Category Archive

Daniel 4:34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

The consequence of King Nebuchadnezzar’s sin of boasting and non-acknowledgement of God was an unstable mind. For 7 years, Nebuchadnezzar’s unstable mind forced him out of his kingdom; he lived in the wild, ate grass, and behaved like an animal. After 7 years, we can see God restoring Nebuchadnezzar’s mind back to its right state.

What can we learn from this? If God can restore the mind of a Babylonian king not under the covenant of God, He can surely restore the mind of every born-again believer.

If our spouse has been acting mean or cruel lately, we can call on God to restore their mind back to a kind state. If our children have been moody, we can rely on God to restore their minds to maintain a positive attitude. If our parents have been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s, God is strong enough to destroy the disease and restore their memories. Depressions, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses can all be restored by God if we believe.

Release your faith and praise God in advance for His mental restoring power.

Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

When things seem too slow, we often want to take the wheel and do things ourselves. Avoid giving in to this temptation. When taking things into our own hands, the outcome gets contaminated. The outcome will either be not as good as we’d hoped it would be, won’t last as long as we thought, or have factors we did not consider.

For instance, we may want to buy a house. God told us to wait. Although God told us to wait, thoughts of losing the house to another buyer causes us to impulsively buy the house. That house may have foundation issues that will cost us more money in the future. We may not have considered the property taxes we would have to pay on the house. Five years later, the neighborhood may not be as nice as it was. We could have avoided these issues if we waited on the Lord. This is true with a job, car, or relationship.

God’s timing is the best. Wait on Him and He will bless whatever He approves.

When it comes to God, everything is not going to be revelatory or deep, but stay the course. There are going to be times where it feels like nothing is happening, nothing is working, and God is far away, but stay the course. The time between when you prayed for the desire and the manifestation of that desire may be great, but stay the course.

We stay the course because we know our consistency in faith mixed with our patience will produce whatever we desire. Satan knows this and that’s when he’s the loudest. He’ll let us know this faith stuff is not working, God’s not listening to us, or we don’t deserve that desire. Here’s a tip. The more Satan talks, the more we should know it’s working.

Don’t get discouraged. Stay the course and watch desires from wisdom to materialistic things manifest in your life.

Hebrews 10:26 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

2 Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God.

God will place everyone of us in a position of leadership. It may be leadership at our jobs, leadership at church, or leadership over our children. Regardless of the leadership role, it’s important to be just and God fearing.

To be just simply means to be fair. What you do for one, you should do for another. How you treat one, you should treat another. No favoritism in being just.

Secondly, we must be God fearing. God fearing is our utmost respect and reverence to God. When we respect God, we respect His decisions. He may tell us to put a particular person in charge of a certain project. He may tell us to let that person lead worship. He may have you tell your children to help with a task. Even though it may not make sense, we submit our leadership to Him.

Those two things are the foundation of great leadership. Use them today.

Ecclesiastes 2:10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Some of us spend a lot of our time trying to obtain the ultimate goal of becoming wealthy to enjoy our lives to the fullest. Celebrities who reached the financial status of where we want to be tell us to grind, hustle, and get money, so we do. We want to enjoy every aspect of life and not think about the cost.

Is there something wrong with wanting to enjoy life to the fullest? No. It is unprofitable when wealth and riches just to spend on ourselves becomes our ultimate goal. Solomon, the richest man ever, did whatever he desired to do for years. At the end of the day, he calls it vanity or pointless.

Our ultimate goal is to honor God by fulfilling the purpose(s) He has for our lives. If we try to please ourselves, it’s vanity. If we try to please someone else, it’s vanity. Fulfilling God’s purpose is the only thing that will bring fulfillment to our lives now and benefit us in the next life.

Seek God on the purpose(s) He has for you.

A lot of us want to know the secret to having a long, fulfilling life on earth. Well, look no further. Psalm 34 gives us specific instructions on positioning ourselves to having that long life.

Psalm 34:12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

1. Keep our tongue from evil and deceit.
   Talking about people’s appearance, gossiping, lying, and speaking negatively in general are all forms of evil speech. Doing the opposite such as, uplifting one another, remaining silent when there’s a temptation to gossip, telling the truth in love, and being positive will position us to long life.
2. Depart from evil.
   Evil is doing anything contrary to the Word of God. Temptations to do evil will come. Resisting those temptations will fulfill our role to having a long life.
3. Do good.
   There’s a sense of good that God placed in all of us. Helping the poor, being a blessing, and simply being nice to each other are forms of good. Knowing what’s good is not enough. We must act on it.
4. Pursue peace.
   Maintaining peace is our responsibility. Avoiding arguments with our spouse, putting our pride aside, resisting the temptation to be offended, and removing ourselves from situations are all forms of pursuing peace. Avoid the drama and maintain peace.

A long fulfilling life is not a secret. When we do our part, a long fulfilling life is bound to happen.

Genesis 26:6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

**For those of us who know their Bible history, Isaac’s father, Abraham, did the same thing.

Genesis 12:11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will allow you to live. 13 Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.”

As we can see, Isaac’s lie to preserve his life didn’t come out of nowhere. It had to be taught by his father Abraham. This is not a good example of something we should teach our children but, it does show how much of an impact we have on them.

We are our children’s first and most impressionable teachers. What they see and hear from us will last a lifetime. It’s going to be beneficial to teach our children spiritual things as well as practical things. How we want our children should be taught by us. They’ll learn other things from other people but, their foundational teaching should be from us.

Let’s be a good teacher to our children because they’re learning from us.

God told Saul to destroy everything associated with the Amalekites. Saul disobeyed God and kept the best of the Amalekites’ animals. Saul claimed he was going to use the animals to sacrifice to the Lord.

1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Some of us sacrifice out of our flesh instead of obeying God. For instance, a lot of us understand the principle of giving. The more we give, the more we’ll receive. God instructs us to give a $25 offering at church. We want a bigger harvest therefore, we give $100. We feel like our sacrifice of giving an additional $75 will impress God or compel God to bless us, but God desires our obedience above sacrifice. God may have had other intentions for that $75.

We’ll sacrifice our time by serving in multiple areas at the church, but we know God instructed us to spend more time with our families.

Our sacrifices may seem honorable and noble, but our obedience will go further than sacrificing from our flesh.

1 Samuel 15:20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.

Twice, Samuel, the mouth of God, gave Saul specific instructions to destroy the Amalekites and everything associated with them (animals included). As we see, Saul convinced himself that he obeyed God even though Samuel told him he disobeyed God. The Amalekites’ king is standing right there and the Amalekites’ animals are in the field. Saul is deceived into thinking that his partial obedience is complete obedience. Saul is lying to himself.

Saul is not the only one lying to himself. Some of us have done the same thing.
We know God told us to quit our jobs and fully focus on our ministry or business full-time. We deceived ourselves into thinking we completely obeyed God because we started our ministry or business, but we’re working somewhere else part-time for “security.” We know God told us to stop watching TV altogether to be delivered from pornography. We’re lying to ourselves thinking we’re obeying God by not watching TV except, Christian broadcasting. Did God say we can watch Christian broadcasting or no TV altogether?

Whatever God told you to do, do it completely. You may be scared and it may seem illogical, but do it and expect for God to positively impact your life.

Psalm 34:11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Reverence, honor, and respect to the Lord is not automatic. It’s something that must be taught. While it’s celebrated to teach our children reading and math at an early age, it’s more beneficial to teach them the fear of the Lord.

If we don’t teach them, who will? If we wait until they’re “older,” it may be too late. If we wait too long, they may have already accepted the deception of an atheist or an agnostic.

Let’s be sure to teach our children to fear the Lord. Even when they’re adults, we can teach them about our God and His Word. God’s Word are teachings that will never end.

Genesis 25:21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

When issues arise in our marriage, the first thing we should do is pray. It’s unprofitable to complain or blame the other person. To resolve any issue in any situation, pray.

If our spouse is having health complications, like Isaac, we can pray and ask God to turn that negative situation around. He may lead us to a certain specialist that can resolve that complication. If there’s turmoil within our marriage, we can pray for peace. God may give us a plan of action that will eliminate the turmoil. Finally, we can ask God to show us any areas where we can improve in order for our marriage to improve.

Whatever complications that exist in a marriage, let prayer be the first option.

“You can’t have a sick soul and a healthy body.”-Joyce Meyer

There’s a connection between our soul and our body. One component of our soul is our mind. If we’re mentally unhealthy, our bodies suffer negative consequences. It’s been proven that stress, worry, anxiety, and depression lead to physical unhealth such as, high blood pressure, muscle pain, and heart disease.

That’s why it’s so important to take control over our thoughts. We may not be able to control what enters our minds, but we can control how long it stays there. When thoughts that lead to stress, depression, or worry enter our minds, take control over those thoughts, realize where they’re taking us, and as believers, reverse those thoughts with the Word of God.

Thoughts may come that we’re alone and not loved. Instead of being depressed, silence that thought and declare (with your mouth) God loves me and He promised to never leave me. Thoughts of not being successful may come. Instead of being anxious or stressed, declare your life is blessed.

It’s a serious battle, but well worth it to our mental and physical health. Understand this connection so that we can prosper and be in good health mentally and physically.

3 John 1:2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.

Psalm 103:2-5 (ESV) Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

We, as humans, are an interesting bunch. For the most part, we’ll remember, become upset about, and maybe depressed about all the bad things that happened in our lives. Even if it’s something that happened 20 years ago, we’ll remember the details of the negative experience. But for whatever reason, the good things that happened, we’ll forget. From a miraculous healing to the birth of our child, we tend to forget or minimize the good things that we’ve experienced.

Obviously, the good things are from God and the bad things are an attack from Satan.

The same mind that can recall the details of a negative experience has the capability to remember the details of a positive experience. Let’s place our focus and energy on the good things God has done instead of dwelling on the negative experiences. Write it down if you have to, but don’t forget all the good things God has done.

When praising God, do you ever run out of words to say? Do you find yourself repeating the same thing over and over because you don’t know what else to say? Or, maybe you’re a new believer and you don’t know how to praise God. Well, there’s good news for all.

In the book of Psalms, King David gives us hundreds of praises to God. For every season in life, David provides us with the verbiage to praise and honor our God. From being ecstatic about what God is doing in our lives to overcoming frustration, David provides us with countless praise phrases that will glorify God.

No need to reinvent the wheel. Look through Psalms and read a praise out loud. We’re not only getting God’s Word inside our hearts but, we’re giving God praise, glory, and honor.

Psalm 71:14 As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. 15 My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long—though I know not how to relate them all. 16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.  

Jeremiah 32:27 “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

God is the Creator of all things. He knows all. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what we’re going through and He knows how we feel. He knows we face trials and circumstances that shake us to the core. Although He didn’t create these trials, He knew that we would face them and provided a solution (1 Cor. 10:13).

With all this known about God, we can conclude that everything’s easy for God. The biggest problem to us is light work for God. We often trip out because the problems we face seem large, frequent, and plentiful and we can’t see our way out. To God, our problems are no more difficult than brushing crumbs off a table.

We don’t have to know how it’s going to work out. If we give it to God and keep it there, we can walk away from anything knowing it’s handled. We may not know when or how, but we know it’s handled. The key is giving it to God and keeping it there. If we try it on our own, we’ll drive ourselves crazy.

Give all your problems, cares, and concerns to God and allow Him to easily handle these situations for your good.

Faith is what we use to possess the desires God placed in us. Faith is used to obtain our healing, our house, or a happy marriage. The first step to faith is seeing ourselves with those desires. To better see ourselves with these desires, it’s beneficial to go dream.

When we go dream, we’re intentionally taking our minds to a place of seeing ourselves with that desire. For a house, we go dream by driving by desirable neighborhoods and seeing ourselves owning one of those houses. If we want to work at a certain company, we should go by that company and walk around if allowable and see ourselves employed at that company. For a happy marriage, we should go to our living room and see ourselves having a great time with our spouse. If we want to walk again, we should go by a park and see ourselves walking through the park. Nothing is off limits with God.

As we dream, it’s even more beneficial to confess what we envision.

Don’t allow anything or anyone to stop your desires from manifesting. Go dream.

Genesis 15:5 And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He declared, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Hesitation can be a good thing and a bad thing. When we hesitate to confirm God’s instructions, that’s a good thing. We’re simply making sure that it’s God telling us to do a certain thing and not our flesh.

The majority of our hesitation is negative. Hesitation is a bad thing when it’s laced with fear. When we hesitate because we feel like the God-given assignment is too difficult or too big, that’s when it becomes a bad thing. It’s a bad thing due to a lack of belief. We don’t believe in the ability God has given to us. We don’t believe it’s going to work out the way He said. We don’t believe in ourselves.

Hesitation also disrupts the timing of God. When we hesitate, we delay God’s ability to operate in someone else’s life and we delay the blessings in our own lives.

Whether the task be small or great, obey the instructions of God and don’t hesitate.

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

What does it mean to humble ourselves? When we humble ourselves before God, we’re giving Him our will, our plans, our ideas, and our desires for His glory. It’s not about us anymore. It’s about His will.

We may think our lives should go in one direction but if God calls us to another direction, even if it’s uncertain, we successfully humble ourselves when we submit to His will. We may think we’re reaching our goal of success when we see a certain amount of money in our bank account, but if God instructs us to give half of it away, we successfully humble ourselves when we obey.

Humbling ourselves seems illogical or like we’re taking a step backwards however, the great thing about humbling ourselves is God’s guarantee of exaltation. God promises to lift us up. No matter how foolish God’s request may seem, when we humble and obey, we’ll eventually (in due time) be in a better position than we thought we would be. Our life will be better, we’ll impact more people, and we’ll advance the Kingdom of God.

Don’t despise the humbling experience because humbling ourselves causes elevation.

Isaiah 40:29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Have you ever been truly exhausted? Maybe you’re trying to manage two or more children and work a full-time job. Maybe you work a full-time job and you also go to school at night. Maybe you have two or more jobs.

Regardless of our exhaustion, God promises us strength and power. He didn’t promise us these things because we’ve been perfect or because we kept all the commandments. He promised it to us because He loves us and desires to see our strength renewed. Like any good father, He wants the best for His children. That includes strength and power during weary times.

Praise God He’s a promise keeper! When exhausted, tired, or weary, look to God and by faith, receive your strength and power to endure and expect rejuvenation.

There will be times where God will have us doing some seemingly silly things. We see this all throughout the Bible.

Jesus had Simon (an experienced fisherman) launch his nets to catch fish at the hottest part of the day (Luke 5:4). God had King Naaman dip in dirty water seven times to be cleansed of leprosy (2 Kings 5:10). God had his disciples roll away a grave stone of a man that had been dead for four days (John 11:39).

Although it may seem silly or illogical, the miracle occurred because of their obedience to the instruction.

If God is leading you to give money to someone else knowing you have financial troubles yourself, do it. If He’s telling you to stretch your legs to be healed of a toothache, do it. No matter how silly it is, do it, and watch a miracle manifest in your life. It may not be tomorrow or next month, but our obedience plants seeds of miracle manifestations.

2 Kings 5:10 Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.” 11 But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out, stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the spot to cure my leprosy. 12 Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them and been cleansed?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 Naaman’s servants, however, approached him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’?” 14 So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child, and he was clean.

1 Peter 5:9 (AMP) Withstand him (the devil); be firm in faith against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined, knowing that the same identical sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood the whole body of Christians throughout the world.

We all want to live a prosperous problem-free life. God doesn’t promise us a life without problems. There’s a devil and a fallen world, therefore, problems will exist. God promised that we’ll overcome them (1 Cor. 15:57).

We’re instructed to withstand the devil. This means, the devil will constantly be on the attack. His target is to destroy our minds, impact our health, break up our families, and deplete our finances. The end game for Satan is to have us lose faith in God.

So, don’t be surprised when it seems like nothing is going our way or when it seems like one problem leads to the next. These are satanic attacks that are attempting to destroy our faith in God. Let’s withstand these attacks by building ourselves up in the Word of God and combating these attacks with the truth in God’s Word.

1 Kings 19:5 Then he lay down in the shade and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel woke him up and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 Elijah looked around, and by his head was a jar of water and some baked bread. He sat up, ate and drank, then lay down and went back to sleep. 7 Soon the Lord’s angel woke him again and said, “Get up and eat, or else you’ll get too tired to travel.” 8 So Elijah sat up and ate and drank. The food and water made him strong enough to walk forty more days. At last, he reached Mount Sinai, the mountain of God,

When it comes to God’s instructions, everything may not be spiritual. He may tell us to do something practical.

In this story, Elijah was running from Ahab and Jezebel’s army for two days in desert like conditions. When he finally stopped, he was suicidal. He begged God to take his life. After resting, an angel woke him up and told him to eat. Simple and practical, right? After running for so long in the hot sun, it makes sense to have Elijah eat and sleep. These practical instructions mentally and physically strengthened Elijah to continue his journey.

When seeking God, don’t assume He’s only going to give us some deep spiritual instructions such as fasting or spending 3 hours in the Word. He may have us remove sweets from our diet, study for 2 hours a day for an upcoming exam, or walk a mile 3 times a week. It may be simple and practical, but it will benefit us greatly.

Leviticus 19:17 You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him.

A lack of or poor communication can cause damage and division in any relationship. When a person makes a questionable statement, instead of asking what they truly meant, we assume they meant something negative.

After the statement is made, we should go to that person to confirm what they’re truly trying to say. If it’s just a misunderstanding, then we can move on. However, if their statement was hurtful or disrespectful to us, we should be honest with the person and tell them how it made us feel.

What they do next is out of our control. If they apologize, we can maintain a great relationship. If they don’t, then we know how they feel and we should allow the Holy Spirit to dictate the future of that relationship.

Regardless of how a person responds, we’ve done the work to clear our conscience by expressing ourselves to them.

If we look at parts of our bodies, we may see a scar from an injury we had from our childhood. We may remember how much pain we were in at the time, but we eventually fast forward and thank God for our healing.

Mental scars are different. With mental scars, we have two options. The first option is to remember the pain and stay in that dark place. We can think about the abuse, traumatic experience, or emotional pain and become angry with the person all over again, stress ourselves out about the situation, or make ourselves depressed.

The second option is glorifying God for our deliverance. When previous negative experiences enter our minds, we can thank God and praise Him for healing us from that hurt. We can excite ourselves thinking about the goodness of God. We can look at how far God has brought us.

It’s up to us which option we’re going to choose.

Let’s look at our scars and begin to praise Him for our deliverance. It may have hurt at the time but now, we have a testimony.

*For those who are in the midst of their hurt, there’s one option. Praise Him in advance for the deliverance God has made available.

Psalm 54:6 Freely I will sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good. 7 For He has delivered me from every trouble, and my eyes have stared down my foes.

Psalm 130:3 (AMP) If You, Lord, should keep account of and treat us according to our sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You just what man needs, that You may be reverently feared and worshiped.

There is forgiveness. No matter what we’ve done or how far we’ve been on the wrong path, God is there to forgive and forget all of our sins (Heb. 8:12).

God not only forgives and forgets our sins, but He’s not going to punish us for anything we’ve done wrong. He’s not going to strike us down, cause us to get into a car accident or put a disease on us for anything we’ve done wrong. There are natural consequences for our actions, but He’s not punishing us. The punishment for all sin was placed on Jesus (Rom. 3:24).

Finally, God is not holding our sins against us. He’s not charging them to our account. He’s not going to weigh the amount of sins we’ve committed and compare it with the good deeds we’ve done. Jesus paid the debt for all our sins and God sees us as righteous (Gal. 3:13-15).

Thank God for Jesus Who allowed us to receive God’s complete forgiveness and forgetfulness of sin without punishment.

Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

A lot of times, we call people when we have something to say or when we want something from someone else. But how many of us contact people just to say hello or to see how they’re doing? We don’t want anything. We’re just checking on them.

Reaching out to people can be more beneficial than we think. That text message, call, or email can make a person’s heart smile. They may be having a tough day and our outreach may make the difference in their day. The simple fact that we took the time to solely see how they’re doing, with no strings attached can positively impact a person’s life.

Let’s keep our unity by reaching out to our friends and our family and reconnecting with that person we haven’t spoken to in a while.

Psalm 103:13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

A lot of us know the characteristics of a good father. A good father is loving. They care about the well-being of their children, they want the best for their children, and they’re the biggest supporter of their children fulfilling their purpose in the earth.

God is no different. In fact, He is the Creator of fatherly characteristics. He loves, He protects, and He cares. He’s our provider and our number one supporter. His love is untainted, unbiased, and unconditional. God, our Father, loves us and wants us to fulfill our purpose.

As we approach Father’s Day, don’t forget about our Heavenly Father Who has done so much in our lives and has been there for us every step of the way. Let’s thank God for being a great, great Father.

We may have heard or read, that as believers we shouldn’t socialize with sinners because they may corrupt our souls and make us backslide. We may have also read where Jesus socialized with sinners in the efforts to present Himself as the way, the truth, and the light. So, which one is correct? The answer is both.

There are times where we need to distance ourselves from sinners to spend time with God and strengthen our inner man and there are times where we need to sit with sinners so they can experience a genuine loving non-judgmental light in a dark world.

Look at Jesus. Although He spent times with sinners, there were times where He distanced Himself and was alone with God. He successfully accomplished both.

We must have balance. We can’t be so spiritual until we’re no earthly good and we can’t be so worldly until it’s hard to tell if we’re saved. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide. He’ll tell us when to socialize and when to temporarily distance ourselves.

Matthew 17:1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

Matthew 9:10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.

Job 1:5 And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

Job didn’t sacrifice to the Lord because he was grateful for all He had done. Job sacrificed to the Lord out of fear of his children’s sin. If we’re not mindful, we can give, serve, or pray from a place of fear.

A fear based prayer usually comes as a result of numerous demonic thoughts entering our minds. If the devil has been placing thoughts in our minds that our children are going to die prematurely, we may fret and pray, “Lord please don’t let my children die early.” Or, if thoughts of financial lack are constantly entering our minds, we may pray with a worried mindset, “Lord protect my finances.”

These are fear based prayers and there’s no guarantee that God will answer that prayer.

We must pray in faith (Matt. 21:21-22). We must believe what we said will come to pass. Instead of saying, “Lord please don’t let my children die early,” we should say “God, Your Word says, with long life you will satisfy us, therefore, my children won’t die early.” Instead of protect my finances, we can say, “according to Philippians 4:19, all my needs are met.”

We moved from entertaining fear to activating faith. Let your prayers be faith based and not fear based.

God gave us an imagination for multiple reasons. One of those reasons is to see what we say. God gave us power in our speech. What we say, positive or negative, will come to pass. When we understand the power we have, we can use our imagination to see what we said.

For instance, when we declare sickness to leave our bodies, we should use our imagination to see a blob of sickness coming out of our bodies and going back to hell. When we declare our finances to increase, we should imagine the number in our bank account with three extra zeros. When we declare demonic influences be removed from a person, we should envision an ugly creature coming out the person and being destroyed.

These are the types of things that will solidify our faith in what we say. Negative thoughts and current circumstances will attempt to make us lose sight of what we’ve imagined. But, if we hold on and continue to see what we said, what we said will manifest into reality.

God having Abraham use his imagination.

Genesis 15:5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars–if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

When situations arise, our flesh wants to turn to other outlets outside of God. There are positive and negative outlets. Positive outlets include, exercise for stress, therapy for depression, or a financial adviser for our finances. Negative outlets include, drugs for stress, self-harm for depression, or investing in a get-rich-quick scheme to ease our financial troubles.

Regardless if the outlets are positive or negative, relying solely on these outlets pushes God out. Prioritizing something else above God is called idolatry.

God knew we would face negative situations in our lives and between His Word, His Spirit, and the finished works of Jesus, God’s already provided our help. God may direct us to some of these positive outlets. but He doesn’t want us to rely solely on them.

Let’s not push God out of our problems and reach towards our outlets. Let God be THE only Outlet in our lives.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Revelations 12:11 And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

We’ve all gone through some difficult situations. Some of us have overcome abuse, addictions, and endured tragic events. Regardless of what we’ve gone through, it’s beneficial to share our story with someone else.

When we share our story, it can help someone else in a few ways. They can relate. They’ll say within themselves if they overcame, I can overcome. Or, they’ll minimize. They’ll say, I am going through problems but, it’s not as bad as what they’ve gone through. Or, they’ll find an outlet in us. Since we shared our story, they may feel comfortable sharing their process with us.

It’s also beneficial to share how we overcame. We know it’s God Who delivered us but, between our negative event and our deliverance, there are several steps we should share. Those steps may be practical as well as spiritual. Those steps may include counseling, daily confessions, physical exercise, or meditating on the Word of God.

When the opportunity presents itself, don’t be ashamed to share your story. Your story may save someone’s life.

Luke 12:25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

What if it doesn’t work? What if my spouse is having an affair? What if we can’t pay the bills? What if it doesn’t get better? What if I don’t get the promotion? What if my business is not successful? What if the sadness never goes away?

Negative what if questions are forms of worry from Satan. Worry is a form of fear. Satan’s goal is to make us lose faith in God. He’s wanting us to believe the lie of God’s Word won’t come to pass in our lives.

When negative forms of what if questions enter our minds, minimize the questions and counter them with the Word of God.
What if my spouse is having an affair?…I rebuke fear. My spouse loves me the way Christ loves the church (Eph. 5:25).
What if it doesn’t get better?….Never mind, I’ve been healed by the stripes of Jesus (1 Peter 2:24).
What if I don’t get the promotion?…Oh well, no good thing will God withhold from me (Psalm 84:11)

Don’t entertain Satan’s thoughts, ideas, or suggestions any longer. Counter them with the Truth.

There’s power in consistency. The thing that will benefit us the most is our unchanging faith in God.

Negative circumstances will come. How we respond to those circumstances determines the level of our faith. Enduring faith, a short burst of faith, and no faith are our options.

Example: You and your family are standing in faith for a new house.
Negative Circumstance: Your spouse gets laid off which forces the household finances to be cut in half.
Option 1: You continue to stand in faith for the house. You continue to look at floor plans, make confessions, and watch HGTV for ideas.
Option 2: You remain in faith until the bills are due and you realize you barely have enough to pay the current bills. After a month, your faith for a house is tainted with doubt and you slowly stop believing.
Option 3: You immediately stop believing because you can’t logically see how buying a house now is going to happen.

God can work around any negative circumstance if we continue to believe.

We must make a decision. Will we doubt, lose hope, and give up on God’s promises or will we stand firm and wait on the promises of God? Regardless of the circumstance, have unchanging faith and believe in God.

Jeremiah 17:7 But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is Him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.

Matthew 21:21 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

People like consistency. We like consistency in our relationships. We want our spouse’s attitude to remain the same. Not, happy in the morning then angry in the evening. We like consistency from our supervisors. We want a supervisor to treat everyone the same. We like consistency from our children in school. Not, one semester making straight A’s then the next semester C’s and D’s.

God understands our desire for consistency. When someone is consistent, it makes it easier for us to put our trust in them. God reassures us that He’ll remain consistent through His Word. He told us that He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. If He did it before, He’ll do it again. That’s awesome.

Some of us know God is consistent, but certain situations attempt to scare us into thinking God won’t fulfill His Word. Don’t give into fear. If He said it, He meant it. He is and He’ll always remain consistent. Put your faith, hope, and confidence in God’s Word.

Malachi 3:6 “Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Satan’s plan is to influence our minds with his ideas. His schemes are so clever until they seem like our own thoughts. They appear logical and intelligent.

Revelation 12:9 says, Satan deceives the whole world. To be deceived means a person thinks they’re right but, they’re actually wrong. Since Satan is the master deceiver, he’s deceived the most intellectual people into thinking God doesn’t exist. A combination of Satan’s deception and facts provides great arguments as to why God doesn’t exist.

Since certain people are viewed as intelligent, they have a following. If we were the devil, wouldn’t it make sense to deceive intellectual people who can influence others? Those people learn deceptive arguments from intellectuals that can influence others.

At the end of the day, it’s all about what we choose to believe. We can be deceived into believing books as to why God doesn’t exist. These books give us no hope for our future. We just cease to exist when we die. Or, we can believe the book (The Bible) that shows us the way to get to God.

Don’t be deceived. Believe the Word of God.

Revelations 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

It’s important to know our enemy, the devil (2 Cor. 2:11). Satan’s only attack is to influence our minds with his ideas. His schemes are so clever until they seem like our own thoughts.

Another thing Satan has convinced a lot of people of is satanically influenced free will/free choice. We’re living in a time where people are encouraged to do whatever feels good to them. If people want to get high, that’s okay. If people want 20 sexual partners, that’s fine. If people want to spend all their money on clothes, do what makes you happy. And if anyone criticizes these behaviors, they’re in the wrong.

God’s Word is clear about these subjects but, satanic influence of free will often overrides God’s will. God didn’t make these rules for the sake of making up rules. He’s our Creator and knows what’s best for our lives. He knows these behaviors can destroy our lives, destroy His design for family, and destroy our future.

Don’t allow Satan to destroy what God has planned for you. Strive to obey God’s Word. He knows what is best for every part of our lives.

Revelations 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

It’s important to know our enemy, the devil (2 Cor. 2:11). Satan’s only attack is to influence our minds with his ideas. His schemes are so clever until they seem like our own thoughts. They appear logical and intelligent.

One thing Satan has convinced some of is his lack of existence. People believe Satan is not real and he’s not making people do bad things. People do bad things from their own decisions.

How clever is that? He’s convinced some that he doesn’t exist meanwhile, they’re unknowingly doing his will, but thinking it’s their own ideas. Those people are partially correct. He’s not making us do anything, but his influences can be so strong until it seems like our ideas.

People are spreading hatred, but thinking they’re just being honest. Their relationships are crumbling, but they’re thinking they’re just acting on how they feel. Impulse decisions are being made but, they’re thinking they were acting out of wisdom.

Satan is real. His influential thoughts that seem like our own or like good ideas are meant to destroy our lives. Before acting on any decision, consult God three times, if necessary, to confirm if it’s His will or not.

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

2 Corinthians 2:11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

In war, a country uses spies to provide intelligence about their enemy. In sports, a team views film to know the strengths and weakness of their opponent. If knowing an enemy or opponent is important in the natural, one would think it would be very important to know our ultimate enemy: the devil.

The devil can’t just invade our lives without our consent. He can’t just freely possess our bodies like in the movie The Exorcist. The devil’s only attack is to bombard our thoughts with ideas and suggestions contrary to God’s Word and His will.

He’ll tell us we can’t make it. Life is not worth living. We’ll never have that type of money.
He’ll tell us to cheat on our spouse. Cheat on our taxes. No one will know.
He’ll tell us to stay where we are for job security when we know God called us to bigger and better things.

If we act on those ideas or internalize those lies, we’re being influenced by the devil.

Get to know God’s Word and His will for your life. Submit to God’s will and resist the influences of the devil and he will flee (James 4:7).

2 Chronicles 20:3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

The Ammonites came to battle Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat didn’t know what to do. As king, Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast to seek the Lord throughout Judah. Everyone, including children, sought the Lord for an answer. As they sought the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord came upon an ordinary person (Jahaziel). Jahaziel gave the king a plan of action that ultimately gave Jehoshaphat the victory (v. 14-18). Jehoshaphat proclaimed the fast, but Jahaziel provided the answer.

As heads of our households, if a problem arises and we don’t know what to do, have the family seek the Lord through a fast. A fast amplifies the voice of God. Like Jehoshaphat, the answer may come through someone else. It may come through our spouse or even our children. Some mistakenly assume that because children are young, they can’t hear the voice of God. Let’s not forget Joel 2:28 which says, our sons and daughters will prophesy. This concept also works with believers at work. Proclaim a fast to improve productivity or provide a solution to an unanswered problem at our places of employment.

So, fast and be in tune as we seek the Lord.