30 Days of Encouragement - Day 17

Another wonderful day! Wonderful because we have another opportunity to be blessed and to bless someone! Do something special today! Do something different.

Cast your care, your worry, your schedule on the Lord! He is bigger than all of us put together! Let Him take your load. He can handle it. Give Him your sorrow, pain, disappointment. Trust Him with your future.

Most Believers have heard these; God knows, and He cares. God will make a way out of no-way. Take it to the Lord in Prayer. Lean not to your own understanding. Trust and obey, there is no other way.

Hearing is not enough. Put your faith in action. Action leads to manifestation. God is not unaware of our circumstances. He wants to work with us, but He is NOT going to go against our will. If we don't ask Him to get involved, He will only be able to help us in a clandestine way.

That's right. Not asking God to get involved directly means that God has to put signs in our path, or send people to drop random hints. It means He has to arrange situations that cause us to consider Him.

God made us with free will, and He will not violate it. Ask and you shall receive. Don't ask and... well.

Isaiah 1:18-20

¹⁸ “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord. “[a]Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be like wool. ¹⁹ “If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the best of the land; ²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

In verse 18, God asks us to reason with Him. To reason with God, we have to communicate with God. He created us to have fellowship with Him, to talk with Him, to enjoy His company, to depend on Him. Just as Adam and Eve did.

In verses 19 & 20, we see the stipulation. We choose to be willing and obedient or not. The burden of obedience is ours. The burden of our circumstances is not.

Let me explain, troubles, tribulations, trials, tests, and difficulties are ours from birth to death. [And, after death if you are not saved!] However, God will show us how to survive if we give them over to Him. Jesus came to set the captives free.

We were not created to carry the burdens, the trials, and the tribulations that we have. Sin entered in and as you know, sin brought forth death.

Sin interrupted our fellowship with God in the beginning. It still does.

Death is separation from life. God is life, so death is separation from God. Death passed on all man-kind - We find ourselves separated from God.

Genesis 2:16-17

"16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.”

Jesus came to restore life; to bring us back into fellowship with God the Father. Through Jesus, we have eternal life. Without Jesus, we remain in death, [a state of separation from God].

In exchange for your troubles, God gives rest. Rest in the heart, rest for the mind, and rest for the body. God is ready to provide wisdom, direction, and guidance. We only need to ask.

Ask God for all that you need. But, you must ask in faith, believing that God is who He says He is. He will provide.

Rejoice at the good news! Sing a song of gladness! Rejoice knowing God is ready to take your burdens right now!

Hand them over to God and then open your mouth and sing a happy song! It doesn't matter if you sing well or not, just sing! Singing drives away sadness. Singing lifts you up. Singing makes you feel good.

Sing a song of gladness, sing a song of joy! If you feel funny when you start singing just sing louder. Sing until you feel good! Sing until your face starts smiling!

Embarrassed about how you sound? If you don't like your voice, put your fingers in your ears while you sing. That way, you don't have to hear yourself!

Don't want anyone else to hear? Turn the shower on and sing in the bathroom. Go in a closet, the basement, or your car. Find a place to sing your favorite happy song. Don't have a happy song? Make one up. You can do it!

However you do it, today is a day you should sing out loud. You don't need permission to make your own happiness today. Just break out and start singing! God put the voice of joy in each heart. That voice is ready to escape your belly.

Sing your song, baby, sing your song!

[Be Blessed Isaiah 55:12, Nehemiah 8:10, Philippians 4:4-8]