Tag: #be brave

EPISODE 324 JESUS MY KING

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The title of today’s episode: JESUS MY KING

I am proud to declare that Jesus is my King. I want to break down a couple of things I have been thinking about over the last few days. About how and why he is king.

During Easter week, we often concentrate a little more on the story of the crucifixion. I was thinking about the crown of thorns they placed on his head. When a crown is placed on the head it means you are a king. You are the government over the people. When the Roman soldiers thought they were mocking Jesus, instead they were crowning him with a curse. The curse of sin.

Think about Adam and Eve, how they had sinned, and God put them out of the garden of Eden.

Gen 3:17-19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

When Adam fell, sin entered the world. When God cursed the ground, he said it would grow thorns and thistles. Without sin, there would not have been any thorns for Jesus’ crown. Without sin, there would not have been a need for Jesus to die.

The phrase “to crown” is used to refer to the act of formally declaring that the reign of one king is ending, and the one being crowned is beginning his reign. Jesus was crowned with the curse of the earth. He took on the crown of sin; it was a sign that the old leadership was about to lose its power.

While Jesus’ body lay in the tomb, he went to hell and took back the authority that Adam had given to satan. He came out with the keys of authority over the earth. Jesus gave the church some of the keys of authority.

Matt. 18:18-20 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

I have read and heard the story of crucifixion all my life, but I had never given a lot of thought about the crown of thorns. It was just part of the list of cruel, painful things that they did to him. Accepting that crown, he was submitting to the process of taking on the sin of mankind.

After a coronation, the king has his authority. When we think of a coronation, we think of a celebration. We think of a glamorous ceremony with a robe being placed on the would-be king. They also placed a robe on him and mocked him. The enemy was the one celebrating at that moment. But satan’s celebration was short lived when Jesus rose from the dead.

Right now, satan has been stripped of his authority. But God gave mankind free will. We can allow the enemy to have authority in our lives. If we do, he will be our king. We will sin and do evil.

Only by denouncing the authority of satan in our lives and asking Jesus to be our king will we ever escape the curse of Adam. We submit our will and authority to King Jesus. When we make a promise to allow Jesus to be our king, He will seal our relationship with an engagement ring called his spirit.

2 Cor. 1:20-22 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 21Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Notice verse twenty-two says He has given us the earnest of His Spirit I our hearts. When we are born again, we receive a down payment, which is what earnest means, a small portion of the whole. He gives us a small part of His Spirit as a seal or promise that we belong to him.

Being under His authority, He has promised to watch over us, protect us, and provide for us. He will lead and guide us in every way that we submit to him. He wore a crown of thorns to save us from the evil curse of sin in our world.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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LETTING GO

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode is: LETTING GO

I am going to share something with you. It is possible to carry things in our lives that we do not even know we are carrying. Over time we experience things that we are not sure how to process or are too painful to deal with at the time. We bury them deep in our hearts.

I felt like I had suffered an offense over thirty years ago. I didn’t really think about it, until something happened, and my feelings came flooding out of my mouth. I was shocked that I had been carrying that bitterness for over thirty years.

Recently, I have been asking God to really search me and get rid of everything that is not of him. I want to be free of bitterness, offense and anything else that will get in my way of doing what God wants me to do.

The word bitterness means: disappointment and resentment at being treated unfairly.

Jesus was treated more unfairly than anyone, yet he had enough love to say, father forgive them they know not what they do. We need to ask God to remove our weights and fill the space with his love.

I often say that we are only capable of carrying so much. For example: If you were only capable of carrying ten pounds. You carry five pounds of bitterness. Three pounds of hurt and offense. Two pounds of all of your responsibilities of life. There is not any room left for anything that God wants to give you to carry. We need to empty our life of unnecessary weight. Then we will be down to the two pounds of responsibilities of everyday life. That leaves eight pounds of room for the things God wants to give to us to carry.

We have to empty our hands so we can lift them up for him to fill. In the days in which we are living, we have to be free to run the race that he needs for us to run. If everyone was bogged down with things that cause offense, bitterness none of us would have room to do the will of God.

Eph 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Striving to forgive others sometimes is not easy. In the case of my situation from yesterday. I feel like I have been able to release it to God. I have asked him to cleanse me of the bitterness and offence.

In some cases, the weight of hurt and offense can even cause us to have physical sickness in our bodies. Unforgiveness and bitterness can be like venom or poison to our souls. This has been scientifically proven. Feelings and emotions can show up in physical ways. We cannot show God’s love if we are bitter. To truly walk in God’s love, we have to be fully free.

I am so grateful that God revealed this resentment and bitterness so that I could get rid of it. If someone would have told me that I was carrying that much bitterness and resentment. I would have had to give it serious thought, then would have probably said, No I am fine. These things are buried deep most of the time. It takes God to bring them to light.

Ask yourself, do I have any unforgiveness or bitterness? Is there anything in me that I need to ask God to remove. He can and will set us free, we just have to be willing to ask him for his help to forgive and let go.

We all have a race to run; time is short. We cannot be held back by these emotions; we need to be able to carry what God has for us; souls depend on us running our race well.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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HONESTY AND TRUTH

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode is: HONESTY AND TRUTH

Satan is the father of lies. He loves to whisper things in our ears that cause us to fall into fear, anxiety and even sin. The word says that the truth will set you free. I recently had to have a hard conversation with a friend. I didn’t want to tell them the truth about a situation, but God tells us to not lie.

Telling lies is deceitful and rebellion, which is a part of witchcraft. We walk a fine line sometimes. But God wants us to always give our best, that includes the truth. We don’t always want the truth. It makes us have to measure up and sometimes sacrifice things that our flesh wants to hold on to. But real truth will also set us free from things that hold us back from being all we can be in the kingdom.

John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

This verse is Jesus’ words to a group of Jews. He was telling them to walk in the truth of the word, the intent of the word and not the legalism of the word. The intent of the word the truth would set them free from sin and other trappings of life.

I was doing my daily reading when I came across the story of Ananias and Sapphira. A group of believers in their city decided to sell their possessions and give the money to the work of the Lord. Many sold lands or houses and brought the prices of the things that were sold and placed them at the apostle’s feet.

But Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property and kept part of the money for themselves. They decided they would lie about how much they sold it for and would give that amount. It wasn’t wrong for them to keep part of the money, unless they had made a vow to give it all. It was the lie that they told in order to hold back something.

God revealed the lie to Peter.

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

Fear of man probably made them lie. They didn’t want to give all they had from the sale but didn’t want to tell them that they were keeping a portion. It wasn’t a requirement. It was just that the others felt like making the sacrifice. Since they were not in the place of giving God their all, He knew that and would have accepted what they freely gave to the work of the Lord.

Notice verse four Peter said to him, Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? (In other words, you had control of the property.)and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?(After it was sold, you still had control of the money. It was your choice.) why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

It does no good to give to the work of the Lord if you do it begrudgingly. God doesn’t need our money. (Contrary to what a lot of prosperity preachers will tell you.) He wants our whole heart. He wants us to freely give of our time, our resources and ourselves.

We don’t give God things just to check off the boxes that make us a good Christian. That is legalism and Jesus died to set us free from a bunch of legalities. If we spend time in the word just to say, I read a certain number of chapters, that is legalism. If we sit and try to make a God connection even if it is only fifteen minutes. God will honor the quality of the time. Daily devotions, prayer time, paying tithes, giving offerings, doing good deeds, attending church are all things we do as believers because we want to grow our relationship with God. The things we sacrifice, our time and resources he wants us to give to him out of our love for him. Not because he is sitting in heaven with a clip board checking off boxes.

After Ananias had been buried his wife Sapphira came about three hours later and shared the same lie with the apostles. She too was struck down in front of the apostles. Many there were struck with fear when they heard what had happened.

I believe this story was put in the bible to let us know God wants our honesty. He wants us to give to him out of a pure heart.

It is like our worship. He doesn’t want lip service. He wants a genuine connection with us, because we choose to follow him and love him. He will honor the honesty of our hearts and our actions.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 140 RESPECT GOD’S PRESENCE

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode is: RESPECT GOD’S PRESENCE

The Lord had Moses to build a tabernacle for him to come down and be in the middle of his people. Many places speak of God’s glory as being a cloud of God’s presence. In bible times his presence dwelled in the holy of holies. In this place was the ark of the covenant with the mercy seat on the top. The Old Testament is full of types and shadows of what will be in the New Testament Church. Like the tabernacle is a type of temple.

I Cor 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

We are now where God comes and dwells. God also comes down with power and authority. Make no mistake, he is in control of what is going on. There are times his glory shows up in the form of a cloud. His presence manifests in different ways but it is still God.

In the New Testament, people in positions of authority in the body of Christ (the ministry) have a responsibility to live holy and clean lives. When people in ministry commit sin and continue to live in that sin, he will remove them from their position of influence.

If we respect God’s presence in our lives, we will live like we honor him. We will not intentionally sin or walk in immorality. Does it mean we are perfect? No. But we need to do all we can with our daily choices to honor God with our lives.

The example of the Old Testament disrespect of the temple of the Lord in I Samuel. Eli was starting to be blind. When the ministry starts to become blind to sin, it only goes downhill from there. I think about the sons of Eli, they committed sin right in the temple of God. Hophni and Phinehas were given chances to change but they were arrogant about their sin. They felt entitled, like they were special and could do what they wanted. (Pride goeth before the fall). When the Philistines and Israel went to war, they were both killed. When Eli heard the news, he fell off of his seat and broke his neck. God raised up Samuel and he became God’s prophet to Israel. God is weary with the Eli’s and the entitled second and third generations of corrupt ministry.

God’s glory can bless or destroy. Sin cannot stand in the presence of God. This is why we have to approach the throne of God through the blood of Jesus. It is the cleansing of the blood that gets rid of our sin.

In Chapter 4 of 1^st Samuel is the story of the Philistines and Israel went to battle. Just as God told Eli that both of his sons would die the same day, they were killed. The Philistines stole the ark of the covenant.

Chapter 5 The ark was taken back to the camp of the Philistines. The placed the ark of the covenant in the temple of Dagon their god. The next day they went in to find the statue Dagon on it’s face, on the ground. Fake gods will not stand before the presence of God.

The Philistines set the statue back up in his place.

I Samuel 5:4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.

God showed them that their god was not anything. The statue didn’t just fall over by accident. It head and hands were cut off. God showed them that without a head it cannot function. Without hands it cannot work.

The hand of the Lord was heavy and they realized that they made a mistake by taking the Ark. The Philistines understood when God smote some of them with hemorrhoids. Others he struck down with death. Their leaders came together and returned the presence of God.

The arks stayed in the house of Abinadab for twenty years. There was much prosperity there, because they respected the presence of God.

Skipping ahead twenty years later, David 2 Sam. 6:3-7

2 SAM 6:3-7 And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. 4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. 5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. 6 And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

Uzzah put his hand on the ark and he died, because he was not authorized to touch the ark. Jerusalem prospered once the ark was returned.

God’s presence will either be a blessing or a curse, depending on how we treat his presence. Eli’s sons disregarded God’s presence and God killed them. Uzzah died for his mistake.

Those who respected the presence of God are blessed and prosperous. God’s glory fills our temple if we are obedient and walk in his ways. He will take care of his people. God’s people are not arrogant and prideful that we are blessed. We use our blessings to be of service and help to others.

If we choose to walk in arrogance and feel that we are better than everyone else because we have received God’s Spirit, then we’re headed for a fall, very quickly. Because pride goeth before the fall. I beg you to get right with God if you’re not right with God. And to respect his presence. You will be blessed all of your days.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 139 — PEOPLE OF UNDERSTANDING

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode is: PEOPLE OF UNDERSTANDING

I have always prided myself on being a good multi-tasker. The trouble with multi-tasking is that the attention is so divided that deep understanding is often missed. If the tasks are only partly important, then multi-tasking is the way to go to get that to-do list checked off. But to be a person of understanding, it takes a singular focus.

I often listen to preaching, worship music, or my audio Bible while doing my household chores. This multi-tasking is ok, but there are times when I have to sit quietly with my Bible and speak the word out loud. While listening for that still small voice to give me understanding.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Hearing has two definitions. For our ears to pickup on sounds. The other definition is to understand. This verse is saying faith comes by understanding and understanding by the word of God. It is helpful to audibly hear the word. It helps with understand. Our faith will increase as we understand what God is trying to say in the Bible. This is why it is so important to make the word a part of everyday.

When it comes to the things of God, we need to learn to slow down. Discernment and hearing the voice of God is crucial in the times we are living. It is time for us to have a singular focus on God. The enemy is trying to distract in every way. He is trying to destroy our country. America will be responsible for sending many missionaries to the world. God will not allow us to be fully destroyed. He is allowing a shaking to get his people’s attention. Many blame a political party or a politician. But the true enemy is satan, and he is controlling these evil people.

But our fight is the fight we have on our knees. As children of God, it is time to not be double-minded but to focus on declaring and decreeing that the enemy will fall. God’s will be done. It is our job to pray for America to be restored to its foundational roots.

James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

We have to fight the good fight of faith. Standing strong in the name of the Lord. Now is not the time to get into fear or be double-minded. Now is the time for a single focus; God’s will be done. Being people of understanding puts us in the perfect position to discern God’s perfect will.

God doesn’t expect us to fight the battle at hand. He doesn’t want protests of violence. He wants us to battle with our words in prayer. We need to decree that the enemy will fall. Declare that God is going to move mightily and set his people free. We need to be singularly focused on him and pray.

There is not one example in the word that someone depended fully on God, and He let them down. He has put forth much effort to prove his love for us. He died for us, how much more proof do we need? He made a way for us to escape sin and hell. Speaking of hell, many have the misconception that satan will be in charge of hell. Movies and cartoons have shown us that he is planning parties and it will be one big sinfest. But my bible, which is the ultimate authority of what is to come, says he will be bound and tossed into the pit of hell. Does that sound like he is in charge?

1 John 3:7-8 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus destroyed the works of the devil. Satan tries to make us believe that he has power. He tempts us to sin but cannot make us surrender our free will. We will be controlled by something. The choice is ours, will we choose life or death, whole or broken, purity or sin, Jesus or satan?

Our enemy may seem big and scary. But our God is bigger than anything the enemy can use to bring us down as long as we resist the enemy. The word doesn’t say to play with the devil-like Samson did Delilah. He knew the enemy was trying to get his secret. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut. Instead, he was snared by his words. He allowed the cunningness of an attractive woman to get him to tell the enemy what would defeat him.

Our words have power, we have to guard our words. The things we speak in negativity and complaint give the enemy tools to use against us. He will turn our words into weapons against us.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Whatever is in our hearts will come out. This is why we need to renew our minds and our hearts with God’s presence and his word. Reading the word out loud will help us to get it into our spirit.

Now is not the time to be slacking or to be asleep while on guard duty. We have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters and the lost to stay alert. Satan is on the move, it is up to us to be people of understanding and not allow him an inch of space to form a stronghold. Stay strong my friends, fight the good fight of faith. It is all going to be worth it in the near future.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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