There's a Silver Lining in Every Situation!

Silver Lining: A sign of hope in an unfortunate or gloomy situation; a bright prospect. A hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty.

Believe me when I say that there is a silver lining in every situation! What I mean by that is there is much good in everything that God allows to cross our path. My friends, it’s so important to always keep in mind this scripture: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Once we get this truth working in our lives, we should be less likely to have such confusion and distrust in God’s master plan.

Let’s look at the good that comes from pain and suffering hardness. In hard times and in hard places, God always makes things work together for good if we do exactly what the scripture says - love Him and let Him call us according to His purpose. Take for instance the children of Israel - wouldn't you agree that God placed them in a little bit of hardness? He deliberately allowed the Egyptians to make their lives bitter with hard bondage. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were grieved because of the children of Israel (Exodus 1:12). The more pain, suffering and distress the Egyptians caused the Israelites, the more God brought His good blessing to them. So they multiplied, increased, and learned to call and cry unto the Lord. In our eyes, there may not appear to be any good in that, but when the hardness was over, there was not a feeble one among them and they left with jewels of silver and jewels of gold. God allows us to go through situations as well (maybe not as extreme as the children of Israel, but challenging nonetheless, right?), so He can bring us through them just as He did the children of Israel. The Lord's purpose and plan in the midst of every bitter and hard bondage is for us to grow and draw closer to Him.

The word hardness means not easily dented; solid; resistant to pressure. In spite of all the painful things we go through, God’s good blessing will cause us to grow. Every hard situation we go through is the place where God hides His good blessing. If we don’t see the good, we must pray and ask the Lord to show us the good.

We won’t have these wonderful experiences with God if He didn't put us in hard places, because as we see, it’s in those hard places that we learn that He works all things together for our highest good, and bring us into a more intimate relationship with Himself. Praise our wonderful Saviour for His Goodness and Mercy toward each of us!!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen and... AMEN!!

Always Keep A Right Attitude!

Attitude: A mental position; the feeling one has for oneself.

Our attitudes are half the battle; the way we think and/or feel about a situation will either keep us in it or get us out of it. We tend to think we are running the show, but the truth of the matter is, the only thing we are running is our mouths. We are not our own. We were bought with a price and that price was the precious blood of the Lamb (Jesus, of course!). When we make a purchase, the item becomes ours, right? So it makes sense that when Jesus made His purchase, we became His.

When He allows things to happen TO us, it always seems as if it's at an inconvenient time FOR us. As a result, our mental position of that thing becomes out of order and we get upset with the Lord because it was not OUR plan. What we don't want is to become a Jonah. The Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2) and to cry against it -- in other words, to tell the people to repent of their wickedness. Jonah did not have the right attitude; he decided to get on a ship going to Tarshish; a trip to Nineveh wasn't on his agenda for that day, so he went another way.

Of course, the Lord knows just how to get our attitude right - you might remember how He prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah up (Jonah 1:17). Jonah quickly got the message and his attitude right and prayed unto the Lord his God (Jonah 2:1-2) out of the belly of hell. The Lord heard Jonah and spake unto the fish and it vomited him out on dry land (Jonah 2:10). Jonah got his mental position -- his attitude -- right. The Word tells us that Nineveh was a three-day journey, but Jonah made the trip in just one day!

Let's get our attitude right toward the Lord because He knows just how to get us in check! Remember, our wrong attitude about things didn't mean anything yesterday; it doesn't mean anything today and won't mean anything tomorrow either. let's get in agreement and respect our Saviour.

With all that said. let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!

Sowing and Reaping

Sow: To scatter or throw seeds on the ground for growth

Reaping: To gather by reaping, a harvest

Sowing consists of scattering seeds for growth - either upon the ground in the natural or upon the soil of our hearts and minds in the Spiritual. Regardless, every seed that is sown and is allowed to grow up will be reaped by the owner of that seed, whether it be naturally or spiritually.

The principle of sowing and reaping is very simple. If we plant wheat, and we maintain that wheat properly, wheat  will come up and wheat is what we will reap. In the natural, farmers know and accept this principle. That means that they don’t plant corn then cry foul when wheat comes up. No, farmers understand that he must plant corn if he expects to reap corn.

Galatians 6:7-8 tells us, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

In the natural, we sow wicked plots, schemes and plans, and then have the nerve to expect a fruitful harvest. Instead, we reap disappointment and wickedness. We even sow discord among the brethren. In Proverb 6:16-19, the Bible says, "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:... A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

One way we sow discord among our brethren is by dropping a seed of suspicion about a brother’s or a sister’s spiritual integrity. Once we've said what we had to say, we're likely to forget about it - but the person who received the seed of discord does not. Instead that small seed grows into a great big tree of doubt and disbelief concerning that sister or brother's spiritual integrity. Eventually, all unity between the two brethren is broken. What we (the seed dropper) will reap is God anger for sowing seeds of discord.

In the Spiritual, God wants us to sow seeds of righteousness - righteous deeds of truth - so that we can reap a harvest of God’s mercy. Righteousness means to feel right, to be right, to think right and to do right. Righteous thoughts will always produce righteous words and righteous words will produce righteous actions. It's our choice - whatever we sow, we can be assured that we will reap the harvest of it. If we want love, we must sow seeds of love; if we want joy and peace we must sow seeds of joy and peace. God’s law of sowing and reaping is irrevocable whether good or evil, it’s going to produce after its own kind.

With all that said - let the church say Amen... and AMEN!

What God Promises, HE WILL PERFORM!

Perform: Execute, successful completion of a process
Promise: An assurance given that one will or will not do something

"And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform" (Romans 4:21). In fact, Philippians 1:6 tells us, that we can be "confident of this very thing." So often we think that WE have to do this or WE have to do that; that WE have to make things happen - when in all actuality WE don't. Usually when WE try to complete the process, WE mess it up.

Proverbs 3:5 reminds us to "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding;" instead, we must "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalms 27:14).

Take Abraham for an example, he said, Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless? The Lord promised him a son in Genesis 15:4, but while they were in the waiting process, Abraham and Sarah took it upon themselves to execute God's promise. Instead of waiting on the Lord, Abraham was given Sarah's handmaid (Hagar) and had a son with her... but that was not the son God had promised him. The powerful, the awesome, the almighty God waited until they were old and well-stricken in years - Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 90 when she conceived her first son - so there would be no doubt that He is well able to perform what he promises.

There are consequences for our actions when we get ahead of God - Abraham had to send Hagar and her son away because he was not to be the heir with the child that God had promised. We must have the faith that the Lord is with us. We have to realize that just because that thing we've asked for doesn't happen in OUR time, it doesn't mean that it's not going to happen. Wait on the Lord, He's well able to perform what He promises... in HIS time!

With all that said - let the church say Amen... and AMEN!