Author Archives

John Silkauskas

John Silkauskas is the executive director of JSM, author of various ebooks, creator of several audio courses, and the creator of “Seconds with Silk” an inspiring video blog dealing with Life, Love, Leadership & Relationships. He serves as one of the pastors of a growing church in Clearwater, Florida. He is a sought after speaker and has a passion to reach people with the life transforming love of God! He shares practical truth in relevant and creative ways and desires to encourage, equip and empower others to create a life they love. He and his wife Emily have been married for ten years and have four sons and one daughter. He loves dating his wife, playing with his children and going on adventures with his family.

Posted on Tuesday, November 3, 2015

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:

When you don’t know what to do look to God (and keep looking to Him)
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/

Posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Overcoming Faith

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Jesus said it, we will have trouble in this world, trials and tribulations, we will face difficulty and yet in the same breath he tells us to be of good cheer! Why? Because He has overcome the world (and He invites us to share in His victory)! But how?

How can we be under the weather and at the same time overcomers? How can we face difficulty without allowing it to rule our lives? How can we suffer loss and still have peace? How can we be angry and sin not? How can we be glad in the midst of suffering? How do we rise above it all and overcome the world and all that it throws at us on a daily basis?

Our answer is found in 1 John 5:4, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.”

That’s it! FAITH! It’s through our faith that we overcome the world! Through faith we receive God’s promises of victory and joy! Yes we face difficulty but we do so in light of eternity! We have God’s precious promises that give us the ability to live supernaturally (above the natural). When we face loss, depression, discouragement, defeat, sickness, suffering and the like it’s natural to fall victim to those things which leave us feeling pitiful and in the dumps! But by God’s grace He invites us to rise above those negative emotions through faith. He invites us to live “above” the natural where we walk in His peace, overflow with joy and experience His promises being fulfilled in our lives. Some of you have been struggling for far too long, carrying weights that God has invited you to let go of months ago and yet you’re still carrying them. The struggle seems to be unbearable not only for you but for those closest to you as they don’t understand and feel helpless.

I hope you can hear the voice of the Lord today! Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Yes, you will have trouble but it doesn’t have to be as hard as it’s been, Jesus says when you come to me it becomes easy.” Because it’s in His presence that suffering cannot compare to the glory that is revealed! When we walk closely with the Lord we are filled with faith and it’s through that faith that we overcome the world! Rise up in faith today! You are an overcomer so overcome!

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/

Posted on Tuesday, October 20, 2015

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

Posted on Tuesday, October 13, 2015

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

Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The Lord Reigns!

Psalm 99:1-5 “The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. Great is the LORD in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name– he is holy. The King is mighty, he loves justice– you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right. Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.”

The Lord reigns and He is going to shake everything that can be shaken! People may say that we live in uncertain times and although this is true from a world perspective this is not the case for those who call themselves believers. See although everything around us may be shaking our God reigns and He promises us that all these things must come to pass. For even now He is shaking the government, the economy, the social structures of our day. And just as we’ve seen unusual patterns in the weather we will see unusual things happening all over the earth in what seems like unprecedented ways. And yet God is saying “Be encouraged, for I am doing this shaking, I am causing people to not put their trust in any other thing for it is only I who you can count on. I am the Lord your God! I promise to go with you even to the ends of the earth. Be not afraid nor shaken for I am in all this and even this will be for my glory.”

I feel like the Lord has been taking His time raising us up, teaching us over weeks, months and years (even decades). And although at many times we have not seen the purpose in things, soon we will see that it has all been working for our good and that God has been preparing us for such a time as this! So don’t be afraid or unsettled rather rest in God’s love for you! And as you rest know that He is preparing you for what He has in store for you this next season. The instructions are simple: rest, remember all that the Lord has done, set your eyes on God, stay in faith, use the gifts He has given to you and be faithful in all that He has called you to. As we do these things we will indeed see God’s great reward! So let us exalt His name together! Let us rest in His love and be encouraged by the truth that no matter what we see around us, the Lord reigns!

Blessings,

John