From Pity to Praise

Don’t Leave God Out Of Your Plans

“Today or tomorrow let’s go into the city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit. Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, if the Lord eillsm we will both live, and do this or that. But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting us evil. To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin” -James (Jacob) 4:13-17.

In the Bible James English Bible, the book of James is the Same as the book of Jacob in the Greek. For this post I will use James.

James emphasizes the truth that a life of faith is one of daily dependence on the Lord. Our day-to-day planning must always be done with the awareness that our minutes, hours, and days are subject to the will of the Lord.

When you’re asked about your dreams, plans, and goals for the future. What type of answer do you give? Whether it’s completing education, getting married, getting a new car, or getting rich, do you interpret life in spiritual consideration, salvation, spiritual growth?

Too many people place empathy in all the wrong places when they think about the future and what they will do with their lives. James rebukes the arrogance and self-sufficiency that characterizes people and describes life as a most that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Then adds our attitude at all times must be, to do as the Lord wishes to reach our goals with the blessings of God.

These words are not intended to minimize the need for planning and preparation for each day of our lives, but to stress the overriding importance of living each day in dependence on the Lord. James asks the question, “What is your life?” And then help to answer it.

We all have plans for our lives. How can we be sure that we plan our lives and live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God? James tells us how to look at life in a Godly way, but he also tells us about three problems to avoid.

1. The folly of the future. The problem with Presumption -James 4:13

2. The frailty of life -James 4:14

The second truth we see in this scripture is the fraility of life. “Why, do you not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanish away.

3. Faith is the only way to live -James 4:15-26

There is to be fervency of obedience. Anyone, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it sins.

These are some things I wish I had known these things earlier in my life. To commit your future to God is wisdom well beyond some people’s years.

We must learn to give primary emphasis to God’s will for our lives and to His divine destiny to have a blessed life.

Overcoming Fears

What fears have you overcome and how?

Fear is a normal reaction that warns our bodies to be careful. But when fear and anxiety become a pattern they become a problem. But it doesn’t help if we ignore them. Fear can cause harm our physical and mental stability.

My greatest fear I had to overcome was people judging me. My mother told me what I horrible person I was every day. I began thinking I was and that everyone would judge me like she did.

So I learned to stay away from people as much as possible. And when I had to be in public I was silent.

I overcame this fear by focusing on who God says I am, self-love, and changing my perspective.

The Intervention of The God Of Possibilities

The Bible is full of accounts of intervention of the God of possibilities. Because people are not self-sufficient, we will continue to need intervention that only God can offer.

The situations when we need God’s intervention include,

When all hope seems lost
When the help of a person fails us
When life becomes meaningless
When we don’t know what to do
When resigning to fate becomes our only available option

God is an ever present help in our times of need. He is always willing and able to help us if we call on Him for help. The one who calls on God must believe that God is who He says He is. His Word says He is able to do the unthinkable and unimaginable, far beyond the limitations of man.

Even though God is able and willing to make the impossible happen, sadly, many still languish in impossibilities. This is because,

They fail to call on God
They call on Him without believing in Him
They do not know that God can make their impossibilities possible
They are not patient enough to wait on Him
They want God’s intervention in their own way
They are living a sinful life
They are not willing to accept and embrace that the truth will set them free
They want God to act like man
They seek God with their lips, not their heart

The intervention of the God of possibilities is not for everyone. It is for true believers who have surrendered their lives to God by repenting and saying no to unrighteousness. This may seem impossible but nothing is impossible with God on your side.

When we ask God for forgiveness and live daily as a sacrifice to God and worship Him we can be transformed through daily renewal. (Romans 12:1-2). God’s intervention comes to those who is willing to walk in the Holy Spirit and do not desire to fulfill the desire of their flesh. To become qualified for God’s intervention we have to die to our old ways.

One Thing That Brings Joy To My Life

Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.

One thing that brings joy to my life is my children. As a mother, my main job was to teach my children how to be successful adults. It brings me joy to spend time with them, and being around them and watching them flourish.

Receiving A Miracle

Most of us do not know how to receive a miracle from God. We need to grab ahold of miracles and make them happen. Believing God’s Word is the most important step to receiving a miracle. We do not naturally grow up believing in God. It takes renewing our minds. Finding what the Bible teaches, we can plant the Word of God and begin to experience our own miracles.

We all need the supernatural intervention of God at some point in our lives. The problem is that most people don’t know how to receive it. God wants us to have the best.

The Bible tells us how to reach out and take hold of God’s power. We need the supernatural power of God to flow through us.

What do you do when you pray and don’t see your miracle immediately? God’s Word tells us to believe that we receive what we pray. Things are happening in the spiritual world, but it’s up to you to bring your miracle into physical manifestation.

Faith is the key that brings your miracle into the physical. God has given everyone the same measure of faith, but unbelief can counter that faith. Knowing who you are in Christ Jesus will help you put faith into action.

The best advice is don’t wait until a storm hits to learn how to believe God for a miracle. During a storm, emotions can cancel out your faith.

When God healed the blind man Bethsaida by first spitting on his eyes and then touching them He told Bethsaida not to go back into the village. I wonder why if he was healed would Jesus not want him to tell everyone. This is my personal theory, I think if Bethsaida had gone into the village he would have met with doubters and lost his healing.

A miracle is a supernatural intervention of God in a crisis situation. A blessing is still God’s power, but it flows through natural channels. If you live your life from one miracle to the next, you will live your life from crisis to crisis. It’s better to be blessed with good health than to always need divine healing. God’s will for us is to always walk in blessing.

We all need a miracle at some point to jump-start our faith. If it weren’t for miracles, we wouldn’t grow to the point where we could walk in the blessings of God. Most of us believe that God does miracles, but simply believing God is able to do this is not enough. We must know how to receive it.

Many people just wish and hope it happens. They think there is no way to grab a hold of a miracle and make them happen. That’s not what the Bible teaches.

God is predictable and orderly. He doesn’t do one thing this time and another thing another time. God created this world and everything physical around us. If we believe this then we can believe He does miracles. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And He is forever faithful.

Gravity says that if you jump off a building you will be killed. If you cooperate with God’s laws, you will be fine. If you ignore those laws, you can be killed by the laws intended for your good. It is the same with the spiritual laws of God.

To receive miracles we must first recognize that miracles are not just hit and miss. You can tap into a miracle. You can learn the laws of God and how they work, then miracles will work. I am not saying you can push a button and God pops out or you can make God do whatever you want. I’m saying God is turned on all the time and any time, you get turned on, you can see the power of God operate. God is always wanting to move in our lives -on our behalf. God is always good.

God’s desire is for you to prosper (Psalm 35:27). God’s will is for you to be healthy (3 John 2). God’s will is for you to be above and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:14).

You are the one who controls God‘s ability in your life. God doesn’t. It is God’s power and His ability, but it’s us to you. Ephesians 3:20 says,

“Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is in us.”

Most people leave off the last part, “according to the power that is in us.” If there is no power in us, we can stop God’s intervention in our life. God has chosen to never violate our will. God has chosen to flow through us. Satan cannot stop God’s power, but we can. God wants us to have a miracle, but we have to stop waiting and start believing.

Most people put prayer above all everything and believe that if we pray, it will happen. But prayer is like water or fertilizer that you put on the seed. Without planting a seed, watering it is useless. If God moved by need, every person’s need would be met. Those in the worse situations would get their needs met first. That is not true.

We must plant a seed, which is the Word of God. 1 Peter 1:23 says,

“Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, through the Word of God, which lives and remains forever.“

When we are born again in Christ we are born of incorruptible seed, which means by the Word of God. The word “seed” in this scripture means “sperm.” We are born of a supernatural union and the seed of the Word of God.

If you plant wheat, you get wheat. If you plant corn, you get corn. These are the laws of the universe. Everybody agrees with that in the natural; but when it comes to spiritual things, most people don’t believe that.

If we aren’t reaping what the Word of God says, we haven’t planted what the Word of God says to plant. We reap what we did. If God’s Word is primary in our lives, we are going to get results from the Word of God. That doesn’t mean satan won’t try and fight us and we won’t have problems. Satan may fight us, but in the end we will win. To many of us, we know this intellectually, but in our hearts, there is fear or reservation. We don’t have an absolute confidence that God’s Word will prevail in our lives. Romans 8:6 tells us,

“For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God, it is not subject to God’s Torah.” (Bible)

If all we think about is the Word of God, that’s all we will get. We might not be thinking I want to be sick, but our thinking has been sick. Proverbs 4:22 tells us that the Word of God is, “life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.”

When God wanted to bring Jesus into the world, He couldn’t just create Jesus. God gave all authority over the earth to man. God did not rule directly over the affairs of the earth. After man blew it. God couldn’t come down here and intervene. He had to work through man. God was looking for a man to flow through Bum, but couldn’t find one, So He had to come Himself (Isaiah 59:16).

In Mary, the Word of God was the seed. Everything else about the birth was natural. God spoke that miracle into existence. Every one of us has that spiritual place where the Word of God enters and the seed grows, and we receive this miracle that happens as a gift through someone else faith. We cannot depend on someone else faith to create a miracle. We need to be able to conceive a miracle and bring forth the fruit.

When I was saved it was someone else faith that planted the seed in me. It’s impossible to have a miracle without planting the Word of God.

We can’t rush to plant our wheat until someone else wheat is about to harvest. That’s not how it works. You can’t sow a crop when you want a crop. Some want a crop but haven’t planted the seeds. There is a time for sowing and a time for reaping (Galatians 6:9).

We don’t just naturally grow up believing in God. It takes renewing our minds. We must learn and meditate on God’s Word so that it becomes so living and acting on the inside of us that we see the fruit from the seeds we’ve planted in us.

We cannot be upset with God when we don’t receive our miracle. We have to spend time planting the seeds to receive the crop we want. If God’s Word is planted in our hearts, we will receive the crop, no matter what we feel. God’s Word will produce a miracle.

Unplugging And Winding Down

How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

Unplugging. I do not take phone calls or texts after 9:00 at night. I usually spend about an hour reading my Bible before bed. I unwind by taking a long bath or shower and listening to relaxing music.

If I am unable to sleep I use Jewish meditation techniques or if I have trouble sleeping J listen to bed time Psalms and pray.

Settling down with a few relaxing activities tells your body it’s time to sleep. If you do them every night around the same time it becomes easier to get the rest you need.

Knowing God’s Character

It’s easy to trust God when events in our lives are going well. But what about when things are difficult and painful? We can lose our faith and walk away from Him.

Trusting God is easy to say but rarely as easy to do, especially when our lives are tough. Still, God gives us plenty of reasons to put our faith in Him.

Sometimes we struggle with trusting God during certain seasons of our lives. But it’s equally true that God is absolutely trustworthy. His character demands it. There is no way He can be unreliable, irresponsible, or misleading.

When we get to know God’s character and the attributes that comprise His nature, we bolster our faith in a real and lasting way.

The Bible tells us about God’s promises. His promises bring us hope. But those promises are only hope if we can trust the one making them. We need to understand who God is before we can take comfort and encouragement from His promises.

Knowing God’s character is critical to maintaining hope during our most difficult seasons. When we understand God’s character we will not be tempted as often to question God’s trustworthiness. It comes down to developing a deep understanding of who He is.

The very essence of God is unchanging, all loving, all holy, and all just. He cannot lie and can never fail. His sovereign all-powerful nature assures us that He can lead and guide our lives perfectly.

Its easy to trust God when our days going by without dread or something amazing happens to us. But it’s harder to trust Him when our life becomes hard or messy.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 says,

“Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth, for I delight in these things, says the Lord.”

A person’s character will necessarily be determined by the character of the god who he worships. A person’s entire life is affected by who or what they worship.

Qualities Of A Good Friend

What quality do you value most in a friend?

I definitely believe that quality is better than quantity when choosing friends.

I want to be able to rely on their support and encouragement. Someone I can share my thoughts and feelings with no fear of being judged. Trustworthiness, honesty, and dependability are good traits to have.

I do not sugarcoat lies for anyone. I believe that if you have something to say, say it. And I expect people to be honest. I’ve said before I have trust issues because of the experiences in my life. I need trustworthiness, honesty and compassion because I do not waver on those things in friendships.

The basic goal in any friendship or in life in general is, to “treat people the way you want to be treated.”

Mourning Into Dancing

“You have turning my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness“ -Psalm 30:11

This Psalm is such a beautiful promise for us. You may already have seen this verse in action in your life.

I have seen God turn my mourning into dancing. Throughout my life, I have had more than a few tragedies play out and I have also seen the most unexpected miracles.

God turns sorrows into joy

When David wrote Psalm 39 he had been going through a painful time. He had Ben weeping and crying out to God for mercy. God heard his prayers and turned David’s garment of sorrow and exchanged it for clothes of joy.

The joy that David experienced was the joy of a righteous God walking with him during and after his trial.

David had many problems with sin and enemies. He had times of distress and discouragement and he had times of sickness. Sometimes his burdens were so heavy that he cried through the night. David tells us in Psalm 30:7 that God hid His face from him for a time but then David sought God’s mercy and God exchanged his mourning for joy.

Turning mourning into dancing

God has the power to turn your mourning into dancing. He yearns to see you have the joy He has promised us. He wants to give you beauty for your ashes.

But in order to do this He needs us to trust Him with our circumstances and pain.

He needs us to have expectant faith that He can change our circumstances. I will be the first one to tell you that it’s not easy. When you’ve been hurt so many times and you feel like you can not trust anyone. It’s lonely and sad. But God is not like man, He keeps His promises and our secrets.

While you are waiting for things to change, do what David did. David sang and danced. When we do this you will find joy rushing in as you. do because you will be reminded that God is the God of the impossible. He alone has the power to cause transformation in your life.

God can change everything when you commit your situation to Him. You will find the strength to trust God with all your concerns – no matter how hopeless it seems.

“We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them“ -Romans 8:28

A Strong Foundation

The foundation of a building is the element that connects it to the ground. It’s located at the bottom of the construction, in direct contact with the soul, and acts to transfer loads safely from the building to the ground. Foundations provide structural stability and support to the building.

You can of course build a house without a foundation but the simple truth is it won’t stand for very long. Historically, houses without foundations have tended to be simple affairs, built around the earth floor which weren’t designed to last.

The same is true with our lives. If our foundations were weak, we would not stand during tough times. 1 Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that with is laid which is Jesus Christ“ Any foundation has to be unbreakable and unshakeable. A walk that will withstand the storms, the trials, the challenges, and every other thing that the Enemy will bring our way. A firm foundation is absolutely mandatory.

One of my favorite parables is in Matthew 7:24-27,

“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who has built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house and it fell -and great was its fall.”

Before one can even build a firm foundation in their life, they have to know who Jesus is and what He has done and this must be firmly engraved on the tablets of our hearts to ensure growth in the things of God.

I think about the years I did not know Jesus and remember I was a mess, in my life. Every time a trial or challenge came I would fall apart. During covid, I have seen so many people in fear and distress. People fighting in stores over toilet paper or food or others not wearing a mask.

It is through Jesus and His finished work on the cross that we have been brought into this life through faith in His blood. He is the reason that we are and all that we are and all that we will ever be, rests on Him.

I know that “if I get Jesus wrong, it doesn’t matter what I do right.” If a firm foundation in Christ is to be built, a love for the Word of God must be nurtured, to order to be in proper handling of our life that the Bible must be used as our instruction manual.

Unless these two dynamics are in place one’s life will be like the tower in Italy (the Leaning Tower of Pisa). And be subject to leaning and sinking.

Psalm 119 tells us with certainly the essential place and need for God’s Word on our lives and a firm foundation.

Armed with the powerful truth of my work in my foundation Jesus had stamped on my heart an unconquerable trust making Him my foundation, and coupled with a love for His Word, which nourishes me daily and makes my foundation stronger.

“My soul follows close behind Him and His right hand upholds me” (Psalm 63:8).

Employment

What jobs have you had?

I began working right out of high school. My first job was working at the college in my town. I worked at a dinner line in the cafeteria feeding athletes.

I worked a nursing assistant for many years and both nursing homes and then worked home health as well as hospice.

After I got married I worked at a local clothing store until I began pregnant.

After having my children I returned to the clothing store until we were on our feet financially.

I raised my children, and when they moved out of the house. I chose to volunteer at a veterans organization which I ended up doing for 14 years in total helping our community veterans.

During this I began a facilitator for a mental health group after receiving my certification.

I worked at a thrift store that used it funds to help addicts to go rehabilitation centers to get off drugs.

All in all I’ve had many jobs in my life. But the one that made me to proudest was taking care and teaching my children good morals and values and how to live successful lives.

I have had a host of different jobs that all taught me something different about life.

Practicing Religion

Do you practice religion?

I don’t practice religion. Religion is following mankind’s list of rules and will never get anyone into heaven. Jesus never told us to dress a certain way or obey’ man’s rule. The Pharisees and the Sadnesses were so busy following rules that they missed Jesus as the Messiah when they were face to face with Him.

I have found if I use the Bible as the instruction manual I will live well. And have a personal relationship with God as He intended us to have.