Jude's thoughts

Abraham Lincoln, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Edison are just the tip of the iceberg. What they all had in common was that they never gave up. They pressed on toward their goals. Their discoveries and inventions are widely known----their failures are largely forgotten.For Christians, our ultimate goal is life in heaven. While still here on earth, we sometimes become weary. When we see injustices or face persecution, we become weak. It's not always easy to be a Christian.But God has made us a promise. Our troubles are not hidden from Him. He understands the human condition far deeper than we can comprehend. He is the Creator, the everlasting God, and He never grows tired or weary. No matter how many times we fail, stumble, or fall, if our hope is in the Lord, He will renew our strength. That is His promise to us.Wait upon the Lord. He will give you the strength to be witnesses for Him and to face the harsh words of those who don't believe. He will forgive our failures and renew our ability to serve Him. We can accomplish much for Him in the time we have been given. He is faithful to remember our successes and forget our failures. Thanks to Him, we can mount up with wings like eagles, soaring into His presence with joy.But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.(Isaiah 40:31)NLT

You are enough! The world has lied to you and said you are not enough and that's a lie from hell! It's not from God! You see, your worth has come from what people have told you that you are, rather than the God who made you! You're more beautiful than you can see. You have no idea of how beautiful you are! God made you beautiful! Constantly we find ourselves in situations where we're overwhelmed because we feel we're under qualified. So, instead of being afraid that you're not enough, why not do this? Why don't you thank God for how He made you? When is the last time you thanked God for how He made you? You see, we're so overwhelmed with what's wrong in our lives we never thank God for what is right! The Word says, "Your workmanship is marvellous." It's easy to go through life thinking that your lacking in some area. But, as long as you are discounting yourself and thinking you're at a disadvantage, it will keep you from rising higher. When God laid out the plan for your life He carefully studied it.  He thought about what you would need and what it would take to get you there. He gave you the strength, the talent, the confidence. You are not lacking. You didn't get short-changed. You are good enough.You are talented enough. You are smart enough. You are attractive enough. You are fearfully and wonderfully made! Life will try to push you down. Thoughts will whisper everything that we're not! When God created you He wasn't having a bad day. He didn't accidentally leave something out, now you're at a disadvantage! He calls you a masterpiece! God crowned you with His favour and you have everything you need to fulfill your destiny.

A wise man once said, "Few men sink under the burden of the day, it's when tomorrows burden is added to the burden of today the weight is more than man can bear." Anxiety is a thief. It steals your thoughts, it steals your peace, it steals your confidence, it steals your joy. What good has worry ever done for you? All that anxiety, how's that working out? Is it productive? Worry is like a rocking chair, it makes a lot of movement but you don't go anywhere. If you don't live with an anchor of faith, you are going to drift in a sea of anxiety. For a Child of God to always be anxious and always worried, is in effect saying, "I don't trust you God!" To be consumed with worry and anxiety betrays a lack of trust in God caring for you! The cure for worry is to redirect your energy and replace your anxiety. The Bible gives us a name, it's called 'casting'. 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you." So don't carry your cares, cast your cares. So the thought here, is to redirect your energy and replace your anxiety with what?? With Prayer! Why is it that, the very first thing we should do, ends up being the very last thing we even try! So think of it this way, when you are tempted to worry, worship! When you are burdened, bow! Because when you do that you are focusing on God's greatness. Worship and worry cannot co-exist in the same heart, they are mutually exclusive. Your concern is God's concern. Worry is blind, it cannot discern the future. But, Jesus sees the end from the beginning. In every difficulty our Heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us of which we know nothing. Believe the promises of God! Believe He is with you! Believe He is in control! No matter what the problem is, God has an answer!

It goes without saying that life can push you through seasons where it becomes difficult to dream. Is it right to hope for a better tomorrow? Is it fair to believe that there is a brighter day ahead? We may indeed be in a world that is spinning in absolute financial, cultural and global chaos. But the Bible tells us, we are in the world but not a part of it. We are told that greater is He who is in us, than he that is in the world. We are told that even though we may see the hardest of times, we can expect the best of things because it is our God who sits on the throne. In a world of hardship He has promised to be the divine provider. He has said, "I have a plan for you, it's a plan not to harm you, it's a plan to give you a hope and a future." In a world of need He has said, "I am still the God that shall supply all your needs according to my riches in glory." In a world of chaos and confusion He said, "I am the Prince of Peace and my peace not only do I give it unto thee but it surpasses all understanding." You may be in a dry season today but our God has said He would be a spring of living water for your thirsty soul. You may be walking through a dark valley but the Light of the World has promised that He'll be right beside you and He will lead you every step of the way to the other side. You may be in a world of trouble but He is a strong tower, He is a shield and He is a defence in your day of adversity. He said, "I'll be the Rock of your Salvation. I'll be the glory and the lifter of your head. My goodness and mercy they shall follow you all the days of your life." Child of God, if you have a dream today, don't give up on the dream that God gave you! Don't quit pursuing the dream that He placed in your heart. Continue to believe for the dream He has in store for you. Don't abandon the dream God planted down deep in your soul because God did not bring you this far to fail!

Don't give up!

We all feel like giving up sometimes. We all go through times when we feel like God is one million miles away. If you are living through a season of struggle that doesn't seem like it is ever going to end or walking through a trial that you have to endure and it causes you to wonder if you can take the next small step of faith...First, you cannot give up! When you enter into your long season you've got to give it all you've got! Whenever trouble comes, the only way you can get through trouble, is to work your way through it! Don't quit! How did Joseph survive in what others drowned in? Effort! Effort comes before excellence! As Joseph was on his knees scrubbing Potiphars floors, God was standing over him saying, "I know this doesn't look like much Joseph, but I promise you, you are closer to the breakthrough than you've ever been before."

As a child of God, be a person of excellence. Too many people walk through the long years and they do not survive them! Why?? Because, rather than give it all they've got, they give up! Don't give up or give in! It is going to be in the hardest seasons of your life that the greatest temptations are going to come. Not just the temptation to quit, but the temptation to walk away from your faith. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul, he said, "Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might!" Why? As unto the Lord and not unto men! God is the one who will reward you. God is watching! When the time comes, let your life be lived in such a way that what you get to hear is, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!"

We all go through things in life that doesn't make sense. Sometimes it feels like we are going backwards. But, we are not always going to understand everything that happens. God's ways are not our ways. He can see things that we can’t see and just because it is not fair, doesn't mean that God is not in control. Your steps are being ordered by the Lord and if He allows it to happen, He is going to bring good out of it. He promises all things work together for your good. On it's own it may not be good and it wasn't fair, your uncomfortable, but when it all comes together your going to see how it works to your advantage. The difficulty, the delay, the betrayal, was all instrumental in you reaching your destiny. You can choose to trust God right now or you can choose to trust in the systems of the world. You have to be careful here, because if you make a choice to trust in the systems of the world, those systems may fail. But, when you choose to trust God, He never fails! You don't have to understand completely, to obey God immediately. You don't have to know the end of the story, to turn the first page of the story and be obedient to the One who asks!Proverbs 3 v 5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, but in all your way acknowledge Him ( to know Him) and He will make your paths straight."You know Him on the mountain tops. You know Him in the valleys. When you know Him in the good times, you learn to trust Him in the bad times. How do you know God? The only way you can know Him is to be close to Him. And the only way to be close to Him, is to cling to Him. To hold on and not let go! Here is the key! In order to hold on to God you have to let go of whatever else you were previously clinging too. In order to trust in Him, you lean not on your own understanding and cling to the Rock who will never fail you!!

Here I am once again---

I pour out my heart for I know that You hear

Every cry; You are listening, 

No matter what state my heart is in...

If you knew for a fact that God heard you every time you prayed, you'd be inclined to keep praying, right? If you were convinced that God caringly bent His ear in your direction whenever you approached Him with something that was on your heart, you'd be more apt to come clean with Him. So why do we typically struggle to maintain a regular prayer time?

Maybe it's related to questions we have about how prayer works. If God is really interested in what we have to say and if He actually listens to the cry of our heart, does He actually answer the prayers we offer up?

Scripture is definitive about this. It assures us that God answers every prayer we pray---- every single one. His answers aren't always the ones we're expecting or hoping for. But He always responds. Sometimes God replies with yes, sometimes with no, sometimes with wait.

So don't look at prayer as an obligation that you need to do to please God. Accept it as a wonderful privilege to pour out your heart to Someone who cares for you more than anyone else in the world.

The star-spangled sky on a clear summer night can be misleading. Astronomers tell us that some of the stars we see overhead have actually ceased to exist. Those stars are so far away from earth that by the time their light reaches us ( travelling at 299348 Km per second) what we see and what actually is are two different things. The light a dying star gives off takes untold years to eventually reach us. Such is the reality of distance and time.

Such is too often the Christian's perspective on prayer. When we wait for God to answer our prayers, it sometimes feels like we have been waiting for an eternity. But feeling is not fact. Our prayers are heard by our Father in heaven even before they fall from our lips. He hears our hearts. His response is just as immediate, although not always the response we want or expect. The waiting involved has more to do with understanding what God is about in the way He chooses to answer. You see, waiting is just as much an activity related to relationship as it is to the passage of time. Waiting for the Lord reminds us that He is in control. It also helps us to stay alert to ways He will surprise us with a sense of His presence. Needless to say, it is good to wait for Him.

Hear a just cause, O Lord, attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips. (Psalm 17:1)NKJV

When did we stop dreaming? Dreams and visions are the language of the Holy Spirit. This is how God talks! And if you spend quality time in the Word and in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit will paint an image on the canvas of your heart and it will be the dream that God has for you. A God dream is a picture of what could be! Can you live for something greater than where you are or where you've always been? Can you begin to dream and say, I believe there could be something more for my future? I don't know what person or difficulty destroyed your dream, but God brought you here today, to this moment to say, that thing, that person is inferior to Him. Believe that there is an author to this story that you are living. Believe that He is the Creator of all things and He has a dream for your life. I'm not telling you to go paint today, though maybe you should! I'm not telling you to create today, though maybe you should! I'm asking you to dream again! I'm asking you to believe again! God wants you to be 80 years old and still dreaming and to be like Caleb saying, "Give me the mountain."

Just keep dreaming big dreams because nothing is too big for God. You don't get a road map and then a dream, you get a dream and then you map it out. If you don't have a vision you are going to live by circumstance. You can get a prophetic vision for your life so you're no longer limited by the limitations of this world. You have a God idea from the Spirit of God that propels and leads you into your destiny. The only person in all the universe who can prevent God's dream from happening in your life, is you! So start dreaming again! Start praying radical prayers and start believing again! Because I believe God wants to give you another dream.

When God makes you wait!

So, what or who are you waiting on in this season of your life? Are you single and waiting on your wife or husband? Maybe you're waiting on a dream, or you're waiting on healing or a lost family member to come back to faith? While you are waiting, God is working! My encouragement and challenge for you today is to change your perspective on this season. There is deep purpose in the waiting. You may not feel anything changing. It may feel like your going in circles, but while your waiting, God is working in you and God is working things around you to make sure His plan for your life unfolds. Stop and think! Would God withhold something from you that is good for you? No! Would He withhold it, if now was the right time? No! If you stop and think, anytime God withholds something from you, He is withholding something out of wisdom, love and for our benefit. He knows later is better. Later we will be ready for it, later we'll be equipped for it. We're not always equipped for everything we ask for! The longer I live the more I learn to trust God's timing. He can see the big picture. He hasn't forgotten you! Your right time has already been scheduled. What God has purposed for your life, will come to pass. In the waiting, God is changing us. He is forming us. He is teaching us endurance and faithfulness in the midst of disappointment. God says, He has blessings stored up for the righteous! He has blessings stored up with your name on them and no one can get what has your name on it! It is a divine appointment for you! If you stay in faith and keep the right attitude, God will make sure what is designed for you, will get to you! And when you experience it, it will be worth the wait!