Set Apart

27/04/2017

God Gives the Victory

by Joyce Meyer - posted April 27, 2017

You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot. Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name....
—Psalm 91:13-14

God created each of us with a free will. This gives us the ability to make our own decisions apart from outside influence. Satan tries to force us to do things by placing outside pressure on us, but God attempts to lead us by His Holy Spirit. Jesus is not demanding or harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing. He is humble, gentle, meek, and lowly (see Matthew 11:29-30). We are indeed complex creatures. Our mind can think one thing, while our emotions want something else and our will certainly seems to have a mind of its own.

Once a person's willpower is renewed by God's Word and she knows enough to choose good over evil, she becomes very dangerous to Satan and his kingdom of darkness. The renewed person can override all the negative things Satan has planned by exercising her willpower to agree with God and His Word.

I have discovered that doubt is a thought planted in my head by the devil. He uses it to keep me from enjoying my life and making progress in God's good plan for me.

Lord, thank You for the power of Your Word to renew my mind. I choose to stand with Your truth and overcome the darkness that surrounds me. Amen

12/04/2016

When the world goes to pieces, the best place to be is in the charmed circle of God’s protection. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.’ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.”

Even if there’s turmoil and confusion all around, you can have inner peace through the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. He never fails those who trust Him. So that’s the secret: Live close to the Lord, in touch and in tune with Him and in step with His Word. It is His Word that makes you strong spiritually.

One encouraging passage of Scripture regarding God’s ability to protect and keep those who believe in and trust Him is the story of the harlot Rahab and the ancient city of Jericho. Because Rahab had faith and assisted two spies who were acting as God’s agents, even at great peril to herself, when Jericho was later besieged by an invading army and destroyed, the only part of Jericho’s city walls that didn’t fall was the small section on which Rahab’s house was built. She and her relatives survived and were spared by the conquerors.

When disaster strikes, whether it’s natural or manmade, those who have been doing their best to live as they know God would have them live may find they receive His supernatural protection. “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations.” That doesn’t mean that He won’t ever allow them to be harmed. He promises deliverance, but sometimes He knows that the best and most loving form of deliverance is to end their suffering by taking them home to heaven. So if you’ve received Jesus as your Savior, the “worst” thing that can happen to you is that you die and go to heaven that much sooner. You really don’t have anything to worry about, because either way, whether here or there, you’re in His loving care.

And remember, whenever anything bad happens to those who love God, He can and wants to bring about some good through it. “All things work together for good to those who love God.” Don’t worry when times of trouble and testing come, thinking that God doesn’t love you or that He’s finished with you. What you feel is God’s tender hand upon you, using the situation to make you into the person He knows you can be, or working other things in your favor. As hard as it may be to see the good that will come out of it, that’s His goal and His promise to you.

You’re in His hands, so “be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” These tests are only for a time, and meanwhile you are safe with Him!

All things work together for good to those who love God

After the darkest night in world history, we are going to have the brightest dawn. The fast approaching night is going to be the nightmare of the great tribulation (a 3 ½-year period during which the world will be ruled by an iron-fisted dictator known as the Antichrist), and the dawn, the coming of Christ. Things have got to get worse before they can get better, but in spite of the horrors of the growing darkness of this world, we know that it’s all going to work out right in the end. The darkest hour is just before dawn, and the faster it gets worse, the sooner it’s going to get better!

We have to go through a dark place of trials and tribulations, but then we’re going to come out into the sunshine on the other side and all of these things will be blotted out like an evil dream! One of these days Jesus is going to stop the world and we’re going to get off, away from all this suffering and confusion and into the peace and quiet and beauty and love and wonder of that wonderland beyond in heavenly places with Him! Just a little longer, then dawns His glorious morn!

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Philippians 4:6 ESV / Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

11/04/2016

Amen ;)

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

11/04/2016

If you have been working in a similar role for years, you may wonder if you could ever step out and do something completely different. Some people do, and not only in January. Take Andrea Bocelli, the popular Italian tenor and singer-songwriter, who made the jump from being a lawyer to his musical c…

11/04/2016

Some years back, at midnight on March 17—Saint Patrick’s Day—I received a call from my 27-year-old son’s roommate in Bermuda. My boy was missing, and his clothing had been found on a nearby beach.

My first reaction was to get on my knees and cry out to God in prayer. As I did, I saw a picture of my son entering heaven to the joy of my parents and other loved ones who had already passed on. I immediately knew he would not be found alive. Sure enough, five days later, his body washed ashore.

What helped me through those difficult days? What was the healing balm? Of course, my relationship with God was my greatest source of comfort, but another important key to my healing in a tangible, physical way was the love and encouragement I received from others.

On my first day in Bermuda, while asking for directions at a shop, I mentioned to the girl working there that I was the father of the young man who had recently drowned. “I’m so sorry,” she said tenderly, and gave me a hug. On numerous other occasions, I received similar encouragement from strangers.
God promises to comfort us in our times of tribulation. Jesus said He would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to us. He wants us to be comforted. But if we keep our troubles locked inside, if we keep the pain in, we won’t receive the love and encouragement we need, and our healing process will be longer and perhaps never complete.

So don’t keep those emotions hidden. Don’t suffer in silence. Share your hurt so that others around you can help heal it. God works this way to draw us closer to one another and to make us His arms and hands and lips and ears for one another.

When we receive love and encouragement in our hour of need, we are later able to return that to other anguished or suffering souls who pass our way. “God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

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1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV – Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Hebrews 10:25 ESV – Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

06/04/2016

On a rare day that I actually had a bit of time to do some organizing, I came to a realization about myself (not the most impressive one): I have a lot of “unfinished business,” at least to do with personal projects. When I receive work with a deadline, I strive to accomplish that in a timely fashion. Because someone is counting on me, I don’t want to disappoint them by being tardy.

On the other hand, many other things remain incomplete. Cross-stitches I started years ago rest half done in my drawer. Blog entries I have begun—nearly 200 to date—remain in my draft folder. Photo albums—lots of them—line an entire shelf with packets of photographs sitting on top of them, rather than placed inside where they should be.

Then there are the books or novels I plan or hope to write. I created a Microsoft Excel file with working titles. There are more than 90 fiction and non-fiction ideas listed. One column gives the number of words written for each book so far. I have nearly 200,000 words altogether, but no more than 20,000 for any one of them.

I often wonder why so many of my personal projects are left undone. Why does it seem difficult to complete even one? And why do I operate this way?

One reason could be that ideas are always popping into my head. I’ll wake up from a vivid dream and before the morning is over will write yet another outline for a book. Poetry starts forming in my mind while I’m sitting on a bus or reading or doing other work.

And blog posts? Any time my random thoughts come together into a cohesive pattern, I begin to write. This could be anything from an experience of the day to a memory from the past, or even a realization of some sort.

That’s the problem. I start. Then I get a phone call, or reach my destination, or get a request from one of my kids, or realize I need to get back to completing my other work or preparing dinner. And what I have started doesn’t get finished.

Is it procrastination? Busyness? Lack of organization? Too many pies up there in the sky? All of the above? What’s the solution to getting these writing projects or other to-dos from “pending” in my brain to the complete version where they can actually make a difference?

In his book, The Weathering Grace of God, Ken Gire writes of the importance of “stillness.”

“Poets know the importance of … stillness. They know that if they are still enough, long enough, the art they are working on will speak to them, tell them what it wants to be and what it needs from them to become it. All artists know this, whether they work with paint or clay, words or musical notes.

“Michelangelo knew how to be still before the stone and listen to the David within it. Strauss knew how to be still before the Danube and listen to the waltz that was eddying about in its waters. Monet knew how to be still before the pond and listen to the lilies sunning on its surface. … Our culture knows little of this kind of listening.”

The best ideas, and the completion of them, require not only time to do them, but also stillness and quietness of body, mind, and spirit. To listen to how they wish to be said and completed. If I am still and listen, I will know what I need to do with these ideas and how best to go about finishing up any of the projects that are still unfinished.

It’s easy to start something. It’s good to start something. Well begun is half done, they say. But to finish something—to see it through to the end—that’s not always easy.

It takes time. Patience. Faith. And those aren’t always easy to come by. We don’t always find them by looking within or looking around. But when we look up, and listen to the still, small voice of God that whispers to us when we take time to listen, we will know the path to take. We will know how to complete what we have begun … and what He has begun in our lives.

In a way, we all are God’s unfinished business. He has started a lot of “projects” that are well begun, even perfect in their own right, but they are not complete. The work of the Master on His creation continues: the molding, the shaping, the cutting, the polishing. It all comes with the promise: “He makes all things beautiful in His time.”

And look at that, an article that is actually complete!

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Romans 12:12 ESV / Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

02/04/2016

Avocados are one of my favorite fruits—delicious and nutritious. I have various herbs growing on my kitchen windowsill, and decided to use the little remaining space to try to grow an avocado plant.

Following the tips I found online at wikihow.com, I held the seed pointed side up and stuck four toothpicks into the middle section of the seed at even intervals so it could rest half-submerged on the mouth of a small jar filled to the brim with water—and waited. Weeks went by, and there was no sign of life. By all appearances, it could have been a stone rather than a seed! When a month had gone by I considered giving up. Perhaps there was no life in this dull brown seed.

Then a tiny crack appeared at its base. I thought at this point that the seed might simply be drying out, but I was willing to wait a little longer. I changed the water, and a few more weeks passed. Finally a tiny root emerged from the crack. Then another crack appeared, this time at the top of the seed. Slowly but surely a small shoot peeked out hopefully.

Transplanted to a pot of soil, the seed that had appeared lifeless is now growing into a small but healthy plant. Tender green leaves sprout day by day, each growing to several times the size of the seed. This baby tree is proof that there was life inside the seed, despite outward appearances.

I am reminded of my avocado-growing experience. How hopeless Jesus’ followers must have felt when they saw Him die on the cross! They watched His lifeless body be carried off and sealed in a stone-cold tomb. They must have felt as though their hopes and dreams were being buried too. I can picture them now, forlorn and seemingly forsaken. Yet hope was not dead! Three days later Jesus would rise triumphant, the victor over death and the grave.

The miracle of Jesus’ resurrection is of course a far greater miracle than my little avocado plant, but what an example that plant is. Even when the outlook seems hopeless, wait on the Lord, and He will work miracles—new life, new hope, new beginnings!

What reason have atheists for saying that we cannot rise again? Which is the more difficult, to be born or to rise again? That what has never been, should be, or that what has been, should be again?—Blaise Pascal

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Mark 16:17 – And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

21/03/2016

God's GPS

Technological developments can help us understand a bit more about God and how
He manages His affairs. For example, prayer can be illustrated by the cell phone,
used to immediately communicate with someone on the other side of the world.

Computers are capable of storing and processing every bit of a company’s
information. This helps us understand how God knows us so well that the Bible says
that even our very hairs are numbered.

One of the miracles in the Bible that has always caught my attention is the one where
Jesus tells Peter to catch a fish and take out of its mouth a coin needed to pay a tax.
A similar miracle occurs when He tells His disciples to go to a neighboring town to
find the donkey that He would ride on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. How did
Jesus know where and when His disciples would find the right fish and donkey?

I have often seen God’s GPS at work in my life. He’s often guided me to something
that I’d lost, or to meet a certain person, or to find a place. And many times it’s not
only the right place, but also the precise moment.

My wife and I recently prayed to find a mechanic who was qualified to do some
specialized work on our motor home. We were traveling through little coastal towns,
and we’d been told that we needed to have our engine checked, but that it had to be
done by a mechanic certified in that particular model. In one village, I unexpectedly
felt an impulse to drive down a certain street. Nothing caught our attention along the
way, so we followed the street to the end, when suddenly a man came out to meet us
and said, “You came here because of the GPS pin, right?” Taken aback, we asked
him what he meant.

He explained that he was a mechanic who specialized in motor homes. Recently a
man who is traveling round the world had some work done there and ended up so
satisfied that he dedicated a blog entry to the incident … and included the GPS
coordinates so that anyone traveling in a similar motor home would be able to find the
place.

We don’t use GPS, but we had been led to the exact location. “Your ears shall hear a
word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’”

18/03/2016

When I was a child, my mother used to keep a pile of clothes to mend, mostly belonging to us kids, by the sewing machine, and she would patiently work on them every Saturday morning. I have many happy memories of sitting beside her and learning simple sewing and making doll dresses. But the most important thing she taught me there was one day when she said: “Life is like this mending I do every week. When something goes wrong, you fix it; then if something else tears, you mend it, and that is how you get along.”

Sure enough, as I grew up, I learned that life is not always like a brand-new cloth. It sometimes tears and it sometimes opens at the seams or loses a button. But like Mom taught me, we just have to try again, or apologize and try to fix the mistake we’ve made and forgive the blunders of others or help them to undo their messes.

Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” When I first read that, I was shocked. I had thought that being a friend meant only saying positive things and never criticizing or correcting anyone. I learned I could gain through listening to reproof from the people I knew loved me, like well-meaning friends, my husband, brothers and sisters, and my own grown children.

I realized that to grow spiritually we need input from all sources and that we should listen to good advice and meditate on it for a while, rather than rejecting it out of pride. We can also try to counsel loved ones against continuing on a path that we know by experience will only lead to defeat and heartbreak.

When driving, it is much easier to see the lights from another car than to see our own. The same is true of our own weaknesses and shortcomings. Faithful friends will help us see them and improve. Then we will grow spiritually and become more of what God knows we are capable of being. We will also feel happier and more fulfilled as time goes on, like passing exams in school and moving on to higher grades.

So when something goes wrong, don’t despair. There is always room for improvement. God is in the second-chance business. The important thing is to learn from our mistakes, pass our grades, and move forward. Remember, when something tears, it can usually be mended.

17/03/2016

My elderly mother was on the phone. “The next time you visit, would you mind looking in the garage? Your brother is helping clean it out, and he came across some of your old things.”

What childhood leftovers could possibly remain? When I arrived, there it was: a ponderous manual office typewriter, as sturdy as ever, but a little rusty from three decades of disuse. The sight brought back happy memories. My parents had bought it secondhand to reward me for passing an important exam at age 11. I’d taught myself to type and spent many hours during my teen years hammering out poems and stories.

Before I could reconcile with the idea that my old friend should finally be thrown away, I tried typing on it again. I had forgotten how much force was required to press a key on an old manual typewriter! Maybe it was the old ribbon, but I could barely see what I had typed. Oops, I made a mistake! My right pinkie shot up to fix the mistake, and then I remembered there was no key to delete backwards, that I was back in the day of crumbly typewriter erasers. Hammering painstakingly, I managed to type a few words. A bell sounded, signaling me to pull back the lever that advanced the paper and returned the heavy carriage to start a new line. I had expended a lot of effort and had very little to show for it.

How different it is typing on my tablet! Lightweight and portable, I can take it with me virtually anywhere. I slip it out of my purse, press the power button, and it turns on instantly. A few feather-light keystrokes and the first words form on the screen. One press of the backspace key deletes my mistakes. A few more keystrokes and spelling mistakes are autocorrected. One more click and I save my work. A few more clicks and I can email copies to friends around the world—no carbon paper, envelopes, or stamps needed—and they will get them almost instantly.

Our spiritual lives are a bit like that. God offers us “portable spiritual technology” to use throughout our daily lives—prayer power, a personal relationship with Him, and gifts of the Holy Spirit such as wisdom, knowledge, and faith—but it’s up to us. We can avail ourselves of the gifts He offers, or we can try to manage without God’s help. That sounds every bit as unreasonable as me working today on my old typewriter instead of the fast, easy, and portable tablet. God’s spiritual technology can improve our lives, so let’s use it.

1 Corinthians 2:12 ESV / Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

15/03/2016

He set himself to seek God … and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.

If you want to be physically fit, you have to eat right, exercise, and put some time and effort into building good physical habits. Similarly, if you want spiritual growth—if you want to be spiritually fit—it will require investing in a spiritual regimen.

Let’s look at five points in a formula for spiritual growth.

Number 1: Connect with God through spiritual input.

Making time daily for godly input and spiritual nourishment is paramount to having a vibrant spiritual life. Jesus affirmed that God’s Word is our source of spiritual nourishment when He quoted the Old Testament verse: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
The Bible is the “word that comes from the mouth of God.” Just as we need to eat physical food every day for sustenance and good health, we need to take in spiritual nourishment every day. If you only have a few minutes to spend with God, don’t skip it and figure that it won’t count or make a difference. Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Don’t miss your daily infilling of “spirit” and “life.”

Where should your spiritual input come from? First and foremost is the Bible, God’s Word. Another source is devotional, faith-building material (or media) authored by godly men and women. The inspired writings of other Christians can serve to strengthen your faith, open your understanding of the Scriptures, and help you to practically apply God’s Word to your current needs and challenges.

Number 2: Develop an active prayer life.

Prayer is a key component of our spiritual life; it’s how we communicate with God, our Creator. We can speak with Him, praise and worship Him, and tell Him our concerns, troubles, needs, and ask Him for His help, intervention, and strength. Prayer is asking for the will of God to be done, and through prayer, we listen to His voice and seek His guidance, encouragement, comfort, and instruction. Prayer is designed to be a two-way conversation, a means of developing and deepening our relationship with God.

Through prayer, we can cast all of our earthly cares upon His strong shoulders. If your heart is concerned about something, God is concerned too. As has been said, “If something is big enough to worry about, it’s big enough to pray about.”

Number 3: Keep your heart right with God.

The next point in our formula of spiritual growth and health is to stay right with God. This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. Jesus understands our flaws and human weaknesses, as He experienced life as a human. When He gave His life for our sins, He knew very well that we’d never get everything right, no matter how hard we tried. We can enter into that wonderful place of peace and forgiveness by regularly confessing our faults, mistakes, and sins to Him. We can find peace in His forgiveness as we humble ourselves, acknowledge our faults, and run to His outstretched arms.

Regular cleansing allows your spiritual life to flourish and brings peace. When you know you’re right with God, when you have no unconfessed sin in your life, you’re more apt to come to Him for times of worship and prayer, and you have more faith for Him to bless you and take care of you.

Number 4: Follow God (His Word, voice, and guidance).

Another foundational point for spiritual growth is doing what God’s Word says to do. We are called to obey what God asks of all Christians, as well as His personal guidance and instruction to us as individuals.

We don’t want to just be “smart Christians,” people who know a lot about spiritual things and doctrine and theology. We don’t want to just be able to talk about Jesus and His expectations for His followers. We are to apply the spiritual principles, to be living examples, and that comes from being doers of the Word and not hearers only.

Number 5: Participate in a community of believers.

When we believers are together, we gain a lot. When we have spent time with other Christians worshipping, reading God’s Word, singing and praying together, and confiding in one another, we come away stronger. We are refreshed, our vision is clarified, and we are better prepared for what God will bring into our lives.

It can be a challenge to carve out the time for quality fellowship or to find a Christian community where you feel at home. It is important not only for your personal edification and enjoyment, but it also helps empower you to make a difference in the world.

So to cultivate a thriving spiritual life, put these five foundational points into practice. You’ll be happy with the results.

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2 Peter 3:18 ESV / But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Hebrews 5:12-14 ESV / For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 6:1 ESV / Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God