ability!!! I once again look at king David’s life. His life was fraught with challenges, failings, distresses, temptations and discouragement. While being pursued by king Saul, the odds many times seemed stacked against him. Saul would come out against him with an experienced army while David had a band of disgruntled men at his disposal. For years, he was on the run and battled fear, discouragement and pain. It seemed never-ending. It seemed as if he would never become king. But, God finally worked things out for him and God will do the same for you (1 Samuel 19-24, 26, 31). Just as David trusted his God completely and placed his life into His hands, we need to do the same and allow God to work in His way and timing. So, my encouragement to you today is to know what God has said to you, trust His Word and trust that what He has done for you in the past, He will do for you again in the present and in the future. Our God never changes and He never fails. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Savior, I encourage you to make that step now. Life is filled with challenges coming against us. We all need a Savior, we all need Someone who can and who will fight for us. And, because our God never fails, our soul can indeed say, “It is well!” ![]() I love it when God gives me a song out of the blue and just plays it in my mind over and over. Sometimes, I am not even aware that it is happening but when I do, I start taking it seriously wondering what God is trying to say to me. And usually, He is trying to tell me something. That was the case with the song I am going to highlight today, “Be Alright” sung by Evan Craft, Danny Gokey and Redimi2. It was playing over and over in my mind and I finally decided to pull it up on YouTube. I had heard it on the radio many times before and it had caught my attention even then. Of course, the entire song, in my opinion, is so beautifully put together – the mellow voices, the music and of course the lyrics. Because I have a love for foreign languages the combination of Spanish and English in this song really speaks to me. From start to finish the song resonates with hope. I am drawn by the words: The whole world’s in His hands Your whole world’s in His hands When I realised that in the second line “the whole world’s...” changes to “your whole world’s...” that resonated with me. It was no longer a general statement. It became personal. My whole world, everything about me, my hopes, my dreams, my fears, my doubts, my challenges, my distresses, my joys, my triumphs ... everything is in His hands. And because I belong to Him because His Spirit dwells in me, I am covered! Too many times, the things we know, we tend to take for granted and need to be reminded of them ever so often. God knows exactly how to do that! As His child, you are His. You belong to Him and He is obligated to take care of you; He is obligated to look out for you; He is obligated to fulfil His promises to you. We are the ones who doubt and fret and fuss when things don’t seem to be going our way, but the reality is that God’s got us covered. Every detail of our lives is in His care and He is not going to let anything slip out of His grasp. His hold on us is STRONG ... it’s our hold that is weak so many times especially when trials and tests come. We begin to doubt, to worry and while we are doubting and worrying, we are loosening our hold. We start shifting our focus and like Peter walking on the water towards Jesus, we start to sink and become covered and overwhelmed by what’s troubling us. But, like Peter, if we would just cry out to Him, call out to Him, He will reach out like He did to Peter and pull us to safety (Matthew 14:28-31). It may not happen as quickly as we would like. It certainly may not happen the way we would like it to, but it will happen. Our God never fails. The interesting thing about the story of Peter walking on water is that he had to, by faith, come out of the comfort and safety of the boat, something solid he could stand on, and walk on something that was not solid at all. Yet, he had enough faith initially to trust Jesus and when he did, he was fine. Unfortunately, once his focus shifted, fear and doubt stepped in and he began to sink. Just like Peter our faith will always be tested. It is nice to have faith and to feel confident. The challenge is staying in faith. Like Peter, our focus shifts back and forth so that one minute we feel safe and secure and the next we don’t. But isn’t it good to know that God’s hold on us is strong? When Peter cried out to Jesus to save him, “Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him...” Even though we may vacillate between fear and faith, God’s hold on us is able to keep us from sinking. If only we could truly understand and believe that. God never sinks, but when we do, He is strong enough to keep us from perishing. I have had to be reminded of this often enough in my own life. It is easy to have faith when your eyes see things working out in a particular way. But, when things seem to be going contrary, it is also easy for fear to step in. I have had to learn to trust God’s ability to take care of me. No, it’s not easy, but I am learning. It also gives me a sense of freedom to simply rest confidently in His care knowing that He sees, He knows, and He is working even when I can’t see it. God truly has your whole world in His very strong, capable hands. Letting you slip out of His grasp is not an option for Him. He is quite able to keep you safe and secure. His job is to hold you and keep you safe. Your job is to trust that He can and will and to keep your focus fixed on Him. Problems are inevitable, but God’s hold on you is solid and secure! If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so now. Life’s trials are unavoidable but when God has a hold on you, nothing and no one can take you out of the safety and strength of His strong, capable hands. ![]() For the past few weeks I have been relying on inspiration from testimonies on the 700 Club. Every testimony is so unique and a reminder of God’s goodness, His faithfulness and His awesome ability to make the impossible possible. Today I watched the testimony highlighted and was once again encouraged. Gary’s faith and trust in his God were tested when it was discovered that his wife, Nancy May, of 42 years had Covid in her bloodstream. He thought that it was just her asthma acting up but tests proved otherwise. Her prognosis was grim and the doctor did not offer much hope. Her right lung was forty percent infected and her left lung ninety percent. She was subsequently put in a medically-induced coma and on a ventilator. Doctors were concerned that her organs would start shutting down so they rushed her to another hospital for specialized care. There was also the concern that she would not make a full neurological recovery if she came out of it. Gary was scared and he asked his friends and church family to pray. He also turned to the 700 Club prayer center for prayer. When the woman on the other end of the line started to pray she began by declaring that they were standing on the truth of God’s written Word. That got Gary’s attention. It got mine as well. Standing on the Word of God is something God has been teaching me to do. It’s nice to read it but it’s even better to put it to work. I don’t believe God has given us His Word just for us to read it, talk about it, preach it. He expects us to use it, put what it says into practice, depend on it, especially in those trying, difficult times when all hope seems lost. God has been teaching me to stand on His Word, believe what it says and expect it to do what it says it will do. I believe this is the point from which the prayer counsellor was praying. She prayed the Word of God expecting it to do what it said it would do. She declared that Miss Nancy May would live and not die (Psalms 118:17) and added that she was one of God’s daughters and that God loves His daughters. She was not only standing on what God’s written Word says but giving a much-needed reminder that God loves us His children, He cares about us and wants what is best for us. So, I am going to plug in that reminder right here: if you are a son or a daughter of God, God loves you and He wants the best for you! Two days after praying with the 700 Club, Gary received news that his wife’s condition was improving but she couldn’t talk. She still faced a mountain of challenges. The doctors were not sure she would ever be able to return home. Gary felt alone and afraid and cried out to God. I love his prayer at this point. He told God that he had not given up on Him, that He was still his God and that he was still going to put his faith, his hope and his trust in Him. How many times have you faced challenges that were forcing you to give up and to give up on your God yet you still chose to hold on to Him anyway. I have reached the point in my life where I tell God: “Where would I go God but to You? Who else would I turn to?” You see, I understand that it’s God or nothing! Whether or not things are going your way, turning your back on God is NOT an option. If things don’t go your way and you are distressed, who else can truly comfort you but Him anyway? Two days later God answered Gary’s prayer. His wife was moved out of the Covid ward and he could now visit her. She was healed and just had to go through rehabilitation. Eight days later she was able to leave the hospital and return home to recover. Gary admits he would never gotten through this if it had not been for talking with the Lord. There is power in the Word of God. There is power in talking with the Lord. Don’t ever underestimate the value of both. God is close, nearer than you can imagine. All He is waiting for is for you to cry out to Him, to call out to Him, to simply talk with Him and He will hear, He will listen, He will answer. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as personal Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so now. God is just waiting for you to come to Him, to reach out to Him. He will never turn His back on you, never reject you, will always want the best for you. |
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February 2025
AuthorThis blog provides inspirational nuggets inspired by the Word of God and serves to encourage and motivate Christians in their Christian walk. |