Reflections Are A Must!

In today's hurried pace, we often neglect taking time to reflect on the past.  I mean who really wants to think about the past when you have so much to do given your family, job and other commitments. Unfortunately, failing to reflect on the past often leads to two challenges: 

1. We repeat the mistakes of the past because we use the same poor decision making process

2. We forget to recognize that God is in the picture and can help us make the right decisions

Reflecting on the past provides opportunity for us to recall our failures, not for the purpose of reliving the pain of the past, but to ensure we learn from it.  Failing to do so will result in finding yourself thinking, "I can't believe I did that again!"  The challenges of the past should always serve as learning opportunities to both help us grow and develop into the people God needs us to be.  Reflecting on what led to the mistakes will help develop new decision making processes enabling us to avoid a repeat of past mistakes. 

Reflecting on past also provides us the opportunity to recollect our past successes which remind us we are not alone, but under the watchful eye of our creator.  We are reminded he has brought us great successes, particularly in times where it seemed improbable.  His blessings remind us he loves us and wants to help us develop into the wonderful creation he intended us to be.  Learning to trust him with our descision making will help us align those decisions with His word ensuring we are making good decisions.  It reinforces His promise never to leave us or forsake us! 

Remember to make time to reflect on the past, it can help!  Just a little advice to go!  

Three Simple Steps to Christ

Sometimes, I feel it is critical to remind everyone of the three simple steps to take to walk with Christ.  They go something like this:

1. Accept Him - Accept him as your personal savior, Christ'a sacrifice provided the path of grace allowing for your sins to be forgiven and reconnecting you to God.  All of his blessings become available to you.

2. Love Him - Love Christ as your personal savior knowing that loving him means honoring him in all you do.  Live a life reflective of the love you have for him and the love he has for you.

3. Obey Him - Obey him by living according to his word.  Learning his word will help you navigate through life with the confidence that you will finish the race in victory.  Always remember his two greatest commandments:
Matthew 22: 37  The greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all you mind.  The second is found in verse 38, Love your neighbor as yourself.  

These three basic steps to Christ remind us of how easy it is to obtain salvation, let's remember them and make sure we are sharing them with others.  Just a little advice to go!

Why Not Me!

When we find ourselves going through a difficult time, we often question why it is happening to us.  If we are right with the Lord, we might even question how it could happen given our faithfulness.  If we are not careful, we can begin to formulate a pattern of thinking that focuses on questioning why me, versus proclaiming Lord why not me.  Yes, why not me the one who is faithful and serves a mighty God who can overcome all things.  Why not me, the one who knows that no weapon formed against me can prosper, that greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world, that if God before me, no one can be against me and that all I have to do is ask and he will respond.

Each difficult time sharpens us and prepares us for the next battle.  It teaches us not to flinch when the problem comes right at us, but to grab on to it and cast it down in the name of our mighty God.  He has already won the battle and we are prepared every day to be like him, a victor who proclaims why not me!  Just a little advice to go! 

The Pefect Guidance System

The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.  Yes, this is an idiom many of us are familiar with and can relate to.  A new year means planning ahead but also knowing those plans may go astray.  As believers, our confidence in the future stems from the knowledge of who our creator is.  We have the perfect guidance system as He is all knowing and all powerful.  He is the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega, the I Am who knows all things, and the one who will guide our paths in the new year.

Our heavenly father provides us the gift of his Holy Spirit which provides insight on to how to live.  He also provides His roadmap of wisdom, the holy scriptures.  When we set our hearts on patiently listening for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, read and immerse oursleves in scripture, and seek God's guidance for the future, we never fail. His desire for our success provides the perfect guidance system for living a blessed and fulfilling life.  All we have to do is Believe!  Just a little advice to go! 

God's Protection in 2016

My prayer for each of you is that 2016 be a safe and prosperous year that is full of God’s blessings. God’s love for us is so great that He ensures we are cared for.  In Psalms 18: 2 and 3 he offers us the following protections:

2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.  3  I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

God is our rock, impenetrable and able to obstruct danger from our path.  He is our fortress providing us with a place of safety surrounded by all the protections of His heavenly force.  He is our buckler, a shield standing between our bodies and any harm.  He is our horn of salvation, a resounding warning to all of the great power we carry within us.  He is our high tower, a stronghold within which we stand high above our enemies protected from their attacks.  

Remember God’s protection extends over each and everyone of his children and it will stand despite the storms and attacks we may face throughout the new year.  We are not exempt from the attacks of the enemies but we are protected by the one who loves us most, our heavenly father.  Happy New Year!  Just a little advice to go!