MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

MAY IT BE FILLED WITH THE LOVE OF OUR LORD’S PRESENCE!

TAKE TIME FOR HIM AT SOME POINT TODAY IN THE MIDST OF ALL THE MISTLETOE AND HOLLY AND FOOD AND FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

GOD BLESS YOU, FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

I WILL PRAISE YOU

Isaiah 25:1, Amplified Bible

O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, even purposes planned of old [and fulfilled] in faithfulness and truth.

Have you ever wanted to tell the Lord how wonderful He is and just didn’t have the words in your vocabulary to tell Him?  Do you want to know one of the best ways to praise Him and tell Him what a wonderful God He is and how much you love Him?  Tell Him with His Word.  Look at the verse we just quoted.

Lord, You are my God.

I will exalt You.

I will praise Your name,

You have done wonderful things for me.

You have purposes for me that you planned long ago.

You have fulfilled those purposes in faithfulness and truth.

Take some time today to thank the Lord for His goodness.  Sing and speak His Word to Him.  It is music to His ears.

THE GOD OF PEACE

Hebrews 13:20,21 is a scripture we can confess over ourselves, our loved ones and our friends every day and meditate all the days of our lives.

The God of Peace, Who is the Author and Giver of Peace,

brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, (He also brought us from the deadness of our sins.).

He made Jesus alive (and you and me) by the blood that sealed, ratified the everlasting agreement, covenant, testament.

The God of Peace (Peace:  Wholeness which means nothing is missing or broken in your life) has made me alive by His blood.  That blood has sealed the everlasting agreement which is called covenant, between God and me.

The God of Peace, the Author and Giver of Peace strengthens me, completes me, perfects me and makes me what I ought to be.

He equips me with everything good, so that I may carry out His will.

I carry out His will while He Himself works in me and accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight.

He does this through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen—-so be it!

I believe this is true for me and I receive it as done in my life.

LIGHT AND REST

In John 1 we read that in Jesus was life and that life was the light of men.  What does that mean?  In Jesus was the Life of God (zoe: without death or stress) because He knew the Love of God (agape: love without any strings attached), which brought understanding (Light) to Him of His Father.  Even so, for those of us who are children of God, in us dwells the Life of God in the person of the Holy Spirit.  That life is meant to produce an understanding of the ease and rest in God.

This Life of God is a choice we make every day.  It is not just a one-time choice when we get born again.  Every day, before we get out of bed, we are already making choices.  Are we frenetically planning our day so that we can get all accomplished that we have to do?  Or are we taking the time to rest in the Lord, abide in His Love and enjoy His Presence?  Out of that calmness comes revelation or understanding of our day.  He will show us what to do.  He will guide us.  He is in charge.

We may have a thousand things on our mind and a multitude of things to do.  That kind of mentality produces stress, which produces sickness and disease, which leads to our early departure from this earth.  You see, satan has it all figured out.  He doesn’t have to do a frontal attack on us most of the time.  He can just stress us to death.  That takes care of us.  We are gone.  And he starts on the next one and the next one and the next one.

Jesus rested in His Father’s care.  He was always at ease and joyful because He knew His Father’s love for Him.  Out of the love of the Father came the life of the Father (zoe) that knows no unrest and stress.

In our Lord is perfect peace, which comes from His indwelling perfect love.  That perfect love produces a perfect life.  That perfect life guides us into the perfect Light (understanding, revelation) of His Presence.  In His Presence is fullness of joy.  Joy is the strength of our lives.  Joy is the product of LIFE.

There is the natural life and there is the eternal, God kind of Life (zoe).  I know that every one of us will choose the God kind of life.  There is no other way to live and be free of stress, anxiety and fretting.  In these days we need to focus on God’s Love inside us which produces God’s Life flowing through us and shows forth God’s Light for all the world to see that we are different.  Let His Light shine and they will come to you.  “What is different about you?” they will ask, and you can tell them.  What a divine way to witness!  We let our lives speak.  He does the rest.

LIGHT

Romans 13:11-14 could be a scripture Paul wrote today, this very hour.  Let us listen to the voice of these verses.

It is a critical hour.  It is high time to wake up out of our sleep to reality.  Our final deliverance is at hand, nearer to us now than when we first believed.  The night is far gone.  The day is almost here.  Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the FULL ARMOR OF LIGHT.  Put on, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its desires.

What a scripture passage this is.  Do you see the solution to the darkness of this present hour for all of us?  Put on the armor of light; put on Jesus Christ; put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

For a few minutes, let’s look at the Light of God.  Jesus is called the Word of God in John 1:1.  In the Psalms we read that the entrance of the Word brings light.  Here in Romans 13 we are instructed to put on the armor of light.  In Ephesians 6 we are told to put on the full armor of God.  Every part of that armor is a reference to the word, Jesus, the Light of the world.

What does light do?  It dispels the darkness.  Wherever there is light, there cannot be darkness because one little sliver of light means that it is no longer dark.  Think about that for a moment.  The instant you read God’s Word, you speak His Word, you meditate His Word, the Light of God is there for you, in your mind and in your heart.  It is the Word.  It is the Light.  In the very beginning of the creation, God spoke Himself into the very atmosphere of this earth.  LIGHT, BE!  In essence He was saying:  ME, BE!  What He is, He spoke out of Himself into this earth.  What makes God God is what created this earth.  Light is at the root of the formulation of life.  Without light, life as we know it could not be.

Light makes manifest, reveals.  Light is understanding, as darkness is pushed back.  Have you ever been pondering something, trying to understand it and all of a sudden it is like a light bulb comes on and you exclaim, I see!  That’s what we are talking about.  God wants to bring understanding to us of His ways, His Kingdom, His life.  And His Word is the key to unlock that understanding.  Without His Word, there is not the foundation for understanding Him.  The Holy Spirit takes His Word and shows us the Truth of it, the reality of the inner workings of God.  As Psalm 119 expresses it:  His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.  The entrance of His Word gives light, brings understanding.

Any time that you are “in the dark,” pondering the way to do something, go to God the Word and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the way to do it, the decision to be made, the pathway to take.  He is faithful and will provide the answer every time.  What we must do is be patient and trust Him to bring us the understanding that we need to walk on through to victory.

FAITH COMES

This month is the month we celebrate the birth of our Savior and Soon-Coming King.  Let us rejoice in our relationship with Him.  What a joy to know the One Who is in charge of it all and Who has given us that authority to also be in charge while we are here on this earth, carrying out His destiny for each of us.  Rejoice!  Celebrate!  Let His Presence be known wherever you go.  He is the Almighty One!

Whatever we hear produces the faith from the words we hear.  It is a continual process.  Faith particularly comes from the words we are always hearing on a daily basis, if we hear them over and over.  They can be thoughts (which actually are words that have not been spoken yet) that will eventually come out of our mouths if we think often enough the same thoughts.  Those thoughts become words that are spoken, and those spoken words produce faith.

FAITH COMES BY HEARING AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD (Romans 10:17).

As I said, that hearing may even be what we hear inside ourselves —- our thoughts.

Our thoughts have a voice also as well as what we hear being spoken by our lips.

As you and I know, those thoughts sometimes have a louder voice than what we are hearing ourselves or others speak to our physical ears.

It’s whatever we hear (thoughts or spoken words), whether negative or positive, whether good or bad, whether selfish or unselfish, whether Godly or ungodly that shapes our lives every day.  Our lives are the products of what we hear.  If we hear something often enough, it becomes a part of our being and becomes the life we live.  This is a spiritual law.  You can’t change that law.  That is the way that it is.  What you hear and hear and hear becomes a part of you and directs your life.  This is the law of faith.  A law is something which works the same way all the time for every person.

Today is the day to make a decision that what we think and speak and allow others to speak into our lives is God’s Word.  His Word is true and honest and just and pure and lovely and of a good report (Philippians 4:8).  That’s what we want flowing in our lives.

THE FAITH OF GOD

Mark 11:22-24

And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God (have the faith of God).

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any:  that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

I have Your faith, God.

I yield to Your faith.

Your faith speaks to something.

What does God’s faith speak to?

God’s faith speaks to THE BIG PROBLEM —- THE MOUNTAIN

What does God’s faith say?

God’s faith says:  Be removed!

God’s faiths says:  Be cast into the sea!

Not only does God’s faith (which is in us as His children) command the problem to leave, but God’s faith tells it where to go.  The sea is a place of disappearance, to be seen no more.

This is my confession:

I do not doubt in my heart.

I do believe those things I say come to pass.

Then, I SHALL HAVE WHAT I SAY!

Therefore,

Whatever I desire,

WHEN I PRAY,

I BELIEVE (I believe I’ve laid hold on them and I’ve got them.)

I RECEIVE them (I take them with much force, seize with a grip that will not be shaken off.)

and I SHALL HAVE them.

AND,

WHEN I STAND PRAYING,

If I have ANYTHING against anyone (regardless of how small I think it is),

I FORGIVE!

That my Father also Who is in heaven may forgive me.

This week is a time for each of us to meditate on what our God has done for us.  The Father sent Jesus.  Jesus took our place and rose victorious over death, hell and the grave.  The Holy Spirit came to dwell in each of us as the temple of God.  Let’s give thanksgiving and praise to God for what He has done.  Our hearts are full to overflowing with gratitude to God for what He has done.  Let us REJOICE!

JESUS IS LORD

We hear the expression “Jesus is Lord” many times in Christian circles.  We say that Jesus is Lord of our lives.  The Spirit of God asked me a question this morning which I am going to pass on to you.  Am I really LORD of your life?

According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, the word Lord means one who possesses supreme power and authority; one who governs your life and is in charge of your life.  Supreme means one highest in authority, one holding the highest position of government and power in your life; highest, greatest, most excellent.  In Scripture Lord is Supreme Being, Jehovah.  The word Lord is applied to Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Christ is called the Lord of Glory and the Lord of lords.

When we recognize the lordship of someone, we give them the privilege of governing our lives and being in charge of us because their power and authority is greater than ours.  There is no power and authority greater than God’s power and authority.  So the smartest thing any of us can do is to yield to His Lordship in all areas of our lives.

Any area of my life or yours about which we are fretting, worried or anxious has not been given over to the Lordship of Jesus.  Ponder the question today:  AM I REALLY LORD OF YOUR LIFE?

JOY STRENGTH

Do you need strength today?  Rejoice in the Lord.  As Paul said in Philippians 4:4:  “Rejoice in the Lord always:  and again I say, Rejoice.”  Nehemiah 8:10, Amplified Bible :  “…And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.”

In John 15:11 Jesus spoke these words to His disciples then and to us now:  “These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”  What had Jesus just spoken to His disciples in the verses before verse 11?  Abide in Me and let my words abide in you.  My word will keep you clean and you will bear much fruit, that My Father may be glorified.  Continue in My love.  If you keep My commandments (My Word), you abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments (Word) and abide in His love.  We can rejoice because God’s Love has been shed abroad in our hearts that we may abide in His love.  This brings fullness of joy to fruition in us.

Listen to what Jesus spoke in John 17:13 (Amplified Bible) about our joy.  He is talking to His Father about His return to Him after He is resurrected.  Put on your spiritual catchers and listen carefully:  “And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts.]”  Jesus never spoke idle words.  If He said it, then it is so!

The joy of the Lord is our strength.  That strength is God’s power made visible in our lives.

Hear what the Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 1:3-5.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  The Amplified Bible says that we are guarded, garrisoned by God’s power through our faith.  Think about it; we are talking about GOD’S POWER.  There is no power greater than He is.  And He is living in us with His power.  He makes His power available to us as His children.  His power no foe can withstand (Psalm 91:1, Amplified Bible).

These are just a few reasons why we can rejoice and have joy unspeakable and full of glory in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in the midst of trouble all around us.  The world and its trouble and trials and temptations is temporal (temporary), subject to change and cannot overpower the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  There is no power greater than God!  I repeat:  THERE IS NO POWER GREATER THAN GOD!  And He is living in you as His child.

Joy brings God on the scene with the fullness of His glory, His power made real right now on this earth, His power provided to keep us.  REJOICE!  It is the very fuel of God’s power!

SHELTERED

We are sheltered in the secret place of the Most High God, Whose power no foe can withstand.  In that secret place of His Presence, we rely on Him and lean on Him as our Stronghold and High Tower and Refuge from the wiles of the devil and schemes sent out against us.  Psalm 91 is our protection.  Today we are going to confess two other scriptures in the Psalms which are protection scriptures also.  Make these your verses of meditation today.

Psalm 31:20

In the secret shelter of Your Presence You hide me from the plots of men; You keep me safe from those who would conspire against me; You keep me secretly sheltered in Your Pavilion, which is Your Presence.  I am covered over, fenced in, protected, defended, hedged in, shut up from the strife of tongues.  You shelter me from words that would be used to bind my life.

Psalm 32:7

You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance.

When trouble is all around, rejoice, because the Lord will surround you with His songs of deliverance and protection.  Keep rejoicing and don’t stop!  Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!  Release joy and love and life into every situation and every person around you.  Watch God move on your behalf!