5 of My Favorite Verses

Today I am going to list 5 of my favorite verses and explain why they had an impact on my life. These verses I am about to share have made me into who I am today. They have led me on the right path when I felt lost. So, lets begin.

1. Proverbs 31:30 “Charm is deceitful, and Beauty is vain: but a woman who fears the Lord, she will be praised.”
Proverbs 31:30 is one of my favorites because like many others I have been very insecure. This verse is a reminder we do not have to be perfect and look perfect. We were not called to be flawless or what society calls beautiful. We are called to believe in God and do His will for our lives. Another thing I just realized is. If we are so, busy worrying about our flaws or if others will like us. We are putting that thought over God and making it a god.

2. Jeremiah 1:6-9 “Alas, Sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak; I am too young.  But the Lord said to me, Do not say, ‘I am to young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declared the Lord. Then the Lord reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me, I have put my words in your mouth.” We are constantly given the idea that we are too young and we can wait till we are older to fulfill Gods purpose in our lives. If God called you to do something do not fear. If God called you to do something He will be there to protect you and guide you along the way. I do have my doubts sometimes, but we always need to remember God is with us.

3. Psalms 143:10 “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” So, I’ve mentioned this verse about a million times, but like I have said about it in other post. I love this verse because it reminds me to do what the Lord wants me to do. I found this verse when I was really bitter with someone. The verse reminds me to not worry about others and what they have done to hurt me. If I worry to much about what they did to harm me it could lead me in the wrong path.

4. John 13:7 “Jesus replied, You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” We often get angry with God because we have no clue what He is doing and we think He is doing wrong towards us. when really He is giving us a chance to grow. What we truly need to remember is God is in control. Whatever He is doing it is for the good.

5.  Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” This one is pretty similar to Psalms 143:1o. I like these verses because they remind me not to stray away. They comfort me I do not know how to explain the comfort.

Those were the five verses and reasons. I would like to know what some of your favorite verses are! If you would like to share your favorite verses you can tell me through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or in the comments!

 

Praying For Your Enemies

Normally when I mention enemies I am talking about the devil as your enemy, but this time I wanted to talk about a different enemy. By enemies I mean those you do not necessarily like. Those who have hurt you in some way, you just had a disagreement, or you really do not have a reason. What ever the reason is behind disliking them I am sure there is that one person you just cannot stand. Maybe you want to love that person, but you just feel you cannot. I happen to hold grudges on people quite often. I will pretend like I have forgiven you. But really my heart is often full of bitterness and I am set on revenge. (I sometimes forget that I planned on holding a grudge.)

2 Kings 6:8-23 changed my mind on the whole bitterness revenge thing. Instead of getting payback for whatever wrong someone has done to me. (okay lets be honest… I still sometimes want revenge and from time to time I still feel bitter. Sometimes things in life just do not go your way and it hurts, but it is your choice to do good or wrong.)  Those verses talk about a man asking God to open his enemies eyes. Sometimes those who have done wrong to us do not realize what they have done, they are often lost. We were one lost in the darkness too. Pray that their eyes will be open, not that they will “get what they deserve.” Remember there are two sides to every story and you do not see why the other did as they did because that is not your side.

John 15:12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
We should pray for them because we are to love them. Pray for yourself. Pray God will give you the strength to love your enemies. Yes, loving your enemies will be hard, but it will be worth it. Anything God tells you to do ends up being worth it. At some points it may seem like it is not. But it will eventually make since.

Luke 6:27-28 “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Help your enemies when given the chance. Maybe the reason they have hurt you is because they have never felt love. Maybe they do not know what love is. So, live life loving anyone and everybody. Be slow to gossip and to judge.

Dear Lord,
Watch over my enemies, open their eyes. I want them to see the light. Have them to know what love feels like. Give me the strength to get over my hatred. I truly could not get over this bitterness I feel without you. Thank you.
Amen

Where Do You Find Confidence?

Hey guys!! Today I am having a fellow blogger do a guest post. So, please welcome Gloria Boone! Her blog is here. She has a great blog about achieving your destiny. If you like this post you should check out more of her post!

Where Do You Find Confidence?

If you look up the words self confidence in the dictionary you will see two definitions. One says it is the realistic confidence in one’s abilities, power, and judgment. The other notes that self confidence is the excessive or inflated confidence in one’s abilities, power and judgment. Can you see the difference? One denotes humility in the abilities, power and judgment given to us by our Creator. The other denotes an arrogant, prideful, boastful, inflated confidence.

If you are a Christian, your confidence comes from your Creator. He created us in His image and we all know He has full confidence in His abilities. So the obvious is that we would have confidence in our abilities and gifts that He created in us. Remember what Ephesians 2:10 says? Here’s the Amplified Version: “For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].” Merriam Webster online dictionary says that masterpiece is many times “its creator’s greatest achievement.” Do you get the sense of your value to your Creator? We are His greatest achievement!

Do you know your value as a child of the King? You have great value to God, your Creator and He says so in Psalm 139:13-16. But let’s look at verse 17 and 18 in the Amplified Version. “ 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” Wow! Our Creator thinks about us all the time. I’m talking about you and me. Not us in the plural but each individual child of His!

Here’s another Scripture to confirm our value and reason for confidence. Colossians 2:9-10 in the New Living Translation says: “ 9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Another Wow! You are complete because you are a believer and Jesus lives in you!

So, just knowing our value to our Creator can help us with a healthy dose of self-confidence. Not the arrogance of the world but the self-confidence that comes from knowing who your Father is!

Once again, if you like this post check out more of her post.

 

 

Give Thanks to the Lord

Today I am doing a Thanksgiving post! Which btw is my FAVORITE holiday! I mean who does not love Thanksgiving dinner? And I just really love hearing what people are thankful for, especially if it is unique! The fall colors are so beautiful too. Also I will be using the NIV bible in this post so if you do not agree with that version or like it you can look the verses up on your preferred version! 😉 So, I am just going to get into this; before I ramble too much more!

Give Thanks Always
Giving thanks to the Lord is not just something we should do around Thanksgiving when everyone is doing the Thanksgiving challenges. Like on Facebook when you post once a day through out the whole month leading up to Thanksgiving. Or on Instagram when you post a picture each day of someone or something you are thankful for. (idk if Twitter has a challenge like that because I am new to twitter!) Anyways, you get the point right? It is great that we are giving thanks, but why stop after Thanksgiving? 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We are to give thanks always not just on special occasions! 

Give Thanks because He Cares For You
Now that we covered giving thanks always, what should we give thanks for? So I chose one passages in the bible after looking through many! I had so many to choose from, but I feel like this one is the one God wants me to talk about! Psalms 95:1-7 says “1 Come, let us sing for the joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care”   These verses show a couple things to be thankful for. I will go ahead and list them 1. He is a great God 2. He holds the world in His hands (Now I am going to have the song “He has the whole world in His hands” stuck in my head) 3. He created everything you see. Like all the beautiful leaves as they change (He also created you!) 4.He cares for us.

 

A Little Challenge

There are many more things to thank Him for I am going to do a challenge. You can join if you would like! Starting today till next year on this day you write 1 thing you are thankful for. (if you have more than one thing that day go ahead and add more!) It is okay if you do not have something everyday… just try!

What I am Thankful for

So, I have wanted to say what I am thankful for for awhile now. I just did not know how exactly to say it and always backed out at the last second; or almost said it, but completely changed it, due to being super nervous! So, here it goes!

I am just really thankful God does not leave your side. And He for sure listens to your prayers! He has answered many of my prayers, but I have one specific one I will never forget. When I was younger, just learning shapes and how to read. We (my family) found out I had dyslexia and some other learning problems. These problems caused me to “not be able to read past a certain level!” So, me and my parents would pray each night because I really wanted to read… not just read, but read Gods word! God answered those prayer. I can read fine! And you are reading this so, I can also write! 🙂 But, I still am terrible with shapes, left and right, and letters (mostly B and D)… like it is embarrassing sometimes. After everyone looks at you like you are an idiot and you being shy at times awkwardly saying “dyslexic moment” or I sometimes say “Blonde moment” with a very red face! All of that does not matter though, because everybody has flaws. Another thing I am thankful for is that He gave me purpose (He also gave you purpose!) He always new what my purpose was and now looking back I sorta new it too! This kinda goes with the first thing I am thankful for. Anyways, His purpose for my life is to write. Originally when I first got the idea to write I wanted to write a best selling fictional book with no mention of God; I wanted all the glory being the selfish person I can be at times. I thought that for me to write devotionals and bible studies was pointless. Anyways, I eventually gave up on the dreams of being a best selling author because I could not write past the first page with out the book being very lame! I believe that was God telling me “Hope, this is not what I called you to do.” Basically, after that I gave up on writing in general for a few years and that bothered me! I was going insane without writing! So, I made my Instagram  and would write little devotionals (those devotionals are now deleted). I still post on Instagram it is just a bit different now! And all that led up to posting on here where God has been calling me for…. well, nearly my entire life!

What Are You Thankful For?
I would love to here what you are thankful for so comment below if you would like to tell me!

Fruit of the Spirit Challenge: Temperance

We are on the last week of this challenge! So, lets just get started!

Devotional:
Temperance is self control. When we are angry we tend to act on that anger. We just say and act as we feel that anger. That is not how we should act. In Proverbs 29:11 it says only fools act that way. The wise will control their anger. Rather than act on it.

Every time my siblings and I get in a fight my mom tells us to pick our fights. We do not have to argue over everything. (I am sure your parents have said that too. If not I will say it for them). Being slow to anger shows great understanding. (Proverbs 14:29)

Ecclesiastes 7:9 tells us “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.” We should not rest on our anger.The only two things that have helped my anger in the past couple months is 1. find a key verse. 2. prayer.

My key verse is Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” Yes it does not have anger or self control in the verse, but it says teach me to do your will. To do your will reminds me God does not want me to be angry because that is not part of Gods will for my life. My prayer normally goes, “Dear Lord, help me with my bitterness, I do not want to feel this way. I want to love like you Lord. Teach me Your way. Amen.” I say bitterness because I do not have anger. I have bitterness. The difference between the two is that anger does not last as long as bitterness. My bitterness takes over some days. If I do not pray that prayer or one similar to it each day at least once, my bitterness becomes in control.

I really suggest you find your key verse and memorize it!

Dear Lord,
Keep me from anger. Give me self control. I know that anger is not what You want for my life… I do not want it either. Bring it out of my life. I can not take it out on my own. Thank you Lord.
Amen

Verses:
1. 2 Timothy 1:7
2.Proverbs 14:29
3. Psalms 141:3
4. 1 Corinthians 10:13
5. Proverbs 29:11
6. James 1:19
7. Ecclesiastes 7:9

Challenge:

1. Pray for self control
2. Find your key verse
3. Next time you are angry and need control pray and read your key verse
4. Right down what angers you and ask God to help you with it
5. Find a verse on self control
6. Apologize to someone you possibly hurt with your words out of anger
7. Pick a challenge to do from another challenge

Fruit of the Spirit Challenge: Faith

WE are now on week 7!! If you are new fill free to join week one is here. That link will also explain more about this challenge. 😉

Devotional:
Faith is believing in the unseen. It takes trust. We have faith if we believe in Christ. Putting our worries on Him and trusting He will take care of them. That is faith.

Matthew 6:25-34 tells us to not worry. When we worry it makes it harder to have faith! We need to always remember God is faithful. He takes care of the birds and He will definitely take care of you! He may not give you your wants, but He will provide you with your needs.

Matthew 14:22-36 When Peter walked on water with God. At first his eyes were on God and he was not worrying, but then the storms came and he took his eyes off God. That is when he fell and was no longer walking. That verse is a great reminder to keep our eyes on God. If we do not we will fall into the waters.
Dear Lord, 

Have my eyes to stay on you. Remind me to not worry about tomorrow. I know you will provide me with my needs. Thank you Lord.

Amen

Challenge:

1. Find a verse about faith
2. Pray about your faith
3. Write down your worries and ask God to take them away
4. Find a quote about faith
5. Pick something from another challenge to do this week
6. Create an acrostic from the word faith
7. Write down what faith means to you

Verses:
1. Ephesians 3:16-17
2. Hebrews 11:1
3. James 1:6
4. 2 Corinthians 5:7
5. Hebrews 11:6
6. John 11:40
7. Psalms 119:30

Fruit of the Spirit Challenge: Goodness

WE are on week 6!! If you are new to this challenge and would like to join or you are curious to what it is week one is here. Would love to have you join. 🙂

Devotional:
Goodness is your actions. It is how you act. Are your actions showing Gods light or are you dwelling in the dark? Goodness comes from the heart, because often how our hearts feel is how we act. Goodness is a readiness to do good when the time comes. Goodness does everything it can to show kindness.

Rebekah in genesis 24:15-20 is a good example of goodness. She gave the man something to drink when asked and she gave his camels something to drink without being asked.
WE need to be ready to help others as soon as an opportunity shows up. WE should always be kind and full of goodness. When we do good we need to remember to keep are attitude good because otherwise it does not really count.

Dear Lord,
Teach me to be full of goodness. Have me to be able to help others when ever I am given the chance. Have me to keep my attitude good when I help others. thank you Lord.
Amen
Verses:
1. Ephesians 4:32
2. Romans 12:9
3. Proverbs 19:22
4. Psalms 34:14
5. 2 Peter 1:5-7
6. Psalms 23:6
7.  1 Timothy 6:18

Challenge:
1. pray to God asking for guidance on goodness
2. write down a list of ways you can help others
3. help as many people as you can
4. seek to do good for others rather than them doing good to you
5. Do a random act of kindness
6. find a verse about being helpful/goodness
7. take a part of one of the challenges before this one.

Fruit of the Spirit Challenge: Gentleness

We are on week 5! Week one is here if you are new and would like to join the challenge. This challenge purpose is to help you grow in God. This week we are learning gentleness. So, let’s just get into the challenge!

Devotional:

Gentleness is in the way you speak and how you act. It takes patience to have gentleness. Honestly, I am not always very gentle when it comes to speaking; I just ramble whatever is on my mind when I am angry or upset.

I found a good definition for gentleness. It was: “Gentleness is a strong hand with a soft touch. It is a tender, compassionate approach toward others’ weaknesses and limitations. A gentle person still speaks truth, sometimes even painful truth, but in doing so guards his tone so the truth can be well received.”

We do not need to keep the truth from people by being gentle, but we need to have a way with our words that does not harm others. This can be very hard, I know. But, it takes a strong person to do such a thing.

When I ramble on in my anger I need to remember the verse Proverbs 15:1 which says “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” When I just ramble whatever I am feeling with out thinking about it, I stir up anger. That causes more drama than necessary. Harsh words are powerful. They stick with you like bubblegum when you fall asleep with it still in your mouth. It is disgusting. It can ruin you. But with God on our side, we have the power to stand up and be courageous. Although we do not have say in who says what about us, we do have power in what we say to/about others.

“To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.” -Titus 3:2 Do not speak bad of others! Like you have probably been told many times before “if you have nothing nice to say, do not say anything at all.” Yes, there may be something you do not like about someone, but that does not mean you need to give others reasons to hate. There is so much hatred in this world. We need to be the love in the world. We need to seek beauty. Yes, it will be hard and there will be days when all we see is the ugly of the world, but never give up.

Basically kind words are always the best option no matter how hard. It keeps you from bitterness, gossiping, hurting others, and it can bring you closer to God! Control your words, you cannot take them back. Your words can be toxic to others and
yourself. Gentleness shows strength, not weakness. It takes strength to keep yourself from saying harsh words.

 ^“Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” Philippians 4:5
Show the world Gods light by speaking kind words. Think before you speak. Be slow to anger as you speak.

Dear Lord,
I have been struggling with my words. I say the wrong words and stir up anger. Please bring me the strength to stop. Have those who I have hurt with my words forgive. Teach me to always speak kindly. I only want words of your love God. Thank you!
Amen

Verses:
1. Ephesians 4:2
2. Proverbs 15:1
3. James 3:5
4. Philippians 4:5
5. Proverbs 15:4
6. James 1:19-20
7. Titus 3:2

Challenge:
1. Find a quote that reminds you to be gentle with your words
2. No negative talk towards yourself or others all day
3. Pick a part from last weeks challenge
4. Live by a verse you find about being gentle
5. You pick
6. Pray to God asking for gentleness
7. Think before you talk

BTW After this challenge is over I am planning on changing my posting day. I do not know what day yet, but it will be changed.

Fruit of the Spirit Challenge: Longsuffering

Today we are starting week 4 of our challenge. This weeks challenge is Longsuffering (Patience). If you are new and would like to join the challenge here is week 1 of the challenge. It will also explain the challenge to you.

Devotional:
I know patience is hard to have sometimes. Like when you want something at that very second. We tend to want certain things to a point where we lose all patients and become very grumpy. (Well, I do anyways) When we feel God is not there with us, we get impatient and angry with Him. When we are under stress we get impatient. When we feel like there is no hope, we have lost all patients. God does not want us to feel that way. He needs us to be longsuffering.

If you read the story of Esther you will see her patience. She waited on the Lord to speak to her; instead of jumping right in and working on her own. If she would have done that everything could have gone the completely wrong way and her people could have died.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 When it comes to patience we tend to just go our own ways instead of waiting on Gods perfect timing. We should wait and listen for the Lord so we will not do the wrong things.

“Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.” – Isaiah 40:31 When you wait on the Lord you will find new strengths in what he needs you to do. He will have you do exactly what He needs you to do and will not harm you.

Dear Lord, 

I know I have been very impatient. Give me the strength to wait on your perfect timing. Help me to rest in your promise. Keep me from getting discouraged as I wait. Thank you Lord, I know things will happen in your timing. 

Amen

 

Verses: 
1. Psalms 37:7
2. Psalms 40:1
3. John 13:7
4. Proverbs 3:5-6
5. Romans 12:12
6. Isaiah 40:31
7. Jeremiah  29:11

Challenge:
1. Pray for patience
2. Find a verse about patience and live by it
3. Resist from going in your own directions; instead ask for guidance
4. Find a quote about patience and put it where you can see it each day
5. Choose a part of peace challenge and do that part again
6. Make a list of things that you struggle with patience over and pray about them
7. Make your own part to this challenge

 

Fruit of the Spirit Challenge: Peace

We are now on week 3 of the Fruit of the Spirit Challenge. Week 1 is here. We already covered love and joy. Now we are on peace.