Be a blessing & Be blessed

On November 10, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 10: 22

It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich , and He adds no sorrow to it.

I wrote yesterday that the fastest way to bless yourself is to pray for those in leadership positions above you. Frankly, you ought to be praying for those people in the organization who are below you too but that topic is for another day.

Do you know it is okay to be blessed? Even financially? Well, think about it. Who should be the most blessed, the kids of the King or the heathen unbelievers? There are a lot of components to being rich but it would be pure foolishness for me to suggest that financial wealth isn’t one of them. Dad wants you blessed in every area of your life. that, truly, is the only way you can be rich. You gotta have health, money, a great relationship with your heavenly father, and good friends. You are not, however, going to have these things if you don’t believe the father wants you to have them. If you think any part of the blessing is prohibited then you are going to choke off the flow. Believe it!

There is a reason Solomon wrote this verse. He conveyed two messages in it. First, wealth comes from the Father. Period. There are no qualifiers here. God is the Lord of the blessing. He is the one who sends the blessing to you. Secondly, Yahweh means for you to have the blessing and to be rich without guilt. He is the one who blesses you. What reason would you have to feel guilt over what the Father is doing?

Here is the point I want to get to though. As we saw in yesterday’s devotion, the way to be blessed is to bless. If you will hold up your leaders to the Lord, praying for them and refraining from speaking negatively, then good will come. Now, here is the rest of the secret. The remainder of the blessing comes on the same highway. Father God is the Lord of provision. No doubt about that. He has warehouses full of provision with your name on it. The easiest and the best way to requisition what He has already laid up for you is to give to someone else? Be a blessing and be blessed. That’s how this thing works. “That’s crazy!” you say. Yep! It is. The Kingdom of God does not work the way the world does and that actually makes sense too. The world has been perverted, which means it has been twisted where it just doesn’t work any longer the way it was designed to work. So, knowing that, you really wouldn’t expect the world and the Kingdom to work the same way. The secret is in knowing how the Kingdom works and applying those procedures. That is why I am telling you this, so that you can apply the Kingdom principles and get yourself blessed. Doesn’t that sound great?

Bottom line? If you want to be blessed, be a blessing. Kinda weird, very cool, but most importantly, it works.

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The Way of Wisdom

On November 9, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 11: 11

By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.

So, yesterday was election day in the United States. Job done, right? No way. No matter what country you live in, registering your vote is the smallest part of the job. You can bless your city, country or province or you can curse it. Which shall it be?

Most of us do not understand the power we have as Christians to bring blessing everywhere we go. By our blessing, we are also blessed and this is no clearer than in the administration of government. Whether your candidate won or not, the real job begins now. We are taught to pray for our leaders, “First of all, I encourage you to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and prayers of thanks for all people, for rulers, and for everyone who has authority over us. Pray for these people so that we can have a quiet and peaceful life always lived in a godly and reverent way. This is good and pleases God our Savior” (1 Timothy 2: 1 – 3). What this means is that we should be praying for every leader of every organization we are members of including our churches. Why? We make our lives a whole lot better if we do. In the book of Acts, “They had the disciples in each church choose spiritual leaders, and with prayer and fasting they entrusted the leaders to the Lord in whom they believed” (Acts 14: 23). These people entrusted their leaders to the Lord Jesus and we must do the same. This would be our spiritual leaders, of course, but also our bosses, presidents, governors, the president of the PTA, the leader of the Bible Study and every other person you can think of who is in a leadership position. It is the Lord Jesus who gives us all the grace to do whatever we are called to do. He is what makes a great leader. And if you are involved in choosing a leader for your organization or for a government office the best thing you can do is to pray. Some people pray for their candidate to win but after the election is over, that is when the prayer is most needed. No matter who wins, they are not qualified to lead. Only Jesus is fully qualified so we need all of our leaders following him. We need all of our leaders blessed and ministered to by him. I don’t care who the person is, it is almost immaterial. The key is for that person be able to hear the leading of the Holy Spirit.

We like to elect Christians to political office but a Christian who does not hear and listen to the voice of God will be just as lost in the fog as a non-Christian. We need people in all of our organizations who can, and will, hearken to the voice of the Lord. If an unsaved person was elected in your jurisdiction, then you will want to begin to pray for that person’s soul. I don’t mean that you should begin praying condemnation prayers over them. I mean you should pray compassion prayers for them. Pray for them like they were your only child. We all need a touch from Jesus. They are no different from us in that respect. Even if the individual is a person of God, don’t you think they will be tried and tested? Of course they will and they need our support every day. By your blessing of them, you will be blessed.

You can speak ill of your leaders or you can speak well of them and pray for them. If you constantly run down your boss, your political leaders and your church leaders, what do you suppose you will get? Remember, words are power containers. You are going to end up unhappy and oppressed. Then who are you going to blame? You are going to get what you sow. Therefore, pray for everyone who in anyway provides leadership in your life. Pray and curse not. This is the way of wisdom.

And while you are at it, pray for me too. It is only when God speaks through my fingertips and keyboard that I have anything valid to say and to send to you, so pray for me and I promise I will pray for you.

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False Feeling

On November 8, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Corinthians 5: 7

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

As I apply this verse to my own life I say, “I walk by nothing which is not of faith.” In application “sight” certainly would refer to physical sight but we also speak of seeing things other than with our physical eyes. Someone explains a matter and we say, “I see that.” These kinds of sightings, it would seem to me, must stand up to the test of faith as well. I know for myself one of the most deceptive signs for me to follow is my feelings. They are often wrong. I do not deny the expression of emotion, not by any means. I just mean to say that I must still put feelings and emotions to the test of faith and the word.

One epiphany of this principle came to me shortly after I had some minor surgery on my shoulder. The surgeon put the stitches under the skin which was great because there is no scarring. A couple of weeks after the surgery, though, those sutures started dissolving and when they did, they would pop. When the first one popped my eyes probably got as big as saucers. I had no idea what it was other than a bit painful. I thought something might be wrong which was especially bad because I was out of town at the time. The sutures continued to pop one after one. I was beginning to get a little concerned about it because I didn’t know what was happening. Finally, though, I figured it out. Then I could relax as they continued to dissolve. I learned from that experience, though, that a feeling, whether an emotional feeling or even a physical one, can be misleading. I was beginning to think something was wrong in my shoulder when it was actually the healing continuing.

That is the way it is with life. Sometimes we get emotionally charged over something and can easily misinterpret the signs. I learned from the false feelings in my shoulder that I need to follow God by faith rather than simply following my feelings. God has made us many promises and the Bible has revealed many truths. We are given opportunities all of the time to choose what evidence we will follow. Are we going to trust the words Jesus gave us or are we going to believe the 6:00 news? Which one is going to inform our decisions and subsequent actions? I am telling you that you can have emotional or even physical feelings in your body that are just plain wrong. Just like I thought that popping in my shoulder evidenced a problem it is easy to be misled by these false guides.

There is only one safe trail leader, that is the Holy Spirit of God. He will never lead you astray. Whatever is going on in your life, whatever emotions you are experiencing, you can check them out with the Holy Spirit. He will guide you into all truth. That is good news in these confusing times. Trust the Word, trust the Lord. Let faith in God guard and protect you.

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Holy, Holy, Holy

On November 7, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Exodus 28: 36

Holy to the Lord.

You probably recognize this verse as coming from the epic tale of the Israelites escape from captivity in Egypt and ultimate arrival in the promised land. Aaron was Moses’ brother and the first High Priest of Israel. His appointment and consecration to his office was met with solemnity and formality. This marked the beginning of the priesthood of Israel. God set out exactly what the priest’s attire was to be. One of the things God ordained was that a medallion of pure gold was to be engraved with the words, “Holy to the Lord” upon it. This medallion was to be affixed to the center of the turban that the High Priest was to wear. Everyone, therefore, who encountered Aaron would be met first by these defining words.

It is noteworthy that God did not have these words engraved on a ring, a necklace or any other adornment. The words, “Holy to the Lord” were worn right in the center of Aaron’s forehead. Kings and Queens wear and carry many symbols of their office and of power. None is more poignant, though, than the crown. There is something about crowning a person’s head that seems to produce a greater message than anything else. That is why it seems significant that God chose the forehead of the priest for this telling message. Think of this too, if you look at yourself in the mirror, do you not almost always see your head? You may not see much of the rest of your body but most often the image of your head is reflected back to you. So, imagine what Aaron looked upon every time he saw himself.

So, you are waiting for the parity of this verse to your life, aren’t you? Well, I say that “Holy to the Lord” is emblazoned on your forehead as well. I honestly believe that every one who can see in the spiritual realm, including demons, sees that you have been marked as a highly valued member of the royal family. We know that there will be a time when people will be pressured to take the mark of the beast upon themselves but there are verses in the Bible which tell us that we have already been marked by and for God (Ephesians 4: 30 Amp). We are His and His alone and I think you can take great comfort in that. I want you to see even more than that though. I want you to see in the reflection in your mirror, “Holy to the Lord”. Every time you look in the mirror to put on your make-up or shave, the words “Holy to the Lord” should shine back at you. You are holy and precious. It is right there, as plain as the nose on your face.

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Get Happy

On November 4, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 43: 25

I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

You may have noticed that I have been giving you verses in which God declares that He is not holding onto your sin and further that He has actually put it behind Him and forgotten it. This verse from Isaiah says it about as plainly as can be stated. God, for His own reasons, decided not to remember your sins. That is such a great revelation and I am happy about it but I also see a message in here for our daily application.

Imagine how unhappily miserable God would be if He remembered every single thing we did wrong. Can you imagine how that would feel? It would be self-torture and yet this is the very thing many of us do in our lives. God chose to forgive us so that His love could flow. He chose love over judgment, over condemnation. The side effect is that He is happy and joyful. Hanging on to that judgment would have made it impossible for Him to constantly express joy towards us. Retaining our sin, keeping it before His eyes would have made him depressed and forlorn. So, rather than choose that lifestyle, He chose to forgive us and to shower His love upon us. We didn’t and we don’t deserve it but He chose the better way.

Think about how miserable we make our lives by being judgmental and angry. We hold onto unforgiveness and remember every sin and offense committed against us. No wonder we are despondent creatures. How can we look out of the lenses of our eyes to gaze upon the sunshine when we have cloaked our lives and habitats with the black sin of ourselves and others. No wonder we are depressed, angry and broken. In order to be healthy ourselves we must understand that Jesus told you not to judge because he was looking after you, not the other guy. God told you to forgive because He was guarding your life and health. The kids would say, “Get a clue!” Our father and big brother are looking after us, advising us for our best interests. They are not giving us laws, they are giving us life. Isn’t that what Jesus said his purpose was, to give us life and that in abundance? (John 10: 10).

It is time for you to be free of the guilt and condemnation of your soul. It is high time you let go of the past. Forgive yourself, be healed of a critical and judgmental tendency and forgive all those who have transgressed against you. Free your spirit from the oppression of anger and unforgiveness. You are killing yourself and this is not God’s will for you. I want you free from pain and living every day in the glory of the Lord. This is your right and inheritance. May it also be your reality. Amen.

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The New Plan

On November 3, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 10: 16 – 18

“THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND UPON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,” He then says, “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” NOW WHERE THERE IS FORGIVENESS OF THESE THINGS, THERE IS NO LONGER ANY OFFERING FOR SIN.

Have you ever wanted to know what the New Covenant is? Well, here it is. How amazingly exciting is this? One of the big keys to the New Covenant and its operation in our lives is that the Father, Himself, has come to live inside us. We are the temple of the New Covenant. If that wasn’t big enough, Yahweh God, brings with Him Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Of course His words are within us, by His presences and by His spirit He is writing them on our hearts and minds.

Now I could go on and on about this New Covenant but there is one specific point I want to bring to your attention. Look again at these words, “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” What?! Are you hearing this? God made forgetting our sins and lawlessness part of His commitment under the New Covenant. Now should you think this is a powerless statement, remember that the New Covenant is written in Jesus’ blood. Would God, for one moment, minimize the blood of Jesus by not honoring the statements spoken here? If we was to retain even one of your sins, that would be to dishonor and disregard the sacrifice Jesus made for us all. It would also break the New Covenant and God would break His Word. Now, if God were even once break His word do you know that the entire earth would collapse? Think about it. God created the entire world and even you and I by His words. If He broke one it would break the underlying foundation, security and foundation of every word He has ever spoken. That He will not do.

Also, look at today’s verses this way. No one bargained the New Covenant with God. There was no one with any leverage who twisted His arm in order to get a single provision out of Him. Every single promise of the New Covenant was freely given. So, ask yourself why the provision of forgetting all of our trespasses and transgressions is part of the contract. It is only there because it reflects God’s heart. It is God’s desire to remember your sins no more. He weight your sin and mine, the sin of yesterday and even tomorrow and on the other side of the scale He placed the sacrificial lamb. That sin offering was the only one that could eradicate our sin from existence. The price has been paid. We are free.

So then this question arises and it is the one dealt with in the final sentence. If God has made a once for all sin offering for us, and in the doing washed away our sin forever, why are we still going through life trying to make sin offerings to God? You see, our part is the accept the sin offering. It is as simple as, “Father, I messed up but I thank you that Jesus paid the price for my sin. I apologize, Lord. I receive forgiveness and thank you for it.” We have no business wailing and groaning about our sin. We need to quickly change our behaviors and receive the grace that was won for us. Why are you hanging onto sin that Dad wants to put behind Him? Some people even act righteous over their sin by moaning and groaning about what a horrible sinner they are. They act like their sin is bigger than Jesus’ sacrifice. I tell you that is offensive to God and a stench in His nostrils. He has made a way for us all to put sin in the past and to move forward in the grace that is the unmerited gift of our dear Lord. So, don’t wallow in self-recrimination. It really is a slam on the blood of Christ. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and determine to make a better decision next time, all the while, though, appreciating that God has provided for the forgiveness of sin. Don’t be sin conscious, be Christ conscious. It is the way.

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Pardoned

On November 2, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Micah 7: 18

Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love.

I pray this revelation will fill the earth, and the church. God isn’t angry. He does not retain His anger but rather lets it go in favor of unchanging love. Yahoo! And just consider that this is a passage out of the Old Testament. Frankly, there are lots of New Testament believers who think God is angry now. Some folks are willing to concede that God is now a God of love but they think He was an angry God before. The truth is that God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13: 8). If we take a position that God was angry, revengeful, and wrathful our hearts convict us. We cannot truly believe in a God who is love and live in that love if we believe this same “person” is the one who tortures us and is angry with us. We have to choose – is God an angry deity or is He love?

So do you want another little bite of truth? God sent Jesus to the earth in the Old Covenant, not the New. Even the New Testament begins with Jesus’ birth, yes? So, that means that when God sent him, it was still the Old Testament. Are you following along with me? That would mean that this vengeful, evil, mean, wrathful GOD sent His beloved son to die for us. That makes absolutely no sense at all. Look at today’s Old Testament verse. God chose way back in the day to pardon iniquity and to pass over our rebellious acts. What is that about? Then He chose not to be angry because His very nature is love. He chose to love us rather than to hold onto His anger. He has chosen to put His love for us above our sin.

Here is the bottom line. God chose love over sin. He chose to focus on His love for us rather than on our stinking iniquity. His love has overcome our sin. He put sin under the mercy seat and under the blood. He isn’t writing your name in a book and inscribing beside it every sin you have ever committed. No, your name only has one word written beside it, “Forgiven” and it is written in crimson. You’ve just got to get happy about that. You are forgiven.
Just one side point. I like that God takes His own advice. He has told us not to hold onto our anger. In fact, He said to let not the sun go down on our anger (Ephesians 4: 26). It’s good to see that He has let go of His anger too.

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