Empowering Thought

“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom” – Francis Bacon

This is my daily mantra now; ‘Jayne be slow to speak…’ and a daily confession that enables me to navigate my relationships. Being watchful of my words, speaking from my heart and not off the top of my head. I don’t always get it right but I’m learning to become mindful of functioning this way. When I get it wrong I also try to be quick to make things right. I treasure relationships and do my best to hold onto them.

Our words are containers of life and death and they build and destroy. So, where you cannot think of something positive or words that bring encouragement then remain silent. Where you have to speak ask the Holy Spirit who is your internal Helper to speak through you and to enable you to speak graciously.

I pray God’s strength, His grace into your relationships and your life as you embrace learning to speak faith filled words and only speak where necessary.

Reflect On This:

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.”

James 1:19 NLT

“Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.”

Proverbs 17:28 NLT

Ecclesiastes 3:7

Empowering Thought

Wisdom starts in your heart not your head

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” – Socrates

I have learned some of my most pivotal lessons in life and gleaned wisdom from the most unlikely sources and experiences. For example, teaching teens and young people has taught me not to take everything to heart, they would say “it’s not that deep”. This simple statement that young people often make has enabled me to travel lightly in my heart and not allow stuff to get deep.

You will be surprised how you can learn in any and every situation when you are open and humble in heart. God also says He takes and uses the ‘foolish things of our world to show His power’ (paraphrase: 1 Corinthians 1:27)

In a world with so much on offer and knowledge abounding especially in terms of social media and being able to google everything! We need the wisdom that is from God to navigate daily life effectively and successfully.

I pray that you always seek His wisdom in all you are doing and open your heart to whoever and wherever God is speaking through after all He spoke through a donkey before.

When you reach for God’s wisdom you have everything you need.

Reflect On This:

“Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! [Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.”

Proverbs 6:6-8 NLT

1 Corinthians 3:19

Perspective is simply your interpretation or how you view something. To me you can see autumn as messy with all the leaves on the ground and sometimes sticky and messy when it rains on it. Or you can see the autumn season as the forerunner to the next season. It’s all about your perspective. There is power in how you see everything and your attitude and interpretation. How you see a situation and how you interpret it will impact the change you are desiring. Besides for you the believer faith is based on what you don’t see with the natural eyes but focusing on the spiritual aspect which is what is not visible to the 5 senses.

I offer to you the live changing power of perspective – how are you looking today?

Are you looking at Jesus?

Reflect On This:

“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiated and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

Hebrews 12:2 NLT

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer…”

It seems and feels like it has been a long summer, we have enjoyed great weather and we have experienced heats waves, we have seen floods in summer. In Europe and all over the world the summer has been long and drawn out.

Yet no matter how long the summer has been I notice that the seasons they are changing. Autumn and the Fall season is gradually emerging as the leaves start to change colour and fall to the ground making way for the next season.

So, it is with the spiritual season, your season will change and whatever you are waiting for in this new season will begin to bud in your life. In the same way that the emergence of the Fall season sometimes feels slow and drawn out, but the winter will be upon us in no time, so friend stay expectant and be expectant as the new season is here.

Don’t give up on what you are expecting and continue to hold onto your hope and remember I’m holding it with you.

Reflect On This:

“As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”

Genesis 8:22 NLT

Empowering Thought:

Don’t allow yourself to be distracted

When Jesus addressed His family friends Mary and Martha about being present and taking time to sit at His feet, He was talking to me and He was talking to all of us about getting so caught up in multi-tasking. Busyness and activity is the order of the day in the 21st century.

In the busyness of life and in all your activities I want you to hear the words of Jesus today “ One things is necessary…” ( Luke 10:41) it is the most important part of your daily chores, taking and making time to sit and pause at the feet of Jesus. The second part is learning to be intentional and purposeful about taking time to pause on your daily life journey. The eternal words of Jesus ring so true in our world today Mary was in the present; she was engaged, she was tuned in to hear the Master and she had a teachable heart to be taught. It is called meekness- ‘being teachable while being taught’

I don’t know about you, but I need to be reminded daily on the importance of being a

‘Mary’ who on the way of life and where necessary to adopt a posture of stillness regularly. However, you can still be a ‘Martha’ who performs the daily tasks of the day.  The word of caution is balance.

Reflect On This

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things”

Luke 10:41

“Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.…”

Romans 12:1 (Message)

Empowering Thought

God is here right now, right here, in this moment with you!

When my husband drives me I always see things I have never seen before on the same route. I have discovered that there are sights to take in along the way and beautiful smells of the flowers near the countryside as we drive especially in this season. Why haven’t I noticed all the beauty around me? This is probably the last thing on my mind and possibly yours when you are on the way.

The spiritual comparison I want to draw is learning to enjoy the journey of life. Take a moment and smell the roses on the way and don’t focus only on taking out the thorns.

You can get so caught up in waiting for life you end up being focused on what you are reaching for and end up missing out on all the other sights on the way. There are things the Heavenly Father wants to show you and share with you along the way.

Will you take a moment today and take in all that is around you being open to the fact that God can use anything and everything to speak to your heart.

Take a deep breath and gently breath out. Stay in the moment you are in right now.

 Power Thought

“The Word became flesh and lived among us”

John 1:14 (NRSV)

“Be still and know that I am God!

Psalm 46:10 ( NLT)

Empowering Thought:  “I have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great a burden to bear”   – Martin Luther King Jr.

Why are people so unhappy, unsatisfied and miserable? Yet we live in a day and time where there is so much choice and you can have things immediately!

The world lies to us and this is nothing new. I have decided to choose the eternal unchanging truths of God’s word. God was here before I got here and will be here when I’m long gone.

I believe in the principle of the seed. Everything that God started He starts with a seed, it is a process and every process has a beginning, middle and an end.

You and I have the power of choice or the free will to choose how we will travel in this life, what we will allow in our life and what we will not allow. The power of choice is the most powerful thing given to humanity by God. You cannot control events but you can control how you will react or respond to anything. Response is a much more carefully thought out plan that comes from your heart, however when you react it is usually ‘off the top of your head’ in the moment.

I want to encourage you; whatever decisions that are in front of you this week, this month and any choice that you have to make remember you have the power of choice!

Think On This:

Deuteronomy 30:15

Daniel 1:8