Devotions - Prayer
Trusting in God isn’t easy because there is no price we can pay for God’s love and favor.
“He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.” – Isaiah 50:4b
The prophet Isaiah describes his relationship to God as a relationship that has two-way communication.
Have you ever felt that your communication with God was only one way – you to Him only?
Isaiah tells us, “The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary…. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back” (Is. 50:4-5).
The key to Isaiah’s relationship with God lies in four important principles:
1. He had an instructed tongue.
* Isaiah had given over rule of his life completely to God’s purposes.
2. He knew the word of the Lord, which allowed him to sustain and encourage others.
3. He took time to listen.
4. He did not flee from the tough assignments. He didn’t shrink back.
Knowing and spending time studying God’s Word allows the Holy Spirit to bring to mind His instructions for what He wants for us.
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
When we begin to lose the relationship, we are susceptible to becoming rebellious, going our own way.
Invest your life in this relationship so that you may continue to hear His voice and sustain the weary ones around you.
John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
*His eternal gift was the relationship, everything else is the blessing.
*The gift is the opportunity to know God, to allow Him into your heart, to free you from all sin, wiping you clean and making you new. Appreciate the gift more…
Lord Jesus, make me like you so that everyone else can see, not so I stand out, but so that You get ALL the glory You deserve. Amen.
Read More
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” (Psalm 34:18)
I don’t know what pain you’re in this season. I certainly don’t know what caused the pain. But I know that God understands it.
God is not some distant force. Nor is he callous. The Bible teaches that God enters into our pain. And he doesn’t just care about your pain; he feels it, too. He shares your pain. The Bible says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed”(Psalm 34:18).
I can know this even though I don’t know anything about your pain. Why? Because I know God. And I know the Trinity — Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each part of the Trinity is active in your life as you experience pain.
First, your heavenly Father shares your pain.
God understands and shares your pain because he wired you. He’s the one who gave you the ability to experience pleasure and pain. The Bible says it like this: “He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do” (Psalm 33:15).
He understands emotions because God is an emotional God. The only reason you have emotions is because you’re made in God’s image. If God didn’t have emotions, you wouldn’t have emotions.
Second, Jesus understands your pain.
Jesus understands your pain because he’s been there. He’s suffered, too. He’s been betrayed, abandoned, and fatigued — just like you. He came to Earth and lived a fully human life. He experienced everything we experience in human form. The Bible says of Jesus, “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do” (Hebrews 4:15a).
Third, the Holy Spirit prays for you as you experience pain.
The Bible says, “The moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayers out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans” (Romans 8:26 MSG).
The Bible says when you’re in pain, the Holy Spirit makes prayers for you out of wordless sighs and aching groans. He understands your pain. He knows what you’re feeling. And he turns those feelings into prayers.
If you’re hurting, you don’t have to go through it alone.
• God understands your pain because he created your emotions.
• Jesus knows your pain from firsthand experience.
• Holy Spirit is praying for you.
Studies show that expressing emotions greatly reduces the body’s stress. With that in mind I believe we all need to be in some kind of Christian group to share and experience good safe relationships.
Lord, thank you for the groups I am currently in. Amen
Read More“But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer. . .” (Judg 3:8-9).
I often receive requests to help someone whose life is in a difficult place.
After a few questions my prayer is that I am able to discern if the Lord has called me to get involved.
Many times I’m shown this person has not experienced enough pain to want to do anything about their situation, they are not hungry enough yet at that time.
Until they are really ready to cry out to the Lord for a solution to their situation, they will simply talk about desiring change but never take the necessary steps needed for change.” (A Vision Without Action is Only a Delusion.)
If you invest time and time and time into someone who has not yet come to the place of wanting a spiritual solution to their problem, you will become emotionally exhausted.
The apostle Paul understood this principle when he actually turned such people over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh (I Cor. 5:5).
The people of Israel were finally in enough pain to cry out to God for relief from their oppression.
Like so many times throughout the scriptures, God answered by raising up a deliverer. (Judge 3:8-11).”
*Are you in a difficult place in your life?
*Are you only talking about changing or are you really ready to cry out to the Lord for a solution?
Start now the process of changing your situation for the better and asking for help if needed.
God wants us to receive His Love with the open-hearted trust of a little child.
“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.” Luke 18:17
God will sometimes let us encounter great difficulty, but he never abandons us.
*He never leaves us all alone.
*He always gives us the power and courage we need to face our opposition.
*He finds a way to work it all out and uses it for his glory.
**God never abandons his people!
I Thank you, Father, of how you give courage and boldness to the one’s who are in great trouble. Grant to me the boldness to cry out to You Lord! Amen
Psalms 139
Read More
Psalm 51:6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Those words are addressed by the psalmist David to the Lord Himself.
What is it that God really looks for in our lives?
First and foremost, it is not the external practices of religion – not necessarily churchgoing or other religious acts.
*God looks much deeper than those. (Amos 5:
*God looks right down into the innermost depths of our hearts and our lives.
Elsewhere, the Bible tells us that God does not see as man sees because man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.
So David says, “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts.”
What does God want? What is truth in the inner parts?
God wants to see if we are sincere, open, and transparent in our relationship with Him.
*Do we say the same thing with our mouths that we are thinking in our minds?
If we come to that place, then we can say, like the psalmist, “You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”
There is a secret place in our innermost being where we can begin to hear the voice of God and learn from Him and He teaches us wisdom there.
If you listen and pay attention, you will know that the Lord is showing you ways to improve your circumstances that will ultimately result in a better quality of life.
The Lord is revealing things that need to be changed and can be changed that will be very beneficial to you.
However, this benefit will not come if you do not do what is necessary.
2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Lord I humble myself this day and pray to hear Your voice for Your perfect direction in my life and giving me wisdom while giving You all the Glory! Amen
The book of Proverbs is the Wisdom book. Read a chapter a day for a couple of months and see what the Lord has to say to you.
Read MoreTwo wonderful absolutes.
1. The first absolute: GOD REALLY LOVES ME.
*God is not in the business of condemning His children, failures or not. He is a loving Father, wanting only to lift us out of our weaknesses.
*Sometimes we recognize His great love only when we hit bottom. You will have won a great victory if you can be convinced God loves you even in your wounded, crippled condition.
*Our strength is renewed by His everlasting love.
*Just rest in that wonderful love. Don’t panic. Deliverance will come.
2. The second absolute: IT IS MY FAITH THAT PLEASES HIM THE MOST!
“Without faith, it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6).
*God counts our trust as righteousness. “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness”. (Romans 4:3).
God delights in using failures—men and women who think they can do almost nothing right.
**God sends us to conquer nations but the first battle we have to win is the one against ourselves.
*That’s when we get to know him and we build the foundations of our relationship with him! (JN 17:3)
*His strength is perfected in our weakness, our inability to obey His commandments in our own strength.
*God calls us to a life of holiness and separation.
*God tells us we can be free from the bondage of sin.
When our heart begins to cry, “Lord, how can we do such great, holy things?”
That is when our Lord takes over!
God comes with such a comforting message:
-”Lay down your weapons.
-Quit trying to be so self–sufficient and strong.
-I am your weapon and your strength.
-Let Me do what you never can do.
-I will give you My righteousness,
-I will give you My holiness, My rest, My strength.
–You cannot save yourself or please Me in any way other than by receiving the blessings of the cross by faith.
–Let Me be in charge of your growth in holiness.”
* Father take over the battle of my life ……… Isaiah 41:14-16
*God, Your Word speaks hope and life to me. It is always right on target and speaks into my life and current situation. I hold onto Your Word and pray for Your strength and courage, for health and peace as I walk through this. And I raise it all up to You, I lift it up to You, trusting and believing in You for what is to come. So I give You the praise, the honor, and the glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Read More
If you ask a friend or family member who you are? How would they describe you? Or better yet how would you describe yourself?
What defines you?
Matt. 6:21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Today(Praise God) I am no longer confused about who I am. We are God’s children, and our citizenship is in heaven. I am grateful to have found my true identity—my identity IN Christ.
Christians IN CHRIST are people who:
*follow Christ (Matthew 4:19)
*Receive Christ (John 1:12);
*Believe in or trust Christ (John 3:16)*Stay joined to Christ (John 15:5);
*Know Christ (John 17:3);
*Love Christ (Ephesians 6:24);
*Obey Christ (Hebrews 5:9);
*Glory in or take pride in Christ (Philippians 3:3).
*Have Christ (1 John 5:12).
“To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12, 13).
As children born of God, Jesus shares with us:
*His friendship—”I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15);
*His love—”As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9);
*His joy—”I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11);
*His glory—”I have given them the glory that you [Father] gave me” (John 17:22);
*His risen life—”Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God…When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:1);
*His inheritance—”If we are children, then we are HEIRS—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share his sufferings IN order that we may also share IN his glory”(Romans 8:17);
*His—”To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).
What GREAT WORD’S of TRUTH and HOPE- TO KNOW OUR TRUE IDENTITY IS IN JESUS Christ
He lives within each one of us.
Eph. 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Read More“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12 NIV).
If you were to ask people if they are going to Heaven or Hell, you’ll likely hear them say, “I hope I’ll go to Heaven.”
But hope just isn’t good enough. I pray that’s not your answer. Your eternal destiny is too important not to know for sure.
Only a fool would be unprepared for what we all know is inevitable: death. The most recent statistics show that mortality rates in the world are 100 percent!
You’re not guaranteed another minute on this planet, much less another hour. Don’t put off the most important choice you’ll ever make.
The Bible says in 1 John 5:11-12,“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (NIV).
That’s about as clear as you can get.
- If you have Jesus, you have life.
- If you don’t have Jesus, you do not have life.
- You have a choice.
You won’t go to Heaven because of someone else’s faith. You’ll never go to Hell because of someone else’s choice.
It’s your choice! You decide where you’ll spend eternity.
This is why Christmas and Easter are so important. If Jesus hadn’t come at Christmas and if he hadn’t died and come back to life on Easter, we’d be hopeless. Nothing we do would matter. You wouldn’t have this choice.
The cross is the answer to our deepest problem — our separation from God.
The Bible says, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross”(Colossians 2:13-14).
God nailed everything that separated you from himself to the cross. But God won’t force you to make the most important decision of your life. It’s in your hands.
It’s time to choose.
Lord, Help me to KNOW you more each and every day, because to know You is to have eternal life (JN 17:3). Amen
Read MoreBoundaries are based on truth and we each need to know our limits in each area of our life.
Setting boundaries is an essential skill in life, especially for people like us in recovery who are addicted to a sin (which we all have in one form or another: worry, over eating, gossip, anxiety, chemical dependency, etc. etc).
Addicts for example, often grow up in dysfunctional homes, where boundaries were either too rigid (leading to suppressed emotions or distant relationships) or too enmeshed (depriving them of a sense of personal identity).
Later in life, their interpersonal relationships may continue to be defined by old roles and patterns, increasing the risk of depression, anxiety and addictive or compulsive behaviors.
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!
John 8:31-32: Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
*Does our life look like someone who’s on the same page with Christ?
*Do we tend to believe our negative feelings more than the positive truth of God’s Word?
Four Components for Successful Boundaries: YOU GET WHAT YOU WORK FOR!
1. Vision: Do you know what you want as an outcome? Define your specific expectations in writing.
2. Communication: Do you thoroughly communicate and address the specific expectations, your purpose and results and if broken the consequences?
3. Application: Do you follow through with the message, consequences (good or bad).
4. Action: Develop your plan, determine how to hold yourself accountable to your plan.
Ephesians 6:14 “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.”
Why are boundaries important?
They keep you safe from being manipulated, abused or taken advantage of, while also protecting other people from harm you may consciously or unconsciously inflict.
They prevent both parties in a relationship from blurring the lines between self and others.
With healthy boundaries in place, you can begin to tune in to your inner voice(Holy Spirit) and trust those thoughts and feelings, and then communicate those to other people.
Romans 2:8 “But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”
*If we strive for God, we will receive mercy.
*If we seek eternal life, we will find it.
*BUT if we seek the world, we will be left in the world.
Lord, help us all to seek You and set good and healthy personal boundaries in our lives to be able to create more of Your Character in us for others to see and follow. Help us to see and know more and more of Your Truths. Amen
Read More
We mustn’t say, “I will choose to love this person if it kills me,” but rather “I will set myself aside and allow God to love this person through me.”
“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…”Matthew 5:44
A pure and contrite heart is being formed within us as we continue to walk out our eternal sanctification.
“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, but humility goes before honor.” Proverbs 18:12
A negative thought first crossing our mind is not sin. But if we choose to bury that thought in our hearts or turn it into a negative action, sin is the result. We need to take that thought captive and immediately relinquish it to God.
“…we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…” II Corinthians 10:5
Painful memories grow strangely dim when we allow the Holy Spirit to light the candle of God’s Love within our hearts.
“…but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14
Paul chose to look at life from a heavenly perspective. That’s why he could write:
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body (2 Cor. 4:8-10).
Paul had experienced a level of opposition and suffering that you and I can scarcely imagine. People said they would do things but did not follow through. He could not depend on certain people. Yet he was not crushed, and he refused to give in to despair. He viewed his life as a continual process of dying. His goal was to live in such a way that the life of Jesus would be revealed in his response to adversity.
Beware of placing too much expectation on others. Realize that people will let you down from time to time, but do not let that impact your faith. Trust God to work even through these disappointments.
The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken. This process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and personal.
JN 17: 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Thank You Jesus for the gift of eternal life. Help me always see the Eternal Perspective in all my circumstances to bring You Glory and me Hope. Amen
Read MoreLuke 4:4, “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”
Jesus answered every temptation with, “It is written.”
*The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17).
*The Word of God is the only offensive spiritual weapon that we have.
Since Jesus was the Word of God (Jn. 1:1), anything he would have spoken would have been the Word. He could have said “scat” and the devil would have had to go, yet He quoted the written Word of God three times.
This gives us great assurance that the written Word of God is sufficient for us.
*Jesus, in the face of the greatest temptations that Satan had to offer, did not need to say anything that was not already recorded in scripture.
It is likely that when Jesus returns to this earth and destroys His enemies, He will just speak the Word that has already been given in scripture.
*No wonder Satan tries to keep us from studying and knowing God’s Word.
*Even our good works will hurt us if they keep us from really knowing the scriptures.
God has given us this mighty weapon of His Word!
*When we speak the Word in faith, hell shakes. Satan and his followers have already experienced what the Word can do. They know its power.
We need to know it, too!
THANK YOU LORD FOR YOUR WORD! 2 Timothy 3: 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. Amen
Read too: Matthew. 4:1-11 and Mark1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13
Read More
I believe we can know our true spiritual state by how troubled we become ove our slightest sin against our Lord.
Some Christians only grieve over what they consider the “big sins”—adultery, drug abuse, drinking, cursing.
But the truly spiritual person knows that NO sin is small in God’s sight and so he grieves every time he gossips, tells a dirty joke or has a lingering evil thought.
We know these things spring from our heart, the very center of our being.
You can disobey God in such “small things,” excusing yourself and forgetting all about them.
**But if you do, you will never mature in Christ.
Your righteousness(moral orderliness) is measured by your unwillingness to accept anything that grieves your blessed Savior.
In each moment we sin, the enemy whispers to us, “That little slip-up was no big deal. It was such a small thing.”
**But the Holy Spirit must immediately rise up in my heart to refute the devil’s voice.
Be reassured, the very fact you’re grieving over a sin is proof Jesus is at work in you.
*The more you grieve over even the smallest transgression against His love, the closer you get to victory.
God sent His Spirit to us to wage war against our flesh and its desires and lusts.
So, if you aren’t troubled when you fail—if you are able to shake off your sin with no sense of guilt, sorrow or regret—then the Holy Spirit is not in you doing warfare.
“ yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Corinthians 7:9,10).
If you are being convicted by even the lightest transgression, you are close to true victory. He is winning the battle in your heart by producing a godly sorrow that leads to true repentance.
Lord, Thank you that my sorrows have led me to repentance and have taken the walls down so that we could have a more personal relationship. Amen
Read MoreColossians 2:12 For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death.
The Training Ground of God
“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.” – Psalm 144:1
* It is only when we are placed in the furnace of battle that we truly learn to fight the real battles.
*Practice doesn’t make you battle ready.
*War games won’t prepare you for facing your real enemy in the battlefield.
**The stark reality of being in the midst of the battle makes us effective warriors.
*Simply reading your Bible will not make you a warrior for the Kingdom.
*Knowledge without experience is mere folly.(see Hosea 4:6)
**Only when you are placed in situations where there is nothing or no one who can save you but God, will you learn the lessons of warrior faith.
This is the training ground of God, which will make you into a soldier for Christ.
Consider it to be suicidal faith – faith that says I want to be dead to anything that keeps me from fulfilling God’s purposes for my life.
2 Corinthians 12:10 I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
*GOD demonstrates his power in our weaknesses.
These are the real training grounds of God.
* Do not shrink back from the battle that God may be leading you to today.
*It may be a training ground that is necessary for the calling He has on your life.
Deut. 31:8 The LORD himself will lead you and be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you, so do not lose courage or be afraid.”
GOD USES ENLARGED TRIALS TO PRODUCE ENLARGED SAINTS SO HE CAN PUT THEM IN ENLARGED PLACES!
Father, today I give You my questions, frustrations, concerns and doubts. Have Your way in me. I trust that You are at work in every difficult situation and hot spot in my life in Jesus’ name. Amen
*Have you ever wrestled with the events of life, feeling that God has deserted you?
* Have you been honest with God?
*He is the kind of Father who is willing to have those difficult conversations.
*He won’t always change things, but His purposes will be accomplished and peace will come if you trust.
*Trust Him this day with those things that are most difficult.
” Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10).
Bondage to sin — that is, your battle with the flesh.
Under the New Covenant, God will allow situations to show you how wholly dependent you are on Him to deliver you through faith.
God will never lead you into temptation but He will allow you to come to your wits’ end. If you have a secretive sin, Satan will come against you continually with his lies: “You’re too weak! You’re never going to make it.”
You hear the rattling of chains as Satan tries to bind you to your habit once more and you wonder, “Lord, how will I ever get up from this? I’ve gone down so low!”
What can you do? You know you can’t outrun the enemy and you are no match for him in a fight, so you cower before him, trembling in fear.
You may say to yourself, “I’ll just go back to my old ways. At least I’ll be spared from all this spiritual warfare. It’s too much for me!” But you know you can’t go back to your old master. If you turn back now and desert Christ, it will cost you your life.
Many Christians become caught in the hellish cycle of sinning and confessing, sinning and confessing. They run to friends, counselors, anyone who will listen to them as they cry and pray.
Such believers will do everything except stand still and trust the Lord to bring their deliverance.
We need to understand the battle: know your mission and learn to apply God’s weapons and strategies to your battle. (Read Ephesians 6 for The Armor and Romans 12:2 the Renewing of the mind).
Lift me up dear God, help me see more, show me more light, and allow it to shine through me. Amen
Read MoreElisha prayed for him to receive sight,
“O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see” (2 Kings 6:17).
Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
When we can’t see our situation with clear spiritual vision then we tend to fixate on our earthly circumstances.
Each morning we get out of bed: 1. walking by faith in the Son of God or 2. wandering about in unbelief obsessed over our earthly circumstances.
When the eyes of our heart are wide open to God’s truth, then the light of his word cuts through the fog.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians to have spiritual eyes to see.
*He prayed that the Father of glory would give them the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God, having the eyes of their hearts enlightened (Ephesians 1:17–18).
When God opens the eyes of our hearts then we can see Him for who He is.
And when we see who He is then we understand certain things that will change the way we look at ourselves and our situations.
*We can know the hope to which God has called us (Eph. 1:18) and we can recognize the fake hope that slides out of our hands.
*We can know the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints (Eph.1:18) and we can dismiss the fake rewards of the world.
*We can know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward us who believe (1:19) and we can reject the fake power offered to us by the enemy.
*We can trust in God’s mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places (1:19–20).
*We can see Jesus as he truly is — “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come” (1:21) — and happily submit anything and everything to him.
When you open your Bible then you can see the flashes of light refracting from the sword of the one who guards your soul from death.
The sword of God’s word can cut through even the most formidable morning fog of doubt or spiritual laziness.
Since faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17), then we would do well to fill our ears with God’s word every day.
Thank You for Truth Lord. Help me daily to read and meditate on Your Word. Thank you Jesus that You are the Way, the Truth and the Life and help me start and finish each day giving you all the glory for what you are doing for your kingdom to come. Amen
Read MoreTHE STORY OF THE FOURTH OF JULY-GO TO:
https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-declaration-of-independence/fourth-of-july/
7 Steps to understand and reach Victory
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
1. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
2. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
3. 1JN 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
4. 1 Thessalonians. 5:16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit.
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
5. Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
6. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Heb. 10: 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
7. Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Romans 8:37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
1 John 5:4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
*All of us have a choice: we can either make excuses, or make progress in life.
Rev. 21:7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
AMEN AMEN THANK YOU JESUS
Read More