I so love spending time with the Lord in the early morning hours, and as I ask Him to give me my nugget of truth to take into my day, apply to my life, and use to point me to Him all day long, I am more than amazed at how He meets me right where I am and ministers to me through His word.

Today I read some scriptures about believing and God gave me the title of this post, “I believe I receive, because I believe.”

The bible says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” ~ John 10:10.

The thief is the devil, and his only quest is to steal, kill and destroy!  Don’t let him, my friend!  Believe God and you will receive His promises.

Here is why:

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” ~ Matthew 21:21-22 NIV

Do you see that, my friend?  IF we believe, we WILL receive.  So when doubts creep in, as they often do, cast them OUT and remember Jesus’ promise that IF we believe, we WILL receive.  Don’t allow unbelief to undermine your faith in God, your trust that God will remain true to His promises (because He always will!), and Believe you Receive, Because YOU Believe!!

In this scripture in Matthew, it is speaking about a time when Jesus was walking with his disciples and was hungry.  As he approached a fig tree, he found it to be unfruitful, bearing NO fruit, and He cursed it and it withered on the spot!  Because the disciples were so amazed and questioned him about this, he gave them this response, found in Matthew 21:21-22.

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

If you have faith and do not doubt…You must have Faith, my friend.

You must Say it…Speaking it out in faith is believing

If you believe, you will receive…You must Believe

Whatever you ask for in prayer…You must Ask, my friend.

These truths are so empowering, but we must keep our faith strong and cast out any unbelief that tries to derail us.  If our faith seems to waver, we need to ask God to strengthen our faith, build our faith, and help us cast out any unbelief.

Allow Him to take your unbelief.  Just as the bible says in Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you” and in I Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

So my friend, cast those cares and that unbelief upon Him, allow Him to remove it from your life, and then your faith will rise!

Then you will be able to Believe YOU Receive, because YOU Believe

Time alone with God

Each morning I enjoy spending time with God, reading His word and seeking Him in prayer.  I often use one of the Bible app plans to aid me in pulling out truth from the scriptures.  This week in particular I’ve been asking God each day to give me a nugget of truth that I can take into my day and apply to my life as a whole.

Today I was reading through the commentary in the Bible app plan I’m using and the writer was speaking about how we establish a good reputation with God and other people.  He made the statement that we should always speak about others as if they were present to hear.  He stated that we establish trust in those who are present at the time by our loyalty to those who are not.

Wow! This was today’s nugget for me.  God was showing me and speaking to me through this writer that it is vitally important that I always speak kindly about others to others.  If what I am saying about someone is not something I would say to them if they were present, then I should NOT say it!

I love that the writer said that we will establish trust with those who are present when we are loyal to those who are not.  That, to me, is profound!

How do we achieve loyalty to others who are not present?  By only saying things that we would want them to hear.

Have you ever heard “through the grapevine”, as the expression goes, what someone said about you that made you mad, or surprised you, or saddened you?  Have you ever found that someone violated a trust with something you shared in secret and asked them to keep that way?  Did you feel differently about that person afterwards?

I am certainly chewing on these thoughts and considering my words that I speak, asking the Holy Spirit to guide me and help me establish trust and a good reputation with others (and most certainly with God) by being careful to watch what I say to others about others.

Proverbs 3: 3-4 “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” NIV

Proverbs 3:3-4 “Don’t lose your grip on love and loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.” The Message

I hope these truths resonate with you too, my friend.  Let’s all protect our speech, honor others with our words, and build our reputations by staying loyal and true to those who are not in our presence when we are speaking about them!

We also need to remember that God is always present, and He always hears everything we say.  He desires for us to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us when we speak and act, and by doing so we can be assured that we will always do and say the right thing.