Tag: be encouraged

GOD IS NOT SURPRISED

You know, sometimes we feel like that, we are one mistake away from God doing a facepalm and saying, “Uh, I’m so done with them. They just make too many mistakes. They fall down too many times. They’re just not what I thought.” Because that’s how we get with people sometimes.

People often test our limits and we’re like, “I just can’t deal with them anymore. Not one more thing can I deal with, when it comes to them.” Then we have a tendency to walk away from people that gets us to the point of being so exasperated that we just can’t take one more thing.

But God never feels that way about us. He sees the potential of what we can be. He sees our worth is far greater than we can see in ourselves. He never shakes his head and goes, “I just don’t know what I’m gonna do with them. I just can’t believe they did that.” Again, He’s not surprised by anything. He knows everything. He knows why we make the choices we make. It’s because of some trauma or experience in our past. Most of the time, we have a tendency to react instead of stopping and thinking about what we should do. It is easy to just react. But sometimes, we lack self-control when those situations arise. But God has never been surprised. Nothing we do shocks him. And you know He says, if we are His child, “I will never leave you, forsake you or fail you.”

 Deut 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

He will not fail or forsake us; He wants us to put on the whole armor of God. (Eph 6) Then, we are equipped to stand strong and be courageous. Fear is the opposite of how we should react to situations. The God who created everything is our Father and he will send angels to protect us.  He will move mountains for us if we just stand strong and believe.

Heb 13:5 6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

My encouraging words to you today are: Do not fear. Do not get hung up on the past; if you have repented, then move on. He doesn’t expect us to wallow in self-loathing and self-bashing. He has already blotted out your mistakes, sins and shortcomings. We can be encouraged because He is with us.

He didn’t come to punish us or make us feel bad. Jesus died to set us free. He took all of our punishment because we were not able to bear it. Instead of repenting over and over for the same thing, we are already forgiven. Try thanking Him for what he did on the cross to set us free. Then, BE FREE from the past. Remember, Jesus loves you.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

GET RID OF THE EMPTY

All of my life, I have heard the phrase, being filled with God.  Having a life full of God’s presence.  To be filled with God’s Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. This morning, I woke up with thoughts of what it means to be filled. If we take a water bottle and run water into it under a tap until there is only water inside, we say it is full. I had an incredible thought this morning.  To be filled means to get rid of all the empty space.  Before the water went into the bottle, it was full of air, but we considered the vessel to be empty.

I pray, God fill all the emptiness.  Don’t leave one small portion without him.  I used to pray, “Empty me of me and fill me with more of you.” God is going to do amazing things. We all walk through seasons when we feel that God is far away.  We feel empty.  It is in this time that we must trust. Learning to wait for him to show us the next step can be a lonely place. If we wait on Him, He will speak and guide us.

When we are filled with God’s Spirit, we will be full. As Christians, we must be so full of God that others can feel his presence. They should be able to see Christ in us without us saying, “I am a Christian or I believe in Jesus.” They should know, even if we are not wearing our Christian t-shirts and ballcaps. (Not that I have an issue with t-shirts; I own several.)

 I Cor. 3:16 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If God’s Spirit dwells within us, we will be filled. It will take over all the empty spaces within us.

When Moses had been in the presence of God, he glowed.  How many people do you know that glow with God’s presence? I pray that God helps us to not just let our light shine but that we will glow with his presence and love.  Gal 5:16 16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. We have to have his Spirit in order to walk in the Spirit. (Let our light shine)

Most Christians I know are dealing with serious things at this time. I am not saying we should wear a fake smile and pretend all is fine. It is ok to be who we are and allow those closest to us to know our struggles. The word says to confess our faults to one another. I also think that can be true of our struggles, pain, and the battles we are fighting.  But be careful who you share those things with; not everyone who acts concerned will do the right thing and pray. Some are waiting to gossip and tear you down. Now more than ever, we need to have discernment about the events in the world and other people. God will show us who is not going to have our back, but who will shove a knife into it. These people know the right things to say. But they are not full of God, they will not have God’s glow.

Being full means there is no lack. Everything we need we already have in our hands. I have said this before; if our Lord Jesus Christ dwells within you, you have everything you will ever need.  When we need something, it will rise to the surface. If we need strength, it will rise up.  If we need encouragement, it will rise up. If we need his healing power, it too, will rise up within us to bring deliverance.

Healing sometimes comes in miraculous ways; instantaneously. But other times, healing comes in stages. God knows what is best for us. Sometimes, when he works in those instant right now kind of ways, it is to increase our faith or show someone around us that he is God. Other times, when we have to walk out our healing, it is to teach us to lean on Jesus.

Christians are not exempt from troubles, we have the same trials of life that sinners do. But we have someone who is with us and will help us. I pray, Lord never let any type of pain or disappointment be for no reason. Help me learn from it, so that I can help others to be encouraged.

MAKE IT PERSONAL

Many years ago, I attended a church that I can barely remember, even though I was in my twenties. I, however, do remember two things that have stuck with me for at least thirty years. One testimony and one sermon. We often feel like we don’t have anything to say, but what if your one testimony or one sermon was the one that changed someone’s life? We need to step out in faith when God puts something in our hearts to share.

At the time of the testimony, I was bound by worry, fear and anxiety.  There was an elderly preacher who attended our services.  One morning, he got up to testify and he said, “I thank God for all that he is…and Worry is not faith.”  That was the entire testimony. It hit me full force. Here I was, trying to be a Christian and walk by faith. Yet I worried about everything to the point of anxiety.

The other thing that stuck with me was a sermon on David.  It was preached from the Psalms.  The preacher said we need to make the Psalms personal. Then he read a verse that said, “Thou art my God” but when he got to the word “MY” he stressed it. He read several verses and encouraged us to read the Psalms in that same way.  It makes the word come alive and makes it personal. 

Still, to this day, when I read the Psalms and any verse says, “Thou art MY” I can remember that sermon. Because it really is all about a relationship.  It is about our one-on-one time with HIM. People can attend church from the time they are born until the time they die, but if they do not have a relationship with Him, he will say, “Depart from me.”

Today, I want to encourage you to make the Psalms personal and remember that worry is not faith.  We don’t have to worry about anything if we can be comfortable enough to lean on Jesus.  Both things are all about the relationship. His desire is for us to sit quietly in his presence and talk with him.  His desire is for us to worship him and study his word. Why do we study the Bible? It should be because we are hungry for a deeper relationship with Him.  Studying the Bible shows us His character and how much He loves each of us.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

BUILDING A HOUSE

Psalm 127 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

I know, I hate to waste my time. Why would you waste your time building a house, that does not have any value? A contractor could invest a lot of time and money in building a house. Now imagine that house sitting on the market.  No one is living in it; therefore, it has no value as shelter or comfort to anyone. The contractor cannot get a return on the investment to put in other projects.  This is the worst-case scenario for a contractor.

Spiritually speaking, we can build all sorts of fancy buildings to have meetings in that we call church.  But if the Lord is not in building the spiritual side of the house (church) it is worthless. True everlasting kingdom things will not be accomplished. People will only be full of coffee from their coffee bar in the lobby. The church needs to be full of the Spirit of God. It is God that transforms lives.

How many times do we miss God’s instructions about how he wants us to build? Every good contractor will have a blueprint.  Our Bible is our blueprint, it gives us instructions on how we need to build His house. Many natural houses get taken out by dry rot and termites. Our church can suffer from the decay of sin. Too, long we have allowed sin to creep into the church. Eating away at the foundation like termites. We have accepted things that are contrary to the word in the name of compassion and tolerance.

The church is not called to conform to the world. We are called to change it. If people’s lives were in good, solid shape they would not need God to remodel them like an old house. Eph 2:19-22    19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;   20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;  21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:   22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

We are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus told Peter that he was a rock, and said, upon this rock, I will build my church.  In other words, you have a solid grasp of what I want you to carry out in the world. You will be solid and not wishy, washy. I can trust you to be solid ground for people to build their understanding of the gospel.

Just like Jesus being the chief cornerstone of any congregation, we need him to be our personal spiritual cornerstone. Our personal lives need Jesus in the center.  We too need a blueprint on which to build our lives. Again, that blueprint is the Word Of God, our Bible. The enemy has tried to alter the blueprints by changing them with a watered-down version of the word. Some of the “new” translations are severely inaccurate. If someone new to building came along and read some of these translations, they would be deceived and not build on a firm foundation. Then the house would suffer all sorts of issues from cracks in the walls to a total collapse.

Jesus spoke a parable of a wise man that built on a rock. When the storms of life came, it stood strong against the storms. But he also spoke of a foolish man that built on sand. When the storms came, his house fell. We never want to see anyone fall. It is up to us to get into our Bible and study the blueprint. Then we need to share our knowledge to help others build wisely.

I Cor 6:19- 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?  This is a reminder that we are the house in which God dwells. We can trust him because he is a master craftsman. He not only built each one of us as unique individuals, but he created the heavens and the earth.  We are so individually designed that we all fit together perfectly to make the beautiful bride that Jesus will return to receive one day soon.

JUDE 17-21 17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Do not let your labor be in vain; allow God to build your house.  He wants to talk to you. Spend time in prayer, building up your most holy faith. I promise you He will keep you on track if He is your chief cornerstone.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

DON’T BACK UP

When we come up against something that is scary, the instinct is to back away slowly or run. Like if you are walking in the woods and come upon a bear. It is the instinct of the bear to be afraid of you. Just like you are afraid of it. We want to back up or run.

It is time the church stopped being afraid of the enemy. It is time to stop backing up.  It is time to go forward and take back our territory.  We have nothing to fear. Satan is under our feet. Stop backing up. We cannot look at how things appear, it seems like the enemy is winning. But we know that it is a temporary situation.  God is going to turn things around if we take a stand.

It looked like Egypt was going to overtake the Israelites at the red sea. We are at that moment in our history.  It will not be long until God divides our red sea.  He is going to destroy our enemy. How else can there be a great harvest except we wake up and do what God wants from us?  He wants us to stop letting things distract us and stand up. We need to dig deep into the Word.  Don’t just read it but pray before reading for a deeper understanding.  We need to study and dig deep.

Psalm 91:11-16  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.  12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.  13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

We cannot be afraid of what we see with our eyes because we walk by faith. We do not go by the things that we see. He will protect his people from harm and danger. How do we get the protection of God? How do we know he will send his angels to protect us? Notice verse 14; if we show God’s love, because we know his name.

How do we know if we love God? John 14:15-16  If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; If we love God we will keep his commandment and he will send us His Spirit which gives us the power to stand strong, be witnesses, resist the temptations of the enemy and so much more.

It is decision time; the line is being drawn in the sand.  Will we stand for Jesus? Will we look back at life here with longing for the past? It is like spinning a wheel and turning around in a circle; wherever you are looking (wherever your heart is); when the wheel stops determine your fate. Many are playing Russian Roulette with their souls. God is asking us to make a choice. Are we standing for truth, even if it costs us our life or are we being wishy-washy, spineless Christians in name only?

Look at the story of Lot and his family. Lot’s wife looked back with longing and it destroyed her. God told them to not look back; He was going to destroy the city because of the evil. God never pours out wrath on the wicked without dealing with them and giving them a chance to change. He is giving the evil ones of this world today a chance to change. But that chance is quickly coming to an end.

We can help someone to find Jesus. We cannot believe the lies of the enemy; it is not too far gone. If we stand strong and stand up, we can overcome the things the enemy is trying to do.

2 Chr. 7:14 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Stand up, stand up, stand up for the word of God.  Stand strong for what is right and true.  Open your mouth and speak the truth of God. We are living in amazing times and God is going to do something that will astound us all. We need to stand and fight the good fight of faith.

I Tim 6:11-12 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.  12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

I pray that you decide to stand strong, fight the good fight of faith and do not look back. Keep yourself from being shaken by how things look. The God of angel armies is our Father and he will deliver us if we stand strong.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

DON’T SINK YOUR SHIP

I tried to write on another subject, but God kept bringing me back to this basic subject. We need to walk by faith and not by sight.  Walking by faith means we trust fully in God. We have to trust that God will see us through the circumstances, even if we do not see our breakthrough yet. We believe in him. Speaking negatively and complaining is not trust and it is not faith. Our words can delay our blessing. It can delay the answer to our prayers.

You would not take something and put a hole in the side of a perfectly good boat. Well, you wouldn’t unless you want to sink it.  Then why do we speak negative words out of our mouths? We are literally sinking our own ships.  We are wrecking our own lives with our words. (This happened to the children of Israel; they complained and repeated a negative report of a few. (The giants are too big). They complained to Moses that he brought them out into the desert to die. That is the very thing that happened; because of unbelief and negative complaints, they were made to wander for 40 years until their words were fulfilled, and they died in the desert, never seeing the promised land). It wasn’t God’s plan for them to wander that long. It wasn’t his plan for them to die in the wilderness.

I know I speak of it often, but our words have power. It is like we pray for something and then we kill the prayer with our words. Speaking negatively is killing the seeds we plant in prayer. That is not faith.  We plant seeds of faith in prayer. We cannot allow the enemy to take those seeds we plant, in prayer, by speaking unbelief. Our complaints are agreements with the devil. They are contrary to God’s word.

Prov 18:21 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Do not get nervous. I don’t believe the name it, claim it doctrine.  People take the truth of God and twist it for their own gain and purpose.  Our words must be according to God’s will. I do know that unbelief and negativity are not of God. I have seen things in my life that many would love to see.  I have seen miracles of God.  I have seen blind eyes healed. People bowed over not being able to straighten and walk upright; until the power of God touched them. Broken legs healed; people needed crutches and then walked out under their own power after the saints prayed for them. This was normal for me growing up.

I have seen people instantly healed.  I have also seen people have to walk out things in faith to get to their healing weeks and months later. But they kept talking faith and God saw them through. Never repeat a diagnosis from a doctor by saying, “I have….” You can say I was diagnosed with …. When you say I have this disease or that you take possession of it. You claim it to be yours.  Faith says symptoms are there, but I will not claim it. (This doesn’t mean you are burying your head in the sand and ignoring what is going on; you are saying, I take it into captivity. I have power over it. God will remove it from me.

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Loose lips sink ships’? I wondered about the origin of it. It comes from WWII. It was a warning to our soldiers and people at home that any information leaked, even unintentionally, could cause the loss of a warship.  It means to be aware of unguarded talk. Did you get that? I am going to say it again, be aware of unguarded talk. The situation was severe enough for this reminder because the enemy had spies everywhere. Satan is waiting for us to open our mouths in negativity, so he can use it against us.

Matt 12:35-37     35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.  36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

We can speak life to someone that is hurting. We can speak negatively and harm someone else.  Do we always feel like being positive? No. But by not speaking the negative and speaking the positive we can give life and strength to another. I want words of faith to justify me. I want faith to manifest in my life.

James 3:1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. 2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.  3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.     5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!  6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.  7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

The entire third chapter of James is all about our words. Verse two tells us how we can be perfect.  If we are able to refrain from hurting people with our words, then we have the fruit of self-control.  It is difficult to speak life and not negativity sometimes.  But, like with any exercise, we can increase our faith the more we use our faith. The more we hold our tongues and not speak negative, deadly things, the more we will grow closer to God.

God hates gossip; he doesn’t want us to speak harm to anyone. He doesn’t want us to speak negatively about our situations and those of others. Because our words have power. Just like we are not to judge one another.  We all come short of where we need to be in Christ. We are to walk as close as we can and He will take care of the rest.

Pray and ask God for HIS strength to say the right things.  He is faithful to help us if we truly trust in HIM.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

DRY BONES

READ EZEKIEL CHAPTER 37

As I read Ezekiel Chapter 37, I cannot help but compare the dry bones to the modern church.  God is weary of the way things are going in our country and around the world.  We have no one to blame for the mess this country is in but ourselves. Somewhere along the way the church stopped being the church and allowed the living water to dry up. John 7:38 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. It is time to believe for life to be breathed back into the church.

We have sat quietly by while evil has taken over the world. We should have stood boldly and declared that sin is sin, without compromising. Instead, we buried our heads in the sand and allowed the liberals to destroy things in the name of equality.  We are not all equal, there is right and there is wrong. There is righteous by the blood of the lamb and those who are in sin.

Now it is time for the warriors of God to arise and say, “NO MORE, NOT ON MY WATCH” It is beyond time to take back the territory that the enemy has stolen.  We need to pray, the prayers of our founding fathers for this country and the world. Prayers need to go up asking God to let the living water flow.

We have spent time in the valley of dry bones. God is getting ready to breathe new life into the church. It is time we stood boldly and put on the whole armor of God. Most of my facebook friends have seen my post of the cross at Cape Henry in Virginia Beach. Long before this land was ever our country, people declared and decreed over it.

Robert Hunt was their leader, a group of Christians landed in 1607. Even after a long journey across the waters from England, they stayed on their ship for 3 days and fasted. They prayed over their new land and thanked God for the opportunity to worship the Lord without government interference. When they got off their ship, they took some of the wood and built a cross.

APRIL 29, 1607 PROPHECY AND PRAYER BY ROBERT HUNT

We do hereby dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us, and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains, and may this Land, along with England, be Evangelist to the World. May all who see this Cross, remember what we have done here, and may those who come here to inhabit join us in this Covenant and in this most noble work that the Holy Scriptures may be fulfilled.

After the prayer, they read the following Bible passage: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s and he ruleth among the nations” (Psalm 22:27-28).

I stood under a concrete cross that was erected on that site. It is a humbling experience to stand under a thirty-five foot cross. It was a powerful experience to read those words and know that those words were prayed and spoken over our land. God answers prayer, even ones prayed so long ago.

We are not without hope.  It doesn’t matter how things look.  I am sure to Ezekiel that the dry bones looked like it was a hopeless cause. Ezek 37:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. God told him to prophesy to the bones and they lived.

Is 55:10-12 kjv  10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:  11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.  12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Notice Verse Eleven It says his word will not return void. We need to speak the word and declare it over our land.  Verses like:

2 Chr 20:17  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.

Deut 1:8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.

God gave the Children of Israel the promised land. Once long ago, God gave a group of religiously oppressed people a land. Their descendants became a band of rebels that signed a declaration of independence and created our country. It is time we took back that land from the enemy.  But we will not win with what most people believe to be weapons of war.  We will win this one on our knees in prayer. We will win by declaring the scriptures about our victory in Jesus.

2 Cor 10:3-5 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

I read the back of the book and we win.  Be encouraged, the dry bones will live again. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

PEARLS OF WISDOM

Pearls are rare finds inside the shell of oysters.  They are used in jewelry mostly, but the shells are also used in medicine.  For a pearl to be formed, the oyster has to suffer an injury or get a foreign substance inside the shell.  The oyster’s natural defense against foreign substances is to isolate it.  The oyster will continue to add layers to protect itself from harm.  This isolation produces the pearl.

We often learn wisdom by experiencing the consequences of acting foolishly.  Other times, things in life just happen that teach us great lessons.  The things we learn often help us to develop instincts about people or situations. These lessons and instincts are sometimes referred to as pearls of wisdom. Famous inspirational quotes and sayings are also called pearls of wisdom. It means we have an insight that, when shared, makes someone else stop and think.

Wisdom is something everyone needs. But wisdom is more than having the experience that comes with age. Some people are in their golden years but lack wisdom.  James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. We get wisdom by asking God. He will guide us into wisdom. Also, the Bible, especially the book of Proverbs, is full of wisdom.

The hidden nuggets of wisdom in the Word will help us to make good choices in life.  Our choices will be easier if we have wisdom and understanding. We gain wisdom when we suffer injury. Just like the oyster isolates the injury and creates a pearl.  When we make bad decisions and have emotional scars from those choices, we will gain wisdom.

Prov 11:20 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

We need to be soul winners for Christ.  We will be wise.  We are called to go out and search for that rare pearl of a person that will listen to us.  Not everyone we tell about Jesus will listen.  Many will not accept our words. But we still have been sent to tell them about Jesus.

Take time this week to ask Him for His wisdom and guidance. He will not withhold any good thing from us if we put our trust in Him.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

CONNECTION

The more I walk with God, the more I realize that every day it’s not so much about what we do or don’t do, but it’s about that personal relationship. It is about a heart connection. How can you have a relationship with someone that you never talked to?

It’s like having a light bulb. And then it’s screwed into a lamp and the lamps plugged in the wall. When the switch is turned on, the power can get to the light bulb. This produces light. Without the power source, there is no light.

There is not going to be any light if we are not plugged into the power source, our relationship with Jesus Christ. We are told to let our light shine. It stands to reason that we stay connected to God.  But if we’re not connected to God and we’re not connected to that power, we will have no light.

A poor prayer life equals a poor connection.  I like to pray first thing as soon as my eyes open up. I kind of hit the snooze button, and lying in my bed, I just kind of lay there and talked to God. Thank you for what he’s done and for allowing me to see another day for the many blessings that he’s given me. Then I pray for the people that are on my heart. It starts with the day off better.

I don’t really have a set time to pray. I just kind of pray here and there all day long. But before I go to bed at night, that’s the last thing I do before I crawl in bed is thank God and pray and ask him to help all those that are lost to be saved.  I pray for those that are bound by human trafficking that God will make a way of escape for them, whether it be an unlocked door. For them to run away or whether it’s for the police or whoever to raid the place and go in and rescue them and set them free. It has been a subject that I have had a burden for a while. I pray for God to heal their wounds and their scars, physically and emotionally. That is one of the worst things that happens in our society. It breaks my heart to even think about it.

No one ever won a battle by not being bold. What would have happened if David had been like all the other Israelites? When Goliath came out there and was laughing and mocking them, and spoke, OK, send me your best warrior. What if he had just sat back and said, well, no, I’m too little. I’m small in stature and I can’t do this; someone else will go. But no, he was bold. And he said, you know, you come at me with a sword, and I come to you in the name of the Lord. And God took that little rock and that great big bit of boldness that David had, and he knocked Goliath to the ground.

Goliath’s head was cut off with his own sword. Sometimes the things that people try to use against you, God will use to destroy them. If we remain bold and stand strong. I pray that we will have holy boldness in these last days.

As the church, we need to quit letting people run over the top of us and push us around. (We let one woman take prayer out of schools. Think about it.) It’s time we had, holy boldness. I pray for holy boldness and that the people will understand it is time for the army to talk to our King.  Get our marching orders and go boldly forth.

It is time for us to go to the enemy’s camp and take back what he has stolen from us.  He is under our feet. We can put him under our feet if we stay connected to our power source, Jesus Christ. We have unlimited power through His Spirit. We can overcome whatever we face as long as we lean on Jesus.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

DISCERNMENT

People and things are not always as they appear to be. Manipulative people doing satan’s work are all around us.  They have evil agendas for our future and those of the children of this world.  We cannot believe everything we see or hear. Technology has become so advanced you cannot even believe a photo or video any longer.  Anything can be manipulated. How do we tell the good guys from the bad guys?  It is not always easy; many times, we allow our emotions or compassion to make us second guess.

If we have God’s Spirit inside of us, one of the nine spiritual gifts he promised we could have is discernment. (Listed in I COR 12: 4-11) This is when the Spirit of God warns us when the enemy is using someone to lay a trap for us. Discernment will let us know what we need to know in order to help ourselves or others not be harmed by the enemy.

Discernment will allow us to know when evil is present.  It will help us to do the will of God concerning the situation that is before us. God does not reveal things to harm anyone but to bring people together. Many false prophets and teachers are in our land today. We need to be careful of those we allow to preach to us. There are some guidelines that we need to use to measure people of ministry.  One, do they preach what is in the Bible?  Do their lessons line up with what God’s word says? Do they practice what they preach? Are the gifts in operation in their ministry?

Some people will call themselves pastors and ministers, but they want to control every aspect of the lives of their congregation.  This is not a job of a pastor to control where people work, what kind of car they buy if they rent or buy a house.  This behavior borderlines on being a cult.  Any preacher or pastor that is like this is controlled by a Jezebel spirit.  I warn you to get away from anyone like this; allow God to speak to you.  God will lead us to where we need to be if we allow him to give us discernment.

For too long, the enemy has inserted false teachers into the church, and we have not had the discernment to know the difference.  The enemy will come at you with a smile and be able to quote scripture.  Satan believes there is a God because he stood in heaven with Him. Satan has attacked the church with big smiles and false teaching. Enough is enough; it is time we got on our faces before God and prayed for discernment and understanding.

Listen to the voice of God.  Keep your prayer life very active. He is waiting to talk to you.

HEB 4:12-13   12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

If we allow God to guide us in our Bible reading, it will speak to us. God knows what we need at any particular time to read.  It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word can shape our ideology and our beliefs.  The word is living and steady in an ever-changing world.  If we stay in the word, get it on the inside of us.  It will help us to discern the truth and we will not be deceived.

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS