God Is Light

Today, we are going to do a study of God, Who is Light. This is just a beginning study for you. Take these scriptures and do your own study. You will be a changed person as you meditate on who you are in Christ, Who is the Light of the world, Who has called you the light of the world.

In Genesis 1:3, God literally said: Light in Me, be. And darkness was dispelled.

Then Adam and Eve sinned and darkness and the prince of darkness, satan, took the authority they gave him, which was theirs originally to rule and reign as children of God on this earth in the Garden of Eden. He is darkness and everything he represents is darkness---sin, sickness and disease, poverty, lack, want, doubt and unbelief, fear, etc. I am told that on an MRI or x-ray, disease shows up as dark spots. I find that very interesting. Also, those who are in sin prefer darkness to a lighted room, prefer wearing dark clothing to wearing light clothing.

In 2 Corinthians 4:6 we see that God did indeed command the light to shine out of darkness and He has shined in our hearts to give the understanding of the knowledge of His glory in the person of Jesus Christ.

In Exodus 14:20 the Lord was a pillar of light by night for the Israelites. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

In Psalm 27:1 we read that the Lord is our light and our salvation. And remember that word salvation means more than being born again. It means deliverance, health, safety, welfare, well-being, prosperity. The Lord is the Light that shines on the way of salvation and brings us into His land of peace and beauty, righteousness and joy.

In Psalm 37 3-6 and Psalm 97:11 and Proverbs 4:18 we see that light is sown for the righteous (those who are right with God through the shed blood of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit) along their pathway and that their path is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until it reaches its full strength. We also see that the Lord shall bring forth righteousness as the light for those who trust in Him and do good, for those who delight themselves in Him and those who commit their way unto Him. Looks to me like trust is the key to all that we receive from Him. What do you think? And how do you and I develop trust? We trust someone whom we know very well; we know their ways. We know how they think and how they operate. In order to do that, we must spend time with them, listening to what they have to say and investing some thought into understanding their ways. We do that with the Lord by spending quiet times with Him, quietly praying or loudly praising and speaking and reading and meditating and confessing His Word.

In Psalm 119:105 and 130 God’s Word is called a lamp and a light. The entrance of His Word brings light. For our light to burn brighter and brighter, we take in more Word fuel. It is the energy force that causes us to shine with the fullness of God’s glory.

When Jesus came, He referred to Himself as the light of the world. In Matthew 4:16 and Luke 2:32, we are told that the people who sat enveloped in darkness all the time and in the shadow of death, saw a great Light and the Light dawned for them. The Light was for revelation, to disclose what had not been known before. These passages are referring to Jesus. In 1 John 1:5 it is stated that God is Light. In John 1:1-9 and John 8:12, 9:5 and 12:46 Jesus is called and calls Himself the light that shined in the darkness, the true Light which lights the way for man in the darkness of the world. His Life is the Light of men. In His eternal life, zoe, is all the power we will need to be lights in a dark world. As the things in the world look darker and darker, we will stand out like beacon lights, shining lighter and lighter as we take on more and more of His character and ways.

And now, for the icing on the cake, put on your seatbelts for a wonderful ride. Jesus called us the light of the world. How is that possible? He, the Light, is in us and makes us light. Isn’t that wonderful! Listen to these scriptures. Colossians 1:13: The Father has delivered us to Himself from the control and authority and dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. And His Kingdom is a Kingdom of Light. In Ephesians 5:14 we are told that we are to awake from sleep and arise from the dead (the deadness of our spirit without the Lord, stumbling in the darkness of no knowledge of Him and His love and goodness to set us free) and Christ shall shine upon us and give us light. In Jesus’ own teaching in Matthew 5:14,16, He calls us the light of the world and that we are to let our light shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

In Ephesians 5:8 Paul tells us that once we were darkness but now we are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light, lead our lives in accordance with His leading and direction. Trust Him and continually say that you are led by the Spirit of God and that you hear His voice and the voice of a stranger you do not follow.

In Romans 13:12 we are told to put on the armor of light. Well, what is the armor? Go back to Ephesians 6:10-18 to find out what the armor is. Actually, that armor all points to Jesus and trusting in Him. The Light of the Lord shines through us in the form of the fruit of the spirit and the armor is our protection against the wiles of the enemy.

In 1 John 1:7 we are told to walk in the light as He is in the light. It is all summed up in one statement if you search all the scriptures. God is Love. God is Light. God gives us His Life. As we walk more and more in His love, we shine brighter and brighter to dispel the darkness that is all around us in this world. And remember that His love is not an emotional high; His love is a decision we make to honor and love someone regardless of how they are treating us. And we can only do it through Him and yielding to His goodness and compassion. It is a moment-by-moment decision, 24-7. But oh, the benefits are out of this world; yes, even while we are in this world.

Believe it and receive it.

Scripture references taken from the King James Version and the Amplified Bible.

Confession of Psalm 91 and 92

Let’s take a good dose of God’s Word today and see who we really are and where we really dwell.

Psalm 91

I dwell in the secret place of the Most High and remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty, Whose power no foe can withstand.
I am stable and fixed and do not fluctuate with every circumstance and situation.
I am unchangeable because God in me is unchangeable.
I will say of the Lord:
He is my refuge, the place where I am safe and protected, my hiding place from all physical danger.
He is my fortress, my place of strength, my defense against all human enemies.
He is my God---on Him I lean and rely and in Him I confidently trust.
Then He will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and the deadly pestilence, malignant and contagious, infectious epidemic diseases, deadly and devastating.
He will cover me with His feathers and under His wings shall I trust and find refuge.
His truth and His faithfulness are my shield and buckler.
I shall not be afraid of the terror of the night nor of the arrow, the evil plots and slanders of the wicked that fly by day nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at my side, and ten thousand at my right hand, but it shall not come near me.
Only a spectator shall I be, myself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High as I witness the reward of the wicked.
Because I have made the Lord my refuge, and the Most High my dwelling place, there shall no evil befall me nor any plague or calamity come near my dwelling.
For He will give His angels especial charge over me to accompany, defend, preserve, guard, protect and keep me in all my ways of obedience and service.
They shall bear me up in their hands lest I dash my foot against a stone.
I shall tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the serpent shall I trample underfoot.
Because I have set my love upon Him, therefore he will deliver me.
He will set me on high because I know and understand His name, have a personal knowledge of His mercy, love and kindness.
I trust and rely on Him, knowing He will never forsake me, no never.
I shall call upon Him and He will answer me.
He will be with me in trouble.
He will deliver me and honor me.
With long life will He satisfy me and show me His salvation in every area of my life. In my pathway is life and there is no death.


Psalm 92:12-15

I as the uncompromisingly righteous shall flourish like the palm tree---be long-lived, stately, upright, useful and fruitful.
I shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon---majestic, stable, durable and incorruptible.
Planted in the house of the Lord, I shall flourish in the courts of my God.
Growing in grace, I shall still bring forth fruit in old age.
I shall be full of sap, of spiritual vitality and rich in the verdure---the vigorous, flourishing, growing condition---of trust, love and contentment.
I am a living memorial to show that the Lord is upright and faithful to His promises.
He is my Rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

All scriptures taken from the Amplified Bible.

Thoughts on God's Life

When I am born again, I am righteous. According to Proverbs 12:28, in the way of righteousness is God’s life and the pathway no death. Therefore, as God’s righteous one, the way before me, my destiny, my future, my pathway is only LIFE HIMSELF.

When I open the door to Jesus, when I am born again, I open the door and Jesus comes in to live with His life, making me His temple, His sanctuary, His dwelling place of life. Then God’s Life lives in me.

When I got born again, Jesus, in the person of the Holy Spirit, the Living Word, came to dwell in my spirit. As I study, meditate and speak His written Word, He comes to dwell in my mind. That written Word is given life by the Living Word Himself Who is dwelling in me. I take in the written word by study, meditation, and confession and the Holy Spirit converts it to His living, life-giving material, heavenly substance called faith.

Every organ, every tissue, every cell in my body operates and functions in the perfection to which God created it to function because Life Himself created my body and Life Himself, Who is in me, sustains me. That’s one of the reasons God wants me to accept Jesus because Life Himself comes to live in me and my body to keep it well through His life flow. He wants me to complete the assignment He has called me to do. He doesn’t want it cut short by my having to vacate the body He has prepared for me while I am here on this earth. It is not God’s design or plan for me to leave here because a diseased body forced an early leaving, before I have accomplished what He called me to do. That is why it is so important that you and I understand the eternal life, zoe, Who is the Holy Spirit living in us, ever pouring forth His Life into us.

So Life Himself is living in me in my spirit, and my spirit is the heavenly connector. Since I live on earth in an earthly, fleshly body, I need my earthly connector, my soul, which consists of my mind, my will and my emotions, to be filled with Life Himself through His Word so that Life flow between my soul (earthly) and my spirit (heavenly) takes care of my earthly body. Why? Because there’s a unity, an agreement between my soul and my spirit and Life is then a continual, uninterrupted flow between the two, with God being the life force orchestrating and taking care of it all.

My soul takes in God’s Word and His Word food is converted into God’s Life force, Life Himself. And my life flow, Life Himself, flows to every cell of my body, keeping me in divine life health, a divinely healthy life. God’s living Word, Jesus, is then free to manifest Himself in my mortal body through the power and person of the Holy Spirit.

As I speak God’s Word, I give His Word a voice, and His Word releases the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and that law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees me, gives me freedom, makes me free from the law of sin and death. This word “makes” here is like you make a pot of soup or make a piece of pottery. It’s made. It’s there. It’s done. It’s established. Even so, you are “made” free.

John 10:10 says that Jesus came so that He could release God’s life in fullness, overflow, abundance. All we have to do is accept Him Who is Life Himself and He is free to operate in us and for us, on our behalf, with His Life.

John 1:16 and Deuteronomy 28:47-----abundance is the fullness of God’s Life.

Every time my heart beats, God’s life is surging through me and cleansing me of all disease, washing away all things that cause pain and continually refreshing me, restoring me with His Life.

God is total life—nothing else—he is in me with total life.

My body will not be deceived by somebody saying to it—you’re sick when I have been made free, when God’s life is flowing through me continually.

Now, I can stop up, dam up that life by the sin of unbelief, doubt, fear, cares, or any other sin like adultery, or lying or disobedience or envy or gossip or criticism or offense.

Jesus, Life Himself, has made His life available to me. What I must do is accept it and enforce it in my body, enforce it in my soul by thinking life and speaking life (my mind full of the life of the Word, my will conformed to His will and Life, my emotions under the control of the Holy Spirit of Life) and enforce God’s Life in my spirit. I enforce God’s life in all three parts of me—spirit, soul and body—by choice, by decision every moment of every day. I CHOOSE GOD’S LIFE. THAT IS MY CHOICE. I REFUSE TO HAVE ANY OTHER CHOICE BEFORE ME. HE IS MY LIFE.

Renew Your Mind

Yesterday the Lord spoke to me and said that the battle is won or lost in the mind, so let’s talk about that today.

When we are born again, our spirit man is a new man, a new creation, a new species of being that never existed before. We are brand new. The Word of God tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we are new creatures; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. How is that possible? The blood of Jesus has purged, cleansed us from sin, sickness and disease, poverty, fear, doubt. The slate has been wiped clean. All of your past is washed away, clean. Hebrews 1:3 and 10:1,2 tell us that we have been cleansed of our sin. And of course, that also means that we are cleansed of all the results of that sin.
Hebrews 1:3
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Hebrews 10:1-2
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

We also see from these scriptures that we are cleansed of consciousness of sins by the blood of Jesus. We are to be righteousness conscious. What does that mean? We are to be thinking on and aware at all times of the blood of Jesus and what His blood has done and is continually doing for us. We are to be thankful for what He has done and see Him helping us to stay pure. What we think on is what we become. The Bible tells us that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
Proverbs 23:7
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Where people have the challenge is in their minds, which they themselves must renew by the Word of God to become conformed to His way of thinking. That is something you and I do by choice. We must, on purpose decide to think as God thinks. And how do we discover how He thinks? We read, confess, speak, think on what His Word has to say about situations and circumstances. His Word is the expression of the way God thinks. And the way God thinks is pure, honest, just, true, of a good report. He always sees the best and thinks the best of every person and situation. He is our model; we are to follow Him.
Ephes. 4:23 Amplified Bible
And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],
Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Kenneth Copeland, on his broadcast last week on the compassion of God made this statement and it is so true: “Living off the past through thoughts and words of fear shapes the future to repeat the past.” In other words, when we rehearse what has happened in the past that is negative and questioning, it repeats itself over and over. Why, God? becomes a pattern of thought instead of the Word replacing that thought pattern. We all have thought patterns that satan wants to perpetuate in our lives. Only the Word of God spoken out loud can cancel that thought. The Word of God is a noise cancelling device to shut up the noise satan makes in your ear constantly. Regardless of what it looks like, don’t submit to the thoughts that are contrary to God’s thoughts, which are spelled out in His Word.

Are You Full?

Are you full? I know that is a strange question to ask the day after Thanksgiving.

Let me ask you again: Are you full? You know where I am going with this, don’t you. Are you full of Jesus? Are you full of gratitude for what He has done for you? Are you full of an understanding of His nature? Are you full of an understanding of His ways? Are you full of an understanding of His word? Are you full of a revelation of who you are in Him and Who He is in you?

One of the most important discoveries you will ever make in your life while you are here on this earth is who you are in Christ (The Anointed One and His anointing) and Who He is in you.

You are full of everything that is in Jesus. What is in Him-----love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness or kindness, meekness, faith(fulness), patience, temperance or self-control! He is full of the ability to remove burdens and destroy yokes in people’s lives. He is full of compassion and mercy and grace. He is full of life. He is full of health. He is full of prosperity. He is full of light. The Light of His Presence of Love brings His life to your spirit, soul, body, finances, relationships, marriages, jobs, children, pocketbooks, bank accounts, savings accounts, investments, houses, properties.

What He is full of, you are full of, because He is in you with His fullness. That fullness brings to your life whatever you need. BUT, and that is a big BUT, if you have a little dab of doubt, a pinch of unbelief, a smidgeon of fear, a portion of pride, a leftover of religion and tradition, you will not be as full of Him as you would like to be. There is a solution for that. Let the blood of Jesus wash it all away. If you have picked up some of these things again, let the blood of Jesus wash away all of it in His cleansing power. Let the Word of God keep you pure and clean and full. We are told in the book of John that He washes us with the water of the Word.

Instead of getting into condemnation and thinking that it is not possible to walk in this fullness, think about walking in the fullness of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 and 3 tell us that we can be full of His fullness, Love, and know the depth, length, breadth and height of His love. We are told in these verses that we can know Him intimately in all of His fullness.

If you are born again, if you are a child of God, you have His fullness in you. What you have to do is learn what it is and how to release His fullness in you for yourself and for others. That’s why He is in you.

Do you realize that when you got born again, old things passed away? No, I don’t think you get it. Let’s try that one again. OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY! Whatever was on you or in you before you accepted Jesus is GONE. The slate is clean. Sin, sickness, disease, poverty, lack, want, defeat, discouragement, depression, failure are gone. You say, Kialeen, you could have fooled me. They seem to still be with me. No, satan is trying to convince you that they are still with you----where might that be? In your mind. Whatever you think on, that is what materializes in your life. Even pain is in your mind because when you are asleep, for example, in surgery, you do not know you have pain. It is only when you wake up and your mind is functioning fully again that you feel pain.

When satan brings up your past to you, bring out the video tape and let him play it. It is blank as it can be. What happened to all those scenes recorded on the video of your life of sin and sickness and lack? They were washed clean by the blood of Jesus. You have a clean life. And the blood of Jesus continually cleanses those who walk with Him in love and in the light of His Word and His life.

Begin to see new scenes being played on that video of yours---scenes of health, financial independence, victory, encouragement, success, abundance, the fruit of the spirit in full operation, God’s love overflowing in you. Begin to paint a new picture in your mind. Don’t let your past dictate your future. Your future is bright with the fullness of God’s Love, Life and Light.

Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Psalm 100 is titled in my Bible: A Song of Praise and Thanksgiving. Let’s give thanks to the Lord with His Word.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. The Amplified Bible says: Be thankful and say so to Him.
For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Not just today, but every day we should give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, for what He has done and continues to do in our lives. Make it a point this year every day to get up with a thankful heart and think of things that you can thank the Lord for. Start one day at a time and before you know it, you will be getting up with a smile on your face and a spring in your step and joy in your heart. You will go out the door skipping and singing for the joy of another day to be alive and serve Him.

Fix your mind and your heart on the Lord and sing and give praise to Him. It will change your life and give you an attitude that is catching. People will be drawn to you and enjoy being around you. Let the Lord do a makeover for the new year for you. It’s a makeover that you will like.

Praise is becoming to you. Thanksgiving is catching. The Lord loves to hear your praises and He loves to see you rejoicing. Do you know why? Rejoicing will bring you through to victory every time. Grumbling keeps you in the same place of defeat year after year. Satan hates a praising child of God because He knows that praise breaks his hold on you and sets you free from doubt and unbelief. We have been told that praise is the highest form of faith that there is. The reason praise is the highest form of faith is that praise indicates you are saying thank you to the Lord. And that releases Him to do what He loves to do best. He loves to prosper you and give you everything that heaven has to offer. Jesus died so that you and I can be free from sin and walk in righteousness that brings us divine health, wealth, prosperity, happy families and marriages that are like days of heaven on earth.

Have a blessed week and may The Blessing of the Lord rest upon you and your family.

He Is My Refuge

Psalm 91:1 tells us that when we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, then we are stable, fixed and abiding, living under the shadow of the Almighty. We are not moved to some other position. We are stable. We are not moved by circumstances and earthly things around us. We live, we dwell in the secret place, which I believe is revelation, the understanding of The Word of God. And I mean Word in two aspects---Jesus, the Word Himself and the written Word which, by the power of the Holy Spirit, becomes reality to our minds and hearts. When we live in that place, there is no plot, strategy, scheme, tactic or maneuver of the enemy that can overtake us. Why? Because in the Presence of The Most High God, there is protection in His Power. His Love is the greatest power in the universe. I truly believe that as we live in the power and force of the fruit of the spirit (all the other fruit proceed from His love), we are completely protected from the evil one. That wicked one touches us not.

Let’s look at some scriptures on refuge this morning. He is our refuge, our dwelling place. In fact, verse 2 of Psalm 91 tells us what to do. I will say of the Lord: He is my Refuge; He is my Fortress: He is my God; on Him I lean and rely and in Him I confidently trust. A refuge is the place where we are safe and protected. It is our hiding place from all physical danger. A fortress is our place of strength, our defense against all human enemies. HE IS OUR GOD!

Proverbs 30:5 tells us that every Word of God is pure; He is a shield to us who trust Him and who take refuge in Him.
Psalm 46:1,7 God is our refuge and strength. He is indeed present to help us in time of trouble. He has proved Himself that He is our Helper. He, the Lord of hosts, is with us. That is a term of war. He and all that it takes will protect us. The God of Jacob is our refuge, our fortress, our high place, our high tower. That means we are set above whatever may come against us. We look down on the trouble from our place seated in the Heavenly places with Christ Jesus.
Psalm 48:3 In the City of the Great King (double reference here to the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem) God has made Himself known in her palaces as a Refuge, High Tower, Stronghold.
Psalm 57:1,2,5,7,10 My soul takes refuge and finds shelter and confidence in the shadow of these wings of the merciful and gracious God. I take refuge and am confident in Him until calamities and destructive storms are passed. This is a scripture you can use for all kinds of storms—hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, blizzards, etc. I will declare to the Most High God that He performs on my behalf and rewards me; He brings to pass His purposes for me and surely completes them. I will thank Him for what He does for me. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth! My heart is fixed, steadfast and confident in You. Your mercy and lovingkindness are great, reaching to the heavens. Your truth and faithfulness reach to the clouds.
Psalm 59:16,17 I will sing aloud of Your mighty power and strength, Your mercy and lovingkindness in the morning (and all day long), for You have been to me a Defense, a Fortress, a High Tower, a Refuge in the day of distress. Unto You, O God, I will sing praises for You God are my Defense, my Fortress, my High Tower, My God Who shows me mercy and steadfast love.
Psalm 62:5-8 My soul waits expectantly on God because my hope and expectation are from Him. He alone is my Rock, my Salvation, my Defense, my Fortress. I SHALL NOT BE MOVED! With God rests my salvation and glory. He is my Rock Who is unyielding in His strength and impenetrable. He is my Refuge. I trust in Him; I lean on Him; I rely on Him; I have confidence in Him at all times. I pour out my heart before Him. He is my Refuge, a Fortress and High Tower.

All these scriptures were based on the Amplified Bible. You can find other scriptures for yourself.

I have already preached myself happy with the realization of Who my God is to me and for me. What an awesome God He is. We are His children, whom He loves dearly and is very protective of. He is always with us, standing beside us and saying: You are Mine. I bought you with the price of My blood. You are precious to me. I have taken care of everything for you. And all we have to do is believe it and act on the Truth of it. I know you don’t always feel like it. Neither do I. But do it on purpose anyhow. Act like it’s true when it doesn’t look like one word of it is true in your life. It still is true. My phrase for this year is: ON PURPOSE. On purpose, act like His Word is true in your life right now.

Denial Is Not Faith

Denial is not faith. These words rang in my ears this morning as I was praying for someone who needs a miracle.

When we face a life-threatening situation or a difficult marriage or what seems like a lack of finances in our lives or whatever the negative circumstance, not talking about it won’t make it go away. Neither will talking about it make it better. So, what are you saying, Kialeen? Neither embracing nor ignoring a negative circumstance on this earth will change it. Many people, when they learn that God wants their lives to be abundantly blessed, think that all they have to do is say, God, it is yours and I don’t have to be concerned about it any more. Yes, there is a releasing of worry and trying to fix things. We are to release situations to God, but we have something that we are to do also. We must learn how to believe and receive, how to have faith in the midst of what seems to be impossible situations which appear to be out of our control.

We are told in the scripture that faith comes; faith works by love; without faith it is impossible to please God and they that come to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

So, just what is faith? We are told that faith is the evidence of things unseen, the substance of things hoped for. So faith is tangible in the spirit realm; it can be seen in the spirit realm because it is evidence and has substance. God sees faith when it is in us. And He by His Holy Spirit of life and anointing comes in response to faith to bring into our lives what we are believing Him for. And we receive.

Think about the person here on this earth that you have the most confidence in, that you know would do anything for you that they could. How did that confidence come? How did you develop that confidence? You got to know them, didn’t you? You spent time with them and listened to what they were saying, their words. It is the same way with God. As we spend time with Him and get to know Him, through what He says (His Word, The Bible), we develop confidence in what He will do for us. As we seek Him and sometimes just be in His presence, we know what He has already done for us and what He will do for us as we ask. Faith, confidence in someone, takes time to develop. We are not just overnight wonders. As we get to know someone’s nature, we know what they will do, don’t we. Why? Because we KNOW them. That is true with God. We must get to know Him, Then we can say. My God is a good God. He heals me. He sets me free. He prospers me. And they are no longer words that we hope that if we say them often enough, they will come true for us. When we speak these statements in faith, we KNOW that they are TRUE NOW for us, even if we don’t see anything in the natural to indicate it. And faith requires nothing in the natural to confirm it. For example, when we truly believe we are healed by the stripes of Jesus, disease can still be raging in our bodies, but we know that we are healed. Saying the scriptures doesn’t make it so. It is so; we say the scriptures; it becomes reality for us personally. Do you understand what we are saying here this morning?

When someone asks us if we are sick, telling them that we are not sick is not faith. Rather, faith knows that we are healed and says with confidence: I am healed because Jesus took my sicknesses and diseases for me, even when we may have a body racked with pain and raging symptoms.

So, you see, denying something exists or hoping that it will go away if we speak the scriptures often enough, won’t produce faith, Faith is produced as we do speak the scriptures, as we do spend time with the Lord, as we get to know Him and His nature. When we get to know Him as well as we do that best friend on earth, then we will have confidence, faith in Him and what He says. We will believe that what He says has come to pass for US PERSONALLY. Then we don’t have to fear and wonder if it really will work for us. If you are still wondering if it will work, that is not faith. But keep pressing into Him; keep pressing into what His Word says; keep pressing into understanding Him and knowing Him better than you know anyone else. And it will happen. You will just know that you know that you can trust Him with your life in every situation you encounter. He will give you scriptures to stand on and you will know that you know that it is yours.

Denial Is Not Faith

Denial is not faith. These words rang in my ears this morning as I was praying for someone who needs a miracle.

When we face a life-threatening situation or a difficult marriage or what seems like a lack of finances in our lives or whatever the negative circumstance, not talking about it won’t make it go away. Neither will talking about it make it better. So, what are you saying, Kialeen? Neither embracing nor ignoring a negative circumstance on this earth will change it. Many people, when they learn that God wants their lives to be abundantly blessed, think that all they have to do is say, God, it is yours and I don’t have to be concerned about it any more. Yes, there is a releasing of worry and trying to fix things. We are to release situations to God, but we have something that we are to do also. We must learn how to believe and receive, how to have faith in the midst of what seems to be impossible situations which appear to be out of our control.

We are told in the scripture that faith comes; faith works by love; without faith it is impossible to please God and they that come to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

So, just what is faith? We are told that faith is the evidence of things unseen, the substance of things hoped for. So faith is tangible in the spirit realm; it can be seen in the spirit realm because it is evidence and has substance. God sees faith when it is in us. And He by His Holy Spirit of life and anointing comes in response to faith to bring into our lives what we are believing Him for. And we receive.

Think about the person here on this earth that you have the most confidence in, that you know would do anything for you that they could. How did that confidence come? How did you develop that confidence? You got to know them, didn’t you? You spent time with them and listened to what they were saying, their words. It is the same way with God. As we spend time with Him and get to know Him, through what He says (His Word, The Bible), we develop confidence in what He will do for us. As we seek Him and sometimes just be in His presence, we know what He has already done for us and what He will do for us as we ask. Faith, confidence in someone, takes time to develop. We are not just overnight wonders. As we get to know someone’s nature, we know what they will do, don’t we. Why? Because we KNOW them. That is true with God. We must get to know Him, Then we can say. My God is a good God. He heals me. He sets me free. He prospers me. And they are no longer words that we hope that if we say them often enough, they will come true for us. When we speak these statements in faith, we KNOW that they are TRUE NOW for us, even if we don’t see anything in the natural to indicate it. And faith requires nothing in the natural to confirm it. For example, when we truly believe we are healed by the stripes of Jesus, disease can still be raging in our bodies, but we know that we are healed. Saying the scriptures doesn’t make it so. It is so; we say the scriptures; it becomes reality for us personally. Do you understand what we are saying here this morning?

When someone asks us if we are sick, telling them that we are not sick is not faith. Rather, faith knows that we are healed and says with confidence: I am healed because Jesus took my sicknesses and diseases for me, even when we may have a body racked with pain and raging symptoms.

So, you see, denying something exists or hoping that it will go away if we speak the scriptures often enough, won’t produce faith, Faith is produced as we do speak the scriptures, as we do spend time with the Lord, as we get to know Him and His nature. When we get to know Him as well as we do that best friend on earth, then we will have confidence, faith in Him and what He says. We will believe that what He says has come to pass for US PERSONALLY. Then we don’t have to fear and wonder if it really will work for us. If you are still wondering if it will work, that is not faith. But keep pressing into Him; keep pressing into what His Word says; keep pressing into understanding Him and knowing Him better than you know anyone else. And it will happen. You will just know that you know that you can trust Him with your life in every situation you encounter. He will give you scriptures to stand on and you will know that you know that it is yours.

Prayer Results

What is it that you are praying for today? How long have you been praying for this answer?

When we pray, the answer is already there. God already saw the prayer answered before you were ever born. He considers it a done deal, a finished work. So, what is the problem when our prayers don’t seem to get results? We have many reasons, most, if not all, which are plain religious excuses. We hear such reasons as: Well, in God’s perfect timing. It is not the time yet. Or how about this one? God is a sovereign God and He knows best. Or, He’s doing a work in me because He may not think I am ready to handle what I am praying for? Or, God is testing me to see if I will have patience. Or, I am just hoping and praying that I am praying right. Or, maybe if that prayer were answered, I would be in pride and not humble. Or, He sees that I would not do all the work He has called me to do if I had that which I am praying for.

These answers all sound good at the time. But they are all just plain excuses for us to justify the reason nothing is happening. But if you as a faith person look at each of these few excuses I have listed, you will see that there is no faith involved in any of these answers. And without faith, there will be no results.

I saw this morning that true faith is knowing what God knows and seeing what God sees and seeing the way God sees. You and I must understand that God sees everything finished, a done deal, a finished work, a finished product, not a future event that happens. His Word is Good News. News is a report of that which has already happened. You have already been healed. Your loved ones have already been saved. Your children are already disciples taught of the Lord and walking in His perfect will. Your marriage is already taken care of. Your finances are already in order.

So how do we get from “I hope so” to “I know so.” What is the difference between the two places of prayer? Earthly hope isn’t sure that it will happen but the person is praying, hoping that God in His mercy will look down on them in pity and answer their prayer, because they are praying so earnestly. Now there is a Bible hope that earnestly and intensely expects that prayer to be answered. The difference between Bible hope and faith is that faith sees and knows that that prayer has already been answered. It is a done deal. It is finished. So, how do we get from Bible hope to Bible faith? We have the answer very clearly spelled out in God’s Word. Rom. 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But we can’t stop there. Faith comes but we must do something with our faith when it comes. Faith works by love. And God’s love is nothing like the human concept man has tried to attach to it. God’s love is His very self, His very nature, His very insides. We must study God’s love until we get what it means. There is such a vast area of understanding His love. Find every scripture on love and begin to meditate on it until God reveals Himself to you in His fullness. Then you won’t ever worry about a prayer not being answered because you will know Him so well that you will trust Him so completely that you will pray and see results.

Another thing about prayer that we must understand is that prayer that brings results is prayer that is led by the Holy Spirit of God. We don’t just see a need and start praying fervently. What is God saying that we are to do? Are we to meditate on the scripture for a while before we just go helter skelter into our prayer closet and blanket the atmosphere with what I “scatter-shot,” “fear-filled,” desperate praying. This where I see people miss it so much. They have not been taught to wait upon the Lord and get His direction for the prayer. I am going to say something that will shock a lot of you. Need does not dictate prayer. The Spirit of God leads you into the prayer with the right scripture and the right way to pray.

Prayer that is not scripture-based will produce little if any results. If I were to ask you today, what scriptures are you standing on for this prayer to come about, could you tell me?

As with everything with God, prayer is to be led of His Spirit, based on His Word, and prayed in faith.

Confession of the Gospel of John, Part 2

Today, let’s finish our confession of scriptures in the gospel of John. Take these scriptures from the last two days and make them a part of your life, of your daily confession. They are powerful words that Jesus said before He was preparing to go to the cross. Although they were spoken to His disciples then, they are just as much for us today who have accepted Jesus into our hearts. God’s Word is so rich and so full of life and His power to do what we can’t do otherwise. Believe that the Word works in your life. Believe that God’s Word is true for you in your present life. Embrace His Word for yourself. Let His Word bring true life to you in whatever circumstances you find yourselves, in whatever situations you encounter. His Word will bring you through every time to victory. All you have to do is believe. You were created to believe. That is what you do naturally. Choose to believe the Word works for you personally—that’s what we call faith. When you act on what you believe , you are acting in faith.




John 16: 1,7,13-15, 27,33

Jesus has told me all these things so that I may not be offended and taken unaware and be caused to stumble and falter. The Holy Spirit, my Comforter, is in close fellowship with me. He is the Spirit of Truth and He guides me into all the Truth. He announces and declares to me the things that are to come, that will happen in the future. He takes of the things that are Jesus’ and reveals, declares, discloses, transmits them to me.

My dear Heavenly Father Himself tenderly loves me because I have loved Jesus and have believed that He came out of the Father. In Jesus I have perfect peace and confidence.



John 17:13. 15, 17, 19, 21-26

Jesus’ joy is made full and complete and perfect in me. I experience His delight fulfilled in myself. His enjoyment is perfected in my own soul. His gladness is within me, filling my heart.

Because Jesus has asked, I am kept and protected from the evil one.

I am sanctified, purified, separated for Jesus; I am made holy by His Truth, His Word of Truth. For my sake, Jesus was sanctified in the Truth.

We are all one just as the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father and we all are one in them, so that the world may believe and be convinced that the Father sent Jesus. Jesus has given to me the glory and honor which the Father has given Him, that we may be one even as they are one.

Jesus is in me and the Father is in Jesus so that we may become one, perfectly united, that the world may know and definitely recognize that the Father sent Jesus and that the Father has loved me even as He has loved Jesus. The Father has entrusted me to Jesus as His gift.

Jesus desires that I may be with Him where He is so that I may see His glory, which the Father has given Him. The glory is the Father’s love gift to Jesus. The Father loved Jesus before the foundation of the earth. Jesus has made the Father known to me and revealed His character, His very Being, and He will continue to make the Father known, that the love wherewith the Father has loved Jesus may be in me, felt in my heart because Jesus is in me.

Confession of the Gospel of John, Part 1

We are going to spend the next two days confessing scriptures in the gospel of John. A number of months ago, I took these scriptures and put them into confession form for myself personally. I am sharing them with you for your confession and building up in the faith.


John 14:12-17, 22-24, 26-27, 30-31

I steadfastly believe in You Jesus and I myself will be able to do the things that You do and I will do even greater things than these, because you go to the Father. And You will grant whatever I ask in Your Name so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in You Jesus, His Son. Jesus, thank You that You will grant, do for me, whatever I shall ask in Your Name. I really love You, and I will keep, obey Your commands.

Thank You, Jesus, that You have given me another Comforter Who is also my Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener and Standby and that He will remain with me forever. Holy Spirit, You are the Spirit of Truth and I know and recognize You for You live with me constantly and will be in me forever.

I thank You, Jesus, that you will reveal Yourself, that you will make Yourself real to me. I love You, Jesus; I will keep Your Word, obey Your teaching and the Father will love me and You and the Father will come to me and make Your home with me. You will make me Your special dwelling place. The teaching which I hear and pay attention to is from the Father Who sent You, Jesus.

Thank You, Father, for sending the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, to represent Jesus, to act on His behalf. Holy Spirit, thank You for teaching me all things and causing me to remember, to recall all that Jesus has told me. Thank You for giving me Your peace, Jesus. I receive it. I do not allow myself to be agitated or disturbed or to become fearful and unsettled. Instead, I yield to You Holy Spirit and the peace that You carry.

Because I am just like Jesus, because He is in me by His Spirit, satan has nothing in common with me; there is nothing in me that belongs to him and he has no power over me. Also, just like Jesus, I do only what the Father has instructed me to do. I act on His orders, fully agreeing with them.

John15:1-5,7-16

Jesus is the True Vine and I am the branch that He cleanses with His Word so that I can bear more fruit. I dwell, I live in Jesus and He dwells, He lives in me. I am vitally united with Jesus. His words remain in me and continue to live in my heart. Because of that, I can ask whatever I will and it shall be done for me. Because I produce much fruit, I prove myself to be a true follower of Jesus and my Father is honored and glorified.

Jesus has loved me just as the Father has loved Him. I abide in His love. I keep His commandments; I continue to obey His instructions. I abide in His love and live in it, just as He abides in His Father’s love and lives in it. Jesus’ joy and delight is in me so that my joy and gladness may be full and complete and overflowing. I love others as Jesus has loved me.

Jesus has made known to me everything that He has heard from the Father; He has revealed to me everything that He has learned from the Father. He has chosen me and He has appointed me; He has planted me that I might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, that my fruit may be lasting, remain, so that whatever I ask the Father in Jesus’ name, He may give it to me.

Commitment

Commitment!

Have you ever made a vow or a commitment to someone and then wondered how you were going to fulfill it? The busyness of your life suddenly got busier and the time that you had suddenly got less. What do you do in a situation like that? Do you explain that your time is more limited now and you can’t do it? Do you expend the strength of your life trying to fulfill it? What do you do?

I think a lot of that has happened in families in America, in marriages in America. The people we leave out in the time zone are our families, our children, our spouses. Not enough time---well my kids won’t mind; my wife/husband understands. Then we wonder why our children are rebellious, why we no longer seem to have an intimate relationship with our spouse. We all have been or are guilty of this neglect. Time after time the scenario is played out.

What do we do about it? I tell you what we do about it. We cut out some of what we call the “necessary” things in our lives. How much time does it take to play a game with your child if they are little? How much time does it take to have a meal together and talk if your family is older with more mature young people? One of the best places to take time together is over a meal. Turn off the television, put away the CD player, and communicate with one another. Taking time for one another says to the other person: You are valuable to me. I care about you because I am focusing on you.

The Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit always have time for us. Their line is never busy. We never get a recording telling us we are valuable; just stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly. And then every minute that same recording plays over and over. If you are like me, sometimes I hang up and say that’s ridiculous. I think that’s what we do in relationships. We hand up emotionally, saying to ourselves, valuable, yeh, right! Who are you kidding! I’m just another dial on the phone.

Let’s take a good, hard look at our relationships today, take an assessment of where we are with our children, our parents, our spouses, our friends. Are we allowing other things to get in the way of our time with them? Are we putting more value on something else than them?

My father is getting older and I value my time with him more and more. I lead a very busy life, which I enjoy, because it is a life of ministry to others. But I take time for my dad because he is important to me. We enjoy our time together. We may not do anything sometimes. We just visit. I want to hear about his day. We talk every morning and every night. It’s important to both of us.

I leave an open slot for my son every day to call me if he wants. Some people say that is foolish since he is a grown man, but our conversations have kept him many times when he just needed a mom to listen—the one who never condemns him or says he can’t do it.

My husband and I have dates so that we can get away from the telephone and the busyness of our home. Sometimes we just go eat somewhere and come back home, but we have gotten away from our usual environment. There is something about getting away from your familiar surroundings that triggers communication and fun. We may only take a drive. But we purpose to do something on a regular basis.

And everyone is to take time for themselves, to rest, to “kick back” and relax, to do what they enjoy.

If you don’t make time, you won’t have time.

And the most important time slot is reserved for you and the Lord. Do you spend time with Him every day? Out of that time spent comes the ability to fit in everything else. He is so desirous of being with you and me. He loves to sit with us and love on us. And you know, He will order your day and provide the time you need for everything you are supposed to do and get done.

All of this sounds like a tall order, but the Lord will handle it for you if you give it to Him to make your schedule. Time is a gift from God to His man while he is on this earth. If we yield it to Him, He will take care of it for us. We will some day give an accounting for what we did with the 24 hours he gave us each day. Let Him take over your time. Let Him order your day. You will be totally blessed by all you accomplish.

The Decision of Being Thankful

When you got up this morning, what was the first thing on your mind?

Every morning of her life, when my grandmother got up, she always thanked God for another day to live her life. She was such an example to me. By the way, she lived to be in her 90’s, a long and strong life.

Thankfulness is an attitude of heart which is to be our way of life, our lifestyle. In the United States today, complaining has become common, something everybody does about everything. And if we are not careful, the Body of Christ will fall into the same trap. Complaining opens the door for the devil to be in charge of not only your day, but also your future. Thankfulness opens the door for the Lord Jesus Christ to be in charge of your life and your whole future.

The seed we sow today will produce tomorrow’s harvest. What do you want your future to look like, to be like? Then sow the right seed. The right seed is thankfulness. It will change your life for good and set you in the high places of God. It will bring you through to victory every time. 1 Corinthians 15:57 says: But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The best time to be thankful, to give thanks, is when it looks like there is nothing for which to be thankful. That is a significant seed that you sow for better times in your life. We always call it and declare it before it happens. Nothing happens in our life just by chance or by accident. We are today what we have been speaking and thinking all our lives. If you have been speaking and thinking the wrong things, make today your turnaround day, the day that the future that God has planned for you begins to come to pass. He is waiting for the right words to trigger what He has planned.

We are always to give thanks before anything happens. Why is that? It works that way because that is what faith is all about. Faith believes it is already an accomplished fact in our lives personally before it ever happens. Being thankful is our way of telling the Father that we thank Him for the gift He has given us. You know, whatever it is—healing, financial well-being, marriage healed, children walking in the Lord, dreams fulfilled, the jobs we want—what we thank God for is what we will get. It has already been accomplished in God’s eyes, so thanksgiving should already be coming forth from us for the gift that has already been given.

From now on, every day, when we get up, let’s find things for which to be thankful. Have you ever noticed how good you feel when someone says to you, “Thank you.” Whether it is for a job well done or some gift you have given to a person, the words “thank you” make a closing statement of completion.

You say: What do I have to be thankful for? How about, for starters, you are alive! You are breathing on your own. You are free from pain. You are walking. You are hearing. You are seeing. You have good friends and family. You live in America. You are free to worship as you choose. You have a job. You have money coming in. You are paying your bills. You and your family are healthy. You have a good church. You have food on your table and clothes on your back. You have water to drink that is not contaminated. I am just giving examples here. Maybe you don’t have all of these things, but start being thankful for them now and plant seeds for your future, for the victory of the overcoming life.

Thank Jesus for His blood that was shed for you to be set free, to be delivered, to be healed, to be free from poverty. Thank God for sending His Son Jesus to take our place so that we didn’t have to suffer the consequences of sin in this earth. Thank the Holy Spirit for choosing to come and offer Himself to dwell in us as His temple. Thank God for His Word, which we in this country are free to study and to preach and teach. Thank God for freedom in the spirit to worship and praise Him. Thank Him for revelation of His Word. Thank Him that you are led by His Holy Spirit 24-7. Thank God that you are a living, breathing, walking tabernacle, temple of the Most High God, carrying The Blessing of God everywhere you go and making that place a Garden of Eden.

Is that enough to get you started? I am sure the Lord will add to that. Find scriptures that speak thanksgiving and speak them until they become reality for you in your heart. Then the reality in the earthly realm won’t be far behind.

GIVE THANKS!

A Grateful Heart

A conversation with my son triggered this Pearls of Wisdom today. He was talking about having a grateful heart where you are right now and that no one will go any further in life until he/she has a grateful heart where they are, regardless of circumstances. He speaks from experience because of where he has come from several years ago when his company had a large layoff, when the computer industry tightened its belt. He said that he had to learn to be grateful when it looked like there was nothing for which to be grateful. His gratitude certainly paid off because today he is once again living in the reality of what he enjoys the most—the computer/tech environment.

Having said that, let’s look at what the Word of God tells us about gratitude or the lack thereof. I have a favorite scripture I like to quote in the positive aspect, even though it is written regarding those who do not serve the Lord with gladness of heart. Here is the way I quote it to myself: Deuteronomy 28:47 in the Amplified Bible. I SERVE THE LORD WITH JOYFULNESS OF MIND AND HEART IN GRATITUDE FOR THE ABUNDANCE OF ALL WITH WHICH HE HAS BLESSED ME. I couple this scripture with John 1:16 in the Amplified Bible. OUT OF HIS FULLNESS, ABUNDANCE I HAVE RECEIVED ONE GRACE AFTER ANOTHER AND SPIRITUAL BLESSING UPON SPIRITUAL BLESSING, AND EVEN FAVOR UPON FAVOR AND GIFT HEAPED UPON GIFT.

These two scriptures have seen me through some pretty tough times. There is something about being thankful and grateful that turns your heart toward God and His goodness. It releases God’s joy that strengthens you and gives you the ability to continue on the road of life.

The fullness of God in us and His goodness come from Him filling us with the full measure of Himself and making everything complete, nothing missing and nothing broken, for our lives. (Ephesians 1:23) That fullness comes from the Holy Spirit indwelling our innermost being to strengthen and reinforce us with His mighty power, His ability to walk through an otherwise impossible situation to the other side. (Ephesians 3:16)

There’s a walk in the powerful footsteps of God that is like no other walk we can make. As we follow His Word, we are following Him. King David had an understanding of this walk of power from a heart of gratitude when he experienced many of the things he did. His Psalms reflect His ability to praise and thank his God, even when it looked like things weren’t going too well. He encourages us over and over in the Psalms. You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

Let’s look at some of the things he said. Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion forever. Psalm 71:5,14 For You are my hope; O Lord God…and the source of my confidence. But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more. Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 107:1,2 O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! Let the redeemed (the delivered) of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered (released), from the hand (power, strength) of the adversary (enemy, crowded place, trouble, a tight place). Psalm 103:1-5 I bless You, Lord, with all my soul; all that is within me blesses You. I bless Your Holy Name. I remember all your benefits. You forgive all my iniquities. You heal all my diseases. You redeem my life from destruction. You crown me with lovingkindness and tender mercies. You satisfy my mouth with good things so that my youth is renewed like the eagles, strong and power and soaring like the eagles.

Repeat after me. Let’s make a good confession now.
Colossians 3:2
I set my mind and keep it set on what is above. I set my mind on the higher things, the high life, and not on the things of this earth, the low life.


Colossians 2:6,7 I have received Christ Jesus the Lord and regulate my life and conduct myself in union with Him as one with Him and I conform to Him and His Kingdom laws and standards. I have the roots of my entire life firmly and deeply fixed and grounded and founded in Him. I am continually being built up in Him. I become increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith. I abound and overflow in the faith with thanksgiving.

All scripture taken from the Amplified Bible.

He's All I Need

He’s all I need. Jesus is all I need.

When you get up in the morning, Jesus is all you need. When you eat your breakfast, Jesus is all you need. When you go to work, Jesus is all you need. When you come home at night, Jesus is all you need. When you eat your dinner, Jesus is all you need. When you go to bed at night, Jesus is all you need.

Do you get the picture? Jesus is all we will ever need for whatever comes our way. He is the Anointed One with the anointing. He has come to dwell in us by the power of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads us and guides us into all the Truth, the whole, full Truth because He is the Truth-Giving Spirit of God. He supplies all our needs according to His riches in glory. And where is the glory? Christ is in you, the hope of glory. The glory is in you. Jesus said that He gave us the glory that He had been given. He is our hope, our glory, the lifter of our soul (mind, will and emotions) and our soon-coming King.

He will come as King this time, in all His splendor and excellence. He will come with the fullness of His power. Are you ready for the fullness of His power? Before you are so quick to answer that question: Are you really ready? You know that the fullness of His power is more than a human body can stand before. The fullness of His power is for those who have prepared a place for His power, for His fullness. When His power sweeps in, all that is of sin and impurity is burned up. If that is the mostly what is in you, how will you stand before Him?

I am on a quest. That quest is this. Lord, purify me, sanctify me and make me a vessel that is a pure vessel in which you love to dwell. I want to please Him and enjoy Him and have Him enjoy me.

Let Him prepare your vessel for the fullness of His indwelling Presence. I know that is the desire of His heart. My prayer is that He will make that the desire of your heart. He loves you so much. He wants to do everything for you. He absolutely adores you as His very own. He came; He died; He bore everything for you. Look to Him for your everything. That is a pure place of rest and enjoyment.

He’s all you need. He’s your healer. He’s your provider. He’s your covenant keeper. He’s the One on Whom you can lean and rely. He’s your shepherd to lead you and guide you and feed you. He’s the One Who is always there, never leaving you nor forsaking you. He has made a way for you to be victorious in every part of your life. He’s your peace. He’s your righteousness. He’s your sanctifier. He’s your everything.

He has provided you with His nature so that the fruit of His Spirit can be the fruit of your spirit. He is love. He is life. He is light. He brings you love, peace, joy, gentleness, meekness, kindness, long-suffering, faithfulness, self-control. He brings you the gifts of His Spirit to help you to operate in this earth.

What else do you need? He is all you need.

Believe He is all you need. Focus on that statement. Speak that statement. Confess that statement day and night. He is all you need.

JESUS IS ALL YOU NEED!
JESUS IS ALL YOU NEED!
JESUS IS ALL YOU NEED!

Declare The Righteousness of God

As I got up this morning and started my day, I asked the Lord what we would be talking about today and He said: Declare the righteousness of God.

So, in obedience to Him, I declare the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus over you, over your loved ones and friends and country. I declare the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus over me and my loved ones and friends.

We have talked about righteousness before but let’s look at it again. Apparently, God has something to say this morning. Righteousness is the rightness of God, His right way of doing things, His right way of saying things. And His righteousness is what we become when we accept Him as our Savior. From that point on, we have access to tap into God’s way of thinking and doing. He becomes our right-of-way, so to speak; that is, if we accept His way of doing things.

And how do we know how He does things? He has left us a guidebook called our Bible, which tells us how to think, how to speak and how to act. We are put to the true test when it appears in the natural that what we are practicing of God’s Kingdom doesn’t seem to be working, doesn’t seem to be doing any good. But His Word always works. Stay steadfast. Don’t waver. And above all else, don’t quit. There is an expression in the natural world, but it is applicable here. Quitters never win. And winners never quit.

When we put our entire trust in our great Almighty God and allow Him to work out situations and circumstances, they will line up with the Word of God, if we don’t falter or waver. Refuse to look at contrary circumstances and contradictory situations. They are temporal, subject to change. Anything which is of this world is subject to change, subject to being turned around by God’s Word. What happens to most people is that they quit when the “going gets tough.”

What is your challenge today? Even if you don’t have a challenge, declare the righteousness of God over everything you can think of. He is righteous. He is right.

Let’s just look at another side of the coin. Even though God is righteous, He has given man the right to exercise his own rights, if he so chooses, establishing his own righteousness (Romans 10:3). Man is a very capable, intelligent creature, who can do many things in his own efforts. And sometimes man becomes very sure of himself in his own abilities. That is very dangerous territory. The Bible says: Beware when you think you stand, take heed lest you fall. (1 Cor. 10:12) Now, don’t get under condemnation and start self-analyzing yourself and critiquing yourself and saying: Oh, no, is that me? Is that what I am doing? If you have to ask yourself those questions, you are not guilty. It is those who say that they are rich and increased and want nothing, have need of nothing, who must beware.

When you declare the righteousness of God over situations, you are declaring the goodness of God, you are declaring the faithfulness of God, you are declaring the favor of God, you are declaring the mercy of God, you are declaring the grace of God, your are declaring the love of God, you are declaring the life of God, you are declaring the light of God into, over and around that circumstance.

Let’s start a quick study on righteousness. You can do your own study, but this will get you started. Isaiah 54:14 says that we are established in righteousness. 2 Peter 1:1 says that faith comes through righteousness. Phil. 3:9 and Romans 3:22 says righteousness which is of God is by faith. James 3:18 says that the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. Hebrews 5:13 calls God’s Word the Word of righteousness. Ephesians 5:9 says that the fruit of the spirit is in all righteousness. Romans 10:10 says that it is with our hearts that we believe unto righteousness. Romans 5:17 tells us that righteousness is a gift of God to us. Jesus has been made unto us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). We are made the righteousness of God (1 Corinthians 5:21).

Always remember that it is God who has made you right with Him, righteous (not your efforts).

He is Worthy!

I woke up this morning with a phrase from a song---He is worthy! He is worthy!

Have you ever heard someone religiously say: Oh, He is worthy but I could never be worthy of Him and His greatness. That is false humility and actually a lie. He is worthy and He has made us worthy by becoming our substitute on the cross and taking our place so that we could become like Him. We are the righteousness of God IN CHRIST JESUS. It is IN HIM that we are made all that we are. He has made us to be LIKE HIM. It is all about Christ Jesus and Who He is in us and what He has done for us.

He is worthy. What does worthy mean? In Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language we read that worthy means having or possessing worth or excellence of qualities. So what does worth mean? It means that quality of a thing which renders it useful or which will produce an equivalent good in some other thing. The root word from which it comes has the primary sense of STRENGTH. Well, isn’t all this interesting. The Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Who are all God, Who are of inestimable value or worth, produce good in us. And that good is strength. We are worthy because He is worthy. He strengthens us with His goodness and His worth, His worthiness. We draw our strength from Him, that strength which His might, His boundless power provides. As we praise Him for His worthiness, we are actually receiving strength because of that honor and praise that we are giving to our Lord Jesus Christ. Honoring Him strengthens us. HE IS WORTHY!

Psalm 8:2 tells us that out of the mouths of even babies in the Lord has He ordained strength. When we praise Him, strength comes out of our mouths; power comes out of our mouths to still the enemy and avenger. His might, which is His power, which is His strength, is provided for us as we sincerely praise Him for Who He is, and honestly see Him as worthy of all praise. Praise Him today; give Him honor and glory. Adore Him and bow down before Him. HE IS WORTHY!

The Word of God tells us that He is worthy to receive glory.
Rev. 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

He is worthy to receive glory and honor and power. Jesus is of inestimable value to receive our praise, our honor and reverence of Him. He is also worthy to receive the power of God for us, on our behalf. He did it all for us. HE CREATED EVERYTHING.
John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM, AND WITHOUT HIM WAS NOT ANY THING MADE THAT WAS MADE. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

We are God’s created children and we were created to give Him pleasure and joy, to make His heart glad.

So today let’s focus on enjoying Him and giving Him joy in our relationship. Let’s honor our Father, Who is our parent; we are His children. Let’s give Him praise. Let’s make Him glad. Let’s adore Him and give Him reason to have pleasure in our relationship today and every day.

Let’s make this confession:
I PRAISE YOUR LORD, BECAUSE YOU ARE WORTHY TO RECEIVE MY PRAISE AND HONOR. YOU CREATED ALL THINGS AND WITHOUT YOU WAS NOT ANYTHING MADE THAT WAS MADE. THANK YOU FOR CREATING ME AND LOVING ME. I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART, ALL MY SOUL, ALL MY MIND, ALL MY STRENGTH. YOU ARE WORTHY! YOU ARE MY LORD! YOU ARE MY KING! YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING!

What Is Your Vision?

What is your vision, your image of yourself today, 1 year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now? Where do you see yourself in God’s Kingdom? In your job? In your ministry? In your marriage? In the Body of Christ? In your church? Do you have a vision?

In order to get a vision for yourself, first you must know who you are in Christ and Who Christ is in you. You need to meditate on the scriptures that tell you who you are in Him and Who He is in you. There are many of them. Bro. Kenneth Hagin has a little minibook called IN HIM that you might want to purchase. I have those scriptures typed out and in my prayer notebook. Many people don’t have an accurate image of who they are. Then when temptations come, they succumb to the devil’s beckoning because they don’t know who they are. When a person knows who they are in Christ, they know their authority over the enemy and his enticements. The temptations come and they say, No, that is not who I am. This is who I am.

I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away. All things are become new. I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus Who loves me and gave Himself for me. My mind is renewed by the Word of God. My body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. I am not my own. I was bought with a price. In Him I live and move and have my being. Because I am in Christ, I am sanctified in Him, set apart unto Him, and He is made unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. I am redeemed, set free, released, set at liberty from the curse of the law and placed in The Blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no condemnation to me who is in Christ Jesus, who walks after the Spirit of God and not after my flesh. I am led by the Spirit of God. The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. I am a person of purpose. I am a person of vision. I have the power of God, which is His love, operating in me. I am led by the Holy Spirit of God at all times.

When you know who you are in Christ, let Him paint the picture of your future for you with His Word and don’t let the devil paint a picture on the canvas of your heart. He’ll tell you all kinds of negative stuff about yourself. If you buy it, you take ownership of it. First, he places a thought in your mind, then he accuses you with that thought and says, “See, that’s who you are really are.” At that point you have a choice: You can either agree with him or agree with the Word of God and what Jesus says about you. It doesn’t have to do with your feelings or how it looks in the natural but it has to do with you, deliberately, on purpose, choosing to say, think, see and believe what the Word of God says you are.

God’s vision is what you want. But you have to seek Him and let Him tell you what that vision is and give you the step-by-step plan to fulfill that vision. John Bevere has said that when we stand before the Lord, we will be accountable for what we were called to do, not what we thought or what we chose to do on our own. That’s a definite must to think about today.

According to Proverbs 29:18, remember that without a vision, you perish, are naked, uncovered with no purpose and no direction, aimlessly wandering around, tossed to and fro and never accomplishing anything.

I have been listening to Pastor George Pearsons teaching on emic.org on VISION and he had a vision assessment test for all of us to take. I am going to pass it on to you. There are 5 questions.
What or whose ministry or church vision are you connected to that is bigger than you are and what is its short-term and long-term goals?
What is your personal vision, and what are your short-term and long-term goals?
Where do you see yourself in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years?
Do you have a strategic, step-by-step plan in place to accomplish your vision?
Do your thoughts and conversations drift back to the past or do they reach out to the future?
Another thing Pastor Pearsons said is that there are two keys to being a person of vision
Feed on the bigness of God and connect with a vision bigger than your own.

Speak this all the time: I am led of the Holy Spirit of God and I am a man/woman of vision.

The Life of God

We are going to devote ourselves to the same scripture today as yesterday.

Proverbs 12:28 King James Version
In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.

Proverbs 12:28 Amplified Bible
Life is in the way of righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation), and in its pathway there is no death but immortality (perpetual, eternal life).

Yesterday we talked about righteousness. Today we are going to talk about life, zoe, God’s life. In the way of righteousness LIFE and the pathway NO DEATH.

We as born-again children of God are made righteous by the shed blood of Jesus. He has made us clean and free from sin. His blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Now it’s up to us to purpose every day to walk free from sin and its consequences. And if we mess up, we are to run quickly to our Lord and ask forgiveness and repent. You know, it’s one thing to ask forgiveness; it’s another thing to repent. Repent means to turn about and change direction. In other words, quit whatever we are doing that is sin. And we can only do that with the help of the Lord. His grace supplies the strength to walk free from whatever is tempting us. And lest you think that means what you consider “really big” sin, sometimes the sin of worry is the greatest sin to tempt us. Yes, that is a sin. Read for yourself in Matthew 6.

Now, let’s talk about God’s life. As a child of God, you have the life of God flowing through you 24-7. It’s automatic. If He is in there in your spirit, and He is if you have asked Him to come into your heart and take over your life, then life is in there in your spirit. And since your spirit is housed in your physical body, God’s life is in your physical body. It’s like you open a door in your house and let someone in. You open the door of your heart and let Jesus into your spiritual and physical body house. You also let Him in your soul (mind, will, emotions) when you ask Him to come and live in you. Your soul is another whole challenge. Your mind has to be renewed with the Word of God daily. And I am finding that in the days in which we are living, I have to fill my mind, moment by moment with the Word of God to stay steadfast, focused and steady in my faith that God is working everything out for my good. And you know, it is up to us to keep ourselves full of the Word of God to overcome all the contrary word that is spoken in this world in which we live.

I am not one who watches television that much, but I know quite a few Christians do. You have to be careful of what you are filling up on. Today even the commercials have much that you do not want to be focusing on. I am not against television viewing. All I am saying is that we have to be careful what we give our attention to. Remember that Proverbs 4:20-23 says that we are to attend to God’s Word, keeping it before our eyes and going in our ears. We are told that His Word is life to us and health to our bodies. Joshua 1:8 says that we are to meditate the Word of God day and night that we may be successful.

Today, picture the life of God flowing through, permeating your spirit man, your soul, and your body. If you have difficulty thinking on the good things which are pure and lovely and true and honest and just and of a good report as Philippians 4 states, then keep a 3x5 card with some scriptures on it ever before your eyes until you can think on good things.

If you are ill or sick, picture the life of God flowing through your body and keeping it healthy. What we have as an image on the inside will become reality on the outside.

The Life of God is flowing through you in abundance. Your assignment for the weekend and actually the rest of your life here on this earth is to picture the life that God has for you as a part of your entire being, ever flowing, ever healing, ever keeping you strong in your soul, ever washing over your mind, an ever cleansing stream of righteousness flowing through your spirit, an ever sweeping torrent of pure life gushing through every fiber of your being. He is there all the time.

Right With God

Proverbs 12:28
In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.

In this verse 28 in Proverbs 12 we see that in the way of righteousness there is life and in the pathway of righteousness there is no death.

Let’s explore that verse today. When you got born again, you were made righteous by the Lord. You were made right with God and you were given the access to all He has because you are righteous. You didn’t work to become right with God. You didn’t earn it by your good deeds and your good character. You were made right with God because He chose to make you right with Him. That is the only reason you are righteous. He made you right with Him through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. He sees you as perfect, through the blood of His Son. He sees you the same as He sees His firstborn Son Jesus.

I know some people have a hard time with this concept because they have been used to working for things. And I have another big surprise for you. When you sin, that doesn’t automatically cancel out your righteousness. What it does is take you out of fellowship with your Heavenly Father and put you in a place where you are open to have satan take “pot shots” at you because you have taken yourself out of the place of the blessing of the Lord. When you commit a sin, admit it and quit it. Ask forgiveness and let the Lord cleanse you from all that sin and put you back into fellowship with Him.

There are many scriptures on the words righteousness and righteous in the Bible. We are only going to talk about a few today. In the New Testament 2 Corinthians 5:21 tell us that we are made the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. Let’s look at this scripture.

2 Cor. 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

We see here that Jesus Who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made righteous. In other words, Jesus came to this earth, died, was buried and rose again so that you and I could be made right with God and freed from sin and its consequences. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we accept what He did for us. And here we see that He became sin for us. We are made righteous, right with God in Jesus. So we definitely want to stay in Jesus.

Galatians 2:21
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Here in Galatians, we see that our righteousness doesn’t come by observing the law, our own good works of trying to keep the law, commandment, word of God. If our being made right with God comes through our own works, then Christ, The Anointed One with His anointing died for no reason. What He did was useless. But we know that is not the case. He died so that we could be free of sin and its consequences.

Ephes. 6:14
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Here in Ephesians 6:14 we see that part of our armor is the breastplate of righteousness. Where is the breastplate and what is it protecting? It is protecting the part of your body with the vital organs, particularly your heart. So we are to guard our heart with the knowledge that we are right with God and be righteousness conscious rather than sin conscious. What we are conscious of all the time is what we will walk in. Be conscious of who you are in Christ and who He is in you. Know that you have been made right with God through what Jesus has done for you.

Freedom From Bondage - Part 2

Let's continue with our teaching on being delivered from that which holds us captive. If you will take these scriptures and meditate on them, you will be set free from whatever has held you in bondage, regardless of how many years you have been in that situation or mindset.

According to Romans 8:15, we do not receive that spirit of bondage anymore to fear. Why? Because we have received the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of adoption for us to the Heavenly Father. That means we have received the Spirit of Life Himself, our Heavenly Father.
Romans 8:15
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Romans 8:15
For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life, lives in us.
John 14:16-18
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever—
17The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for HE LIVES WITH YOU [CONSTANTLY] AND WILL BE IN YOU. (Emphasis added)
18I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless]; I will come [back] to you.

And where the Holy Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, freedom.
2 Cor. 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

And we are to stand firm in our freedom and not be yoked again with the devil’s bondage.
Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:1
IN [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].

To avoid being put into bondage again, we keep the Word of God ever before us.
2 Cor. 3:18
And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.