Psalms 91:1, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

What is “secret place”? According to Psalms 31:20, the secret place is found in God’s presence. Access to this secret place requires faith (Hebrew 11:6). You must come to God in faith. To enter God’s presence, we must have an attitude of worship- reverence and adoration – toward him. The secret place is not a physical location, although we may have a favorite place to be when seeking God.

Dwell definition:

1 : to remain for a time. 2a : to live as a resident. 2b : exist. 3a : to keep the attention directed.

Abide definition:

1 : to remain stable or fixed in a state. 2 : to continue in a place . 3 : to conform to (abide by the rules). 4 : to accept without objection (abide by your decision).

Through relationship with God – Spending intimate time with him getting to know him. We learn what it is to please him and to do his will. We also find there are levels to the relationship. Levels to our life, our walk with him. We grow from faith to faith, from glory to glory. We learn or earn this knowledge by our faith and trust in him being tried by fire – the trials of life.

God reveals himself to us more and more as we draw closer to him. We are able to draw closer as we make the choice to seek his presence. See Psalms 16:11.

Psalms 16:11, tells us that when we are in God’s presence he is able to direct our life, and find we have access to the joy of the Lord – our strength.

Through this exposure to God – triggers our desire to remain there. To live a life that is enhanced, even ordered by the anointing that comes from God’s continual presence and influence.

That is why Psalms 91:1 starts with “he that dwelleth…” it is a treasure that not everyone will find or even desire to find. But is a place that is free to all, and even recommended to all.

The word “secret” denotes the fact that it is hidden, and may require a journey on the seekers part to find.

The saying is true – anything worth having is worth working for. Because once you find what you have been searching for you will care for it, reverence and respect it. You will guard it to keep it. Once the “secret” place has been found you will desire to remain there.

For this reason we must understand what it means to dwell and abide.

To dwell in the secret place can be done for a specific period of time. Or you can make you residence there. Or it can be the act of allowing God’s presence to keep your attention focused on him. None of these options come easily. They all require work and practice to maintain. They require faith, love, and trust in God.

Once you determine how you will dwell, you must also choose to abide by what is revealed in God’s presence.

You can never come into God’s presence without being changed. He has a way of making us better. Our exchange is that we must choose if the change will be permanent. Or if we will revert back to the old man.

The benefit, however, to dwelling in the secret place, also brings the beauty of abiding. God’s power, mercy and grace allows us to remain stable and fixed, so that we are able to continue with him. We are able to conform to his will, and to accept it without objection.

My prayer for us all is that we find that secret place in God. Once found, that we choose to dwell and abide there!

Have a blessed day.

Psalms 27:13-14

“13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

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

Psalms 24:6

“This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.”

Psalms 24:1

“The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”

Ownership, by definition is the act, state, or right of possessing something.

The Bible tells us that God created heaven and earth. God gave man the responsibility of keeping it according to his instructions. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, through acts of disobedience, relinquished this honor of administration. But ownership still remains with God.

Today, people and events would have us to believe that the world is in chaos. Where there are no rules, like living in a high tech version of the old west. Where the villain who carries the biggest and fastest gun can rule the town. However that is not the case.

Yes, things are very hard, and very challenging times. So much so that if we don’t keep our eyes on God, we can be lost. Left to fall into disrepair.

As I have said many times, the best place to find yourself is in praise and worship. By taking the focus off ourselves, and choosing rather to see God. Taking time to thank him for who he is and what he has done, has a way of putting things into perspective. This clarity frees us. It eases our burdens. Not because they are gone, but the time spent in God’s presence strengthens us to bear what we must. See Psalms 24:6.

This perspective helps us to take heart and know that God is still in control.

Psalms 24:1 tells us that the world still belongs to God. He has a plan and he is working it out in the earth. God is working his plan in and through us. God’s purpose has always been to bring his people back to him.

This current generation is full of seekers. Some are seeking God to draw closer to him, to know him better. Others are seeking a freedom that does not necessarily involve God. They want to be free to live as they choose without responsibility to anyone else. Unfortunately for them, we are our brother’s keeper. We must understand that what we do does impact other people. So we must act with responsibility, looking to the future.

A part of our duty as believers is to pray. We pray for our leaders, we pray that God heals the land in every way. Our prayers can cause God to move on the hearts of people. Our prayers can save those that are lost. Our prayers can cause these seekers to turn to God.

God has not lost his ownership of this world.

Our struggle is to remember that God is ever in control. Even when things go sideways or totally opposite of what we hoped or wanted. God is still in control. Romans 8:28 says that ALL things work for our good. It does not say that all things are good. It simply means that in every situation God is able to pull some good out of it in our favor.

Yes, bad situations arise (time and chance happens to us all, Ecclesiastes 9:11) for us all. But they are not meant to kill us. Rather, they are meant to show us who we are, who we serve, and that he is able. As Psalms 27:13-14 says, we are not designed to faint. We are built to believe and to endure. To wait on the Lord who always causes us to triumph.

So be encouraged. Understand that your current situation is not your end. It is an opportunity to see God. To recognize his hand at work in your life. To stand strong in praise and worship, and to watch God move.

Have a blessed day!

2 Corinthians 4:18 ESV

“as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

I am hopeful today.

I am grateful, thankful, and yes, very hopeful.

By definition, hopeful is a feeling or inspiring optimism about a future event.

For me, I stand in expectation of a great move of God. It may not come the way I expect or turn out the way I hope, but I know it will be just right. For God does all things well. He does not make mistakes, he moves mysteriously, and always with a purpose. I may not always understand him, but I can always trust him!

So yes, I am very hopeful.

Hope causes me to look beyond where I am, and focus on where I am going. On where I want to be. Hope causes me to make a plan and execute it. Hope causes me to push past failure, and keep going. Because the truth is success is better understood and defined from the light of past failures.

The power of hope is God-given. It is based in faith. Faith in the faithful God who promised. Faith in the powerful word he spoke (and still speaks). The God who told us to “call those things that be not, as though they were.” (Romans 4:17).

So yes, today I am hopeful – I am inspired.

My prayer for you is that you are too. There are times when your only hope is to encourage yourself. There are times when you are all alone, and you cannot afford to give up or give in. These are also the times when this feeling of hope is the fuel that keeps us going on.

So hug this hope to you chest, put a smile on your face, and keep going.

Have a blessed day!

James 1:1-2

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”

Know this…What you are going through is for a purpose!

You may be in the midst of your situation wondering why? But that thought is a major distraction designed to split your focus. Because when we are distracted we are unable to give our all. And believe me, your total focus and concentration is need to be victorious.

So rather than trying to figure out why, count it all joy that God found you worthy (and capable) to bring glory to his name. Yes, that is what is happening here.

Your faith is being tested. If you go through this trial as God has purposed, on the other side is victory, spiritual growth, and ultimately, God receives the glory.

So count it all joy. No, the situation is definitely not joyous or even easy. In fact it may be difficult, painful, and down right scary. But if we adjust our perspective, and count it all joy, it will make the journey just a little easier to bear.

You can and will make it! You were built to conquer and triumph!

Have a blessed day!

Philippians 3:13-14

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Life is always moving.

Be definition, life is the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

By definition, death is the permanent ending of vital processes in a cell or tissue. The end of the life of a person or organism.

The difference between the two movement. To move is make progress; develop in a particular manner or direction.

Spiritually speaking, it is the duty of the believer, the follower of Christ to grow. The Bible says it like this, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18). It also says, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17).

These scriptures speaks to the movement from one level to the next. Moving from glory to glory, moving from one level of faith to the next. This is a constant of growth. God is vast, bottomless, unfathomable. We will never completely know him, but we should learn more about him each day we walk with him.

The believer is to be ever growing. We do this by getting to know the father more and more as we walk with him. This new knowledge changes us. For it is impossible to come closer to God and not change. Conversely, it is impossible to know him and to stay the same.

The light of who God is burns off our sinful nature. This character flaws and personality quirks that are not godly should not continue to grow with us. For we should change to be more like him.

Back to movement. If movement is the hallmark of life, then stagnation is the warning sign of death. By definition, stagnant is showing no activity; dull and sluggish. To remain in this state is to pursue death, or rather to wait around until death over takes you.

For this reason, we must have the ability to let things go and move on.

When people hurt us, we have to be able to let it go and move on. This is what is meant by the saying “forgiveness is for you, not them.” When we forgive, we give ourselves permission to get on with our lives. We give ourselves permission to grow and be the person God needs us to be.

We must let go of the past with all of its hurts and trauma. We must choose life, and press forward to the things that God has for us. It is a choice that we all must make.

It is impossible to try and hold on to the past, while also trying to have a successful present, and a bright future. Your death grip on the past will stagnate your present, and kill your future.

So let go, and move on.

Galatians 6:9

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Just a little encouragement on this Wednesday morning…

You have been doing well, don’t give up!

Don’t allow frustration or timing stop you from doing what God has called you to.

The definition of frustration is the feeling of being upset or annoyed, especially because of inability to change or achieve something.

You may have a feeling of frustration because those around you may not have noticed the hard word and effort you are putting forth to accomplish. Or you may not have gotten very far despite the hard work. Or no matter how hard you have worked, there is still so much more to do. Things are just not happening fast enough.

This leads us to timing. Be definition, timing is the the choice, judgment, or control of when something should be done.

Most of the time we would like things to happen right away. However, when things happen is not in our control, that is God’s responsibility and privilege. Because you know the effort you have exuded, we want the reward of that effort right away. Like it is our right.

We all must understand that a lot of the times things don’t go as planned. We don’t always get the type of reward we were after. People don’t always listen, or receive what we are saying. They don’t always believe or support us.

But despite all that, now is not the time to give up!

God has called you such a time as this. You we built to be able to withstand in this evil day. You were built to thrive in spite of everything. The gifting and calling God has on your life is needed today. You cannot give up – people are depending on you (whether they know it or not).

This is not about you getting accolades. Or feeling good about your self for what you were able to do. It is about accomplishing your assignment. Your God-given assignment.

God has placed enough trust in you to give you the gifts and talents. He expects you to use them to his glory. To reach his people and share the good news of the gospel. To reach those who are lost. All in that unique way that is you.

Stop trying to mimic or be like so and so. God gave you the assignments and qualified you to accomplish them. He even gave you the desire to do the work. His expectation is that you do it in the spirit of excellence, improving as you grow. He does not expect you to stop when it gets hard. This is a song of immaturity.

Now is not the time to give up!

Stop, settle your self, and rest (recharge) in praise and worship. When you come out you will be strengthened to keep fighting the good fight of faith.

Remember, you were built for this! You can do it, you can make it. You ARE making a difference.

Just don’t give up!

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 43:19

“Behold, I will do a new thing;
now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert.”

We finally made it out of 2020!

Let us look forward to 2021!

2020 was chalked full of pressure and stress. We faced COVID-19, loss of jobs, limited resources, and scarce items (toilet paper, paper towels, and sanitizer products). But we survived!

So, as we move into 2021, I encourage you to do so with a renewed mindset.

Let store up on praise (praise can carry us through anything), walk in godly wisdom, and rebuke fear.

COVID is still alive and well. Yes, we will have to also deal with it in this new year. But let us leave the fear of Covid-19 in 2020!

Our praise will bring us peace.

Our godly wisdom will guide us as we navigate through our daily lives.

Rebuking fear will allow us to walk in faith, and give God space to move on our behalf.

No, the world did not miraculously change because the calendar flipped to a new year. But we have (or should have) changed. We arrived in this new year with lessons learned from 2020.

So we will prepare. We will act mindfully. We will save and store up.

Ultimately, we will have a blessed 2021. No matter what!

Happy New Year!!

Psalms 121:5-8

“The LORD is thy keeper:
the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil:
he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth, and even for evermore.”

There are lots of insurance companies out now that extoll how great their coverage is. They offer discounts that save money, but does not skimp on benefits. The idea behind the insurance is you pay premiums now, so that when some catastrophe happens you don’t have to pay great amounts during an already a difficult time.

This all well and good. I am not against the idea of insurance. In fact, I believe it is wise to have insurance: life, auto, home, etc. But Jesus – the coverage he offers is incomparable and comprehensive.

There are many that look at insurance as a security blanket. For example, auto insurance can provide a sense of insulation that may allow some to act without caution. Why? Because they know that they are covered.

When it comes to God, he also provides a sense of security that instills a holy boldness in us. This boldness allows the believer to act. We can boldly do the things that God has called us to. We do so boldly, because we know that God has our back.

Those sense of security motivates us to strive for excellence in all that we say and do.

– Colossians 3:23 “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”

– 2 Corinthians 8:7 “Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.”

– Proverbs 22:29 “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings;
he shall not stand before mean men.”

Everything about God is excellent and good. This is a characteristic or trait that we inherit from God, our father. The coverage God provides to his children also opens the door to a safe place for us to exercise this. It is a safe place because all we go through comes with guarantees.

Yes, we will go through tough, even hard times. These situations arise, but they are opportunities to stand on God’s word, and exercise our faith. The Bible tells us that we are destined to win.

– 2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ,”

Because we have this assurance, we are able to move in confidence. This is then is a safe place. We can boldly decree and declare God’s word, standing on it in the face of the enemy!

Triumph does not mean you will never fall or fail. It just means that if you do, you can get back up. We get back up, dust ourselves off and try again.

– Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”

To triumph means, a great victory or achievement. It means in the end, you will win.

For this reason, we don’t give up. Especially when the world seems stacked against us. Or when the enemy is doing everything to make you believe you are less than what God says you are.

God has given us excellent coverage!

So relax in him.

Operate under his anointing with confidence.

Know that God has your back, rebuke fear, and be great!

Have a blessed day!!

Lamentations3:24-25

“The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”

God’s hands (shoulders) are wide enough and strong enough to handle whatever situation that is going on in your life.

God is a safe place to put your hope and trust. He won’t fail you nor let you down. Stop looking and everything thing and other people to help you. Psalms 121 says it the best – look to God. He is where your help comes from.

He that keeps you will not slumber nor sleep. He is ever vigilant. His eyes are ever on you and over your every situation.

Our job is to leave the situation to God. And allow him to work it out.

So, on today look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Practice leaving your situations in his hands by faith. Allow him the space to work and move on your behalf. Practice patiently waiting on him in faith. God will not fail you or let you down!

Have a blessed Sunday!!

Lamentations 3:22-23

“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

Take a deep breath, and slowly release it.

Be renewed in this new morning that is full of potential. Go and accomplish goals. It is a new morning, full of new mercies.

Enjoy this day that the Lord has made!

Let go of the Christmas rush with all of it’s stress! Embrace the reason for the Christmas season and enjoy all that you have been blessed with. Don’t compare yourself to any one else.

Take another deep breath, and slowly release it!

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind daily with God’s word.

This is the day that the Lord has made. Be glad and rejoice in it.

Have a very blessed day!