Power Through God

I received this encouragement from a friend and I want to share it with you!
Blessings~ Savannah

In Psalm 51 David cries out to God to cleanse him from all his dirty sin...to wash away all his guilt and to make him pure. David felt the dirtiness that we feel when we as humans sin against God. For me personally when I commit a sin against God, the whole day becomes drear and I feel in hopeless despair. This is when Satan attacks. "You sinned today already, why don't you just make the best of it And do all the sinful things you want. Tomorrow will be a new day then you may begin fighting to be pure before God again." And when I hear those temptations I feel all hope is lost. I just want to give up! But let me tell you something for encouragement. By being tempted, that means you have a stronghold in Christ. Satan may feel like he is losing his grip on a certain area of your life. Whether it be anger towards people, being judgmental of others, or the most powerful one that has torn down our nation today, sexual sin. If you are facing fierce strong temptations then I encourage you to look up at God with tears in your eyes and a glorious smile on your face and say, God thank you so much for giving me this struggle! When I overcome I know I will be stronger then ever before. And I also know that the very fact that I am struggling means u r still in my life. I want to win God but I need your help. Will you please help me to escape this temptation right now before I sin?" If you sincerely ask God to help you, He WILL be faithful as he promises in His word. I by no means have authority to tell you all these things. I get knocked flat often, but I have a Great Big Powerful God who is well able to help me conquer any battles I may face. It is all a matter of building a relationship with Him. So often we set all kinds of rules for ourselves and we can't figure out why they don't work. Its because nothing will work without a better relationship with Jesus Christ! If we pursue that, He will give us the strength to abide by our own rules to overcome struggles. We can't do this on our own. God designed us to look to HIM as our creator and lover to live a life of holiness!

Do Your Leaves Change Color?

Another lesson from nature!

In church, for a devotional, our brother talked about trees! He talked on how they change their leaves in the fall. If you don't know or have forgotten, when leaves receive less sunlight the chlorophyll breaks down. Chlorophyll is what gives the leaf its green color. So without chlorophyll the leaf starts to show the color underneath and that is how we get beautiful fall colors. The point of the devotional was, are we always focused on God that we stay green and don't die. I loved what he said and he then went on to give ways that we can stay green, it was a good life application. But I want to take it in a different direction. 

As Christians we need the Sonlight to be able to live. We need constant communion with God to be able to shine for Him and to show others His glory. Here's just some of my thoughts. When we don't have that communion with God, we don't have personal devotions with Him, we skip Weds night service, we don't guard our hearts and minds of impure thoughts or words, we start to let the "chlorophyll" break down. We begin to let our colors change. 

I know some people who put facades on and lived their life looking like a beautiful green tree. When they started to walk away their 'leaves' began to lose their color. When I began to see their true heart, their 'leaves' or outside appearance began to change and become ugly. Eventually these people become dead, bare trees with nothing to shine forth. If we are true and our hearts are pure then there will never be a time where our leaves begin to change. When we love God and focus on Him our bright green leaves shine out for people to see. When you go down the road what do you notice? A beautiful green tree or a dead tree?

How do you stay green? For me it's those daily devotions, prayer at anytime of the day, guarding my eyes and ears of profanity (a hard one to do in this society). Having your focus completely on God is not always an easy task. I fail every day with trying to keep myself pure and right with God. There are days that some of my leaves change color and I have to take care of that and fix that area in my heart so that I can shine forth again. Sometimes in my Spiritual walk I die. I go all out to do anything but what God wants. But thank Jesus, He is able to forgive and restore dead trees when they come back and ask Him to. He gives me new life that I am eternally grateful for.

We are all human, at one point or another our "leaves" will change color. I pray that you will have the strength and courage to go to God and ask for forgiveness and get that area and those problems fixed and that God would restore your soul unto Him.
Blessings~ Savannah

Growing in your Jungle

Something I have observed, I don't think there is any life truth we learn that cannot be learned through nature.

A brother in our church had devotions and he said that he and his son went hunting on a new property. He said there was a tree that was on one side of a fence that ran along the property. It grew up the height of the fence and then curved over top of the fence, ran parallel to the ground only a few feet off the ground and then at a 90* angle and shot straight up towards the sun. He asked "What are we willing to do to reach the light of God?" How far are we willing to go to reach God's love and grace? Are we willing to bend and and twist and go in any direction to grow and stretch? Do we climb over 'fences' so that we can hear what God has to say to us through His Word and others? 

I am guilty of not doing all I can to receive what God has for me. I need to be willing to do whatever I can to get to the light. Hard times, valleys, struggles, they aren't easy. It's just like that tree going along the ground to get to the light. Sometimes I have to go down and I struggle that it makes the light so much more enjoyable. Struggling through something is not easy at all. It is hard and difficult. We look ahead and see a steep mountain, stress, headache, financial crunching, whatever it is and we don't want to face it. But if you look behind you, you will see a row of mountains. That's where you've came from. Those are the things God has helped you through to overcome. He WILL get you through this and back again in the light!

Seeds fall in a jungle, they land in the dirt and they begin to grow. It's how we get new trees and bushes. Sometimes the already mature trees and plants are so big and overpowering that they block the sunlight and all the factors that the seed needs to be able to grow. When this happens that seed will either die, or it will struggle to survive. That is how we get cool and neat looking trees that grow at weird angles because they need to get to the light. Are you going to die or live in your current jungle? Stretch, reach and make it to the top and see what all you've overcome to get here or wither and die without even trying? God wants us to live, to stretch and to grow for Him. Prayer, Bible reading, fellowship with other believers, these are the keys to having that life for God. 

I pray that whatever you are struggling with, you would look to God and reach and stretch to find His grace and love!

Blessings~ Savannah