The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

On January 18, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 5: 44 – 45            NET

But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

You’ve heard that you are to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you and that is a good focus of this passage, but I particularly like verse 45 for two reasons. First, it tells us the reason for the mandate to pray and love, which is that we might be like our Father. Secondly, it teaches us the difference between love and judgment, loudly revealing our Father as one who loves.

After we get saved and Jesus begins to clean us up, it is easy for us to want to separate ourselves from the unrighteousness people and actions we see in the world. Unfortunately, we begin to judge those people and we separate the world in to we and they. This, our Father does not do. He loves the whole world, so much, in fact, that he gave His only begotten son so that NONE should perish (John 3: 16). Speaking of John 3: 16, do you know what the very next verse says? “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” By the way, those were words spoken by Jesus. God sacrificed His only son so that through his sacrifice, the world might be saved, not condemned.

God sent His blessing into this world and it will work for whomever will work according to the way Yahweh engineered it. Sometimes, the unsaved are better believers than we are and thus, succeed to a greater extent than we. This ought not be, but it is. We are too busy fussing at each other and judging other Christians and the unsaved that we fill our churches, and our own souls with doubt and unbelief.

God put spiritual and physical laws into the earth. Gravity is a great example of one of these laws. Gravity works the same on the wicked as on the righteous, doesn’t it? God sends His rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. He is constantly pouring out His best to anyone who will accept Him. He has also created laws which exist in the spirit realm. They too work for whoever applies them. He told us that whatever we believe, we can have (Mark 11: 23 – 24). He has told us to use our words to create our dreams and even that the power of life is in our tongues (Proverb 18: 21). Yet I find we are still running around spewing all kinds of garbage and unbelief from our mouths. Meanwhile, others are using God’s success system to great effect and they never give Him the credit. We are too worried about criticizing anyone who succeeds and making sure our pastors never have too nice a car to ever live in God’s overflow. We are afraid of being criticized ourselves. That is one of the reasons why so many Christians are so carnal. They look at the church and don’t want any part of it. They want Christ but they find the lifestyle of the heathen more attractive and they find more love outside the church than in it.

I don’t like it and I bet you don’t either. We’ve got to begin to take this gospel seriously. We need to buckle down and become students of the Word and believers. Then we need to do what the Word tells us. We need to commune with God and listen to His voice. We need to let the Holy Spirit guide us without getting all weird about it. Just quiet yourself down and listen to him.

None of us wants to be a part of this mealy mouth Christianity. None of us wants to see the unsaved surpassing God’s people using God’s own system. We are supposed to succeed and then give God the glory. And, we’ve got to stop judging one another and “those other guys.” Jesus said he didn’t come to judge the world so what makes us think we should. God sends the rain on both our crops, so He isn’t judging. He isn’t withholding His blessing. Our judgments are killing us while those we criticize are experiencing faith healing, financial prosperity and loving relationships. It is time we got over ourselves and seriously begin imitating our Father and learning His ways. Love is our mandate. Turn in your judge’s robe for a coat of compassion. Let love and acceptance color the way you think of all people, yes ALL, even those unsaved because God has not separated us into we and them. He is sending His truth to everyone who will listen. He is sending the nourishing rain to whomever will receive. Be blessed in the name and power of Jesus and live this gospel to the full. Receive God’s blessing and share that blessing with others. Let it overflow onto others, the good and the bad.

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Speak Wisely

On April 24, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 13: 2 – 3               NIV

From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things, but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence. Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.

This is right in the middle of many of the things I am thinking about and meditating on right now. If you are a journaler, this verse might make for an interesting question to take to the Father and, I would love to hear what He says to you if you journal it.

As a whole, I think we have failed to grasp how powerful, significant and effective our words are. Preachers have been telling us for years that there is power in our words, for good or for ill. For that matter, I remember PMA speakers and authors telling us forty years ago that our mouths would direct our success.

Our health is in our words, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverb 18: 21). Our financial well-being is in our words, and lest I recite every area impacted by the words we speak, shall we just accept that every facet of life reflects the words we have spoken?

I have written on this topic many times and yet I have not fully grasped this principle myself. Upon the occasion of a previous Word of the Day on this subject, one of my friends commented that we need to hear this every week if not every day. It is that important and that easily lost.

It is our words which bind and loose the powers of heaven. Angels will either be loosed into your life or bound by what you say. In like manner, you can give Satan’s imps permission to tamper with your life by those words. The spirit realm responds to what you say. You have authority over your life but how are you using it? Adam and Eve had authority too.

Your body is listening to what you say too. So is your mind. If you say you are old, infirm, or that your body is going to fall apart at some specified age, then you are right. If, however, you say that you intend to be as strong as Moses, Joshua and Caleb until you move to heaven, then that is the truth you will live. If you are speaking nourishing words to your mind, your mind will respond. If you continually spew language of senior moments and confusion, then you are going to talk yourself right into senility.

Wherever you are right now is the result of the words you spoke, or even the good words you didn’t speak, in the past. The good news is that you can change course right now. You can reprogram your body and your mind in the next few moments. What would you like your body to believe? What do you say about your mind? It is your choice. Choose and speak wisely.

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Testify!

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

Revelation 12: 11

And they overcame him (the devil) because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony.

Jesus told us that the devil comes “to steal, and kill, and destroy” (John 10: 10). But we are over comers (1 John 2: 13) through him that came to bring us the victory. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith” (1 John 5:4). You see, Jesus overcame the world. He has done his part. In John 16: 33 he told us to take courage for he has overcome the world. And yet some of us are not walking in the full measure of Jesus’ victory. Why? How can that be?

It seems that we have a part in this victory as well. While Jesus has overcome the devil and all of his minions through his blood we must include ourselves in that victory through the use of our testimony, or our confession, and our faith. This means that our words have something to do with the measure of Jesus’ victory we will walk in. Satan is overcome by Jesus’ shed blood and our confession. Faith is believing God’s word, even in the face of contradictory evidence. The expression of faith is the confession of our mouth. What comes out of our mouths demonstrates exactly where our faith is. Are you sick, going to get healed, getting healed or healed? You see, those words indicate levels of faith. There is no condemnation if you are not yet confessing the greater part of faith. It just shows where you are currently. Tomorrow you can be in a different place altogether. Further, the more your confession matches the Word of God, the more of Jesus’ victory you will experience. 

We must all learn to order our words aright. Every one of us must be vigilante regarding the words that proceed from our mouths. Proverb 18: 21 says that death and life are in the power of the tongue. We need to learn to wield that power to our benefit. We will thereby overcome the devil and all of his machinations.

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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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