John 14:15-17 “If you love Me, you will keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17 He is the spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you.” ~CSB
One thing we have naturally equipped ourselves to do is to be almost completely dependent on our eyes. Think about it, even when we are at a party among friends, (who we trust); and a game is about to take place that requires putting on a blind fold. As soon as our eyes are covered and we can no longer see what is around us, a fear arises. The sudden need for that dependency to see, grips our very soul. We do not trust what we cannot see. To be physically dependent on someone holding our hands to guide us as we move is a scary feeling for someone who is used to navigating life with their eyes. This is our problem when it comes to our spirituality. And it is a crushing blow in the foundation in our relationship we have with the Lord. This is because the Lord works in the areas in which we cannot see. In other words, we must trust Him to do what He said he would do for us when it comes to His promises in our lives. The world cannot see God. This is why it has spent so much time training us not to see Him either. We have fallen for the lies of the devil and allowed our flesh to be trained by the world. The reality becomes, what we do not see, we do not believe. It is time to change that. It’s time to allow our trust in the Lord to become our awareness of what’s ‘hidden in plain sight’! Our focus should always be on God and His intent for us. When He created us he gave us everything we need to be successful in this life. The world teaches us that if we cannot figure out how God is going to bless us, we think He can’t. This is a lie and falsity. We are not supposed to know how or when God is going to bless us. We are supposed to trust in Him, and His promises to us. Jesus says that He asked God and God gave us “...a Counselor to be with us forever…” We must trust the Holy Spirit and His guidance, so that we will always take the right path on our journey in Christ. The world may not know the Holy Spirit, but we know Him, “...because He remains with us…” And the best news in all of this, is that Jesus promised us in verse 18 that He, “...will not leave us as orphans; I am coming to you…”, He says. May God bless and keep you under his protection, love, and healing power as you continue your journey in Jesus name. Amen
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Romans 12:12 “When you hope, be joyful. When you suffer, be patient. When you pray, be faithful.” ~NIRV When we make it through any trial or suffering and know it was God who brought us through; we have a new boldness about ourselves. We begin to understand that this journey we are on cannot be done under our own power. This should give us some type of ‘relief’. In other words, those old sayings that contained “I” in them, we no longer need. Sayings like, “I don’t know what to do!” “I’m stuck, where do I go from here?” Now we know that God is our guide, our protector and our healer. We know that this journey was created for us by Him and by Him we need to follow. Therefore when we “…hope, be joyful.” Allow the Holy Spirit to feed on our joy that was given to us by God through what we have already endured. The spirit will then intercede and pray for the blessing God has custom made for us. As we go through our trials, we must be patient. There are lessons to be learned; visuals that need to be seeded in our hearts that will become tools within our spirits that God will use to bless others He places in our paths. And when we pray, we do it with bold, doubtless, worry free conviction. Allowing our faith to have its strength in God’s love, power and mercy for the purpose He created in us. So that when we are complete, with all this scripture feeding into our spirits, verse 13 continues, “…share with God’s people who are in need.” The power of Jesus’ strength at the cross is in us, who believe. It is this power that will help us endure everything and anything this world attempts, in order to keep us away from the promises of God. When God gives us victory over that, it is our duty to pass that power of victory, on to those God places in our paths. Passing on these powerful tools of joy, patience and faith. May God continue to keep you, guide you and protect you on your journey in Jesus’ name. Amen 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 “For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory.” ~CSB We read in Genesis, Third Chapter, Adam and Eve fall into sin in their disobedience to God. It is easy for us to say today, “They had one job! Not to eat the fruit!” But without question, we go through many of the same situations. Never looking at our own actions and saying, “I had ONE job!” Adam was given the instructions not to eat the fruit. They had access to everything else except that. It was his duty to inform Eve and they were to follow those instructions. Because of an outside influence, taking their mind off God, the two made the choice to be disobedient. In their disobedience, life as God had blessed them with, was gone. Death was born from the choice they made. In life we make choices. Oftentimes outside influences send us in different directions in those choices. And we are responsible and accountable for the results of those choices. As believers our relationship with God teaches us how to take and follow directions. When we choose not to be obedient we are held accountable. And if it was left up to the first Adam, we would all be doomed to the fate of death. But thank God! Because of His love for us, He gave us another chance at life. The sacrifice of his Son has saved us all in that chance! This blessing of life is ours as children of God, but we still have to take action to receive it. When we begin to know better, we must do better. Allow what Jesus did for us on the cross to ‘change our clothes’. From a 'corrupt' old suit coat, to an 'incorruptible' better fitting sports jacket! Because of the Resurrection we can change from a ‘mortal’ pair of slacks we’ve worn out, to a brand new pair of ‘immortal pants’, to be worn in obedience and humility! And as we walk this walk in our new clothes in Jesus name, those around us will see that because of Jesus Christ, Death has been swallowed up by the victory of the Cross! May God bless and keep you as you continue to journey in Jesus name. Amen John 17:20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” ~NLT When I was in the Army we trained a lot. Training as a squad was important because we learned to move and protect the area we were assigned. For instance, as we moved in formation, I would trust the soldier behind me to protect what I could not see. That one position not in view is considered your ‘Six’. You hear this term a lot in the movies. It refers to the positions around you, in ‘clock terminology’. Let’s say you are standing straight looking forward. What you see in front of you is considered the 12 o’clock view. Everything to your immediate right would be your 3 o’clock. Everything to your immediate left would be considered your 9 o’clock. The area behind you, the area you cannot see, is your 6 o’clock. This is why, as soldiers we would say, “I got your six.” We learned to move through enemy territory and stay focused on our goal because we knew our fellow soldiers were watching, protecting and would take care of anything that would try to harm us. This relationship with my fellow soldiers was strong, loyal and in complete trust. This is the relationship we must have with Jesus Christ. This relationship is the only way we will understand, receive and can be grateful enough to trust in God’s promises to us. It is in this relationship that we understand what Jesus went through for us on the cross. He knew what we would be faced with on our journey in this world. This is why he prayed for us. His journey would be our walk as well. He wanted us to know He has gone through what we are going through. In the text above he prayed for himself, as he was about to walk the journey of sacrifice. He prayed for his disciples, then He prayed for us. He spoke in petition for us when he said, “...for all who will ever believe in me through their message…” This means that our trials will define our growth in our endurance. And explain how God gave us the strength, courage and wisdom to continue our journey, just as Christ did. This is how we tell the world about Jesus, ‘...through our message…’ He has our back! He is always watching our 'Six'. Walk on staying focused on your goal. May God continue to bless you with His peace, love and protection as you continue to journey in Jesus' name. Amen Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” ~NLT In my youth, I remember playing basketball with my friends in the neighborhood. We would pick teams from the best player to the worst and play ball all day. We always had that one player though. This guy would keep the ball and try to score every shot. We used to call him the ‘ball hog’. It was our term when we yelled, “Stop hoggin’ the ball! Pass it to somebody that’s open!” But that player would continue to be the 'superstar' and eventually the team he played for would lose. Not solely because of his selfishness, but also because that one player did not utilize his other teammates. This is what happens in real life. God created us to be team players. He created us to play well with others. But we like to take the situations we are in and ‘hog’ all decisions and actions for ourselves. We think we can win this game called ‘life’ without any help. Then that powerful player on the other team comes on the court. Let’s just call him, ‘Impossible’. And when we come up against him, we find that there is nothing we can do. Under our own power we begin to fold and eventually we want to give up this game because we realize there is nothing we can do. This is where we need to become that ‘team player’ we were designed to be. When we reach that point in our lives when we know there is nothing physically, we can do, we call in our best player to take our place. When we call God into the game, the whole game changes. There is nothing the impossible player can do against God. This is where God performs His miracles in our lives. This is where our testimonies of faith in God’s existence in our lives take root in our souls. Not only do others begin to see Him in us, but they also become aware and begin to feel his presence in them. Once we realize this as believers, that’s when we can observe our victorious, miracle story unfold. May God continue to bless and keep you under His protection of peace in Jesus’ name. Amen Psalm 51:10-13 “God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit. Then I will teach the rebellious your ways, and sinners will return to you.” ~CSB I know you are tired. I know in this life you have tried very hard to make some things happen and it seems you continue to fail. You are like a cell phone at 20%. Sometimes it seems no matter how much you spend time in the Word of God, no matter how close you think your relationship is with The Father, you feel like the righteous things you are attempting to accomplish, just won’t come together. The obstacles could be anything; from having an understanding with your children. Lack of solutions to disagreements with your spouse. Not knowing how stable your finances will be in the future. All of these things can take your personal power of peace away from you. This will cause your vision of God’s power in His grace and mercy, to cloud up and weaken your relationship with Him. It is time to realize that you are at a place in your life where, under your own power, you can do nothing. And that is ok. This is where God takes over and moves you. But you must become a faithful and willing vessel. Ask God to, “...create a clean heart…” in you. Allow yourself to embrace your ‘rebirth’ in Christ and become that new creation. Then, ask God to, “...Restore the joy in your salvation…” Remember you have a spiritual goal that has been set. Jesus has prepared a place for you. All you have to do is continue to journey on in His name. Then, embrace your desire to ‘want’ to do the spiritual work of the Lord by asking God to recharge your, “...willing spirit…” Ask Him to restore you drive so that you can get up and pick up where you left off under your own strength; and now continue on as a vessel under His strength. When you do this, your life will be a testimony for others to look upon and follow. When you allow yourself to be in position, God will do the rest. His seed will move from you to others. And it is because of that action on your part you will, “...teach the rebellious…” God’s ways, and, “...sinners will return…” to Him! God created you to endure so don’t give up. Ask Him for a recharge and watch the renewed spirit go to work in you! May God continue to bless, protect and direct you as you journey in Jesus’ name. Amen Philippians 2:13 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” NLT
Right now, there is something going on. You don’t know what it is. You don’t know why tough times are on you. As hard as you try, things don’t seem to be looking up. No matter what you do, situations like; the communication in your relationship is not working out. You are constantly trying to lead your children in the right direction but it seems they are not listening. Or maybe simply, financial issues. Let’s think back to a time where this happened before. You were at a point where you were ‘stuck’. If you can remember correctly you finally realized that there was nothing you could do about the situation you were in. But before you could give up, something happened. You made it through! But how? What happened? I’m here to tell you that it was not the ‘universe’. It wasn’t ‘luck’. It was God. We are at the point in our lives where we must know how much God loves us. And that if He loved us enough to sacrifice His Son for us, then He has the power to do other things in our favor. The power to take care of your rent or mortgage when you thought you didn’t have it. The power to heal in you what the doctor told you couldn’t be healed. To speak through the Holy Spirit into your spouse, your children and your family when you think all communication is lost. It is time to understand through our experiences in the past about our trials that God loves us enough not to leave us where we are, but to heal, teach and allow us to grow in our pain so that we can become stronger spiritually and move on. We learn that it is in this time when we realize there is nothing we can do under our own power; our faith grows and our trust in God’s love and His power takes over. When this happens, our stress, worries and doubt disappear. We become immune to the enemy’s tricks. And we learn to live better lives because we begin to live according to God’s will for our lives. “For God is working in you…” He takes over where you cannot. Allow His work in you, and He will give, “...you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” May God continue to bless, protect and heal you in Jesus name. Amen 1 Corinthians 3:7 “It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” ~NLT When I was 25 years old, I joined the Army. I had a family and two daughters to take care of and the jobs I had were not making ends meet. I joined the military because at least I would know that wherever I traveled, my family would have a roof over their heads. I made a worldly decision. Decisions that I made to do under my own power. Those decisions have limits. At that time, I never thought to ask God what it was he intended for me to do in this life. I never thought to include God in my decisions that would affect my life. Everything I did to make a living had time limits and limits on provisions for me and my family. It wasn’t until I prayed and called on the Lord for direction and included God in my life, that I noticed things change. When I asked God to allow me the wisdom of HIS intent for my life, those limits disappeared. When God started directing me and my wife in His will for our lives, we found out that ‘time limit’ didn’t exist with God. God’s promise of abundant life is there for all of us, but we must be willing to obey Him in His direction for our lives. The text above says, “It’s not important who does the planting…or watering…” This means it doesn’t matter if you get every degree in whatever profession you are in. It doesn’t matter if you take every class to get trained in the area of expertise you choose to earn a living. If God is not in it, that seed will not grow. There will be a time limit on that ‘worldly’ success. But if you allow God to “...make that seed grow…”, you will see that what grows will never die. There is no time limit on that spiritual, godly success. Check with God on what you’ve got going on as far as your career, your life and your journey. Make sure to include Him in it and you will be blessed with an amazing future that will reveal the blessing of a legacy for you and your family. May God bless and keep you under his healing power of protection as you journey in Jesus name. Amen John 10:17-18 “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” ~CSB Jesus Christ! By the authority of His Father, God gave him the power over His own life. This was done for the foundation of salvation! Given to lay down our sins and taken back so that we may have eternal life! This is the blueprint of God’s promise for eternal life! Let’s pause and give God a shout of praise! I know this power all too well. I learned firsthand what Jesus did for me in my transformation. There I was, twenty plus years in the grip of a poison so deep, I could not break free from it. I wanted it more than I wanted my family. It made me lie and deceive my wife. It was so satisfying that it kept me blind to God’s will for my life. I was on the path to lose everything. But then the Word of God pulled me from drowning in a sea of doubt, worry and alcoholism. The scripture in 1 John 4:4 grew in my spirit as it says, “…because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world...” I began to read the Word every day and in turn my spirit became stronger and stronger. I realized that I was a part of something greater. Something inside me was shouting ‘NO MORE!’ When this happened, the gift of the Holy Spirit interceded in my life and a miracle took place. As the result of a tragic accident, mixed with my submission and God’s word in my heart, my old weak flesh was buried and I was created new! By the hand of God the poison of alcohol was taken from me and I craved it no more! The taste of God’s power replaced the craving of the poison! Being created, means we have been chosen. No matter what we go through, the enemy cannot claim us. So whatever situation we are in, the enemy can’t win! The reason why things seem so tough is because the enemy is holding on to our shirt, our pants leg, our coat, pulling us in his direction because he doesn’t want us going in the direction that was set in stone just for our journey! Just as Jesus said no one can take His life, He lays it down so that He can pick it up again. We can say the same, because our life is not our own. It belongs to God. And no one, not even the enemy can take ANYTHING from God! May God bless and keep you in His peace, love and protection as you journey in Jesus’ name. Amen Philippians 1:6 “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” CSB
There are many things in my life that I was excited about starting. For example, I remember when I was younger, I saw this picture in an old ‘Sears’ catalog of a model car. I told my mother I wanted to build one. She went to the store and got me a model car. I started the task with enthusiasm. I took the pieces apart and separated them. I followed the instructions to the letter and began building. Somewhere along the line, my excitement dropped. The car I was building did not look like the picture on the box it came in. Eventually I quit and the result was ‘half a car’. The scripture above talks about God starting a work in us and, “...carrying it on to completion…” You see God won’t start and not finish. What is so powerful is that even if we want to quit, God won’t. This year focus on the text above. We just came out of 2023 with some situations we may not have wanted to be in, but know that God will not let anything stop His work in us. So we must not quit, especially if He will not quit on us. As we enter 2024, let us embrace and practice four things, from Dr. Charles Stanley’s devotional, as we endure and allow God to know how grateful we are that He will not quit on us.
Let us make this year count when it comes to our spiritual maturity. It is in this maturity where God will reward us with that ‘resurrection power type of blessing’ He has uniquely created for all of us. And it was created by Him to complete His work ‘in’ us, no matter what we are going through. May God keep you safe in His arms as we journey through the new year in Jesus’ name. Amen |
Authors Billy & YolandaThis is the place where we share our heart through God's Word in faith that will inspire and empower you to live in peace. Archives
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