Graced To Do God's Will

2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)

As much as we’d like it if things changed automatically, they don’t. For things to change for the better in our lives requires the correct response to God’s Word. God’s Word says we’re blessed, healed, and prosperous, but everyday the enemy attacks and attempts to steal every promise from God.

A stronghold is an attack from the enemy on the things that rightfully belong to us. The pulling down of strongholds is our responsibility to retain what God’s Word says we already have. So, the responsibility we have when the enemy attacks our bodies with sickness is an unwavering belief that we’re healed and a confession saying the same (James 1:6-7; 2 Cor. 4:13). A correct response to a stronghold in our marriage is the belief that our marriage is prosperous (in spite of what we see) and a confession saying the same.

Don’t believe or speak what you’re seeing if there’s a stronghold in your life. Pull down that stronghold by continuously believing and confessing God’s Word over everything else.

Psalm 54:4 Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

If the answer is unknown and the problem is big, let God be your help.

If no one is there and no one seems to care, let God be your help.
If you’ve done all you can but your best in not good enough, let God be your help.

Initially, we’ll turn to God whenever we’ve run out of resources and connections. Those are some of the times we make our “God promises.” God if you get me out of this situation, I promise to__________. The good thing about God is He’ll help us even though we didn’t put Him first. God’s help will make our other resources and connections look like a waste of time.

Eventually, we should get to a place where we initially go to God and wait on His response. We’ll wait because we know His help is far better than anything we’ll get from someone else or anything we could come up with ourselves.

Get a certainty about God’s help and make Him your only Source.

God is a tripartite being. Between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God can literally be our everything.

God is our Father (Galatians 4:6). God is our Comforter (John 14:16). God is our Counselor (Isa. 9:6). God is our Friend (John 15:15). God is our Healer (Ex. 15:26). God prospers us (Jer. 29:11). God is our Deliverer (Ps. 18:2). God is our Protector (Ps. 91:1). God is our help (Ps. 54:4).

Anything we could ever want or need in this life can be found in God. God is our everything. The reason why some people are not experiencing the full manifestation of God in their lives is because they choose to look to other places for fulfillment and assistance.

God longs to be our everything. Allow Him to be just that in your life. Trust His ways, His plans, and His methods and He promised our lives will be far more abundant than they are now.

Meditate on these scriptures above and allow God to be all that you need and more.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

God’s Word says, by His stripes, we are healed. We’re not going to be healed. We’re healed right now. Sickness, disease, and pain attempt to invade our bodies to remove that healing. During those attacks, there’s a temptation to give in. If we’re in pain, there’s a temptation to sit down and feel sorry for ourselves. If we experiencing the symptoms of sickness and disease, there’s a temptation to be unconcerned with our appearance and tell people how bad it is.

When those attacks come, this is our opportunity to rebel. It’s an opportunity to go against how we feel. Every time we feel that pain, smile and declare to ourselves we are healed. After coughing the night before, put on some nice clothes and praise God that Jesus healed us. Once again, we won’t feel like rebelling against the symptoms, but our rebellion puts our faith on display.

*Disclaimer: In all things, we should be led by the Holy Spirit. If God tells us to rest or take medication, that’s what we should do. This is not the time to foolishly show God how much faith we have by overriding His Spirit with carnal rebellion.

Rebel against the symptoms of sickness and pain and proclaim the truth…We Are Healed!

When we first attempt to hear God’s voice, it’s kind of confusing. We hear or we think we hear God in certain situations, we’ll hear the desires of our flesh, and we’ll hear the voice of Satan. There’s an elimination process we can do to truly know we’re hearing God.

If it’s Satan’s voice, it will totally oppose God’s Word. For instance, if we hear a voice telling us to rob a bank, that’s not God because His Word tells us not to steal (Exod. 20:15). The desires of our flesh oppose God’s Word too, but it’s a little more subtle (Rom. 8:7). The flesh will tell us have that second helping of dessert even though we know we’re full. The flesh will tell us to “get high” because there’s no scripture that says we can’t. The flesh tag teams with Satan to provide logical reasons as to why we should do something a particular way.

When we hear God’s voice, there’s an inner peace (Col 3:15). We may be tempted to worry about the process or the outcome, but that’s something we know we should be doing. Our flesh and Satan will scream reasons as to why God’s way is stupid or illogical, but the more we resist Satan and follow-through with hearing God’s voice, the better we’ll become. Eventually, we’ll easily hear God’s voice for every decision we’ll make in life.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

There are wars in the world. There are multiple mass shootings within a year. Husbands and wives are killing each other. Parents are killing their own children. Racism still exists. People are conceited and only concerned with themselves.

Let’s face it. We’re literally seeing the end time signs.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 says, there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.

As we see all of this unfold, what is a believer to do? The same thing Jesus told us to do over 2000 years ago.
1. Preach the gospel (Mark 16:15).
2. Use our authority over the enemy (Luke 10:19).
3. Love one another (John 13:34).

We may not be able to stop these signs from happening, but if we can love people to the point to pray for them during these trying times, share the gospel with them so that they can receive salvation prior to Jesus’ return, and stop Satan’s power from running rampant, we can truly operate in our role as God’s vessels. Let’s do our parts and be willing participants for the Kingdom of God during these last days.

Throughout our day, we should obtain status checks from God. We should stop everything we’re doing to ask God how we’re doing so far. Is there anything He wants us to work on? Is there anything He wants us to do next?

When get status checks from God, we’re intentionally keeping open lines of communication with God, we’re allowing His Spirit to lead us, and we’re allowing Him to direct our steps (Psalm 37:23). The benefit of status checks with God is we’re displaying our trust to God in allowing Him to lead our lives and we know wherever He leads us is designed to prosper us (Jer. 29:11).

Let’s begin and/or continue checking in with God throughout our day to gain guidance in our lives.

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  

Mark 11:23 “Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Situations, conversations, and previous experiences have the ability to make us doubt God’s Word. A lot of us have settled for a less than life. Some of us have accepted sickness, poverty, and problems. We experience these negative things and say…“that’s life.”

With the power God has given us, we should be dominating every negative circumstance that gets in our way. Whatever mountain that’s in our way, we’ve been given the ability to speak over it, tell it to move and it will obey.

A problem we tend to have is we don’t believe we have the ability to cause our mountain to move with the power of our words alone. If we do take that step of faith, we have the ability to doubt or quit if we don’t see something happening immediately.

Through Jesus Christ, we have power and ability over any obstacles that come across our paths. Get back to the basics and exercise your faith.

There’s been a wave of superhero movies recently such as, Black Panther, The Avengers, and Justice League. These superheroes have superpowers such as, incredible strength and speed, the ability to fly, and a forceful energy coming from their fingertips. It’s exciting to see these powers on the screen, but these superpowers are not as fictional as one may think.

Through Jesus Christ, God has given us superpowers. Let’s look at some of our powers.
1. Power Over The Earth- And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth…(Gen. 1:26).
2. Power To Get Wealth- But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is he that gives you power to get wealth…(Deut. 8:18)
3. Power Over Evil & Protection- I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you (Luke 10:19).
4. Power to Speak Over Our Circumstances- “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them (Mark 11:23).
5. Power to Receive- In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete (John 16:23-24).

As we can see, with these superpowers, God has given us the tools to prosper in every area in our lives. We just have to believe these powers have been given to us and use them daily.

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Believers: I no longer drink alcohol or curse.
God: So what?
Believers: I go to church, read my Bible, and am a faithful tither.
God: So what?
Believers: I feed the homeless and preach the Gospel to the unsaved.
God: So what?

These are the things we say within ourselves to make us feel better about ourselves. It makes us feel better because we’re able to boast unto God by comparing our numerous works to the minimal to no works of someone else. But God is saying, so what?

God is pleased when we look beyond ourselves and look to the embodiment of grace Who is Jesus. Our works mean nothing without Jesus. It’s because of Jesus we’re saved, blessed, delivered, and even able to come into the presence of God.

From the consistent church goer who is faithful and committed to God to the homosexual who can’t seem to get it together, we all need Jesus. And all boasting is evil (James 4:16).

Inspired by Pastor Michael Todd

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

Grace is an unearned gift of God. Whenever we receive something we haven’t earned and don’t deserve, we can call it grace.

As we can see, grace can be multiplied. It’s not just limited to salvation where we receive the free gift of Jesus to be saved. There’s grace for healing, grace for victory, grace for deliverance, etc. These multiple areas of grace can’t be fully used without knowledge of what Jesus accomplished for us in His Word. How else would we know Jesus gifted us sweat-less victory or authority over every evil force if we don’t read His Word? This grace was freely given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It’s like a great uncle leaving us $1 million dollars, however we don’t know we have this gift because we never read his will. The Bible is God’s will for our lives. If He told us we’re victorious, prosperous, and healed, that’s what we are and only our unbelief can change that.

Let’s grow in the knowledge of God’s Word and experience all grace to prosper in every area of our lives for the glory of God.

You suddenly had to pay for a big purchase. Now, you’re $10,000 in debt. The most logical way is to work extra hours which will cause us to miss family functions and stay in a constant state of exhaustion. There’s another way. You receive a diagnosis from the doctor. The treatment is to take numerous amounts of medication that has horrible side effects. What if I were to tell you there’s another option?

That other option requires our reliance on God. We tend to look at life logically. We see a problem and we tend to look at the most logical solution. That solution may not be our best option.

Instead, our best option is to look spiritually to God for guidance on what we should do. He may tell us to work extra hours but, only for two weeks instead of two months. And although the medication says take twice a day, God may tell us to take it once a day.

Our responsibility is to trust God’s process instead of our own or the one recommended to us. Don’t suffer through the issues of life. Dominate every issue in life by faith and reliance on God.

Psalm 62:5 I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him.  

Hebrews 4:15 Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! 16 So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.

God understands everything we face. Through His Son Jesus, He understands the problems we have, the temptations we face, and the uncertainty we feel in life. Since God understands our life’s experiences, He desires that we rely on His compassion. That’s why He tells us to give our concerns to Him (1 Pet. 5:7) and He tells us not to worry or fear (Phil. 4:6-7). In so many ways, He lets us know that He understands and He has a remedy for the issues of life.

That remedy requires our belief in what Jesus has done. If we can believe that Jesus has overcome every issue in the world according to John 16:33 and He’s given us authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19), we’ll have a whole new perspective going through life. We’ll see that every trial we face is an opportunity to believe. We’ll see God adding another win to His resume. We may get to the point where we question if “problems” are real or are they hallucinations based on our perspective since the end result works out in our favor.

Wherever we are in life, realize God understands and through our belief, He’s already created a solution.

There’s a deliverance we attempt to obtain ourselves. Without the assistance of God, we attempt to free ourselves from things such as, overeating, pornography, procrastination, moodiness, and more. Through self-effort, that deliverance is taxing and temporary. After a few weeks, we slowly begin to go back to our old ways.

God’s deliverance is everlasting. God’s deliverance still requires our participation, but it’s His plan. Through His Spirit, He’ll give us step by step instructions on what we should do to be totally delivered. He may have us confess our deliverance over that thing daily, have us meditate on deliverance scriptures, or substitute our urges with praise.

It may be difficult in the beginning, but remain consistent. We may feel like we have it under control after doing what God says for a few weeks, but remain consistent. If we remain consistent, we’ll experience complete freedom.

For those bound by anything that doesn’t honor God who want deliverance, let go of all your ways and the ways you’ve heard about and be led by the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

A lot of us have a mindset that we want to make a difference in this world. In fact, God deposited that mindset into us because His ultimate goal is to bless us so that we can be a blessing (Gen. 12:2-3). However, that goal cannot be reached without developing relationships with others.

Developing relationships with others requires us to be selfless. It’s going to require some time, sacrifices, and energy. We may have to go out of our way to help someone else. We may have to stay up late encouraging a person. We may have to spend a little extra money to be a blessing.

What we’re doing is depositing relational seeds in the earth. Our relational seeds may be the spark to help that person develop their dreams or have the mindset of a healthy marriage. We could be the reason why they’ve become closer to God or disciplined in their finances. We could be the only genuine Christ-like love they experience in the earth.

Let’s not be so inwardly focused. Let’s pour out our knowledge, wisdom, and love into someone else to truly impact others who can make a difference in the world.

Proverbs 11:25 (MSG) The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.  

Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Romans 7:6 says, we’ve been freed from the Old Covenant Law. Although it’s perfectly clear we’ve been released from the Law, there are some who continue to live by the Law. They truly believe having a beard, wearing no make-up, not eating certain foods, or not having tattoos honors God. Not only that but, they try to make others feel bad for not upholding the Law.

As we can see from the verse above, those religious practices were a shadow of Christ to come. Those ways were perfectly fine under the Law in the Old Covenant. Now that Christ has come and fulfilled the Law according to Romans 8:3-4, we no longer have to continue in Old Covenant ways to honor God.

We honor God by believing Jesus has fulfilled the Law and has made us righteous. We Honor Him by allowing His Spirit to lead us on what to wear and what to eat. We honor God by walking in the freedom and living the abundant life Jesus provided.

Don’t allow condemnation to fill your hearts because you’re not adhering to Old Covenant practices. Grace has freed us from the Law so that we can truly enjoy life.

As believers, we’ll always continue to grow in God. Because God is perfect and infinite and as long as we live here in our flesh on earth, we’ll always have areas of improvement.

During this growth process, we should be mindful not to be hard on ourselves. We may have thought we had it all together, but we will discover another layer that we can perfect. We may we have thought we heard God, but we really only responded to our emotions. This revelation of improvement is not there to condemn us or make us feel bad, but to better us.

We will never have it all together and we will never “arrive.” From our attitude, to the management of our finances, to how we treat people, we will always have an opportunity to grow.

Don’t beat yourself up about the problematic areas God reveals in your life. Just look at them as an opportunity to be more like Christ.

Ephesians 4:15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually,

How many of us remember initially entering a romantic relationship? We couldn’t wait to come home from school or work and talk to our boyfriend or girlfriend. There’s just something different about having a personal intimate conversation.

If they stopped calling daily and we only spoke to them once a week, we would think something’s wrong. We would think someone’s taking our place. Our level of intimacy diminishes.

God is a relational God. He desires close intimate relationship with us. He doesn’t want to settle for hearing from us only once a week. He knows something else is taking His place. He desires to hear from us all of the time. He wants to know our problems. He wants to hear how He positively impacts our lives. He wants us to acknowledge Him when we’re around our friends.

If we understand the importance of one on one time in earthly relationships, how much more should we have one on one time with God? Let’s build on our relationship with God with more One on one time.

Ephesians 6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

Ephesians 1:3 says all blessings are in heavenly places in Christ. This means, ANYTHING we could ever want or need, which pertains to godliness, was made available to us through Jesus but, it’s in heavenly places. We may not be able to see or experience it at this time but, it’s there. Our belief that Jesus made those blessings available to us through His blood allows the manifestation of those blessings.

So whenever we ask God for a specific desire in the name of Jesus, we know it’s available to us and it’s a matter of time before it comes to pass. We don’t need to ask every time we pray. He heard us the first time (1 John 5:15). We transition to thanksgiving.

We look at a negative in our bank accounts and thank God for the increase in finances. As we’re driving our battered car, we thank God our new car has been made available to us. We look at an empty house and thank God for our spouse and children. Every morning we thank God we’re driving to our purposed career.

We sincerely thank God for those needs and desires until they manifest in our lives.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

John 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Here we see two scriptures regarding the name of Jesus. In one scripture, we can receive our desires by using His name, and in the other we see everything bowing at the name of Jesus.

God’s Word has given believers authority to use the name of Jesus whenever we desire. The name of Jesus is not limited to church or when things are at their worse. It’s there for everyday use.

We can use the name of Jesus to lower gas prices, to get to our destination safely, to heal “incurable” diseases, or to make impossible things possible. Nothing is off-limits.

We can’t hope and wish things might change when we call on the name of Jesus. We have to be convinced everything must change when we call the name of Jesus.

Once we have this confidence in using Jesus’ name and see the benefits of using His name, we’ll be like super heroes changing everything around us for God’s glory.

Proverbs 15:23 A person finds joy in giving an apt reply– and how good is a timely word!

There’s enough negativity in the world. We, as believers, don’t need to spread anymore negativity. In fact, we should be the positive light for people in every situation.

When someone tells us about their problems, we should respond with an optimistic outcome. When someone tells us about their goals, we should encourage them and provide additional wisdom when prompted by the Holy Spirit. When people are complaining about performing certain tasks, we can point out the benefits. We can compliment a person just because.

Being an optimist requires us to push past our own personal feelings and it forces us to trust God in spite of how things appear.

Although some may not recognize or thank us for our optimistic energy, our light can change the atmosphere, change a person’s perspective, and ultimately change the person entirely.

Be kind everyone. We’re spreading joy in the world.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

As believers, we see something we want such as a new car, a new job, the manifestation of healing, or an increase in finances. The practical application to receive that thing is to release our faith. So we believe. A month goes by and it hadn’t materialized. Another month and still nothing. After a year or so, some of us give up and say something “spiritual” like, “it wasn’t God’s will for me to have that.” Others say, their faith wasn’t strong enough.

In reality, we weren’t patient enough. Faith requires patience. Abraham and Joseph waited years before receiving what God had promised and we may have to wait too. Regardless of the time it takes and what we experience, don’t stop believing God.

If He (not our emotions) said it, He will bring it to pass.

Deuteronomy 31:8 “The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

When you didn’t get that promotion, God was there.
When you lost your child, God was there.
When you were diagnosed with that disease, God was there.
When you got a divorce, God was there.
When you became addicted to drugs, alcohol, or pornography, God was there.

God doesn’t cause problems, but He’s with us during problems. He’s there to comfort us during times of tribulation. He’s there to provide us with joy in spite of the situation. He’s there to show us how to navigate through these situations. He’s there to show us how to use our authority to overcome these situations.

We’re never alone. God is there. Right now, God is there. Rely on His presence during times of trouble and allow Him to turn your troubles into triumphs.

Deuteronomy 32.35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’

The people we know as enemies not only talk behind our backs, but they post negative things about us on social media and speak failure over our lives. But, praise God no weapon formed against us shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17).

Our first response may be to return fire with fire. We may want to air their problems to the world or give them a piece of our minds, but that’s not our role. As long as we resist the urge to retaliate and continue to honor God with our lives, our enemies will live long enough to see us blessed. David told us God will prepare a table in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23:5).

We’re not hoping that they die or experience failure in their lives. They’ll reap what they sow. But, we have an assurance that the blessing over our lives will override any negative thing they throw our way.

Let’s hold our peace and let God fight our battles.

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

You need to come up with $20,000 in a week. It seems like you need a miracle. Human wisdom says, get a loan, ask family members, or work as much overtime as you can. However, the Word of God tells us to depend on the power of God.

Now, depending on God doesn’t mean we sit at home and wait on someone to knock on our door with a $20,000 check. That means we believe that miracle has already been made available through Jesus Christ, seek God, and wait on His solution for that miracle. He may have us talk to a specific person about our situation. That person may be prompted by the Holy Spirit to write us a check. He may have us go to a specific bank that will lend us the money. A relative, who recently passed, could have left us some money in their will. The point is, it’s God’s solution and not our own. He will guide us to the location of our answer. To hear His voice, we need to quiet ourselves and quiet our surroundings.

In every situation and for every solution, great or small, depend on the power of God.

Psalm 119:98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me.

As we meditate in God’s Word, the scriptures should come alive to us. Situations we’re dealing with should get resolved and peace should enter our lives. Because it’s God’s Word, and He is wiser than us all, we should also receive wisdom to handle every situation.

This wisdom is not for us to gloat and rub the victory in the face of our enemies. This wisdom from the Word allows us to outsmart those who maliciously try to hurt us and has us perform certain tasks to make our enemies be at peace with us, all while staying in the love of God. This wisdom has the power to make our enemies our friends.

Whether you’re at work or at home, begin getting in God’s Word to receive this supernatural wisdom that will provide additional peace in your life.

Psalm 37: 7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Have you ever seen movies that glorified the financial success of drug lords such as Pablo Escobar? Or, have you seen rappers (who talk about everything else except the name of Jesus) living lavishly, and wonder how we, the righteousness of God, seem to live an average life?

Don’t be envious by the “success” of those individuals. Those people are prospering, but they’re prospering in their own way. If we read Psalm 37, we see their “success” is temporary. However, if we wait patiently and activate the principles of faith for our desires, we too can live a prosperous life. But unlike those who chose to dishonor God, our riches last forever and we get to glorify God (Psalm 112:3).

When God prospers us, there is no one that can stop our success, but us. Don’t try to prosper in your own way. Prosper God’s way.

Genesis 3:12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Since the beginning, accountability has been a problem for mankind. Adam blamed Eve for sinning against God and Eve blamed the serpent. They never owned up to their shortcoming because it was easier to blame someone else.

Still today, there are some who blame others for why they act a certain way, what they have or don’t have, or where they are in life. Blaming others won’t fix anything. It’s a cop-out. It temporarily takes the spotlight off of us and puts in on someone else.

The good news about applying our faith to God is He puts all of us on a level playing field. We may not have had a father growing up but with God, we can still be a success and a great parent to our children. We may not have had higher education but with God, we can be a CEO of our own company. We may not have a family yet but with God, we can still have joy and a purpose in life.

It’s time to stop blaming others for our shortcomings. Wherever you are today, begin to look to God for assistance, and He will bring you to prosperous places.

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

It’s great to know the Bible covers all the issues we could ever face in life.

One of the biggest things some people like to say is, “all pastors are crooks” and “the bigger the church the bigger the scam”. They let us know these pastors are using the Word of God to get money out of people.

Unfortunately, some pastors do try to scam their members out of their money. But, that’s why 1 John 1:4 was implemented. It was to deal with these false prophets.

God’s Word lets us know to test every spirit to determine if they’re from God. We test the spirit through the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). That way, if a man of God is asking for us to give half of our paycheck to receive a miracle, we can allow the Holy Spirit to tell us whether or not to participate. No need to label every man/woman of God a crook because of some false prophets.

That’s why it’s sooo important to be led by the Holy Spirit. Praise God for the Holy Spirit Who leads us and guides us and protects us from false prophets.

Philippians 4:9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

How bold is this statement? Paul is telling the church in Philippi to do the things they’ve learned and seen in him. First of all, Paul is not the Christ and he’s not a prophet speaking on God’s behalf. Secondly, he’s not speaking to a bunch of children. He’s just a regular person, who chose to honor God with his life, speaking to adults.

Let’s evaluate ourselves. Are we living in a manner where we can tell someone else to do as we do? Do we have enough revelation in the Word of God to teach someone else? Can people see Christ in us? If not, then we need to begin making adjustments to reflect the image of Christ in today’s world. That will include loving others unconditionally, forgiving people, being a blessing to others, and more.

We don’t have to be perfect, but we should be constantly growing in Christ to the point that we are an example to others.

Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’”

Obviously, there’s a correlation between our speech and our lives or else, God wouldn’t tell us to say the opposite of how things appear.

We may feel weak, but we are to declare we’re strong. It may seem like we’re having financial difficulties, but we should say we’re rich (2 Cor. 8:9). The symptoms make us appear sick, but we’re healed (Isaiah 53:5). Situations in our lives may appear problematic, but we’re free from all our troubles (Psalm 34:9).

Some may say we’re lying or not being “real”, but if God’s Word says we’re strong, rich, healed, and whole, we’re calling God a liar if we say anything different.

Let’s monitor our speech and be sure we’re saying what God says about our lives and nothing else.

Isaiah 54:15 (AMP) “If anyone fiercely attacks you it will not be from Me. Whoever attacks you will fall because of you.

When bad things happen such as, a car accident, a hurricane, or a premature death, there’s been this ongoing debate whether God caused it, God allowed, the devil did it, or if we (mankind) caused it.

One thing’s for sure, we know it’s not God. This is one of the clearest statements made by God in the Bible. We don’t have to know Hebrew or check to see if it’s a parable. It’s clear. God is not responsible for the negative things that happen in our lives.

If it’s not God, then who is it? There are multiple answers. If we had bad eating habits and then a doctor tells us we have diabetes, it’s us. It’s a consequence to our actions. If we’re having continuous thoughts of sadness, we can blame it on the devil with his influential lies. If it’s an “unnatural disaster” (hurricane, tornado, etc.), then it’s a product of the curse being in the earth (Rom. 8:20). If it’s an early death, there are a number of factors. We have to know the true desire of the person who died. Did the person truly want to continue fighting for their healing or did they simply want to be with the Lord? Does the person truly believe God has healed them or are they uncertain? Did the people operate in their full God-given authority over sickness or harm?

Regardless of the negative situation, we can stop blaming God because it’s not Him. But in every negative situation, He will help us get through it (Psalm 34:19).

At some point, we’ve placed our expectations, hope, and trust in people to keep their promises. It could have been a parent, a boyfriend/girlfriend, a sibling, or someone else. Somewhere in our lives, a lot of us were let down by those people for not keeping their promises. As we get older, we learn not to trust people.

The unfortunate part about this thought process is we sometimes take our distrust and low to no expectations of people and bring it to God. The disappointments of our past dealing with people may have corrupted our expectations of God.

God is a promise keeper. Whatever He says He will do in His Word, that’s what’s going to be done. It may seem like it’s taking too long, but hold on, keep your faith in Him and He’ll bring it to pass.

Let’s get our eyes and expectations off of people, government systems, and the economy and let’s give it all to God.

Joshua 21:45 “Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”

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Romans 10:9 That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

Salvation requires a belief that Jesus is Lord in our hearts and a confession with our mouths. If we look closely, Romans 10:9 establishes a pattern to receive the additional promises of God. The other promises require the same steps: a belief in our hearts and a confession with our mouths.

You want a new car? Believe that God has made it available to you and confess that it’s yours.
You want financial stability? Believe that God has made it available to you and confess that it’s yours.
You want peace? Believe that God has made it available to you and confess that it’s yours.

Whatever we need or want from God can be obtained with the belief that God has made it available to us and a confession from our mouths. Receive all the promises of God using the pattern.

2 Corinthians 4:13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak,

Psalm 4:8 I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

This is David speaking to God. How is David so confident in God’s protection? What makes him so sure his enemies won’t attack him in the middle of the night? It was His experiences with God in the past. David’s faith alone assures Him of God’s protection.

God protected David from a lion, a bear, and Goliath when He was younger; therefore, God had a proven track record of His protection. What has God done in your life? He’s provided for us. He’s protected us. He came through when we couldn’t see our way. Based on God’s track record in our lives, we too can have the same confidence as David.

We can confidently say God protects us from all hurt, harm, and danger. We can confidently say God is our Provider. We can say, whatever we desire will come to pass.

Have faith in God. If He’s done it before, He can do it again.

Deuteronomy 30:4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.

To those who feel unworthy to step into a church, to those who feel they’ve sinned too much, and to those who feel they’ve strayed too far to experience the blessings of God, here is good news…

God Loves You.

Satan plays tricks on our minds to make us think that God doesn’t loves us based on some of the things we’ve done. Religious believers in the church can make us feel the same way. That’s a lie. He loves us and He always will. Wherever we are, God desires a relationship with us. From the prostitute, to the drug dealer, to the gang member, God desires to find us in that place, and restore right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. However, we have to take that initial step and surrender to Him.

No one’s perfect. Take it one step at a time in releasing those things that hinder a full relationship with God, and run to a loving God Who is waiting to receive us with open arms.

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Operating in the flesh means doing anything outside the will of God. The will of God is the Word of God. Operating in the flesh includes, having a bad attitude, being emotionally unstable, sex outside of marriage, being intoxicated, and more.

Nothing good happens when we operate in the flesh. We can’t honor God operating in the flesh and it doesn’t benefit us in the end. It may feel good for the time being, but it’s not beneficial.

If we continue to operate in the flesh, our hearts become callus to the Word of God. We see no benefit in complying with God’s Word because we don’t have immediate gratification. Eventually, we’ll experience the consequences of operating in the flesh which could be sickness and disease, poverty, unnecessary difficulties, and an early death.

Let God show you the areas where you’re operating in the flesh and let Him guide you into overcoming those areas.

Deuteronomy 6:6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

As parents, we teach our children so many things including: the alphabet, numbers, shapes, reading, and even the latest dances. Along with that, and more importantly, we should teach our children God’s Word.

The Word of God is the most important thing to a believer. It keeps us in faith, it empowers us, it keeps us in peace, it destroys the assignment of Satan, and so much more. If it does all of these great things, why would we keep it from our children or wait until they become “older” to teach it to them?

When they’re babies, start reading a verse a day to them. Have them read a verse or more as they learn how to read. Have them memorize the location of certain scriptures. Have them contextually explain a passage of scripture. All of this will benefit them as they become young adults.

Let’s do a service to our children and obey the commandment of God and teach them the Word of God.

Philippians 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

I obey the Ten Commandments, I pray every night, I attend church every week, I read my Bible, I don’t eat pork, I fast every month therefore, I’m righteous. Wrong!!! This is self-righteousness and it’s filth in the eyes of God (Isaiah 64:6).

The righteousness of faith says, “I know I don’t have it all together and I know I’ve sinned but, through the blood of Jesus, He has made me righteous.” This is the righteousness that is God-approved. This is righteousness we should live by.

Does this mean we can do whatever we want to do and claim we’re righteous? Of course not. What this means is we make a valiant effort to honor God with our lives because He’s been so good to us but, at the end of the day, we know it’s ONLY His (Jesus’) blood that makes us righteous.

We should never look at our actions as a point of righteousness or to point out someone else’s unrighteousness. Realize we all need and have grace available to us and that’s how we’re righteous.

Matthew 9:23 When Jesus entered the ruler’s house, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd. 24 “Go away, He told them. “The girl is not dead, but asleep.” And they laughed at Him.

Satan attacks us in our thoughts. If he can get us to doubt God’s ability or God’s willingness to help us in our current situation, he can stop our promises from coming to pass.

That’s why it’s so important to do certain things that will keep us in faith. Those things usually appear foolish to the world or even to some believers, but it’s important to stay in faith. Some of those things consist of confessing what we desire to see instead of talking about what we’re actually facing. With our nose stopped up and as we’re coughing, we declare we’re healed. We can periodically confess the Word of God over our situation under our breath throughout the day. Read our Bibles during lunch instead of watching TV. Visibly praise God in our cars for the things we want to come to pass.

Anyone of these things may get us strange looks or laughed at by some but, we’ll get the last laugh when what we’ve confessed and praised God about manifests in our lives.