Ephesians 6:10

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”

There is a song founded on this scripture that says, “be strong in the Lord, and the power of his might. Know in your heart all your battles he will fight.” 

We are to find comfort in the fact that God has our back. All he requires of us is to show up at the battle without fear. He will do the rest. 

To each of us God has given territory to watch over, conquer, and govern. God has given us all we need to be successful. What he requires from us is to trust him and take a leap of faith- moving toward the goal. He will then place provision in our path.

What he does not need are coward soldiers. Those who are afraid to pursue in battle. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” God needs soldiers who are willing to take him at his word, and accomplish what he has placed before them.

You are strong and courageous because God has created you that way. You (we all) just need to walk in it. Stand your ground, go forth and conquer!

*** I hope you are encouraged to accomplish great things today. That is what God has designed you to do. As always, your comments are welcomed. Be blessed.

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 word of encouragement – don’t give up, you can make it. Continue to do what God gave you, continue to be who God you called you, and continue to say what God told you.

Be blessed.

Romans 12:3

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

Luke 12:48

“But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”

Walking in the favor and blessings of God is an awesome and wonderful way of life. More importantly, it is what God desires for all of his people. However, walking in the favor of God also comes with responsibility. 

God is so good, and his blessings tend to overtake us so much so, that our cup truly runs over (Deuteronomy 28:2, Psalms 23:5). But in the midst of all of these rich blessings, God cautions us not to let the blessings control us, rather we are to control the blessings. Remember, the same God that giveth is indeed the same God who taketh away (Job 1:21). When we have the proper attitude about “things” God has given us, we can share Job’s out look. But when the “things” control us, we find it extremely challenging to be without them.

I speak to your spirit, 2016 is going to be a year of blessings, a year of possessing your promised land. This will be a year of abundance. But God is warning us, that we must be in the place to properly handle the blessings, the increase. Yes, this includes material blessings, but more importantly, it is speaking to spiritual blessings. We must be able to walk in the level of anointing and ministry that God desires to pour into us.

As God uses you to do his wonders, understand that it is not about you, but rather it is about the God in you. Stay humble as you walk in this great anointing. Remember, to whom much is given, much is also required. It is time to go to a higher level. And along with this new elevation, comes a higher level of demonic forces to deal with. But God has called you because he knows you can handle this mantle. But to do so will require a higher level of commitment to God, underscored by a new level of fasting and prayer.

Be encouraged, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7); and we can do all thing through Christ because he makes us strong (Phillipians 4:13). Possess your land and bear plenty of Fruit. This is your year.

*** I hope you have been encouraged today. As always, your comments are always welcomed. Be blessed by the Word of God.

Jonah 1:17, 2:1, 10

“17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 

2:1. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly,

10. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”

The story of Jonah is very familiar to many, so much so that focus is placed on the fact If a fish could even swallow something as large as a full grown man. The unbeliever totally misses the beginning where it says “God prepared a great fish.” With God, all thing are possible. He personally prepared the fish for Jonah. That brings us to our topic for today…God prepares, just for us.
God is very deliberate. He speaks a word and expects us to follow. He is gracious enough to allow us time to come to grips with the commission given. However, when we make a choice to run from it, he has a way of manipulating circumstances to help us come around to his way of thinking. This is what happened to Jonah. It also happens to us as well.
Think about the course of your life. We may disguise our running away in terms of “I am not ready yet”, or “I am waiting for God to line everything up”, or even “I hear you Lord, but I just don’t want to do that.” When you are dealing with a true call from God, you will eventually follow the same course as Jonah, cry out to God in the midst of your fish, repent, and resign yourself to the fact that you must do the will of God. Many call this coming full circle.
My husband and I moved almost 2000 miles away from where we grew up. In preparing to leave, God gave us specific instructions. For the most part we were obedient. However, there were a few things we messed up on, knowing God said not to do them. Needless to say, it took a few years of us reaping things God did not intend for us. Eventually we came to realize we were disobedient and cried out to God in repentance. This brought us back full circle, right where God needed us to be. But God in his great grace, prepared a place just for us to help us see where our disobedience had taken us to.
Just as Jonah, the place our disobedience took us to was very uncomfortable, and cause us to suffer much loss. However, it was the perfect place for us to cry out to God, it was like hitting rock bottom, so to speak. No where to go but up. We were able to see ourselves better, and what we saw was disturbing. We saw how much we had let God down. But this point was where God needed us to be. We learned how much we needed to depend on him, and not on our own wisdom, knowledge, or strength. We repented.
Then the most wonderful thing happened, God spoke in the midst of the situation, and it had to let us go. Why? Because we were determined to do the will of God. 
Now we are walking into the things that God has for us, and not fretting about the call. Instead, we are preparing for it, and pursuing it whole heartedly. I refuse to think about all the wasted time we spent in disobedience. Rather, I embrace the plans that God has for us.
My words of comfort to you is not despise where you are right now. More than likely you are in the place God has prepared just for you. In this place you will begin to see yourself, which will lead to repentance, and hopefully a changed heart. Go through the process, victory is on the other side.
*** I hope this has blessed you. As always your comments are welcome and encouraged. God bless.

  

Psalms 127 1-2
“1. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 

2. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”

Romans 12 :2

“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.”

We are living in exciting times. God is maneuvering his people into the place he needs them to be. Every triumph and failure you have experienced on your journey has worked to get you where you are now. It is not a coincidence that you are in this place today. Your presence has been divinely ordered.

God is speaking – always. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the church. God has been dealing with us, and it is time to move. But everything must be do decently and in order.

We are not to move without him. We are not to move without instruction. We are not to go beyond his word to us.

• Many of us have moved based on a good idea, but no real leading from God.
• Many of us hear what God has spoken in our spirit, but we moved prematurely.
• Many of us do not trust God enough so we do not let him be God of the situation.

All of these situations leave the believer in a state of great frustration – wondering “God, where are you?

We find ourselves spending many years trying to dig ourselves out of situations where our lack of faith, and inability to trust God, as lead use.

“Let God Be God!” 

***When the Lord builds – he gives you everything you need. 

When we build, we begin using limit vision, we build short sightedly. Our vision is finite.

When we build, we want to use our physical muscles. We use our own logic and understanding. We try to mingle this with a little faith and call this allowing God to lead us.

Trust is a firm belief in the reliability, character, truth, ability or strength of God.

Trust takes practice! The idea of trust is learned when we become believers. The reality of trust in God is something that we hone, perfect, as we walk with him.

When God births something in our spirit, we are to step out on faith – and watch God move. But when we get to the point where the next step is not clear, we are to pray for direction, and not move until God shows us the way.

Romans 12:2 to us not to be conformed to this world.

We do not operate the same way the world does.

Instead, we are transformed because our minds are to be renewed by the word of God. Why, so we can be found in the will of God. It is our choice …

Good will of God – to be desire or approved, having qualities required for a particular role.
Acceptable will of God – suitable, able to be tolerated or allowed. Adequate, satisfactory.

Perfect will of God – completely free from faults or defects, or as close to such a condition as possible.

Even the world encourages us to work smarter, not harder.

It is your choice, trust God, and let him build the house? Or continue to walk in the flesh, and only experience little to no success. Good, acceptable or perfect will of God.

“Let God Be God.”

We are mid way through the first month of the year, and many have had trouble sticking with changes (I refuse to say New Years Resolutions) they want to make.

DON’T GIVE UP!!   Keep plugging away, stick to your plan/time table. It is said that after 21 days of doing something over and over, it becomes a habit.

It is okay to start over again if you have messed up already. Begin again, practice your new behavior everyday, it will eventually become a habit and you will have successfully made a change. 

This is a year of new beginnings. Do not get discouraged. If you have messed up already. Forgive yourself, repent to God, and begin again. Real change takes practice. That means you will mess up from time to time, just don’t stay there. REFUSE to settle for the same ole, same ole. Go after (with all you’ve got) the things that God has for you. Do not let the devil steel your victory or your future. 

I John 4:4

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

Be encouraged, God has your back. However, you must trust him enough to keep fighting the good fight of faith.
*** I hope this post has encouraged your heart, and blessed your soul. I look forward to hearing from you. Your comments are welcomed. God bless. 

Matthew9:20-22

“20. And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:

21. For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

22. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”

Luke 8:43-44

“43. And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 

44. Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.”

Many of the topics that we have discussed lately are focused around faith and change. Today is no exception.

Looking at the woman with the issue of blood is a perfect study when recognizing the need for change. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust God and seek his direction in all of our ways. However, most of us are like the woman with the issue of blood. She first did everything within her own power to seek her own deliverance (spent her money on Doctor after Doctor. None could help). When everything was gone, and they had done all they could do (to no avail), she then turned to God. 

At the point of her desperation, her thoughts turned to God. Desperation caused her to acknowledge God and seek his deliverance.

Most of us are the same way. We trust in our own strength, income, knowledge, and other resources to accomplish our goals. If we are successful, we might give God the praise. If we are not, we keep going in this same direction until we hit a brick wall which we cannot scale. At this point, we too, will turn to God for help.

What God wants his people to do is to trust him from the beginning of our situations, not only at the end of our rope. 

Imagine if this woman had turned to God earlier, what pain and anguished she could have spared herself. Not to mention the money she could have saved. Likewise we ourselves, If we trust God at the beginning of our situations. Choosing rather to discuss them with God in fasting and prayer. Imagine how great an outcome we can have? We would save ourselves many failures and heartache. 

We must choose to do things differently to achieve a different result. Change is possible. We must be willing to change the way we approach difficult situations. This may sound challenging if not impossible, but start on smaller decisions. Then work your way up to the big ones. Practice makes perfect. Real change is a practiced behavior. Over time it becomes your standard behavior. 

This is a new year, and I have decided to make it my best year. This is the year I walk into the vision God has given me. I want to encourage you to do the same. Go after, whole heartedly, the things God has placed in your spirit. Accomplish the things he has given you to do. Your triumph is assured, but you must first take that leap of faith. Begin the journey, seeking his guidance all the way.

*** I hope this has blessed you. I encourage you to study the scriptures referenced above and seek God. He has a plan for you – get it accomplished! As always, your comments are welcomed. God bless.

Philippians 3:13-14

“13. 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, 14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

The New Year brings wonderful opportunity to leave  behind the old, and to embrace the new. 

I want to encourage you not to be afraid to do things differently than you have done before. Change is necessary to obtain a different outcome. The problem with change is that many people are afraid to make them. Fear of the unknown will keep you stuck in a rut – chained to an unending cycle of mediocrity or failure. 

The scriptures encourage to forget the things behind us and to boldly press toward the future, which is a high calling in Jesus.

Failures will happen. Learn from them, make the necessary changes, and move forward. Your growth should be constant – unending.

Do not let your failures make you afraid to stretch out your faith. Try God – press forward.  Forget the past, concentrate on the present, and prepare yourself for the future – in Christ.

Happy New Year – make it a blessed, successful 2016!

*** I hope your are blessed by the word of God. As always your comments are welcomed.

Romans 1:16-17

“16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

As we enjoy the true meaning of Christmas and head into the new year, I believe this is also the perfect time to reflect and remember. Reflect on the success and failures of this year. Remember the great God who has blessed us with opportunity everyday to make this life a success. Reflecting and remembering places us in the perfect position so make changes, establish new plans of approach to challenges, and to determine corrected courses for our lives. But this process must also include a time to remember who we are (in Christ), and whose we are (the God of creation). 

If we are not careful, sometimes the cares of this life will cause even the most stout believer to forget who they are. In our forgetting, we will make poor planning choices, and will find ourselves in the wrong place. This season is a prime example. Many believers get caught up in the commercial side of the season and will regulate the Christ of Christmas to a small section of this seasons celebration. But we must endeveaour to remember, and keep Christ the focal point of our celebrations.

Be willing to say “Merry Christmas”and not just settle for “Happy Holidays.” We are not excluding other holidays, but we are simply willing to acknowledge the true meaning of the season. For it is truly good news that is worthy to be shared with everyone, no matter the belief. There is power in the true purpose of the season that is life changing. 

We must no be ashamed to tell the world – share with the world – the gospel of Christ. For it is truly the only hope for the world today.

So I want to take time to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas, I pray a great Christmas celebration was had, and time was taken to serve our fellow man. I want to encourage everyone to examine their personal 2015, and make preparations for an even greater 2016. Better/greater is around the corner. But we must seek after it and prepare for it, “for the just shall live by faith.” 

*** I hope you are blessed by this post. As always, your comments are welcomed. God bless.