It's a Game Changer

 

By Andrea Merrell

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, 

whom the Father will send in My name, 

He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance

all things that I said to you.

John 14:26 NKJV

 

The decision was a big one. Not only that, several options presented themselves. I had no clue which way to go. Then I remembered I didn’t have to decide all on my own. God seemed to be waiting for me to ask His advice. When I wised-up and asked for wisdom and guidance, it was definitely a game changer.

Knowing God is with us—everywhere, all the time, no matter what—makes all the difference. It is not His intention for us to go through anything alone, from the smallest decision to the hardest trial.

Chris Tiegreen says:

Think about that. He’s the God who is bigger than any and all giants. No obstacle outweighs Him, no enemy intimidates Him, no circumstances remain unyielding in His presence. We worry about things. He doesn’t. He goes forward, and He calls us to come with him.

God gave us His Holy Spirit to make His home in us. He is called Teacher, Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, and Standby. We can call on Him in every situation and know that He will come alongside us and help us with whatever we need.

As a child of God, you are never alone. Invite the Holy Spirit to partner with you in everything you do.

It’s a game changer.

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Stuart Miles.)

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 Invite the Holy Spirit to partner with you in everything you do. It's a game changer. via @AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

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The God Who Sees

By Andrea Merrell

Have you ever felt invisible standing in a crowd, sure that God was aware of everyone else but you?

Hagar felt that way when she fled into the wilderness. She was alone and sure she had been completely forsaken. But she had an encounter with God.**

The truth is we are never out of God’s sight, His heart, or His thoughts. When David was tempted to feel invisible, he wrote in Psalm 18:7-10 (TPT):

Where could I go from your Spirit?
Where could I run and hide from your face?
If I go up to heaven, you’re there!
If I go down to the realm of the dead, you’re there too!
If I fly with wings into the shining dawn, you’re there!
If I fly into the radiant sunset, you’re there waiting!  Wherever I go, your hand will guide me; your strength will empower me. 

If you are a child of God, you are never invisible. And you are never alone. God sees you. He hears you. He knows the thoughts and intents of your heart. He even knows the number of hairs on your head. He is intimately acquainted with you, and He loves you with a love that goes beyond human comprehension.

Rest in His hands, my friend. You are fully seen, fully known, fully loved.

**Check out “The God Who Sees” by Nicole C. Mullen and Kathie Lee Gifford on YouTube.

 

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and artemisphoto.)

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As God's child, you are never out of His sight, His heart, or His thoughts. via @AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

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Are We Praying or Complaining?

 

By Andrea Merrell

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power

and produces wonderful results.

James 5:16 NLT

 

Things didn’t turn out as I expected, and I realized my prayer of desperation had turned into whining and complaining.

Chris Tiegreen says:

Sometimes desperate prayer turns into depressing prayer and may not even be prayer at all. When we talk to God without faith, without hope, and without expectation, we’re just talking. We’re merely itemizing our problems. God doesn’t need your description of the problem. He already knows it in far more detail than you do. He is looking for you to see his solution and then agree with it in prayer.

Unfortunately, my faith-filled prayer turned into nothing more than a laundry list of all my problems—which God was already well aware of. He patiently waited while I flapped my jaws and aired my complaints, then reminded me of His goodness and faithfulness. Just because I didn’t get the results I wanted didn’t mean He turned a deaf ear. When I asked forgiveness for my attitude and began to praise Him, faith rose. Hope returned.

Nothing catches God by surprise. He knows the details of every situation even better than we do. His timing is always perfect and His way best. When we give our problems to Him and let Him work them out, we can rest assured He will do just that and always with our best interest at heart.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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Nothing catches God by surprise. He knows the details of every situation even better than we do. His timing is always perfect and His way best. via @AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

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What Do You Value?

 

By Andrea Merrell

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.

Luke 12:7 NLT

I read something recently about a giant pumpkin worth millions being swept out to sea.

Seriously? Millions? Who said so?

Pricing has always amazed—and amused—me. While one prescription costs $10, another costs $200. To me, a pill is a pill. One retailer sells a nice jacket for $59 while another charges $110 for the exact same piece of clothing. And then you have an old, rusty tool found in someone’s shed that looks as if it should be tossed in the trash, yet someone declares it’s worth hundreds of dollars.

Who gets to place the value on these items? Is value truly in the eye of the beholder?

Unfortunately, we humans do the same to each other. We see someone—especially someone different—and immediately assign a value to them. Most of the time it’s unfair and unreasonable.

The good news is God sees us all as valuable and of great worth. He doesn’t arbitrarily pick and choose. He sent His Son to pay the ultimate price—a price we could never afford to pay—for our salvation and redemption. Our eternal destiny.

In return, we should value our relationship with the Lord above all else. It’s the only thing that will last for all eternity.

What do you value most?

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Stuart Miles.)

 

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We should value our relationship with the Lord above all else. It’s the only thing that will last for all eternity. via @AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

 

There's No App for That

 

By Andrea Merrell

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

2 Peter 1:3 NKJV

Why is the Christian life so hard? someone posted on Facebook. There should be an app to make it easier.

I didn’t reply but wanted to say, “Sorry, sweetheart (hear the sarcasm?), there’s no app for that.

We have iPhones, iPads, and iPods but no iFaith. We have email, evites, and ebooks but no ePrayers.

Learning, maturing in our faith, and growing close to God is a process, not an event. A marathon, not a sprint. We're told, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12 KJV). Another translation says, “Be even more careful to do the good things that result from being saved, obeying God with deep reverence and shrinking back from all that might displease Him” (TLB).

I’ve always heard that nothing worth having comes easy. As they say, no pain, no gain. There are limitless resources online that will help us, but nothing we can do—especially by staring at our electronic devices all day—can replace quality time spent with the Lord in prayer and in His Word.

As His child, God has given us “all thing that pertain to life and godliness,” and those things cannot be found in the cyber world.

Draw close to God. Make spending time with Him a priority. Give Him your all, and watch what He will do in your life. There’s no better way to live. And there’s no app for that. Just His love, mercy, and grace.

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

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Living the Christian life means spending quality time with God in prayer and in His Word. There's no app for that. via @AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

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