Gift | Daily Inspiration – Lisa's Thoughts

The Equation: Love+Faith, Moves Mountains

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Posted on December 4, 2018 by Lisa Blair

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We are commanded to love. I believe this is true of all faiths. If we fail to love, all else fails. Love is powerful. But, as Christians, we are commanded to love our neighbors, love our enemies, love the sick, the poor, and downtrodden. We are to love others as we love ourselves. We are commanded to love because God first loved us. All things are possible when we love. We can move mountains through faith if first, we love.

As Christians, our very existence is linked to ‘love’. Romans 12:9-10, NLT reads, Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. ¹⁰Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

The Bible is replete with scriptures about God’s love for us and how we are commanded to love others in the same way He loved us first.

Romans 5:8, NIV reads, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 5:1-5, NLT reports, Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. ²We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. ³Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. ⁵And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Matthew 5:43-46 NLT, You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ ^]and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. ⁴⁶If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?

Romans 12:9-21, NLT, goes on to read,

¹¹Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. ¹²Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. ¹³When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. ¹⁴Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. ¹⁵Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! ¹⁷Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. ¹⁸Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Friends, the maxim is – love conquers all. Love fires up our faith to move mountains, but as 1 Corinthians 2:13 reads, if we fail to love, moving mountains is nothing, because our lives are not based on God’s love for us, and moving mountains becomes a phrase and not an action, God gifted to us, His children.

Commanded to Follow and Be Free

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Posted on October 19, 2018 by Lisa Blair

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Our God is amazing. He commands us to live a Godly life and be free. He has given us the ability to free ourselves from our sinful ways. He asks us to fight our flesh that desires: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, jealousy, quarreling, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, envy, drunkenness, and wild parties.

His command is for us to fear Him and be obedient, as Ecclesiastes states:

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments, this is the duty of all mankind.” Eccl. 12:13

Fear, in this case, means being respectful, obedient, and followers of His Word. Live a holy life, meaning, employing the Fruit of the Spirit in all that we do. What is the fruit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And, since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envious of each other. When we live like this, we will not gratify the desires of our flesh but will be obedient and fulfilled by God’s Word.

At the end of life, God will bring every deed to judgment, including those proclivities we think we so cleverly hid, whether good or evil. When we are obedient, we think before we act. It causes us to question our next step, our next word, and our next deed. The question is, do our actions align with His Word, do they direct our path?

Obedience leads to freedom. Solomon, the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, wrote, (paraphrased) Stand firm, do not let yourselves be controlled by the slavery of sin and wrongdoing.

Do not allow your sinful cravings to keep you in chains. Christ died on the Cross for us. Our sins were nailed to the Cross, and we are now free. Our charge is to believe and live in our freedom.

psalm51-12 Re-Blog – https://wp.me/p98Coa-Cg
Scripture – Bible.com/YouVerison,Galatians 5, NIV, NLT
Images – YouVersion, Google Images
Resources/References – Hayford’s Bible Handbook

Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com.

Sometimes We Pray Silently – Sometimes We Speak To The Mountain

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Posted on August 21, 2018 by Lisa Blair

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received[a] it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:23,24 NIV

Mark 11:23 states that Jesus commands us to speak to our mountains. ‘Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea’, clearly commands us to speak out loud. Jesus continually tells us we have power when we speak. We can use it to destroy or we can use it to remove mountains. The power of the tongue can be used for good and evil. When we pray, there are times we should pray out loud to God. Personally, I have found speaking to Him out loud is more effective. It cuts through the airwaves, like the sword of the Spirit. It empowers my faith like the shield of Faith, the two are activated.

There is a caveat to praying with the expectation that God will grant what you prayed, the caveat is, answers to prayer are not unconditional. God reserves the right to answer prayers when they promote advancement into the Kingdom. Sometimes God will immediately answer prayers, sometimes he will wait until other areas of growth have occurred, and then there are times when He deems our prayer requests unnecessary for growth.

Speaking out loud is a sign of spiritual authority, our prayers are often quietly timid when praying in silence. Speaking out loud breaks through the spiritual atmosphere like a hot butter knife. God does not require that all prayers are to be spoken out loud, but He does recommend that we speak to our mountains. Mountains are anything that stands in the way of our moving forward and becoming mature Christian warriors.

Images – Free Google Images

Scriptures – BibleStudy.com

Thank you for spending time on my sites, if you like what you are reading, follow me, lisasdailyinspirations.wordpress.com and receive the daily inspirations in your inbox, or visit my other site, youngchristianwarriors.com and subscribe.

Ask. Seek. Find. Receive.

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Posted on July 26, 2018 by Lisa Blair

We all communicate with God through prayer, petitioning/asking Him for things to meet our needs, but what does the scripture really mean? I think we read these scriptures incorrectly. We assume we can ask for material things, that God is a box store like Macy’s or Harrod’s, or Amazon online. We read it in a secular sense and respond in a secular sense.

We often approach God asking like children with the ‘give me’s’, you know – ‘give me this, give me that.’ The truth is, prayer is the basis for approaching our Lord and asking for his mercy and his grace. It is a spiritual dialogue. Matthew 6:25- 33, paraphrased, says do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. We cannot add a single hour to our lives through worry. Our Father knows what we need. He created us before the earth and all that is on it. He knew us before we were born. He knows our destiny and the exploration of our life. There is little need to make these types of requests if we do not first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we begin in faith, all the things we need will be given to us.

If we ask according to the will of God in the name of Christ, under the direction, guidance, and influence of the Spirit, in faith and fear, with submission to the divine will, we shall have what we ask for, not because we deserve it, but as a gift from God. God’s gifts are in reference to our needs, as he sees them, not necessarily what we want. The two are not necessarily synonymous.

“God will always give us good things. Our job is to understand what is good so that we know what to ask for. The natural mind cannot understand this. But, when we offer ourselves as “a living sacrifice” and are transformed by the renewing of our minds, then we “will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1–2). Then, asking for what we need in faith, we will have all we need for life and godliness and fullness of joy (John 16:24).” [Gotquestions.org] The scripture, knocking, seeking, finding and receiving is so much more than crying out to meet our daily needs, though if our wants are in line with His needs to move us forward, they will be granted.

The key is – When we seek God’s face and favor in prayer, we shall find Him. When we knock, we are knocking at the door of mercy; faith is our door knocker. When the door is opened, we receive God’s grace and mercy used to assist us in time of need. Seeking is the object of our prayer. The door that is opened, is the door to our salvation.

God

Images – Google Images; Bible.com

Scripture – Bible.com; Crosswalk.com

Resources – studylight.org/commentary/Matthew/7-8;Bible.com/Matthew/6:25-33; gotquestions.org/What did Jesus mean when He said, “Ask and you shall receive”?

Visit my Young Christian Warriors site. The earliest Posts were written to help parents guide and train their children to access the Word of God to direct their steps. Later Posts were written for everyone, though I believe the Posts to parents can serve as reminders for all ages.

Thank you for spending time on my sites, if you like what you are reading, follow me, dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com and receive the daily inspirations in your inbox, or visit my other site, youngchristianwarriors.com and subscribe.

It’s Our Journey, Our Gift

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Posted on July 10, 2018 by Lisa Blair

God saved us and planned our journey before he created the world. It’s a journey because we travel through all types of terrain. Journeys take us to our destination. Journeys entail travel plans.

We all fall short, experience disappointment, and enjoy success, but we need to keep it in perspective. It is a journey, it is temporal, and some day when it is over, we’ll be in heaven with our father.

Remember, IT’S A JOURNEY!

He called us to be a Holy people, set apart to do his will. Look beyond the moment. It will pass. When we look back we will see it is all a gift.