Jesus had a cross that He had to carry. The cross is symbolic of the suffering that one must go through.
For today’s lesson I have learned that I can’t insulate myself against suffering, but I CAN CONTROL my response to it. My pain may be different from yours but the reality of living in a fallen world makes experiencing pain inevitable. I don’t have to deny the pain that is associated with the cross I have to carry but that pain doesn’t have to consume me either. How is that possible you ask? While I will have seasons of difficulty, I have found that I can go through it with grace. Not in my own strength but drawing strength from God through prayer. Listen, Prayer is where it’s at.
Prayer Helps me to have the mind of Christ when the heaviness of my cross makes me feel like I’m about to loose my mind.
Prayer stabilizes me and gives me the ability to mount up with wings as an eagle when the weight of my cross makes me feel like I am going to faint.
Prayer gives me faith to believe that it will get better when everything in my sight says it is O.V.E.R.
I’m not talking about the kind of prayer that you just say in cases of emergency with no sincerity. This is not the get out of jail free kind of prayer. I am talking about prayer where you bare your soul before God and ask Him to transform you and make you more like Him. In this kind of prayer, you are not the only one talking. You stick around long enough to hear His response, and that’s if you talk at all. This is not a one-time give me what I want or else kind of prayer. Instead it’s a consistent everyday kind of prayer, one that builds intimacy between you and the one that will give you the strength to carry your cross.
What cross do you find yourself carrying in this season of your life? Is it health challenges, broken relationships, deflated finances, etc. Are you attempting to carry that cross on your own or have you gotten to that place of real prayer? Leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.
Be Blessed,
Anika
1 Peter 5:10
In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
Today is Good Friday. We reflect on Jesus’ death and shed blood on the cross, which makes our salvation possible. In Mathew 27:50-51, we see the tearing of the temple veil when Jesus died, symbolic of our ability to now have free access to God. In Hebrews 10:19-23 we are invited to come boldly before the throne of God’s grace, unlike under the old covenant.
For today’s lesson, I have learned to make good of my free access that I now have to God. While Godly counsel is good and recommended, we must not neglect going to God ourselves. We can be spiritually lazy and neglect spending time with God in prayer, and instead depend on others to pray for us and tell us what He is saying. It would be crazy if my children NEVER came and spoke to me and depended on a third party to hear what I had to say. This would greatly diminish the quality of our relationship and deeply hurt me. We can be guilty of doing this very thing to our heavenly Father. We can get caught up in hunting down prophetic words from others instead of planting ourselves in the presence of God to hear from Him directly. Confused? Go directly to God. Hurting? Go directly to God. Scared? Go directly to God. Need Healing? Go directly to God. Need forgiveness? Go directly to God.
Today as we reflect with hearts of thanksgiving on the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross, let us be intentional about taking full advantage and go directly to Him.
Be Blessed,
Anika
Hebrews 4:16
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 10:9-22
And so, dear brothers and sisters,[f] we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death,[g] Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
All of us can think of MANY reasons why we cannot help other people. We are busy, we lack resources, and on and on. For today’s lesson, I have learned that I should not only be willing to receive help, but I must also be willing to help others. Let’s be quite clear here, helping others is OFTEN inconvenient, but that’s not even the point. The bottom line is if God is leading us to help, we must respond with obedience and not excuses. God has often interrupted my schedule and led me to a specific individual to help. When I respond with a yes, I walk away feeling fulfilled. I can also testify and say that God always redeems the time I give up helping others…ALWAYS!
I must help in the way that God is telling me to and not in the way I think is best. For example, God may be leading me to help a person by praying and fasting on their behalf during a season of difficulty. I may put false expectations on myself and push to always physically be there in the person’s presence to rescue them from feeling the sting of their difficulty. We will always encounter people who need our help, but it is important that we are not off helping people that God did not lead us to or helping others beyond the season that God is requiring of us. Yes, help, but make sure you are helping according to God’s leading and not your emotion.
I must guard my heart from being prideful or expecting something in return when I help others. Help others with a spirit of meekness and not make the person I am helping feel less than. Finally, everyone doesn’t need to know of my good deeds, God sees and that’s what matters. I encourage you to pray and ask the Lord to lead you to those you should help, and for Him to give you the blueprint on how to do it.
Be Blessed,
Anika
Mathew 6:1-4 “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. 2 When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. 3 But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
Listen, this pride thing went deeper than I initially thought. For a long time, I mean a long time, it was very difficult for me to admit that I needed help from others. I tried to handle it all by myself and when others offered to help, I would make sure that I would find ways to “repay” them for what they did to make things ‘even.’ I wore it as a badge of honor, but that badge soon became rusty and I was tired.
The lesson for today is that I have learned to humble myself and admit that I NEED HELP, and not just admit it but receive the help when it is offered from a sincere heart. I was not called to be superwoman. God created us to be in community so that we can get the help we need. It is foolish to think we were created to be islands and handle everything on our own. The longer I live, and my responsibilities increase, and I enter different seasons of life, the more my need for help is highlighted. I need help in different ways. The help may be my need for wise counsel on being a mom, wife, homemaker, etc. Or it may come in the form of someone physically showing up at my door to help me with all that I have to do. It is not a sign of weakness to admit our need for help.
I am curious to hear from you. Is it difficult for you to receive help? Why? Please leave a comment and let me know.
Be Blessed,
Anika
Can I keep it real with you? Sometimes I do my videos and write my blog post and wonder if it makes sense to others. Do they get it? Did they walk away with a desire to go after Jesus? Do I sound elementary in my speech and writing? That is why I get excited when people tell me they are blessed by what God gives me to share. I love to receive encouragement from others, it serves as confirmation that what I am doing matters. We all have low points in our lives and affirming words can serve as a picker upper.
For today’s lesson, I have learned that it is not only good to receive encouragement, but it is also good to give it. I am learning to not become silent when it’s time to dish out words of affirmation. Sometimes we can keep our admiration and appreciation for others in our head and we never let them know. How unfair! If someone blesses me, I try to be intentional about telling them. I want to encourage you to be intentional about encouraging those God has put in your life. Encourage them in their gifts and calling by sharing how it blesses you! Don’t assume they know or don’t need it. How about making encouraging others a priority this week.
Be Blessed
Anika
1 Thessalonians 5:11
So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
Proverbs 16:24
Kind words are like honey–sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.
Start. Just start already. I cannot tell you how many ideas died in my head because I talked myself out of starting. I am amazed at how much energy I used to kill a dream before it was even born.
Fear and self-doubt are serial killers.
Killers of dreams & purpose.
They trip us up before we even get to the starting line, that is, if we let them.
On my road to being forty I realize that I must be done with the excuses and all the why nots.
I am done with thinking of all the ways I could possibly fail.
I am done having tea parties with doubt and procrastination.
I am so over it!
I am making the choice to walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is the fuel that gives me the ability to START!
God has placed so much on my heart and by His grace, I am going to START because I have purpose to fulfill. How about you? Do you have a difficult time starting? Please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.
Blessings,
Anika