When we get hurt

When we get hurt, we must realize that every person has a free will and we can't control that free will - even through prayer. We can pray that God will speak to people who may hurt us; we can ask Him to lead them to do right instead of wrong, but the bottom line is that He must leave them to make their own choices. If someone makes a choice that hurts us, we shouldn't blame it on God and become bitter toward Him. God's word for you today: If you get hurt, don't ever blame God. He is the best friend you have.

Faith for powerful prayers

God's power is released when we pray in faith, trusting and believing Him, because faith pleases Him. Expectancy is an attribute of faith that carries its own kind of power - the power of hope. Faith reaches out into the spiritual realm and expects God's supernatural power to show up and do what no person on Earth could do. Doubt, on the other hand, is afraid nothing good will happen; it does not please God and is not something He is able to bless. We are powerless when we live with doubt, disappointment, and a lack of confidence in God.

Start with praise and worship

Whatever you are praying for, one of the best ways to start is with praise and worship. They will keep your heart right before God and make a way for you to hear His voice and for change to take place. God's word for you today: When you need to hear God's voice, praise and worship Him.

Do what youvare good at

If we do what we are good at doing, we will sense God's anointing (presence and power) on our efforts. We will know we are operating in our gifts and that doing so honors God and ministers life to others. God speaks to us through this anointing, giving us peace and joy to know we are fulfilling His plan for our lives. God's word for you today: Do what you're good at - it's God's gift to you.

Prayer in the spirit

I find that when I pray Spirit-led prayers, they are usually simpler and shorter than mine would be. They are direct, straightforward, and to the point. I feel satisfied that the task is complete when I pray God's way instead of my own way. When we pray our own way, we often focus on praying for carnal things and circumstances, but if we are led by God we will find ourselves praying for eternal things like the purity of our thoughts and motives and a deeper relationship with God. Ask God to teach you how to pray His prayers instead of your own and you will enjoy prayer much more.

Pray and Give Thanks

Giving thanks is so important to being able to hear God's voice because, like praise and worship, it is something God responds to. It's something God loves, something that warms His heart. Anytime we give God pleasure like that, our intimacy with Him increases - and that makes for a better relationship with Him. If we are not thankful for what we have, why should He give us something else to murmur about? On the other hand, when God sees that we genuinely appreciate and are thankful for the big and little things, He is inclined to bless us even more. According to Philippians 4:6, everything we ask God for should be preceded and accompanied by thanksgiving. No matter what we pray for, thanksgiving should always go with it. A good habit to develop is starting all of our prayers with thanksgiving. An example of this would be: "Thank You for all You have done in my life. You are awesome and I really love and appreciate You." I encourage you to examine your life, to pay attention to your thoughts and your words, and see how much thanksgiving you express. If you want a challenge, just try to get through an entire day without uttering one word of complaint. Develop an attitude of thanksgiving in every situation. In fact, just become outrageously thankful - and watch as your intimacy with God increases and as He pours out greater blessings than ever before. God's word for you today: Speak words of thanksgiving, not words of complaint. From the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer. Copyright 2010 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

Difficulties mean growth

For a period of time in my life, I rebuked whatever I didn't want because I thought it must be from the devil. I say that I rebuked until my "rebuker" was just totally worn out. But then I discovered that a lot of what I was trying to rebuke was from God. Many of the things I did not like or want were things God had allowed for my growth and development. The writer of Hebrews said that we must submit to the discipline of God. He chastises us only because He loves us. Don't try to resist what God intends to use for your good. Ask the Lord to do a deep and thorough work in you so you can be all He wants you to be, do all He wants you to do, and have all He wants you to have. During my years of resisting anything that was painful or difficult, the simple truth is that I did not grow spiritually. I kept going around and around the same old mountains (problems). Finally, I realized that I was trying to avoid pain, but I had pain anyway. The pain of staying the way we are is much worse than the pain of changing. Our personality is our soul (mind, will, and emotions), but often it has been wounded by our experiences in the world. God promises to restore our souls if we will cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in us. I had a broken soul, one that had no peace or joy, but God has made me whole and He wants to do the same for you. God's word for you today: Open your soul to God and ask Him to heal every wound and bruise.

he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Psalm 23:3 NIV
https://psalm.bible/psalm-23-3

Sensitive heart

Being in His presence regularly softened my heart and made me much more sensitive to His voice. Without a heart sensitive to the touch of God, we will not recognize many of the times He is speaking to us. He speaks gently, in a still, small voice, or with gentle conviction about a matter. A hard-hearted person is also in danger of hurting other people and not even being aware that they are doing so, and this grieves the heart of God. Those who are hard-hearted and busy "doing their own thing" will not be sensitive to God's will or voice. God wants to soften our hearts with His Word, because a hardened heart cannot hear His voice or receive the other many blessings He longs to give.

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 11:19 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/ezk.11.19.NIV

At home with God

If we want to be a comfortable "home" for the Spirit of the Lord, we must give up things that cause us to forget about His presence or are offensive to Him. We must stop grumbling, allowing strife and unrest inside us, or harboring unforgiveness. Instead, we need to make sure our inner lives are engaged in things that please and honor God's presence. Our mouths should be full of praise and thanksgiving. We should wake up every day and say in our hearts, "Good morning, Lord. I want You to feel at home and be comfortable in me today."

Prayer....first response

Sometimes I marvel at how long we can struggle in a situation before we think to talk to God about it and listen for His voice. We complain about our problems; we grumble; we murmur; we tell our friends; and we talk about how we wish God would do something about it. We struggle with situations in our minds and in our emotions, while we often fail to take advantage of the simplest solution there is: prayer. But worse than that, we then make perhaps the most ridiculous statement known to man: "Well, I guess all I can do is pray." I am sure you have heard that before and maybe you have even said it. We all have. We are all guilty of treating prayer as a last-ditch effort and saying things like, "Well, nothing else is working, so maybe we should pray." Do you know what that tells me? It tells me that we really do not believe in the power of prayer as we should. We carry burdens we do not need to bear - and life is much harder than it has to be - because we do not realize how powerful prayer is. If we did, we would talk to God and listen to what He says about everything, not as a last resort, but as a first response. God's word for you today: Let prayer be your first response, not your last resort.

Enjoy the trip...life with the Spirit

Many people have received Jesus as Savior and Lord. They will go to heaven, but never draw on the full capacity of the Holy Spirit that is available to them or experience the true success God wants them to enjoy on Earth. Simply put, many will be on their way to heaven, but they won't enjoy the trip. We often look at those who have wealth, position, power and we consider them "successful." But many people who are considered successful still lack peace, joy, contentment, and other true blessings. Such people have never learned to depend completely on the power of the Holy Spirit.

God speaks

God speaks to us in many ways that include but are not limited to: His Word, nature, people, circumstances, peace, wisdom, supernatural intervention, dreams, visions, and what some call "the inner witness," which is best described as a "knowing" deep inside our hearts. He also speaks in what the Bible calls a "still, small voice," which I believe also refers to the inner witness. God also speaks through the conscience, through our desires, and in an audible voice, but always remember that when He speaks, what He says is always right and it never disagrees with His written Word. We rarely hear God's audible voice, though it does happen.

Toxic people

The people in your life can be one of the most important spiritual assets or be one of your worst curses. Those relationships that are a curse to you are toxic. This week you learn from God's Word about the dangers of toxic relationships and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people.

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV

The right people will build you up and lead you towards Christ, but if you are around the wrong people they can be very toxic. They can hurt your soul. They can hurt your relationships. They can lead you into temptation. They can drag you down. They can very easily take you away from God's best.

https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.15.33.NIV
There are three common types of toxic relationships: negative, controlling, and the tempters. 

Matthew 16 shows us that one way to manage toxic relationships is to set healthy boundaries in the way Jesus did with Peter. You might need to tell that person that you won't let them talk to you or treat you in a toxic way, or you may simply need to tell them that you are just not going to go to a toxic place in your relationship with them.

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Matthew 16:23 NIV
https://matthew.bible/matthew-16-23

Another way to handle toxic relationships is to end them. The Bible is full of examples of people who cut off their toxic relationships such as Joseph and Potiphar's wife in Genesis 39.

Test cultural toxins

S 1.) Am I being entertained by sin?
2.) Is this pleasing to God? and
3.) Does this lure me away from Christ?

but test them all; hold on to what is good,
1 Thessalonians 5:21 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1th.5.21.NIV

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord ? Who may stand in his holy place?  The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.
Psalm 24:3‭-‬4 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.24.3-4.NIV
When we interpret everything according to God's Word and the purity of His truth, we will realize there are a lot of things people are doing that really don't draw us closer to God. 

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
2 Timothy 3:2‭-‬5 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/2ti.3.2-5.NIV

Strive for the things that matter to God and not for the things that matter to others.

Just because we can ....

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.6.12.NIV

Cultural toxins

Our lives are full of cultural toxins, which are those things that are culturally acceptable, but hurt our souls. Cultural toxins can be found in the books we read, the magazines we read, the music we listen to, the television shows we watch, and in the movies we watch. When we allow cultural toxins into our lives, it pollutes us. This week you will learn what God's Word says about the dangers of cultural toxins and the importance of focusing on things that draw us closer to God.
The toxic lie so many of us believe is because everyone else does it, it's okay for us and won't harm us. The truth is just because everyone else does it, doesn't mean that it's right for us spiritually.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2 NIV
https://romans.bible/romans-12-2