Holy Health

On November 3, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Malachi 4: 2

But for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like claves from the stall.

There is so much to love about this scripture. The image is one of incredible blessing for those who love God. Just thinking about the sun of righteousness rising on you might be enough to dwell on for quite some time. But that the rising of the aforementioned sun brings with it healing is great news. Because you love God, because you have dedicated your life to Him, there is blessing in the wings for you. One of the blessings is that you should live a healed life. You do not have to accept the sickness that the devil has spread. God and Jesus have already provided for your healing and your health. They have so blessed your physical body that as you receive more of the blessing, you will be able to skip around like a calf. You are expected to be spry and agile. Your body serves you. And if you are in Christ then you have your life in Christ and your body is his temple. Your body is dedicated to the service of the Lord and the Lord is responsible for its upkeep. Thank the Lord for his grace and mercy and for the great gifts he has bestowed on us.

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Honor the Lord

On October 3, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 9 – 10

Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

It is the blessing of the Lord that makes us rich, that prospers us and meets our needs, not the work of our hand nor our wisdom. God blesses the work of our hands and is he more than willing to give us his wisdom. We then follow his wisdom and the thoughts and plans that he gives us and we prosper. What is our part then? We are to honor him with the fruit of the success he has given us. We are so blessed of God to live in this country and to have the opportunities that we have. We are to take our opportunities and bless God with them. Bless his kids. The first 10% of our increase or our income is to be set aside for God. That is the tithe. Out of the 100% he has given us, we are supposed to give him 10%. That seems like a pretty reasonable ratio. But don’t let your giving stop there. Re-read the passage for today and you will see that the gifts that you sow are what God is using to get more to you. He uses your seeds to bring you a whole other crop so that your barns will overflow. Don’t be stingy with God. Bless him so that he can continue to bless you, so that he can increase your overflow. Honor him with your wealth so that he can create in you super abundant overflow.

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The Greater Blessing

On September 8, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Acts 20: 35

“In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Do you really believe that? We have heard this expression all our lives and we have each experienced those moments when giving something to someone else really did bless us but, do we actually believe this statement in our hearts?

Sometimes I think the world is divided into two groups, the givers and the takers. It seems sometimes that people do not flow from function to function but rather remain fixed in their group. I have observed folks who are accomplished givers. They think of things the rest of us would never have considered. It isn’t that we wouldn’t do some of the same acts if we thought of them, we just never think of others that sincerely. We live in a society that tells us to “Get all you can for yourself” and “He who dies with the most toys wins.” This is not the Christian ethic so there are warring messages inside of us. To which of these voices will we surrender?

I want to send out encouragement today in the hopes that the result will be each of us looking around for someone to give to. Proverb 19: 17 reads, “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.” I would venture to say that anytime you give to others, whether or not they be poor, God is well pleased. The way I see it, that provides a number of motivators for giving. First, it pleases God. Second, it is like giving to the Lord. And third, self-interest is advanced. Don’t think the third one is “dirty”. God rewards his kids and it is His pleasure to do so. Besides, isn’t self-interest the reason most of us are not more generous in the first place? 

I honestly believe that this “giving thing” is a real big deal to our Father. We are supposed to be like Him and we all know that He is a giver. Additionally, we are told that kindness is one of the traits we are supposed to exhibit (Gal. 5: 22) and the verse from Proverbs makes me think that kindness leads to charity. Charity is part of a generous heart.

Here is what I would like to suggest. Let us all give something today. Let’s just all unite in a spirit of giving for this one day. Find some way to give something to someone. Now here is a thought. Make it personal. The easiest thing to do is to give to a national charity. Now, there is nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t require much of us personally. It would be really great if we could all do something for someone where we can look them in the eye or make some kind of personal contact. We should endeavor to give out of our hearts not our pocketbooks. The two can go together but the former cannot be overlooked. One other caveat . . . I learned this from Joyce Meyer; don’t just give away something that you don’t want or are done with anyway. Give something meaningful. It does not have to be expensive but it should come from that good place inside of you. Maybe it is nothing more than buying someone in the break room a drink. It doesn’t have to be big but you should extend yourself out of your comfort zone a little bit.  

Open your eyes and look at the world a little differently. Look for ways to bless folks. I am hoping that you will have a lot of fun. I am also hoping that you will write me this evening telling me how you were blessed.

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Follow the Blessing

On August 27, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 28: 2

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God.

When you read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy you see that there is much blessing promised in that chapter. I quite like the idea of the blessing chasing us down in the street and overtaking us. And as much as we might relish that thought and even believe God, we still might question how it is going to happen. The answer, fortunately, is in the last phrase of the sentence. The blessing is in our obedience. That may sound more spiritual than it needs to. It is more basic than many of us appreciate. God will bless you even in tough economic times by giving you ideas and plans for gaining wealth. Maybe he is telling you to save 10% of your income. Maybe he is telling you to give money to a charity. We have to become sensitive to the urges God is using to prompt us and then we must obey. Maybe we have thought to give money to a minister but haven’t done it. Maybe we had a generous thought towards someone else and didn’t follow through. God isn’t trying to get something from you; he is trying to get something to you. He will prosper you in these times but you must obey. In the midst of a bad economy, God wants to prosper you abundantly. Listen to what he is telling you. Pray about it and by all means follow through.

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The Blessing of the Lord

On August 25, 2014   /   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.

Upon what are you dependent for you prosperity? I hope it is not this economy because the present economy is sure to let you down. We are blessed in the Lord with every blessing under the sun. Part of that blessing is the wealth of God. Having a hard time believing that? Look at Kind David or his son Solomon. Solomon was the richest man ever to live. He was so wealthy that he didn’t even bother to count silver. It just wasn’t worth his time or effort.

Modern day Christians have a hard time receiving all that God has to give because we have bought into the lie that it is wrong for Christians to be wealthy. That doesn’t even make sense and it certainly isn’t biblical. You are the kid of the Almighty, you should be abundantly blessed. Deuteronomy 28: 6 says that we are blessed coming in and going out. 

Do not worry about this present economy. It only means that the world system is failing. Your prosperity and the provision for your needs are not in the hands of the world but rather in the hands of the Almighty. Lift up your eyes and your voice to him. Tell him that you are putting all of your trust in him for your financial well being and you will be able to look back on these times and say that in the worst economic climate since the great depression you prospered.

   

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Everything You Want

On July 17, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 1: 3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. 

We do not exist only in this physical realm. We actually are living in the spiritual realm at the same time and that is why this verse is so important. Everything that has ever come into being had to first exist in the spiritual sphere. Think about that for a moment. Everything that you have ever seen, every single thing in this world first existed in the world of the Spirit. So, every time you pray for anything the answer already exists in the spiritual sphere and then it manifests in the physical. In today’s verse we learn that God, our Father, has already blessed us with everything in the spiritual realm. Now I know that the verse says that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and you might think that means that physical blessings are not included but when you appreciate that everything begins in the spiritual realm and that to God everything is spiritual then you conceive that all blessings of God are, in fact, spiritual blessings. So when we see the fullness of this verse we perceive that God has already blessed us with everything. And that makes sense because we know that God has rested from His work. He has already provided everything we could ever want or need. There is no lack of anything in heaven. God has already created utopia. Once we grasp with our hearts that God has already made full provision for us, that it is all in the spiritual warehouse awaiting our requisitions then we are able to receive everything in full. 

This can radically change your prayer life if you can shift your perspective to embrace the idea that the Lord, our God, has already provided every single thing we could ever think or ask. The point of Paul writing this passage is to let us know that God has already blessed us and provided for us. The verse would have so little meaning if it was only about having blessings in heaven. It is here that we need the blessings of God. When we get to heaven there is no need. They are walking on streets of gold up there. Paul is writing to say that God has already provided for the people who are living on the earth now. He is trying to convey the enormity of the blessing and he seems to run out of words. Paul also lets us know that our blessing is in Christ which expresses the extent of the blessing as well as our access. Paul is encouraging us to bless God because he had a revelation of the fullness of the blessing which has come on us because of Jesus. We must move our chairs to Paul’s place so that we can see from his perspective. When we look from his perspective instead of from ours the horizon broadens. We can read the same words we have read many times before but now we see much more and Paul’s perspective always leads us into closer unity with God.

Celebrate today the reality that God has already blessed you with the fullness of who He is. Pray to receive all that He has provided for you and bless the Lord.

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The Blessing Plan

On July 9, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 1: 1-3

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

3 And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.

We all want to be blessed of God and that is what God wants also. That is why he gave us this passage, so that we would know how to be blessed. The first verse tells us three things to avoid if we want to be blessed. The second verse tells us one affirmative thing to do and the third verse illustrates the effect of the blessing on us which results from obedience to the first two verses.

In a nutshell, this passage tells us to turn away from the ways of the world and turn towards God. In plain language it means we should spend more time pursuing God than pursuing the world. Turn off the TV every now and again and spend that hour reading your Bible. Don’t take your advice (counsel) from the world, look to the word and mature Christians. Don’t do the things the people of the world do. That is what is meant by do not “stand in the path of sinners.” God is telling us not to be on their path. Choose a different path. That does not just mean don’t sin. That is a given. But this passage is not talking about salvation it is teaching living in the blessing. So God is telling you not to do the things the world does because it is not leading to blessing. The blessing is in God and in his word. Spend some time reading the word or reading a book by a Christian. Listen to a TV preacher right in the middle of the week. Delight yourself in His word and you will be that tree that is planted near the stream. It is taller and stronger than other trees. It bears more fruit and its fruit is sweeter. Moreover, this tree does not lose its health and vitality. All it takes is to start spending more time actively pursuing Jesus and less time in the world.

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