dickbraswell

Word for Today:  August 6

Look up

Why are you broken, wounded and sad?  What has come into your life that produced fear and dread and pain?  What are those elements in the Human Experience that make life miserable?  Do you understand that every misery and pain in life is caused by the devil?  By the powers of darkness… by those spirits in high places that purpose to kill, steal and destroy?    Here are a few and I know you can find some of these lurking within your heart….

Rejection, loneliness, being unloved, failure, frustration, fear, worry, uncertainty, bondage, being “blue,” feelings of melancholy, unhappiness, burdens… loaded with care, being broke… strapped financially, guilt, condemnation, sickness, disease, pain, broken hearted, weariness and fatigue, anxiety, grief, hopelessness, no joy, continual sadness, feelings of worthlessness, no purpose  in living, disappointment, boredom, lack of self-esteem, feelings of emptiness, resentment, anger, unforgiveness, and on and on I could go.

Are you in here somewhere?  Did you meet your “personal pain” in this list?  Are you continually coping with any of these?

Do you know that all of these are works of darkness and they are sent from the devil to destroy you?  Do you realize Jesus took these on Himself, shed His Blood and DIED to make you FREE of these?

Since satan did not succeed in keeping you from getting saved, he now purposes to make you miserable.  To make you tired of living.  To frustrate God’s Purpose for your life and to keep you blind and ignorant of the MAGNITUDE of YOUR REDEMPTION.

“Two prisoners stared through prison bars…  One saw mud, the other stars…”

Look Up

Look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh…   Lu 21:28

Word for Today:  August 5

God’s Power

Jesus commanded His followers to stay in Jerusalem UNTIL they got what He had for them.  It was a Baptism of Fire and Power.  It was the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and it would empower them to continue the work that Jesus had begun.   Jesus knew quite well what the disciples needed and He knows quite well what we need today.  It is Power that comes by and through a Baptism of Fire and Power.  This Baptism is an experience apart from and in addition to the work of the Holy Spirit which occurs at the time of Salvation and it is called “being filled with the Spirit.”

Do we need that Power today?  What do you think?  They needed it then but we have a much bigger world with much greater needs today.  Many churches seem to be preaching and promoting a self-help gospel.  A warm and fuzzy, touchy-feely gospel.   A “feel good” gospel.  The self-help gospel depends on just that…. Self-help.  It gives us more of self and less of God.  But, frankly, I’ve had just about as much of self as I can stand.

I don’t need more of self, I need more of God.  I don’t need more of feeling good, I need more of feeling God.  I don’t need more of what I can do I need more of what God can do.  I don’t need more of my power I need more of God’s power.

Jesus knew that if we continued to do what He began to do we would need more than self.  More than flesh.  More than human effort.   More than education or experience.

If they needed it then, we surely need it now.  Do you need it?  Do we need it?  Do our churches need it?  Does our nation need it?  Does our culture need it?  Does our world need it?   Then let’s go after what God has for us.

And let’s get all that God there is to get

Word for Today:  August 4

Fixing damaged faith.

Your faith can be damaged.  We are commanded to “have faith” (Mark 11:22) as well as to “Continue in the faith…” (Acts 14:22).  The one area of concentrated satanic attack is an attack on our faith position.  Some have developed strong faith only to have it attacked, damaged and weakened.

If your faith has been damaged, you need to get it repaired.  Every Believer can stand to have their faith undergirded.  Here are some things that can damage your faith:

• Situations that seem to contradict your faith position.
• Prayer that seems to go unanswered or ignored.
• When individuals who are strong in faith suffer sickness, setback or failure.
• Ministries or ministers who fall into sin and damage the integrity of the church.
• Answers that are delayed to the point of the Believer giving up. When the “due” season for reaping seems to never arrive.
• Slipping into compromise because doubting is easier than believing.

When your faith becomes damaged, what can you do to repair it?  How do we fix broken faith or strengthen weak faith?

• Begin each day with a positive attitude.
• Stand on and boldly confess the Word of God.
• Be faithful, consistent and steadfast.
• Expect good things to happen.
• Live in the atmosphere of praise and thanksgiving.

Working faith pleases God  (Heb 11:6)

Word for Today:  August 3

The impossible fueled a boy’s faith.

When David heard Goliath’s challenge, something happened deep down inside him.   Something began to stir his Confidence.  Out of this confidence came a surge of supernatural faith and a powerful spirit of boldness.  Faith literally exploded in the heart of David.    Out of his mouth confidence began to speak:

• “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the Living God?”
• “Is there not a cause?” (The God of Israel is being ridiculed and defied).
• “Let no man’s heart fail because of him…”
• “I will go and fight with this Philistine…”
• “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, HE will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine…” (Notice David did not call Goliath a giant… he called him a Philistine.)

Listen to Confidence talk on the battlefield:

“Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the NAME of the LORD OF HOSTS, the GOD of ISRAEL, whom thou has defied…”

This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will:      

1. Kill you
2. Cut your head off
3. Give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines to the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth…

Confidence prevailed.  David won.  Goliath lost.  The Philistines were shamefully defeated.  God was glorified.  And David became Israel’s new champion…

The giant you are facing will fill you either with fear or with faith.

Fear will cause you to lose.

Faith will cause you to win

Word for Today:  August 2

The day God air conditioned a fiery furnace

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s great image of gold (Dan 3).  The decree was that all in the kings domain would fall down and worship the image at the designated time… when the music played, they were commanded to stop what they were doing, fall down and worship the golden image.  Those who refused to obey this edict, were sentenced to death.  Death by being thrown into a burning fiery furnace (Dan 3:6).

Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faithful to the One True God, they refused to fall down and worship the image.  They were arrested.  They were brought before Nebuchadnezzar, who in great rage and fury, questioned them and commanded

 …if ye worship not (the image), ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? (3:15)

They were not fearful and they were not nervous… they had not cast away their confidence in God…and they declared:

Our God whom we serve is able us from the burning fiery furnace and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.”  (3:17)

In other words, you do what you have to do and we will do what we have to do.  We will see whose God is The God.

The furnace was heated seven times hotter than ever.  The three Hebrews were bound by the king’s men and thrown in the furnace; the fury of the fire was such that those who cast them in were instantly slain by the heat.  They fell down bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace.  Pay Day has come.  Confidence has a great recompense of reward.

When the king looked in he was astonished.

Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?  …Lo, I see four men LOOSE walking the midst of the fire and they have NO HURT and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God… (3:24-25)

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were delivered from the fire.  But that is not all, they were promoted into a place of prominence and the King was turned into a Believer.  Confidence has a great Pay Day.

Don’t throw your confidence away.

Pay Day is on the way

Word for Today:  August 1

The approaching Awakening.

There is a fresh wave of the Holy Ghost moving across the earth today.  It is a spirit of revival.  It is a spirit of renewal.  It is a spirit of restoration.  The earth is literally ripe for the end-time harvest.   You know this.  I don’t need to try to persuade you.  It is happening here and it is happening overseas.  It is happening everywhere.  The earth is in the process of being “filled with the glory of the Lord.” This is indeed a special time of God’s Visitation.  There has never been a time like this before.  God has some great plans.

The Bible is clear concerning the events of the end-time.  And the greatest indication of and proof for the closing of this age is the global outpouring of the Holy Ghost.  That is exactly what is happening at this moment.

The Word declares that in “the last days” God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh…

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…  Ac 2:17

There will be a world-wide awakening that will jolt the earth and entire nations will be saved and brought into the Kingdom of God.   We are on the precipice of just such an Awakening…

Perhaps one of the greatest temptations the Body of Christ faces at this time is the temptation to lose confidence.  Confidence in God. Confidence in what God is doing.  Confidence in the Word.  Confidence in God fulfilling His Promises.  Confidence in the Church.

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.  Heb. 10:35   (“It will pay off.”…. It has a great Pay Day)

Hold on…  The best is yet to be