Category: Faith

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God is not finished with you!

“The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

Romans 11:29

A vision is a great thing. It is a blueprint. It is a compass that helps guide you in the right direction. But the vision must be put into action. It must graduate to a cause. God has given many of you a great vision. He also wants to help you move into your cause. What is it that is burning in your heart to do? What problems do you see that you can help solve? These are probably indications of your cause. 

It’s important to note that everyone can have a cause. You do not have to be in full-time ministry to have one. Regardless of your vocation, God wants you to pursue a passionate cause. If God has given you a vision for something, start taking steps toward putting it into action. That is when you will become effective.

Move in the direction that your vision is pointing you. Don’t despise small beginnings. God honors steps of faith. You may be asking, “What if I have already put my vision on the shelf?” or “What if I missed my opportunity?” I have good news for you. It is not too late! I want to remind you of Romans 11:29 which says, “The gifts and calling Of God are without repentance.” God is not finished with you! He is NOT sorry that He has called you. He is NOT disappointed in you. He wants to see you burning with a passionate cause for Him.

Perhaps you were passionate about a cause earlier in your life, but it has now died somewhat or completely. I have good news! God is not finished with you! He is just beginning His work in you. Do not be discouraged. Your defining moment is still ahead of you. David’s defining moment didn’t take him by surprise. He was prepared for it. When it presented itself to him, he recognized what it was. God is preparing you for your defining moment. It is ahead of you.

Everything you have experienced up to this point is preparation for what God has in your future. God’s best is still ahead of you. Take what you have learned and let it ignite a new desire to step into your cause. Let it prepare your heart for what God is going to do in your life. Look beyond your present circumstances, see where God wants you to be, and then move in that direction. Before you know it, your vision will become a cause. 

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Overcoming Strongholds

“So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” – Isaiah 59:19 KJV

One of Satan’s lies is that God is big enough to set you free, but not big enough to keep you free. The enemy comes time and again to try to convince us of that lie. However, God has clearly demonstrated that He is big enough to set His people free and keep them free. Remember the children of Israel? When they were running from their captors and encountered the Red Sea God made a way for them to walk across on dry land. But the plan didn’t end there. He not only set them free, He kept them free! He sealed the deal when he drowned the soldiers pursuing them. God will do the same for you! 

People have misquoted this scripture many times. They would say, “IF the enemy shall come in like a flood.” But the scripture says, “WHEN the enemy shall come in like a flood.” Now, that is not necessarily the part of the promise we want to focus on! But the Word of God is truth. Everyone is going to have opportunities for their faith to be tested. Do not be surprised when the enemy tries to do his craziness. Do not give in to fear either. You have a mighty God! The latter part of that verse says, “…the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” (This is the part we want to focus on!) In the Hebrew the phrase “shall lift up a standard” means “shall put him to flight,” and “drive him away”. God’s reaction to the attack is not to just stand there and fight until the enemy gets tired. He comes in on the offensive and drives the enemy away! His force is overwhelming. 

Your enemy will attack. That’s what enemies do. Remember when the devil sends an attack your way he is not just attacking YOU! God is with you! Hebrews 13:5 says, “… I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” When God gets in the fight – the enemy doesn’t stand a chance! God is MORE than enough! God has already given us what we need to defend against the enemies’ attack. He has given us the victory!

To overcome, we must give more glory to God than to the evil one. Quit rehearsing what the enemy has done or is doing. That helps your enemy build the stronghold. He is a defeated foe. Overcome the stronghold by rejoicing in the deliverance that God brings! We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. (Revelation 12:11) We overcome when we stand firm in the victory that Jesus achieved for us on the cross. We overcome when we build our faith through prayer and feeding on the Word of God. 

Jesus said in John 16:33 (AMP) “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]” Did you read that last part? Jesus said He had overcome the world. He put it in the past tense. Jesus had not gone to the cross yet. He had not taken the keys to death, hell and the grave yet. Yet He knew exactly what was coming. He knew that everything He said would come to pass because God had ordained it since the beginning of the world. His confidence in God’s power was secure. Yours should be too! You are a child of God! You are joint heirs with Jesus. (1 Peter 3:7) His victory is your victory! 

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Take God at His Word

“Faith is believing that God means what He said.”

 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

John 15:7

 3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Jeremiah 33:3

 Victory Action

I choose to act according to my belief that God’s Word lives in me and that He meant what He said.

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How Do You See Yourself

“Are you a grasshopper or a grape eater?”

And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Numbers 13:23, 30-31, 33

God’s promise was Israel’s title deed to the land as well as His guarantee that they would defeat their enemies. God’s promise was all Israel needed, but the nation doubted God’s Word and began to walk by sight instead of by faith. They could easily see the prosperity that would come with the promised land. One cluster of grapes had to be carried by two men! But when they began to listen to the rumors about the people in their way their faith in God’s promise waned. Their perspective changed. They began to compare themselves and their natural power to others. But God told them to go in HIS power. His power is more than enough! Stop seeing yourself as alone in the fight. Remember, God is on your side!

Philippians 4:13 (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who [a]infuses inner strength into me; I am [b]self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].

Victory Action

God has promised that I can “possess” my land by faith.  I choose to see myself as God sees me, victorious.

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Faith Works By Love

“Love is the fuel that activates faith.”

6For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Galatians 5:6
2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 
I Corinthians 13:2

The Bible says that God is love. Therefore, if we have God in our heart and life we should be walking in love! Love is powerful!

So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. Romans 8:38 (TPT)

We cannot pick and choose what we want to believe from God’s Word and disregard the rest. It’s all connected, and it all centers around love. Faith and love are intricately connected. Don’t think that you can walk in true, God-designed love without walking in faith, neither can you walk in faith without walking in love. Love is the fuel on which your faith burns!

Victory Action

I will put the Word of God in my heart regarding love. I will determine to walk in that love no matter the circumstance. I will confess that my faith works and it works by love!

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Faith Moves Mountains

“If you do not like the mountain, move it.”

 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mark 11:22-24

There are two things in this passage of scripture that Jesus said would move the mountain. First, faith. Second, words. The faith is in your heart and the words are in your mouth. Faith comes when you spend time in God’s Word and in prayer. 

Faith, then, is birthed in a heart that responds to God’s anointed utterance of the Anointed One.  - Romans 10:17 (Passion)
But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [[a]make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit; Jude 20 (AMPC)
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21 (NIV)
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Luke 6:45 (KJV)

The mountain can be anything that is standing between you and God’s plan for your life. If sickness is trying to take hold in your body then use the scriptures on healing to move that mountain. If fear is griping your heart then take the scriptures on hope and faith and move that mountain! The Word of God is powerful! It is the truth about your life and part of the whole armor in Ephesians 6 that will take you through to victory.

 Victory Action

I will speak in faith to any obstacle in my path, and watch that mountain move!

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Happy New Year!

Today is the day that we mark the beginning of a new year. It is an opportunity to choose a new outlook and attitude. No matter what last year was like, we have a chance to invite God to be in charge of the new year we are embarking on. When we do, He empowers us to conquer in all situations.

Romans 8:37-39 says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We can rest assured that God is with us, empowering us! But everyday we have to make a choice to rejoice! Nehemiah 8:10 says, “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” When you need strength, choose joy!

I encourage you to keep pressing into God this year. Keep pressing in for personal and national revival. We need revival and restoration today more than ever. In times past when people began to see the world grow darker and go deeper into sin they began to pray and seek God. As we do that in this new year, we can believe that change is on the horizon. God does not ignore His kids! Nothing can separate us from the love of God. But unbelief can hinder our prayers and God’s answer to our prayers. Stay in faith this year! When you are tempted to doubt, remember that Jesus said in Mark 9:23…all things are possible to him that believeth.

I am praying that God will show Himself strong to you in this upcoming year! May God’s best be yours today and every day!

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Don't Quit!

“Don’t quit on your first day and don’t quit on your worst day.”

Acts 20:24 “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

 

Victory Confession

I refuse to give up; I refuse to quit. I will not be moved by circumstances.  I will receive if I don’t quit believing.