Start Loving Yourself More

The greatest commandment passage has within it the most posing challenge for you and for me; the lesson of learning to love ourselves. The implication is clear there, that before you can love others you must have a healthy sense of self love. If you don’t love yourself and accept yourself for how you have been created, then there’s little hope that you will love and trust your Creator – let alone be able to unconditionally love and accept anyone else.

If you could just come to the place of loving self-acceptance; your life of faith, love for God and love for others would be so much more powerful and effective. Start loving yourself more.

Glorify GOD With a Loud Voice

Sometimes your blessings is in you hands.

After the Samaritan was healed HE TURNED BACK – HE could have kept going; he could have said, I DON’T NEED TO SAY THANK YOU – HE KNOWS I AM THANKFUL!!

But the scripture says, the Samaritan was healed and he turned back and WITH A LOUD VOICE!! Sometimes YOU JUST GOT TO GET LOUD – LIFE, family, friends, can hurt you, BUT when the storm passes – makes you glorify GOD with a loud voice. 

YOU

Yeah, YOU went through hell, but you are still here. Yeah, the devil hit you hard, and you went down; and it hurt and you cried for a while, but YOU are still here.

YOU got your joy back, YOU got YOUR peace back, YOU got dance back, YOU got your praise back.


YOU have been in this fire; YOU’ve been working on your praise; YOU’ve been working on YOUR shout; YOU’ve been working on YOUR dance.

The Power of Our Praise

The first thing the devil wants to do is to bind you, (restrict you, limit you, contain you, take away your liberty, your freedom in God).

One of Satan’s greatest griefs is to see the children of God walking and living in their liberty, expressing themselves in joy and peace, and worshiping and praising God without constraint, without fear or reservation.

So he sends things our way to push us down, to back us up, to quiet us down, to put a lid on us, to dampen our praise, to get us all tangled up in fear, anxiety, and worry; because he knows the power of our praise.

Fruitfulness Marked by Joy

Notice Jesus’ words: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” And then He concludes by saying, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

What a generous gift. What an amazing offer to someone who is exhausted by the consumer treadmill, being constantly manipulated by marketing, and consistently being disappointed by promises made by brands who knew they were only selling the equivalent of sugar water. “Ask whatever you wish.” “Joy.” These are words our souls need.  “God designed prayer to give His disciples the joy of bearing fruit while God Himself gets the glory.” So pray boldly for fruitfulness marked by joy and all for God’s glory.

Wait Patiently

The phrase “wait patiently” comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to rest, or to settle down and remain.” It is the same word we find in the Ten Commandments where God tells us to rest on the Sabbath Day. It is the same word we find in the narratives about the Promised Land where God promised to give the Israelites rest from their enemies in the land. Here Habakkuk determines to wait patiently during this time of trial, to rest himself in the Lord.

God promises to give us his peace when we give our worries and fears to him. Philippians 4:6-7 says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)


How do you exercise faith during the worst of times? Wait patiently for the Lord even when you are afraid. Rest yourself in God.

Have Faith in God

The book of Habakkuk is all about faith in God.  Habakkuk 2:4: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Habakkuk challenges us to put our faith in God even during the worst of times. When Habakkuk reached the end of his journey, he had moved from a place of doubting God to a place of trusting God no matter what. And that “no matter what” was a serious issue for Habakkuk, far more serious than most of the issues we deal with on a daily basis.

God revealed to Habakkuk that his country was about to be invaded and ransacked. Habakkuk and his people would lose everything that they had built up over the years, everything they had worked for. It would all be gone. That is a whole different matter than trusting God even though you got a traffic ticket, or even though you had a bad day at work or at school. The book of Habakkuk challenges you to learn to trust God no matter what.


How do you exercise faith in God during the worst of times? Habakkuk shares with us three things that he did, even when he was facing the worst calamity of his lifetime.