Category Archives: Inspiration

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It’s Not Over Yet

I feel like I could share a million different things particularly in the season that we are currently in. I could remind you of the disciples afraid in the boat because of the storm that surrounded them. I could remind you of Mary and Martha’s broken hearts over their brother Lazarus who was dead. I could share about blind Bartimaeus, the women suffering with the issue of blood for twelve long years and the disciples fishing all day and catching nothing.

I could share all these stories and so many more both from God’s Word and from today. These stories start out with a few things in common like difficulty, suffering and impossibility but the good news is that none of these stories end the same way they started! See Jesus woke up and calmed the storm, he raised Lazarus from the dead, he healed both blind Bartimaeus and the women with the issue of blood and he told the disciples to cast their net onto the other side and the disciples caught more than they could pull in!

I share these stories to stir up faith in our hearts! Many of us are facing things that we’ve never faced before, difficulties, suffering and problems that seem impossible to solve. And it is in this hour that it is vitally important that we remember who it is that we serve! We must remember who it is that we call God and all that he is capable of doing! Will you remember God’s faithfulness to you and countless generations that have gone before you? Will you allow his faithfulness to stir up faith in your heart to believe him to calm the storm, to bring dead things to life, to heal, to provide and to do the impossible?

Some of the most helpful things for me when it comes to stirring up my faith are prayer, worship, reading Scripture and recalling what God has already done for me over the years. So no matter what season of life you might be in right now or the difficulty that you may be facing I encourage you to spend some time with the Lord and allow Him to encourage your heart and fill you with faith!

“For with God nothing will be impossible.” Luke 1:37

“According to your faith let it be done to you.” Matthew 9:29

God is the God of miracles, let’s believe Him for the impossible!

Blessings,

John

PS I would be remiss if I didn’t share with you the regular encouragement I send out each week. If you would like to be encouraged regularly then subscribe to receive my free devotionals via email @ http://www.johnsilkauskasministries.com/about/ Do it today & be encouraged tomorrow! SUBSCRIBE HERE

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The Word of the Lord

Years ago God gave me a word that tremendously helped me then and continues to help me now (especially in the season we’re in). It’s a word that is thousands of years old and yet it’s truths are relevant for us today! People came to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah and told him that a vast army was coming upon him! He immediately called a fast and spent some time in prayer seeking God’s help and wisdom. Jehoshaphat admitted his inability to do anything without God’s assistance and in his uncertainty he said this to the Lord some of the wisest words ever spoken, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12

How many times do we not know what to do and instead of looking to the Lord we look to google or ourselves? Here Jehoshaphat looks to God and invites God’s mighty hand to move on behalf of all of Judah! In this prayer of desperation and transparency Jehoshaphat shows two great qualities:

-Humble Dependance upon God

-Bold Faith that God would be his rescue

And God responds to his faith and assures him by saying, “Do not be afraid or discouraged…for the battle is not yours, it’s the Lords.” 2 Chronicles 20:15 Just that word alone would give you the courage to face any army! Think of the most difficult things you’re facing right now and hear these words, “The battle is not yours, it’s mine says the Lord!” Hearing these words bring immediate peace, they take the pressure and stress off of you and give you reason to trust God and rejoice. And that’s exactly what happened to the people of Judah, they rejoiced! Instead of going to battle with weapons they went with songs! And do you know what happened? The Lord fought for them! God set ambushes against their enemies and caused their enemies to get confused and kill each other. Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah enjoyed all of the plunder and God gave them rest on every side!

In this chapter of scripture there really are countless words from the Lord but I want to leave you with two that have powerfully helped me:

  1. When you don’t know what to do look to God (and keep looking to Him)
  2. Trust God with your difficulty, let Him fight your battle and simply praise Him

That’s it! Look to Jesus!!! He will be your guide, He will fight for you and you can simply trust Him and rejoice in knowing that He is good and He is fighting for you! Rest in this truth and rejoice in your God!

Blessings my friends!

John

PS If you’d like to hear a beautiful song that helps bring this home click here —> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvFTgNd6Iko

PPS I would be remiss if I didn’t share with you the regular encouragement I send out each week. If you would like to be encouraged regularly then subscribe to receive my devotionals via email @ http://www.johnsilkauskasministries.com/about/

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Stay in Faith!

“The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17

We are the just, the righteous, the church, we are “the called out ones!” And we are called to live by faith! Life is all about seasons, some seasons it’s easy to live by faith others it’s rather difficult. But regardless of the season we may be in God wants us to stay in faith! More and more in recent years I’ve been able to easily sense when I’m “in faith” and when I’m not. When I find myself easily agitated, discontent, lacking peace or joy, sometimes feeling a lesser sense of purpose or simply feeling empty I know that in that moment I’m not in faith.

The best thing about this though is that I recognize it and simply get back to living in faith. How you might ask? By choosing to! Faith in the greek simply means, “firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing.” I come back to faith by remembering the things that God has already spoken to me. I remember His word, I think on His character, I thank Him for His faithfulness and my heart is stirred to believe! I choose to believe, I choose to live by faith!

If it’s impossible to please God without faith then I dare to believe that our greatest worship is simply to trust God. When we trust God it removes anxiety from our hearts and the areas of life in which we are ‘wanting’ begin to fade. See when the Lord is David’s shepherd David’s cup is overflowing. When our hearts are resting in God’s care for us and filled with thanksgiving rather than anxiety and complaints we are blessed and we are indeed living by faith.

You may be in a difficult season right now, you may find it hard to trust and give thanks nevertheless I speak to your faith even now and I say, “Rise up and believe!” For God is too good for us to complain, He is too faithful for us to be anxious and He is too powerful for us to live defeated lives. We are called to live by faith!

So, here are the things that help me stay in faith:

-A daily diet of God’s Word

-Times of prayer

-Worship

-Community

-Thanksgiving

-Reflecting on God’s faithfulness

-Remembering the things that God has already spoken to my heart

Let’s stay in faith!

Blessings,

John

PS I would be remiss if I didn’t share with you the regular encouragement I send out each week. If you would like to be encouraged regularly then subscribe to receive my devotionals via email @ http://www.johnsilkauskasministries.com/about/

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It’s Time To Act!

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22

All throughout Scripture God uses action verbs in order to get us to take action (Love one another, serve one another, go into all the world and make disciples and so many more). And here in the book of James it’s clearly worded that God wants us to DO what the word says. What’s interesting about this is James says that those who only hear the word and don’t put it into practice deceive themselves! The word deceive means, “To believe a lie.” This implies that many who hear the word are actually deceived and are believing a lie as James later states that they forget who they are and they never truly benefit from all that God wants to do in their lives. I wonder how many of us have been there before? Where we thought we were really living what we heard and believed only to be humbled and discover we were just going through the motions, not actually doing what we heard, deceiving ourselves the whole time. I wonder how many of us are there now?

In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus says that if we hear his words but don’t practice them the storms of life will come and bring destruction in our lives! However if we hear his words and we do put them into practice, not only will we be blessed and have a strong foundation but the storms won’t be able to take us out! There are so many blessings, rewards and benefits to hearing God’s Word and actually putting it into practice!

And so today I ask you, “Are you putting the things you hear into practice?” I’m not asking if you’re studying scripture or going to church and bible study regularly, I’m asking if you’re doing the things that God has already spoken to you?

God, help us to love, go, do and serve. Keep us in the truth as we practice what we hear. Grant us great grace to do all that you’ve put on our hearts to do and help us be faithful in Jesus name, amen!

Blessings,

John

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Guard Your Heart

You must guard your heart from becoming cold, cynical & jaded. This can be a very difficult thing to do especially in a world full cynics (see what I did there). It’s harder than you and I may think! In Matthew 24:12 Jesus said, “Because sin shall abound, the love of many will grow cold.” As you watch the news or read what people share on social media you can see the evidence of this. Sin is everywhere you turn and because of sin many have become offended and put up walls around their hearts. Many people have stopped loving others because of this and it’s caused very negative effects in the world today.

So how can we guard our hearts from the subtle lies the enemy attempts to whisper in our ears on a regular basis? Well, it’s impossible without God! If we’re left to our own effort we will miserably fail, we need the love of God to keep us! And although this has everything to do with God it also has a lot to do with us in that we are responsible for the thoughts that we think. We have to partner with God and think upon His love regularly. If you regularly think upon God’s love towards you – this will help you have love in your heart towards God, others & yourself. And this is so important! Proverbs 4:23 says, ”Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” EVERYTHING we do flows from our hearts. This is why it is so important to keep ourselves in the love of God, to regularly think upon His goodness and love towards us, less we become ensnared by the cares of this world and our hearts become cold and cynical.

So, be encouraged! Forget the negativity around you today and choose to dwell on God’s love for you and His love for the people around you. As you keep your heart in the love of God it will effect more than just you, it will effect your closest relationship in deep and powerful ways, it will effect your coworkers and even strangers that you encounter throughout your day. It matters more than you think, so guard your heart and think upon God’s great love for you today!

Blessings,

John

PS I would be remiss if I didn’t share with you the regular encouragement I send out each week. If you would like to be encouraged regularly then subscribe to receive my devotionals via email @ http://www.johnsilkauskasministries.com/about/