There Is No Fear In Love

My husband made this statement the other day that I found to be so true.  He said, "It's easy to say that God is in control, but it is a whole different matter to live your life that way." -- Donald Schmoll

If we are honest with ourselves, all of us must admit that we do have a difficult time relinquishing all control to Him.  I know at this point and time in our life, God is leading us on a different journey that is taking a greater leap of faith than what we have ever taken in the twenty plus years of serving Him.  Upon taking the first steps, we have realized that in our past, knowing we had to trust God and even desiring to do so, we still always tried to maintain a bit of control. 

It has been very difficult for me, especially on the financial part of it.  I love the Lord very much and I know that nothing is impossible with Him.  I know that He can do anything.  There is no situation beyond His capability.  I realized that it was not that I doubted what God could do, but I was doubting that He would do it for ME.

Why was I having such a hard time believing God's promises for ME?  You know what I'm talking about.  You have been there too and may be right now.  I became so troubled because I knew that I was not yet 100% with my husband in all these changes and decisions. It is not that I did not want to be. I DID!  I was so afraid that if I did not get to that place where he was, that my lack of faith would ruin it for us. Oh how the guilt began flooding my mind! What if MY unbelief messed everything up for what God expected for us?

I cannot help but smile at this now while I am typing, thinking that I would have that much power to mess up God's plan and purpose for our lives.  How absurd! I think this is why God kept bringing Proverbs 19:21 to my mind, that we can have many plans in our heart but it will only be God's purpose that prevails.  But all I know is that it sure would make it a lot easier for me if I could only believe.  So, I continued to ponder that question of whether God needed that 100% faith from me in order for it all to work out. I began to realize though, that it really was not about if God needed it but the fact of the matter was, I needed it.  I so desired it!

I began seeking God with all my heart.  I continually prayed in the spirit every chance I got.  I wanted to just stay in the spirit always. I never wanted to leave His Presence because that was the only place on this earth that I found peace, no worries, no pain and hurts and no doubts.  I prayed, "God help my unbelief!"  I just wanted to know that He was going to take care of me. (us)  I just wanted to know that we were going to be okay. 

Then God began to show me why I was having a hard time believing.  The root of my unbelief was the lack of love.  The Scripture He spoke to me was Galatians 5:6 which says that faith works by love.

"Love is the driving force behind our faith.  If you remove or diminish love, faith ceases to be what it should be." -- Andrew Wommack

I have been trying so hard to believe but what I needed to be doing was seeking a greater revelation of God's love.  Then faith would just naturally work.  I've been so guilty of allowing circumstances to blind me of God's love.  My lack of faith in His love hinders Him but as soon as I open to His love, my faith is revived and I then know He will supply.

The Lord speaks in Luke 12:32, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." I realized that my unbelief comes when I forget how much He loves me.  There is more than just superficial knowledge that God loves us.  I began praying what Paul did over the Ephesians in chapter 3:14-19 that I would receive a greater revelation of God's love.

In our own home this past weekend, a message came forth through my friend Julia, through tongues and interpretation, that things were going to be okay and that I was going to be okay!  I thank the Lord that He knows what we need. 

God's love for us is unconditional.  Love is not something God does, it is who He is! (I John 4:8)  We need to rest in the assurance of His love. It never changes even though our circumstances do. His love remains unconditional. God is not only with us - He is also in our circumstances. He is in control of all that happens.  No, he is not the author of evil, but is able to use bad things for good.  This does not remove our suffering but it does redeem it - infusing it with meaning.

So many people struggle in life, even Christians, because we do not truly comprehend the love that God has for us. If we did, we would not struggle as much in times of trials. We would always know that we have a God who is our Father who will take care of us and not let anything happen to us but will work all things for our good.

Your life has meaning.  Your life has purpose and God delights in your prosperity. (Psalm 35:27)  Do not be fearful but know that He works all things for your good. (Romans 8:28)  Know that He loves you so much and only wants the best for you.  Perfect love casts out all fear. His love never changes, no matter your performance.  When God's love is perfected in you, keeping God's Word will be the result. (1 John 2:3-5)

Romans 8:38-39

I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from God's love!  Are YOU?

If you want to reach a state of bliss - make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved and the need to judge.  You will begin to truly know what being free really feels like.

Perfected in God's love,

Connie Schmoll

Remember the previous "word" that God gave me that I shared on March 21st.  You can read it again

by clicking HERE. 

What Matters Most

WHAT MATTERS MOST?
When the religious leaders of Jesus day asked Him what matters most, He was able to summarize the Ten Commandments and the entire body of religious law into two simple commands:

* Love God with all your heart.

* Love your neighbor as yourself.

What more is there? It doesn't get any simpler than that. But don’t mistake simple for easy. Jesus Himself showed us the true cost of loving God and others!

What will you do today to show love to your neighbors? How will you show God your great love for Him?

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

God's Message for Today:

Make a daily practice of sitting quietly with the LORD. Begin your day with Him! You have allowed fear and worry to imprison you for many years. Release them to Him! There in the Light of His Presence, they will dissipate. However, some of them will attempt to return throughout your day. Do Not Let Them! When fear or any thoughts of worry attempt to assail you, Capture them and Cast them down with the Light of His Word.

Do not doubt His love for you. For perfect love casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

When you allow fear to dominate, faith is not there. When you bring fear into your day, you have left God out. Acknowledge Him and keep your mind renewed by speaking forth His Word. Do not be fearful, for He is with you always. He will help you and make you strong.

You have let Him live in your spirit. Now it is time that you let Him reign in your soul.

I Peter 5:7; 2 Corinthians 10:5; I John 4:15-18; Romans 12:2; Isaiah 41:10

Connie Schmoll

Habitation or Visitation?

God's Message For Today...

When we come to God, we are to present our body as a living SACRIFICE....a surrender to God.

Romans 12:1 says,
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

It is interesting that self-sacrifice is considered by God to be our reasonable service. To do that, we must humble ourselves, and lay it on the altar. A surrender to God. The only problem with living sacrifices is that they tend to crawl off the altar. Even if we make this commitment in our hearts right now, we’ll have to renew it again and again because as long as we are here on earth, we will have to make the decision to love Jesus more than self, every day.

Notice that we are the ones who have to make this presentation of our bodies to God. He won't do it for us. It's a sacrifice on our part. We can't have someone lay hands on us and impart this to us. We can't rebuke the flesh and expect it to disappear. We have to give our bodies to God as living sacrifices daily. Offering ourselves to God is not just a one-time deal. We have to die to our own desires daily and not be conformed to the world but let a transformation happen by renewing our mind through His Word and the working of the Holy Spirit through prayer.

Romans 12:2 says,

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

Surrendering to God is letting Him INHABIT all our moments --- gracing our thoughts, our words and our behavior. We have become His vessel for His purpose and His Glory.

I Corinthians 6:19 "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

You're not your own. He dwells in you.  Is your temple where God can feel at home in?

Ephesians 2:22 "And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

Let me ask you this: 

Would you let somebody into your home that you do not trust? Some say that they TRUST God, yet their thoughts, words and behavior show that they actually only have their temple for God as a place of visitation instead of habitation. It's like they welcome Him when it's convenient for them. They'll let Him in, yet He's only allowed in certain “rooms” (areas of their life) as like they would for a visitor, instead of letting Him inhabit their temple as a permanent residence.

Where does God stand in your life? What is your temple for Him? Is it a place of Habitation or of Visitation for Him?

Let your body be a habitation for the Lord, a place of settled residence. Let Him inhabit every room. It is only when we make the total sacrifice of every area of our lives that we begin to see God's perfect will manifest through our lives.

I trust God and present my body a living sacrifice unto Him that he may inhabit it as a place of settled residence. Amen!

MOVE IN TO STAY, GOD!

Connie Schmoll

Find ME In The Moment

God's Message For Today....

When circumstances become challenging or important decisions need to be made and we know how important it is that we make the right ones, we can sometimes begin to lose focus. Before this happens, know that God is near and whispering, “Find ME in the moment.” He's there waiting to give us peace.

It is very important what we allow to come out of our mouth during this time. What we say can deceive our own selves by speaking negative. Speak words of life. Seek God. That's where peace is.

Psalm 34:13-15 ~ Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.

In God's Presence there is peace. We have no worries. We are problem free because we've given them all to Him to take care of. But when we walk out of His Presence, anxiety and fear come in immediately. We can get tangled up in the worry-webs of life.

But how can we stay in God's peace? It's all about focus. We need to keep our mind on Him and trust in Him. When we don't allow fear in, we are trusting Him. Fear is the lack of Faith. Stay in His Word to renew your mind, for this is how faith comes. Spend time praying in the Spirit, for this brings a refreshing to your soul.

Isaiah 26:3 ~Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Don't walk out of His Presence. Stay focused, keeping your mind on Him, and He will keep you in perfect peace where fear and anxiety can't touch you. If you are plugged into God's Presence, you will begin to see situations from His Perspective. Once you are in that place of peace with God, it is there you'll get your answer.

We're plugged into His Presence,

Written by Connie Schmoll & Julia Cole

Seize The Moment

God's Message For Today......

God has a PURPOSE, a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11) and we must CONTINUE on doing the things we have learned (2 Timothy 3:14), not looking back to our past but to SEIZE THE MOMENT..now.. pay attention to what He is doing now and then press on (Philippians 3:13-14) with Him for His Purpose and will for our life!

I don't know about you, but .....

This has really encouraged me for the situation that is going on right now in my life. God is letting us know what we are doing is right and to continue. We have a purpose and it has nothing to do with our past but all to do with our future!

SEIZE THE MOMENT!  Because there IS a reason or purpose for all of this that is happening!

 

Seize the Moment is what is really screaming out to me!

Powerful!

Is there something going on in your life right now that you have questioned whether you are doing the right thing or not?  SEIZE THE MOMENT.  Seek God!  Grab a hold of what God is doing in the NOW.  Don't fret over the past or the future. Don't let your past dictate the future.  Focus on the now!  Follow God! Fulfill His Purpose!

What are YOUR thoughts? Share them below (on website comment box).

God's Purpose Will Prevail

God's Message For Today....

Proverbs 19:21 ~ Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. (NIV)

Isn't it so amazing how those broken times in our life leads us straight to God and His true purpose for our life?

"God's Purpose will prevail, even through the path of a broken road...when we believe." -- Connie Schmoll

(If you are viewing from email, visit the website to listen to video), "God Bless The Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts

The Anchor Holds

SET THE ANCHOR

Have you ever felt like your life was just smooth sailing, things were going good, the waters were calm, and the skies bright blue? Suddenly storm clouds gather, the sky darkens, the torrential rains burst forth and the winds boisterously blows in a major storm!  Oh such damage!  Now you feel like a ship without a sail.  It disrupts your course of direction, your vision becomes blurred and you're left drifting at sea and asking, "What do I do now?"   Set The Anchor!!

The "storms of life" are going to come.  There is a reason for every storm.  A change in course or direction brought on by a storm does not mean you're now lost at sea, no matter how bad the raging seas are beating against the vessel.  God promises us that He will never leave us.  He is with us always, even during the storms of life.  He keeps His promises, gave His Word and can't break it.  There is still hope!  It's the anchor of our soul that will keep us safe and secure in the midst of any storm.  That Hope is our unbreakable spiritual lifeline reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God. 

"When we set our anchor in the Lord, we will not be carried away by the storms that threaten to overtake us." -- Stormie Omartian

HOPE - The Anchor of our Soul

It can be difficult at times to really trust God when we are IN the storm but if we really truly believe that God loves us so much and goes through the hurt with us, then we can't help but know that He also doesn't like seeing us have to deal with situations that bring us pain.  He wants us to bring all our hurts to Him so that He is able to work all things out for the good.  This is where "trusting Him with all our heart" comes in.  We just have to trust Him no matter how fierce the storm looks.  Whether we understand it or not He knows what He is doing.

The acceptance of trials and acknowledging God brings blessings that far outweigh all the trials.  Since God is both with us and in us, we can choose to live from this peaceful place of union with Him, even in the midst of a storm.  This enables us to stay calm in the midst of stressful situations by keeping our focus on him.  We learn to live from a place of "resting in Him."  But true peace is not living in perpetual calm, but having faith throughout the storms.

No matter how hard the enemy tries to stop God's work in a believer's life, God keeps His promises and the Holy Spirit enables Believers to trust God when facing difficulties.

PAUL - Survives The Storm and A Shipwreck

Read Acts 27

Paul is a perfect example for us from God's Word how believers can trust God in any situation.  After 2 years of imprisonment, Paul is now on his way to Rome on a ship where God told him to go.  Julius, a Centurion was in charge of the prisoners, keeping them from escaping.  Paul found favor with him.

Winds made sailing difficult and as you read through you will see how the enemy was really wanting Paul dead.  He didn't want Paul sharing God's Word.  The winds grew fierce with a hurricane force that came against them.  Paul tried telling them that the storm coming would bring hurt and damage to the ship and their lives, but they didn't listen.  Because of the difficulty of the storm, the ship lost its course and let the storm take it.

In Paul's day, they used the stars in the sky to help them navigate, but on this night in this storm, the stars could not be seen.  They gave up all hope to be saved.  Those with physical eyes, this situation seemed impossible, but nothing with God is impossible.  He had a plan for Paul's life and Paul knew what God had said and where he was directing him and not even a life threatening storm was going to stop the plan.

After a long period of fasting, Paul was then visited by an angel that was sent to encourage Him.  See what fasting (going without food) can do?  It kills the flesh and lets the Spirit rise and reign from within!  Confidence and courage comes!  He was encouraged and then He encouraged all the others.  He was given a word. He was given direction.  The Holy Spirit gave him courage to speak words of encouragement to all the other passengers.  As long as they stayed in the ship, they would be safe and live.  And after 14 days of drifting on the sea, the terrible storm passed.  At the end, they did have a shipwreck but all was able to jump in and swim to shore.  All survived just as God told Paul they would.  He is faithful to His Word.

When we face difficult times, God comforts us and then in turn we can comfort others. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) During the storm, stay in the ship with the Lord.  He's our anchor - our Hope.  Just as in this story with Paul making it through the storm, and God also helping him survive the shipwreck, His power is also there for us, keeping us safe.  Hold on to all that God has promised. He will bring it to pass as He did with Paul. He keeps His Word.  Let us trust Him. 

He is powerful and in control even when things in our lives seem out of control.  He will give us peace even when we don't understand it.  He is our Hope, the anchor of our soul that keeps us safe and secure. Our Hope is in God and His Word.

Setting The Anchor,
Connie Schmoll

If you are viewing this from email, visit my devotional site to listen to the song, "The Anchor Holds" by Ray Boltz

Surrendering Your Dream

We all have dreams - that special vision that we want for our life.  God even says in His Word that "without a vision, we would perish". (Proverbs 29:18)  But it is important that the vision we have is from Him.

Psalm 37:4 is a very popular Scripture quoted by many and is actually one of my favorites.  I have often noticed though how it is misunderstood by some.  We have a promise that the Lord shall give us the desires of our heart.  Many take this Scripture as meaning that they can have whatever they want, but they forget about the first part of that Scripture that says to delight thyself in the Lord.

Psalm 37:4 "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give ye the desires of thy heart."

Delighting ourself in the Lord is putting him first and making Him most important in our life.  Once we do that, we will begin finding out what His desires are for us.  Our desires and his become one and the same.

Matthew 6:33 tells us to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything else will be added unto you".

Seeking God first and foremost, then the rest of our life will fall into place, piece by piece.  Before pursuing a dream, talk to Him about it first.  We can have all kinds of plans and dreams for our life, but it's God's purpose that is going to prevail. (Proverbs 19:21)

You see, we can have many desires in our  heart, but some of them might not be what God wants for  us.  The whole key to this verse is IF we are delighting ourself in the Lord, what desires that He has for us will also become our desires as well.  The closer our relationship becomes with God by spending time with Him in prayer and reading His Word, He will begin showing us what He wants for our life and because we are developing a deep desire to want to please Him, his desires become ours.  Our desires become one and the same with His.

This is what He means when He says he will give us the desires of our heart.  It means He will place those desires there in our heart. And the desires that we have that are not His will, He will gradually change/remove them.

God wants us to dream but in our dreaming, He does not want us to exclude Him.  Many of us have had big dreams from the beginning of our upbringing.  Now what God wants us to do is to surrender all those dreams to Him, because we can't be led by Him if we are chasing after dreams of our own making.  And even if a dream is from God, we still won't see it fulfilled until we give it to Him.

God puts dreams in our heart to give us a vision and inspiration and to guide us to the right path.  This is why we have to make sure that the dreams we have are not from the flesh.  The only way to be sure is to lay them all at His feet and let them die.  The ones that are not from him will be buried forever but the ones that are for Him will be given new life!

We don't want to waste our time chasing after something that God is not blessing and will never materialize, do we? We want to live with confidence that our hopes, dreams and expectations are based on God-given certainty that He is behind them!

Dying to our dreams is not fun! It's painful!  Especially if our identity is wrapped up in them. Surrendering all is difficult but we will find that the rewards are great!

Keep in mind though that just because we are asked to surrender some things to God does not always mean we've done anything wrong or are out of His will.  We may be right in the center of it. The dream we have may be one that God has for us but needs surrendered for the purpose of making that dream be for Him where before it was for us.  We want what feels good and right for us when with God, He wants  us to do what we do for His glory, not ours.

Surrendering all our dreams to God, we will begin to see which were born of His Spirit. Pursuing the ones that weren't will only lead to misery, frustration and unfulfillment.

Prayer:

Thank you Lord, that the plan You have for my life far exceeds anything I could imagine and have ever planned for myself. Thank you for delivering me through the trials and struggles and bringing me to this point in my life to be immersed in Your blessings. Lord, give me the grace and humility to never take these blessings and this life for granted. Guide me into hopes and dreams that are in line with Your will.  Help me to train the eyes of my heart so that I might see these blessings and let Your will be done fully.  Help me to discipline myself to wait eagerly on You and to focus on You and the longed-for outcome.  I will remain hopeful and expectant as I wait with perseverance on You. (Romans 8:25)  Just as I am one with You, so let my dreams and desires be one with Yours as well. (John 17:23)  In Jesus Name. Amen.

Surrendering My Dreams To Him,
Connie Schmoll