Developing “An Attitude of Gratitude & Thankfulness every day of the year!

I hear it all the time. “You are such a positive person, don’t you have any problems?” Well let me answer that by emphatically saying, “Yes!” I do have problems, but one thing I’ve learned in my 29 years (LOL) here on earth is that “An Attitude of Gratitude!” takes you a long way in life.

I learned at an early age what I thought about the problems I encountered in my life mattered; problems came, trials and tribulations came and even heart ache and pain, but it was how I saw these issues that made all the difference in my life. I could either believe what the Bible told me according 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” thus forcing me to believe that whatever I was going through was for a lesson or a blessing, or I could let the issue take me under. There were times when my faith wavered, but through the years, I learned to develop “An Attitude of Gratitude”, and it was this thought pattern that brought me through the process, and always on top, because I knew I would learn a lesson from the issue or I would receive a blessing from the issue.

With Thanksgiving upon us, take this time to examine your life and not just be thankful one day of the year. Develop “An Attitude of Gratitude”, every day of the year; believe that God is in control of your life according to Psalms 37:23, which says, “the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord.” Embrace this scripture; write it on the table of your heart, live by, walk by and believe it!   

How can I develop “An Attitude of Gratitude” you may ask? There are several ways to achieve this, but the way I did it was by reading The Word for myself, praying for interpretation of The Word, and then believing what it said regardless of what Preachers, teachers, leachers,(J) or  naysayers had to say.

Begin to believe what the Bible says about you! According to Romans 4:25, Christ loved us so much that He died for our sins, and because of His death we are now justified in the eyes of God, we are His workmanship created by Him to do good things, according to Ephesians 2:10, and thirdly begin to believe and put to practice Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.”

Think on good things and be thankful every day for what you have, His Love, His Grace & His Mercy and watch your attitude, thought patterns and your life begin to become a life of Thankfulness!

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving Everyone!

Forever In His Grace,

Toinette Neube

Are You A “River of Living Water” to those you meet?

John 7:37-38, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink, He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive…” This scripture speaks abundantly to how every Christian should view themselves, their words and their deeds.

Rivers of Living Water- water represents the Holy Spirit in this scripture. There are two times “Living water” is mentioned in the New Testament. The first time is when Jesus meets the women at the well, and the second time is in the scripture above.

When Jesus meets the women at the well He tells her if she knew whom she was talking to she wouldn’t ask Him if needed a drink, but she would be asking Him for a drink, and when He provided it, she would thirst no more. In John 7:37-38, When Jesus says, if anyone thirst, they are to drink of Him and when they do, out of their heart will flow rivers of living water, He meant that their actions and words, those things which came from their heart, would constantly flow like a river and provide living water, which is The Holy Spirit, to those who come in contact with them.

So how do you provide “Rivers of Living Water” you may ask? You provide it by displaying the fruits of the Spirit, but more simplistically, just by displaying Love! How do you display Love, by providing it’s by-products of Grace & Mercy!  

According to John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another, By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” If we just showed love for each other, then those who are thirsty would see the “Rivers of living water”, the Holy Spirit, flowing from us and they would in turn ask, “What must I do to be saved.”

Have you ever met a bitter, unloving Christian? Well if you have you aren’t the first. It’s sad how many Christians today believe they are truly living examples of Christ yet they are just as evil, unloving and dry as the devil himself! Not only do their words not bring life to others but sometimes their words and deeds kill the little life that is present in the person in the first place. They have no evidence of “Living water” present in their life, yet they claim to be an example of the original body of Living Water, Christ Himself!  

A true disciple of Christ should display, God’s Love, Grace and His Mercy. They should not only possess the fruits of the Spirit, Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness & Self-control, but these fruits should be flowing out of them like a river of living water, and this water should be living in that it brings life to that person and not death or destruction, in word or deed!   

So my question to you today is when others meet you do they leave your presence feeling parched and dry, have they left you feeling drained and thirsty, have their needs been fulfilled, have they been given tools and resources to work with to thirst no more; tools like love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness & self-control from you; because if you truly displayed "Rivers of Living water” they should leave your presence feeling full, refreshed, quenched & thirsting no more!  

Forever In His Grace!

Toinette Neube 

Do you really want to see your life change? Start by doing this one thing…

For years I’d been living in what I call a state of religiosity or bondage, and like a slave, I didn’t realize how much in bondage I was in until I was set free!

I’d been praying out loud to the Lord, praying in silence to the Lord, fasting before the Lord, tithing, and being a faithful church goer for years to obtain the abundant life I was promised once I was saved, but it seemed as if nothing had really changed in my PHYSICAL life. Yes, I can sit here and tell you that my church attendance increased, my circle of church friends increased and my Christian vernacular had increased. “I’m blessed and highly favored!” “Praise the Lord!”, “I serve a mighty God who is able!” (etc.), but in reality my everyday life had not really changed.

It was not until I did one thing that my life took a 360 degree turn, and that one thing was I started receiving God’s goodness in my life! I stopped feeling guilty for my sins, I stopped condemning myself for not doing “church things”, I stopped judging others who weren’t in church every Sunday, I stopped gossiping, I decreased my circle of friends, church and secular, and most of all I stopped focusing on my own actions and what I was and was not doing right or wrong and I started focusing on what Christ had done, was doing and will continue to do for me! In a nutshell, I BEGAN TO RECEIVE CHRIST’S GOODNESS IN MY LIFE!

So my prayer for today is that you stop being so hard on yourself, stop condemning yourself, stopping thinking you have to be perfect in your Christian walk, forgive yourself when you fall short of His glory; first of all because you will fall each and every day, and secondly because He has already forgiven you! Now watch your life catapult to a more abundant life!  

I don’t make too many promises, but this is one promise I can make, if you would begin to take your mind off of yourself and what you are doing (that’s right, what you THINK you are doing for Christ) I can promise you that your life will make a major shift for the better; and If you really want to please Christ, the only thing He asks of you is to HAVE FAITH IN HIM, nothing more nothing less. HEBREWS 11:6, tells us “And it is impossible to please God without faith!”

So stop focusing on yourself and begin to focus on what He had done, is doing and will do for you, and I PROMISE HIS GRACE, MERCY AND LOVE WILL OVERWHELM YOUR LIFE SO MUCH until it won’t have a choice to do anything, but change!!!!

Forever In His Grace,

Toinette Neube  

Stepping out of the boat to experience His Abundant Grace!

I had a really awesome conversation with my brother this morning about experiencing all that God has in store for us in life. We talked about how sometimes you have to be like Peter in Matthew chapter 14 and just obey God and step out into the deep in order to really experience God’s true abundant life of Love, Grace and Mercy!

Many times we say we are praying for success in life or for things to change in our lives but it seems as if nothing is really happening; well have you ever thought about the fact that maybe nothing is happening because God is waiting on you to “take a step of faith”, to “step out of the boat”, or to “walk on the water” first then He will follow through with His promise of an “Answered Prayer” for you?

The Bible tells us in Psalms 37:4, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.” God wants to please us! What Father doesn’t want His children to have the best? It’s just that sometimes we are so conditioned to think that all miracles come by osmosis, come in our own comfort zone or come without having to take a “step of faith”! Sometimes we don’t recognize when God is calling us out of the boat and to just trust that He will cease the storms and uphold us as we “Walk on the water”!

Take a look at your life today. Do you have unanswered prayers, or unfulfilled goals and dreams? If the answer is yes and time is ticking in your life, I admonish you today, examine yourself and see where God might have told you to “Step out of the boat”, “Take a step of faith”, “Walk on water”, and trust Him, it may be to move to another  state, it may be to move to another country, it may be to forgive someone who has hurt you, and it may be as simple as reading a book you’ve been meaning to read, which may change your outlook on life or give you more wisdom to accomplish that goal or dream!

Whatever your “Walk on water” moment is, and most people know what theirs is, they are just too afraid to admit it or do it, be obedient to God and do it, and watch that answered prayer come to fruition, watch those goals and dreams manifest, and watch how the Grace of God begins to take over your life!!!

Forever In His Grace,

Toinette Neube