Worship Him

Yesterday we talked about worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth. Today let’s put into practice what we learned yesterday.

Starting with Psalm 95, let’s worship Him.

I come before you, Lord, with singing and make a joyful noise to You Who are the Rock of my salvation. I come before Your presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise to You with songs of praise. Lord, You are a great God and a great King above all gods. In Your hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is Yours also. The sea is Yours; You made it; Your hands formed the dry land. I come before You and worship You; I bow down before You; I kneel before You, Lord, You Who are my Maker. You are my God and I am Your child. Today I hear Your voice.

Psalm 96
I sing to You, Lord, a new song; I sing to You, Lord, with all the earth. I sing to You, Lord and bless Your name. I thank You that You show forth Your salvation from day to day. I declare Your glory to everyone and I proclaim Your marvelous works among all the people I meet. For You are great, Lord, and greatly to be praised. I reverence and worship You above all gods. Honor and majesty are before You, Lord; strength and beauty are in Your sanctuary. I ascribe to You, Lord, glory and strength. I give glory to Your name; I bring my offering of praise and come before You into Your courts. I worship You, Lord, in the beauty of holiness; I reverence You with all the earth. I say: Lord, You reign; the world also is established by You so that it cannot be moved; You judge people with righteousness. Let the heavens be glad and rejoice and let all the earth be glad; let the sea roar and all the things that fill it. Let the field and all that is in it be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. I sing for joy before You, Lord.

Psalm 98
I sing to You, Lord, a new song, for You have done marvelous things; Your right hand and Your holy arm have gotten You the victory. Lord, thank You, for You have made known Your salvation; Your righteousness You have openly shown to all the nations. You have remembered Your mercy and Your truth toward me; I have seen Your salvation. I make a joyful noise to You, Lord; I make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise. I sing to You, Lord, and make a joyful noise to You.

Psalm 99
Lord, Your reign over my life. You are a greet God. You are high above all the earth and all people. I praise You; I praise Your great, awesome name with reverence. Your name is holy. You are holy. I exalt You, Lord my God and worship You for You are holy.

Psalm 100
I make a joyful noise to You, Lord. I serve You with gladness and come before Your presence with singing. I know that You are God; it is You Who have made me and not me myself. I am Your child and You are my shepherd. I enter into Your gates with thanksgiving and into Your courts with praise; I am thankful to You and bless Your name. Lord, You are good and Your mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting; Your faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.

Psalm 101
I will sing of Your mercy and loving-kindness. O Lord, I will sing to You.

Doesn’t it set your day when you speak these confessions, praising God for Who He is, worshipping Him, basking in His presence? I find this time with Him especially precious in the early morning hours or late at night when all is quiet and the world is at rest or just waking up. Practice His Presence by declaring His goodness. Think about His love for you. Ponder His absolute desire for you as His child. Let your day be governed by knowing He loves you.

In Spirit and In Truth

In chapter 4 of John Jesus talked to the woman at the well about worship. This is what He said to her in verses 21-24.

Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

What was Jesus telling this woman? What was His point? He was saying to her that the hour was coming when where people worship God is not so important as how they worship Him. He said to her: Believe Me. In other words, believe what I am telling you. What I am saying to you is vitally important. There is a time coming when you will worship the Father and actually Jesus neither merely in this mountain nor merely in Jerusalem. You will worship Him everywhere. It is not about the place where you worship. It is about your heart being the place where worship is centered. You can stand in the most ornate cathedral and not be worshipping, if the action is not based on your heart relationship with God Almighty.

Worship is so vital to the Body of Christ, to the individuals who make up the Body of Christ. True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He is seeking, searching for, looking for those who will worship Him with all their heart. He is looking for those who will love Him with a love unstoppable, a love that is undeniable, a love that is unquenchable.

When we love someone, we want to be with them constantly. God is looking for a people who will love Him with all their heart, all their mind, all their soul, all their strength. He is looking for those who will worship Him with abandonment, love Him with a total involvement.

Those who worship the Lord in spirit and in truth do not regard what others think about them or the way they adore God. Their eyes are so focused on the One they love that there is not the concern for the acceptance of man or the stamp of approval by man regarding the way they worship. We must worship Him from our hearts, in Truth.

Jesus said that He was the way, the Truth and the Life. They that come to Him must believe Him, trust Him, accept His ways. He is Truth. When the world contradicts Him and His ways, we choose Him. All else is a lie in comparison to the Lord and His ways. How do we learn His ways? We study His Word, which is Truth, which teaches us Truth. He’s the Way to everything. He is the ultimate Truth for everything. He is the eternal Life in everything.

We worship Him because we love Him. It is that simple. We worship Him because we can’t stand it to be away from Him. He is our very breath we breathe. He is our very life. We are so in love with Him that nothing else matters. True worshippers worship Him because they love Him. They worship their Bridegroom. They adore their soon-coming King.

Worship is the act of paying honor and reverence to someone. It is the act of respect and adoration. God is to be honored, revered, respected and adored. Close your eyes and see Him as He looks at you with eyes filled with liquid pools of love. He loves you. Worship the One Who loves you. Where do you start? Just start by telling Him that you love Him. Perhaps that seems to be a strange thing to do, but do it anyway. Just sit quietly and speak the name of Jesus softly over and over. Tell Him how special He is to you. Read the Psalms which talk about worshipping and praising Him. He sits and He waits patiently for your very act of worship. God is a Spirit and we worship Him in spirit and in truth. Our spirit responds to His Spirit. His Truth brings us into the reality of Who He is and the utter awesomeness of His Presence. Worship Him.

Wisdom

These are wisdom confessions I use, based upon scriptures in the King James Version and Amplified Bible.

Father, You said if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of You, Who gives to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Therefore, I ask in faith, nothing wavering, to be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Today I incline my ear unto wisdom, and I apply my heart to understanding so that I might receive that which has been freely given unto me.

In the name of Jesus, I receive skillful and Godly wisdom and instruction into my heart. I discern and comprehend the words of understanding and insight. Discretion shall watch over me; understanding shall keep me, to deliver me from the way of evil and the lips of flattery, enticement, seduction, deceit and lies. I walk in the way of good men, and keep to the paths of the righteous. I receive instruction in wise dealing and the discipline of wise thoughtfulness, righteousness, justice, and integrity. Prudence (the ability to regulate and discipline myself wisely), knowledge, discretion and discernment are given to me. I increase in knowledge. As a person of understanding, I acquire skill and attain to sound counsels [so that I may be able to steer my course rightly].

I am a man/woman of integrity, blameless and complete in Your sight. I make my heart and ears attentive to Godly counsel and do that which is right in your sight.

I confess and believe that my decisions are divinely directed by You, Father, and my mouth shall not transgress in judgment. Divinely directed decisions are on my lips. I am a man/woman of discernment, understanding, knowledge and wisdom. I believe my heart is in Your hand and You turn it whichever way You desire.

I receive Your Word, God, and treasure it. I make my ears attentive to Your wisdom and direct and apply my heart and mind to Your understanding [applying all my powers to the quest for it]. I cry out for insight and raise my voice for understanding. I seek Your wisdom as for hidden treasure. The Lord gives me wisdom and from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He lays up sound wisdom for me as His righteous one; He is a shield to me who walks uprightly.

I let not mercy and truth forsake me; I bind them about my neck and write them upon the tablet of my heart. So shall I find favor and good understanding and high esteem in the sight of God and man.

I lean on, trust in and am confident in the Lord with all my heart and mind and do not rely on my own insight or understanding. In all my ways I know, recognize and acknowledge the Lord and He directs and makes straight and plain my paths. I am not wise in my own eyes; I reverence the Lord and turn entirely away from evil.

Wisdom will keep, defend, and protect me; I love her and she guards me. I prize Wisdom highly and exalt her; she will bring me to honor because I embrace her. She gives to my head a wreath of gracefulness; a crown of beauty and glory will she deliver to me. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor.

Jesus has been made unto me wisdom, and in Him are all the treasures of [divine] wisdom, [of comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God], and [all the riches of spiritual] knowledge and enlightenment are stored up and lie hidden. God has hidden away sound and godly wisdom and stored it up for me, for I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, I walk in paths of uprightness. When I walk, my steps shall not be hampered----my path will be clear and open; and when I run, I shall not stumble. I take fast hold of instruction, and I do not let her go; I guard her, for she is my life. I let my eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and my gaze is straight before me. I consider well the path of my feet, and I let all my ways be established and ordered aright.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I look carefully to how I walk! I live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as unwise and witless, but as a wise, sensible, intelligent person; making the very most of my time----buying up every opportunity. Amen.

Scripture References
James 1:5,6a; Colossians 1:9b; Proverbs 2:2; Proverbs 1:2 AMP; Proverbs 2:11,12a,20; Proverbs 1:3-5; Proverbs 21:1; Proverbs 2:1-7AMP; Proverbs 3:3,4; Proverbs 3:5-7 AMP; Proverbs 4:6,8,9 AMP; Proverbs 3:16 AMP; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 2:3 AMP; Proverbs 2:7 AMP; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Proverbs 4:11-13,25,26 AMP; Ephesians 5:15,16 AMP

The Promise and The Oath

I would like to share with you some points to ponder regarding the promise and the oath that God made to Abraham.

From Hebrews 6:13-20 we see this information.
We have a strong consolation from God by two immutable, unchangeable things to anchor our hope in God. Jesus is our hope, our anchor, Who has entered into the Heavenly Holy of Holies for us. Those two immutable things are:

His promise
God made a promise to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3, and Romans 4:13tells us that that promise was that Abraham should inherit the world. How? Through Christ, The Seed.

His oath
Then God confirmed the promise with an oath, by the oath of blood covenant. In Genesis 15 God made covenant with Abram, whose name was changed to Abraham. God became one with Abraham, right in the middle of his life and his name through covenant, walking in the blood of animals. Then in Genesis 17 we see Abraham’s part of that covenant through circumcision when his human blood was shed by Abraham in agreement with the covenant God established in the blood of animals.

Next, we see (in type) Abraham offer his only son to die, with the intent of blood shed. God stayed Abraham’s hand from shedding the blood of his only son. So Abraham obligated God as his covenant partner to do the same, offer His only Son. This is exactly what God wanted; he then had the open doorway to offer His only Son to die for all mankind.

Jesus, the Son of God, came.
He shed His blood---He died.
He rose again.
He entered the Heavenly Holy of Holies with His blood.
He sat down, indicating His work was finished. He’s resting.
By faith, we are to enter into that rest because we are in Him and He is in us.
It’s called the rest of faith.
It’s a finished work, completed before the foundation of the world in God’s eyes.
That’s what God beheld all those thousands of years before Jesus came---the finished work.
Just like our Father God, our inner spiritual eyes are to behold the finished work before our physical eyes see it.

In Romans 4:16 we see that inheriting the promise of God depends entirely on faith, that it may be given by grace. In verse 17 we read that God gives life to the dead and speaks of nonexistent things that He has foretold and promised as if they already existed. In verse 18 we read that when human reason for hope was gone for Abraham, he hoped, IN FAITH. In faith, he hoped, as he had been promised. Faith hooks up to God’s promise and is assured because of God’s oath in blood covenant that it shall be even as He has promised. His oath sealed His promise.

Communion----the bread and the wine representing the body and blood of Jesus, covenant elements----represent that promise and oath established forever. It is an earthly, tangible reminder of God’s Word, that His Word is a reality for our lives. He has established it forever.

In verse 19 we read that because of the promise which was then confirmed by God’s oath in covenant blood, then one doesn’t weaken in faith when he sees physical contradictions to the Word of promise.

In verse 20 we read that then no unbelief or distrust makes one waver concerning the promise of God. But one grows strong. One is empowered by faith as he gives praise and glory to God.
He is fully persuaded.
He is fully satisfied.
He is fully assured.
He fully agrees that God is not only able and mighty and willing to keep His Word, but He WILL DO WHAT HE HAS PROMISED!

We have what he promised fulfilled in us because He has made us righteous. The only thing we have to do is accept what He has done for us, what He has said in His Word. We are righteous and we receive by faith.

After our study of the promise and the oath, let’s make this confession from various parts of the Amplified Bible in Hebrews and Romans.
I approve, acknowledge and regard Your ways, Lord.
I adhere to, trust in and rely on You, God.
I am compliant to and persuaded by You, Lord, because I have faith in You.
God, Your faith inside me perceives as real fact what is not yet revealed to my senses.
I lean my entire personality on You, God, in absolute trust and confidence in Your power, wisdom and goodness.
I believe, adhere to, trust in and rely on You, God.
Your works for me were completed and prepared and waiting for me, who would believe, from the foundation of the world.
I believe; therefore, I enter Your rest, the land of promise.

Resurrection Power - Resurrection Life

For days now I have been pondering this phrase----RESURRECTION POWER----RESURRECTION LIFE.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, He was raised with the power of God which we have termed resurrection power. We also are raised from our dead spiritual condition when we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We receive Him into our hearts to govern our lives with the totality of His Presence. His Presence is the Holy Spirit in us right now if we are born again.

We see the exceeding greatness of the resurrection power of God described in Ephesians 1:19-21, KJV. “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:”

In the Amplified Bible verses 19-21 read as follows: “And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in 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], far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.”

We are told in Romans 8:11 that the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in our mortal bodies to quicken, give life to our mortal bodies.

We read in 1 John 4:17 that as He is, so are we in this world. This verse is written in the context of the love of God. God is Love and he that dwells in Love dwells in God and God in him, or Love in Him.

The question I have been asking all weekend is this. Since the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in me and in you, what is holding back the reality of that power on a daily basis. Where is the power? What is holding it back? The failure is not on God’s part, so it must lie with us.

And I have seen where the failure is. Once again, we must state that God’s divine love is the greatest power in the universe. When we are walking in agape Love, God’s Love, not human love which is dependent upon circumstances, we are walking in God. And when we are walking in God, we are walking in Love. And when we are walking in Love, we are walking in God’s power.

We do not need to seek the power. The power is already in us. He is called the Holy Spirit. He is the power of God. What we are to seek is Him, Love Himself. When we seek Love, we become like Him, like Love Himself, and the power is there. It is available and it is demonstrated in our daily lives. The compassion of God rises up in us for people and they are healed. That same power rises up in us and produces results in our lives. He gives life to us 24-7 in every area of our lives. What we must do is receive Him and His fullness on our behalf, in everything we do and say.

POWER---It’s a word I hear much in the Christian circles. And there are those who seek the power, but the greatest seeking is the seeking after Love Himself, agape love. With Him comes the power. With Him comes the fullness. With Him comes the life. It’s a special kind of life that we Christians live. It is the resurrection life. We have been raised from the deadness of our sin and sickness to the life of His righteousness and wholeness. We have been resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit (resurrection power) with the fullness of His resurrection life working in us.

Resurrection power------resurrection life is in us now to bring us the fullness of God’s life that He wants us to walk in while we are here on this earth.

Speak this and meditate it until it becomes reality in your life.

“I am a born again child of God. I have received Jesus as my Savior. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is dwelling in me with His resurrection power and His resurrection life, which is really His Love. It is mine all the time, and I live in this power; I walk in this power. This Love Power, this Resurrection power is operating in me and for me and for others. Yes, I do know and understand this immeasurable, unlimited, incomparably great power which is in me and for me who believes. This is the operative energy of the manifested strength of God’s might. I have it and I know how to operate in it.”

Delivered

When I say the word DELIVER, what do you see? What do you think? What comes to your mind? Before I even look at the dictionary, what comes to my mind is being taken out of a place that I don’t like, a place that is bad for me, into a place that is good. And I think about the fact that when I am delivered, I don’t have to go back to the place from which I was delivered.

Let’s look at the dictionary definition of DELIVER from the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary.
To free, to release, as from restraint, to set at liberty
To rescue, to save
To give, or transfer; to put into another’s hand or power; to pass from one to another
DELIVERANCE means:
Release from captivity, slavery, oppression, or any restraint
Rescue from danger or any evil
The act of giving or transferring from one to another

In Psalm 107:1,2 we read:
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

In the Amplified Bible we read:
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary.

Redeem means to liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage. An adversary is an enemy.

Do you see this? God’s dearly beloved Son Jesus liberated us from the bondage of satan, our enemy. We were in captivity to him and now we have been delivered. We are free. We must fix this truth so fully in our minds and hearts that we know that we are in a different place, a different kingdom. We have been taken out of satan’s kingdom and are no longer his subjects. We are royal subjects of a royal king and His name is Jesus. We are in a compound so to speak in the spirit realm where no foe can reach us with anything he has. And that compound is surrounded by security guards called angels. That compound is fixed; the circumference of it is faith and love. As long as we exercise our faith in God’s deliverance of us, then we stay in that realm of safety. We live in this world where satan is forever attempting to break down the walls of our faith and gain entrance. But he can’t gain entrance unless we open our mouths and start speaking contrary to our deliverance.

Look at Colossians 1:13,14
We are told right here that the Father has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His Son, in whom we have redemption (deliverance).

Look at Hebrews 2:14,15
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Look what Jesus and the Father have done for us. We are delivered from satan, death, fear, bondage, darkness, and all that the kingdom of darkness has---sickness, disease, pain, poverty, want, lack, oppression, depression, spiritual death. In other words, as Galatians 3:13 and 14 state: We have been delivered from the curse of the law. All of these things are under the curse of the law. All we have to do is look at Deuteronomy 28 and we see what the curse of the law is. Well, our dear Savior has redeemed us, delivered us from all of that. See yourself living out what is in the pages of your Bible. Yes, it applies to you. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. In other words, God is the same always, yesterday, today and forever.

Say this after me:
I am delivered from the power, control, dominion, domain of darkness, satan, death, fear, bondage, and all that the kingdom of darkness has.
I have been transferred into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of love, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
I am redeemed through the blood of Jesus.
I have been set free.
I am no longer subject to satan and his kingdom of darkness.
I am not a subject of satan.
I am a subject of Almighty God, subject to Him and living in His Kingdom.
My life is established, fixed in God’s kingdom forever.

I Wait Before The Lord

Do you know that the Lord waits for us to come and sit in His Presence? Why would He do that? He does it because He wants to talk with us and enjoy our time together. He loves to hear about our life as we talk with Him. Yes, even though He knows the end from the beginning, He enjoys talking with us. He loves to be with us. When we take time to be with Him and not only talk but listen to Him, there is an infilling of His life into our life. He is Life itself, and in His Life is His Love and His Light.

He is our God and there is none before Him.

In Psalm 62:5-7 in the New Living Translation we read:
I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.

Look at the beauty of these verses.
We wait quietly before the Lord. Why do we do that? Our hope is in Him. Bible hope is white hot expectancy with an outstretched neck. It is not a “well, I hope so” attitude. It is a knowing from the Word of God that we have hope which is the basis for the substance of faith to operate upon. Without hope, there cannot be faith. Hope is the preamble of faith.

God is the only One Who is my rock, the solid part of my life. A rock does not break; it stands strong. He is my rock where no enemy can reach me. I hide in Him Who is my rock. He is my strong refuge. Remember that refuge is the place where I am safe and protected. It is my hiding place from all physical danger. God is my refuge. Say this with me: GOD IS MY REFUGE. GOD IS MY ROCK. GOD IS MY PROTECTION. HE IS MY STRENGTH.

God is the only One Who is my salvation, and we have learned that salvation is all encompassing. Let’s look at that word again. Salvation here is yesha, which means: liberty, deliverance, prosperity: --safety, salvation, saving. It comes from yasha, which means to be open, wide or free, i.e. by implication to be safe. I see here that the essence of this word is freedom, defense, deliverance, help, preservation safety, victory. What a powerful word! God is our victory. He is our freedom. He is our deliverer. He is our help. He is our preservation. He is our safety. He is our defense.

What a God we serve! Say: That’s me. I am in full agreement with God and His Word. He is all these things for me. Say this whether you feel like it or not, whether it looks like it is working for you or not. Say it when you feel good and say it when you feel bad. Say it when it looks like it is working and say it when it looks like it is not working. God’s Word works for whosoever will put it to work. You and I qualify as a whosoever. Put His Word to work in your life.

God alone is my fortress. In the King James Version this verse says that He is my defense; I shall not be moved. That is a powerful statement as it is written in the King James Version. You see here that because is the One Who is your fortress, your defense, you shall not be moved. A fortress is a place of strength, a stronghold, something that holds strong, even in the face of attack. God is our stronghold, our place of strength, our fortress, our defense. We shall not be moved away from Him. Why? If we move away from Him, we move away from strength and help and deliverance.

My salvation and my honor come from God alone. God is my salvation. God is my glory. He is the rock of my strength. My refuge is in God. I trust in Him at all times. God is a refuge for me.

Isaiah 40:31a New Living Translation
Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength.

Position, Power ----- Obedience, Love

In the world, people are striving for position and power, but in the Body of Christ we should be aiming for obedience and love. Any one of us as Christians can display these qualities of the world if we allow our flesh or carnal nature to be in charge. It is part of the fleshly nature to desire a place of great importance, a place of power. Even children demonstrate this need for power and position as they play their games. It is part of what we call human nature. The Bible calls it carnality. Carnality is actually putting self at the center of the picture instead of Jesus.

Paul has much to say in the book of Romans about the flesh versus the spirit. In the Amplified Bible in chapter 8, verses 4 and 5, he says that our lives are not to be governed by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.

And look at verse 6. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace And verse 12 says that we are not debtors to our flesh to live after the dictates of our flesh.

What are all the above verses saying to us? We are in this world with flesh and blood bodies, with souls that can be tempted to yield to our flesh. The term carnality is a word indicating yielding to the fleshly desires that are put before us. Today we are talking about the flesh yielding to, striving for a position of power, a position of recognition, a position where we are in charge. There is that place in each of us which wants recognition and a place of power. That is our flesh speaking.

God has a position for us and it is achieved through obedience because of our love for Him. Love causes us to yield to Him, to yield to our spirits instead of our fleshly desires. God does place desires in us that are Godly desires. They are His desires and they are pure and without hurt to others. One of the ways we can discern whether a desire is from God or from our flesh is this: Does achieving that desire harm other people? Does it hurt them? Does it produce disharmony? Does it produce a sense of superiority or braggadocio? Does it make you look better than others at their expense?

Anything we do in this world without agape love being at the center of our achievements makes us a useless nobody according to 1 Corinthians 13:2 in the Amplified Bible. Let’s quote verses 1-3 here and see what doing things with our fleshly motives produces. If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] angels, but have not love…I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers…and understand all the secret truths and faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody). Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God’s love in me, I gain nothing.

The above statements are some pretty powerful statements. It is all about motive, heart attitude. God has given to each one of us earthly assignments. We are each here for a reason. Along with that assignment comes position by the Lord and His power manifested through us. Our part is to obey Him and to learn to love as He does. His love is the greatest power in the universe. As we yield ourselves totally to Him, His power produces the results that He is looking for.

Our own fleshly desires must die and His Godly desires must arise. Galatians 2:20 is a scripture I avoided for years because I didn’t understand it, and God kept bringing it back to me. Now I love this scripture. It is so beautiful. Listen with your heart. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

I Follow Close

In the New Living Translation in Psalm 63:7,8 we read:
I think how much you have helped me.
I sing for joy in the shadow of Your protecting wings.
I follow close behind You; Your strong right hand holds me securely.

We have read in Psalm 91 that we are protected under the wings, the feathers of God. This reference is to a mother hen or a mother bird who protects her babies under her wings, beneath her. God protects His children under His protecting force. His eyes are ever watchful for us, sheltering us from that which would harm us. No evil comes near us nor anything harms us when we are His children. He is always on the alert. He carefully watches over us.

What are we to do when we are under the shadow of the Almighty, Whose power no foe can withstand? We are to sing for joy. We are to rejoice. We are to praise the Lord. We are to shout for joy. That is all we have to do. He does the rest. We can enjoy ourselves while He is on guard to protect us, to take care of us. That is His job. He has obligated Himself as our Father to watch over us. Isn’t that awesome! How wonderful, how marvelous is our Savior’s love for us!

We are to follow close behind the Lord. We must stay close to the One Who is our protector. We must stick really close to Him. His strong right hand keeps us. He is our Big Brother. No one messes with us when our Big Brother is near us. We stay close to Him. And do we remember how much He has helped us! Oh, yes, do we remember! We remember the times when He kept us from danger. We remember the times when we knew we would have wiped out if it had not been for Him.

We follow close to Him by walking in His footsteps of righteousness, being with Him Who does the right thing all the time.

Psalm 85:13 in the NLT says this: Righteousness goes as a herald before Him, preparing the way for His steps.
In the KJV it reads: Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us in the way of His steps.
In the Amplified Bible, it reads: Righteousness shall be before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.

Isn’t this reassuring? Righteousness goes before the Lord preparing a way for us to walk in His footsteps, which are the right footsteps, showing us the right way. What an assurance we have. All we have to do is follow close behind Him and we are walking in the way of righteousness. We are walking in what He has done for us.

And here is even better news. How about this? While we are following Him, walking in His footsteps of righteousness, Psalm 23:6 tells us that surely goodness and mercy or His unfailing love will pursue us all the days of our lives. We are following Him and goodness and His unfailing love is following us. That has us covered before and behind us. And we have on the armor of light to protect us as we are going and coming. What more do we want! We have it all.

Have you ever stopped to think about the wonderful Lord we have! He takes care of us from every angle. He is ever present with us. All we have to do is follow Him closely and He leads the way. We have nothing to fear. We have nothing to concern us. He has got us covered.

I love being God’s child. It is such a pleasant journey from beginning to end. I am following closely behind Him and beside Him and with Him. I like getting just as close as I can. I like that. How about you?

Protection

This weekend I was studying Psalm 91 in the New Living Translation. Out of that study has come our pearls for today on protection.

Psalm 91:4 NLT
…His faithful promises are my armor and protection.

God’s Word is a protection for us from the wiles of the enemy. He Who is the Word protects us at all times. We have His Word as our armor against the fiery darts of the enemy to our minds and the actual assault to our bodies or our goods. God’s Word never fails because He Who is the Word is Agape Love and Agape Love never fails.

Psalm 91:9-11 NLT
I make the Lord my refuge.
I make the Most High my shelter.
No plague will come near my dwelling.
No evil will conquer me.
He orders His angels to protect me wherever I go.

Whatever you find in the Word of God, say: That’s me. That’s mine.
So for the above verses, we can say: I am protected. The angels are under orders to protect me wherever I go. No evil of the enemy’s will overcome me, conquer me. No sickness or disease or plague or flu will come near my dwelling. They can’t cross the blood line which I have drawn with the precious blood of Jesus. He shed His blood for my freedom from plagues and danger.

Psalm 91:14 NLT
The Lord says He rescues me who loves Him.
He protects me who trusts in His name.

What a promise! The Lord rescues us from danger. He protects us from danger, harm, calamity of any kind.

Psalm 142:5 NLT
I pray to You Lord and say: You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life.

Praise God! We can say that the Lord is our refuge, our shelter, our protection, our safety. He is all we really want in life. What more is needed when we have the Lord. He is everything to us and for us.

Psalm 125:2 NLT
Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds and protects His people, both now and forever.

We are God’s people and He protects us. He surrounds us with protection wherever we go and whatever we do.

There is a key to this protection. We must obey Him. We must be used to hearing His voice so that if He tells us not to do something or to go here or to go there, we will do it without hesitation because we know His voice. We have been used to hearing His voice because we spend time with Him. And we have learned to obey Him instantly, without hesitation. This could mean the difference between our life and death in the world in which we live.

The Lord is our Refuge and Fortress. He is our God, on Whom we lean and rely and in Whom we confidently trust. His power no foe can withstand. He alone is our High Tower. We run into His name and we am set high above the evils of this world. We run to Him, and He is waiting with arms of love and protection.

God Does Not Grow Weary Or Faint

In the first chapter of John we see that God and His Word are one. We also see in the Word of God that He does not change. He doesn’t change, and His Word doesn’t change.

He tells us in Psalm 89:33,34 that He will not take his loving-kindness from us; He won’t break it off from us. He will not allow His faithfulness to fail, lie or be false to us. He will not break His covenant nor profane or alter the thing that is gone out of His mouth. He is faithful and true to His Word. He will not back down from what He says. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

In Isaiah 55:11 the Lord tells us that His Word goes forth out of His mouth. It doesn’t return to Him without producing what it was sent to do. His Word accomplishes what He pleases and purposes and it will prosper in whatever it is sent to do. In other words, God’s Word contains within it the power to perform what it says it will do. God’s Word is Truth. There is no higher truth than His Word.

Look at the Word of God. Whatever it says you have, you have. Whatever it says you can do, you can do. God’s Word is Truth. For example, in one of the most familiar psalms in the Bible, Psalm 23, he Lord says that His goodness and unfailing love will follow us, pursue us all the days of our lives. That is true forever. When you see that, say: “That’s me.” That is what we are to do every time we find something in the Word of God. That is me. That belongs to me. Thank You, Lord, for making that possible for me. Thank You, Lord, for doing that for me. Thank You, Lord.

With this fact in mind that God’s Word is true and doesn’t change, we can see why the Lord exhorts us in Galatians 6:9 not to grow weary in well-doing. We are not to lose heart or grow weary or faint from doing what is right always, for in due season, at the appointed time, we shall reap, if we do not faint or give up or quit or lose courage. This is God’s promise to us right here in His Word. Take it; this truth belongs to you. It is yours. This is in the New Testament.

Let’s go to another familiar passage, this time in the Old Testament. We will be looking at the Amplified Bible.

Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding.
He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength, [causing it to multiply and making it to abound].
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted;
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Even the young people who are full of energy and vitality can grow weary and faint in their human efforts and become exhausted. God does not faint or grow weary, so if we are one with Him, we don’t have to faint or grow weary. He gives power to us, increases our strength, makes our strength multiply in abundance when we grow weary or feel like we are going to faint. We can lean on Him and draw our strength from Him. He will take care of us and our situations, whatever they may be.

As we worship the Lord, wait on Him, we exchange our weakness for His strength. He infuses us with new vitality. It is like a divine blood transfusion. He gives us His power, His strength to go through to the other side of adversity. We stay with Him and we walk through to victory.

Love Bought Me And Has Taken Up Residence

God’s divine love is the greatest power in the universe.

Love is healing power.
Love’s healing power is at work in me now.

Love dwells in, lives in, abides in, stays in me. My body is the temple of God, Love Himself. He dwells in me, keeping me strong, well, whole.

Love bought me.
Love paid the price for me----I am blood bought, purchased with the blood of Jesus. He redeemed me, bought me, delivered me from the hand of the enemy with His blood
Love came to my house, my body, and asked to buy the property and moved in and took up residence, remodeling this house into His temple.
Now I’m not my own.
I have been bought with a price.

God now dwells in me; His Presence drives out sickness and disease, which are messengers of satan who is death.
God’s nature, God’s life has taken up residence.

God’s strength, God’s joy, God’s peace are in me now, are now resident in me. I have peace for stress. I have strength for weakness. I have joy for sadness and depression. I have health for sickness and disease. I have abundance for lack. I have all I need to live a victorious life in this world. God is my provider.

According to Nehemiah 8:10, the joy of the Lord is my strength, my stronghold, my power to overcome. According to Psalm 59:17, the Lord is my strength. He is my strength and I will sing praises to Him. He is my defense, my fortress, my high tower. He is the God Who shows me mercy and steadfast love. According to Proverbs 18:10 the name of the Lord is my high tower, and I can run to Him for safety and He will lift me high above troubles. I dwell with Him in Heavenly places, seated there with Christ Jesus, far above all principalities and powers. According to Psalm 71:16, I will go in the strength of the Lord. And according to Psalm 84:7, I go from strength to strength, the Lord’s strength. I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. It is He Who keeps me strong, regardless of what is going on around me.

According to Romans 8:11, the Holy Spirit is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. He gives life (zoe) to my mortal body. He quickens, gives life to my mortal body.
Greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world.
God is greater, mightier, stronger than anything or anyone. He has made me an overcomer. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even my faith.

Romans 8:37
I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus.

Because Love Himself, Jesus Christ, bought me with His blood, I have strength for everything in Him. He dwells in me now with all that He is and all that He has. What more do I need or want. He makes me more than a conqueror over anything that would come my way. I can walk in victory in the midst of apparent defeat and failure. Why? Because Love never fails. And if I yield to Love Himself, then I am yielding to the greatest power in the universe, a power against which no foe can stand.

I will remember Who lives in me 24-7.

Rejoice

The way you become joyful is to rejoice in the Lord. The joy of the Lord is inside you if you are born again. You have to stir up that joy that is in you and as you rejoice, which is part of praising, the strength of the Lord becomes yours. Remember Nehemiah 8:10 which says that the joy of the Lord is your strength. Also, recall Psalm 8:2 which says this: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Jesus quoted this scripture in Matthew 21:16. …And Jesus saith unto them, yes; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise. Here Jesus was telling us that praise is the foundation of our strength in the Lord.

Today let’s look at scriptures on rejoicing. Take these scriptures and speak them until the praise of the Lord rises in you. As you can imagine, many of the references will be in the book of Psalms.

Psalm 5:11 Amplified Bible
But let all those who take refuge and put their trust in You rejoice; let them ever sing and shout for joy, because You make a covering over them and defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You and be in high spirits.

Psalm 13:5 KJV
But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

Psalm 20:4-6
May He grant you according to your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans.
We will [shout in] triumph at your salvation and victory, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.
Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.

Psalm 21:1
The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

Psalm 33:21
For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.

Psalm 35:27
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause; yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Psalm 63:7
Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

Psalm 70:4
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.

Psalm 89:16
In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

Psalm 119:162
I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.

Proverbs 31:25 Amplified Bible
Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure; she rejoices over the future [the latter day or time to come, knowing that she and her family are in readiness for it]!

Isaiah 62:5
…and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God….

Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.

The Counsel Of Eternity

If you are in need of some encouragement and uplifting statements concerning God’s plans for you and your future in Him, take a look at this scripture from the Amplified Bible.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end,....

Isn’t this an awesome scripture!
God has planted eternity in our hearts and minds. He has implanted eternity’s sense of purpose in us. And He is the only One Who can satisfy that plan. What a God we serve! He is so focused on making us His successful children. He is doing everything possible to reveal Himself and His Kingdom to us so that we will finally “get it.” God, yes the God Who created this universe and Who created you wants you to be successful and overflowing just like He is. After all, He is your Father. Fathers do like to see their children succeed.

Look at Psalm 73:24.
You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to honor and glory.
Combine this scripture with two other scriptures and you have a total picture of the God we serve.

Proverbs 19:21 KJV There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.
Amplified Bible
Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand.


Isaiah 46:9,10 KJV
Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit would come to us after He went away. And the Holy Spirit is called our counselor. When we have need of advice, we ought to ask the Holy Spirit first. God’s counsel will always be perfect for us. He is the Wisdom we need. He knows the end from the beginning and how to work it in the middle.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that we have someone to whom we can go when we need direction. He is our direction. He gives us direction. He guides us on the right path. He will never steer us in the wrong direction. If we will heed His voice and follow His leading, we will not go wrong. He is always right. You would think that we would take heed to that fact. God is always right and He is always endeavoring to keep us in the right path, which He has already chosen as the best path for us. His paths will lead us to the places that contribute to the wholeness of our lives and the completion of our assignments, our destinies fulfilled.

And then we can say with the Proverbs 31 woman in verse 25 in the Amplified Bible.
I rejoice over my future, knowing that I am in readiness for it.

Hallelujah! He keeps us ready and prepared. Our future is bright.

I Will Say Continually

The Word of God tells us specifically what we are to speak continually.

We find our instructions in two passages of scripture.

In Psalm 70:4 we read:
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. KJV

Amplified Bible
May all those who seek, inquire of and for You, and require You [as their vital need] rejoice and be glad in You; and may those who love Your salvation say continually, Let God be magnified!

Those who love salvation (victory, deliverance, aid, prosperity, health, help, welfare) say continually: Let God (Who is Love, Who is the Word) be magnified. Let Love Himself be magnified. Let the Word be magnified. Let God be enlarged, increased, made bigger, become bigger than anything else. Let the Word be increased, become bigger than anything else.

May those who LOVE Your SALVATION say continually, Let God be magnified.

So we can say it this way. I love Your salvation. I love Your health. I love Your victory. I love Your prosperity. I love Your deliverance. I love Your help, aid, welfare. So I say continually, Let God be magnified.

Those who love His salvation say continually: Let Him be magnified.

In Psalm 35.27 we read:
KJV Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Amplified Bible
Let those who favor my righteous cause and have pleasure in my uprightness shout for joy and be glad and say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.

Here are our instructions:
Our first instruction is this: we who take pleasure in God’s righteousness are to shout for joy and be glad. When we do that, here is our second instruction. Say continually: Let the Lord be magnified who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.

It looks to me as if we are to say: Let the Lord be magnified. We are to make Him larger than anything else in our lives. He is larger than sickness and disease. He is larger than lack and poverty. He is larger than depression and sadness. He is larger than hatred and violence. He is larger than terrorism and fear. He is bigger, better, larger than anything which confronts us.

LET THE LORD BE MAGNIFIED.

And I leave you with this powerful verse on saying.
Psalm 107:1,2
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

In other words, we as the redeemed of the Lord say this:
God, You are good. Your mercy and loving-kindness endure forever. You have DELIVERED me from the hand of the ADVERSARY, ENEMY. HALLELUJAH! GOD IS GOOD!

Confession For Good Ground

Today we will confess the word of God regarding what we have learned this week about the seed of God's Word and the good ground of our hearts.

Lord, my heart is receptive to your word.
I will receive the Word of God.
My heart is prepared to receive God’s Word.
I receive Jesus, the Living Word and also the written Word of God.
I receive the Word of God as the seed of life for me forever.
It is incorruptible, indestructible, unchanging, eternal seed.
My heart is good soil, good ground for this Word of God seed.
I am being changed from glory to glory as I behold in the Word of God as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.
Victory and success are mine because of the power of God’s Word being planted in my heart. That Word comes to full maturity in me and is harvested.
Thank You for Your Word, Lord.

My heart is good ground.
I pay attention to Your Word, Lord.
I listen to Your Word.
I look at Your Word.
I keep Your Word in my heart, in my spirit.
Your Word is life to me.

Because my heart is good ground, the seed of God’s Word will produce good fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100 fold.
I do understand God’s Word. I have revelation knowledge of God’s Word. Satan will not steal it out of my heart.

Psalm 119:18, 130, 125, 97, 103, 133, 38, 89
Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Word. The entrance of Your Word gives me understanding. Thank You that You give me understanding. I love Your Word. How sweet are Your words to my taste. Order my steps in Your Word. Your Word is established in my life. Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven and in my life.

My heart is free of offense and resentment and bitterness toward God or anyone else. Any place in my heart where there is darkness, reveal it to me. Enlighten my darkness.
I will remain steadfast, steady and will not stumble or fall away.

My heart is free of the cares and anxieties of this world. The pleasure and deceitfulness of riches do not cause me to stumble. I am free from care concerning my finances. God is my source and He will tell me what to do.

1 Peter 5:6,7 Amplified Bible
I humble myself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt me in due time.
I cast the whole of my care, all my anxieties, all my concerns, all my worries on Him for He cares for me. He will perfect that which concerns me. I give it all to You, Lord. I release all my care to your hands. I know that you care for me.

I desire Your Word above all else. Nothing takes the place of You or Your Word in my life.

My heart is good ground.
Love Himself is in my heart. He is producing good fruit.
Love Himself cleanses me continually.
The rain of the Spirit of God is bringing cleansing water and growing the seed in my heart.

Thank You, Lord, for creating in me a clean heart. This is Your doing and it is marvelous in my sight. You have taken out my stony heart, performed heart surgery and created Your heart of Love, free from the stones of the world.
THANK YOU!

The Ground, The Heart, Part 2

Yesterday we introduced the parable of the sower and began talking about our hearts as good ground. Today let’s talk about preparing our hearts to receive God’s Word. Let’s see from this parable what it takes to prepare our hearts to receive the seed, what it takes for it to grow into mature plants which produce fruit.

There is a life that we can live in this earth which is like days of Heaven on earth, the way it was in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned. What every one of us must realize is that we have an enemy, a contender for our faith, a thief who has the purpose of stealing from us any word that we may get, killing our expectations and destroying our trust, our faith in the power of the Word to produce results in our lives.

As long as we are on this earth, there will be persecution, affliction and trials introduced by our enemy to defeat us. That will not go away. However, there is a place where we can walk consistently with God’s Word as our stronghold, our steady guide and walk right on through these places in victory. We don’t arrive overnight. We continue obeying God and His Word and rest in His victory over satan and his works and his emissaries.

There is work involved here but not working to achieve. The battle has already been won. The work is the work that we personally do with the Word of God. Our minds have to be renewed daily to His Word. We are living in a world that is contrary to the principles of God’s Word. We must know His Word so that we can counteract those worldly thoughts and belief system. The more we know God and His Word, the easier it becomes.

What we have to do is get past the beginner’s stage where it is so tough to overcome what we have believed for all those years, which is opposite to the way God thinks. Children are so blessed if they come to the Lord and learn His Word when they are young. They have very little to overcome in their thought patterns. They start out right.

When the seed of the Word of God is sown in our hearts, the first thing we must overcome is the lack of understanding of the Word. We may not grasp it right away. That is the place where we must dig our heels in and say that we are not quitting until we do understand. Our Teacher is the Holy Spirit. We must ask Him to teach us, show us the reality of scripture passages that we don’t understand. We must also ask Him to show us places in our minds and hearts that don’t line up with His Word. He will show us. He has shown me so much over the years and I am grateful.

The truth of the Word does, indeed, bring joy to our lives. We do accept it. We do receive it. We do welcome it. What we must realize is that there will be a contention by satan for that Word developing in our lives. The greatest thing we have to fight is offense, offense against God and others when things start happening to trouble us and it looks like the opposite is happening. We must beware of “why, God, why” and “when, God, when.” What the enemy wants us to do is to question God’s faithfulness to take care of us. That is exactly what offense does.

Then there are always all the anxieties of living in this world that come to tell us we aren’t going to make it. There is the temptation to dwell on the security of riches and forge ahead to bring those riches into our lives, even just for things we need. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus told us that if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added to us. I have personal testimony of that in my life when I lived as a widow for 18 years. But, you know, there is a practical side to that also. I didn’t spend beyond my income and run up great credit card debt just so I could have everything that I thought I wanted. My son and I never lacked for any good thing. God always supplied. And, yes, even though I was in the ministry, there were a number of years that I worked so that we would have the necessary income we needed.

We must be careful that we don’t crave and desire things of the world instead of God and His Kingdom. He will supply all that we need and desire. Let’s do it His way and fruit will be produced.

The Ground, The Heart

For a number of days we have talked about the seed that is in our seed packet, the Bible. Let’s talk about the ground that those seeds go into. That ground is our hearts.

It is spring, the time of the year when we start planning what we are going to plant in our garden. I have already gotten some flower seeds that I will be planting this year. Spring is a time of expectation, anticipation of warm days ahead and the beautiful results of our planting.

I have a flower bed that I have been adding nutrients to for a long time, but every year, I take a spading fork and turn up that soil and add top soil, peat moss and cow manure to it. And every year I am rewarded with beautiful flowers. One year all I did was to plant the flowers and they didn’t produce such a beautiful garden. We can take lessons from our natural gardening and apply them to our spirits. Our hearts must be prepared for the seeds or they won’t produce what they are intended to produce.

In my life in the ministry I have seen so many people take hold in the beginning of the teaching of the word and with great joy receive it. But when the persecution came for the sake of the Word, they fell away, grew weary and went back to their old ways. There was a whole new life waiting for them if they just would not have quit or grown discouraged and allowed disappointment to consume them. We have an enemy who wants to sow weeds in our hearts, who tells us we don’t have to prepare ourselves to receive the Word. It is his job to convince us it won’t work for us.

Oh, there is such a wonderful, wide-open, unlimited place God wants each of us to walk in.

Let’s look at the parable of the sower, a very familiar passage of scripture for most of us. It is a parable about the heart. Jesus told us that if we don’t understand this parable, how can we understand others.

This parable is in Matthew 13:18-23, Mark 4:14-20 and Luke 8:11-15. We will use the passage in Mark and bring in the other two gospels as well.

Mark 4:14-20
The sower sows the word.
And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, satan comes immediately, and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
In Matthew we are told that these are people who hear the word and don’t grasp it, comprehend it, understand it

And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
In Matthew we are told that the word is temporary in these people. When affliction, trouble, or persecution comes on account of the Word, they stumble, are repelled, distrust the Lord and fall away from the Word.
In Luke we are told that they believe for a while and when persecution comes, they withdraw and fall away.

And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, and the cares (and anxieties) of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke (suffocate) the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

Prosperity Seed, Part 4

And here we are again with the prosperity seed packet.

Are you taking a different view of prosperity by now? I certainly trust that you are. Let the Word of God speak for itself.

Our seeds today are Psalm 1:1-3 in the Amplified Bible,and Joshua 1:7-9.

Psalm 1:1-3
BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.
But his delight and desire are in the law (we would say word) and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.
And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].

Joshua 1:7-9 Amplified Bible
Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.
Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

In these two passages of scripture in the Old Testament (even before Jesus came and died on the cross and redeemed us from the curse of the law) the Lord through the writers is telling us that we will prosper as we stay focused on Him and His Word and His ways.

If we look at Psalm 1 this is what we see. The person who delights in God’s Word, whose desire is toward the Lord and His Word continually shall be stable, unmovable and prosper. Do you notice that another word for prosper here is mature? A prosperous person is a mature person in the ways of the Lord. He is not moved by the wind and the waves and by every sleight of doctrine. We all are attaining to maturity, to prosperity every day. Don’t compare yourself to someone else. Measure yourself in terms of the Spirit of God’s yardstick for you for that day, for that week, for that month, for that year. He will always measure it against the Word, but He will never condemn you or give you too much to digest at once. Only man in his zeal for you to know about God and His ways does that.

And then look at Joshua. As we keep God’s Word before us, coming out of our mouth, thinking on it during the day and at night before we go to sleep, we shall have a prosperous life. As we not only look at God’s Word and speak it and meditate it, but also as we do what it says, we shall be successful. Our way will be prosperous. We shall deal wisely. We shall have good success.

Prosperity is a result of a Godly life. It is not automatic. We must know that prosperity is God’s gift to us as His children, members of His household, royalty in His Kingdom. We must reach out and take it as a gift from our Father. He will not only give us the gift, He will teach us how to take care of the gift. He always maintains what He gives. What we have to do is learn of His gift and take it and let the Spirit of God teach us how to use it for the Kingdom of God, for God’s purposes.

I believe that many of you have learned some things from God’s Word about prosperity in these last teachings. It is my prayer and my desire that you will become the prosperous children that God intended you to be. Stay focused on Him, love Him, obey Him, love and respect Him and His Word and be doers of His powerful Word, and He will do the rest.

This is my prayer for you: May The Blessing of the Lord operate in you in His fullness.

Prosperity Seed, Part 3

Let’s see what other prosperity seeds are in our Bible packet of seeds today.

Psalm 37:3-5
Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed.
Delight yourself also in the Lord; and he shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

What a list of promises this is to those who trust the Lord, who delight in Him and who commit their way to Him. I hear some of you out there right now saying that you don’t know how to trust in the Lord, you don’t know how to have faith. There is a quick solution for that. His name is the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to teach you how to trust and have faith. I have been relying on Him more and more. He is teaching me about trust. He is showing me areas in my life that have accumulated through the years to dilute my trust in the Lord.

This life of depending on the Spirit of God is so relaxing and peaceful. It is a big thing for me to make that statement. I have been a Martha all my life----do this, do that, run here, run there, please everyone, make sure all is done, make sure all is well for everyone, make everybody’s life happy. And I am now learning what a joy it is to depend on the Lord. It certainly does make things much less complicated. And I have to tell you that this is happening in a time in my life when everything in my life is changing rapidly—comfort zone kicked out, faith needed greatly. It is a time of many things rearranging and of new things being introduced. And yet I am so excited about God and what HE is doing. It is wonderful.

My dear readers, this is what prosperity is all about.
Trust-------You’ll be fed.
Delight-----You’ll be given the desires of your heart.
Commit----He’ll bring it to pass.

I can’t begin to tell you what is going on inside me as I type this. I pray the anointing comes over the internet into your life, the anointing of prosperity in every area of your life. Expect God to move in your life and on your behalf. He is waiting for you to expect Him to do what He needs to do in your life. He has been waiting a long time for some of you to release Him to move. There is so much stored up for you in the way of prosperity.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came that we might have and enjoy life, have it in abundance, to the full, until it overflows (Amplified Bible seed).
That abundance Jesus is talking about is superabundant in quantity and superior in quality.

I know in my heart that agape love is the key to prosperity in every area of our lives. We start that love journey by learning how much our dear Heavenly Father loves us. We dwell on that until it is reality to us. Romans 5:5 NLT I know how dearly God loves me because He has given me the Holy Spirit to fill my heart with His love. We must meditate on this verse until we know it. My dear Heavenly Father loves me. We cannot go any further in our love command until we know that God loves us dearly and unconditionally. His love for us does not depend on what we do or what we don’t do. It doesn’t depend on whether we sin or don’t sin. It doesn’t depend on anything. It is already a fact which will not change or fail and which is established throughout all eternity. God loves you. He determined that before the foundation of the world, and He doesn’t change or alter what he does or says. His ways and His word are forever, eternal, unchangeable.

For those of you who are gasping at my last statements. Sin does affect you and takes you out of the wonderful fellowship with the Father. It takes you out from the covering of His protection and exposes you to the curse. But it does not alter the Father’s love for you. God loves all the murderers and terrorists and people who have done horrible things. He loves them all the way to hell, trying to get them to turn around and look into the eyes of Love. Once a person sees into the eyes of the Father’s Love, He is forever changed. That is what we must pray for those who are lost and in sin.

Prosperity Seed, Part 2

The next seeds I want us to plant are Psalm 35:27, Psalm 34:1,3,8-10 and Psalm 40:16. We must know for certain that the Lord wants us to prosper before we can accept prosperity for ourselves personally.

Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause (have pleasure in my uprightness---Amplified Bible) : yes, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him.
O fear the Lord, you his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
(That word “fear” here is not used in the sense of afraid but in the sense of worship, revere, honor.)
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

We see from these scripture seeds that we are to magnify the Lord continually. We are to make Him larger than anything that is on this earth. Everyone knows what happens when you put a magnifying glass over something. It becomes greatly enlarged. Did you know that God is a God of enlargement? He is a God of increase and abundance. Since God is all good and all blessing, subtraction and decrease are not a part of His nature. Only multiplication, addition, increase, abundance is part of His nature. That is all He is. And that is what He intends for His children to be, if they are going to be like their Father.

The enemy satan has done a real number on all of us by making us think it is wrong to increase. Since that is all that God is, then if we are decreasing, there is something wrong with our relationship with Him. What we must do is not to get into condemnation and say that we will never succeed. We must say that we are succeeding, even when it looks like we are not in the natural. Success starts inside before it is produced on the outside. A prosperous attitude about all of life is created on the inside of every human being before it manifests on the outside.

We are to magnify the Lord. We are to rejoice in Him and be glad in Him. We are to shout for joy and be glad in the Lord. And here is what we are to say continually: Let the Lord be magnified, which has pleasure in my prosperity. What a wonderful life this is when we operate according to His word. I am sensing joy even as I type and read these two scripture seeds. I rejoice in my Lord and exalt Him and praise His name and extol Him and magnify Him in all the earth. What a wonderful Father we have. He is pleased when we prosper in every area of our lives.

Let’s not limit prosperity to the mammon of this earth. That is so miniscule and a tiny part of the prosperous life. The money, the mammon is so weak and feeble and ineffective without the hand of God on a person. Money is useless and foolishness in the hands of a man or woman without God. It is totally useless as far as God’s Kingdom is concerned. But in the hands of a child of God, who honors His Lord in all that He does, money is an earthly tool that will do a job for us. You see, money is nothing more than a tool. That is all that it is. And we must see it that way. It has no life. What appears to be life in it is just satan attempting to make it take on importance. It has no importance except in the hands of God’s child.

Oh, if I can only get you to see this. Without the hand of God on anything in our lives, it is empty and useless. More and more I am sensing the absolute totality of God wanting to be involved in everything I think and say and do, even the earthly duties I perform. He wants to be involved in all of us----spirit, soul, body, socially, financially.

For example, as I am typing this Pearls of Wisdom, I am looking out my window and seeing snowflakes falling. They are so different in shape as I observe them. What does that have to do with prosperity, you may ask? My soul is prospering. God is giving me the pleasure of seeing the intricacies of His creation. And He is taking pleasure in my joy. That is prosperity. Do you see what I am attempting to convey to you about prosperity? Take your mind off the money part of it and see the vast open space of prosperity that we have not even tapped into.

It appears that the Lord wants us to dwell here in this land for a few days as He has given me more scripture seeds for tomorrow.

Prosperity Seed

All you gardeners and farmers, let’s get another seed packet and do some sowing, some planting of good seed that will definitely grow up and produce fruit.

The next seed packet is one that so many Christians are hesitant to open up and definitely hesitant to sow. It is called prosperity and it has gotten a “bum wrap” because satan does not want God’s children to know what it really means. So, it has been hidden behind such phrases as “get rich quick scheme” or "it’s all about money” or “that’s all they think about, money.” In fact, prosperity is a much broader subject than money. Money is included as just one factor in prosperity, but there are so many other facets to this word.

Let’s look at prosperity from a purely dictionary definition viewpoint. I am using The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary for my definitions. First, let’s look at the word “prosper.” It means to be successful; to succeed; to grow or increase; to thrive; to make gain. Prosperity is defined as advance or gain in anything good or desirable; successful progress in any business or enterprise; success; attainment of the object desired.

Since success appears to be such a big part of the definition of prosperity, let’s look at the word “success” or “succeed” in the dictionary. Succeed: To obtain the object desired; to accomplish what is attempted or intended. Success: The favorable or prosperous termination of anything attempted; a termination which answers the purpose intended. Successful: Terminating in accomplishing what is wished or intended; having the desired effect.

In God’s Kingdom we are talking about achieving the desired end result in our spirits, our souls, our bodies, our relationships, our finances. Anything that involves our lives must be included in prosperity or success.

Let’s look at prosperity overall. What defines prosperity in our spirits? The desired end result for us spiritually is to be born again and to walk with the Lord in our daily lives, putting Him first in all that we do. The desired end result for us in our souls is that our wills are conformed to God’s will in our lives, that our emotions are guided by the fruit of the Spirit of God, and that our minds are renewed with the Word of God. The desired end result for us in our bodies is that we walk in divine health. The desired end result for relationships is that we walk in love and peace with one another in unity. The desired end result for finances is that we have all that God has intended for us to live on this earth and to finance the Kingdom of God in this earth.

So, you see now that prosperity involves so much more than money. You can have all the money you need and be sick. You can be healthy and not have enough money to pay your bills. You can have a wonderful love walk and not know how to put God’s Word to work in your life. You can have plenty of money but not know God’s will for you on this earth and have your emotions totally out of balance so that you are running from one counselor to another and one psychiatrist to another. Prosperity is about the whole person. Wholeness is what God majors in.

The first seed we will take out of our seed packet, the Bible, is 3 John 2
Beloved, I desire, wish, pray above all else that you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.

If our soul (mind, will and emotions) is not prospering, other things in our life will not line up. What is the solution to a prosperous soul? The fullness of God and His Kingdom is the solution. His fullness for us involves His Word being in our mouths and hearts, His Holy Spirit having the complete right in our lives, understanding and use of His name that is above every name, and understanding and application of the blood of Jesus that was shed for us. There you have it----His Word, His Spirit, His Name and His Blood. It is a total package. One without the other is incomplete.

Tomorrow we will look at more prosperity seed. For today let’s focus on 3 John 2 all day.