Promises to help us with our thoughts.

Do you have trouble controlling your thoughts, I am pretty sure that all of us have battled the habit of wandering thoughts, and lots of times it is not good.  When you pray, do your thoughts wander?  My do and I don't like it.  I try to keep them in tow but I guess I just don't try hard enough.  You see, I am just like most of you and I do these studies to enhance my Christian experience, and hopefully they will enhance yours.  Let's see what the Scriptures say about our thoughts.  This first one is my favorite.

Philippians 4: 8  "Finally Brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue or anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things."

Psalm 94:11  "The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile."

Romans 12:2  "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Romans 8:6  "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

So many times our thoughts are futile and also we worry about things and think about them when God already has things planned and under control.

What things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, these are the things we are to think about.  This takes prayer to control our thoughts and keep them on these topics but we can pray to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and we will know what is good and acceptable and what the prefect will of God is.  I want to have victory over my thoughts, don't you.  Let's pray that God will give us this victory. I will and I hope you will too.  Grandma Joan

Promises to help us deal with stress.

I don't know about you but I hope this study helps me in dealing with stress.  I don't cope with stress very well, I had an incident happen recently that was very stressful, my blood pressure shot up to stroke level, so you know I was stressed.  I should have and I tried to give it to God and I think I did, but when all is said and done, I could have done a lot better at giving up on it and letting God take care of it and that He did and in a miraculous way.  He does care about our stresses and I hope I never have to go through anything like that again but if I do, I hope I handle it much better with no blood pressure problem.  God is so very good and I praise Him how He took care of it all.  I suppose everyone has stress of some kind and I have read that some stress is good for you and to some extent I think that is probably true, but we have help in the scriptures and I am anxious to get to them and see what they are.  I do these studies from scratch, they are not planned ahead of time, I do have some help from literature etc. but as I do them I am learning too.

Psalm 55:22  "Cast all your care on the Lord, and He will sustain you;  He will never let the righteous fall."

2 Thessalonians 1:6, 7  "Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest."

Isaiah 26:3  "He will keep you in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

Jeremiah 31:25  "For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul."

Proverbs 16:3  "Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established."

Psalm 37:4  "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

I am sure it would have helped tremendously if I had done this study when the great stress hit me, but I didn't think about it even being stress until it made me sick.  I prayed my way through it and that is what we ought to do but should have read these scriptures too,  but didn't think about it.  Some of these verses I have memorized which is good but the two I haven't I had better do that, just in case.
How about you are you stressed, there are so many things to cause us stress, try memorizing these scriptures and see if that doesn't help.  High blood pressure can kill, bad stress needs dealt with in a positive way with God's promises at the top.  Take it from me.  Grandma Joan

Promise of all Promises!

I have been sharing God's promises with you and I will share some more too, but as I was reading the scriptures this morning for my worship my mind kept going to 2 Peter, the promise of all promises.  I would like to share what Peter says about promises, it's an outstanding promise of all promises.  I know it will be a blessing to you as it has been to me.  Knowledge of God is so important to us.  Peter says in 1 Peter 1: 2 that grace and peace is multiplied unto us through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, so right there is a promise of grace and peace as we gain knowledge of God and Jesus.  Also in verse 3, life and godliness comes through the knowledge of God, so it is important for us to obtain the knowledge of God through the studying of His word.  And that is what we have been doing each day as we read His promises, but I want to give you the promises of all promises today.

1 Peter 1: 4  "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of His divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world through lust."
Do you see the promise of all promises here?  We have been given these exceeding great and precious promises that we might be partakers of His divine nature.  As we study His promises, we become more and more like Him each day, that's what it says and I believe it to the fullest.  The more we study these promises the more we want of His promises and the more we will be a partaker of His divine nature.  And this is what will happen to us:

Verses 5 - 8  "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity (which is love).  For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

This is the promise of all promises that as we study these promises that we have been studying, we will become partakers of His divine nature and all these things will be added to us if we give all diligence to our study.  If we keep studying we will become very fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a warning in Verse 9, "But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins."  And then some encouragement in Verse 10
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things you will never fall."  This is added to the promise of all promises that we will never fall if we give diligence to do these things.

I am so thankful for these verses in 1 Peter.  There is so much hope and encouragement in them.  I hope that you have found this true for you too.  God bless you as you study His promises day by day.  Grandma Joan

Promises of who shall abide in God, in His kingdom.

Have you wondered who shall abide with God?  I have, until I read these verses in Psalm.  It is my hearts greatest desire to abide with God.  I know I don't have a lot of time left in this world, I am 84 years old and it weighs on my mind a lot and I try to rest in the arms of God, knowing that I can safely abide in Him and I like to read these verses to be assured that I am abiding with Him.  Check these verses out and see if you are abiding with Him.  If not, you have the directions right here of who will.

Psalm 15:1  "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?"

Verse 2  "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart."

Verse 3  "He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor takekth up a reproach against his neighbor."

Verse 4  "In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoreth them that fear the Lord.  He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not."

Verse 5  "He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent.  He that doeth these things shall never be moved."

Do these seem out of reach for you?  Yes, I am sure they do to some, but you have to remember the two verses that I always lean on for help.  They are:

Philippians 1:6  "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."  and:

1 Thessalonians 5: 23,24  "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;  and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."

Of ourselves we cannot do these things, but in full surrender to God, getting rid of self in our life, He will do it for us.  He also helps us in our full surrender by reminding us of what we need to surrender.
Be sure and stay close to Him and He will take care of you and see that you will be abiding in Him and He will finish the work He has started in you if you allow Him to.  Grandma Joan

Promises to give us strength for the day.

My greatest physical needs are relief from pain and strength to do my daily duties.  I don't know why I am suffering so but God has a reason, I am very sure of that and I don't hold it against Him at all, most of us have brought our conditions on ourselves, not everyone but I am sure that I am guilty of this very thing.  I don't endure stress very well, and it gets me down really fast, how about you? Well, this study is not about stress but about strength, Spiritual strength, emotional strength, physical strength and mental strength.  Here are some verses to help us.

Isaiah 41: 10  "Fear not for I am with you, I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Isaiah 40: 31 "But they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;  they shall run and not be weary;  They shall walk and not faint."

Isaiah 40:29  "He gives strength and gives power to the weary, and increases the power of the weak."

Nehemiah 8:10  "Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Philippians 4:13  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

We should all have strength after reading these great and precious promises for strength.  What would we do without His promises for us.  I really don't know what I would do, I am so thankful for them.
This is yours and my strength for this day and all of the tomorrows.  Grandma Joan

Promises to instill the desire to serve others.

I have always loved serving others, all my adult life.  I love having friends over and serving them in anyway I can.  I had four children that I loved to serve and steer in the right path.  Not that I was the best mother in the world, I know I wasn't, I had many faults but God has been good to me.  We bought a Nursing Home when I was in my early thirties and I loved to serve my patients, I worked on the floor with the others and it was so fulfilling.  After that I did foster care for the elderly in my home and there I was serving again. then we volunteered for a ministry and was serving again.  Then my life hit a downhill road and I didn't know what to do with myself when I became disabled to quite an extent.  My mind started working again and I remembered that years ago my husband and I went to Portland Oregon and fed and clothed the street people, serving again and just recently I was so upset that I wasn't serving anyone, my son and I decided to make sandwiches and take juice and  went to town to feed the homeless here.  There are so very many, maybe 30, so we make 30 sandwiches and take juice and we are making friends with the homeless here and it is the joy of my life.  I know that serving others is a talent God has given me and I love doing it and we are making friends downtown and really it is a lot of fun.  So I am going to encourage you to try serving others for a pastime, it brings me joy and makes my life more meaningful.  Check our these verses:

Matthew 25: 34-36  'Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, ye blessed of My Father,  inherit the kingdom I have prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me."   Most of us are not able to do all those things, but we can do some of them, even if it is one thing, it is done as unto the Lord when we do it.

Acts 10: 38  "Jesus went about doing good. . . .for God was with Him."

1 Corinthians 3: 9  "We are laborers together with God."

Ephesians 6: 7, 8.  "With goodwill, doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free."

There are many blessings in serving others, the joy that it brings my heart is probably one of the best blessings I receive from serving.  God has many rewards for those that serve, start out small and the longer you do it, the more blessings you will receive. Today is the day that we feed the homeless, I am looking forward to it, my highlight of the week.  Grandma Joan

Promises for our security.

I know that there is a lot of fear in some parts of this world and even here in the US in the big cities.  There is so much crime these days, we need all the security that we can get to make it through this world without something terrible happening to us.  I have had fear a few times but nothing like a lot of people have had to endure, so I think it's time to study the subject of 'security'.  There is a place for security for the Christian.  Let's check it out.  This first verse tells us why we need security.

1 Peter 5: 8  "Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."  This adversary is behind all crime and everything that would cause fear in the heart for any reason.

Psalm 91: 4  "He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge;  His truth shall be your shield and buckler."

Proverbs 18:10  "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe."

Psalm 121: 7,8  "The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;  He shall preserve your soul.  The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, even forevermore."

Psalm 4: 8  "I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;  For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."

Proverbs 1: 33  "But whoever listens to Me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil."

Now there is a lot of promises that should take our fears away.  The condition to these promises is, that 'whoever listens to me will dwell safely.  So let's study His word like we learned a couple of days ago and spend time in His word and follow His instructions and we will dwell safely.  God bless you and take all your fears away.  Grandma Joan