Daily Devotional And Prayer Blog Ministered/Written by R. Lynn Moore, Author of "Spending Daily Moments With God” and “Shattering The Glass Of Fear and Walking Fully In Faith” To Help Build, Edify, and Exhort The Believer In Their Daily Walk With God. Daily Moments With God is designed to be a resource for you. Visit us online at www.DailyMomentsWithGodPrayer.blogspot.com, www.DailyMomentsWithGod.blogspot.com, or www.Facebook.com/DailyMomentsWithGodWithRLynnMoore2
Selfishness or Selflessness. What will it be in 2014? Will it be a year of selfishness or a year of selflessness? A year where you are focused on what you want, what you need, and how you are going to get where you want to be. Or a year where you are focused on what others need and making sure they are getting to where God wants them to be. Knowing that God is going to take care of you.
Selfishness or Selflessness. To be selfless ... you have to stop making excuses for why you are not doing what needs to be done. Why you are not helping or not giving. To be selfless you have to walk in true love. The whole connotation behind selfishness is that it is all about what "I" need done. It is focused inwardly instead of outwardly. It is based on love of self and not the love of others.
As you step into 2014 ... step in without excuses. Excuses to why you don't help and support others. Excuses to why you don't give when God has positioned you to. Excuses to why you do what you do. Leave the excuses behind and be the vessel that God can truly work through. Move from the place of selfishness to a place of selflessness. If God has told you to do something ... do it.
God is not limited to how or when we want Him to work. He doesn't need us to dictate to Him what we want and how we want it done. We are His people. It's His earth. It's His power and His plan. We have to know and understand that limitations come from man ... God has no boundaries. There are no boundaries to His ability or His power. We have to stop setting up spiritual roadblocks based on what we tend to perceive.
God is ready to work miracles in the earth. All He needs is willing vessels. Those that will believe Him and those that will trust Him. Jesus tore the veil to give us access to the Father. Yet we put up a partition that separates us from Him. A partition of doubt and unbelief that hinders our faith. We have to understand that God says that He does not change. Therefore the same power that was available to the men and women in the Bible is available to us. We just have to stop doubting so that we can walk in the fullness of it.
Are you just waiting or are you waiting in expectation? Understand, God wants you to wait in expectation for His promises. He wants you to know that He is God. He is faithful. He is true. He wants you to know that He honors His promises. He wants you to live like you know that He is real and like you know that He will move on your behalf.
So often we walk around in a daze. Confused and doubting. Doubting God's promises and doubting God's plan. Opening up our mouths with negativity instead of words of faith. It's time out for that. It's time to live and believe what God has said. It's time to trust His perfect plan despite the appearance of our current situation. It's time to know, see, and believe that He is God. He is our hope and He is the answer to our situation.
The presence of God. Presence is defined as being the immediate vicinity of something or someone. It means to be in attendance or to detect someone or something in a place at a particular time. The presence of God.
In all that you do ... recognize the presence of God. So often we say we desire God's presence but what we have to understand is God is always present. He said that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He said He is always with us. So it is not about desiring His presence ... it is about recognizing and acknowledging His presence.
The whole point behind recognizing and acknowledging things is so that you can follow it up with an action. It does no good to know a thing and not do what you "know" you are to do. That being said .... When we know that God is always present .... let's do what we know we need to do to acknowledge His presence. Let's worship Him.
Bethlehem in the Hebrew means "House Of Bread". In John 6:35 Jesus said He is the Bread of Life. So in the House of Bread ... the Bread of Life was brought forth. As we look at John 1:1, it declares that Jesus is the living word. So we must understand that if we eat the "living word" which is the "bread of life", we shall never go hungry or thirst. The question is, what are you hungry for and what are you trying to use to quench your thirst. Are you hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Or are you desiring and seeking things that are unrighteous. For according to Matthew 5:6 ... Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
PROPHECY ...
Micah 5:2
King James Version (KJV)
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY Matthew 2:1
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem
Are you stepping into the trap? The trap of deception. The trap of deceit. Are you believing the negative? Are you you allowing the questions of doubt to overtake your knowledge of God? Or are you holding on to what God said is true? What is it in your life that you are yielding to?
Don't allow your closeness to people, places, or things to cause you to walk in a place of questions, doubt, and disobedience. Learn how to judge the spirit by the Spirit. Don't do as Adam and Eve did. They had a proven track record with God. He had given them everything that they had needed. He had placed them, positioned them, and given them authority. Notice ... God had given them authority over every living creature upon the face of the earth. Yet they yielded to the influence and voice of a serpent. Something God had already given them authority over. That is what we tend to do. We yield to the things that God has already said that He has given us authority over. It's time to stop yielding.
Understand today. You have the greater one working in you. You have been given authority. You can overcome. You just have to make the right choice. You have to choose to listen to the voice of God and not the voice of the people, places, and things that are trying to overtake your life.
What are you harboring in your soul that is keeping you from walking in the Spirit? Your soul is comprised of your mind, your will, and your emotions. What is it that you are thinking about that is keeping you from trusting God? What is it that you want to do that is causing you to fail to do what God is telling you to do? What is that you are so passionate it about that is keeping you from making Jesus your passion? We need to deal with the roadblocks. The hindrances. The things that are keeping us in a place called here ... when we need to be getting over there where God has called us to be. The place called there that is in Him.
It's time to detoxify.. To detoxify mean to remove harmful substances from your body. We have to understand that not only do we need to detoxify in the natural ... we need to detoxify spiritually. We need to remove those things from our mind, will, and emotions that are harmful to our walk of salvation. Those things that cause us to doubt. Those things things that lead us into fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Those things that we allow to override the word in our lives. It's time to detoxify spiritually.
You don't have time to keep turning back. Turning back slows down your progress. Turning back keeps you in a backwards position. Turning back causes you to stumble because you can't see what is in front of you. It's time to stop turning back.
Take time to commit today. Commit to moving forward with God. You have to understand your moving forward with God ... is actually you moving forward "in" God. It is you stepping into Him ... His word, His will, and His way and allowing Him to be your guide. Not only your guide ... but letting Him carry you into the next level He has planned for you. It is time to leave the past behind and to step into the new thing that God is trying to do in your life. You step into His new thing by stepping into a place of peace in God. A place of power in God. A place of protection in God. Allow the Father to cover you and to keep you like only He can.
Instead
of debating about what day Jesus was actually born ... we need to be
celebrating the fact that He was born. Be aware of what tactic the
enemy will use to bring confusion within the body. It's the same
subtle attack that he used in the Garden of Eden. A question of
confusion. We have to stop debating ... we don't know the exact date.
The fact is ... HE WAS BORN. Yes the date that
we celebrate Christmas was originally a celebration of things that was
not of God. But historically speaking ... that is how history
happens. Things happened on today in the past that was not of God.
Divorces happened ...but that does not stop new marriages from taking
place on this date. That's called history. Even though December
25th is not the actual date that Jesus was born ... It is the date that the
world has chosen to celebrate the birth. Honestly speaking the
celebration should be a lifestyle. We should celebrate every day.
But if this day is the day where everyone is more sensitive to receive
and accept the miraculous birth of Christ. Use this day to minister
life and to bring others into an understanding of the gift of Christ
instead of a time of debate between fellow believers on whether He was
actually born on this day. There is enough confusion with bringing
"Santa Claus" into the picture and redirecting children's attention to
santa. It's not by chance that the letters in santa when switched
around spell satan. The enemy's whole tactic is to bring confusion
and to redirect the attention that is supposed to be on God and Jesus
... to something else. Take this time to celebrate the birth of
Christ and not debate. Amen.
If you are jut starting and exercise routine and your body is not used to it. Your body may ache ... it may hurt ... it may want to give up and quit. But that is not what is best for your body ... it is just what your mind, will, and emotions want you to do. So it is when it comes to the things of God.
We have to understand... that our mind, will, and emotions make up our "soul". You have been called to be Spirit led. God is a Spirit and those that worship Him, must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. So don't give up and quit when it comes to your walk with God. Don't allow your soul to rule and to reign.
Understand, you have to exercise your faith. Exercise is meant to strengthen you. So strengthen your faith. The Bible says faith comes by hearing the word of God. So strengthen your faith by hearing God's word. Strengthen your walk by hearing God's word, reading God's word, praying God's word and praising God's name. Let these becomes automatic responses when you are going through. God wants your response to the situations that come in your life to be automatic. Automatically giving it to Him and automatically moving into a place of prayer, praise, and worship concerning whatever you are going through.
Be wise people of God. Know, see, and understand. Your adversary is real. Don't be blind to his devices or his subtle words. Words that sound right but are actually clever and indirect. Don't be deceived. The word deceived means to be led or caused to believe something that is not true. God has told you how to stand ... you must stand on it.
The only way to know if you are going in the right direction is by following God and His word. If you are doing what He said for you to do ... you can rest in the fact that you are going in the right direction (regardless of how things appear to be). So if God says for you to stand still ... STAND STILL. If he says to worship ... WORSHIP. If He says for you to pray ... PRAY. Whatever He tells you to do ... Do it.
Spiritual Warfare.When
we look at the word warfare, it means the waging of war against an enemy; armed
conflict.Take a minute to think about
it.A war has been “waged”.The war is against “an enemy” and it is an “armed
conflict”.
The word war is defined as a state of open, armed, often
prolonged conflict carried on.You are
not out seeking war, however, the enemy is drawing you into it.A war is based on an attack.When you are under attack you set
upon in a forceful violent hostile or aggressive way with or without a weapon to
begin fighting with.
Don’t be deceived.In
order to be in a war, there has to be an enemy that you are in war against.The enemy is not always seen externally.Sometimes the enemy is internal.One definition of enemy is “a hostile power
or force”.When something is hostile,
it is unfavorable to your health or well-being.So understand, anything that is coming against
your health or your well being, is an enemy.That means if you have unhealthy thoughts, relationships, etc., they are
all enemies to you and at war against who God has called you to be.
The next thing we have to realize is that we are in an “armed conflict”.To be armed means that there is a “weapon”
involved.The enemy always has a weapon,
whether you have one you are “utilizing” or not.Weapons are not necessarily guns.They are instruments that are used for an
attack.Attacks are meant to harm you and
they come through violent force and hostility.Keep in mind that God has already told us
that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. So we have to stop trying to
fight the enemy in a worldly way.
The word carnal means not spiritual, temporal, or wordly.So the weapons we have are spiritual weapons,
they are not temporary weapons, therefore they are not here today and gone tomorrow.We have constant access to these weapons and
they are not of this world.So you can’t
just go out and purchase the weapons that God has given you to combat the
enemy.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
King James Version (KJV)
4 (For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ;
6 And
having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is
fulfilled.
We have to understand that the Bible tells us in Matthew 11:12
that the Kingdom of God is under attack.It tells us that it suffers violence.However it also tells us that the “violent” take it by force.
Matthew 11:12
King James Version (KJV)
12 And
from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 11:12
Amplified
Bible (AMP)
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until the present
time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize
it by force [as a precious prize—a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with
most ardent zeal and intense exertion].
This is where I will stop for now.I don’t want to overload you and I want you
to have time to take all that God is saying in.I believe that God will continue to give us
fresh manna from His word.This is what
He has told me to tell you today.As
you know I don’t pre-write anything … I just write as He gives it to me.So right now let’s pray.
Father thank you for your word.Thank you for opening up your word to us and giving us a greater understanding.Father we love you.We ask that the seeds of your word be planted
in our hearts.Let it bring forth much
fruit.Let the knowledge of your word
bring to us a greater understanding of how we are to fight in your
Kingdom.Help us Lord.Help us to be Kingdom warriors.In Jesus name.Amen.
What happens when people let you down? When they don't follow though? When they don't do what they said that they would do? You know those times when you went out of your way to help them ... yet they failed to follow through with what they promised they would do? What happens? Do you retaliate or do you continue doing what you would do?
Don't let the actions of others cause you to be "less" than the person that God called you to be. He called you to be humble. He called you to be help. He called you to be faithful. He called you to be trustworthy. He called you to reflect His love. He called you to be strong. Don't allow what others do to you to cause you to react rather than to respond. Despite what they do ... let your response to their actions still be reflective of God's love and His forgiveness. Understand ... I am not saying it will be easy. I'm just saying that is what God would want you to do.
What are you "butting" God about today. In what areas are you placing a "but" behind what you say. I love you God "but" ... I believe you God "but" ... I trust you God "but" ... I will wait on you God "but" ... I hear you God "but" ... I understand God "but" ....
UNDERSTAND ... There are no "buts" in God. Either you love Him ... you believe Him ... You trust Him ... You wait on Him ... You Hear Him ... You understand Him .... OR YOU DON'T. When you add "but" to the end of what you are saying ... you just injected doubt into it and it cancels out everything you said. So stop "butting" God. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Faith does not carry within it doubt. Doubt cancels out faith. Take the word "but" out of your vocabulary when it comes to the things of God.
Sometimes when we are going through we feel as though we are the only ones going through. We feel all alone. We feel lost, left out, and sometimes rejected. When in fact it is just the opposite. For God has said over and over in His word that He is with us in times of trouble. Yet it is so hard to see, hear, and perceive Him during these times. This is where our trust must kick in. We have to trust that He is who He said He is . We have to trust that He will do what He said He would do. We have to trust and believe that He will never leave us nor forsake us. We have to trust Him even when it doesn't look like it's going to work out for our good. The "yet will I trust you" factor. Let that be what you do ... even when you can't see the way.
Open up your mouth and say ... "Yet will I trust you Lord". No matter what is going on or how it looks. Trust God through it all.
Do you have an ear to hear? Or do you have selective listening? God wants us to hear what He is saying. God is sending forth his word. The question is are we listening to what He is saying or are we just waiting for something we want to hear? Something that is more in line and conducive to our flesh.
We have to learn how to receive and accept the fullness of God's word. Remembering that God said His word is good for reproof and for edification. The word reproof means correction and rebuke. Correction will not always feel good ... but how it feels does not determine whether or not it is what we need. When we correct our children, we do it in an effort to teach them for future reference. So it is with God. He is teaching us so that we will know how to handle our situations in the future. It is not to hurt us or to hinder us. It is to teach us His ways. God's correction is always in alignment with His word. For He and His word are one.
Isaiah 50:4
The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine eartohear as the learned.
Jeremiah 25:4
And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your eartohear.
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, forreproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Have "God Confidence" ... Confidence in knowing that you are who God says you are and you can do what God said you can do. It has been drilled in our heads to have self confidence. To be confident in what we can do. But the truth is ... we can do nothing without God. Let your confidence be in knowing that you are not alone. Knowing that the Holy Spirit lives within you. Knowing that God has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. Let your confidence be in knowing that the Almighty God created you and put everything in you that you will ever need.
Let all of what God has said about you be your confidence builder. Let His word establish you into knowing that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. When you have God confidence, you know when things don't go your way that it is not according to your plan anyway ... It's according to what God has said about your situation.
Take time to confess God's word over your life. Know that God created you to be above only and not beneath. Know that He created you to overcome and not be overtaken. Know that He created you to walk in divine health and not sickness and disease. Know that He empowered you and implanted His Spirit within you.
The word implant means to plant something within something else. Understand ... God has planted His Holy Spirit within us. When something is planted, it takes root. When something is planted on good ground, it grows. It becomes stronger. It flourishes. It brings forth seed. The Holy Spirit has been planted and when the revelation of who the Holy Spirit is takes root in our lives, we will become stronger. We will begin to flourish. We will bear the seed of God's word.
Understand the implant that has been placed within you. It has a purpose. It is there to help establish you and provide you with security concerning the promises of God.
If God is looking for one who is willing, is that one you? Are you willing to obey? Are you willing to walk out God's word? Are you willing to love those who tend to act unlovable? Are you really willing? Are you willing to give? Are you willing to stand still? Are you willing to trust? Are you willing to reach out? Are you willing to talk?
We are so quick to say God use me ... yet the question we need to ask ourselves are we really willing to be used by God? It's time we gain the understanding that the things that God is telling us to do, more than likely won't appeal to our flesh. God is not into keeping us in our comfort zone. Understand ... if you really want to be used by God ... you have to be willing to go beyond the norm and to trust what He is telling you to do. The only reason God uses us ... is so that we can reflect who He is in the earth. Think about who and what God is and then ask yourself again ... are you ready to be used by God. To display His love in whatever way He sees fit ... to whomever He tells you to display it to. That means if He lays something on your heart to do ... do it based on obedience and not comfort. More than likely it won't be what you would normally do ... but God does not work according to the norm.
Are you watching what you are saying ... or are you just saying the first thing that pops in your head? We have to get past reacting. God says that His people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. We have to begin to make sure we have full knowledge of our situation, of our surroundings, of our circumstances before we begin to react. When we walk in knowledge, we are able to respond to our situation, surroundings and circumstances better. We then know what to pray about. What to talk about and what to believe God for.
Too often we say things that we should not say. Online communications can be the worst because when we write things ... it is then left up to the reader to interpret. We have to begin to be sure of our words. Understanding that words carry within them power. Words can build people up or words can tear people down. Words can encourage and words can discourage. Words can be full of faith and words can be full of doubt and fear. We have to begin to understand that it does matter what we say and how we say it. It matters what we write and how we write it. God created the world with words and the Bible says that the power of life and death is now in your mouth. What exactly are you saying?
Are you seeing God for who He is? Are you seeing Him as your Comforter, Keeper, Healer, and Redeemer? Or are you seeing yourself as lonely, alone, sick, and unwanted? What exactly are you looking at? Are you looking at God or are you looking at your situation? Where is your focus?
The word focus means concentrated effort on a particular thing. What are you concentrating on? Are you concentrating on who God is or what you are not? It's time to make sure we are fully focused. Directing our love and our attention to who the Father is to us and in us. Instead of looking at our inadequacies ... we need to be resting in the fact that He is an all sufficient God.
Are you allowing people, places, or things to intimidate you? The word intimidate means to make you do what one wants. Are you allowing people to say things or do things to you in order to influence you to do what they want? Are you getting caught up in going places that cause you to change what you would normally do in order to fit into the atmosphere of that place? Do you have in your possession things that are not conducive to your walk with God that eventually win in your life and cause you to give in to doing things that you really don't want to do?
It's time to let go. Let go of whomever or whatever is trying to intimidate you or change you. Let go of whomever or whatever is pulling you outside of the divine will of God for your life. Don't be intimidated or influenced into making the wrong choices. Let the God and His word be the foundation and the focus for every choice you make.
It's been hard. It's been rough. It hasn't all worked out the way you planned or the way you wanted. Yet you are still here. God is still God. You woke up today with brand new mercy. You are walking in God's amazing grace. But your mind wants to keep dwelling on what didn't happen ... instead of understanding what did. Instead of understanding that God has the ability and the power to change it all right here and right now. He is not limited to time or your perception. There are no limitations on God. We limit Him in our mind ... but that does not stop His ability to move and to manifest in our lives.
So today ... stop dwelling on the pain of what has happened or what is even happening. Step over into hope. Step over into expectation. Step over into trust, belief, and faith. Understand ... EVERYTHING in this natural world ... is subject to change. Trust God to turn your situation around right now.
Who told you no? Was it God or was it man? Understand ... man may tell you no but God has the power to override what man has said. We have to stop settling our situations based on what man says. We trust man and we believe man and we fail to have faith in God. Get to a place of understanding that God is "all powerful" and "all knowing". Stop stopping at the point of knowing God is full of power ... know that His power is available for your situation.
It's time out on settling situations based on what man says. Apply the blood. Use the name. Settle your situation based on what God has said. Know that it is within God to turn it all around for your good. Trust and believe that. No matter how it looks. Understand that God causes things that are considered dead to rise up again.
Sometimes we hesitate doing things for others (even though we know they need it) because we have been so conditioned to look for a ROI. A "Return On Our Investment". We have to change our mindset. The Bible tells us over and over and over again ... to give. The Bible showed us what sacrifice really means. The Bible revealed to us what it means to show love. We have to change the mindset of always wanting something in return or needing to see something. We have to truly believe that we have a heavenly reward.
Learn how to be led by God to give. Lean how to act on God instinct and not man's training. Instinct is defined as a way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is not learned : a natural desire or tendency that makes you want to act in a particular way. The expectation of a return on your investment is a learned behavior. Whereas, acting and responding in love is a God instinct. There are things that God will tell us to do that may not make sense in the natural but that is how God operates. Did it make sense in the natural for a virgin to give birth? Did it make sense in the natural for the Red Sea to divide? Did it make sense for a man to walk on water? Understand ... God's direction goes beyond the natural senses. That is why you are required to walk by faith.
What do you do when it seems like it is taking too long? When you have asked God and it just don't seem like He is answering. When it's hard and it feels hopeless. What do you do? Do you trust God more or do you give up and quit and try to work it out or figure it out on your own?
When will we learn that we can't do it. We have to have God in it. We have to trust God to honor His word. His word works. He is God. He is the author and the finisher of all things. He is Jehovah Jireh ... our Provider. He is Jehovah Rapha ... our Healer. He is Jehovah Shalom ... our Peace. We have to rest in what and who He said He is and wait on Him to manifest Himself. Stop giving up. Stop losing hope. Trust. Trust God to do and be who and what He said.
Why is it so hard to surrender? To let go? To move forward? Why is it that we want to hold to people, places, and things that are no longer good for us? What is it in us that has to have that attachment? Why do we appear to be hoarding things that we know are no good for us.
We have to learn to let go. One definition of hoarder is a person who keeps things hidden or private. Are there things in your life that you know are not according to God's standard that you are trying to hide or keep to yourself? Are there things that you are refusing to let go of? Why?
It's time we take a serious look at our lives. The thing about hoarding things ... it become a danger zone and a trap. Think of the shows you have seen about hoarding. How the things begin to take over the home and the people's actions and reactions. That is what happens even when we hoard (refuse to let go of) relationships, addictions, lust, etc. Although they may be kept private and others don't know about them. Eventually they become out of control and take us over. Learn how to let it all go.
Are you still trying to maintain your identity? Understand that your identity is one of sin. It is only when we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ that our lives change. When we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are then identified "with" Christ.
We have to stop trying to hold on to who we are and we have to begin to hold on to who He is. Know your true identity is not based on your past. It is based on the blood. The blood that was shed on the cross for you has covered who you were and has caused your identity to change. The word identity is defined as the qualities, beliefs, etc., that make a particular person or group different from others. You have been made different by the blood and your belief in the finished work of Jesus.
Do you know the purpose of a pipeline? A pipeline is used to convey something. The word convey has multiple meanings. The first meaning is to transport or to carry something from one place to another. It means to transmit. It also means to communicate or make known. To impart.
Are you allowing a blockage to form in your pipeline? Whether you are the person transmitting God's word or receiving God's word ... are you making sure your pipes are clear. Understand the primary focus of the enemy is to block what God is trying to send out from you and to block what He is trying to get you to receive. Check your pipeline and make sure it is free from the debris that comes with life.
Life is not easy. The thing is ... God never said it would be. God's promise is that He would be with you through it all. Through the good times. Through the bad times. Through the ups and through the downs. He said He would be there. What happens is ... sometimes when it gets bad ... we can't see him through our hurt, pain, and tears. Does that mean He is not there ... NO. It just means we can't see Him because our vision is skewed. It is during these times that God will sometimes send others to plant seeds of His word into your situation. He uses them because it is easier for you to relate to someone in the physical than it is for you to trust in the unseen. Although faith is believing in what you cannot see. Understand ... Go will use people as a point of contact to push you back into a place of complete trust and faith in Him.
So although you life is not easy right now. Understand ... God is there. Understand that He has positioned people in your life after His heart to pray for you and to sow the seed of His word into you ... so that you can gain strength.
In the Bible God gave guidance through visions and dreams. He unveiled and He revealed what His people were going through and He sent messengers to go and to either deliver a word to His people or to meet the needs of His people. If God is unveiling things to you concerning the lives of His people through dreams and visions or even unctions in your Spirit ... make sure you are doing what He has told you to do.
Think about Joseph. He went through many trials and tribulations but it was all a set up for God's plan for the people. Everything that Joseph went through was to set him up to help bring His people through. God showed Him his destiny in a dream. He showed him what his people would be going through and he showed him that He would be in a position to help. It didn't matter that God had called his father first ... God still used Joseph as a source to help deliver his father and his people in a time of famine.
Make sure you are not rationalizing God's instructions to you based on what you think should be. Make sure you are obeying God's instructions based on what He has revealed to you. He never shows us a thing unless He expects us to act upon it.
Do you understand that it is your body but God's ability working in you? We live and talk like mere men when in essence we are the temple of God. Understand what Jesus said. He said that if we love Him and keep His commandments, "they" will come and make their abode in us. Who are they? The Father ... The Son ... and the Holy Spirit.
John 14:21-23
King James Version (KJV)
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
We have to begin to understand the power that is dwelling in us. The authority that we have been given. When Jesus walked the earth, He walked and utilized the power and authority of God. Now that same power is resident on the inside of us. God's ability resides inside our body. The question is ... are we using it. You cannot use what you don't understand. We are the dwelling place of God. We have power and authority resident (residing) on the inside of us. We have to begin to operate in the authority that we have been given. The funny thing is ... the enemy already knows the power we have been given. That is why he tries so hard to keep us distracted. So that we will never begin to operate in what we have been given. In Jesus name. Amen!!!!
What's your remedy? To remedy means to rectify, solve, resolve or repair. What is it that you are doing to remedy your situation? How you feel? What you are going through? What is blocking you? What are you doing to make your self feel better? To change everything around and to remove the hindrances that keep coming up?
Are you trying to remedy it on your own or are you going to God? Are you seeking His counsel? Or are you seeking the counsel of a friend, neighbor, or even a stranger? Your first course of action should always be that you go directly to God. Let God lead you. If He leads you to seek the counsel of the friend, neighbor or stranger ... at least you know it is His direction and not your own.
God is the answer. In Him is the knowledge, the understanding, and the direction you need for whatever is going on in your life.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Are you coming or are you going? Are you coming to God or are you going your own way and trying to figure it out on your own? God said for you to come to Him. Not only did He say come to Him. He said when you come to Him ... He will give you rest. One definition for rest is to "recover strength". We have to learn that in our pursuit of God is a recovery process. The process of recovering strength.
Understand when you are weary and burdened, you are in a place of no strength. God said the process for that is to take His yoke upon us and to learn of Him. A yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals. Take a moment to think about it. Jesus carried the cross. Think about how the cross had to be carried (over his shoulder ... right at his neck) ... Again a yoke is a wooden "cross"piece that is fastened to the neck of two ... Attach yourself to the cross. Take upon you the yoke of the cross. Learn of God and find rest for your mind, your will, and your emotions.
What do you do when its hard. When its hard to see. When its hard to do. When you can't seem to get it worked out no matter how hard you try? Do you give up? Do you quit? Do you give in? Accept defeat? Or do you STAND? Understand ... God wants you to stand. Just think about what He said ... He said to trust in Him. To lean NOT to our own understanding ...but in all our ways to acknowledge Him so that He can direct our paths. It's time to do that. To give it totally and completely over to God. It's time to stand up under His covenant. The blood covenant. Not only stand under it ... stand on it. We have to get to a place of total dependency on God and what He has promised. The place where we say to Him ... you said it Father now I am waiting on you to do it.
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to "lean not to our own understanding...in ALL our ways ACKNOWLEDGE HIM and HE shall direct your path". The key word here is ACKNOWLEDGE which means to accept or admit the existence or truth of; recognize the fact or importance of. Why is this word so relevant with our relationship with God? See, when we acknowledge God in all our ways - our day to day living; our daily decision making; our blessings and our opportunities to change and improve - then we are giving Him what that place, that authority, that love, trust, obedience and submission that He has requested and requires.
This level of acknowledgement does not dictate the magnitude of which God will love us back or bless us because He is an "inspite of" God not "because of" God. It does allow us to view life in a more optimistic view, we see more of the blessing of life than the false negativities that life can display. The more we acknowledge God, the more our expectations are in Him and less in man which frees us from man's opinion and frees God to work more on our behalf because His name is now out in front and He backs His name by His word.
Acknowledging God allows us to hear His direction more clearly and follow Him more easily. We acknowledge our spouses, our bosses, our children, our pastors, our friends and other loved ones....but they are merely vessels that God uses to get to us what we need. It's easy to acknowledge God. Simply talk to Him daily. The more you talk to Him, the more you will hear Him.
Acknowledging God in all your ways motivates God to prove His word and manifest His promise in our lives. It also us to see Him and all of His manifestations in our past situations, present state and future endeavors because the more we acknowledge a thing, the more we see it and reap from acknowledging that thing. Why acknowledge sickness...acknowledge healing, God's power to heal and His promise of health and long life. Why acknowledge lack when He promises houses we did not build and a prosperity and that He will bless us exceeding abundantly-that's beyond abundance. Imagine what abundance means to you and then imagine that being superseded. What we make big in our lives is what we see and receive. Choose to acknowledge God, His word and promises in EVERYTHING. Let God be magnified and your life and livelihood will be magnified right along side.
Father, I come to you in behalf of your people. I ask that as they begin to acknowledge you more in their daily lives, choices, accomplishments, decisions, ups and downs, that you will pour more of yourself into them. Lord, I pray that you unveil the portrait of the life you have carved out for them and that they submit whole heartedly to it. Direct their paths, their steps as only you can; and, do not let them be afraid to walk the path set before them. Continue to remind them that with you all things are possible if they only believe. As they acknowledge you with a pure and sincere heart, you will shower blessings and favor upon them. This I ask in Jesus name and I say thank you for it now! Amen!
We try so hard to lead people with our words when we need to be leading them with our lives. Understand your life is the light. Not your words. People will say anything and do anything and as we develop trust relationships ... we tend to watch and listen. We have to understand that that is a principle of God. He didn't just tell us what to do ... He sent His Son to show us what to do. Jesus spoke and He walked out what He spoke. So should we. We can't just tell people what they should do. People are looking for Godly examples. We have to get away from the "do as I say and not as I do" mentality and be the message.
Take time today to evaluate your life. Evaluate your walk. Evaluate your talk. Make the commitment to live it all out. To walk it all out. Not just talk it ... but walk it.
There are covenant promises that come when we set our heart and our love upon God. One of those promises is long life. Today "Pastor Billy Graham" celebrates his 95th birthday. He is an example of a life well lived. Even at 95 ...... he has a message to tell the world. In this message he is saying we must come the way of the cross. He said "the cross is offensive to the world because it directly confronts the evils that dominate this world". This is a very powerful message. Take time today to listen to it. Share it .... Another thing he said that I really liked was that "sin is a disease in the human heart that affects the mind, will, and emotions ... but salvation cures it". Amen.
SCRIPTURE MEDITATION Psalm 91:14-16 Amplified Bible (AMP) Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never]. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
