Death or Life

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21)

The most powerful force in your life today are your words. They literally have the power of life and death!

Words are the creative ability of God. He created the worlds with words. He upholds all things by the power of His Word. Created in His image, you have an ability to create in your life with words.

Jesus said that we will give account for every word that comes out of our mouth. Let me ask you a question. What would happen if what you said today suddenly came into being in an instant? Would you want what you’ve been speaking to happen?

You’re either speaking life or death. Speaking death means that you’re allowing your mouth to agree with the circumstances around you or the doubts that come into your mind today. And words are creative. When you speak doubt and unbelief, you allow the enemy the opportunity to dominate.

On the other hand speaking life means that you’re allowing your mouth to agree with the Word of God. You’re choosing to call those things that be not as though they were. Speaking life means you speak the end result before you see it. You confess that you believe you’re healed while the pain is still in your body. You acknowledge that your needs are met while lack surrounds you. You say that you’re overcoming by the blood of the lamb and the word of your testimony while the circumstances appear to be crushing you.

God spoke to the Israelites and told them to choose this day whom they would serve, life or death, blessing or cursing. The Father is likewise challenging you today to choose life by choosing to speak the Word of God right in the face of opposing circumstances. IF you will do this, you’ll find the strength of God rising up within you. You will be able to persevere and overcome because God watches over His Word to perform it.

The Love Way

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:6).

Satan knows that faith will move mountains, and that nothing is impossible to him who believes. He also knows that faith must operate through love to be effective. And so He works to “pull the rug out from under” our faith life by attacking our relationships.

The love command is the central component in the believer’s life. We’re to love one another as He loves us. We are to follow after God and walk in love. We’re encouraged to have “white heated” love for the brethren.

1 Corinthians 13 gives us the elements that describe love. Patience, kindness, generosity, courtesy, unselfishness, righteousness, good temper, sincerity, are some of the fundamentals that form the love of God.

Over the years, I’ve used the Amplified translation of 1 Corinthians 13:5 as a gauge to measure my love life. The last part of the verse reads: it takes no account of the evil done to it; it pays no attention to a suffered wrong.

The moment I get upset because of the way someone treats me shows that I just left the love realm. Back in my bible school days I way heavily tested in the area of walking in love.

I worked in management in a grocery store that had an employee’s union. One winter before Christmas the union decided to go on a strike. I chose to go to work during the strike and was called all kinds of names as I crossed the picket line each day.
One man who worked as a butcher took particular offence at my actions and refused to talk to me or even acknowledge my presence in the room! I managed the night shift and would unlock the door as the day employees came to work.

This butcher would knock on the door, and as I unlocked it and said good morning, he would ignore me and act as though I was the invisible man! He would enter without saying one thing to me or looking at me. In group conversations, he would act as though I was not there and ignore my direct comments to him. He did this every day for weeks!

I decided that I would walk in love towards him, and act as though he did no wrong. Every day, I greeted him, and would speak to him as I passed him as we worked. He refused eye contact, and just simply ignored me and my kind comments day after day. After many weeks, I opened the door one morning, and he greeted me with a smile and a hearty “good morning!” I almost fell on the floor in surprise!

That taught me a great love lesson. Love never fails. Love is the best way.

Refuse to take offense when people mistreat you. Make a decision to be a person of love. That decision will cause your faith to work, and will keep you living above the insults and injuries of others.

Adoption Benefits

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:4-7).For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26).

You are a son or daughter of Almighty God. You have been adopted into His family through the new birth. Now, everything He has is at your disposal. You have a rich inheritance.

Your relationship with your former family is completely severed by this adoption into the family of God. Your former spiritual parent Satan no longer has any legal jurisdiction over you. He has no relationship or property rights over you. You are now under the care of the One who upholds all things by the power of His Word!

All former debts and obligations from your former family relationship have been canceled. Any personal penalties you have incurred because of laws you have broken have been forgiven. This adoption has given Father God full custody rights over you, and has severed you from all past debts, obligations, and penalties.

You are now an heir of God, and an equal heir with Jesus Christ. All that the Father has belongs to you. You have the full rights of family relationship with the Father. In fact, you have the same status with the Father as His child that a child actually born into his household has! His all belongs to you. But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!

Take your place as a child of God and hold your head high today. You have a new genealogy. You are of God! He has assumed the obligations of your care. He has told you not to worry about where or how provision for the day will come. Just seek Him and His kingdom, and all will be provided!

Your adoption in Christ gives you victory in every circumstance, authority over Satan and his minions, the peace of God, the love of God, the rest of God, healing for your body, prosperity, the promise of answered prayer, everything that pertains to life and godliness, every benefit provided by Jesus on the cross (called every spiritual blessing in heavenly places by Christ Jesus in Ephesian1:3), and the faith to believe God for everything he has given you!

Expect the Father to provide His best for you His child today. Talk to Him about everything. Take every difficulty the day brings and lay it before Him in faith. You are His child. He is your Father. He will take care of you!

Equal Pay

In Matthew 20, Jesus gave the parable of the vineyard workers. This parable illustrates the importance of faithfulness and of God’s fairness. There are no greater or lesser persons in God’s family. There are simply those that are faithful to do what the Father called them to do.

In the parable a vineyard owner needed workers for the day. He hired people at the beginning of the day, maybe around 6 AM, agreeing to pay them, let’s say $75.00 a day. Seeing he needed more workers and noticing people standing around looking for work, he hired more workers at 9 AM and they agreed to work for a $75.00 a day.

The vineyard owner found workers again at noon and at 3 PM, and they too agreed to work for $75.00 for the day. Once more, the owner hired workers at 5 PM, one hour before the end of the workday. And they too were hired for $75.00 for the day’s work.

At the end of the day, the vineyard owner paid each of the workers the $75.00 that he agreed to pay them when he hired them. The workers that were hired at 6 am became indignant with the owner, because he seemed so unfair. The workers who were hired in the morning hours did the most work, enduring the grueling heat of the day, and were paid the same wage as the person who was hired at 5 PM. That seems so unfair!

Jesus’ point was that every person in the family of God is valuable. We don’t get rewarded for the amount of kingdom work we do, we get rewarded for our faithfulness to do what the Father has called us to do. That way, each person is just as valuable in the kingdom of God as any other.

Internationally known and acclaimed Billy Graham will get the same reward as the unknown lady who faithfully prays at home for his ministry every day. The janitor, the secretary, the volunteer in the children’s ministry, the piano player, the intercessor, will get the same reward as the pastor in the church as longs as each one does his job and is faithful to do what the Lord has called him to do.

For that reason, there is no “jockeying for position” in the family of God. Our faithfulness is rewarded, not our amount of work or our position. Each person is a valuable as the next.

Decide today to be a person that is faithful. Don’t envy another person’s position or call. You may not be seen or heard by men, but the Father sees your faithful heart and will reward you for doing what he called you to do!

Spiritual Hunger is a Gauge

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

Smith Wigglesworth, an English Evangelist, said that he would rather have a man on the platform preaching with him who is not Spirit-baptized but is hungry for God, than to have a man who is Spirit- baptized and is satisfied.

Our hunger defines us spiritually. Hunger in the human body is one of the signs of normal health. When hunger is stymied, it can be one of the indicators of a physical problem. Likewise, spiritual hunger denotes spiritual health. A lack of hunger for God indicates problems have arisen spiritually.

When my children were young, they would sometimes come to the dinner table with no appetite. I would investigate their room and find candy wrappers on the floor or in the trash can. The candy sated their hunger. A believer can find himself void of spiritual hunger if he fills up on the things of the world; magazines, movies, video games, T.V. shows, excessive time with favorite hobbies, etc, and doesn’t spend time with the Lord in the word and in prayer.

Peter told believers to desire the word the way a baby desires milk. In doing so, spiritual growth would occur. God meets us on the level of our hunger.

Lack of spiritual hunger is a sign of problems such as lukewarmness, compromise with the flesh or the world, or of a believer leaving his first love.

Notice Psalm 107:9 For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. The Father meets us on the level of our hunger.

David developed a ravenous hunger for God in his life. Notice Psalm 63:1,O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

Moses had been with God for forty days on top of Mount Sinai, and still wanted more of God’s presence. He developed a great hunger for God, and God met him in a powerful way. (See Psalm 33: 18-23).

We can develop a hunger for God by spending time with Him daily in His word and in prayer. We create desires for whatever we focus our attention on.

If you find yourself spiritually dry, I encourage you to go to the Father and ask him to show you if you’ve allowed anything to keep you from spending time with Him. If you have, ask Him to forgive you, and to create in you a hunger for His presence and His Word. Then force yourself to feed on the Word and to spend time in prayer. After a period of time, you’ll find a stirring inside for more of God and less of the flesh and the world. He is ready to meet you today. Pray to get hungry!

Desire Follows Attention

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…( James 4:8)

Our desires are created by our focus. I learned this truth during a time of personal struggle back in 1982.

The previous year I had taken a volunteer position as an associate pastor in a small church. I had taken this position after just graduating from one of the Bible schools I attended. I later realized that I had missed God’s best. The experience left me empty and disappointed. I didn’t want to read my Bible, or pray, and I struggled with my feelings every time I went to church. Spiritual activity reminded me of my pain.

After this experience, I had moved back to Tulsa and was working and attending a local church. And I was struggling spiritually. A guest speaker at the church I attended made a statement that grabbed me. He said, what you have a desire for is determined by where you place your attention. Desire follows attention.
I felt wasted spiritually and I knew that I must act quickly or I would get worse. I determined to sit down at my desk at home daily with my tape player, my Bible, and a note pad.

I bought the tapes of the services at my church as well as a few tape series. I forced myself to sit down and listen to the tapes, taking notes and looking up the verses mentioned. I had no desire to do this. I did it out of desperation. And it was a struggle every day. But I persisted in spending a couple of hours a day listening, reading, and taking notes.

A few weeks later I was amazed as I woke up one day with a desire to read my Bible and pray! I had created a desire for spiritual things by placing my focus on them. My zeal for God was renewed and I got back on track spiritually. This principle has helped me through the years to keep my spiritual stamina strong.
Make yourself focus on spiritual things every day by spending quality time in the word and in prayer. Before long, you’ll find your hunger for God growing. It’s a never failing principle. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you!

He Knows You

The Father loves you with an everlasting love. He knows everything about you. He is aware of every cell of your body. Not only does he know the number of hairs on your head, but he understands the complex DNA structure that lives in each cell of your body. He is aware of every aspect of your health and knows what is necessary for you to thrive. He wants that information to be yours.

The Father knows every thought in your mind. He is aware of what occupies every memory cell in your brain. He has watched you since you were in your mother’s womb, and knows every single event in your life in minute detail.

The Father is aware of your emotional life. He knows every up and down, and understands the factors that contribute to your personality and motivations. He knows why you do everything you do. He feels the grief and pain that burdens you.

The Father hears every word that falls from your lips. He is aware of the un-verbalized comments that remain buried. He understands the tremendous power your words hold over you. He wants you to watch them carefully.

He sees every unfulfilled desire. He knows your hopes and dreams. He sees the unfulfilled expectations of life that bring you anguish. He knows ahead of time the decisions you make and why you make them.

With this all knowledge the Father wants to come and make a home with you. He wants to help you figure out the every day choices ahead of you. He desires to impart peace to your entire being, and longs to calm every fear and bring you to a state of rest.

This all starts with Jesus’ Lordship confessed with your own lips. Then the Word must be meditated upon until it becomes a part of your inward life. Slowly your perceptions of Him will become stronger and stronger until you will gain an inward knowing of his purpose in the even the minor details of your life.

One day you will meet Jesus personally. He will be the sum total of your every desire. He will be the satisfaction of every thought. He will be the fulfillment of every emotion. He will be the embodiment of your entire future. He will be the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen, the fulfillment of each of your five senses, the sum total of everything that is pleasant. All fullness dwells in Him.

When you meet Him, it will be as though you have always known Him. He will know everything about you that there is to be known, yet you will feel complete and at rest with Him. With Him you will experience the fullness of joy, complete acceptance, and the total fulfillment of every thought, emotion, desire, and sense. You will be totally free to be yourself. Let’s start the journey today!