Faith and Patience

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise (Hebrews 10:35-36).Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him (Hebrews 10:38).

Endurance or patience is an important ingredient of faith. It’s faith and patience that inherits the promises. The Greek word for endurance is hupomeno and it means to remain when under pressure. It’s the ability to keep your chin up when things aren’t going well. It’s the ability to remain joyful and expectant when it looks as though nothing you believe is coming to pass. It’s the ability to remain unmoved and unshaken by circumstances.
 
The very nature of what faith is makes patience so necessary in the faith fight. Faith is for what you don’t have in the physical realm yet. Faith takes the place of what God has promised you until it arrives in the physical and you can see it. Faith is the substitute for the thing God has promised you until you can physically see or feel it.

The Word promises healing, so you have prayed and exercised your faith. The pain increases and the symptoms worsen. Patience enables you to stand your ground in the tough time. Patience or endurance enables you to look away from the symptoms and look at the promise of God, knowing that God is faithful to fulfill His Word.

The faith life is very challenging to the flesh! So many think that walking by faith means you receive instantly, but that is just not true! Abraham waited 25 years for the child of promise to come! And his patience enabled him to keep going strong when the impossibility of what he believed weighed on him.
 
Faith and patience are the twins of success! Patience keeps you from letting go of your faith! I remember when I was believing God to build our current building. It seemed that obstacles manifested every hour to keep it from happening. I had prayed, and I was believing that I received the answer to my prayer, which was a building being built.

At times I would get so tired of resisting the circumstances that just kept compounding! But it was the hupomeno, the ability to keep on going when the chips are down, that refused to let me quit. I gritted my teeth and praised God for honoring His Word! And you can see the results.
 
Don’t quit if you’re in a faith battle. Rest in the promises of God. He is faithful that promised. He watches over His Word to make it good. Heaven and earth may pass away, but His Word never will! Allow patience to under gird your faith today. Keep your eyes on God’s promises and not the unmoving circumstance. You will receive if you just don’t quit!

Prayer is the Foundation

And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. (Luke 24:53). These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers (Acts 1:14). So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart (Acts 2:46). And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31). Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12).
 
The foundation for all that God does in us and through us is in our prayer life. Jesus set the standard. Jesus’ days of ministry were preceded by nights of intense praying. The early church was formed after Jesus ascension in the incubator of prayer.
 
The kingdom of God functions on the prayers of the saints. The mighty forces that shape the world are not physical but spiritual. The answer to every challenge we face is first of all found in that place of solace with the Father. If Jesus heeded the importance of praying things out in His earth walk, should we not heed His example?

We’re facing pressures unheard of in previous generations. The climax of the ages is upon us. God has a grand and glorious strategy for the church in this hour. And it begins and ends on our knees! To neglect the place of prayer is to neglect the very purpose and plans of the Father for life.
 
Start today. Move yourself into a deeper place of prayer. Find a private place, and begin to tell the Father how wonderful He is to you. Ask Him to help you pour out your heart to Him. Then, take to Him every concern and problem. Give Him the details of what bothers you. Then ask Him to intervene and bring the solution. Remind Him of the promises of His Word to you. Spend time in thanksgiving for the answer.

While praying, take time to pray in tongues. This is the most effective form of prayer. Praying in the spirit enables you to pray the perfect will of God about the unknown future (see 1 Corinthians 14:2; Romans 8:26-27). It enables you to pray the will of God into manifestation in so many ways! Don’t neglect this secret weapon God has given to you! Use it regularly and watch the forces of the enemy back up!
 
The success of your day today begins in your prayer closet. Make it count!

The Private Room

But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open (Matthew 6:6- Amplified).

 

This most private room Jesus mentioned here is a bedchamber. It’s a place of intimacy between husband and wife. It’s a place where no one else is invited. It’s a place that is secure from intrusion.

  

The Father wants to develop an intimate relationship with each one of His children. He wants each of us to find that private place of meeting with Him where we can bear our heart to Him and share our deepest secrets. He wants to develop a closeness with us that affects the whole of life.

   

Many believers find this private place with the Father intimidating. They’ve not been raised in an environment that allows them to really bear their heart. Relationships are casual and surface.

  

It takes time to become comfortable enough with someone to be able to share the intimate secrets of your heart with them. The father wants this kind of relationship with us. It’s a branch-vine relationship. It’s life-freeing and life-producing.

  

To begin this private room experience with the Father, find a place free from intrusion where no one will interrupt you. Then read Psalm 139. Realize that the Father loves you as much as He loves Jesus! He knows every thought, purpose, motive, intent, desire, need, and want in your life. He sees everything about you. He is absolute love and wants the best for you. He is longing for you to open your heart to Him.

   

Talk to Him about the things that bother you. Tell Him everything; the good, the bad, and the ugly. He already knows. But He wants you to submit your needs to Him in simple faith. When you do this, it gives Him permission to help you, and it will free you from life’s intense pressures that build up inside. It’s this acknowledging Him in all your ways (Proverbs 3: 4-5) that allows Him to move on your behalf.

  

Intimacy with the Father makes us care free and worry free, and keeps stress from building up inside. Most of our mental, emotional, and physical problems are stress related. Personal intimacy with the Father is His answer to human stress. 

   

The Father has a longing to be close to you today. Go find Him in the private room.

The Presence of God

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

 

The presence of God separates the believer from the infectious influences of the world! And the Presence in us that manifests throughout our day has a drawing effect on those around us. They notice something different about us. No other religion can do to a human what Christianity can. Christians in fellowship with God are bearers of the Presence!

  

Moses cried out to God when he came down from the top of Mount Sinai after he saw that the Israelites had sinned. He asked God not to remove His presence from the people. And notice why Moses asked this: Then he said to Him, if Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.

  

The Presence is not a feeling or emotion. It produces feelings and emotions at times. But it’s much deeper than feeling. The Presence exudes from our human spirit and carefully guards us from the effects of the world and the enemy from without. And the Presence moves us away from the tendencies of the flesh and creates in us a hunger and drawing toward the Father.

 

Carefully guard the Presence! Don’t allow unconfessed sin to remain in your life. Sin dissipates the Presence! If you miss it in some way, immediately confess your sin and the Blood will cleanse you!

 

Be careful with your words, for strife filled words can grieve the Holy Spirit who bears this Presence within (see Ephesians 4:29-30).

  

Time spent daily in the Word, in praise and worship, and in prayer will increase the manifestations of His Presence in your life. I have found that praying in the spirit, because it builds up and edifies the human spirit, will increase the manifestation of the Presence. The tell-tale sign of the Presence in you is joy! In His Presence is fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore!

  

Walk in His Presence today! Court the Presence! Lift your voice in praise to the Holy One. Thank Him for all that He is. Worship Him. He inhabits praise with manifestations of His Presence. Create change in the atmosphere wherever you are today. Release the Presence!

 

The Power of Friendship

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42).

The great strength of the early church is found in this verse. The Word was the center of their lifestyle. The believers prayed together and had close relationships with one another. This produced a unity that enabled the Holy Spirit to manifest in a very strong way among them.
 
Friendship is essential to unity in a group of believers. And in personal life, friendship can be a great strength. The Message Paraphrase of Proverbs 27:17 says it well: You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.
 
Notice the strength of friendship mentioned in Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12: Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
 
Notice also that Jesus sent out teams of two to minister the power of the kingdom of God. There’s something about Christian fellowship that encourages and empowers us in a way that nothing else can.
 
When I began my walk with the Lord almost 36 years ago, it was the strength I found in friendship that kept me going. When I came to Jesus, I chose to separate myself from my buddies who wanted to “party.” God gave me new friends with godly ideals and values. We would get together weekly and talk about our walk with the Lord. We’d share our successes and failures. We would admit our weaknesses and talk about our challenges. And as one talked about his or her challenge, another brought a word of encouragement that helped.

That’s the strength found in friendship. That’s the sharpening that we all need! Several years ago we started Lifegroups here at Victory. These groups meet at least every other week, and some groups meet more frequently. These groups are a vehicle for building strong friendship around the Word and around our relationship with the Lord.
 
If you’re a part of our church, I encourage you to become involved in Lifegroups. You’ll find a great source for personal encouragement, and God may use you to be a blessing to others! The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned Isaiah 50:4).

Hunger

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).
 
Our hunger defines us. Hunger motivates. What we desire shows us what we really are within. Spiritually, hunger is the indicator of our spirituality. Physically, hunger is one of the signs of health and prolonged lack of hunger is an indicator of illness.
 
If we lack spiritual hunger, something has gone wrong! When my children were young, they sometimes came to the dinner table with no appetite. I learned to go check their rooms, and I would find candy wrappers in the trash! They were filled with the wrong food for health!
 
Too much occupation in leisure time with entertainment at the expense of spending time with the Lord can quench spiritual appetite and leave a believer unfulfilled and vulnerable to Satan’s assaults. The candy of the world must be guarded against or we may lose our zeal and passion for God.
 
Life has become so compacted with things to occupy us in so many ways that we must make God our first priority if we’re to survive spiritually!  In the parable of the sower Jesus spoke of the cares of this life entering in and choking the word in us, making it ineffective. To maintain our spiritual lives, we must stay hungry spiritually. That means we must have a desire for spiritual things that is so strong with us that it moves us to make time for Jesus throughout our day.

Desire follows attention. I must devote time and attention to whatever I want to create a hunger for in my life. That means I must find a way to make sure my spiritual life is nurtured. A regular devotional time at the beginning of your day will start this process.
 
Maybe you seem to have no hunger or desire for God right now and you know you need to change. Let me offer the following suggestions. If you’ve been involved in sin of some kind, confess it to the Father in repentance. Sin quenches spiritual desire. Sin hardens the heart. Tell the Father what you’ve been doing, and make a consecration with His help to cease! If you’re sincere, the Spirit of God will enable you.

Then, ask the Father to create in you a hunger for Him and for the Word and for spiritual things in general. Ask Him to deal with anything that is encroaching on Him in your life, and make a change.
 
Finally, set you clock back early enough to spend some time, 10 to 15 minutes reading the Word when you first get up. And then spend a few minutes in real prayer, pouring your heart our to the Father to begin your day.  Three to four week of this will start a new habit of putting spiritual things first in your day!
 
I’ll end with these quotes from Smith Wigglesworth:
Spiritual hunger is when nothing satisfies us as much as being near to God.

I’d rather have a man on my platform who is not Spirit-filled but hungry, than a person who is Spirit-filled and satisfied!

Worldliness is that which cools my affection towards God.

I’m only satisfied with the dissatisfaction that must be satisfied over and over again.

Praise is Like a Coat on a Cold Day!

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls —  Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills (Habakkuk 3:17-19).
 
Praise is the language of faith. When life turns sour, turn up the praise! James tells us to count it all joy when hard times arrive (James 1:2). Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice (Philippians 4:4)!
 
Praise brings a manifestation of the presence of God that will give inward strength and that will attack the problem and bring a solution. Enemy armies had surrounded the people of God in 2 Chronicles 20. King Jehosophat and the people began to seek the Lord.

Through the prophet God told them that He would fight their battle for them. All they needed to do was to send the praise team to the front line of the battle and God would do the fighting for them.

They obeyed and the praise team began to sing; praise the Lord for His mercy endures forever. As they sang, the presence and power of God manifested and the enemy army was slain before they could lift a sword!

God will undertake to bring you out of the hard place if you will choose to put on the garment of praise. Listen to Isaiah: To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified (Isaiah 61:3).

Look at this again. To put on praise as a garment is to wear praise like you would a coat or a sweater on a cool day. It keeps you warm and comfy, and keeps the elements from making you chilled. Praise as a garment will keep the circumstances of life from getting into your inner person and discouraging you.

There is no feeling in this; it’s a total act of faith! When your flesh is screaming at you and the problems pile up, the best thing to do is to praise! Paul and Silas were set free from prison because they chose to pray and to sing praises to God while sitting in a dungeon.

Stop the complaining and begin to praise God in the troubles of life. God is not partial. He helped His Old Covenant people and fought for them. He will do the same for you! Put Your coat on!

Tired and Worn Out No More

He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak. Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the young men will all give up. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:29-31-The Living Bible).

Here’s an interesting way to look at a familiar passage. In my Companion Study Bible there is a note by this verse that calls this a Katabasis, which is a going or marching down, a retreat, or a gradual descent.
 
Here in Isaiah, notice that as the believer waits on the Lord he moves from flying to running to walking. In our walk with God, at first we are doing what seems natural, which is relying on our own wits and strength. But as we grow in God, and learn what it means to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, we learn to relinquish the control of life and its circumstances into His hands. We learn to seek God and roll the care of every circumstance onto Him.
 
Instead of flying in our own strength, we learn to slow down and move into a strength that surpasses our own, and we begin to run. Little by little as we learn that Father knows best, we lesson our striving and begin to enter into the rest of God, the rest of faith. We then begin to walk.

The fast pace become an easy stroll with respect to energy expended. As we wait on the Lord and in prayer and faith place every circumstance of life in His hands, we begin to live in the power of His might! We don’t become as weary as we did before. We go farther with greater energy reserves. And it becomes with us as it did with John the Baptist, He must increase, but I must decrease.
 
Take time to build God’s strength in you today by waiting on the Lord. You’ll accomplish more, and you’ll walk in a state called rest as the Father works through you with His power. This is the way He created you to live!
  

Words

Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God's own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin) (Ephesians 4:29-30).
 
Words are the most powerful force in your life! God used words to create natural things from spiritual things. Your words create things. James tells us that words determine the course of our lives from the cradle to the grave. In the same way that a bridle governs the movements of a horse, and a rudder controls the path of the ship, so our words direct us.
 
Don’t say a thing unless you want it to come to pass. Be careful to say what you really believe, for words are meant to move us in their direction.
 
Words can vilify, defame, and wound or they can bless, mend, and heal. Our words have a huge impact on others. We can inspire or de-motivate with a simple comment. The adage sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me is just not true! It takes so much longer to heal from the wounds inflicted with an offensive, hurtful comment than from a physical abrasion.

Make a decision to never use your words to bring harm. Don’t repeat the scandal of the hour. Keep your words positive and winsome. Be a creator of blessing, cheer, and encouragement. One sentence spoken to a person can change their whole day.
 
Remember that you are a creator today. You’re creating an environment everywhere you go with words. The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary (Isaiah 50:4).

Love Motivated

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death (1 John 3:14).

The successful Christian life is a life lived in the spirit. That is, a life where the real me, my human spirit, is allowed to control my behavior. Walking in the spirit is allowing my spirit, filled with God’s nature, to rule my conduct. Walking in the spirit is allowing the Word supremacy as I make decisions in how I approach the everyday life issues.
 
So many of us allow our mind, emotions, and bodies to control us, and the light within us is dimmed. If I am a wise believer I take time to feed on the Word of God each day and I spend time meditating in the Word so that my human spirit can be strong and vibrant, motivating my lifestyle.
 
Walking in love is one of the signposts on the road of my spirit ruled walk. When I am walking in the spirit, I will be ruled by the love of God, because the love of God has been poured inside of me by the Holy Spirit when I was born again (see Romans 5:5). When this love rules me from within, I will love others without requiring them to act in a way that pleases me, that is, unconditionally. I will put myself and my wishes last and the other person and their needs first. I will love others regardless of their attitude and demeanor towards me. I will be patient, kind, caring, honest, real, joy filled, hopeful, believing, and mannerly. When this love rules me, I will live above strife and petty differences. This love of God within me doesn’t pay attention to the wrongs others commit against me, and it will move me to treat those who treat me offensively as though they had done no wrong!

This love that we have received will help remove the abrasiveness that sometimes creeps up in our contact with others. We’re to be clothed with love (Colossians 3:14). What we're clothed with is the first thing people see when they meet us. When others see us, the first thing they should notice is an unselfish love that puts others first and is kind, winsome, and real. That’s what Jesus wants for you and me today.

If I’ll seek to be ruled by love today, I will be allowing my human spirit right of way in my life. And the Father and Jesus will direct my steps through the Word. I’ll live above the strife, envy and self-centeredness that are so common today, and I will be used to be the light that Jesus has called me to be.
 

Yielding My Self Will Everyday

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it (Matthew 16:24-25).

The soul is comprised of the mind, the emotions, and the human will. The soul also has the capacity for imagination. Of these three elements, the will is the king of the soul. The mind, emotions, will, and imagination follows the paths the will allows.
 
The will is sacred. The Father will never violate the will of a person. He allows us to make our own choices, and then we must live with the results of those choices. Jesus said if any man will let him come unto Me and drink (John 7:37). If you be willing and obedient you eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19). Choose this day whom you will serve, life or death blessing or cursing…(Deuteronomy 30:19).
 
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil gave a test of will to Adam. He failed the test. Since then, the will of man has generally been opposed to the will of God. The will has been tainted by sin and is largely self-centered. Take this closer to home. My will is from birth tempered toward pleasing me first in life’s activities. The number one biggest struggle you and I face is letting go of the reins of self-will, and allowing the Word, through the Holy Spirit’s promptings, to guide our actions, thoughts, and words.
 
In every gospel, Jesus admonishes believers to subdue the will. He tells us that if we’re going to follow Him we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Jesus spoke these words addressing my stubborn self will.
 
Every believer receives a summons from the Holy Spirit to yield the will daily to the Father by yielding it to the Lordship of the Word. No believer can walk closely with the Master until he or she has submitted their will to Him in humble faith.
 
Let’s take time daily to willingly give ourselves to the Father. He will not coerce or force us. We must be willing to daily humble ourselves to and to obedience to the Word and to the inward promptings of the Holy Spirit. It would be a good exercise to tell the Father regularly, Lord, I choose your Word over what I think or feel, and over what I want to do. A regular exercise of consecration of my all to God in prayer is necessary to subdue this strong disposition to self-will.
 
We receive the best that God has according to the yieldedness of our will to Him. May we be able to say what Paul said as he addressed the giving of his will daily to the Father: Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Corinthians 4:10-11).

What do I need to yield to Him today?

Lift the Limits

Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel (Psalm 78:41). …But with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). …If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23).
 
The children of Israel limited God with their disobedience and their unbelief. Though He had miraculously delivered them from Egyptian bondage and met their needs in supernatural ways, they continued to whine and complain when difficulties came.

God is limitless. He is Almighty! He has all power. He is the source of all that exists. He is eternal, with no beginning and no end. He knows everything! The angels in revelation sang out, The Lord God omnipotent reigns!
 
This being true, it’s time for us to take the limits off of our lives. God has taken His “Almightiness” and has pointed it towards our need by reminding us that with God all things are possible, and with all things are possible to Him who believes! It’s possible to for your prayers to be answered. It’s possible to overcome that weakness of the flesh. It’s possible to overcome that inability and do what’s in your heart! It’s possible to overcome the problem in your marriage. It’s possible for your children to turn around and obey God. It’s possible to be healed of that chronic illness.

The first step is repentance for our disobedience. The second step is a positive exercising of our faith. God is not a man that He should lie! If He says it He will do it, if He’s spoken it, He will make it good! His word will not return to Him void! It produces results!
 
Let’s refuse to limit God with our unbelief. Let’s act on the Word in every circumstance. Let’s believe we receive God’s best in every area of life. Let’s speak God’s Word and agree with what He says about or past, our present, our future, our health, our finances, our marriage and families, our children, our jobs, and our relationships. Let’s expect answers to our prayers. Speak to the mountain looming in your way and expect it to be removed as Jesus said it would. Believe in your heart that what you say will come to pass! God cannot lie!
 
We lift the limits by acting in obedient faith in the faces of great difficulty.  

The Power of United Purpose

And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them (Genesis 11:6). How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had surrendered them? (Deuteronomy 32:30)Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
 
Unity is a powerful force spiritually and naturally. People who unite in a common purpose far exceed the ability of a single individual. The devil knows this, so he works incessantly to stifle vision that unites purpose, and works to sow division between believers.

It’s time now for the body of Christ to rise up and fulfill its’ God planned destiny. In John 17, Jesus prayed that we would be one so the world would know Him.

Regardless of what church you attend, get behind the vision of your pastor and church leaders. Find ways to assist them in reaching your community for Jesus, and in helping disciple fellow believers.

The Father wants to use you today to bless, to encourage, and to inspire others to greater spiritual maturity. Recognize that we believers, like the individual parts of the human body, are dependant on one another. The health of the body is determined by the combined efforts of each part. If one part suffers, the other parts bear that pain too. And when one part is functioning properly, it aids in the function of every other part. If one part lags behind, the other parts have to work even harder!

Here at Victory Church, let’s unite to Grow spiritually, Connect with others, and Serve others with passion through the gifting that the Father places within us! Let’s give God out best today. Passionately express your heart to Him in private prayer. Lift the limits and expect answers! Allow the water of His Word to quench your spiritual thirst and to wash the effects of living in a fallen world off of you. Expect the Word to empower you today and to produce change in you.
 
Refuse to allow your thoughts and words to be used by the enemy to sow strife or division. Refuse to listen to words of gossip and dissention. Sow words of blessing, love, and encouragement. Look for ways to help others. Put the laws of sowing and reaping to work in your life and in the life of your church family.
 
Become unity minded. Become others minded. All things are possible to the group of individual who will unite under a common purpose. Let’s go after it with everything within us today!

Do it Scared!

If you’re going to be used by God, prepare to be stretched! God has an uncanny way of asking us to do what we think is impossible. His call to us is often in a realm way beyond what we think of ourselves and our own ability. Don’t forget, He’s able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think!
 
When I was 25 years old, I was a maintenance man (ok, a janitor!) in a large local church. I had attended two Bible Schools and knew that I was called to preach. I studied and prayed constantly. The pastor of the church saw an anointing on my life and would allow me to preach on Wednesday nights on occasion.
 
I received a call one summer day that blew me away. It was the pastor of the large church. He wanted me to assume a pastoral staff position as counseling director for this very large church. To say that I was overwhelmed is an understatement. I was floored! I wanted to give the classic “scaredy cat” answer, “well, let me pray about it!” But I knew intuitively that this was God’s will, so I said, “Yes, I’ll do it.” That’s when the internal fight began.
 
God had asked me to do something so far beyond me. I had just assumed a job where I had to oversee and train 120 people, and I didn’t know what I was doing myself! I made a decision to do it scared! I knew that if God called me, He would give me the ability to accomplish the overwhelming task before me.
 
Then one day not long after that the Lord gave me a scripture in during my personal devotions that empowered me and changed my life. It’s 1 Timothy 1:12, and it reads: And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. I read other translations of this scripture that gripped me. Here are a few: Grateful am I to Him that empowered me (Rotherham); I give thanks to Him who puts strength in me (Henry Alford); I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, the source of all my strength (Knox). But the one that struck me the most was from the New English Bible: And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has made me equal to the task!
 
That went off like a bomb in me. Suddenly I was awed by God’s thoughts about me. When He calls us, He sees what we can’t see in ourselves, and He leads us in a way that will pull out of us what He has put in us when He formed us. He helped me succeed in what I thought was an impossible situation. He did make me equal to the task.
 
So when an opportunity comes for you to do something that seems impossible to you, do it scared! The Father will give you the ability you need if you’ll walk by faith and believe Him. He will make you equal to the task.

Favor

For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield (Psalm 5:12).

  

As the people of God, we have obtained favor. When we made Jesus the Lord of our lives, we joined heaven’s team. Before that, we were under the control of the prince of the power of the air, that is, the demonic forces who work with Satan to hinder human life, and to thwart the purposes of God.

  

Now, we’ve been delivered from the control and dominion of darkness, and have been transferred into the kingdom of God. Now as God’s ambassadors on earth, we live according to His kingdom laws and principles.

  

An ambassador from one country living in another has diplomatic immunity from many of the laws that govern the country where he resides. Our redemption in Christ is our diplomatic immunity in the spirit realm!

  

We face life today with Heaven’s backing, living under God’s kingdom rule. We’re the people of God, destined for blessing and victory.

   

The blessing of Abraham belongs to us as kingdom folk. We’re blessed in our coming and going, we’re the head and not the tail, we’re above and not beneath. That just means that we’re successful in every endeavor. We operate in the wisdom of God.

  

Face life today knowing that you have heaven’s smile. God is for you! Heaven’s rule is with you! And as the above verse mentions, you are surrounded by the favor of God. Stand firmly today on the promises of God, and don’t be moved by the delay and resistance that comes. The favor of God will make a way through every difficulty and will open up God’s purposes for you. Expect God’s best!

Renew Your Mind

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2).  

In the new birth our spirits are transformed from darkness to light. The nature of sin is removed and replaced by the nature and life of God. A new motivation for living rises up from within. The things we once delighted in are replaced by an attraction to right living. And that’s where the challenge begins.

Before Christ we allowed our minds, emotions, wills and bodies to absorb habits that now bring regret if we participate in them. Paul said it to the believers in Rome this way: I am speaking in familiar human terms because of your natural limitations. For as you yielded your bodily members and faculties as servants to impurity and ever increasing lawlessness, so now yield your bodily members and faculties once for all as servants to righteousness (right being and doing) which leads to sanctification
(Romans 6:19-Amplified).
 
Stubbornness, anger, malice (the desire for bad things to happen to people who do you wrong), self-centeredness, habits of fleshly lusts, sexual and otherwise, overeating to cover pain, overwork to escape dealing with relational issues, and perfectionism. All of  these things come from a soul (mind, emotions and will) that must be subdued and brought to obedience to the Word! The mind is renewed and the body submitted to God as a living sacrifice as we daily yielded ourselves to the Lordship of the Word, making a conscious decision to act on the Word when everything in you wants to go the other way!

Make a decision today and everyday to 1) meditate the Word, to let it revolve over and over in your mind. 2) Make a decision to be a doer and not just a hearer only of the Word. 3) Make a decision to put the Word first place in your life. Not last place, but to act on the Word in each situation life brings. Do what God says should be done in that situation. 4) Make a decision daily to obey your conscience, the voice of your human spirit speaking to you. As you train your conscience to obey the Word, the voice of God in your inward man will become clearer and clearer.

Mind renewal is a lifelong process that will only culminate when we get to heaven and are like Him! Work towards that end everyday! He must increase; I must decrease!

Equal Before God, Not Equal in Life Preparation

The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned (Isaiah 50:4).

All of us are equal in the eyes of God. He has no favorite children. What He makes available to one, He makes available to all. But though we are all equals before God, not every person has an equal start in life.
 
The good news is that each of us can take the word of God and begin the process of renewing our minds and learning godly ways to relate to others. The word of God can help us to change habitual patterns of response to others that may erect walls and isolate.

Be careful that you don’t judge another person’s actions without knowing the background of what they deal with in life. God is the only righteous judge for He sees the thoughts and intents of the heart.

A person that to you looks like they have their life together may be struggling just to survive day after day. What seems easy to you is a great challenge for another that did not have the same foundation that you had in life.

Be careful not to judge another person at face value. The real issues are usually buried beneath a façade erected to keep emotional and relational pain at a minimum.

The Father wants to use each one of us today to bless and help another life. Be aware that hurt people hurt people. A person that seems harsh and distant is usually carrying some pretty heavy emotional baggage from their years of living. The Father wants to use you today to being cheer and comfort. He can only love and reach people as we allow Him to reach through us! Go today with the expectation that the Lord will use you to bless and help others. He’s counting on you.

Relationship Problem Solving: A + B = C

f it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men (Rom 12:18)
 
Here a simple formula Chip Judd gave me for understanding how to deal with others and their responses to you when challenged or when you’re just simply interacting with them. This formula affects us all without fail. You can use this at home, at work, at church, or in any social interaction.

The formula is A+B=C. (A) is the issue at hand i.e.; a disagreement with your spouse; a sudden financial problem revealed; or a disagreement with someone at a church function, etc. (B) is the problem or issue at hand filtered through a person’s thoughts and background. (C) is the reaction or response to problem (A). So the problem (A) is really never the whole problem. (B) is usually the problem. It’s (B) that usually causes conflict in relationships.
 
(B) is filled with personal biases that come from years of living with and/or interacting with imperfect people! Someone may have judged you for something and treated you with contempt or a cold shoulder. Someone may have taken advantage of you in an area of life and your (B) is filled with debris from this. Your (B) could be filled with deep mistrust of authority figures; women, men, people that you get close to, pastors, government, etc. What has happened in the past that affects us with emotional and mental negatives often fill our (B). Again (B) is a current problem filtered through my conditioning from life’s events. And when A (the event) is filtered through B (personal thoughts and emotional biases created from past interaction) the outcome is C (my personal response to a problem).
 
That’s the reason two people deal with the exact same issue and come up with such different responses. Learning to deal with your own B (personal thoughts and emotional responses created from past life events) is the key to getting along with others.

The scriptures call this the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). I must choose to open up and deal with my person biases (my B) that make me defensive, critical, distant, cold, indifferent, judgmental, sarcastic, etc. James tells us that the engrafted word has the power to save the soul or to renew the mind (James 1:22).

Every action, reaction, thought, motive, word, and attitude in my life must be weighed and measured against the love of God. Love is my standard for living in relationship. The more I adapt my words, thoughts, and responses to the love way, the easier I will adapt in relationships that are difficult. When I learn to love, I will be able to get along with the most trying, difficult people in my life. The more I yield to love, the easier I am to get along with.

Love cures the problems in my personal (B). The key is my willingness to open up my (B) to be examined and weighed in a balance alongside of love. I must be willing to change self-centered responses that come from past hurt and pain to love responses that come out of obedience to God and His word. The more fully I do this, the easier I enter into relationship with others.
 
I leave you again today with a compilation of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Use this a a gauge to deal with your (B).

Let me describe love. It is slow to lose patience; love stays in difficult relationships with kindness, and it always looks for ways to be constructive. There is no envy in love. It is not possessive and never boils over with jealousy. Love makes no parade of itself; it never boasts, nor does it puff up with pride. Love is never arrogant and never puts itself on display, because it is neither anxious to impress, nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love never gets irritated and is never resentful. Love holds no grudges, and it keeps no record of evil done to it. Love refuses to be provoked and never harbors evil thoughts. Love is not rude or grasping or overly sensitive, nor does love search for imperfections and faults in others. Love does not compile statistics of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love celebrates what is real and not what is perverse or incomplete. Love never does the graceless thing. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. Love never insists on its own rights, never irritably loses its temper, and never nurses its wrath to keep it warm. Love is not touchy. Love can stand any kind of treatment because there are no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust. Love bears up under anything; it perseveres in all circumstances. Love’s first instinct is to believe in people. If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best in him, and always stand your ground in defending him. Love never regards anyone or anything as hopeless. Love keeps up hope in everything. Love’s hope never fades. Love keeps on keeping on! It trusts in God in every situation and expects God to act in all circumstances. Love goes on forever. Nothing can destroy love. Nothing can happen that can break love’s spirit. In fact, it is the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.

Spirit, Soul, and Body

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

I am a spirit being, I possess a soul (mind, emotions, and will), and live in a physical body. Let me explain.
 
With my spirit I make contact with the spiritual realm where God exists. My conscience is the voice of my human spirit. My spirit is eternal, ageless, and will never cease to exist. My spirit is the seat of my human personality and motivations for living. The new birth has removed the sin nature from my sprit and placed within me by the Holy Spirit the nature of God (which is love). I am to allow this reborn human spirit to rule my actions, my thoughts, my words, and my choices.
 
My human spirit is nourished through the word of God and prayer (Matthew 4:4). I must feed my spirit the word every day by reading and meditation. I must exercise my spirit daily by praying in my natural and spiritual language. I must learn to listen closely to the promptings of my own spirit, for that is where I will hear the voice of the Father speaking to me intuitively about my life. The more I allow my human spirit to rule my conduct, the simpler and freer life will be.

My soul relates me to natural life in a fallen world. My soul consists of thoughts, emotions, and volition or will-power. My soul has been influenced by my surroundings since birth. It has absorbed much of its habits from observing and associating with events and people around me. My soul is full of residue from the sin nature that left me when I was born again. Negative, wicked, and malicious thoughts have been deposited in my soul from past events. I must learn to resist and replace these thoughts by renewing my mind with the Word by meditating and acting on it. I must purposely resist the negative deposits from my past into my soul, and must actively seek to control what my mind dwells on.
 
I must harness my emotions and not allow them to control my behavior. I must realize that my emotions have been greatly influenced too by my former sin nature and they will often feel things that are wrong and perhaps untrue. My emotions will seek to highjack my life perspectives and make me feel things that are not really true. I must purposely subject my emotions to the word of God. Instead of acting on emotions, I must act on the word. I must choose to believe the word over emotional feelings. This is a difficult thing to do at first but must be practiced until acting on the word and overriding wrong emotions becomes a way of living.

I must learn to moment by moment yield my will to God. My will has a stubborn streak from the residue left by my former sin nature. I must refuse to allow my will to chart its own course in my life. I must consciously yield my will to the word of God throughout my day. I must choose God’s word over my own self-centered desires. This too takes much practice and effort. My first attempts to harness my will may be met with failure. But I must repent when I fail and consciously yield my will to God by yielding it to His word.

My body is the temporary house for my spirit and my soul. One day, I will either leave it behind in death. Or it will instantly change at the rapture of the church. My body bears much scarring from my former sin nature. It has many appetites and desires that are reside from the sin nature and that were learned in my before Christ days. I must invoke stern discipline on my body or it and its appetites will seek to rule and ruin my life. I must set boundaries for what I allow my body to do. This is a lifelong struggle. One day, the Father will clothe me with a new body that will fit me for eternity in His presence. This new body will be in accord with my spirit and will allow me the freedom to express my spirit and soul in eternity as I walk with my Father through the eons of time in the New Heaven and New Earth.

I must keep this perspective of life continually before me.