Keep Moving Forward and Don't Second-Guess God

My encouragement to you this week is whenever you think you’re not talented or smart enough, that you don’t have enough resources support, or that you should lower your expectations, return to God’s Word. God affirms he will supply ALL your needs according to his limitless resources. Remember what’s true and do not start second-guessing God.

Who told you that you weren't good enough for this or that? Who told you that you should lower your expectations and standards? Who told you that you would be nothing but average at best? Who told you to stop expecting the best out of this life? Who fed you these lies? But I think the more important question is "why do you believe any of those things to be true?" My guess is you have fallen into a rut. Maybe this rut has lasted a lot longer than you expected. Now it manifests itself in unhealthy thoughts, physical and/or emotional pain, and other avenues of negativity and pain. I really do understand. I really do. I will not say it is easy to be strong and to believe in the best. We are human but that doesn't mean God has lowered the expectation of you standing strong with God. That I know surely.

Remember Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged; the Lord is with you wherever you go". It may look bad or actually be bad but be strong and have some courage. Courage to take the steps that need to be taken. Have the courage to follow the Lord. I'm not saying the path will fall right into place automatically. Remember a mess is a mess. It takes effort to be cleaned up. It takes some work. The work may be light or it could be a bit more difficult. Focus on the outcome. Focus on the end result.

Most importantly, trust God has all the resources you need to move you out of the place of pain. You can't be like a boat that goes whichever direction the wind blows. You have to set course to the direction you want to go in and go forward with trust that you will arrive. You have to trust God will take you where you need to go. Unwavering faith. You have to have an immovable faith. If you don't, you can't/won't see all that God has for you. That's just the truth. People say they want to experience God, but you never will experience God going back and forth. Like with any relationship, you will never have a consistency if you treat the relationship and experience with that person with a lot of inconsistency.

Don't second-guess God. God makes promises to be with us always and to be with us wherever we go. You have to trust that even in the most difficult moments. That's how you grow to continually trust God and actually have a real experience God...Be Blessed... 

You're Hurting...Praise God Anyway...

My encouragement to you this week is REMEMBER in the midst of your challenges and losses, you can praise God! You can worship God because He is true to His Word. So go ahead and praise Jesus for the break-through before the break-through! Go on and worship God today with daring faith!

The hardest thing for anyone to do is to be positive about ANYTHING when they are in the midst of challenges. In times of challenges, we are often upset things aren’t going our way, disappointed things haven’t turned around when you would like, sad that it feels like you can’t get ahead, and just a plethora of other feelings which leave us feeling alone and hopeless. I think of the MANY times I have been so down that life has not gone the way I have wanted them to and man…rebounding back is tough.

BUT I am here to tell you that in the midst of all of the challenges, we can still praise God. I will not go into the cliché of saying that it could be worse, no matter how true that could be lol, to say you should just suck it up. I say that because I’m 99% sure that this isn’t your first rodeo with going through hard times. I’m 99% sure God delivered you before out of those hard times. I’m 99% sure you praised God and was ready to proclaim that God is such an awesome God. You do know that God that rescued you then is still the same God today? So yes, it is OK to praise God in the midst of your challenges. (Go ahead and do it now whether you in bad shape or not. I’ll wait)

You’re back? Cool. Felt good right? Lol. Anyway, I stress to you to get out the habit of praising God only when things are going great/good/ok. What type of allegiance or relationship is that if you can’t stick to God when things are rough? Things could be catastrophic but you do know God is still good? Right? Still good to you. Still good in your bad times. He is good period. If we say we have a relationship with God, then what sense does it make to only celebrate God when things are OK? Could a spouse remain married to their spouse if they only wanted to attend to their needs or be good to their spouse on their convenience? I suspect there would be a many failed marriages.

Another reason to praise God is because it is your responsibility! Psalms 34:1 “I will bless the Lord at all times...” All times. Not out on anyone’s convenience. It just doesn’t work like that. God is good right? God is/was faithful when you need/needed him correct? So why can’t we praise Him in the midst of our challenges? We are trusting Him to bring us through. Praise Him in advance! Praise Him because you KNOW that He will bring you out. Praise Him because you believe in His power. You have access to that power and will see that power. I promise you. He’s interceded for you when you didn’t deserve it so why wouldn’t God intercede for you when you need it? Make your requests known but praise Him before the blessing because you know it will come, even if it isn’t packaged the way you thought.