Joy Strength

Do you need strength today? Rejoice in the Lord. As Paul said in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” Nehemiah 8:10, Amplified Bible : “…And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.”

In John 15:11 Jesus spoke these words to His disciples then and to us now: “These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” What had Jesus just spoken to His disciples? Abide in Me and let my words abide in you. My word will keep you clean and you will bear much fruit, that My Father may be glorified. Continue in My love. If you keep My commandments (My Word), you abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments (Word) and abide in His love. We can rejoice because God’s Love has been shed abroad in our hearts that we may abide in His love. This brings fullness of joy to fruition in us.

Listen to what Jesus spoke in John 17:13 (Amplified Bible) about our joy. He is talking to His Father about His return to Him after He is resurrected. Put on your spiritual catchers and listen carefully: “And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts.” Jesus never spoke idle words. If He said it, then it is so!

Hear what the Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 1:3-5. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The Amplified Bible says that we are guarded, garrisoned by God’s power through our faith. Think about it; we are talking about GODS POWER. There is no power greater than He is. And He is living in us with His power. He makes His power available to us as His children. His power no foe can withstand (Psalm 91:1, Amplified Bible).

These are just a few reasons why we can rejoice and have joy unspeakable and full of glory in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in the midst of trouble all around us. The world and its trouble and trials and temptations is temporal (temporary), subject to change and cannot overpower the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. There is no power greater than God! I repeat: THERE IS NO POWER GREATER THAN GOD! And He is living in you as His child.

Joy brings God on the scene with the fullness of His glory. REJOICE!

Honor and Respect

When you see the word “honor” what do you think of? When we honor someone or something, we hold them in high regard; we respect them; we consider them of great value and worth; we give them priority; we treat them with dignity and respect.

God spoke to Eli the priest in 1 Samuel 2:30 and He told Eli that those who honor God He will honor and those who despise God shall be lightly esteemed (valued, regarded or honored).

For those of us who are pressing toward the mark of intimacy with God and standing our ground in righteousness, we may say that we have no problem with honor. I had the Lord do a check on me, and I had my spiritual eyes opened to many truths. That which we honor, we give time to. That which we honor we defer to. We honor God by honoring one another in whom God dwells. Honoring someone means that we do not talk about them or discuss their weaknesses with others. Obviously God considers honor a “very big deal.” Even so, we should consider honor “a very big deal.”

We have an actual commandment to honor our father and mother. In the scriptures we are told to honor God, to honor the Son of God, to honor the old, to honor widows. Wives, we are told to honor our husbands. In 1 Peter 2:17 in the Amplified Bible we are admonished to “Show respect for all men [treat them honorably]. Love the brotherhood (the Christian fraternity of which Christ is the Head). Reverence God. Honor the emperor.”

For me, the capstone scripture is found in Revelation 5:12,13,14. Worthy is the Lamb (Jesus) that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen (so be it)! And the 24 elders fell down and worshipped Him that lives for ever and ever.

We must give honor to receive honor. The law of seed, time and harvest works with everything.

Healed

You are the healed of the Lord. Jesus has bought and paid for your healing and health with His blood which was shed in the Garden of Eden, at the whipping post and on the cross. It is past tense. It is a finished work. It is done already. Believe it! Receive it (which means take it with a forceful grip). Take it! It’s yours! No devil has the right to put any pain or sickness and disease on you. Stand up like a man/woman of God and look every demon in the eye and say: "No, you don’t. Take your hands off God’s property. You’re trespassing! Leave now!"

Isaiah 53:4,5
Thank You, Jesus that You have (past tense) borne my griefs (sicknesses and weaknesses and diseases) and carried my sorrows (pains); yet I did esteem or consider You stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
But You were wounded for my transgressions; You were bruised for my guilt and iniquities; the chastisement needful to obtain my peace and well-being was placed on You, and WITH THOSE STRIPES THAT WOUNDED YOU I HAVE BEEN HEALED AND MADE WHOLE.

Thank You! I am healed! I am whole once again! I am free from sickness and disease and pain!
Hallelujah! I am free!

Start confessing and meditating on this scripture until it is more real to you than any sickness or disease that satan attempts to send your way. Don’t sign for the package. It is not for your address. Mark it: Return to Sender!

Sheltered

We are sheltered in the secret place of the Most High God, Whose power no foe can withstand. In that secret place of His Presence, we rely on Him and lean on Him as our Stronghold and High Tower and Refuge from the wiles of the devil and schemes sent out against us. Psalm 91 is our protection. Today we are going to confess two other scriptures in the Psalms which are protection scriptures also. Make these your verses of meditation today.

Psalm 31:20
In the secret, the shelter of Your Presence You hide me from the plots of men; You keep me safe from those who would conspire against me; You keep me secretly sheltered in Your Pavilion, Your Presence, covered over, fenced in, protected, defended, hedged in, shut up from the strife of tongues. You shelter me from words that would be used to bind my life.

Psalm 32:7
You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance.

When trouble is all around, rejoice, because the Lord will surround you with His songs of deliverance and protection. Keep rejoicing and don’t stop! Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice! Release joy and love and life into every situation around you. Watch God move on your behalf!

Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled, Part 2

Yesterday we talked about the great God of the universe dwelling in us with His power. Yes, He is in us as His children, whether we feel like it or not.

Let’s continue looking at John 14. In the very first verse and verse 27 he tells us not to be troubled. The reason He told us that we are not to be troubled is that He has given us His peace.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, distressed or agitated.
Trust in God. Rely on God. Believe in God. Adhere (stuck to Him like super glue) to God.

Jesus has left us His peace, HIS OWN PEACE. He has given to us, bequeathed to us, HIS PEACE.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Neither be afraid.
Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed.
Do not permit yourselves to be fearful, intimidated, cowardly and unsettled.

IN HIM, we have perfect peace and confidence (John 16:33). In Him we have life (John 1:4). He came that we may have and enjoy life, have it in abundance, to the full, until it overflows (John 10:10).

IN THE WORLD we have tribulation, trials, distress, frustration.

Who are we in and Who is in us? Jesus is in us. What do we have in Him? We have perfect peace and confidence, His peace, which He has personally bequeathed to us. He has given us His very own peace.

If we have the concepts of the world in us, we have much distress and frustration as the trials and tribulations of the world come. If we have the Truth of Jesus personally being in us with His Peace, then we have no stress or distress.

In Jesus, as we are living in this world which is filled with tribulation, tests, trials, distress and frustration, we can have the Peace of Jesus, His own personal peace. Peace: Shalom, wholeness, with nothing missing or broken in our lives. When trouble strikes, we turn to Him and He is the One Who will overcome for us as we adhere to Him.

He Who is in us (in Whom is perfect peace and confidence) has overcome the world. He has deprived it of its power to harm us and has conquered it for us.

1 John 5:18 Amplified Bible
…Christ’s divine presence within us preserves us against the evil and the wicked one does not lay hold, get a grip on us or touch us.

Every day we have a choice. Do we believe the world is overcoming us or are we allowing Jesus Who is in us to overcome the world for us? It is our choice. We choose by what we believe. When the trouble is raging all around us, who do we believe? That will determine our peace or our frustration. Jesus gave us a promise and a command. The promise ---- I am in you and I have given you my personal peace. The command ---- Stop allowing yourselves to be fearful, disturbed, unsettled, and frustrated.

What is your choice? It’s a decision we all make. Just while I was typing, I had to make that decision. I choose to believe the Peace is operating in my life. I choose to believe that what Jesus told me is true and is working for me. How about you?

Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled, Part 1

In John 14:6 Jesus said: I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Then in John 14:11 Jesus said: I AM in the Father and the Father is in Me.
In John 17:23 Jesus said: I AM in You (the Father) and You are in Me.

So, Jesus in Whom the Father is, is in me and I am in Jesus in Whom the Father is.

Right now, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. I am in Him there (Ephesians 1 & 2)

Also Jesus is in me here. How? By the power of the Holy Spirit.

In John 16:7,13 & 26 Jesus said that He was going away and would send the Holy Spirit ----The Spirit of Truth, The Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby, Encourager, Teacher.
He, the Spirit of Truth, will guide me into all the Truth.
He will tell me whatever He hears from the Father. He will give me the message given to Him.
He will announce and declare to me the things that are to come, that will happen in the future.

The Father sent the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name, in His place, to represent Him.
The Holy Spirit will teach us all things.
He will bring all things to our remembrance.

Today we are building the foundation for what we will be talking about tomorrow. This is what we must see: Jesus is in us and the Holy Spirit is in us. The Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. Therefore, the Father is in us because Jesus is in us. The Holy Spirit is in us. He is everything in us: He teaches us and guides us and protects us and tells us things to come. He intercedes for us and talks to the Father as our Advocate. He helps us to do what we have to do here on this earth. He comforts us when we need a Friend. He counsels and encourages us when we need someone’s advice. He strengthens us when we feel weak and not so courageous. Once again, I repeat: He is everything to us.

Simply meditating on the above Truth will cause our hearts not to be troubled. The power of the awesome, all-powerful God is in us, taking care of us totally. So we can cast our cares on Him for He cares for us with a love that cannot be duplicated by anyone else. We must trust Him!

God's Plan

Today, we confess and meditate on or ponder Hebrews 13:20,21 from the Amplified Bible. I love these two verses. They have meant so much in my life, and I believe they also mean as much in your life. They are powerful scriptures.

Now may the God of peace (wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken, completeness),
Who is the Author and Giver of Peace,
Who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
by the blood that sealed, ratified the everlasting covenant, testament,
Strengthen, complete, perfect and make me what I ought to be
and equip me with everything good that I may carry out His will,
while He Himself works in me and accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ the Messiah, to Whom be the glory forever and ever, to the ages of the ages. Amen, so be it!

Isn’t this an awesome scripture passage! God Himself Who is the very Author and the very Giver of Peace is the One Who perfects us. He is the One Who makes us what we ought to be. He equips us to do His will. He works in us to complete His will for us. As a result of His work in us, He accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. It is nothing of ourselves that accomplishes the plan of God for our lives. It is He Who does it all. And it is all done by the blood of Jesus Christ. That is a sweatless life, a life full of the goodness of God.

We all need to meditate this scripture until we know that we know that we know that it is God Himself Who is our Peace and Who carries out His will in our lives.

God's View of Me

Today, we are going to make Psalm 139:1-18, 22-24 from the New Living Translation our prayer and confession. What a beautiful Psalm which shows the Lord’s love for us whom He created.

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.

I can never escape from your spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night----but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.

You made 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!

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.”

How beautiful you are in God’s eyes! Take a few moments today to ponder His workmanship in you. He makes all things perfect! Yes, it is through Him that we are perfect and wonderfully made!

Knowledge of God

Today we are going to confess Colossians 1:9-11 over ourselves. Ponder and meditate it all day. You may want to pray this word over others also.

I do not cease to pray and make special request for you, asking THAT:

(1) You may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of God’s will
in all spiritual wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God
and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things-----

(2) You may walk, live and conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please him in all things,
bearing fruit in every good work
and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God
with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition,

(3) You may be invigorated and strengthened with all power (that’s God’s mighty power) according to the might of His glory.

Christ Lives In Me

This is our after-Easter confession.

Galatians 2:20-22, Amplified Bible

Nevertheless, I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me. It is no longer I who live but Christ (The Anointed One with His anointing of the burden-removing, yoke-destroying power of God Who is Love Who is the Word) lives in me.

The life I now live in the flesh (body) I live by the faith of (adherence to, reliance on, complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Therefore, I do not treat the grace of God (God’s gracious gift) as something of minor importance and defeat its purpose. I do not set aside, invalidate, frustrate, nullify the grace of God (His love in action)….

Because He lives, I live also.

HAPPY EASTER!

HAPPY EASTER!

HE IS RISEN!

HIS BLOOD IS ON THE MERCY SEAT IN HEAVEN FOREVER, CRYING OUT LIFE, LIFE, LIFE!

THERE IS LIFE IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS TO WASH AWAY ALL SIN, ALL SICKNESS AND DISEASE AND ALL LACK IN YOUR LIFE!

REJOICE! HIS IS RISEN INDEED!

Righteousness

Psalm 23:1-3
The Lord is my Shepherd to feed me, guide me and shield me. I do not want or lack for any good thing.
He makes me lie down in the fresh green pastures of His Word. He leads me beside the still waters of His Word and His Spirit.
He refreshes and restores my life within me.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Look at these verses. What promises they hold for us right now. The one I want to focus on in this Pearl is righteousness.

Look at verse 3: He leads us in His paths of righteousness. That means that God will lead you always in the right way, to the right people, at the right time, and in the right place. That means that He has given us all the rights to His household of faith. He is our Father, and we are children of His household. We have all the privileges of the household. What are some of those privileges or rights we have as His righteous ones? We have health, prosperity or success in our lives, rest, freedom, wholeness in every area of our lives, safety, security, abundance, success, victory over trials and circumstances, and assurance of a place in God’s heart. We are His blessed ones.

If we couple Psalm 23:3 with Proverbs 12:28, we have a powerful confession. In the way of righteousness life and the pathway no death. We must remember what death means. It means separation from something. It is not just separation of our spirits from our human bodies. It is separation from anything. Death puts a wall or dividing line between us and something. SO, God’s Life is in the way of righteousness, and in the pathway of righteousness (God’s way of doing things, His way of thinking and being and living) there is no death. That does not mean that we are not going to die physically if we are not raptured. When our work is finished here on this earth, we separate from this physical body and go home to Heaven.

Hallelujah! He lives! Because He lives, I can live also! Rejoice in the Lord always!

Overcomers

Today we are taking two scriptures in the Amplified Bible to make our confession: Revelation 12:11 and 1 John 4:4.

I have overcome, conquered the devil, satan, who is the seducer, the deceiver of all humanity, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony, my witness to the Truth of God’s Word. I have overcome, conquered deception by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of God.

I am a child of God; I am of God; I am His child; I belong to Him and have already defeated and overcome the agents of antichrist, because He Who lives in me (God Almighty through His Holy Spirit) is greater, mightier than he who is in the world (satan, the devil, the seducer, the deceiver).

What a joy to know that through the blood of Jesus Christ and the Truth of the Word of God we overcome deception and seduction. We overcome our enemy, the devil.

Rejoice!