Category Archive

Hebrews 12:15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

Bitterness has ruined a lot of people. Bitterness comes when people don’t get what they want. It could be superficial like not getting a promotion, or more serious like not getting the love needed from a parent. Either way, if bitterness is not checked, it can negatively impact our future and the future of others.

A bitter person can talk themselves out of entering a relationship or going for their dreams because of negative experiences. They can do the same to others. They can squash people’s dreams and tell them how something won’t work. Bitter people can be deceived into thinking they’re helping people avoid heartache, but their bitterness is raining on other people’s parade.

We need to identify when bitterness has entered our hearts or the hearts of others. To avoid being bitter forever, we must allow God Almighty to show us what caused our bitterness and follow His instructions to uproot bitterness. It may be a time consuming process to uproot bitterness, but at least we’re doing the work to become better instead of bitter.

Don’t be bitter.

Hebrews 11:7 It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

Some of us are destined to do things that have never been done before. Some of us have business ideas, inventions, financial strategies, and concepts that will positively impact the world. Naturally, we can’t fathom how it’s going to happen, but by faith (belief in God), all things are possible (Mark 9:23).

All these great things God predestined for us to do must be done by faith. Faith is believing God’s written or audible word and acting on His word. He may tell you to get an LLC without having a complete business plan. He may tell us to invest in a particular company. He may have us buy certain products that will help the invention we have in our minds. When we act on what He says (obey), more instructions will be given. Eventually, we’ll have or do something that has never been done before.

It took faith for Noah to build an ark to avoid a flood when it had never rained. It will take faith for us to fulfill the will of God and do something that this world has never seen before. Apply your faith to God’s word.

Psalms 34:6 NLT In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; He saved me from all my troubles.

God desires that we communicate with Him all the time, but the great thing about God is if we only find ourselves communicating with Him during desperate times, He hears and delivers us from our troubles. He’s not turning His back on us or condemning us for only calling Him when we’re in trouble. He’s there to help as if we’ve been communicating with Him for years.

People may wonder why we only call them when we need them, but God doesn’t. He’s satisfied that we’re depending on Him. We may not have spoken to Him in years, but if we call, He’s right there to save us. And He’ll continue to save us every time in the hopes that we’ll depend on Him more.

Don’t feel bad or hypocritical for calling God during desperate times. Know He’s waiting and wanting us to depend on Him.

Romans 14:13 NLT So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.

Believers, we have to stop condemning one another. Satan is real and his agenda is still being pushed forward. If we’re condemning one another, how can we unite to stop his plan? Jesus said, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation (Matthew 12:25).

Some of us are so busy talking about what this person said or what that person did. We’re so focused on making sure God is represented properly until we forget about the enemy who is stealing, killing, and destroying (John 10:10).

Human trafficking is destroying people’s lives, but believers are talking about what Kirk Franklin or Kanye West said. People are going to hell, but we have believers condemning other believers about how they’re dressed. People are still homeless and hungry, but some of us can only focus on making ourselves feel superior by condemning others. Stop it!

Let’s stop the condemnation and be about the Kingdom of God. Let’s unite and continue the work of Christ and destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

A close family member could die, but God’s love remains.
A fire could have destroyed your dream home, but God’s love remains.
A relationship could have ended, but God’s love remains.
Whatever negative situation we experience, God’s love remains.

The enemy’s job is to make us think that negative circumstances are a representation of God’s love. It’s not. If we have everything we want or nothing at all, God’s love remains.

God loves us if we talk to Him five times a day or haven’t spoken to Him in months. God’s love is present when we’re giving Him praise or cursing Him out. Nothing can stop God’s love.

NEVER FORGET ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD! It will last forever. Receive His everlasting love.

Psalms 23:2 He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams.

When we submit to God and allow Him to lead us, we’ll experience peace. Peace is something we can’t buy. We can have all the money in the world, but still have no peace.

People try to duplicate God’s peace with things like meditation or going on relaxing vacations. That provides temporary peace, but everywhere we go, our minds are with us. If we don’t have peace in our minds, nothing we do provides satisfaction.

When we give God full control, He’ll lead us. He’ll show us areas where we’re holding onto cares, where we’re afraid, or anxious. All of this negatively impacts our peace. God will lead us to our deliverance from those things to experience internal peace. He’ll also show us how to have external peace. We can have peace in our marriages, with our children, and at our jobs.

Let’s allow God to lead us and take Him up on His offer to provide us with complete peace.

But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace. Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the Lord.” -Zechariah 8:16‭-‬17 NLT

God desires for us to tell the truth. It doesn’t matter if it makes us look bad or could potentially hurt someone else’s feelings. We should tell the truth.

A lot of times, people lie because they’re afraid. They’re afraid of how they’ll be viewed after telling the truth. When we’re not concerned about the opinions of others and make no reputation of ourselves, we’ll tell the truth because it’s the right thing to do.

When telling the truth, it should be done in love (Eph. 4:15). Our goal is not to hurt people’s feelings or make them feel small, but the truth is necessary. We should love the person to the point where we can be honest with them. Even if we don’t love them, we should love God enough to follow His instructions and tell everyone the truth.

Side Note: When we lie, we take on the nature of Satan who is the father of lies (John 8:44).

#dontlie

Psalms 107:13 NLT “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

The Lord does not show partiality (Rom. 2:11). What He does for one person, He’ll do for another. On three separate occasions in this chapter of Psalms, they cried for help and He saved them from their distress (v. 13, 19, 28). God made it a point to put this in the same chapter three separate times. He wants to clearly show us if He saved them from their distresses, He can save us too.

A simple “Lord help” is all we need. Once we ask for help, we should expect situations to be turned around or to receive strategies that will deliver us from our current state. If we listen and obey His instructions as they come, we’ll receive relief from our distress.

God doesn’t want anyone to live a life constantly going through trouble. Sure, we’ll experience trouble on occasion, but it was never meant to dominate our lives. Jesus sacrificed His life so that we can have an enjoyable, abundant life (John 10:10). If life is not lining up with God’s plan, call for help and He’ll deliver you from all distress.

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”
Luke 5:4‭-‬5

Jesus gave Simon instructions. He told Simon to launch out into the deep to catch fish after Simon had attempted to catch fish all night. Simon had a choice. He could have either listened to his logic, which said I’ve already tried this and it didn’t work, or obeyed the Lord. He obeyed the Lord and caught a great number of fish.

What instructions has God given to you? Are you drowning out His instructions with logic? Have you told yourself what God is requesting doesn’t make sense? If so, make the quick adjustment and obey God. As we obey God, abundance takes place in our lives (Isaiah 1:19). It may not be fish, but it could be an increase in peace, finances, health, joy, or deliverance.

Proverbs 14:12 says, there is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Don’t let logic get in the way and destroy what God has for you.

It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
Philippians 1:15‭-‬18 NLT

There are some who minister the gospel of Jesus Christ with pure motives and some with impure motives. When impure motives in ministers are discovered, the devil persuades people to give up Christianity all together. He’ll deceive people into thinking every minister is the same. They’ll leave or not enter the church thinking all ministers are the same.

It’s disappointing when impure motives are discovered, but at the end of the day, does it really matter? Paul says it doesn’t matter. Before their impure motives were discovered, they could have led 1,000 people to Christ. Christ is all that matters. Of course we would want ministers of the gospel to have pure motives, but sin and deception impacts us all.

Instead of throwing Christianity away because of a couple of people, pray for those with impure motives and applaud those with pure motives.

Ministers with impure or pure motives still are preaching and leading people to Christ. Motives don’t matter, Christ does.

God cares for you. This is head knowledge for a lot of us, but I don’t know if everyone believes this in their hearts. If everyone truly understood this, there would be a lot less stress in the world. Stress often leads to disease therefore, there would be a lot less disease too.

If we could truly understand how much He cares about us, we wouldn’t worry about how things are going to happen. We wouldn’t develop cares we were never meant to carry. We wouldn’t fight with others because we would let Him handle it. Receiving His care leads to a peaceful life.

God’s care, along with everything else He does for us, is fueled by His love. As we truly understand and receive His love, we’ll understand His care.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. -I Peter 5:7

Luke 8:11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.

No one, who has a little bit of intelligence, would plant a seed of corn on Monday, get upset because they don’t see corn on Tuesday, and dig up the seed on Wednesday. That would be foolish. It takes time for corn to grow. We understand this naturally, but spiritually, a lot of us are digging up our seed.

The seed is the word of God. We’ll see a promise in God’s word, believe and confess it for a period of time, get upset because we don’t immediately see the manifestation of that promise, and dig it up with our mouths. Some of us dig up our seed when we stop believing by saying things like, “this faith stuff doesn’t work,” or “I guess it wasn’t God’s will for me to have…” Stop digging up the seed!

Don’t dig it up. It may take longer than we anticipated, but don’t dig it up. Continue to visualize yourself with that promise, continue to confess that you received the promise, and continue to believe until it manifests. It may take a year, three years, or ten, but don’t dig up that seed.

Philippians 1:19 NLT For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.

It’s important to pray for unbelievers to become saved, but when we pray for other believers, God hears every word we said about that believer. And because the Spirit of Christ is inside that believer, deliverance can take place in their lives.

We may not know what all they’re dealing with, but as we pray for them, they can receive deliverance. It could be fear, sadness, depression, pornography addiction, or past pains. Whatever they’re dealing with, our prayers can produce deliverance.

James 5:16 confirms this as it says, pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Our prayers for one another cause healing and produce wonderful results.

Don’t think your prayers are falling on deaf ears just because you’re not seeing immediate results. Our prayers cause deliverance and must come to pass.

Romans 2:11 For God does not show favoritism.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a pastor of a church or just got out of prison, a millionaire or only have $20.00 in your account, have a PhD or a 6th grade education, God doesn’t show favoritism.

That means whether you’re in the White House or just left the crack house, God can positively impact your life. The bible says He can increase us more and more (Psalm 115:14). Wherever we are, He can increase us more and more.

This increase is not based on how long we pray or how many times we go to church in a month. This increase is for ANYONE who is willing to believe His word. Choose to believe God’s word to maximize on His benefits.

Understand no one is God’s favorite because we’re all His favorite.

Zechariah 8:6 This may seem impossible for my people who are left, but it isn’t impossible for me, the Lord All-Powerful.

A marriage being restored after infidelity, money for that dream house, being healed of that incurable disease, and getting over previous pains may all seem impossible, but it’s not impossible with God.

If we truly believe that God can do the impossible, nothing is too far gone. The problem with some of us is our belief. We may have head knowledge that God can do anything and can turn situations around, but that belief is not in our hearts. We’ll look at the situation and because we can’t see how it’s going to happen, it’s difficult for us to believe.

To make it easier for us to believe in God turning situations around in our favor, we must first renew our minds with the word of God (Rom. 12:2). Daily, we should read scriptures of God doing miraculous things and His promises.

Secondly, we should hear good bible-based teaching about the thing that’s difficult for us to believe. Faith is what’s needed to turn any situation around to align with God’s word, but faith can only come by hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17).

Finally, after building confidence in God’s word by reading and listening to God’s word, we must speak God’s word. Mark 11:23 teaches us we shall have whatever we say. Talking about the problem won’t change the problem and speaking about how unlikely it is that the situation changes will keep the situation the same. We must use the power of life in our speech to change the situation for the better. Declare you’re healed, declare you’re delivered from past pains, and declare you have the finances for whatever you desire.

As we follow these steps and let the Holy Spirit lead us, those seemingly impossible situations seem possible to overcome.

Colossians 3:1 NLT Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

As we move closer and closer to the end, there are so called intellectuals who love to dismiss God, the sacrifice of Jesus, heaven, and angels. They call it a myth and call Christians delusional for believing in this myth. When it’s all over, we’ll see who’s delusional.

Until then, we the believers, are to set our sights on the realities of heaven. As born-again believers, we have a new life in Christ. A benefit of this new life is relationship with God forever. From the point we accept Christ, we have eternal life and we’re seated with Jesus in heavenly places (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:6). So, if we die now or Jesus returns, we’re seated with Christ in heavenly places.

This is something we can look forward to. We can know we’ll spend eternity with the Father and don’t have to experience pain, negativity, and disappointment. This also helps us cope when other believers go on before us. We may miss them, but we know they’re in a better place.

Heaven is real. If we choose to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God Who died for our sins, we too have the privilege to make our home in Him.

What happens when we make Jesus Lord? What happens when we honor God with our lives? What happens when we completely trust Him? What happens when we totally submit our decisions to Him? What happens when we do what His word says? Let’s see…

“Yes,” says the Lord, “I will do mighty miracles for you, like those I did when I rescued you from slavery in Egypt.” All the nations of the world will stand amazed at what the Lord will do for you. They will be embarrassed at their feeble power. They will cover their mouths in silent awe, deaf to everything around them.
Micah 7:15‭-‬16

To sum this up, God will blow our minds. He will do some amazing things in our lives. His miracles will get the attention of others and have them in awe.

How will He do this? It’s for Him to know and for us to be amazed.

The good news for us is, under the new covenant, it’s already done through Jesus Christ. It’s already been prepared and waiting for us to obtain. All we need is a little faith and we can have it all.

Praise God we have a good Father who still desires to perform jaw-dropping miracles in our lives.

Matthew 6:6 NLT But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

This should go unsaid, but prayer is not optional. It’s actually a benefit for a believer. We don’t got to pray, we get to pray. Believers get the luxury to talk to The Creator about what’s going on in their lives, how to fix a problem, or just to say thank you. Prayer is truly amazing.

The enemy deceives people into thinking God’s not listening or makes them think they don’t have anything of value to say. That’s a lie. We don’t have to be religiously deep when we pray. We can casually talk to God as we drive, clean up, or work and He’s listening. Not only is He listening, but He responds too.

Like we have a conversation with our spouse or another family member, talk to God about anything you desire and expect a response. That’s prayer.

“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.
Matthew 6:16‭-‬17 NLT

Based on these two verses, God expects us to fast. It says when you fast, not if you fast.

Fasting is not meant to test our will power. Fasting focuses our dependence onto God. It deprives our flesh of something and that deprivation is meant to lead us closer to God.

Fasting allows us to hear God a lot more clearly. He may give us instructions on how to grow our business, overcome previous pains, or manage our children, but if we can’t hear Him clearly because our flesh is in the way, we may miss some steps.

Fasting doesn’t release what we’ve been praying for or automatically cause deliverance in our lives. It simply gives us the opportunity to hear God clearly and that clarity may give us the answers we’ve been looking for.

So, whether it’s food, TV, social media, or shopping, fasting is expected and beneficial.

Matthew 6:3‭-‬4 NLT But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Notice, it says when (not if) we give to someone in need. This let’s us know God desires for us to give to someone in need. It could be the homeless, a friend who needs a few extra dollars, or that unknown woman who is in the grocery line attempting to find whatever she has in her purse to purchase groceries.

We won’t go to hell if we don’t give, but we’ll miss out on an opportunity to be used by God and we’ll miss out on an opportunity for God to bless us. When we give, we become an extention of God’s love. When we give, it will cause people to give to us (Luke 6:38).

Ultimately, it’s good to be a giver because we’re children of our Heavenly Father who is the ultimate giver. Let’s remove selfishness and be givers.

1 Timothy 2:1 NLT I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

We are called to pray for everyone. It didn’t say only pray for the people you like or know. It said pray for everyone.

It’s easy to pray for the people we know and love, but there are others who are hurting and needing prayer. We should pray for the leaders in our country (mayors, governors, and the president). Pray for law enforcement officers to be safe and to make good decisions. Pray for the homeless. Pray for your boss who keeps taking their anger out on others. Whoever God puts in our spirit, we should pray for them.

James 5:16 says, the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it works. It not only works in our lives, but in the lives of others. So, pray for those close to you and for those you’ll never meet. We, the believers, are called to pray.

John 15:9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.

Jesus gives us a command. We are to remain in His love. How do we remain in His love? Some may have different meanings of how we are to remain in His love. Let the bible define itself.

John 15:10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

When we obey His commandments, we remain in His love. This scripture makes followers of the Law of Moses happy. They think they have a scripture telling new testament Christians to follow God’s commandments. Let’s look closely. These are the commandments of Jesus. The commandments given by God to Moses are different from the commandments of Jesus. So what are the commandments of Jesus? Let the bible define itself.

John 15:12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

Jesus tells us we follow His commandments by loving each other the same way He loves us. It’s not wearing certain clothing, eating certain foods, or praying 5 times a day. He tells us we follow His commandments by loving each other. To be certain no one incorrectly interprets His meaning, He double downs His statement in verse 17 saying, This is my command: Love each other (John 15:17).

Putting it all together, we remain in Jesus’ love by loving others the way He loves us.

Don’t leave interpretations of scripture strictly to ministers or our own understanding. Allow the bible to define itself so that all believers can be on the same page with God’s word.

Romans 5:20 NLT God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.

Whether we just got saved yesterday or have been saved for 20+ years, some part of us wants to honor God. We want to pray more, behave appropriately, trust God more, seek His counsel in all our decisions, control our emotions, etc. As we make the effort to honor God, there may be times we miss the mark. We may have wanted to be calm, but we lost our cool with that person. We wanted to be celibate, but our flesh won the battle.

If we miss the mark, most people do one of two things. They either beat themselves up and allow Satan to run a guilt trip on them or they give up trying to honor God in that area because they feel it’s too difficult to uphold.

A third option is to let grace abound. God knew we would miss the mark on our journey. That’s why He sent His Son Jesus. Jesus paid the price for all (past, present, and future) of our mess ups (1 Peter 3:18). Through Jesus, we’ve already been forgiven of everything we’ll ever do.

So if you miss the mark, don’t allow yourself to feel guilty and don’t quit making the effort to honor God. Receive God’s grace for that mistake and move on. Immediately after the mistake literally say, “God, I receive your grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ” and go on with your life knowing your sin has been forgiven and forgotten (Hebrews 8:12).

Some churches have made repentance to be this deep spiritual or spooky thing we must do in order to be loved by God. Repentance is simply recognizing what we’re doing is wrong and turning from those actions.

The most crucial form of repentance we ALL should do is turn from death towards life by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. But that’s not the only form of repentance. If we’re living in unforgiveness, we must turn from unforgiveness towards forgiveness and forgive whoever has hurt us. If we’ve been verbally abusing our spouse, we must repent or turn from being abusive towards lifting our spouse up with encouraging words.

Repentance is a journey. Repentance can take place 10 years after we’ve received salvation. When the Holy Spirit reveals something we’ve been doing wrong, simply recognize our error, turn from that behavior and move on. Repentance is not beating ourselves up or making ourselves feel bad. It’s turning from our faults towards the ways of God.

If God is showing or has shown you something that requires repentance, repent and praise God for His forgiveness.

For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you if you return to Him. -2 Chronicles 30:9b

Ephesians 4:22‭-‬23 NLT 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.

When we get born-agan, our spirit is instantly changed. Although our spirit has changed, our soul (our mind, will, imagination, and emotions) will always need improvements. Romans 12:2 says we should be constantly renewing our minds.

When things are seemingly going well for a person (they have a good job, nice house, healthy family, etc.) there’s no motivation to improve. Why would someone need to work on their attitude or anger if more things are going right for them than wrong? Why would someone want to grow in their relationship with God if everything is going their way? If things got a little tougher, we would pray more, work on being kinder, and do all the things we know that please God. But as soon as we have what we want in life, some of us slowly push God and His ways aside.

Our incentive to improve and honor God should be based on the goodness of God. God has been so good to us until we should want to better ourselves, minister the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be a blessing to others. We should want to spend time with Him and improve ourselves because He’s a good Father.

Don’t wait until things get bad to improve or spend time with Him. Constant improvements and time with God should be a lifestyle.

In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it. -Mark 11:14

Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” -Mark 11:20‭-‬21 NKJV

Jesus opened His mouth and cursed a fig tree. A day later, the fig tree withered a way.

Jesus is showing us how to curse something for our good. If He can curse a fig tree, why can’t we curse cancer and it wither away? Why can’t we curse lack? Why can’t we curse division and strife in our home? Why can’t we curse barreness? Anything that’s not God’s will, we have the ability to use our words, curse it, and expect it to die.

For those who think we can’t curse things because we’re not the Son of God, Jesus said he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12).

We can bless things with our mouths, but we can also curse things too. Use your words wisely to bless and curse things for your good.

There are some who have a passive que sera sera mindset when it comes to faith. Whatever will be, will be. They may want something, but they’ll add the “if it’s the Lord’s will” statement after expressing their desires. For instance, a couple may truly want a child. Instead of believing for the manifestation of a child no matter how long it takes, after a few years of believing, they’ll think it wasn’t God’s will for them to have children.

This passive faith is not really faith at all. It’s hoping something happens and giving ourselves an out if it doesn’t happen. This makes God responsible for what doesn’t happen. At the end of the day we’re telling ourselves and anyone who is willing to listen that God doesn’t keep His word.

God’s will is in His word and it’s not limited to certain people. God’s word says WHATEVER we ask for when we pray, believe that we receive it, and we will have it (Mark 11:24). So whatever we desire, we can have.

Go all in for what you want. Believe God and leave it with Him to bring it to pass. It may take a year or five years, but stick with it. Don’t let doubt, unbelief, and passivity enter your mind. Believe God’s word for whatever you desire.

But 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. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
James 1:6‭-‬7 NKJV

The name of Jesus has seemingly been reduced to a cherry on top of a sunday or a bow on top of a present. We tell God everything we want and finish it with a cute little “in the name of Jesus.” In actuality, this should be reversed. The name of Jesus is the foundation and authority we have when we’re talking to God. Jesus Himself is the only reason we can approach God. Look at the power in His name…

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. -John 14:13‭-‬14

In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. -John 16:23

John 14:13 is where we ask in the name of Jesus for something to be done. Examples: a child to be healed, a person to be delivered from bitterness, or protection for a friend. Jesus said He will do this so that the Father will be glorified in Him.

John 16:23 is where we ask in the name of Jesus for something to be given to us (petition prayer). Examples: a house, car, or husband/wife.

John 14 says do and John 16 says give, but both are in the name of Jesus.

So, the next time you’re praying magnify the importance of the name of Jesus. It’s the only reason we have what we have and can do what we do.

Romans 7:18‭-‬20 NLT For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

The main struggle we have is the struggle between our flesh and God’s will. Whatever’s in God’s will, our flesh wants to do the opposite.

God says forgive, but our flesh wants revenge. God says abstain from premarital sex, but our flesh craves it. God says give, our flesh says hoard.

Sometimes, it takes a lot of effort to go against our flesh, but it’s worth it. It’s worth it because there’s a blessing on the other side of our obedience (Isaiah 1:19).

As long as we continue to allow our flesh to have dominance, it will get harder to resist and we ultimately may become callus to the word of God. This will negatively impact the quality of life, but if we recognize the enemy’s trick, and go against our flesh, it becomes easier each time and we’ll experience God’s best.

For the rest of our lives on earth, there will be this internal struggle, but once we realize God’s blessings outweigh the gratification of our flesh, it becomes easier to please Him rather than our flesh. Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee (James 4:7).

A prayer request is the easy part. Just ask God for what we desire in Jesus’ name.

The hard part is maintaining the belief that it will come to pass. The negative circumstance, the feeling, the delay, and how it looks can make us think it won’t come to pass. However, if we maintain our belief in what God said in His word, it will eventually come to pass.

We have to be willing to wait forever and magnify God’s word above everything else. People may think we’re foolish for believing God for a desire for so long, but who cares? If we’re determined and only focus on the word of God regarding our desire, it must come to pass.

God is not a liar. If He said it, it will come to fruition. Are you willing to believe Him in spite of everything you see? Well, walk and continue to walk by faith and not by sight. Don’t stop, turn around, or go in another direction. Walk by faith towards the promises of God.

II Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Luke 6:38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

If you are a giver, you should expect to receive.

When we give, God’s word promises that we’ll not only receive what we gave, but more. Giving is not just some ritual they do in church and it’s not some scheme playing on the emotions of believers. Giving is an opportunity for God to get something to us.

Our return is not just in the form of money. It could be in the form of favor, gifts, and blessings. The company could be laying people off, but because of our giving, they keep us. We could have a disease, but because of our giving, we could unexpectedly come across a specialist at the park. And of course, our giving could allow us to receive a raise on our jobs. If we’re only focused on the return of money, we could miss what God has done as a result of our giving.

Givers, be on the lookout. Understand that because we give, it must be given back to us. If it doesn’t, God is a liar and this entire universe will fall apart. Just FYI… God can’t lie (Titus 1:2). It has to come to pass. Be vigilant.

Luke 16:13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Money is not good or bad. Money is simply a tool we use as an accepted payment for goods and services. Our perspective on money is what can either be good or bad.

1 Timothy 6:10 says, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. How do we know if we love God or money more? You must ask yourself the following questions… Are you craving or have a strong focus on money more than God? Are you constantly thinking about how to get more of it instead of spending time with God? Are you willing to disobey God to keep the money you have? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, money is your master.

The good news is your master can change by renewing your mind with the word of God. As we obey God through giving and we’re Spirit led about what we spend and what we save, we say to ourselves and the spirit of money that God is our Master.

God understands how tempting money can be to takeover our lives. That’s because money can seemingly fix anything (read Ecclesiastes 10:19). But, let’s put our trust in God and allow money to be a tool that God uses, through us, to fix the world.

1 Chronicles 16:43 Then all the people returned to their homes, and David turned and went home to bless his own family.

We all have the ability to bless someone else. We don’t have to be a pastor, a deacon, or have it all together to bless.

The formula to bless can be found in Genesis 1:28. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” It can be also seen in Genesis 27:27 where Isaac blessed Jacob and said a list of positive things towards him.

Based on this formula, if we open our mouths and believe what we’re saying, we can bless anyone. So why not bless your family?

It doesn’t have to be formal. In passing, we can release a blessing over their lives. We can say…
“I declare that you prosper at school, in your finances, and in your career.”
“I declare that the favor of God is on your life. You have favor with God and people.”
“I declare you are protected from every disease, accident, or tragic event.”

Whatever we desire for our families can be released through belief in our words. Take this time, whether they’re present or not, to bless your family.

I Chronicles 16:11 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!

God wants us to spend time with Him. He doesn’t just want us to acknowledge Him on Sunday. He wants us to have daily communication with Him. Just because He knows everything doesn’t mean He doesn’t want to talk to us about everything.

God wants to help us in problematic areas, He wants to show us how He blessed us that day, He wants to show us where our next opportunity will come from, He wants to show us how to parent our children, He wants to reveal areas where we can improve, and He wants to show us areas where we have grown.

All of this can be done by spending time with God. Some think they need to be on their knees in a quiet room to spend time with God. That’s not necessarily the case. We can talk to God at work, in our cars, while working out, before we go to sleep, or all the above.

As much as we value earthly relationships with our parents, children, or siblings, we should value time with God. Spend time with the One who loves you the most.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 NKJV Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.

Sometimes, Christians have a tendency to be sin focused. They make everything a sin. If a person listens to secular music, that’s a sin. If a person watches a movie, that’s a sin. If they dress a certain way, that’s a sin. If they have too much money, that’s a sin. Even if they’re doing something innocent like watching a football game, a sin focused person would think they’re doing something wrong because they could be using that time to spend with God. Some are so sin focused until they can’t enjoy life. That’s not what God wants for us.

No wonder some reject Christianity. Why would people want to accept a Savior who makes them feel bad for every thing they enjoy doing?

We can still believe in a risen Savior, serve an awesome God, and enjoy life. John 10:10 lets us know Jesus came so that we can have an abundant life. An abundant life doesn’t mean depriving ourselves of things. We can be in the world, but not of the world.

There may be things, individually, that we should abstain from. For instance, if a person has a tendency to lust, they should abstain from movies with nudity. If a person is quick to be angry, they should avoid listening to music associated with violence.

Allow the Holy Spirit to show you what you should or should not do. But, not everything’s a sin.

Ephesians 5:1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

Along with loving like God and forgiving like God, we’re to imitate God by calling those things that be not, as though they were. Romans 4:17b says God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

Someone may emphasize that GOD, not us, calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Once again, we’re His children and have been instructed to imitate Him.

So, how do we do this? We open our mouths and say what we desire to happen and believe what we say is going to happen. God looked at the darkness, opened His mouth and commanded light (Gen. 1:2-3). When we look at dark circumstances in our own lives, we have the authority and ability to change that negative circumstance into a positive through faith in our words. Proverbs 18:21 says, death and life are in the power of the tongue. We, not God, can speak death to our lives or life to our lives. It’s up to us.

When our health is under attack, instead of saying how bad it is, we can call our bodies healed (Isaiah 53:5). It doesn’t matter how we currently feel, what we say and believe will change our situation. It works the same way when we see lack in our finances, problems in our marriages, or drama on our jobs. We can declare increase and peace in those situations and it must come to pass.

Let’s understand our authority and speak the solution instead of the problem.

Inspired Charles Capps

1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

In the body of Christ, there’s division from denominations. People are telling others how Christianity “really” should be. There are people with a platform and the only thing they want to do is tell others what’s wrong in the church. There are pastors who openly speak negatively of other pastors. Some people want to highlight other people’s flaws.

The most important thing to God is having a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. From that relationship, we should be renewing our minds, making an impact in our family, our community, and ultimately the world. We should be talking to God on how to advance His Kingdom or how to solve the world’s problems. It could be as big as ending world hunger or as small as telling a manager how to be more efficient.

We, the believers, easily have access to the God of the universe, but because we’ve been so divisive, negative, and inwardly focused, we’ve allowed unbelievers to come up with billion dollar industries. That should be us. Can you imagine what we can do for God’s Kingdom with multiple industries valued at a billion dollars each?

Let’s not focus on how this person is representing Christianity or pointlessly debate about the meaning of a scripture. Instead, let’s focus on strengthening our relationship with God, completing our assignments, and fulfilling our purpose in the earth.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.

Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

It’s often overlooked, but God has commanded mankind to subdue the earth. A definition of subdue means to overcome, quieten, or bring under control.

It’s our responsibility to bring this earth under control. It’s not God’s responsibility, but ours. So, anything we don’t like seeing (pollution, violence, sex trafficking, division, etc.) is our responsibility to bring under control.

We’re not to subdue the earth using our will power or our limited intelligence. It has always been God’s plan for us to invite Him in as an unseen partner. Under the new covenant, we have the authority to use the name of Jesus to get God involved in whatever we’re doing (John 16:23-24).

If what you’re seeing or experiencing on this earth doesn’t align with God’s will, use the authority God has given you to change it. Stop waiting on God to automatically change it for you. Speak to that situation and command it to go, in Jesus name.

Romans 3:20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 7:4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.

As we look at the scriptures above, it should be clear that we are no longer under nor should we practice the law to be made righteous or holy. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. With all this evidence, there are people who still feel like we should keep the law. It’s like they don’t know what to do with themselves if they’re not keeping the law.

First of all, the law was written to Jewish people by Jewish people to be made righteous. If you’re not Jewish (a Gentile), the law was not meant for you. Jews and Gentiles have a new justification system. Our belief that Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf makes us righteous (Rom. 3:22).

So what should we do with ourselves? Continously remind ourselves we are righteous through our faith in Christ. As saved believers, we will still miss the mark. Instead of beating ourselves up about it, give God praise because through Christ, our sins are forgiven and we’re still righteous.

What else can we do? Be led by the Holy Spirit to renew your mind (John 14:26; Rom. 12:2). The Holy Spirit will tell us areas where we need improvement. Follow His leading to renew your mind to the word of God.

We don’t have to force the law in our lives to be made righteous. It’s not a little bit of the law and a little bit of grace. It’s all grace through Jesus. Galatians 2:21 for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Understand, we all have been made righteous through Jesus.