Job Well Done!

Galatians 6:4-5, “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.  For we are each responsible for our own conduct.” NLT

Good morning friends in Christ!  We all want to be recognized for a job well done, right?  Our ultimate goal as believers is to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”  I know this is what I long for.  The only opinion that matters is that of God on judgment day.  Here in this verse it tells us to, “pay careful attention to your own work”.  We can be so easily distracted from doing a job well.  Many times we will be distracted by the work accomplished well by others.  Envy rears its ugly head and hinders our own work.

Part of the human nature is to compare ourselves to others.  This is how we judge whether we are doing a good job.  We stop and examine how someone else did this job and we try to do as well or better at it in comparison.    In a job capacity, this is often how we are trained to do our work, look at someone who is doing it successfully and learn to do it that way.  Though this is not what God’s Word is speaking about.  We are given gifts of the Spirit that we are to use as God has planned for us from the beginning of time.  The work we do in the Spirit with our blessed gifts, is what these verses are referring to. We do this work well only when we stay in constant connection with our Lord and Father.  In His presence, our works become more than we can do alone, in our own strength!

So let us not compare ourself to others.  God has given us each a specific job to do and it is to be completed in the unique way He has equipped us to do so.  No one else will have exactly the same job or journey that we have, so we need to keep our eyes on Jesus.  The author and perfector of our faith!  I am humbled to think that He has chosen me to do His work, therefore I will not question the work He has hand picked for me to do.

Friends, let us use human comparison only in regards to human job skill.  Allow God’s Spirit move and work in you daily.  Then we will hear, well done good and faithful servant, when we are in glory with Him!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

 

God’s Gifts!

2 Timothy 1:6, “For this reason I remind your to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

Good morning friends in Christ!  Technical difficulties to blame for not posting since Monday!  Ugh! As believers we know that God gives us special gifts.  These gifts are to be used to bring glory to God.  We do not all have the same gifts and God has given each of us a special task to use and develop our gifts.  So one person with the gift of encouragement may visit sick people in the hospital and another may write a blog!  Another may have the gift of teaching and serve God in a local church or on the mission filed around the world.  The important thing to grasp here is that God gives us each an important gift or gifts and we are to use them as He has wired us to use them.  It can be difficult not to envy another the gifts they have received, yet this is exactly what God wants from us.  Do the task that He  has gifted us to do.  Envy is a sin and the devil’s tool; so do not allow Him access to you!

When you know what your gift is, ask God to show you how He wants you to use it.  I will testify that the gift of encouragement in me, did not see a blog coming.  I am so technology challenged that this would be the last avenue I would choose to encourage people!  Yet my God made it very clear this was the avenue He chose for this season in my life!  So I chose to be obedient.  This is all that God asks of us to obey in the using of our gifts, and in this He receives all the glory!  When we move forward in using the gifts God has given us, in the way He is guiding us; then many are blessed and the blessing returns to us!  I love how uniquely complex our God is!  Each of us using our gifts in the way He has chosen for us, makes a beautiful tapestry that is ever-changing and growing in its magnificence. Do you want to be a part of something bigger than yourself?  Then ask God to show you the path He has chosen for your gifts to shine and breathe life into others and bring glory to Himself!!

Ignite your gifts into a bright and unstoppable flame with God’s help!!

Love and prayers, Paula Nebel

Walk Wise!

Ephesians 5:15, “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” HCSB

Good morning, friends in Christ! Who doesn’t want to be wise?!  “Walk wise” should be our Christian motto!  Wisdom comes from God, so when we choose to walk with Jesus we will “walk wise.”   Easier said than done, I know.  Yet, here it is written in the Bible for us, as a reminder; so we know it is important.

“Pay careful attention,” to your walk; which starts with your thoughts and leads to your talk and walk.  Give your thoughts to God each day, all day; just as God’s Word reminds us to take captive every thought.  Our thoughts become our words and actions, so it’s imperative to begin there.

Each moment of each day is a fresh start, use it as such.  When you mess up, because we all do, whisper a prayer for wisdom and move forward as God leads.  Don’t let a misspoken word, become like a stumbling block.  Stop, make a wise correction and move forward with Jesus as your guide. Jesus will never leave you stuck in your mistakes.  All you have to do is honestly turn to Him, seeking His wisdom and He will give it to you.  Seek clarification, forgiveness as needed and then you will be walking wise!  One slip of the tongue or misdeed, when not brought make to the light of God’s wisdom, can be used by the evil one.  Don’t allow this to happen!  Give your moments to God and He will use them for good.

Have a blessed day, my friends.

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

Blessings Through The Pain!

John 12:24, ” I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself.  But if it dies, it produces a large crop.” HCSB

Good morning friends in Christ!  We are talking about dying to “self” here in this verse and this goes against our human nature.  Jesus reminds us that if we do not die to ourself than we will be alone.  The verse following this one tells us that if we lose this life we will keep our eternal life.  Once we are saved we then lead a life of sanctification, which can be painful at times.  Jesus is pruning and cutting away the areas of our life that will not produce fruit for Him.  We may be inclined to remain just as we are; change is scary, unknown, difficult, and painful.  We may like or even not see a problem with what we still cling too.  When Jesus begins to prune, we need to be willing to allow Him to work in our lives.

Dying to self is hard and only possible with God’s help.  We long to be more like Jesus, so we need to be humble and allow the painful pruning and death of our old self.  The benefit of death in this way, is a life of blessings that will glorify God.  What God does in our life is not secret.  The wonderful changes in our heart are evidenced in the things we say and do.  So everyone touched by our life, is blessed by seeing the fruit of Holy Spirit moving in us.

Friends are you willing to die to “SELF” today?  Will you loosen your hold on that ONE thing that you cling so tightly to?  Allow God to cut it away and bury it to bring Him glory and you blessings through the pain.  You will be eternally grateful that Jesus loves you so much; He lovingly toiled in your life to remove what is not producing godly fruit!  You will not regret this death, you will rejoice as all of heaven will, as well!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

 

 

Listen to His voice!

John 10:27-28, ” My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them erternal life, and they will never perish.  No one can snatch them away from me.”

Good morning friends in Christ!  Do you listen for God’s voice daily?  Often times we can spend a lot of time praying, yet never give Jesus the chance to speak to us.  We talk and talk and take no time to hear!  As followers of Jesus, we need to hear His voice so that we can follow Him.  It is pretty tough to follow someone that you are not listening to.  This verse reminds us with the Words right from Jesus, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”  I am overjoyed when I read the words,”I know them.”  Jesus knows us, really knows us.  Even the deep inner workings of us are known to Him!  My heart overflows with thankfulness that Jesus knows ME!  Wow, this is an amazing truth!

At a basic foundational level we know that as Jesus followers we are saved, we have the blessed assurance of eternal life and we will not perish.  I am so comforted by the last promise from Jesus here, “No one can snatch them away from me.”  What tangible peace is found in this truth.  We are safely in His hands.  The evil one may tempt us in any number of ways to stray from our path with Jesus.  Yet Jesus will not allow him to take us away.  Now this sadly means that some may fall away willingly, by their own choice.  But when we stand strong on the Rock of our Salvation, though tempted, we will remain in the Father’s hand!  Listen to His voice and fill your mind with Him through Bible reading, meditation and prayer.

Take the time to hear the voice of Jesus this morning, this evening and throughout the day.  Talk to Jesus, yes; listen even more!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

Consider others more!

Philippians 2:3-4,”Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.  Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Good morning friends in Christ!  I know what your thinking.  Consider others as MORE important than myself?!?  This is not easy!  In our human flesh this is nearly impossible; but with God alone this is possible!  With our own desires we want to compete and congratulate our own accomplishments.  We do not want to usually even consider others most times, yet God calls us not only to consider them, but to consider them as MORE important than ourselves!  As we mature in Christ; walk in closer relationship with our Lord; this is exactly what happens.  We actually want others to succeed and accomplish and do well!  We rejoice when our fellow sisters and brothers in Christ have reason to rejoice.  We become encourages and cheerleaders for those around us.

We do need to humble ourselves in order to be “others” oriented, yet we do not need to become a doormat for others.  Meaning, we encourage and help others in whatever ways God has placed on our hearts.  Through blessing others we are blessed as well.  We then can move toward the plans that God has for our lives.  This is best considered in marriage or as parents.  We help our spouse and children achieve their goals.  We truly want the very best things for them and we make sacrifices, so they may achieve their very best.  We encourage them without expecting anything in return.  As we celebrate their accomplishments with them, we are blessed to be a part of it.  This is how it should be in all our Christian relationships.  Can you imagine if we all demonstrated this kind of interest in others?  This world would be a much better place!

So as you begin your day take a moment to ask God to show you ways to humbly consider others.  He will allow you to be the help, encouragement and friend to someone who needs what you can offer.  We are the body of Christ and the only way a body functions well, is to work in cooperation with one another!  If your feet did not take turns stepping forward, you would not move at all!

Be a blessing and you will be blessed!  We are better when others are more important then our own desires.

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

Shield of Love!

Pslam 5:11-12, “But let all who take refuge in you rejoice: let them sing joyful praises forever.  Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy.  For You bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love.”

Good morning friends in Christ!  Protection, spiritual protection is what we need!  When we are following after Jesus and walking closely in God’s will, the evil one does not like this.  The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8, he prowls like a roaring lion and he wants to devour us.  He is prowling for believers, he already has the people of this world.  When we are allowing God to use us in mighty ways, the evil one will begin to cause trouble.  His fiery darts may not be recognizable at first, so we need to always be on guard.  This is why our spiritual protection is so very important.

Our verse above tells us we who take refuge in God can rejoice and sing praises forever!  God will spread His wings of protection over those who love Him.  The blessing we receive is that God Himself surrounds us with His shield of love.  As I find myself in a season of joyful relationship with the Lord, I also can feel the breath of the prowling lion that is looking for a chance to devour.  I am gladly serving my God and humbly encouraging others in their walk with the Lord.  As a young believer, I remember sharing with a mature Christian that I felt like there were so many things trying to get in the way of attending church, doing Bible studies, serving in ministry.  Small things going wrong hours before I needed to leave, family disagreements, toilet that overflowed, the dog brought in muddy footprints, etc.  This godly woman said to me,   “You are doing  great things for the Lord.  It sounds like the devil is working overtime.”  I didn’t really understand what she meant, I asked her to explain.  When we are drawing closer to the Lord and serving, the devil does not want this.  So he finds ways to cause trouble to see if we will fall away.  I am so grateful that this wisdom was shared with me early on in my young walk.  I do not want to consider what could have happened, had I not known this truth.  This helped me to be on guard and to pray for God’s protection.

God will protect us in the spiritual realm from the evil one.  We need to be on guard and take every thought captive and give it to God.  Wear the armour of God daily and don’t allow deception, the lies of satan to get a foothold in your mind!

So here’s my prayer for each of us:  Father God fill our minds with You and only You.  Pour out your protection, grace,mercy and love in abundance over our lives.  Bless us and surround us with your shield of Love!!!  We love you Lord!  In Jesus precious and mighty name; the name above all names, we pray!  Amen!

Have a blessed day under the wing of God’s loving protection!

Love and Prayers,  Paula Nebel

Everlasting God!

Psalm 48:14, “This God, our God forever and ever – He will always lead us.”

Good morning friends in Christ!  The name of God today is, Elohenu Olam, which means Our everlasting God.  Our human finite minds can not truly comprehend what everlasting is.  It is beyond the length of time we can even grasp.  Our God is everlasting.  He never ends.  He has always been and will always be!  He knows each one of our lives and how everything turns out.  All of our days are numbered by Him, our Everlasting God!

Lets’ pray,  Gracious Everlasting Father,  we stand in awe of You.  Your Magesty and power never end!  We thank you for always leading us as your Word tells us.  You know the plans You have for us and You will finish the good work you started!  We can trust You and humbly stand ready to follow You as You lead our lives.  We bow down in adoration at the mercy You have shown us and we honor your Sons name, the name of Jesus pours from our lips to bless others!  You will have not one of Your children be lost to You!  Praise and glory to Your name!!  We love You Lord and we humbly thank you for being our everlasting God, whom will lead us each day of our life!  We pray all this in Your sons Holy and great name, the name above all other names, Jesus!  Amen!

Have a blessed day, friends!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

 

Refuge!

Pslam 62:8, “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him.  God is our refuge.”

Good morning friends in Christ!  Today’s name for God is: Elohim Machase Lanu, which means God Our Refuge.  Our God is an ever present source of protection and shelter for us.  The most important key here is to remember that we can trust Him when life throws us trouble.  We would rather not have to deal with trouble and difficult times, yet we know God’s Word tells us that we will have troubles in this life.  When those troubles come don’t cling to your wisdom or try to find other ways to fix things.  God is the only help we need.  Seek God first then He will lead you in the right direction.  God wants to hear from us, even though He knows what we are going through.  When we pour out our hearts to Him in trust, He is faithful to hear us and be our refuge.  God’s peace is available for all who trust and seek Him in times of trouble.

Let’s pray.  Dear Mighty Father God, we boldly seek you this day and ask that you be our God of refuge.  Protect us and bring us your peace as we struggle through the trials and troubles we find ourselves in right now.  Help us to turn to you in trust when trouble strikes, so we do not have to face it alone.  We confidently and boldly, bring our needs before You and we trust that you will be our refuge; our Elohim Machase Lanu.  We love you God and praise You for this day of life.  We will seek You first today, all day and end our day with You!  In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen!

May you move through today and each day seeking God has your refuge!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

Our Living God!

Joshua 3:10, “Today you will know that the living God is among you.  He will surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Peizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites ahead of you.”

Good morning friends in Christ!  The name for God this morning is Elohim Chayim, which means, the Living God.  Our verse tells us that God reminded His people that He is the living God and He is among them.  God drove out the enemies of  His people so that they could take over the land.  Where in your life do you feel overwhelmed by the circumstances and just know that the task ahead seems impossible? We all have these moments throughout our life.  Moments when we need our Living God to be with us, in us and around us.  Our God is so faithful, He will do what you yourself can not do alone.

Let’s Pray!  Heavenly Father, we praise your Holy and gracious name!  You are the Creator of all things and You love us.  You are alive and among us and we are so thankful for this!  You move the mountains in our life to bring glory and honor to Your name.  What an amazing truth, You are the Living God!  We love you Lord!  Thank you for being with us and working in and through us!  In your sons Holy and precious name, we pray.  Amen!

Move through this day friends, knowing that your God is alive and helping you to walk through the valley you may find yourself in.

Love and prayers, Paula Nebel