Overcoming Weaknesses

Overcoming Weaknesses - Psalm 119:173

"Give me a helping hand, for I have chosen to follow your commandments" - Psalm 119:173 (NLT)

Have you ever noticed, God commands us to do the things that are not easy?
"Be holy for I am holy" - 1 Peter 1:16
"Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me" - Mark 8:35
"Love one another" - John 13:34

"Forgive others when they sin against you" - Matthew 6:14

"Flee from sexual immorality and fornication" - 1 Corinthians 6:18
...and the list goes on!

In a sinful generation, it's so easy to follow the ways of the world and to give into the many temptations that face us daily.
What weakness are you trying to overcome today? What areas of your life are you trying to improve upon?
Are you trying to overcome fornication, lust, pornography, lying, stealing, gossiping, envy?
Whatever it may be, meditate on Psalm 119:173 and realise that we can do ALL THINGS through CHRIST who STRENGTHENS us! (Philippians 4:13)
 
In this verse the psalmist realised he needed help as he said "Give me a helping hand..." we must realise that all our help comes from the Lord (Psalm 121:1). 
The first step to OVERCOMING your weaknesses is IDENTIFYING them and leaning on God for the STRENGTH to overcome them. We cannot do it by our own strength!

Let's action on this! Some helpful verses:

• 2 Corinthians 12:9
• Romans 8:1
• Psalm 34:17
• Psalm 119:9
• Philippians 4:13

Jesse

(Live 31 Team)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all the mothers and mothers to be. 
God has endowed every woman with the ability to nurture, love and care, give life, to build a home, feed a family and live a life of love.
At times we may fail to appreciate the mothers in our lives, some women have the additional duty of being both a mother and father, drawing strength from God daily to nurture their child in every way.
Maybe the mother you know may not be a biological one, but a woman of strength who has nurtured you, cared for you and loved you even when it was hardest.
Whatever you do today, take some time to really show that special woman that you appreciate her love. (1 John 3:18)

Happy Mother's Day
From the Live31 Team

Your Identity Is In Christ

                                       

Sister, your identity is in CHRIST.

Don't let the clothes you wear, the car you drive, your circumstances or the friends you have define you.

Don't get lost in anyone's shadow, don't find a sense of security in material things, people or even your relationship status.

At times we get lost and confused, that terrible feeling of emptiness and loneliness sets in then we seek out satisfaction. We can look for fulfilment in material things, activities or even in another person. You can search every corner of the earth but you'll will never truly find what you're looking for until you FIND GOD. 

Don't let insecurity drive you to look for answers in the world when the Answer is right within you (Col 1:27).

Your identity is hidden in Christ alone and at times you may ask that question... "who am I?".

To find yourself you must find Him, and to know yourself you must know Him.

God created you...  a fearfully and wonderfully made woman of God endowed with gifts and talents by the giver of life Himself.

Have you ever felt lost? Go before God and let Him navigate you back to His will.

Ask God to help you shift your focus back to Him.

When you let Christ into your heart, He begins to work and a transformation takes place, it's like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly but this is really becoming a new creation in Christ!

(Let's action on this! Some helpful verses: Romans 6:11, Mark 8:34, James 4:8, Matthew 6:33, 2 Corinthians 5:17 & Psalm 145:18)

Jesse O.K - Live 31 Team

Purpose Driven Relationships

Purpose Driven Relationships...

Purpose driven relationships are God-centred relationships in alignment with His will. Sadly, the world has remixed God's plan for love and it's driving us all to destruction. Because we've diverted away from God's plan, divorce rates are increasing, we have adulterers, we're getting more unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and infections and not to mention soul ties!

People may look at you all strange when you do things God's way but God didn't make commandments about purity, relationships and marriage to keep us bound and boring, He made them because He knew the consequences. We must submit to God's word!

Yes, it's hard because in this 21st century we have very few examples of what a Godly relationship looks like but we MUST look to the word of God!
We see in the media and places you go flesh-fuelling and self-gratifying relationships but your relationship must always look to God, everything you do within your relationship must glorify God alone.

A purpose driven relationship is one driven by love and not lust. Remember that God is LOVE (1 John 4:8) so God is really the motivation of your relationship!

Let your relationship bring about Kingdom advancement and glory to God, be a godly example to others (1 Tim 4:12), give your relationship to God and continue to pray regarding it and let God work in it.

It's hard with the temptations around us and with the world we live in today but commit it to God and always rely on His strength to do it HIS way. We can't do it on our own!

Happy Valentines Day

Jesse O.K - Live 31 Team

Valentine's... By The Live 31 Team

Loving Yourself - By Tayo. E

“I’m not good enough.

 I’m not beautiful enough.

 I’m not smart enough.”

Three questions.

Says who?
Why does what they say matter so much?
What gives them the right to dictate what you are?

When I first heard ‘loving yourself’ I just thought of telling you, *prepares American accent* Girllllll, you don’t need no man to love you before you can love yourself etc etc. 
As true as that is, it’s pretty cliché right?

When I say loving yourself, I mean loving who you are, loving what you are and also loving how you are.
I reckon this is such a touchy subject because I believe everyone faces insecurities one way or another. Trick is to not let it define your existence.
It seems like a difficult thing to do, but it’s only really as difficult as you choose make it.

The fact that ‘no one’ seems to appreciate you doesn’t mean you aren’t important. 
Christ died to save you. He is the true epitome of love – please understand the depth of this. You are that special.

You were made by a perfect God. He cannot and never will make a mistake.  His works are wonderful!

This was something written by a sister of mine and it encouraged me.

“As you look at yourself in the mirror, think about at least 3 things that you like about yourself. 
Take the time out to thank God for it because there is no one like you.
You are beautiful.
You are one of a kind.
And you are fearfully and wonderfully made.”

I just want you to know that you are such a significant female, a true beauty and blessed creation. Never let anyone tell you different. 
Love and respect yourselves.
Beauty radiates from within you. Give it a chance to shine through, be thankful and appreciate your being.

I’ll leave you with this,
Psalm 139 
and also 
Genesis 1:27 NKJV “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”Love and peace.
xo

Valentine's.. By the Live 31 Team

Loving God - By Rebecca. A

As an individual who grew up in church and is surrounded by friends and family who constantly talk about the Lord I automatically placed myself in the category of 'a person who loves God' However in the last year, events have occurred where God has challenged me to think twice, in which I came to the conclusion that I loved material things and idolised people who if I walked past would not know my name. But Christ  is more important and more powerful than anything and anyone and he knows my name and knows yours too.

 Often at times at the start of a relationship, many may be sceptical about the other persons feelings towards them, maybe due to the lack of times he/she calls or the lack of hints they give you,  but with Christ he's told us that HE LOVES US...(John 3: 16) So what’s holding us back into getting to know him. We make so much effort trying to impress people that don't know us and some that frankly don't want to know us but with God, not only does he KNOW us but he also wants to transform us to be the best that we can be. Why waste time LOVING things that will one day fade away, why not place your love in him who loves us more than we can ever imagine, and laid his life down for us so that we can one day meet him. John 14:15 says 'if you love me, keep my commands' if we don’t know his commands, we wont be able to keep them right? Where do we find his commands?..in his word. So I encourage you guys including myself to make an effort in getting to know the God that we serve or the God that we want to serve. Lets start opening the word to find out more about Him, lets take time out of our days and pray and meditate on His word.  Lets not only be hearers of the word (James 1:22-25), lets start DOING, BEING and LIVING for Christ.

Bible verses to think about:

1 John 4:19 -  'We love because he first loved us'

Acts 13:22 - God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.

Valentine's.. By the Live 31 Team

Loving Others - By Jesse O.K

"...Let us love one another..." (1 John 4:7 NKJV) 

Loving others... sounds pretty easy right? We're commanded to love our neighbours! It's easy to love the people who are close to you, make you happy and who make you feel special. That's all good but those are not the only people we have been called to love; we're also called to LOVE THE UNLOVABLE. How easy is it for you to love someone who always lets you down, someone who upsets you, someone who's rude or even someone that society looks down on? Not so easy now we think about it! But look at what Jesus done for us on the cross.. God's love for us is not a feeling or an emotion because they can change! God is the very source of love Himself, and His love is eternal.
God is LOVE (1 John 4:8) and being His people, we must walk in love and live in love. It's important to show love to people everywhere you go, that's a true Christlike attribute.

Love has become so commercialised. Shops everywhere are selling roses, chocolates, perfumes and all sorts of gift ideas for Valentines day but this isn't God's only plan! It's wonderful to appreciate the one you love but why not extend a hand of love to multiple people today? And not only today but for the rest of your days! With God's help it is POSSIBLE. Love is not just a word, it's an action (1 John 3:18). Presents and trips to your favourite restaurant are not the only proofs of love. Let your speech and actions echo love from God's heart. 

How can you show love to someone today? What are some of the ways you can think of?

If you desire to show love God's way, go before Him in prayer and ask Him to give you a heart of love! I'm living proof that God still does heart surgery! Give Him your heart and let Him transform it!
Happy Valentines Day

(Let's action on this! Some helpful verses: 1 Peter 4:8, 1 John 4:7-8, Hebrews 31:1, Philippians 2:4, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)