Week 102: It's in the Bag

                                      It’s in the Bag

                            …full of the Holy Ghost and of faith… Acts 11:24b

  

• Grace . . .

• Mercy . . .

• Love . . .

  

When you register at an overnight retreat or conference, sometimes they will give you a complimentary goody bag of commodities—things that will make your stay more comfortable and enjoyable. Like so with God, He passes out a Goody Bag too. If we believe, trust, and have faith in Him, the contents in His Bag will give us everlasting life. Let’s look inside and see what we got. 

Of course Love is inside the Bag. As a matter of fact, it’s sitting right on top—front and center. God is Love. He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). Without His unconditional love for us—what’s the point? Let’s see what else is inside the Bag.

Well, here’s another must have: Forgiveness. I’d hate to think where we would be if God wasn’t willing to forgive us for our sins. Not only does He forgive our sins, He doesn’t remember them anymore (Hebrews 8:12). Wow!

Here’s something else that will come in handy: Grace and Mercy. Can you imagine trying to live life without this dynamic duo? Impossible! 

Who doesn’t need a Favor every now and then? The God kind of favor is indispensable. It’s supernatural. His favor can even cause our enemies to bless us (Proverbs 21:1). Favor sprinkled on our life will spark things up, and set us apart.  

This Bag is overflowing with all kinds of Blessings. What do you need? Name it, it’s in there.  

You know there’s so much inside this Bag that I can’t name it all right now. You’ll just have to look inside for yourself.

                                                 

        One thing is for sure, everything we need—It’s in the Bag!

       

© 2015                         See you next week on Paulette Talks Faith

Week 101: Faith Drills

                                     Faith Drills

   In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Ephesians 3:12

• Salvation . . .

• Manifestations . . . 

• Defense . . .

               Remember fire drills when you were in school? Fire trucks rolling up, packed with the cutest firemen you would ever want to see? (Okay, ignore that last remark.)

 Anyway, those drills were given so we would have a sense of direction just in case of an actual fire. We knew which doors to exit from; we knew where to line up outside the school for safety. 

We have faith drills all the time. I call them drills because most of them are not intensive; yet, they sharpen our faith skills. These faith drills are important like those fire drills were. We don’t want to only use our faith in emergency situations. That’s not a good idea. 

We have to develop our faith all along the way in everything we do. And, we do that by learning to trust, lean, and depend on God while doing our everyday routines. This keeps Him in the forefront of our thoughts. The more we rely on Him as a real living Being, the more we are conscious of His presence.

Subsequently, when a true emergency comes, we aren’t calling on a God that is unfamiliar to us; but, we are calling on the God that we have a relationship with. Through this relationship, we have learned to know how faithful and loving He is. We have seen how much He cares, and is concerned about all that concerns us. We have personal knowledge of the Power that dwells within Him.

     How can we have faith in God if He’s unknown to us?

  When trouble comes, we can look to John 16:33. Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”    

            

                 Faith Drills—Strengthens Faith so we can be of Good Cheer!  

 

© 2015                         See you next week on Paulette Talks Faith

Week 100: God is Faithful!

                                                           God is Faithful!

                                       …great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23

• I will never leave you . . .

• Fear not, I will help you . . .

• Call on Me and I will help you . . .

       This is week 100 of Paulette Talks Faith. When I first started, I remember wondering whether I would have enough to write about, to keep this blog going every week. I can say God has been faithful. He kept me inspired with writings, never missing a week. Every Monday morning I was able to post a new writing. I Am Thankful!

                          We can all attest to God’s faithfulness. The sun rises, and the sun sets—like clockwork. Seasons come and seasons go—right on schedule. We never run out of water to drink, or air to breath.

                          Even in your personal life, I’m sure you can see the faithfulness of God. Think about all the times He gave you the right words to say when you wanted to say the wrong ones. The days when you couldn’t see a way, God showed you the way. The times He distracted the enemy, while you passed right by him. What about the times He healed your body? How many times have you cried: Help Me Lord, and help came? We can depend on God to be faithful when we call on Him (Psalm 91:15). He never forgets about us, not for one second.  

                                                 God’s faithfulness has two sides.

                          However, we have to look at the flip side of His faithfulness. Just as God is faithful to carry out His wonderful promises, He is just as faithful to carry out His promises that are linked to our disobedience. Uh-oh!                                                   

                         Since we are to be Christ-like, we have to think about how faithful we are towards one another. Do we keep our commitments even when we don’t feel like it, or when it’s inconvenient? Can people count on our support? Do we even keep the promises we make to ourselves? And most importantly, how faithful are we to God?

                                                Can God Count on Your Faithfulness? 

© 2015                         See you next week on Paulette Talks Faith