Blessings from the LORD

“May the LORD bless you and keep you.

May the LORD make His face to shine

 upon you, and be gracious to you. 

May the LORD lift up His countenance 

upon you, and give you peace.” 

(Numbers 6:24-26)

Abide in Him

"If you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed.

 And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free"

(John 8:31)

If we desire powerful prayer lives, we must be abiding in Him and His Word. Through the power of the Word, the Holy Scriptures, we can know the truth. And His Word tells us that the truth will set us free! If we want freedom, if we want power, we must dwell on the WORD of God. Our prayer lives are only going to be as effective and as mighty as the effort we put into them. 

May we long for a time of communion with our God and may we purpose to strive for consistent time spent in His presence. Then we will see Him begin to work in our lives and the lives of those we pray for. His WORD is truth.

Cry out to Jesus

https://thedailyprayerblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/cry-out-to-jesus

Do you ever feel like this deep down in your spirit?

How long, O LORD???

Do you ever pray and wonder if the LORD is listening? Does He hear?

Does He care about the anguish in your soul? The heartache? The pain?

One thing I have learned in my Christian walk is that He does listen and He does hear. He does care about our brokenness. Our deepest hurt. Our confusion.

Never give up. Never quit praying. Never stop crying out to God.

He loves us with an everlasting and incomprehensible love. A love we can trust. A love we can depend on.

We may not always be able to see that He is working, but we can know deep down into the depths of our being that He is.

Because His Word tells us this truth.

"In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me." (Psalm 120:1) CSB

Hang on to the promises of His Word. Hang on to His love.

And cry out to Jesus.

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Posted today on the Daily Prayer blog. Follow link above.

what if we could?

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That's what we do!

Are you walkin’ it out with Jesus? Click the link and then hop on over to my blog and check it out!

Which voice?

The voice of TRUTH must make its self known!!! Hop over to the BLOG and check it out!

From tears to joy

The beauty of sown tears is the abundance of joy that is reaped!!!

Link to my ministry blog can be found here!

 Abundant tears

Striving for Unsatisfaction!!

 Satisfaction is highly over-rated! Check out my blog Walkin' it Out to find out why!!!!

Is He good??

Head over to my blog, Walkin' it Out and see what God is speaking!

The deafening sound of silence

Ever hear a deafening silence? Read my latest blog.....

Bethandjimherring.com 

The sound of our weeping...

Join me at my blog "walkin' it out"!

bethandjimherring.com 

Fear not

We see the words ‘don’t be afraid’ many times in God’s Word. Words that easily slip off our tongues but don’t slip so easily into our spirits.

In fact, we seem to have no problem telling others not to fear yet we have a harder time telling that to our own selves. We struggle with living lives free of anxiety and fear but have difficulty understanding why others can’t seem to get a grip on being able to live without it.

Perhap our fears seems logical to us and we feel validated in them but the fears of other people just don’t make sense to us.

The truth is that God desires for us all to live our daily lives in peace with Him. He knows we will have struggles. He knows we will have times of uncertainty. He knows things will not always be easy. But He also knows that if we would simply trust Him completely we could walk through those times of turmoil and anxiety free from paralyzing fear.

We can walk in peace because He promises to walk beside us. He promises to never leave us. He promises that He will guide us in the right path........

Continue reading at http://bethandjimherring.com

New place!

For now, I will blogging at my new site. Not sure what I will do here but please hop over to bethandjimherring.com and join me there at "walkin' it out"

Thank you so much!

It's hot in Belize!

Today marks the sixth day of our return to Belize to do  ministry. We were here for 3 weeks at the end of July and flew back in last Tuesday for another 3 weeks. The weather here is very hot and very humid. The air outside is so heavy at times and the sun is very intense. I miss the cool comfort of indoor air-conditioning, but will settle for the fan that at least stirs up the air and does cool us off a little. I am very thankful for electricity where we are staying but when it goes off it is stifling to say the least. All that to say, be thankful for the conveniences that we have and never take them for granted!

We are here to do some ministry with The Baptist Tabernacle. It is a small church on the outskirts of Belmopan and the pastor is a precious young man named Job Lopez. Jimbo and I are working along side him and his church members to try and help them in their outreach program and also in some church planning and organization.

Those of us from the states really can't understand the workings of the church in various parts of the world. Things are so different here. Life is so different here. People are so different here. Many of these churches are in very poor areas and the people that come to them must be within walking distance as most of them don't  have vehicles for transportation. A lot of people around this area ride bicycles but it is hard to bring a family to church on a bike. There are a lot of children that attend church without their parents. We have noticed a huge majority of the people in this area do not attend church at all. Apathy and complacency are not just in America, but here in Belize as well.

It is good to see that there are still people that love the Lord and who have a desire to grow in Him. I am looking forward to working with the women of the church and help them to develop some bible study habits and to help them organize a time for women to come together for fellowship and the study of God's Word.

We love having the opportunity to come back to places that we have been because it enables to begin to develop relationship with the people and that is so important when you are trying to minister God's love to them. When we were here in July, there was a young couple, Mike and Bessie, in the church that already had 2 young children and she had just given birth to premature twin boys. They weighed 3 pounds each at birth and wound up spending several months in the hospital. One of the babies was really sick while were here and had to have a blood transfusion. He wasn't doing very well at all. The church and our mission team began praying for this precious little boy and his brother and God heard our prayers. I was able to go visit the family on Saturday and the boys are home and growing and doing so well! They are over 6 pounds now and are healthy and thriving.  I love seeing how God works and I love seeing His goodness in all parts of the world!

Please pray for us as we endeavor to do what God has called us to do. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes we get tired and frustrated. Sometimes we just want to be back home where things are comfortable and convenient. But, for now, God has called us to be out on the mission field. He has called us to be His hands and feet in a world that needs Him so desperately. We just continue to follow where He leads and trust in His provision and His protection. He has never let us down and He has provided abundantly and sweetly to our ministry. He is so good and I love Him so.

"I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!" (Psalm 27:13)

Truth

"If you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed.

 And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free"

(John 8:31)

If we desire powerful prayer lives, we must be abiding in Him and His Word. Through the power of the Word, the Holy Scriptures, we can know the truth. And His Word tells us that the truth will set us free! If we want freedom, if we want power, we must dwell on the Word of God. Our prayer lives are only going to be as effective and as mighty as the effort we put into them. 

May we long for a time of communion with our God and may we purpose to strive for consistent time spent in His presence. Then we will see Him begin to work in our lives and the lives of those we pray for. His Word is truth.

Amen

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Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

Conviction

I am absolutely in love with the Word of God. I can't wait to dig into the scriptures when I wake up and I love the way God can take just a few words and impact my heart. Do you know that feeling? When you read one verse or even just a part of a verse and it just slams into your spirit with such force that you can feel it? 

As I opened the Word to my place in the book of John this morning, I began reading in chapter 9. There is so much 'good stuff' in that chapter and I was soaking it all in and then I came to verse 25 and read these words,

 "One thing I know: that thou I was blind, now I see."

Wow. Those words hit me with power. 'One thing I know...'. The Lord spoke to me as soon as I read those words. 'What do you know, Beth?' My mind started working as I pondered that question. What do I know?

I know that God is Creator of all things. I know that He is all power and authority. I know that He is love and that He loves me. I struggle with that one sometimes because I also know that I am so unworthy of His love and I fail Him daily, but I still know it is true. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He is the only way to Heaven. He is the only acceptable sacrifice for my sins. He gave His life for me on Calvary and I know that I am His. I know He is my LORD and Savior. 

If I know all this, why do I live my life in direct opposition to this at times? Why do I live defeated when I know that I have Victory? Why do I fail to trust and obey when I know that He is TRUTH?  My spirit sinks and my heart grows heavy.

If I know these things to be true, I need to be applying these truths to my life. I need to be walking in victory. Walking in love. Walking in His ways. I need to be filled with joy and experiencing peace. I need to act like He is LORD instead of acting like I am. I need to be spending more time on my face before Him and on my knees surrendering to Him. 

I love Him. Now it's time to behave accordingly. It's time to deny myself and submit to Him. It's time to surrender my will and delight myself in His ways. It's time to get over myself and get under Him. It's time to walk like He walked and act like I truly believe what I proclaim. I need to make my theology my reality. 

I sit here convicted and refreshed at the same time and then I read the rest of the verse. "...though I was blind, now I see." Oh, thank you, Jesus. I was blind, but praise God now I see! I was blind, helpless and hopeless in my sin, but now I KNOW that I am forgiven and redeemed. I KNOW!

We can know. We don't have to live defeated. We can have confidence in our God that what He says, He does. What He says is true. One thing I know.... I am His and He is mine.

Drink the water

On the last day, that great day of the feast, 

Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, 

let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, 

as the Scripture has said, out of his heart 

will flow rivers of living water." (John 7: 37-38)

Where are the rivers of living water flowing out of our lives ? If we aren't seeing it, it is because God isn't being glorified in our lives!

Are our lives reflecting this in a way that others can see?

Are we enslaved to the things of this world rather than the things of  God?

Are we drinking of the wrong wells? Are we filling people's heads with knowledge of a God they don't know? 

What is flowing out of our lives?

1. Materialism

2. Immorality

3. Pornography

4. Pride

5. Jealousy

6. Selfishness

Look what happened to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. They left their first love. They were so busy doing the Lord's work that they didn't have time for the Lord Himself. They had forgotten the important things and forsaken them for their own selfish desires. They had become a compromised people.

Are we as guilty? Is Christ our first love? Do people know this about us?

If we profess Him to be our Lord and Savior, if we profess Him to be our first love, we must behave as if this is true! We must spend time with Him. Our busiest time should be time spent with God. We need to be truly thirsting for Christ. We need to be beggars, searching for life giving sustenance. Poor in spirit. Needy. Desperate for Him.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:3)

Our minds, hearts and wills must come to a place of being poor in spirit. A place of humility. A place of sacrifice. A place where our sin grieves us deeply. Where our sin and wickedness produces a river of tears. 

Does it drive us to pray?

Are we drinking from His well?

We have stifled and quenched the power of the Lord in our lives. We have stopped up the flow of living water into our spirits. 

It's time to begin hungering desperately for Christ. It's time to begin thirsting after Him and after righteousness. It's time to put Him first. When we begin to do this then we open up the way for Him to begin filling us with rivers of living water.  Once we begin to be filled, our lives will begin to glorify Him and we will reflect Him to those around us. So, drink deeply of His well and begin a renewed and restored relationship with our Savior.

get some satisfaction

Are we ever satisfied? Or is there always just one more thing to buy, one more piece to eat, one more place to go, or one more thing to entertain us? Truly, our flesh is almost incapable of permanent satisfaction.  Our  flesh just longs for more. Our flesh is continually seeking to experience something new. Something different. Something better. And therein lies the problem. Our flesh. We allow it rule our hearts and guide our journey and it takes us down the wrong path every time.

Why can't we derive such sweet satisfaction in godly things? Why isn't reading the precious Word of God entertainment enough for us? Why isn't living a simple life enough? Our homes are overflowing with stuff. Our minds are over stimulated with too much information. Our spirits are being filled with material lust and worldly aspirations and we still aren't satisfied. We have too many choices. Too many options. We simply have too much. And this overload is to the detriment of our souls.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

 where moth and rust destroy and where

 thieves break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19)

"No one can serve two masters..."'

(Matthew 6:24)

Our God knew that we have this problem. He knew that we would struggle with fulfilling the lust of our flesh as opposed to allowing the spirit of God rule our hearts. He gave us many verses in His Word to help us see this and to help us overcome this. Yet we still spar daily with ourselves and we don't have a very good win record.

If we desire to experience satisfaction in our lives, we must start seeking those things that will satisfy! It won't come in the accumulation of things. It won't come in the quest for more. It will only come when we begin to desperately seek relationship with Christ. It will only come when we nourish our intimate relationship with our LORD. When we begin seeking Him and allowing Him to control our wants as well as our needs, we will have our eyes opened to the true satisfaction life has to offer. A life that glorifies God. A life that edifies Christ. A life that looks like Jesus.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, 

and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33)

Faith or feelings ?

“For without FAITH it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6)

We can’t allow our feelings and emotions to dictate our faith. Our faith has nothing to do with feelings. Our faith has nothing to do with our emotions. Our faith is based solely on the Word of God and who He is.

We absolutely can't please God without faith . The Word says it is impossible!

Faith takes prayer. Faith takes patience. Faith takes endurance. We must never give up but we must stand fast and believe!

We are willing to try everything else first, but not faith. You see, our faith begins with perception. It is truth. It is not seeing but just believing. It's about imprinting our minds with the truth of God’s Word and the truth of who He is. That knowledge of His power and authority is what  strengthens our faith in God. Our faith is only as strong as the object of our faith. If our faith is in anything other than our Creator, we will be let down and disappointed.  When the object of our faith is God, we can't fail. It's all about knowing who He is and what He can do, and then believing.

Our faith will follow our trust. What we trust is what we place our faith in. Do we need other things to prop up our faith or do we cling to the truth and allow that faith in God to stand alone? 

So, is it our feelings and our emotions? If that is the case, they will always let us down. They will always fail us. They will always disappoint us. Feelings falter  and emotions change from day to day. So, when we place our trust in those things that are temporal and not permanent, we get temporary satisfaction.

But listen to God’s Word:

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly  abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” ( Ephesians 3:20)

We can't do anything worthwhile on our own. But through our faith in God, we can please Him. It is through His Power in us that this is possible. It is because He is constant and unchanging that we can place our trust and our faith in Him. He can do more than we could ever imagine in our lives if we would completely give Him the control that is already His.

By faith, Abraham walked in obedience. Immediate obedience. By faith, Enoch walked with God. By faith, Abel had a heart for God and offered the acceptable sacrifice. By faith, Sarah trusted in the promises of her God!

So, what about us? Has our faith set us apart? Has our faith made us different?

Is our faith causing us to be prayed up? Is our faith causing us to be surrendered?  Surrendered totally and willingly and lovingly with no questions asked?

Do you know what pleases God? Our submissive and immediate obedience to Him. Obedience when we can't see the end results. Obedience when our flesh is screaming ‘no’. Obedience when it seems impossible.   Obedience when it seems too hard. Faith requires response. It must be put into practice. And that is only accomplished through a deep faith in our God. Faith grabs hold of the truth in God’s Word and is energized by it and inspired by its Holy fire!

Faith determines our relationship with God. The whole weight of our faith rests in His Word. It is us looking to God and trusting in His promises. If we want to know what those promises are than we must be studying His Word. If we want that kind of relationship with our LORD, we must be cultivating our faith by looking deep into the scriptures. 

Believing God. Resting in Him. Trusting His Word.

True bible faith is not just submissive obedience, but it is also confident obedience. It is knowing that in spite of the situation or the circumstances or the consequences, we have placed our trust in the perfect source. We can know that God will never let us down. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. He will always lead us down the perfect path that He has ordained for us.

“…For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear…” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

When we develop our faith in Him, several things will begin to take place in our lives. We will begin studying His Word more. We will begin to have a strong desire to read the bible and hear from Him. We will begin seeking Him in all that we do. We will start to listen for His Voice and we will hear.

God speaks – we hear and  we trust and believe.  So, then we act.

Our faith is our total response to what God has revealed to us.

When our total response is simply obedience, we begin to set our minds solely on Him.

“Set your mind on things above not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2)

* Christ has to be first and foremost in our lives.

* When He is first, we will seek those things that are above and not just here on earth. 

* We come to Jesus for Jesus, not for a rescue out of a situation or from a situation.. But we         come just for Him.

Do we only want God when we are desperate? When we need something? When we have reached the end of ourselves and our solutions?

Do we want a healing or do we want a Healer??

Do we want merely salvation or do we truly want a Savior??

We can't have heaven without a sacrifice. Jesus isn't merely a rescuer. He is a Redeemer and a Restorer. He doesn't just save us from a situation but He will walk beside us through them.

Truly, when our faith is based on Him, it removes our eyes off of our own weaknesses and places our focus on Christ. Our life is then hid in Christ with God. We begin to understand what it means to be crucified with Christ and live no longer. We begin to die to self.  

We are transformed into a people of faith. Faith in Him and Him only. When this happens, our lives will show it and we will be the “different people” that God has called us to be. We no longer base our trust in God on our feelings or our situations. Instead, our faith is based on the power of God. For His honor and His glory and His praise. Forever.

Real faith says:

I will…. I do… I accept it and I receive it!