3 Things

On September 5, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 34: 10


But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.

I am impressed again at the beginning of this week that there is a great spiritual key revealed in these few simple words. You know, if you could really hear God’s voice clearly you would surely be successful in everything you do. You would most assuredly be led down the best paths. You would have insight and wisdom that would be enviable.

This sort of grace comes through your intimate, warm relationship with the Lord. That warm relationship comes from your seeking Him with all your heart and strength. If you will do three things you will find tremendous results in a very short time. Start today. Read your Bible. Pray to your Dad. And spend a few minutes before Him in silence. Those three things will launch you into a new level with the Lord of Hosts. Don’t worry about how much you read or how long you pray. Just start where you are. That is where He expects you to begin. He doesn’t expect you to read as much everyday as someone who is in full time ministry. Just read it. Start in Matthew and just read a bit each day. Then spend a few minutes just talking to your Dad. Don’t pray elaborate prayers; simply talk with Him as your friend and father. I wouldn’t even worry about praying for all of the things you think you need. Spend those precious moments just being with Him. Then sit in silence for a few minutes. That’s it; three things that will quickly change your life. Today is a great day to start or start over.

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Calling Things

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

Romans 4: 17        (KJV)

God … who calleth those things which be not as though they were.

As Christians, there are several ways we can affect the situations around us. One way is simply to pray and ask our Father to intervene. There is another means by which the Lord has meant for us to affect our lives and the entire world. That is through the power of our tongue; the power of confession. God has given us His power so that we might go into all the world doing good even as Jesus did. Our confession is the basic tool for this process. This is the means by which the Father created the earth, the universe and all creation. He spoke them into existence. There is something so primal and so basic here that if we, as the body of Christ, can get a hold of it, we will be the means of change.

God calls those things that aren’t as if they already were. In His confession is creation. Thereby it becomes reality. So, His saying it makes it real. Isn’t that awesome? He has given this same ability to us because we have now been recreated in His image.

I would love to declare a National Words of our Mouth Day. On that day everyone would speak only positive, life giving words about any and every situation. For that one day we would all say aloud those things which we want to see come to pass. I would call you healed and prosperous and you would agree with me. It would be very easy to have the second National Words of our Mouth Day because people would be filled with expectation from the great success they saw in the first one. Expectation would make the second even more momentous. Maybe we could start tomorrow.

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Bad Seed

On September 1, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Job 4: 8

According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it.

According to what I have seen, this verse is true, alarmingly true. Sometimes when bad things happen it is, unfortunately, because we have sown bad seed. It is almost frightening at times to think about what kind of seed we might have in the ground. Whatever we have sown will produce a harvest. Galatians 6: 7 couldn’t be more clear, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” This may sound like pretty bad news but we have heard that the Gospel is supposed to be good news, so, how can this verse inform our lives for the positive?

First, if you are living in a deluge of bad things happening, frustrations and just generally unsettled waters, inquire of the Lord if any of it is the harvest of seed you have sown. We certainly don’t want to hear God tell us, “yes,” but even if He does, at least we can develop a strategy for overcoming it. Remember that Jesus made us overcomers. If the answer is yes, there is an answer because Jesus made a way for us. You can ask your Father what the seed was, and then it is as simple as repenting. What is repentance? It is a change of direction, a change of heart, a change of mind. If you will just tell God with a sincere heart that you are sorry and that is not what you want for your life He will shower you with the fruit of His forgiveness.

Next, ask Him to redeem the bad seed. Ask Him to kill it at the root. You can also ask Him to reveal to you any other bad seed and the two of you can uproot it. You do not have to live with the produce of your errors but you do have to be sincere about your change of direction if you want Dad to destroy the bad crop.

Look, everyone makes mistakes and we are all learning and growing. Sometimes we let that old dead man out of his grave and he always sows bad seed. No worries. Jesus is the master gardener. Humbly ask him to help you and he will hoe new ground shoulder to shoulder with you.

Lastly, if you are sowing discord, grief, or any negativity into the lives of others, please be advised. It is going to come back to you. And the great and horrible thing about a seed is that it produces much more harvest than its size. There is forgiveness for this but you need the help of the Father. Humility and honesty will avail much. Prostrate your ego at the feet of Jesus and he will help you.

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Busy is a Four Letter Word

On August 31, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 5: 16

But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

This topic just keeps popping back up. I think the reason is because we do lead very busy lives. Because of that, we have to carefully manage our lives. It seems to me that in simpler times this might not have been such a big issue but then when I think of Jesus I have to reconsider. Jesus was the busiest guy ever. He knew that he only had a short time in which to completely and radically change the world. He had a lot of work to do and just a short time to do it. Worse, he had to walk everywhere he went which took up a lot of his time. Still, he always managed to slip away to be with his Father. His ministry depended on that time with the Father. Could he have done the things he did if he didn’t go to the well himself and fill up?

I think this quiet time away must have been important because he taught his disciples this strategy. Look what he told them in Mark 6: 31, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while.” The passage said that there were so many people coming to them and they were so busy that they didn’t even have time to eat. Well, if they were that busy and had that many demands on their time, how could they afford to go away by themselves? How could they afford the time off?

Jesus taught them by his example as well and through the recorded history of the Bible, he is teaching us this lesson today. We see him living his advice in Mark 6: 46 where it says, “And after bidding them farewell, He departed to the mountain to pray.” He led by example showing his disciples that if they were going to do anything great in life, they must prioritize their prayer time.

I have noticed that even ministers have this problem. We can get so busy doing the work of God that we forget that our time with Him is the most important. Everyone has deadlines. Everyone has pressure and stress. Yet some people learn how to get this piece into their schedule every day. Is it simply a matter of setting it as a priority? Maybe we don’t love God enough. Maybe we need to meditate on our feelings about God. The best thing is to do it for a period of time and see how much smoother life is.

We have worn our busyness like a badge for years. People brag about how busy they are. Well, I am a recovering busy person. Yes, I am still busy but I am being healed of the obsession of it. The excuses I used to use to justify my out of balance lifestyle just don’t work anymore. Now when I hear other people talking about how busy they are and how they just can’t do something, in the back of my mind I hear, “There is healing for that.” The solution to this problem may be different for different folks but ultimately I think we just have to do whatever is necessary to unburden our lives so that there is time for God in our daily schedule.

What do you think? Are you stressed and overburdened? Jesus said that he came to take our heavy burdens. When we walk with him daily, he takes the weight and makes our burden light. If you are really that busy, then you need Jesus. You need a whole bunch more of him than you are getting right now. Take some time. Honestly, you can find a moment if you are intentional about it. Go talk with Jesus and ask him to help you with your load. Make a deal with him that you will give him some of your tasks and you will spend time in prayer. I promise you will be glad if you do.

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Fixed Sight

On August 30, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 12: 2

Fixing our eyes on Jesus . . ..

Where you look is where you will go. If, when driving a car, you look at the line on the right hand side of the road, you will tend to move your car in that direction. The same is true of life. Whatever you fix your eyes upon will be where you go.

This is a big secret to living in peace and even power. Well, it isn’t really a secret but you would think it is. We don’t talk about it nearly as much as we should. In truth, most of the time, our focus is on ourselves. If you listen to how often we use the pronoun “I” you get a pretty good idea of our mindset. Conversation is about my work, and my problems, and my projects and my . . .. It is unending.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus means that our worlds begin to revolve around him instead of our own lives. When confronted with a question we ask what Jesus says about it instead of what I think about it. Even our dreams, goals and ambitions become a matter of inquiry instead of a prayer begging God to make things the way we want them. Being with Jesus and being pleasing to him becomes a priority. There are so many ways we can integrate our lives into his being so that we become fixated on who he is and what he has accomplished. He is our source, he is the living word and he is our redeemer. The more we meditate on these things the more we will be drawn to him.

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Healed by Grace

On August 29, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 107: 20

He sent His word and healed them.

Query – does this mean supernatural, divine healing? What comes to your mind as you carefully ponder this verse? I believe in the supernatural power of God to touch you such that your healing manifests instantaneously. I have also learned, however, that there is an additional type of healing that our Father provides.

This type of healing is spiritually significant in that it takes prayer and communication with the Father to effectuate it. As you spend this extended time in the presence of the Lord you begin to learn about changes you can make in your life which will speed your healing on its way. Maybe in your quiet time with the Lord the thought floats upon your mind that you need to drink more water. Perhaps there are dietary adjustments Father would like to make with you. If you begin to feel better; if your joints work better from implementing God’s advice, does that make the solution any less spiritual? I think sometimes we want to continue in abusive patterns but expect the healing power of God to flow anyway. Is it possible that we, by our habits, are interfering with the healing power of God which is flowing in our veins? Worse still, do we pray on Sunday, have God start His flow of healing power and then quench it on Monday morning?

Speaking for myself only, I used to skip breakfast Monday morning, get to the office and start drinking coffee, drink coffee all day, rarely drink a glass of water and if I did it was not from a good clean source; then I would have junk for lunch and sit at my desk for 8 – 12 hours straight. Now, why was I surprised that I was physically challenged? My joints felt like they had concrete in them. It took me several minutes to straighten up after sitting or lying down. Was my problem that God’s healing power doesn’t work? Was it because when He sent His Word and healed them, He skipped me. And now that I have made many changes and feel amazingly better, is it because of my brilliance, my effort or is it simple obedience to God’s Word and guidance? Did He in fact heal me or did I?

Believe me, it has been a long journey back from the precipice and I am not done but I am so relieved not to be where I was. There is healing in the Word. God told us to give Him our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice (Romans 12: 2). Surely, He has also provided the means by which we can do so. He also told us that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth (John 14: 13). Now all truth must mean truths even beyond spiritual things, although, I am not sure that our Father would consider your health anything less than a spiritual matter. In fact, when it comes right down to it, is not everything ultimately a spiritual matter? My point is that the Holy Spirit has wisdom from the Father on every single thing in the world. So, the answer you need for your physical health and well-being may be found in prayer, no doubt, but do not be surprised if God gives you practical, earthly things to do.

You were meant to live a long, healthy life. This rubbish about beginning to fall apart at age 40, 50 or whatever arbitrary date people use is just that, rubbish. Moses was climbing mountains at age 120. I can make you this promise, God’s vision for you includes a healthy, well-functioning body. Now, let’s get in line with His Word and His counsel and grow strong in spirit and body.

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Ministry of Music

On August 26, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Kings 3: 15

“But now bring me a minstrel.” And it came about, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.


What a fascinating passage. The story is about Elisha. The king of Israel petitioned Elisha to inquire of the Lord for him. So, Elisha ordered that a minstrel be brought to play for him and when the minstrel played, the Spirit of the Lord fell on Elisha and he began to prophesy.

One of the lessons I have been studying over the last few years is how to quiet myself down so that I can hear the voice of God. One of my key tools is to play anointed music. Often I sing along as well. Other times I play music which has no lyrics so as not to distract myself. In fact, I have some playing right now.

Each of us needs to know the techniques which work for getting ourselves into a quiet state of mind and spirit. Elisha knew his. He called for the musician. As the saying goes, “music has charms to soothe the savage breast.” The music was the tool Elisha used to move himself into a state of heart and mind that was conducive to his cooperation with the spirit with God. You see, the music didn’t make God do anything. God was ready. Elisha, on the other hand, knew that he needed a moment to get quiet so he could hear what the voice of God would say to him.

Look around you. How much quiet in our minds, spirits and environments do most of us have in a day. We run at a fast pace with little time to even think. No wonder we have a hard time hearing God. God speaks in the quietness of your spirit, not in the chaos. We actually have to tune ourselves to His station every now and again if we want to hear what He is saying. It is hard to do that if our internal radios are blaring everything from work to workouts, meetings to meals. We are busy and the noise of our lives are blocking out God. Perhaps each of us needs to call for the minstrel and let the soothing strains transport us to a rendezvous with Yahweh.

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