Category Archive

1 John 3:9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.

If God’s life is truly in us, we won’t continue to deliberately practice sin.

Practicing sin means, we know what God’s word says about the behavior, mindset, or action, but we intentionally do it anyway. We would rather satisfy our flesh than please God. Some of us developed a hardened heart in that area. We don’t care what God says about that subject, we want to satisfy our lustful desires. Some of us tried to justify the bible and say, “the bible doesn’t really mean…”.

Don’t make excuses about why you can’t obey God’s word. It may be a struggle at times and the temptation may be great, but make the effort to please God. If you miss the mark, receive God’s grace and forgiveness, but the next time you’re tempted, make the effort to please God.

But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’
Amos 7:14‭-‬15 NLT

If we really are living to be a vessel for God, we’ll do what He says. That includes getting out of our comfort zone, taking time away from our normal course of business, and going on a detour.

That detour could include taking off of work for a week and getting spiritually fed at a conference. It could include going on a missions trip to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ instead of going on that vacation. It could be as simple as inviting a friend over to encourage them.

Whatever GOD has for you to do, do it. These detours may not be exciting to our flesh, but they’re beneficial to the Kingdom of God and they’re developing our character.
Happy Thanksgiving!

The Holy Spirit gives us balance. For instance, when parenting our children, we usually revert back to how we were raised. Some of us were spanked all the time so, we either overly spank our children or go to the other extreme and not spank them at all. If we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, we can obtain a balance of discipline that’s best for our children. 

The same goes in business. We may have known others who took a lot of risks. Based on seeing their actions and our education, we’ll either be a risk taker or not risk anything at all. The Holy Spirit will give us balance on what opportunities to advance on to further our business.

This balance can be achieved in our relationships, our purchases, in the medication we take, and so much more. The point is to allow the Holy Spirit to lead you. Don’t rely on your upbringing, education, logic, or emotions to help you navigate through life. The Holy Spirit will give us the balance we need to be successful in every area of our lives.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever–

The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.
Proverbs 20:7 NLT

The definition of integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. As believers, our moral principles are found in the word of God.

When we have integrity, it not only makes us a better person, but it invokes a blessing on our children. Integrity is how we behave when no one else is around. It’s not okay to be nice to someone to their face, but talk about them behind their backs.

Integrity is a word not often used in society. It may not be used as much, but let’s follow the word of God and display integrity everywhere we go.

Proverbs 20:24 The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?

We want to know everything. We want to know who we’ll marry, the type of job we’ll have, how many children we’ll have, and when we’ll obtain all thise things.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting knowledge however, when we allow God to direct our steps we’ll remain in good hands. Allowing God to direct our steps requires trusting God and knowing the heart of God. We gain trust through experiences. At some point, we have to give certain issues to God. When He proves Himself faithful in that area, we’ll trust Him in other areas.

Knowing the heart of God comes from reading His word. When we see God’s intent in every situation is love, we’ll be more comfortable to let Him lead us.

We don’t have to know everything. We just have to be affiliated with the One who knows everything and put our lives in His hands. Over time, He’ll reveal what we need to know and when we need to know it. Trust God.

We all have desires we want from God. God’s word gives us clear instructions on how to receive those desires.

Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
John 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

The instructions are to ask during prayer, believe that you received it, in the name of Jesus. Example: God, I ask for a raise at my job. Now, I believe that I’ve received that raise in the name of Jesus.

That’s the easy part. The more challenging thing is to maintain our belief. Once we’ve prayed, the devil will do everything he can to get us to doubt God’s word. He’ll highlight the delay, he’ll tell us how unworthy we are to receive it, or he’ll let us know how unlikely it is to happen.

To maintain our belief until manifestation, we must renew our minds with the word of God (Rom. 12:2) and consistently confess God’s word over our desires (Heb 10:23). Satan will come with thoughts of doubt, but we combat him with God’s word. We read God’s word in order to know the heart of God and to know what God’s word says about our situation. We’ll have to do this multiple times throughout the day for multiple days.

Consistently studying God’s word and confessing it daily is the key. Don’t get lazy or be deceived into thinking it doesn’t take all of that. Until that manifestation happens, stay consistent in your belief of God’s word regarding your desires.

1 John 3:20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

When we miss the mark, it can leave us feeling guilty and shameful. That guilt and shame didn’t come from God. That’s coming from the devil who’s attempting to make us feel like God turned His back on us because of our behavior and is angry with us.

These are lies. God knew what we were going to do before we did it. That’s why He sent Jesus to die on the cross for all of our sins (1 John 2:2). Through Him (Jesus), we have forgiveness of sins. So, there’s no need to feel guilty for what we’ve done wrong. Forgiveness has already been put into place. Receive it and don’t let guilt and shame hold you down any longer.

2 John 1:3 Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.

Here we have a promise from God. When we live in truth and love, we can expect grace, mercy, and peace in our lives.

Grace is obtaining something from God we didn’t earn or deserve. Mercy is God stopping certain negative events from occurring even though we deserve it. Peace is a cool, calm, collected state of mind despite the circumstances surrounding us.

Living in the truth means living by God’s word because John 17:17 says, “thy word is truth.” Living in love means we’re loving people the way God would love them because God is love (1 John 4:8).

So, if your life is not aligning with this promise and you’re living in truth and love, remind God of His promise and expect things to change for the better.

Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.” Wait for the Lord to handle the matter.
Proverbs 20:22 NLT

Revenge is so logical until it seems natural. It makes so much sense to get even with the person who mistreated us. It’s logical, but revenge is 100% associated with our flesh (our sinful nature). And nothing good comes from our flesh (Rom. 7:18 KJV).

God’s word is telling us to go against our urges that seem so natural. His word is telling us to let Him handle it. That can be difficult because He may not handle it like we want Him to handle it. We may want them to suffer, but God Who is love and full of compassion, mercy, and grace will handle it differently.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve mistreated people too. Although we’ve mistreated people, God extended His mercy toward us and we didn’t suffer. So why do we think people should suffer because they’ve mistreated us?

We must forgive them and believe God will do whatever He feels is necessary to fight on our behalf, but at the same time, extend love, grace, and mercy towards them in order for them to change their ways.

In prayers, songs and sermons, some of us may have heard someone say, “I failed You” or “We’ve failed You” regarding our actions and God. That sounds humbling and contrite, but that’s not scriptural. No where in the bible, especially in the new covenant, does it say we’ve failed God.

When we say we’ve failed God, we’re calling ourselves failures. That’s negatively affecting our identity. Why would anyone want to serve or feel worthy to receive anything from a God if we think He thinks of us as failures?

God knew we couldn’t live up to His glorious standard (Rom. 3:23). That’s why He sent His Son Jesus. Jesus lived up to that standard and our belief in Him and what He’s done on our behalf makes us righteous and victorious.

If we miss the mark, let’s not beat ourselves up about it and call ourselves failures. Receive His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and righteousness that all came through Jesus. God doesn’t see us as failures, He sees us as overcomers.

1 John 5:4-5 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.
Proverbs 20:18 NLT

There’s been a push in society where people are being applauded for making decisions independently of anyone else. Major decisions such as, marriage/divorce, moving for a job, and major investments should be linked to good counsel. If God says good counsel is important, who are we to say otherwise?

Good counsel should begin with God. He’s the best Counselor we’ll ever have. Go to Him with any and all plans and decisions. Allow Him to tell you what’s best and obey.

Although God is the beginning of good counsel, He may not be the only counsel. As we seek God, He may tell us to talk to this person, read a certain book, or listen to a podcast for further education in an area. As we follow God’s instructions, all our plans will succeed.

Romans 2:4 (NLT) Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

God’s not using car accidents, sicknesses, premature deaths, or a loss of a job to get us to repent. He’s using His goodness.

God wants us to repent by overwhelming us with His goodness. When we avoid accidents, get the job, and recover from that sickness in spite of our behavior and our unholy living, that’s God trying to get our attention to let us know He still loves us and cares.

God’s ultimate goal is for us to look back over our lives and realize how good He’s been to us and choose to honor Him. Think about where God has brought you. If you need to repent, do it and keep it moving.

Mark 4:18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

It’s easy for us to place our faith in God. We get inspired and we place our faith in God for a new house, a new job, divine healing, or help in a situation. As time goes on, it gets a lot more difficult for us to keep our faith in God. It becomes more difficult when it’s taking too long, we’re not seeing any changes, or the situation gets worse. That’s when a lot of us quit and we try to reason in our own mind how we (by ourselves) can make it happen and/or why our faith didn’t bring our desires to pass.

When our minds start to go down this negative path, that’s when we need to realize the devil is at work. He’s trying to get us away from trusting and believing God and His word. Would the devil be any kind of devil if he sat back and watched us trust in God wholeheartedly?

No matter how long it takes or what the situation looks like, keep your faith in God. Consistent faith in God will change your life.

That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I Am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”
John 8:24 NLT

Proverbs 16:18 says, pride goes before destruction. The biggest form of pride we can have is unbelief.

Some of us are too prideful to believe in a resurrected Savior. It’s illogical. It doesn’t make sense. Why would anyone believe that? If we’re not mindful, that pride will have us die in our sins.

The world says we’re uneducated if we believe in this “Jesus”. The world says we have a sense of morality to do right and wrong. The world says there’s no heaven or hell.

Don’t die in your sins by holding onto pride through unbelief. I, you, we need a Savior. His name is Jesus. He is the Son of God and He died for our sins. Our belief in what He accomplished allows us to have everlasting life. Don’t die in your sins. Believe in Jesus.

As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia. And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it,
1 Thessalonians 1:7‭-‬8 NLT

We never know who’s watching us. It may be a younger sibling or it may be an older coworker. That’s why it’s important to be a good example of being a Christian.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean we’re perfect. It means we rely on the grace and mercy of God that came through Jesus. It means we rely on Him when we don’t know what to do. It means we operate in our authority to overcome demonic forces in the world.

When people see the results of our lives by relying on God, they’ll hopefully want to follow us as we follow Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).

We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people.
1 Thessalonians 1:4 NLT

Sometimes people need to hear, “God loves you”. Situations in life can be so difficult until they question God’s love for them. Especially when it comes to death or a series of negative events. People need to know that God loves them.

That’s why we must be sensitive to the Spirit of God to determine who needs to be uplifted. God may put our family members or co-workers on our minds. Say whatever God tells you to say. This will break the demonic hold on their minds.

Let’s continue to be vessels for God and let others know God loves them, He cares, and He wants to better their future.

We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly.
1 Thessalonians 1:2 NLT

When we pray, we should be thinking about others besides ourselves. We can pray for people extremely close to us and we can pray for people who we’ve never spoken to. Prayer is that powerful.

Constant prayer for others keeps demonic forces from being successful. Could you imagine if everyone sincerely prayed for at least 3 people? That alone would stop a lot of the chaos and drama we see.

They don’t have to know we’re praying for them. We just have to have a selfless heart and take a couple of minutes to pray for others.

It makes no sense for a farmer to go into his field and expect to have vegetables without planting seeds. If he wants tomatoes, he’ll have to plant tomatoes seeds. If he wants cabbage, he has to plant cabbage seeds. If it makes no sense for a farmer, why do some of us still expect to have financial increase without planting financial seed into the Kingdom?

When we give, we’re giving to God and telling Him thank you. When we give, we’re also investing in our future. God promised that He’ll give it back to us in an overflowing manner (Luke 6:38). He promised all our needs are met (Philippians 4:18-19). He promised protection when we give (Malachi 3:10-12).

So, don’t get deceived into thinking that giving is for the foolish. We know what we’re doing. We’re setting up ourselves for a prosperous future.

2 Corinthians 9:7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

A life without compromise, truly devoted to God, is the best way to go. Whatever we compromise to becomes our master.

If we compromise holy speech and conduct to impress others, their approval becomes our master. If we compromise by eating that 3rd cookie, knowing we’re full, we display a lack of self-control and food is our master. If we cheat and steal to get ahead in life, that mindset and way of life becomes our master.

However, when we’re devoted to the Lord and do things His way, we’re letting everyone know He is our Lord and He not only guarantees success, but success without limits. When we do things God’s way, we can get good friends, self-control, uncompromised abundance, and so much more. Trust God’s way, let Him lead you, and you’ll never have to compromise again.

Daniel 3:15 Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.
Matthew 8:13 NLT

Everyone else around us could be skeptics, but if we believe, it will come to pass.

We have to be mindful to not allow the world to negatively influence our beliefs. They base their beliefs on statistics, logic, or how they feel. We should base our beliefs on the word of God. If God’s word says it, it’s possible.

Magnify God’s word and His ability above everything else and expect change to manifest in your life.

But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
Psalms 75:9 NLT

We have to make up in our minds that we’re going to honor and give praises to God. It doesn’t matter what others are doing and how successful they seem or how much fun they appear to be having. We must have a conviction to serve the Lord.

The devil will throw all kinds of things in our faces attempting to show us we really don’t need God. He’ll try his best to make us think praying, reading the scriptures, or fellowshipping with others is not necessary. It’s during those times we must have “but as for me” moments.

Regardless of what’s going on around us and what others are doing or not doing, we’re going to honor and praise God. Even if our fellow Christians are doing something that seems righteous, if God specifically tells us “no”, we must prioritize Him. Go with God and you will never go wrong.

Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Having consideration for others is something we should continue to work on as believers. They shouldn’t have to earn it and they shouldn’t have to show it first. We should be considerate because that’s part of God’s nature which is love.

If we’re considerate, we’re allowing someone else to go first in the store and we’re not blasting our music at night knowing people may be sleeping. We should also be considerate of people’s time so, we shouldn’t be late in starting or showing up to events. Division in society would significantly decrease if we considered other people’s opinions and not take them personally.

As you can see, consideration is beneficial to society and in developing our character. It’s not all about us. Let’s be considerate towards others.

A lot of our prayers state the following:
God thank you for this day.
I ask for wisdom at my job.
Protect me as I go to and from work.
Keep my children safe and protected.
Increase my finances God.
Etc.

We pray, but a lot of us don’t wait on a response from God. We’ll ask for wisdom, protection, and more, but instead of us waiting on a response on how to obtain those things, we move on to the next request.

Prayer is a conversation between us and God. Give God an opportunity to respond to your requests. He may give us our answers the moment we pray.
Take time and listen.

The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. John 16:13 (CEV)

We know friends and family who have desires and have asked God for certain things. They may want healing in their bodies, increase in their finances, a new car, their marriage to be made whole, etc. Since we know what they desire, we should seek God to see if He wants us to be the answer to their prayers.

We may be full of faith and God prompts us to pray for the manifestation of healing in their bodies. We may have some extra money that God compels us to give to them. We may know a good marital counselor and God encourages us to send that information to improve their marriage.

Take the time to see if God wants you to be the answer to someone else’s prayer. It will bless the person and bring glory to God.

It doesn’t mean we won’t experience challenges, but we’ll easily overcome our challenges without being stressed out.

Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

These are instructional scriptures given to us by God. God doesn’t give us these scriptures to test us to see if we’ll follow them. He gives us these scriptures for a good reason.

When we obey these scriptures, we position ourselves to experience an amazing abundant life. God is our Creator and He knows how we should best function. He knows walking in unforgiveness, hate, and worry won’t do our bodies any good. It’s been scientifically proven these things lead to an early grave.

Certain instructional scriptures may seem weird, unnecessary, or foolish, but trust God has a good reason for us to follow them. We don’t debate with the car company who tells us how to maintain our cars, so don’t debate with our Creator Who knows the best way to maintain our lives.

The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!”
John 12:12‭-‬13 NLT

When Jesus came, these people positioned themselves to praise. They got palm branches, walked to meet Jesus, and they shouted.

With us, God is ever-present. That means, throughout the day, we should always be praising God. We may not be led to get palm branches, but our praise should be continuous.

This also means, when we have a situation and we pray about it, we’re giving God permission to handle that situation. Since we know God is figuratively coming down our road to handle our situation, before saying “amen” we can praise God.

Praise God in the morning, praise God for His blessings, praise God for life. Make a conscious decision to keep yourselves postured for praise.

So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord. -Joshua 9:14 NLT

Because Joshua and his leaders didn’t consult the Lord, they were tricked.

Consulting God on every move we make and everything we do is highly important. We only have a limited picture, but God sees it all. And because God sees it all, He can prepare us for things to come and traps to avoid.

We may think a business deal will be our ticket to success, but God sees that it will end miserably. We may think we should study a certain section, but God may tell you to study another section.

We should never get to a place where we’re too smart to consult God. He has our best interests at heart. Let Him lead you.

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.
Matthew 7:1 NLT

Some of us think a person representing God or Jesus needs to be spotless. Some people feel like it’s hypocritical to have a person who may smoke, drink, or curse giving God glory when they do well. I used to think the same way. But if God waited for everyone to be spotless or wrinkle-free before using them for His glory, He would be waiting forever.

It’s funny how we don’t have anything to say when an unsaved person does well and they thank everyone else, but God. But when a saved person praises God after doing well, we want to mention that person’s behavior and character. We want to say “If God was really the head of their lives, they wouldn’t be…” Who are we to judge and say who can give God glory or not? We’re not perfect. At least they’re glorifying God.

Everyone needs grace. God can use whomever He desires regardless of our opinion of their behavior. Let God be glorified by all.

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Psalms 94:19 NLT

Whatever we’re believing God for, the devil is on the other side throwing darts of doubt in our minds.

Satan will tell us it’s not going to happen, it’s not going to work out the way we think, or it’s not going to get better. When throwing these doubts, he’ll have us consider our age, our financial status, our health, our experience, and statistics. His goal is for us to throw away our faith and give up.

During these times we must rely on God’s comfort. Where is God’s comfort? In His word. When we look in His word and see our victory, that victory brings us comfort. So, receive by His stripes you’re healed, believe God always causes you to triumph, and know you can do all things through Christ to combat the thoughts of doubt.

A lot of us have made Jesus our Savior, but we also need to make Him our Lord too. Making Jesus our Lord means we do what His word says. It means His will becomes our will. Despite how we feel, what our logic says, and what society says, we follow His word.

This means making Him Lord over everything. It only partially benefits us when we make Jesus Lord over our family, but not our finances. Why make Him Lord over your marriage, but you’re going to try to manage raising children in your own strength?

Let’s do what His word says in every area of our lives. If a particular issue is not specifically mentioned in His word, contact the Holy Spirit and let Him direct you on what you should do in that area.

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. -Romans 10:9 NLT

Gideon then crossed the Jordan River with his 300 men, and though exhausted, they continued to chase the enemy.
Judges 8:4 NLT

When fulfilling our God-given assignment, there may be times where we’re physically and/or mentally exhausted. We’re exhausted from working long hours getting our business off the ground. We’re mentally exhausted from having to maintain our faith and confessions despite what we see.

Although we’re exhausted, we have to keep going. We can’t give up and quit. God won’t put us in a position if He hasn’t graced us to accomplish the task.

Receive the physical and mental energy God has provided through Jesus Christ and push past exhaustion to manifest victory.

John 2:11 This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

John 2:23 Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.

We can tell someone about Jesus and preach to them until we’re blue in the face, but some people won’t believe until they see a demonstration. They need to see that it was nobody, but God who did some of the things in our lives.

When they see our drama free life, our continuous increases, and hear our miraculous stories, they’ll have no choice, but to believe and give God glory.

Allow some people to get close to you so that they can get a front row seat of God performing the miraculous in our lives so that they can trust Him for theirs.

Society tells us to work hard, don’t stop, don’t sleep, and grind until we get what’s ours. Our logical mind tells us the more we work, the more we’ll have.

God’s word, on the other hand, tells us to rest in Him, trust in Him, and rely on the blessing. We’re to work, but only as the Lord directs us (Col. 3:23).

Doing it society’s way may get us what we want, but we’re also tired, some relationships may have been strained trying to achieve our goals, and our lifespan could be shortened because of exhaustion.

Under the blessing, we have sweat-less victories. Opportunities easily open up for people that trust in God. When we rest in Him, what took someone 10 years to complete may only take 2 years for believers.

Now, what are we going to choose? Logic or the Lord? I suggest the Lord.

Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

When we have people who can speak an encouraging word in our lives, people who can tell us the truth in love, and people we can share our vision and shortcomings with, we have a good thing.

Having people around us that can sow into our lives is a method God uses to get things to us. We may be feeling down and God uses that person to send an encouraging word. God may use that person to confirm something He’s told us in private. To prevent selfishness, where we’re only in a position to receive, God will use us to encourage and give wisdom to others.

It’s a beautiful thing to have that person we can sharpen and who sharpens us. Don’t take them for granted because God uses them to help us overcome the issues of life and to help us be better people.

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. -Romans 6:6‭-‬7 NLT

Whatever sin your flesh craves, you can stop. It’s not through will power or attempting to keep all the commandments. It’s by faith.

Faith is acting on what we believe. If we believe God’s word, we act on it through consistent confessions. Romans 6:10 says, when Jesus died, he died once to break the power of sin. If we truly believe that, during times of temptation, we’ll open up our mouths and declare, “(whatever sin), you have no power over me because Jesus broke your power over me through His death.” The thought to sin will come again. And again you’ll say, ” (whatever sin), you have no power over me because Jesus broke your power over me through His death.” You may have to do this 50 times, but you’ll win the fight if you don’t quit.

Now, there may be times where the temptation was too strong to overcome. That doesn’t mean anything. Don’t quit. Just apply your faith to God’s forgiveness. You’ll say, “I receive God’s forgiveness based on Hebrews 8:12 which says, He forgives my wickedness and won’t remember my sins ever.” It doesn’t matter if you feel forgiven. You just have to believe you’re forgiven.

Use your faith in God’s word to overcome the areas where sin has taken your life hostage. Let it go.

John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

The Holy Spirit is the most underutilized tool for believers. We understand God, which is good. We understand the role of Jesus, which is good. But the Holy Spirit has been reduced to out of control behavior, emotional reactions, and mockery. A lot of this is based on a lack of good teaching which produces a lack of understanding of how to connect with the Holy Spirit.

When we get born-again, God’s Spirit lives in us. As we can see, He can teach us all things. Whatever questions we have, we can ask the Holy Spirit. His answers will align with God’s word and it will be accompanied with peace (Colossians 3:15). He’s not going to tell us to do anything evil or malicious. And if there’s no peace, we should avoid going down that path.

From how to diet to how to raise our children, the answer to everything is inside of us. Use the Holy Spirit in every area of life. If Jesus said we need the Holy Spirit, we should use Him appropriately.

God wants a relationship with us. He doesn’t want a religious experience. He wants relationship.

When we attempt to approach God in a religious way, we’ll never live up to its expectations because religion is never satisfied. We may have an idea to pray for 10 minutes. If we consistently pray for 10 minutes, religion will tell us God would be even more pleased if we prayed for 30 minutes. Once we get to 30 minutes, religion will tell us to pray for an hour. It’s the same way with reading the bible, fasting, and going to church. It never stops.

But when we have a relationship with God, time and our performance are irrelevant. We pray because we want to spend time with God. We’re not looking at a clock or worried if He’s pleased or not. We’re just having a good time talking with our Creator. We’re not fasting and reading so that God can be happy with us. We’re reading and fasting because we want to know Him more intimately.

Once we establish a relationship with God, we’ll talk to Him throughout the day and we’ll understand He loves us and is pleased with us whether we talk to Him for 2 minutes or 2 hours.

Mark 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,

Psalm 47:1 Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise!

Shame, embarrassment, and fear are just a few reasons why people minimize their enthusiasm for God. In church, they don’t raise their hands, they don’t sing, and they barely clap their hands. Outside the church, people don’t realize they’re saved because God is never mentioned.

After all that God has done for us, we’re highly encouraged to shout to Him with joyful praise. It said shout, not whisper. We shout for our sports teams or at concerts. So, why not shout for a wonderful God?

If God has been any kind of good to you, open up your mouth, increase your volume, and shout with praise.

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord.
Judges 2:10‭-‬12 NLT

Isn’t this interesting. We kind of see this today. Our parents and grandparents acknowledged God, faithfully went to church, and read the bible. Some of us followed their example, but some of us didn’t.

A lot of today’s generation is doing what the Israelites did. They don’t acknowledge God or they’re skeptical of His existence, they’ve abandoned the church, or they’ve gone after other gods they discovered through research on the internet.

They feel like they’re being individualistic by not following what was taught to them. They feel like they’re being wise because they’ve discovered something society has hidden from them when in actuality, they’re pushing away the only One that can save, help, and deliver.

The only one influencing a person to pursue other gods or no god at all is Satan. We did not come up with this ourselves. Don’t be deceived into pushing God away. Establish a personal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites, “I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors, and I said I would never break my covenant with you.
Judges 2:1 NLT

God gave the Israelites an ultimate promise (a covenant). That covenant consisted of land. If you keep reading chapter 2, you’ll see the Israelites disobeyed God. Although they disobeyed God, He kept His covenant towards them. They may have experienced consequences for their disobedience (v. 3), but God still kept His covenant to give them land.

After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them.
Judges 2:6 NLT

What does this mean for us? If you believe Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you’re under a new and a better covenant (Heb. 8:6-13). In this covenant, one promise is that our sins are not counted against us (Romans 4:8).

So, no matter what we’ve done and no matter how serious it is, our sins are not counted against us. Like the Israelites, we may have natural consequences for our sins, but our sins are not being counted against us by God. Why? Every sin we’ll ever commit was put on Jesus.

Praise God for keeping His covenant with us and we can live a life free from guilt, shame, and condemnation.