by Carol Roberts | Mar 9, 2017 | Encouragement
Many people refer to life as a school of hard knocks where we learn not to do certain things. Others say where there is no pain there is no gain. As cruel as this sounds, each knock or pain makes us a little stronger and gives the go ahead to take the next step.
What if we see life from the same perspective but a little differently?
No matter how well we know a road, when it snows and we cannot see the road. We slow down and proceed with caution. If we go too fast we are surely to slip off or slide back. If we are not observant we will miss those patches of black ice and fall flat on our faces. If we don’t take time away from the snow we will have freezing ailments to deal with later.
We can never be too sure of anything in life. Just as sure as we think we know everything about a certain situation the fall of pride will overtake us. Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
The key to a successful walk in life is to go at God’s pace, in His timing and His way. As we endure the hardships that come our way He is right there with us to lighten our load.
The times we slip and fall flat on our faces from grief over losing a loved one, He is holding our hand and showing us the beauty that lies ahead. He assures us our loved ones are already there. Other times when we slide off track from doing things our own way and in our timing He is there to get us back on track. God will allow us to see that our way and timing do not produce the best results. There are other times we suffer setbacks because we stay too long in a phase of life that is too comfortable. While others are progressing we sit in our comfort zones which later result in an inability to be used by God in tougher situations.
Obstacles will happen but as we remain focused on God’s ways and His timing He will see to it we keep growing. God rewards obedience and He encourages us each step of the way.
Psalm 23 King James Version
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
by Carol Roberts | Mar 8, 2017 | Hope
God is with us and in us. How could we ever fail? It’s as simple as that except one thing. We continue to get in our own way.
Failure can be viewed in two ways. We can give up or we find another way. If God places on our hearts to accomplish a task He will see to it there is a way. Many times we take a human approach and try to accomplish things our own way right now.
When God gives us a vision or dream of how He would like us to serve Him, He will surely provide the path to get it done. There have been numerous times people are quick to act and ruin the whole thing by getting ahead of God. After these types of blunders God is quick to mend and give second chances.
There are other visions and dreams that are the desires of our hearts. We desire to become a nurse after college or a teacher. We desire to excel in a hobby or build a house. These desires are ones we walk a path that is certain. We study hard, practice long hours and establish a thrifty financial plan in order to get things done. These efforts are expected. God gives us particular desires in order to have us serve in certain areas to reach people for Christ. God walks with us through obstacles and we are to attain our goals in God’s strength. Our efforts wear us out and discourage us but placing our trust in God each step of the way adds much strength to endure snags along the way.
Philippians 4:13 New Living Translation
For I can do everything through Christ, Who gives me strength.
by Carol Roberts | Mar 7, 2017 | Hope
There once was a flautist. The notes she played on her flute were beautiful and brought joy and peace to all who heard her play. Then one day the unthinkable happened.
A man who was well known came into her life as a conductor. He was full of pride and was a narcissist spirit. Because this conductor was much sought after people were mesmerized by him to the point of overlooking anything he did wrong. This conductor had a specific group of friends he promoted and one was a flautist. This flautist was not nearly as skillful as the one mentioned above. This flautist missed notes and had an attitude. However this flautist had one thing extra that the beautiful flautist did not. He praised the conductor in front of others and did things to edify the conductor’s name and fame.
The beautiful flautist politely pointed out to the conductor that his method would end in ruin if it continued. Unfortunately years later the beautiful flautist still endured the wrath of her honest statement. No matter where the beautiful flautist went to help out other musicians somehow the conductor’s name came up. Everybody knew this conductor and everywhere the beautiful flautist went arrangements were made for her to have to take her talent elsewhere. Sadly elsewhere always had others who knew the conductor and once again things were made impossible for her to play.
Then one day the beautiful flautist played daily and all alone dedicating each note to God. She prayerfully gave her best each day during her practices playing hymns and continuing to work on harder music. Little did she realize the music she was playing was enjoyed by God Himself and the angelic host. The audience of One far outweighs the applause of even the largest audience.
The conductor who was always an obstacle still is. However God is just and He will deal with this conductor in due time along with all the ones who continue to feed his ego. It’s like this, the bigger a person’s ego the less it takes to humble them. Sometimes God allows enough time for the right people to realize what is happening when that person is humbled.
As for the beautiful flautist, she continues to serve God as a divine private calling. There will be a day when she will be sought after because her music helps people as opposed to entertaining people.
1 Peter 2:4-5 New Living Translation
You are coming to Christ, Who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but He was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are His holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
by Carol Roberts | Mar 6, 2017 | Love
It’s all in how we look at things. This will determine the type of blessings in life. Lets consider a festive parade for a moment.
There are floats and many bands that parade by. With all the focus placed on the frills and thrills of the extra decorations most will miss the reason for the parade which is the celebrity waving from one of the floats.
How many times does this scenario happen in our lives where focus is on everything except the main point? It’s important to focus on God first. After that we can see the decorations in life as an added adornment that points to God.
Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, almost missed an opportunity to marry Rebekah. If it weren’t for Rebekah and her focus being placed on Isaac the wedding may have never taken place. When they first met, Isaac noticed the caravan of camels whereas Rebekah noticed Isaac. Once Isaac’s focus became toward Rebekah he saw her beauty and their marriage was instrumental in establishing the tribes of Israel.
When we consider our own lives it’s important to consider all aspects before focusing only on outward beauty. The love of God always comes from the heart outward.
Genesis 24:62-67 New Living Translation
Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had returned from Beer-lahai-roi. One evening as he was walking and meditating in the fields, he looked up and saw the camels coming. When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel. “Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?” she asked the servant.
And he replied, “It is my master.” So Rebekah covered her face with her veil. Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done. And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother.
by Carol Roberts | Mar 4, 2017 | Hope
There are times we can be in a room full of people and there will be one particular person that makes the hairs stand up on the back of our necks like an angry cat. This person has done nothing to us but there is something in our spirit we can’t determine. This person may be one that others find nice or bubbly sweet but somehow we get vibes that others just do not. Something just isn’t right.
We have never met this person before or we have encountered him a few times with no incident between us, but with each encounter the unrest gets more prominent. We later start to see more little things in this person’s personality. We hear that person’s words that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt there is an ulterior motive. This person is all smiles but there is something in his eyes that jump out as being insincere.
The most puzzling thing is it seems we are the only ones who feel this way. Something isn’t adding up while friends and coworkers feel totally the opposite, almost praising this person. Eventually this person says or does enough that makes us want to question or challenge him. Usually this is the turning point of bringing out the worse in this person. He will raise his voice, get others involved, go to higher ups or a number of other things to draw attention to how horrible we are to accuse. All we did was ask or politely oppose and now our name is mud in that person’s book along with numerous other people who will side with him.
What caused such discomfort around this person and why such an angry hurtful retort to an opposing viewpoint? A retort to this extreme usually means we hit the nail on the head. This person is now the one who is uncomfortable because he knows we are not fooled. He will do anything possible to get us back into his so called submission where he can once again be comfortable fooling us. Unfortunately once such a person knows that we are not fooled things will never be the same.
He will arrange for us to be overlooked for any position or have his viewpoint made to ones who are important to us to assure a failure for us. This type of emotional bullying can go on for years while most people are still fooled by his charisma.
God is very specific when He says we are not fighting against flesh but instead we fight against the very principalities of the evil spirit world. The devil exists and his imps are working hard day and night to trip us up. The devil’s best tactic is to pitch person against person. The world as a whole is fooled by charismatic personalities and they are slowly lured into being a puppet for such people. They will quickly defend this person without even realizing they are promoting hurt for innocent people.
Once we accept Christ as our Savior, He will want us to know Him more and more. The more we learn about Christ and how He operates the more He reveals to us. Therefore we are able to see past some of these charisma type cover ups and many times know an ulterior evil motive lurks beneath. We may not know the exact motive but if God wants us to know then in due time it will be revealed.
We are wrestling with the powers of the devil but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. The devil has many fooled but for those who are not fooled have a great wrestling match ahead.
Our recourse should always be prayer. Our encounter with this person is not an accident. We are being called to pray for this specific person. The prayer for this person is not the usual God bless him but one that will win the competition between us and our opponent, the devil. By the authority invested in us through the blood of Jesus Christ, we rebuke the devil that has taken over this person. We ask our Lord to take complete control over this person. Bless what is worthy of blessing, expose what needs to be exposed, heal what needs to be healed and restore what needs to be restored. We then thank God for allowing a provision for healing between that person and us.
Ephesians 6:12 New Living Translation
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.