Keep Your Chin Up!

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive (Genesis 50:20).

When facing a severe trial of long duration, it’s important to keep perspective. Joseph spent many years bearing the repercussions of his brother’s misdeeds. Though he spent years of suffering shame and mockery in prison, the end result for Joseph was blessing, honor, and favor.

 

Tests and difficulties are part of living on a fallen planet. Our faith in God’s Word will navigate us through every test if we’ll let it! Satan attacks us, sometimes using others, sometimes using circumstances, and at other times using our own mistakes to ridicule and seek to discourage us.

But we must face each difficulty knowing that we are conquerors! God has destined us to win! We are victors! We can’t be defeated if we refuse to lie down and quit! The promises of God are YES and AMEN in every circumstance. He will never leave us or forsake us! If God be for us, who can be against us!

If we keep the right perspective, tests will only bring out the best in us. Tests will cause the dross to rise to the surface. Tempered steel is the strongest because the heat drew out the impurities that weakened it. Notice what Peter said: That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).

Years ago, I found myself in the middle of one of the most difficult periods of my life. Nothing was going the way I thought it would. It seemed as though I would fail. At times, death seemed appealing as a sweet escape. Really, it was a very hard place. But the Holy Spirit kept reminding me of the promises of God when I wanted to just quit. He wouldn’t let me! Day after day, week after week, month after month, this particular test droned on.

At my lowest points, I found my God to be faithful. Knowing what He planned for me, the Father just would not let quit in the middle of my journey. He urged me to act on His Word and keep on going. He sees the end from the beginning. Sometimes we allow the pain of present circumstance to cloud the vision of where we’re headed.

Now looking back, I can see that some of the greatest things God did in me were a result of the pressure I went through. Character changes occurred in me as the pressure squeezed flaws to the surface of my life and forced me to face them.

 

The enemy sought to destroy me through circumstance, but God turned it all around and used it for my good. Joseph was able to lead Egypt out of a dark period because of the work of preparation during the testing years.

 See your present circumstance, not as a stumbling block, but as a stepping stone into God’s greater purposes for you. If you’ll do this in every test and trial, God will turn what was meant by the enemy as evil into opportunity to help you grow!

 

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18). Keep your chin up today!

A Blessed Nation Honors God and His Laws

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen for His inheritance. The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.  No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name.  Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as we hope in You (Psalm 33.12-22).

We enjoyed Thanksgiving day with our children yesterday just relaxing, eating, and talking (and playing games on our Ipads!). We live in a free nation, where we can think and do as we like. This freedom cost our forefathers a lot! Today, our freedom is in jeopardy. Political forces along with an uninformed populace are fomenting a mindset of intolerance to all things Christian. And as a whole, our nation thumbs its nose at God as we do as we please without regard to His laws that bring order. Lawlessness is upon us. Lawlessness ends in anarchy. Read history. It’s time for believers to stand in the gap and intercede for the future of America.

The following is George Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation from 1789. We need leaders today that will humble themselves before God in this way:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

A Thankful Heart

Before an individual or a nation goes astray, they lose their thankful heart. Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1:21).

  

The early settlers here in America were thankful for the provision God had provided after their arrival and the harsh winter that ensued. They held a feast together and gave thanks for the blessings of God.

  

In 1789 George Washington proclaimed a day of thanks for God’s blessing and favor on our nation. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln also signed a Thanksgiving proclamation. Then in 1941 the US Congress passed a law declaring the fourth Thursday of November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

 

Let’s take some time today to give thanks to our Father for His provision of life and resources. It is He that has made us, and not we ourselves. Don’t take for granted the blessings of friends and family, of food and shelter, and of the freedom and liberty that you enjoy.

  

Remember today those who have had life changes; a divorce or a death in the family. Holidays bring stress to many. Ask the Father to help them and minister to them.

 

I’ll leave you today with scripture concerning giving of thanks:

  

When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you (Deuteronomy 8:10). It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High (Psalm 92:1). Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name (Psalm 100:4). Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy (Psalm 107:1-2). Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20).

  

Susan and I pray that the Father will continue to reveal Himself to you, and to provide for your every need. Happy Thanksgiving!

Experiencing God's Unconditional Love

For the Father Himself tenderly loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from the Father (John 16:27 - Amplified).

 

The formative years of my life left me with the idea that somehow God just put up with me because that was His job. He had to love me. But I didn’t really think He liked me very much. Maybe a better way to put it was that I thought He tolerated  me.

 

After I was Spirit-Baptized I of course had a greater desire to pray than ever before. But I found myself hitting a wall at times with strong thoughts and feels of being rejected by the Father. What I read in the word and what I actually experienced were two different things.

 

Here’s what I found in the Word about God’s love for me. I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me (John 17:23).

Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love (Ephesians 1:4-The Message). The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Psalm 145:8-9). The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous (Psalm 146:8). The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him (Psalm 103: 8-11).

 

My mind and emotions were sabotaging my fellowship with my Father! So I read the above scriptures over and over and spoke them aloud as an affirmation of what I believed. When I prayed, I ignored my fickle feelings and my wrong thinking, and over and over I mentioned out loud to Him what I believed about what He thought about me.

  

Every now and then my emotions would allow me to feel God’s love. When they did, it was wonderful. When they didn’t, I walked by faith and thanked Him for His love. Over a period of time my thoughts and emotions changed, and began to line up with my spirit and with what the Word says about His care and love for me.

  

Take time to meditate on the Word about the Father’s love for you. It will open to you a new realm of fellowship with Him. Your prayer life will deepen in intimacy with Him, and you’ll become settled and secure in the Father’s embrace.

Reciprocity - The Boomerang Effect

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days (Ecclesiastes 11:1).

 

The idea in the above verse is that the waves will bring back to you what you throw out into the water.

 

Reciprocity is an action that produces in return an action of the same kind. It’s a law in the kingdom of God. In one sense our lives are filled with sowing and reaping. Our tomorrow is found in seed form in what we do today. My actions today are the foundation for tomorrow’s living.

 

Not only is this a law of the kingdom of God, it’s an eternal promise attached to the earth. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

This principle is not just about finances, but it applies to all of life. Notice what Jesus said in Luke 6:37-38: Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

 

The actions, words, attitudes, and kindness that I show today will come back to me. The way I treat others is the way I will be treated. If that is true, I should see every action and word as a seed that will produce a harvest in my life. So what kind of harvest do I want? Plant the seed for it today!

This also includes our material and financial lives. Notice 2 Corinthians 9:6: But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

 

And again we find this principle in Galatians 6:7, where it also refers to the Galatian believers giving to those who minister the Word to them: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Yet Paul broadens this concept to include a believer’s whole life, including his spiritual life in Galatians 6:8:-9: For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

See yourself as a seed planter today. Only throw the bread on the water that you want to see again! This is a law. A law works all the time. It’s sometimes slow and methodical, but it is always working behind the scenes.

This principle of receiving what you sow is working right now in you. If you’ve sown some bad seed, cry out in repentance for the mercy of God to cleanse you from the wrong. Mercy is when you don’t receive what you deserve! And sometimes God’s mercy will root up a negative seed we’re planted!

Expect the bread you’ve thrown on the water to come back. Sow seeds of kindness, love and mercy into others today. The day will come that you’ll need these in your own life. Let’s sow seeds today that we’ll be glad to reap tomorrow.

No More Guilt!

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins (Isaiah 43:25).

Psychologists tell us that one of the main de-motivators of human personality is guilt and condemnation. Many people carry the weight of failure due to past deeds. Guilt will keep a person in the downward spiral of hopeless addictions as they seek the numb the pain of past failures. Addictions of all sorts: alcoholism, drugs, sex, food, and even in work may find their origin in the covering of and hiding from the emotional pain of failure.

 

God’s remedy for guilt is the forgiveness and cleansing found in the blood of Jesus! As Isaiah says: Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18).

I was freed from my chains of personal failure when I learned that God does not even remember confessed sin. He has no record of it!

Years ago I was reading a book by Dr. Roy Hick entitles He Who Laughs Lasts and Lasts…In the book, Dr. Hicks mentions Einstein’s theory of relativity. Part of that theory is the belief that if a person could travel at the speed of light, time would cease. He would enter into the eternal.

The Bible says that God is light (1 John 1:5). God lives in the realm of the eternal. Past, present, and future are all “now” to God. It’s a hard concept for our finite minds to grasp, but it is true. God lives in the eternal “now.” The panorama of history is constantly before Him. He sees everything that was, is, and will be  as “now.” Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (before it was created). The Apostle John was shown The Revelation which shows the future. How? All this is or will be exits in the eternal where God dwells. And God showed John what will be because it already exists in the realm of the eternal.

So when God says that He will not remember our sins, it a big deal! That means that confessed sin is not even history, because history can be remembered! Confessed sin is not found in the mind of God. It is blotted out as if it had never been committed. And that is a miracle!

 

God can do what we can’t. Our past deeds live in our memory, but He has the ability to completely remove confessed sins from His mind, and from recorded history! So when you sin as a believer, don’t brood and whine over it, repent and confess it! Then it will be completely removed from the history of your life and you can walk free from guilt!

This is all by faith. We are usually the last one to forgive ourselves when we sin.

For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God (1 John 3:20-21). We often feel the pain of self-inflicted guilt long after God forgives us. The key to being released from this inner condemnation is walking by faith in what God says about you, and choosing to believe what God says and refuse to be affected by the feelings of failure. If God says He forgives and forgets, then you choose to forgive yourself and forget it too!

Regardless of how many times you fail, get up! Confess the sin in repentance, and walk on. Remember, For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again… (Proverbs 24:16). Forget what God has forgotten and be released from the chains of the past!

Our God is More Than Enough!

El Shaddai is one of the Hebrew names for God in the Old Testament. It means The Almighty God, the All Sufficient One, or the God Who is More Than Enough.

 

The etymology of the word Shaddai in antiquity gives a slight reference to a mother feeding her child at her breast, meaning that the mother is everything the child needs to sustain life. The word Shaddai is also used of mountains and linked with El, the self-existent one, it refers to the all powerful God who created the mountains and rules over all. He is the One from Whom everything is derived.

 

Our God is the God Who is more than enough! He is the creator and sustainer of all that exists. Jesus upholds all things by the power of His word. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).

  

In the light of our God being El-Shaddai, our problems are so small! The Being that created and sustains all that exists is my very own Father! He is All-Sufficient to help me in my difficulties today. He is more than enough! He’s the God of plenty! Someone said that God is El-SHaddai, not El-cheapo! He’s big enough, strong enough, wise enough, and loving enough to help us through the tough issues that life brings!

  

All we need to do is to release our faith in Him and believe we receive the best that He has for every circumstance we encounter. El-Shaddai promised that mountains would move at the command of faith spoken words. He promised to answer faith based praying. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive (Matthew 21:22). El-Shaddai is back of this promise. Let His more than enough power work on your behalf today.

  

Trust in El-Shaddai with all your heart today. Don’t lean on your own ability alone. In all your ways today, acknowledge that El-Shaddai is working on your behalf. He is providing the needed wisdom, insight, healing, finances, and solutions to your current circumstances. He’s the Almighty God, the All Sufficient One. He’s more than enough!

Just as If I'd Never Sinned

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2).

In the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, sin was not cleansed, it was covered. The life of an animal was sacrificed and its blood was poured on the Mercy Seat, which was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple. The presence of God dwelt in this man made place, and the animal blood provided a covering of “life” for the sins of the Israelites.

 

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11). The word atonement means a covering. Sins were not removed, they were only covered, and the blood had to be re-applied to the Mercy Seat every year on the Day of Atonement. The life represented in the blood covered the sins of Israel so that they could fellowship with a Holy God. When He looked at the Ark of the Covenant with its contents of the Ten Commandments, He saw the blood that covered Israel’s failure to obey His commandments and judgment was abated.

 

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world according to John the Baptist. When Jesus spilled His blood on Calvary, died and was resurrected, He took His blood into heaven and placed it before God as an eternal cleansing for our sins. Jesus Death and resurrection doesn’t just forgive us and cover sin, His death and resurrection literally removes our sin! Our sins are remitted, not covered!

Notice Hebrews 9:24-26: For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another —  He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

 

Our sins have been judged and removed from us when we are Born Again! We are justified. It is Just-As-If-I’d-Never-Sinned!  The sin is expunged and forever removed, not covered to be remembered year after year! Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17). And now, when you miss the mark and sin as a believer, sin is cleansed when you confess it (1 John 1:9).

 

When thoughts of your past deeds come to mind today, remind yourself and the Lord that you are totally forgiven; that your sins have been removed; and thank Him for never remembering them again! The accuser of the brethren wants you to live in the past and brood over your failures. God has made a way through the blood of Jesus for you to completely forget the things which are behind, and reach forward to the things ahead! Act like a person who has never sinned today!

Developing the Habit of Prayer

…Steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer (Romans 12:12-J.B. Phillips).

The Father wants us to develop our intimacy in prayer with Him. He wants prayer to become a habit. The prayer habit will be one habit that can transform the atmosphere of your life.

 

E.W. Kenyon in his book In His Presence says: Prayer should be as natural as breathing and as enjoyable as eating. Prayer should be as unconscious as our communication with one another. He goes on the say: You can’t spend any length of time in prayer without being affected by it. The quietness, the unshaken faith, the deep unsounded peace that pervades the Godhead, will overflow into the prayer’s life.

 

Many people find prayer a great challenge. The flesh struggles with relating to a God you can’t see. But God is the Father of spirits. He relates to our spiritual nature, not to our mentality and emotions. Here are some tips to help develop the prayer habit.

First, you must know that the Father sees you as righteous; that is, as though you had never sinned! Our sin debt has been completely paid by Jesus, and God sees us as pure as Jesus before Him! It’s as though we have never sinned!

 

Secondly, you must know that the Father loves you as much as He does His own Son. In John 17:23, Jesus prays that he Father will reveal to us the fact that You have loved them as you have loved me!  You must know that you are endeared to the heart of the Father, and that He wants your companionship and fellowship.

 

Then you must begin to develop you fellowship with Him based on your right standing with Him according to the Word; not according to your feelings. Take some time to get alone and just tell Him that you love Him and tell Him how glad you are to be saved from sin and redeemed from hell.

 

Then, remind Him of what His word says about you, and of what His word says about answered prayer. Talk to Him in specific terms about every single concern you have in life, and ask Him specifically to help you.

 

Share your heart life with Him. Bear to Him your thoughts and feelings and ask for His aid.

 

Take time too to pray in the spirit, in other tongues. Your spirit, in communion with the Holy Spirit will pray God’s perfect will in all areas of your life.

 

Start slowly. You may pray to begin with for ten or fifteen minutes. That’s just fine. If you keep it up every day, you’ll find the need to pray longer. You’ll find it easier and easier to express your heart and you’ll begin to want to take more time.

  

Life will become a partnership between you and the Father. You’ll begin to talk over every problem, every challenge, and every circumstance good and bad with Him. And before long, you will have developed and unconscious communion with Him that will erase fear and worry from your life.

 

Prayer will become an unconscious act of communion throughout your day. Daunting impossibilities will turn into opportunities for your Father to show Himself strong in your life. You’ll begin to fulfill Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.