Why Do We Get Discouraged?

Nehemiah teaches us that there are usually four reasons for discouragement --

First, we get fatigued -- We're human beings and it is only natural that we get tired. You cannot burn the candle at both ends. So if you're discouraged, it may be you just need a vacation!

Second, we get frustrated -- Nehemiah says there was so much rubble all around that it was getting in the way of rebuilding the wall.

Think of the rubble as the trivial things that waste your time and energy, those things that prevent you from accomplishing what God has called you to do. If you are discouraged, you may need to clear away some of the rubble in your life.

Third, we think we've failed -- Nehemiah's people were unable to finish their task as quickly as originally planned and so their confidence collapsed.

Do you give in to self-pity? Do you start blaming other people? Do you start complaining that the task is impossible? Instead, refocus on God's intentions and start moving again?

Fourth, we give in to fear -- Fear will destroy your life if you let it. But you can choose to resist the discouragement that comes from fear.

Pray, "God help me get my eyes off the problem - off the circumstances - and keep my eyes on you."

- Rick Warren.

Don’t Be Dust-Conscious

Luke 13:11

"And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up."

Imagine being bowed over for 18 years. All you would see is the dust on the ground. That was the predicament of the woman in Luke 13. Dust was all her eyes fell on, all the time, everywhere she went, until she became dust-conscious. Thank God she finally saw the beautiful feet of Jesus, who brought her good news and raised her up.

Now, dust is the devil’s food. The Bible tells us that God cursed the devil to eat dust all the days of his life. (Genesis 3:14) Dust represents death. (Genesis 3:19) The devil wants you to be like him — to fall flat on your belly, crawl and eat dust. To eat dust is to feed on your shortcomings and lack, until you constantly feel that there is so much in your life that you need to clean up. You may not be physically bowed over, but like the woman, you become dust-conscious and life every day is a struggle.

Having a dust-consciousness also affects the way you see others. You look at people’s faults all the time. You point out their shortcomings and rake up their past failures. When you are dust-conscious, you find your relationships robbed of peace and joy.

And if you, like the woman, keep looking at the dust, before long, that inward position of dust-consciousness becomes so entrenched that you become the devil’s food because dust is what he eats. God’s Word describes him as being like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

If you don’t want to be devoured by him, then lift your eyes above the dust! Instead of looking at your failures, look to Christ who has delivered you from every defeat. See yourself the way God sees you — righteous and holy in Christ. (Colossians 3:12; 2 Corinthians 5:21) You are not dust because you are not in and of the flesh — you are in and of the Spirit. (Romans 8:9)

The more you realize who you are in Christ, the more you will straighten up and walk the way God sees you — a new creation with His authority, power and overcoming Spirit! 

 

Courtesy of Joseph Prince

Apologies

To all men,

I sincerely apologize for being a bad girl. I have repeatedly rebelled against all of you, continuously said terrible things about you and actively discouraged women from getting involved with you (verbally and on this blog). Am sorry. I hope am forgiven.

I particularly apologize to Jose, Pius, Isaac, Mohammed, my grandpa and my biological dad for all the unreasonable moments from me that you had to bear with. 

I acknowledge that marriage is an institution created by God for two people, a man and a woman. It should be respected. I respect it. I apologize to all people that I misled on the importance of marriage.

Please don't misunderstand me; no, I am not getting married, neither have I gotten into a relationship with anyone. God has been speaking to me about this lately and I felt obligated to put up this post.

Finally, I wish all of you a happy fathers' day. Special appreciation goes to my dad, Mr. Mbugua, for taking care of me and for disciplining me.

Start Using Your Measure Of Faith

Romans 12:3

… God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

As children of God, we should never say, “I don’t have any faith.” To say this is to say that God is a liar because His Word already tells us that “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith”.

Why then does the faith of some seem to be stronger than others?

Well, faith is like muscles. We are all born with a measure of muscles. But some of us develop our muscles better than others. Bodybuilders, for example, exercise their muscles very regularly to make them grow bigger and stronger.

Likewise, your measure of faith grows when you feed and use it. Each time you hear or read God’s Word, you are feeding your faith. When you confess God’s Word and expect good things to happen to you, you are using it. And the more you use it, the more your faith grows.

So use your faith. You could start with headaches, for example. When you have a headache, instead of always running straight for your painkillers, use your faith. Ask God for healing, and trust and thank Him for the healing.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with taking medicine. And if you have to go to the doctor, don’t feel condemned either. Just start using your faith at a level you are comfortable with. If you need to go to the doctor, then go in faith, praying, “Abba Father, I am going to the doctor. I am asking You in Jesus’ name to give the doctor wisdom to give me an accurate diagnosis. My trust is not in him but in You.”

And when you take your medicine, don’t just pop in the pills. In faith, say, “Lord, sanctify this medicine,” then take it. This is because some medicines have negative side effects. So when you ask God to sanctify it, He blesses that medicine. And what will be developing in you, growing bigger and possessing your body until it is too widespread, is divine health!

Beloved, you have been given a measure of faith. Start using it, believing that it is this measure of your faith that causes you to draw from the inexhaustible power of a faithful and loving God!

Thought For The Day
Your measure of faith grows when you feed and use it. 

Courtesy of Joseph Prince

Loved and Forgiven

The past few days have been quite dramatic for me. I have been on the run. Running.  Running right, left and center. I would stop at nothing. If anyone stood on my way, they would get my wrath…which I know is not friendly at all. I had gotten to a point where nothing really mattered. I was obsessed. I guess I was obsessed by making others happy: my boss, my mother, my friends, my colleagues at work, my neighbours, my siblings, everyone around me … obsessed by making the best impression of me to everyone.  Doing my best to beat deadlines and to fulfill their expectations, to be the perfect person for everyone…even if it meant denying myself the most basic needs. Now that am typing this, I think I’ve lived this way all my life.

What was I running after/for/at? The honest truth is:  I don’t know.

I got to a point where I just had to stop.  God had, on several occasions, tried to tell me to stop.  My near-fatal day was too loud for me to ignore His voice.

After that moment, I was left thinking: Is it really worth it? Is this what I was made for? Is there more to life than this?  If I were to leave on that day, would I be missed? Would I be remembered? How would I be remembered?  As the nice obedient girl? Is that all? What am I afraid of? Isn’t it a good thing to be alive? It is good to be alive.

I realized that as long as I am alive, God is not yet done with me. The most important thing is that am alive. Since that near-fatal day, I learnt to accept disappointments from people. Nobody is perfect after all.

God has been speaking to me lately (I’ll have details on this on another post in the near future).  He assures me every day that He loves me - even when I am act too busy for Him. He still loves me even with my sinful nature. He is always craving to talk to me. 

Knowing that He forgave all my sins and forgot all about them brings my eyes to tears. The fact that He continues to forgive me every day is wonderful.  He knows me, He’s my Daddy. He is the only one I have in this world. He knows everything that I go through, my insecurities, my thoughts, my intentions, my secrets, my weaknesses, my fears, my inadequacy, my vulnerability, my future, He knows me in and out. Such knowledge of me is so deep that my mind cannot fathom. Even with all my inadequacies, He still loves me and He desires fellowship with me.  If I were the only sinner in this world, I know He’d still send His only son to die for me and take up my punishment. :’(

 Dear God,

Thank you for forgiving me, and for Your love. I love you, muchly. I want to always live in Your presence every day. I want to bask in your glory forever. I want to feel Your arms around me. I want to feel Your warms, Your heart-beat. I want my heart to beat in-sync with Yours. I give you all of me. Take over. I don’t want to be in control anymore. 

Please guide my heart so that I may always glorify Your Name in everything that I do. Guide me. Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. Please remove anything in me that is not meant for Your glory. Use me. May my life bring You glory. Let Your love flow through me. Show me Your ways, Ooh Lord.

In Jesus’ Name  I do pray with love and thanksgiving,

Your loving daughter,

Judy

Oh my soul, you have not been left alone. Just trust and know you’re strong enough to carry on. Jesus counted you worthy, so be worthy.

Sometimes Surprises Can Be Disappointing

A story is told about a young married couple whose names are Jim and Della. They are poor but very much in love with each other.

As Christmas approaches, Della wonders what to get Jim for Christmas. She would like to give him a watch chain for his gold watch, but she doesn't have enough money. Then she gets an idea. She has beautiful long hair. So Della decides to cut off her hair and sell it to buy the fancy chain for Jim's watch.
 

On Christmas Eve she returns home, and in her hand is beautiful box containing a gold watch chain which she purchased by selling her hair. Suddenly Della begins to worry. She knows Jim admired her long hair, and she wonders if he will be disappointed that she cut it off and sold it.


Della climbs the final flight of stairs leading to their tiny apartment. She unlocks the door and is surprised to find Jim home and waiting for her. In his hand is a neatly wrapped box containing his gift he purchased for her.

When Della removes her scarf Jim sees Della's short hair, and tears well up in his eyes. But she says nothing. He chokes back the tears and gives Della the gift box.

When Della opens it, she can't believe her eyes. There in the box is a set of beautiful silver combs for her long hair.

And when Jim opens his gift, he, too, is astonished. There inside the box is a beautiful gold chain for his gold pocket watch. Only the does Della realize that Jim pawned his gold watch to buy her the silver hair combs.

Far more beautiful than the gifts is the love they symbolize.

A Near-Fatal Day!

This was prepared on the 28th of February, 2013. I couldn't post it on that day and I have been forgetting to post it since that day.

As usual, I woke up this morning very early, did my daily routine and left my house at 5:55am, to get to the bus-stage near my house at 6:00am. I boarded one of the buses that were competing to get us as passengers.

The road to the city from my house is a super free-way. We were cruising at around 80 mph (OK… maybe 180 mph).  Then this minivan from nowhere comes right in front of us and slows down. There was no way our driver could have applied emergency brakes, otherwise the bus could have rolled. On both sides of our lanes were vehicles.

Our driver swerved within our lane at that speed… at some point, we were riding on two wheels of both sides, each at a time, before the bus stabilized. I was very scared. I was expecting something to happen to our bus…like a crash, or that we would hit one of the vehicles on the road. I thank God for taking care of me, and for the driver… the very confident driver. God, I know you are still God. I love you. I may have my weak moments… unfaithful and sometimes unreasonable. Forgive me. I pray that you may always watch over me… and let everything that I do be for the glory and honor of your Holy Name.

At the end of that scary incident, I realized that life is very short… and that it is very important to thank God for everything that He has endowed us with.  I also realized that it is important to smile, take each day at a time and tell the people that you love what you exactly feel. Don’t with-hold what you feel.

There’s no need to worry, worrying doesn’t change anything. All it does is steal the moment that you have to smile and to make things beautiful.  You don’t want to do that, do you?

I thank God for the fact that I am alive and healthy.

One more thing: Appreciate everyone around you. They’ll not always be there. Enjoy every moment you have with them.

I love you all! I always have! I always will.

Hugs and Kisses!

Judy