Category Archive

Isaiah 65:16 (AMP) So [it shall be] that he who invokes a blessing on himself in the land shall do so by saying, May the God of truth and fidelity [the Amen] bless me; and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth and faithfulness to His promises [the Amen], because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hidden from My eyes.

I am blessed. I am protected by all mighty God. The favor of God is on my life. All my needs are met. My children are mighty in the land. I am debt free. I am forgiven, and my past will not hinder my future.

All of these are confessions we can use to bless ourselves, bless our situations, and bless those attached to us. Confession can’t only be thought in our minds and confession can’t only be written down. Confession must align itself with the Word of God and it must be spoken. Confessions can be yelled, or whispered. Regardless of how it comes out, we just need to have faith that what we’re saying will come to pass.

Whatever you’re doing, stop, and take a moment to bless yourself.

Inspired by Bill Winston

It’s not common to fast unless it’s for weight-loss reasons. Why? Because it’s not fun and a lot of people don’t see the point, but there are real benefits in fasting.

First, for the believer, it’s not optional. In Matthew 6:16 Jesus begins a statement by saying “When you fast” which means it’s not optional. Will you make it to heaven if you don’t fast? Yes but, there’s a deeper relationship with God if we fast.

One of the key benefits of fasting is clarity. Look at it this way, when we turn off the TV, put down the phone, and eliminate all other distractions, we can be more in tune with our spouses. Fasting does the same thing with God. Fasting limits and could possibly eliminate all flesh-like distractions which allows our spirit to hear and be more in tune with God. Clarity allows God to guide us, give us instruction, and makes room for His Word to encourage our soul.

Other benefits include: bonds of wickedness removed from our lives, removing burdens from our lives, and driving out demons (Isaiah 58; Mark 9:14-29).

So, make up in your mind and discipline your flesh to fast. Fasting positions us to better hear from God.

Isaiah 58:6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?

Psalm 106:7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea. 8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, That He might make His mighty power known.

We’ve all rebelled against God at one point in time and we know people who continue to rebel against God. We did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and however we wanted.

Regardless of how far we’ve strayed and how far others have strayed, God purposed in His heart to save us. God’s salvation is two-fold. He desires to save us because of His love for us, but He also saves us to display His power.

After we’ve rededicated our lives to God, others will take note of our change. They’ll see us genuinely worshipping God, they’ll experience our new positive disposition, and they’ll see the prosperity in our lives and have no other choice but to conclude the power of God has been working in our lives. They’ll remember all the rebellious things we used to do and realize God’s hand is now on our lives which may compel them to have a closer relationship with God.

If you’re tired of going down the wrong path, give your life to God and if you know some who are living the rebellious life, pray for their salvation so that God’s power can be displayed.

Matthew 9:38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

There are people who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are people who heard the Gospel but don’t quite understand what it means. There are people who heard and understand the Gospel, but they got off track and don’t know how to get back on track.

All of these people require laborers. The enemy is working tirelessly to blind, distract, and discredit the Gospel to these people. As believers, we should desire to see others saved, set free, and come into the knowledge of God. With that desire, we need to pray for loving compassionate people to come across these lost individuals’ paths to preach, teach, and advertise the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There was someone there to help guide us to Jesus and we should want the same for someone else. So, as you’re praying for your needs and desires to be met, pray that people from all across the world come out and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

God had Noah and Abraham act on the unknown. For Noah, God made him build an ark, to withstand a flood, prior to the existence of rain. For Abraham, God had him leave all that he knew and establish his home in a “to be determined” location.

Both individuals were dealing with the unknown, but they trusted God with their lives and their family’s lives. What is God saying to you? Where is He telling you to go? What is He telling you to do? How is He telling you to do it? If it’s unfamiliar territory or something that’s never been done, that’s okay. Like He led Noah and Abraham to prosper after they acted on His Word, He can do the same for you.

Trust Him. Don’t doubt. He will never allow the righteous to be forsaken (Psalm 37:25).

Mark 2:2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

The faith of these men is the focus; however, let’s focus on something that’s not often mentioned. Let’s look at their compassion.

First, it’s unknown how far these men had to carry this paralytic man to be in the presence of Jesus, but no matter how far it was, their compassion got him there. Secondly, their compassion compelled them to risk injury to themselves or injury to the paralytic man by carrying him on the roof of the house. Finally, their compassion could have cost them time and money after destroying another person’s roof to let him down.

How many of us have the compassion of these men to see another person saved, healed, and delivered until we’re willing to inconvenience ourselves or spend more time and money than we anticipated to get them in the presence of Jesus? Are we willing to take time out of our day away from our families to visit, encourage, and pray with them? Are we willing to get up earlier and go out of our way to take them to the house of God? Are we willing to simply buy them a meal? We should be.

God has been so good to us and we should desire for everyone to experience this blessed abundant life.

James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Regardless if you play the lottery or not, when you see that sign that says, “Powerball $247 Million” what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Is it buying a new home, going on a big vacation, or buying a car? If we could be honest with ourselves, if God (not the lottery) gave us that kind of money, how many of us would prioritize building the Kingdom of God? If I had to guess, I would say not that many.

Could the lack of prioritizing the Kingdom of God be the reason why this kind of money hasn’t materialized in a lot of our lives? Have our motives been selfish? Do we even think about helping the poor?

So what do we do? We ask the Holy Spirit to help us with our motives. As we’re readjusting our motives, we should generously give towards the Kingdom of God. If we have the correct motives and remain faithful towards the expansion of the Kingdom of God, God will bless our household, He ensures us He’ll give us more money to sow into the Kingdom, and we’ll have enough money or favor to get the house, vacation, and cars we desire (Mal. 3:10-12; 2 Cor. 9:10-11).

Proverbs 14:12 (GNT) What you think is the right road may lead to death.

There are people who think they’re doing and living correctly, but their foundation for what’s correct has been perverted. People, logic, societal norms, and experiences attempt to corrupt our foundation for what’s appropriate.

If we’ve seen our parents have multiple live-in relationships with multiple partners, we’re not going to see a problem with cohabitation and premarital sex. If we know Uncle Joe is selling drugs and our family glorifies him as a “hustler,” we may be corrupted to think we have to do whatever it takes to get ahead. If we see our friends buying expensive items on a credit card, we may be corrupted to think it’s okay to go in debt to buy what we desire.

As we get older and new situations come, our sense of what’s correct can be more perverted or we can become wiser.

This wisdom is not from man because man’s wisdom is constantly changing. Our wisdom and foundation for what’s right needs to be rooted in the Word of God. The Word of God covers every issue we’ll face in life.

If we follow God’s commands, in context, we’ll live a blessed, more productive, and prosperous life and we’ll have a foundation that will never crumble. Let’s renew and readjust our minds to unpervert our sense of what’s right and align it with God’s Word alone.

James 1:20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

There are some legitimate reasons to be angry. There’s, infidelity, inequality, abuse, and more. However, the fruits of our anger do not produce the righteousness of God. Anger tempts us to meditate on what we can do to get even, introduces hate in our lives, or how we can protect ourselves in the future. None of this meditation honors God.

So what do we do? Be angry and sin not (Eph. 4:26). How do we do that? By casting our cares on the Lord (1 Peter 5:7). It’s okay to let God know we’re angry about a particular situation, but we also let God know we trust Him to handle this situation on our behalf.

It’s been scientifically proven that anger and strife produce toxins that are detrimental to our health and now we have God saying anger is detrimental to our souls.

Let’s do ourselves a favor. Whenever anger arises, ask yourself these questions: Is this situation unsolvable for God? Can God not work this out for my good?

Since the answers are no, there’s no need to carry that anger around anymore. Give it to God and move on.

There are people who believe in the Lord Jesus, but are not affiliated with the body of Christ. They always seem to have an excuse as to why they don’t associate with other believers. They’ll say the church is full of hypocrites, they’re too “fake,” or the pastor only wants our money. It’s obvious these excuses are demonic because they don’t make sense.

It’s interesting how we can easily go a job full of hypocrites and fake people, but some of us don’t associate with the church. It’s funny how we can go to concerts where the artist only wants our money, but if the pastor takes a second offering to build the Kingdom of God, some of us are offended.

God never intended for us to do life by ourselves. We should associate ourselves with other like-minded believers. We can be encouraged by hearing someone else’s testimony and we encourage someone else by telling them about the goodness of the Lord in our own lives. We can be blessed by other believers and we can be a blessing to someone else. Together, we can destroy the works of the devil.

Let’s renew our minds to understand there is power in coming together as one.

Hebrews 10:25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Luke 17:27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

Jesus is telling us prior to His return, things will appear normal. People will be working, shopping, eating, and living their lives then…BAM!!! The Son of God will be revealed. Instantly, people will be raptured to be with Jesus. The rest of humanity will have to suffer here on earth for an extended period of time.

There’s not going to be a sign, warning, or an eerie feeling on that day. It’s just going to be the appearance of Jesus.

So, we need to be ready. If you have not made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, you need to do so (Romans 10:9). If you’re already saved and you love or halfway like someone else and you’re unsure about their salvation, check with them and confirm their salvation. Let’s all do something to advertise salvation through the One and only Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

God’s Word tells us to put to death fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. By God using the word “put” means, we have control whether we keep these things alive in our lives or not.

Some of use the “can’t help it” excuse however, God wouldn’t ask us to kill off something we couldn’t control. I know it seems fun and common to engage in these behaviors and activities, but these things lead to natural, emotional, and spiritual consequences.

Let’s do ourselves a favor and allow God to show us how to kill off these behaviors. It will make for a better more productive God honoring life.

I don’t feel healed.
I don’t feel forgiven.
I don’t feel blessed.
I don’t feel saved.

If we’re waiting on a “good feeling” when experiencing the supernatural things of God, we’ll be waiting forever. We can only experience supernatural things by faith and not by our physical senses or feelings.

With pain going through our bodies, we declare we’re healed. After we know we went against the will of God, we receive God’s forgiveness and move on. With chaos all around us, we declare we’re blessed and expect our situations to change for the better. Without ever seeing God, we receive our salvation.

If God said it, it must be so. The situations surrounding us and our feelings towards those situations, don’t negate what God said. Let God’s Word be true and everything else a liar (Romans 3:4).

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

1 Peter 5:7 casting all you care upon Him, for He cares for you.

A good husband, who sees his wife carrying a load of groceries, will offer to take the load from her. Why? Because he doesn’t want to see his beautiful bride struggling with anything he can easily handle himself. The husband’s love for his wife compels him to assist her.

God’s the same way, but better. When He sees us struggling to carry the cares of the world on our shoulders, His love compels Him to offer us a helping hand. From our children’s well-being to our finances, God is capable and willing to carry and perfect our cares (Psalm 138:8).

God’s a gentleman. If we try to retrieve our cares back from God’s hands He’ll let us, but that’s not His divine will for our lives.

Let’s stop being fearful, prideful, and stubborn and trust God to carry our cares.

When we experience a problem, we may have initially tried to figure it out on our own. We may have researched the internet, asked our friends, or spent money for a solution. After we exhausted all our resources, then we’ll go to God.

Some believers may criticize or condemn us for not going to God first. Although that may be true, the criticism is unnecessary. Look at Jesus with the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus could have criticized the woman for going to multiple doctors and spending all her money instead of coming to Him first but, He didn’t. He was simply glad she came and put her faith in Him.

There are two lessons we can learn from this. If we have a problem, no matter how long we’ve waited, we can always go to God with an expectation to receive a solution. Secondly, if we see someone trying this or that to fix a problem, don’t criticize them. Lovingly lead them to God and pray they won’t be swayed elsewhere.

Mark 5:26 She had suffered greatly under the care of many physicians and had spent all she had, but to no avail. Instead, her condition had only grown worse.

Mark 5:32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Romans 5:20 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.

Maybe you just started hearing from God or maybe you’ve been hearing from God for 30 years. Regardless of how long we’ve been led by the Spirit, there will be times when we miss it. We may have thought we heard God tell us to do something but, He didn’t and it’s okay.

We’re wrapped in carnal flesh that speaks too and sometimes we miss it but, God’s grace abounds. God knew we would miss the mark and He set it up so that we can get back in line with Him and continue to experience an abundant life. He made it so that everything, including our mistakes, work out for our good (Rom. 8:28).

We don’t have to beat ourselves up about it or receive the condemnation from these religious saints. God is a Redeemer and despite missing the mark, we can still experience the supernatural favor of God. So, get out of that funk, receive God’s forgiveness, and get on with your life.

Daniel 2:22 He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.

There are problems in the world that either have no solution or the solution can be improved.

When we actually seek God for answers to difficult questions, we can expect an answer from Him. There is no problem too difficult for God. It doesn’t matter if we’re focused on ending world poverty, permanently curing all cancer, providing more revenue for a seemingly failing business, reversing paralysis, or expeditiously canceling debt. God can reveal the answer to our problems. It may be a secret to the world, but that secret can be revealed when we seek God.

If we have a passion to fix the seemingly impossible problems surrounding us, we have a God Who has the answer and that answer can be revealed in us. Remember, nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).

*Read all of Daniel 2 for better revelation.

If someone would grant us the opportunity to have lunch with anyone in the world, some would choose Warren Buffett because of his financial wisdom; some would choose Oprah Winfrey because of her successes, and some may even choose Dr. Oz or Dr. Phil to help us with our physical and mental health.

We look to these people because we think they can provide some wisdom that can make our lives more successful. In actuality, what we’re doing is seeing their success and relying on their wisdom to help us instead of the power of God.

For whatever help we need, God desires that we look to Him. Don’t get me wrong, God uses people to speak a word of wisdom in our lives, but our first step is to come to Him. God’s power and wisdom is custom-made for our lives and it can come from anywhere, therefore, it’s more beneficial for us. Most importantly, He’s glorified when it’s applied.

Don’t allow the success of others make you run to them as your source. Look to God and He will give you all that you need for every success.

1 Corinthians 2:5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.

In marriage, there’s a temptation to keep tabs on what we do for our spouse compared to what they’ve done for us. If we washed the dishes, folded their clothes, and mopped, we expect a “thank you” and for them to do three or more things for us. We keep tabs because of a fear of appearing foolish. Let’s change our mentality.

If both individuals go into the marriage and keep a mindset of lovingly outdoing one another, we’ll always be satisfied with our spouse’s performance.

Maturity is developed when we don’t immediately see the return from our spouse. That’s when it’s most important to continue doing for our spouse. We may not know what’s going through their minds and we don’t want to allow strife in our house based on a couple of days of lackluster performance. If we continue to honor our spouse, in spite of what they do for us, God will make sure, in some way, we’re rewarded for our efforts (Eph. 6:8; Luke 6:38).

Start today. Lovingly outdo one another and experience a whole new joy in marriage.

2 Corinthians 2:11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

We don’t want to be ignorant of the devices and traps Satan has for us. One of those traps is the lack of enthusiasm.

When we’re desperate for a miracle or our needs have needs, we passionately go after the things of God. We’re consistently reading our bibles, listening to the Word, keeping the faith, and constantly in prayer. Then, BOOM! Our breakthrough happens.

After a few years of believing God for other promises, our bank accounts become full; God met all our needs, and we’re prospering in every area of our lives.
Here’s the trap…Because of our prosperity, there’s a temptation to lose motivation to go after the things of God. Satan will tell us we got everything we want so, there’s no reason to read our bibles, go to church, or pray as much as we used to.

We can avoid this trap by changing the dynamic in our relationship with God. Instead of looking at God as a glorified genie, we can develop a real relationship with God. Instead of going after the things of God to get stuff, we’ll go after the things of God because we want to know our Father and our Savior more. We’ll want to spend time with someone Who’s been so good to us.

Don’t fall into the trap. Be zealous for the things of God.

Romans 12:11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-control.

Bad habits and addictions are not good for us. Too much TV watching, shopping, eating, drinking and drug and alcohol addictions are not good for us. Even too much exercising is not good for us. Some say they can’t help it or that’s who they are. They say this because they don’t know how to stop or they don’t want to stop.

We may not know how to stop these habits and addictions but, God does. When we look to Him, we can tap into the ability of self-control. According to this scripture, He’s already given us the ability to overcome anything. From pornography to the worst drug addiction, we’ve been given the ability of self-control.

Look to God and let Him orchestrate an hourly plan for your life to overcome any bad habit and addiction that may be destroying your life.

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

Faith or belief in Jesus Christ and all that He has for us is only the beginning of our journey. As we can see, we are to add certain things to our faith.

What good are we if we have faith, but we don’t have the boldness to stand for what we believe (virtue)? How impactful can we be if we have faith, but our knowledge is limited and we’re lacking in self-control? How effective can we be if we have faith, but we’re walking in hate?

Does this mean we try to obtain these things overnight using will power? No. We allow the Holy Spirit to show us the areas where we need to grow. Our responsibility is to obey the Holy Spirit when He tasks us with things that go beyond our logic and comfort zone.

Adding these things to our faith can make us better witnesses for Jesus Christ and better people, and positively impact the world. So, add to your faith.

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Essentially, the spirit of mammon is the replacement of God with money. Instead of God supplying our needs, mammon tells us money can meet our needs. Instead of God giving us the desires of our hearts, we look to money to get our desires.

We have to be mindful not to be seduced by this spirit. Instead of financially giving to God, the spirit of mammon tells us to hold on to what we have. Instead of being content, the spirit of mammon tells us to get more. A person influenced by mammon says, “Who needs God when I have money?”

Before someone goes too far by saying the rich are possessed by the spirit of mammon. Let’s be clear, money is not the problem. The problem comes when we make money our source. Anyone (poor and rich) can be influenced by the spirit of mammon. The poor believe if they can just get some money, everything will be alright. The rich think if they can get more money they will be happier. In both cases, they should rely on God.

Don’t be influenced by the spirit of mammon. Choose God. When we’re focused on pleasing God, He ensures that we’ll have enough money to build His Kingdom, be a blessing to others, and enhance the quality of our lives all at the same time.

Psalm 34:19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

Drug addiction, self-righteousness, alcohol abuse, judgement, smoking, a critical spirit, fear, pornography, stress, homosexuality, current or previous verbal or physical abuse, depression, unhealthy eating, lust, excessive social media, debt, and more.

We all have things we need to be delivered from. We have a God on our side Who has the ability to deliver us from all our troubles and sinful habits. As hard as it seems for us to be delivered from our troubles, with God, our transition to deliverance becomes possible. There may be a long process to become totally delivered from a thing and our flesh will fight it day and night, but if we stick with God’s process, every day becomes a little easier.

We may revert to our old ways from time to time, but if we receive God’s forgiveness, discipline our flesh, and stick with God’s plan, total deliverance is possible.

Praise God we don’t have to accept harmful or sinful ways. We can be totally delivered.

When we get saved and sold out for Christ, we tend to associate ourselves with like-minded believers. We like talking about the Word and having good clean fun. At some point, we’re tempted to disassociate ourselves with people who don’t think, act, or believe like us and we stay in our “holy huddle.” We become so heavenly minded until we’re no earthly good.

We need to recognize this temptation to disassociate ourselves with people who are not like us. Jesus, our example, made a point to be around not so holy people. He was often criticized for being amongst “worldly people” but, He recognized the need for EVERYONE to have a Savior.

If Jesus associated Himself with people outside His huddle, we should too. Showing the love of God to and associating ourselves with the lustful, the alcoholic, the homosexual, and the ex-convict is our responsibility. How else will these people experience God’s love, forgiveness, and grace if we disassociate ourselves from them?

Get out of your holy huddle and do some earthly good for the glory of God and the good of mankind.

Mark 2:16 When the scribes who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with these people, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Psalm 23:3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

We are a spirit, we possess a soul, and we live in a body (1 Thess. 5:23). Our soul consists of our mind, our will, our imagination, our emotions, and our intellect. Life has a tendency to drain our souls. Our mind may be sound, but our will is weak. We may be highly intellectual, but our emotions are negative. God put the responsibility on Himself to restore every area of our souls, but only if we let Him.

When we humble and submit our souls to God, He makes sure we’re content in every area. If we give our fears to God, which is a part of our imagination, He will ensure that our imagination is encouraged. If we give our negative emotions to God, He will make sure we experience joy. If we need intelligence in a certain area, God will cover that too.

It’s good to know we serve a God who desires to restore our souls so that we can enjoy this life that Jesus purchased. Let Him restore you today.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

We can never praise God enough. We can never boast too much about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we reflect on where God has brought us and imagine where God is taking us, we’ll continuously be excited and tell of His goodness.

People may not want to hear about it and people may think we’re being too fanatic but, this is our calling. This is our proclamation. This is one of the reasons why we were created.

So, begin to praise Him and tell of His goodness. As the old song says, praise Him in the morning, praise Him in the noonday, and praise Him when the sun goes down.

Mark 14:3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. 6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

Isn’t it funny how people want to tell us what to do with our money? They’ve read a couple of books or experienced certain situations that now qualify them as “financial experts.”

Here we have this woman, who chose to spend a year’s worth of wages on Jesus. Immediately, she was criticized for this action, but Jesus compliments her and tells everyone she’s done a beautiful thing.

There will be times where God prompts us to sacrifice our finances and go above and beyond our 10% tithe. It will be an inward prompting of the Holy Spirit to give above and beyond our normal amount of giving. It’s during those times fear, human logic, and criticism will come. Those are all designed to stop us from giving to the Kingdom.

Although it’s not mentioned, it’s certain this woman received a harvest on the seed she sowed. Ephesians 6:8 says, God’s Word tells us whatever good we do, the same shall we receive of the Lord. God’s not in the habit of being in debt to anyone so, we can expect to receive a harvest from the good things we’ve sown to Him.

Praise God we can give to the Kingdom of God and praise God for our harvest!

1 John 2:1 (ERV) My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone sins, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He always did what was right, so He is able to defend us before God the Father. 2 Jesus is the way our sins are taken away. And He is the way all people can have their sins taken away too.

Before the world was created, God implemented a plan to send His Son Jesus to take away all the sins of the world.

After Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, all our sins that we’ll ever commit were forgiven. When people reject Jesus, they reject the payment for their sins; therefore, they die in their unpaid sins and can never be in the presence of a pure Holy God.

It’s not people’s sinful behavior that keeps them from going to heaven, because all sin has been dealt with through Jesus. It’s the rejection of the payment for our sins that keeps people out.

Don’t be left out. Receive Jesus and receive the payment of our sins.

Inspired by Pastor C. Dollar

Mark 5:39 When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” 40 And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.

It requires faith to obtain our needs and desires from God. Faith is a fight because in spite of what we see and what we’ve experienced, we have to maintain our belief that God has made our desires available through Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 6:12). The devil is already in our heads saying it won’t work. We don’t need anyone else laughing and ridiculing us based on what we are believing God for.

Some of us believe God for big and seemingly impossible desires that everyone won’t understand. It’s during those times we may have to separate ourselves from those who don’t believe and can’t be in agreement with us. This separation may be temporary, but it could also be permanent.

We need to be surrounded by people who genuinely want the best for us and people who can stand in agreement with us. It’s nothing personal to those who can’t believe. We simply need to be surrounded by faith.

1 Kings 17:5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.

1 Kings 17:15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.

God has instructed each and every one of us to do something. He’s told some of us to start a business, let some habits go, let some people go, serve in an area at church, reconcile a relationship with our parents, and He’s told some of us to be still.

In both of these cases, the person obeyed the word or the prophet of the Lord. As a result of their obedience, God performed an awesome miracle in their lives. In our case, God has given us instructions. In order for us to reap the maximum potential blessing, we have to do our part and obey God.

The miracle didn’t happen until they went and did. Whatever God has called you to do, go and do it and watch God bless your life.

Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place, and gave Him the name above all names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

The name of Jesus has all power. When we believe in the power of that name and give voice to that name, every negative thing in our lives has to change. We may not see it change immediately but, by maintaining our belief in the power of the name of Jesus, that situation has to change.

The name of Jesus has the power to heal our bodies, rekindle strained relationships, deliver us from addictions, and so much more. There’s nothing that name can’t do.

Some of us loosely use that name as a reaction to an unexpected situation…”Jesus Christ”. When we loosely use the name, we diminish its value. Some of us say it so often until we lose the true revelation of its potential.

Build and let’s keep a revelation of the name of Jesus. It has the power to change anything. Use it in your life, over your family’s lives, and for this world and expect to see a change.

1 John 5:10 (NLT) All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

How many of us would walk up to God and tell Him He’s a liar? Not many of us if any at all. We would have to be stupid or crazy to call God a liar but, millions of people do.

Simply put, when we don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we’re saying God is a liar. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, all scripture is inspired by God therefore, if we don’t believe the scriptures that tell us Jesus is the Son God (1 John 4:15), we’re saying God is a liar.

In fact, if we don’t believe certain promises will come to pass in our lives, we’re saying God is a liar. When we don’t believe God’s Word we tell God, “I don’t believe or trust You, You liar.” It’s harsh but, it’s true.

Do yourself a favor, don’t call God a liar. Believe His Word, believe in His Son Jesus, and believe in His promises.

*Pass this message on to those who don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Before Paul became an Apostle of Christ, Paul (who was Saul) was a zealous intelligent man who spoke multiple languages and was well-trained in the law. His passion for following the law gave him the justification to murder followers of Christ while believing he was acting on God’s behalf.

God used Saul’s discipline, passion, intelligence, understanding, and language skills as the experience Saul needed to become Paul. Paul performed awesome miracles and led millions to experience salvation through Jesus Christ.

What does this mean for us? God can take whatever we’ve learned, been through, and experienced and use it for His glory. It may not all be pretty, but God can make miracles out of mess ups. When we apply to a certain job, they provide a list of the experience that’s required. If we have the experience they’re looking for, we most likely will get the job. God does the same thing except, everything we’ve experienced can be used by Him.

Don’t discredit what you’ve learned or been through. Surrender it to God so that He can use it for His glory and so that we can be a blessing to others.

Philippians 3:4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.

Paul and Silas were in a terrible circumstance. They were beaten, shackled, and jailed for doing the will of God. When one would think they were at their lowest point, they began to sing praises unto God. At that very moment, there was an earthquake and their shackles were released and the jail doors were opened.

Externally, everything changed for the worse in Paul and Silas’ lives, but they maintained their positive attitudes. They still were grateful for what God had done and they were looking forward to spending eternity with their Savior. Based on their joy, they began to sing praises unto God. They didn’t sing hoping to be freed. They sang because they were grateful. Because of their grateful positive attitude, God performed a miracle they didn’t request.

How many miracles have we missed out on because of our negative ungrateful attitude? How many things could we have experienced if we maintained our joy during difficult times? Probably a lot. Just remember to focus on God during tough times. When nothing makes sense and everything seems like it’s getting worse, start giving God the praise for breakthrough and believe God is working out this situation for our good.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Peace is a prized possession. However, peace can’t be bought, it can’t be earned, and it can’t be inherited. Genuine peace can only be received through Jesus Christ.

We can be a billionaire on a private island by ourselves and still be in turmoil. We can have accomplished all our goals and still have no peace. All our friends and family can be around on Christmas day and still be without peace.

Like any other promise from God, peace has to be received by faith. Regardless of how we feel and what we’re going through, we have to believe peace has been made available to us. There’s no need to pray for it because it’s been left with us. We have it. We simply have to pick it up by faith and apply it to our lives.

When we apply this peace though our belief, confession, and demonstration, no matter what’s going on in our lives (good or bad), we can have peace.

Ephesians 4:23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

It’s transformation time! However, transformation isn’t automatic. Transformation only takes place by the renewing of the mind.

To appropriately renew our minds, we must study and align our thoughts with the Word of God. We may think it’s okay to behave a certain way, but if God’s Word tells us that behavior is inappropriate, we need to change. It doesn’t matter how we feel about it or how many other people say it’s okay, we need to change.

When we renew our minds with the Word of God, we expedite our spiritual and natural maturity. We don’t have to bump our heads nearly as much or go through years of difficulty. We don’t take things so personally and we can genuinely enjoy our lives.

Don’t get stuck with a mind that’s not renewed. Transform your life by renewing your minds with the Word of God.

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.

Some of us think we’re doing someone else a favor by not telling them the truth. We’re not. We’re only deceiving someone else because we’re afraid of their response or reaction. People lie to children about Santa Claus, people lie to their boss saying they like something they really hate, and people lie to their spouses about their appearance or behavior.

John 8:44 says Satan is the father of lies. So, if we choose to lie about something, we’re operating under demonic influences. It’s not helping them. It’s hurting them. On the other hand, if we speak the truth in love according to Ephesians 4:15, God Who is truth, is in the midst of our conversation and there’s enough grace on that truth for it to be well received.

Regardless of how kind we are, there will be some who get upset because they didn’t get the answer they wanted, but that’s on them. As believers, speaking the truth in love is what we should ALWAYS do. Don’t be afraid. Be honest.

What are we doing here? Are we existing or living?

A person who’s existing goes to work day in and day out for 25 or more years. They’re not really excited about going to an unfulfilling job. They simply work because it gives them a paycheck to survive. They rarely make new friends and they don’t look for ways to be a blessing. Every now and then, that person does something fulfilling, but for the most part it’s a daily routine.

A person who’s living has a purpose fulfilling career. They may not be excited about going to work every day, but they find fulfillment in what they do. A person who’s living receives fulfillment by being a blessing. They like to make people smile, they lend a helping hand, they keep a positive attitude, and their positive actions make people remember their name or face.

Jesus died so that we can have abundant life. However, how abundant our life will be, is up to us. It’s our mindset. Wherever we are, we can make the choice to begin living. We can have a positive attitude, be a blessing, do something different, experience something new, make new friends, or simply be kind.

Make an impact on this world and honor the sacrifice of Jesus by living an abundant life.

John 10:10 (NLT) The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

We always like to say there’s nothing God can’t do. Well, here’s something He can’t do. God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29).

This one thing God cannot do benefits us in so many ways. If God could lie, it would make His Word and faithfulness questionable. How could we put our complete trust in a Being Who could lie at any moment? If God lied, the world would cease to exist (Heb. 1:3).

Knowing that lying is not even an option for God allows us to anchor our trust, faith, and confidence in Him. If God said it in His written Word or He told us through our spirit, it will come to pass. It’s not a possibility and we don’t have to wonder. It has to come to pass. No matter how long it takes, it will come to pass. From that new job, to healing in our bodies, to a peaceful life, if God said it, it will come to pass.

“If God lied, you would be the first person He lied to and you’re not worth His reputation”-Vincent Campbell

Isaiah 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.