HE CARES

Jesus, our Heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit care for us deeply.  Their love for us goes beyond anything we can humanly reason possible.  They love us dearly as their beloved ones.  Therefore, we do not have to have a care about what will happen to us.  All around us the world is in a tizzy about what to do and what is going to happen to them.

Jesus told us in Matthew 6:33 that we are to seek first God’s Kingdom (His way of doing things) and His righteousness (His way of being right) and all these things shall be added unto us.  He told us that He takes care of the birds and the animals, so why should we fret about what to wear or what to eat or where to stay.  He will take care of us.

1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast the whole of our care, all our anxieties, all our worries and all our concerns once and for all on Him, for He cares for us affectionately and cares about us watchfully.  Also, Philippians 4:6 and 7 tell us that we are not to fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything with thanksgiving we are to make our requests known to God.  And His peace which passes all our human understanding will guard our hearts and minds

I know that it does not always seem to you and me that we can just be happy in the midst of the worst of all circumstances and that it appears easier said than done in our lives, but if God had it written in His Word, then we can do it.  We can cast everything upon Him and let Him take care of it for us.  It is possible and it is “doable.”  It takes practice.  Let’s do it.  CAST YOUR CARE ON HIM!

OUR GREAT GOD

King David in Psalm 21:1-7,13, in the Amplified Bible makes a wonderful declaration concerning His God, Who is our God as well.  He speaks to the Lord and tells Him how wonderful He is.  Well, you and I as kings unto the Lord should be making the same declaration.  This can be our prayer and declaration also.

I shall joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall I rejoice!

You have given me my heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of my lips.

For You send blessings of good things to meet me; You set a crown of pure gold on my head.

I asked life of You, and You gave it to me—-long life forever and evermore.

My glory is great because of Your aid; splendor and majesty You bestow upon me.

For You make me to be blessed and a blessing forever; You make me exceedingly glad with the joy of Your presence.

For I trust, rely on and am confident in You Lord, and through your mercy and steadfast love, Most High God, I will never be moved.

Be exalted, Lord, in Your strength; I will sing and praise Your power.

EXCEL CONFESSION

Yesterday we talked about 3 John 2.  Today let’s make some confessions, based on that scripture.

I am God’s Beloved child.  He loves me dearly.  My dear Heavenly Father loves me.

I am prospering.  I am excelling.  I am going to the highest level in God.  I am dwelling in excellence.

It is time for me to excel, increase, exceed, surpass, eclipse, do extremely well.

I am advancing.  I am enlarging.

I am doing exceeding, extraordinary things in my life.

I will do all God has called me to be and do and come to new heights.

I am in health and whole.  I am complete in Him.  My body is a healthy body.  Every cell, tissue, organ and system responds to the health of God, prospering in every way.  I dwell in wholeness in my life in every area.

My soul is prospering.  My mind is the mind of Christ and I hold His purposes, thoughts and actions.  My will is conformed to His will in thought, purpose and deed.  My emotions are stabilized in His fruit and soaring to the new heights of His love and joy and peace in the fruitfulness of Him.

I am complete in the fullness of Christ, The Anointed One and His anointing.

I am my Beloved’s and He is mine.

EXCEL

The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle John in 3 John 2, had this to say to us as God’s dear children.  It is such a familiar scripture I believe we have not truly had a revelation of it.  Let’s look at this scripture verse today.

BELOVED, I DESIRE (OR PRAY) THAT YOU PROSPER AND BE IN HEALTH EVEN AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS.

Let’s start with that first word—-BELOVED.  You are loved by the Lord.  I am going to make a statement that will probably shock some of you.  His very life is tied up in you.  He lives for you and your happiness and well being.  He delights in your success.  It gives Him great pleasure for you to be the healthiest, richest, most prosperous person on the face of the earth.  You are His whole focus of attention.

It is His DESIRE that you PROSPER and BE IN HEALTH.  His greatest desire is to see you prosperous.

To PROSPER means to excel, to achieve the highest excellence.  Does that mean money, as so many people have narrowly defined it?  No, it means your entire life.  You are to excel in health.  You are to excel in relationships.  You are to excel in love and joy and peace and all the fruit of the spirit.  You are to excel in walking in the fullness of His provisions.  And, yes, you are to excel in wealth.  Every one of God’s children were born again to excel.  Excellence is our byword.

BE IN HEALTH—sometimes for some people that seems to be so unreachable because everywhere you and I turn, we hear that there is this sickness out there and that infirmity and this possibility of catching something deadly.  What you hear and focus on is what you become.  We are bombarded on TV, even on the commercials now—-drug companies are spending big bucks to capture your attention with their commercials because there is big business in drugs.  We live in a society which is sickness conscious.  Our society, however, the Kingdom of God society, is a society which is health conscious.  The only way to maintain that health is given us in the last part of that verse.

AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS—-your soul consists of your thinking ability (your reasoning), your ability to make decisions and your reaction to stimuli.  In other words, your soul is your mind, your will and your emotions.  How do we get them to excel?  What we focus on determines how they operate?  Our focus is to be on God.  How do we do that?  His Word!  His Word is the expression of Himself.  As we dwell in His Word, we are dwelling in Him, in His Presence, and we become like Him.  Look upon Him and be whole today.  Delight yourself in Him; enjoy His Presence.

EXCEL IN GOD!

ENJOY ALL THINGS

God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit enjoy you just as you are.  You are the joy of their life.  Yes, You!  Before the creation of the earth, of the world, God made a choice to love and enjoy everybody created on this earth.  He didn’t put a requirement on His love for you.  He chose to love and enjoy you.  Yes, of course, there is something you have to do in response to His love.  But it is so easy, so simple.  All you have to do is accept Him and His love and His sacrifice for you on the cross in order to enjoy the full benefits of His love and joy.  Now hard is that!

I have been meditating two scriptures that I want to share with you that God dropped in my heart in the shower the other day.  They are both related to the word “richly” and they came about as a result of the word “enjoy.”  I have personalized them for my own meditation.

In the King James Bible, 1 Timothy 6:17b, we are told that …the living God gives us richly all things to enjoy.  In the Amplified Bible we are told that God richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Colossians 3:16,15 tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us (have its home in our hearts and minds) richly in all wisdom.  We are to let the peace of God rule in our hearts.

Rule:  Act as umpire continually, deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in my mind.

The Greek word for richly in the Strong’s Concordance means copiously, abundantly.  It comes from the word that means wealthy; figuratively, it means abounding with.  It comes from the root word which means wealth as fullness, money, possessions; figuratively it means abundance, richness, specifically it can mean valuable, bestowments, riches.

Today settle it with finality that God gives you richly, abundantly ALL THINGS TO ENJOY.  He ceaselessly provides you with everything for your enjoyment.  My dear reader, that does include earthly stuff such as money and possessions.  Wealth is no big deal to God as long as it does not become a big deal to you.  It is simply a tool that God uses to bring His good news to everyone and at the same time to make provision for our enjoyment.

ENJOY ALL THINGS!

MY FRIEND, THE HOLY SPIRIT

In John 14:26 and 16:13-15 Jesus spoke some powerful statements about the Holy Spirit.  One of the most important statements that Jesus made is for us especially in today’s world.  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.  We need Truth more than we have ever needed it before.  The Truth will keep us from being deceived.  The Holy Spirit of Truth will expose lying spirits and those who tell lies.  We must be aware at all times of the Truth of God so that we can offset the lies of the enemy.

Here are declarations you can make about the Holy Spirit from these Bible verses.

Holy Spirit, You are the Spirit of Truth.  You give me the Truth of God’s Kingdom.

You are my       COMFORTER

COUNSELOR

HELPER

INTERCESSOR

ADVOCATE

STRENGTHENER

STANDBY

TEACHER

ENCOURAGER

FRIEND

You teach me all things.

You bring all things to my remembrance.

Holy Spirit of Truth, the Truth-giving Spirit,  You will guide me into all Truth, the whole, full Truth.

You will give the message given to You by the Father.

You will announce and declare to me things that are to come, that will happen in the future.

You will honor and glorify Jesus.

You will receive or take of what is Jesus’ and reveal, declare, disclose, and transmit it to me.

Focus on God’s Word of Truth and His Spirit of Truth.  That is our keeping power

FAITH TO BELIEVE, ABILITY TO RECEIVE

God gives us His faith to believe (Romans 12:3, Mark 11:22) and then gives us His grace, His ability to receive.

God is so good to us.  When we are born again, He comes to live in us with all that He is.  His faith is inside us.  People have believed that one person has more faith than another.  No, no!  God is no respecter of persons.  That is what His Word says, so for one person to have more faith than another would be contrary to God’s Word.  The reason it appears that some have more faith than others is that they have developed their faith more than others.

We are all on an equal playing field the minute we get born again.  We all are given the Holy Spirit of God Who dwells in us with all the attributes of God.  Faith is one of those attributes.  It is part of God’s makeup.  As we study God’s Word and learn of Him, our faith grows and develops.  We have the faith of God dwelling in us because He is dwelling in us.  It is actually not our human faith that is our title deed to all that God has for us.  It is confidence in His faith in us giving substance to the things that we have Bible hope for.  Both hope and faith are developed in us.

Here is the neat part!  God even gives us His ability to receive what He gives us the faith to believe.  I think that is so wonderful.  He helps us to receive what He has for us.  He gifts us with His ability to receive what we are desiring and believing.  What an awesome God!  He wants us to be able to receive what He has for us more than we want to receive.  He is there cheering us on!

Say this:

I have the measure of the faith of God on the inside of me.

I do not lack faith!

I have faith, the faith of God living in me!

God’s faith in me is causing my faith to become stronger and bolder every day.

God’s faith in me is causing my faith to be built up every day.

I have God’s ability to receive.

He has gifted me with His anointing to receive.

I HAVE FAITH!  I RECEIVE!

I RECEIVE IT!  I HAVE IT!  I TAKE IT!

IT IS MINE NOW!

PROVIDER

“What began as an inspiration, a dream without limitations, has become a reality you’ll never forget.”  I just read this on an email from a cruise line which launched their newest ship.  It struck me that that is the way God is.  He gives us dreams without limitations.  Everything about Him is a reality we will never forget.  He is above and beyond what we can dream or think or imagine possible.  He is The Provider of all providers.

In Genesis 22:14 we see the first time that God revealed Himself as Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider.  We all know the story of Abraham being willing to offer his only son Isaac in response to the Lord’s request.  We know that he was a type of the Father Himself offering His only Son Jesus for us on the altar as our substitute.  God provided the ram for the offering in the place of Isaac.

The word Jehovah-Jireh literally means, The Lord will see.  God sees ahead of time, down the road, what you and I will need for our lives.  Even when it looks like things are really tough and there appears to be no way to take care of a situation, we must remember that God already saw us in that situation and He has a provision made for us.  He is always our answer.  He will always take care of us.  It is our Father’s good pleasure to do things for us.  He delights in giving us His best.

When tough times come, look to Him.  There are no tough times in God’s Kingdom.  There is no such thing.  We get uptight when we depend on our own ideas of provision instead of allowing God the freedom to make provision.  Yield to Him!  Deliberately, by an act of your will, depend on Him, even when you feel like you can’t.  He will even help you to believe and yield to His ability to provide.  Living with Him is living the good life!  Yield!  He will come through for YOU!

HE IS MY PROVIDER!

GOD’S HEALING TOUCH

Have you ever been in a place, or maybe you are there right now, where you needed to know that God was with you in a personal, touchable way?  You know the Word says He is in you and you have accepted it by faith that He is there, but you would like to have some indication He knows what you need.  Oh, come on now, don’t be so pious with me.  We all have needed that, haven’t we?

Today, let’s talk about God’s healing power, His ability to take care of us in any situation.

The 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language defines healing as wholeness, soundness, to return to a sound state, to cure of a disease or wound and restore to soundness, or to that state of body in which the natural functions are regularly performed, to restore to soundness, to cure.

When something is sound or whole, it is in a state where it operates and functions the way it was created to function, without hindrance.  It is complete, with nothing missing that would contribute to that perfect state of operation.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost the capacity for their bodies to stay sound, operating in the way that God had created them.  Oh, but Jesus came and He paid the price for a sound physical body once again.  When His blood was shed at that whipping post for our sicknesses and diseases, every stripe represented another category of disease where the body was concerned.  And when He hung on that cross and took upon Himself all of the curse of the law, He took every symptom, pain, sickness and disease that would ever come on us.  He took it all.  Now we are free of the curse of the law.  He became a curse so that the Blessing of Abraham might come on us.  Part of that blessing is health and healing.

So, what are we to do when pain hits our body, when symptoms appear, when sickness attacks?  We take authority over that pain, that symptom, that sickness and command it to leave.  It comes from satan and we refuse to receive any of his package.  He is a liar and a thief and a destroyer and a killer.  We stand our ground.  We refuse to let go of what Jesus has purchased for us.  It is ours.  It legally belongs to us.  He is illegally trespassing on our bodies and he is to leave, to be evicted.  He is not to be allowed to take up residence or even rent a room.  We are the temples of the Holy Ghost.  Jesus has bought and paid for us.  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.

In Isaiah 53:4,5 and 1 Peter 2:24 we are told that with the stripes that wounded Jesus we are healed and made whole.  In other words, we are restored to health.  We are restored to soundness and wholeness.

I think that is the best news I have ever heard.  Believe what the Word of God says is yours personally.  Trust the Lord to bring to pass in your life personally what His Word says about healing.  Choose to believe that you will be made whole.  Choose to believe that Jesus took care of your own body and freed you from sickness and disease.

We all live on this earth and we all will have to battle symptoms from time to time and pain that attempts to convince us that there is something dreadfully wrong with us.  Just say, NO!  NO, YOU DON’T!  YOU ARE NOT TAKING MY HEALTH FROM ME.  IT BELONGS TO ME!  I HAVE RECEIVED IT AS A GIFT FROM MY FATHER, AND I REFUSE TO GIVE YOU MY GIFT, SATAN.    GIT!!!!!

We have to stand our ground and refuse to give up territory which has been gained.  We stand firm in the face of every contradictory word spoken over us and every report given to us that is contrary to the Word of God.  That is our stand.  So what if the doctor tells you that you are going to die?  So what if the report comes back positive?  Whose report do you believe?  What does the Word have to say about that?  You have Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you.  He is the power of God.  He is the life of God.  How can two live in the same space?  Life is living in you and death has no room.

I love Proverbs 12:28 which tells us that in our pathway is life and there is no death.  Take that scripture, believe it, dwell on it until it becomes more real to you than any doctor’s report that is contrary to life and health.  It takes a while to renew our minds, but we can renew our minds to think the way God thinks.  God thinks like this:  LIFE!  HEALTH!  HEALING!  His Word says this:  LIFE!  HEALTH!  HEALING!  And what are we to say then over ourselves?  LIFE!  HEALTH!  HEALING!

Healing is yours.  It is the touch of the Master on your life forever, eternally.  Take it.  It belongs to you.

MY DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME, PART 2

Confess this today:  MY DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME.  I AM THE APPLE OF HIS EYE.  I AM HIS DELIGHTFUL CHILD.  HE LOVES ME DEARLY.

Now, let’s look at some scriptures on God’s love.

John 17:22-26 New Living Translation

I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are—-I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one.  Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.  Father, I want these whom you’ve given me to be with me, so they can see my glory.  You gave me the glory because you loved me even before the world began!  O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me.  And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you.  I will do this so that your love for me may be in them and I in them.

From these scriptures, let’s make another declaration or confession.

THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR GIVING ME THE GLORY THE FATHER GAVE YOU SO THAT WE COULD BE ONE.  O DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER, THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE JESUS.  JESUS, THANK YOU FOR REVEALING THE FATHER TO ME SO THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND HIS LOVE IN ME BECAUSE YOU ARE IN ME.

We have a God who cares for us beyond anything we can ever imagine or dream or think possible.  Our every need has been taken care of.  Our every desire has been fulfilled.  All that we need He has provided.  And He goes beyond need.  He loves to lavish gifts upon us because He is a God of abundance, multiplication, increase.

Make the decision today that you will receive all that He has provided for you.  If you have trouble receiving, practice saying to Him you believe you receive whatever it is in His word that you read, which He has given to you.  It may not always look like it is yours in the natural, earthly realm but look only at the Word of what you have been given.  Believe the Word of God.  Accept the Word of God.  Receive what He has for you.  Give Him the pleasure, the enjoyment of providing for you this day and every day.  He loves to give to His kids.