Starting your day off right!

They say to start the day off right you should have breakfast and do your gyming first thing in the morning to wake up your body and mind. 

Where does God fit in this? Shouldn't our first waking moments be spent with Him? In thought and prayer? Giving God the first moments of the day helps keep my priorities straight for the rest of the day. I can then start focusing on gym and breakfast. These 3 things together help wake up my mind, body AND SOUL! After all, is God not dwelling inside us?

Psalm 31:14

New King James Version (NKJV)

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”

Accepting the Father's love. Day 3 - Your Father protects you!

Isaiah 41:13
For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”

God has given us His word that He will protect us. What a comforting thought to know that it is The Lord God, the Almighty one, who holds our hand. God tells us to fear not because He is the one who helps us.

Deuteronomy 31:8
It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

God wants us not to worry because 1 He goes BEFORE us. 2 He will be WITH us. 3 He will NOT LEAVE us. 4 He will NOT FORSAKE us.
Therefore do not fear nor be dismay, God will take care of you.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Such a comforting thought. It gives me peace to know that God knows the plans of my life. He will protect me. He wants a future of hope for me.

Accepting your Father's love, Day 2

Accepting the Father's love. Day 2

Your Father delights in your existence.

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is in your midst,
 a mighty one who will save;
 He will rejoice over you with gladness;
He will quiet you by His love;
He will exult over you with loud singing.

This verse shows how God REJOICES over US with gladness, He will show US His LOVE and He will EXULT over US. Yes, our God does delight over us and our existence.

Because God delights in us, we can go to Him with ever care and concern we have. He wants us to delight and love Him just as how He delights and loves us.

Do you love God and want to spend time with Him?

Psalm 116
I Love the Lord

1 I love the Lord, because He has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because He inclined His ear to me,
therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”
5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, He saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For You have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
9 I will walk before the Lord
 in the land of the living.
10 I believed, even when I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 I said in my alarm,
 “All mankind are liars.”
12 What shall I render to the Lord
for all His benefits to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
14 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all His people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of His saints.
16 O Lord, I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all His people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in Your midst, O Jerusalem.
 Praise the Lord!

Don't hold back, enjoy what God has given you. Delight in Him so that you can gain His rewards!!!

Accepting the Fathers love. Day 1

Your Father wanted you to be born.

Isaiah 44:2
Thus says The Lord who made you
and formed you from the womb, who will help you:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
 Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

Isaiah 43:1
But now thus says the Lord,
 He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel:
 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
 I have called you by name, you are Mine.

I know for sure that God planned my birth because it says God formed me from the womb. I also learn that God will look after us, protect us and guide us if we do His will, because He loves us, because He has called us by our name and we are His.

The last 3 words in Isaiah 43:1 says "you are Mine."

God wanted us to be born so that we could become His children.

1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Look at all the benefits of becoming His child... We become a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and we can leave the darkness behind us. I become His special person.

I am CHOSEN. I am LOVED. God wanted me to be BORN.

Ephesians 1:4-5
4 even as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,

Again we can see God wanted us to be born. It was His plan right before He created the foundations of this world.

Accept His love because He wanted you to be here. It was His master plan right from the very beginning!

5 minute Friday on patience

And we back with our 5 minute Friday...

The word for today is "patience"...

And... GO!!!!

Wow... Right now I sit exhausted. I work with kids and lets just say they have kept me on my toes... Don't get me wrong, I love my job, it just doesn't take away that children tire you out!

Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. God tells me I have to practice patience.

I love it when God tells us to do something and He Himself has had to do it. For example Noah and building the ark. God had to be patient and wait for Noah to build the ark. For 40 years Noah had to show patience too while building the ark and waiting to see this thing called rain. God could have just said "let there be an ark for the Noah family." But He didn't. He sat waiting patiently for Noah to do what he had to do...

This brings me back to patience with working with kidlets...

When ever I cross a new stepping stone with a child eg: walking, potty training or teaching children to write or spell I need to remember that not only is patience a God given instruction, it's something I have to practice every single minute when I start getting frustrated that they are not doing it fast enough or the way I want them too...

STOP.

Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

James 5:7
 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.

I ran out of time, but I just wanted to finish off my thoughts...

These two verse just prove what I was saying. Sometimes I have to pray that God gives me patience to help me see the light at the end of the tunnel. Not just when I am working with kids... Sometimes when I am working with adults too ;) It is something that doesn't always come naturally... So to you, my readers, keep me in your prayers that when times get tough I remember to be patience and I too will pray the same thing for you.

Have a blessed weekend.

Much love through Him,
Trace

5 minute Friday on Friendship...

Welcome back 5 minute Friday...

The word for today is "friendship"...

And... GO!!!!

A specific friendship that comes to mind is David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18 through to 2 Samuel 1.

What it must be like to have a friend that would go against his father's will. Saul wanted David dead and Jonathan did everything in his power to help his friend. His soul and David's soul were really joined, for these two men shared such a special bond.

2 Sam 26
I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;
very pleasant have you been to me;
 your love to me was extraordinary,
surpassing the love of women.

What a deep friendship they had.

I hope you can all have a friend here on earth that you can treasure like how David and Jonathan treasured each other... And I hope that your relationship with our Lord and Savior runs deeper than that!

STOP!!!

I recently retread this story and I truly am in owe of how Jonathan stood up for David. If it wasn't for Jonathan, David would have been killed. And we all know Christ comes through David's blood line. So it was important to God that David lived, and I think Jonathan knew that.

Have a super weekend friends and stay safe... Always remember God, and what His will is!

In Him,
Trace

The Tower of Babel... We need God, that is what He wants!!!

Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Isn't it sad how right from the beginning of time man let God down? We see Adam and Eve disobeying God and how God told them that because they thought they could be like Him, they had to leave the garden... What made these people that tried to build this tower, think that God would allow them to be all knowing like He is?

How sad is it that God knows that "this is only the beginning of what they will do." How angry must God have been? I think maybe His anger (He sees that man will forever be seeking to be all knowing) turns to hurt when God sees that if man is all knowing, why would man need God anymore?

For me, the big lesson lies in not that God was angry or hurt about what was going on. For me the lesson lies in the fact that God made us to want and need Him. He wants us to talk to Him. To tell Him what is in our hearts. God also wants us to need Him. He needs and wants us to serve Him and love Him and OBEY Him. If we feel the need to not need God anymore, life will become hard. Who will we turn to if we don't have God anymore? Because #newsflash we will ALWAYS need God. That's the way He wants it to be and the way He designed it to be... If we are "so clever" why don't we see this?

God is our Creator...

Psalm 119:91 by Your appointment they stand this day, for all things are Your servants.

Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.

We are reminded over and over again in the scriptures that we were designed to need God...

Romans 8:28 and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

Mark 9:23 and Jesus said to him, "'if you can'! All things are possible for one who believes."

Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God."

If God is for us, who can be against us? Why don't we trust in God, in His council, in His wisdom and lean on Him instead of trying to be on His level? Thinking we can go on without Him!

I hope you are all blessed with a great week, what is left of it anyway ;)

In Him,
Trace