by Tracy | Inspirational, Tuesdays With Tracy
Listen, O’ daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house. The King (God) is enthralled by your beauty; Honor Him for He is your Lord.” Psalm 45:10-11, NIV
Why is it that we dwell on the negative things said about us more than the positive? Maybe this is not a struggle for you, but I think most of us tend to FORGET the uplifting words spoken over us and meditate on the destructive ones. BUT NOT ANYMORE! God clearly states above that we are to FORGET what people and even our own family may have said about us! God declares that He is enthralled with your beauty and that we honor Him by choosing to think and meditate on what He says about us.
We give “honor” to people by allowing their opinion of us to influence the way we feel about ourselves. The problem is that we often “honor” the wrong people. What would your life be like if you only thought about what God says about you? (Selah – pause and think about that).
Today God gives you something better than roses or candy – He gives you His love and attention. Let’s answer, “yes” to God’s invitation to “Be Mine” this Valentines Day. Choose to honor God by meditating on the fact that He is enthralled with your beauty and deeply in love with you!
Prayer:
“Lord, forgive me for honoring the wrong people in my life. I choose to honor You by meditating on what You say about me. I desire to give You my heart today. I will “be Yours” forever. I ask that you remove from my memory hurtful words spoken over me. I believe that You are enthralled with my beauty today. Thank you for being the best valentine any woman could ever have.” Amen.
by Tracy | Tuesdays With Tracy, Warfare
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” Proverbs 29:5
“Many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not con-fess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” John 12:42-43
There was a time in my life when I longed for the approval of man. I wanted to be a person of great importance. I drank in the praise of man and became intoxicated with what people thought and said of me. Yet my approval addiction was never satisfied and thankfully so because it brought me to the place of brokenness and total surrender to God. I have come to the place where I no longer desire the praise of man, but only to hear my Father say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
In our society we are encouraged to glorify the accomplishments of man. Many strive to achieve titles, positions of power, wealth and to be deemed by the world as a noteworthy person. And although we are promised much favor and success as children of God, a lot of individuals believe that the praise of man alone will bring them a sense of worth. They crave to hear man say of them, “Wow, look at them and what they have accomplished.” This is true even in the Christian culture. There is often a mixture of longing to glorify God while also enjoying the seduction of the praise of man.
Let us be reminded today that the praise of man is temporal and it will never bring true satisfaction. The only true satisfaction in this life is a relationship with God. And friend, God has already deemed you worthy! Through the Cross of Jesus, you are the righteousness of God and He loves you – the real you!
You can rest your head tonight knowing that no matter what man may think or say about you, God loves you! It is my prayer that each night you will fall asleep pondering God’s amazing love for you. Oh how He loves you! Jesus gave His life for you, what more could He give? Oh how He loves you and me!
Prayer:
“Lord, thank you for loving me. I acknowledge that there is nothing this world can offer me that will bring me true peace or satisfaction but You! I will choose this day forward to meditate on what You say about me. No matter what man may say, I am the righteousness of God, I am the head and not the tail and the blessings of the Lord will chase me and overtake me (Deuteronomy 28). Amen.”
by Tracy | Tuesdays With Tracy
Their descendants will be recognized and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are a people the Lord has blessed.” Isaiah 61:9, NLT
Ask any of my closest friends and they will tell you that one of my mantras in life is, “Go where there is favor!” In my opinion, life is too short to spend time with those who do not celebrate you and the gifts God has placed in your life. Think about this for a moment. You are God’s unique creation in Christ and even during hard times, God’s love and favor rests upon you, as you trust in His Word.
When we choose to live for God and follow His plan for our life, we cannot help but experience supernatural favor. Our scripture above tells us that not only will we be seen as God’s favored but our descendants will also be recognized and honored among the nations. And did you know that we are promised to obtain favor even with our enemies? Proverbs 16:7 states, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.”
There was a situation a few years ago where I clearly was in the wrong place at the wrong time and there was no sign of favor anywhere. I felt like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Nothing I did worked, which I came to realize was a clue that I had somewhere, somehow, gotten off track. I had become so accustomed to receiving God’s favor everywhere I went that when it wasn’t there, it was a bizarre experience for me and one that I do not want to repeat anytime soon. It did not take me long before I realized that I unknowingly had stepped out of God’s path for my life. I was swayed by man’s opinion rather than seeking God for where I needed to be for such a time as this. Hence, I made a change as quickly as possible and I found myself once again living where God’s favor reigns.
I do believe there are times in each of our lives when God allows us to walk through difficult places to stretch us and show us what is really within our hearts (Deuteronomy 8:2). Yet when God leads us to a valley, He promises to provide us everything we need, including His rod and a staff to comfort us (Psalm 23). The question is, has God led us to this valley or did we unknowingly step out of the path of life and lead ourselves there? Selah (pause and think about this for a moment). If this is the case, then we can run to God and trust that He is bigger than every circumstance in our life. He loves us and will show us His path of life.
It is my prayer that we continually live in God’s favor and that when people see us coming, whether at the grocery store or in our workplace, they will declare, “Surely they are BLESSED of God.”
Prayer:
“Lord, show me Your path. I long to be where Your favor is for me and my family. Forgive me for the times when I trusted in anything other than You. You are my God and when I follow Your path I cannot help but walk in the favor of God. Make every crooked place straight in my life and may everyone around me see supernatural favor on my life. Amen.”
by Tracy | Bad Day Blues, Tuesdays With Tracy
“For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13, AMP
There was a time when my husband and I were asking God to bless us with twins…okay…I know what some of you are thinking, but it was our hearts desire at that time. We diligently prayed for a double blessing, but our ultrasound made it clear that there was only one heartbeat within my womb. And although we were thankful for one healthy heartbeat, I will admit that for forty-eight hours, my husband and I moped around our home in disappointment due to what we considered “unanswered prayer.” Another time that comes to mind is with past boyfriends (a.k.a. “potential love interests”). I remember praying that a few of them would fall in love with me and choose me to be their wife – all the while – my prayers were lovingly answered with a “no” because God had good plans for my final outcome.
You see, my husband is the perfect one for me and the same is true concerning my daughter, although twins are a huge blessing, God knew what we could handle and once again we thank God for His way of answering our prayers. God knew the desire of our heart to marry and have a family and He answered us with His plans for welfare and peace, to give us hope in our final outcome.
The scripture above tells us that God always hears our prayers and heeds each one. With some of our prayers requests He answers us with a “yes” (and boy do we love it when this happens!!), there are also times as in my examples above when God lovingly answers us with a “no” in order that our future outcome will be good, and other times He answers us with “wait.” Just recently I thought God answered “no” to a request of mine, only to find out a few months later that I needed to “wait” so that He could make a good situation even better! Bottom, line, we can rest in that fact that God knows about our personal situation and He has good plans for our life.
How many times have we pouted and complained to God for not answering our prayers, when He was simply answering it His way out of His great love for us? God knows all things and He is the One who knows what we can handle. It comes down to knowing God’s will for our life and trusting that He has good plans for us. Our amazing God longs to bless us, heal us, restore us and prosper us. We are promised in Isaiah 5:11 that when we pray God’s Word it will never return back void.
Prayer:
“Lord, thank you for always hearing my prayers. I declare that You have good plans for me. Your plans are full of hope for my final outcome and I align myself up with Your Word today. I give you everything heavy on my heart and I ask that Your perfect will be done. As I seek and inquire of You this day, I will rest in that fact that You gave your life to heal, restore and bless me. I grab onto the Word of God and declare that it will not return back void, but will prosper in the thing for which You sent it (Isaiah 55:11). Amen.”
by Tracy | Bad Day Blues, Inspirational, Tuesdays With Tracy
“For You, O Lord, are good and ready to forgive (our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever); and You are abundant in mercy and loving-kindness to all those who call upon You.” Psalm 86:5, AMP
Do you have trouble forgiving yourself? If so, I have good news for you today because our scripture above tells us that we are not only forgiven but our sins have been sent away, let go completely and forever by our merciful and loving God!
Do you remember in Elementary School when a teacher would put our name on the chalkboard if we disobeyed in class? Having our name on the board would stir up feelings of embarrassment and awareness of our wrongful behavior. It was the very act of seeing our name on the chalkboard throughout the day that kept our bad choice in front of our face and before your peers. This is the very thing the devil longs to do to God’s people. Satan is the accuser of the brethren and he wants to keep us focused on our past sins rather than on God’s grace.
Satan understands that sin conscious people live a state of hopelessness and depression. He does not want you to fulfill your destiny and focusing solely on your past sins – will do just that! You see, Satan does not want you to know that Jesus is the “eraser” of all sin. The chalkboard that once listed your sin was erased with His precious Blood the moment you gave your life to Him. That my friend is the power of the Cross!
The truth is that you may not feel forgiven but God’s Word supersedes feelings. Psalm 86:5 is clear, “For You, O Lord, are good and ready to forgive (our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever); and You are abundant in mercy and loving-kindness to all those who call upon You.” Your feelings will LIE to you, but God’s Word is ALWAYS TRUE.
If forgiving yourself has been a struggle for you then I would like for you to do something…Take out a pencil and a piece of paper. Then write down all the sins that have tormented you. Once you have completed your list, I want you to re-read Psalm 86:5. As an act of faith, I now want you to use an eraser and erase your list until it is completely gone. And now with your blank paper in front of you, it is time to thank Jesus for His Blood and forgiveness of sins!
I would also like to encourage you to put this piece of paper somewhere for you to see (a kitchen cabinet or bathroom mirror perhaps) and anytime you feel un-forgiven or tormented by your past sins, walk up to this piece of paper and declare: “The Lord has forgiven me of my sins. My sins have been erased, sent away, let go completely and forever out of God’s abundant mercy and love for me. Feelings you must submit to the Word of God. I am forgiven, redeemed and an over comer in Christ Jesus. Amen.” That my friend is what it means to be forgiven completely & forever!!
Prayer: “Lord, Your love is amazing and I am so thankful that my sins are forgiven, let go of completely and gone forever. Help me to believe Your Word over how I feel. I declare that my feelings must line up with the Word of God and I ask that You help me receive this truth deep within my spirit. Thank Jesus for Your precious blood that came to erase my sins away. Help me to walk in the abundance of Your grace forevermore. Amen.”
