Category: Trust God

Fill My Cup, Lord

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” (John 7:37)

There is a song I really feel fits this topic by Jessy Dixon; Fill My Cup, Lord. The lyrics go like this: Like the woman at the well I was seeking for things that could not satisfy and then I heard my Savior speaking “Draw from My well that never shall run dry” Fill my cup, Lord I lift it up, Lord … Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of Heaven, feed me ’til I want no more …Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole. There are millions in this world who are craving the pleasures, earthly things of gold, but none can match the wondrous treasure that I find in Jesus Christ my Lord. Fill my cup, Lord I lift it up, Lord …come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of Heaven, feed me ’til i want no more. Fill my cup, Lord fill it up and make me whole. Here’s my cup, fill it up and make me whole.

Sometimes we need to have our cup filled back up. We find ourselves going along day by day pouring out of our cup and then suddenly one day we realize that our cup it empty. Maybe your running on empty or life just hit you with some news that requires a big drink from that cup, but when you reach for it there is nothing left. Have you ever been dehydrated? Completely depleted? You know that feeling? I do. In the summer especially when outdoors working in the heat, if I am not replenishing what I am using I will become dehydrated I will soon have a headache and become weak in my body. When we are spiritually dehydrated we also become weak. Weak in our minds forgetting what the Word of God says, how we are mighty warriors, we are more than conquerors, we are overcomers. We don’t have the ability to continue being those things because we need His strength, we cannot do these things in our own strength, it only comes from being filled with the living water, Jesus Christ.

If you are feeling weak, depleted, thirty and cannot go any further you need to ask, fill my cup, Lord. Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He promises that anyone who believes in Him will have “rivers of living water” flowing from within.

Only Jesus can quench your spiritual thirst. If you have been thirsting after something, yet find yourself never satisfied can I suggest to you right now to ask Jesus to give you the life-giving water (Jn.4:10) this is not water for your physical body, this water will cause you to never thirst again, it is life-giving water that will give you eternal life. (Jn. 4:13-14). If you will pray this prayer, you can have this living water.

Romans 10:9-10 tells us if we acknowledge our sins, believing in the resurrection, and surrendering to Jesus by confession of our mouths we will be saved from spiritual death.

Jesus, I am a sinner in need of a savior. I believe in my heart that you are the son of God who died on the cross and rose from the dead that I may be forgiven of my sins and have eternal life with you. I turn from my sins and invite You into my life, I confess You as Lord and Savior. Thank you for saving me and giving me eternal life, In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Confession Of A Sinner

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38)

David wrote Psalm 51 for the music leader, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.

Here is the entire Psalm written in simple, modern everyday English:

Have mercy on me, God, because you are so loving. Because you are so merciful, please wipe away all my wrongs. Wash me clean from guilt and make me pure from my sin. I know exactly what I did wrong, and I cannot stop thinking about it. I have done evil, and I only sinned against you. You are perfectly fair to judge me for what I did. I have been a sinner since the day I was born. But you want truth and honesty deep inside my heart, and you teach me wisdom there. Wash me, and I will be cleaner than snow. Make me happy and glad again. Ignore my sins and wipe them all from your memory. Create a pure heart in me, God, and give me a new, faithful spirit. Please do not the throw me away or take your Holy spirit from me. Give me back the joy of your saving grace, and make me eager to obey you. If you do this, I will teach other sinners your ways so they will return to you. God, save me from my guilt, and my tongue will sing loudly about how good and right you are. Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proudly praise you. You do not really want animal sacrifices, or I would gladly bring them. The true sacrifice God wants is a broken and humble heart. God, you will not look down on a heart that is sorry for its sins.

This is a prayer of forgiveness and repentance written by King David. In it, he asks God to wash away his mistakes, fix his broken heart, and restore his joy.

I know we read here about having the Holy Spirit taken from David, yet Christ had not come yet, therefore the Holy Spirit did not dwell within anyone at this point in time. What we have here is God’s anointing on David. Ps. 32:1 states, Forgiveness of sins anticipates the sacrifice of Christ as the ultimate basis of forgiveness according to, (Romans 4:7-8). Also (Ps. 51:7) Hyssop alludes to cleansing ceremonies that point to the final cleansing from sin through the work of Christ (Heb 9:19-28). Which now takes me to (1 John 1:9), “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse of from all unrighteousness.” Now, thanks to Jesus dying on the cross, rising up from the dead and sending His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, we can have EVERYTHING God promised. One last, but not final scripture I want to share is (Romans 10:9-10), “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved”.

Christ promises us the conqueror’s reward: communion with himself and the white raiment of victory. Our name is secure in his Book of Life, and he will confess our names before the Father, since we have confessed Jesus. (Rev.3:5)

With King David, he found forgiveness from the Father through his confession. With us we to have forgiveness through confession with the Son and eternal life.

If any or all of this resonated within you, you to can confess your sins and be forgiven. There is nothing like letting the past go and getting a fresh new life an everlasting life. Love covers a multitude of sins, and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That’s unconditional grace my friends. You cannot earn God’s love by good behavior or human perfection, it had to come one way and one way only, through the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, a sacrificial love. He did it for me, He did it for you.

The Dilemma of Quitting

If I say, “I will not mention him or speak anymore in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. (Jer. 20:9)

God does not allow Jeremiah to stop preaching. He has put this burning fire and desire within him that if he were to try to stop it would be to painful, the words are in him and they have to come out. He has enemies and Jeremiah’s ministry was a fight. People whispering behind his back, turning his words against him, planning terror for him on every side. They were watching for his fall, hoping for an incorrect prediction. God did give Jeremiah a heads up in the beginning that these things would happen by saying, “They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you” (Jeremiah 1:19).

I’ve been in a battle for quite some time it seems, because my perception of life is very different than that of many. I hear things from God that cause me to say or not say things, act or not act regarding certain situations and because of that people have turn their back on me, or talked behind my back, left our relationship, tried to attack me in ways that completely blow my mind. But then, I am reminded of Jeremiah and all he went through all because God had put the fire inside of him. As much as he wanted to quit, as much as I want to quit at times, because the battle is raging all around me, I cannot and neither did he. There is this unquenchable, unshakeable truth inside of me, a pressure like feeling that no matter how bad I want to quit, I cannot. Just recently it was so bad, that I to like Jeremiah had wished I had never been born. People can be so hateful at times and you wonder why am I doing this? That is why. Be the difference, be the light in a dark world. Jeremiah’s pain and confusion required both careful thought and a caring heart. Through all the suffering I read about in Jeremiah’s story I realize that I have been given a God-given passion to spread the good news. I know I vent and speak of giving up. I also know there is a fire not easily extinguished. And I know that the God who started this in me will sustain me until he is finished with me, just as the Word in Jer. 1:19. God listens to my prayers, hears the cry of my heart, comforts my soul and toughens me up. He even at times stuns me in how he will subtly change my situation in a different direction just to provide me with a hope to keep going. Jeremiah was not a quitter and neither am I.

No pain …No gain

Discontentment

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ( Philippians 4:11)

Paul’s been through some stuff and he knows what it’s like from every angle of life, yet he knew and talked about being content more than anyone else.

Okay this is straight talk from myself for a minute. Discontentment is a sneaky enemy. I can get angry about something, it’s just there right now, in the moment and that’s that. Or fear, something happens or doesn’t happen and anxiety starts taking over right away, but discontentment hits when I least expect it, everything is just rocking along. My day will be going great, heck I may even be at church praising God and giving Him all the glory for all the good things He is doing in my life, done in my life and gonna do in my life and then like a thief in the night the enemy has come and stole my joy, got me thinking all kinds of things. Likely because I heard someone else talking about something and suddenly I felt I didn’t have what I thought I should have. Like,”Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have so much to take care of around our home, we could be out doing what so-n-so is doing, wouldn’t that be nice?” Or “We sure didn’t think this whole retirement thing through like we should have had we, we would be doing a lot more than we are.” “Dang we are getting old, if we were young like them we could __________fill in the blank.” See how the enemy snuck that one right in there? I just went from being content and I really am for the most part, until the enemy comes along and gets in my head and I decide to entertain those thoughts and that’s all that is, is thoughts. God blessed us with a nice home, we have lived good healthy lives this far, if we would stop allowing busyness to steal our time we would take vacations, even just more day trips. We aren’t in lack, God has been good to us, so how did I suddenly just become discontent?

The Israelites’ journey in the dessert; despite being freed from slavery, they grew dissatisfied with God’s provision and complained against Him. Discontentment will cause us to start grumbling and complaining just like they did. We start acting like God is withholding good things or he doesn’t know what’s best for us. Paul tells us that contentment is learned. Paul struggled with imprisonment and hardship but wrote in (Philippians 4:11-13) that he learned the secret of being content in (any) situation, relying on the strength Christ provides. There is some true gain from having a relationship with God rather than all this worldly stuff that brings about being discontent, (1 Timothy 6:6) “godliness with contentment is great gain”. We need to set our minds on the things above, not on earthly things”(Colossians 3:2). We also need to protect our minds. I once read a book, “Where the mind goes, the man follows” and that is true. Don’t be a follower of the enemy, be a Christ Follower.

Peace On Earth

If my people who are called by name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

The word that stands out to me more than anything at the moment is: “IF”. If my people will humble themselves, seek, pray, and turn. This requires some heartfelt repentance here. This means there is going to be some deliverance, healing, restoration and going home. Most importantly a right relationship with the Lord.

We have got to be a people that acknowledges our weaknesses and submits to God’s authority. Take time to talk to God asking for his intervention. Desiring His presence and will, not just asking for His blessings. We need to stay in an active place of repentance, we have to consciously make a decision to stop sinning and start being obedient. We as parents don’t just keep blessing our children when they are doing the wrong thing, we make them earn it through respecting our authority over them, God does the same thing. We are trying raise obedient children and so is God.

God’s Promise, (“Then”) That’s when we receive the promise of His grace over judgment “when” His people return to Him. I know this promise was made to the ancient nation of Israel, but the principles apply to believers today to. God’s ultimate desire is restoration and forgiveness rather than permanent punishment. If we can do that we can have peace on earth.

Remember “IF” & “When” two very important words. If and when we will do it His way.

Moving Forward

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:14)

If I am being held back from accomplishing anything, it is because of the battle between fear and faith. I know I have in the past and sometimes still find myself shrinking back in the present just not nearly as much as I use to, limiting my own self by doubting instead of trusting His calling. Because I have always had the people pleasing syndrome, spirit of perfectionism, I have allowed fear and insecurity to hold me back. Fear, failure, judgment, or even the unknown have been reasons for holding me back from stepping into my true identity. I spent a lot of time with the Lord trying to figure out how to move past this. Through much prayer and surrender God blessed me with a new boldness, one that makes me say now “YES I CAN” and “YES I WILL,” I’m not scared. If God called me to it, well he will obviously equip me to achieve the task. I’m moving forward, not backward. I am focused on my future, what’s ahead of me. God has been doing a new thing in me and I am not hiding who the new me is He is creating.

If God is calling you into something new, a new purpose, or bolder version of yourself, He promises He will be your strength. You just need to replace your internal doubts by renewing your mind with what Scripture says about your value and your purpose. Remember we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10) Let your light shine, people need to see it, this is how we encourage others to move out of their fears and doubts, and move into their call, their purpose in life.

Moving Forward With Purpose and Taking People With me

Just Trust Me

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21)

This verse explains that giving up what you treasure is the ultimate way to align your heart and your trust with God. I know it can be hard to surrender or give up things that we deeply cherish. But when we do we are showing God that he is our priority over any earthly treasure we have.

Jesus taught that trusting him requires surrendering fear, relying on God rather than our self, and believing in his promises. He tells us that faith brings us peace during difficult times and assures us the believers of his constant presence and provision.

This here is the #1 foundational scripture calling for complete reliance on God rather than our own human logic, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your path” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Trust is the antidote to fear, “when I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Ps. 56:3). “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat? or “What shall we drink?’ …your heavenly Father knows that you need them all” ( Matt. 6:31-32) Again, TRUST! Trust is a huge thing for me. I have trusted so many people in my life and I’ve lived a long life and in all honesty, everyone of them have let me down in some way or another. I don’t say that to be mean or as to point fingers or wrong doings, I say that because we are imperfect. They couldn’t keep their word or in some cases simply made the choice not to. Though we fail in this area can I tell you, God doesn’t. God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Numbers 23:19) If he said it, it is. You can trust him completely. God is entirely distinct from human beings because He is completely truthful, faithful, and unchanging. We humans often lie, break promises, or change our minds, God’s character guarantees that every word He speaks will absolutely come to pass. So, don’t be afraid to give things over to Jesus when he asks for them.

This week I handed over a 6 year ministry that I loved, trusting God to do a new thing, not just a new thing, but His will. When we trust like that we are giving Him something to work with. We are surrendering to His perfect will for us.

Loving Him …is Trusting Him

Pick Up Your Cross And Follow Me

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If any would come after me. let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power” (Mark 8:35-38, 9:1)

The cost of discipleship includes being able to follow Jesus and to confess Him courageously. I wrote a couple days back regarding the attacks I had been receiving due to being courageous or my newfound boldness rather in speaking publicly in my blog which breadandwater.blog happens to be reaching people all over the world about Jesus Christ the Son of God. Just because people aren’t beheading me, or imprisoning me for speaking out about Jesus, there are people that don’t agree with me and will say and do things to try to shut me up. That is a type of persecution here in America. Over the past few years I have learned about surrender and that is what it is going to take to pick up your cross; complete surrender to God. It is a daily decision to deny your own selfish desires, put your ego and personal plans to death, (that’s what kind of death he is talking about), then follow Jesus’ teachings no matter the personal cost, that’s obedience. Jesus commands this in the Gospels, it is an absolute requirement for being His disciples, (Matt.16:24), (Mark 8:34) and (Luke 9:23).

Jesus meant that a true follower must be willing to put their old, self-centered life to death in order to live for Christ. Choosing God’s will over our own comfort, reputation, or worldly success. It is a daily willingness to accept the challenges and sacrifices that come with living righteously. It is a willing, active choice of surrender and obedience to God. These are areas I have been trying to exemplify for the past three years. I admit the cross can get pretty heavy at times, but I know the end results of picking it up and carrying it. I have been in another group as an admin. with a lifelong friend of mine for the past 6 years called Encouraging Each Other. I believe the Lord would have me step away from the administration part of that and pour my heart, soul and strength into my Blog. For one, my blog is under the direction of the Holy Spirit, there is an anointing on it and He tells me what to write. Encouraging Each Other can be anything that would lift another person up; such as positive sayings, quotes and testimonies of the wonderful things the Lord has done in people’s lives and I have shared many of those myself and plan to continue to. All of this is absolutely great. Except I believe the direction of my breadandwater blog is going more toward life instruction, growth, relational, and testimonial as well reflecting on the way we are living versus the way God tells us to live and of course the message and the urgency of salvation. I have been blessed to have been an administrator of Encouraging Each Other, one of the greatest parts of it for me, was welcoming new members into the group. I love seeing all the people that enjoy this group and how much it has grown. But, now it is time for me to pick up my cross and follow Jesus to where he is calling me. It has taken me forever to learn Surrender and Obedience and one day I want to hear well done good and faithful servant. As much as I want to see where he is leading me right now.

Now don’t hear what I am not saying as a Pastor I know once, actually many times would say. I am not asking y’all to leave Encouraging Each Other, matter of fact I am not leaving, but I won’t be admin. anymore, nor will I be posting my Blog on there anymore after today, but I will post words of encouragement when I have them and I will definitely be reading yours. I would like to ask any of you who have not already subscribed to my Blog if you find it of interest please do go ahead and subscribe. You will receive an email every time I post by subscribing. Or feel free to just pop in from time to time. I love all of you who are supporting me by reading now, y’all are the best and we are still family. And keep on Encouraging Each Other.

Little Holy Ghost Jr.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

I’m gonna start this right off with … GUILTY! I am SOoo guilty of trying to play Holy Ghost Jr with God, as if He needs my help …EVER! I know I am suppose to rely on God totally, trusting in his ways and his timing, let him carry my burden when I am overwhelmed, but I just think he might need my help once in awhile. Sadly mistaken, because he doesn’t. He absolutely knows what he is doing and it is perfect, if I will just stay out of the way. When he talks about Him being the vine and me being the branch, that means I am to stay connected to Christ not the other way around. It’s also not trying to carry the load that only the vine can carry. Being connected and being a Jr. are not the same. Matter of fact there is no such thing. All we do is complicate things for ourselves by getting in his way. I like to think of it as when I am working in the house, say cooking, and my husband says he will do the dishes afterwards. Now I am probably gonna hear it over this one, but just being a little honest here. I have my way of cleaning up the kitchen and it is not even close to the way my husband does it. In his defense he doesn’t ever say, “Hey let me clean the kitchen for you,” instead he says, “I’ll do the dishes.” You see in my thinking, if I am going to do dishes I am going to clean the entire kitchen, stove, countertops, maybe wipe down the fridge, a couple appliances, clean the sink afterwards you see where I’m going with this. When he does the dishes that is exactly what he is going to do, dishes. Here is another scripture for you, or me; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:8-9. How about this one; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” Proverbs 3:5-6.

The positive part of this is, I don’t have to rely on my own strength, ways or power to do the things. He tells me I can do all things (through Him) who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13). See He is not asking for my help, instead He is asking me to rely on Him, it is through Him that I will be able to do all things, not with Him. In Isaiah 40:29: “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” And lastly, 1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” I am guilty of getting in God’s way at times, but I also know I cannot do anything on my own without seeking Him first if I want it to turn out good or right. I’m not talking about the dishes, or cooking or doing the laundry, mowing the grass, those things. I am talking about the issues of life, the ones that require a BIG God and a little me. Less of me and MORE of Him. Another bad habit I once had, I say once because this one I am actually getting much better at. I am now releasing things over to God and letting him keep them. I am being more intentional and focused on staying out of his way. I have lived the role of playing Holy Ghost Jr and that’s all that was, playing. My life is no game, I am taking it seriously these days and I am taking God and His Word seriously. So if you are one that thinks God needs your help, I can assure you, He doesn’t. All he needs from you and I is to trust Him.

Let God be God

Regret

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it on my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil.3:13-14)

Paul could not get the past out of his mind, but he refused to let his past keep him from his progress toward his goal. He wanted to forget his self-righteous past (vv.4-7). He indicates that it was an ongoing process. His goal was to have his eyes so fixed on Jesus that all he could see was the prize, the victory. He wasn’t working for his salvation but rather for a reward. When we get right with Jesus there is a reward that no man can achieve on his own. We need to leave our past in the past. Too many people including myself are or have been walking around fully clothed in regrets. Maybe there was an outcome that didn’t turn out the way you expected and then suddenly you find yourself in regret, because it was caused by your decision or action. Maybe you regret actions you never took that you should have, that is one I tend to fall into these days. Sometimes I think about something good I could have done and didn’t. Regret leads to self-blame and even guilt. We need to be more like Paul, forgetting those past mistakes, move forward, quit allowing regrets to keep us from going for the prize that God has set before us. I realize in this scripture the prize is Jesus Christ, but God also has earthly prizes if I may say, blessings he wants to bestow upon us, if we will keep our eyes on Him. Shame and regret rob us from our blessings. January 1 of this year I made a commitment to stand on this one word “Intentional.” Well can I say, I haven’t been as faithful as I intended to be to that word in a couple areas of my life. See I set a pretty big goal for myself, I wanted to be intentional about EVERY area in my life. When I began to realize I wasn’t doing very well at it guilt, shame and regret for setting such a standard for myself set in. Fortunately, God allows for repentance and do-overs. He allows us to leave our failures in the past and press-on toward the prize. For me I hold myself to a higher standard than some, so it takes me a minute to get back in the race, but I have determination and I will persevere. Paul’s life was purposeful and he was constant. I have learned many things from Paul over the years, I’ve seen myself as the old Paul and the new Paul. My goal now is to remain steadfast, no regrets, just pressing on. I would also like to give credit to a dear friend of ours from our home Church in Texas for drawing this picture and gifting it to us 30 years ago, thank you Dori.