I just finished watching the praise on a zoom meeting from our Board of Directors and they always begin with praise because it says “enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” So in each of our Ministry Team Member meetings, including the Board of Directors, it always starts with everyone sharing a praise. And the one praise that was shared was from Paula, our minister in Brazil, and she shared how she and her husband (she has a restored marriage) that their house was actually paid off! But... because there were all these other bills and things being thrown at her at about the same time— and she was distracted from the praise—and this is just a common scheme of the enemy who loves to come in and steal what is rightfully God’s! That's his scheme— he wants to “kill, steal and destroy”!
And that's why we need to be diligent and step away from being in the midst of the storm and really look at what's going on because it's in those storms that the most amazing things happen. That's when miracles happen and the storm a lot of times is the enemy's distraction from what God is doing or has done. So we need to keep our focus on Him, we need to stay under His umbrella, under His wings of protection so that we don't miss out (which is right in front of us) and to look for all the good that is coming at us during these really difficult times. Because this is it and we're going to be blessed in the midst of it “all things work together for good” because “we love God” because we're “called according to His purpose as His bride.
Week 21 “Sleeping in the Storms”
Unleashing the TRUTH
Gracias amado por este ministerio, Que hermoso el señor en estos días he pasado unas cuantas tormentas y estando ahí me derramé en el Señor y me dió precisamente el Salmo 91 Que empieza el que habita al abrigo del altísimo Morará bajo la sombra del Omnipotente y de esto me agarré para no sentir ese miedo que te quita la paz y el gozo de todo lo bueno que recibimos a cada momento.
Thank you Yuliett for sharing this beautiful verse: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” P91
Oh, how I needed to reread this lesson and also the other one suggested at the end of this one, from week 21 “Sleeping in the storms” (https://loveatlast.org/living-lessons/week-21-sleeping-in-the-storms/), because I needed to have a renewed mind and take my eyes off the situation I am currently living in. My brothers and I are living moments of great tension about high amounts that we need to spend to pay some inventory fees, but without seeing, in human eyes, any possibility of paying off such amounts. It was so incredible to be encouraged by the testimony of my friend Paula, and I know that if He did it for her, He will do it for me too! These lessons help us remember not to focus on the storm and instead look at our Beloved, because it is a common scheme of the enemy to try to steal from us and even try to make us believe that the blessing is not for us, or even that we have not yet received what He has provided for us. But then, our Beloved, with all His love and affection, encourages us not to focus on the storm, because only He can allow it or not in our lives, but we must not take our focus off of Him.
Dear bride, what we truly need is to be careful not to lose focus, because the enemy comes to steal and kill. And even if we are in the storm, we can praise our Beloved.🌷
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” J29:11
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2029%3A11&version=NIV
“My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.” P6256
https://ref.ly/Ps62.5-6;niv?t=biblia
This is a topic that changes lives!! Praise focus our minds in the things our Beloved daily does for us instead in the mountains that lay ahead!
He want to take us to higher place where the storms will seem a lost memory! Every good sailor needs a storm to build character!
The same happens to me!!
I came to a point in my life in where I realized that I need the storms to mute my flesh and build my dependency on Him!! To look the sky, and dream big of what He is doing in my life!
My Beloved showed me this passing year to take a moment and turn my gaze away from my trials and focus on His face! To use my imagination and look into His eyes, filled with love for me, and find my rest. To ask Him to calm my heart. To say out loud to myself: “My Beloved is filling me with His perfect peace; and I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Then I go about my day, knowing I can come back to this place of peace anytime I like. He is always with me and His peace is readily available for me. I am not alone!
There is a song that a dear friend of mine sent me and it says:
I was sure by now
God, You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
And once again
I say, “Amen” and it’s still raining’
But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I’ll raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away
And I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry, You raised me up again
But my strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can’t find You?
But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I’ll raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away
And I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of heaven and earth
My dear one, we are never alone and each storm will develop a closer relationship to the One that knows the future and is never worried!