Are You Ready To Cross The Threshold Into 2019 Committed To God and Committed To Change?

In order to make a New Year’s Resolution, you must first understand what resolution means.   A resolution is a firm decision “to do” or “not to do” something.   It is a commitment.   It is something that is done on purpose with purpose.   So when we say we are making a New Year’s Resolution, we are in essence saying that we have made up in our mind and we are committed to change the way we have been doing things.    

Today is December 31st and many people are saying with their mouth what they are going to change in 2019.   They are saying the things they are going to quit doing and they are saying the things that they will do but what everyone must understand is, true change takes commitment.   When you are truly committed to something, you are dedicated, devoted, obligated, and faithful to it.   You are not easily sidetracked because you know the purpose behind what you are doing.    So to say the least, you can’t allow what the world is doing, whether it be family, friends, co-workers, or others to cause you to get off track and fail to keep your commitment to God and to yourself.   

So as we get ready to cross this threshold into 2019, take a moment to think about what you want to change in this new year and why.    It is the “why” that you will need to reference when things get tough.  In other words, you will need remember the reason for the change you are trying to make.   Without a purpose, there will be no true commitment.   You have to know why you are doing what you are doing so that what you are doing is being done with purpose on purpose.    

Change is never easy.   It is hard to break a routine but it is not impossible.   God wants to bless you.   He wants to do more than you have ever imagined in your life.   He wants you to see Him as your source, resource, and strength.   He is ready and willing to help you in every way possible.   He just wants you to be committed.   Your first level of commitment needs to be to God and He will help you to accomplish everything else that needs to be done in your life.    

Enter into this new year committed.   Be committed to God and committed to change.    Walk in faith and cast down fear.    Do things God’s way and watch Him move in your life like never before.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Kings 8:61 

New International Version (NIV)

61 And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”

How Are You Prioritizing Your Life?

What are your priorities in life?   Is God first?   Is your family second?  Or are you just going with the flow.   Are you being swept away by the ways of the world and doing what the world does?    Do you run to God just because you know that there is safety in Him or do you just run to Him when a problem arises?   

The Bible tells us that there is safety in God.   It tells us to come to Him and to call on Him.   It tells us to dwell with Him.   To dwell means to take up residence and to make your abode in Him.   We have to stop trying to live outside of God’s Word and will while expecting Him to shield and protect us.    We have to do all we can to live within the parameters He has set. 

So as we go into this next year, we need to make sure we have our priorities right.   We need to make sure that God is first.   When we put Him first, that means we are striving to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him.   We are striving to live according to His Word and we are doing our best to be His representative here in the earth.    After God, we need to understand the importance of family.  Cherish the family God has given you and refuse to let your job, your friends, or anything else come between you and God or the family God has given you.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Matthew 6:33

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” 

Do You Realize When You Stand On God’s Word He Will Back Up Your Words? Are You Making Sure You Are Identifying Yourself With The Things Of God and Not The Ways Of The World?

We live in a world today where everyone wants to say that everything is okay but everything is not okay.   It’s not okay to live your life any kind of way.   It’s not okay to use your mouth to just say just anything.   It’s not okay to identify yourself with the things that God has already said are an abomination.   Everything is NOT okay to do.    

As we read God’s Word, we understand that He has been very clear about the difference between right and wrong.   He identified the difference between good behaviors and bad.   He identified the difference between things which are acceptable and things that are not.   God has been very clear about what we should do and should not.    

We have to let go of the worlds way of doing things.   That includes the worlds way of thinking.    We have to take a stand for what is right and we cannot be intimidated by what someone else things about that stand.    When we take a stand for what God says is right, we have to understand that at that point God has our back.    He is our rearguard.   He is One backing up our words because we are standing on His Word.    

God doesn’t want us vacillating between what is right and wrong.   He wants us to be steadfast and immovable.   He wants us to be sure.   He wants us to represent Him well through the things we say and do.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Corinthians 15:58

King James Version

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 

What Are Your Words Influencing The Environment and The People Around You To Do?

Are you talking just to be saying something or are you speaking words on purpose with purpose?   You have got understand the power of your words.   God said in His Word that every idle word that we speak, we shall give an account for.   When something is idle, it is without purpose or effect.   It is pointless and sometimes when we speak, we say things that are pointless and without value.  When something is pointless, it doesn’t make sense, it has no use, and it is without purpose.   

Understand the power of words.  It was with words that God created the heaven and the earth.   He spoke things into existence.    It was because of words, Adam and Eve was led astray.   Words carry within them an influential power.   The power to influence things to change.   To influence means to have an affect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something.    How many times have you allowed someone else’s words to influence your behavior?   Better yet, how many times have you used your words to influence someone else’s behavior.   

Words carry within them the power to cause people, places, and things to change.  The power of your words may be laying dormant when you speak them but at some point, someone may bring into their remembrance what you said to them or about them.   Make sure you are speaking life at all times.   MAKE SURE THERE IS A POSITIVE PURPOSE BEHIND EVERYTHING YOU SAY.   Don’t be the one who continuously confesses negativity over your own life or anyone else’s life. 

God has given you the power in your mouth to encourage yourself and others.   He has given you the power to speak forth change.   He has give you the power to build someone up, so make sure you are not tearing them down.   He has given you the power to speak and to call those things that be not as though they were.   Use the power that He has given you wisely.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Ephesians 4:29 - Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers

God Has Called You Out Of Darkness ... Are You Allowing The Light Of His Word To Light Your Path?

Is the Word of God a lamp and a light unto you?   Are you allowing it to light your path?   The thing about going down a path is that it can be dark.   When you walk in the dark, you really can’t see where your feet are or what you are treading in or upon.   You can’t see what is before you and you can’t see what can jump out at you or even what may come up behind you.   Are you allowing the Word to light your path or have you grown accustomed to walking in the dark.   

God’s Word is light.   It dispels darkness.   In other words it overcomes darkness.   It has the power within it to show you the way that you should go but it is up to you to turn on the light of God’s Word so that you can see clearly.     

It is not God will for you to continuously walk in darkness.   It is His desire for us to see and know what’s is before us.   He was direct in saying that He has given us the power to tread upon serpents but if you walk in darkness, you can’t see those things that you should be treading upon.   Instead of treading upon the enemy, when we walk in darkness, we give the enemy the advantage and the power he needs to overtake us.    

So read and know God’s Word.   Let it enlighten and empower you.   Let it be the light in your life that God created it to be.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Psalm 119:105 

King James Version

105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Are You Resting Your Mind In The Promises Of God and Your Body In Doing The Will Of God?

What do you do when you feel you have done all you can?   Do you keep trying to make things work out on your own or do you surrender everything to God for Him to work it out?   We have to learn how to surrender “all”.   So often in life we keep trying to figure things out.   We keep trying to make things work out on our own and we never surrender everything in totality to God.   We have to learn how to truly give everything in our lives over to the “One” who can work everything in our lives together for our good. 

God is a good Father.   He sees all and He knows all things.   He knows what we have been through, what we are going through, and what we will encounter in the future.   We have to understand, God’s purpose and God’s plan involves our entire life and not just what we are going through momentarily.   Again, God sees all and He knows all things, and He is working it all together for our good.

So when you feel like you have done all that you can do, begin to rest in God.   Let your mind rest in His promises and let your body rest in His will.   Don’t allow your actions to cause you to strive against God by not doing His will.    God is God all by Himself and He will honor His Word in our lives if we just trust Him.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Psalm 37:7 

King James Version (KJV)

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

To Who and What Are You Giving Your Yes To?

What are you saying yes to? Do you understand that yes is a word of agreement?   Are you saying yes to God?   Are you telling Him yes, I will serve you?   Are you telling Him yes, I will obey you?   Are you giving God your yes or are you saying yes to the ways of the world?   

God is not looking for us to waiver.   As a matter of fact, He has said in His Word that we are to be hot or cold.   He said if we are lukewarm, He will spew us out of His mouth.   Understand, your yes to God needs to be definite.   When something is definite, it is clearly stated and not vague or doubtful.   God does not want you to walk in doubt or fear when it comes to serving Him.    

The world and the worlds ways are a master at presenting you with questions.    One of the main things that questions are meant to do is bring about doubt and debate.  To have doubt means to be uncertain and to lack conviction.   Doubt will also cause you to walk in fear because you are unsure about what you said you have faith in.  The one thing in your life that should never be up for debate is God.   Don’t allow the world and the ways of the world to cause you to be in doubt and debate the validity of who God is and what He can and will do for you.   

We have to understand that the devil is at work in the world and from the beginning in the garden with Adam and Eve, his tactic has always been to ask questions that will cause you to doubt what God has said.   That is the same tactic that he is using today.   He is raising questions about who God is and what God has said.   He is raising questions about identity.  Not only about who we are in God but about gender and about race.   He is raising questions that will cause those who are not strong and allowing God to lead them to make the wrong choices in life.    

Every thought we have leads to a choice we must eventually make.   Always let your choices be based on the Word of God and not the emotions that are being produced by what you see and hear in the world.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Deuteronomy 30:19 

King James Version (KJV)

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Are You Allowing What You Know God Did For You In The Past To Strengthen Your Faith For What You Need Him To Do Now?

What will you do when you feel there is nothing left to do?   Will you surrender and trust God or will you give up and quit?   You have to know that God has a plan.   There are times when things work out exactly like you want them to but there are other times when it feels like nothing is working out.   It’s at those times you have to trust what God said when He said that “He” is working everything together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Do you believe that God has called you?   If you do, you have to trust Him to take care of you.    One thing you must remember is the enemy’s number one goal is to cause you to lose your faith and to give up on God.   Will you let him?   Will you give the enemy the satisfaction of knowing that he was successful in causing your faith to fail.    I hope your answer is no.   I hope that you are determined to trust God no matter what.    

Have you every had a situation occur that looked really bad initially but after some time everything worked out.   A situation where the end result was better than you ever could have imagined.   That situation should be the situation you hold onto when times are hard.   Think about the pain that a mother endures while having a baby and the joy that comes after the baby is born.   We have to start focusing on what the end result is while we are in the midst of whatever it is we are going through.   We have to let our past testimony strengthen our faith for the future.  

Remember, God has a plan and that plan is designed to give us hope, a future, and an expected end.   Trust Him.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Malachi 3:6

“For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” 

Are You Walking In Worry and Fear or Are You Determined To Stay In Faith and Fear Not?

Are you waiting and resting in God or are you trying to figure things out and work things out on your own?   We have to understand, God is God all by Himself.   He wants us to believe Him, trust Him, and to wait on Him.    The question is, what are you doing in the waiting?  In other words, what are you doing while you wait?   

Are you walking in obedience while you wait?    God said in His Word that if we be willing and obedient, we shall eat the good of the land.   So walking in obedience opens up the door for God’s goodness to flow freely in your life.   You will see and receive God’s goodness.   

Are you trusting and acknowledging God while you wait?   God said to trust Him with all of you heart and to lean not to your own understanding.   He said to acknowledge Him in all of your ways and He will direct your path.    So if you need direction in your life, make sure you are trusting and acknowledging God (His will and His way of doing things) while you wait on Him to move in your life.  

There are many things we could be doing while we wait on God to move in our lives but we need to make sure we are doing the right things.   We can walk in worry and fear while we wait or we can be determined to stay in faith and fear not.    Let your faith stand on and stay in the promises of God and watch Him bring to pass whatever it is you have been waiting on that is in line with His Word and His will for your life.   Remember, God knows what is best for us and everything we want is not necessarily God’s best for our lives.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

 Psalms 27:14

King James Version 

“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” 

What Are You Teaching The People Around You To Do? What Is It That You Are Saying Is Okay and Is It Okay Based On God’s Way Of Doing Things and Not Your Own Thought Process?

What is it that you are coaching your child and others around you to do?   To coach mean to train and guide someone to meet specific goals.   The question is, what are your training and guiding the people around you to do?   

Are you teaching the people around you that lying is okay?   Are you telling others to back up your lie?   Have you ever seen someone (whether it be a parent, a friend, or a co-worker) that will tell someone to lie on their behalf?   Where they say, if someone asks, tell them this or that which is a lie.  That’s coaching and that is training someone to do wrong.    You have to live your life where truth is the final factor.   God is truth and He wants your life to be in line with who and what He is.   

There are some people who teach and train their children and the people around them to lie because that is the lifestyle they live.  They live their lives by telling lies and then when others around them lie to them, they want to bring correction to them but can’t truly correct them because their own lives are based on untruths.   

Living your life based on the truth is not an easy thing to do.   There are times when you have to make mid-course corrections.   There are times when you have to ask for forgiveness.   There are times when you have to accept correction from others but it’s worth it in the end to know that you are living your life in a way that is pleasing to God and helpful to others.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Proverbs 6:16-20 

King James Version (KJV)

16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Do You Not Only Believe What God Has Said, Do You Trust What He Has Said To Be True?

Sometimes things don’t work out as planned.   Sometimes we may miss the mark.   The question is what do you do at those times?  Do you give up and quit or do you move forward in and with God?    

God knows what you need and He knows when you need it.   Not only does He know what you need when you need it, He knows how to get it to you.    God is a good and faithful God.   He love you and He has promised to take care of you.   All He wants is for you to trust Him and to rely on Him.   So often in life we try to rely on ourselves or other people that we can see with our natural eye.   We have to understand that God is our Provider.   Not only is He our Provider, He is our Healer and our Deliverer.   He is the one that can and will make a way when there appears to be no way.   It is in God that we have strength and He can do all things.   We just have to believe Him and trust Him. 

Ask yourself today do you believe what God has said.   If you believe what God has said to be true, you need to ask yourself do you trust Him.   Understand, there is a difference in believing and trusting.    You can look at a chair, believe that it is a chair, but do you trust that chair to hold you?   You can look at a friend, believe that they are your friend, but do you trust your friend to be there when you need them?   There is a difference in believing and trusting and God wants you to trust Him to do what He said.    

Understand, when things don’t work out the way you hoped or planned them to, you still have to trust God.   You have to trust what He said when He said that He will work everything together for your good and understand when He does, He is the One that gets the glory.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

 Romans 8:28 

King James Version (KJV)

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Not Everyone Is Going To Understand Why God Chooses To Bless You and Sometimes It’s Because They Are Holding Your Past Mistakes Against You. Have You Made Sure You Are Walking In Forgiveness Towards Others?

What is it about your life that makes people think you should not be blessed?  What mistakes are people holding against you? To be honest, everything in our life has not always been good. Every choice that we have made has not always been the best choice and honestly, some of those choices affected other people. The thing that other people don’t quite understand is the fact that you are forgiven. God knew the choices that each of us would make when faced with particular situations in our lives. We may have had the best intentions in mind but when it came to making the decisions, we allowed our flesh to overrule are common sense.

We have to get to the place where we understand that everybody it’s not going to agree with us.  Everybody is not going to understand why God blesses us. Everybody is not going to be in favor of what God does for us. Partly because of our past mistakes. Partly because they don’t have the insight into the love, grace, and forgiveness of God. We can ask people to forgive us but is their choice to do so. We can try to walk righteously from this point forward but not everyone is going to believe in our righteous walk.

Just as people hold things against us, we have to make sure that we are not holding things against others. We have to make sure that we are walking in God‘s love, grace, and forgiveness. It’s not always easy to forgive but it is always necessary. Let the love of God flow through you to the lives of others. Let his grace, power, anointing, and strength help you to heal from the hurt that has been caused by others. God loves you and he wants his love to flow through you.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Matthew 6:15

King James Version

“But if ye forgive not men their

Who Are You Saying Is Your Best Friend?

Who is your best friend?  Who is the one that you can go to and talk to at any time day or night.   We have friends in the world but sometimes they just are not available.   Sometimes they are at work and can’t talk or busy doing things with their families and can’t readily be there but understand, God is always available.   His ears are always open to our cry.   He has told us to come to Him.  He wants us to lean on Him and to trust Him.   There is no better friend in heaven or earth than the Father.   He is always available in our times of need and He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. 

There are many people that say that they know, trust, and love God but they act like their best friend is the devil!   Knowing, trusting, and loving God should cause your actions to change.    When you know someone, you know what they like and dislike.   When you trust them, you talk to them and you spend time with them and when you love them, you make sacrifices for them.    

We have to understand that God is the best friend anyone can have.   Not only is He a good friend, He is a good good Father.   Whatever it is we need ... God is!   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Proverbs 18:24 

King James Version (KJV)

24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

What Are You Doing While You Are Waiting On God To Move On Your Behalf?

Are you trying to get God to move on your behalf while you do nothing for Him?  A lot of times we say that we are waiting patiently for God to move but the question is, what are you doing in the wait?   Are you walking in obedience to God’s Word, His will, and His way or are you doing the same old thing expecting God to overlook your acts of disobedience because you know that He is a loving, just, and forgiving God?   Do you realize that just as you can walk in willful obedience, there is also a thing call willful disobedience.

God loves us and He wants our lives to shine bright for Him.   He wants us to be His representatives here in the earth but we have to be determined to represent Him well.  People look at us and in some case it is how they see us that helps them to make choices in their lives.   What choices do you want your children to make based on what they see in you?  What choices do you want your neighbors and your co-workers to make?  Do you want them to see the God in you or are you busy entertaining them with your flesh?

Life is full of choices and we choose what we do, how we do it, and when.   We can choose God now.  We can choose to walk in obedience now.    We can choose to represent Him well now.   Or, we can choose to represent the world and all that is in it.    It’s a matter of life or death and we have to choose who and what we will serve.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Joshua 24:15 

King James Version (KJV)

15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Do You Believe What You See Is What You Get or Are You Staying In Faith For God To Change What You See To His Promises?

Are you living by the saying that says, “what you see is what you get” or are you walking in faith and trusting God to move in your situation and your life?  God wants you to speak life and He wants you to truly believe the words of faith that you are speaking.   

So often in life we get caught up on what we see.   We see the hardships in the world and we tend to adapt to them.   Instead of speaking forth change,  so that God can move on our words, we let what we see happening in the world change our words and we begin to speak words of doubt and unbelief.    It’s time out for that.    It’s time to stand and stay on God’s Word.   It’s time to call those things that be not as though they were.   It’s time to believe and trust God to move in and through our lives. 

How often do we fail to trust God?   How often do we let doubt and unbelief win?   How often do we try to work things out on our own?   Every time we do, we are failing to put our hope and trust totally in God.   We are leaning to our own understanding and we are not acknowledging God in all of our ways.   When we acknowledge Him, we have to be acknowledging not only who He is but what He is able to do.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Job 22:28

King James Version

“Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.” 

Are You Surrendering God Your Life or Just Your Situation That You Are Going Through Right Now?

Are you surrendering your life to God or just your situation?   A lot of times we will come to God and we will ask God to just help us through what we are going through.  When we don’t know how to handle what is happening at a given moment we cry out to God.   When we don’t know how to pay a bill or when we need to be healed.   It’s at those times of pressure that we fall back on God.   

Understand, God wants us to continuously lean on Him.   He wants our lifestyle to be one where our trust and total dependence is on Him.   He wants us to get up in the morning thanking Him for this brand new day and He wants us to surrender our day to Him even before we begin to walk it out.   After we give Him praise and thanksgiving, we need to ask Him to lead us, to guide us, and to direct us.   We need to ask Him to help us because we can’t help ourselves.   Without God, we are nothing. 

So take time today to surrender your life and everything concerning your life to God.   Know that God is the author and finisher of your faith.   Know that what He has said, He will do.   Tell God, you surrender all.   Give Him your life and submit your lifestyle to His guidance.   You know what is of God and you know what isn’t.   Make the choice today and everything to let go of what isn’t.   Don’t be hellbound.   In other words, don’t be bound to those things that will eventually lead you down a road of destruction and into hell.    Don’t be captive or captivated by those things that you already know are not of God.   Don’t willingly walk in sin.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

John 8:34 

King James Version (KJV)

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Are Your Prayers and Your Heart In Line With God’s Word?

What is it that you want God to do for you?   Are you asking Him to heal you?   Are you asking Him to strengthen you?   Are you asking Him to deliver you?   Are you asking Him to meet a need?    What is it and my next question is, are you asking in faith?     

When we ask God in faith, we ask “trusting and believing” that He will do whatever it is we need to be done, as long as, it is in line with His Word and His will.    The Bible talks about asking God for things “amiss”.   When something is amiss, it’s not quite right.   It is wrong, out of order, and carries within it the wrong motive.   We need to ask ourselves when we pray and ask God for anything, what is our motive.   What is it that is motivating us to ask God what we are asking for.   We also need to make sure that our hearts intentions are right.    What is it that we intend on doing once God answers our prayers.     

God is a good God and His ears are open to our prayers.   We just need to make sure are prayers and our hearts are both inline with His Word.    We need to come boldly to His throne of grace, we need to ask and receive His forgiveness, and we need trust and believe that He will not only hear our cry but answer when we cry out to Him. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

James 4:3

King James Version 

“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” 

Have You Taken The Time To Cleanse Your Mind?

What are you doing to cleanse your mind.   Nowadays, there are many people that do a cleanse every so often to detoxify their bodies.    They take vitamin supplements to help aid them in the process of cleansing and staying healthy.   They drink more water and they eat more fruit all in an effort to stay healthy but when it comes to having a healthy mind, they don’t take the same care.   They don’t cleanse their mind with the water of God’s Word.   They don’t take the time to put in what is healthy for them in order for them to root out what is not.   

We have to understand how important it is to watch what we are allowing to come into our eye gates and our ear gates.   We have to realize the seeds that are being planted by what we watch and what we hear.    We have to know to uproot everything that is planted in our hearts and minds that is not of God.   

Take time today to meditate on God’s Word.  Ask God to come in and to cleanse you today.   Ask Him to bring healing to any hurt or pain that you are still experiencing from your past.    Supplement your intake of God’s Word with praise and with worship.    To supplement means to complete or enhance something.  

Be healed today.   Be strengthen today.   Be encouraged today.    Let God not only cleanse you today, let Him fill you with his peace, power, and love.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Romans 12:2 

King James Version (KJV)

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Are You Trusting In The Reliability Of God’s Word or Are You Living A Life Of Compromise Based On What Your Flesh Feels Is Okay?

Are you living a life of compromise?   The immediate response to that question from most people would be no because in this world today, we tend to want to make up our own definition to what is right and what is wrong.   So the question we need to ask ourselves is whether or not the things we are doing in life are in line with what God said in His Word.    We have to ask ourselves whether or not we are making exceptions for things that bring our flesh pleasure?     

God’s Word is true and it has stood the test of time.    Take a moment to think about what is the test of time.   In order to understand what the “test of time” is, you must first understand what time is.    Time can be defined as a moment.   It can be defined as the combination of the past, present, and the future.   Time can be defined as a plan or a schedule.   It can be defined as an instance or point in which something should happen.   There are many definitions for time but we have to understand, no matter what definition you use, God’s Word has withstood the test of time.   Remember, a test is taken to check the performance, quality, and reliability of a thing.   So throughout every moment, whether it be the past or the present, God has continuously shown that His Word is true and He has proven that He is reliable. 

So as we look at the Word of God, we understand that He tells us to fear not.   He tells us in Romans 13 to make no provision for our flesh, He tells us in 2 Corinthians 6 to not be bound together with unbelievers, and He tells us in James 4 that making ourselves friends with the world makes us enemies with Him.    So understand, compromising with the world takes you further from God.  Make sure you are living your life in a way that is pleasing to the Father without compromise.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Romans 13:14

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

James 4:4

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

If No One Else Is Willing To Surrender, Will You Be The “One” That Does?

When is the right time?   Have you ever told someone that you will do something in a minute and yet that minute never comes.  Understand, procrastination is not of God.    Understand, the time is now because the next moment is not promised. 

You have to realize that now is the time to get up and give God praise.   Now is the time to worship Him for all that He has done.   Now is the time to honor Him with your life.   Now is the time to obey His Word.   Now is the set time.  When something is set, it is put in place.   God has designated and put in place this moment in time just for you.   

Will you surrender to God now?   Will you cast your care on Him now?   Will you open up your heart to Him now?   Will you reach out to others for Him now?   We always say “now what”?   The question is “now what will you do for God”?     

Now is the time to surrender and serve.   If no one else is willing to surrender and to serve, will you be the “one” who does?   Will you allow God to use your life for His glory?   He created you on purpose with a purpose in mind.   Will you use your life on purpose for the purpose that God created you for?   The choice is yours.   The Creator is waiting for His creation to choose Him.   Understand, He chose you first.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Proverbs 23:26

King James Version

“My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.” 

Are You Still Trusting God To Perfect His Plan When Things Don’t Go The Way You Planned?

What is it that you need God to do?   Do you need Him to heal you?   Do you need deliverance from something that has proven to be a stronghold in your life?   Do you need Him to help you on your job?   Do you need Him to give you peace?   Do you need Him to pay your bills?   What is it that you need for God to do? 

It’s so easy to get frustrated when things are not happening the way you think they should be happening.   It’s easy to say I quit.   It’s easy to walk away thinking that God doesn’t love you enough or care enough to move on your behalf.    It is easy to walk in fear instead of continuing to walk in faith but UNDERSTAND AND RECOGNIZE the lies and the deceits of the devil.   Understand, faith requires you to stand even when everything else around you appears to be falling.    Your stand has to be on the solid rock.   It has to be on the Word of God.    

When you stand on the Word of God, you know that His Word says that He will never leave you nor forsake you.   You know that He said that He will shield you and protect you.   You know He said that He opens doors that no man can close and He also closes doors that no man can open.   You know that God said that He is watching over His Word to perform it in your life.   You know He said that He has a plan for your life and that plan is to prosper you and to give you an expected end.   You know that if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land.   You also know that God is able to work miracles for you, in you, and through you.   So, stand on what you know and know that God is with you and His power is at work for you.   Never give up!  As you surrender everything to God, know that He will take care of everything for you.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Peter 5:6-10 

King James Version (KJV)

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Are You Pushing Past The Words “I Forgive You” and Truly Forgiving Others In Your Heart?

At some time or some point in your life, somebody has hurt you.  They may have said something or did something to you that just was not right to do.   Understand, ,we are all human.   No, that doesn’t make what they did okay but know that you have a Heavenly Father that wants you to be whole and healed.    He wants you to not only know what it means to receive forgiveness, He also wants you to forgive those who have hurt you.   

Forgiveness doesn’t always happen overnight.   It doesn’t happen just because you say the words “I forgive you” out of your mouth but it can start with the words as God heals you,  you will truly be able to release those who have hurt you.   

Understand, the enemy will do whatever he can do to try to keep you from walking in forgiveness.   He will remind you of the hurt and the pain and he will intensify that hurt and that pain and make you feel as though you are going through the situation all over again and sometimes you do.    

Forgiveness is not easy but it is necessary to move you from a place of bitterness, anger, and strife to a place where you can love unconditionally just as God loves you.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Ephesians 4:32 

King James Version (KJV)

32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Are You Getting Restless While You Are Waiting On God To Move In Your Life? If So, Be Still and Know He Is God!

Are you walking in fear or are you standing in faith?   Understand, God wants you to walk in confidence.   He wants you to walk on the sure foundation of faith.     He wants you to trust Him and He wants you to believe Him.   He wants you to wait on Him.    

So often in life we get restless in the wait.   Instead of waiting on God, we feel we have to do something.   We don’t take God at His Word.   He said for us to BE STILL AND KNOW that He is God.   Instead of waiting and instead of being still, we often try to make our own way.   We have to remember, God said that our ways are not His way.  His way is sure and we have to learn how to trust Him enough to wait in confidence on Him. 

The biggest tool the enemy will use while you are waiting on God is fear.   God wants you to fear not.   He wants you to know that He is with you.  He wants you to realize that He is going to work everything in your life together for your good.   Understand, fear starts with a thought but if we don’t cast out the thought of fear, fear will consume us.   It will not only consume us, it will control us.   Don’t allow your life to be ruled and reigned by fear.    Cast down the thought and immediately meditate on what God has said concerning your situation.   

Remember, God said that He has a plan and that plan is designed to give you hope, a future, and an expected end.    He said He knows the things you have need of and He is faithful and just to provide you with those things.    We have to remember, WITH GOD all things are possible.   So no matter where you are today, it doesn’t determine the outcome of your tomorrow.   God can and will do the miraculous for those who believe, trust, and obey Him.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Matthew 19:26

King James Version

“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”   

Have You Ever Wished You Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time? We Have To Let Our Past Experience Teach Us How To Make Better Decisions In Life...

Have you ever gotten up and said that you wish you could turn back the hands of time so that you can do things differently?   I think we have all at some time or another wished we could go back and change the decision we made and our actions but we can’t go back.   We can’t change what has happened but we can learn from what has happened.  We can take our experiences and let them be lessons that teach us how to make better decisions in life. 

God is a good God.   He is a loving, just, and forgiving God.   He knows us.   He knows the decisions we will always make in life.   He knows our beginning to our end and He loves us.    The problem we have sometimes is, we don’t really know ourselves.   We push our flesh to the limit thinking we are wise enough and strong enough to manage and handle ourselves in any given situation but we are not.   We have to learn how to flee from the very appearance of sin.   We have to learn how NOT to test our flesh.    We have to remember, our flesh is weak.    We have to learn how to choose right when the situation is going in the wrong direction. 

Well, today is a new day.  God has filled this day with His love, grace, and mercy.   Not only has He filled this day with His love, grace, and mercy, He is with us.   He said that He will never leave nor forsake us.   He has said that His joy is our strength.   He has placed within us His Holy Spirit and we know GREATER is He that is in us than anything coming against us in this world. 

No, we can’t change our choices from yesterday but we can make today a better day by just following God.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION

Ecclesiasticus 21:2

King James Version

“Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent: for if thou comest too near it, it will bite thee: the teeth thereof are as the teeth of a lion, slaying the souls of men.”