If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. -Psalms 66:18

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. -Psalms 66:18

    How do we have God answer our prayers? Well stated in this Psalm, one way is to make sure our hearts are pure, making sure we are not harboring sin in our hearts. 

    The Lord wants us to live a holy life, one where from the inside out our lives are in accordance to His word. Yes, we will make mistakes but it's the getting up, learning from sins and being convicted of those sins that are what's important. Everything about us has to be pure so that when we come to the Lord in prayer, He will hear our cries. 

     The rewards of the righteous and holy are laid out in scripture. Let us strive to bring our lives in accordance with God's word daily.

May God continue to strengthen you in your daily walk with Him. God bless you.

Remain in me, as I also remain in you John 15:4

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. - John 15:4

     To abide means to stay, to remain. Jesus wants us to be dependent on Him, rely on him, trust Him, keep our focus on Him and when we do that He will abide in us. When He abides in us He will guide us, keep us, and make sure we have everything we want and need- just like the vine nourishes the branch so it can bear fruit.

     We cannot bear fruit unless we remain in His word daily. His word joins us to Him and He is able to speak to us through His word therefore growing in Him daily. Just like a fruit, the more nourishment it gets, the more it grows. The more nourishment we get - the more we read the bible and apply it to our lives, the more we grown in Christ and know what He requires of us. 

     Let us abide in the Lord so that He may abide in us. God bless you and may you continue to be stayed in Him.

If this was a blessing to you, share it with someone. Thank you.

You are my God! Psalms 140:6

I said to the LORD: “You are my God; Hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD. - Psalms 140:6

       Sometimes we have to declare to the Lord where we stand with Him truthfully. In this Psalm, the declaration of  "You are my God!" signifies that there is no other god I worship or I have faith in to answer my prayers than the Lord All Mighty! As believers, we know this to be the truth, we know this to be fact and when we walk with God, we in turn have to declare our faith in Him.

      Our Lord is the only one who can give ear to our supplications and answer our prayers.

Meditate on this scripture today and declare to the Lord that He is your God, the one who listens to you when no one else does and the one true God who is able to answer your prayers like no other god can.

Be blessed.

I AM Poem by Helen Mallicoat

I was regretting the past

And fearing the future.

Suddenly my Lord was speaking:

“My name is I Am.” He paused.

I waited. He continued,

When you live in the past

With its mistakes and regrets,

It is hard. I am not there,

My name is not I WAS”.

When you live in the future

With its problems and fears,

It is hard. I am not there.

My name is not I WILL BE.

When you live in this moment,

It is not hard. I am here.

My name is I AM.

Be anxious for nothing Philippians 4:6

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; Philippians 4:6

      I get anxious sometimes to the point where I get sick. It interferes with my sleep and it's sometimes the only thing on my mind. Has anyone ever felt that way or experienced anxious symptoms? Let me tell you, it is not a good feeling. I have to find ways to calm myself and one way is reading scriptures that remind me that nothing is worth being anxious about - nothing. But with everything, prayer, supplication and thanksgiving are the mediums by which we can let God know what we want and we have to trust and have faith that He will take care of it. 

     Throughout scripture God reminds us

Forgetting those things which are behind...Phillippians 3:13

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Phillippians 3:13

      Paul states that he does not count himself to have apprehended or grasp fully all the things that Christ asks of him.  However one thing that he knows for certain that he does is forget those things that are behind him and strive for those things that are ahead.

      It's hard to move forward if you are stuck in the past. It's hard to strive for perfection if you continue living in the past where you were not so perfect, which is the story of Paul and so many of us. Paul knew that in order to move forward to do those things that he set out to do after being convicted, he could not keep bringing up the past, he had to forget the past.

      Remembering the past ills, actions etc is not conducive to progress. Forgetting them and having your eyes on what is ahead and striving for those things is what is. 

    May God strengthen you on your journey to forgetting the past and reaching for those things that are ahead. God bless you. 

But We Will Remember The Name Of The LORD Our God

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
But we will remember the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7

Chariots and horses were used in battles and war and persons relied on them as a means of gaining victory. Therefore they trusted in those things to bring them victory. But King David is reminding us that although this is true to some, we will remember the name of the Lord our God! 

    Why will we remember the name of the Lord our God? When we remember His name, we will remember He is our true defense against battles and wars. He is the one who can give us true victory over all that come against us. So while others trust in things that they think will make them victorious, we will trust in God where our true victory lies. The name of the Lord is that powerful. Praise God!