Thursday, December 07, 2023

 MAY YOUR LIFE BE WONDERFILLED

I pull alongside of you as I celebrate with those who are having a good day. And...I also stand by each of you who might be facing/enduring the rugged terrain of hardship. We all know that some are having good days...and others not so much.
So....so for those suffering today, I join a host of others to encourage you to hang in there for one day the sun will arise again within your heart. Such a comment does not nullify the strain and struggle that many of you are enduring. It does, however, intend to offer legitimate hope.
Regardless of which side of the ledger you are on--hurting or helping--please remember that you are most valuable regardless of which compartment today brings. When life feels so very dark, we have great hope that the SON will shine offering renewal for a brand new start of a very needed new day.
God has reached and is always reaching to brings us through the intense clouds in order to help us visualize what is, what can be, and what will be.
May your life be wonder-filled for He is the reason for incredible and amazing hope that awaits for each of us!

Monday, October 09, 2023

 HOW STRONG SHOULD OUR HOPE BE?

There isn't the person who does not face stress, strain, and struggle with this ongoing system called LIFE. While suffering isn't necessarily a daily experience for many individuals, complex issues can be. Whether your challenge is major or minor, I wish to join the voices of hope that speak among us.
Just how strong should our hope be?
Oh....our hope should be in the identical correlation of AS STRONG AS JESUS' EMPTY TOMB...that's how strong! He arose from the grave in order send each of us a signal of effective process. His empty tomb makes an incredible and undeniable statement: while one's body can die, one's hope never does.
Have a hope-filled day my friends!
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Juanita Davis
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Tuesday, September 26, 2023

 WHEN YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT ENOUGH

That title surely hits nearly all of you readers. Regardless of plans, intents, hopes, and dreams, life has a way of unfolding "Awareness Bulletins" that try to persuade you that you are not enough. And... and then we seem to be able to present the proof-positive to such inner accusations. Therefore, I wish to offer a bit of personal encouragement about yourself.
Frankly, each of us are not enough in so very many areas. But such evaluation is no reason to cash in our chips and quit. No, what we can do (get to do) is to lean whole-heartedly into the amazing God System that helps each of us to become more than we are. Such is one of His main goals for each of us....on a daily basis.
When you read the inspired scriptures in your Bible, you will note story after story of individuals/groups who clearly were not enough. And yet...and....yet...God displayed such scenes of "lacking people" in order to point out the fact that they were found to have His partnership day by day.
The truth is that none of us are enough...on our own. But we are enough...when we lean into His grand partnership.
From the most successful to the least successful, each of us fits into the above category of...not enough. Yet, it's at this very point that we all get to notice the entrance of Father upon the scene...our scene.
Believing we are not enough is an accurate evaluation. The hope, however, is that we determine to link up with His Spirit in us to do more than we can ask or think. This isn't our imagination. It is, however, God's abundant plan combining resource with hope!
Have a superlistical day! God has designed us to experience it!
Ephesians 3:20-21...He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever imagine...FROM...WITHIN...YOU AND ME!

Sunday, September 10, 2023

 LIVING ON THE CROSSWALK

Church matters. What one believes about church matters. Because the very central theme of Christianity is the Cross, one's continual search for a congregation that pleases us in every aspect is hardly to be one's goal.
Our calling is to walk the incredibly steep terrain that Jesus did.
For this reason, we learn the practice of not giving up; not giving up on ourselves, on others, nor on the church. God does not call us into a walk that brings us inward satisfaction and ease. No, He makes an enormous call. God wants us to tow our own Cross upon which we will repeatedly die for others...including others who betray and victimize us.
There seems to be an incredible violation of the church format continuing day after day. That disruption is this: in general one feels that after struggling, we are surely due a break and (of all places) church should be it. It is upon this drive that one misses the mark.
One of the richer blessings that one finds in the church walk is encountering men and women who do not deny sin and its ramifications. Yet...and yet these very same men and women never let go of the ultimate calling from God...TAKE UP YOUR CROSS and follow me.
I encourage us to continually strive to not give up on one another. Yes, the temptation is strong...so very strong. Yet...and yet, this is the very platform of the Christian format. Maybe if we could make progress in remaining upon our individual Crosses for the sake of blessing one's opposition, the image of fascinating and encouraging Christianity will continue to gain momentum in its reach.
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
Luke 9:23

Saturday, July 22, 2023

 YOUR FAITH IS VERY IMPORTANT

I wish to encourage any who feel that you might lack too many good qualities to make much of a positive impact on others. I've lived in that section of negative existence often and then very oftener! What you can accomplish is awaiting for you day by day. Whether an enormous result of an effort or the slight lifting of another's spirit who is struggling a bit, you are quite capable of being a very positive element to one's day.

If any of you are like me, you care about others and know that they need encouragement; but you can look around you and find others who are quite more qualified than yourself. Therefore, I wish to be a persistent voice and enthusiastic cheerleader that every individual has what it takes to bless others. 

I started out in ministry to be shy and extremely hesitant. Yes, I know. Neither of those descriptions sound like me.  They weren't...except...in ministry. And guess what I had become...a very shy and hesitant minister!!! Your faith is very important to you...and to others as well. 

Please keep entering your days with a building of confidence that, while you may not know how to handle some of your challenging encounters, you personally have it within you to shed light upon another's heart that will build and then even rebuild their broken hearts. Your faith makes a difference!!

Sunday, June 11, 2023

 THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON

Luke 15 conveys one of the strongest teachings of Jesus for it challenges each of us to evaluate and even re-evaluate our perception of...of one another whenever that "another" seems to fail. Such teachings by Jesus were continually backed by his walk among the clusters of human beings nearby.

The setting of the above story is that one brother was quite disgusted at the lack of the other one. He'd had it with such blatant failure. "He should have known better" seemed to reign from within the elder heart. Yet, and it is a huge Y E T, the scene captures and conveys similarities of where we live and what we are like.

Involved in this grand scenario is a picture of two-types of sinners. One broke the Law. The other one kept the Law. I N C R E D I B L E and here's why.

Both are missing the call of the renewing power of the Son of God. Within such a devastating/inspiring scene is the voice of Father calling to you and to me to awaken to the wonder of His marvelous gift of renewed and energized life!

Therefore, via this simple scene from Scriptures, I encourage you and me to walk the trek that Father seems to anticipate as the path to victory...for others...and for ourselves. It's far too easy to write some people off because, well, we've just about had it with their blatantilistic failures. And yet...and yet, we have a stable knack at dismissing our own blatantilistic ones...don't we? Thus, the fascinating and challenging story of these two men.

Failure isn't what's being endorsed in the above scriptures. No, love for those who fail is. Let me say it again...love for those who fail is.  And such a calling is so deep and so needed and so like Jesus, that we must, must, must have the productivity of the Holy Spirit flowing from within us for the task at hand is far beyond our human ability.

As we seem to take our turns at failing, may there always be some among us who take their turns at wearing the robes of the Prodigal so that relief and hope and renewal may arise to be seen by any who feel that we are not good enough to be a Christian. We aren't good enough; but Jesus pours himself into us and works day by day to build us into His likeness one strand of hope at a time.

Because of Jesus...we have a hope that matches the Prodigal Son!

Tuesday, June 06, 2023

 RISK IS CHALLENGING...OF COURSE

There might be a reader here or there who needs a word of encouragement regarding risk factors. I feel certain that we each repeatedly experience success due to simple evaluation of a project due to one's wisdom. And yet, I present an alternative concept which is also very much connected to one's success.
Of course, I speak of the value of risk.
Risk might tend to carry a negative and threatening banner of failure. Danger lurks. Fear, then, tends to enter the scene precisely where it also very much wishes to take up residence. And yet...and very much yet...risk may very well lead one to opportunity and success of which many only dream.
I would doubt that any successful person among us ever became successful without the draining and imposing threat of R-I-S-K. The challenge, obviously, is trying to determine whether an opportunity offers value or ignorance.
Both lurk. Bravery and boldness, though, are needed to help one to avoid mistakenly shelving grand opportunity.
What I'm wishing to convey to you is that each of us may find that we've misjudged several opportunicalistical situations along the way. Too, what I'm wishing to accomplish in this note is to encourage you to DARE TO KEEP TESTING the opportunities afforded you for one of those just may be success which, at the moment, is packaged in the fear of failure.
Failing people fail. But, successful people also fail. My message to you is that failure is not the conclusion of our walk. It is simply an important and useful tool. Failure matters and must be acknowledged. But the acknowledgement is to be determining whether one is being shut down or positioned for a re-opening of fabulous re-opportunity.
I like life for while it certainly has its ups and downs, true life uses doors opened/doors closed to lead one to the next strong opportunity. For you, some places in life close from time to time. Yet, be assured such a stall is simply the waiting room for even a better opportunity.
Risk may be challenging; but don't shelve it until you've given it significant evaluation for it just might be your entrance into success. All successful individuals faced this bold challenger known to all as R-I-S-K.