365 Days, 365 Devotionals, Eternal Change

Life Above the Sun

2011-10-03T17:34:00.000-04:00

John 10:10
"...I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."

Fill in the blank, "Life is__________." Most of you will quote one of the greatest movies, Forrest Gump, by saying: "...like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." Some of you will get cliche on me by saying, "...not a dress rehearsal, you only get to live it once." Others will describe existence by filling in the blank with: a rat race, a bowl of cherries, amino acids, a series of choices, a paycheck, the weekend, a party...

Why is that we always want to reduce life in size? Reduce it to something measurable?

For many, life is nothing more than the time spent between birth and death. The drudgery of existence. The boring monotony of the routine. The hope of having enough until the end. Have these people bought a lie? Has their life been stolen from them? Well, if we peek at the beginning or John 10:10, what does it say?

"The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy..."

Joseph Prince says,

When you are not enjoying abundant life, you will feel as if life is full of toil. In your heart, life is meaningless and empty. You feel like someone 'grasping for the wind' (Ecclesiastes 2:11). It seems as if nothing you do adds up to much. The Bible calls this life 'under the sun' (v. 11). Someone who lives life under the sun may or may not know God, but God is either forgotten or not the center of things in his life. His thoughts are earthly and he does things to gratify his flesh. In the end, he finds life depressing and unfulfilled. Life under the sun is full of despair.

There are many avenues down which we can travel that leads not to life but to destruction. While we would never call these pursuits thieves and robbers...they are just that. They, in there diabolical and methodical ways, attempt to destroy our attempts at life. Where do people go to find life to only discover despair?

The 5 P's:

Pleasure
Performance
Possessions
Position
Pursuits

The enemy uses things that aren't inherently bad, but when we make them our idols, our life is robbed of true enjoyment and fulfillment.

Jesus said that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But He came that we may have and enjoy life and life more abundantly! The Greek word for, "may have" is, echō, which means to have (hold) in the hand, in the sense of wearing, to have (hold) possession of the mind, to hold fast, keep. This is not an inconsistent, roller-coaster of emotion type life!

The Greek word for "more abundantly" is perissos which means over and above, more than is necessary, superadded, supremely, something further, more, much more than all, superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon, superiority, advantage, more eminent, more remarkable, more excellent...I'm serious, look this Greek word up for yourself! It means all these things (there were actually more, but I figured you got the point).

We are meant to live a life above the sun! For life with Him is filled with joy and pleasures at His right hand (Psalm 16:11).

When you live life above the sun, your thoughts are heavenward and you become Christ-occupied. You live for Him because you know that "all things were created through Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). When you life for His glory, your life takes on a new meaning and purpose.

Colossians 1:17 says, "And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together)." As you can see in the Amplified version, the Greek word for "consist" means "held together." In Christ, all things are held together! Which is why when Christ is the central figure in our life, we have it all together! Makes sense, right?!

Now, if you are wondering how to make Him the central figure in your life, just look back at yesterday's blog. ABIDE, DWELL, SEEK, DIG, SET UP CAMP, MAKE YOUR PERMANENT HOME...in Him. Find out who He is, what He says about you, what He has ALREADY DONE for you!

Your hopes, dreams, family, life, etc. will be held together perfectly. Our lives will never be empty, but full of God's goodness!

Thought for you to dwell and meditate on:

When Christ is the central figure in my life, I will have it all together!

The Lord Is Your Refuge

2011-10-02T17:49:00.000-04:00

Psalm 91:1-2
"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!"

     Everyone's favorite bible verse...but do we really understand the fullness of these words? In the world today, we sure can use a place of refuge and someone to truly rely upon, no?   Putting our hope, trust, and security in man or worldly things is like leaning on a brick wall on wheels; it looks good and secure, but we will always end up picking ourselves up off the ground.

     I don't want you to get sick of hearing me say this, but it really is everywhere in the Bible...the if/then principle...again, it's not that we have to work for God's blessings/promises, but we must do our part. If God didn't have the if/then's there would be no need for faith or relationship! So, let's dive in...

     What is the "then" (the blessing or promise from God that we want):

To remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty whose power no foe can withstand.

So, in order to have this stability and fixed position, what do we need to do? The "if" precedes the "then":

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High..."

No, you don't need a special treasure map and key to access to this secret place, let's break it down...

"He who dwells..."

yashab - to dwell: remain, sit, abide, to be set, to stay, to make one's abode

"...in the secret..."

cether - protection, covering, shelter, hiding place, help
The original Hebrew translations says, "He who dwells in the help of the Highest...

He who makes their permanent home in God's help, He who abides under God's shelter, He who remains with God, He who stays with God...The secret place of the Most High is God's help, His presence, His will, His...well...HIM! If you ABIDE in HIM! If you LIVE in HIM! If you SIT and STAY with HIM! If you make your permanent HOME in HIM...

...THEN...

you SHALL (I love that word...it's a promise) remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty whose power no foe can withstand!

The key to the secret place of the Most High is faith! If you read further into this chapter, this secret place is where you will see no evil thing can touch you, no fear can consume you, no sickness can come upon you, etc. Because you have made Him your dwelling place, angels are watching over you right now (vv. 9-11)!

When you are in this place, God can use you and you can experience His direction, blessings and miracles in your life. But it is our choice to be here and stay here. At anytime, we can choose to find another refuge, and God can't work in our lives when we are away from Him. The great thing about God is that He will let you do what you want, He can't force you to stay under His wings...but He is always wooing you back to them and when we decide to return, He is there with open arms, ready to bless again! Praise God!

I encourage you to read the whole chapter with the if/then principle in mind. All the blessing and protection this chapter promises is for you! And now we know how to access it! Go forth and be blessed!

Thought for the day: The Lord is your refuge from every evil known to man.

God's Love Makes You Strong

2011-08-19T13:42:00.001-04:00

Ephesians 3:19
"...know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

I love this, it is another one of God's if/then's but it's not something we need to do, it's something we receive, celebrate, get absorbed in - the LOVE of Jesus!

As we receive, celebrate, get absorbed in and thank Jesus for His love in our lives we will find ourselves changed. Changed how, you ask? Read on...

I want to go back a couple verses from Ephesians 19. Starting at v.16 the Amplified Bible says:

¹⁶May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
    ¹⁷May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
    ¹⁸That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
    ¹⁹[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

Note the bold text, "May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love." "That..." That..." "That..."

See, it's an if/then thing! IF we are rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, THEN we receive all of the "That..."s!

We will have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp the breadth (how wide), length (how long), height (how high), and depth (how deep) of His love.
We will really come to know through experience the love of Christ which far surpasses mere knowledge
We will be filled through all of our being with the fullness of God; the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!

Wow! Do you want to be wholly filled and flooded with God Himself?! Have the richest measure of the divine Presence?! Who wouldn't! The best thing is, I haven't even gotten to the best part! Let's read further to v. 20:

²⁰Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]--

There is an if/then within the if/then - In consequence of all this (being rooted and grounded in Christ's love), God is able to carry out His purpose in us and do SUPERABUNDANTLY, FAR OVER, AND ABOVE ALL that we could ever ask, think, or desire! How can there be any doubt that He loves us?

So, going back to the original question of how we can be changed: Look at David...when he was soaking himself in God's love for him during his times of worship, wasn't he changed from a puny shepherd boy to a lion killer, bear killer, giant killer, and a king of Israel? That is change, no?! David was rooted and grounded in God's love for him.

As you feed on Jesus' love for you, you will be filled with the fullness of God and therefore, He can carry out His purpose in us and do more than we can ever imagine with our lives...how great is He? Like David, we have our own spiritual lions eating our sheep! But if we are rooted and grounded in God's love, like David, we will have the power and strength to tear them apart! Amen?

Feel free to listen to this song by Acapella. They are singing from verses 14-19 of Ephesians. Enjoy :)

"Fullness of God" by Acapella

Thought for the day: Feed on Jesus' love for you, and be filled with the fullness and power of God to tear your spiritual lions apart!

Discerning the Lord's Body

2011-07-13T11:53:00.000-04:00

1 Corinthians 11:24
"and when he had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'"

Communion...oh how the misconceptions have robbed so many Christians/believers of an important God-ordained avenue of healing and wholeness. One of the most man/religion-contaminated acts that our Heavenly Father has provided for us.

Who is worthy to receive it?
Eucharist? Holy Communion? The Sacrament of the Altar? The Blessed Sacrament? The Lord's Supper? - What do we call it?
Should people take it themselves? Or should it be given to them?
On their tongue? Or in their hands?
How should Communion be given to those wearing gloves?
What action should be taken if dropped or spilled?
Is the bread to be dipped? Or do we eat and drink separately?
What kind of bread? Wafer or Wonder?

I seriously was shocked that there are actually rules about all of these things! Where did the church come up with the answers to these? The Bible? NOPE! And the most upsetting part of all this is that midst all the bells and whistles the church puts on over Communion, they are missing one of the best attributes; HEALING!

Let's look at this scripture:

1 Corinthians 11:27-30
So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a way that is unworthy [of Him] will be guilty of [profaning and sinning against] the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man [thoroughly] examine himself, and [only when he has done] so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discriminating and recognizing with due appreciation that [it is Christ's] body, eats and drinks a sentence (a verdict of judgment) upon himself. That [careless and unworthy participation] is the reason many of you are weak and sickly, and quite enough of you have fallen into the sleep of death.

Most of the church today preach that a person is guilty of sinning if the Communion is taken "in a way that is unworthy," this means that the person was unworthy because he didn't "examine himself" beforehand; i.e. wasn't in a state of grace with the Lord and didn't confess of all his sins. - This is not what is meant by discerning the body!

Everyone is worthy to eat and drink! It's the manner in which you do so that can be unworthy, not the person! So what does discerning the Lord's body entail? I'll show you...

One of the most common breads used for the symbol of Christ's body is Matzah bread. The Jews eat it during Passover, and much of the church is using it today because it is unleavened (and tastes better than a wafer, ha). If you have never seen this bread, it is flat like a cracker, pierced with rows of little holes that form stripes, and is slightly burned around the edges...sound familiar?!

Joseph Prince puts it, "My Friend, the bread (speaking of the Matzah) that you hold in your hands when you partake of the Lord's Supper speaks of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ when He bore our sins and sicknesses on the cross.

Like the bread, He was pierced in His brow by the crown of thorns as well as in His hands and feet by the nails. He was also pierced in His side by a soldier's spear. The prophet Isaiah says, 'He was pierced for our transgressions...' (Isaiah 53:5).

Like the bread, He was scourged on His back until His flesh was all torn and bloody, and His bones were exposed, so that today, you can say, 'By His stripes I am healed!' (Isaiah 53:5)

What about the burn marks on the bread? The full fire of God's wrath fell on Jesus, burning up our sins into ashes, and at the same time, bringing out the fragrance of the offering of Jesus. Today, your sins and lawless deeds are but ashes, and your Father in heaven remembers them no more! (Hebrews 8:12)"

Discerning the body is recognizing these precious truths about Jesus' body. When you do, you are receiving Communion in a worth manner. Verse 30 says that this is why many are weak, sick, and dying; because we are not recognizing that what the body does for us!!

Now we know that Jesus was pierced for our sins and scourged for our healing. He bore God's fiery judgement so that we will never be judged for our sins! He also bore our diseases and carried our pains so that we can walk in divine health! Hallelujah, huh?!

Thought for you to ponder today: Jesus was pierced for your sins and scourged for your healing so that you can walk in divine health today!

Jesus Is Willing, Be Healed!

2011-07-11T11:09:00.003-04:00

Matthew 8:3
"Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.'"

One of the most devastating misconceptions about my God is healing:
#1. That it is not His will to heal everyone.
#2. That he uses it sparingly and only on His favorites (or those who do the most "good works") whom He has big plans for and absolutely need to be healed.
#3. That He is the one who gave the infirmity and until you learn your lesson He won't take it away or maybe even at all.
#4. Chalking healing up as something that could only happen when Jesus was physically walking the Earth and could physically lay His hand on you or speak words directly to you.

I would really like one of those neuralizers from the movie Men in Black so that I could erase these teachings from Christian's brains! Talk about renewing your mind...wouldn't that be nice.

It is God's will for you to be healed! Everyone is included in that "you". If you really don't believe me...read the Bible, then compare it to the teaching above, you will surely agree that it is incorrect. Notice that Jesus always healed the sick who came to Him - the blind, lame, maimed, mute, deaf, and demon possessed - all of them. Read Matthew 8:16...

"When evening came, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons, and He drove out the spirits with a word and restored to health all who were sick."

Can you please find me a scripture where Jesus said anything to the affect of, "Umm...I could heal you being God and all...buuuut...I don't feel like it/you deserve it because of that lie you told yesterday/I am trying to teach you something so you'll just have to suffer...sorry, but dem's da breaks!"

Joseph Prince paints the perfect picture: "Unfortunately, there are some Christians who say, "It is God's will for me to be sick. God has some purpose, some mysterious purpose for my situation. It is all part of His divine plan and we shall all know in the sweet by and by, the reason why!" But these same people go to their doctors to get well. They take their medication and rest. Why do they do that if they really believe that God wants them sick? Doesn't make sense does it?"

No, but what makes perfect sense is the fact that God wants you well! He wants you whole. It is always His will for you to be healed! He is so WILLING that He sent Jesus to take all our sicknesses and diseases upon His body, so that we don't have to suffer them today! Look at Isaiah 53:5...

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole."

Notice the tense here...we ARE healed...this means we, today, are healed! Since He has already suffered the sickness on our behalf, why should you suffer it today?! Just receive it!

So, if you are sick in any way, know that God did not give you this disease. See how Jesus is the Lord who heals you by reading every healing miracle that He did in the Gospels. Hear Him saying to you, "I am willing, be healed," and know that these words are just as much for you today ans they were for the leper in Matthew!

Thought for the day: Jesus took all your sicknesses and diseases upon His own body so that you don't have to suffer them today!

The Power of Your Words

2011-07-10T12:30:00.005-04:00

Proverbs 18:21
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, those who love it will eat its fruit."

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." We all can remember uttering this phrase (or at least being reassured with this phrase by an adult) during our playground days. It was supposed to help us see that words can do no physical harm to us, so we should not care if people are bashing us with hurtful words intended to damage our spirits. As kids we were supposed to have enough self esteem to look beyond those words and feel compassion for the bully; for he must have some sort of hurt in his life to make him feel the need to hurt others.

Yeah right! Just like sticks and stones, words are weapons too! Not only in the sense that they can bruise ones psyche and cause them to read a shelf-full of self help books, but they have the power to change physical bodies and circumstances! And weaponry speaking, words can be used both offensively and defensively.

More positively speaking, let's think of words as seeds...the Bible does! Whenever I think of my words, I remember in 1st grade we went on a field trip to my best friends house for a big end of the year picnic and party. Among the many activities to join in, one of them was a watermelon seed spitting contest. Now, whether I won or not is beside the point (I won), the point I am trying to make is that we need to think of our mouth as being full of seeds. In these seeds holds a potential harvest. Once a seed is spit out of the mouth and lands on the ground, it has no choice but to reap a harvest of what was contained in that seed. If you spit watermelon seeds you will reap a watermelon vine, if you spit a corn seed, you will reap a corn stalk, if you spit an apple seed, whether your name is Johnny or not, you're gonna get an apple tree.

If you spit a blessing seed you will reap a blessing, if you spit a curse you will reap a curse. If you spit restoration, if you spit loss; if you spit healing, if you spit destruction; if you spit delight, if you spit despair; if you spit life, if you spit death...

...you will surely reap the harvest

For God's Word says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. The second part of the beginning scripture is key its basically saying...

...we will eat the fruit of the seeds we spit.

We will get whatever comes out of those seeds. We need to stop lining our words up with negative circumstances. When negative circumstances come, this is the time we need to use our seeds as weapons! We need to start battling Satan's circumstance with our words, butwhen we speak words that are in line with his circumstance we are letting the enemy gain territory! We need to fight back with lining our words with God's words and promises and let the power of His Word fight for us! The enemy has no choice but to retreat!

For example, instead of speaking lack and poverty, speak, "God's Word tells me that the good things are already here. I therefore pronounce my life blessed. I pronounce my life prosperous. I pronounce my life great. Darkness and gloom, poverty and sickness, defeat and depression will not be in my life!"

You can also speak words that will affect other people. You can bless or curse someone or something else. Just like Jesus spoke to that tree that bore no fruit and it died. He cursed it. Now, this story has a much deeper meaning, but you get my point. Whether it's speaking over your children or over your enemy, your words will reap what they sow. In this case, I think we could take a lesson from Mr. Spock from Star Trek...bare with me here...what were the words of the famous Vulcan saying accompanied by the famous Vulcan salute? "Live long and prosper."

Interesting note: Leonard Nimoy wrote that he based the salute on the priestly blessing performed by Jewish Kohen (priests) with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the salute. The letter Shin here stands for Shaddai, meaning "Almighty (God)".

The accompanying spoken blessing, "Live long and prosper," (the less-known reply is "Peace and long life.") is similar to common Middle Eastern greetings (Salaam alaykum in Arabic and Shalom aleichem in Hebrew), meaning "peace be upon you", and its reply, "upon you be peace".

Speak: "I will live long, I will not die young. Jesus died young for me so that I can live long for Him. I am the righteousness of God in Christ and God's Word declares that no evil befalls the righteous. So no evil will come on me now and in the future!"

Now, remember, you can speak these words over you not because everyone's favorite Vulcan said them but because our Daddy, our Heavenly Father, our Creator said them first! You can speak life, prosperity and every other promise and blessing He has for us over your life and others.

Joseph Prince says, "God wants you to have life filled with good days and an abundance of every good thing. So say, 'In the name of Jesus, I command blessings, favor, health, prosperity, protection, dominion, and power to fill my life!"

Thought for the day:

Line your words up with God's Word and release the power of His Word to work for you.

Rejoice, O Barren!

2010-06-17T14:43:00.002-04:00

Galatians 4:27
"...Rejoice O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor..."

This devo topic is pretty close to my heart. When I was going through my treatments for Leukemia when I was 12 years old, the doctors told me that I would be barren the rest of my life. When I was 12 I didn't necessarily care too much, but as I have gotten older it really bothered me. I was hurt and frustrated that in fixing my one condition, it ruined something else; something that turned out to be very important to me.

I became a Christian, truly, when I was 12 after my diagnosis my family and I quickly realized that we couldn't fix this on our own, and stopped trying to do so. So, I was a baby believer when I needed great healing! Not really knowing who I was in Christ or the power and authority that I know that I have now, I remember reading scriptures over and over that my Mom showed me about healing. The healing that Jesus provided for me on the cross, I was just speaking constantly, most of the time not really knowing what I was saying! But with many other people praying for me, I am totally healed today! Praise God.

It has been so neat to see that God has healed everything, not just the cancer, but all that it ruined in my body! I am no longer barren and am completely able to bear children when the time comes! Hallelujah!

In Isaiah 54:1 it says for those experiencing barrenness to REJOICE!

Why?

Because in the previous chapter, it tells us that the chastisement for our peace fell upon Jesus! The word, "peace" in this context literally means: completeness, soundness, health, and prosperity. In other words, all these benefits are yours today because Jesus has already been punished at the cross for your peace. THIS IS WHY YOU CAN START REJOICING!

Now, "barrenness" doesn't just have to mean barrenness of children in women! Financially barren, health barren, peace barren, job barren etc. Whatever area, start rejoicing! Rejoice as if the fruit or yield you want to see has already come! "He wants you to start speaking, acting, thinking as if the barrenness is no more!" - JP

Joseph Prince says to, "Tell God, 'Father, because of the sacrifice your Your Son, I am blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. You have already given me everything. So I am going to act like it is so and rejoice!'"

Thought for the day: Start thinking, speaking, and acting as if your barrenness is no more.

Right Believing Produces Right Living

2010-06-17T13:02:00.003-04:00

Luke 19:8
"Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.'"

Tax collectors...ew...they were despised because they were deceitful and cheated people out of money. They resorted to false accusation to get what they wanted.

This was Zacchaeus. All of the above.

One day, Jesus visited him. This is what I love about Jesus, instead of rebuking him for his dishonest lifestyle, the whole time He was there, He makes no mention of it!! On the contrary, Jesus showed him grace and honor by spending time with him. Before long, Zacchaeus stood up and declared that he would restore four times the amount he had taken illegally from someone, and even give half of his goods to the poor.

Just a moment with Jesus completely changed his heart! Joseph Prince says, "A moment with grace in person - without accusations, condemnation or judgment - caused such and inward transformation that in a short time, Zacchaeus was doing outwardly what was right and in a measure no man would have expected of him!"

Most of us want to live right. Great, lets go for it! However, the concern with right living makes us focus on themselves and the things we struggle with. We try to figure out how to fix things like: lusting, lying, getting jealous, having faith, receiving healing, receiving blessings, etc. in order to live right. But again, we can do nothing without on our own! Trying to fix things on our own is not going to produce right living...just a lot of confusion and frustration...which leads to worse things if not cleared up.

Here is the key: Right believing is what produces right living.

"If you keep trying to break free from an addiction that has bound you for many years, believe that Jesus loves you so much that at the cross, He paid the price for you to be completely free from any addiction. Believe that by His stripes you are healed and delivered." -JP

Here is a cool testimony:
"One member in our church had a smoking addiction. But each time he lit up a cigarette, he would believe that God was not judging or condemning him, and that he was still the righteousness of God in Christ. One day, he woke up impressed by the Spirit that that day would mark the start of a smoke-free life. Expecting to be assaulted by the usual cravings to smoke, he prayed this throughout the day: 'Thank You, Jesus, for by Your stripes I am healed.' Before he knew it, the day passed without him lighting up or suffering any withdrawal pangs! And since then, he has been totally free of this addiction."

If you want to experience right living, find out what Christ has done for you and what you have in Him, then...BELIEVE IT! :)

Thought for the day: Believe what Christ as done for you and what you have in Him.

God Helps the Helpless

2010-06-17T11:38:00.004-04:00

Psalm 63:7
"Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice."

"To thine own self be true."
"Money is the root of all evil."
"Once saved, always saved."
"The three wisemen."
"The Sinner's Prayer."

These are among many common sayings or things not actually found in scripture.

The false biblical quote that we will focus on in this devo is:
"God helps those who help themselves."

It is very common that Christians will ask for prayer like this, "Please pray for me! I can't see a way out of the mess I am in. I know that this whole thing in my fault. I don't even know whether God will hear my prayers!"

Most of our problems are from our own making, sure, but it is when we deserve the punishment and not the blessing that we can receive grace - undeserved favor and unmerited help from God!

"When we stop trying to be deserving of God's help, we find God more than willing to be our Savior. But when we continue to try to work things out, we are trying to be our own saviors. God will say, 'Save yourself because I can't help you when you don't need My help.'" -JP

Here is where some might reply, "Well, you know, God helps those who help themselves!"

False.

Contrary to popular belief, this saying, like the others listed at the top of the post, are NOT in the Bible!

Do you know who DID say this? It was Benjamin Franklin! Taking a slight detour from our devo here, lets look at this: Franklin was a deist and so he believed that God did not play an active role in men's lives. In his point of view if man was not able to help himself, then man was hopeless.

The Bible teaches something entirely different than the above saying, because God makes special provision to help the helpless.

Romans 5:6,8
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly....But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Proverbs 28:26
He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
But he who walks wisely will be delivered.

Jeremiah 17:5
Thus says the LORD,
"Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD.

God does NOT help those who help themselves.
"He helps those who are helpless and dependent on Him. He helps those who look to Him as their only source of help for their problem." - JP

If you say your problem is that you are weak; no problem! He says He is your strength.
If you say your problem is that you are ugly; no problem! He says His face will shine on yours, He is your glory!
If you say that you are the problem, that you are a nobody; no problem! He says He has made you a somebody!!

Unfortunately, a lot of us are still trying to help ourselves, thinking that for certain matters, we don't really need God.

"But God says, 'Without Me, you can do nothing' (John 15:5). Do we really believe that? Or do we believe that without Him, we can still do some things to help ourselves?"

When, and only when, we realize that we can do nothing, and are nothing in and of ourselves, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). Joseph Prince closes with, "Then, we will see the undeserved, unmerited help and favor of God deliver us from every evil!"

Thought for the day: God helps those who are helpless and completely dependent on Him.

Believe and Act on the New Covenant

2010-06-17T11:09:00.003-04:00

1 Samuel 17:45
"Then David said to the Philistine, '...I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."

Two people can hear the same thing and yet have very different responses to it. For the one person, what is said makes him afraid and discouraged. For the other person, his heart is so filled with faith that he dares to come against the devil and what he is doing...how does this happen?

"In the Valley of Elah, Goliath, the Philistine giant, taunted the armies of Israel for 40 days. When David came on the scene, he heard the same mockings of Goliath that the rest of the Israelites heard. But somehow, those same words that caused fear in the soldiers angered David. What did David know or see that the others failed to see? David knew that he had a covenant with God.

Now, King Saul and all the soldiers with him that day also had the same covenant with God, but only David believed the covenant. And he acted on his belief. So God caused his giant to come tumbling down.

If David had such a great victory even though he was under the old covenant, how much more you and I who are under the new covenant! Today, God is asking, 'Where are my Davids who will believe the new covenant?

What is the new covenant? It is the covenant of grace. And grace means unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor. God wants us to know that He has cut this covenant with us through Christ, our representative. And according to the covenant, we have His undeserved favor. We are blessed because Jesus took our beating. Because of what Jesus has done on the cross, we have victory over every giant." - Joseph Prince

We have the ability to stand before our "giant" and declare that in spite of what we are going through, in spite of what is happening, we believe that God is for you because of what Jesus has done for us. When we do this, we will see our "giants" of accusation, intimidation, condemnation, disease, debt, etc. fall flat before us!! Isn't that great news?!

Thought for the day: Because of what Jesus has done on the cross, we have victory over every giant.

Boast in God's Grace for You

2010-06-16T11:25:00.002-04:00

1 Corinthians 1:31
"...He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."

This devo was very interesting for me. Just see what Joseph Prince noticed about Mark 10:17-22:

"If someone asks you, 'What must I do to inherit eternal life?' you would probably tell him, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved,' wouldn't you?
Well, a rich young ruler asked Jesus the same question, but instead of telling the man to believe in Him, Jesus gave him the law. (Mark 10:17-22)"

Now, as I was reading this, I stopped here and got very confused. Why would Jesus give this guy the law? I know, technically the law had not been fulfilled yet since Jesus was still alive, but still, Jesus didn't teach the law! But then I read on...

"Jesus saw that the young ruler lived his life taking pride in his ability to keep the law to earn salvation and the favor of God. But because of His love for the man, Jesus had to show him that those who live by the law must realize that their self-efforts cannot save them."

Okay, clever Jesus, He is gonna school this guy!!...in love...read on...

"He therefore reminded him, 'You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery...'Do not steal...'Honor your father and mother.'" The young ruler showed that his trust was in his law-keeping when he replied, 'Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.'

Ooooo, this is getting good! Here comes the smackdown!!...in love...

"So Jesus had to tell him, 'One thing you lack...sell whatever you have and give to the poor...and come...and follow Me.' When the young ruler heard that, he walked away sorrowful."

I just love that! Jesus gave him the law, but to show him that it is not what is going to save him...only Jesus can do that.

Joseph Prince says this: "When we boast of having kept the law, it will always point out something we lack or have failed to obey. The law is so holy and perfect that if we don't keep even one iota of it, it has no choice but to judge and curse us. (Galatians 3:10). That is what the law was designed to do." Wow.

If we are going to have confidence and boast in anything at all, we are to boast in God's grace. Only His grace can completely keep, save, heal, deliver and bless us.

Boast in His grace! Boast that He is our strength, health, favor, prosperity, wisdom, hope, salvation, and glory!! "That is how we will see ourselves enjoying our inheritance of abundant life!" - JP

Thought for the day: Only His grace, not our works, can save, keep, heal, deliver, and bless us.

Everlasting Righteousness

2010-06-15T15:17:00.007-04:00

Daniel 9:24
"Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for you holy
city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness..."

How true is this: "On Sunday, we hear a message that says, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ." On Monday, we are still confessing, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ." But come Wednesday or Thursday, we begin to confess our sins! Then, when Sunday comes, we get a fresh revelation of our righteousness in Christ and we start to confess our righteousness again. Why do we do that?" - JP

It can't be that we loose our righteousness from Sunday to midweek! Just because we started confessing our sins it does nothing to our righteousness! "...then a few days later, we become unrighteous because of sin, but are 're-righteoused' when Sunday comes again. No, our righteousness is an 'everlasting righteousness'! Jesus has obtained 'eternal redemption' for us. (Hebrews 9:12). - JP

Now, some of you are thinking, "But, if I have just sinned, how can I still be righteous?"

Here is the good news: It is not what you do that makes you righteous. It is what Christ has already done on the cross at Calvary.

Let's look at Romans 5:19 from the Amplified Bible...

"For just as by one man's disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man's obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him)." [Bolding mine]

Breakdown:

The first "one man" = ADAM
The second "one Man" = JESUS

It is the obedience of Jesus and not your own obedience that has made you righteous!!

Joseph Prince says this, "God wants you established in what Christ has done. He wants you conscious of your everlasting righteousness in Christ. How do you do that? You can listen to anointed messages that remind you of your righteousness in Christ. And don't just know it in your head. Speak it. Every morning, tell yourself, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ!"

More scripture...2 Corinthians 5:21 from Amplified Bible...

"For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness]."

You are the righteousness of God in Christ! Speak it! We need to start understanding who we are! The church today is so weak and powerless due to lack of knowledge of who they are and the power they have in Christ!

"You don't need a revelation of how sinful you are. You know it when you sin. The devil reminds you of your sins. Even your friends and loved ones sometimes point out your sins. What you need instead, is a revelation of how forever righteous you are in God's eyes, especially when you sin." - JP

Romans 5:17 -

"For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

According to this scripture, when you are conscious not of sin, but of this gift of righteousness that is everlasting, you will REIGN in life!! You will reign over sin, bad habits, sickness, lack, and "everything that holds you back from a victorious life!" -JP

Thought for the day: It is not what you do that makes you righteous. It is what Christ had done at Calvary.

Worship God As You Are

2010-06-15T14:17:00.004-04:00

Ephesians 5:27
"That He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and without blemish."

Picture yourself in the worship service at your church.
You are standing with your arms lifted high ready to worship God...only to hear the worship leader say this, "Now, before we worship God, let's all search our hearts..." Then, as you search your heart, in no time at all you find something that you did wrong yesterday, and earlier that day, and even on the way to this very worship service! Before long, your hands are no longer raised, and you find yourself sitting down - you don't feel good about worshipping the Lord any
more. You feel unworthy and like He won't even hear the worship you were about to offer because He is too busy dwelling on how you've messed up.

Does this sound familiar? Well if it does then I have good news...COME AND WORSHIP HIM AS YOU ARE! Come into His presence not sin-conscious but Jesus-conscious, forgivness-conscious, and grace-conscious! "Come into God's presence bringing only Jesus, the spotless lamb of God, as your offering." -JP

Joseph Prince revealed something new to me in this devo,

"Your worshipping God is like the times God's people in the Old Testament brought their offerings to the priest. The priest examined the animal sacrifice to ensure that it was without blemish. The priest did NOT examine the sinner. If the animal was without blemish, God accepted the animal sacrifice as well as the offerer who brought the animal."

Even in the Old Testament God did not look at the sinner! He only looked at what the sinner was offering! So when we come into God's presence, don't do any self-examination and be discouraged when you find faults in your life. GOD DOES NOT EXAMINE YOU. HE SEES YOU THROUGH THE FULL VALUE, AND ALL THE LOVELINESS AND ACCEPTANCE OF HIS SON. (Ephesians 1:6) He sees you HOLY and WITHOUT BLEMISH!

Joseph Prince reminds us of the woman who was referred to as a sinner, possibly a prostitute. She went to the house of the Pharisee who was hosting Jesus and wiped Jesus' feet with her hair (Luke 7:36-50). That was her act of worship.

"She came to Him as she was. Yes, she knew that she had sinned, but she worshiped Jesus first because of who He is. She was Jesus-conscious. Then she heard Jesus say, 'Your sins are forgiven.' (v.48). She received the forgiveness she needed from Him.

Whatever you need from teh Savior, come to Him as you are. Worship Him for who He is and then you will hear Him say, 'Go your way. Your restoration has come. Your prosperity is here. You are healed. You have been made whole!'"

Thought for the day: God sees you in Christ - holy and without blemish.

The Sure Symbol of God's Love

2010-06-15T10:21:00.003-04:00

Romans 5:8
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

One of the most common questions posed to Christians is, "If God loved you so much, how come bad things happen to you?" For Believers, this should be a very simple question to answer. We should know not to judge God's love for us based on our circumstances. When bad things happen, it is only the Enemy trying to get you to doubt, be depressed, get sick, suffer, lack, complain, hate, etc. As Believers, we should know that we have authority over our circumstances AND moreover the Enemy! It is not God punishing you, or causing you pain because He doesn't love you...in fact, it's not Him at all! He is only, always giving you good things.

Still need convincing? Well, how about the cross? The cross is the sure symbol of God's love for you. It is at the cross that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans

In the Greek, the word "demonstrates" is "synistēmi" which means: to show, prove, exhibit, establish, etc.

The word "toward" is "eis" which means more than just "forward to," more than just "extends the offer to" but more "into us" or "onto us"

Joseph Prince says this,

"A teenager learned that the cross indeed spoke of how much God loves her. At one point in her life, she was contemplating suicide as the only way out of her loveless, messed-up life. She had intended to take some pills with a lethal dose of alcohol. She was all ready to die when she started clicking aimlessly on some MP3 songs on the internet. And of all the songs that were on her screen, she picked a beautiful song written by one of our church musicians.
The lyrics of the song, sung by one of our church vocalists, spoke of being held by God's love and being treasured in His sight. They touched this teenager. Sensing that an awesome God with His amazing love was reaching out to her, she abandoned her plan to kill herself. Not long after that, she found our church and even met the person who had sung the song. She eventually came to know how much God loves her and how He has demonstrated His love for her through the cross."

If you find yourself looking at your life and wondering if God loves you...really loves you, look to the cross and see God's outstreched arms. It will remind and reassure you of how much He loves you!

Thought for the day: Look to the cross and see God's outstreched arms - that is how much He loves you!

Superabundant Supply in Your Area of Lack

2010-05-25T13:21:00.006-04:00

Philippians 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus"

Quick breakdown to the Greek:

"...shall supply..." = "plēroō" =
to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full
to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally
to render full, i.e. to complete
to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim
to make complete in every particular, to render perfect
to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out
of matters of duty: to perform, execute
of sayings, promises, prophecies, to bring to pass, ratify, accomplish
to fulfill, i.e. to cause God's will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God's promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfillment
"...all..." = "pas" = each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything

If you are lacking in any area of your life (finances, health, relationships, etc.) "... know that our Daddy has ALREADY prepared His superabundant supply which will abound toward you, and on top of that, His grace and more of His grace!" - JP

I can't even describe the way my spirit felt when I read what plēroō means. How amazing that God doesn't let anything slip through the cracks! This is an all encompassing supply! Everything is covered! Amen!

In John 6:1-13, Jesus is with that large crowd of people who were very hungry. The problem: lack of food. But, praise God, "Jesus knew that where there is lack, there is superabundant supply in His Father's kingdom to overcome that lack." - JP

His disciples, however, were not aware of this...of course...they didn't think the same way Jesus did. In verse 9 they say, "What are the five loaves and two fish among so many?" They could only see the problem, the lack. Jesus took the little they had, lifted it up to heaven and gave thanks to His Father, whose supply is much more than we can ever ask for, and the little was multiplied into much more than they could ask for.

There were 5,000 men, and they didn't even count the women and children that were there!! And every single one of them ate as much as they wanted for as long as they were hungry!!

The supply kept flowing as long as the need was there. And after they were so filled, there were 12 baskets full of leftovers! That is God's superabundant supply. In God's kingdom, there is no such thing as the Father not having enough or not wanting to give abundantly to His children. No, He promises that He will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!" - Joseph Prince

We must always be conscious of His grace abounding toward us and totally enveloping us.

"So let us, like Jesus, acknowledge God's superabundant supply by thanking Him for it and for whatever is in our hands. Let us believe that His superabundant supply will flow and multiply the little that we have, and fill us up to overflowing!" -JP

Thought for the day: God's supply is so much more than we can ask for.

What a good Daddy :)

Your Father's Heart

2010-05-25T11:52:00.003-04:00

Matthew 7:11
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

Hmm, this one has to potential to be challenging for some readers. If you have not had a good relationship with your earthly father, a lot of times you find it hard to trust and believe in a heavenly Father. Especially when most people think that our heavenly Father is the cause of so much sadness and destruction in this world.

When I was younger, I used to think these same things, "Why is God punishing the world with all these tragedies? If He wanted to, he could just fix world hunger, extreme poverty, natural disaster destruction, violence, sickness, etc. And how could He send His children to Hell if He really loved them?!" It made sense to me being taught that God is all powerful and supposedly loving.

Have you thought these things before? Ha, are you thinking them right now? Well, step into the light, my friends, because this is going to blow your mind:

GOD ISN'T THE ONE CAUSING THE DESTRUCTION, PAIN, SUFFERING, SICKNESS AND PASSING OUT ONE WAY TICKETS TO HELL!!

I know that was a lot to chew on, but I want to give you more...so fasten your seat belts, hold on to your hat, take a deep breath, and other "get ready" phrases:

GOD WON'T DO ANYTHING MORE ABOUT IT!!

Now, before you start writing me a nasty comment that I will immediately delete....read on...

Joseph Prince has a true story to share with us:

"There was a pastor whose young child was diagnosed with cancer. The day his boy was scheduled for an operation, this father cried out to God, 'God, I'm almost 30 years old, but my boy is only about three months old. Why don't you just take some years off my life and give them to my boy?' Then, from deep within him, he heard the voice of God say, 'I am not like that.' When the man heard that, he realized immediately that his son's sickness was not from God. He also realized that if he, who has faults, could want his child well, how much more his heavenly Father. So he changed his prayer and said, 'Father God, I come against this sickness and I ask you for healing for my child.' That day, on the operating table, the surgeons could find no trace of cancer in the child!"

God wants you to know that He is not the kind of Father who wants you sick and defeated, keeps you poor and wanting, refuses to provide for your needs and denies you your blessings!! What kind of a father would do that!?

The reason that God cannot do anything NOW for us is because He has ALREADY DONE IT!!

This is such good news! He has already provided our healing, provision, forgiveness, etc.

He loves you so much! All we have to do is receive it!

"His joy is to enter into your joy and see you happy. If you, in spite of your faults, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to you when you ask Him!" - JP

REALIZE HOW MUCH HE LOVES YOU!

Thought for the day: God's joy is to enter into your joy!

God Wants You Cross-Conscious

2010-04-30T17:38:00.002-04:00

1 Corinthians 2:2
"For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

Paul is being cross-conscious. Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, had his mind full of Jesus and His finished work.

What exactly does "cross-conscious" mean, you ask?

Well,

1. "To be c-c is to see Jesus, who loves you so much that He willingly died for you on the cross."

2. "To be c-c is to look to Jesus, who offered His own body to be punished, so that your body can be free from all punishment."

3. "To be c-c is to fix your eyes on Jesus, who has provided for your deliverance and victory at the cross."

"At the cross all you enemies were vanquished. All your diseases were destroyed. Your poverty was removed at the cross. Your sins were wiped out at the cross." -JP

Let's look at some examples:

1. "When the Israelites tasted bitterness in the waters of Marah, God showed Moses a tree, which he cast into the waters, making them sweet. (Exodus 15:23-26).
Breakdown:
The tree represents the cross (Calvary's tree).
The tree turned the bitter waters sweet.
Today, the cross has turned your bitter situations sweet. You can expect to see the sweetness!

1.

"When the Israelites were bitten by serpents in the wilderness, God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole ."
Breakdown:

The pole represents the cross
Bronze symbolizes judgment.
Those who beheld (saw, looked, fixed eyes upon) the serpent on the pole lived because they saw their problem - the deadly serpent - nailed and put to death on the cross. (Numbers 21:6-9)

When you are c-c, you too will not die but live!

When you see, look at, and fix your eyes upon the cross, here are some of the things you will see:

ALL of your sicknesses
ALL of your diseases (DIS - EASE)
ALL of your pains (physically and mentally)
ALL of your failures and defeats (Yes...all of them!)
ALL of your sins

ALL THAT IS DEADLY IN YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN REMOVED!! The word "all" here, obviously, cannot be stressed enough!

It has ALL been judged on Jesus on the cross.

Thought for the day: At the cross, your sins were judged, enemies vanquished, diseases destroyed and poverty removed!

The Teacher of All Things Is in You

2010-04-22T11:03:00.002-04:00

John 14:26
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you in all things..."

To whom or where can you go to get the help you need with problems in your life? Dear Abby, Dr. Phil, Oprah? Sure. Or, you can just look inside yourself!

Not to yourself and your own understanding, but to the Holy Spirit. God has promised us that the Helper (the Holy Spirit), whom He sent in Jesus' name, dwells in us! Joseph Prince says this, "The Holy Spirit will teach you all things. Yes, teach you all things! Do you really believe that? Or are you like some who believe that you seek God's counsel only for spiritual things, but consult "professional" help for all other things in your life?"

How true, huh? Sometimes we think, How/why could/would God help me with this problem? Why would He care? It doesn't concern Him; only me on this earth dealing with earthly problems.

Why would God want us to rely on worldly wisdom? God wants us to come to Him first with EVERYTHING, not just spiritual problems. JP says, "God wants you to come to Him first for counsel and direction. That is why He has sent the Holy Spirit, the Counselor (John 16:7), to teach you all things. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and He will guide you into all truth (v. 13)."

Let's read 1 John 2:20, 27 from the Amplified Bible:

²⁰But you have been anointed by [you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from] the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things.
²⁷But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides [permanently] in you; [so] then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him [being rooted in Him, knit to Him], just as [His anointing] has taught you [to do].

So, God teaches you through the anointing within! It is a continuous anointing. "In any particular situation, He is anointing you from within, teaching you by the presence or absence of His peace. For example, a deal you are considering my sound very reasonable. But if you don't have peace in your spirit, don't sign on the dotted line. Sign only when you have the peace." - JP

John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]"

"When you follow that peace which only God can give to you as an inward witness, good things and even miracles will come forth!" - JP

Wooo!

Thought for the day: The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and He will guide you into all truth

God Is For You, Not Against You

2010-04-04T19:07:00.002-04:00

January 29, 2010

Romans 8:31
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Question: What then will you say to all these things?

Answer: If God is for me, who can be against me?!

Okay, what "things" is Paul referring to by the expression, “these things”? Andrew Wommack explains it very clearly: "Paul had just spoken of the Holy Spirit making intercession for us (vv. 26-27), God working all things together for our good (v. 28), and us being predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus (v. 29). Now he is drawing a conclusion from all these things. If God be for us (which is exactly what he has been saying) then no one can successfully be against us. This is an exclamation of victory for the Spirit-controlled life that Paul continues through the end of this chapter." (Italics mine).

Now, you can also apply this truth when speaking to the "things" you are facing in your life right now. Relationship problems, financial problems, health problems...what will you say to all these things?

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Breakdown to the Greek:
"for" = "hyper" = in behalf of, over, beyond, more than

God wants us to tell the "things" we are facing that He is HYPER us, He is in behalf of us...so really, who or what can be against us?

Joseph Prince says this, "If you knew that the President or the Prime Minister was for you, you might believe that everything will be okay." (And in my opinion, our President is definitely not all for us - the people) JP continues, "but you have an even better backing! The Bible tells us that God, the Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is for you! What problem can fasten its grip on you when the Almighty God is for you? Can the devil come successfully against you with God on your side?"

If God is for you RIGHT NOW, you don't have to keep saying, "If I only had this...If only I didn't have this..." And you don't have to worry about "What if this happens tomorrow....What if we don't have enough..." "...regretting the past and worrying about the future won't change anything." - JP

This is what we call living in "Yestermorrow." You are spending today regretting what you did yesterday and worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Spend today living in TODAY! Love Him and praise Him today! Thank Him and worship Him today! Look to Him instead of looking at yesterday and tomorrow, because He is for you at this present moment, you can be confident that He will help you and provide for you TODAY!!

JP - "Beloved, God sent His Son to die for you. And Jesus gave you a blood-bought right to an abundant life full of meaning and purpose! He gave you a blood-bought right to walk in divine health all the days of your life! He gave you a blood-bought right to prosperity even when the economy goes down!"

So really, WHO CAN BE AGAINST YOU?!

Thought for the day: All blessings are yours today because God is for you!

Don't worry, be happy :)

See The Favor of God Multiplied in Your Life

2010-03-20T14:54:00.002-04:00

January 28. 2010

2 Peter 1:2
"Grace and Peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."

Grace = the undeserved favor of God

Peace = Shalom = wholeness, health, prosperity, etc.

Therefore, when you walk in grace and peace, you are walking in divine favor and blessing in every area of your life! Okay, but how do the undeserved favor and shalom of God increase in your life?

By laboring and toiling to earn it.

Why not? This is what we have been doing, and it has been working for us, right?

Haha, wrong. How many of you are walking in favor and peace in all areas of your life because you are laboring and toiling to earn it. Zero.

The Word says that it comes as your knowledge of Jesus and His finished work increases.

"It comes as you learn more about and believe that through Jesus' one sacrifice at the cross, God removed all your sins, gave you His righteousness as a gift and put you in Christ to enjoy everything Jesus has. God's favor is multiplied in your life when you simply believe that the favor of God that is on Christ is also on you because of what Jesus' work at the cross has accomplished." - JP

You don't have to labor, toil, work, or struggle for God's favor! Release it by speaking God's Word (what God says) in faith. While you are at work say, "God's favor surrounds me as with a shield." (Ps. 5:12). You will see it released as you continue to speak in faith. Believe what you are saying!

Here is a testimony from JP: "When I first entered the workforce, I began to declare the favor of God in my job. Every time I was given a new assignment, I proclaimed that the divine favor of God was on me. The company began to prosper and I was blessed financially. By the time I left the company to serve God full-time, my income had increased so that I was in the top 15 percent of earners in my age group in Singapore."

Expect to receive preferential treatment wherever you are. Speak: "I am surrounded with the favor of God because of Jesus finished work. I have favor before God and man!"

See what happens :)

Thought for the day = You don't have to struggle for favor. Just release it by speaking forth God's Word in faith.

By Jesus' Stipes You Are Healed

2010-03-08T14:38:00.000-05:00

January 27, 2010

Isaiah 53:5
"...The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."

Picture, if you will, a Christmas tree. Under that Christmas tree is a big present. On that big present is a gift tag. On that gift tag it says: To: (your name) From: Daddy.

Now, take away the Christmas tree and replace it with the Cross. On that cross, put Jesus. Picture not the handsome roughed up with some spit in his hair Jim Caviezel Jesus from The Passion of the Christ but the actual Jesus that was beaten to a pulp, the actual Jesus whose face looked like jelly hanging out, the actual Jesus whose flesh was stripped off his bare back, the actual Jesus whose entire skeleton was exposed.

I hope you haven't forgotten about that present that was to you from your Daddy.

Sorry to be so graphic, but the reality is that when Jesus hung on the cross, the Bible says that He had no form or comeliness [royal, kingly pomp], that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. (Isaiah 53:2)

In the movie, The Passion when they scourged Him, only a small portion of His bones were exposed, "so it was still quite tidy." says Joseph Prince. In Psalm 129:3 it says, "The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows." And in Psalm 22:17, "I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me." All of His bones were exposed!!!

Joseph Prince says, "He was thinking of you when the soldiers tied Him to the scourging post. As they raised their whips, He said, 'Let it all come on me!'

But what came on Him was not just the whip stripping the flesh off His bare back, but your sicknesses and diseases.

Each time He was whipped, every form of sickness and disease, including arthritis, cancer, diabetes, bird flu, and dengue fever, came upon Him. 'The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.'"

So, the present under the cross that is to you from your Daddy is not only filled with Jesus precious blood that washed you clean from your sins forever and for all time, but also with the wounds that paid for your healing forever and for all time!!!! It is a package deal! When you receive the gift of the blood you are also getting the stripes! Get excited!

Today, healing is your right because Jesus has paid the price for your healing.

"So if the devil says, 'You cannot be healed,' just declare, 'Jesus has paid for my healing. Disease has no right to be in my body. I am healed in Jesus' name!'" - JP

Every sickness that was supposed to fall on you fell on Jesus instead. He bore every stripe so that we can walk in divine health every day of our lives!! The price has been paid!

So please stop praying, "Heavenly Father, if it is your will, please heal me/my friend/my loved one." Why? Because IT IS ALWAYS HIS WILL TO HEAL, HE HAS ALREADY DONE IT!!! This is another example of "It's already been done" all we have to do is take the gift that has our name on it from our Daddy and receive it!! Suffer no more in Jesus' name!

Thought for the day: Healing is your right because Jesus has paid the price for your healing!

Facts Change, but God's Word Remains

2010-03-06T15:28:00.000-05:00

January 26, 2010

John 8:32
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

"The truth shall set you free!" How many times have we heard this before? We've heard it from politicians, religious leaders and even movie stars. How can we argue with something that sounds so good?

However, isn't there a problem with how the phrase is used today? Exactly whose truth is being talked about? Anybody can stand up and proclaim that the truth (their truth) will set us free.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to take a look at the context out of which this popular quote came.

Let's go one verse prior to this one, verse 31:

"So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples." Continuing on to 32..."And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."

So, we can gather that we will receive three things IF we abide in His word (His teachings and His message):
1. We will truly be His disciples
2. We will know the truth
3. We will be made free from the bondage of sin by knowing the truth

Great, but again...what is truth? Let's help answer this question with another question:

Is there a difference between FACT and TRUTH, and if so, what is it?

I, just now, have been searching this question online for the past half hour to see what people are saying about it. The majority of the world says that there is a difference...fact is unchangeable, concrete, consistent; and that truth, on the other hand, can be changed, its moldable depending on the situation or point in time.

I smile at this because I look at today's devotional and see that Joseph Prince says the EXACT opposite!

Facts change, but truth - God's Word - remains!

"Consider the cold, hard facts that these three people faced: The aunt of a lady in our church saw her X-ray which showed that one of her kidneys was cancerous. A couple in our church read their medical reports which said that they would never be able to produce a child. A lady in our church who acted as a guarantor ended up being asked by the finance company to pay it $34 million."

Here, JP is setting up for us...FACT. These are cold, hard facts that have hit these people.

(Just a side note...why are facts cold and hard? Does anyone else think of an ice cube?)

If we let these ice cubes settle in our hearts, we end up feeling troubled, sad, and probably emotionally cold and hard, haha!

But, when we allow the TRUTH of God's Word settle them all, "we will sense the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the truths that we are believing. He is the Spirit of TRUTH (John 16:13) He is not the Spirit of FACTS and does not bear witness to FACTS." - JP

It might be a FACT that you are sick. The doctor says that you are sick. The X-ray shows that you are sick. But God's Word says that by Jesus' stripes you are healed! (Isaiah 53:5). That is the TRUTH about your situation!

His truth can melt(change) the ice cubes (facts) in your situation!

Again, I ask the question: What is the difference between FACT and TRUTH?

Facts change, but truth - God's Word - remains!

"When God's people choose to defy the facts and walk instead in His truths regarding their situations, the Holy Spirit in them will bear witness to the truths that they are believing.

The lady with the cancerous kidney underwent an operation to remove the organ. But praise God, she received supernatural restoration as later X-rays showed two healthy kidneys instead of one! God had formed a new kidney for her!

The childless couple received their miracle bundle of joy after seven years. Today, they are proud parents of not one but four children!

The church member with the $34 million debt told the finance company that it was not being fair to her and that God would protect her. The company management miraculously decided to cancel her debt!"

When you are hit with disturbing, cold, hard, facts, let God's Word settle the truth about your situation. The Holy Spirit will bear witness to the truths that you are believing, the FACTS will change and you will receive your miracle!

Thought for the day: Facts change, but truth - God's Word - remains!

Jesus Took Your Place So That You Can Take His

2010-03-04T13:19:00.000-05:00

January 25, 2010

Matthew 27:46
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'"

Jesus is more than a sponge, He is a ShamWow...more on that later...

At the cross, Jesus called His father, "God" for the very first time. He had always addressed His Father as, well, "Father."

"Jesus lost that Father-Son relationship when He was representing you and carrying your sins at the cross so that today, you can call God, "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15) and have a loving father-son relationship with God forever...God will always say to you, "I will never leave you nor forsake you!" (Hebrews 13:5)...Instead, you will see God's face of favor shining on you all the time!" - Joseph Prince

Jesus also took your place of no protection at the cross. For the very first time, Jesus gave up His divine protection so that you can have it every day of your life. Praise God! Even more: because He became sin, He took your curse at the cross so that today, as you take His gift of righteousness, you receive only blessings from God!! Woo! I dare you...no...I triple dog dare you not to get excited about that.

Now, you might still be stuck on the whole ShamWow Jesus thing...let me explain...

Jesus took on all of our sins, right? But what we fail to see sometimes is that he absorbed more than just a our sins on the cross. Jesus received the full brunt of God's wrath in His body once and for all when He carried our sins. All of God's anger and condemnation fell on Jesus, consuming all of our sins until God's wrath was exhausted!

The body of Jesus absorbed everything - our sins, our curses AND God's anger and condemnation!! This is why today, God is not angry with us!

See, God needed more than a sponge clean up the mess; He needed a ShamWow to be able to absorb everything: our sins/curses + God's wrath and condemnation. Get it? Good :)

Thought for the day: Today, live life expecting to see not the judgment, but the goodness and blessings of God!

"You'll say WOW every time!" ®

Don't Look to Your Faith, Look to Jesus

2010-03-02T15:46:00.000-05:00

January 24, 2010

Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..."

If you are sick, "Do not ask, "Do I have enough faith to be healed? Do I have the right kind of faith to be healed? What if I am lacking in faith?" You are focusing on yourself and your faith, instead of Christ and His finished work." - JP

If you are sick, you must know that you are already healed because of the finished work of Christ!

I know this sounds funny...you already being healed if you are sick. But, what Joseph Prince is saying is that God has already provided your healing through the finished work of Jesus on the cross; He offers you this healing, you just have to believe it and receive it!! Hallelujah!

Another thing to mention is that God did not give you this sickness for any reason! He would not teach you something through sickness, nor would He punish you for something through sickness! Why would He do that?!?! Why would he have Jesus provide healing for you then make you sick?! Doesn't make any sense to believe that nonsense!

Joseph Prince continues, "You should be asking, 'Did Jesus take away this sickness? If He did, then He must have done a perfect work.' In other words, fix your eyes on Jesus and His perfect work."

Now, for the longest time I struggled with this mainly because I wondered, Why haven't I heard this before!? If this is new to most people, this can't be what is taught in the Bible because then people would have been practicing this for years! What JP shares here helps me believe that healing is nothing new; it has always been and will always be the same:

"A.B. Simpson, who lived in the 19th century, wrote an article entitled, Himself. In it, he mentioned his exhausted nervous system, and broken-down heart which could have proved fatal any time. So he sought the Lord for healing. God showed him Matthew 8:17, which says that Jesus, 'Himself took our infirmities and our sicknesses.'

A.B. Simpson said that though he believed that Jesus had borne away his sicknesses, he saw many hindrances which stood between him and his healing. And they all boiled down to one thing - his preoccupation with his faith! He had believed that if only he had the "right" kind of faith, he would receive his healing instantly. He eventually came to the realization that he had to remove that last hindrance - his focus on his faith - and just rest in the finished work of Christ. That revelation marked his complete recovery from his sickness."

When we ask, "Do I have enough faith?" we have already made the faith hindrance between us and Jesus finished work.

"The more you focus on your faith, the more faith slips away."

"...But if you focus on the finished work of Christ and see God's grace toward you, God sees that as faith! Without realizing it, faith is there in your heart to believe that you will not die of what Christ Himself has already borne away completely for you, and you will see your miracle manifest!" - JP

Thought for the day - Fix your eyes on Jesus and his perfect work.

The Battle Is the Lord's

2010-02-20T20:25:00.000-05:00

January 23, 2010

2 Chronicles 20:15
"...Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's."

This reminds me of a song we used to sing in chapel at Rochester College a lot, acappella of course, you have probably heard it:

In heavenly armor we'll enter the land

The battle belongs to the Lord
No weapon that's fashioned against us shall stand
The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor
Power and strength to the Lord

The power of darkness comes in like a flood
The battle belongs to the Lord
He's raised up a standard, the power of His blood
The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor
Power and strength to the Lord

When your enemy presses in hard do not fear
The battle belongs to the Lord
Take courage my friend, your redemption is near
The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor
Power and strength to the Lord

Often times when we are faced with a "battle" - a problem, or challenge - we tend to ask ourselves, "Oh no...what am I going to do?!" People concernedly ask us, "Oh no...what are you going to do?!" If we focus and depend on what we are going to do to fight, we are already going about the battle the wrong way, and if you start a battle wrong, you probably aren't going to come out victorious, yeah?

I think this will be the first time in my life that I have ever written or typed this name...Jehoshaphat...not a very commonly quoted Bible character, but in this case he is very quotable...

"Jehoshaphat faced a multitude of enemies. But instead of focusing on what he would do, he prayed, "O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." (v.12)." - Joseph Prince

Going back to the original verse above, when we turn our eyes to God, we will hear Him say, "Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's." Let's skip verse 16 and go straight into 17...

"Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord..."

Have you ever heard someone say that Christianity is doing everything backwards or opposite of what the world does? Well, this definitely is true in this case; what does verse 17 say that we should do when we are in battle or see the enemy coming against us?

STAND STILL

Haha, yeah, right! The last thing we want to do when we see the enemy charging us is stand there and do nothing. Good luck! It is the most difficult thing to do in this situation because we feel that we can't just stand around and do nothing - we have to try and fight to save the situation...but God wants us to stand still...and see Jesus, our salvation, fight for us.

So, what do you do the next time you are faced with a battle and don't know what to do? "Do what the situation requires, but don't worry and don't trust in what you do. Like Jehoshaphat, rest and trust in God's mercy that endures forever. When you do that, He will turn your battlefield into the Valley of Berachah."

This might not sounds that great - turning your battlefield into a valley of something you can't pronounce - but Berachah or Bĕrakah in Hebrew, means BLESSING! God will turn the battlefield into the Valley of Blessing! But only if we stand still and see Jesus fight for us!!

"Do you have a battle to fight? Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!" - JP

Thought for the day: God wants us to stand still and see Jesus, our salvation, fight for us.

PS: Yet another example of how God has already done something for us, we just have to believe it, sit back, and enjoy it!!

Let Your Heart Be Established by Grace

2010-02-20T19:48:00.000-05:00

January 22, 2010
Hebrews 13:9

"...it is good that the heart be established by grace..."

Would you say that your heart is at rest? Free of worries, fears, and anxieties? If so, awesome, read no further. Have a great day...which shouldn't be hard for you :)

If you answered NO to that question, then this blog is for you! Read on!

Fact: God wants your heart at rest! Now, the question becomes how do you get your heart to be at rest? How about obeying God perfectly! ...Yikes, if we think that our breakthroughs depend on our ability to obey God, then our heart will never be at rest! Why? Because we can never obey God perfectly!

It is only when we depend of God's grace that our heart may become established. What does grace really mean, you ask? Simply put, it is God's undeserved, unmerited favor.

"When you know that the only thing that qualifies you to receive God's blessings is faith in the finished work of Christ, your heart becomes established." - JP

This is when you will walk without fear, anxiety, worry, etc. You will walk with full assurance that His blessings will be manifested in your life.

Joseph Prince says this, "My friend, God wants your heart established, knowing that His righteousness, healing, protection, and prosperity are yours - all paid for by Jesus finished work at the cross.

God's blessings are sure in your life because they are not dependent on your ability to keep His laws, but Jesus' perfect obedience.

Under the old covenant, you would only receive God's blessings if you kept all of His laws (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). If you sin and fail to keep even one law, you would be disqualified from receiving the blessings. But, hallelujah, today, under the new covenant, your sins can no longer disqualify you because of what God said in Hebrews 8:12:

"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

You have full access to His blessings because of grace; so, therefore, let your heart be established by God's grace! You no longer have to worry about being "good" enough. You can stand on the promises made in His Word and enjoy them today thanks to Jesus for paying the price. Your part - only to believe and receive!

Thought for the day - God's blessings are sure in your life because of Jesus perfect obedience.

God Is Not on a Sin Hunt

2010-02-14T17:54:00.000-05:00

January 21, 2010

1 Thessalonians 5:9
"For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Sodom and Gomorrah...what comes to mind? Besides the dirty gross things going on there, your second response to that question would be: God's wrath and fiery judgment, right?

We all know that this scene has given God kind of a bad name. People think, How could a God who is supposed to love us so much, kill so many people? If God is not a respecter of persons, then how could he just choose to save Lot and his family. Lot wasn't perfect either!

Well, the truth is that God was not all out to judge the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was not on a sin hunt, but rather on a righteousness hunt!

Joseph Prince says this, "This is evident because if God was on a sin hunt, He would not have allowed anyone to stop Him. But we know that He let Abraham in on what He was about to do even allowed Abraham to entreat Him."

Most of you probably remember this from Genesis 18:23-32. Abraham asks God if He would destroy the city if He could find 50 righteous people there. God said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes." Abraham then asked God if He would destroy the city if there were only 45...40...30...or 10 righteous. And each time, God's reply was that He would spare the place for the sake of the righteous. Abraham stopped at 10. If he had gone down to just one righteous person man, I believe God's reply would have been the same because He was on a righteousness hunt."

So, now that we know he was not out to destroy...how much more today, when God has already judged our sins in the body of Jesus? Jesus already exhausted all of God's fiery judgments until there was no more wrath left! Thank you, Jesus!

Now, this is very important to grasp...God is not judging us for our sins because He has found the righteousness in Jesus. THEREFORE:

Do not say, or let anyone tell you that God judges you for our sins and punishes you with cancer, a car accident, business failures, brokenness, etc. Listen..."God would be unjust if He punished the same sins twice - in Jesus' body and then in yours!"

God isn't out to judge you, but rather, bless you! Not because you deserve it, but because Jesus was judged and punished in your place!

WOOOOOOO!

Thought for the day: God would be unjust if He punished the same sins twice - in Jesus' body and then in yours.

Make sure you thank Him today :)

The Answer for a Guilty Conscience

2010-02-13T12:45:00.000-05:00

January 20, 2010

Hebrews 9:14
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

This topic is huge for a lot of people and it definitely hinders Christians from totally receiving all that God has for us. Guilt has almost become something we are comfortable with and even think that we deserve it! I have talked to a few people lately who would rather be saved by works than by grace through faith because then they could feel like they earned it and deserve it!

"Have you heard the voice of your conscience saying things like, 'You deserve hell for the sins you committed...or 'Why are you surprised that your child is not talking to you? You were never around when he needed you'?" - JP

Guilt is a big cause of depression in people, and they are"paying" for their sins in terms of illnesses - Doctors are discovering that many psychosomatic (physical diseases, symptoms etc. which have mental causes) sicknesses are caused by guilt and condemnation because the conscience is saying, "You have done wrong. You must be punished."

Joseph Prince says this is why you must have an answer that will satisfy your conscience when it says that you have sinned and you must be punished for this sin or else God is not a just God. Your answer should be this:

"Yes, I have sinned. But this sin and every other sin that I have committed were punished to the max in the body of Jesus Christ! Therefore, there remains no more punishment for me today, for how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse my conscience!"

The only way to bring peace to you and your conscience is to look at the cross.

This is important - Don't try to silence your conscience with good works the next time you feel condemned or guilty! - Again, The only way to bring peace to you and your conscience is to look to the cross.

Father, thank you for Jesus and the cross. Jesus was totally condemned on my behalf for this sin, so there is no absolutely no condemnation left for me!

Thought for the day: The cross of Jesus is the only answer that will satisfy your conscience.

Jesus Understands Your Struggles

2010-02-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

January 19, 2010

Hebrews 4:15
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."

I want to continue this scripture to verse 16, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." - I am going to break this down later.

Joseph Prince begins with this that really helps us wrap our minds around this topic: "Imagine meeting the new politician who is to represent your district or neighborhood only to discover that he is not familiar with your neighborhood’s needs and problems. You will wonder, “Can this guy really represent us? Does he know anything about our living conditions? Is he familiar with the various challenges that families here are facing? Can he help me get my child into one of the schools here?” I am sure that you would prefer someone who truly understands your challenges to represent you!"

So, in the same way, we can be glad that we have Jesus who came as a man to redeem us, and who fully understands what we go through! When Jesus walked on earth, He went through every human emotion so that He could fully identify with us in all points. "Jesus is God, but He is in the Father's presence as a Man, representing us." - JP

So many times I have thought that nobody understand what I am going though; whether it be sickness, disappointment, pain, heart break, etc. But the truth is there might not be a man who knows what I am struggling with, but Jesus does. He knows exactly. He can sympathize with me and my weaknesses because He was "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Thank you, Jesus!

I like this from JP: "None of us have been tempted in all points..." It sure seems like we have, yeah? Haha, only Jesus has so that He could identify with the struggles of every single person on earth. Nothing is too big for Him to understand!

Now, I want to go a little deeper and break a couple things down in verse 16.

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

1. "Therefore" - indicating that something follows from another necessarily. Because Jesus has done this, it is orderly that we follow that by coming boldly to the throne of grace.

2. "Boldly" - freedom in speaking, unreserved in speech, openly, frankly, without concealment without ambiguity, free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, assurance...need I say more?

3. "That we may" "obtain" - in order that, so that - to take what is one's own.

There are countless times when God has done something so that we can have something. That is actually a very good rule of thumb: God has done, we can have! Awesome.

We can come boldly to Him thanks to Jesus!

Thought for the day - There is no trial, difficulty, challenge or temptation that you face that Jesus cannot identify with.

Be Christ-Conscious

2010-02-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

January 18, 2010

Ephesians 1:7
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."

"Have you ever woken up in the morning and said, 'Today, I will not sin.' And as you leave your house, you say, 'I must be careful not to fall into sin today. I don't want to sin. I will not sin!' My friend, when you do this, you are no longer Christ-conscious but sin-conscious, even though you have not sinned yet." - Joseph Prince

This might be more difficult for some rather than others because, unfortunately, a lot of churches teach you to be always conscious of sin, and when you sin, you must immediately "confess" (which is not in the Bible) and repent in order to be forgiven and keep your salvation ticket to heaven.

It is impossible to ever try confessing every sin! Joseph Prince says this, "As a teenager, when a bad thought came, I would quickly say, 'I'm sorry, Lord. Forgive me for this thought in Jesus' name.' Then, another thought would come and I would quickly say, 'Forgive me, Lord, for that thought in Jesus' name.' Then, if I happened to doubt His forgiveness, I would confess my unbelief and ask for forgiveness: 'Forgive me, Lord, for doubting You.' Before I knew it, I was oppressed in my mind and so sin-conscious instead of Christ-conscious!"

When we fall into sin, God wants us to be conscious of Christ's work on the cross! So, when we've missed it, we focus on the finished work of Jesus which provided us forgiveness of sins through His blood. God wants us to conscious that Christ was wounded and bruised for your sins, and that the chastisement for your peace was upon Him. (Isaiah 53:5).

You will have PEACE with God through Jesus when you are Christ-conscious!

Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

"You will know that you are the righteousness of God in Christ because He who knew no sin was made sin for you. (2 Corinthians 5:21). He took your sin and now you have His righteousness. So, when you fail, don't be conscious of your failure and feel bad or condemned! Instead, be conscious of who you are in Christ, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and continue your walk with God!"- JP

The thought for the day is this: When you fall, be conscious of who you are in Christ, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and continue your walk with God!

You Are Already Blessed

2010-02-12T01:10:00.000-05:00

January 17, 2010

Joshua 24:13
"I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive graves which you did not plant."

I love that we do not have to work for anything when it comes to God. All we have to do is believe Him! This devo is so freeing and will be for you too if you apply it, Friends!!

Something else I am learning is that everything that we most often pray for has already been done for us! We don't have to ask Him for forgiveness because he already forgave us, we don't have to ask Him for healing because he has already healed us, we don't have to ask for blessing because He has already blessed us!

Joseph Prince says, "God is more eager to prosper you than you are willing to be prospered!...He is so keen for you to enjoy His prosperity that in His mind, giving you multiplication of wealth and assets is a settled matter."

Let's look at the scripture again, "I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive graves which you did not plant."

Notice here He does not say, "I may give," which means that it may or may not happen, or if you are good it will happen, or if you say this many Hail Mary's it will happen, or if you go out and do mission work it will happen, or if you beg me it will happen...no, He said, "I have given," which means that it has already happened.

"It is only a matter of time before your revelation of what you have through the work of Christ brings forth the prosperity He has already blessed you with...During a church service, a couple started believing God for a new home which they did not have the money for. After the service, they went shopping at the nearby supermarket. The purchases they made qualified them for a lucky draw. Weeks later, their lucky draw coupon was picked from among thousands of other entries. The couple won the top prize - a new condominium unit!"

That could be you too! God is not a respecter of persons!

If you haven't picked up on this yet from all my blogs, all promises and blessings come to those who simply, BELIEVE! It is not about following Jesus, or doing works for Jesus, but BELIEVING Jesus.

Now, believing sounds simple enough, right? But if you are anything like me, I used to think I had to figure out how to believe. I was trying to believe because I wanted to believe! But, I was going about it the wrong way. God has a perfect order for everything, even for believing!

Let's look at Romans 10:13-17,
"For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome^a]"> are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things! But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? ^I)"> So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ."
This sounds a little confusing, but let's break this down...

1. You can't call unless you believe
2. You can't believe unless you hear
3. You can't hear without a preacher
4. A preacher can't preach without being sent
5. A preacher is no good without being sent by the Holy Spirit! He/She needs to be anointed by the Holy Spirit!
6. Faith comes from what you hear
7. What you hear comes by the word of God - The true gospel of Christ being preached.
THEREFORE:

BELIEVING IS A FRUIT OF HEARING!

You do not have to try to believe! It will come as a natural biproduct of hearing the Holy Spirit anointed words about Christ. This was so freeing to me when I learned this last night at church!

Sorry...that tangent got a little long...but all good stuff and crucial to learn now before going further!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program, the JP devo conclusion-

We need to be expecting prosperity in our lives because we are already rich in Christ! He took our place of poverty at the cross (2 Corinthians 8:9) In Him, you are not poor anymore!! Hallelujah!!

"So stop looking at the lack in your natural resources. Look at the cross and say, "Yes, Christ has made me rich. It is a matter of time before I will see His prosperity in my life!" - JP

Thought for the day is: Look at the cross and say, "Yes, Christ has made me rich!"

Be Numbered Among the Undevourable

2010-02-08T14:29:00.000-05:00

January 16, 2010

1 Peter 5:8
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be...

I hate this song. It is terrible! It's wrong in so many ways that...wait deep breath...I am getting ahead of myself...

Let's start with this crucial quote from Joseph Prince that the entire devo hangs off of:

"The devil cannot just walk right up to you and rob you of your health, peace, or family. He cannot just come into your life to enforce disease and destruction."

Haha, I bet you are thinking...false...that can't be true! Then why am I sick, peaceless, moneyless, depressed, blah blah blah...If the devil didn't steal it from me, why am I lacking?!

Good point. But let's return to the beginning scripture, 1 Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." I think it's time for today's devo breakdown.

1. The word "sober" here doesn't mean not drunk from alcohol. It comes from the Greek word, nēphō, which means "to be calm and collected in spirit." Also, "vigilant," or grēgoreō, means "to watch" or "give strict attention to."

2. The verse says that the devil, our enemy, "...walks about like a roaring lion..." This seems intimidating and also confusing because isn't Jesus the lion? Isn't that the symbol of a king? How could both Jesus and the devil be lions? Well, if you look closely, Peter says that the devil walks about LIKE a roaring lion. Not walks about BEING a lion! He is a fake!!

3. If the devil could just walk right up to you and rob you of your health, peace, and enforce disease and destruction in your life, then he does not have to walk about "seeking whom he may devour." He would only have to walk straight up to anyone he wants to devour and devour him!! So, this means that since he is seeking whom he can devour, then there are people whom he cannot devour!

So, you see, the devil walks about LIKE a roaring lion trying to stir up fear in people with his roars. "But the people who are not devourable are those who refuse to be intimidated by his roars because they know that the true Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:5), has already come and rendered powerless him who had the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14)." - JP

1 John 4:4 - "...the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." This is why the devil cannot just do anything to you, because the Lion of Judah resides in you! And, He is greater and mightier than the devil who is in this world!! Hallelujah!

Joseph Prince says, "My friend, the Lion of Judah is in you. He has given you rights, privileges, authority and power. He redeemed you with His blood. Therefore, everything about you and your life is redeemed by His blood. So if you are fearful about losing your job, cover your job with the blood of Jesus. If you are worried about your children's safety in these days of terrorist attacks, plead the blood of Jesus over them. If you have received a bad report from the doctor, speak the blood over yourself."

WHATEVER YOU HAVE COVERED IN JESUS BLOOD, GOD DECLARED, "PROTECTED! REDEEMED!"

AND the devil, your adversary, flees when he sees the blood of Jesus and takes with him sickness, disease, pains, sufferings, destruction, and loss.

So, once the devil knows that you know who you are in Christ and what you have in Him, his days of intimidating you are over!! You are numbered among the undevourable! Amen?

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be...

God gave me this lyric when praying about receiving more revelation about this devo and what to write in this blog. God has provided us a way to change what "lemons" "life" gives us and what "cards" we are "dealt." We don't have to just suck it up and deal with sickness, disease, pain, suffering, depression, loss, etc. This would mean that we are being devoured by the impostor lion!

So, it's not "Whatever will be, will be and you just have to go with the flow" but rather: What will be, will be the peace, health, wholeness, joy, provision, protection, prosperity coming to you when you start realizing who you are in Christ and utilizing the power and authority that you have over your situation!

Thought for the day...Everything about you and your life is redeemed by Jesus' blood.

Hallelujah, thank you Jesus.

God Gives You Undeserved Preferential Treatment

2010-02-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

January 15, 2010

Romans 1:7
"...Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

If you were sitting in first class on an airplane, you receive first class treatment, right? You given blankets when you are cold, magazines when you want to read, food when you are hungry, drink when you are thirsty, and service with a smile and a, "Can I get you anything else to make you more comfortable?" This reminds me of one of my favorite Brian Regan (Comedian) bits,

"How come the first class people can just get on when ever they want, I've always hated that, 'first class people board at your leisure, take your time first class people, *kissing sounds* Coach people, no wait, sit, sit scuz, wait little pygmies.'

So, when you do get on, the first class people, they're already sitting there. They're all sprawled out in their big thrones, 'Bring me the head of a pig! And a goblet of something cool and refreshing! Anyone have a fiddle? Make someone from coach fiddle for me. Amuse me!" You aren't even allowed to use their bathrooms, 'The bathrooms up front are for our first class passengers. The coach bathrooms are located at Newark Airport, Concourse C.'

So, when you do board, the first class people, they are sitting there, a lot of them are working as you're boarding. They have computers out and calculators. They're looking up at you like, 'Hey, we're making money right now! Right now we're making money. Go, get in the back! Close that curtain, I don't want to see 'em! Even in my peripheral! Snap it! Snap it shut!'"

In a nutshell, they give you preferential treatment compared to those traveling in coach, haha.

JP says that, "The grace of God is defined as 'undeserved, unearned, and unmerited favor.' And one of the definitions for favor is 'preferential treatment'! Today, God wants you to know that you have His favor on you." He gives you preferential treatment which we don't deserve, and He wants us to depend on it and take full advantage of it in our lives!!

Favor in our lives can also be increased. Now, I know what you are thinking, But, Erin, God can't love us anymore than He already does! He is not a respecter of persons and there is nothing we can do to earn more love from God!! Agreed. However, the keyword here is, FAVOR, not LOVE. Yes, He absolutely adores us and we can do nothing, say nothing, and think nothing that will make Him love us more. Also, respecter of persons means that he would only give favor to a couple select first class people. Favor is offered to ALL. In 2 Peter 1:2 it says,

"May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." - Amplified Bible = awesome by the way!

God's "grace" in this verse comes from the Greek word, charis, which means: that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, and: FAVOR or FAVOUR if you are from the UK :)

God's grace (or favor) is multiplied to us in the correct, full, precise knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. So, the more we behold Jesus and His love for us, the more we believe and confess that God's favor is on us, the more we will see His favor work for us!!! Hallelujah!

"So if you are a doctor, you will find patients favoring you and you will have more patients than you can handle. If you are a businessman, you will find people just wanting to do business with you because they like you and feel good about you. Then, you will have more business than you can handle and you will need to plan for expansion! When the favor of God shines on your church, you will find its premises too small for the people who queue up week after week to attend the services! So when people wonder and ask, 'What is happening here?' You can tell them, 'It is the favor of God multiplied all over us!' And it is all undeserved, unearned, and unmerited!" - JP

Thought for the day: The more you behold Jesus and His love for you, the more you will see His favor work for you.

Good stuff.

Jesus Has Borne Your Diseases

2010-01-27T20:47:00.000-05:00

January 14, 2010

Isaiah 53:4
"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows..."

I thought about changing the translation here to a different version that used the true meaning of the words "griefs" and "sorrows." But, I don't want to deprive you of learning a little Hebrew. So, stay tuned for that.

JP starts, "Imagine the dreadful disease leprosy eating a man alive. The poor leper in Matthew 8:2 could stand his suffering no longer, so he came out into the open to look for Jesus. He needed to know if Jesus was willing to heal him. When he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." (Matthew 8:2). The Son of God looked at the outcast with love in His eyes, reached out His hand, touched him and said, "I am willing; be cleansed" (v.3)."

This is such a close subject to my heart. I get so devastated when I hear people praying, "Oh Dear Heavenly Holy God...I know that you are a great God who can do many things. I know that you can heal...so, if it is your will...heal me/my friend/my family member. Thank you. Amen. I know that we know that God can heal, but we know it isn't His will to heal everyone, right? WRONG!!!!

Where would we get such an idea? Well, perhaps you are suffering from some disease (this could be anything from a broken heart to a scraped knee to cancer) and wondering if God is willing to heal you. You aren't sure if He is willing because just as you have seen people get healed...you have also seen people NOT get healed, right? DON'T LOOK TO PEOPLE'S EXPERIENCES!! LOOK TO THE CROSS! "As surely as Jesus bore away your sins, He also bore away your diseases!" - JP

Ok, so here is what I was talking about in the beginning...the Hebrew.

The words "griefs" and "sorrows" here in the scripture from above literally mean "sicknesses" (choliy) and "pains (both physical and mental)" (mak'ob) in the original Hebrew text. So, Isaiah was referring to physical healing!!! And it is available for us today!!

Ask a Jewish friend of yours to read this verse in his/her Hebrew Bible. They will tell you that the Bible says clearly that Jesus has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains!

Now, if this has not convinced you yet, read Matthew 8:16-17: "...they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.'" So, Matthew is quoting Isaiah 53:4! Jesus took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." This obviously refers to physical healing!

Now, is there anywhere in these scriptures that Jesus healed some and turned the others away because they were not supposed to be healed? Does it say that Jesus only bore some of our sicknesses and tough luck for the rest of your? NO!!! Healing is for everyone!! We just have to believe and receive the gift that Jesus gave us at the cross! It wasn't just a ticket to heaven...it was soooo much more than that!

If we just believe this truth, our days of sickness will be over! "We will walk in greater health because the One who has surely borne your sicknesses and carried your pains says to you, 'I am willing, be cleansed!'"

Thought for the day: As surely as Jesus bore away your sins, He also bore away your diseases!

IT IS ALWAYS HIS WILL TO HEAL!!!

God's Word Is Out to Prosper You

2010-01-25T13:25:00.000-05:00

January 13, 2010

Isaiah 53:11
"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

I don't have too many of my own words to add to this devo. It is so good and so true that it speaks for itself. Here is what Joseph Prince says,

"...I believe with all of my heart that we are truly coming to the place where as the Word of God goes forth, it produces the very effect that the Word promises. So if the Word on healing goes forth, know that healing is already exploding in your body. Your miracle has already happened.

Very often, as you are reading the Word on your own or listening to anointed preaching of the Word, you will feel God's peace and joy, and feel faith springing up in your heart. As the Word goes forth and you find that you are strengthened to receive your miracle, that is the time to say, 'Lord, I receive my healing right now.' That is the time to say, 'I receive Your restoration for my marriage.' That is the time to say, 'I receive Your breakthrough for my finances.'

You don't have to wait until the church leader or friend prays for you. Every time your faith is strengthened as you hear the Word, release it through your mouth to receive your miracle, for God's Word is out to prosper you!"

Thought for the day: As the Word of God goes forth, it produces the very effect that the Word promises.

When You See God's Grace, He Sees Your Faith

2010-01-17T19:11:00.000-05:00

January 12, 2010

Ephesians 2:8
"For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God."

God's promises can be true in our lives but only if we do not depend on ourselves to get them. If we depend on ourselves - our obedience, goodness, service, and even faith - we will not be able to receive God's promises. It is only when we depend on His GRACE! What is grace - His unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor toward us.

Remember the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9:20-22)? JP says, "She didn't go around saying, "I must have faith...I hope that I have enough faith...I will have faith...I will not loose faith." No, she was only conscious of the grace of Jesus - how He always healed the sick, how powerful He was in raising the dead and how willing He was to use that power for her healing."

She just saw His grace abounding toward her, so much so that she said, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." And when she came behind Jesus and touched His coat, she was healed. Jesus said, "...your faith has made you well."

This is good: "When the woman say His grace, God saw her faith!" So, therefore, it was by grace, through faith, that God's promise became real in her life. BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH.

So, we need to focus on His grace. When we see His grace, He sees our faith.

Now for my favorite part!

I learned this a while ago about the word "Salvation." The original Greek word is "sozo." The most amazing this is that this word doesn't just mean saved from hell! It also means - to heal, preserve, and make whole! So, it is by grace that you are made whole, kept healthy, preserved and prospered!!!!

"It is by grace through faith that God's promises become sure in your life." - JP

So, don't worry if you feel like you lack faith...START TO SEE GOD'S GRACE IN YOUR SITUATION AND HE WILL SEE THAT AS FAITH!! And because He sees this faith, you will receive the breakthrough you need and have been waiting for!

The thought of the day: When you see God's grace, He sees your faith, and you will receive your breakthrough.

Believing is Receiving

2010-01-16T18:40:00.000-05:00

January 11, 2010
Mark 5:28-29
"For she said, 'If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.' Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction."

"I'll believe it when I see it." The world's motto for miracles. The world says, "If I can't feel it or see it, I cannot believe that the miracle is here." But God says, "If you believe it before you feel it or see it, you will see your miracle!"

Believing first...before seeing any evidence of what we are believing for. AKA...faith. JP says this,

"Faith is like a spark and Jesus is the dynamite powder."

I like that. It is totally up to us and our faith to ignite the powder. The powder is totally neutral by itself and cannot go off unless ignited by a spark...wow. God just revealed that to me as I was typing that! That totally changes the way that I look at and define faith. The dynamite powder is already there waiting to be ignited!! Yours and my miracle is waiting to be exploded into our lives!!

Joseph Prince reminds us of the story of the woman with the issue of blood. She had been bleeding for 12 years! She had come to Jesus to be healed. Well, there was a massive crowd that Jesus was walking through; many people touching him as He walked by. "Hearing about how good, kind, and loving Jesus was fired her faith to believe that He could and would heal her... 'If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.'" Joseph says. She touched Him in faith, He felt the power leave his body and it sparked off an explosion of healing in her body!

I think it is interesting that the verse points out that there were many people that Jesus brushed up against and touched that nothing happened to. They didn't touch Him in faith!

So, what does this mean for us? Well, God wants us to believe in His goodness, kindness, and love toward us like the woman did, and know that He is willing and able to bless us and, with Christ, freely give us every good thing.

Read this:

Romans 8:32
"He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?"

Key words: all, with Him, everything

He offered His son for us all, and with His Son, He is willing and able to grant us everything!!

"He wants you to declare by faith that all is and shall be well with you, and to expect to see just that. And then, no matter how long you have had the problem, no matter how bad the experts say it is, and explosion of healing and restoration will take place, and you will receive what you are believing for!" - Joseph Prince

So, I will give JP's thought for the day in a minute, but I would like to add one more for today: Declare by faith that all is and shall be well with you, and expect to see just that! Just go around saying that all day and see what happens. I am going to do it too!! Please comment with what miracles you received!!

JP's thought for the day: Believe in God's goodness and love toward you, and you will receive what you are believing for.

A Sleeping Partner Who Benefits

2010-01-15T22:35:00.000-05:00

January 10, 10

Genesis 15:12
"Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram..."

"In business, sleeping or silent partners don't work but still take home huge profits. They are like the wife of the boxing champion. He gets badly beaten up to win the prize money. But when he gets home, his wife takes it from him and says, 'Thank you very much, Darling!'

Do you know that in your covenant with God, you are like the boxer's wife or the sleeping partner?"

So, remember the definition of covenant from last time? Also, remember how people used to make a covenant between two parties? Well, instead of cutting the covenant with Abram by walking between animal pieces with him, God put Abraham into a deep sleep and cut the covenant with Jesus.

Jesus took Abraham's place. "Jesus, the light of the world, appeared as the pillar of fire and cut the covenant with God the Father who appeared as the pillar of cloud...He was perfect Man representing Abraham when He cut the covenant with His Father."

This doesn't seem like a big deal at first, and to be honest a little confusing, but JP clears it up here: "By substituting Abraham with Jesus, God was being gracious because if Abraham had done it, he would also have been responsible for keeping the covenant. And Abraham, being a mere man, would fail. But God the Son can never fail! Abraham's blessings were therefore guaranteed because they did not depend on his performance but Jesus' performance. Abraham was literally a sleeping partner, a beneficiary of the covenant."

This is important for us today because God has also made a covenant with us (the new covenant). We are "sleeping partners" too! We are simply beneficiaries of the new covenant! We can enjoy all of its benefits without having to work at keeping it. Jesus has already fulfilled all the conditions on your behalf. "And because His obedience is perfect and His work is perfectly finished, the covenant blessings for you are guaranteed!"

Nothing left for us to do but believe! We don't have to work for our covenant blessings! Hallelujah!

Thought for the day = Your covenant blessings are guaranteed because Jesus, your representative, has already fulfilled all the conditions on your behalf.

Already fulfilled ALL the conditions on our behalf...

Guaranteed by Covenant

2010-01-11T17:43:00.000-05:00

January 9, 2010

Genesis 15:8-9
"And he said, 'Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?' So He said to him, 'Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

So, when I first read this scripture, I thought to myself, Ut oh, this one is going to be a rough one. What in the world does this scripture mean?! I mean, this sounds like a recipe for a witches potion; all that is missing is eye of newt and rats tail. But, this is actually a very important scripture that shouldn't just be skimmed over in order to get through your read you Bible in 90 days reading plan.

If you read on through verses 10-12, God took Abraham's question very seriously, and "went on to show him just how serious He was about being his provider, protector and prosperity-giver. God was so serious that He was willing to bind Himself to a covenant" says Joseph Prince.

Big deal, right? Well, it is a big deal. A covenant is not like a contract which are sometimes, incorrectly, used synonymously. A covenant is MORE than a contract. "A contract is binding only for a period of time, like five or seven years, or until certain terms are fulfilled. But a covenant is perpetual. It is permanent. The only way out is through death. That is why marriage is a covenant, not a contract. It is permanent - 'Till death do us part.'"
This is really interesting:

"In Bible times, when you cut a covenant with someone, you brought an animal, usually a ram or goat, and killed it by cutting it in two. Next you faced your covenant partner and walked toward each other between the two pieces of the animal, passing each other in the center.

What all this meant was that both parties were obligated to protect and provide for each other. Whatever belonged to you was your partner's and whatever belonged to your partner was yours. Of course, the one who benefited was the lesser or poorer party."

If anything, at the very least, minimally, this teaches us that there is so much more to scripture than we think. Every word is important and means so much more than what we give it credit for. If you see a confusing passage like this and wonder, why does God ask for all these three-year-old animals. Don't just shrug it off, search and study the word! God will reveal Himself to you and reveal answers and revelation that goes deeper than just the words on the page!

So, getting back to the covenant stuff...

Today, God is in a covenant with us. We are the lesser, poorer party (obviously). But, He has EVERYTHING to offer us!

God has bound Himself to a covenant, an iron-clad guarantee of His blessings and provision in your life, and it is all for you benefit. The breakthrough you are waiting for is guaranteed by covenant!

The thought for the day: God has bound Himself to a covenant, an iron-clad guarantee of His blessings and provision in your life.

Choose Not to Worry

2010-01-11T17:17:00.000-05:00

January 8, 2010

Matthew 6:27
"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life"

This devo is so important nowadays. We are living in a world where everyone is constantly worrying about the economy, their family, their health, their next paycheck, their job stability, their test results, and so on and so forth.

Like the scripture says, worrying cannot lengthen your life or add any height to your physical person (some translations say, "...add one cubit to his stature" instead of an hour to his life). But, instead, what worrying surely will do is rob you of sleep, deteriorate your health and actually shorten it!.

This is such a great testimony that JP shares, listen:

"A church member, after undergoing a mammogram, found that she had lumps in her breast. Upon receiving the doctor's report, she wrote this down on the report: 'Jesus is my healer. I receive my healing. I am healed. I rest in God completely.' She was due back at the clinic later teh same day for a biopsy to see if the lumps were malignant. Her sister-in-law, who was having lunch with her that day, witnessed her cheerful and worry-free attitude while she ate her lunch. Back at the clinic, this precious sister sat among other ladies who were also there for their biopsies. They looked very worried, so she started sharing Jesus with them and prayed for them. When her turn came and she had an ultrasound scan done, the doctor was puzzled - her scan showed no evidence of any lumps! The doctor went back to consult her colleague who had first discovered the lumps. Stunned, both doctors conducted their own investigations. They returned to her only to say, 'It's a miracle!'"

Praise God, He heals all if we receive his healing and believe it!!

When we worry, we are actually believing that the devil has the power to make inroads (encroachments, invasions, or intrusions) into our life that God cannot protect us from.

When we refuse to worry, we are putting our faith in God. We have more confidence in His love and power working for us than in the devil's ability to harm us! When we refuse to worry, and choose to rest in the finished work of Christ, we will see the manifestation of our blessing!! This is where we will see our miracle!! Amen? Miracles do happen today...that is for sure.

Thought for the day: When you refuse to worry, but choose to rest in the finished work of Christ, you will see the manifestation of your blessing!

Yahoo! Refuse to worry today and see what happens!

The Gospel Saves in Every Situation

2010-01-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

January 7, 2010

Romans 1:16

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…”

(God is so good. He knows exactly what we need to hear right at the right moment. Thanks, Daddy.)

So, what does He have for us today….

God wants everyone to hear the good news of his gospel. It is the power of God for your salvation, not just from hell, but also from illnesses, financial lack, harm, failing relationships – every aspect of your life that needs saving!!

I like this next part that Joseph Prince brings up because I was one of these people, “You may say, ‘Pastor Prince, I’ve heard the gospel of Christ, but it seems like I am one of those whom the power of God has missed.’ My friend, when you hear the gospel of Christ, do you really believe it? You cannot understand it in your mind. You must know and believe the good news in your heart, and then you will see that it is the power of God for your salvation.”

Let’s look at more of this scripture (Romans 1:16), picking up at verse 17,

“For in it [the good news] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…”

The good news is that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, which you receive from faith to faith. This means that this righteousness comes because you have faith in His blood, not your own good behavior or deeds to make you righteous and feel good about yourself. It is from faith to faith, not faith to works, or works to works.

JP says is best here, “The good news is not preached to show you what is wrong with you. It is preached to show you what is right with you because of Jesus’ work at Calvary, in spite of what is wrong with you!!”

There is nothing left for you to do in order to earn God’s blessings for your life. “You only need to hear and believe the all-encompassing saving power of the gospel of Christ to heal you of diseases, preserve you from danger, prosper your finances and bring well-being to your family.”

The thought for you to meditate on today is: Hearing and believing the good news will release the power of God into your situation.

Not just hearing, but hearing and believing.

You Have First-Class Righteousness

2010-01-11T10:47:00.000-05:00

January 6, 2010

2 Corinthians 5:21
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

This directly relates to the previous post. Some Christians believe that they have to work to become more righteous. When they do wrong, they kick themselves and feel like a failure. They don’t realize that they are trying to establish their own righteousness by their law-keeping (the 10 Commandments are part of old law, just food for thought) and right conduct.

“Righteousness is not about right conduct,” says Joseph Prince. Remember from the last post? What is righteousness about? If you answered “It’s a gift from God to us through Jesus!” Woot, you are correct! And, how do we get righteousness? If you answered, “We receive it (or it is imputed to us…either answer will work) when we believe Jesus’ finished work on the cross,“ Awesome!

So, today, right now, as you sit in front of your computer, you are the righteousness of God in Christ. We are as righteous as Jesus is! What good news!

Now, before you get into attack mode and start typing a disagreeing comment let me just say this: I would agree with you if it weren’t right from the Bible itself. I am not making anything up, I am not kidding, I am not trying to create some crazy cult following, etc. I am just sharing the black and white letters that are printed in my Bible, just as they are in yours. So please, slowly back away from your ninja suit, read the scripture for yourself, and don’t blame the good news on me :)

We can only receive the gift of righteousness…we can’t earn it or get more of it. The full supply has already been provided for us if we believe.

Joseph Prince likens the idea of what we commonly think of righteousness to that of seating classes in an airplane. “…some of us have economy-class righteousness, others have business-class righteousness, and only a select few have first-class righteousness. That is nonsense! When God gave us Jesus, He became our righteousness. So we have His righteousness. This means that we are 100 percent righteous in God’s eyes! We cannot have anything but first-class righteousness!” Woo!

So, how can I be righteous when I have done wrong? Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. Jesus knew no sin, did no sin, and in Him was no sin. But at the cross, He received our sin and became sin for us.

So, stop calling yourself a sinner! We were sinners, knew no righteousness, did no righteousness and in us was no righteousness. But at the cross, we received His righteousness and became the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.

I like this,

“At the cross, the divine exchange took place. Jesus took our place so that we might take His place. He did not deserve to be made sin, but He was made sin in our place. We did not deserve to be made righteous, but we were made righteous because we received His righteousness. What good news! What amazing grace!”

The thought for the day is: We have first-class righteousness, which we received as a gift through Jesus.

(I wonder how many times the word righteous or righteousness occurs in this post…)

Righteousness Is Not Right Doing but Right Being

2010-01-09T17:09:00.000-05:00

January 5, 2010
Romans 4:5
"But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness."

I like where this is going :)

Joseph starts out with the question, "What do you think righteousness is about? Something you do or something you are? Right doing or right being?" Have you ever thought of this before?

Well, let's look at Galatians 2:16, "But we know that God accepts only those who have faith in Jesus Christ. No one can please God by simply obeying the Law. So we put our faith in Christ Jesus, and God accepted us because of our faith." I like the translation better from the Message Bible just because of the plain truth it makes apparent,

"We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.

God imputes (a fancy word for "attribute" or "give out") righteousness not to those who strive to obey the law, but to anyone who believes in His Son. So, in other words, God gives out righteousness to those who believe in His Son. How does He impute righteousness? Because Jesus took our sins and gave us His righteousness the moment we believe in Him, God treats us as righteous apart from our works or obedience! Look, I can prove it:

2 Corinthians 5:21 - "He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
and
Romans 4:5-8 - "But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
"BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN,
AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.
"BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT."

Joseph Prince says, "This is new covenant righteousness - a righteousness that comes by faith and not works...you are not righteous because of how morally upright you are. You are not righteous because you exercise self-control. You are not righteous because you read 10 chapters of the Bible daily. You are not righteous because you feel righteous. But you are the very righteousness of God in Christ solely because the sacrifice of Jesus made you so. When you believe this, your faith is accounted for righteousness."

You don't need faith if you are righteous by your deeds.
You don't need faith to know that you are sinful.
You need faith to believe and declare that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, in the midst of your struggles with sin and temptation. God wants you to use your faith for this reason.

Exercise your faith to see yourself as still righteous in the midst of your failure (when you mess up).

Please ignore the stupid devil when he tries to remind you of these failures and try to convince you that you are everything but righteous. Yell in his face, "I am not righteous because of what I have done or not done. I am righteous only because of the blood and finished work of Jesus at the cross!!" He'll stop when he knows you're serious :)

Thought for the day: You are the very righteousness of God in Christ solely because the sacrifice of Jesus made you so.

Jesus' Blood Keeps on Cleansing You

2010-01-09T14:25:00.000-05:00

January 4, 2010

1 John 1:17
"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Have you ever gotten that feeling that you are "unworthy" to be in His presence or receive anything from Him? Well, again, this is a lie from Satan...the Enemy...the Jerk. He is constantly trying to convince you of unworthiness because you haven't read you Bible in weeks, or that you skipped church to go to watch a football game, and to make you sin-conscious (here is that word again).

The devil will always make you feel that you are not qualified or clean enough to go near God. But, here is the truth...regardless of how you feel or what you have done, Jesus' blood cleanses us from all sin!

Note: "cleanses"in the scripture is in present tense. This is true even in the original Greek text. "Cleanses" is in a continuous tense. So, what does this mean? It means that once you are a believer (notice how I say "believer" and not just a "Christian"), the blood of Jesus keeps on cleansing you from every sin! This is just a little more in depth than the last post. God doesn't remember our sins because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross...who's blood continuously cleanses us from our every sin! Get it?! Excellent. Let's move on...

I love how Joseph Prince puts it:

"So you can rest knowing that you are always forgiven in this continuous 'wash cycle' of Jesus blood (haha). Because you are continually cleansed, you are always in the light. Of course you will fail here and there, but you are still in the light because the blood is continuously washing you!"

Let's read Revelation 12:10-11 (don't be scared because we are delving into the mysterious book of Revelation...it's not that mysterious). Here we go...Revelation 12:10-11,

"Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. ¹¹And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death."

Here, the Bible says that we overcame the devil, the accuser, by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb! JP says, "The devil cannot defeat you when your faith is in the blood that cleanses you continuously."

This is interesting: Sometimes Christians would rather hold on to their past mistakes and sins and feel bad about them, thinking they are being humble and holy when they do this. This is totally the wrong mentatlity to have!

The eternal blood of Jesus offers eternal redemption and everlasting righteousness to you and I. Accept the payment of His blood as the final, perfect, complete, finished, and only sacrifice you will ever need!!

The thought for the day is: You can rest knowing that you are always forgiven in teh continuous wash cycle of Jesus' blood.

I love that 'wash cycle' example...just picture yourself in a washer with clothes that once were dirty, but now are clean...and they will continue to be clean unless they are taken out of the running washer and worn. Unless you get out of the washer, you will continue to roll around in the wash cycle.

God Remembers Your Sins No More

2010-01-09T13:02:00.000-05:00

January 3, 2010

Hebrews 10:17
"...'Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'"

Good news, huh? Joseph Prince points out something very important here: "The words "no more" are a strong double negative in the original Greek text. In other words, God is saying, "Your sins I will by no means ever remember!"

God sees all of our sins (past, present, and future) and still says he will not remember them. JP says, "He did remember all our sins - 2000 years ago at the cross. Every sin which we have committed or will commit has been punished to the full in the body of Jesus Christ at the cross. That is why today, God remembers our sins no more. We should, therefore, not be sin-conscious."

Let's stop here. What does it mean to be sin-conscious? Well, what does the word "conscious" mean? It means to be fully aware of or sensitive to something. The Greek word here is "epignōsis" which literally means "precise and correct knowledge" When we are "sin-conscious" we are fully aware and have the precise and correct knowledge that we have sin. If God by no means ever will remember our sin, why are we remembering it? We will never be accused of sinning by God. We will be accused of sinning by Satan. Technically he has nothing to accuse you of, but we allow the Enemy to get in our brains and make us continually aware of what we did wrong. When you feel that condemning feeling after you have sinned, that is not God! God can never condemn you of sin. Why? BECAUSE HE DOESN'T REMEMBER YOU DOING IT!!

Now, the convicting feeling after you have sinned is only the Holy Spirit reminding you of who you are as a believer. Convicting is very different from condemning. This Holy Spirit convicting literally means "to bring to the light, to expose," elegchō. Here, the HS is only trying to bring to light the fact that you are better than that sin you just committed! You are a child and the righteousness of God!!

Okay, let's move on, shall we? Joseph Prince encourages us with this: each time we sin, all God wants us to do is "remember the cross and say, "Lord Jesus, You were sentenced for this sin I committed. You bore the judgment, so God will no judge me for this sin. You were condemned for this sin, so God will not condemn me for it.'" Hallelujah!! Can I get an Amen, Church?!

JP also says this, "If you don't look to the cross, you will become sin-conscious and you will walk around with a certain expectation of judgment. And that expectation of judgment will give the devil a chance to get you thinking that God has something against you because of your sin."

There is no sin that will disqualify you from God's blessings (except unbelief...but that is a given). Come to a place where you know and believe that all your sins are forgiven and remembered by no means ever. There is no sin that can send you to hell (again...except unbelief)! Why? Because you are saved and forgiven eternally!! WOOOT!

I like how JP says this, "You and I are perfected forever because of Jesus' perfect work on the cross. We are perfected by God's full acceptance and perfect delight in His Son's work that has so glorified His holiness." So stop saying you aren't perfect!!

The thought of the day is this: Every sin which we have committed or will commit has been punished to the full in the body of Jesus Christ at the cross.

Just an endnote: I used the word "Hallelujah" earlier in this post...just wanted to share with you something that God showed me a couple of years ago. Hallelujah is actually a two-word phrase, not one word. The first part, hallelu, is the second-person imperative masculine plural form of the Hebrew verb hallal. However, it means more than simply "praise", as the word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise, to boast in God, or to act madly or foolishly. The second part, Yah, is a shortened form of the name of God YHWH, or "Yahweh" or "Jehovah."

If It Matters to You, It Matters to God

2010-01-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

January 2, 2010

Luke 12:6-7
"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many flocks of sparrows."

I enjoy how the last devo bleeds a little into the next day’s message. Today’s message is still about we matter to God. How many of us have thought, God is too busy to hear my puny elementary-sized problems and prayers? God only cares about the “big” things and only if it is a dire emergency; He has to keep track of the whole universe for goodness sake! I better not bother Him.

Sound familiar? This is such a lie from the Enemy…Satan…The Jerk. He wants usto feel like we are insignificant and shouldn’t bother the GREAT ALMIGHTY GOD because He doesn’t care about a fight you had with a friend, or the pimple on your face (that was one of the examples JP gave us :).

No matter how puny you might think a problem sounds, if it troubles you, then it troubles God, and He wants to take care of it! Hear that?!?!? He WANTS to take care of it for you! He WANTS to take care of every aspect of your life, even the smallest detail. JP says this, "He loves you so much that He knows the number of hairs you have on your head. And if your loving heavenly Father knows and is interested in the small details of your life, then..." HEAR THIS: "...you don't have to overcome any problem on your own." Now, is that good news, or is that good news!?

Now, here comes my favorite part...

Joseph Prince references Jeremiah 29:11. I looked it up and God spoke volumes more than what was on this page to me.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Let's break this down, shall we? "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Does this not sounds like a God who cares for us, or what? We also have to remember that this doesn't mean that our life is predestined and we have no choice. This simply means that our Father has awesome plans for us IF we CHOOSE to accept them. God always gives us a choice and never forces us to do anything, He is a gentleman.

I love this next part: "...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This reminds me of all the times I have heard (and even said myself), "God why are you doing this to me, hwy are you bringing all of these horrible things into my life!?" Or, "God why are you doing all this horrible stuff to the world!?" And my favorite, "God, if you are such a 'loving God' then why are you letting your people suffer of hunger, poverty, disaster, disabilities, disease, etc.?" This next truth that God has revealed to me is one that will eliminate all of these questions, listen... Everything that is good can only come from God. Everything that is evil can only come from Satan. 1 John 1:5 says that "...God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." Wow...doesn't that make sense?!?! It is actually impossible that God create evil and sin. We think we should put all the blame on God because we have the misconception that He is in control of everything. He can't be in control of everything because if that were true, we would have to free will to choose to follow Him or not! Is this making sense?! In other words, God is not the bad guy who have you cancer, or made you lose your job, or causes starvation in African children, or the "natural" disasters that ruin people's homes and lives. That is not from God. It is from the Enemy. And we need to start putting the blame on him. When we do that we are able to use God for help to get out of the horrible situation Satan put us in!! Good stuff, huh?

Another thought about this part of the scripture is the word, "prosper." In some translations it says "plans for your welfare." I looked up this usage of the word "prosper" or "welfare" and here is the awesome truth that I found: The word "prosper" or "welfare" in this tense means prosperity, yes, but there's more. It comes from the Greek word, Shalowm. Many of you, I'm sure, know what this word means. It means, peace, yes, but it also means a whole lot more than that! It literally means completeness, soundness, safety, health, wholeness, tranquillity, contentment, prosperity, etc. This is a completely encompassing kind of peace! Wow! Who wouldn't want that?! And the best part is, GOD WANTS TO GIVE THIS TO US!! The immediately following words in this verse are, "[plans]...not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God says right here that he ONLY has plans to prosper you and NEVER to harm you!! This is good news...if you aren't excited right now, you must have missed something...go back and read what just happened!

The last part of this scripture is just as exciting. "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Have you ever thought, Is God really listening to me, I feel like I am talking to the ceiling. Or, I feel like I have been seeking, but I don't feel anything. I don't feel like my prayers and Bible studies are doing anything! Well my friends, This is exactly how I used to feel. When I was a sophomore in college, it actually came to a point where I wanted to call off the whole being a Christian thing and just forget it. But, God revealed something to me with this scripture. I was being a part-time Christian. I was only reading my Bible, singing praises, and praying every month or two, or when something was wrong, or I was in a situation where I needed to do those things (i.e. church, youth group, Rochester College). I became very good at walking the walk and talking the talk.

Here, God says that we WILL call upon Him and come and pray to Him, and...HE WILL LISTEN TO US! That is what it says, I didn't make this up. He says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." This is where I had the issue. I was not seeking Him with my whole entire heart. When we just include Him every once in a while, how dare we accuse Him of being so far away. He is always ready and waiting for us to choose Him and put Him first in everything.

Wow...that is a lot to chew on. I wouldn't blame you if you have to go back and read this again...I probably will.

The thought for the day is: God wants to take care of every area of your life, even the smallest detail.

Thank you, Daddy!

You Matter to God!

2010-01-08T12:28:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2010

John 10:3
"...he calls his own sheep by name..."

The first devotional of the year is all about realizing that you are one of 6,692,030,277 people on this Earth, and yet the God who created it all calls you by name and knows exactly what you are going through and where you are hurting. He sees you and cares for you.

It is so easy to feel like just a face in the crowd or a number in a system, only being identified by our social security number. Joseph Prince says this, "If you feel depersonalized and dehumanized, that is exactly how the devil wants you to feel - that you do not matter much to anyone, especially to God."

Joseph Prince (JP) reminds us of the Samaritan woman by the well. He points out something interesting: Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee, right? Well, the Bible says that Jesus needed to go through Samaria (John 4:4). The big deal here is that Samaria was well out of the way they need to go. There was a shorter route to Galilee, but Jesus deliberately took a longer route so that He could stop by Samaria to speak to this woman who had been searching for something in her life to satisfy her.

If you aren't familiar with this woman, she had five husbands and the man she was currently living with was not one of those five men. He wasn't her husband at all. JP says, "Clearly, things had not been going right in her life. She was probably looking for answers and fulfillment, and must have felt ashamed about her failed marriages and current lifestyle."

In spite of all this, she mattered to Jesus. He needed to go to her to minister to her. After speaking with Jesus, she was transformed and no longer ashamed. She excitedly goes into the city telling people about Him (John 4:28-29).

How cool to think that God goes out of His way to meet us where we are, huh? We are not just a face in a crowd or a number. He came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). He knows us by name and has a personal love for us.

In spite of the mess we are in, He wants to meet our every need and make our lives beautiful!

In his devotional, JP gives a "Thought for the Day" for us to meditate on for the whole day reminding ourselves of the truth we heard today.

To "meditate" in this situation comes from the greek word, "hagah" which means, literally, to moan, growl, utter, mutter, plot, or speak.

So, in other words, we are to mutter, speak outloud the Word and promises to ourselves all day and all night. Now, I am not saying to go around screaming and raving like a lunatic, but we won't start believing something until we speak it over and over.

So, the thought for the day is: You matter to God! He knows what you are going through and wants to meet your every need.

Julie & Julia: REMIX

2010-01-07T19:53:00.001-05:00

So, if you have seen Julie & Julia, after watching the movie, were you were inspired to create your own "Julie & Julia Project" style blog? Well, as you can see...I was. It has been, however, more than just a, "Hey, that looks like a fun thing to do. I think I'd like to do that," sort of inspiration.

I have felt very strongly encouraged by the Holy Spirit to do something similar to what Julie did in this movie (if you haven't seen it and have no idea what I am talking about, here is a link to the movie trailer which will explain everything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjvJHsJD8ic). But, instead of writing a 365 day blog about cooking, I feel like God is calling me to write a 365 devotional blog. I conveniently started having these thoughts of this blog just before the first of the year (the perfect time to start this project). I conveniently ignored these thoughts, as you can see, for a couple of days after the first of the year, just thinking that this was a crazy idea I couldn't get out of my mind. But the more I tried to not think about it, the more I found Holy Spirit confirmation that this is what I am supposed to do.

I originally thought that God had just found a creative way to help me become a more consistent, routine-driven person (my previous lack of this quality was damaging my relationship with God). Prior to this project, I have been a very inconsistent person who doesn't follow through with much. I will start out with the greatest of intentions, but will forget, lose interest, or just plain not feel like making the effort to complete the task. God has told me that, yes, this will help me achieve this, but this is so much more than that. This is going to make my relationship with Him skyrocket! Spending time with Him everyday is crucial. This is also an opportunity for me to share God's Word to people I normally don't have a chance to speak to in person. So, this blog is for you too!

Here is the deal:

I will read Joseph Prince's 365 day devotional, "Destined to Reign," and post a blog about what the thought for that day includes, give the scripture mentioned, and share revelation I receive from the Holy Spirit about the Word and knowledge I have learned about the topic.

Since it is past the first of the year, I will go back and post a blog from the 1st to today and then continue on as normal, posting the devo blog for that day.

Since this is for you too, I encourage you to comment on the posts with your thoughts and questions. A warning though...I am not doing this to debate or argue with anyone. This is strictly for encouragement and spiritual growth through pure, straight truth from God's Word and God Himself.

Without further ado...Erin's devo blog...

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