Monthly Archive

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Our harvest (God’s promises to us) depends on our sustainability. It’s not in the hands of someone else and it’s not situational. Every promise from God depends on our endurance.

Time can seem like an enemy to our faith. Some of us have been waiting on God to manifest our prayers for a long time. Some of us have been waiting for so long until we wonder if God heard us or if the thing we prayed for was God’s will for our lives. If it’s in the Word and it aligns with life and godliness, it’s for us.

Here’s some good advice…Don’t Quit! Never give up! Believe that you have received that promise. Envision yourself with that promise. Just know, every delay works in our favor. If God made us a promise and we continue to believe Him for that promise, His Word guarantees we’ll have that promise.
Only believe.

John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

The devil has done it again. He’s perverted a positive biblical term and put a negative spin on it.

Jesus refers to believers as His sheep. In today’s world, the thought of being a sheep is insulting. For the world, a sheep is nothing more than a follower who can’t think for themselves. The devil has used this negative spin to influence people’s minds not to follow Jesus. He’s made them feel like they’re more empowered if they think and do for themselves.

Believers being sheep is a good thing since Jesus is our Shepherd. A shepherd guides their sheep along the right path. A shepherd protects his flock. A shepherd provides everything for their sheep. Read Psalm 23. Who wouldn’t want this type of service from Jesus?

Don’t be influenced by the thoughts and ideas of Satan. Following Jesus is the way to go. Let Jesus be your Shepherd and be proud to be His sheep.

Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the consuming locust, and the cutting locust, my great army which I sent among you.

When it comes to God, nothing’s destroyed. It may appear destroyed or look hopeless, but nothing’s actually destroyed. By placing our faith in God, any situation can turn around for our good.

Our marriage, our relationship with our children, our finances, etc. can all be turned around.

Some situations will be turned around instantaneously, but other situations may take time. Regardless of how long it takes, if we put our faith in God and keep it there, any situation can be positively restored.

Jonah 2:2 And he said: “I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice.

In our worst predicament that we may have put ourselves in, if we call on God, He will hear and answer our cry.

We may have seemingly destroyed our marriage by committing adultery. We may have scarred our children with our words. We may have blown our finances on a bad investment. We may have been foolish and gotten ourselves incarcerated. We may have even rejected God for a period of time. Regardless of the situation that we’re in, we can call on God, and He will respond.

God hasn’t disowned or rejected us. He will comfort us, give us the wisdom we need for that situation, and give us the strength to go through that situation.

If you’re going through or just got out of a terrible situation, call on God and let Him help.

Matthew 7:12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

This is a simple scripture to understand, but the practice is often overlooked.

Some of us treat people poorly. On social media, some of us feel bold enough to negatively comment on a person’s picture, video, or a person’s actions in the video. Through text messages, some of us gossip about others. In relationships, men and women abuse and misuse one another. There are parents who mistreat their children. With all this negativity that’s being sowed, no wonder some of us don’t have good relationships with our friends, spouses, or children.

There are some who react to others. If someone treats us poorly, we feel justified to treat them poorly. This is a trap! We open the door to be mistreated in the future if we react and mistreat the person who mistreated us. Some people call it karma.

If we want a better life and a positive atmosphere for ourselves, for our family, and for this world, it starts with us. We must do our part to treat people like we want to be treated.

Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Some of us view doing the will of God as only doing some big noticeable thing. We may think it only consists of going on a missions trip, starting a homeless shelter, or starting a non-profit for underprivileged youth. This is the will of God, however, the will of God doesn’t have to be a big event.

The will of God is doing anything God instructs us to do. The will of God may seem small and insignificant, but nevertheless, it’s the will of God. It may be turning right instead of turning left, going for a walk after work, or going to bed earlier than normal.

If we’re always thinking the will of God is some big event, we may get frustrated or think we’re not fulfilling our calling because these big events may be so few and far between.

Recognize and be excited that when we obey God’s instructions (big or small), we’re doing the will of God.

Ezra 10:10 (AMP) And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have acted wickedly and broken faith [with God] and have married foreign (heathen) women, increasing the guilt of Israel. 11 So now make confession and give thanks to the Lord, the God of your fathers [for not consuming you], and do His will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from [your] foreign (heathen) wives.

When we’ve missed the mark, the first thing a lot of us want to do is feel guilty. We tend to feel bad about the decisions we’ve made, which ultimately leads to condemnation.

Here’s a tip from the Word. After we’ve missed the mark, begin to praise and thank the Lord. Thank the Lord for His never-ending forgiveness we have through His Son Jesus. Thank God for His mercy. Thank God that we are not consumed or punished when we miss it.

Everything in us will tell us to feel guilty about what we’ve done. Others will even tell us to take a moment to feel bad about our decisions. Giving into guilt doesn’t give God glory. What glorifies God is acknowledging all the things (love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, Jesus) He’s made available to remove the guilt of sin.

From now on, whenever the mark is missed, give God praise and glory.

John 8:10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

Some Christians feel justified to condemn others for their behavior based on how long they’ve been saved or how “good” they’ve been. If Jesus, our example and the Only perfect person ever didn’t condemn others, what makes some of us think we can condemn others?

Condemnation is an act that leaves a person feeling guilty or ashamed. Jesus had a justifiable right to condemn this woman caught in adultery. Instead of condemning her, He displayed grace and mercy towards her. At the same time, He didn’t condone her sin, but He redirected her by saying “sin no more.”

Mixing grace, mercy, and redirection lovingly corrects unrighteous behavior. These are the tools a person needs when they know they’ve done wrong.

The next time someone has missed the mark, don’t condemn them. Show love, grace, mercy, and redirection towards them.

Romans 8:38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There’s no limit to God’s love. God’s love goes beyond our fears, our behavior, and beyond our thoughts. God made Himself to be love just for us. Everything He does is based on His love for us.

God sent His Son, Jesus, to be sacrificed in our place because He loves us all. God loved us enough to have His Son’s flesh to be torn from His back so that we can be healed. God loves us enough to supply every one of our needs. God loves us enough to give us any desire that pertains to life and godliness. God loves us to be our Father, our Comforter, our Protector, and our Help. God’s love for us made Him a one-stop shop. Everything we need or want was made possible through His love.

There’s not one thing we can do to stop God’s love. We could have hated Him for a period of time and He still loves us. We could have committed the worst crimes in history and He still loves us. Even if we never receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He still loves us.

Know that God loves you with an everlasting unmerited love. Receive His love today.

Matthew 9:29 Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.”

Matthew 12:37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

What we believe and what we say will shape our identity, our world, and will dictate our future.

Let’s look at an example regarding our emotions. If someone believes they’re just an emotional person, according to their faith about themselves, they’ll be an emotional person. If someone says, they can’t control how they feel, the law of confession is released and they’ll have what they say.

Faith and confession shapes all aspects of our lives. If we say we’re broke, we’ll be broke. If we believe we can’t be married because we don’t believe we’ll be faithful, we’ll never experience the beauty of marriage. Even something simple like saying we’re not good at math means we’ll never excel in math. On the contrary, if we believe and/or say we’re prosperous, faithful, and intelligent, we’ll become what we believe and say.

Let’s evaluate our lives. If what we’ve been saying and believing is contrary to the Word of God, that’s the main reason why we haven’t yet experienced freedom from certain bondages.

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.

Jesus tried to let these religious Samaritans know in so many words that He was sent by God and He is greater than anyone else who came before Him.

As Jesus speaks, the Pharisees attempt to converse with Him using natural logic. They’re not even on the same page. Jesus is speaking spiritually, but they are responding logically. If the Pharisees would’ve believed and taken Jesus at His Word, they would have been in right standing with God. They chose not to believe based on a disconnect between what Jesus was saying and their logic.

Some of us (believers and unbelievers) do this today. We attempt to understand spiritual things using natural logic. We’ll never understand spiritual things using our natural minds. The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). If we can’t fathom what the Bible or ministers are saying logically, we’ll choose not to believe.

We can only understand spiritual things through our faith. Every spiritual thing requires belief that goes beyond our logic. It may not initially make sense or it may be difficult to comprehend, but choose to go past your logic and believe.

Deuteronomy 8:7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

God has great promises for us. One of those promises is being in a position where we lack nothing.

Think about that for a minute. The mortgage/rent is paid, the bills are paid, we have plenty of food, and our bank accounts are steadily increasing. God not only wants us lacking nothing financially, but He doesn’t want lack in any other area of our lives. He wants us to have a great marriage, peace in our minds, and a healthy body. He’ll even be a parent if we lack an earthly parent (Psalm 68:5).

Some may think having all we want and need is impossible however, when we place our faith in this promise, God must deliver based on His Word. Believe that you have received a life where you lack nothing.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

When we read these verses, we usually think about forgetting the negative events of our past and reaching towards the prize set before us in our futures. These verses don’t specify forgetting negative events only. It says, forgetting the things that are behind. That means bad and good things of our past.

It’s easy for us to understand why we shouldn’t think about the negative events of our past. We’ll open old wounds, we’ll allow sadness to set in, or we’ll harbor unforgiveness in our hearts. Not dwelling on seemingly positive events of our past may be a little harder to understand.

Dwelling on positive events of our past may not allow us to appreciate the present or our potential future. We’ll compare our now to our past and not fully appreciate what God is doing now. We may recall how we or someone else used to be and be disappointed in what we see now. We may fantasize and romanticize our past and doubt we can experience that same level of joy in the future.

Does this mean we can’t think about anything in our past? No. It’s simply telling us to not let the past hinder, cripple, minimize, or distort what God is doing now or what He can do in the future.

John 6:69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Although the disciples were hand-picked by Jesus Himself, it took time for them to truly believe. Prior to their belief, they observed Jesus in action preaching great sermons and performing wondrous miracles. It came to a point where the disciples had no choice, but to believe Jesus was the Messiah.

A lot of us do or have done the same thing. We hear about Jesus, but we won’t fully believe until we get a full revelation of Who He is and experience Him operating in our lives.

Unbelievers go through the same thing. They too must get a full revelation of Who Christ is to them. As believers, we shouldn’t get upset or frustrated with people who haven’t fully given their lives to Jesus. Give them some time. Let them experience the true love of God through Christ. Pray that they get a revelation of Who Jesus is and experience miracles in their lives. So much so until they have no choice, but to believe.

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Have you ever felt like blah? Does it seem like life has become mundane and there’s no real excitement? It’s probably because there’s a lack of joy in our lives.

The only way to replenish our joy is to spend time in the presence of God. This time doesn’t have to be religious with incense and candles. It’s simply thinking of the goodness of God. It’s recalling all that He’s done. It’s asking Him what we should do about a certain task. It’s thanking God in advance for the things we’ve prayed for. That’s spending time with God.

Being in God’s presence produces the promise of joy. We’ll experience joy in the simple things like, watching the sunset, playing with our children, or finding humor with people at work.

So if your joy is waning, go replenish it by spending time with God.

John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

There’s a big push in the church, based on the great commission, to bring people to church for salvation. Salvation is the greatest experience a person can have, but we must remember we can’t make people accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We shouldn’t guilt or condemn someone into accepting Jesus as Lord and we definitely shouldn’t scare them into salvation using the “you’re going to hell” card.

The only way people will genuinely accept Jesus as Lord is if God draws them. We’re instructed to preach the Gospel and show them the way, but only God can draw them. This drawing doesn’t have to be in a church. God can draw them in a hotel, in the middle of a work day, while they’re in prison, or a minute before they’re about to commit suicide.

Just know it’s our responsibility to get people excited about salvation, but it’s God Who draws.

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Throughout our lives, there’s always going to be a struggle between our will and the will of the Father. We may want to stay, but God may be prompting us to move. We may want to get divorced, but God is telling us to stay.

If Jesus, our example, didn’t come to do His own will, but the will of the Father, we should discover God’s will for our own lives.

Knowing God’s will doesn’t come automatically. It takes continuous communication with God. Once knowing God’s will, the fight is on. We must resist the urge to do our own will or get sidetracked from doing God’s will.

Let’s find out what God’s will is for our lives and do just that.

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

God initially gets our attention by blowing our minds and we have no choice to admit that it was God. He’ll supernaturally drop some charges we may be facing, reduce our debt, deliver us from a terrible situation, or open doors of opportunity.

Those mind-blowing events will have us going to more church events and wearing our “Blessed” t-shirts. Although this is great, those types of blessings may not come as frequently or be as spectacular as they once were. They may slow down. If we’re not mindful, we’ll become spiritual junkies itching for our next blessing.

This deceleration requires us to deepen our relationship with God. God wants more from us than our hands out. He wants a relationship. He wants us to tell Him about our problems, He want us to take His advice, and He wants us to get to know Him better.

Let’s not only associate ourselves with God because of what He can do for us. Let’s associate ourselves with God because we truly desire an intimate relationship with Him.

Numbers 13:33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

How we see ourselves, is how we’ll appear to others.

If we see ourselves as small, insignificant, or unequipped, that’s how we’ll appear to others. If we see ourselves as unattractive, unintelligent, or unable, that’s how others will view us. On the other hand, if we see ourselves as kings/queens, prosperous, and capable, we’ll be just that. If we see ourselves as confident, complete, and courageous, we will be that in the sight of others.

How we want people to see us is how we need to see ourselves.

Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Some of us want to make prayer a big long event in the morning or at night. That’s fine if that’s what you desire, but it doesn’t have to be. Prayer is simply communicating with God. We can do this throughout the day.

We can pray while driving to work, we can pray during our lunch break, and we can pray while working out at the gym. We can pray over our bosses, we can pray God’s protection over our children, and we can pray for peace in a certain situation. Whatever comes to mind or whatever we see that doesn’t line up with the will of God, we can talk to God and apply our God-given authority over that situation.

Don’t wait to pray or feel like it needs to be an event. Talk to our heavenly Father throughout the day.