Daily Devotional December 23 - Arise And Go

 "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee."  Luke 15:18

This is a passage from the parable of the lost son.  If you need to re-read the story it is found in Luke 15:11-32.  This story is about how we all have made choices that did not glorify God and were not for our benefit either.  We thought at the time that we just had to do this or that.  We tried out the grass on the other side, so to speak.  Some of us made choices that took us away from our protection and others even further, to actually abandon our principles altogether, but all of us have made choices that have not glorified God.

It is in this statement above that I find is the beginning to all rebuilding or re-structuring of our lives.  All correcting of the direction we are headed in; all misalignment with God's perfect will for our lives.  "I will arise and go."  Inside your heart you must say these words to get back on track with God.  It has to be your own personal acknowledgement that you have strayed from God and your own acknowledgement that you will get back up and go toward the Father that all spiritual growth is built on.  Without you activating your own free will to go, you will stay in the path in the opposite direction of God's purpose for your life.

Why is that important?  Nobody can do this for you.  Not even God.  Free will is powerful and within its parameters all spiritual growth is activated.  Free will activates the power of God to be used to bring to pass the will of God. When free will is activated to follow after God, God's purpose and direction for our lives is not encumbered by our choices, because the choices we make are made with forethought and prayerful attention.

Even though we have all strayed away from God, are you ready to say, "I will arise and go???"

Daily Devotional December 22 - Do You Mind Being Perfect?

 ""The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O LORD, endureth forever: forsake not the works of Thine hands."  Psalm 138:8

Do you feel like God is perfecting you?  If not, it is likely that you are not spending enough time with God.  God does so many things for us, in us and through us, but perfecting us is a primary work of God in man.  The perfecting that God is doing is a cleansing of the mind.  The more time you spend with God, the more thoughts about God are generated.  These God thoughts have in them the power to alter your thinking.  And it is through the altering of your thinking that perfection is being performed in you.

As the new year approaches it might be that God is calling you to a closer walk.  It only requires your time, your heart and your mind.  Different attributes of God are revealed when you approach God at different seasons and for different reasons.  For example when you approach God when you are desperate for an immediate fix of some situation, you see Sovereign God working His will through your situation.  When you approach God when you are in need of money you see the God of provision.  When you approach God for healling you see God's miraculous power to heal the body.

When you approach God without any reason except to be close to Him, you see His purity and His light, His holiness and His beauty.  You see the "come unto Me all that labor and are heavy laden," God.  You see beyond your immediate circumstances and start to understand the big picture, the one that includes others as well as yourself.  You see the gentle hand of love reaching into your heart to purify you with God thoughts.  You see the God that created everything and in everything a purpose and a direction.  What God has done starts to make sense.  You get a clearer vision of the end and the middle doesn't look so scary.

When you get even closer you see yourself through the mind of Christ.  You see the beauty of living to serve God and you grasp why you don't have to be the center of the universe to be fulfilled.  Stay just a little longer and the desire to stay gets greater.  The drive to do it your way becomes hollow.  Your spiritual eyes start to focus and you see the bounty that God has provided.  You see the storehouses full of benefits and blessings with your name on it.  You see that what God has already done with you is more than you ever dreamed.  Yor eyes are opened to another dimension and you start to see the connection between your problems and His solutions.  "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth Me," makes sense.  I am the Lord's handiwork and God is the craftsman.  "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me."

Daily Devotional December 21 - Changing

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  To Him be glory both now and forever."  Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.  Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;  To shew that the LORD is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."  Psalm 92:12-14

This word grow as translated from the Greek is: to change into - enlarge or increase. To enlarge or increase our estate. To grow or change means that we will flourish like the palm tree - Grow like a cedar - Flourish in the courts of God - Bring forth fruit in our old age.  These are not negative things.  Change is not a negative thing.

If we are following Jesus Christ we are changing. The word of God is alive and written so that we would change and change and change. And each change is to make us more like God.

A static relationship with God is not a relationship at all. A static relationship is religion. With religion we can stop and get off anywhere we want to and still maintain our so-called relationship with God.  With a static relationship with God we can easily be led astray.

• We can fall into temptations
• We can become unfruitful
• We can abandon the brethren
• We can even turn away from God

But with a vital and changing relationship with God, everyday brings new ground to break, new horizons, newness of life.

• We can flee temptations
• We produce fruit
• We stick with the brethren
• We draw nearer to God

We risk our souls when we bargain with God. God calls us to change so we can be more like God. An elder, mentor and friend of mine at age 87 told me, "A  man or woman of God is always a teachable man or woman."  Isn't it the truth.

The greatest opportunities in our lives have been when we were open to receive what God had for us and the greatest moments among those opportunities are when we received what God had for us.

Each time this happened we made progress in our lives. We allowed God to change us and every change that God makes in us is good. Let's pray that God will change us and not allow us to go another day without opening ourselves to Him in a way that change could take place.

There are ten things that happen when we are not growing or changing:

• We can become stiff, callous and un-pliable
• We can be easily led astray
• We can go back to our old ways
• We will lose our sense of urgency in the things of God
• We will waste time wallowing in the past or even in the present
• We will stop producing fruit - Think about it - How long can fruit hang on a tree before we just cut it off and throw it away, because fruit becomes rotten on the tree.
• We can miss our calling
• We can become complacent and careless
• We will slowly turn back to where we have been
• Lastly, God cannot use us, because we are not willing to follow Jesus wherever He takes us. 

Sometimes we get into ruts and just stay there.
We resist change.
Sometimes we hold on to the familiar because its easy.

• We hold on to old doctrines of men.
• We hold on to our own opinion, even after new light has been shown.
• We hold on to the world and what it offers.
• We hold on to the past.
• We hold on to our guilt.
• We hold on for FEAR OF CHANGE.

Yet, God calls us to trust Him in a way that demands change. Each step of faith with God is one of relinquishing the familiar or the stagnant and receiving what God has for us. That takes change. It's not easy to step out on the water expecting God to keep us up, but we must if we want to walk with Jesus, because our walk with Jesus is a faith walk, every step of the way.

There are ten things that happen when we are growing or changing:
We become softened and pliable, easy to be talked to and loving to others

• We cannot be easily led astray
• We will not turn back to our old ways, we abandon them 
• We recognize the urgency of the things of God
• We live in the now and don't live in the past, opening old wounds
• We will be producing fruit 
• We will find our calling
• We will become excited and careful
• We will never go back to where we have been
• God can use us because we go wherever Jesus goes

Are we the same person you were ten years ago?  I hope not. If you are you have missed much life.  God has a precious plan to grow you and I into an holy temple.  A place good enough for God to reside.  No! I am not saying that we can of ourselves make ourselves good enough to be God's dwelling place.

God makes us good enough to be His dwelling place.  God designed a plan to purge us and live in us.  Each of us, because of Christ, are worthy to be God's temple and together we grow into an holy church.  Growing or changing does not happen at the same time for everyone. What moves one person, does not move another. Sometimes a verse of scripture will change someone forever and another will not be moved at all. Some of change easily and some of us change slowly and with great difficulty.  All change comes from influence.  We are influenced by everything we come into contact with as well as being influenced by the omission of contact.  

It is important that we allow ourselves and our children to be influenced by those things that keep us on track with our faith.  And it is just as important to dis-allow some of the distractions that can come our way or our children's way to keep on track.  It is just as important to pull away from those things that distract us from keeping our eyes on Jesus.  The direction we change will be the direct result of what influences to that change. 

To hold to the things of God, we need to be influenced by the people of God.
To hold to the things of the world, we need to be influenced by the world.

If we are to change and be more like God, we will needaround those people that are going in the same direction as we are.

And then the other side of this is:
What we allow to influence us - we will in turn influence others the same
We become more like God - others will become more like God
We allow the world to influence us - we then influence our children with the same thing. This principle cannot be circumvented.

Think about this. God wants nothing from you that God does not give you.

God gives nothing to you that He does not want from you. 

• We change so we can be changed. 
• We are given to so we can give away. 
• We are taught so we can teach. 
• We are blessed so we can bless. 
• We are loved so we can love.
• We are changed so we can change others.

God moves and works through us, via change.

• If we hold onto what God gives us, we will get no more. 
• If we bury our talent in the ground, God will take it away. 
• If we use it, God will replace it or multiply it. 
• If God gives us a gift and we use it, God will increase (change) it
• If God gives us a gift and we don't use it, God will take it away
• If we learn a truth and teach others, we will learn more and more
• If we learn a truth and keep it to ourselves, we will die with it

Change is inevitable.  Create change or change will create you.  Which is better?

Daily Devotional December 20 - God's Word Never Fails

"Trust in the Lord..."  Psalm 37:3a

1st Do you believe God said this in His Word?
2nd Do you believe that this Word is true?
3rd Do you understand, by the Holy Spirit the wisdom of the principle?

In other words; have you received the wisdom of the Word from God and have you maintained your faith in it without changing or looking back to reconsider whether you believe it or not?

Has the Word been made alive, so that when you read it you trust it implicitly to perform what it says it will?

You can answer that by answering this. Do you apply the truth that you received from the Word of God to all areas of your life?

We say that we trust the LORD, but do we trust the LORD? I believe that most of us do not trust God the way that we should:

• Implicitly without reservation
• With full assurance that Gods Word will be fulfilled
• Without any doubt

Really there isn't much since in reading on until you believe what God has already spoken to you.  Every lesson - every principle - every truth from God must pass this test in your heart before you can receive the power and authority of the Word.

This test being:
1st Do you believe God said this in His Word?
2nd Do you believe that this word is true?
3rd Do you understand, by the Holy Spirit the wisdom of the principle?

We hear the voice of God through God's Holy Word. We receive the fulfillment of the Word of God when we receive the wisdom of the principle or revelation by the Holy Spirit.  "Trust in the LORD." It is the Word that created the heavens and the earth and all that is within it. It is the same Word that created life itself.
Now watch this carefully.
God speaks His Word and creates the heaven and the earth.
God speaks into existence light, plants, animals and even mankind.
God can speak anything into existence out of nothing, because there is no resistance.

Where there is no resistance - God's Word flows freely.

When God speaks His Word to you - You have free will to resist or receive.  If you did not resist the Word of God, every Word would be yours.  Every Word would perform its task.  Every Word would bring into existence its purpose.  Every Word would be fulfilled.

Every Word of God that you:
1st Believe God said it.
2nd Believe that this word is true?
3rd Understand, by the Holy Spirit the wisdom of the principle?

No doubt can enter in. No wavering. No trying it out to see how it works. What it takes for God's Word to work its power in you is (no resistance from you).  Listening or hearing in itself will not activate the power and authority of God.  The Word has to be heard - received - believed and trusted for it to have power in you.  You have to trust God at His Word.

Now in your defense:

I believe that all of us have decided in our heart that the Bible is the Word of God.
If not then let's get together and pray about that.
It is a huge step of faith, but it is essential if you are to receive power and authority from God.
By believing that the Bible is the Word of God, you allow the Holy Spirit to use the scriptures to teach you and train you. You allow the Holy Spirit access to your heart by faith.
Believing that the Bible is the Word of God gets you to the place where you can receive understanding from God.  But for the Word of God to create what it says in your life, you have to trust God.

God knows the end from the beginning.  God is not going to allow you to try Him out and test Him to see if God is all He says He is, like trying out a new car. God knows when you are fooling around, and He knows when you are trusting in Him. God knows when your faith is in yourself and God knows when your faith is in Him.  Because God knows all these things, He set His Word up to work for those who trust Him, when they trust Him. This is a principle of God and it can never fail.

Daily Devotional December 19 - Bring God Into Your Situations Early

 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."  Isaiah 26:3

Please read this carefully

Do you have an unwanted debt?
Do you have any troubles?
And for some maybe troubles on more sides than one?
Have people said or done some things that hurt you?

For some of us to be burdened by something or someone has been going on for so long we have began to believe that this is the way it is supposed to be. We start to think that it just can't get better, that we will forever be assigned to this station of gloom and troubles and peril.

Along the way in life we have had many teachers. We have been taught what to do and what not to do. We have been taught basic Math, Science and English and even some Bible. Some of us received formal training in a specialized field of endeavor, like health care, masonry, carpentry, mechanics or management. Some of us have a high school diploma, some college, others a masters degree or a PhD.  We have learned a great many things, some to our credit and some to our shame.

One look around and you can see how busy we are as a people. For some of us our day, our week, our entire year or longer is mapped out with little or no room for change or diversion.  Some of us have spent more time thinking about what we cannot do, haven't done or won't ever have the chance to do more than what we can do.  Some of us have dreams or goals that take us beyond our current circumstances. Is there anybody out there that fits this category? Some of us have tried to break away from whatever it is holding us back only to find an invisible elastic band attached to it drawing us back again and again.  How would you like to have the power to overcome the circumstances and see your goals and dreams come to pass?

For those of you who are of age you have been pulled back so many times that you feel like a rubber band and you are more than ready to give it up for something better.

For the youth and those about 20, they haven't experienced the teeter totter syndrome yet - for you, (with just a right Word from God) you will be able to bypass the back and forth motion of indecision and indiscretion - make decisions and stick to them - turn from the unnecessary, without loss of territory and find fulfilling opportunities early.

The secret of life is about bringing God into your situation early .
Psalms 63:1 "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;"

The call of God to be invited in early was not meant just to be early in the morning, like so many think, although it can be early in the morning.

It is also early in your relationships.
It is also early in the planning stages of your new business.
It is also early in your ministry.
It is also early in your decision making process.
Early in your job
Early in your spending

My God if you were to seek God early, how many problems and situations that you had to go through could you have avoided?

Don't be too proud of your many experiences. God prefers you learn to avoid satan and his ploys 'early.' Can you sense in your spirit that God has always been there? Oh had we invited God in early?

In a way, for us to make improvement in our life and get beyond our current circumstance, it will be important that we make room in our mind for new light, new inspiration. For many of us, to go into the closet with God we will have to clean out that closet. Just try to get into a closet when it is full of stuff. Does anybody have a closet that is full of stuff?

It is the same with our prayer closet in the inner man. You can't get into the prayer closet with your inner man if it is full of stuff. I want you to get a sense of approval from God on this issue - It's OK to dump some of that stuff:

Some of the unused
and in some cases, unfit stuff
to make room for pure Christ.

You wouldn't throw a treasure from God into your junk drawer or cluttered closet would you? But we do. We take the very breath of God and mix it with so many lesser things.  It's hard to keep our minds stayed on God when our minds are so cluttered with superfluous and worthless thoughts.  Maybe it's time to re-evaluate what we allow to have the pre-eminence in our life and re-stack our thinking to think more like God, thus God-thinking.

Daily Devotional December 18 - Will You Get All That God Has For you?

 "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well.  Fare ye well."  Acts 15:28-29

There are two thoughts I want to extrapolate from these verses.
First, how does James know that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost not to place too heavy a burden on the gentile believers?
Second, along with accepting Christ as your personal Savior, God gives us His principles in succession, truth upon truth, precept upon precept, over time and during the process of living the Christian life/lifestyle.

How does James know that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost not to place too heavy a burden on the gentile believers?  The Holy Spirit lives within us and we can know the mind of Christ and the will of God and the expectation of the Holy Spirit if we are in alignment with His will.  If we are in love with Jesus and following after His ways, it is almost second nature to hear and understand the voice of the Holy Spirit within.

A good knowledge of the Bible and a healthy dose of following after Christ and anyone can know the will of God.  We make a big deal about it because there is a lot of money to be made on keeping people in their ignorance and bliss; steering believers to believe that they need a mediator between them and Christ or that the 'average' Christian can't know the will of God; It must be revealed by a priest or prophet or apostle or preacher. 

Sorry, but you are just as responsible to gather and follow the teachings of Christ as anyone and you have been endowed with the ability to activate the power of God within you equal to and the same as anyone who claims Christ.  We all have different gifts, but all who are born again have within them the Holy Spirit of God.  All who have been born again have the same chance to find and develop the mind of Christ.  James and you can know what the Holy Spirit desires you to do or say.

God gives us His principles in succession, truth upon truth, precept upon precept, over time and during the process of living the Christian life/lifestyle.  The Holy Spirit did not want to lay too heavy a burden on the new gentile believers at this time.  The process of the Christian life is to start and then move forward and then grow and then abide in Christ and each of these phases are filled with events and struggles, obstacles to overcome and barriers to break down. 

At every turn there is a principle of God to be opened up and then utilized, new truths to be learned and new directions to take.  No one gets all of God at one time nor do they get all that God has for them in one sitting.  The process is to grow in Christ and to go through things that develop a God-consciousness in us.  We start out by accepting Christ and we move forward co-creating with God to accomplish the will of God in our life and for the overall good of all.  During this process we also fulfill the prophesies of God concerning mankind and the condition of the world that we live in.  Don't take your part in all this too lightly.  God chose you and that makes your position pretty important.  No you will not get it all at the same time, but you will get all that God has for you in His time.  God's way really is the best way. 

Daily Devotional December 17 - Arise and Go

 "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee."  Luke 15:18

This is a passage from the parable of the lost son.  If you need to re-read the story it is found in Luke 15:11-32.  This story is about how we all have made choices that did not glorify God and were not for our benefit either.  We thought at the time that we just had to do this or that.  We tried out the grass on the other side, so to speak.  Some of us made choices that took us away from our protection and others even further, to actually abandon our principles altogether, but all of us have made choices that have not glorified God.

It is in this statement above that I find is the beginning to all rebuilding or re-structuring of our lives.  All correcting of the direction we are headed in; all misalignment with God's perfect will for our lives.  "I will arise and go."  Inside your heart you must say these words to get back on track with God.  It has to be your own personal acknowledgement that you have strayed from God and your own acknowledgement that you will get back up and go toward the Father that all spiritual growth is built on.  Without you activating your own free will to go, you will stay in the path in the opposite direction of God's purpose for your life.

Why is that important?  Nobody can do this for you.  Not even God.  Free will is powerful and within its parameters all spiritual growth is activated.  Free will activates the power of God to be used to bring to pass the will of God. When free will is activated to follow after God, God's purpose and direction for our lives is not encumbered by our choices, because the choices we make are made with forethought and prayerful attention.

Even though we have all strayed away from God, are you ready to say, "I will arise and go???"

Daily Devotional December 15 - Create Change Or Change Will Create You

 "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  To Him be glory both now and forever."  Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.  Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;  To shew that the LORD is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."  Psalm 92:12-14

This word grow as translated from the Greek is: to change into - enlarge or increase. To enlarge or increase our estate. To grow or change means that we will flourish like the palm tree - Grow like a cedar - Flourish in the courts of God - Bring forth fruit in our old age.  These are not negative things.  Change is not a negative thing. If we are following Jesus Christ we are changing. The word of God is alive and written so that we would change and change and change. And each change is to make us more like God.

A static relationship with God is not a relationship at all. A static relationship is religion. With religion we can stop and get off anywhere we want to and still maintain our so-called relationship with God.  With a static relationship with God:

• we can easily be led astray.
• We can fall into temptations
• We can become unfruitful
• We can abandon the brethren
• We can even turn away from God

But with a vital and changing relationship with God, everyday brings new ground to break, new horizons, newness of life.

• We flee temptations
• We produce fruit
• We stick with the brethren
• We draw nearer to God

We risk our souls when we bargain with God. God calls us to change so we can be more like God. An elder, mentor and friend of mine at age 87 told me, "A  man or woman of God is always a teachable man or woman."  Isn't it the truth.

The greatest opportunities in our lives have been when we were open to receive what God had for us and the greatest moments among those opportunities are when we received what God had for us.

Each time this happened we made progress in our lives. We allowed God to change us and every change that God makes in us is good. Let's pray that God will change us and not allow us to go another day without opening ourselves to Him in a way that change could take place.

There are ten things that happen when we are not growing or changing:

• We can become stiff, callous and unpliable
• We can be easily led astray
• We can go back to our old ways
• We will lose our sense of urgency in the things of God
• We will waste time wallowing in the past or even in the present
• We will stop producing fruit - Think about it - How long can fruit hang on a tree before we just cut it off and throw it away, because fruit becomes rotten on the tree.
• We can miss our calling
• We can become complacent and careless
• We will slowly turn back to where we have been

Lastly, God cannot use us, because we are not willing to follow Jesus wherever He takes us.

Sometimes we get into ruts and just stay there.
We resist change.
Sometimes we hold on to the familiar because its easy.

• We hold on to old doctrines of men.
• We hold on to our own opinion, even after new light has been shown.
• We hold on to the world and what it offers.
• We hold on to the past.
• We hold on to our guilt.
• We hold on for FEAR OF CHANGE.

Yet, God calls us to trust Him in a way that demands change. Each step of faith with God is one of relinquishing the familiar or the stagnant and receiving what God has for us. That takes change. It's not easy to step out on the water expecting God to keep us up, but we must if we want to walk with Jesus, because our walk with Jesus is a faith walk, every step of the way.

There are ten things that happen when we are growing or changing:
We become softened and pliable, easy to be talked to and loving to others

• We cannot be easily led astray
• We will not turn back to our old ways, we abandon them 
• We recognize the urgency of the things of God
• We live in the now and don't live in the past, opening old wounds
• We will be producing fruit 
• We will find our calling
• We will become excited and careful
• We will never go back to where we have been

God can use us because we go wherever Jesus goes

Are you the same person you were ten years ago?  I hope not. If you are you have missed much life.  God has a precious plan to grow you and I into an holy temple.  A place good enough for God to reside.  No! I am not saying that we can of ourselves make ourselves good enough to be God's dwelling place.

God makes us good enough to be His dwelling place.  God designed a plan to purge us and live in us.  Each of us, because of Christ, are worthy to be God's temple and together we grow into an holy church.  Growing or changing does not happen at the same time for everyone. What moves one person, does not move another. Sometimes a verse of scripture will change someone forever and another will not be moved at all. Some of change easily and some of us change slowly and with great difficulty.  All change comes from influence.  We are influenced by everything we come into contact with as well as being influenced by the omission of contact.  

It is important that we allow ourselves and our children to be influenced by those things that keep us on track with our faith.  And it is just as important to dis-allow some of the distractions that can come our way or our children's way to keep on track.  It is just as important to pull away from those things that distract us from keeping our eyes on Jesus.  The direction we change will be the direct result of what influences to that change. 

To hold to the things of God, we need to be influenced by the people of God.
To hold to the things of the world, we need to be influenced by the world.

If we are to change and be more like God, we will need to be around those people that are going in the same direction as we are.

And then the other side of this is:
What we allow to influence us - we will in turn influence others the same
We become more like God - others will become more like God
We allow the world to influence us - we then influence our children with the same thing. This principle cannot be circumvented.

Think about this. God wants nothing from you that God does not give you.

God gives nothing to you that He does not want from you. 

• We change so we can be changed. 
• We are given to so we can give away. 
• We are taught so we can teach. 
• We are blessed so we can bless. 
• We are loved so we can love.
• We are changed so we can change others.

God moves and works through us, via change.

• If we hold onto what God gives us, we will get no more. 
• If we bury our talent in the ground, God will take it away. 
• If we use it, God will replace it or multiply it. 
• If God gives us a gift and we use it, God will increase (change) it
• If God gives us a gift and we don't use it, God will take it away
• If we learn a truth and teach others, we will learn more and more
• If we learn a truth and keep it to ourselves, we will die with it

Change is inevitable.  Create change or change will create you.  Which is better?

Daily Devotional December 14 - What Are You Willing To Trade In?

 "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."  Mark 11:24 

We usually look at this verse as if we were to pray for some thing or some gift, some tangible, material thing.  But for the sake of today, let's just look at this verse as it pertains to receiving God Himself.  For just a little while, can you try to clear your mind of all that distracts you from receiving God.  Let's not worry about your kids right now, or your parents or anybody, right now.

• Please forget just for a moment everything that you usually let press into your life during the week.
• Please drop your guard, that you felt that you had to have up all week, and let God have His way with you this day.
• Please forget about all the barriers and obstacles that seem to be in your way of making personal progress.
• Please forget about your circumstances, finances and troubles.
• Please forget about what you don't have.
• Please just let God, be God, and have His way with you.
• Please take it one more step - practice some God-thinking
• Please, just for the moment, trade in everything you hold onto so dearly, for what God wants you to have.

God says that you can overcome your circumstances, whatever they are, if you will but let go and let God.  I believe that you have limited what God wants to do in your life.
What have you become accustomed to that is less than God's best for you?
What is it that you really would like to see happen in your life?  This might take a few minutes to figure out, but the process is worth it.  Take time and think about this in the depths of your heart.

• Do you want peace in your house?
• Do you need delivered from bondage?
• Do you want to get along with your spouse or best friend under the anointing of God?
• Do you want to see your kids serve the Lord with reverence and awe?

Sometimes we are living as if our hands were tied.  We can fall into the trap of living as if God were far away or distant.  Sometimes we act like God doesn't care.  We live with less and in less because we constrain God.  Think about it. Some of us have fought or are still fighting against God, all the while God is giving to give you blessings, but you are blocking them because of free will. God makes His blessings available, His overcoming power, free and without strings and we fight against God. We fight against receiving God's very best for us. We hold on too tightly to what we have, because we haven't come to the place, where we believe, that what we have, is supposed to be traded up for what God has in store for us.

God has many times, sent to you and me, angels to steer us when were getting ready to make certain decisions. God puts up red flags, barricades, walls and closed doors and sometimes we go around them anyway - and the consequences in some cases are still with us. Past baggage - unconfessed sin - guilt - confusion - even addiction.  God has opened up opportunities for us all along the way of our life. Sometimes we turned away and we are still feeling the consequences.  I am convinced that every one of us has less of what God wants for us and we have more of what God doesn't want for us because we didn't or wouldn't receive from God all that He has for us.

There are plenty of reasons - guilt - pride - fear - disobedience - trusting in the wrong person - wrong thinking - false beliefs - prejudice, greed or low self-esteem.  If we want to we can trade in the less of what God wants for us for the more of what God wants for us. But we have got to trade it in.
Would you trade $5.00 for $500.00?

You have got to give up what you have to get something. You cannot receive from God until you give something up.  You have give God something to work with.

Luke 5:36-38 says, "And He spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved."

You cannot get the best that God has to offer until you get rid of the less. You don't just give it lip service, you must lay down the old to get the new. You must let go of the old, stale and unproductive thoughts if you are to receive a new regenerating Word from God.  Before God can give you anything new, you must trade in the old.  God will not let you try on the new until you lay down the old.  God won't let you and I see if what He has for us is going to be OK with us. We have to trust Him implicitly.

Your heart and your conscience knows what it is that you are afraid to give up, or, exchange, trade in, for something new.

It doesn't matter what it is.
It could be a habit?
It could be poverty?
It could be money?
It could be something you've done?
It could be a belief?
It could be a gift?

Whatever it is. Now hear this closely. Whatever it is. If you give it to God; I mean lay it down, and walk away from it. I mean throw it over the cliff; that kind of letting it go - God will replace it with something better - every time.  What are you willing to trade in so that you can receive something new and wonderful from God?

Daily Devotional December 13 - Bring God Into Your Situation Early

 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."  Isaiah 26:3

Take your time and let this sink down deep. This is good advise.

Do you have an unwanted debt?
Do you have any troubles?
And for some maybe troubles on more sides than one?
Have people said or done some things that hurt you?

For some of us to be burdened by something or someone has been going on for so long we have began to believe that this is the way it is supposed to be. We start to think that it just can't get better, that we will forever be assigned to this station of gloom and troubles and peril.

Along the way in life we have had many teachers. We have been taught what to do and what not to do. We have been taught basic Math, Science and English and even some Bible. Some of us received formal training in a specialized field of endeavor, like health care, masonry, carpentry, mechanics or management. Some of us have a high school diploma, some college , others a masters degree or a PhD.  We have learned a great many things, some to our credit and some to our shame.

One look around and you can see how busy we are as a people. For some of us our day, our week, our entire year or longer is mapped out with little or no room for change or diversion.  Some of us have spent more time thinking about what we cannot do, haven't done or won't ever have the chance to do more than what we can do.  Some of us have dreams or goals that take us beyond our current circumstances. Is there anybody out there that fits this category? Some of us have tried to break away from whatever it is holding us back only to find an invisible elastic band attached to it drawing us back again and again.  How would you like to have the power to overcome the circumstances and see your goals and dreams come to pass?

For those of you who are of age you have been pulled back so many times that you feel like a rubber band and you are more than ready to give it up for something better.

For the youth and those about 20, they haven't experienced the teeter totter syndrome yet - for you, (with just a right Word from God) you will be able to bypass the back and forth motion of indecision and indiscretion - make decisions and stick to them - turn from the unnecessary without loss of territory and find fulfilling opportunities early.

The secret of life is about bringing God into your situation early .
Psalms 63:1 "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;"

The call of God to be invited in early was not meant just to be early in the morning, like so many think, although it can be early in the morning.

It is also early in your relationships.
It is also early in the planning stages of your new business.
It is also early in your ministry.
It is also early in your decision making process.
Early in your job
Early in your spending

My God if you were to seek God early, how many problems and situations that you had to go through could you have avoided?

Don't be too proud of your many experiences. God prefers you learn to avoid satan and his ploys 'early.' Can you sense in your spirit that God has always been there? Oh had we invited God in early?

In a way, for us to make improvement in our life and get beyond our current circumstance, it will be important that we make room in our mind for new light, new inspiration. For many of us, to go into the closet with God we will have to clean out that closet. Just try to get into a closet when it is full of stuff. Does anybody have a closet that is full of stuff?

It is the same with our prayer closet in the inner man. You can't get into the prayer closet with your inner man if it is full of stuff. I want you to get a sense of approval from God on this issue - It's OK to dump some of that stuff:

Some of the unused
and in some cases, unfit stuff
to make room for pure Christ.

You wouldn't throw a treasure from God into your junk drawer or cluttered closet would you? But we do. We take the very breath of God and mix it with so many lesser things.  It's hard to keep our minds stayed on God when our minds are so cluttered with superfluous and worthless thoughts.  Maybe it's time to re-evaulate what we allow to have the pre-emminence in our life and re-stack our thinking to think more like God, thus God-thinking.

Daily Devotional December 12 - Engaged In The Things Of God

 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."  John 4:23-24

Life was never meant to be a game where we juggle our professional life, our family life, our Church life, our work life - as if they were independent of one another.  The only life that glorifies God is the integrated life.

The unbelieving world - secular humanist - agnostics - atheist and - this is a hard saying, the lukewarm Christian - All want you and I to play their game and their game is - GOD IS NOT FIRST.
There's more that the worldly purport, like this.

• The things of God are not to be integrated into your life.
• You can juggle a little church with a little world.
• A little marriage with a little womanizing.
• A little Christianity with a little Eastern philosophy.
• A little G rated TV with a little ....
• A little integrity with a few bounced checks.

Freedom and enlightenment is when we are free from the wicked influences of this world - not when we are free to indulge ourselves in them.  Take just a few moments and think the deepest thoughts of God you can muster up.  Allow yourself to be mesmerized by God.  Allow your thoughts to go deeper than before.  Talk to your inner man and listen as your highest self expresses God's perfect will in your life.  Visualize standing or sitting or bowing in God's presence, before the throne of God.  Force your mind to stop racing around and listen to God, carefully and often - without your cell phone on.
Go to God in your spirit and sense His acceptance of you.

This is cleansing and powerful.
Change your vision of God - close your eyes and see God in the inner man.
Think higher and loftier thoughts.
You can always tell when you are making headway with God.

As you get closer, God gets bigger.
As you know more, there's more still.
As you go deeper, deeper gets deeper.
As you draw closer, God pulls you even closer.

Make up your mind to put God-thinking into action. Force the things of God to the top of your thinking and push down all else. Some things need to be pushed so far down that they are pushed out altogether.  To worship God in spirit and truth will require that your mind is engaged in the things of God.

Note: If you think this is a religious thing to do, it would be mistake. Having a spiritual relationship with God can be as mutually fulfilling as a religious relationship, or even better. A religious relationship is pragmatic, a spiritual relationship is evolving, fluid and in real time. People teach religion, God imparts wisdom. 

Daily Devotional December 10 - Partner With God

 “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.” James 4:8

Today requires God

Many of us are trying to work today’s problems out with yesterday’s solutions. Things change and the methods needed to solve a problem today may be different than the way the same problem was solved yesterday or ten years ago or one hundred years ago.

Our spiritual walk with God is very much the same. Many believers today are holding on to a religious relationship with God and trying to solve today’s dilemmas with archaic solutions. God is alive, and to be current with the way to solve your problems, you will have to be communicating with God on a daily basis. It’s not safe to rest on the traditions of men when the immediate power of God is available at any given moment.

Praying to and listening to God today is the only way to live your life to the maximum potential. Have you noticed that it isn’t urgent to live your life to the maximum potential anymore? The bar has been set soulfully low. If you find yourself in a place where you no longer desire the best that life can offer you have been distracted or deceived.

God’s best for your life is available and always was available for you. You may have been detoured, but God is working on your behalf right now, awaiting your personal response to His invitation. We have been taught by many who do not experience the day to day communion with God and in some cases we have been taught by those who have not experienced God at all. And in the most distressing circumstances of all we have been taught by many who haven’t even received the Spirit of God through a personal salvation experience.

God has been with you every day steering you and guiding you, but if you have not heeded God’s call; if you have not committed yourself to God, should it seem odd that you should be experiencing adverse results. Any turn, however small toward God, will bring about measurable positive results. You must learn how to think with the mind of God if you are to defeat your foe and live life to its fullest. I say must because all the peace and joy that was designed for you will go to waste if you do not receive it. You must learn how to receive the blessings of God and you must learn to deny/starve what is keeping you from the blessings of God.

Why are we bent on complicating the simple truths that work?
Why do we feel we have to be better than someone else to have worth?
Why have we changed the clear and simple truths from God to man-made phylacteries?

We say we don’t understand and that we just can’t see. God says we do understand and that we can see clearly. Pastors, teachers, priests and rabbi’s are selling God like a commodity. Why aren’t they pointing to the Master?

You are empowered by God
You are a fit vessel to receive all the blessings of God
You have received enough revelation
You have within you the understanding
You can commune with God today:
   Without a reservation
   Without mediation
   Without more revelation
You can touch the hem of His garments and be healed
You can discuss the path you’re on and get clear direction
You can ask and receive
You can know
You can understand
You can because God says you can.

I have found that You are the only barrier to having and deep and fulfilling relationship with God. The truth is that most of us really want the onus to be on someone else for just about everything unfulfilled in our lives.

We could be walking with God in the cool of the day
But we have chosen a lesser, more undesirable way
We could be looking ahead knowing the path is clear,
but we choose to wallow in the saying, “not another year like last year”
We could be partnering with God and exploiting time
But we choose to partner with the world and recline.

"Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you."

Daily Devotional December 9 - Nothing Else Will Do

 "Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you;" Matthew 5:44

I remember preaching this in a new start-up church in Redland Florida. It was their first Sunday as they had just split off from another church in Princeton Florida. I was not taking sides, but their newly formed church board had chosen two candidates to be their new pastor and I was one of them. As you can imagine, this is quite an honor and I was selected to preach the first sermon of their first service. I talked to God about this as I was searching through the scriptures attempting in my mind to try to find something conciliatory and comforting to bless this newly formed group of believers. I perused through some of my previous sermon material, thinking that maybe there would be something that fit the day. But God would not let me get away from this very verse. I really thought that this verse was inappropriate because of the recent church split, again of which I was not involved. And furthermore, everyone likes to hear these words of God's true way for man to live at peace with one another, but few follow these ego crushing words spoken by Jesus to the whole world at the sermon on the mount.

I wrestled with this verse, because I knew deep down inside that it was so much the heart of God to teach His people how to live with one another in harmony and peace and how to live with the world at large even though the world at large was not going to play by the same rules. What could this verse possibly benefit a newly formed group of seasoned believers? I did preach the sermon and it wasn't received well. I guess I will never know why this was so important, and by the way, they chose the other pastor to lead their flock. But I can tell you now that Jesus knows what works and these words were written to embed your soul with the heart of God and this is the heart of God.

Unfortunately, even your Christian brothers and sisters are capable of doing frightful things to their fellow church members or anyone for that matter. Hear the heart of God on the matter. He has instructed you to do a few things that go against your human propensities.
Love your enemies
Bless them that curse you
Do good to them that hate you
Pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you

You will have to read these over and over again until your inner man believes it is true. This is an uphill battle and if you are not serious about following Christ, you will not win it. It goes against our very nature, that nature that we were born with that looks out for number one. But Jesus spoke it and that makes it true.  Why is it important to believe and practice these strange commands? It is important to God and God made us to be like Jesus and nothing else will do.

Daily Devotional December 7 - The Power Of Communion

 "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by ordinance for ever." Exodus 12:14

Note: I sure hear a lot of complaints from Christians about the Sacraments. It is getting old fashioned to take communion now. Why bother? I would say to all the sacrament naysayers, "get over yourself." I understand that organized religion plays up some things and that bothers us, but playing down important Christian ideals is getting old too. Just be real about it. Communion is very important to anyone that is trying to stay up with the program of Getting To now God Better.

Jesus proves who He is more by this one act than any other - The institution of Communion.  I want you to see the connection between the Jew (the people of God) of the Old Testament and the Church (the people of God) of the new Testament.

It started with the Passover lamb. Passover:  The Old Covenant and the New Covenant all tied together by God to spiritually unite His people together with Himself. It was a symbol and more than a symbol of God's protection for His people and it was and is a remembrance of what God had done for His people.

What we have come to know and understand as communion is also a remembrance and more than a remembrance of the body and blood of Jesus, the Christ. It was the institution of the New Covenant between God and His people.  Communion is the sacrament that changed the order of the Levitical Priesthood to the Church. Passover has been honored since 1491 BC.

When Jesus met with the twelve at the upper room, for what would come to be known as 'the Last Supper' He met them to transfer the oracles of God from the Religious Priesthood of the 12 tribes of Israel (Jacob) to the 12 Disciples of Christ, signifying the end of the era of the law and the beginning of the era of grace.

It was about 1462 B.C. when God gave Moses instructions to take a lamb, without spot or blemish (Ex. 12:5) and kill it. "You shall take the blood of the lamb and strike it on the two side post of the entrance to every home wherein there is an Israelite. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians (Ex. 12:23) And it shall come to pass that when the Lord passes by, He will not enter any home protected by the blood of the Lamb."

There would be a Passover dinner to be prepared prior to this night when the Lord would pass by. This Passover dinner would consist of the lamb (a type of Christ), unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by ordinance for ever."  Exodus 12:14
The Passover had been instituted since this time, and it was this Passover that Jesus was acknowledging and attending with his disciples.  It is important to see the connection between the Old and the New, because it reveals who Christ is better than any other proof.

Matthew 26:17-30 says, "Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?  And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand: I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples.  And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them: and they made ready the Passover.  Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve."
The twelve is of great importance. Under the blood covenant of the Old Testament the twelve tribes of Israel were protected by the blood of the Lamb.  Now the church, (which began with the twelve) would be afforded the same protection, but no longer by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. It would now be by the blood of the Lamb of God, Himself.

Communion was the birth of the New Testament, the New Covenant. It is by the blood of the Lamb of God that we have redemption and forgiveness of sins.  It was at the Passover meal that Jesus prepared the Lamb of God.  It is this moment in time that we remember. Jesus was offering Himself a blood offering once, for all. I doubt that the significance of this moment can ever be fully discovered.

Daily Devotional December 6 - Be Real, It's A God Thing

 "Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds without rain." Proverbs 25:14

Solomon was the wisest man to have ever lived. I believe it would benefit us to look at what he tells us in Proverbs with a sort of intrigue. He received His wisdom from God and then he put the wisdom he received from God to practical use. Solomon was a very hard worker and certainly a man of many exploits. He knew about kings and queens, protocol, cultures and societal differences. He was acquainted with complex national treatise as well as mining and construction. He was intelligent and full of wisdom. Solomon knew people.

In the Proverbs Solomon exhorts, rebukes and enlightens his readers. Again, Solomon knows people. In Solomons time in order to be accepted as an architect or a lumberjack, a statesman, a nurse, a prophet or a thief, you had to possess proven attributes of your talents or skills. They were tested by actions and results. Solomon had met many a fake in his time. There were those who claimed they were someone they weren't and they claimed to have skills they didn't have. They were examined, observed and scrutinized for honesty, integrity and substance. Those possessing their claim were given positions of authority and excellence and those who made false claims were dishonored and cast out to live a life of wandering and poverty.

Today people make all kinds of claims without consequence. Especially concerning spiritual gifting and prophesy. All of us have encountered the false prophet, the false Christian, the false minister and false healers. There's even another level of those who dabble in spiritism and make claims of talking to the dead, seeing into the future, reading tarot cards, reading palms, and making claims that they have certain powers. It is out of hand. The unlearned Christian has a great deal to overcome just to sift out truth from all the false teaching and false spiritual guides.

There really is no need to make a false claim about who you are or what you do. God made you and God has endowed you with certain gifts and skills and talents, personal to you. You were created with unique qualities and characteristics, propensities and proclivities. You are all that you need to be to enhance the world by your presence, just being yourself, doing what you do best. No one likes it when someone says one thing and does another, acts like they are something they are not or tries to act like they are an expert when they have little or no experience. Our society has allowed this to happen. But as mature Christians we need to take a serious look at ourselves and make sure that we are representing who we are, our skills and talents accurately and without exaggeration, amplification or over-embellishment.

Side note: What we like most about people is when they are down to earth. None of us like arrogance, egotism, pompousness or pretentiousness. Just be real. It is a God thing.

Daily Devotional December 5 - What Part Of What Jesus Said Do You Not Believe?

 "Thomas saith unto Him (Jesus) Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto Him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father; and how sayest then, shew me the Father? John 14:5-9

Depending on your religious background, I am sure that some of you might have a real hard time with these verses. I have resigned myself to believe what Jesus says. Jesus said many profound and troubling or questionable things.

He tells us that that He did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. Matthew 5:17

He tells us "resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matthew 5:39

He tells us "if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Matthew 5:40

He tells us to "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." Matthew 5:42

He tells us to "love your enemies." Matthew 5:44

He tell us to "bless them that curse you." Matthew 5:44

He tells us to "pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you." Mathew 5:44

He tell us that "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;" Matthew 7:21a

He tell us "Follow Me; and let the dead bury the dead." Matthew 8:22b

He tells us that "whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Mark 8:34

He tells us "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." Mark 8:35

He tells us "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar, and to God the things that are God's." Mark 12:17

He tells us "But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains." Mark 13:14

He tell us "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26

He tells us "Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." Luke 18:17

He tells us "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." John 16:7

He tells us "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." John 18:36

He tells us "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find." John 21:6

Now He tells us "If ye had known Me, ye should have know My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him. "Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known Me, Philip. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, shew us the Father?"

What part of what Jesus has said do you believe?

I can say this: Whatever you believe of what Jesus has said, Jesus will unveil the depths of it for you. There is power in trusting in Jesus. It requires faith, simple faith. Don't make the gospel so complicated. Trust what Jesus says and the truths of God will be opened unto you.

Daily Devotional December 4 - Do You Want To Get To Know God A Little Better?

 "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth him; for He dwelleth with you, an shall be in you." John 14:16-17

How long shall the Holy Spirit indwell the believer? Forever. There are so many teachings on this issue, because there are multiple schools of thought about the role of the Holy Spirit among the Churches. I choose to believe the scriptures. The Holy Spirit is God within you.

God comes to make His abode with you.  (John 14:23)
You are the building where God resides.  (1 Corinthians 3:9)
You are the temple of God.  (2 Corinthians 6:16)
You are the habitation of God.  (2:22)

With all that going on, doesn't it seem like you might want to get to know the God that lives in you a little better?

• Maybe you could learn to trust the leading of the Holy Spirit within you, more.
• Maybe the answers to your problems aren't that far away.
• Maybe you have within you all the power you need to accomplish that daunting task that you have been ignoring because you though it was too big for you to handle.
• Maybe the blessings of God have already been bestowed upon you and you are acting like you have sand in your eye.
• Maybe you have a gold mine in your home, your work or in your thoughts and you keep passing over it because it is covered with dust or it might take a little effort to uncover.
• Maybe your prayer was already answered but you are unwilling to accept "no", or "wait," or "not at this time" for an answer.
• Maybe you have within you the power to heal your body or to heal your situation, but you haven't used the power within you to do much more than drag your body to church once a week.
• Maybe you know the right words to speak that could change lives, but you were offended once, twenty years ago, and you aren't willing to let go and move on. Sometimes it's easier to stay offended about something, even if you can't even remember what it was, than to be vulnerable, all for the sake of an unthankful soul.

You are not your own, you were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). You are the steward of the Holy Spirit within, the holder of the sacred truths in the depths of your inner man, the one who provides a habitat for God.

Live large and let God be God in you and through you. You won't be disappointed. But if you continue to deny God His rightful place in your life/lifestyle, you will have forfeited a great deal of irreplaceable time for much lessor things. Not only do the lessor things lose their value, they change like the wind. Let God have His rightful place in your life and your life will be full beyond measure.

For more on "Getting To Know God Better", please visit my other blog: https://god-thinking-book.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotional December 3 - Rest

 "Thus saith the LORD, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein." Jeremiah 6:16

The old paths here are not archaic ways of living, like somehow we should think down on modernity or that technology is inherently against God or any silly notion like that. The old paths is referring to the original intent for living a life/lifestyle commensurate with being a child of God. 

I hope you seek rest for your soul. I have asked many people about this rest and most haven't found it or experienced it. Rest for your soul comes when you are fulfilling your purpose in life, when you are walking in alignment with the will of God, when you have taken time to be with God and He gives you rest. 

To have rest you need to be free of wrestling with unresolved issues in your life. Unresolved issues eat at your peace of mind and allow time for doubt to grow into something unrecognizable and sometimes unmanageable. Unresolved issues means that there are uncertainties that linger and could go either way, the kind that infect your thinking like a virus. Doubt sets in and you begin to lose the inner battle. You start to make decisions that are not sound and turn to ways and people that cannot help you. You begin to second guess God and doubt that He has any interest in your situation. You pick up the ball and run with it and while you are running you are running away from the source of your rest. Once you have made up your mind, it is difficult to recant. The level of loss of peace that you can reach while running with the ball and away from God is never ending. At some point you have got to say, Stop!! I'm done with running and hiding. I will return to where I left off and talk to God and resolve this thing.

That's where rest is found. Going back and facing up and taking responsibility and talking to and listening to God. Laying your burden at the feet of the Lord and reading and following the instructions from the Bible that have been there from old. Modernity is not our enemy and neither are the old ways outdated or archaic. It would do you well to seek the face of God on this issue. He has planned a rest for you, right in the middle of the storm.

You have to apply some faith here. We are not perfect and we all have done things that can never be made right. That's what's so exciting about God's economy. If you have even a little faith and have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are offered rest and peace with God as if you have never done anything wrong ever. Most people aren't comfortable with this kind of freedom, because it does not mirror the ways of mankind. If you are basing what God is like by the behavior of men/women, you will remain displeased and unable to ever have rest. Rest comes freely from God to you, but you have to believe it to receive it.
 

Daily Devotional December 2 - Nothing Else Will Do

 "Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you;" Matthew 5:44

I remember preaching this in Redland Florida. It was their first Sunday as they had just split off from another church in Princeton Florida. I was not taking sides, but their newly formed church board had chosen two candidates to be their new pastor and I was one of them. As you can imagine, this is quite an honor and I was selected to preach the first sermon of their first service. I talked to God about this as I was searching through the scriptures attempting in my mind to try to find something conciliatory and comforting to bless this newly formed group of believers. I perused through some of my previous sermon material, thinking that maybe there would be something that fit the day. But God would not let me get away from this very verse. I really thought that this verse was inappropriate because of the recent church split, again of which I was not involved. And furthermore, everyone likes to hear these words of God's true way for man to live at peace with one another, but few follow these ego crushing words spoken by Jesus to the whole world at the sermon on the mount.

I wrestled with this verse, because I knew deep down inside that it was so much the heart of God to teach His people how to live with one another in harmony and peace and how to live with the world at large even though the world at large was not going to play by the same rules. What could this verse possibly benefit a newly formed group of seasoned believers? I did preach the sermon and it wasn't received well. I guess I will never know why this was so important, and by the way, they chose the other pastor to lead their flock. But I can tell you now that Jesus knows what works and these words were written to embed your soul with the heart of God and this is the heart of God.

Unfortunately as you read in yesterdays daily devotional, even our Christian brothers and sisters are capable of doing frightful things to their fellow church members or anyone for that matter. Hear the heart of God on the matter. He has instructed you to do a few things that go against your human propensities.

• Love your enemies
• Bless them that curse you
• Do good to them that hate you
• Pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you

You will have to read these over and over again until your inner man believes it is true. This is an uphill battle and if you are not serious about following Christ, you will not win it. It goes against our very nature, that nature that we were born with that looks out for number one. But Jesus spoke it and that makes it true.  Why is it important to believe and practice these strange commands? It is important to God and God made us to be like Jesus and nothing else will do.

Daily Devotional December 1 - Encouragement

 "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another." Romans 14:19

I think we can get trapped into the fast paced lifestyle and get entrenched in our work to the point of distraction away from the things of God. I know from personal experience that inner peace is hard to find, but outer peace is almost non-existent. There's just to much hustle and bustle, distractions from being at peace, obstacles and barriers to overcome to have the quiet and peaceful life come easy.

How many people take the time to make someone else's life better, to say encouraging things to them and maybe even do something for them that takes time and money. Most people are frantic about just keeping their own storehouse full. I love the way that the scriptures bring us back to center. The scriptures point out how we should live and where we should be putting our energy. The scriptures are always right and I am thankful that I have the Bible to guide me. I need to be encouraged and lifted up. An encouraging comment is quite the motivator, but they are hard to come by. Just as much as I want to be encouraged, I want to encourage others also.

My first goal will be to say something nice to my wife and my children this morning, then as the day progresses to find a way to do something encouraging for someone. I will be kind to whomever crosses my path and I will keep my eyes open to the needs of others. I will seek after peace and share with others the peace that I do have. As the day progresses and the challenges get tougher I will keep my head and pray them through. I will thank God for my health and all that He has provided and I will pray for others also. I encourage you to do the same.

Daily Devotional November30 - A Holy God In An Unholy World

 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5

I believe what God says. Every word in this verse is true. But , you may be thinking, that hasn't been my experience. That's the problem with interpreting scripture. This verse is true, but there are many other truths also. Sometimes we base the results of an experience on the way that we perceived the end. We thought that if God was involved it would end differently than it did. So when we don't receive the desired end that we thought should be the end, we think that there must be something wrong with the way that God does things. Why does God let us go through so many things that are unfair or worse?

Read this carefully:
God lets us go through things because, in order for us to receive the full blessing that comes with salvation we must exercise our freewill and suffer at the hands of those who exercise their free will. It is this free will that makes us like God and exercising our freewill to choose the things of God is what makes us godly. It is in your choosing, not in the outcome of your choosing, where God is found.

We live in a fallen world and as long as we are in the flesh, we are subject to its parameters. One of the parameters is that others are exercising their freewill as we are exercising our own. Sometimes there is conflict, because not everyone is following God and not everyone seeks the will of God. The results of this dichotomy is that sometimes you will be the one that disrupts the plan of God by your behavior and sometimes someone else disrupts the plan of God by their behavior.

You haven't always been living a godly life. Now that you are doesn't preclude the rights of those who are not, to continue to exercise their free will against the will of God. As long as free will exists, there will be crime and terrorism, foolishness and sin, pain and suffering, unfairness, liable and fraud. That's the results of free will.

But this same free will that allows for those who stand against the things of God to cause havoc also allows for those who choose to follow God to cause good things to come to pass. It is in the choosing to do the will of God that godliness is found, not in the final results of our work. You may set out to do some great thing and have it thwarted by others with a different plan, but it is in the choosing to set out to do some great thing that your trust is rewarded, not in the outcome of that venture. The path that God sets before you is the direction that you are in, not the results of the day. The path is pure, the road is full of corruption, but it is in choosing the path and taking it that your faith is proven, not in what happens to you along the way.

It will never be that when you find God and you become saved, sanctified, and filled with the Spirit, that your roads will all be cleared and each day will end in peace and serenity. You are following a holy God in an unholy world. That's why God doesn't want us traversing the road in our own understanding. First we will misunderstand God and make false presumptions about God and second we will start to think that our own path is really safer and better.

The truth is:

• God is true to us and every word in the scriptures is to assist us on our journey
• God is on the journey with us
• God intervenes in the journey within the parameters of prayer just as He says He does
• The outcome of things isn't always what we see with our eyes
• The closer you get to God the more you get to see how we are co-creating with God all the time
• It is in exercising our free will to follow God that we are found in God, not in the outcome of each event of the day
• Learn to trust the 'follow' and not the 'outcome' and you will see much more of God than ever before.