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Word for Today:  August 22

Rivers.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:38

We should come together at ministry time with the Stream Flowing.   Most come to Church to get filled.  They are already dry and empty.  They have been drained by the demands of the unbelieving world and the constant constraints of the enemy.  They come in need.

This is not bad, but it is not the Best.  To come filled up is better.  Filled up and running over.  Can you imagine what kind of a service we would have if everybody came filled up and running over?  No need to get “worked up.”  No need to get “pumped up.”  Coming in as a Mighty Stream.  A Rushing River.  Men and women and young people and children with Rivers of Living water gushing out of their inner beings.  What a gathering!

The Stream is the Anointing.  The Anointing is the continual pouring forth of the Holy Ghost.   It is the One Thing Needed most.  In the Church.  In the Pulpit.  In the Choir loft.  In the Musician.   In the Body of Christ.

I must tell you, the Anointing in my life is essential.  Without the anointing, I have nothing, I can do nothing, I am nothing and I have no desire to live.  The Anointing… the Stream of Living Water… is the most important thing in my Life.  It is Jesus flowing out of me in Power and Compassion.

My prayer is that I might see with the Eyes of God.  Feel with the Heart of Jesus.   Minister with the Mind of Christ.  Flow with the Power of the Holy Ghost.

Without this, I am nothing.  The ministry is nothing.  And I will accomplish nothing.

Neither will you

Word for Today:  August 21

Emotions, feelings or the Word

Religion has taught us that we can experience the power of God only occasionally.  We have been taught that sometimes God just lets bit a little of heaven come down and bless us.  We have prayed and stayed and fasted and repented and preached and prophesied in order to get the power to come down… the fire to fall… revival to happen.

We have been led to believe that every once in a while God will give us a little dab of glory just to keep us going.  We have been taught that the Christian experience is a series of peaks and valleys… ups and downs… drought and abundance…. times when we are hot and times when we are cold.

Where did this come from?  It came from our emotions and our feelings.  It came from our soulish man.  It is not the way it is in the Spirit!

God is the same.  Jesus is the same.  The Holy Ghost is the same.  The Word is the same.  His Eternal Purpose is the same.  When we walk in agreement with His Purpose, we are the same!  There is no “variableness” in Him or in us when we fulfill our part in His plan.

The Word is stronger than our emotions….

Word for Today:  August 20

An Unfailing Anchor.

God’s Word is an Anchor that holds (Heb 6:19).   It is as reliable as God is.  It is as strong as God is.  It is as enduring as God is.  It is as changeless as God is.

The Word proved to be an unfailing Anchor in the lives and experiences of many of the Heroes we read about in the Bible.  It held steady in times of trials and impossibilities.  It gave them security in the times of storms and conflicts.  The Word was an anchor in them that held them secure in the Hand of God.

• The Word in Moses produced Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.
• The Word in Joshua drove out the enemy and produced victory in the Promised Land.
• The Word in David gave him strength in the time of temptation and victory in the time of attack. The result was and is the matchless beauty of Worship and Praise in the Book of Psalms.
• The Word in Elijah produced water in the season of drought.
• The Word in Joseph sustained him in prison, delivered him from lies and brought him great favor and promotion as the Prime Minister of Egypt.
• The Word in Job kept him faithful to God in his loss of everything he loved and treasured.
• The Word in Elisha raised the Shunammite’s son from the dead, caused the axe head to swim and cleansed numerous lepers.
• The Word in Daniel stopped the mouths of hungry lions.
• The Word in Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, cooled the fiery furnace and brought the Son of God from heaven to comfort them.
• The Word in John the Baptist caused him to launch Jesus into His public ministry.
• The Word in Paul saw him through ship wrecks, stonings, scourgings, imprisonments, rejections and betrayals and produced most of the New Testament.
• The Word in John gave him a glimpse of the Rapture, the Return of Jesus and the Eternal Perfect State of those who are washed in the Blood.

The Word held them steady in the face of every impossibility.

It is our Anchor.

It never fails

Word for Today:  August 19

Be a healer

I’m not talking about laying hands on the sick.  I’m talking about healing relationships.  Healing divisions.  Healing differences.    Building bridges and not walls.  Taking down fences and opening gates.

Our past religious traditions have built too many walls.  We are called and purposed to tear them down and build bridges in their place.

According to the Word, believers are living stones.  We are to be collectively built up into a Spiritual House (not houses, plural) but a House (singular).

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house…   1Pe 2:5

In the past we have been divided, and put separate piles…. Different piles.  Diverse piles. Cultural piles.  Racial piles.  Economic piles.  And “church” piles.  God wants us to be One Pile not many piles.

• We have had Baptist piles
• Methodist piles
• Catholic piles
• Presbyterian piles
• Pentecostal piles
• Episcopalian piles
• White piles
• Black piles
• Hispanic piles
• Asian piles
• Nationality piles
• Rich piles
• Poor piles
• Educated piles
• Uneducated piles

God is calling us to One Pile so that He can build a Spiritual House… and that is what happens when we make a determined effort to heal broken and bruised relationships.

Be a healer today

Word for Today:  August 17

The Word demands a response.

You will respond one way or another.  You cannot ignore and remain unresponsive to the Word.  Each of you will respond.  And you will respond in one of only four ways.

Christianity hates neutrality just as atmosphere hates a vacuum.  You can measure your response to the Word and determine your future.  Your future is absolutely predictable by the way you respond to the Word of God.  There are no “unknowns” in the life of a believer.

Your response to the Word will determine what happens to you today as well as in the future… Therefore, it is extremely important that you respond in the right way.

Paul commands us to “Work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling…”  (Phil 2:12).  He knew the extreme importance of a correct response to the Word.  The Word is in us.  We are to “work out” what God has “worked in.”  There is Life in the Word.  There is Power in the Word. There is Light in the Word.    There is deliverance in the Word.   There is Healing in the Word.   There is Strength in the Word.  There is Peace in the Word.  There is Salvation in the Word.   These elements are to be “worked out” through our response to the Word.

First, you need to understand that the Word is a Seed.

There is Life in the Seed.  There is potential in the Seed.  There is power in the seed.  There is an image in the seed.  The seed is the secret.  The seed is the source.  The Bible declares that the Word of God is the “incorruptible Seed…”  (I Peter 1:23)  “Incorruptible” means “undecaying” in essence or continuance.  Simply, it means “immortal” and “eternal”

Second, you need to understand that the Seed must be planted.  It must be sown and it must be sown in the right kind of soil.

Third, Seed must have Ground in order to grow.

Without ground, seed is no good.  The seed must have a response from the ground if it is to produce fruit.  There are cases of seeds remaining dormant and useless for hundreds of years because there was no ground for it to be sown in.  When the ground makes a proper response to the Seed, Growth develops and in due season, fruit is produced.    A correct response to the Word will make us fruitful and productive.  A wrong response to the Word will cause us not to bear fruit. (See John 15)

Fourth, YOU are the ground.  Your heart-ground will determine if the seed will germinate and grow.  Your heart-ground will determine what the seed will produce.   Your heart-ground will determine the measure of your spiritual harvest of success.

You set your own boundaries and fix your own limits.

What you grow is what you sow.

What you reap is what you plant.

Word for Today:  August 16

What Faith is.

Faith is believing.  Faith is believing God.  Faith is believing God’s Word.  Faith is the opposite of fear.  Faith is the opposite of doubt.  Faith is the opposite of unbelief.  Faith is a gift from God to you and me.  Every believer has faith.  Every believer has the measure of faith (Rom 12:3).  How much is the measure of faith?  It is enough.  It is enough faith to do what God says do.  It is enough faith to have what God says we can have.  It is enough faith to be who God says we can be.

Faith is connected with God.  Faith is connecting with God.  Faith is an attribute of God that every believer receives when he is Born Again.

Faith is connected with the Word.  Faith is connecting with the Word. Faith activates the Word.   Faith brings the promises of God into the realm of the now.  Faith is connected with the Church.  When the church gathered to pray for Peter who was in jail, an angel came and opened the prison doors and let him out.  They prayed in faith.  They broke the barrier of the natural and stepped into the realm of the supernatural.

We do not come into faith on our own righteousness.  God honors faith on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ which has been imputed into every Believer.  Our faith is not based on the works that we have done or our performance in the past.

We do not come into faith with legalistic theology.  Our faith is a finished work.  Jesus is the Author and the FINISHER of our faith (Heb 12:2).   God does not do things for us because we are nice, sweet, obedient or spiritual… He works in our behalf on the basis of the Blood of Jesus… AND NOTHING ELSE.

Faith accepts the Goodness and the Grace of God.  We must believe that “He is and that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him…”   God can do anything.

• He is not the Author of bad things. He is the Creator of good things.
• He is merciful.
• He is kind.
• He is patient.
• He is compassionate.
• He is a Giver and not a taker.
• He is a Multiplier and not a divider.
• He is a Promoter and not a demoter.
• He is adds and does not subtract.
• He is forgiving.
• He is understanding.
• He is longsuffering.
• He is kind and He is gentle.

God is Good.  God is Love.

God is for you

Word for Today:  August 16

The world will never understand a spiritually minded believer.

We simply believe what the Word says about who we are, what we have and what we can do.

• The Word says we are kings and priests. Therefore, we act like kings and priests.
• The Word says we are healed and not sick. Therefore, we act like we are healed.
• The Word says we are the head and not the tail. Therefore, we act like we are the head.
• The Word says we are above and not beneath. Therefore, we act like we are above our circumstances and situations.
• The Word says we are rich and not poor. Therefore, we act like we are rich.
• The Word says we are more than a conqueror. Therefore, we act like overcoming conquerors.
• The Word says we can do all things through Christ and nothing shall be impossible to us. Therefore, we act like nothing will ever be impossible for us.

We have the courage and the faith to attempt the impossible, see the invisible and obtain the supernatural.

Word for Today:  August 14

Called of God.

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. Judg. 6:12

I’m quite sure that Gideon did not feel like a mighty man of valor.  He had been hiding out behind the barn to thresh the wheat so the Midianites could not see him.  He was nervous.  He was afraid.  He was uncertain.  He had no confidence in himself.  He was intimidated by the enemy.  Yet, God calls him a “Mighty man of valor.”

This is what God calls you.  He calls you what you are… not what you feel like you are.  You may be hiding behind the barn, but He sees you with a Fire in your heart and a Sword in your hand

There is no lottery program in the Call of God.    The call is direct and personal and based on something God sees within the person He is calling.   He sees in you possibility.  He sees in you capability.  God sees in you potential.  He sees your Heart and He knows what kind of a heart you have.

You may not “feel” like a Mighty Warrior.  You may not look like a threat to hell and the devil.  You may not think you are More than a Conqueror, but that is what God sees in you and that is what God calls you.  And that is precisely what you are.

Today, be WHO God says you ARE

Word for Today:  August 13

We want to discover what really happened at Calvary.

We have read about the Crucifixion, heard sermons on the Crucifixion, studied about the Crucifixion, but in reality very few know and understand what happen on the Cross.  What we believe about the Cross will determine the depth of our Revelation of Jesus.

Justice had decreed that sinful man must pay the penalty for his transgression.  The Human Race stood guilty before God of Spiritual High Treason.  Man had turned away from God and embraced the devil.  However, the human race was impotent, helpless and incapable of meeting the demands of justice.

“I owed a debt I could not pay,

He paid a Price He did not owe,

I needed Someone just to wash my sins away,

And now I sing a brand new song:  Amazing Grace!

Christ Jesus paid the Price that I could never pay…”

And so out of the Heart of God comes the solution to the human problem.  Jesus steps forward and declares:  “Here am I, send Me…”  And so toward the Cross He goes.

Calvary is center stage for the entire human race.  What happened there is the pivotal point of all history.  Calvary is more than the death of Jesus at the hand of His enemies.  Calvary is more than the suffering and horror of such inhumanity and torture.

• Calvary involves Jesus and it involves God.
• It involves man and it involves sin.
• It involves time and it involves eternity.
• It is the place of a divine Exchange

Here, Jesus became what man is in order than man can become what Jesus is.  

“God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him…”  II Cor. 5:21

Word for Today:  August 12

Jesus Paid it All

The devil and all demon powers are dethroned and defeated.  At the fall of Adam, satan gained control and dominion over all the earth.  At the Resurrection of Jesus,  satan was factually and actually dethroned and defeated.   he was and stripped of all his power and all his authority.

The Resurrection of Jesus was and is the final proof of satan’s downfall and defeat.  Sickness, sin, defeat, sorrow, death, sadness are all forever conquered.  We (Believers) have been redeemed from satan’s dominion and we have legally become the masters of satan and all his demons.  You have power over the devil because Jesus rose from the dead.  You can cast out devils. You can heal the sick.  You can call things that are not as though they are.  You can overcome poverty and distress and pain and need.  Because Jesus is alive… you are filled with Resurrection Life.

There will be no judgment for us like it was for Jesus.  God will not forsake us.   For us there will be no Cross… no crown of thorns… no separation from God… no suffering in hell… no guilt and no condemnation.

Jesus paid it all…   All to Him I owe…Sin had left a crimson stain…He washed it white as snow

Elvina M. Hall  1865