My Friend, The Holy Spirit

In John 14:26 and 16:13-15 Jesus spoke some powerful statements about the Holy Spirit. One of the most important statements that Jesus made is for us especially in today’s world. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. We need Truth more than we have ever needed it before. The Truth will keep us from being deceived. The Holy Spirit of Truth will expose lying spirits and those who tell lies. We must be aware at all times of the Truth of God so that we can offset the lies of the enemy.

Holy Spirit, You are the Spirit of Truth. You give me the Truth of God’s Kingdom.
You are my COMFORTER
COUNSELOR
HELPER
INTERCESSOR
ADVOCATE
STRENGTHENER
STANDBY
You teach me all things.
You bring all things to my remembrance.

Holy Spirit of Truth, the Truth-giving Spirit,
You will guide me into all Truth, the whole, full Truth.
You will give the message given to You by the Father.
You will announce and declare to me things that are to come, that will happen in the future.
You will honor and glorify Jesus.
You will receive or take of what is Jesus’ and reveal, declare, disclose, and transmit it to me.

Focus on God’s Word of Truth and His Spirit of Truth. That is our keeping power.

Faith To Believe, Ability To Receive

God gives us His faith to believe (Romans 12:3, Mark 11:22) and then gives us His grace, His ability to receive.

God is so good to us. When we are born again, He comes to live in us with all that He is. His faith is inside us. People have believed that one person has more faith than another. No, no! God is no respecter of persons. That is what His Word says, so for one person to have more faith than another would be contrary to God’s Word. The reason it appears that some have more faith than others is that they have developed their faith more than others.

We are all on an equal playing field the minute we get born again. We all are given the Holy Spirit of God Who dwells in us with all the attributes of God. Faith is one of those attributes. It is part of God’s makeup. As we study God’s Word and learn of Him, our faith grows and develops. We have the faith of God dwelling in us because He is dwelling in us. It is actually not our human faith that is our title deed to all that God has for us. It is confidence in His faith in us giving substance to the things that we have Bible hope for. Both hope and faith are developed in us.

Here is the neat part! God even gives us His ability to receive what He gives us the faith to believe. I think that is so wonderful. He helps us to receive what He has for us. He gifts us with His ability to receive what we are desiring and believing. What an awesome God! He wants us to be able to receive what He has for us more than we want to receive. He is there cheering us on!

Say this:
I have the measure of the faith of God on the inside of me.
I do not lack faith!
I have faith, the faith of God living in me!
God’s faith in me is causing my faith to become stronger and bolder every day.
God’s faith in me is causing my faith to be built up every day.
I have God’s ability to receive.
He has gifted me with His anointing to receive.
I HAVE FAITH! I RECEIVE!
I RECEIVE IT! I HAVE IT! I TAKE IT!

The Lord Our God Fights Our Battles

2 Chronicles 32:7,8, NKJV
Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid and dismayed before (whatever the probelm or person is) nor before the multitude that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and fight our battles. And the people were strengthened….

Joshua 1:3,5,6a,7,8,9,11b
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not fail you, nor forsake you.
Be strong and of a good courage….
Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law (word), which Moses my servant commanded you: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper where you go.
This book of the law (this Word) shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be dismayed: for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
….Go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God gives you to possess it.

The Lord Your God fights every battle for you and makes you victorious. Take courage from Him and His Word. Leave fear behind. God is with you. He never fails. He only succeeds.

God's Proof or Satan's Proof

Hebrews 11:1, Amplified Bible
Now faith is the substance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

Faith in God and His Word is the substance of things we hope for (Bible hope based on the Word of God). Faith cannot be seen with the physical eye. If you want something to look at, the Word of God is the substance of things we hope for.

The Word of God is our title deed to what we cannot see in this natural realm. It is the title deed which tells us what we own. Take ownership of the faith of God (the Word of God) that He has deposited in your spirit man when you were born again. When you have title to a piece of property, it belongs to you---it is yours. You have the proof in your hand. Likewise, this Word of God is your proof that you have everything God has in His Kingdom. He has given it to you as His child. It belongs to you. We have our proof----the Word of God----which convicts us of the reality of our possessing what we cannot see yet with our physical eyes.

Don’t let satan’s proof of reality in his physical realm convince you. Symptoms of sickness and disease are satan’s proof. “By the stripes that wounded Jesus we are healed and made whole” is God’s proof. Lack of finances and poverty is satan’s proof. “My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” is God’s proof.

Every time, we must allow God’s proof to override satan’s proof in our lives.

Provider

“What began as an inspiration, a dream without limitations, has become a reality you’ll never forget.” I just read this on an email from a cruise line which launched their newest ship. It struck me that that is the way God is. He gives us dreams without limitations. Everything about Him is a reality we will never forget. He is above and beyond what we can dream or think or imagine possible. He is The Provider of all providers.

In Genesis 22:14 we see the first time that God revealed Himself as Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider. We all know the story of Abraham being willing to offer his only son Isaac in response to the Lord’s request. We know that he was a type of the Father Himself offering His only Son Jesus for us on the altar as our substitute. In a few weeks we will celebrate that event, Easter. God provided the ram for the offering in the place of Isaac.

The word Jehovah-Jireh literally means, The Lord will see. God sees ahead of time, down the road, what you and I will need for our lives. Even when it looks like things are really tough and there appears to be no way to take care of a situation, we must remember that God already saw us in that situation and He has a provision made for us. He is always our answer. He will always take care of us. It is our Father’s good pleasure to do things for us. He delights in giving us His best.

When tough times come, look to Him. There are no tough times in God’s Kingdom. There is no such thing. We get uptight when we depend on our own ideas of provision instead of allowing God the freedom to make provision. Yield to Him! Deliberately, by an act of your will, depend on Him, even when you feel like you can’t. He will even help you to believe and yield to His ability to provide. Living with Him is living the good life! Yield! He will come through for YOU!

HE IS MY PROVIDER!

God's Healing Touch

Have you ever been in a place, or maybe you are there now, where you needed to know that God was with you in a personal, touchable way? You know the Word says He is in you and you have accepted it by faith that He is there, but you would like to have some indication He knows what you need. Oh, come on now, don’t be so pious with me. We all have needed that, haven’t we?

Today, let’s talk about God’s healing power, His ability to take care of us in any situation.

The 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language defines healing as wholeness, soundness, to return to a sound state, to cure of a disease or wound and restore to soundness, or to that state of body in which the natural functions are regularly performed, to restore to soundness, to cure.

When something is sound or whole, it is in a state where it operates and functions the way it was created to function, without hindrance. It is complete, with nothing missing that would contribute to that perfect state of operation.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost the capacity for their bodies to stay sound, operating in the way that God had created them. Oh, but Jesus came and He paid the price for a sound physical body once again. When His blood was shed at that whipping post for our sicknesses and diseases, every stripe represented another category of disease where the body was concerned. And when He hung on that cross and took upon Himself all of the curse of the law, He took every symptom, pain, sickness and disease that would ever come on us. He took it all. Now we are free of the curse of the law. He became a curse so that the Blessing of Abraham might come on us. Part of that blessing is health and healing.

So, what are we to do when pain hits our body, when symptoms appear, when sickness attacks? We take authority over that pain, that symptom, that sickness and command it to leave. It comes from satan and we refuse to receive any of his package. He is a liar and a thief and a destroyer and a killer. We stand our ground. We refuse to let go of what Jesus has purchased for us. It is ours. It legally belongs to us. He is illegally trespassing on our bodies and he is to leave, to be evicted. He is not to be allowed to take up residence or even rent a room. We are the temples of the Holy Ghost. Jesus has bought and paid for us. We are not our own. We are bought with a price.

In Isaiah 53:4,5 and 1 Peter 2:24 we are told that with the stripes that wounded Jesus we are healed and made whole. In other words, we are restored to health. We are restored to soundness and wholeness.

I think that is the best news I have ever heard. Believe what the Word of God says is yours personally. Trust the Lord to bring to pass in your life personally what His Word says about healing. Choose to believe that you will be made whole. Choose to believe that Jesus took care of your own body and freed you from sickness and disease.

We all live on this earth and we all will have to battle symptoms from time to time and pain that attempts to convince us that there is something dreadfully wrong with us. Just say, NO! No, you don’t. You are not taking my health from me. It belongs to me. I have received it as a gift from my Father, and I refuse to give you my gift, satan. Git!!!!!

We have to stand our ground and refuse to give up territory which has been gained. We stand firm in the face of every contradictory word spoken over us and every report given to us that is contrary to the Word of God. That is our stand. So what if the doctor tells you that you are going to die? So what if the report comes back positive? Whose report do you believe? What does the Word have to say about that? You have Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. He is the power of God. He is the life of God. How can two live in the same space? Life is living in you and death has no room. I love Proverbs 12:28 which tells us that in our pathway is life and there is no death. Take that scripture, believe it, dwell on it until it becomes more real to you than any doctor’s report that is contrary to life and health. It takes a while to renew our minds, but we can renew our minds to think the way God thinks. God thinks like this: LIFE! HEALTH! HEALING! His Word says this: LIFE! HEALTH! HEALING! And what are we to say then over ourselves? LIFE! HEALTH! HEALING!

Healing is yours. It is the touch of the Master on your life forever, eternally. Take it. It belongs to you.

My Dear Heavenly Father Loves Me

Before we even start the Pearls of Wisdom today, let’s confess together the following at least three times:
MY DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME. MY LORD JESUS CHRIST WHO IS MY SAVIOR LOVES ME. THE HOLY SPIRIT LOVES ME.

Today I am reminded of just how much God Almighty loves me and each person on this earth, whether they have accepted Him or not and whether they love Him or not. I stand in awe of that kind of love. Let’s read and confess some of the scriptures that talk about His love.

In Romans 5:5 we read this:
…For I know how dearly God loves me because He has given me the Holy Spirit to fill my heart with His love.
What a powerful statement. God Almighty has given me His Holy Spirit, His Spirit, to fill my heart, overflow my heart, pour forth into my heart His love. I haven’t done anything to deserve it. I can’t do anything to earn it. He has simply given me His love as His gift to me. He has given me Himself. And what is my part? I have only one thing to do. I receive, I accept His love. And then it is mine. This is not something complicated or difficult. Accept. Receive.

People have a hard time accepting anything for which they have not worked or earned. There is this concept, particularly in the western world, that everything we get must be earned or gotten as a result of our own efforts. That is the reason it is so hard for us to simply receive what God has given to us. Say this after me: I believe I receive all that Jesus has provided for me. I accept His healing; I accept His prosperity; I accept His Word; I accept His health; I accept His wealth; I accept all His gifts to me. They are mine. I take hold of them and say thank You, Lord. I am so grateful. I have a heart of gratitude for what you have given me.

Let’s look at some other scriptures on love.
John 17:22-26 New Living Translation
I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are----I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you’ve given me to be with me, so they can see my glory. You gave me the glory because you loved me even before the world began! O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you. I will do this so that your love for me may be in them and I in them.

From these scriptures, let’s make our declaration of confession.
Thank You, Jesus, for giving me the glory the Father gave You so that we could be one. O, dear Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me as much as you love Jesus. Jesus, thank You for revealing the Father to me so that I can understand His love in me because You are in me.

We have a God who cares for us beyond anything we can ever imagine or dream or think possible. Our every need has been taken care of. Our every desire has been fulfilled. All that we need He has provided. And He goes beyond need. He loves to lavish gifts upon us because He is a God of abundance, multiplication, increase.

Make the decision today that you will receive all that He has provided for you. If you have trouble receiving, practice saying to Him you believe you receive whatever it is in His word that you read He has given you. It may not always look like it is yours in the natural, earthly realm but look only at the Word of what you have been given. Believe the Word of God. Accept the Word of God. Receive what He has for you. Give Him the pleasure, the enjoyment of providing for you this day and every day. He loves to give to His kids.

Strengthened

Colossians 1:11
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

In this verse people shy away from the word patience. What patience means is that we remain steadfast, unmoving, unchanging when we encounter a difficult situation. Why can we remain steadfast? We have confidence in the Word of God working for us personally. We have confidence in the blood of Jesus speaking life into that situation. We know that God’s life is bringing life into the deadness of the situation. His Light is exposing the darkness of those things that are hidden to us in the midst of the difficulty. His Love is flushing out all fear that satan may be trying to produce in the earthly encounter with a temporal (temporary) difficulty. His name gives us the authority to stand in His place and speak to the situation to be removed and cast into the sea (Mark 11:23).

We are told in this verse that we are strengthened with all of God’s ability, possibility power, according to His glorious vigor, strength, power. Therefore, we can rest steadfastly and confidently in God and His finished work on our behalf. We can do it with joyfulness. Yes!

“I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency]. In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides]. (Philippians 4:13 and Ephesians 6:10, Amplified Bible)

Tree of Life

A wholesome, gentle tongue with its healing power is a tree of life, Proverbs 15:4.
Man is satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, Proverbs 12:14.
The belly of a man is satisfied with the fruit of his lips, Proverbs 18:20.
Death and life is in the power of the tongue, Proverbs 18:21.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, Proverbs 11:30.

So, the fruit of the tongue, lips, mouth of the righteous is a tree of life that brings forth life in people’s lives. We have the power to do that. We have the capability to produce the fruit of life in our lives and those around us. It is God’s ability; it is God’s life on our lips that creates good fruit for all to eat.

I SPEAK WORDS OF LIFE ALL THE TIME!

Grace Is

Grace is:

The love of God demonstrated to me, for me, on my behalf

The actual demonstration, the actual manifestation of God’s love for me

The releasing of His love (which is all He is, all His ability, character, holiness, everything He is and has)

God’s love sent forth on my behalf for me, to do what I can’t do

It is God doing what He loves to do.

In Ephesians 2:8 we read that we are saved by grace through faith unto salvation. It is a gift of God lest any man should boast. We are delivered by God’s love sent forth on our behalf (grace) when we believe God (faith). It is a gift and no amount of work will bring it to us. It is not received by good works. It is received as a gift. There is no other way to receive salvation. It is given to us as a result of God’s grace.

I am so grateful that God loves me and released His grace for me to live free from the bondages of the law and its rigid requirements. I am free to love God with everything in me. I am free to enjoy life to the fullest. I am free. How about you?

GRACE!

Rights

Everyone who believes God and accepts Him is given the right to become a child of His (John 1:12-14). Whoever receives the Lord into their lives has the privilege of being God’s child. This birth comes from God. We call it being born again. And being born again gives us rights (righteousness) in the Father’s household.

Jesus bought our freedom from the law so that we could be God’s children, so that we could be adopted as God’s own children (Galatians 4:5-7).

The Father sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we could call Him our own dear heavenly Father. He is Papa to His children. The Holy Spirit has filled our hearts with our Father’s love. God is love. We know how much God loves us. He loves us and wants us to spend time with us. He has given us the right to come into His presence and sit down and enjoy Him. He wants us to talk with Him and share our lives with Him. He can’t wait until we come and share our day with Him. He absolutely loves it. We have that right as His children. He has poured His love into us so that we can love Him and enjoy Him as much as He loves and enjoys us. What a privilege!

We are no longer slaves or servants. We are God’s own children. As His children, everything He has is ours. It belongs to us because He has given it to us. It is such a joy to be a member of Father’s household. He daily loads us with benefits. They are so vast and so innumerable. Let’s enjoy what He has given to us.

I AM A CHILD OF GOD AND I ENJOY ALL THE RIGHTS HE HAS GIVEN TO ME!

The Incorruptible Seed

1 Peter 1:18-23, NLT

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver.

He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And because God raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory, your faith and hope can be placed confidently in God.

Now you can have sincere love for each other as brothers and sisters because you were cleansed from your sins when you accepted the truth of the Good News. So see to it that you really do love each other intensely with all your hearts.

For you have been born again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.


We are born again of the seed of the Word of God. It is without corruption. It is not corruptible. The Word of God is a living Word. It is eternal and will abide forever. Forever His Word is settled in heaven. His Word is alive and powerful. His Word produces results. This Word is the seed of God planted in our being which produces Godly results in our lives. Never doubt the power of the Word of God to bring about results in your life. Every time His Word works.

Walking In The Footsteps of Jesus

Yesterday we talked about the pathway of righteousness that Jesus has set before us. He has gone before us and made a way. He is the way. His way is righteousness. In that way there is life and no death. We must remember that death does not just refer to separation from our physical bodies. It can mean separation from anything. Satan wants to separate us from joy and peace and love and blessing of any kind. He is the king of death. Jesus is the Lord of Life. He is our Life.

That pathway of righteousness is a pathway designed for each of us individually. I think it is so neat that God works with us personally on an individual basis and yet we are all one of the same Body of Christ. He is interested in us personally. He wants to help us fulfill the destiny that He has designed for us as His children. Each one of our destinies has been divinely created or designed for us and given us or imparted within us when we were placed in our mother’s womb. God had you and me in mind before we were ever born on this earth. He has a special place in His heart for each one of us. It was carved out before the foundation of the earth. What an awesome thought! Meditate on that for a while and it will take you out of your doldrums.

Ephesians 2:10 is one of my favorite verses. It so clearly lays out what God has in mind for each one of us. Let’s look at it in the Amplified Bible. It is really self-explanatory.

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 before hand) 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 are born again, or born anew by the blood of Jesus Christ. He made it possible for us to become God’s children and be reconciled to our Heavenly Father once again. We are restored to our rightful relationship with Him. What a privilege and a blessing! Now we are equipped and anointed to walk in the path that He has prepared for us to walk in. The best part of all of this plan is that we live the good life which our dear Heavenly Father has already prepared for us. Living with the Lord and living for Him is the best life.

I AM LIVING THE GOOD LIFE WHICH GOD PREPARED FOR ME AND WALKING IN THE PATH THAT HE LAID OUT AHEAD OF ME!

Righteousness Reigns

SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN! REJOICE! RIGHTEOUSNESS HAS COME!

When Adam sinned, death came and ruled over mankind as a dictator. Then God sent Jesus as His gift of grace to give us the gift of righteousness, and now we reign in this life, triumphing over sin and death through Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:21 and 17 tell us that sin reigned unto death. Now grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. We who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness do reign as kings in this life through Jesus Christ.

Sin no longer has dominion over us. It does not rule us. Grace, righteousness, and life have the complete right of way in our lives. We live by grace, God’s ability working on our behalf to bring about what we pray and ask. We are righteous; we have been given the right to be God’s children with all the rights of the Father’s household.

Psalms 85:13, KJV
Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Amplified Bible----Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.
Rotherham’s Bible----Righteousness shall march along,--that he may make, into a way the steps of his feet.
New Living Translation----Righteousness goes as a herald before him, preparing the way for his steps.

Do you see it? Jesus’ footsteps carve out a pathway for us, a road of righteousness. Righteousness goes before Jesus and makes the steps of His feet the way in which to walk. He is the way; He is the truth; He is the life (John 14:6). His way is the way righteousness because of grace. Wow!

Finally, Proverbs 12:28 tells us this: In the way of righteousness life and the pathway no death.
The Complete Jewish Bible states it this way: In the road of righteousness is life; no death is in its pathway.

Here it is: YOU HAVE BEEN MADE RIGHT WITH GOD. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ACCEPT THAT WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FOLLOWING HIM. IN HIS PATHWAY IS LIFE AND THERE IS NO DEATH. HE SAYS: COME, FOLLOW ME!