My Worth

My worth in life is not judged by what I do but by who I am.

I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. My Father, God Almighty, has given me the opportunity to be born again, to become a new person, to have another chance at life. He has made me in His image. I am His child.

God calls Himself I AM. He told Moses to tell the people that I AM had sent him. God is saying: I AM what you need me to be. What is it you need Me to be for you? I AM that.

Jesus told us many things that He was. He said: I am the bread of life (John 6:35). I am the light of the world (John 8:12). Before Abraham was, I AM (John 12:26). In Revelation 1:18 He said that I am He that liveth and am alive forever more.

Because of Jesus Christ, there are so many things I am.

I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:37).
I am free because the Son has made me free (John 8:36).
I am healed and healthy.
I am prosperous.
I am righteous.
I am full of joy.
I am a child of Love.
I am peaceful.
I am stress free and care free.
I am delivered.
I am safe because He is my refuge, my place of safety.
I am strong because He is my fortress, my place of strength, my stronghold.
I am filled with His Spirit.
I am an overcomer. I overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of my testimony.
I am abundantly full of the power of God, the love of God, the life of God, the light of God.
Because as He is, so am I in this world.
I am because He is.

My Heavenly Father sees me as perfect and beautiful, lacking nothing. He sees me through the eyes of His Son Jesus. I am His child also. He is my Father. He is my Papa. He is everything I will ever need. He is my all in all. I am His and He is mine. We are One.

God's Workmanship

I have read Psalm 139:1-6 and 13-18 in the New Living Translation, and it has brought tears to my eyes, realizing how much God cares for me. Listen!

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my every thought when far away.
You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest.
Every moment you know where I am.
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
You both precede and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book,
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable.
I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

This is who you are—a creation of the Father God., from the moment of your conception. You are God’s creation! And he loves you dearly, with all His heart. So, love Him with all your heart!

God Has A Plan

There is a powerful truth in Ephesians 2:10. Let’s look at it in the Amplified Bible.

For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time), that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

You and I have been created by God Himself. We are His workmanship. He has created us in His own image, with His very nature. He loved us so much that when Adam and Eve let go of God’s nature and His lordship, God had a plan. He had already made provision for His Son Jesus to come to this earth in the form of flesh and blood as the second Adam, to do what the first Adam did not do. Jesus made the way for man once again to be in the image of God, possessing God’s nature. What a plan!

We have been recreated; we are new creations in Christ Jesus; we have been born again, born anew.

There is a purpose for our creation. We are to do the works that God has planned beforehand for us. Before the foundation of the world, God knew us and had our lives planned for us. It is a good plan. He has forged paths in which we are to walk. These paths are already prepared for our walking. They are paths of the good life, to live life fully, in abundance, to the full until it overflows (John 10:10). These paths are ready and waiting. All we have to do is to choose to walk in them.

God Has Called Us

God has called us. He has given us an inheritance. He has set us apart as His own. We are His children, called by His name, a member of the family of God, the household of faith.

Everything the Father has is ours right now, not later. Right now, here on this earth, all that my Father has made available for me through covenant is mine. He has made provision for my well being, for my welfare, as I carry out my assignment here on this earth as His child, representing Him. I have been given things to do for Him. And so have you. Every one of us has been given specific assignments to complete while we are here. What father would ask his child to do something and not provide them with the means to do it? No earthly father, who is a good father, would assign chores to his child without giving that child the equipment to do the job.

Even so, our Heavenly Father has given us the equipment to carry out what He has called us to do. He is not holding out on us. There is a thief whose name is satan, who is doing all that he can to divert, to distract, to lure us from what we are called to do. Satan has only one focus. Do whatever it takes to keep God’s children from accomplishing their assigned tasks.

All that my Father has belongs to me. He has even given me His nature of Love, the very power force that “runs” His Kingdom. He has given me son ship and Kingship. I sit with Him on His throne, through Christ Jesus. A throne represents authority and power. I am sitting there on God’s throne, with Christ Jesus. I have been given the very life of Christ Himself. In Him I live and move and have my being (Acts 17:28).

I can do what I have been called to do.

Having God's Vision

Let’s continue our study in the book of Ephesians with verses 17-23 in the first chapter in both the King James Version and the Amplified Bible. Confess these words with me and speak them every day until you know that you know that you know what Jesus Christ has purchased for you. Are you ready? Let’s personalize God’s Word as we speak it.

For I always pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give or grant to me the spirit of wisdom and revelation, of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him,

By having the eyes of my understanding, the eyes of my heart enlightened, flooded with light,
Why?
So that I can know and understand the hope to which God has called me, the hope of His calling,
So that I can know and understand the riches of His glorious inheritance, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in me as one of His saints, His set-apart ones.
So that I can know and understand the exceeding greatness (the immeasurable, unlimited, surpassing greatness) of His power to us-ward who believe, in us and for us who believe.

This power was demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, of His mighty power which He exerted, wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.
(Ephesians 2:6 And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit together [giving us joint seating with Him] in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.)

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.

And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].

Blessed Of God

For the next several days, let’s explore the book of Ephesians. I know we will learn much.

In chapter 1, in the very first part of that chapter, we read these words in verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Here is a very clear truth that is set forth immediately in this book. God, our dear heavenly Father, our very own papa, has blessed us as His children. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and He is our Father.

Our Father has blessed us with ALL, that is ALL, spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm. Those blessings are given to us by the Holy Spirit. He is the member of the Godhead Who is here on this earth right now, bringing the fullness of the Kingdom of God into our lives every day.

Meditate on this verse until you see yourself blessed, empowered with the power and authority of God Almighty. To be blessed is to prosper, to succeed, to be empowered to partake of everything God has in His realm. It is all ours. All we have to do is receive.

Show Forth His Glory

Today my heart is filled with love for the Lord as the first day of autumn dawns. He has filled this earth with His goodness and His beauty and His power, all for you and me as His children.

The heavens declare His glory and the earth rings out with His beauty. Beauty has a voice and it declares God’s goodness and proclaims His Kingdom authority. The word “beautiful” has a different understanding in God’s Kingdom than in the earthly realm. In the earthly realm beauty is something the eyes behold, based on physical visual comfort to one’s eyes. In God’s Kingdom, beauty is a description of His peace and tranquility, of His love and goodness, of His joy and absolute delight with life.

God is Love. God is the very life of everything. When we are full of God, we are full of love. When we are full of God, we are full of life. His life is freedom. His love is demonstrated in a fullness of life feeling. Our soul does exalt the Lord and declare His glory.

Psalm 89:11-13
The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all that is in it, You have founded them.
The north and the south, You have created them….
You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand, Your right hand is soaring high.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and loving-kindness and truth go before Your face.

Psalm 96 tells us to sing to the Lord and show forth His salvation all day long. We are to declare His glory among the nations and His marvelous works among the people. Let us rejoice in the Lord all day today. Show forth His goodness and bathe in the showers of His blessing all day long.

His Word Of His Power

As I was writing yesterday’s Pearls of Wisdom, I was meditating on how powerful God’s Word truly is.

In Hebrews 1:3 we are told that God is upholding all things by the Word of His Power. Some people have asked me why the writer didn’t put the words down differently and call it the power of His Word. We know that there is power in God’s Word. We know that there is His power exercised through His Word.

We know that God is pure power. We know that His Word expresses that pure power. Therefore, the phrase must be “the Word of His power.” He is upholding, sustaining, guiding, propelling all things by the Word of His power.

We have stated it before and must state it again. Love is God. God is Love. The Word is God. God is the Word. We are told that in John 1 and in the book of 1 John several times. God’s Love is the greatest power in the universe. That Love is expressed through His Word. His Word is the expression of His power.

Think about this: God is upholding all things right now by the Word of His power. His Word created all things and His Word is holding it all together. It would seem to me that since it is God’s Word that is holding all things together, then we as His children should focus totally on His Word and not our own little attempts to use our weak, earthly words to control people and circumstances. So many people are into positive confession, and that is good. We need to be positive. Positive words will affect us and things around us, but without the power of God’s Word, there will be no long-term sustaining of people when they are in difficult situations, or, for that matter while they are daily living their normal lives here on this earth.

God’s Word will keep us steady when the winds blow. Remember what the Bible says about Abraham in Romans 4:20,21----He did not stagger at the promise of God (God’s Word to him). Why? He finally knew that God was true to whatever He said. That is to be our stand. God’s Word is true. Everything else must line up with the Word of God’s power. We believe it. We don’t back down from it. We praise God that His Word is working in our lives. That is where we stand. We are fully satisfied and persuaded that God keeps His Word of His power.

The Word Of His Power

We continue our study in Isaiah 61 today with the last two verses.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

In the Amplified Bible, the very last part of verse 11 says that rightness and justice and praise will spring forth before all the nations [through the self-fulfilling power of His word].

I want everyone to take a close look at the many reasons we will greatly rejoice in the Lord and be joyful in Him.
He has clothed us with the garments of salvation.
He has covered us with the robe of righteousness, just like a bride or bridegroom put on their adornments for the wedding day.
The Lord God causes righteousness and praise to spring forth.

Some of you may be thinking: So what’s the big deal? Righteousness is what Jesus purchased for us; it is what gives us power in God’s Kingdom. Every Word of God is His power expressed in this earth. We are right with God. He puts praise in our mouths to declare His righteousness in this earth. He has delivered us (that’s what salvation means if you look it up). God has sown everything of Himself, of His Kingdom, in the garden of our lives. He guarantees that the seed sown will produce fruit. That seed is His Word. Contained in that Word is the power of His Kingdom. We would not have access to the fullness of His Word performed in our lives unless we were right with Him. Jesus Christ has made us righteous. WE ARE RIGHTEOUS! AND HIS WORD IS POWER!

The Oil Of Joy

Today and tomorrow I want to spend some time in Isaiah 61.

Let’s look at the first three verses today. They refer to Jesus and to you who have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

Right now, this very moment, today, there are all sorts of things happening around us in the world at large, the economy, the uncertainly about wars and natural disasters, etc. And there are personal circumstances that would seem to consume us and encircle us with impossibilities to survive. In the midst of all of this churning world, there is the peace of Jesus Christ and His joy.

When there are situations that cause us to mourn, the Spirit of God is there to comfort us and to give us His oil of joy for the mourning we experience. He places a garment of praise on us for the spirit of heaviness. The one unchanging and stable factor in our lives in tough times is the Spirit of God, Whose makeup includes joy. When we turn to Him instead of turning away from Him, we experience that comfort of knowing that we will “make it”; we will come through with a testimony of praise to God.

When you don’t feel like it----especially when you don’t feel like it----praise the Lord. On purpose, realize that you have joy, regardless of how you feel. There are times in our lives when we must make a stand and draw a line in the sand. I am standing in the joy of the Lord and I refuse to do otherwise. Make that your decision today. Then those tough times won’t deter you. You will stay on that steadfast path with the Lord as your source of strength, your God to guide you.

Godly Wisdom

Today let’s talk about Godly Wisdom and what the acquiring of it produces in our lives.

Listen to Proverbs 8:35. Whoever finds Wisdom finds life and draws forth and obtains favor from the Lord.

I like what Proverbs 3:13, 15 and 16 say. Listen.
Draw forth skillful and Godly wisdom from God’s Word and life’s experiences. Skillful and Godly wisdom is more precious than rubies and nothing you can desire is to be compared with her. Length of days is in her right hand and riches and honor are in her left hand.
I like that----long life, riches and honor, all from allowing God’s wisdom to be the center of our life’s journey.

We cap it off with Proverbs 3:21 to 26. I love this passage of scripture. Let it get down deep in your spirit man and settle there.

Don’t lose sight of Godly Wisdom (good planning and insight NLT). They fill you with life and bring you honor and respect. They keep you safe. You can lie down and not be afraid and enjoy sweet sleep, pleasant dreams. You need not be afraid of disaster or destruction for the Lord is your safety, your security, your confidence. He is the One Who makes your confidence in Him firm and strong. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap or some hidden danger.

Look at what God’s wisdom does for us. It gives us a good life, filled with honor and respect. We are safe and sleep well, having good dreams. We are not afraid; fear does not have a place in our lives because we know that we are safe with the Lord. He is our security Who keeps us from the traps of the enemy. I don’t know about you, but I think that is shouting ground. What else do we need! We will let the Wisdom of God guide us in all that we do and say.

God Reigns

Let’s exalt the Lord today and magnify Him. One of the best ways to do that is to worship Him with Psalms.

Psalms 93:1-5 KJV and Amplified Bible
The Lord reigns; He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is robed, He has girded Himself with strength and power; the world also is established, that it cannot be moved.
Your throne is established from of old, You are from everlasting.
The Lord on high is mightier and more glorious than the noise of many waters, yes, than the mighty breakers and waves of the sea.
Your testimonies are very sure; holiness is becoming to Your house, O Lord, forever.

Look at those verses. The Lord Who is our God and lives inside us reigns. That means He is there to rule and reign as a King for us. But there is one thing we must realize: He will rule and reign as much as we give Him the right to rule and reign in our lives. He has given us the choice to do it our own way or yield to Him.

Isn’t He wonderful! He is clothed with majesty. He has girded Himself with STRENGTH AND POWER. He is strong; He is mighty; He is filled with the greatest power in the universe. He is the power of the world. He has all we will ever need. Do you need strength today? Draw on His strength. Let His power carry you through the day.

He has established to world so that it cannot be moved. His throne is established forever and ever and He Who sits on the throne is from everlasting. And the great thing is that because of Jesus Christ, we are seated with Him on the throne that is from everlasting with the One Who is from everlasting. Wow! That is good news. What a wonderful privilege we have!

He is mighty; He is glorious; His Word is true; He is holy. What a God we serve!

Yield to Him today; allow Him to direct your life; follow His directions; obey Him and His Word and you will be successful. You will come up to the top. Focus on this Psalm today and allow the reality of what it says to become a part of you. Focus on the might of God instead of your own human ability. Think on Him and His awesome power which is available for you. Think on His greatness. And that great One lives in you today and forever. He is there. He is available. He has only good things for you. God is a good God, and He reigns forever.

Rescued

God the Father has delivered you and me from the kingdom of darkness, from satan and all his works of darkness and from the demonic forces that rule in darkness.

Let’s look at Colossians 1. In order to lead into the verses we want to discuss today, we must start with verse 9 and work our way down through verse 14.

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet (def. of meet here is able) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Who has delivered us from the power (that word is actually translated authority) of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son;
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

If we look at the King James Version of the Bible and the Amplified Bible and the New Living Translation we see this about our Heavenly Father here in this passage.

Our dear heavenly Father has delivered us; He has rescued us from the control, the authority, the dominion of darkness. He has rescued us from satan, the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness. He has translated us, transferred us, brought us into His Kingdom of the Son of His Love, Jesus Christ. The Father has drawn us to Himself through Jesus. Do you see how much He loves you? From the Garden of Eden to the present time, He has one thing on His mind, His mankind and their freedom from bondage. Because of His love, deliverance is always on His mind. He want us free more than we have ever desired to be free.

Freedom is already here. God has already provided freedom from sickness and disease, poverty, want, lack, defeat, failure. How does this freedom come for us personally? We must accept what He has done in Jesus as being ours right now, regardless of where we are. In the midst of lack or want or sickness and disease or doubt or fear, we must see ourselves with what Jesus has already bought us. We have been purchased with the blood of Jesus and our sins are forgiven. We are clean. The Word is our passport to deliverance. When God’s Word becomes more real to us than our circumstances, faith or trust in God has arisen in our hearts and we are free right then and there. Nothing can take away that sense of freedom.

Believe God and His Word as the Truth for YOU personally today.

The Word

Today, I want you to focus on Jesus, the Word. As you speak your scriptures today, as you study your Bible, as you meditate God’s Word, focus on the fact that Jesus is the Word made flesh and dwelling among us. The Word is everything. Without the Word of God, life for people is difficult, if not downright impossible. God’s Word will not return to Him void, but it will produce what it is sent forth to produce.

Do not become discouraged and say that the Word does not work for you. The Word of God always works. What we have to do is get honest with ourselves and admit that it is us.

Just this week, God showed me some things in my heart that needed to be dealt with. When He took care of them, my heart was so free. There can be so much clutter in our minds and hearts that blocks the performance of God’s Word in our lives. What we must do is rest in Him and trust Him to take care of us, developing us, maturing us, day by day and year by year. It is a growing process, a living process the rest of our lives.

It can really become fun if we will allow Him to do His work instead of fretting and fussing about what hasn’t happened yet. I found that I had spent more time a number of years ago focusing on what wasn’t happening instead of looking at all the things God was doing for me. You got up this morning, didn’t you? Thank Him for the breath of life. You can start there and He will show you many things throughout the day that are good.

Think on this word today.
John 1:1-5,12,13
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power (authority, right, privilege) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Heavenly Authority For Earthly Dominion

In Genesis 1:28, God blessed mankind and spoke The Blessing over Him. There were five things God spoke as part of The Blessing. Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue the earth and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

The serpent moves upon the earth and when Adam and Eve did not take dominion over that serpent, whom satan was using as a body to inhabit, that dominion that God had given to man became satan’s. Man lost his authority. From that point on until Jesus came, when God blessed men in the Old Testament, the Word says that He told them to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. We do not see the reference to subdue or have dominion, authority until Jesus came.

While Jesus was here on the earth, He told His disciples in Luke 10:19 that He gave them power or authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing should by any means hurt them. We are just as much the Lord’s people as those disciples are. God has no favorites; with Him there is no dividing line; He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

That word there for power is exousia which means: Having the right, authority, capability to exercise might, ability, power, strength; permission, authority, right, liberty, power to do anything, freedom. That’s enough for me right there.

Then look what Jesus did when He left the earth. In Luke 24:50 and 51 He blessed the disciples. While He was blessing them, He departed. We know that He said only what His Father told Him to say. I truly believe that He spoke over them the same blessing that the Father had spoken to Adam, in its fullness, all five parts. If we look at the last chapters of Matthew and Mark in the last verses, we hear Him saying that all authority has been given unto Him. Go ye therefore into all the earth and preach the gospel, cast out demons, heal the sick, etc. in His name. When someone gives you their name to use, they are giving you their authority that is behind that name.

Once again, we have the authority from God to do what He has called us to do. What we have to do is learn what is in that authority and learn how to use that authority which we have been given.

Money Husk And Word Seed

How many of you have put money in an offering bucket, expecting God to provide for your need and nothing happened? You were upset, angry and discouraged all at the same time. The bills didn’t get paid and the money didn’t come. The bank threatened to foreclose your house and it looked like your car was going to be repossessed. What happened? What is wrong? Are those some of the questions you asked?

When we give an offering to God, the money is just the husk. It is not the seed. It is the vehicle through which we activate the seed. And what is the seed? It is the Word of God. What seed did you speak over that offering before you put it in the offering basket? At home, did you deliberately sit down and pray over that seed with the Word of God. And then after you released it in the offering, did you continue to speak that Word of God over your offering and water the seed of the Word with praise and thanksgiving.

You see, the money is simply the husk of the seed. The seed is the Word of God. The money goes on and is used in the ministry or church to which you gave it. Every seed has a husk, and when that seed is planted in the ground, the husk is used up and goes. But that seed remains. If it is watered and sunshine gets to it and the weeds are kept from it; that seed will grow up and produce fruit. In this case, it would be the fruit of financial provision to pay your bills and take care of you.

Two of the best scripture passages I know to use as seed for tithe and for offerings are these.

For the tithe: Malachi 3:10 and 11. I am using the Amplified Bible.
Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer [insects and plagues] for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts.

One translation says that He will empty out the unending blessing that never stops.

For offerings: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11
I am not going to quote this whole scripture but make a comment that God’s Word here says that He is able to make every earthly blessing come to you in abundance, whatever your need and whatever the circumstances. He ministers seed for you to sow and bread for you to eat and multiplies your resources for sowing.

God wants to bless you more than you want to receive His blessing. If you have not been successful before, keep these two passages of scripture alive in you day and night until they become more real than your debt. And you will begin to see that debt come down and bow its knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, be practical and do what needs to be done in the natural as you grow the seed of the Word of God in you until it grows up and becomes fruitful.

Desire Is Not Enough

In Psalm 37:3-5 we read that we are to trust in the Lord and do good and feed on God’s faithfulness. We are to delight ourselves in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart. We commit our way to the Lord, rolling our cares over on Him and He will bring that desire in our hearts to pass.

Desire is necessary, but desire is not enough. In God’s Kingdom, faith produces results. I can greatly desire to be well or be debt free, but without faith I will not get well and will still be in debt. There is no magic formula. God gave us the principles of His Kingdom in His Word. We have two very basic instructions on faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Faith works by love.

How does faith come? By hearing and hearing by the Word of God. God’s Word is what produces faith in our lives. Do you desire healing? Get several scriptures on healing and meditate on them day and night, confess them over and over to yourself, see yourself walking out those scriptures. Do you desire to be debt free? Again, get God’s Word on financial freedom and dwell in it until that freedom is yours. Don’t give up. Stay with it, regardless of how long it takes. Meanwhile, do whatever you have to do in the natural to take care of that sickness or that debt.

In the beginning, that Word of God will be in your mind. You believe you CAN be healed. You know that Jesus died and provided healing for you. But that is not enough. CONTINUE meditating in God’s Word and there comes a day when you know---you just know. It is in your heart, in your spirit. Then when you speak out that word of healing or financial freedom, healing is yours and financial freedom is yours.

I have been walking with the Lord for a long time and studying faith and how it comes, and I have seen so many people give up and quit and become discouraged and offended at God because “He didn’t come through for them.” He came through for you and me many thousands of years ago when Jesus died and rose again and made provision for everything we will ever need. It is already a done deal. What we must do is come into agreement with God that it is a done deal for us personally. And He gave us His Word for that very purpose.

And then when faith comes, it works by love. When or if we have unforgiveness or offense in our hearts, we can have all the faith in the world, but it will not work in an unforgiving heart.

What is it you desire today? Go to the Lord and ask Him to show you what is blocking your answer. Do you need to dwell in His Word? Do you have unforgiveness in your heart or offense toward anyone or God? He will answer you because He loves you so much He wants you healthy; He wants you prospering in your home and life and marriage and finances and relationships: He wants your children prospering in Him as well. He is not holding out on you.

God's Word Is A Fact

Come to the Lord for love and fellowship and intimacy.

An agenda of wants is not necessary.

He already has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness, all you will ever need.

God’s Word is a fact to me as a New Covenant Christian, living in the New Testament times. His Word was a promise to the Old Testament men and women of God. But today His Word is a fact, established for us. It is ours; Jesus has already paid the price for the total presentation of His Word to us as established in His blood forever. His Word is a fact. A fact is something that is there. It is a fact. Some examples of facts are these (and actually they are subject to change since they are earthly and therefore temporal): There is a sun and a moon and they shine at various times. There is gravity on the earth. The sky is blue. The grass is green. Birds sing. And we could go on with the list, but as we already see, each of these earthly facts can have variations of the fact which is established.

God’s Word is a fact that is established for all eternity. Once He says it, it is established forever. He has said that with the stripes that wounded Jesus we have been healed and made whole. That is a fact established in the Word of God. He has said in His Word that He is our strength. He has said in His Word that He desires for us to prosper and be in health. He has said in His Word that we are redeemed, saved. These are all facts, established forever. A fact is something we can depend on to be true for us.

What is left for us to do? We are to love Him, spend time with Him, enjoy His presence. Oh, how He longs for that fellowship and love. I am learning that as I spend time with Him, all the facts of His Word will come to pass in my life. In His Presence is the fulfillment of His Word. We all need to spend less time asking and more time basking (in His Presence).

The Lord God has already given us everything we need. We must believe this and allow Him to work things out for us. I know times can be rough and seemingly endless as we wait upon Him, but He will take care of us. There is a song that says: God will take care of you. He will take care of you. Through every day, o’er all the way, He will take care of you. God will take care of you.

Let’s focus more on the fact of His supply and less on the worry of our need.

GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU!

Lord, Keep Me

We finish Psalm 139 with these words.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

This is a prayer in itself.
Lord, keep me on the right path.
Show me things that upset you.
Point out to me anything that offends You.
You know my heart, Lord; You are the One Who knows my thoughts.
So, with that in mind, Lord, show me thoughts that you don’t like. Show me thoughts that will harm me. Show me thoughts that will protect me and keep me in the right path. Show me thoughts that will bring me your Blessing. Keep me thinking Your thoughts because they are the ones that will produce the right results in my life.

Lead me along the path of everlasting life. God’s life is zoe life, no death in it, no lack in it, no sickness and disease in it, nothing but pure life. My prayer for you and for me is that God leads us along His pathway of life that is forever pure, eternally blessing, always producing the fullness of God’s realm in us.

Oh, God, thank You for creating us so wonderfully and allowing us to be Your children. We consider it a privilege to know You and to be counted as Your children.

God Created Me

Let’s continue reading Psalm 139 in the New Living Translation.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous----and how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

Look at these words.
God made you. He made every little intricate part of your body. He is the One Who put you together in your mother’s womb. He created you and made you the awesome person you are. His workmanship is marvelous. He saw you before you were ever born. He had already recorded every day of your life. He already saw every moment of your life laid out before you had breathed the oxygen of this earth one single day. When you go to sleep, and when you wake up, He is still with you. What a big God! He is bigger than we can comprehend right now.

God has made you. Don’t ever forget that? He has loved you and created you with His love. He knew you before you were ever conceived in your mother’s womb. He knew you. He knew every part of your before you were ever conceived. He saw you and He loved you. You are the apple of His eye, the center of His life. You are first of all His child before you were ever the child of your earthly parents. He is your Heavenly Parent. He cares for you watchfully and tenderly. He watches over you with a jealous eye. He guards you from harm.

He is always there to take care of you. The biggest problem is that we don’t always allow Him to take care of us. We believe we can take matters into our own hands and fix it ourselves, take care of it ourselves. We have that part of us that can be very self-sufficient and self-centered. It is called the flesh and it has to die daily. We live in the earth, surrounded by fleshly temptations to fulfill, to satisfy our own desires instead of God’s desires. He stands ever ready to help us, to keep us on the right path. But He also stands waiting for us when we go off His path. He is always there.

Always remember Who created you and Who has the power to keep you, even in the darkest moments of your life and the brightest moments of your life. He keeps you. He takes care of you. When you yield to Him, He will always handle life’s tests for you. Let Him stay in the driver’s seat. He knows what is ahead.

God Knows Me

I love Psalm 139. In the New Living Translation, I find such wonderful thoughts to ponder regarding my life.

Listen!
Oh, Lord, You have examined my heart and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or when I stand up.
You know my every thought when far away.
You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest.
Every moment you know where I am.
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
You both precede and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know.

Isn’t that the most comforting thought you have ever had? God knows everything about you. There is not one thing He doesn’t know, from the beginning of your life until the end. He knows all about you, things even you don’t know yet. So rest in His loving care.

He knows you so well that He knows even the tiny thing of when you sit and when you stand throughout every day of the rest of your life. How many times a day do you sit or stand? If you are like me, they are too numerous to count. Every time you sit down and every time you stand up, He already has them numbered in His book, in His heart, in His mind.

He knows every thought you will ever think. He knows all of that ahead of time.

He even has a map of the course of your life which He has planned very carefully, telling you when to rest and when to continue on the path. Every moment of your life, He knows where you are. He knows when you will deviate from that wonderfully planned course. He knows when you will take an unplanned detour because you are not listening to Him. And yet He patiently waits for you to get back on course. What a God we serve! What a God! I stand in awe of Him!

Here’s one for the books. He knows everything you are going to say before you say it. Sometimes I wish I knew when I was going to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. And He loves you so much, He will not interfere with your speech. He gives you freedom of speech, even when those things come out of your mouth that will stop His work in your life. What we must realize here is that what we say must always line up with His Word for Him to work in our lives. Cursing is not just taking the Lord’s name in vain. Cursing is speaking those things which block God’s blessing in our lives. Cursing is the negative speaking we speak in fear or unbelief. It blocks God’s best for us. We don’t mean to say it, but we do sometimes. He is so loving that He waits until we see it and repent and go on the right path again.

He goes before us and follows us wherever the soles of our feet tread. He goes before us and follows us in the spirit realm as well. He is always there.

And the most wonderful thing of all----HE PLACES HIS HAND OF BLESSING ON OUR HEADS. Think about that----the great God Who created the universe and keeps it running in place and Who created us and all that is in this earth, places His hand on our heads and pronounces His blessing on us. His blessing includes all things that pertain to life and godliness, everything good, all that will ever contribute to our welfare and happiness. The hand of Almighty God, which is the Hand of Blessing, is on our heads.

No wonder the psalmist said this: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. Such knowledge is too great for me to know. What a mighty God! What a wonderful Father! Oh, God, I stand in awe of You, my Savior and my Redeemer, my soon-coming King! Let’s worship Him!

God's Written Moments

God has written every moment of my life before I ever live it. He has painted every scene before I step into it. He already knows me. He already knows when I will get it right and when I will mess up. And yet, He still loves me unconditionally, eternally, without deviation or change. Get a grip on this fact. GOD LOVES YOU. HE LOVES YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW.

Psalm 138:8 in the New Living Translation tells us that the Lord will work out His plans for our lives. Why? For His faithful love endures forever. This is a settled fact. It is the word of God.
H-e w-i-l-l w-o-r-k o-u-t H-i-s p-l-a-n-s f-o-r m-y l-i-f-e!

Regardless of where you are right now, God is working out His plans for your life. Even if you think you are totally in the wrong place and out of the will of God, He is still working. He never gives up on you. He never backs off from you. He is working on your behalf, most of the time behind the scenes.

And if you are totally right smack dab in the middle of God’s will and plan for your life, He is still working, developing the pathway of preparation for the rest of your life. I think that is pretty awesome and very reassuring.

God is in there for me 24-7. When I ask Him to guide me, He does. When I don’t ask Him to guide me, He is attempting every way possible to cause me to allow Him to guide the ship of my life.

What an awesome God we serve. He is working out HIS plans for my life because He loves me forever, eternally, without wavering. I consider that fact to give me such confidence. There is an assurance that comes from trusting God’s ability to work all things out in my life. He is always there to carry out His plans.