When you go through deep waters

When you go through deep waters,
    I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
    you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
    you will not be burned up;
    the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2

Have you been through deep waters lately? Have you struggled over and over and just can’t seem to shake it off? Well I have and it’s been rough. It’s not so much the physical problems usual people go through, but the spiritual battles we as believers face daily. God says He never EVER gives us what we can’t handle. He gives us the supernatural strength we need to get through this crazy life! I feel the older I get the harder and more difficult my life gets. I look back to when I was a little girl and think, ” Wow, I had it so easy!” But when I was little I thought my life was so hard. I look back to when I first turned 16 and thought my life was very hard. But now that i’ m 18 I feel like life just got really slow, but i’m seeing the difficulty ahead of me now that i’m about to go to college. I have a lot more to learn and a lot more battles to overcome. It can be very overwhelming. But the Lord will never give me what I can’t handle. I have to remain faithful. I can’t keep my eyes fixed on the future, but only fix my eyes on the One who holds my future in His hands. He will take us through deep waters to show us that we knew how to swim all along. We just needed to let Him do His job by letting Him let go so we can have faith knowing that He might let go but He will never let us sink into death. He promises everlasting life! We shouldn’t worry about the future! And I know everyone does, it’s human nature to worry… But it’s Gods will and His will alone, so why should we worry? If only we would just take a deep breath and let go and trust and stand strong and pray without ceasing! God is GOOD! He is mighty, and mighty to save. We cannot continue to walk through life stuck in our own self pity and selfishness! We need to give it up and let it go! Worship, worship Him with your whole heart. Go into your secret place and worship Him and pray to Him. He will give you peace. He will take you through the deep waters, through the rivers of difficulty, and walk us through the flame of oppression, but He will never leave us nor forsake us! The enemy will try anything to remove us from His love, to keep us from realizing that we won’t drown. He screams inside and declares that we are FREE! The Lords shout overcomes the enemies whisper. The Devil is a liar, and he seeks only to destroy you. God won’t let you go without a fight! Trust Him! He is faithful and He will protect you from the enemy, just let go of your flesh and cling to the truth! The storms will rage, but God is faithful.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27

Fear vs Faith!

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Faith- A strong trust or belief in something you cannot see
Fear- Unbelief, Doubt; To dread; to be afraid of; to be anxious.
These are the definitions of fear and faith! As you can see they are completely opposite. Fear and faith cannot occupy something at the same time. Except for when you fear someone out of respect. Like God says we are to fear Him, He doesn’t mean to be afraid of Him! He’s our Dad! He wants us to respect Him and love Him. Have a deep respect for the Father. So let’s talk about fear. FEAR is NOT given by God.
“ For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

A sound mind! That’s something we should all have! That never-ending trust in the Father! The complete faith in Him, no fear, no worry, no anxiety, none of that. But, we are human! So this isn’t the case for us. We do worry, we do fear sometimes. But that’s okay! Just know that when you feel that way you have to stop what you’re doing and pray! Pray for it to leave you, pray for peace and a sound mind! He is our comforter! He will get us through. Nothing good comes out of fear. We can’t live our life being afraid of everything. We need to be positive! We need to live our lives boldly so that all can see God’s power working in your life! People will see you and in a stressful situation, you could be the calmest person and everyone is going to think you are crazy! And they will ask, “ Are you crazy? Why aren’t you freaking out right now?” And then you can say. “ Because God gives me peace. I know He’s in control.” And they will be amazed. That’s all you have to do. And you can be that person that they will go to for advice and they might even start to ask you some things about the Bible. So you can really change someone’s life by just making a small change in your thinking process.
So what happens when you walk into a room with no light? It’s overtaken by darkness. You start to get scared! It’s unfamiliar, you don’t know what’s in the room, if there is a hole somewhere, you know nothing! You are completely surrounded by darkness. So you just curl up in a ball, start to panic, cry, or whatever it is you would do in that situation. But then, you discover, there’s a light switch! That light switch is faith! And all you have to do is flip the switch and then what? What happens when you turn on a light in a dark room? Darkness HAS TO FLEE! It has no choice! It cannot stay! It cannot occupy that space anymore. Sure that light might create some shadows, because our lives aren’t perfect, but we know that God will always make the darkness go.
The Bible says a lot about faith!

“ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
“ But WITHOUT faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. ( And it continues on explaining the faith of Noah) By FAITH Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with Godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of righteousness which is according to FAITH.” Hebrews 11:6-7

You can also continue to read and it talks about the faith of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the harlot Rehab! And the writer of Hebrews keeps going on how things were done by FAITH! These people of God lived by faith! They believed and they overcame many things because they had faith! We can look to them for example! They were just ordinary people like you and me! But what made them go from ordinary to extraordinary? Having faith in God! They accomplished amazing things because our Father, who still does amazing things today, used them because they had faith! God is always working “behind the scenes” in our lives. He does things for us that we probably don’t even notice. So we must thank Him always and trust Him with our lives! He has already done so much for us that we take for granted! He gave us life! He breathes air into our lungs! He gives us power to heal the sick and to lead nations to Him! He gives us everything! He IS our provider. He gives us faith. How do we get faith?

“ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the WORD of God.” Romans 10:17

We get faith by HEARING! Hearing worship music, by hearing a good teaching, by HEARING the Word of God! Not just reading it in your head, but declaring the words out loud so that you can hear every word! It gives you faith. Try it out and see! It really does work!
Spend time in prayer and worship in your secret place and establish your relationship with the King of Kings! Trust Him. We CAN lean on God! We can depend on Him and Him alone! Faith does not mature or strengthen without trial or persecution. We need to go through things to learn and to get a deeper faith! Going through trials is a stepping stone closer to God. You can either trip over it and curse God, or you can use it as a step UP! Use them as stairs to go up to the throne of God! He sustains us to keep us coming closer and closer to Him! If you fall, stand back up and keep going! When you’ve done all you can to stand, just stand.

LIFE in Him

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make profit”;
Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” James 4:13

What is your life worth? Is your life so awesome, so important, that you would rather have your life more than God? Some people do. I mean, life isn’t bad! And loving your life isn’t bad either. But putting anything before God is definitely not okay.

Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
John 12:25

I mean for real, what in this world that you hold on to is more valuable than the King of Kings? My answer is NOTHING. What’s your answer?

So we are going to talk about life.
What is your day to day life like?
For me, I get up every day at about 9:00am. (Except for Shabbats and Sundays) I come down stairs, have breakfast, and sometimes I have to clean a little, and then I have school until 2-2:30pm. Then I will either, use my iPod, play guitar, write, or do whatever.
I also try to have a time in my day that I go in my room and spend some time listening to worship music and I pray, or listen to a teaching or read the Word.
That is the best thing I do in my day! Yes, school is important, but I absolutely LOVE spending time with my King!
Spending time with Him will strengthen you, mold you, sharpen you, and make you an all in all better person!
He is an important part of our day to day schedule.
So what is the one thing that we all stress about the most? Whether you are a teenager, a young adult, or a adult?
The answer is, MONEY.
Money is the number one cause of stress. Well, mostly stressful if you’re in debt, or just don’t have a lot of income, or you’re not getting any income. I know money stresses me out! Also driving stresses me out! I just recently got my license and it’s hard because I still don’t like driving alone, and of course when I got it the weather is bad! I have never driven in the winter with an adult, so how can I safely drive on my own? I know I don’t feel safe enough yet for myself, or others.
So life as a teenager transitioning into adulthood is hard, and causes anxiety, worry, and doubt about your ability to make it in society. I know that’s the case for me, I don’t know about you?
So how do we overcome this fear?
To be honest, I’m still working through it! But I will share with you some steps I have taken to make me feel more at peace about this.
#1. Pray, pray, PRAY!
This is what gets me through my day! I am constantly just talking to Him, asking Him for peace, demanding the worry to leave in the Name of Yeshua, and thanking Him for His plans for my life! Excepting that I have to grow up, I have to overcome my fear, I have to TRUST HIM!

#2. Write down your plans!

“ Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision and make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.” Habakkuk 2:3

He wants us to make it plain! Plan out your life in steps! Maybe make a 5 year plan, or maybe your plan for the week or this year! Just get organized! Pray about what you would like to do and where you would like to see yourself in a few years or in 20 years. The Lord will guide your steps and make you successful! Just trust in His Will for your life.

#3. Accept who you are! Your identity is not in the world. Your identity is in Him! You have to know who you are! Be confident in yourself. I know this is hard for me. I’m not a very out-going, or confident person! In fact I’m a bit insecure. But I can’t let that state of mind rule my life! I have to find who I am in Him, just like in step one! Pray! Get to know the Father! Recognize what Yeshua did for you on the cross. He paid it all, and all to Him you owe. So give Him your time, your life! Your everything belongs to Him!

So by following these steps you are stepping closer and closer to living a spirit filled, truth leading life! A life with less worry, a life with complete and absolute trust in God!

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Your Calling, Fear, and Trust.

” The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn away from the snares of death.” Proverbs 14:27

This verse says it all, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life! He doesn’t mean to be afraid of Him, but have a healthy and respectful fear of Him. I’m going to start by asking some questions that you can ask yourself.

1. Do I fear the Father?

2. Do I trust Him?

3. Am I afraid to grow up?

4. What is my calling?

5. What does the Father have planned for my life?

These are all questions I ask myself daily. Yes, I fear the Lord.

In Proverbs 31:30 it says ” Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a women who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Do I trust Him?

Recently I had been struggling with trusting Him, but I am learning everyday to let go and let God. I started out just letting go of stressing about stuff and just constantly thanking Him, instead of asking for things. I thank Him for what He is doing in my walk with Him, with what He has done and what He will do.

He is the Aleph and the Tav, the beginning and end! Trust Him. I wouldn’t be who I am today without the love of our Savior, and His word guiding me and His Spirit leading me everyday!

Am I afraid to grow up?

Yes, very afraid. But I can’t keep my eyes on the future, I have to think about today, right now, this moment.

Matthew 6:34 says ” Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about it’s own things. Sufficient for the day is it’s own trouble.”

So I need to be still and know that He is God! And trust His plans for me, trust that He is using my good days, and my bad days to shape me and prepare me to be a godly wife and mother and to be HIS bride. Trust Him.

What is my calling?

This is a hard question to ask because you may not know yet. The Father will show you in His timing for you. Just seek Him and pray and thank Him. He’s got everything under control. I know, for me, that I may know what my calling is, but i’ m still seeking Him and searching for answers and asking for His guidance to get me there. I think the last question ties in with the one above. ” What does the Father have planned for my life? “ Like I was saying, seek Him, pray, and thank Him. He isn’t going to reveal to you every single secret and move He has for you all in one day! That would be extremely overwhelming! But trust and know that you are where you are supposed to be, right now, and you are who you are because that’s who the Father designed you to be. Trust Him.

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