Hi Brian!

This week I want to share Charles Spurgeon's Evening devotional.

"Ah Lord God, behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." — Jeremiah 32:17

At the very time when the Chaldeans surrounded Jerusalem, and when the sword, famine and pestilence had desolated the land, Jeremiah was commanded by God to purchase a field, and have the deed of transfer legally sealed and witnessed. This was a strange purchase for a rational man to make. Prudence could not justify it, for it was buying with scarcely a probability that the person purchasing could ever enjoy the possession. But it was enough for Jeremiah that his God had bidden him, for well he knew that God will be justified of all His children. He reasoned thus: "Ah, Lord God! Thou canst make this plot of ground of use to me; Thou canst rid this land of these oppressors; Thou canst make me yet sit under my vine and my fig-tree in the heritage which I have bought; for Thou didst make the heavens and the earth, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." This gave a majesty to the early saints, that they dared to do at God's command things which carnal reason would condemn. Whether it be a Noah who is to build a ship on dry land, an Abraham who is to offer up his only son, or a Moses who is to despise the treasures of Egypt, or a Joshua who is to besiege Jericho seven days, using no weapons but the blasts of rams' horns, they all act upon God's command, contrary to the dictates of carnal reason; and the Lord gives them a rich reward as the result of their obedient faith. Would to God we had in the religion of these modern times a more potent infusion of this heroic faith in God. If we would venture more upon the naked promise of God, we should enter a world of wonders to which as yet we are strangers. Let Jeremiah's place of confidence be ours—nothing is too hard for the God that created the heavens and the earth.

I LOVE THIS! NOTHING IS, ever HAS BEEN or ever WILL BE too difficult for our GREAT GOD! In these times, when new things are happening every day and GOD is showing HIMSELF strong, we MUST dare to believe that WE are about to be BLESSED beyond measure!!! To encourage you to be ever ready to receive GOD'S input on decisions you make, I want to share this song by Brandon Lake and CeCe Winans called "I Know A Name!" The lyrics are powerful and we KNOW that WE can count on HIM! 

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

We will be looking at this portion of Scripture this week: John 4:46-53

46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was lying ill in Capernaum. 47 Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea into Galilee, he went away to meet Him and began to beg Him to come down and cure his son, for he was lying at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, Unless you see signs and miracles happen, you [people] never will believe (trust, have faith) at all. 49 The king's officer pleaded with Him, Sir, do come down at once before my little child is dead! 50 Jesus answered him, Go in peace; your son will live! And the man put his trust in what Jesus said and started home. 51 But even as he was on the road going down, his servants met him and reported, saying, Your son lives! 52 So he asked them at what time he had begun to get better. They said, Yesterday during the seventh hour (about one o'clock in the afternoon) the fever left him. 53 Then the father knew that it was at that very hour WHEN Jesus had said to him, Your son will live. And he and his entire household believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Jesus). AMP

The moment that JESUS spoke the words, the man's son was healed! The moment that WE speak His Word, that WORD goes to work for us! I want to encourage you with this today so that you can develop and even greater degree of expectation that what GOD says in HIS Word WILL happen for you when you dare to believe, expect and receive it! Here is a new song by Brandon Lake from His new album "King Of Hearts" called "The Great I AM Can". 

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "plans". We have looked at it before but I wanted to look at it again as it is the title of a song from Brandon Lake's new album "King of Hearts". We'll be looking at Jeremiah 29:11 from the Amplified Bible.

11 For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. AMP

The KJV Bible says "thoughts" while the AMPC says "thoughts and plans". The word is the Hebrew word "machashabah". Strong's Concordance says: an intention or plan. Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon says: a thought, a device, a plan, a purpose, an invention. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says: The basic idea of the word is the employment of the mind in thinking activity. Reference is not so much to "understanding", but to the creating of new ideas. Our GREAT GOD has the very BEST "thoughts, plans and purposes" for our lives from HIS position of seeing all and knowing all! Isaiah 46:9-10 says it like this:

9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: KJV

ALL of HIS PLANS for us are GOOD and ONLY GOOD! I can't wait to hear what wonderful things He has planned to bless you and your beautiful family in the coming months! Here is that song! 

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

Over all of the years since I first received Jesus as Lord and Saviour, He has often spoken to me through music! I can't explain why as I have never studied music and have never had a singing voice that I had conifdence in, but He has always done that! There is a line in a song on the newest Brandon Lake album that I shared with you in the last blog that really ministers to me! Here are the lyrics to the portion I am referring to:

There was something in the marrow
Always coursin' through my veins
But buried deeper than the rubble
Is my Daddy's DNA

This means a lot to me after finding out about my own heritage through a DNA test. I found out  the why of so many things that have always been different in me than the siblings I grew up with. Personality, interests, intelligence, temperment and so many other traits and characteristics. So when I heard these lyrics, it made me realize that when we received JESUS, we received His nature! We received the abilities needed to carry out what He has called us to do and also, as we spend time in His Word and in His presence, some of Who HE is always rubs off on us and becomes a part of who we now are! What I beleive He wants you to realize from this is that no matter what happens in the world around you, IN HIM you will ALWAYS have what is needed to overcome! The Wisdom, understanding, discernment, creative ideas and instinct to to tackle any and every situation, will be as though it has always been a part of you! This is the most exciting time to be alive and I believe that the rest of this year and all of the year to come will be your very BEST and MOST BLESSED than any before! Here is that song again for you to hear!

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!