dickbraswell

Word for Today:  June 30

We are in a race.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners…  Heb 12:1-3

The Christian Walk is compared to an athletic race.  The crowds are present.  The course is before us.  We are running.  We must win.  We are pursuing the Gold.  Not the silver or the bronze. Second place will not do.  The success of our calling is at stake and nothing short of first place will do.  We must win!

There are obstacles and hindrances on the track.  There are many opportunities to fail and not finish our course.  To give in to fatigue or weariness or weakness will cause our opponent to get ahead.  It will make us lose the race.  But we must win!

Every Believer is in this race.  You will run or you will give up.  You will win or you will lose.  Every believer is on the track… and so is our opponent.

There is a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.  They are watching and they are cheering. They have gone before us and they are winners.  They know what is before us and they know that we can win.  They are in heaven’s grand stand and they are rooting for us.  They watch and they observe… Our victory is important to them.

We are to lay aside hindrances or weights that will keep us from doing our best.  The runners must strip off the outer garments and lighten their load so they can use all their energy in running the race.

We are to run and we are to run with patience.  (With Patience running alongside of us!)  Patience means we know we will win regardless of how the race appears because God is with us.

We are to look to Jesus as we run.  He is the goal and the finish line.  He is the victor’s circle.  We stay ahead and we win as long as we look to him.

We are to consider him (and what He endured) when we get tired and weary and are tempted to give up and quit.

But they that wait (look for, hope, expect) upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  Isa 40:31

Refuse to lose

Word for Today:  June 29

God spoke Faith-filled Words and creation happened

Substance came into being and was created by the Words God spoke with His mouth.  Words created.  Words have power.  Words have preeminent and predominant force.

Jesus is vitally interested in how we talk.  We can talk for five minutes with most anybody and they will reveal their spiritual position by the words that come out of their mouth.

We are living under a New Covenant.  The Word we have is a legal document.  It is binding on two parties.  It is binding on the part of God and it is binding on the part of those who believe it.

God formulated and created this covenant and signed it with and by the Blood of His own Dear Son.  It is established forever and ever.  It will not fail. It will not change. It will never pass away.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of God is established from everlasting to everlasting.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.  Mt 24:35 

The Word is a legal document and it binds God to whoever agrees with it.   I want to agree with it.  Do you?  Will you?  If our answer is “yes” then we are in a position to change things.  If we agree to and with this Legal Document, then God is legally bound to honor His Word in our behalf.  God does not lie.

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?  Nu 23:19

When we agree with this Covenant God has signed with the Blood of His Dear Son, we are positioned to receive everything that God has promised and provided for us.  God is bound to us.  We become God’s responsibility.  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  We belong to God and we are His responsibility.

Therefore, we don’t have to worry about Wall Street, the stock market, the banks, our job, the world situation, the economy, or anything else, because we are now God’s responsibility.

God is our Source.  God is our Supply.  God is our Security.  He has bound Himself to provide for us through His Word Promises.

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.   Phil 4:19

Word for Today:  June 28

The Word declares:

for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it (faith) is the gift of God…  Eph 2:8.

Faith is a Gift.

Faith is a Gift from God given to you.  Faith is the ability to really believe God.  It is revelation.  It is in the heart.  It is in the innermost part of our being.  It is resolve.  It is dependence.  It is confidence.  It is relying on.  It is trusting.  It is seeing the invisible.  It is holding the intangible.  It is reaching out into nothing and holding on until nothing becomes something.  It is as­ur­ance.  It is a certainty.  It is REAL.

Faith is developed by hearing the Word.

Faith cometh (grows) by hearing and hearing by the Word of God…  Rom 10:17.

Faith is devel­oped by being around faith.  A “faith osmosis” happens by being in a Faith Church surrounded by Faith People. Like begets like.  Praise, worship, rejoicing, singing… engaging in True Worship, these will develop faith.

Faith is also developed by the anointed preaching of the Word of God.  Even by reading these words, your faith is being built up.  I believe you will be stronger after you read this than you were before you read it.

• Faith is developed by doing the Word.
• Faith is developed by saying the Word.
• Faith is developed by and through Love.
• Faith is developed by making right decisions.
• Faith is developed by remembering past victories.
• Faith is developed by “keeping the flesh under.” 1Co 9:27
• Faith is developed through intimacy with God.

What you do with your faith determines what your faith will do for you

Word for Today:  June 26

God has made an awesome investment in you.

God has confidence in you.  God believes in you.  God’s Miracle Power is in you.  All of heaven’s power is in you.  You have the potential to change the world.  Nothing is too hard for God and God lives in YOU.

The Bible says that with God all things are possible.  Paul wrote that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…”  The Word declares that if

You can believe (have the God-kind of faith) all things are possible to him that believeth…  (Mark 9).

When you got saved, God made a Divine Deposit in you.  Your body became the Temple of the Holy Ghost.  You are no longer your own because you were “bought with a price…”

We are to glorify God with our bodies.  We are Born Again to release the Power of God into the earth.

People are becoming more and more aware of their need for God.  As politics fail, as economics fail, as education fails, as religion fails, our need for a viable and real and powerful connection with God is more and more apparent.

God is calling us to be channels of His Power in the earth.  We are the restraining force holding back all the relentless powers of darkness that are poised to overthrow every kingdom and nation.

Why is it that atrocities such as those that are presently happening in parts of our world are not happening here in America?  Because we are called to be the platform from which God will release His Power into the earth and throughout the earth.  With all our shortfalls and shortcomings, this nation is still the One Nation on this planet that God has sovereignly raised up to launch His Power into the Human Race.

God Bless America

Word for Today:  June 25

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:  Hos 4:6 

When someone is lacking knowledge they are, in fact, ignorant.   “We have not because we know not how to get it…”  Pardon my paraphrase.  But that’s really the truth.

The world has told us all our life that there were things that we just had to bear.  We could not help it.  It was unavoidable.  Nothing could change it. We just have to “bear our Cross.”  It was just “meant to be.”    Meant to be by whom?   Certainly not by God if what is happening to us is bad and destructive.

We have listened to what the reasoning world has told us.  We have counted as fact what our natural eyes have seen.  We have believed what our emotions have dictated to us and we have been moved by our five senses.

No wonder situations seem unchangeable.  This kind of information processing results in the “I can’t help it” mind set.  And it is really a mind set it is not a Word set.  We can change things.  The Word says we can.

The right way to change things does not come out of carnal thinking.  When we find ourselves in situations and circumstances that do not glorify God and enhance His Kingdom, we can change them.  When we are in a place that is not in the Will of God and we know it, then we can change that as well.

Some have loved ones that are lost.  Others have pressing financial problems.  Many are struggling with sickness and disease.  Some are working through marriage and family issues… and the devil would have us believe that nothing is going to get better, that they will always be bad and that there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it.

The Word declares that we can change things.

Believe it

Word for Today:  June 24

What an exciting time to be alive!

We are at this very moment right where it’s “at.”

Lots of folks are still looking, but we have found it.  I’m so glad we don’t have to look anymore.  We can now just zero in and enjoy the journey… we can keep on moving out in God, moving on in God and moving up in God.

We are the only limitation God has.   It’s up to us.  Many are sitting around praying and waiting for God to do something.  The truth is God is waiting for us to do something.  God does not have to do anything else…. He has already done it.  Everything that needs doing or will ever need doing.

The only limitation in the life of any believer is the believer himself.   Some are praying and believing and fasting and seeking and worrying and weeping and repenting and trying to get what God has already given them.

He has made everything we need available.  He has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:  Eph 1:3

Don’t limit God

Word for Today:  June 23

What is the Will of God?

What is His Plan?  What has He purposed for me?

Jesus prayed for the will of God to be done on earth as it (the will of God) is being done in heaven.  The will of God is the same thing that a last will and testament is here on earth.

The Will is what God has provided for His Children.  It is what He has left for His heirs.  The Will of God is the Word of God… the composite of Truth that provides revelation and knowledge to those who belong to Him.

The level of “all things possible” living must come from a revelation of His Will… which is His Word.  What it is.  What is says.  What it promises.  How it works.  Why it works.

Understanding the Will of God opens the door for one to Believe God and to Believe Him for what He has promised in His Word.

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.   Jer 29:11 (The Message)

God has plans for you.  Big plans.  Exciting plans.

He plans to give you the future you hope for.

This is HIS Will

Word for Today:  June 22

How to change things

Unfortunately, the traditional church with its sanitized message and dead liturgy has, through the centuries, taught us to consistently beg God to do things.

This self-styled church with a man-devised theology developed a belief system that was totally contrary to the Word of God.  God was seen as a Reluctant Sovereign, Who was not really very interested in us and Who based what He did solely on just how much we begged Him and how faithful we were in our religious performance and in keeping the Ten Commandments.   If we begged Him enough, there was a slight chance that He just might grant our request.  But we had to be sure we were cleaned up, prayed up and often “worked” up.

The ability to get “things changed” or get our “prayers answered” depended on how many rules we kept, how much time we spent in prayer, how many chapters we read in the Bible, how often we attended church, whether we paid our tithes and how many people we led to the Lord.   It was based on our “performance.”

All these things are good, but they have absolutely NOTHING to do with Changing Things that need Changing.   We are to initiate Change by and through the Power that is actively working in us.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Eph 3:20

God has given every Believer the Power to Change things.

You can do it

Word for Today:  June 12

Every Believer is endued with God’s Power.

They may not act like it, look like it or talk like it… but they do.   According to God’s Word… His power resides in every Believer.

One reason many do not function in this power is because they do not know where it is.  If they do not know where it is they cannot function in it.   If they cannot function in it they cannot use it.  If they cannot use it they will be buffeted and whipped by the devil.  And the things that need changing will not be changed.

God’s Power is not exclusively in Heaven.

All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth… is what Jesus said in Matt 28:18.

Now, where does He dwell?  Christ in YOU the hope of Glory!   Col 1:27

We have been taught that we are to pray for God’s Power to FALL on us.  For God to “send the Power…”  For the “Fire of God” to fall and come down from heaven.  We were led to believe that we could do nothing unless the Power “fell” on us.

For years I prayed for a Revival to come from Heaven.  Our whole concept of God’s Power has been warped and steeped in error.  No wonder we can’t operate in God’s Power… we don’t even know what it is, where it is, how to get it or how to release it.

Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the (wonder-working, miraculous) power that worketh in us…  Eph 3:20

God’s Power does not “come down” or “fall on us”…. God’s Power emanates from our RE-Born human spirit that is Born Again in the Image of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  God’s power is IN US.  It is not only in heaven and it is not floating in space or gathering in the skies to fall on us when we “pray through…”

Arise, shine, for thy light is come and the Glory of the Lord is RISEN UPON THEE… Isa 60:1

Is He supposed to rise up out of the ground?  Of course not.   Then what is He supposed to “arise” out of?

He is to rise out of the Re-created, Re-born human spirit… and when He does His enemies (and yours, too) will be scattered.

Let God arise and His enemies be scattered…  Psa 68:1