Monthly Archive

The easiest and hardest thing to do is totally submit our lives to God.

Prior to our submission, the thought of surrendering ourselves to God seems difficult. We feel like it’s too difficult to follow God’s commands and it seems like we’ll miss out on a lot of fun. You know who’s behind these thoughts? You guessed it, the devil. He’ll make it seem like total submission is a death sentence to our freedom and joy. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

For those who have submitted themselves to God, we realize it’s one of the easiest things we could do. What makes it so easy? God’s benefits. God makes sure our submission is not in vain. He makes sure we’re well compensated for our efforts. He knows some of things He requires will be difficult to our flesh, but as we consistently submit to Him, His benefits far outweigh the initial discomfort. The more we submit to Him, the easier it becomes.

Don’t listen to the lies of Satan. Submit every aspect of your life to God and reap the benefits of submission.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

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.

1 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

For whatever reason, there are certain people who have a problem with the “prosperity message.” They feel like it focuses too much on materialistic possessions and not enough on holiness and worship.

It’s not just a message. As we see from these two verses, it’s God’s plan and desire for us. He wants us to be prosperous in every area of our lives. He wants us to be prosperous in our minds, in our health, with our families, with our finances, and more. This prosperity is not just for us. It’s so that we can be a blessing to others (Gen. 12:2). How can we help someone if we don’t have it ourselves?

For those who feel like it takes away from holiness or worship, why can’t we do it all? We can live a holy life worshipping God while we prosper. Don’t get mad at preachers or believers who desire to be prosperous. We’re simply aligning ourselves with God’s plan.

There are certain people who have a false sense of humility. They like to tell themselves that they’re nothing, but a worm that’s no good. They think God is pleased with them letting themselves and others know how low they are. Well, God doesn’t think so.

We are God’s creation, therefore, we’re fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). And when we make Jesus our Lord, we become a child of God (Ephesians 1:5). What good father wants to hear their child say how unworthy they are? It doesn’t matter what we’ve done or how far we’ve strayed, God still loves and wants the best for us.

Negative thinking about ourselves ruins our confidence. If our confidence is ruined, it stops us from receiving promises from God (Hebrews 10:35,36). Let’s destroy every negative thought we have about ourselves and replace it with what God says about us.

Luke 15:20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Job 22:22 Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, And lay up His words in your heart.

When we ask God for something, He may miraculously send it to us. However, it’s more likely He’ll give us instructions and a plan to get the thing.

When God gives us instructions, it’s beneficial that we follow them precisely. Following His instructions positions us to receive His promises and our desires. If He tells us on Monday to apply for a certain job on Wednesday at 2:00 PM, then we need to follow those instructions. We may get the job but even if we don’t, we’re displaying our faithfulness to be obedient to His plan.

Don’t allow fear, doubt, uncertainty, and logic to cloud your judgement. Obey His instructions and position yourself to receive God’s blessings.

Colossians 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Working unto the Lord doesn’t automatically mean working long and hard. Working unto the Lord means allowing the Spirit of God to show us how to work.

There will be times He’ll tell us to put our phone down and get off the internet and work. Other times, He may tell us to take a 10-minute mental break after every 2 hours of work. One day He may have us work 2 hours later. The next day, He may tell us to go home on time knowing, we have 2 hours of work that should be done. It’s all about obeying Him as we work.

Let’s not work ourselves to deliriousness thinking we’re working unto the Lord. Allow Him to lead us in when, where, and how we should work.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

We like knowing we’re God’s property when it comes down to protection and blessings, but God’s property has another side. When we say we’re God’s property, we’re saying we don’t belong to ourselves anymore. We can’t do any and everything we want to do. We have to seek His approval.

Last year, we may have gotten drunk for our birthday, but knowing we’re God’s property, we don’t want to abuse His property with excessive alcohol. We may have been working long hours with little sleep to get an extra paycheck, but we don’t want to deprive His property of sleep. When we worry about something instead of giving it to Him, we’re mentally abusing His property.

Every born-again believer is the property of God. Be sure you’re doing whatever He tells you to do with His property.

Proverbs 19:20 Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.

One thing that stops us from receiving all that God has for us is obedience. Some of us don’t like being told what to do. God gives us instructions and He’ll use people in the earth to give us instruction, but because of pride and stubbornness, we do what we want to do. Our flesh makes it seem like it’s a badge of honor to succeed without any help. We thought of the idea, we executed the idea, and the idea was successful. By the grace of God that may work sometimes, but in order to have consistent success, we need to obey God’s instructions.

When we make Jesus Lord, we make God the boss of our lives. Our lives don’t belong to us anymore. They belong to Him. We do what He tells us to do. That may seem unappealing and like slavery at first, but it’s beneficial in the end. The beauty of being in Christ is when we surrender ourselves to God and give up our control, we gain freedom.

Be successful and free by obeying God’s instructions.

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?

God cares for us. He cares about every aspect of our lives. He cares about how we feel, He cares about our children, He cares about our finances, and He cares about our health. God cares about everything.

The devil will attempt to make us feel like God doesn’t care, but he’s a liar. God cares. God cares about big things like our company going under during this pandemic to a hangnail on our toe. God cares.

Take any and every care or concern to Him and expect Him to perfect it or expect Him to give us the wisdom and strategy to resolve the issue. No matter how good or not so good life gets and if nobody seems like they care, remember, God cares for you.

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We have victory through Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:57).
We can do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13).
We can live guilt-free in Christ (Romans 8:1).
We’ve been reconciled back to God through Jesus (1 Peter 2:24)
We are healed by the stripes of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:24).
We have authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19).
We have salvation in Christ Jesus (Romans 10:9).

This is a short list of all the things Jesus has done for us. We didn’t earn it and we didn’t deserve it, but out of His love, He did it anyway.

Show a little gratitude and keep His sacrifice in mind to the One who made this abundant life possible for us. Thank you Jesus the Christ.

Luke 17:15 When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He fell facedown at Jesus’ feet in thanksgiving to Him—and he was a Samaritan.

Every believer has experienced God do some amazing things. Some of us have been miraculously healed, debts were cancelled, surprised by a financial increase, experienced supernatural protection, and more. When these amazing things happen to us, it’s important to praise God.

Don’t praise God in secret to avoid embarrassment, but like one of the lepers, publicly praise God with a loud voice. He didn’t care who saw him or how he looked. He was just grateful to be healed of leprosy.

When we praise God, we’re reminding ourselves and letting others know where our help came from. Our loud praise may attract others to know about the God Who heals, delivers, and sets free. Our praise may be the ticket to someone else’s breakthrough.

So, don’t be ashamed or ‘too cool’ to praise God. We loudly cheer at sporting events and graduations so, do the same for God’s blessings.

2 Kings 6:16 “Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

When we see or face difficult circumstances, we must close our natural eyes and open our spiritual eyes to see all God has prepared for us.

So, how do we open our spiritual eyes? We meditate on God’s Word until we see ourselves with God’s provision. If there’s lack, we need to meditate on Philippians 4:19 which says, God will supply all our needs. If we feel unprotected, it’s time to meditate on Psalm 28:7 which says, the LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. If there’s a desire we have, but we don’t know how we’re going to get it, meditate on Ephesians 3:20 that says, God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

We meditate on this Word until we see ourselves with God’s promise of provision, protection, and peace. We meditate on God’s Word until our mood changes. We meditate on it until we believe it.

Don’t be deceived by the limitations in the natural. Open those spiritual eyes and see all that God has in store for us.

2 Kings 6:16 “Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

When fear entered the heart of Elisha’s servant because they were surrounded, Elisha prayed for his servant’s eyes to be opened. He wasn’t referring to his natural eyes, but his spiritual eyes. After Elisha’s prayer, the servant saw heaven’s army surrounding their enemy.

Our natural eyes can deceive us into thinking we’re limited. We may think there’s limited protection, limited finances, limited jobs, limited spouses, etc. That’s not true. When we partner with God, there is no lack. There is more with us than we can naturally see. Using our spiritual eyes, we’re limitless.

If we only see $250 in our bank account, fear may enter our minds knowing we have bills due. It’s at that moment we need to open our spiritual eyes and see $250,000 in our account or our bills paid. If we see crime in our neighborhood, let’s open our spiritual eyes and see ourselves and our property protected. If we see everyone getting married, sadness may enter in, but by opening our spiritual eyes we can see ourselves happily married.

Have we lost it? Are we being delusional? No. We’re simply using our second set of eyes where there’s no lack and all things are possible with God (Matt 19:26). Carnally minded people and people in the world won’t get it, but when we place our faith in God’s resources, we’ll always have enough of everything.

Isaiah 55:10 For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, 11 so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

Whatever God told you will come to pass. It doesn’t matter if He told you in private, through a dream, or through a person, it will come to pass.

There’s no need to be frustrated or impatient about the manifestation of that promise. We simply must believe (without doubt) it will come to pass. Satan will try his best to make us think it’s not coming, however if we negate His attacks in our minds with the Word of God, we’ll experience God’s promises in our lives.

That job, spouse, health, child, or house will all come to pass. Just believe and don’t doubt.

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered on behalf of all men 2 for kings and all those in authority, so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.

The bible instructs us to pray for all. There’s no one left out of all. This includes people we don’t like, people who’ve hurt us, and people that were never there for us. All means all. It may be difficult, but not impossible. We pray that they submit to God, we pray that they repent and turn from their evil ways, and we pray the powers of darkness be removed from their minds.

These verses specifically instruct us to pray for leaders and those in authority. We pray for them because they’re the ones making decisions that will impact the rest of us. If the devil was going to attack anyone, he’ll probably go for leaders first because if he can successfully corrupt the top, everything else will most likely fall.

Let’s put our personal feelings aside and pray for everyone. When we do what God instructs us to do, we position ourselves to be successful (Isaiah 1:19).

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Jesus says, “on this rock I will build My church.” He didn’t say He would build “churches,” but church (singular). He also didn’t say He would build denominations, but one church.

The devil has done a fantastic job separating believers. Believers have separated because they disagreed about the interpretation of one scripture. Instead of agreeing to disagree and continuing to do the Lord’s work together, they allowed Satan to divide them.

It’s interesting how we can disagree in marriages, friendships, and working relationships and still make it work. However, when it comes to a disagreement on sometimes minor scriptures or trivial matters, we allow that to separate us.

How powerful would Jesus’ church be if we were all on one accord? Think of what we could do and the impact we could make. But as long as we’re divided, we’ll make minimal impact. A house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25). So, let’s drop thoughts that keep us divided. If we love Jesus and want to see His work continue on the earth, let’s put away our differences and come together as one church.

1 John 5:21 (NKJV) Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

1 John 5:21 (NLT) Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

When we think of idolatry, we may think of people worshipping statues of Thor, Ganesha, or Buddha, which is true, but idolatry is also anything we put above God.

With that information, we can see how our work, our children and their activities, or the pursuit of money can be our idol. There’s nothing wrong with work, our children, and increasing financially, but when these things consume our lives, we’ve made them idols. It’s our responsibility to keep ourselves away from anything that might take God’s place in our hearts.

Examine your life. Have you’ve been allowing anything to take the place of God? If so, remove that thing as a top priority and let God be first in your life.

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 on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

For every negative, hurtful, abusive thing that happened to us, it’s in our best interest to forget it. It does us no good remembering the pain of our past. Yes, we can learn from our mistakes, but we don’t have to stay in that place of guilt, shame, or hurt.

When negative experiences or the foolish things we’ve done enter our minds, we replace those thoughts by speaking the Word of God. If the thought of a hurtful experience enters our minds, we open our mouths to declare, “the blood of Jesus has removed the pain of my past according to Hebrews 9:14.” If the thought of guilt or embarrassment enters our minds based on some foolish thing we did, we must declare, “I’m free from guilt and shame because there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus according to Romans 8:1.”

We may think it’s beneficial to hold on to our past, but it’s not. Make a conscious effort to forget every negative or hurtful thing in our past to enjoy this wonderful life God has for us.

Luke 4:3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Satan tried to question Jesus’ identity by saying, “If you are the Son of God.” Satan attempts to do the same thing with us. He uses thoughts, ideas, and suggestions to make us question our own identity. Some of these identity issues have invaded the church.

Some believers like to say, “I’m an old sinner saved by grace.” That’s not what God’s Word says. That’s an idea that came from Satan. God’s Word says, once we accept Jesus Christ as Lord, we’re saved (Rom. 10:9). That’s it. Our identity has been changed. We may still sin, but that doesn’t make us sinners.

Another belief that some like to proudly say is, “I’m a servant of God.” It sounds good, but that’s not true. Galatians 4:7 says, “Therefore you are no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” We are children of God. We can still serve God through righteous actions, but that doesn’t make us servants.

If we don’t know our identity, Satan can stop us from being all that God called us to be and he can stop us from receiving all that God has for us.

Our identity is found in the Word of God. Study the Word to know who you are in Christ. Any identity outside the Word is a lie.

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

This scripture speaks for itself.

Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,

It’s okay to be angry, frustrated, and hurt because of what’s going on in society, but don’t let your anger turn into sin. Don’t let your anger turn into violence, looting, or hate towards another person’s race or occupation.

Instead, turn your anger towards the one behind all the madness. Turn your anger towards Satan. Satan is the one who influences people to do horrific things. He uses thoughts, ideas, and suggestions in the minds of people to implement his plan. These ideas are contrary to the Word of God. He deceives people into thinking they came up with the thought themselves. The longer a person entertains Satan’s thoughts, the more logical it becomes to them.

That’s why it’s important to consistently pray for presidents, politicians, police officers, or anyone who has authority. Demonic thoughts are always being thrown at them because they’re in a position of power. With the ability God has given to believers, we can cast out Satan’s influences in every person who appears to be doing or saying things contrary to the Word of God (Luke 10:19).

It’s okay to be angry. Just be angry at the right person.