joseph4inspiration
joseph4inspiration
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joseph4inspiration · 5 hours ago
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(Psalm 43: 5)
Just because you're not warring against sin, doesn't mean you're not warring within.
On your Christian journey you will notice another conflict besides the one you have against sin, and it's the conflict with your emotions.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, you would think that Solomon was deeply depressed while writing.
Even in the book of Jeremiah, we see his battle with his emotions. In Jeremiah 20:11-13, he goes from giving God praise to utter dispair in verses 14-18. And I'm sure there are many, many others, if not everyone in the Bible who had battles with their emotions.
But the battle shouldn't end with our emotions getting the victory. Our hope in God should pull us out of dispair and into a willingness to continue our walk of faith.
Hope doesn't make a difficult time easier to handle, it just let us know that we don't have to be the ones handling it, because with God by our side the battle is His, not ours.
Even while waiting, we will have to put up with our emotions telling us one thing but faith telling us another. You know that God is going to move but on His time, but impatience starts talking telling you how much longer? why am I waiting anyway when you're God? I'm tried of all this waiting!, and before you know it aggravation has set in, depress has set in, anger has set in and even bitterness towards the plan of God.
Do you notice your feeling overwhelming your faith? Do you find yourself complaining to God for moving on His time? Do you find yourself snapping on others because your emotions are getting the best of you? If so, take a minute or two or three or ten to reason within yourself. Ask yourself why are you upset? You Know God is working things out so why are you upset?
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joseph4inspiration · 9 hours ago
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(Proverbs 3:5-6)
God is always speaking through His word. There are certain scriptures that touch our hearts deeper than others. Sometimes it's because they inspire us more, while other times God is using them as a lamp to guide our feet (Psalm 119:105).
For many of us (if not all of us), God has used Proverbs 3:5-6 to guide us into a closer relationship with Him. It's the instructions of these two verses (trusting in the Lord with all our heart, learning to not to depend on our own understanding; and acknowledging Him in all our ways). God wants us to learn before we enter into our next level.
Learning to acknowledge God in all our ways is very important for spiritual growth.
When we acknowledge Him in all our ways, we are reminding ourselves no matter the situation we should never let it come between our personal relationship with Him. We should instead use it to grow into a more deeper relationship.
We all have those areas in our lives where we fail to acknowledge God or not enough. For me. when I'm frustrated, I can get an attitude. I may not curse or throw things around, but I will retreat into myself. Those are the times when I don't pray like I should because I don't feel like it or I don't read the word like I should because I'm not in the mood. My frustration may not interfere with me and other people but it does interfere with my relationship with God. So it's an area where I'm learning to acknowledge God more.
Instead of getting frustrated in the 1st place, I now decided to make that a day of listening to my gospel music or reading the word; doing what is necessary to create an environment where God is being acknowledged over the frustration.
It's the areas where we don't acknowledge God like we should God is concerned about. And He will test us over and over until He begin to see that change in us.
Think about the areas in your life where you need to acknowledge God in. Once you recognize them make the effort to start giving yourself over to Him instead of into the situation.
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joseph4inspiration · 13 hours ago
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joseph4inspiration · 1 day ago
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(John15:16)
Sometimes we can make the mistake of thinking God started directing our paths once we came to Christ. But this was never the case for anyone.
Before anyone decides to accept Christ into their lives, God has to reveal Christ to them.
In Matthew 16:15 Jesus asked Peter who do you say I am? Peter said the Christ, Son of the living God (V.16). Jesus told him, "flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (V.17).
Even in the life of Moses, who was raised according to the customs of the Egyptians. Their customs (including belief systems) did not recognize Yahweh as the One true God.
Moses was only introduced to Him when He revealed Himself. But God had to first order Moses' steps out of Egypt into the wilderness.
Everything that happened in Moses' life was carefully orchestrated to bring him to one place - that burning bush (Exodus 3:2), and it was at that burning bush where he was introduced to the God of heaven and earth. Moses did not choose to know God, he was chosen to know God. We also see that regardless of your past, if God chooses you, He has a plan for you.
Moses went from a murderer to a great leader of God's people.
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joseph4inspiration · 1 day ago
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(1st Kings 11:9-10)
We should never take the things God tells us not to do or to stay away from lightly.
Whenever words of caution from the Lord are given to you, they should automatically be received as words of wisdom, because God is warning you in advance about areas of weakness in your life - weaknesses you may not even be aware of.
Solomon had great authority as king of Israel and great wisdom as a gift from God. He probably laughed at the idea of himself ever bowing down to a false god. After all, the One true God had appeared to him twice; he was even an eye witness as to how God protected his father, David.
Nevertheless God knew Solomon perfectly, and He knew there was something in Solomon's heart that if triggered, would turn him away from Him, and that trigger was the love of foreign women (1 Kings 11:1). It was with these ladies Solomon would let his guard down, which was a terrible mistake on his part because those women were into idolatry - the very thing God warned Solomon to stay away from.
Satan knows exactly the people and/or situations to tempt us with to get us off track and into disobedience. If we choose to heed his voice - to wander away from obeying the voice of the Lord, then off track and into disobedience is exactly where we'll end up.
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joseph4inspiration · 2 days ago
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joseph4inspiration · 2 days ago
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(Philippians 4:13)
One thing I've noticed about God is that when He wants you to learn something He deems to be important, He'll make you go through a situation where you WILL have to learn it, and often times that situation is painful.
When I say painful, I don't mean painful to the flesh, but rather painful to the mind. And when God was teaching me the understanding of this verse, my situation was no different.
I was going through a situation where God was moving me into a new season but that period of time just before a new season can be the most difficult.
For me it was stressful, I was constantly fighting thoughts of doubt, and it was a constant battle just to have inner peace. And for a while this was how my days went.
But one day I asked God if Christ is supposed to be my strength why do I feel so miserable as I battling within?
But He said just because Christ is your strength doesn't mean you won't feel the battles that's taken place in your life. It's the strength of the Lord that gets you through those battles [everyday] in spite of how your feeling.
There will be situations that God wants us to go through. We may not like how they make us feel mentally, emotionally, or even physically, but we can still get through it. We cannot let our feelings dictate the matter, because in spite of how we're feeling, we can still do ALL THINGS through Christ who is our strength!!!
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joseph4inspiration · 3 days ago
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joseph4inspiration · 3 days ago
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No matter how your day went today, God is working on your behalf, causing all things to work together for your good. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it, that I know personally; but believe me, God is determined to get you to where He promised to take you! He's looking over you right now, determined to bring His word to pass in your life - opening doors and making all those crooked places straight.
So don't you dear give up, not after you made it this far. After all, God has already declared you victorious.
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joseph4inspiration · 3 days ago
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(Matthew 18:18)
Negative thoughts are something we all have to deal with. A lot of negative ways are the result of negative thoughts, so if we allow those thoughts to go unchecked, those ways will surely continue.
We must realize in our minds when the enemy is at work and resist him. We must take those thoughts he's trying to sow in our minds and bind them (tie them up) so they can no longer continue to grow into those negative ways we know don't please God and aggravates us. But we cannot stop with just binding them up, we must also loose positive thoughts in our minds, like the Word of God and the promises of God. This isn't something we are just supposed to "try". We must be consistent at changing the way we think, no matter how many times we fail or get discouraged. This must become a new mental practice for us, until the thoughts you loose becomes more real and more powerful than the thoughts you bind.
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joseph4inspiration · 4 days ago
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joseph4inspiration · 4 days ago
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(Acts 1:6)
Sometimes when we're waiting to enter into our new season, we look for what we rehearsed.
In our anticipation, we imagined how things would happen and from there we made our own plans.
And sometimes, because we only look for what we imagined, we can find ourselves blind to the path that is actually God's plan.
The disciples had plans about what they thought would happen immediately following the death and resurrection of Christ. They thought that following the resurrection would come restoration, but God's plan was for the resurrection to usher in salvation.
This is why it's so important to always pray for direction and believe by faith in God's plan.
He may have you do something that is the opposite of what you were thinking, but His plan will always prove to be better than what you were hoping.
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joseph4inspiration · 5 days ago
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joseph4inspiration · 5 days ago
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(2 Timothy 1: 7)
Never let fear rule in your heart - don't even make a place for it. As children of the living God we are supposed to reject the fear tactics of the enemy, because we know that greater is He that is within us, then he that's in the world (1st John 4:4).
Fear comes in many forms and has become so popular now days that it has convinced millions of people that they are stuck with phobias, anxiety disorders, low self-esteem, the list goes on.
The devil is not only a liar, he is a deceiver and he is using fear to control the minds of many.
Am I saying that there are things we will never fear? Of course not. But fear should never control us. The enemy should never be able to use fear as a weapon that he knows we will bow out to.
Is there a fear in your life that's giving you trouble? Keeping you from enjoying your life the way God intended for you to?
You may have been bound by fear but start stepping out in faith and do the things fear convinced you not to. Even if things go wrong the 1st time, the 2nd time or the 3rd time, keep stepping out in faith. There's a breakthrough of freedom in store for you!
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joseph4inspiration · 5 days ago
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(Matthew 6: 33)
Make sure your first priority is God, not His rewards. It's easy to confuse the two, especially when you're in situations you want out of. God knows the things we so desire - that includes the situations we want changed, but those things will be taken care of when God sees that He's priority number one.
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joseph4inspiration · 6 days ago
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joseph4inspiration · 6 days ago
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(Jeremiah 29:12)
No matter what's going on in your life, make sure you are praying daily.
A prayer life isn't only necessary when you want God to pour out a blessing, it's also necessary when you need wisdom, strength, and understanding.
Even during desperate times, we need to find a way to get to God in prayer. It's during desperate times we tend to get trapped in our emotions - we may be upset with God for how things are going for what seems like His lack of action. But it's during these times we have to get to God and communicate with Him in prayer and ask Him to help us during these difficult times.
Even when going into a new season, we often experience a period of transition just before we enter that new season. It can be very difficult to endure as God is bringing you forward but spiritual attacks from the enemy are trying to keep you where you are or make you give up. But it's during these periods that prayer is the most powerful weapon we have.
The Bible tells us that Jesus taught His disciples that they are to always pray and never give up (Luke 18:1). This lesson is one we need to keep in mind everyday as we walk this Christian journey.
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