Psalm 91 Study, Part 8

What a deal! God hides us in His protective shelter from all evil. Look at this verse in Psalm 31:20 in the Amplified Bible: In the secret place of Your presence You hide them from the plots of men. You keep them secretly in Your pavilion from the strife of tongues. In the King James we read that He hides us from the pride of man. That is a good thing. We do not need pride exalting our flesh. And how about the next chapter? Psalm 32:7 says that the Lord God is a hiding place for me; He preserves me from trouble; He surrounds me with songs and shouts of deliverance.

That secret place is represented by feathers and wings. Have you ever seen a mother chicken gather her little ones under her when danger approaches. She clucks and they all come running and slide under her. It is a interesting sight to watch. My grandmother raised chickens so I have had plenty of opportunity to observe that. It was always so much fun to watch them run to their mother. And they knew which one was their mother. Her clucking was different than that of another mother.

God speaks to us and tells us to come and hide out in Him, abide in Him, dwell in Him. His voice is like no other and we know His voice and the voice of a stranger we do not follow.

God’s Truth is His Word. And He is always faithful to us and He is faithful to His Word. We can depend on the Truth of God always. He never changes. He is always the same. He is true to His Word. He is a faithful God.
1 Corinthians 1:9 in the Amplified Bible reads: God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on; by him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 tells us that God is faithful Who is calling us to Himself and utterly trustworthy. In 2 Thessalonians 3:3 we read that the Lord is faithful, who will strengthen and establish us, set us on a firm foundation and guard us, keep us from evil, the evil one.

God is faithful to His children to protect them and take care of them. He is a shield to us and a buckler. He has us covered from every side, not only on the sides and in front but behind us and over us. Between the shield and the buckler, we are totally covered. Our armor which is described in Ephesians 6 is complete. We need to put it on every day for our protection.

Let’s move on to verse 5 of Psalm 91. We shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow, representative of the evil plots and schemes of the wicked that fly by day.

Terrorism is the big word today. It is the buzz word on all the media, in every country, stamped on every person’s mind. The devil is the ultimate terrorist and is behind all terrorism. He wants to strike fear in people’s hearts. But he can’t strike fear in the heart of one who loves the Lord because God’s perfect love casts out, expels fear. Fear is of the devil. His ultimate weapon is fear. He is fear himself. BUT GOD------- God is the author of faith. Jesus is called the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is a faith God. We put our confidence in Him and fear must leave. Terror has no hold over the Christian who knows who his God is and that he is in God and God is in Him.

Go through the Bible and write down all the scriptures that tell you who you are in God and who God is in you. It will boost your faith up about umpteen notches. There is no power greater than God’s power, none. And He is dwelling in you if you are born again, if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior. Greater is He Who is in you than he that is in the world.

We must dwell on the fact that God is the greatest power in the universe. He created this universse and He upholds it by the Word of His power. He is mightier than anything in this world. Nothing has a hold on you when you are in the protective place with the Lord. He will protect and sustain you in any situation. He is the Greater One.

The next 3 verses go with verse 5. We shall not be afraid of the pestilence (See yesterday’s Pearls for the definition of pestilence.) that stalks in darkness nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, but it shall not come near us. We will only be a spectator inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High as we witness the reward of the wicked. I like being in that secret place. How about you?

We are protected. God has got us covered---under his feathers and wings. He is our shelter and protector.

Psalm 91 Study, Part 7

Our study of Psalm 91 continues with verse 3.

For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. Amplified Bible

We see first we must say of the Lord that He is our Refuge; He is our Fortress; He is our God; we lean and rely on Him and confidently trust in Him. Then He will do the following in the Psalm.

He will deliver us from the snare of the fowler. We know here that the fowler is satan and his evil works with which he attempts to trap us. When we look up the word “snare” in the dictionary, here is what we see.
It is a trap or instrument for catching animals, particularly by the leg. Satan wants to trap us in our walk of life and catch us in his temptations and cause us to trip and stumble. A snare is anything by which one is entangled and brought to trouble. Our enemy wants to enslave us with his evil ways. He wants to bring us to trouble through tests and trials of our life. He attempts to discourage us and cause us to take up offenses and hurts and disappointments. He attempts to trap us into addictive behaviors, yielding to weaknesses of the flesh. A snare is used to bring one into unexpected evil, perplexity or danger. As we stay close to the Lord, guided by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God will alert us to unexpected danger or evil. We can avoid it. And the last definition of snare that I want to bring to you is this---to be unexpectedly involved in difficulty. It is that surprise attack that satan wants to spring on us. There are no surprises with God. He will let us know ahead of time. In fact, in the book of John we are told that the Holy Spirit will tell us things to come.

Let’s look at a few other scriptures on trap and snare.
Psalm 124:7 We are like a bird escaped from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! (I am free.)
Proverbs 13:14
The law or teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from or avoid the snares of death.
Proverbs 14:27
The fear or awesome respect of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from or avoid the snares of death.
Proverbs 6:2
You are snared with the words of your mouth, you are taken with the words of your mouth.
Psalm 141:9,10
Keep me from the trap or snares which they have laid for me and the snares of evildoers or workers of iniquity.
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass over them and escape.

We see from just these few scriptures that the Word of God in our mouths and the respect for the Lord is a fountain of life to us to keep us from the snares of the evil one, which really are death to us, death to our marriages, death to our children, death to our finances, death to our bodies, death to our spirits, death to our souls. Our mouth is our key to our victory or defeat. What we say can snare us or can free us. Words contrary to agreement with the Word of God are words of entrapment into the things of this world to defeat us and bring us down on satan’s level. We will not stoop to his level. We will rise high in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus, seated with Him in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power.

The last part of verses 3 tells us that the Lord delivers us from the deadly pestilence. Actually, pestilence is defined in Luke 21:11 in the Amplified Bible. Let’s take a look at that verse.
Plagues: malignant and contagious or infectious epidemic diseases which are deadly and devastating.

Does that description sound familiar? It is what we are dealing with in the world today. There are all kinds of malignant and contagious diseases loosed which are infectious and could turn into epidemics. They are deadly and devastating. But, praise God, we are delivered from them. You must get this in your spirit man that you are delivered from all of these horrific things that are spreading on the earth. In Isaiah 53:4,5 and 1 Peter 2:24 we are told that Jesus Christ bore every sickness and disease that would ever be known to man so that we do not have to bear them. With the stripes that wounded Him, we are healed and made whole. In Psalm 107:20 we are told that He sent His Word and healed us and delivered us from destruction. In Romans 8:11 we are told that the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in us and He gives life to our mortal bodies. In 1 John 3:8b we are told that Jesus came and was manifest or made visible to loosen, undo, dissolve, destroy the works of the devil. Sickness and disease is definitely of the devil.

We are already delivered from all the devil would send against us, before he ever sends it. I think that is a pretty good deal. I intend to take full advantage of my benefits. How about you? Make it personal. It is for you today.
Because you make the Lord your Refuge and Fortress and trust Him, He covers you with His feathers and under His wings you can trust and find refuge. His truth and faithfulness are a shield and buckler.

Psalm 91 Study, Part 6

Today we finish our study of the scriptures on refuge and fortress in Psalm 91. Next week we will continue with the next verse in the Psalm. Remember to speak this Psalm over yourself and your family every day and over all our troops.

Psalm 59:16,17
But I will sing of Your mighty strength and power; yes, I will sing aloud at Your mercy and loving-kindness in the morning; for You have been to me a defense (a fortress and a high tower) and a refuge in the day of my distress.
Unto You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my Defense, my Fortress, and High Tower, the God Who shows me mercy and steadfast love.

We sing to the Lord and praise Him because He is our strength; He is our power; He is our fortress; He is our High Tower; He is our Refuge, not only in trouble, but all the time. All the time God is our Fortress and Strength. Let’s not just think of Him as strong in our behalf when we are troubled. Think about the times when He is strong on our behalf in our daily living and days of enjoyment of His Presence.

Psalm 61:2-4
From the end of the earth will I cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and fainting; lead me to the rock that is higher than I [yes, a rock that is too high for me].
For You have been a shelter and a refuge for me, a strong tower against the adversary.
I will dwell in Your tabernacle forever; let me find refuge and trust in the shelter of Your wings.

We find our shelter in the Lord God 24-7. He is the One Who protects us. Actually, when we know that He is the One taking care of our lives, we will not be overwhelmed or faint. We will be confident as we watch our enemy fail in his attempts to distract or deceive or destroy us.

Psalm 62:5-8
My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him.
He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defense and my Fortress. I shall not be moved.
Psalm 112:6 (The man who reverences the Lord) will not be moved forever….
With God rests my salvation and my glory; He is my Rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in God!
Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress and a high tower).

Our confidence is to be in the Lord at all times as the One on Whom we lean and rely and the One in Whom we confidently trust.

Psalm 94:22
But the Lord has become my High Tower and Defense, and my God the Rock of my refuge

Psalm 144:1,2
Blessed be the Lord, my Rock and my keen and firm Strength, Who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight-----
My Steadfast Love and my Fortress, my High Tower and my Deliverer, my Shield, and He in Whom I trust and take refuge. Who subdues my people under me.

The Lord does battle for us and defends us against our foes. He is our Shield and Strength.

Psalm 18:1-3 and 2 Samuel 22:2,3
I love You fervently and devotedly, O Lord, my Strength.
The Lord is my Rock, my fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower.
I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies.
He said: The Lord is my Rock [of escape from Saul] and my Fortress [in the wilderness] and my Deliverer;
My God, my Rock, in Him will I take refuge; my Shield and the Horn of my salvation; my Stronghold and my Refuge, my Savior----You save me from violence.

David knew the Lord was his Fortress, his Refuge, his Stronghold. He knew his God. He may have had his challenges, but there is one thing for sure; David was a man after God’s own heart. He loved the Lord with all his heart and he trusted Him in his life’s situations. He learned to trust him as a young shepherd lad tending his father’s sheep. It prepared him for the giant. We as well need to learn to trust God in our lives and be prepared for the giants. They are mere flies on the wall to God. When we are in Him and He is in us, we are safe; we are protected. Put your trust in the Almighty God today and always. He is your great Defender and Shelter.

Psalm 91 Study, Part 5

As we continue our study of Psalm 91, let’s look at verse 2 today.

I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely and in Him I [confidently] trust!

As we dwell in His Presence, we are saying something. We are saying that God is our Refuge and Fortress and that we totally trust Him and rely on Him in our life.

What are we saying when we say that He is our Refuge? A refuge is a place where we are safe and protected. It is our hiding place from all physical danger. And what is a fortress? A fortress is a place of strength, a stronghold, our defense against all human enemies. You see, satan tries to erect strongholds in our lives that are bad. God is our stronghold that is good. We want the stronghold of God. There are many scriptures on refuge and fortress. Let’s look at them today. I will be taking most of them from the Amplified Bible.

Take these scriptures and meditate on them and confess them out loud until you know that you know that you know that God is, indeed, your Refuge and Fortress on Whom you lean and rely in every situation.

Psalm 46:1,7
God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge (our Fortress and High Tower).

God is the One Who is the mighty One. When we are in Him, abiding in Him, He is our impenetrable Shield to all temptation. He is always present with us. And He has proven Himself that He will help us when we are in trouble. When we see the words “Lord of hosts,” that is a warrior situation, that is a battle situation. He is there to help us win our battles. He is a High Tower that we can climb into and be safe, while we behold our enemy and his plans for our lives shattered.

Psalm 48:3
God has made Himself known in her palaces as a Refuge (a High Tower and a Stronghold).

We see here in this verse that God is our Stronghold. We don’t have to submit to satan’s strongholds. We must remember that a stronghold is a house constructed of thoughts, and it develops a pattern of thinking. In Psalm 28:8 we read: The Lord is their [unyielding] Strength, and He is the stronghold of salvation to [me] His anointed. In fact, look at verse 7. The Lord is my Strength and my [impenetrable] Shield; my heart trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise Him.

Psalm 57:1,2,5,7,10
Be merciful and gracious to me, O God, be merciful and gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge and finds shelter and confidence in You; yes, in the shadow of Your wings will I take refuge and be confident until calamities and destructive storms are passed.

The above scripture is a good one to pray for ourselves in the days in which we live.

I will cry to God Most High, Who performs on my behalf and rewards me [Who brings to pass His purposes for me and surely completes them]!
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth!
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is steadfast and confident! I will sing and make melody.
For Your mercy and loving-kindness are great, reaching to the heavens, and Your truth and faithfulness to the clouds.

In Psalm 57 we see that as we fix our hearts on God, as we steadfastly behold Him and His strength and His might, we will be confident that He will bring to pass His purposes for us and that He will surely complete His work in us. We will accomplish what He plans for us to do. We must believe that. We must exercise our faith for that.

We will finish our study of the scriptures on refuge and fortress and strength tomorrow. Meanwhile, take these scriptures and meditate on them day and night. I am refreshing myself even as I am typing and am once again reminded of how much I can trust the Lord, or how much I can depend on Him. He is the One Who can take care of it all.

Psalm 91 Study, Part 4

Today we finish our study on God’s power, as brought out in verse 1 of Psalm 91.

We must understand and make it very clear that it is His power and His alone. It is not our power. The only thing we have to do with God and His Love, His power, is that we are the containers of Him. Our bodies are the containers of God Almighty once we accept Jesus as our Savior. We are told in Romans 8:11 that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead shall quicken, give life to our mortal bodies. That indicates that He is dwelling in us. You see, it is one thing for Him to dwell in us, but it is another for us to dwell in Him. Dwelling in Him in intimacy is not automatic. It is a choice we make on a daily basis. That is the essence of verse 1 in Psalm 91. We are to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, His Presence and His Word, which is the hiding place of His power.


Scriptures on Might or Power

Ephesians 1:19-21 I’m asking You Father------Bring light, understanding to my spiritual eyes---my heart---so that I can know and understand the immeasurable, unlimited, superabounding, incomparable, exceeding greatness of Your power (dunamis) in me and Your power (dunamis) for me who believes. It is demonstrated in the working of Your mighty (ischus) power (kratos).

Ephesians 3:20 God is able to do exceeding abundantly, superabundantly above all we can ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams, according to, in consequence of, the action of His power (dunamis) that is at work within us.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong (endunamoo, from dunamoo from dunamis) in the Lord (be empowered through your union with Him) and in the power (kratos) of His might (ischus)(that strength which His boundless might provides.

Colossians 1:11 [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power (dunamis)according to the might (kratos) of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy,

Ephesians 3:16,17 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power (dunamai) in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
17May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

Isaiah 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

WISDOM: The right use or exercise of knowledge, of sound judgment either to avoid evil or attempt good—knowledge and use of what is best, most just, most proper, most conducive to prosperity or happiness
UNDERSTANDING: To take knowledge and judge its truth for good or evil
COUNSEL: God’s purpose, will, decree—advice given for directing judgment or conduct of another
KNOWLEDGE: Clear and certain perception of truth; information

Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might (ability, power, successful effort, strength), for that he is strong in power (vigor, force, ability, ableness, strength, substance, wealth); not one faileth.

Isaiah 40:29 He giveth power (vigor, force, ability, ableness, strength, substance, wealth) to the faint (exhausted, weary, fatigued, tired); and to them that have no might (successful effort, ability, power, strength, wealth, substance, goods, force) he increaseth strength (powerfulness, abundance, substance, to be increased) (causing it to multiply and making it abound).

Jeremiah 10:6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might (force, power, strength).

Jeremiah 16:21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might (force, power, strength); and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

Daniel 2:20,23 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might (force, power, strength) are his: I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might (force, power, strength), and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

Spend time in God’s Presence until He is more real to you than the breath you breathe, than the things on this earth. He will become such an intimate part of you that your love for Him far exceeds anything you have ever dreamed possible. He desires this intimate relationship with every one of us because He wants to be with us and to shower on us all that He has. He loves His children.

Psalm 91 Study, Part 3

Yesterday, we discussed verse 1 of Psalm 91. Today we are going to talk about the power that we have when we are dwelling in the secret place of the Most High God. You see, part of dwelling in the secret place is dwelling in the Word of God, His Word given to us personally, by which we live. In addition to 1 John 4:8 where we read that God is Love, Jesus is called the Word of God in John 1:1.

People are seeking the power of God when all they have to do is to make that quality decision to walk in the fullness of Agape love, Love Himself, God Himself, Who is Love. When we walk in Agape Love, we are walking in God, we are walking in His power, which is Agape Love in operation. The power of God, which is Agape Love in operation, is the outflow, the result of His whole nature, which is Love. He is nothing else. He has nothing else but Love. And His Love is His power. He is all powerful. He is the origin of power. He is the source of power. That atomic bomb has no power compared to God’s power in operation.

As we will see in the three definitions of power below, the visibility of God’s power in operation, which is called dunamis power, is light. The scientists are learning much about light. What they need to realize is that God is Light; He is the One from whom the light flows. He is the Source of light. When He created the earth, the first thing He said was: Light, be. He was saying: I am reproducing My Being right now to start this earth. This earth is run by light. Without light, all plant and animal life would die. So we see from this that Love Himself is the Light producer, which brings forth Life Himself, Who is God, Who produces life in us and all around us. Oh, what we all have to realize is that God is at the center of everything and not us. He is the all-sufficient One, the Creator, the Sustainer of all life. It is He Who is our everything.

You must feed on and live on the Word of God, in addition to sitting quietly in His presence. It is the dynamic combination of the reality of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives and the personal instruction from His Word that keeps us. The Word of God is His keeping power made real to us by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We could say that the secret place is the Word of God, because He is the Word. It is that abiding place in His presence, with His word as our guide that makes us overcomers and more than conquerors in this world.

Experiences and encounters with God are wonderful and bring the reality of God’s power into focus in our lives. It is the Word of God that makes those encounters real to us, that solidifies what we have experienced. It is the rhema word (God’s Word revealed to you personally) that is life to you (John 6:63). Jesus said that we live by every Word of God (Luke 4:4 and Deut. 8:3).

I take His Word and put it into my Word bank, put it in, put it in, put it in, make deposits by studying, reading, confessing His Word and listening to ministers preaching and teaching the Truth of His word until it becomes my personal understanding, my revelation of His Word. Then when I need His Word, the Holy Spirit has a reservoir to draw on and to bring up in me, speak to me, and I speak it out of my mouth to the situation or circumstance and the situation or circumstance MUST bow its knee to the revealed Word of God coming out of me.

The following explanation of God’s power is what He gave to me a number of years ago when I was studying the book of Ephesians. I am not a Greek scholar. I am simply giving you what I believe the Holy Spirit gave me during that time of study. All three words refer to God, to His power. What He has done in His infinite wisdom is to break down the composition of His power so that we can understand more clearly what He does through us. It is like the three-in-one in the Godhead; The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all God, but for our minds to understand, God has shown us three parts of Himself. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding of what I am about to discuss with you. You will have to meditate and ponder until it becomes real to you.

POWER AND MIGHT: His Word for me is the hiding place of His power (His fire). The Holy Spirit is the igniter.

The next three words together are God’s resurrection power, the power that resides in God, capable of bringing complete life where there is an impossibly dead situation.

KRATOS: Inherent power of God which is fixed, exists in, resides in God and also in me as His child.
ISCHUS: That power of God which is the force, the forcefulness, the ability, the strength that propels the kratos out to do the work He intends to do (through us, as He has chosen to do).
DUNAMIS: The explosive power of God, seen as Light in the spirit realm and too powerful for the human eye to behold, which is a result of kratos (resident power) to which is applied ischus (the force that releases His power). This is miraculous power, possibility power (Nothing is impossible with God; all things are possible with Him.)

As we dwell in the secret place of the Most High God, under the shadow of the Almighty, this is what is happening to us. We are dwelling in the Presence of the Holy Spirit. We are dwelling in the Presence of the Word. We are dwelling in the Presence of Love Himself. We are dwelling in God. And when we are dwelling in God, we are dwelling in His power. We are dwelling in Love Himself, which is the pure power that runs this universe, that created it and you and me in the first place, and now keeps it going with His life force called zoe.

The Love of God is the power of God because God is love. In Him, Love, is His power, His entire being, His whole nature. This power of God, this love of God, comes to dwell in us and is resident in us when we are born again. Romans 5:5 tells us that the love of God is shed abroad, poured forth in our hearts. This power of God resides in us, exists in us, is fixed in us once we are born again. And it will lie there in our spirit man, not producing what God intended, until we start dwelling in His Presence and in His Word.

His Word, by the unction of His Spirit Who dwells in us when we are born again, will show us His power, which is the kratos power. The Holy Spirit will take the Word and make it personally real to us, called rhema, and bring forth the resident power of God (kratos), by the force or power of His Spirit (ischus) into this earthly realm in which we live. That is called the dunamis power of God, when we see it demonstrated as miracles, signs and wonders to the world. It is the dunamis power of God which is the applied power of God for the world to see. It is the demonstrated power of God that is the result of the power of God resident in us, Love Himself resident in us. We come to an understanding of this power as we dwell in His Word and in His Presence. This knowledge is not to be taken lightly. It is God Himself at work through us.

Psalm 91 Study, Part 2

As we begin our study on Psalm 91, I pray that this psalm becomes your prayer every day for your family and friends and those who serve in our armed forces for this country. Psalm 91 is our security system, our protection.

Today we are going to focus on verse 1. I am using the Amplified Bible version for our study.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].

There is much to study in this first verse. What does it mean to dwell somewhere? Dwell means to stay, to abide, to settle, to remain, to attach, to cling to, to cleave to. It is not a temporary word. It is an abiding word. When I dwell somewhere, I am living there. I am not just temporarily passing through. I am settled there for my life. I have staked my claim on my dwelling place.

It is important where you and I dwell. Where is your sanctuary? We can live at the Holy of Holies, God’s intimate place set aside for us. We can enter into and dwell at the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, in His righteous footsteps. In Psalm 85:13 in the King James Bible we read that righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. In the Amplified Bible we read that righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.

We are dwelling in, living in the secret place of the Most High. There are two descriptions of God here in this first verse. We are going to look at the second one first. The Almighty is the word El Shaddai, which means the breasty one, the one at whose breasts I feed and find nourishment. El Shaddai is the One Who is my security, my place of safety, my shelter. And the secret place is in His Presence, intimate with Him, focusing on Him, sometimes sitting quietly, soaking up His Love, His Fatherhood. We are His children and He likes to spend time with us. He wants us to come and spend time with Him, telling Him about our day, discussing our life with Him. He enjoys our presence. He wants to be a part of everything we do.

I would like to point out one other scripture which addresses the secret place. In Psalm 31:19 and 20 we read that God is great. His goodness is great. He has laid up His goodness for those who reverence and worship Him. He has laid it up for those who trust and take refuge in Him before all men. In the secret place of His presence He hides us from the schemes and strategies that are set to overtake us. He hides us in His presence from the strife of tongues. When we are in His presence, strife is not a part of our life. If there is strife somewhere, He hides us in His presence. We are not a partaker of it. Hallelujah! That is good news. Strife is a deadly weapon that satan uses against God’s people to get them over into every evil work, as the word of God tells us. Where there is strife, there is every evil work. We certainly don’t want or need that.

The interesting thing I find about a Christian who spends time with the Lord is that they are not unstable. They are solidly fixed in the Lord. They are not wavering back and forth, one way one time, and another way the next time, never knowing what they will be like from one time to another. This type of Christian who abides in the Lord is confident and assured of His love for them. They are stable and dependable. They are not easily deceived nor are they easily swayed by that which is untrue, which doesn’t line up with their Heavenly Father’s nature. And they have learned His nature by sitting at His feet and learning His ways through His Word.

The secret place is the place of His Presence, Who is Love. The secret place is where we learn of Him Who is love. This is the place where we learn about agape Love, how to walk in agape Love, Who is a person, Love Himself. In 1 John we read that God is Love. Since God is love and He is in us and we are in Him, then we have the capacity to act like Him. And the way we learn how to act, how to imitate our Father, is to spend time with Him, learning His ways.

When we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, we shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty. The word for Most High is El Elyon, which indicates power and might. His power no foe can withstand. What is the foe in your life today? Of course, we know that our ultimate foe is satan. He is our enemy. He is the one who attempts to sidetrack us in life. But let’s get down to those things which satan sends against us. Because you are dwelling in the place of God’s presence, you are dwelling in the place of His power, the power of God, the power of Love Himself. Sickness and disease has no power over you. Poverty has no power over you. Lack and want has no power over you. Fear has no power over you. Doubt and unbelief has no power over you. Nothing has any power over you because you are dwelling in the ultimate power, God, Love Himself. The only power these things have over you is what power you allow them to exercise in your life. God is the power you want to yield to. He is the One Who is your protection from all of these foes.

Tomorrow we will talk more about this power we have as we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, this power which no foe can withstand.

Psalm 91 Study, Part 1

Today we will be starting a study of Psalm 91. This weekend I want you to read the Psalm every day, if you are not doing so already. Read it aloud as a form of confession over you and your family and friends and those in the armed forces. It is our psalm of protection and so much more. What promises we see in this psalm. Let’s read it today in the King James Bible and the Amplified Bible. If you have other versions of the Bible, you may want to read it in different versions. My favorite version is the Amplified Bible. I have it memorized because I have spoken it so much. I did not set out with the intention of memorizing it. It just happened. The same thing will happen to you. This is a psalm we should confess every day of our lives.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday,
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.


He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].
I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!
For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
[Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies 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 your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.
Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.
For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service].
They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread on the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.
Because He has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness----trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.

Purity of Heart

I would like you to read this passage of scripture slowly to yourselves today as you do whatever you are doing. It is Psalm 86:11-13 and I am writing it from the New Living Translation. Listen to these beautiful words.

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you.
With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God.
I will give glory to your name forever, for your love for me is very great.
You have rescued me from the depths of death!

In the King James Version of the Bible, these passages are written this way.
Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
I will praise thee, O LORD my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell (grave).

And one other version, the Amplified Bible is written in this manner.
Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.
I will confess and praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole (united) heart; and I will glorify Your name forevermore.
For great is Your mercy and loving-kindness toward me; and You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol [from the exceeding depths of affliction].

We see a beautiful prayer to pray here not only for ourselves but also for others.

In verse 11 we are asking God to teach us His ways. What are God’s ways in which we are to live. The whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a book about God’s ways of doing things. This Bible is the Word of Truth which has been given by the Spirit of Truth Himself as a manual to direct our way of living while we are here on this earth. It is a document from Heaven penned by men at the direction of the Holy Spirit of Truth. God’s ways of the Spirit are spelled out for us in this Word of God. I love His Word. It is His letter to me as His child telling me how to live so that I will have an abundant life while I am here on this earth. He tells me in this book how to avoid trouble and how to conquer satan in my life and how to overcome the obstacles that are put in my way. God has given me a book of victory to live the victorious life. This is not just any book. This book is pulsating with the life and Spirit of Love Himself. If I will follow the direction of the Word of Truth, I will walk a path of life full of The Blessing of the Lord.

In the next verse, I am asking God to grant me a pure heart that I may honor Him. Without Him I cannot have a pure heart. Every day there are things sent my way in the form of thoughts to contaminate the purity of my heart. What I do with them determines how I live. When a thought comes of jealousy, envy, strife, anger, or any of the other myriad of thoughts that we are bombarded with every day, we ask God to purify our thoughts and thus our heart with His thoughts. Grant us pure hearts, clear of the debris of the earth’s way of doing things, which is opposite of God’s way of doing things. As the Lord grants us pure hearts, it opens the door for us to honor Him and to honor those who represent Him. And with those pure hearts we praise the Lord our God for His goodness and for Who He is with the whole, the totality of our hearts, our entire being. And we glorify His name forever. Notice the progression: purity of heart, honor God, praise Him, glorify His name.

I will give glory to Your name forever for Your love for me is great. I will glorify the name of the Lord, His personal name that He gave Jesus, Who, in turn gave the name to me. I will glorify His name forever, throughout all eternity, not just while I am here on this earth. His name is above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. You see, the bottom line is this: the Lordship of Jesus Christ. “Lord” means He is in charge of everything in my life. He wants to be Lord of all so that I will live in the abundant life He has provided. When I walk with Him being the One in charge, He stands with me to take me through to the other side always, and without being harmed. We see that He delivers us from the very depths of affliction, which is called death, because it is an attempt to separate us from God and His ways. Death is separation from something.

So, my life’s course is set in The Life of God when I ask Him to grant me a pure heart to honor Him and to praise Him and give glory to His name forever. And because He loves me, He delivers me from the very depths of affliction, oppression, conflicts of the enemy. Get this in your spirit today. He loves you and He has deliverance on His mind for you, the best of the best for you. He wants you to live victoriously in the freedom He has provided for you. Let’s all of us purpose to live in the fullness of what He has provided for us in this life.

Grateful

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself the question: Where would I be without the Lord Jesus Christ in my life? For starters, let’s just think of Him as God and where you would be just as a human being without Him. First of all, there would be no beautiful earth and no beautiful you because He created this earth on which we live and He created us. He wanted us for His children. He wanted us to have a wonderful place to live. As I sit at my desk and look out the window at the changing fall colors, I am reminded of His great desire to bless me with vision to see what He has created. And I refuse to complain about lack of anything.

I am so grateful for ears to hear my dear husband’s voice and my son’s voice over the telephone many miles from me and that makes me thank God for Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone. And think what God has provided in these days; we have internet and cell phones and every means of communication possible. Perhaps some of you are saying: Listen, Kialeen, I would be grateful without some of them because of all the interruptions I get. Well, that is under your control. You don’t have to take every call and answer every email. Let the Lord prioritize for you. But most of all, I am grateful for spiritual ears to hear my Master’s voice when He tells me how much He loves me.

And then I think of how thankful I am to have a voice to answer my Master and tell Him how much I love Him. He has given me a voice to sing His praises and to worship Him. He has given me a voice to tell others about Him and to share with them how much He cares for them as well. And, yes, I am so grateful to have a voice to tell my loved ones how much I love them and how special they are in my life.

I have legs to walk and arms to move and hands to hold. I am grateful for my physical body which God has given me as a vehicle to be in this earth and accomplish what He has called me to do. And if some of you who are reading this Pearls of Wisdom may not have a part of your body that I mentioned, be thankful for what you do have. Once again, my dad is such an example to me. He has no hearing in one ear and no sight in one eye and as he gets older, he has to steady himself to get around, but he tells me every day how much he enjoyed his walk and what he saw along the way or how much pleasure he got out of watching a show on television with the closed caption turned on so he could read what they were saying. He continues to be thankful for what he does have. He truly enjoys the life God has given to him.

And most of all, Father, thank You for sending Jesus, Who is the Word manifest in the flesh, the living Word. You sent Your Word and healed me and delivered me from destruction. Thank You, Father for ordaining that Jesus would take my place for me before you ever created the world. You had everything planned for me, for the time when I would be born. You knew me before I was ever created in my mother’s womb.

I am so grateful for a Savior and a Redeemer, a God Who cared enough for me to take on my sins and sicknesses and diseases and all that would tackle me on this earth. Thank You, Jesus, for becoming sin for me that I might become righteous. Thank You, Jesus, for bearing my sicknesses, diseases and pains so that I do not have to bear them. Thank You, Jesus, for taking the chastisement for my peace that I might have peace and walk in wholeness in every area of my life. Thank You, Jesus, for taking my place as my substitute on the cross so that I would not have to go to hell. Oh, thank You, Lord, for all that you did for me.

And thank You, Holy Spirit, for continuing the work that Jesus started in me. Thank You for dwelling in my mortal body and giving life to my mortal body and teaching me how to live and how to think and how to speak to bring about the Kingdom of God living in my home. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for leading me every day, telling me when to be quiet and when to speak and who to minister to. I am so grateful. Thank You.

You fill in the blank the rest of the evening. Let’s learn how to develop grateful hearts, even in the midst of difficulties and trouble. We must learn to have attitudes of gratitude. Gratitude, gratefulness, thankfulness releases the joy and love and Presence of God in our lives. It gives Him something to work with. He is able to take care of situations on our behalf. It doesn’t take any effort to be thankful. Let’s purpose in our hearts to do just that the rest of the evening and the rest of tomorrow, one day at a time, until we are truly rejoicing for Who we serve and Who He is. And people will notice. And they will want to know how you can be the way you are in the middle of what is happening. And you can tell them. What a tool of evangelism. Gratefulness is the greatest tool of evangelism God has given you. More of us need to realize that.

What are you grateful for today?

Focus on Jesus and the Glory

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, freedom, no bondage. When we are trying to do things in our own human efforts, through our own human spirit, there is bondage and no liberty or freedom. You can use this as a gauge in everything in the spirit realm. God is a God of freedom and joy and peace and tranquility. He doesn’t force us or push us to do anything. He presents His Truth and gives us the freedom even to choose Him and the Truth of His Word or to reject Him. That is how much freedom He gives us. He will even give us the freedom to go to hell if we so choose. That is freedom of choice. People talk these days about freedom of choice. They don’t even know what freedom of choice is. Freedom of choice is what God has given us to do what we want to do when we want to do it however we want to do it. He will not force us to do it His way, even when His way is best.

What a mighty and awesome God Who has created us. As for me, my freedom of choice is that I choose Him and all that He has for me. He has only good for me as His child. Don’t tell me that all this bad stuff is going to happen to me and I am going to have to suffer because I know God. You are too late. He comes to my defense and takes care of satan when I yield to Him. He is my papa, Who guards me and keeps me from the evil one. That wicked one touches me not, if he knows what is good for him. He has already been defeated by my big brother Jesus and I don’t think he wants to tangle with him again. Jesus defeated him soundly, forever. Any time the enemy comes against you with some of his evil doings, stop in your tracks, turn and say: Oh, no, you don’t. Stop right now. I don’t receive your junk. That is not for me. Take it back where it came from. You are not delivering that package to my door.

We don’t have time to deal with satan’s distractions. We have a work to do for our Lord and Master. There is a harvest to gather. We must be about our Father’s business.

In 2 Corinthians 3:17,18 we see what we are to be doing. We all with open face beholding in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. We are to be beholding Jesus and His glory, not the enemy and what he is doing. He is to have nothing with us. As we behold Jesus in the Word of God, we will be changed to look more and more like Him, to be changed into His image from one degree of glory to another. It is the Spirit of the Lord Who changes us. He is the One Who takes the Word of God and conforms us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We must behold Him, particularly when all around us is trouble and contrary circumstances. When the wind of adversity is swirling around us and the roar of satan is intense, that is the time when we behold Jesus and His Word more and more.

And then what happens to us? The Lord will increase us more and more. God is the God of increase, not decrease and not subtraction. He only knows increase. He only knows multiplication. That is His nature. And as we stay focused on Him, as we behold Him, as we purpose to see only Him, we see only increase; we wee only multiplication. Our focus must be so aligned with Him that we see only what He sees, even in the midst of adversity. When we behold Him, then we behold life and health and prosperity and goodness and peace and joy and love. And when we behold all those things, disease and death and lack and poverty and fear and doubt are not able to overcome us. We must behold the Lord and all that He is. We are not to behold satan and all that he is. That is what he wants us to do as he screams for our attention. Don’t give him the time of day. Let him rant and rave. He will get tired after a while and give up.

Stay focused on Jesus and all that He has done for you, all that He is doing for you. He has overcome and He has made you more than an overcomer through Him Who loves you. Focus on His love for you. Focus on His life in you. Focus on His nature. Focus on all that He is. As you do that, His glory will shine on you and around you. His glory is His presence manifested. Some call Him the anointing. Some call Him the Holy Spirit. Some call Him the glory. Anyway you call it, He wants to manifest Himself on our behalf and be the One in the midst of us. Oh, I am hungry for more of Him. I am hungry for the glory of God to be operating in His fullness in my life.

Where is your hunger today? Are you hungry for Him? Are you hungry for His Word? Are you hungrier for Him than you have ever been? If you have let your hunger and thirst grow dull, ask the Lord to quicken you again with His thirst, with His hunger. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. You shall be filled. He will not turn you down. When you hunger for His Presence in your life, when your heart longs for Him night and day, day and night, you will be satisfied. He will not deny you.

He whispers to you and me today: Come aside with me, my beloved and learn of me. Lean on me and let me be the One Who takes care of you all the time.

The Lord is longing for His children to come with Him to the higher places He has prepared for us while we are here right now on this earth. Answer His call.

Preparation

Are you prepared? Prepared for what, you say. Are you prepared for the Lord? Have you made a place for Him today? Have you prepared yourself to be His bride? Are you ready for Him to come to you as your Bridegroom? Am I talking about the rapture here? Am I talking about going to heaven? That is part of it, but are we making a place for the Lord Jesus Christ to be a part of our lives every day, to feel welcome in our lives, to be the One that is # 1 in our lives?.

That is a question I am not only asking you, but I am also asking myself. What is God’s place in my life, in my heart? Is He only the Savior of my life or is He the Lord of my life? These are valid questions to be asking ourselves. If Jesus is only the Savior of our lives, we will go to heaven but we will not have allowed Him to be in charge of our lives. As God’s children, we are to allow Him to be in charge of our lives, to be the One Who helps us make decisions, the One Who gives us wise counsel, to be the One Who helps us to accomplish our destinies, fulfill our dreams that He gives us.

When Jesus is Lord of our lives, we have given Him the freedom to guide us, correct us, direct us, encourage us, and steer us in the right direction. He has a perfect will for each of us that He wants to accomplish, but He cannot do that if we are bent on “doing it our way.”

What does preparation involve? It is a daily thing. We prepare for the Lord being in charge of our day by starting with thanksgiving and praise to Him for a new day, for a new opportunity to love Him and to experience His love for us. We enter into His Presence as we shower, shave, put on makeup, eat our breakfast. We communicate with Him. This communication is called prayer. We read His Word and learn more about Him every day. We believe His Word. We receive His Word. We confess His Word. We talk about His Word. We hear anointed preachers and teachers of His Word. In other words, we give our top priority to Him and His Word as the start for our day.

I can tell you from personal experience that the day will go much more smoothly when Jesus is first in our routine, when He is a part of the start for our day. There is something about that early morning time with Him that nothing else can match. And let me tell you, I, as well as you, face that daily struggle of all these other things screaming for attention first thing in the morning. My life right now is one in which I have to make a quality decision that I will first spend time in the Word and with Him every day. There are days when I don’t do that because I have an early appointment or I just feel that I must make that early departure for the store to avoid the crowds. Believe me, I know the struggle everyone has. And if you are a working person and not retired, it is even more of a choice to make the Lord #1, first thing in the morning. It means less sleep because of the extra ½ hour to hour that it takes to pray and read the Word.

I know that the Lord is calling each of us to a life of intimacy with Him, of preparation to be His bride every day. As we look at the book of Esther, we see that she was prepared for the king with oils and perfumes and the preparation time was vitally important for her meeting with the king. I believe it was one year that she prepared. How much more important it is for us to prepare for our Bridegroom, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

The greatest preparation the Word and prayer does for us is to move us into that arena of love that is beyond all comprehension. He is desiring to lavish His love on each one of us, but if we are too busy, then it is difficult for us to focus and receive. His intimate love for us is only to be experienced in the inner court of His Presence, in the quiet of our time set aside for Him. He is always there. We are the ones who are not there. There is a vacant seat, which we leave and tell Him that we will catch Him later. And “later” does not come for that day because at the end of the day we are tired and fall asleep telling Him that we will see Him in the morning.

We live in a society and a world that is full of busyness and “hurry-up and get going” mentality. And we hurry up, only to have to wait in traffic, to have to wait in line at the store, to wait for appointments. I heard a minister say last week that the greatest deception of satan right now is the distractions that he puts in front of us. He jumps up and down and says: Look over here. Look over here, Hey, you, look over here. I am trying to get your attention. Our greatest accomplishment is to ignore him and do what the Word of God tells us to do.

This teaching comes from my heart as I also am learning to turn a deaf ear to those distractions and turn my eyes away from the busyness of my life. All these natural things will still be here when we are gone. Yes, we do have to take care of our homes and families and work at jobs, but there is a higher call of waiting in His Presence, and we must make time for the Master. Why? The Master, the Bridegroom, is calling us into His Presence. Will we heed the call? Or will we put Him off for another day, another time? It is our choice every day. Sometimes it appears to be a tough choice, because of our full plates. But the choice is ours. If we put Him first, we will be rewarded with our time seemingly multiplied for the other things we have to do, for which we have responsibility. Let’s purpose to make the right choice each day, the choice for Jesus 1st.

The Rest of Faith

Hebrews 4 is talking about entering into the rest of faith, a rest based on believing God and believing that His Word is true for us as we live here on this earth. In verse 3 of that chapter, we read that the works of God were finished from the foundation of the world. In the Amplified Bible the last part of this verse states that God’s works had been completed and prepared from the foundation of the world and were waiting for all who would believe this Truth.

We are at rest when someone has told us they will do something for us. We believe that they will. God has a whole book of what He has told us He has already done for us. All we have to do is accept what He has done and He will perform it in our lives. He is waiting for us to recognize what He has prepared for us and wants us to enjoy. Once we recognize that it is ours, then we accept it as ours. And God does His work of manifesting it in our lives in the earthly realm.

One of the things that all of us learn about faith is that we don’t need faith once we receive whatever we have been believing for. Faith is that quality that believes someone will do what they said they will do. We believe that a human being will do what they said they will do, when we know that person is as good as their word. Then how much easier it should be to believe that God (Who never lies) will do what He said He will do. Our challenge comes with the fact that He is a Spirit and we can’t see Him with our physical eyes and touch Him with our physical hands and hear Him with our physical ears.

God is a Spirit and we contact Him through our spirits, which to some people is an “iffy” thing. They are not sure that He will do anything for them. Well, if He is no respecter of persons, and if He has done it for one person, then He will do it for you. If His Word is true and works for one person, then it is true and works for you.

You see, what we must understand and accept is that God gave us His Word to let us know what He would do for us. Our part is to believe that He will do what He said He will do. That is the rest of faith, where we don’t try to make it work on our own. We rest. In verse 10 it says that we who have entered into rest have ceased from our own works. Then in verse 11 we read something which appears to be contradictory to rest. We read that we are to labor to enter into rest, lest we fall into unbelief. What does God mean here? He means that we take His Word into our soulish part of our being (mind, will, emotions) so that we are in agreement with His Word, what He has given to us. We can’t produce His Word, but we are to take His Word and feed on it continually, in order that we believe what He says, in the midst of a world full of doubt and unbelief toward God and His Word. That is our labor. What a joyous labor of love that is. His Word is so rich and so full of God Himself. His Word is Himself, Love Himself.

Now, let’s get to the scriptures in this chapter that I want to discuss with you today. In verses 12 and 13 we read:
For the word of God is quick (alive, full of life), and powerful (full of power), sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents (purposes) of the heart.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

In John 1 we read that God is the Word, so here in these two verses we can substitute “Word” for God and they both mean the same thing since God is the Word and the Word is God. These 2 verses are talking about the Word of God, the Word Himself.

God, His Word, is full of His life and full of His power. It penetrates to the very core of our being and separates the soul from the spirit and shows us the thoughts and intents of our hearts. The Word of God goes into that earthly part of our life that connects between earth and heaven, our soul, and shows us where we need to line up with, come into alignment with Him in our soul, which will then be in agreement with our spirit man, which has been born again, which has the Spirit of God dwelling in it. I know that was a mouthful, but meditate that last sentence.

When God’s Word becomes my word and I speak it out of my mouth, it penetrates to the very place where the soul and spirit divide and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. In the literal Greek, two-edged here is two-mouthed, two mouths. When our mouth lines up with God’s mouth, when what comes out of God’s mouth is coming out of our mouths, then we will have come into revelation of how God operates and we are in agreement with His Word and things happen.

Nothing is hidden from the Word of God. All things are open to Him and exposed. All is revealed by His Word. Let it happen. In that manner, if there is anything in our hearts that needs to be dealt with, the Word will take care of it.

And this chapter ends with an exhortation for us therefore to hold fast to the Word of God as our profession (confession) because Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (confession) (Hebrews 3:1). He is the One Who is sent to take God’s Word that we speak in faith and bring it as our High Priest to the throne of grace, to the mercy seat of Heaven to obtain mercy and find grace when we have a need.

Read this chapter 4 of Hebrews until you have a revelation of the rest of faith because of God’s Word.

God's Breath or Spirit

Acts 17:28 tells us that in Him (Jesus Christ) we live and move and have our being. Those of us who are born again, who have accepted Jesus as our Savior, are in Him. And In Him we live. We live our daily lives in the Life of God. In Him Who is called the Word in John 1, Who is called Love in 1 John, Who is called Light in 1 John----in Him we live. We have our life in Him. And then we move about our daily lives, fulfilling God’s plan for our lives, in Him. In Him we move. In Him we carry out our daily lives. We walk in Him. And in Him we have our being. We exist in Him. We have our being in Him. It is because of Him that we exist, that we are here.

And then Acts 17: 25 tells us that it is God Himself Who gives life and breath to everything and satisfies our every need. He gives all things to all people. He gives us His very life and breath or spirit. We have the Spirit of God inside us. He freely has given Himself to us, in order that we may live in His lifestyle, His way of operating. Isn’t that wonderful! We can live as God lives because it is His Life that He has given us, zoe, to live the way He lives. And He has given His Spirit or His breath to us to live His abundant life right here, right now, right on this earth at this present time. We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to live the way God lives. He has set it up so that we can start right here on this earth and live the way He designed us to live. It pleases Him to satisfy our every need and give to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Let’s look at some scriptures with that word breath in them. You will have your eyes opened to the truth of the Spirit of God as you read these scriptures.

Genesis 2:7----Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life
and man became a living being. One translation says that man became a living, speaking spirit like God.

In the very beginning, when God created man, He spoke into Him His life, His Spirit, His life. So from the beginning, we have been given God’s breath of life. Even when Adam and Eve sinned and committed high treason, they had been given life to live physically on this earth by God. Their spirit life light was put out but they were still alive. And it took satan a long time to kill them physically. Today, after Jesus came and took man’s place on the cross and became sin for man and gave us back our life, we can walk just as Adam and Eve walked before the fall and even greater. We have the Spirit of God Himself dwelling in us, giving us His breath or Spirit of Life. We have been given the Life of God again, and it is our choice to receive His Life actively operating in us or not to receive it. It is our choice.

And look at what Job 33:4 states: It is the Spirit of God that has made me, which has stirred me up, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life, which inspires me. The Spirit of God has made you and me. He has stirred up within us His dreams and His passions and His desires. And He has given us life. The Almighty God, the great God Jehovah has given us His Life. This reality inspires us to become His vessels of honor, pleasing Him with our love for Him and our awe of His Presence. Isn’t this remarkable! Jehovah has given us life.

Isaiah 42:5 once again refers to the breath of life. God the Lord created the heavens and stretched them forth.
He spread abroad the earth and that which comes out of it.
He gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it.

The Lord God gives breath to those of us on this earth and His Spirit to us.

And then Jesus spoke to His disciples in John 20:22,23: …He breathed on them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive their sins, they are not forgiven.

What a powerful statement this is. Right after Jesus breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit, He talks to them about forgiveness. We are to forgive anyone who has hurt or offended us in any way. Peter asked Jesus how many times he had to forgive and Jesus said 70 times 7, which means that we forgive as many times as it takes to forgive someone. Forgiveness is open ended. It is something we must do all the time. And Jesus made another powerful statement in the gospels. He said that if we do not forgive, our Heavenly Father Who is in Heaven will not forgive us. That is heavy duty right there. So, I am practicing forgiveness now all the time. I forgive those who persecute me and say all manner of evil against me. We must pray for those who despitefully use us and say all manner of evil against us. Jesus left the example for us. We are to follow Him as dearly beloved children follow their Father. We are to imitate Him, to be like Him. On the cross, the greatest place of agony and pain for Jesus, He looked down at those who had crucified Him and said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. People don’t really understand what they do when they persecute you and say all manner of evil against you. That is the way the world trains people and they don’t know any other way of living, but we as God’s children know better and are to follow Him in Love and forgiveness. Release God’s Love.

The Good Life

My attention was drawn this morning to Ephesians 2:10 and the verses after it through to the end of the chapter. Paul tells us in verse 10 that we are God’s workmanship. We are the handiwork of God. We have been recreated; we are new creations, a new species of being that did not exist before. We are new creations as a result of the salvation that we accepted in Christ Jesus, which Paul talks about in verses 8 and 9. We are born anew or born again, as another place in the Bible calls it.

When we are born again, we then have access to all of God’s kingdom, everything He has. Why? So that we can carry out, do those good works that He planned ahead of time for us. We are taking paths which He prepared for us ahead of time, before we were ever born. When we walk in the paths God created for us, we live the good life, a life which He prepared for us to live. We were designed to live life God’s way. That is the best way to live on this earth.

You may be asking yourself this question. Well, if it is such a good life, why am I facing all these challenges all the time. And why does life seem to be so tough? Why am I sick? Why am I broke? Why am I in the mess I am in? What is wrong here with this picture? It doesn’t line up with verse 10. Here is the extra factor in this equation----his name is satan and he hates God’s children because they have access to what he rebelled to try to obtain. And his one aim is to kill, steal and destroy what God has provided for His children, the abundant life.

Today, if you are not living the good life that God provided for you as His child, there is something you can do about it. We have a handbook called the Bible, which God gave to us, to teach us, to train us in the ways of God and how to live the good life. This book tells us how to fight the good fight of faith against our adversary, the devil, and win every time. Oh, he may challenge you and he may whisper in your ear that you are a failure and that you are defeated and that you will never overcome the situation you are in, but in reality he is frightened that you will learn the truth that you have authority over him and that you are victorious.

What I have learned in this life is that whatever has been sent against me to destroy me or steal from me or attempt to kill me is not greater than the One Who is living in me. The key to this whole picture is getting a true understanding of Who Jesus Christ really is and Who the Holy Spirit is (Who is living in me), and Who the Heavenly Father is. We must understand from His Word His great love for us, which delivers us from all that would come against us.

Our problem is that we get frustrated, scared, upset, and distraught when things don’t turn around when we think they should. We pace the floor with our Bible in our hands. We desperately pray, hoping to get an answer. In other words, we are frantically trying to find a way out. This is not faith. Faith is knowing God so well and His love for us so well, that we know that He has our life in His hands and He is turning things to our own good. We rest in peace in the middle of the storm that is raging all around us. This is not something that we can work up or fake. Peace is very real and is there because the Prince of Peace is there for us.

But our minds and emotions must be trained to yield to God and His care for us when we come into these desperate situations. It is not an overnight training. It takes time to develop our minds to conform to God’s way of thinking and train our emotions to yield to Him. This time for development is not in the middle of the storm. It is to be done before the storm comes. And here is the challenge. Most people feel that they don’t have time in this busy world to spend a portion of their day in God’s Word and with Him in prayer. So, which is better----spending hours pacing the floor or hours waiting in the doctor’s office and the emergency room or hours on the phone seeking counsel from man?

God’s Word has very specific instructions for us. Renew our minds with the Word. Pray in the spirit. Meditate and confess His Word. Develop the fruit of the spirit. But most of us, and I include myself in this category, get too busy with life to take the time for ourselves personally to learn from God’s Word how to think, talk, and act like God. We will get God results only when we do it God’s way. And all the frenetic activity to get the situation turned around will do no good if it is based on frantic attempts to beg God for relief. Our flesh will never produce anything but fleshly results. Our spirit will produce spiritual results.

We live in a world that is controlled by satan and the flesh. Therefore, it is mandatory that we stay in the Word of God and in His Presence in order to live victoriously in spite of what things get thrown our way. And things will get thrown our way. Satan sees to that. He is looking for a way to defeat you and cause you to think that you cannot get out of the pit you are in. Well, the best scripture I know to throw back at him is this: God sent His Word and healed me, rescued me and delivered me from the pit of destruction (Psalm 107:20). In this world, God’s Word is His method of delivering us and keeping us. If you and I won’t back down from what His Word says about us, we will overcome our situations. It is a battle against all the odds of this world. Stay steady and don’t buckle or give in to the pressures of satan. He is a loser and you are a winner in and through Christ Jesus.

Word Seeds

Word seeds, regardless of how tiny they are, contain within themselves the very ability to produce. Every seed produces after its kind.

You know what started this thought today. I was cleaning my family room last night and my husband listens to the news every day. It happened to be on while I was cleaning. And I heard the word “cancer” mentioned about 50 times in that brief period of time that the news was on. And I thought to myself. That means 50 little seeds have been released into people’s minds. And most people would not even think twice about offsetting that seed thought that has been planted into their minds by an outside source.

Words are important. Words either bring life or they bring death. They are the very tool that is used on this earth to produce what we have, whether personally or as a whole group of people. What leaders say to us produces action. What parents say to us plants seeds. What teachers speak to us plants seeds. What preachers and people in the pulpit tell us plants seeds. Every word is a seed that goes into our minds. If those words go into our minds long enough, they will produce thoughts. And if those thoughts are pondered, they produce words coming out of our mouths, which will produce in our lives. This is the process. What we say, what we ourselves speak, is a result of what we have been hearing and pondering and thinking on.

Words, words, words. What does the Lord have to say about words? In Matthew 12:36 and 37 Jesus said that on the day of judgment we shall give an account of every idle word that we have spoken. What does He mean here. An idle word is a word that produces results that are contrary to the Life of God. These words are the ones which produce negative things in our lives and the lives of others. He also said in this passage that we will be justified or we will be condemned by the words that we have spoken. We see from these two verses that words are so important to God that we will be judged on what we have spoken. If there are words that you and I have spoken that are not life-giving words, we need to speak crop failure to those words, ask God’s forgiveness for speaking contrary to His Word and repent, change our way of thinking and speaking.

In Proverbs 18:21 we read that death and life are in the power of the tongue and we eat the fruit of what we speak, whether it is for death or for life. Now exactly what does that mean? What we speak brings God and His life to a situation or it brings separation from God and His life (which is death) to a situation. God’s Word is His means of bringing His Life into our life and producing His Kingdom life in us. The words of man, without God, produce nothing but heartache and tragedy. We all must get to the point that we realize that we are nothing without Him. We can do nothing without Him. We are not our own. We are bought with a price. He is everything. Anything we do or speak without Him produces nothing of life. It is death to us.

Words are the very determiners of our destiny, of our lives, of God’s plans being fulfilled in our lives and in this earth. What we say is what we get. I have watched so many people get the fruit of what they are speaking. It makes my heart ache to see what is happening in their lives. And they have produced it themselves by the words of their mouths. Of course, there is God’s mercy and there are the prayers of others to help offset the severity of people’s words. But eventually those negative, death-dealing words we have spoken about ourselves and over ourselves will come to pass, if we do not stop the flow of words which are contrary to God’s Life flow.

Every one of us today must realize the seriousness of our words and our thoughts. The only way we will correct our negative, earthly thinking is to put God’s Word before us day and night. We must change our thought patterns to conform to His will. We must change our words we speak to line up with His Word for our life. It is all about alignment. What are your words aligning you with today------sickness or health, poverty or wealth, death or life, love or hatred, joy or depression, peace or uneasiness? Every one of us should make it our determined purpose to think only God’s thoughts and speak only God’s thoughts, which we find in His Word. It is a daily commitment because we live in a world of contrary thoughts and words. Make it your determined purpose today to speak and think only God’s Word. Watch the change in your life come to pass.

Resurrection Power

In the second chapter of Ephesians, verses 4 and 5 in the Amplified Bible we read this:

But God----so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,

Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and union with Christ: [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself , the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).

Our Heavenly Father loves us so intensely that He made provision for us to come back into His household when we didn’t want to, when we were sinners, stinky and putrified with sin. Even in our condition where He couldn’t touch us or fellowship with us, He gave us His very life. It is the same life that He gave to Christ Himself when He raised Him from the dead. It is zoe life. We call it resurrection power. It is the very power and nature of God Himself.

God’s power is stronger than any of our man-made powers. Even the H-bomb doesn’t hold a smidgeon of the power that God Almighty has. And the most wonderful thing about His power is that it is what emanates from God Who is Love. Love Himself is the power of God Himself. When we embrace His Love in its totality, we are embracing His power in its totality. You see, we as mankind have not begun to understand the reason we are to walk in agape love. Agape Love is God Himself is zoe life is the light power of God. It is the very force that raised Christ Jesus from the dead. He was raised from the dead by agape love, the very core of God’s being and the very center of the zoe Life of God, which created this universe and mankind and keeps everything running.

In Ephesians 1:17-21 we read about that resurrection power and God’s desire for us to understand it. Just as Paul prayed, we are to pray for God, Who is the Father of glory, Who is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ (and our God) to grant us, give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, insight in the mysteries of God, the secrets of God, the operation of His Kingdom. We are to pray that the eyes of our understanding be enlightened, that our spiritual eyes be opened to the truth by having our hearts, our spirits flooded with light. And what is light. It is the Word; it is God Himself.

There are a number of reasons listed here why we should pray for the eyes of our understanding to be enlightened, to know the truth of God. And one of the reasons listed is that we would know and understand the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in us and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places].

When we look up the meaning of might, mighty power here in verse 19 of chapter 1, it means the operative energy of the manifested strength of His might. In plain English that is God’s power in action. That is God at work with His unlimited power, which actually is His Love in action, since He is Love. You see, we as mankind have not really understood what agape love truly is. It is the power of God released into a situation to bring about what God desires, what He speaks of in His Word.

So, my question to you today is this? What impossible situation are you in? What situation are you in, in which people are nasty and ugly? You can ignore them or you can retaliate against them or you can leave them alone. OR you can release God, Who is Love, into the situation and watch Him work. Now, we are not talking about human love, which gets upset at being treated ugly. We are talking about power, not feelings, not reaction. We are talking about God’s power. His Love is His power in manifestation. Oh, you have to get this. It is the very core of how God’s Kingdom operates. My prayer for you today is that you will have Godly revelation of agape love and how to release it into your life and the life of those around you. It is pure power.

Jehovah Jireh, My Provider

It is a beautiful morning where I am today. The sun is shining and the birds are singing. What a God we serve Who has created all of this. I look out on the green grass and the trees that are beginning to turn for autumn, and I say: Thank You, Lord. You are my provider. You are Jehovah Jireh, my provider.

God was Jehovah Jireh for Abraham when he was offering his only son Isaac in obedience to the Lord. Jehovah provided a ram in the thicket. Abraham was in a situation where he needed provision and he received it because he trusted God completely.

Jehovah, Almighty God, our Heavenly Father Himself has the provision for us before we ever have a need. But the one thing you and I must be aware of is this. God never responds to neediness. He responds to faith. If He responded to needs, satan could control God and His Kingdom by producing needs all over the place. Yes, there are needs, but we access the provision God has already provided for our need by our faith in His supply. Faith in God releases the provision He has for us.

I know most people do not want to hear this because all of us want it to come automatically. But we as God’s children are instructed to live by faith. Four times in the Bible we read that the just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). The just are those who have been born again and become righteous or just in the Kingdom of God.

Since we live by faith, then we must learn how to do that. And the instructions are really quite simple. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17)and faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). That is it. So what is our part---hearing the Word of God. And how do we hear? We listen to those who preach and teach the Word in faith and we read the word for ourselves and we speak the Word so that we can hear it. And we practice agape love, God’s love. That is the way faith works in our lives.

In the 10th chapter of Hebrews that we noted in the paragraph above, we see this in verse 23: Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;). In the Amplified Bible we read that He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His Word.

When I looked up the word profession in the Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word for profession here is homologia, which means acknowledgement, confession. So we see here that we are to hold fast to the confession of our faith, to the acknowledgement of God’s Word. Why? God is faithful to His Word. He is faithful and trustworthy to perform His Word (Jeremiah 1:12). We can depend on Him and His Word. He is true to what He has said.

Unlike man, once God speaks, it is forever established. What He has spoken, which we speak, establishes forever in our lives His good Word. That is why we must speak His Word. We are coming into agreement with Him. There is no greater power than the power of agreement. And if our agreement is with the One Who spoke the original Word, His power is released on our behalf, to make provision for us. My, my what a wonderful system He has established for us as His children to walk in a place of sweet satisfaction. My Heavenly Father provides for me. That is a statement you can make and know that it is true.

As we speak God’s Word, faith arises; confidence in God and His Word comes to us. Then in verse 35 of Hebrews 10 we read: Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompence of reward. In the Amplified Bible we read: Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. In verse 36 we read that we have need of patience, that after we have done the will of God (His Word), we may receive the promise, enjoy to the full what He has promised in His Word. And remember that the word patience is not hanging on by your toenails, hoping you will make it. No, Bible patience is that quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. It is the fruit of the spirit, which is a spiritual force, not a weak personality trait.

Verse 39 of Hebrews 10 says that we are not of those who draw back and shrink in fear, but we are those who believe, have faith, trust God, rely on Him through our relationship with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will help us to be people of faith, leaning on the Lord, confidently knowing that we are His children and He provides for His own. We are members of His household, which is called the household of faith. We are His children and He does provide for us abundantly. Believe it and receive it. Continually say: I believe I receive and then fill in the blank. Remember that it must be in line with the Word of God. For example, I believe I receive healing in my body. I believe I receive a prosperous life.

You are mighty men and women of God. Rise up, people of faith, and take your place as God’s children. You have a rich heritage and an abundant supply from Father’s provision.

Love NEVER fails!

In our teaching in our Victorious Christian Living School of Ministry last night we discussed verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 13 concerning the agape love of God. In that verse we read this: LOVE NEVER FAILS.

When I looked up the word fail in the Strong’s Concordance, this is what I found. It is the Greek word ekpipto and here are the meanings listed: to drop away, to be driven out of one’s course, to lose, become inefficient, be cast, fall, fall (away, off), take none effect.

Let’s look at each of these meanings. God’s Agape Love will never drop away from you. He is always there. Since God is Love and Love is God, Love is always there. God’s Love will never drive you off course, off the plan for your life. Just the opposite is true. God’s Love will keep you on course because when you walk in His Love, you are walking in Him. And when you are walking in Him, you are walking in what He has ordained for your life. You will never lose when you yield to God’s Love in your life. It makes you a winner and not a loser. God’s Love is not inefficient. Inefficient is to be disorderly and unorganized, lacking excellence. So, when you yield to God’s Love, you are yielding to efficiency and order in your life, which produces excellence. You and I will never be cast off from God’s Love. He does not make us castaways from His Love, no never. God’s Love will never fall away or fall off. The only way you can get away from God’s Love is when you ignore it yourself or don’t desire to walk in it or don’t walk in it. And last, God’s Love will never be of no effect. It not only affects you. It affects everyone around you. People will notice that you are different, especially when you don’t react the way they do to situations and circumstances and to people’s ugliness toward you.

In 1 John we read that God is Love and Love is God. God dwells in you and me in the person of the Holy Spirit. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence in us. He, God, Love is in us now. So where does that put us if Love, Who is God, Who dwells in us never fails? That means we will never fail if we yield to agape Love in any circumstance or situation. God Who is Love, loves to take care of us and do things for us. He is a loving, caring Heavenly Father. He enjoys doing things for His kids. He is our Source and our All in All.

When I looked in the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary, I saw many definitions for fail. Some of the ones that stand out are these: to be entirely wanting, to become deficient, to be insufficient, to miss, not to produce the effect, to fall short, to disappoint, to cease or to neglect. If you look in that dictionary, you will also find many other definitions of fail, but I have selected the ones that I believe would apply to this verse. Look at all these words and place them in the verse.

The Love of God, Agape Love, NEVER leaves you in want, does not produce deficiencies, is not insufficient to supply your need, doesn’t fall short, doesn’t disappoint you or cease or neglect you. Agape Love does not miss taking care of you nor is it ineffective, producing no effect in your life.

Now, having said all this, where are you today in your Love walk? All of us need to take a fresh and new look every day at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, especially in the Amplified Bible. When we are walking in the Love of God, Agape Love, we are walking in God’s power, which supplies all our need and doesn’t leave us wanting. If we are wanting, the first place we should check is the place Agape Love has in our lives. We need to check up on what we are yielding to. Are we yielding to our flesh when things don’t go our way? Are we yielding to our flesh when it looks less than perfect in our lives? Are we complaining about God not answering our prayers? Are we fretful and resentful toward those who have mistreated us or talked “ugly” about us? Are we fed up with people and situations which have drug on forever? All of us have plenty of room for improvement. So, before we blame God for unanswered prayer, we need to do a checkup on LOVE, because LOVE NEVER FAILS.

By Grace Through Faith

For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
What a wealth of information is found in this one little verse in Ephesians 2:8.

God has given us the gift of Himself to deliver us from evil, from satan and all of the consequences of sin. We are saved. What does saved mean in the original Greek language? Let’s look in the Strong’s Concordance to see. Here in this passage the word saved is the Greek word sozo which means to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, do well, be whole, make whole.

We are delivered; we are protected; we are healed, we are preserved, we are made whole by God’s grace and through our faith in Him and His grace. He even gives us His faith so that we can believe Him and receive from Him. And to think that this whole package is a gift of God to us as His mankind. All we have to do is believe and receive.

Is it healing you need? It is a gift of God. Receive it by faith in God’s provision of healing. His grace has provided it for you. Is it protection you need? It is a gift of God. Receive it by grace through faith. Is it deliverance you need? Receive God’s gift of deliverance through faith in His grace of providing for you. Is it wholeness you need in your life? Do you need things to be put back together again in your life from brokenness? God has provided it for you. He wants you to be whole and healthy in every area of your life. Brokenness is not what He wants you to be. Whatever it is that you need, God has provided it for you. All you have to do is believe you receive what He has for you. His grace has made provision for all that you need.

It is God’s grace that provides all that we need to live a healthy, successful, fulfilling life while we are here on this earth. We access what He has for us through faith in His ability to provide for us. Faith is simply trusting God to provide abundantly all that you need to have a wonderful life here.

What is grace? It is God extending Himself and His ability to you and me, even though we may not deserve it at all. He still extends Himself to us in order that we may have a better life with Him in charge. His abilities and His provision are so much better for us to walk in than our own strength, our own abilities. What a God we serve. He has extended to us all that we need to live victoriously on this earth.

And think about the fact that He not only gives us His grace, but He also give us His faith to believe and receive what He has provided for us. I don’t know about you, but I think this is a pretty good arrangement. And all we have to do is believe we receive it and we shall have it. That is what Mark 11:22-24 says. When you pray, believe that you receive and you shall have it. Ah, but here is where people have all kinds of challenges. They may believe they receive for about a day or less and then when satan puts the pressure on to convince them they didn’t get anything, they cave in and quit and say that faith doesn’t work. After you pray and believe you receive, you must stand, regardless of the adversity that comes against your believing. Having done all to stand, stand therefore.

God has made provision for us. He has given us His ability to receive and He has extended His grace to us so that we may receive His gift of salvation, which is all inclusive. Salvation doesn’t just mean your sins forgiven. It means your diseases are healed. Your soul Is set free. Your life is successful and prosperous. You are no longer a captive to satan and his demonic forces. You are a free person today, not because of anything you have done, not of your own good works. It is a gift of God, lest you should boast about working hard to get it.

Rejoice in what God has done for you. He has certainly made provision for all your life and abundantly supplied your needs. Thank Him and walk in His fullness today. That’s what grace and faith are all about. It is God’s gift of the good life. Receive it and walk in it. It’s wonderful.