Tag Archives: encourage

Proverbs Reading – Chapter 11

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The Purpose of Proverbs is to impart wisdom for godly living.

Solomon’s fathering advice to young people and all who seek wisdom will greatly benefit from these wise words.   Discover the source of wisdom, the value of wisdom and the benefits of wisdom.   Proverbs gives practical suggestions for effective living.   They should call a person to action.  The verses tell how you can live in close relationship to Him and offers positive advice that helps you to make good and righteous decisions. –  notes of the Life Application Study Bible

PROVERBS 11

I hope your reading the chapters with me.

“The day of wrath” refers to when we die or to the time when God settles accounts with all people.  On judgment day, each person will stand alone, accountable for all of his or her deeds.  At that time, no amount of riches will buy reconciliation with God.  Only our love for God and obedience to him will count. (Life Application Study Bible)

This chapter continues to speak about the consequences of the righteous and the wicked.  Whether you make a good choice or a bad choice…they both yield consequences.  There will be a reaction to your action.  Which team are you choosing to be on?

We were all given free will to make whatever decision we want.  But the Word of God tells us that those who choose to make God decisions will be rescued, reconciled, redeemed, restored, and covered by God.  God’s covering doesn’t stop life from happening to you, but you are not alone in it, you have someone and something to lean on, gain strength from and guidance.

Verse 14 is something I live by…”Where there is no counsel the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”  I use the people God has put in my life.  I go to them, talk with them, get advice from them and direction.  I don’t pride myself in making decisions all by myself.  I know for me that is not helpful and my way of thinking is not always right.  I would rather have good solid advice to follow me than to have human wisdom that may only be a temporary fix.  One person’s perspective and understanding is severely limited. (not all the facts, blinded by bias, emotions or wrong impressions)  Develop the ability to make right decisions.

God neither sleeps nor slumbers.  He sees EVERYTHING!  What you miss seeing, God sees.  You will not go unpunished if you do wrong.  God will either deal with you here on earth or on judgment day.

Your words can hurt like weapons or they can build up like tools.  Sadly, most times people will use their words to destroy.  Most people have received more destructive comments than those that build up.  Let your words make a difference in someone’s life.  Uplift, comfort and encourage.

Know yourself!

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I was watching a Periscope awhile back of Daniel Stombaugh and he asked the question,

What is your identity?

He said “know who you are TO God and know who you are IN God”

And I kept repeating it over and over in my mind.

Know who you are to God.

Know who you are in God.

Many of us know who we are at work, right? We know our job function and what is expected of us. Know how to get to work, what time to be there and how to get our paycheck.

Many of us know who we are at home, right? Know our role as a parent, as home owner, as a husband, as a wife, as a child (well most times we do LOL).  We know where everything is and pretty much how to use it.  We even know how to walk to the bathroom in the dark.

In all our common knowledge and intellect, we are pretty comfortable.

But when you think about the things of God, what don’t we know?

Do we really know who we are to God? Do we really know how much He loves us?  Do we really understand the sacrifice that was made for us?  Are we totally conscious of His mercy?

Being loved by someone is a powerful motivator. It can give you an inner strength; it can give you a reason to wake up in the morning.  It can change your moods and brighten your days.  This is what God wants to be to us.  We also want to hear someone say I Love You!  Oh boy that would really take us over the edge. LOL and yet God does that every day…all day.  Are we paying attention?  God is love and that love is shown thru the beauty of nature and the fact that we open our eyes each day.  We are the apple of His eye.  A special people to Him.  He is longsuffering, which means he waits and waits and waits and waits for us to come to Him, completely trust Him, because his wish is that none should perish.

Do you really know who you are in God? Where your strength comes from?  Who fights your battles?

Greater is He that is IN me than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Greater is the God in you than the devils in this world. You must remember that!

I believe having a solid understanding of what we mean to the Lord will help us to stay strong in Him. We won’t be so easily distracted by the enemy’s tactics, the depression, the hopelessness, the anxiety, the worry, the defeat that the enemy tries to lay upon us.  If we truly could understand how loved we are we could be stronger in our fight against the enemy.  The enemy should not be able to so easily get us off course, change our moods, or tempt us, get into our thoughts and change our atmosphere.  God did not create us to be led by the enemy or his tricks; God created us to be led by His Spirit!

KNOW WHO YOU ARE IN HIM!  YOUR IDENTITY IS IN GOD, YOUR IDENTITY IS IN CHRIST.

Daniel Stombaugh also said something else in his Periscope that moved me….

Knowing your IDENTITY always brings your purpose.

So if you’re not sure where you fit in, how God wants to use you, or what your purpose is, figure out your identity in God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness and ALL these things will be added unto you.  (Matthew 6:33)  Which means….seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

How can you NOT acknowledge the Creator of your life in all that you do? What would make you think you should live this life never once giving honor to the one who gave you life?  We will love everything around us except God.

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart”

Luke 12:7 says,” And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”

Before you were formed, God placed purpose in you and God knows how many hairs are on your head! He is that intimate with you, knows that much about you.

Let me remind you that you were created with a PURPOSE but you have to make the effort to seek God to find what your purpose is. If you want it, go get it!

Press into God even more so that you can be more intimate with Him. In His presence is assurance, confidence, love, peace and your identity.  Get to know Him, so you can know yourself.

I encourage you to get to know God on a more personal level this year. And if you’re not sure where to start in that relationship…reach out to me.  I will help you.

I’m praying for and with you.

When God calls you out of your dead place, RISE!!

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We have Hour of Power prayer on Sunday mornings at my church. This week I was asked to bring the Word of Edification. The Prayer Team was using John 11:1-44 as their bible reference for this month. This is the story about Lazarus and how he was dead and in the tomb when Jesus came to see about him. I’m being led to share this word of encouragement on my blog.

What I saw when I read the scripture was Lazarus coming out of the tomb, yet this was representing us coming out of our dead places. And the Lord said to me…”When I call you out of your dead place….RISE!

As God was dealing with me about the dead places, He said 1st you have to believe in me and believe that I can do ALL things, that I can do THIS thing. Then He said you must identify the dead place(s) in your life. Let me explain that…there are places in your life that you no longer tend to, you don’t give attention to it, there is no life there, no fruit is bearing there, you’ve avoided it, or dismissed it, you’ve grown tired of it so you left it alone, you lost hope in it, doesn’t grow anymore, you haven’t talked to them in a long time, you don’t see them anymore,  you stopped doing it, maybe some of you stopped coming to church, don’t attend bible study anymore, you’ve gotten away from a healthy activity you used to do, gone back to bad habits. That’s the dead place, the dead thing.

Then the Lord said you have to ask Him for the help. For some of us it is very difficult to ask for help, but there are times that you do need it. We need others. Sorry if you don’t believe that but it’s true. We were not created to do life by ourselves! So, my question to you is….do you want the help? If you do…you have to ask for it!

In vs 41, Jesus says Father, I thank you that you have heard me. That tells me that Jesus asks for something.  Ask God for what you need, nothing is too small and nothing is too big.

Then,  you come out! You RISE up out of that that dead place, that dead situation. Leaving everything that was attached to that dead thing behind. The scripture described Lazarus as having strips of linen on him and a cloth around your face. That is how they dressed the dead body in biblical times. God showed me that the strips of linen and the cloth around the face represented the things we need to leave behind when we RISE. Like, those who are attached to the dead situation, the belongings or material things, the fear of walking out of it, the comfort you thought you had in it, the talk that people would do because your coming out of it, the money put into it, the emotions you carry in it.

Let me also add, when you’ve made the decision to come out of your dead place or places, don’t expect the worst…expect the best! Expecting the worst will already determine the outcome. You have to BELIEVE that God is bringing you to a better place and that He will work it all out for your good. So, expect the great!  There should be an excitement in following God, a satisfaction.  The thing was dead…you should be happy to let it go. Be happy that God is calling you out of it!  If your not joyous…re-examine that, and identify why your not happy to let it go. Bring the concern to God as well. 

Everyday I want to search my life to find the dead areas that I need to purge and dead things that need to come out of my life.  I encourage you to regularly go to God saying, “search me O’ Lord for the dead areas, the areas that I’m not producing fruit and also ask Him to show you the areas so that when He sweeps it clean; you won’t go back to it, you won’t go putting stuff back in that area. Ask the Lord, what have I become lazy in, what have I become complacent in, what could I do more  of, what have I forgotten about, what am I avoiding?

The Word of the Lord this week is…”When I call you out of the dead place…RISE!

Let me say I also saw in the Spirit my own self (which I know its for all of us) but I saw myself steeping out of my dead places but I wasn’t small 5’5″ Tara…I was a GIANT…I was BIGGER than my circumstances, I was walking TALL…I was BREAKING OUT of the places that keep me from truly understanding who I am in God. He LOVES me and He wants me to SUCCEED!

I pray this was an encouragement to you and that you will go before God this week, asking Him to show you the dead places in your life that you need to walk out of so you can thrive!

Then I heard this song in my spirit and I sang it out loud in my kitchen LOL
VICTORY, VICTORY SHALL BE MINE. IF I HOLD MY PEACE LET THE LORD FIGHT MY BATTLE…VICTORY, VICTORY SHALL BE MINE!!

Do you know where you’re going to?

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(remember that song)

Let me preface todays post with…some of my writings I’m reviving/bringing back to life.  I wrote them during my journey and I still find them appropriate for today.  Some things become re-occurring themes in our life and some things come back full circle.  When this happens, I believe it is a sign that we need to be paying attention.  It reminds me of when reading the bible; you read God saying something twice.  God is repeating himself.  To me, that means…we need to be paying attention!  There is purpose for everything that God says…he doesn’t just talk to be talking.  LISTEN and be mindful of the repetition of things in your life.

So now, I wrote this back in (2014) and I still stand by it.  Again you are being reminded that you have a purpose…let’s figure out what and why we are here so we can get to work!

I feel some type of way when I hear someone say ‘I don’t know what I want’ when it comes to life or relationships or making decisions.

If you don’t know…then where are you going?

What is your direction in life?  Think about that for a moment.  Have you made any goals for yourself lately?  Have you thought about what you want your next move to be?  Have you looked at your life and saw some things you want to change?  Do you want more?  Or maybe you need to slow down?

Especially for those who have children. You have been given the responsibility to lead, nurture and raise a life, but you have no direction?  No boo, that can’t work.   But what you can do is…make a decision, especially for the well-being of your child(ren) and begin making plans.  There is no better time than NOW!

We ALL have our own individual purpose for being here on this earth. We are living on purpose…not by accident. You have something to give, something to do, something to accomplish, something to create, someone to assist. You gotta figure out what it is. Find the path to your destiny.

If you are just here, living day to day you’re not fulfilling what God has placed in you from birth. And…no one can do it but YOU!

Listen….you already know what I’m trying to do with my life, from what I’ve shared on the blog and in the About Me section.  So if you need some help getting there…post a comment, I’ll respond back to you.  Say it out loud.  God wants us to succeed in this life, but we have to do our part.  We have to seek out what we need.  Ask for help, read a book, find a mentor or friend you can confide in.  God gives direction.  He doesn’t leave you out here by yourself to fend for yourself.  Even if you don’t have anyone else in the world to rely on…you have God.

And let me tell you something about God that you probably figured didn’t apply to you…even if we make mistakes, gave up, didn’t listen to Him the 1st time or 2nd time or even the 3rd time…He’s still waiting for you to come back to Him.  If you repent (which means to truly be sorry and turn from what displeases God), ask forgiveness…God is there with open arms.

And you start again.  Just like that.  Gods love does not keep a record of your wrongs, or bring it back up to you.  Remember, He wants you to be successful in this life.  God is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

In 2014, I wrote this encouraging someone to work towards a more responsible, mature and purposeful YOU!!!

In 2019, I’m still encouraging you!  Find your purpose!  Meet your goals! Find YOU!

(Here are the lyrics to the song – chorus)

Do You Know
Where you’re going to?
Do you like the things?
That life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know?

Do you get?
What you’re hoping for?
When you look behind you
There’s no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know?