Monthly Archive

Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Based on the Word of God, there are the benefits of trust.

When we place our trust in the Lord, we’re established or grounded in the Lord. We shouldn’t be moved or shaken by the issues of life. Our spirit and soul are locked into God.

Since we’re grounded in the Lord, when the trials of life come, we shouldn’t fear. We’ll continue to remain confident, healthy, and strong. When the world is in a panic about the economy, wars, or diseases, we continue to prosper financially, prosper in our health, and prosper in our well-being.

This promise if for anyone who places their trust in God. The hard part is letting go of our plans, fears, worries, and “what ifs.” Let go of everything and place your trust in God.

Hebrews 8:12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

We are forgiven. God is not counting up our sins against us and He’s not waiting until judgement day to reveal all that we’ve done. We are totally and completely forgiven of all past, present, and future sins.

In the Old Covenant, God held people accountable for everything they’ve done and everything their parents had done. In this New Covenant, the sacrifice of Jesus paid for all of our sins and there is nothing left to owe.

No, God doesn’t want us to continue to engage in sinful behavior. God hates sin. But, if we should sin, God still loves us and views us as righteous. God’s righteous love is not based on our actions or behavior. His love is based on the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. Because Jesus paid for our sins, we are righteous.

Get rid of guilt and shame and know because of Jesus, we are the righteousness of God.

Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Most believers desire to be on the receiving end of God’s hand, but how many of us are eager to be on the”Use Me List” of God?

Everyone of us can look at situations and circumstances in the world around us and desire to see a change for the better. Some of us know they’re selling drugs at the end of the block and we want better for our communities, but we won’t go to God and ask for a plan to spearhead change. Some of us know that friend needs to stop gossiping about others, but we tend to avoid confrontation and keep silent.

The common thread for the lack of initiation in Spirit-led change is fear. Some of us are afraid to get involved, afraid of getting too deep into the situation, or afraid of persecution. Remove that fear and do what God has called you to do.

As the Spirit leads, initiate the change you wish to see. If we, the believers, won’t do it, who will?

Let’s take the time to think back to when we were around 16 years old. We had the whole world in front of us. We had big dreams of becoming professional athletes, singers, or simply famous in something. We wanted wealth, maybe living in a mansion, and driving a nice car. What we dreamt came to pass for some of us but for everyone else, as we’ve gotten older, some of our dreams have either collapsed or the window to obtain that dream has narrowed.

For those who have a flicker of light left in that dream, cheer up! There’s hope! The Word of God says our youth is renewed like the eagle (Psalm 103:5).

When most people read this verse, they limit this verse to the physical body, but with God all things are possible. If we choose to believe God’s Word and have faith, the dreams and big ideas we had in our youth can also be renewed.

The only limits God has are the ones we place on Him. We’re never too old to fulfill a dream; we’re never too settled to pursue a desire, and we’re never too financially unstable to fulfill the calling God has on our lives.

Be like the eagle and allow God to renew the ideas, dreams, and visions from your youth.

Psalm 103:5 He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

Colossians 3:23 And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

There are two ways we can approach this scripture. The first way is with our flesh. Our flesh uses human effort to get the job done. The second way is working unto the Lord by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

People working unto the Lord using their flesh feel justified when they work 16 hours in one day on a project they could have completed in three days. They feel like they’re doing the Lord a service when they work in the hot sun without taking breaks or drinking water. They feel like if they work long and hard, God will be pleased. Once again, this is working unto the Lord using our flesh, but according to Romans 8:8, we cannot please God in our flesh.

God is not pleased because we’re not acknowledging Him as we work. God gave us His Spirit to be led in everything we do (Romans 8:14). He may have us work a couple of hours on a project then take a break and socialize with our co-workers. Even though we have a lot more that needs to be done, He may have us stop working on a project for the day and continue it the next day. God may have us work 16 hours in one day, but the only difference is He led us to work the 16 hours and not ourselves.

If the Holy Spirit is leading us, we’re working unto the Lord. Our long and hard hours don’t always confirm working unto the Lord. This week, let’s be led by the Spirit as we’re working unto the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.‭

As we can see, we have a natural body and a spiritual body. We’re more familiar with the natural body. Our natural body requires food, sleep, and it’s beneficial for it to have exercise. If we choose to neglect some of the requirements of our natural bodies, our health can deteriorate. 

Just like the natural body has some requirements to stay healthy, our spiritual bodies have some requirements as well. A healthy spiritual body needs food. Food for the spiritual body comes in the form of the Word of God. When we feed ourselves the Word of God, we starve doubt, unbelief, and fear. 

Secondly, our spiritual bodies need constant communication with God. John 4:24 tells us God is a spirit. Who better to tell us how to develop our spiritual bodies besides God? God will tell us when to fast, pray, or study the Word. 

As we feed ourselves the Word and communicate with God, God uproots everything He did not plant (Matthew 15:13). Anger, bitterness, and hatred can’t be seen, therefore, if it’s displayed in our lives, it must be associated with the spirit. As we continue to develop our spiritual bodies, God promised to uproot anything He did not plant from our lives. 

In this time where exercising seems to be popular, let’s not forsake nurturing our spiritual bodies.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Most of us know or have heard the “all have sinned” scripture. We tend to magnify and tell everyone that all have sinned, but not too many people know the next verse. The next verse is contextually connected to verse 23.

Verse 24 says, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

We all have sinned, but through Jesus Christ, we all are freely justified by His grace.

Telling people we’ve all sinned without telling people we’ve all been justified by grace leaves people sin conscience. It has people feeling like they’re just an old sinner hoping to make it to heaven. Knowing we’ve been freely justified through Christ leaves people liberated and free from the bondage of sin.

Regardless of the sin, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we’ve been justified or made righteous in the eyes of God. Praise God for Jesus who freely justified us by His grace.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Inspired by Joseph Prince

Psalms 118:17 I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

God’s Word promised we would live and not die. With this promise, we don’t have to worry or live in fear of terrorist attacks, airplane crashes, or dying in a foreign country. We can enjoy ourselves and live.

We’re not living so that we can satisfy our flesh or reap worldly desires. We’re living to proclaim what the Lord has done.  We are to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and the Savior of the world. We are to proclaim that Jesus has healed us. We are to proclaim that regardless of what we’ve done, God’s love is everlasting.

When we have a need or desire, we are to boldly proclaim that God will meet that need or desire. When that need or desire is met, we are to boldly proclaim that God answered our prayer. Everything we have and everything we do should bring glory to God.

Praise God He promised us life, but the reason why we’re living is to proclaim the works of the Lord.

Isaiah 3:10 Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, For they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 

Extremists are attempting to destroy villages and terrorize cities; new viruses and diseases seem to be discovered every month, and racism is very obvious.

Regardless of what’s going on in the world, it shall be well with the righteous. Righteousness is not something we work for. Righteousness is freely given to everyone who believes in the works of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Through our belief, we are made righteous. 

Since we’re righteous, we have a promise of wellness. We have a promise of wellness at our jobs, in our homes, and in our daily lives. God is faithful and He will never go back on His promise. If we go through something that is attacking our wellness, we can be encouraged by reminding ourselves of this promise. 

Regardless of how it appears, all is well. 

When someone in the world observes a person praying or hears them mentioning the Word of God, they’re quick to label them as religious. As believers, we should quickly correct them from using the term “religious.”

In Christianity, religious actions are mainly done out of habit. These actions have little to no meaning. The motivation for these actions are usually incorrect and are based in condemnation. For instance, a religious idea says, “I’m going to read the Bible so that God can bless me.” For those who may adopt this idea, what we’re really saying is, our efforts are going to earn favor with God so that He can be bless us. There’s only one problem with this idea along with other religious ideas. It eliminates Jesus. 

If we can earn a blessing by reading the Bible and going to church, who needs Jesus? Someone may reply we needed Jesus to take away our sins. This is true, but through His sacrifice, we also needed Jesus to allow the blessing to come on us (Gal. 3:13-14). 
Because of all that God has done for us, we should be developing a relationship with God.

We don’t fast, pray, etc. because a preacher told us to. We do it because we desire to commune with our loving Heavenly Father. Let’s remove religion and develop relationship. 

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

OPTION 1:

-I have to go to Sunday service and weekly bible study so that God is pleased with me.

-I have to pray two hours a day so that God can bless me. 

-I have to read the Word of God two hours a night so that I can be healed.

OPTION 2:

-I get to go to Sunday service and weekly bible study to fellowship with like-minded believers and worship a risen Savior.

-Through Jesus Christ, God has blessed me, therefore, I get to pray to stay in constant communication with my God and the time I spend praying is inconsequential. 

-The stripes of Jesus Christ have already healed me, therefore, I enjoy spending time in God’s Word to fully comprehend the promises of God.

Option 1 is a religious mindset many Christians had in the past. God never intended for us to follow rules for the sake of following rules. God desires a relationship with us. He wants us to enjoy spending time with Him in prayer and in His Word. He doesn’t want it to be a chore or out of necessity. God sent Jesus to flawlessly complete all of the requirements to regain our right standing with Him so that we won’t have to. 

If we don’t make it to church, God still loves us. If we don’t read as much as we intended to read, we’re still blessed. If we haven’t fasted, we’re still healed. Once we get know God and have a true revelation of how good He’s been to us, our desire to do all those things will become automatic. Seek a relationship with God and not religious rules. 

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.

There are desires in each and every one of us. If we’re not mindful, anxiety can enter our lives and cause depression if we reached our delay limit.

We may feel like we should have been married by now, had children by now, or gotten a higher paying position by now. If we continue to rehearse the delay in our minds, we’ll experience anxiety and if we rehearse it too much, we may experience anxiety attacks.

However, if we place our trust in God, He knows when the appointed time should be to receive our desires. Another thing we have to be mindful of is that our desires are not only designed to bless our lives; our desires can be a blessing to people we haven’t met yet.

We may feel like it’s taking too long to receive a promotion at our current job, but God has other plans. God may have us apply to another job that pays a higher salary and at that job, we meet our future spouse who will assist in having future children. That’s how God works everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).

When you can’t figure it out, trust the plan and timing of God.

Matthew 6:27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

In the movie, Bridge of Spies, Tom Hanks plays a lawyer representing a Russian spy who was arrested in America. Throughout the movie Tom Hanks’ character would ask the Russian spy if he was worried or nervous about what was going to happen to him. The Russian spy always responded by saying, “Would it help?”

The Word of God has been teaching us this concept for years. It wouldn’t help one bit if we worried about anything. It won’t change the outcome to anything in our lives and worrying will only cause detriment to our health.

Spiritually, worrying is a lack of trust in God. It’s letting God know we don’t trust Him or His plan, therefore, we need to negatively meditate on the next best solution we can comprehend.

Release all cares, worries, and anxieties to God and trust His plan.

When a problem arises, some of us ask people to pray for our situation. There’s nothing wrong with asking for prayer as long as our motivation is only for agreement. Any additional reason is a lack of faith.

There are some people who use prayer like tickets at an amusement park. They feel like the more prayers they have going towards a certain subject, the better their chances are to get their prayers answered.

The Word of God says, God hears our prayers and our prayers are effective. It doesn’t matter if 100 people are praying for us or if it’s just our prayer. If we believe our prayers are heard and are effective, our prayers will come to pass.

It’s great to have people in agreement with our prayers, but we don’t need people to have our prayers answered. Praise God for giving us the power to have our prayers answered.

1 John 5:14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

We all were raised in a different environment. Some of us had a great childhood with great loving parents and others experienced great difficulty growing up. Some of us were abused, raised without one or both parents, or lived in poverty. How we were raised has a great impact on how we view life and the decisions we’ll make. 

If someone grew up without a father and they never had the needed attention from a mother, when they’re an adult, that person may desire to overload their children with the love and attention they never had or they’ll repeat the patterns of their parents.

Regardless of how we were raised or what we went through, we (the believers) have a common denominator. The common denominator is the Word of God. The Word of God promises us an abundant life (John 10:10) and God’s plans are to prosper us (Jeremiah 29:11). It doesn’t matter if we were raised like royalty or if our parents were addicted to drugs, we all can have the same promises. 

Knowing we all can have a prosperous abundant life, we don’t have to allow our past to affect our future. We can rely on the Word of God to guide us to the prosperous life God already planned for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

On part 1 of “It’s Not Their Fault” we mentioned how the actual people are not our problem, but demonic influences within a person (Ephesians 6:12). With that being known, we are not permitted to get even with the person who wronged us (Proverbs 24:29). Our responsibility is to continue to walk in love, cast out the demonic influences within the person, and allow God to seek vengeance for us (Luke 10:19). 

Although we are to remain loving to the one(s) who wronged us, God’s Word provides instructions on how to separate ourselves from the people who caused us pain. Romans 16:17 tells us to avoid those who offended us. 

We can still be the nice loving Christians without being close to the people who were influenced by our enemy. I submit that we should continue to pray for them and do whatever God says regarding their lives, but to keep ourselves from being hurt again and to keep us in the right frame of mind, let’s do ourselves a favor and avoid them. 

Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them.

Proverbs 24:29 “Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.”

When someone does us wrong, our flesh wants to get them back. We don’t care how, but we want vengeance for the hurt they caused us. If we’re a Christian, our flesh desires God to get them back quickly so that we say, “You shouldn’t have messed with God’s child.”

The Bible clearly tells us not to seek our own vengeance against that person. In fact, it’s not their fault. Ephesians 6:12 says, for we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. This means, our enemy is not the person, but the unseen demonic influences within the person. Even if the act appears deliberate and intentional, it’s still not their fault.

Let’s use our God-given authority found in Luke 10:19 to cast out the demonic influences within that person and know what the devil meant for evil, God will turn it around for our good (Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28). 

Hebrews 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

After a couple gets married, a next big step is children. When the couple makes the decision to get pregnant, after marital relations, the woman may get a pregnancy test. If the pregnancy test is positive, she’ll get excited, tell her husband, and look forward to telling everyone else.

In the natural, nothing has changed. The wife doesn’t have a big belly and she’s not giving birth that night. The only thing that let her know a baby was on the way was her seeing a positive pregnancy test.

Faith is the same way. The only indication we know a promise from God will come to pass in our lives is reading the Word of God. When we see promises such as, healing, deliverance, wealth, or wholeness are for us, right then, we should get excited. We shouldn’t wait until we physically see the promise to be excited. Be excited now. Although we don’t see anything changing in the natural, we should be excited because we know our God is faithful to fulfill His Word.

Get excited because your faith due date is approaching.

Proverbs 22:13 “The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”

The following is another way to view this verse: The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I guess I’ll die soon!”

The concept of this verse is action. The person is considered to be lazy because they don’t take action when trouble arises. As believers, we need to take action when trouble arises or we’re no different than the lazy man. 
Let’s modernize the trouble. 

The lazy man says, “The poor are starving outside! I guess they will have to suffer.” The lazy man says, “Women and children are being verbally and physically abused! I guess they will have to be tortured.” The lazy man says, “Marriages are crumbling. I guess they will have to get over their emotional pain.”

When negative news comes to our attention, the first thing we must do is pray. We need to pray the demonic influences from those situations be removed and we need to release the blessing of The Lord into those situations. While we’re praying, we need to ask God if there’s anything He wants us to do. He may have us donate to a homeless shelter, mentor a single mother, or volunteer with the youth. 

In these last days, we can’t be lazy. If believers don’t act, who will? 

It’s time to take action.

Proverbs 19:11 “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.”‭‭

It would be wise for us to pick and choose our battles. There are certain things we should stand up against and there are things we should let go. Everything doesn’t have to be a fight. The discretion we have, if used wisely, will save us a lot of figurative headaches. 

If we challenged everyone who we felt disrespected or wronged us, the results would be numerous failed relationships, failed friendships, and unsteady employment. The scripture says it’s glory to overlook transgressions. The root of these battles is fear. Some of us are afraid of being taken advantage of. But, can we really be taken advantage of when we’re doing it God’s way and allowing God to fight our battles? Of course not. 

So, let’s drop our rocks and let’s stop looking for a fight. In every situation, use discretion and consult the Spirit of God to see if something is worth fighting over.

After 20 years of living her life in the streets and going in and out of jail, Amanda submitted her life to the Lord. Amanda made Jesus the Lord over her life and she received the forgiveness of her sins. Amanda submitted her life to Christ, but how many of us know submission is a continuous act?

We are multifaceted beings. Regarding submission, we may have submitted ourselves to God in one area, but we haven’t submitted ourselves to God in another area. For instance, we can submit our lives to God, through Christ, but we may not have submitted our finances to God. We may still think the preacher is trying to take our money. Or, we may have chosen to live a celibate lifestyle for God while we’re single, but we may not have chosen to submit our attitudes to God.

Submission to God is simply saying, ‘God’s way is right.’ Whatever area God is instructing you submit to, do it to honor God, position yourselves to reap the promises of God, and keep Satan off your back.

Acts 9:6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.