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God is our Strength

By Tinika Rock

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. (For the choir director: This prayer is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)”
 – Habakkuk 3:17-19

In our journey of living, we can sometimes find ourselves worrying about current situations. As we look at this passage, we are reminded that even though the situation around us may be difficult it is still possible to be faithful and trust God. We sometimes go through things and worry about our situations or feel trapped in the darkness, but God is saying he is our strength, and he is confident that we will overcome. Even when we face trials and tribulations, even when we get a promotion at work, even when things don’t seem to be changing or seem too hard like this current pandemic. We can still see a faithful God and give thanks for the small and big victories we achieve.

In this time let’s dedicate our focus on a God who does not change and who will never leave us nor forsake us. He is our strength in everything we go through. He is always there for us whether good or bad.

He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all things we could ever think or imagine. 

Romans 5:5 tells us that hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who was given to us.

So, let’s count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience. Let us also come boldly to the throne of grace and let our requests be known to God. Pray and ask him for strength and guidance in situations. Nothing is too much or too hard for God. He cares for us and wants us to cast all our anxieties onto him.

So today I choose to remember even though the situation around us may be difficult, let us focus our attention on God who does not change and is our strength

II Corinthians 1:4 NKJV – “who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Deuteronomy 31 NJKV – “And the LORD, he is the one who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

 Prayer

God thank you for loving me and showing your grace and mercy in every area of my life. Thank you for accepting me for who I am and guiding me along the right path.

Lord, I pray that even when things are difficult, help me to focus my attention on you and rejoice always.

In Jesus name, I pray,  Amen.

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The Joy of the Lord

Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 NKJV

The excited feeling you have when you pass your exam, is that happiness or joy? You have the baby you have been waiting for, for so many years, is that happiness or joy?

These two words are sometimes confused for the other.  Happiness is as a result of what is happening around us.   The above are examples of happiness.

Joy is being excited when you fail your exam or singing and smiling when you have been waiting for a baby for 90 years and no baby is coming.

Joy is different from happiness. Joy is spiritual, it is not a feeling, it is not what is happening around us but what is happening within us. Real Joy only comes from God.

Only God can give us joy that never runs out – (Isaiah 61:7 – unending joy shall be your portion) You might say to me how can I smile when things are going wrong, I have lost my parent, I have failed the most important exam of my life, nothing is working why should I smile?

But that is why it is Joy. It does not make sense to us but in the long run we end up getting energised, our character is built making us complete and we lack nothing (James 1:2-4)

The everlasting joy of our Lord is our strength because there is hope at the end, even though we suffer for a short time God will rescue us and answer our prayer.

Do not let the devil steal your joy or because he wants to make you see things as hopeless (John 10:10)

One way to be joyful is to continuously saturate our self with the word of God and get rid of anything that can steal our joy and mainly negative thoughts the Bible says we pull down every thought that is not of God, thoughts that are toxic thoughts that make us depressed and look down on ourselves, thoughts that say God is not with us and replace them with the word of God (2 Corinthians 10:5)

The only way to experience this is to have Jesus in your life as your Lord and saviour

Today I choose to remember that the joy of the Lord is my strength therefore I will not sorrow.

Prayer

Dear God

Thank You for Jesus. Thank You that You have given me Joy.  May I choose joy regardless of what is happening around me.

Help me not to let anything steal my joy

Jesus be my Lord and saviour thank You for saving me, thank You that only In You can I really have everything that I need, that in You that is where I can be satisfied.

Thank You for saving me , In Jesus name

Amen

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Give thanks to the Lord

By Hannah Ng’uni

Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!  1 Chronicles 16:8

When someone does something good for you or gives you a gift, it is only right and proper to say ‘thank you’. In the same manner, today we are taking a moment to give thanks to the Lord not only for all He has done but for who He is, why?

Because “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High” (Psalm 92:1)

“For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised…” (1 Chronicles 16:25)

Our gratitude to God is not dependent on how we feel in the moment or when everything is going well in our favour:

“Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]”. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Our gratitude is dependent His promises and who He has proved Himself to be in our lives, in those around us and in His word (the Bible).

So today, in the midst of everything, let us take a moment to reflect on this then give God the praise and thanks due His name.

Today I choose to give thanks to the Lord, sing His praises and make known his deeds.

Prayer:

Thank you Lord for who You are, You are great and greatly to be praised. I choose to return the breath you gave with my praise to You all most high. May I never cease to give you thanks in everything. In Jesus name, Amen.

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Hold fast to the Lord

By Hannah Ng’uni


“He held fast to God—never loosened his grip—and obeyed to the letter everything God had commanded Moses. And God, for his part, held fast to him through all his adventures” – 2 Kings 2:6-7 MSG

Photo by Scott Webb on Pexels.com


Imagine the ground you are standing on starts to crumble beneath you, with just moments away from falling a strong hand reaches out and grabs hold of your hand. The voice tells you ‘hold on tight, keep your eyes on me and don’t look down, I have got you’. Your only chance of survival rests on you holding on tight to that hand and obeying those instructions, loosen your grip and that is the end. A bit dramatic?! I know but for me that is the picture I get when I consider what it means to hold fast.


If ever there was a time to hold fast, another Bible version says ‘cling to the Lord’, it is now! Today we are faced with many challenges, sometimes it can seem like nothing seems to be going right, life is falling apart.

With so many voices offering different solutions, if we are not careful, we may end up listening to the wrong voice. As children of God, His voice should be the loudest, His voice should be our compass. His word is also His voice.
So how do we hold fast? Lessons from Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:3-7):
§  Do what is right in the sight of the Lord
§  Trust in the Lord
§  Remain faithful to the Lord
§  Do not depart from following the Lord
§  Obey His words, instructions
 
Remember it is not only you who is holding on, the Lord is holding on to you too and He can be trusted. He promises to never leave or forsake you. If He seems far, guess who has moved?


Today I choose to remember to remain faithful to God, obey Him and never stop following Him.


Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, I thank you that when I draw close to You, You draw close to me. I choose to hold on to you no matter what. Today I make a choice to never depart from following you. I put my trust in You. In Jesus name, Amen


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The Lord is faithful

By Hannah Ng’uni

Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” -1 Samuel 17:37

When David stepped up and put himself forward to fight Goliath, he was confident he would defeat him even though he was looked down upon because of his age. He was told being he was young and inexperienced; he would not be able to come up against a man who has been fighting since his youth. He was not even in the army or dressed to fight. There was a reason the army of Israel were afraid of this giant. I imagine some might have laughed at David’s proposal.

What is so encouraging about David’s stance in this story that I believe we can learn from, is that fact that he refused to allow the words of the naysayers to dishearten him and instead stood on his confidence in God who delivered him in the past knowing that He is faithful. It is the same God after all therefore this victory was a given, no doubt. Wow! Now that is the level of boldness I desire.

There comes a time in life when we just need to shut out the voices of the naysayers, sceptics, critics and all enemies of progress, take a bold stand in faith and trust in the Lord’s faithfulness.

“But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one” – 2 Thessalonians 3:3

Prayer:

Dear Lord, thank you for reminding us that You are faithful, You do not change. No obstacle is too big for You to handle, we choose to shut out the voices of the naysayers and choose to stand on your promises. We declare boldness! In Jesus name, amen

Thank you for joining us, to listen to this blog check out our podcast on anchor and Spotify

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Serve Me

by Hannah Ng’uni

“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! – Joshua 24:14

In this chapter, we read of how Joshua prophetically spoke to the tribe of Israel reminding them of how the Lord kept them, delivered and provided for them and yet they also served other foreign gods or idols. He challenges them to worship and respect God, to affirm their loyalty to Him and put away those things that were distracting them from being fully devoted to God. The people reflected on what God had done for them and choose to serve Him alone and obey Him (Joshua 24:16-18, 24).

As I reflected on the passage, I thought about how our actions can speak louder than words. For example, if I proclaim love my parents but I dishonour, disrespect or disobey them in any way even after how loving and supportive they have been, someone would struggle to believe me. The love I am proclaiming would come across insincere. Similarly, Joshua is saying to the Israelites and to us that you cannot choose to serve the Lord and still do what displeases Him or place your priorities above Him. When you choose to serve the Lord, those other things must be done away with.

Divided loyalty leads to instability. James 1:8 says “their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do”.

Prayer:

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your love. Reveal to me those things that are distracting me from serving you wholeheartedly. Today I choose to put you first and serve you in sincerity and truth. I boldly declare ‘as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord’. Amen

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The Lord is With me

By Hannah Ng’uni

So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. 16 And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.” Judges 6:15-16


How often do we downplay our potential or abilities? For example, an opportunity for a job promotion presents itself, some of us might start to give all the reasons why we wouldn’t get it. Be it ‘I am not skilled, talented, bold, smart, strong, confident enough’ or it could be that we have never visualised ourselves beyond were we are now, be because of cultural background, what others have said, past mistakes and failures e.t.c


Similarly, Gideon had written himself off as not being a suitable candidate for what the Lord assigned him to do even though the Angel assured him of Lord’s presence. In this passage we see a God who views us as we were created, in His image and likeness. He calls us mighty man/woman of valor based on what He as placed inside of us and that is why He wants to use us for His glory. Gideon saw himself as the weakest, but the Lord saw him as deliver of the Israelites through His enabling power because He equips those He calls.


“who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” 2 Timothy 1:9


Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, thank you that You desire to use me for Your purpose and have thoroughly equipped me for it. Help me to see me how You see me and to draw from what You have deposited inside of me. Amen


Thank you for joining us, to listen to this post check out our podcast – She is Authentic on Anchor and Spotify


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God wants my love

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. – Deuteronomy 6:5

We can fall prey of wanting to believe that God wants the bare minimum from us. We can fear commitment, not wanting to give God our absolute best. In this generation God is still calling us to Love him, to serve him.

He is calling us to Love him with:

Our Heart – our emotions

Our Soul – our identity, our personality, our thoughts

Our Strength to love him with everything in our being.

To love and to serve God is to choose him above our priorities in the new testament when Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, he pointed to love the Lord God. Mt 22: 34- 40. He is not calling us to neglect our lives and to be bad stewards of the life he has given us but rather he is calling to prioritise him and in doing so we find alignment in everything else that we do.

Today I choose to remember to love the Lord with All my heart, soul, and strength. To Walk in his was ways and to serve him

Prayer

Father God when other things are calling for my commitment and priorities may I remember you as the top priority.

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The Lord is Holy

I choose to remember the Lord is Holy. He has set me apart to be His

You shall be holy and belong only to me because I am the LORD, and I am holy. I have set you apart from the other nations so that you would belong to me alone – Leviticus 20:26

Our current culture has become so permissive that its unthinkable to even consider a holiness stance. As I think about this powerful attribute of God and his call for us to be set apart. I fear coming off as judgemental and perfect as miss goody two shoes. But God is not calling us to holiness in our own merit or capacity but in His. On a personal level I cannot achieve Gods standard but with the help of God I can be holy.

“Holiness” means distinctiveness or separateness God is calling us to be distinct in our speech In our behaviour because he is holy.

Romans says do not be confirmed to the patterns of this world but continually renew your mind, continually choose to be set apart. Holiness is not an outward reflection but a call to our hearts purity to reflect the image of God, this pursuit helps in how we handle our lives as Christians.

What is our standard of Holiness?

Be obedient to God, and do not allow your lives to be shaped by those desires you had when you were still ignorant. 15Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy. 16The scripture says, “Be holy because I am holy.” – 1 Peter 4: 14-16

From this passage the bible sets out a clear standard of Holiness is the Lord and not our desires. Our heavenly father is perfect therefore as we emulate him with the help of the holy spirit our desires begin to shift, and we become holy as he is holy.

Our prayer today:

Father God Lead me, uphold me as I take a stance to be set apart for you. As I take a stance to renew my mind to focus totally on you and your call to holiness

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The Lord Goes before me

I choose to remember that The Lord goes before me  and fights for me so I can be confident and undismayed. The Lord is mighty; He is my strength.

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Exodus 14:13 -14

In England we have received an Announcement for a national lock down, this brings its own set of fear and worry. Today we make a decision to trust in God’s ability to find fight for us. We choose to remember His knowledge of the future.
Its hard to be unmoved but the God who has seen the future makes us stand firm.

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Mary Did you know?

As I sit here and ponder the faith of Mary, I realise how intense it can be to fully trust God against all odds.  In 2018, I told my parents I had found man that I plan on spending and building my life with. We told our family and friends the wedding was set the marriage formalities fulfilled. Imagine Amid all the planning and deciding, Say I received a call to accept something beyond my imagination. Like Mary a baby, what would people say – its never happened before and it was a very strange request

I can imagine how my soon to be husband would feel betrayed, considering how Joseph was feeling about this news. Furthermore the reasoning behind it sounded absurd to say the least. This was not a small task for Mary, her life depended on it. The explanation of what was happening would have in fact sounded unreasonable.

There are moments when God approaches us with big asks, where He requires you to go the extra mile to defy the norms and cultures of society.  Its in these moments where we are called to boldly accept the task and not limit God.

Mary Answered, “how can this be?” I study this question intently and it allows me to discover I can ask God for revelation in moments where I am uncertain and He will provide the response.

When God entrusts us with is purpose and call, He will also provide favour for the journey. When Nehemiah heard that the walls needed rebuilding, He prayed that God would grant him favour with the king.  

We see Mary yielding totally and wholeheartedly to the unknown, in Mary’s bold move we see God protecting and vindicating Mary.

Reflection Moment:

Luke 1:26-80

Ephesians 3:20

Romans 4:17

What Tasks has God called you take but fear of the unknown causes you to limit God?

What cost are you prepared to pay for God to reveal His Attributes?

Thank you for participating in our 21 day journey to discovering the beauty of God. This is only the beginning of your journey as the attributes of God are inexhaustible.  Please share the page, most importantly take time to read and meditate on the word.  #IwillnotLimitGod

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Our race against time

I remember when I was in high school neatly writing down where I see myself at the various ages of my life, at all fronts I am an advocate of planning and setting goals. The problem comes in when we give God our plans, when we decide this is how I intend on running my life. We tell God – if you can just authorise the plans I have set out no surprises, and we will be okay.

During my periods of giving God my checklist and plans I found myself quickly tangled in a relationship that I was not supposed to have been in.  I found myself rushing God because I had a time scale of when I saw myself married. The pointers I prayed for in a husband that guy didn’t match them, but I figured that person would do because time was running out. I am grateful to God that he didn’t allow me to proceed with that relationship.

It’s crazy because sometimes we put these time constraints on ourselves or our environment or culture puts these pressures. I can see myself in Sarah, she was supposed to be a grandparent by now! Perhaps you can too, plans all set out but life is slowly drifting away.

From Sarah’s view point, Yahweh had provided them a list of promises and He was delaying. Fear encompassed Abraham he was aging; Eliezer would inherit his possessions.

Sarah quickly coins up a plan to help God, Genesis 16 ‘states Sarai had no children, but she had Hagar’ my translation states. Its interesting how she thought I have an alternative solution to this time delay. What have we decided as the alternative solution to our problem?

Her narrative is very damaging in that she believes the Lord had kept her from having children, so Hagar was the best alternative to solving Gods time lapse. We see a lot of blame in chapter 16 how Sarai tells Abram you are responsible for the wrong am suffering because Hagar starts to despise her. You see the thing about personal made plans vs a God’s plans is that we have finite knowledge and most times we can’t forsee how the reaction of other people or the fruit of our actions.

In Chapter 17 we see God return to reveal himself as the Almighty God ‘El-Shaddai’

He tells them walk before Him faithfully and be blameless. He goes further to change their names to mean Nations, multitude, fruitful.

 Despite this change of Name Sarah Laughs! But God reminds them ‘is anything too hard for the Lord, I will return to you at the appointed time next year!

Truly God keeps his covenant Sarah holds a baby in her Arms as the Lord promised

Reflection Moment

Genesis 17:16
Genesis 18:1-15
Luke 1:37
Ecclesiastes 3:11

How is my identity causing me to limit God?
How have I created alternative plans for God?
Have there been moments when I have prayed and quickly coined a plan apart from what I had pray for?
How have I used the concept of time to limit God?

Thank you for participating in our 21 day journey to discovering the beauty of God. This is only the beginning of your journey as the attributes of God are inexhaustible. Please share the page, most importantly take time to read and meditate on the word. #IwillnotLimitGod