Do we really give God what He wants from us, or do we come up with our own definition of what we think God wants from us?

About ten years ago I read an article about setting a five-year goal and this is how successful people set their goals and accomplish them. Well, I wanted to be successful too, so I took a couple of hours thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in five years. I thought I'd go back to work, get my music degree in the process and then teach in some private school, hopefully conducting high school choirs afterwards. It never occurred to me to ask the Lord what His plans were concerning me, or if He had any at all. Looking back now I wish I did, because that sure would have spared me from so much pain and a lot of sorrow and tears. Believe it or not, I was actually totally convinced that my plan was what God had wanted me to do. I believed that He wanted me in music and my goal was to teach in a Christian school. But in reality this is what I wanted, not what God wanted. I never asked Him what He wanted, so how can I know what He really wanted? Come to think of it now, I guess even if God had told me He did have plans for me and told me what they were, I wasn’t really interested in knowing it at that time. I always had this suspicion that when it comes to what God wants, it’ll be something I probably will not be happy with. So truth was, I was afraid to ask Him.

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Written by Sheila Copp.

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I believe as long as we can focus on the Lord, whatever we’re going through, we’re going to be all right.

I was having my breakfast this morning and was remembering this blogger who has a YouTube show on nutrition. She did a video on what her morning routine was and how meditation was a part of it. She would sit in one place and focus on her breathing, then parts of her face, like her ears, her eyes, etc. So, I started trying to apply this as I was drinking my tea. I couldn’t remember exactly what to do, so I asked the Lord what I was supposed to do. I know He knows what I’ve done in this life from beginning to the end and I know He knows that I’ve seen this video. I know He knows exactly what I was talking about. So I asked Him, “What am I supposed to do Lord? Focus on my ear?” Then I sensed the Lord in my spirit across the table. It’s been awhile since I’ve felt Him this way and it felt wonderful. Then, I got in my spirit, “Just focus on Me.” I started laughing out loud. It's as if the Lord was smiling at me reminding me the most important thing in this life – Him. It felt good to laugh out loud like that again with Him. Truly the joy of the Lord is our strength. That’s what I love about the Lord: the more I talk to Him the more He becomes so real. And He doesn’t condemn us at all. He loves us and understands us. He knows how to make us laugh when we need it.

Thanks so much for listening to this podcast.

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This is a blogpost from HavingGod.com.
Written by Sheila Copp.

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Take care and God bless you always!

“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.” [Proverbs 17:3]

Often when we mess up, we are so hard on ourselves, we give up. We just throw in the towel, go under the covers and sulk. Then we’re in a bad mood for the rest of the week. That bad mood then is going to trip us up to make more mistakes.

More often than not, our hearts are revealed through our mistakes and challenges in this life. How did we react when provoked? How did we take an insult, a disappointment, or a heartbreak? Did we get mad? Did we plot to get even? Did we turn to God for His counsel and try to seek reconciliation?

We wouldn’t know who we truly are inside unless God tries our hearts and sees how we will react to our circumstances. Are we happy despite of it? Are we giving thanks when it feels like there is nothing to be thankful for? Who are we? What are we to the Lord? How can He use us?

Problems, sorrow, and disappointments don’t have to be the end of the world. These things are given to us to make us better, to bring out the best in us, like the fining pot for silver or the furnace for gold. Let us be something that the Lord can use for His glory.

“But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” [Job 23:10]

Prayer

Father, please Lord, help me not take life so seriously. Help me to acknowledge You in everything I do in this life. Help me to find Your help in time of trouble.

I love You so much, Lord. You mean the world to me. Please Father, help me to keep loving people and keep following You. Help me to be strong always, through my sorrows, and through my heartaches. Find in me a vessel that’s fit to use for Your glory. I love You so much, Lord Jesus! You mean the world to me.

I pray this in Jesus’ name. Thank You, Father. Amen.

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This is a blogpost from HavingGod.com.
Written by Sheila Copp.

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Take care and God bless you always!

If we want to be accounted worthy of heaven and to stand before the throne of God and see His face, we have no other choice, we need to pray. We need to spend time with Him. Sure, your flesh will like to make excuses and say, “But I don’t have time!” But you have to make time. When you’re done being “snared” by this world, talk to Him. While you’re being snared, talk to Him. When you’re dying and feel like death because you’ve been snared again and you feel like a failure again, talk to Him. Pray! Tell Him, “Jesus save me! Jesus deliver me! Jesus help me! I can’t save myself, please come and protect me and help me and forgive me!” Don’t ever stop talking to Him. Don’t ever stop crying out to Him from your heart and asking Him for His help and grace and forgiveness and salvation. Any time you need Him, He is there. Any time you want Him, He is there. Even when you feel like He’s a million miles away, keep talking because He’s as close to you as your heartbeat and your thoughts. He is there always, all the time, without a doubt. So don’t stop talking to Him, because He will come and save you. He will lift you up and help you. And remember, you will stand before His face someday. Keep talking to Him, so on that day He will know you, and be able to say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” {Matthew 25:21}

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See, I believe we do not really overcome the fears the enemy gives us, but rather God takes them away from us. We cannot overcome anything on our own. If we could then there would be no over the counter pills or prescriptions of all kinds of medicines out there to help us overcome our anxieties. The pharmaceutical companies would suffer if it was that easy to overcome Satan’s given fears on our own. Satan is a spirit and his power over us is a spirit. Unless you have power over the spirit of the enemy and the principalities of this world, you cannot win. You cannot do it on your own. You can talk yourself out of it all you like. Have self-talks, therapy is good too but very expensive and a lot of people have found it did not work for them. Whatever method you choose to heal yourself, it will probably not work. Fear that is of the enemy is not an easy thing to overcome. As a matter of fact, I don’t think anyone can overcome it at all without the help of God. The Bible tells us that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. {James 1:17} All good things come from God. All the glory belongs to Him. You cannot overcome anything in this life without God helping you. That’s why it is crucial to look to Jesus Christ for any fears we have, because He overcame the principalities of this world. He is the One, the only one, who has the power over Satan and the demonic spirits of this world to crush them and to eliminate their powers over us.

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Take care and God bless you always!

Then there are those times when we do something we know we shouldn’t have done or said, and we feel guilty and bad about it. Instead of talking it out with the Lord we avoid Him. We’re like Adam and Eve. We run away from the Lord and we hide from Him. Often we turn around and like to blame someone else for our sins. We tell ourselves we wouldn’t have done what we did if they didn’t provoke us to it. Then when that doesn’t work, we convince ourselves that God surely is mad at us now and will likely punish us and reprimand us. We tell ourselves He’s forgiven us too many times and He’s likely sick of us by now. We’re too ashamed to talk to Him and so we stop talking to Him.

From my experience the only solution to all these presumptions of what God must feel and think about me, is to make myself talk to Him. There is no other way around it, we must make ourselves talk to Him. The sooner I talk to Him the sooner I can feel better about myself because again and again, He shows me that I err in my assumptions of what He thinks about me. Again and again He shows me I am very much loved by Him and He is always there to help me. He is for me and never against me.

Thanks so much for listening to this podcast.

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This is a blogpost from HavingGod.com.
Written by Sheila Copp.

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Take care and God bless you always!

I can’t help but think about the most important exam and event that is coming to us – more important than any wedding or exam or performance we will ever face with in this life – meeting God face to face. How much more then is it very important to be prepared for that? Are you prepared to meet Him? Can you see yourself being examined by God and knowing what to say to Him and what to do? If not, there’s no more perfect time to prepare than right now. All you need to do is just say a simple prayer from your heart and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and have mercy upon your soul. Ask Him to save you. Tell Him your desire to be saved and to be prepared to see His face someday. He is coming very soon. He has shown me that He is coming very soon. If you open up your heart to Him and say this prayer, He will prepare you. Even if you’ve said this prayer before and aren’t sure again if you’re saved or not, say this prayer again. Say it to Him again, ask Him again, until you come to know that He has saved you and prepared you. He will direct you to do what you need to do to be saved. He may direct you to repent again of your sins or to confess to Him something you haven’t confessed to Him before. Maybe He wants you to get baptized in His name, Jesus, or wait for Him to be empowered with His Holy Spirit by spending more time with Him.

Thanks so much for listening to this podcast.

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This is a blogpost from HavingGod.com.
Written by Sheila Copp.

Voice and background music by Sheila Copp

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Take care and God bless you always!

There is an end to Satan’s evil and wicked devices against God’s people. He is not forever. Don’t worry your life about him, because there is an end to him. Satan’s device is to weary the saints of God, to a point that we will become discouraged and give up trusting and calling on God. But don’t fall for it. Our only hope is through our constantly calling on the Lord and trusting in the faithfulness of His word. Satan will use anything to discourage the people of God. He will even use God against us by lying to us about Him. He will lie to us and tell us all kinds of lies about God. Some even have fallen away from the Lord, because they ended up believing his lies instead of continuing to fight him with the word of God and spending time with the Lord. Our only hope is Jesus and spending time with Him. The more we spend time with the Lord and in His word, the more we will come to know Him and believe in His love for us. If we don’t know the Lord and don’t believe enough that He loves us, Satan will have us in an instant. We will believe his lies that God is against us in every trial that comes our way, and before long we will stop trusting in the Lord and stop talking to Him. Satan will have us in a trap so fast, unless we fight him with everything we have in us by calling on Jesus all the time to save us. He is wearying the people of God all over the world. We are not alone in our fight against Satan.

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. {Revelation 20:7-10}

Thanks so much for listening to this podcast.

For more podcasts, blogposts, and original songs visit www.HavingGod.com

This is a blogpost from HavingGod.com.
Written by Sheila Copp.

Voice and background music by Sheila Copp

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Take care and God bless you always!