You Will Not Be Put To Shame

Many of us have been waiting on the words of God to come to pass. We have been waiting to see those promises fulfilled. We have been waiting to see that breakthrough. We have been waiting not patiently but waiting.

Waiting teaches us to trust God and to trust His plan for our lives. In these times, we can't lose hope and we can't lose faith in who God is and what He has spoken over our lives. What God has spoken will not return unto Him void.

... for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me. Isaiah 49:23 (NKJV)

We will not be put to shame because we wait. We will not be embarrassed because we waited on God. Those who wait on Him are never put to shame because God is faithful to His word and He is faithful to the promises that He made concerning us. 

What we are waiting for, will come. We just have to tarry, we just have to wait. Waiting is not a promise of having it easy but it is a promise that when we wait, good things will happen. Waiting is a part of our internal transformation from glory to glory to the image of Christ.

We will not be put to shame. Don't lose hope, don't lose faith because the promise is coming!!

This post is a part of the Five Minute Friday community by Kate Motaung where brave writers gather together to write for five minutes on any word.

Guest Post : The Pursuit of Joy

Today's guest post is by a close friend of mine, Jacinth Browne. I pray that you will be encouraged to press through every trial and situation with the joy of the Lord.

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Have you ever watched or read The Hunger Games? Your name is randomly plucked from a collection of others and you’re suddenly in a situation where you must fight for your life. The Christian Life sometimes seems that way, a race, a daily battle against flesh and the kingdom of darkness instead (Ephesians 6:12). We all struggle daily with something and often life is an uphill climb. Depression sometimes affects us. Some more severely than others. It could be caused by financial frustrations, afflicted relationships with others (or lack thereof), loss of loved ones, dissatisfaction with accomplishments etc. Many of us then set off on a journey to find a large conclusive happiness that will solve all our problems. A panacea like that must be pretty rare and cost a whole lot. As a result, a lot of us hurl ourselves into activities which can actually hurt us in the long run or gratify us inconsistently.

I find it interesting that according to GotQuestionsMinistries ‘joy’ is mentioned more than 300 times in the Bible while ‘happiness’ occurs a mere 30. It is additionally striking that happiness is always caused by an influential circumstance. I can be happy to be employed but that happiness can fade when I lose my job or it gets difficult. Happiness is temporary. It can change like the direction of the wind, we will need more than that in relation to depression.

David says of God in Psalm 16:11 that “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” There is an eternal quality to joy that cannot be grasped in mere happiness and there is a fullness of it to be had. Bible characters were human like us. David experienced depression, he laments “why art thou cast down O my soul?” yet he advocates “HOPE thou in GOD for I shall yet PRAISE Him for the help of His countenance.” (Psalm 42:5 KJV Emphasis mine).

How does David reach this kind of conclusion? 

http://www.ewcsa.org/19-2/joy-of-the-lord/ 

Joy is God's quality, thus it cannot be found within any temporal thing. Galatians 5 stresses that it is among the Fruit of the Spirit we should bear throughout our lives. But fruit must be tended to, they must be cultivated. The scripture further beckons us to “live in the Spirit and also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25 KJV). We must deliberately set out to be joyful, we must pray for it, find ourselves in God’s Word, His presence, live it out and encourage each other in it. Guaranteed, there is nowhere else to find it.

I know it isn’t a microwavable, 2 step solution we would all love to have but when we lay hold of it, we are assured that it is permanent. We may not always be happy, but there is a level of contentment that is in joy, that one speaker claims that it occurs because we are able to hope for something that has not yet come. Something that escapes all the vulnerable, perishable things of the Earth. A home with a perennial God. We may not be happy in trials but Romans 5:3-5 KJV indicates that we are able to “rejoice in our sufferings…” We must foremost place our expectation not in passing promises of man and earth but the eternal promises of God in His Word. We may not know when they are coming but we know that He cannot lie.

Jesus doesn’t deceive us into thinking that it will all be a walk in the park. He is straightforward and lets His disciples know, “in the world ye SHALL have tribulation” it cannot be eluded, yet we must “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 KJV). The hardest battle has already been won and so we are able to hold on until the end, with contentment. No matter how hard it is, it is possible. 

When I am overwhelmed, I retreat to the refuge which never fails. I may not always be happy during the process but He gives joy and with that peace, we must take hold of it and nurture it with His guidance. He never once fails.

I will not build my life upon the passing sands
Of how I feel inside from one moment to the next
But I will love you Lord, my Rock, my God, my Strength
A precious cornerstone that floods of death can never shake

-Laura Hackett Park

 

My name is Jacinth Browne. As a student of Literature, I am a strong believer that writing is one of the most effective tools for reaching our generation for Jesus today. I come from the land of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and I particularly look forward to the great things God will do in the islands as He works throughout the whole Earth.

The Journey of Seeking

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, says the Lord. Jeremiah 29:12-14 (NKJV)

Seeking God is a journey. It is a path that we all have to take as children of God. Seeking is what we are called to do. Seeking God means to search for Him, it means knowing Him and getting closer to Him. In order for us to truly know God, we have to search. We have to seek. It is our calling and our glory to search Him out. 

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2 (NKJV)

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. It is His glory to keep it a secret but it is our glory to search it out. Our glory is searching out a matter and that is what God wants us to do. God wants us to search. He wants us to search for Him, to have a passion and a fervent desire to know Him and to encounter Him. When we seek God, His Word says that we will find Him. It is a surety that our search would be worth while. It is surety that it would not be done in vain. We will find God when we search for Him with all our hearts.

When we search for something, we are passionate about it. We say to ourselves, I have to find it especially if it is our cellphone or our house keys. We put every effort into finding these earthly things and that is how we are suppose to be when we are searching for God. We have to be fervent about it, we have to search for Him with all our hearts. Seeking God is continuous. It is something that we have to do continually and never give up. There will be times where we feel barren and dry and where we feel like we are not going any where or that we are not growing but in these times we have to press on. There is never beauty at the beginning of a work of art. It always begins with clay that has no shape and that doesn't seem attractive to the eye. This clay goes through a process of shaping and refining and at the end of it, it becomes something beautiful. God is refining us (Zechariah 13:9).

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Isaiah 55:6 (NKJV)

Seeking the Lord is an opportunity that we may not always have. When we die, we will no longer have that opportunity to get to know the King of Kings. We will either live or die eternally. Now is the time to start seeking God. Now is the time to know Him and to encounter Him. Our lives are just but a vapour (1 Peter 4:14) and we are just dust (Psalm 103:14). We really don't know what tomorrow holds but we should know who holds tomorrow.

How can we seek God? We can seek Him by reading and studying His Word. God gave us an entire book that talks about Him and that demonstrates His character and His sovereignty. Reading the Bible is the essence of everything. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. In order for us to have faith and to believe in God, we have to read the Bible. It is the same thing that we do when we want to understand a course or a subject, we read. 

We can also seek Him through prayer. Prayer is having a conversation with God. When we want to get to know someone, we talk to them. We try to find out who they are and what they like. God wants to hear our voice, He wants to hear our prayers (Song of Solomon 2:14). His ears are inclined unto us (1 Peter 3:12).

Let's decide today to seek God with all our hearts. Let's decide today, to know Him and to read His Word. Let's take that step today!

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)

You Are Welcome Here

You are welcome here
Holy Spirit You are welcome into my heart
Into my life
Into the deepest parts of me
All You desire is to find a resting place
Is to find a home
I will be that home
I will be that resting place

You are welcome here
You are welcome into my secrets
My thoughts, my inner being
This is the place where You belong
Where You and I connect
Where we become one
Just like the Father and the Son

You are welcome here
Fill this place with Your presence
Fill this place with the fragrance of You
You are welcome here
Here is where You should be
Here is where You belong

You are welcome here
To show me my faults
To mould me into who You have called me to be
To show me Your glory
To show me You
You are welcome here

 This post is a part of the Five Minute Friday community by Kate Motaung where brave writers gather together to write for five minutes on any word.

Our Ultimate Purpose In 2015

Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:7 (NKJV)

We were all created for glory. Not for our own glory but for the glory of God. What is glory? Glory is honour, praise, worship and thanksgiving. It is what we give to someone who we see as honourable and one who is highly deserving of respect. Glory is what is given to God. We were designed and created for the glory of God. We were created to give God honour, to give Him worship and to give Him praise. 

What does all of this have to do with 2015? Our ultimate purpose in 2015 is to give God glory. Not only in this year but in the years to come. Our goal and our ambition in this year should be to give God glory in everything that we do. 2015 is a year where we will see new things and we will begin to do things that we thought we would never do. In all of this, we cannot lose focus of our main purpose and of our goal on the earth and that is to give God glory.

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelations 4:11 (KJV)

God is worthy and deserving to receive glory. He has created us for His pleasure and His pleasure alone.We are here on earth to give God glory and to give Him pleasure whether that is through song, dance, art or poetry. Whatever talent or gift that we have, it is for the glory of God. Can we say that we are using our talents for the glory of God? Can we say that God received glory from us in 2014? Can we say that He will in 2015? Let's start off this year right by giving honour where it is due. Give God the glory!

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)

We are not the only ones who give God glory. Creation gives glory where it is due. Creation cannot deny the magnificence and the splendour of the High and Lofty One.  His majesty they can't deny. If creation can give God glory, how much more can we? We are the most treasured creation on earth designed in the very image of God. All that we do is for His glory.

How can we give God glory in 2015? We can give Him glory by recognising that He is the One who gives us the ability to succeed, by worshipping Him through prayer and reading His word, by giving Him thanks and by being who He has called us to be. 

Let 2015 be a year where we look back and say that God was truly glorified in our lives, in our work, in our speech and in our relationship with Him. Let 2015 be a glory year!