The Unbreakable Contract

On March 15, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 89: 34

My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

The most important message in the whole Bible is that God loves you. That is the height of God’s missive to you. Today’s message is important too though. We need to grasp that God is not a man that He can lie (Numbers 23: 19). In fact, I would say that it is one of the foundational ideas, one of the keystones for your personal theology. If you don’t understand this you will have a very difficult time understanding who you are in Christ and who God is.

You may often hear pastors talk about the letters of Paul. Well, our Father God sent us a letter too. This is true. The entire Bible is a love letter to you from God and this is an important revelation for you to integrate. You are never going to see it for its true value though if you don’t first fully embrace that God cannot lie to you. Likewise, He will not, cannot even, break His word to you. His covenant to you is every word He has ever spoken to His kids. His words are promises and they cannot be broken. I want you to really meditate on this and let it sink down into your inner person. You’ve got to understand that the Bible is not a textbook that some random author wrote with whom you have no relationship. It is more like a “How To Manual.” It is the culmination of God’s wisdom for you.

Imagine for a moment that you have the time to write down, for your children, every piece of wisdom you have ever gleaned. Take all of those life-giving messages and put them together in one place for your kids. Better still, what if you got me to write a letter for your book and some other writers as well. Maybe you heard a message preached by your pastor that has the power to alter a person’s life. Record it in the pages of your opus. Now, here is my question for you. If you were going to create a tome meant to guide your beloved children, would you lie in it? Would you take care that the messages presented were correct? If you made a promise in it, would you keep your word?

God has not changed His mind nor has He changed the utterance of His lips. He has not changed His mind about wanting you, specifically you, to be His child forever and ever. He wants you safe and whole. He longs to lead you in right and productive paths. When you can look at the Bible and mine from it God’s heart and His nurturing care for you then you will begin to build your personal understanding, your personal theology, if you will, on the cornerstone of His love. You will find encouragement and protection. You will begin to read the words of the Bible and holdfast to them as a personal promise to you. You will understand and believe down to your bones that when God said He sent His word and healed them (Psalm 107: 20) He meant exactly that and He meant you. When you read Proverb 10: 22 you will have a hallelujah breakdown because you know He sent that good word to you and that He has never changed His mind about it.

God has not changed His mind and He has no need to change the utterance of His lips. If He said it, He will do it (Numbers 23: 19). Let Him minister His truths to you today.

Back to Top

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.

Back to Top

Get a Life

On October 23, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Genesis 6: 3

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

Many of you know that I have been studying diet and nutrition for the last several years. It has been the subject of much of my prayer and conversation with the Father. I have also been very interested in the expected life span of humans. Last week I drove to Huntsville, Alabama for a ministry conference which gave me plenty of time to listen to CD’s. One I listened to was by a doctor. He has no ministry affiliation and his talk was not about the God connection to our health.

Imagine my surprise when he said that we ought to be living to 120 years. Wow! Now why did he pick that number? Does he know what the Bible says? He explained that physiologically humans should be living to 120. Of course, I knew that. God said that thousands of years ago. But, to tell the whole truth, that should be the minimum. You see, in Genesis 6: 3 God was speaking to a disobedient and rebellious people. Today’s verse isn’t really granting 120 years, it is limiting people’s life span to 120 years. Human beings were wearing God out. He said, “I am not going to strive with man forever!” So, he cut their lifespan off to 120 years. Isn’t that amazing? So, this doctor sees physiologically the result of God’s words in Genesis 6: 3.

Now then, the first response I often get when I tell people they should live to 120 years is that they don’t want to live all crippled and feeble. Really? Are you kidding me? Do you really think that was God’s intention? Did God say, “I am going to limit your years on the earth to 120 but I am going to make you decrepit and feeble at 60 or 70.” Of course, if you listen to the world today you will hear that we should begin to fall apart at 50. I’m sorry guys. I am just not going to do it and I hope you will join me. I have a vision for riding my bike at 120 years old. Moses wasn’t feeble at 120 years old and I am not going to be either.

So now let’s allow the big revelation to go off in us. If Moses and all of those rebellious Israelites were allowed 120 years, honestly, what should we, the redeemed of God, expect for a life span. Since we are covered with the blood and resurrection power of Christ our Lord, shouldn’t we have a bigger vision than those desert wandering, lost in the fog, idol worshipping, rebels? I mean, I love them and I want every one of them to be in heaven but they weren’t washed in the blood, were they? Their sin stuck to them whereas ours is washed away. So, if the sin stained live to 120 to what age should the redeemed of Christ live until?

So, sign a new lease on life. Renew for another 50, 60 or 70 years. Renew for 100 if that is what is in your heart. I believe with you. And be healthy until the day you decide to change addresses. Jesus is health as well as life (Psalm 107: 20). Go on, get a new life today!!

For additional insights Please See the Word of the Day for July 22, 2015.

Back to Top

The Word of the Day

On April 17, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 1: 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

It all began with the Word as all epic quests must. The Word is the power, the beginning and the end. If you are going to undertake any grand project may I recommend that you take a page from God’s playbook? Begin with the Word.     

When God initiated His immense project of creating and populating the earth, He began with the Word. The Word was with Him in the beginning and it was through that Word that everything that was created came into being. Salvation began with the Word also since Jesus is the Word. Thus the Word saved us from eternal hell. Healing begins with the Word. “He sent His Word and healed them” (Psalm 107: 20). Everything begins with the Word.

In my dialogue with God this morning He asked me what the Word means to me. “Well,” I said, “it is salvation and mercy and grace and life and ….” Even as I answered though, I could feel that I wasn’t expressing what it really means to me. You see, when I need to reach God I usually meet Him over the Word the way the priests of old used to meet Him over the mercy seat. I heard the father speak to me. “Don’t answer with your mind. Tell me what is in your heart about the Word.” I stopped and regarded my heart and it took only a moment for this one Word to well up within me. “Love. The Word is love.” Today’s verse tells us that the Word is God and we know from 1 John 4: 8 that God is love. Therefore, the Word is love. “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3: 16). So it seems that love is the Word and the Word was sent to us to heal us, save us, redeem, restore and help us. Everything that God is, everything that He wants to do for us is embodied in the Word. That is why the Word is so powerful. It is the power of God in the person of Jesus, our Lord and savior.

It grieves me to see the Word given so little attention at times. Christians and even ministers are not clinging to it as we ought even though our destiny is to be wedded to the Word. How is Jesus to come for his bride when we love not His incarnation in and through the Word? We are abandoning our love and as we do we forsake the blessing and authority that is its substance. If you have not given the Word a prominent space in your life then you are depriving yourself of the victory which is the meat of the Word. Our blessed Father is sending His love to us through His Word. He transmits everything we need through the Word which is alive and came into the earth to save us all. You cannot separate Jesus from the Word. Any attempt to do so results in our disabling the power of Jesus in our lives.

Whatever you do, whatever you are given to do, whether the task be gigantic or commonplace, begin it all with the Word. It is the grace for success in your job, business, marriage, relationships with your children, and every other aspect of life. One word from God can (and will) change your life forever. Get into the book and let God speak His words of encouragement and affection to you. Open your heart and let Him speak His Word directly into your heart. It is with your heart that you first accepted the Word, Jesus, into your life unto salvation. Now let Him speak a new word into your life. Whatever you need, He is right there with the Word to bring it to pass. Be blessed; be filled, in the name of Jesus, our Lord.

Back to Top