Tag: #Jesus

EPISODE 222 INTENTIONAL CHRISTIAN – PT2

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The title of today’s episode: INTENTIONAL CHRISTIAN PART 2

Yesterday, I started talking to you about being an Intentional Christian. Before I get into today’s video, I want to review what it means to be intentional.

Being an intentional Christian is all about just paying attention to the leading of the Holy Ghost that is within us. To ask God to help us hear His leading.

The word intentional means: to do something on purpose or to be deliberate.

Deliberate means to do something consciously.

We have to make a conscious decision to spend time with God. Deciding to daily surrender to his leading.

If we are intentional Christians, we will make an effort to always do the right thing. We will walk with a purpose and pay attention to the direction of our path. We will purposely do what is ask of us by God. Both in his written word and by the leading of the Holy Ghost.

One way to be intention is to acknowledge God and give him thanks.

COL 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

Many think that Thanksgiving is only a one day of the year holiday that falls before Black Friday. But Thanksgiving is a state of the heart. It aligns with gratitude. To be in a place that God can use us we have to be humble. He cannot use those with a proud spirit. Many verses speak about how we are to be humble.

I CHR 16:8-12 Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. 9 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. 10 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. 11 Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.

12 Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;

When we share what he has done for us. It is life and encouragement to others. This is why we are to testify about His wonderful works in our lives.

We need to have a grateful heart. There are a few simple things we can do to develop a grateful heart.

One is to pay attention and look for opportunities to show people you care about and appreciate what they did for you. Simply meaning it when you say thank you. But think about the words when you say them, show sincerity.

Example: Have you ever gone through a drive thru at a fast food restaurant? The cashier hands you the bag with your order inside and says, with a tone like they don’t care, they mumble, “thank you have a nice day.” You don’t feel like they meant it, but were being coerced to say it.

But you go through another time and the person is friendly and smiles. When they say the words, they are intentional and act like they mean it. It makes you want to go back to that restaurant.

We need to pay attention to our attitude when we say thank you and be intentional.

We need to talk to God outside of our prayer time. Remember yesterday, pray without ceasing. We need to be intentional to acknowledge God is with us.Make a habit, before your feet hit the floor each morning to focus and thank God for waking you up. Thank him for the blank slate ahead of you. Depending on your day this could also be a good way to get your mind set ready for your devotional time and prayer time.

Some people get all legalistic that you should read your bible and do your study at the beginning of the day. But not everyone is wired to do that and not everyone’s life is structured so that can happen. I think God understands if we don’t spend two hours in devotions every morning. As long as we start our day with gratitude and with prayer. But we need to find time in our day to be intentional about our study of the word and devotions.

You don’t have to be knelt down at an altar or on the floor to pray. It is good to have times that you are not distracted by anything else. But sometimes we just need to talk to God while we do routine tasks.

I used to drive an hour each way to work and back. That was my time to talk to the Lord and reflect on the things that I needed to do. I always, have worship music going, anytime I am in my car. I would sing and worship the Lord. Many prayers have been said behind the wheel of my car.

Sometimes, I have had to pull over when I was going through something that made me need to really dig down and pray hard. There is nothing wrong with pulling over in a safe place and focusing on prayer and worship. At one point in my faith walk, I considered that to be enough. It is like I checked off my prayer box for the day.

Our walk with God is not a check list. It is the way we live our lives. It should be intentional. Prayer time should be about lifting up others and asking God what he wants in our lives. This should come before any request we have of our own.

The second point under this category is at night, after your day is done. After you’ve said your prayers. Take a moment to just thank God for your day. If it was good then thank God for a good day. If it was a hard day or what we would consider bad, then Thank God for it also. (In everything give thanks) But we can thank him for helping us through it. We can be grateful that it was not worse. Then say I release the stress of this day to you Lord. I am thankful for a good night of rest ahead. Because he is better able to deal with it than we are capable.

I COR 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Understanding we have victory through God, will give us the encouragement we need to face another day. We have victory. There are times when we may not feel very victorious. Even in those times we have victory because of the blood of Jesus. We often don’t see things clearly because of our emotions. We can’t see the big picture of how things are going to work out. We feel like we are defeated, but that is the enemy’s way of distracting us from the goodness of God.

God is faithful to pull us through anything we face in life. When bad news hits us like a semi-truck, we don’t feel victorious. We feel pain that has flattened us and taken the wind from our lungs. God is right there making sure we have air in our lungs to just keep breathing.

He already sees the way we will rise from our ashes and hurt. He sees us victorious. Even when we cannot imagine ever being in a place of victory. The same thing goes for anyone struggling with an addiction. God sees them on the other side of that struggle. He sees them victorious. But they cannot imagine a time that they will have victory.

Job is the perfect example of this, he had the victory. God knew that he would not let his circumstance dictate his victory. Satan tried everything. To everyone things looked like Job would never have victory again. But he held onto God through the process. He came out the other side victorious. Victory was always there; they just couldn’t see it for the circumstances. (We walk by faith and not by sight)

God’s love is unfailing. Being intentional means we walk in God’s love. We show the world His love. It takes practice to be intentional. The more we pay attention to the leading of the Spirit the more of a light we are to the world.

Walking in love means we do things out of our love for God and man. Even if we don’t want to, even when we don’t feel like it. Love is an action word, a verb. Love is not a flowery feeling with the birds always singing, while butterflies dance about. Sometimes love hurts. At times it means doing the right thing through our pain.

Love is being genuine to the truth of God’s word. Standing for the right thing even if it disappoints someone or hurts their feelings. Walking in love is truly the way to be intentional as Christians.

Walking in love is not about saying the right things only, but in how we act out or do the right things with honesty.

1 JOHN 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

People can go through the motions of showing love to someone, but it’s fake. If we are intentional and just love people it will go a long way to winning the lost to Christ.

Ask yourself what you need to do to be intentional about your faith walk. Then go out today and share your faith with someone.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 221 INTENTIONAL CHRISTIAN PT 1

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: INTENTIONAL CHRISTIAN PT 1

Being an intentional Christian is all about just paying attention to the leading of the Holy Ghost that is within us. To ask God to help us hear His voice and leading.

The word intentional means: to do something on purpose or to be deliberate.

Deliberate means to do something consciously.

We have to make a conscious decision to spend time with God. Deciding to daily surrender to his leading.

I want to start with breaking down I Thes 5:16-23.

I Thes 5:16 Rejoice evermore.

This means we praise him in our storms. We try to find the joy of the Lord even in adversity. Life is all about learning to live in God’s presence. Many live in God’s presence when things are going good for them. But when adversity comes, they try to handle things alone.

Others are the opposite, when things are going well, they forget about God. Then troubles come and they start searching for God’s help.

If we rejoice evermore, we’ll be constantly rejoicing in spite of our circumstances. We find strength in the joy of the Lord. We can rejoice in the knowledge that God is with us. His presence is not a condition of our circumstances.

I Thes 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

This does not mean that we need to pray 24/7. It means that we are to have an awareness of God in everything we do. To acknowledge that he is there. It means that we can talk to him anytime. In quick bursts. Example: Like asking for help before a big interview for the dream job. Hopefully, many intentional prayers have been prayed and declared over the situation already, but the quick, “Lord, help me to not blow this opportunity. Help me to ace this interview today. But not my will, yours be done.”

This returns us to a place of calmness in God. It lets the joy we find in him become our strength. Notice how I added, not my will but yours be done?

There are times we think that the job we applied for is our dream job and we don’t get it. It is easy to be emotionally distraught and disappointed. However, we look back six months or a year later and realize that if we had been given that job it would have been in the way of our real dream job.

If we had been working where we thought, we needed to be then we would never have applied for the job we landed. Which turns out to be right where we needed to be all along.

We need to have a prayerful attitude all day. Looking to God for direction in all we do.

I Thes 5:18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

God sees the big picture of our life. This goes along with what I was saying on the last verse. We need to know that if something we thought we needed or wanted doesn’t work out that it is for our good. Even when we don’t see it at the time. We can be thankful for God using our disappointments to shape our lives.

God doesn’t want us to settle for Ishmael when God has Issac waiting around the corner. We didn’t realize that what we wanted, and he said no was actually Ismael. We can give thanks to God because He knows the difference.

I Thes 5:19 Quench not the Spirit. The Holy Ghost was given to the church to be our guide. It is the still small voice that gives us a sense of direction. It is our guide to right and wrong.

When we quench the Spirit, we are intentionally or unintentionally choosing to not listen. By quenching the Spirit, we are minimizing His role in our daily life. This leads to us walking in our own strength.

We want to walk by faith and by the Spirit that is within us to guide us into all truth and righteousness. Even when He is telling us to do something that is hard. We need to follow the leading of God’s Spirit.

I Thes 5:20-21 Despise not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

These two verses go together. I know that many will tell you that prophecy has ceased. The only prophecy we have is what is in God’s written word. The same people will tell you that God told them to do this or that, they will explain that God told them something was going to happen. That is sort of a contradiction. Prophecy is real.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. It is still this way today. In our technical world we need God’s guidance now more than ever, we need his prophecy.

Because prophecy will do five different things. It will bring edification, exhortation, comfort, revelation or foretell. It is like our spiritual five senses.

There is a whole lot that can be said about prophecy, and I will try to do a study later and go into detail. For now, let me just say, prophecy is very important to the body of Christ. It is relevant today.

Also let me warn you of something. Not everyone that says they are a prophet is the real deal. Many cults start with people that call themselves prophets. That is why it is important to have discernment, which is given by the spirit of God.

True prophecy with do one of the five things I listed above. Prophecy will ALWAYS line up with the written word of God. God cannot commit sin. If a prophecy doesn’t line up with everything we know about the character of God and it goes against the written word. We can call that a false prophecy.

This is where verse 21 comes into play. I Thes 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. God doesn’t mind us asking for clarification. He expects us to use wisdom and seek him for guidance. We are NEVER to blindly follow what someone says without seeing if it lines up with scripture.

I know that people go to fortune tellers and that there has been a lot of false stuff in the world. Just like all the fake faith healing ministries out there. It is the enemy’s job to distract from the real things of God. He wants to give people reasons to be skeptical. Satan cannot create, he can only manipulate and copy the things of God. He is good at his job.

How can we know? Ask God if you are unsure. He doesn’t mind our questions. He knows that we have them. He knows our thoughts before we think them. We can be open with him because he knows us.

The more we walk in the Spirit and stay in the word of God, the easier it is to discern the truth. Prophecy will always line up with the word of God. We hold fast or hold onto that which is good and dismiss the rest.

I Thes 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. In other words, we need to guard our actions. Sometimes we can do something that is completely innocent, but others look at it with eyes of judgment and it could cause issues.

The only example that comes to mind is an action of my pastor from many years ago. There was a young couple at our church. They had a daughter who was about nine years old at the time. Our pastor’s wife would often babysit for them.

One night, the pastor’s wife didn’t attend service. The couple left their daughter at the church to stay with them that night. There had been recently in our town a story of an assistant pastor in another church being arrested on charges of child molestation.

After service our pastor asked us to stay with him and the girl at the church until his wife came and picked her up. Now the pastor and his wife were doing a good thing. They were helping that young couple out by giving the child a safe place for the night. Since both parents had to work.

But someone may have seen him driving around with a child that was not his grandchild and could have caused a scandal. People may have found out he was alone with the girl at the church for an hour. All sorts of issues could have arisen. The parents trusted him, he was worthy of that trust. But he wanted to guard his reputation since the ministry is always under attack. Because of all the false preachers and teachers in this world.

Maybe this story falls into, “Don’t let your good be evil spoken of” but really, we need to safeguard our integrity.

I Thes 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The world will always find fault, and we should not be shaken by their opinions. We do not want to do anything to hurt our witness. God will preserve us blameless if we walk intentionally. Being intentional in our Christian walk is always about paying attention to what we are doing by keeping our God Focus.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 220 ACTS OF FAITH

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: ACTS OF FAITH

Today is Veteran’s Day. I honor all those who have served our military. My dad and father-in-law, my Grandpa Long, my Uncle Brian and many cousins and friends. I also want to ask you to pray for those who are currently in the military. They signed up to serve our country, not knowing what they would face or where they would be sent. That is an act of faith.

As Christians, we become soldier’s in God’s Army not knowing what is facing us. But we step out in faith. We should be just as willing to go and do what the Lord wants us to do.

Today, I want to talk to you about acts of faith. The word of God is full of people that stood strong for the cause of Christ. The Old Testament is full of people that stood against false gods and the spirits behind them to worship Jehovah. When I think about Old Testament acts of faith, Elijah on Mt Carmel is one of my favorites. His faith in the one true God was strong. But no one would have known how strong, if he had not been willing to take a stand against all the prophets of Baal.

The New Testament example that we often use is when Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on water toward Jesus. This act of faith is often used to remind us that we all lose our God Focus at times. When storms of life come up, we can easily get our eyes on the storm and lose focus. I think this story is in the word to remind us of the beauty and strength of being the one to take that chance and step out in faith.

Time and time again, God proved who He was with many miracles. But behind every miracle was someone willing to trust God. Gideon would have surely lost the battle if he had gone in with a great army. Because God would have not fought for him. But he went in the name of the Lord and was obedient in faith.

I think about Jesus healing the man that was so sick his friends carried him to Jesus. But when they could not get to him, they climbed up on the roof and lowered him to Jesus. If it had not been for his friend’s acts of faith, he would not have received his healing.

James 2:14-17 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Our faith in God means nothing if we have not the works that come with obedience. Faith without works is dead. In other words, you can have faith that can move mountains, but if you don’t use it, it profits nothing. The mountain never moves.

Matt 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Jesus’ example to the disciples, was the mustard seed. All the faith in the world would not move that mountain, unless you say to the mountain, be thou removed. Faith is a word of action not a state of mind.

What does it mean to have faith as a grain of mustard seed. Many use the size of the mustard seed to mean you need just a little faith. Some bible translations even now say if you have a little faith as a mustard seed. But Jesus wasn’t talking about the size of the seed, but the purity.

The mustard seed, even though it is tiny, it will not mix with any other herb. It stays pure. If our faith is as a mustard seed, then it will be pure and not mix with doubt and fear. As the enemy tries to plant seeds of doubt and fear, our faith will say, satan I will not be afraid because My God has got this situation under control. Keeping our faith pure so that God can work his miracles.

We often talk about the great big miracles of the Bible. We talk about the faith of those who have gone before us. But the big miracles, like Elijah calling fire down from heaven, were all built on the many small steps of faith he had taken his whole life.

Each step makes us stronger and gives us better understanding of our faith in God. When we take that next step, we grow in wisdom and understanding. We also grow stronger in our faith.

I think about my grandpa saying that when he was starting his faith journey, he would take his Bible to the woods and pray and ask God for understanding. He said he would kneel down one place, and he would feel like God would nudge him to get up and move somewhere else. He said he didn’t know for sure at the time if it was God, but he did it just in case it was God. What difference would it make in that case if he had been wrong? But through obedience, he learned God’s voice and how to walk out his faith walk.

In order to be that soldier of faith, we need to be obedient and willing to walk by faith. Even when things are dark. Even when the storms are raging. Even when our natural eyes and mind do not see the way out of the storm. Stepping out in faith, walking out the acts of our faith will always bring the miracles we need.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 219 DEEPER MEANING OF WORSHIP

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: DEEPER MEANING OF WORSHIP

Today I want to talk to you about worshipping God. We often think of worship as attending a church service where we sing songs. Some think of it a little deeper to mean anytime we lift our hands in praise and thank God for what he has done. This can be done anywhere, not just in the church building.

First of all, real worship is always a heart thing. It is when our spirit makes a connection to God. I want to go a step further and look at a Hebrew word that means to worship, work and serve, the word AVAD. This is only one of the Hebrew words that we have translated into English to mean worship. This word means to worship like we would think of as being worship. It also means to serve and to work.

When we worship God we not only sing praise and lift our hands, but the act of serving another is also worship. The act of working can be considered worship. We often think of Moses saying to Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” But the scripture adds “so that they may serve me.”

Exodus 9:1 “Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.”

Every time Pharaoh was approached, he would relent until the plague lifted then his heart would harden again. He told them they could go and worship God and come back, but they were not allowed to take their families or animals. Moses refused and God sent another plague.

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

God has said many times that he doesn’t want lip service. He doesn’t want someone who is just going through the motions. The Pharisees did everything that would appear to be for God, for their own egos and monetary gain. Neither lip service or going through the motions means anything to God. He wants us to worship, serve and work with an attitude of praise.

Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

When we say words of praise from our hearts, it touches God. When we work with him in mind and not for man’s approval then it is AVAD -it is worship, service or work.

I love how diving a little deeper into the words of the Hebrew language gives us a deeper understanding. It is like the gravy on our mashed potatoes. The English version will feed us, but knowing the meaning behind the translation is the gravy.

How do we serve God?

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

We need to set aside or sacrifice the things our flesh wants to do and do the things God asks of us. This is how we can serve him. When we do this with an attitude of wanting to because he is God and not an attitude of obligation it is AVAD.

Psalm 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The enemy hates us, especially when we worship God. That was his place. He was the worship leader of heaven, but he got prideful and wanted to be god. Right now, in the earth he has a group of people that will worship him as if he is god. He better enjoy it, because his time is short. Soon he will be bound by the lake of fire.

We worship to draw ourselves closer to God Almighty. Every act of mercy, kindness and compassion we show, every time we tell the truth even when we know it will hurt these are all acts of worship. The more of the fruit of the Spirit we have operating in our lives, the more our lives are a complete act of worship.

Let us be thankful today to God for all that He has done. And let us go out and offer up some worship today.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 218 GUARDIAN OF THE GATE

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: GUARDIAN OF THE GATE

Today, I want to encourage you to stand strong. When the enemy sees our potential to harm his kingdom, he will try to stop us before we can reach our potential. God knows how we will grow and learn to surrender to his will and power. When we realize who we are in Christ, the enemy will be in trouble. This is why he attacks first. He wants to discourage us before we reach our potential.

I have been thinking about the boldness of David today. I am about to tell my age, but in 1989 the song, “I won’t Back Down” was released by Tom Petty. There are portions of the lyrics that keep going through my mind today. “I won’t back down, No I won’t back down, you could stand me up at the gates of Hell. But I won’t back down. No, I’ll stand my ground, won’t be turned around, I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down. Gonna stand my ground.” Those of you that are children of the eighty’s I am sorry for getting that stuck in your head. I am not sure about his reasons for the song or anything else about it.

All I know is we as Christian’s have to have that determination to stand our ground. We cannot allow the enemy to stop us, slow us down or turn us around. We must have a made-up mind that we are going to fight for the truth. We are going to share the gospel, no matter the cost.

I love the line you could stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down. That is one determined person. I pray I can find that kind of resolve and determination within me, no matter what I have to face. In other words, there is nothing satan has to offer me that will make me back down from the truth of God.

Gates of hell, made me think about Jesus’ words:

Matt 16:17-19 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 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. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Part of the foundation that he gave Peter was the power to bind things on earth and loose other things on earth. We have more power as children of God than we accept or have been taught. We have authority in the name of Jesus to bind spirits of sickness, poverty, depression, and anything the enemy tries to use to stop us. We can also, through the power of the Holy Ghost, loose people from the chains that are holding them bound, if they want to be free.

We have so many amazing examples of determined people in the word of God. Those who believed in God and his power to set them free. Those who would not back down, even if it meant their lives. There is a book called Fox’s Book of Martyrs. I have tried to read it several times. But many were tortured and killed in unimaginable ways for refusing to turn their back on the truth of God’s word. I often wonder if I would be strong enough to say, “do what you want, I won’t back down.” Because of their resolve to not back down, the gospel thrived and survived.

We as warriors in the army of God have an assignment to be guardians of the gates of hell. Not only do we have to be defiant about our own lives and not give in, but we cannot let anyone pass through the gate without a fight. The word of God is our weapon. People need to know that God is real and wants to save them from the pit of hell.

It is not an easy task; some are bound by things that they are not willing to let go of and will not listen to what we are saying. We cannot truly stop them if they are determined to go to hell. However, we can make it difficult for them to get past us. But others have never had anyone show them God’s love or tell them that he is real. It is up to us to fight through our battles so that we are fit for duty.

Where would Israel have been if David had backed down from Goliath? What if he let things like Saul’s armor not fitting or the fact that he was young, stand in his way? What if he allowed the words of Goliath to cause him to fall into fear? But David was bold, it is time for the church to rise and be bold. We cannot allow the words of the enemy to cause us to falter in our resolve. It is the only way we will win the battle.

Prov 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

The reason the wicked flee is because they are afraid of being caught in their evil. If we are walking upright before God, we do not have to fear because we are doing the right thing. In our right standing with God or our righteousness, we can be bold. We know that we can depend on God. We know that he will honor our boldness. He wants us to have confidence in him and his ability to save, heal, deliver, and set free.

Are you bold as a lion? Are you ready to arm yourself and show up for guard duty? I pray we all get a large dose of boldness, many are dying lost every day. It is time we stand our ground and not back down.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 217 WORSHIP OUR WAY OUT

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: WORSHIP OUR WAY OUT

One Of my favorite worship groups is Casting Crowns. Their lyrics touch home on a lot of their songs. Like Voice of Truth for example. The song says that satan tells us one thing that is a lie, but the voice of truth tells a different story. In other words, the still small voice of God always tells us the truth. We find freedom in His truth.

The truth is we are on a rollercoaster in our country. Things are up and down and there are dark clouds on the horizon. But we cannot allow the twists and turns or dark clouds to sway us. Our God will take care of us.

There is another of their songs that hits closer to my subject for the day. Praise him in the storm. When life is stressful and everything is out of control like a tornado swirling about our lives, we can fall into fear, or we can have faith. These are our choices. Fear will only destroy you. Faith will give you the strength to lift your hands in praise, even if you don’t feel like it. We lift our hands and praise him through our storms. Suddenly, something happens, the storm doesn’t seem as big or as scary. Suddenly, we realize that our God is bigger. That tornado is now just a small thunderstorm. Did the circumstances change? Not really, but our focus changed. If we allow ourselves to focus on God, everything else is small in comparison.

Once again, I want to remind you of the story of Jehosophat found in 2 Chronicles chapters 17-21. He had three large armies coming against him. To the natural mind, there is no way he could win the battle. But he changed his focus from the enemy and how many there were against him. He called for fasting and prayer. He turned to the one who is big enough to handle his problems.

God told him to send his worshippers out front before they marched into battle. Most armies have their strongest warriors out front to show strength. To the natural mind it would seem silly to put singers and musicians out front. But he did, and God went before him and when they got to the battlefield, the enemy had destroyed themselves.

Psalm 22: 3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

God inhabits the praise of his people. It stands to reason the bigger the problem, the more we need to praise Him. He has promised us that he will never leave us. We have to listen to the voice of truth when he says he will take care of us.

There is not a storm too big, a problem too scary that our God cannot and will not fix if we trust him to handle it. But we have to praise our way out. More than anything else we need to remember that God has chosen to take care of us, so he will fight our battles for us.

Deuteronomy 9:3: “The Lord your God is He who goes before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy your enemies.”

Exodus 14:14: “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Deuteronomy 20:4: “The Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”

Deuteronomy 3:22: “Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God he shall fight for you.”

Psalms 106:1 – Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Thanksgiving is the lowest form of worship. It is simply thanking God for what he has done. But we have to allow our heart to connect with God and just praise him because he is God. Praise him because he is awesome. He created the heavens and the earth. He created each one of us.

The more we worship him, the more we change our focus. Once we have praised God, we can petition him for an answer to our problem. He will send the answer at just the right time. Even if that timing is not when we think it should be, he is perfect and knows what is best. When he says wait, it is for our own good.

Focusing on God will keep everything in perspective and help us weather any storm that comes our way.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 216 NO FEAR

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: NO FEAR

Do not allow the enemy to cause you to react with FEAR. In the 1980’s there used to be a commercial for a brand of deodorant. The slogan was never let them see you sweat. It would show different scenarios that were stressful. Then they would say because the person was using their product, their stress didn’t show.

We do not make clear decisions when faced with stressful situations if we allow anxiety to factor into the equation. When we are faced with stressful situations the enemy has created, we have nothing to fear. We can say, Never, let him see you sweat. Never let him see your fear or anxiety. It is satan’s job to create scenarios that put us into stress. The opposite would be peace. Jesus is the prince of peace. He removes all anxiety and replaces it with peace that passes all understanding.

Satan plants seeds of fear and doubt. Satan is afraid of our father. Actually, when a child of God gets a hold on their identity and realizes who they are in Christ, it is the devil that is sweating. He knows that we will no longer be pushed around. We have to fight the enemy with resistance to his fear seeds.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Instead of letting him sit on our shoulder and whisper what if this? What if that? What if, what if, what if? We have the power to resist those thoughts and tell the devil, I am not listening to you. Go away. By refusing to listen he has to leave.

God will never leave us alone. We can count on him to be our defense and our strength. The things that happen in this life we cannot always control. But we can control how we react to them. We have to walk by faith, allowing what we know about God to give us strength. We know that he has promised to never leave us. He has promised to take care of us. By trusting him to do what he has promised, we are fighting fear.

Phil 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

His word says he will supply all we need. If that need is physically, spiritually, emotionally or financially it makes no difference, He will provide. We cannot allow the enemy to cause fear.

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? We have no reason to fear. The Lord is our strength, we have no reason to be afraid of the enemy. It doesn’t matter what the enemy does, we cannot allow satan to get to us.

Psalm 27:2-5 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. 5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

We have to be determined to fight back. We have to stand strong we will persevere as long as we keep our focus on God. Fear is not faith. As long as we walk in faith, we will not fall into fear.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

If God doesn’t give us fear it is safe to say it comes from satan. God gives us power over the powers of the enemy. He gives us love so we can share it with the world. He makes our minds strong so that we will not be deceived by the enemy.

Prov 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. It is easy to fall into the fear of man. We all have a basic instinct to be accepted. It is easy to fall into the fear of men. But it is a snare that keeps us bound. If we can break free and only put our trust in the Lord, we will be safe. He will work things out for our good.

I John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Fear hath torment because it is a constant loop of anxiety. What if, What if, What if? Perfect love comes from God. He will help deliver us if we allow him to set us free.

If you haven’t already voted, today is the day. The rest of us need to pray for election integrity and that God’s will be done.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 215 A MOMENT OF DECISION

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: A MOMENT OF DECISION

As Christian’s we face many hard decisions as we travel this road of life. I often think about Elijah on Mt. Carmel asking them to choose who they will serve. I think that is a good question to start today’s post. Who is on the Lord’s side?

My first video was on location from Cape Henry, Va. I stood near the sight of the landing of the original settlers of Jamestown. They landed April 29, 1607. One Hundred Sixty Nine years before our revolutionary war. These people were people of great faith. It would take faith to get on a ship without any guarantee that you would ever see land again. But they loaded their families, a few belongings, their bibles and their faith and set sail. They wanted the right to worship God as they chose, without religious persecution.

When they landed Robert Hunt, their spiritual leader called a fast. They fasted and prayed before disembarking from their ship. The first day off the ship they erected a cross on the beach and Robert Hunt made a covenant of dedication.

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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.

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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).

People today would like to tell Americans that we were not founded on faith. We were never a Christian nation. They have tried to wipe out the real history. They no longer teach civics in school, because they do not want the next generation to know the rights they have been given under the Constitution of the United States. It is up to each of us to ring the bell of freedom. It is up to each of us to stand strong for the foundation of our country and our faith. The Lord ruleth among the nations.

Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

Our nation will not survive without godly principles. It will not survive unless we grow a backbone and stand up for what is right. The narrative today is a separation of church and state. They say Christians shouldn’t be involved in politics. Some Christians say, “I am not going to vote, God will put whoever he wants in there anyway.” But these things are not true.

One, the separation of church and state was created to keep the government from setting up a religion and expecting all the citizens to attend that church. Like the church of England was doing. This is why many fled from Europe to come here for freedom of religion. It is to keep the government out of church, not God out of government.

As for the attitude that some have about God putting whoever in office he wants, we still have to come in alignment with God’s plan and vote. It is our right and responsibility to choose the next leaders of our country.

There is a lack of faith in election integrity. I understand the frustration as an American. But not voting because some may try to cheat is like saying, “I don’t care, do what you want to do.” At least by voting, we have done everything possible to make things go right. Then we pray and leave the rest to God.

I Tim. 2:1-4 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Paul told Timothy to pray for those in authority. That doing this is good an acceptable in the sight of God. This will help us to see souls saved. We have to lead by example.

I shared all of this to encourage you to not fail to fulfill your duty as an American Citizen and as a Child of God. We don’t have the luxury to vote for a party. We have to vote for Christian values according to the word of God. The truth of God’s word is the party line I am sticking to this year.

I ask that you pray about the right choices. Do your research and know the truth. God will reveal the truth if we ask Him. He can guide us to make the right choices. Our country was founded on One Nation Under God. Many have fought and died for our freedom to vote. Not voting is like spitting on the grave of every veteran who didn’t come home and all those who came home, never to be the same again.

There is a movement to stop whatever you are doing today at six o’clock pm and pray for our country. Send up prayers that our elections will be one of integrity. That God’s will prevails and America will come into alignment with God’s will. Pray about the choices we have on the ballot. Then go out and do your Christian Duty and vote.

God is with us and will be with us as long as we choose to walk with Him. We have the choice, do we walk with Jesus or do we turn our backs and allow satan to have free reign?

As Joshua bold stood and declared before the children of Israel.

Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

The choice I make is, I choose Jesus. I will serve the Lord.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 214 NEVER ALONE

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: NEVER ALONE

Today, I want to share with you are few thoughts about our hope. There is a basic difference between God’s children and those who walk in darkness. We always have God to lean on, we know he’s got our backs. There is nothing that we will face that he cannot see us through. We have this hope, that he will never leave us to deal with things on our own.

Those in the world have to prepare for every contingency. They have no one to rely on but themselves. If they fail, they are in big trouble.

When I was a child, I thought God could do anything. I had great faith. Then as I got older and God said no a few times, that belief was shaken for a while. Then I spent a year or two in a church that messed with my theology. The things I thought I knew about God was tainted by judgmental attitudes and man-made religion.

If you attend week after week and you feel worse on your way home than you did before you went, you probably need to pray about changing churches. Not every body of believers are walking as God’s body. But don’t go to the far extreme either, no place is perfect because it is made up of imperfect people. There has to be a balance.

But God has cleansed me from the damage done by religion. Every day, I grow closer to Him. I have learned that our faith walk is less about religion and denominations and more about our individual connections to the God of the universe; the one that shed his blood for us.

We are living in amazing times. I know that every past generation has felt like their generation will be the one to see the rapture of the church. But prophecy is aligning, and we are not far from everything being in place for that to happen. But first, a great harvest of souls.

God is waiting for us to yield fully to him. We have a lot of work to do in a short time. God will pour out His Spirit to help us. I get excited just thinking about it. But first, we have to walk through a few rough spots. God is pulling down evil and that will not happen quietly. We cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in the things of this life. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Isaiah 45:2-3 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

God says he will go before us and make the crooked places straight. He said he would give us the treasures of darkness. He is going to give his children the spoils of the enemy. We will be able to take back everything the enemy has taken from us. Our peace, our health, our strength, our joy and our wealth. He will give us treasures of darkness. He is our restorer and the lifter of our heads.

Psalm 139:1-3 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

There is nowhere that we can go to get away from God. There is peace in knowing that he is watching over us. He knows us and cares about what we care about.

John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

When Jesus was getting ready to leave his disciples he told them he would send them a comforter, a companion, His Spirit. This Spirit called the Holy Ghost abides and lives within everyone that is born again. He will lead us and guide us into all truth, as long as we let him lead us.

There is great comfort in knowing we are not alone. We don’t have to face our troubles alone. God is always there, never failing, always working things out for our good. All we have to do is trust in him.

I hope you spend some time thinking about how much He loves you. I hope this has encouraged you to draw closer by praying and studying his word.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 213 BREAKING FREE

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: BREAKING FREE

Yesterday, I talked to you about being oppressed and how Christians should not participate in things that this world promotes. Another thing that has become popular and I have noticed it worked into several television shows lately. They say burning sage cleanses the room or home of evil spirits, but it is quite the opposite, it actually attracts the enemy. I am sure by now some of you think that I have lost my mind and that is fine. It is easier to pretend evil doesn’t exist.

We no longer have the luxury of burying our heads in the sand and pretending all is well. Evil is all around us, it is time we take a stand. It is time we take back our territory.

We allow the enemy to get a stronghold in our lives. Then we are caught in a dilemma, we face a lot of struggles because of the stronghold. But the enemy can only keep us bound as long as we let him. We have the power at any time to walk away. But it takes prayer and a great show of strength. We have to fight for our freedom from his bondage.

Making the choice is not easy. If it were easy, it would not be a prison. But Jesus is waiting for us to ask him to set us free. He knows when we really mean it and when we are just playing with the enemy. The word says if we resist the devil he will flee. We just have to choose to resist and ask to be set free.

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Jesus came to set us free in every way possible. All we have to do is release it to him. Which is easy and hard at the same time. This is why the word says that the flesh wars with the spirit. Our spirit is ready to be free, but our flesh is holding onto whatever the enemy is using to bind us up. Again, all it takes is for us to release that thing that is binding us up, to Jesus.

Col 2:21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

Paul was telling the church to not handle, taste or touch the unclean thing that came from commandments and doctrines of men. The Pharisees did all sorts of evil in the name of doing good. Paul didn’t want the church to get caught up in man’s doctrines and the things of the flesh. We are to not handle, taste or touch sin, even in the name of good works.

Again today I remind you of the questions we should all be asking, How close can I get to Jesus? The closer we walk to him the less likely we will be to fall into things that cause us to get snared by our enemy.

But never forget, that we are human, and if you find yourself caught in a snare, stop, the more you struggle the tighter the grip of the enemy. Make up your mind to let go even if you don’t want to, then ask God to break you free.

Psalm 31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Have hope, be encouraged, God will give you strength. But we must fully yield and fully trust in him. If you are on the side of the Lord, you will never lose. God wins and satan always loses. As Tim Sheets says, He is the forever loser. You can be set free, the choice is yours.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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