Fruits of Summer

Abundance

We are in the time of summer harvest of fruits and vegetables to grace our tables with fresh food.  A favored fruit is the watermelon with its rich color and succulent sweet taste.  Watermelon is a welcome addition to many summer gatherings.  Young and old alike enjoy this tasty treat on a hot summer day.

What Do You See?

When looking at this plate of watermelon I could not help but think of the abundance of summer.  Does your life reflect abundance or lack?  Do you see through a lens of more than enough or never enough?  Are you satisfied from above (Proverbs 14:14) or constantly focused on what you do not have or think you should have?

We are constantly bombarded with advertisements that promote material excess and continual increase.  It is easy to get caught up in the things of the world if not careful.  Without realizing it you can begin to think your life is lacking on every level.  You may look at another’s life and think it idyllic which further exacerbates your vision of where you are.

You See Only In Part

Know this: each of us has challenges that may or may not be visible.   I have so often heard people zero in on something someone else has that they do not and malinger about it.  Yet in the fullest sense they have no idea what other challenges they do not see that person may be living with on a daily basis.

At times you may think you simply cannot take any more of whatever you are going through. You may wonder why others have a seemingly idyllic life.  Do not compare.  Know that God will bring you through in His time and in His perfect will for you.  Know that.  Rest in that.  Never let your faith be snuffed out by discouragement.  Hold on to the profession of your faith at all cost!

Let Your Attitude Be Gratitude

It is easy to complain but that only serves to put you and keep you in a negative place.  God sets before you a choice in every instance to determine which focus you will take:  positive or negative.  Life is not easy and there are times it can be exceptionally difficult but if your mind is set on Him, He will bring you through.  Your attitude should not be driven by your situation or daily events.  If it is, take some time now to reach out to Him and seek His grace to renew your mind.  It is never too late to learn to live in His presence and His peace despite your circumstances.

The enemy would like nothing better than to keep you oppressed about everything in your life.  Sometimes there is just one thing that looms like a dark cloud and permeates every other part of your life.  Purpose today to make a shift in the atmosphere you live in.  Make Him the atmosphere in which you reside. 

 Breaking free of strongholds can be challenging but once accomplished you are free indeed!  Jesus died to set you free.  Purpose today to walk in that freedom!  May abundance be your focus and your joy.

Change your focus and change your life.  Look for your blessings and write them down each day.  Make blessing your focus-the blessings God has showered on you as well as the ways you can be a blessing to others.  Let there be abundant fruit in your life!

Quotes to Ponder This Week

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  Jesus, John 10:10

 “They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.”  Psalm 36:8

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”   Galatians 22-23

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”  Genesis 8:22

 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live.”  Deuteronomy 30:19

“As the resurrection of Christ operates in our hearts, it will dethrone wrong things and will build right things.”  Smith Wigglesworth, Devotional, pg. 291

A Prayer Request

Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray.  Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety.  They are our front-line on the battlefield, let us be their front-line in the spirit.  Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives.

God bless all our diplomatic and military personnel and their families.  May the Lord keep them safe.  Pray for all throughout the world for hedges of protection against radical Muslim extremists and all forms of terrorism.   We have long prayed for spiritual victory over radical Islam in Esther’s Warriors Ministry. We now see the reality of this threat come to the forefront in this time in world history.

Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi and for safety in Israel.  May God richly bless the United States of America, bring to light every single crooked place and keep her safe.  May we may arise united once again as One Nation Under God in this auspicious season in our country’s history.

The lives lost in Benghazi, the continuing targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, Operation Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice targeting journalists phone records, are hardly “phony scandals.”  We continue to pray for truth to prevail in each of these situations.  Pray for the families who have lost loved ones, for those relentlessly targeted and for all of us who call ourselves American.  These are treacherous times and now more than ever we must maintain our walk with the Lord, saturate this country in prayer and stand for all that is right in America.  Fail not in this hour.

Please Join Me In Prayer

Father we thank You that You are ever present to lead and direct us in Your ways.  Grace us to walk in Your abundance and forsake the things of this world.  Keep us ever in Your presence not looking left or right but straight ahead on the path You prepare for us.  Thank You for Your never ending faithfulness to hold us in the palm of Your hand and keep us ever safe in the cleft of the Rock.  We pray this in Jesus’ name.  Amen and amen.