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There’s a saying that says, “life be lifing.” The concept of this saying is life is busy, difficult, and challenging.
What we all must do is make sure we’re not responsible for making life difficult or challenging. We do this by taking accountabilty for our actions. We can’t do things contrary to God’s word, then say “life be lifing” when we reap the consequences of our actions. Proverbs 13:15 says, “the way of the transgressor is hard.” This means we should expect difficulties when we don’t do things God’s way.
Here’s the good news. Even though we may have put ourselves in a difficult situation, God is gracious enough to help us out of that pit. He’ll help us with no guilt, shame, or condemnation. Just follow His voice and obey His word, and life will become smoother and smoother.
It first starts with accountabilty. When we take accountability for our actions, then humble ourselves before God, He’ll guide us every step of the way.
Proverbs 13:15 KJV Good understanding giveth favour: But the way of transgressors is hard.
Matthew 18:18 NKJV “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Mark 11:23 NKJV For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
John 14:13-14 NKJV And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [14] If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Some of us have a basic understanding of faith. We use it for major things like getting a house or manifesting healing in our bodies. Or, we use faith as a last resort. By understanding the scriptures above and knowing our authority, we can apply faith to any area of our lives.
If our child has a loose baby tooth that’s hurting them, we can speak to that tooth and command it to come out. If our supervisor is being unreasonable or unkind, we can speak to the demonic influence behind their behavior and command it to go. If there’s pain in our bodies, we can use our faith, speak to that pain, and that pain must leave. We can apply our faith to heavy traffic to flow freely. If the situation is problematic, we can use our faith in that area.
Now, if we speak to that pain or traffic and it doesn’t change immediately, does that mean faith doesn’t work or it can’t be applied in that area? Absolutely not. That’s where we exercise patience. James 1:3 says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. It goes on to say, let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind (James 1:6). This means doubt will come, but we must turn it away and stay in faith.
Start exercising your faith for anything, and for every situation.
Romans 4:21 NIV being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.
Have you ever seen a marathon or a triathlon? In those events, they have water stations. There are people standing on the side of the course with water for the athletes. The athletes usually veer towards the water station while competing and get as much water as they need to continue the race. All the water they need is available. They just need to receive.
It’s the same way when it comes to the promises of God. In life, all the promises of God have been made available to us through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:20). There’s healing, deliverance, financial increase, peace, and more. Like the athletes, all we have to do is receive them by faith on our journey.
If we believe that Jesus has made these promises available to us and don’t be moved by the circumstances in life, we’ll experience manifestation after manifestation. It may not be as quick as we’d like, but if we continue to stand on His word and obey His voice, those promises will come to pass. Receive whatever you’re believing for by faith.
Ephesians 6:16 NKJV above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
2 Corinthians 2:11 NIV in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
The devil throws thoughts, ideas, and suggestions into our minds. The bible calls them firey darts. The deceptive thing about some of these thoughts are they’re “I” thoughts. Satan will make “I” statements in our minds to make it seem like they’re our own thoughts.
For instance, thoughts may enter our minds like, “I don’t want to be here” or “I hate myself.” If we’re not aware of Satan’s schemes, we’ll think those are our own thoughts. They’re not. Satan is behind it all.
To combat these thoughts, we must replace them with the word of God. If a thought enters our minds that says, “I don’t want to be here,” we must say “I will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord” (Ps.118:17). If the thought of “I hate myself” comes, we must combat that thought with “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” and since God loves, I love me (Ps. 138:14; Rom. 8:39).
We can’t stop Satan from throwing thoughts in our minds, but we can minimize the impact it has on us. We do this by consistently hearing the word of God. When we know who we are in Christ and what we mean to God, we can easily identify those demonic “I” thoughts and quickly dismiss them.
Ephesians 4:20-24 NLT But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Once we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, there should be changes in our lives. The things we did prior to being born-again, we shouldn’t do anymore.
For instance, if we regularly got drunk on the weekends, we should ease up on the drinking to not get drunk. If we’re used to finding someone to take home for the night to fornicate, we should control our urges.
We make these changes, not to be accepted by God or to earn His approval. We make these changes to honor God and to thank Him for His sacrifice by sending His Son.
Does that mean we’ll be flawless? Absolutely not. Our spirits got born-again, but our flesh still desires things contrary to the word of God. Our minds still and will always need to be renewed (Rom. 12:2). Does He expect for us to make these changes on our own? Absolutely not. Philippians 2:13 says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.”
Just call on Him and ask for help when your flesh is talking about doing things contrary to God’s word. He’ll help. And don’t let your flesh do all the talking. If the enemy uses our flesh to throw thoughts, ideas, and suggestions contrary to God’s Word in your mind, use your literal voice to declare you’re going to honor God. You may not know what verse to say, but you can literally say, “No, I honor God!” It may seem strange to talk to someone we can’t see, but we’re positioning ourselves to make these changes that align with God’s word.
#honor #God
Luke 17:3 NKJV Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
Jesus instructs us to forgive each other. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done or how many times they’ve done it. Whatever they’ve done, we must forgive.
Prior to forgiving them, we’re instructed to rebuke them. Rebuke means expressing a disapproval of their actions. In order for them to know how they’ve wronged us, we have to tell them. So don’t be prideful and act like their actions didn’t hurt or offend you. Be honest with them and let them know.
This is just a reminder to forgive. Forgiveness benefits us, it benefits our relationships, and most importantly, forgiveness represents God’s heart.
Forgive.
#forgive #others #forgiveness #freedom
Matthew 19:16-22 NKJV Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Obviously, the young man understands work. He worked hard to obtain material possessions and he worked at living a relatively righteous life. Now, Jesus is instructing him to remove himself from the equation and everything he worked for and follow Him, but he couldn’t.
Some people can’t develop an intimate relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, because of those same two reasons. They may have gained a lot of material possessions and they enjoy the lifestyle that comes with it, but they aren’t willing to give that up for God. Most of the time, God isn’t asking them to give everything away, but the thought of giving it away and changing their lifestyle limits the depths they can go with God.
In other situations, people can’t go deeper with God because of self-righteousness. They pride themselves on their works and their self-effort until they can’t truly appreciate what Jesus has accomplished for them.
In both cases, it comes back to trust. The person dominated by material possessions trusts more in them, than what God could provide. The other person trusts more in their righteousness over what Jesus has accomplished to make them righteous.
Let’s not go down this road. Let’s trust God with our possessions, our lifestyle, and our righteousness.
#trust #God
Some believers act like health and prosperity aren’t a part of God’s will for believers. They may be going through challenges in life or they know good people who aren’t experiencing health and prosperity and conclude that health and prosperity is not God’s will for all believers. Just because someone isn’t currently experiencing those things doesn’t mean it isn’t God’s will.
Let’s look at Jesus. Jesus demonstrated the Father’s will in the earth.
Matthew 15:30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them.
Luke 9:16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.
Matthew 17:27 However, we don’t want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.”
As we can see, Jesus demonstrated health, provision, and abundance to be a blessing. This was all done for sinners because He hadn’t died yet. Surely, after His resurrection, under a better covenant, we the righteous, can and should be experiencing good health, provision, and abundance.
Health and prosperity are definitely not all there is to life as a believer, but they definitely shouldn’t be excluded. Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we can have these benefits while we’re here on earth.
#abundant #life #in #Christ
John 14:16 NKJV And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
There are people who like to say the Holy Spirit is not with the believer if they have sin in their lives. This contradicts what Jesus said. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will be with us forever. Those same people may also say we can lose our salvation because of sin. The Holy Spirit would have to depart if sin corrupted our lives. Again, this contradicts what Jesus said. He said the Holy Spirit will abide with us forever.
Sin is not something that we should be okay with. It negatively impacts our lives and it hinders our ability to clearly hear from God, but let’s not magnify sin above the sacrifice of Jesus or make it more powerful than God’s word (Heb. 3:13-15).
If we’ve made Jesus Christ Lord and Savior, sin will not cause the Holy Spirit to leave (Eph. 1:13-14). We’re not destined for hell unless that sin is handled. Sin has been paid for by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice (Eph. 1:7). We’re forgiven of past, present, and future sins (1 Pet. 3:18). If sin is present after we get saved, the Holy Spirit will help us overcome those challenges (Rom. 8:26).
Stop waking up every day thinking about how much sin we have and wondering if it will send us to hell. Receive and walk in the righteousness we have through Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).
Inspired by Pastor Joseph Prince
#free #and #forgiven #in #Christ
2 Corinthians 4:18 AMPC Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.
Gas prices are temporary.
Wars are temporary.
Financial lack is temporary.
Health issues are temporary.
Our children’s bad behavior is temporary.
The scripture tells us to not look at, focus on, or fixate on temporary things. It’s unnecessary and unwise to fixate on temporary things because temporary things are subject to change.
Instead, we should focus on unseen things, which are eternal. The unseen things are the godly things in the spirit realm. This includes God Almighty, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the word of God, and angels. It’s important to focus on unseen things because the unseen things have the power to change the temporary things.
What’s the point of getting frustrated or emotional about something that’s temporary? What’s the point of being upset with the president, complaining about our jobs, or worried about our safety? The only reason it frustrates us is because we’re focusing on what’s temporarily in the natural. If we would focus on the unseen, which is eternal, we would realize God is bigger than politics, confessing God’s word, in faith, will increase our finances, and angels are assigned to protect us.
Start focusing on the unseen realm, instead of the temporary. Let’s keep our minds focused on Him.
#focus on #God #good #life in #Christ
I John 4:17 NKJV Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
People sincerely believe the summary of this Christian life is to be more and more like Jesus. Their heart is right, but their perspective is wrong.
When we make Jesus Christ Lord of our lives, our spirits get born-again and we take on a new nature (2 Cor. 5:17). That nature is identical to Christ. The scripture says, as He is, so are we in this world. Notice it doesn’t say, as He is so are we in heaven or in the world to come. It says we (our spirits) are like Jesus now.
What people usually are referring to when they say they’re wanting to be more like Jesus is their soul. Our soul is our mind, will, imagination, emotions, and intellect. If their soul doesn’t reflect Christ, they think they’re not like Christ. Romans 12:2 tells us to transform ourselves by the renewing of our minds, but if all we identify with is our souls, our perspective is limited.
We are spirits and we have souls. Our spirits are just like Christ. If we renew our minds to this truth, our souls will respond accordingly. The things that seem difficult to overcome will suddenly become easy. The behavior we’ve tried to change for years will seem effortless when we identify with being like Jesus.
If we’re only identifying with our souls, or even worse, our flesh, we’ll always be disappointed because in this flesh, we’ll always be a work in progress. But if we understand and come from the perspective of already being like Jesus, we’ll have boldness to approach God, operate in overcoming power, and live with no guilt or shame.
To take it to another level, let’s understand and identify with already being like Jesus Christ.
#Christ in me #hope of #glory
I Corinthians 15:58 NKJV Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Everything we do in and for the Kingdom of God is monitored by God. Every piece of trash we pick up in His church, every time we minister to someone, every encouraging post we make on social media, and every good deed we do is all being monitored by God. God is keeping record of it all.
Trust and believe that our efforts are not for nothing. There’s a promise attached to our efforts. In Ephesians 6:8, God promises that whatever good we do, we will receive the same from the Lord. So our efforts not only benefit God’s Kingdom and those we help, it benefits us too.
Let’s not be inward focused or selfish with our time, talents, and finances. Let’s give towards the Kingdom of God, knowing we’re assisting in its expansion, helping others, and setting ourselves up to be blessed by God.
#give #time #talent #treasure #Kingdom
Mark 11:24 NKJV Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
When we’re in faith for something, it’s usually for something big like, a new house, a car, deliverance from a disease, or restoration in our marriages. Being in faith for those things is good, but we can also use our faith for daily things.
We can use our faith to not get in an argument with our spouse that day. We can use our faith for great sleep at night without any disturbances. Our faith can be used to decree no person cuts us off while driving. Our faith can be used to receive the energy and attitude we need to get through work, our children’s extracurricular activities, and household chores without being irritable or exhausted. We can even use our faith to get a good parking spot.
Along with things that will majorly impact our lives, these are daily things where our faith can be applied. Let’s start or continue to use our faith for daily things on a daily basis.
#have #faith #believe #trust #God
God’s word says, whatever we ask for when we pray, believe that we receive them, and we will have them (Mark 11:24). Sometimes, those things come instantaneously, but most of the time we’ll experience resistance. Resistance typically comes in the form of delay and thoughts from the enemy that our prayers won’t get answered.
So, if there’s still pain in our bodies 2 months after we’ve declared ourselves healed or if we haven’t received the manifestation of the money we need to start our business, that’s typical. It’s not a reflection on us, our faith, and it certainly doesn’t mean it’s not God’s will. Resistance is part of the process.
While we wait, our responsibilities are to continue to stand in faith (without doubt) and exercise patience. Ephesians 6:13-14 says, having done all to stand, stand firmly. Hebrews 10:36 says, we have need of patience, that, after we have done the will of God, we might receive the promise.
Once again, it’s not because of our faith. It’s just resistance. If we can be patient and stand firmly and don’t doubt, we’ll have the answer to our prayers.
Be encouraged.
Luke 8:50 NKJV But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”
#believe #God #standfirm #faith
Isaiah 53:4 NKJV Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
-A child or a close relative transitioning
-Going through a divorce
-Losing a house in a fire
-Experiencing a life-altering injury
-Losing a business
-Making a mistake that led to prison
These things could cause us to grieve and have sorrow. However, we don’t have to accept those things. We can give our griefs and sorrows back to Jesus.
Jesus took our grief and sorrow over 2000 years ago. He took them so we don’t have to live with them. In exchange, He left us His strength, joy, and peace (Phil. 4:13; John 15:11; John 14:27).
To walk in this strength, joy, and peace, we must consistently give our cares to God. Every time the thought of sadness or heaviness enters our minds, we can literally say, “I give the care of my business failing or my relative transitioning to You.” We’ll have to do this multiple times throughout the day, but it will keep us from grief and sorrow.
There’s nothing wrong with being sad about a situation, but we don’t want the sadness to turn into grief and sorrow. The reason why grieving is not beneficial is because it magnifies the problem above God. Secondly, grief and sorrow could lead us to depression, which causes other health issues in our bodies.
Let’s make an exchange. Let’s give Him our grief and sorrows in exchange for His strength and joy. Continuously do this until grief and sorrow goes away.
#exchange #griefandsorrow #for #strengthandjoy
Acts 16:25-26 NKJV But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Midnight moments are some of the most difficult moments in our lives. It’s when we feel like everything’s falling apart and we feel like we won’t make it another day. It’s when the rent/mortgage is due and we don’t have enough money. It’s when our bodies are aching and we don’t know when the pain will end. It’s when our minds are filled with negativity, fear, and confusion.
During those midnight moments, instead of throwing a pity party for ourselves and entertaining negative thoughts from the enemy, we can do like Paul and Silas and intentionally give God praise. We can praise Him when we don’t feel like it. We can praise Him through the tears. We can praise Him when our circumstances are telling us not to.
As we praise Him, something happens in us. We get our minds off the problem and we focus it on Him. We’re building our faith to trust in what He says instead of being fixated on the circumstances. Simultaneously, our faith in what He said about our situation, is transferring what we believe from the invisible to the visible. Our circumstances may not change overnight, but we should praise Him like they could.
If we’re experiencing a ton of negative circumstances, start praising God with an expectation of deliverance. Let’s fix our minds on Him and praise the Lord.
#choose #to #praise #the #Lord
Matthew 5:44 NKJV But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
As believers, we’re called to love. It’s not a suggestion. It’s a command. Loving people is not always easy. There will be times when we have to love when it’s difficult.
Loving when it’s difficult includes loving the spouse who constantly criticizes us, loving that parent who was never there for us, or loving that sibling who looks for ways to use us. During these moments, we must rely on God’s help to love. We may not feel like loving them and they haven’t done anything to deserve our love. But despite how we feel, we must love.
Going beyond how we feel is loving by faith. Loving by faith is an intentional decision to love that person the way God loves us. Loving by faith is loving that person in spite of their wrong. If God can love and forgive us, we can love and forgive them too. This doesn’t mean we position ourselves to get hurt or used again, but if God tells us to do something for them, we do it using His love working through us.
Let’s drop the pride and ego and love everyone. This is the way God wants all of us to live.
#Love #by #faith
Graced To Do God's Will 