Words of encouragement

Hello, I am Roxie and I am the woman's admin on RSM. If you've come across RSM, there is a reason for it. It has been placed on my heart to make daily posts about what I find in God's word. I pray that this will help someone. I am making a few of these available for those who visit the site and wish to know more about God, Jesus, the bible or how to live a life that is pleasing to God. I pray that someone benefits from what I am doing and I pray that God blesses RSM this year. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below. Also, you are more than welcome to register. We would love to have you. I pray that God blesses everyone who comes across this.

Love yall,

Roxie

Today I want to talk about Psalm 13

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the LORD’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

More specifically I want to look at the first two verses and the last two verses.

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Too many times, when the going gets tough, we think God has left us. We feel alone when we are in our darkest places. We believe that our God, who we know to be loving and caring, has forgotten us. We go from day to day wondering what we could have done to make Him leave or forget about us. I think sometimes for some people the thought that God is just too busy comes across our minds. That He has forgotten us or left us because He does have the rest of the world to care for. Society, I have found, likes to put God into a box and say what He can or can not do in that box. I think that has something to do with control. Well not something but rather everything to do with control issues. But that is something different entirely. It is in the times when we don't feel His presence that we may start to wonder if He is even real. I know I have been there. These are the times when He is holding us. These are the times when He is carrying us in His arms, only to set us down and allow us to walk beside Him when we are ready.

Another Passage that goes great with this I realized is one of my favorites. Pslam 23:4.
"Even though In walk through the vallley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and staff they comfort me."

Again, this is something that can be talked about more on another day in more detail but It says "For you are with me." We are not alone by any means in this world. God did not just create us to simply make us and then leave us to fend for ourselves. We have a God that is so wonderful, so powerful, so majestic that He has the whole world in His hands. He is so big that He has the ability to be with every single person on the face of the earth at the exact same time. Can you imagine how wonderful that is? To know that we have a God like that?


going to verse 5 and 6
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the LORD’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

When we are at our lowest is when we need to trust Him the most. When we don't feel Him is when we need to believe that He is there more than ever. He has saved us! I find it interesting that David wrote the word "salvation" long before Jesus ever died for our since. I love how amazing God is with the words in His Word. These verses show that God will never forsake us. He wants us to call out to Him. He wants us to trust Him. He wants us to simply sing out to Him because we as so in love with Him that we can't do anything else!

Do you know my God?
If you do, I challenge you sing and rejoice in everything that happens. And I mean everything. This is something that is the hardest thing in the world to do but It's what I'm working on myself. I challenge you to do the same.

If you don't, I challenge you to find out more about the God who created the universe. He wants a relationship with you. I challenge you to find out how to have that and what it is and why you should want it to begin with. You can email me if you would like or find someone in your own life who knows and ask them. Or comment below.

I pray you.
I pray that God finds you well.

A few years ago, my dad and I started to get into paintball. We started a paintballing group at my church and would go play once or twice a month. This one time that we went out to the land, we were going to play this game called MVP. For those who don't know the game, I'll explain. There are two teams. One team has a person who doesn't have a paintball gun. That person is the MVP. The other team goes and hides in the woods and simply waits. The goal of this game is for the MVP's team to get that person fro point A to point B without the MVP getting hit. If they succeed then they win, game over. But if the MVP gets hit, the MVP is dead and the game is over. So that is the game we were going to play. Well, it just so happened that my dad and I were on the same team this round and I was the MVP. It was sent up that I would go with my dad down one path along with two other guys and then the rest of our team would split up and go different directions as decoys. This plan worked our rather well, at first. We got half way to point B, which was a dirt bridge over a creek, when we started taking fire. Instantly, since I didn't have a gun, I ducked down. Once it was clear dad took me and guarded me the whole time. We finally get to a good cover spot before the bridge and there is fire coming at us from all around. And I am not sure how this is all going to turn out. Because to me it looks like I can't win this. It looks to me like if I start to run out there, then I am going to "die". One of the guys on my team tells me to run for it. I ask him if he wants to lose. Dad then gets an idea. All he says is "follow me." And he meant directly behind him. So he jumped to his feet, I stayed on his heels like a lost puppy. He started to run across the bridge and take the fire for me. Once I got half way across the bridge, he stopped and got behind me so that no one would shoot me in the back. I made it all the way across and didn't get hit. My team won. My dad was shot up pretty bad since there were four guys at the bridge but he had taken the fire for me. I thought about that story after I read these verse below.


Gen 15:1
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”

Ps 84:11

1 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.

Ps 18:2

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.



Just like my dad shielded me from the fire of the paintball guns, our Heavenly Dad shields us daily from the fire of the enemy. He shields and protects us so that we may be a witness to what He has does for us and so that others may trust in Him and come to know who He is. I was thankful that my dad shielded me because that meant that I didn't get hit. That meant that I didn't get hurt from the paintballs. Now while, we still get hurt, Life still happens. But we have a God that is very much real and very much protecting us. Our God is a God that when we don't know what to do, when it looks like we are going to get killed and we turn to Him and simply stare, He says, "Follow me."

Are you following Him today?
I pray that you are. I challenge you to talk to Him. Find out more about Him. He knows everything about you but longs for a relationship with you. I pray that you find that relationship. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10, NKJV).

You know many people think that this is all that there is to life. That once this life is over, that's it. How depressing is that? How depressing is it to think that this is as good as it gets? Satan wants us to believe that this is all that there is. That this is as good as it gets and that "life sucks and then you die." This is so far from the truth. The truth is that we have life when we accept Jesus! We have everlasting life in Jesus Christ. A life far better than the one we have now. In the beginning, we were with God. It was beautiful. It was a life far better than we could ever possibly imagine. Then Satan came and tempted us. and we fell. We live in a world full of sin. Things happen that God never intended for them to happen. But when they do, God uses them to bring glory to His name, bring us closer and make us better because it happened.

One of my favorite songs is Eden by Phil Wickham. If you've never listened to it, you should. It tells about how it was before the Fall. Now of couse, Phil's words don't come close to what it was actually like or what it will be like being with God in Heaven but it is still a powerful song.
This is the chorus:

I wanna see you face to face
Would be in your arms is the permanent state
I want it like it was back then
I wanna be in Eden

To me this last verse has the most impact:

Where my eyes can see the colors of glory
My hands can reach the heaven before me
Oh, my God I wanna be there with You
Where our hearts will beat with joy together
And love will reign forever and ever
Oh my God I wanna be there with You

I can't fully wrap my mind around what it will be like when I get to Heaven and how beautiful and wonderful it will be. How far different from this world it will be. there is a life far better than the one we know now. There is life after death. You get it by believing in Jesus. Do you know the God I am talking about? The God that sent His ONLY son to die for YOU?

If you do, I challenge you to fall in love with Him more every day. To put Him first and thank Him for everything he has given to you.
If you don't, I encourage you to talk to someone who does. Someone in your life or contact someone on here. You are free to contact me if you have questions or you can comment below. There is a life after this. That is far better than what we have now. We just have to believe.

Put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:14

Love brings people together.
To me there are different levels of love. The love you have for a brother, or a sister. The love you have for a close friend. The love you have for a boyfriend or a girlfriend which evolves (one day) into a love for your spouse. I used to not say "I love you" to anyone outside my family. I thought that it was wrong somehow to tell anyone outside my family that I loved them. I started dating and the idea that I was suppose to say "I love you" to the guy that I was with. Two times I've said this to guys because I thought I was suppose to.

Only recently have I learned what love really is.
I have two guys in my life that I say I love you to and I'm not dating either one of them. One is my brother. He's not my biological brother because I don't have any brothers. He is my brother in the fact that God knew I would need him. The other is a close friend. Both of which I love dearly. Honestly, there is nothing that either of these guys could do to make me not love them.

That is the meaning of love, to me. That is the kind of love that God has for us. The kind of love that we should have for each other. To us, love is a confusing emotion. As humans we have placed so many strings on it and make love conditional. We say that if you love me then you will do this for me. My youngest sister will always ask me, "Do you love me?" when she wants me to do something for her. I always answer, "Yes I love you." and depending on what she wants depends on my next response but the point is that I always assure her that my love for her is not conditional. I never want her to feel that it is. I never want her to do feel that I don't love her because of something that she's done or because of something I won't or can't do for her.

That is how God is with us. He doesn't put strings on His love for us. He doesn't say "if you love me..." or "if you want my love..." We have His love. We've always had His love.
We sin.
We fall.
We mess up.
He knows that.
He sent His son for us because of that.
Because we sin.
Because we fall.
Because we mess up.
He never gave up on us.
The fall was the worst thing we could have done to God.
Following our temptations.
Giving into sin
All of it hurts God but he never gives up on us. He never stops loving us!

I challenge you, don't give up on God. Go to Him and find the love that He has for us. Take that love and have that love for someone else. You will be amazed at how God will bless you.

If you don't know the love that I am talking about. The love that God has for you, contact me or comment below. I'd be more than happy to tell you about the God that longs to be with you.

The Lord knows those who are His--2 Timothy 2:19

Have you ever listened to the MercyMe song "Spoken For"? This has become one of my absolute favorite songs by MercyMe. The chorus says:

Covered by Your love divine
Child of the Risen Lord
To hear You say "This one's mine"
My heart is spoken for

"To hear You say 'This one's mine'" is the most powerful line in the entire song in my opinion. When our parents, grandparents, spouses, friends and anyone else close to us, says that we are theirs and that we belong with them, we feel loved. We feel cherished and wanted. So now think about this.

The God of the Universe wants you! He wants to claim you as His! The God that created everything from the stars and planets to the sand at the bottom of the sea, cares and longs to claim you! We are not chess pieces in some large game between God and Satan, although we feel that way at times. When we accept Jesus into our hearts and lives, we become children of God. We become co-heirs with Christ of the kingdom of Heaven! When you are a child of God, Satan doesn't have anything on you anymore. Bad things will still happen, don't think I'm saying they won't but you are no longer powerless against these things. You will still sin but you are forgiven and with God on your side, nothing can stop you. When I hear that line in the song, I always picture two things.

1. a stamp on my forehead that says, "I am God's"
2. God telling Satan that I am His. God telling Satan that he can't touch me!

I challenge you to listen to the full song and see what God says to you through it. I also challenge you, that if you are a child of God, don't let Satan convince you that God doesn't care.

If you don't know the God that I am taking about, I challenge you to find more out about Him. Feel free to comment below or contact me.

You are loved!

So today in church, my paster was talking about The Rich Young man in the bible who asked Jesus how he could inheret the kingdom of Heaven. The scripture is Mark 10:17-22.

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’[a]”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

The way my pastor was going with it was what or who do you allow yourself to lean on, which is a great message because if you aren't leaning on God but on worldly possesions, such as the rich young ruler was doing, then there is a problem. Yet that is not what God showed me today. Look at verse 21 again. The first sentence.

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Jesus simply looked at him and loved him. It amazes me how much God loves us, It really doesn't even take Jesus looking at us for Him to love us. He already does. He already knows us and loves is for who we are. Despite everything we have done, are doing or will do. Despite our sin, He still loves us. The best part is that He won't ever stop loving us. There is nothing you can do that will make God stop loving you. Satan will try to make you believe that if you mess up too many times then God will leave you. That God won't love you anymore. Satan is the father of all lies. He loves to tell us lies so that we will pull farther from God.

God will NEVER stop loving you!
God will NEVER let you go!
Lean on God and He will never fail you!
He won't break.
He won't crack.
He will support you, come for you and love you no matter what.
We already have His love.
Now we need to follow Him.