A Thanksgiving Prayer

The above CC0 image comes courtesy of Pixabay.com

 

Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good and his mercy endures for ever!

(Psalm 107:1 )

 

Father God,

I want to thank you for waking me up this morning so I can greet another new day. I want to thank you for your breath within me that enables me to live. I want to thank you for my destiny, for the plans and purpose you have ordained for my life. I want to thank you that you are ultimately in control of my future – not me, not any other person, and certainly not the Enemy!

I want to thank you for preserving my life throughout these years. Thank you for preserving me from danger, from terminal illness, from death and destruction. You are a good God, a gracious God, a mighty God—and I am so glad, so blessed, so privileged, so relieved and honoured to be able to claim and boldly say that you are my God!

Thank you for your love – that precious, enduring, extravagant and unconditional love. Thank you for demonstrating that love to me, even before I was aware that you existed, even before I chose to acknowledge you and serve you and live my life in a manner that pleases and honours you.

Thank you for your patience and generosity. Who but you would include me in your plans? Who but you would invite me to sit at the table of your blessings to partake of all that you have to give? Who but you would say and think such marvellous and affirming things about me when you, who are all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful, know exactly who I am through and through?

You are amazing Father God! You are beautiful beyond description and as the song goes, too marvellous for words.

And so I take pleasure today (on this day set aside to thank you for your goodness and provision), I take pleasure in acknowledging your prodigious nature, your bountiful provision, your magnanimous heart.

Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name, praise his glorious name. May my thanks and praise to you, rise up as sweet-smelling incense and may that incense be a continually pleasing aroma to you.

Father God, I offer myself afresh to you.

Take my life and let it be

Fully, totally, utterly, consecrated to thee.

——————————————–

Happy thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!

Love,

Carol (aka Lady Cee)

Author of:    Petitions From My Heart

(If you live in the UK click here)

 

 

Did you enjoy reading this post? If so, please share your thoughts in a comment box below. Tell us what you are giving God thanks for today.

 

 

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Why Are We Waiting…?

 

 

Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.

Elisabeth Elliot

 

Waiting is an exercise of faith that demonstrates the condition of our hearts. Waiting on God is an act of faith. And faith is what separates the men from the boys.

Steve Farrar

 

You may be sitting around waiting for God to change your circumstances. Then you’re going to be happy, then you’re going to have a good attitude, then you’re going to give God praise. But God is waiting on you to get up on the inside. When you do your part, He’ll begin to change things and work supernaturally in your life.

Joel Osteen

 

Sometimes the miracle isn’t in your prayer being answered but in your faith being grown as you wait.

Jackie Hill Perry

—–oooooo000oooooo—–

 

Jesus loved his friend Lazarus.

But when He was called to come and intervene, to exercise his power and heal his friend, Jesus did not come to his aid straight away. In fact, He deliberately delayed his visit and allowed Lazarus to die.

Now the miracle wrought by raising Lazarus from the dead was greater than if Jesus had healed him and prevented him from dying.

Are you experiencing a delayed answer to your prayers?

Could it be that God requires you to die to self, to self-serving expectations?

Or perhaps that delay means there is a greater miracle on the way!

And perhaps the miracle on its way will be more precious and have a deeper meaning for you when it actually does come.

In fact, like the raising of Lazarus from the dead, perhaps your miracle will have a greater impact upon others because of the delay.

Perhaps.

Just a thought!

Love,

Carol (aka Ladycee)

Author of: Petitions From My Heart 

(If you live in the UK click here)

 

 

 

Additional resources:

1. What is faith?
2.  Faith requires patience
3. How to believe God for a miracle

Women of Warfare followers and visitors have a wonderful week!

 

CREDIT: The above CC0 image comes courtesy of Pixabay.com

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Did you enjoy reading this post? If so, please share your thoughts in a comment box below. Do you know someone whom would benefit from its message? Then please don’t hesitate to share it. Thank you.

 

 

A 21-day Thanks-Fest (Day 11)

 

Thank You Father God

 

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.

Swami Vivekananda

 

It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.

Robert H. Schuller

 

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…

(Proverbs 27:3)

 

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
― Marcus Aurelius

 

—–oooooo000oooooo—–

Dear Father God,

Today I’d like to give you thanks for the specialised knowledge and expertise of practitioners such as Dr Caroline Leaf  in the field of neuroscience. I thank you for the astounding facts regarding neuroplasticity, which has come to my knowledge.

What an amazing God you are! Truly as the psalmist observed, we are most fearfully and wonderfully made!

I’m so grateful that negative attitudes and patterns of thinking can be changed. Lord, as I look back on my life and recall how depressed I used to be, how negative my thoughts were and how pessimistic my general outlook, I am so grateful for the changes wrought within me.

Thank you for the available knowledge. Thank you for bringing this to my attention and thank you for bringing me to that place where I chose to act upon what I learned.

I recognise that there is still more work to be done, so I commit my thought life into your hands and thank you in anticipation of your continued work within me.

I thank you Father God.

With love,

 Carol ♥♥♥

 

CREDIT: The above CC0 images come courtesy of Pixabay.com

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve Been Approved!

 

 

A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.

Vernon Howard

 

I do not need the approval of anyone!

Because…

I am God-approved and anointed,

God-blessed,

God-commissioned,

God-favoured,

God-justified and God-vindicated.

 

Dear Woman of Warfare follower and visitor – so are you!

 

Love from,

Carol (aka Ladycee) ♥♥♥

Choose to be a Victor!

Do you value the approval of God above the approval of others?

I’d love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts or response to this post in a comment box below. Thank you.

 

CREDIT: 

Lion picture – CC0 image courtesy of Pixabay.com

 

Stop Complaining and Making Excuses — The Light in the Heart

Maturity is when you stop complaining and making excuses in your life; you realize everything that happens in life is a result of the previous choice you’ve made and start making new choices to change your life. Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the heart

via Stop Complaining and Making Excuses — The Light in the Heart

A Tale of Mr Little, Nothing & No-one!

 

We all learn lessons in life. Some stick, some don’t. I have always learned more from rejection and failure than from acceptance and success.

Henry Rollins

 

Too many Christians have a commitment of convenience. They’ll stay faithful as long as it’s safe and doesn’t involve risk, rejection, or criticism. Instead of standing alone in the face of challenge or temptation, they check to see which way their friends are going.

Charles Stanley

 

Our self-perception determines our behavior. If we think we’re small, limited, inadequate creatures, then we tend to behave that way, and the energy we radiate reflects those thoughts no matter what we do. If we think we’re magnificent creatures with an infinite abundance of love and power to give, then we tend to behave that way. Once again, the energy around us reflects our state of awareness.

Marianne Williamson

 

Have you ever been made to feel like so high?

Perhaps it was your boss at work, or a colleague.

Whoever it was, they managed to convey their low opinion of you – that you are of little, or no significance – in their estimation that is! And I can bet the Enemy lost no time in confirming those thoughts.

In the Bible, we read of a character named Zacchaeus, who was not only little of physical stature but also little in the eyes of others. As a tax collector, he would have been rejected, scorned, even reviled. And so you can bet your life (don’t do it though!) that even the religious people of his day marginalised him and dismissed him as of little, or no consequence.

How about you?

Have there been people in your life who have shoved you to the margins of dignity or respectability?

And have circumstances or the way you are treated, reinforced within your mind any negative feelings you may have about yourself and your future?

 

STOP!

Don’t listen to the voice and lies of the Enemy. He used the same tactics on Jesus and will do the same to his followers. After all, Jesus himself said:

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. (Matthew 10:24 NKJ)

 

In terms of how others were ill-treating him, listen to what Paul said of himself and his fellow-workers:

…being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. (1 Corinthians 4:13 NKJ)

 

 As I wrote this, I suddenly had an epiphany.

You see I’d get upset with God because since He is in control, why is he allowing my ill-treatment and persecution? Why does He allow it to continue? And how does being constantly maligned and misrepresented bring glory to you Lord?

But what I, and what you need to realise, is that we occupy different roles and those roles carry different responsibilities and attract different challenges and trials.

• As an ambassador I am supposed to reflect the principles of his kingdom and promulgate its benefits.
• As his child, I am supposed to love and trust him, develop my relationship with him.
• As his disciple, I am supposed to pick up my cross daily and follow him.
• As a member of the Body of Christ, I am to live according to rules which differ from those of the secular world and adopt a mind-set that usually thinks contrary to popular opinion.
• As a servant of God I am required to serve him faithfully to the best of my ability.

Swimming against the tide of popular perceptions

It is precisely because we are swimming against the tide of popular perceptions and what is deemed as normal behaviour that we Christians can become a target.

Like Zacchaeus, we need to get out of the way of the crowd… raise ourselves above the environment of the status quo. However, realise that in doing so, the spotlight of other people’s malice or contempt will almost certainly focus upon you.

Now dear reader, if you have been, or are currently being mistreated, climb out of the box in which others have pigeon-holed you. Don’t passively accept or participate in those scenarios of victimisation or rejection, which other people have orchestrated for you.

In order for him to see Jesus, Zacchaeus’ strategy was to elevate himself above the general crowd, above his circumstances and the perception of others (i.e. his littleness of stature and character).

Dear friend, choosing to stay on the same level as the crowd means you will limit your perception of self… means you can only see this crowd… means you’ll become carried away by it or absorbed into its mentality… means you’ll only see yourself in relation to it.

Now, if you can relate to anything I’ve said in this post, allow me to counsel you today. Learn a lesson from Zacchaeus who chose to climb higher—and go do likewise!

Choose to be a victor!

Wishing you a peaceful and victorious week.

Love from

 

Carol (aka Lady Cee) ♥♥

 

CREDIT: all the above CC0 images come courtesy of Pixabay.com

Have you been blessed by this post? Why not share it with others? And would you be so kind as to let me know your response in a comment box below? I’d love to hear from you.

 

Living Life

LIFE flows like a river. No matter what gets in the way, it flows on. It’s something meant to be enjoyed and cherished. But it’s always changing. And we can’t stick too long in the past, because then we lose sight of the beautiful future. (source unknown)

 

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about LIFE: it goes on.
(Robert Frost)

 

My LIFE is my message. (Mahatma Gandhi)

 

Dost thou love LIFE? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff LIFE is made of.

(Benjamin Franklin)

 

LIFE is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
(Albert Einstein)

 

In the end, it’s not the years in your LIFE that count. It’s the LIFE in your years.

(Abraham Lincoln)

 

…I came that they may have and enjoy LIFE, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

(Jesus)

 

 

Wishing you inner peace, heartfelt joy and victory as you continue your life’s journey in 2019.

With love and best wishes,

Carol ♥♥

(aka Ladycee)

 

 

The above CC0 images come courtesy of Pixabay.com

 

 

Stop Regretting and Worrying — The Light in the Heart

No amount of regretting can change the past, and no amount of worrying can change the future. Nothing takes you away from dwelling in the past or worrying about the future like living in the present. Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

via Stop Regretting and Worrying — The Light in the Heart

The Art of Anxiety

 

A motivational video I’d been listening to earlier this week mentioned how worry leads to fear. And fear, as the Bible tells us, can lead to torment (1 John 4:18).

FEAR

False Evidence Appearing Real

Do you struggle with fear? Do you have a degree in the art of anxiety?

Let me be honest with you and admit that fear has been an issue I struggle with. Sometimes I win the battle, other times I lose. But I’m determined in my heart to become consistently victorious in this area.

Having said that, let me confess that this week I suffered a mega anxiety attack. The sudden, intense and overwhelming sense of hopelessness combined with an unrelenting barrage of negative thoughts had me questioning my spiritual status, even questioning my sanity. It was not a pleasant experience.

Now as would-be overcomers choosing to walk in victory, incessant worry and negative fears need to be mastered. However, if we are to gain mastery over immobilising thoughts and feelings, we need to change our thinking, since irrational fears are often a product of our own imagination.

Let me give you an example. Years ago before I committed my life to Christ, I used to watch horror films. After watching The Exorcist, my thoughts focused on what had happened in the movie and fears arose which kept me wide awake.

Whilst I lay in bed terrified, my over-active imagination converted every inexplicable sound, every dark shadow into a potential visitation by an evil force, which was out to possess me! I suffered months of needless worry, stress and sleepless nights because of my fears – false evidence appearing real!

When it comes to fears and anxiety, the Apostle Paul advises:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

And the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6 NKJV).

 

Paul’s words imply that when it comes to our concerns or the difficult challenges of life, we have two choices – we can worry or we can pray!

So what’s your first instinct?

Is it to worry, or is it to pray?

Let’s take a moment to hear what others have to say on this subject:

 

Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.
― Corrie Ten Boom 

 

Become a worry-slapper. Treat frets like mosquitoes. Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug lights on your skin? ‘I’ll take care of it in a moment.’ Of course you don’t! You give the critter the slap it deserves. Be equally decisive with anxiety.

Max Lucado

 

Easier said than done right?

Dear friend, allow me to encourage you today. If you’ve struggled in this area – don’t give up! Press on until you experience your breakthrough. Meanwhile, if there is something troubling your heart and robbing you of peace of mind, here’s a prayer for you.

 

Taken from: http://rachelwojo.com/a-prayer-for-when-you-feel-worried/

Have a blessed weekend!

 

CREDIT – The above CC0 image comes courtesy of John Hain at Pixabay.com

Comfort For Your Journey

 

Good morning lovely people!

I came across this beautiful quote a few moments ago and just had to share it with you all.

Thanks for taking the time to read and have a blessed and God-flavoured day!

With love,

Lady Cee ♥♥♥

 

If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse. 

― Anthon St. Maarten, Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny

 

The above CC0 image comes courtesy of Jose Antonio Alba at Pixabay.com

Encouragement for your journey (4)

Success is a journey – not a destination!

 

It’s been said that these modern times have produced a generation of people who’ve grown up in a negative culture – the blame culture!

With this kind of mind-set, this kind of perspective, those so afflicted can point the finger at someone else for their failures or misfortune.

 

My parents didn’t love me!

No one gave me a helping hand!

I came from a broken home!

I didn’t attend the right school… college… university!

I didn’t grow up in the right neighbourhood!

I don’t have the right skin colour!

I wasn’t given the same opportunities!

I…    I…    I…

 

Godly warriors and victorious over-comers, if we want this year to be a year of supernatural success and consistent achievement, we need to take responsibility for our thoughts, attitudes and actions.

Let’s cast an eye on a few biblical examples where people, who could have felt justified for going down the road of anger, bitterness, self-pity, or revenge, chose instead to trust God, to be patient in tribulation and to forgive those who’d wronged them.

• Joseph did not blame his brothers for putting him in a pit, for selling him as a slave
• David did not blame his family for dismissing him as someone with the potential to be king, with the potential to succeed
• Ruth did not blame her mother-in-law, or life in general, for ending up a young widow
• Daniel did not blame God when his faithfulness in prayer, caused him to be thrown into the lion’s den

 

 

Dear WoW! follower and visitor,

May I encourage you to adopt the same attitudes as those individuals in my examples above?

May I invite you to watch the following motivational video and to pay heed to its message?

I hope it will inspire you to change (if applicable). And I hope it will inspire you to pray for yourself, and/or to pray for anyone you know, who’ve become entrapped within the gall of bitterness.

 

 

With heartfelt good wishes for you, that this will be a year of tremendous blessings and significant breakthroughs.

Love,

Carol

 

CREDIT: The above CC0 image comes courtesy of Pixabay.com