and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippeans 4: 7-9 What does the word “peace” mean to you? How do we get peace? How do we keep the…
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I Will Never Leave You
No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Joshua 1:5-7 How comforting that God will be with you! God won’t leave you or forsake you. This is a promise to all of his followers. He was there for Moses and Joshua; He…
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Do Not Be Afraid
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 We don’t have to be afraid. We have the Holy Spirit with us forever. He lives with us and in us. The Holy Spirit gives us peace. When we have the peace of the Holy Spirit we can have the courage to face what is making us feel anxious, scared, and have no peace. We need to remember that God can help us be courageous when we have to face this world we live in.…
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Put Your Hope In God
Why you downcast, O My Soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my savior, and my God. Psalms 43:5 Life can be hard. It can be depressing. People can zap all your joy out of you. Life experiences can weigh heavy on you. This can make a person’s soul feel down. We can get stuck there. However, we have to keep our hope in our Triune God. We have to trust in His plan for our life. He is not out to get us, to harm us, to hurt us. He is there to mold us, form us, to grow…
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Surrendered Life
He fills my life with good things. Psalm 103: 5 The surrendered life. A life devoted to God and His ways. It sounds so easy and simple. However, is it? I think surrendering everything to God is hard. Does it need to happen? Yes! However, it is still hard to go through if we are honest with ourselves, God, and others. Of course, there are awesome benefits and blessings from God when we surrender and trust him with our lives. I don’t think we can sit here and talk about the Israelites and how they couldn’t get their act together in this area. …
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The Blessings of Peace
He fills my life with good things. Psalm 103: 5 How do we live a surrendered life as Jesus did? Especially when situations still come up and have to be handled. Read Matthew 5:3-11. Highlight the blessed, then draw an arrow to the “for.” Circle the blessing that they receive. Which blessing can you relate to? Do any of these verses correspond to the temptation that Jesus face while he was in the wilderness? If so, which ones? Do you ever feel like you repeat a lesson that you have gone through before? I sure have. I kept going through it until I understood and…
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The Blessings
He fills my life with good things. Psalm 103:5 Oh! the blessed life! When we surrender all to Jesus, we received blessings from our Heavenly Father! Are we perfect? NO! However, God is the perfect craftsman. He sees our brokenness and knows how to fit all the broken pieces together. He makes us whole. He doesn’t walk away or hope we will figure it out on our own. He is right there the whole time if we allow it. God holds us together with His peace, provision, and protection. Even in this difficult world, people can see His glory all around shining through the broken…
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Hope And Jesus
“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.” says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6 Life is hard. I heard the line God is Good, All the time.” from the movie “God’s Not Dead.” I use it often. Have you used it? I am going to have to pay attention to when I use that line. Am I only using it when things are going smoothly? Do I use it when I am in the middle of a storm? When we live like Jesus, we must live with the tension of accepting that life is never going to be exactly how we want it…
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Remain In My Love
“But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. John 15:7-9 Do you remain in Jesus’ love? Do you struggle to remain in His love? We don’t always see the threats to our spiritual health, which doesn’t mean that they aren’t real and shouldn’t be taken seriously. First, Peter 5:8 says, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great…
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Deborah: Part Two
And he said, “Listen carefully, all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast number, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 2 Chronicles 20:15 Our abilities do not limit God’s power. Our talents are also not what’s makes us usable to Him. Deborah was a woman who was faithful, available and trusted in God. If we would yield to God, let His power work through us, We could be just as usable for God’s kingdom. From Judges 4:6 -7, what do we learn from Deborah concerning the details of God’s plan…