Shine On

On November 13, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 60: 1

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Yahoo! That is my commentary, Yahoo! I love seeing the good news of the Lord and this verse is light in a dark place (all puns intended). Look at verse 2: “For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you.” Dare I say it again? Yahoo! Isn’t that “Sonshine”? Remember the verse from Monday? It was Proverb 4: 18 and I titled it “Sunshine”. Look at God confirming His word to you today.

Though darkness fill the earth, light shines on the children of God. Yea! Jesus fulfilled and confirmed this. Behold his words, “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8: 12). Isn’t that what Isaiah wrote? Isn’t that what Solomon conveyed in Proverb 4: 18? Do you think God is trying to get a point across? I think He wants us to realize that even when there are clouds on the horizon and our view is bleak He is still the radiance of love, compassion, help, and all else shining on us. His love is warmth on our shoulders. His glory is our crown covering us from the head down. 

Your light has come, glory to God. He is the Lord Jesus Christ and you need his light shining through the darkness. Though the world may be cloaked in darkness, Jesus is light for his beloved. Don’t live in darkness, don’t let that cloud remain. Shout because our Lord breaks through all and shines his glory on us. Praise his name!

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Filled

On November 12, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 33: 5 – 6

The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
And He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the LORD is his treasure.

God gives us His justice and righteousness. The Bible says that we have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5: 21). We do not have to manufacture our own justice and righteousness. We have only to walk in His righteousness.

As we do, besides becoming our peace, he also becomes our stability. Another translation says that He becomes a “sure foundation” for us. In Him is a wealth of salvation for every situation. He saves us in all things. His salvation is more full than the salvation unto eternity with Him alone. It includes salvation anytime you need saving. We also receive a wealth of wisdom and knowledge so that we have His wisdom and knowledge for every circumstance of life.

And, as if that was not enough, we also walk in the reverence of the Lord, which is a gift from Him too. The reverence of the Lord, that relationship that we learn to walk in is a treasure trove in and of itself. Once you have the reverential love of the Lord in your heart, you have the key to unlocking anything and everything. It is the wisdom of God. The scripture says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverb 9: 10). You will not have need of anything because His wisdom, knowledge and power are on the scene to lead you into all righteousness which also leads you into all other things too. It is a cycle that keeps you filled up with all of the goodness of the Lord.

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Multiplication

On November 11, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 4: 8

Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.

In this passage and its accompanying verses, Jesus explains how the Kingdom of God works. It turns out that God multiplies. Why is this important for you and me to know? Consider the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4. This widow went to Elisha complaining of her financial need and telling Elisha that the creditor had come to her door to take her two sons so that they might be his slaves in order to satisfy the debt. This woman was broke. She had no funds to give to the creditor in order to save her sons. And yet Elisha’s response to her was, “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” I bet she wanted to say, “I don’t have anything you old fool. That is why I am here.” But she didn’t. Instead she answered; I have nothing “except a jar of oil.” So, Elisha said, “Ok, go get every kind of jar, pot and vessel that you can borrow and don’t get just a few.” So she went to her neighbors and borrowed every kind of container she could. When she had obeyed that command, Elisha had her pour out her little bit of oil into the first container. Behold, after the first container was filled, there remained oil in her jar so she poured out into the second container. The oil remained until every vessel was full. The miracle was only limited by her obedience to collect many pots. Fortunately she did obey and she ended up with enough oil to pay off the creditor and live on the proceeds after that. 

The widow in 1 Kings 17: 12 had a little bit of flour and a little bit of oil. She was gathering sticks to make a fire. Then she was going to make a pancake for her and one for her son and then they were going to lie down and die. She was really destitute. She didn’t know about the law of multiplication. She didn’t know it but she was wealthier in seed than Elisha’s widow because she had some flour and some oil. The prophet Elijah told her; make me a little bread before you carry out your plan. See God often has a different plan than ours. She did as Elijah required and God multiplied her bowl and her jar so that from then on she ran out of neither flour nor oil. 

Maybe you need a breakthrough in some area of your life. Well, you need some seed. Maybe God is requiring you to sow some seed. Like Elisha said to the widow, “What do you have?” Maybe you need to give into someone else’s life so that God can multiply your seed thirty, sixty or a hundredfold. Maybe you don’t have much. Maybe you are like one of the women in these stories but understand that God gets your miracle to you by multiplying the seed that you sow. You’ve got to give him something to work with. Then he will make your miracle.

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Saved, Anointed, Blessed

On November 10, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 20: 6

Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed.

Who are the anointed of God? These are his saints. God has separated you unto himself. You are a chosen people, a holy race. God sent Jesus into this earth in order to make it so. That is what it took to separate you into a holy and secure place in the Lord. It took no effort on your part other than that you receive his anointing; receive his gift of salvation. When you did, you became set apart unto him. With that comes all the blessing of being his chosen. You have been anointed in the blood of Jesus rather than in oil. This was God’s will for you. It is the fulfillment of his desire so that he may care for you; so that you could partake of all of the blessing that inures to the anointed of the Lord. You, no matter how insignificant you may sometimes feel that you are, are the anointed of the Lord. You are highly favored and chosen so that he may show his goodness to you. You, though, must receive it. He prizes you highly above all things. He desires you and longs to be in deeper fellowship with you. You, though, are the captain in that relationship. He has saved you by his righteous right hand and will walk with you in all things.

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Sunshine

On November 9, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 4: 18

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. 

I have never seen this verse so big before. I have been helping my mother with the sale of her house, the purchase of a new house and the impending move. Do you know that old saying, “If it can go wrong, it will.” Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but there have been many hiccups along this road. 

A minister friend sent this verse to Mom and me and it really is a good one. It means that despite the rain or the clouds the sun shines for the children of God. I would say, though, that it doesn’t shine for Christians. It shines for those who are in God, whose life is hidden in Him. Having said a salvation prayer isn’t the end all. It truly is the beginning. From that initial dedication of our lives to Christ we begin to learn to walk in him and to trust him for all the things of our life. One of the lessons we learn is to put ourselves in His hands and put our stuff: our problems, issues and cares in His “Inbox”. As we do this the clouds have to dissipate. It really is wonderful.

Look at this verse from the Good News Translation and be encouraged: “The road the righteous travel is like the sunrise, getting brighter and brighter until daylight has come.” Yahoo! There may be clouds, there may be rain but for the children of God the sun shines brightly. The brilliance keeps growing until it is as bright as it can get. That is our God and Father. Out of the midst of storms He brings sunshine. Hallelujah. It may be raining on others but the “sonshine” is on you. Glory!! Get a revelation of this and let it get down in your spirit. The people who will see this truth manifested in their lives are the ones who believe it and trust it. God wants to pour out sunshine on you so don’t look at the clouds. They aren’t for you. Set your eyes on the emerging sunshine. God is light and He has you covered.

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Death Snare

On November 6, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 6: 2

. . . snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of your mouth.

The words of our mouths; by them we shall live victoriously or be snared. If you knew for a fact that whatever you say is what you are going to get, would you change some of the things you are saying? Would you speak differently about your children, your health? What about your job? We need to get a revelation about the words we speak. God used words to create the whole universe (Hebrews 11:3). And He sustains the world by the “word of his power” (Hebrews 1: 3). Words are powerful. They are going to determine where we are five years from now. So the question is, “What are we saying?”  

I heard a story about a man who confessed over and over again that he was going to die young? Guess what? He did. Athletes use positive affirmations in their work. They know that they are determining outcomes with their words. All sorts of Positive Mental Attitude speakers and authors have taught how powerful words are in people’s lives. It seems most of us, though, have not wholly grasped the enormous authority that our words have. If we had, we would guard very carefully the things we say. We would not claim disease as “my” heart disease or “my” diabetes. Don’t own it. Don’t claim it. Give it back to the devil since he seems to like those things so much.  

The Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverb 18: 21). Take some time to notice what words you speak. Then maybe even take some time to write out the things you would like to see manifested in your life. Speak those good results and teach others to do the same. We will have in the future what we speak now. Let us all speak good of ourselves and our futures.

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Near and Dear

On November 5, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 145: 18

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him.

At some point in time we have to decide to simply believe the words of the Bible. We have to move on from wanting everything to be proved to us and arrive at belief. We are said to be “believers” but just what is it that we believe? I want you today to choose to believe that God is with you. When your life is troubled or even very busy, you may not feel like God is close to you but we have learned not to go by feelings. We go by faith. This is where belief in God and his Word needs to be preeminent. Belief in the Word needs to rise up so that it can strengthen you. Know that he is near you as you call upon Him. Do not doubt that he is right there for you. He is working on your behalf even when you cannot see his work or feel his presence. Don’t doubt it for a second. You are precious to Him and nothing you do or say escapes His notice. The Lord is near you today. What have you to say to Him?

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