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
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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 Hebrews 5:7-9 “While Jesus was here on earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to The One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God. 8 Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. 9 In this way, God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him.” ~NLT It is that time of year again. That time of year we say, “Next year is my year! I’m claiming my year!” But when the year comes around, it feels like the same old year. We go through the new years thinking things do not change. Well, there is good news: your blessing IS there and available, as it has been in the years before. There is no question that what God has for you is ONLY for you. Thing is, God will not allow us to have His special 'resurrection power' gift when we are not ready. You see we keep going into the new year with ‘old’ stuff. And if we are filled with old ways, old worldly feelings of selfishness and unforgiveness, we have no room within ourselves to receive the ‘new’ God has for us. Before we walk through that door to the new year, we must leave many traits, feelings, routines and ways behind. Don’t leave them in your spiritual ‘suitcase’. Unpack that suitcase, leave it unzipped and open. Walk through that door to the new year with your soul empty and ready to receive what God has planned for your life. Take those beautiful ‘new’ gifts God has for you, put them into your spiritual suitcase and never let them go! These new tools will help you endure what you have been going through in the previous years. They will help you be able to see that you are not where you are forever! The text says that, "...Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered." With these new tools God is going to 'gift' to our empty spiritual suitcases, will allow us to endure while we learn obedience from the things 'we' suffer, like Christ did. And after you have let these ‘new’ gifts work for you in the coming year, you will realize your new spiritual maturity. It is in that maturity where God will bless you with the ‘resurrection type’ power of blessings that will move you out of your current situation into the abundance of life Jesus talked about in John 10:10! Just as God '...qualified..." His son, we will also be qualified in what He has called us to do! So, let us prepare to empty our spiritual suitcases, and walk empty and bold into the next year. Because God is ready to bless us in what we need to heal and make us strong. So that we may be able to spiritually repair the damage in our own little part of the world. Happy New Year, and may God continue to bless you as you walk in Jesus’ name. Amen Mark 5:34 “And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” ~NLT Before my transformation, my flesh had my mind focusing in other directions. I couldn't see where God was directing me. My relationship with God wasn't strong and I lacked the knowledge of what He could do for me. I was conformed to this world. This is why when I first begin to read scripture, I didn’t retain its information. I was a man with no spiritual information. And with no spiritual information I wasn't able to put myself in position to receive ‘revelation’ from God. My faith was weak. It took God’s word, mixed with a motorcycle accident, (a trial and suffering), to enhance my faith and move my mind in the right direction. That day I felt the miracle of His healing hand in my soul healing me from my injuries and my addiction. One of my missions in life is to teach the gospel, so that others that cross my path don’t have to experience a tragic accident in order to strengthen their faith. We can be like the woman who was healed by Jesus in the text above. This woman had suffered from bleeding for 12 years. The scriptures say in Mark 5:26 that she had, “…suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact she got worse.” ~NLT We suffer and endure trials daily. Sometimes it seems no matter what we do, things never get better. For some of us our situation gets worse. But God blessed this woman with a gift; the gift of faith. She heard about Jesus and believed that all she had to do was touch His robe. She didn’t doubt, she didn’t worry, and she didn’t even feel the need to ask Him to lay hands on her. She simply had faith that all she had to do was touch His garment. When she did, she was instantly healed. The bible says in Mark 5:29, “Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.” We have that gift from God! God has given us the gift of faith! With this we, also, can began to feel the blessing of God’s power in our life. His power in healing of the body; His restoration of what has been damaged around us; and the warmth, covering and security of His love for us that is renewed every day! But you must believe. Your faith must be strong and nourished by His word. As you receive your blessing, thank the Father for the Son. Because the Son will say to you, “…your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” May God grant you peace, strength and wisdom on your journey in Jesus name. Amen 1 John 4:18-19 “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love. 19 We love because He first loved us.” ~CSB I love my wife. I can stand on everything when I say this because we both have been through so much to be in this love that we have. We’ve been through heartache, deception, dishonesty, (all on my part). Yet, she is still here with me. The pain we have gone through, emotional and physical, was a fire that forged our understanding about each other’s perspectives. Because we stopped trying to run this marriage ourselves and allowed God’s love in, things changed for us. We both individually learned how much He loves us. Then, in turn, we learned how to love Him back. And the results of that, we learned how to love each other. The fact that I know how much she loves me; and she knows how much I love her, formed that ‘spiritual force field’ around us that keeps the enemy’s tricks and illusions out of our relationship. We are now strong like that! Now let’s look at all of us as a whole. Many of us are afraid of what the world shows us on a daily basis. What we see on social media, the news and from straight gossip, these things affect us. We become afraid for ourselves and for our children. This fear can cause us to make bad decisions in our lives. It can definitely keep us from hearing the direction God is trying to tell us to go. What if I told you there was a way to get rid of this fear? Look at fear as a fire. Every day this fire threatens to rage out of control, but before it can, you have to ‘extinguish’ it. Now think of God’s love as that ‘fire extinguisher. His Word is the extinguisher’s trigger. In the book of First John, starting with verse 7, we read how ‘love’ is the foundation of getting rid of fear. It starts with God’s love for us, way before we loved Him. The scriptures continue to talk about how God put this love in us. It talks about how God sent His one and only Son to die for a debt we cannot pay. This love of God in us has all the ingredients to suppress, destroy, and exterminate the fears we have that come from the devil. We must know how much God loves us by believing without a doubt verse 16, “...And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us…” We must allow this love to take us over so that we can pass this love onto others in this world. When we have this love, we release all the fear because, “...perfect love drives out fear…” Let’s learn how to use God’s love, (our very own ‘fear’ extinguisher), and extinguish some of that fear in our lives. May God bless and keep you under his protection of healing, direction and love in His Son Jesus’ name. Amen Micah 7:7 “As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.” ~NLT There were times when I was little, I may have watched something on television or something may have happened during my day that scared me. That night, I wouldn’t be able to sleep because the darkness amplified that fear. I would get so afraid that I would call out to my mama. But it was my daddy’s voice that made me feel better. He would yell, “Boy be quiet in there! We tryin’ to sleep!” After his loud voice sounded off, I felt better. That fear I had, left. I figured if anything was in the house, it would have to deal with my daddy first so I was safe. My daddy made me feel safe during those times. Today is different. I’m a grown man. But there are still things in this world that can stress or cause us fear. We see it when we turn on the news. As parents we see what’s happening to the young kids on the streets and we fear for our own children. As husbands and wives we fear for our relationships, “Are we gonna make it?” “Is he or she going to leave me?” We can call this stress ‘Grown Folks Fear’. Though our trials in fear may differ, we all can have the same stress and fear that lead us into making bad decisions and follow our flesh down the wrong paths. In Micah Chapter seven, verses 1-6 speak on chaos that may go on around us. It describes how miserable we can be. How at times we may not be able to eat, or how people around us are not honest. How people of this world have no regard for others. It talks about the evil around us. Basically describing what this world has influenced in situations around us. But if we stay focused on our Father. When we hear His voice and His promises of abundance and protection, then we can let go of that unwanted stress and fear. When we know that there is nothing bigger than God; no pain, no hurt, no situation and no obstacle! Once we know that God is bigger, stronger and more powerful then what tries to claim us, then we will be just fine. Let go of that ‘Grown Folks Fear’. And with open arms embrace the Love of God! Understanding God’s love is the first step in the absence of fear. May God continue to bless and keep you under his umbrella of protection 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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