Wonderful Jesus!

The Promise

Ephesians 1:13 -In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise

Paul’s letter to the saints at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus has had my attention for the past several weeks. I’ve read it through several times and have memorized quite a few passages.

We are also actually going through a study of the person of the Holy Spirit and since He is mentioned in Ephesians 1, I thought I would blog about Him.

Paul is writing to the saints who have also trusted in Jesus. He makes mention of them having heard the word of truth, the gospel that produced salvation in their lives when they believed. Then he tells them that they were sealed with that “Holy Spirit of promise.” I want to look a little at that phrase, “Holy Spirit of promise.

As I looked into this phrase, I found two interesting views that I will mention here: Some versions of the Bible translates this phrase as: “the Holy Spirit of promise; and others refer to this phrase, “the promised Holy Spirit”. I just want to show how they are both theological sound yet tell us two different things about the Holy Spirit.

To bring clarity to my way of thinking, I would like to define the word “promise”. A promise is “a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.” I googled it!

In verse 14 Paul refers the Holy Spirit as an “earnest of our salvation”. Now when we purchased our home several decades ago, we were required to put down some earnest money. Earnest money says that I am serious about buying this house and I am sealing the deal with my money. Paul wrote the Holy Spirit of Promise was our earnest deposit for our redemption. So that’s a wonderful promise and God is saying to us that our salvation has been purchased and the Holy Spirit sealed the deal! That’s glorious news!

Staying in that vein of thought, the Holy Spirit is the one who fulfills the promises of God in our lives. He is the One who makes things happen. When Paul prayed for the saints at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus, he prayed that God would give to us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. It’s interesting to note all that Paul felt would accompany us having the Holy Spirit of promise: enlightened eyes, the knowledge of the hope of His calling, what the exceeding greatness of His power toward us is, and so on.

Paul mentions that all the promises of God are yes and amen in Him (2 Corinthians 1:20. Why? Because the Holy Spirit of promise brings to pass all that God has said to us. He watches over His word to perform it! (Jeremiah 12:1) This proof positive that Holy Spirit is the assurance that God’s promises will be fulfilled in our lives because He is the One who will make it happen!

The second view is the one we most often think of when we read this phrase. After all Jesus Himself referred to the coming of the Holy Spirit as the promise from God. “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”- Luke 24:49

Then there is the passage in Joel 2:28-29-“And it shall come to pass afterward, That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. and also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”

Ezekiel 26:26- “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

God in His wondrous love for us, sent His Holy Spirit, which He promised He would do, to transform us and our lives. When we are born again, we are born of the Holy Spirit. We become new creatures in Christ by His transforming power. He develops us, transforming us into the image of Christ Jesus! He walks with us and teach us how to live supernaturally in a world filled chaos and confusion. He, the promised One, fulfills the promise of God to us that we are overcomers! He, the promised One, fulfills the promise of God to us that by His stripes we are healed! He, the promised One, fulfills the promise to us that all the promises of God are yes and amen! He is the Holy Spirit of promise and the promised Holy Spirit! Yes and amen! Wonderful Jesus!

Worshipper, Warrior, and King!

1 Samuel 13:14 -But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.

David gets a bad rap amongst Christians today. He’s actually a paradox to the Christian community being used as an excuse for a flesh filled life and the lie that they are alright with God when they are not. I would like to take a few minutes to look at David with God’s perspective.

First of all, Samuel told Saul that God was replacing him as king with one whose heart was after His own. At the time Samuel didn’t know who this person was, but he was told that this person had a heart for God.

When God was ready to anoint His new king, Samuel was sent to David’s home, but David was in the field watching the sheep. David did more than watch the sheep out there. David learned to worship God, to seek His face, to trust and obey Him. And because of that, David got God’s attention.

I want to point out that in David’s time, that was unusual. When people had a desire to worship, they went to the temple. When they had a need, a sin issue, or celebration, they went to the temple; but David created a temple, an atmosphere where he could meet God in the fields, or where ever he was at. This was a New Testament order brought into the Old Testament because his heart was to worship God unhindered and unstructured.

When Saul was appointed king over Israel it was at the request of the people, but when David was appointed king, it was at the request of God. What a huge difference in the beginning of the assignment on his life. We could say that God approved of Saul but He specifically chose David to be His king. Chose and HIs being the operative words!

After Samuel anointed the shepherd, David, to be king over Israel, David went back to the fields. And as he was in the fields he continued to worship God, continued to open his heart to the will of God, continued to develop before the Presence of God; because when he was anointed king, the Spirit of God rested on him from that day forward.

When the Spirit of God is mentioned about Saul, it is said that the Spirit came upon Saul, but with David, the Spirit of God remained. Already there is a notable difference.

Now to get to the other point I wanted to make: as David continued on in life with God he wrote some psalms, killed Goliath, became a mighty warrior, turned the destitute into the mighty men, and united a kingdom, all while giving God the glory!

As he settled into his kingdom David did a few things that were just plain wrong: he slept with Bathsheba and then he had her husband killed to cover it up. And God continued to love him and to bless him with favor; even made a covenant with him to give him an everlasting kingdom. And this is where people get confused.

They think that David was this terrible sinner that God just loved on and used in spite of himself because of the plans for his life! Wrong!

Let’s remember that God called David a man after His own heart. I don’t think people really understand the word sinner. A sinner is someone who sins, who is separated by their sin from God. They aren’t sinners because they sin, they sin because they are sinners. When David slept with Bathsheba, he sinned. But that didn’t make him a sinner who was separated from God. When he had Uriah, her husband killed, he sinned, but that didn’t separate him from God. It broke fellowship, it broke God’s heart, and had he continued, he may have ended up like Saul, but David’s heart was bent towards God and it was evident even then.

When David was called on the carpet for his sin, he didn’t blame Bathsheba for bathing on the wall, he didn’t blame the devil for setting him up, he fell before God and took the blame and cried out for forgiveness. (Psalm 51) Then he begged God to allow His spirit to continue to remain with him. In other words, he repented and meant it and God knew that He did. These are not the actions of a sinner, but of one whose heart is towards God!

My pastor explained this so beautifully once that I never forgot it. He said something like this: “When a man lies and admits his lie and repents of his lie, he just lied. But when a man lies, cover his lies, and continue to lie until he lies about everything he becomes a liar.” I share that to say, there is no continuous reporting in the life of David that he continued to sleep with other men wives having them killed off. David repented of his sin and moved his face towards God.

He is even called ungodly. To be ungodly is to deny God or disobey God. An ungodly person doesn’t have a heart after God. If he did, God would be admitting that His own heat is ungodly. That’s ridiculous! David acted ungodly, yet again, he repented from the act of ungodliness or in this case-the act of disobedience.

I will admit that what David did was wrong on so many levels. This is why I said he is a paradox. He loved God so much, had a very close and personal relationship with God and yet he sinned. But remember that a sinner keeps on sinning with no or little regard to what God says about it.

Remember when Jesus hung on the cross? He asked God why had He forsaken Him? God forsook Jesus when Jesus became sin for us because He didn’t dwell with sin with Jesus HIs only begotten Son and He won’t dwell with sin in us. We must repent of it, be cleansed from it, and our relationship restored. Just like David, just like Jesus!! Although Jesus didn’t sin, but He carried ours and God forsook Him that we might be reconciled to Him.

He’s a paradox because people look for reasons to twist the things in the word of God for their own justification. That’s not having a heart towards God. That’s fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind then wanting to validate those desires by looking at what someone else did, just like Adam!

All of us can probably think of a time when we blew it, but the Word is clear that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. David understood that and lived accordingly; not to excuse his sin, but to be free from it.

So I am in agreement with God about David. He was a man after God’s own heart; a worshipper, a warrior, a king! He was God’s man, imperfect in his ways, but He belonged to God. That makes David as far removed from a sinner as those of us washed now in His Blood. Maybe you have struggled with the truth about who you are in Jesus! Struggle no more because if you have been washed in His Blood you are no longer a sinner but are accepted in the beloved! Wonderful Jesus!

Queen of Gospel

Last year I did a short blog on William J. Seymour in honor of Black History Month. This month I would like to remind you or introduce you to the Queen of Gospel music, Mahalia Jackson.

A couple weeks ago in service, our pastor shared that he had gone to a play that honored the life of Mahalia Jackson. He shared that what impressed him the most was that she absolutely refused to sing anything other than gospel music. As he shared, I remembered me as a teenager listening to my gospel album of her songs; songs like: Great Gettin’ Up Morning, How I Got Over, Didn’t It Rain, Joshua Fit the Battle…

That morning as one of our choir members sang one of her songs at the pastor’s request, it took me there, to that living room when my heart ached to know God better, where I would sing with all my heart the songs on the album as if I was singing with Mahalia on stage. Although, it’s not the type of music I listen to today, I can say that listening to her music back then caused me to love gospel music and to think of Jesus.

So today, I salute Mahalia Jackson of New Orleans, Louisiana for allowing God to use her gift to share soul stirring music that touched my heart and life and the lives of so many others. I believe if you don’t know of her courageous stand against racism, her success in spite of her challenges, her desire to honor God with her music even when everyone told her she could make more money singing secular music, her generosity in the fight for civil rights, her friendship and support to Dr. King, and her apparent love for God, then she is someone you should know. Wonderful Jesus!

How To Bring Spiritual Release

Exodus 17:6 – “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” KJV

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I was asked to do a teaching on the rewards of fasting. I can tell you now, I was not thrilled with the topic. Although I have seen some amazing things happen as a result of fasting and praying, lately, I had just lost my focus on this particular discipline.

My husband and I were in a conversation about the diligence of other religious individuals, non-Christian, who fast and pray faithfully, and seemingly without complaint; but I have to admit I had begun to struggle with it. I know the great power that comes with fasting and prayer. But the thrill was gone.

I know in part it is because we fast every year for 21 days in January and I celebrate both my birthday and my anniversary during that time. At first it was not a big deal, but as the years have passed, I had lost my inspiration for fasting and it had become something that I did because I was in leadership. Unless I had a situation that I knew would only change with fasting and prayer. (So all hope and inspiration wasn’t gone!)

Of course, God knows how to hook us up and charge our faith better than man could ever do; and being given this assignment turned out to be my charging station.

What charged my soul was the revelation that “physical obedience brings spiritual release!” Now I didn’t get this on my own. I heard Jentezen Franklin preach on fasting and praying and he mentioned it in his sermon. Then I studied it out and came away from it charged and delivered from the “bah humbug” of fasting and praying.

In the above scripture, Moses was told by God to go to a rock, strike it with the rod, and water would come forth! Moses obeyed and water came forth! Not just a fountain of water but a spring of water that provided water for the people, their animals, cooking, bathing, laundering, and whatever else they needed water for at the time. Now if you don’t agree that was a spiritual release, go and strike a rock and see if you get water!

This situation in the Old Testament was also a type and shadow of a New Testament event. Jesus’ crucifixion. He was struck on the cross and the living water that flows from Calvary today is truly a spiritual release. In Philippians 2:7-9, Paul wrote, “But (He) made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.” Note: I added the (He) for clarity sake.

Jesus’ act of physical obedience brought spiritual release to mankind; it brought our salvation. But it also caused Him to be highly exalted and given a name that is above every name. That act of obedience changed the course of mankind providing spiritual release even today.

To tie it in to fasting and praying we need to look at Daniel. In Daniel 10 we learn about what we call the “Daniel fast”. Daniel fasted for 21 days, eating nothing pleasant (verse 3). The Hebrew word for pleasant in this verse is “hamad”. In verse 11, the angel calls him “Daniel, a man greatly beloved”. This word beloved in the Hebrew is the same word “hamad” that Daniel used when he said he ate no “pleasant” bread.

His physical obedience of fasting, and we infer praying based on his lifestyle, caused a spiritual release in his life. As he gave up that which was pleasant, he became pleasant to the Heavenly Father. For me, this was a powerful eye opener.

It’s not as if I didn’t know the power of fasting and praying, but for some reason, the reminder, and the way God has it written in His word in Daniel, got my attention pulling me out of the “I don’t like fasting mentality, to the I can’t wait to fast again!” So I did! Of course, in our Bible study I gave other examples, but I had more time then I like to take up in a blog.

Before I close, let me just say that there are countless examples in the word of God of an individual obeying God physically and receiving from God physical and spiritual blessings that only He could bring about. If He did if for them, He will do it for us.

One example in my personal life of fasting and praying, that I didn’t mention in my teaching happened several years ago and I have never forgotten it. As I was seeking the Lord because I just wanted more of Him, He manifested Himself to me. I was asleep and I dreamed. In the dream I was worshipping Him when His Glory filled the place I was in. The cloud was so thick that I could hardly see myself in the midst. In the dream He said, “I have anointed you.” I woke from the dream and I was truly in the Presence of the Lord. His Presence was so thick I got up from my bed and went to worship Him. This dream impacted my life.

Although, He anointed me, and I have countless testimonies of His anointing on my life, I still leak. I still get to the place where my flesh rises up and lets me know it is time to fast and pray. Life will help you see it just as it helps me. Take some time in the near future and fast and pray that you might experience a spiritual release in your life. Wonderful Jesus!!

I’m Adopted!

Ephesians 1:5 -“having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,”

I want to continue looking at what Paul was writing about in Ephesians 1 when he mentioned our being predestined. I have again a definition for the word predestined:

According to COBUILD Advanced Dictionary, “If you say that something was predestined, you mean that it could not have been prevented or changed because it had already been decided by a power such as God or fate.”

Before the foundation of the world

Again, Paul mentions us being predestined. To what? To adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself. As we are in Him, we are adopted into His family! It’s just predetermined. We don’t ask for it, but as we are born again of His Spirit, we become a part of His family. It’s just the way that it is! So, yes, this is predestination because God had already decided from before the foundation of the earth that it was so.

And then Paul says that it is according to the good pleasure of His will. It’s what He, God the Father wanted and it brings Him pleasure that we are adopted in the family. John even remarked on this truth in the first chapter of his book when he wrote, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). But the choice is mankind’s to make. And once we believe on Jesus, things just start falling into place.

The Amplified states it like this: “He predestined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to Himself as [His own] children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will—“ This view of predestination, is a well thought out plan by a loving God and Father, for those who would be saved!

Ephesians 1:11-12 -“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.”

I really love verses 11 and 12. Actually, I love the book of Ephesians. But having said that, Paul said we are predestined! To what? To fulfill God’s purpose in the earth according to the counsel of His will! This is exciting! And the Father has purposed that it is His will that our salvation is to the praise of His glory. He is glorified when we are saved and fulfill the purpose of His will.

In chapter 2 of Ephesians Paul wrote: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

The word is filled with the “good works” that God has prepared for us to walk in: love towards our neighbor, helping the orphans and widows, sharing the gospel, tithing, attending worship service…” God prepared these things for us to walk in before we accepted Him as Savior.

Jeremiah 29:11, a much beloved verse by many states: “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

God has planned great things for us, His children. Plans for us to walk in peace, plans for our well being, plans to give us a future in this earth and in eternity, plans for us to have a hope! Why would we ever think, that we are just puppets on a string and life is just happening to us because He willed it, when He emphatically tells us, “I’m not planning for your destruction, your pain, your losses, your disappointments! That’s not Me! I’m planning your victory! I have set some things in motion since the foundation of the world, I have laid out a well thought out, blood bought planned for an abundant life for you! Don’t buy that I am not interested in you or your life or what is going on around! That’s not Me!!” At least, that is what I hear in His Word when I read of all that He has promised to us and done for us.

I love it! I love that God the Father had a plan for us before the foundation of the world. I love the benefit packet that comes with salvation. Much like getting a great job and finding out that not only do you have a great salary, but you also have a nice big office, a parking space, your own laptop and tablet, 401 plan you don’t have to pay into, 6 weeks paid vacation, 2 weeks of sick days, and a bonus every anniversary. It is mind-blowing because it came with your acceptance as an employee with the company. And it was in place for “whosoever” was hired for that position.

Well, we are accepted in the beloved because of Jesus and we have all of these great benefits already listed and so much more. As we go through Ephesians I am excited to learn more about all that God has in store for us. Keep reading! Wonderful Jesus!

It Can’t Be Stopped!

Ephesians 1:5 – having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

I mentioned in a previous post that I am challenging myself to memorize chapters in the Bible. I just finished memorizing Ephesians chapter 1 and I was drawn by the fact that Paul uses a form of the word predestined several times. So while I was memorizing the chapter, of course I was meditating and wondering about predestination.

The doctrine of predestination, a major tenet of Calvinism has been around for hundreds of years and many theologians have supported this doctrine probably using Ephesians 1.

Basically Calvinism is the doctrine that believers are predestined to salvation, meaning that we don’t choose God, but He chooses us to grant us salvation, and no others can or will be saved. I have a few problems with this based on the same chapter in Ephesians and many others.

The first viewpoint of salvation is the one that Jesus Himself gives to Nicodemus in John 3:16-17-“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

So my counterpoint to Calvinism would start here. God so loved the whole entire world that He sent Jesus that “whoever” believes in Him might be saved. Using the definition of predestination, one could easily say, and I do because I believe it is supported by scripture, that God predetermined before the foundation of the world that whoever believes in His Son Jesus could be saved. Whoever!! The only requirement that He placed on who would be saved is that they believe, and if they believed, then accordingly, they shall be saved! This doesn’t limit salvation to only a select few people, it makes salvation easy to acquire for all and thereby easy to achieve. That sounds like a loving Heavenly Father!

Another point I would like to make about predestination is that I agree with the theory and truth of the matter that God has predestined some things and they may be challenged, but they will not be stopped. Let’s look at Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1:4 -just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,”

This is a verse that supports the truth of predestination. God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He is all-knowing and He is sovereign so I don’t think He is ever surprised when someone gets saved, but I don’t believe for one second that He chose me and not my neighbor, even if my neighbor dies and spends eternity in hell. And another point in this verse is that God’s plan for our salvation was in His heart before Adam was created. He didn’t make Adam or Eve sin, He knew they would and provided a plan! It was predetermined and nothing would stop it!!

This verse is also saying that before the foundation of the world He decided or predestined that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Not that we would be specifically chosen to salvation but that He decided that we would be in Him and we would be holy and without blame. No sins hindering our relationship when we stand before Him! What a wonderful thing He decided before He ever formed Adam in the Garden.

Holiness is mentioned in other places in His word, when He commands, “Be ye holy!” Why, because that’s what He decided beforehand that we would be when we are in Christ!

It’s amazing to me how well thought out the plan of salvation is. After a few decades of the being in Christ I am still learning of the wonders of His love He packed into the plan of salvation. For centuries we have packaged salvation through the acts of consequences: If you receive Him you go to heaven; if you don’t you go to hell. And this is certainly truth! But God has predetermined beforehand so much for us through our relationship with Him that far outweighs avoiding hell and some day being in heaven. He has afforded us Him! Wonderful Jesus!

The Power of Agreement

Amos 3:3-Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

At this time of year I am really sentimental. Today marks our 32nd wedding anniversary. And we are grateful!

The prophet wrote, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed? I can certainly answer that. Yes, if you are in agreement! With if being the operative word.

When we met in the airport in Sigonella, Sicily, we were young and full of hopeful ideas of what we wanted in our future not realizing at that moment that we were the answer to one another’s prayers. But God knew.

I was sitting in the airport surrounded by military people, on a military base, waiting on a cheap flight to the states when he saw me. I was reading my Bible. I shall never forget it. When he approached me and asked me what I was reading, I wasn’t sure he was someone I wanted to talk to if he didn’t recognize the Bible. But he said he wanted to know what I was reading in the Bible and that was a whole different conversation.

Suffice it to say, God arranged for us to meet that night and now we are 32 years later still in love.

What did we agree upon during our courtship that helped us to build such a strong marriage and relationship:

Well, we agreed that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was God and would be the center of our personal life and our home.

We agreed to worship together! Children included! Faithfully!

We agreed to serve the Lord together!

We agreed to share in the rearing and education of our children.

We agreed to not yell at each or to speak disrespectfully to one another. Ever!

We agreed not to harbor unforgiveness towards one another!

We agreed to spend time with each other!

We agreed to be tithers and givers and to teach our children the same!

In other words, and not so much in any special order, we agreed to live our lives in agreement with the Word of God and not in agreement with our flesh and emotions.

What happens when we don’t agree, we pray and we talk it out! We disagree, but we don’t fight! We don’t insult! We don’t attack!

Our special time together is walking in the evening in the neighborhood talking and praying. We love to go out to eat on weekly date nights. We love spending time together as a family. We are our biggest cheerleaders. He thinks I preach as well as any speaker we have ever heard. I think he’s the wisest man I know. And definitely, the most handsome!!

We’re not perfect but we are perfect for each other!!

My husband has been a great dad to our girls and a great spouse to me. And I am as grateful today for him, if not more, as I was on our wedding day. The song we sang to each other is as appropriate now as it was then:

“Only God could love you more, for He gave me this love I have for you. What a blessing to know He’s your Lord, for only God can love you more than I do!” Definitely, a very happy anniversary!! Wonderful Jesus!

His Word Can Be Trusted!

Numbers 23: 19- “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

God can be trusted! And because He can be trusted, so can His word be trusted. As I was before the Lord pondering about my post for this week I had a definite idea of what I wanted to share; but in the midst of me planning it out in my mind, the Lord began to speak to me about His word.

Some of my favorite passages in the Bible are in regards to the truth of what God has said, as in the above verse. We all know people who we consider to be honest and dishonest. But even the most honest person we know doesn’t have the track record that God has. He says what He means and means what He says. A lot of the time, it isn’t God’s word that fail, but our faith in His Word.

Isaiah 55: 11 states it in this manner: “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.

When God told Satan in the Garden of Eden that Eve’s Seed would crush his head, He was referring to what Jesus would do to the devil. It didn’t happen in the physical realm for thousands of years, but it did happen. As a matter of fact, it happened when God said it, but manifested later.

When God promised that a virgin shall conceive, many centuries later, a virgin named Mary conceived. So His Word does comes to pass! And just as it came to pass, it still comes to pass! Scripture even says that He watches over His Word to perform it!

In our case, we don’t have centuries for God’s Word to manifest in our lives, although we feel at times as if we have waited forever. Maybe it helps to see it this way: Your promise your kids a trip to Disney World. They assume it will happen next week, or the next time they are out of school, but it doesn’t. Then they begin to feel as though you have somehow lied to them, teased them, or was getting their hopes up for nothing. But your plan was to go in the summer time, or for their birthday, you just wanted it to be a surprise. However, your kids didn’t know that. You didn’t let them in on the plan. So they become discouraged.

God doesn’t always give us the full picture of what He is doing and when He will do it. He just tells us that He will do it. Maybe you are sick, and His word to you is that you are healed, but your body disagrees with His word. What you have to do is just agree with His word anyway. He can be trusted. He said you are healed and His purpose will be fulfilled in your life.

One of our daughters was born very ill. As a matter of fact they said she could die. Well, I just went into that hospital room and began to sing over her, “You are the God that healeth me, You are the Lord my Healer, You sent Your Word and healed my disease, You are the Lord my Healer.” Then I began to decree over her that by His stripes she was healed. Well, we took her home and the symptoms remained the same and they told us she could die on us and they had us sign papers releasing them from the responsibility. Well, she’s turning 28 this year and He healed her. Just like His Word said He would! And you know what? I have seen Him heal over and over again!

Isaiah, the prophet wrote in chapter 14, “The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, ‘Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.’” Not only can His word be trusted, but the prophet Isaiah wrote that He said His thoughts can be trusted.

Jeremiah 29:11-“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Again, God is saying that even His thoughts on our behalf are unstoppable!!

I believe that this year is a great year to start trusting God at His Word like never before. As a matter of fact, I am committing to doing just that! I encourage you to look up other passages regarding the faithfulness of God to His Word, and thereby to us. Let them encourage your heart today as your purpose to make a greater commitment to Him and His Word in 2019. Wonderful Jesus!

New Level in 2019

I just want to take a few minutes to wish you a very Happy New Year for 2019!

Typically in the church we look at the number of the year and try to come up with a catchy phrase to match the year we enter, that we all forget by February, but I won’t do that!

What I will say is what the Lord spoke to me in my time of meditation: I was going over some of my favorite scriptures before falling asleep when I heard the Lord say that I should learn some new verses and I felt a challenge in my spirit to begin to memorize chapters instead of just verses. I have done passages, but can’t say that I have done chapters. Psalms 23, 100, etc… don’t count!!

On Sunday, my niece preached an encouraging word about taking our walk with Him to the next level and I felt a witness in my spirit to that word.

So this year, that is the plan. I’m taking my time with the Lord to the next level and plan to take my blog to the next level.

I will have small devotionals and bible studies that will hopefully encourage you as I am encouraged in the studying and writing of them. Let’s take our relationship with the Lord, to the next level in 2019 and see what amazing things He will do for us, with us, and especially in us! Wonderful Jesus!