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Word for Today:  May 28

Don’t get discouraged because it is hard.

Remember… situations are not supposed to affect the Believer.  Believers are supposed to affect situations.  Situations changes.  God never changes.  Situations pass, God’s Word never passes.  Remember:  It came to pass… not to stay!

The 3 Hebrews were in a strange land far away from home and they were in the company of a pagan tyrant who set himself up as god.  They lived in the midst of paganism, idolatry, unbelief and outright blasphemy.  They had been taken captive and led away into the headquarters of all that hated their God.  Their hopes and dreams were shattered and their future looked bleak.  But they refused discouragement and they believed God.

Paul and Silas landed in jail because they Obeyed God.  They were persecuted, beaten and locked in stocks.  But they refused to get discouraged.  Instead they considered God.  When they considered God they began to sing and praise Him.  They were anything but discouraged.

How are you?

Daniel wound up in a Den of Lions because he refused to stop praying to Jehovah God.  He used one lion for a pillow, another for a foot stool and another for cover.  He slept and the lions trembled in fear.  Because he refused to be discouraged.

John was left alone on an uninhabited volcanic island to starve and perish in the elements.  The boat was not out of sight before John was “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s Day and fell out in the Holy Ghost.  He saw Jesus.  He was not discouraged or defeated.  He knew that his God was able.

Understand that discouragement will breed self-pity and cause complaining.  Complaining will lead to murmuring and grumbling.  Discouragement will cause you to look at the problem instead of the answer.

Don’t be discouraged

Word for Today:  May 27

Declaration Precedes Manifestation

Declare your intentions.  Speak with your mouth words that make things happen.  Faith words.  Word words.  God Words.  Heaven Words.

You and I will never exceed our declarations.  Our declarations determine our direction. Our declarations determine our destiny.  What we speak out of our hearts will create or destroy.  Words are instruments of creation or destruction.  Words make things.

There are Life Producing Forces (seeds) inside every believer.  These forces are put in us by the Work of the Holy Spirit at the time we are Born Again.  They are seeds destined to grow and produce.  They are forces that need to be released into the world.  Into our families.  Into our relationships.  Into the total experience of our lives.

They are in you.  They are in every Believer.  However, seeds are worthless unless they produce.  One seed is not sufficient to sustain life by itself.  It takes many seeds which are planted in good ground to bring forth a crop that is sufficient to sustain victorious living.

The real challenge is to grow these seeds into maturity.  As God plants these Seeds in us, the enemy plants weeds. The purpose of the weeds is to choke out the seeds.

These seeds are the building blocks of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus prayed for the Kingdom to come and for the Will of God to be done ON EARTH just as it is presently being done in Heaven.  These Seeds will produce God’s Kingdom on earth when and if they are planted in good ground and if proper conditions for growth are present.

Seed Time produces Harvest Time

Word for Today:  May 23

Don’t get discouraged because you are having a hard time.

Remember… situations are not supposed to affect the Believer.  Believers are supposed to affect situations.  Situations change.  God never changes.  Situations pass, God’s Word never passes.  Remember:  It came to pass… not to stay!

The 3 Hebrews were in a strange land far away from home and they were in the company of a pagan tyrant who set himself up as god.  They lived in the midst of paganism, idolatry, unbelief and outright blasphemy.  They had been taken captive and led away into the headquarters of all that hated their God.  Their hopes and dreams were shattered and their future looked bleak.  But they refused discouragement and they believed God.

Paul and Silas landed in jail because they Obeyed God.  They were persecuted, beaten and locked in stocks.  But they refused to get discouraged.  Instead they considered God.  When they considered God they began to sing and praise Him.  They were anything but discouraged.

How are you?

Daniel wound up in a Den of Lions because he refused to stop praying to Jehovah God.  He used one lion for a pillow, another for a foot stool and another for cover.  He slept and the lions trembled in fear.  Because he refused to be discouraged.

John was left alone on an uninhabited volcanic island to starve and perish in the elements.  The boat was not out of sight before John was “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s Day and fell out in the Holy Ghost.  He saw Jesus.  He was not discouraged or defeated.  He knew that his God was able.

Understand that discouragement will breed self-pity and cause complaining.  Complaining will lead to murmuring and grumbling.  Discouragement will cause you to look at the problem instead of the answer. God knows you, where you are and what you need.

TRUST HIM

Word for Today:  May 22

God is able.

Most every Christian will agree that God is Able.  To settle for anything less would degrade the concept of Christianity.  God truly is able.  Paul declares in Ephesians that He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think…” However, the majority of believers would agree with the FACT that God is Able but I want to add a new dimension to this confession of faith.  I want to declare that God is Able and God Will.  God Will do for you what nobody else or nothing else can.

The fact that GOD IS ABLE is the Magna Charta of the New Testament Church.     This is the Emancipation Proclamation of the Body of Christ:  God is Able.  This is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for the Christian:  God is Able.  Confess “GOD IS ABLE!”  Now add to that confession:   “… AND GOD WILL!”

As we begin this day, I want to begin it with high hopes… with Great Expectations.  With great faith.  With awesome Dreams.  I want to take you with me into the place where you can rest and know that God is Able and…. God will!  No matter what.  No matter who.  No matter where.

God wants to encourage you.  He has set aside this day and this moment to build you up and strengthen you and to help you.   He is able to deliver you out of your fiery trial and out of your furnace and out of your Egypt.  And He Will.  He wants you to know that.  He wants you to know that today.

God wants you to get out of hoping and praying into confessing and believing.

And then from confessing and believing into Receiving and Possessing.

Word for Today:  May 21

The seed and the ground

Jesus gave us the parable of the Sower and the Seed.

This parable is found in all three synoptic Gospels.  We need to consider some characteristics that identify a seed and also some ground conditions that are necessary for the seed to germinate.

Jesus said that the Word is the seed.

The ground is the heart.

He pointed out that the condition of the ground in which the seed is sown determines the extent of the harvest.  Good ground produces a bountiful harvest.

The Seed is the Word and when the Word is sown in good Ground (the proper heart condition) then the Word will produce “after its kind.”  Ideally, Word production is the production of the Will of God.

Whatever is in the Word will be grown in the earth.  Whatever is in the Word will be produced on the earth.  Jesus prayed in the Model Prayer “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”  When our heart condition “draws out” what God has placed in, then God’s Will is accomplished on the earth.

In Real Time.  In the present.  In the now.

When and where it is most needed

Word for Today:  May 18

The fact is, life does deliver some crushing blows

We need to “get real.”    It is unprofitable for us to live in some dream world where everything always is perfect.  Life is not some Hollywood American Utopia where there is no pain and no disappointment…  The devil is real and the kingdom of darkness is real.

Some of these contradictions that we are unable to understand are aimed at believers as well as unbelievers.  The church is not immune to demonic attacks.  In fact, the purpose and ploy of the devil is to kill, steal and destroy… primarily that and those who are not already “his.”   Therefore, how we react and cope in difficult and trying times is extremely important to the Kingdom of God.

We must understand that the “curse” is far reaching.  Even though the Redemptive Work of Jesus cancelled it for the Believer, its effects and influence is still very active in the natural world.  That’s why we are experiencing war and murder and injustice and abuse….  All manner of wickedness and evil that is contrary to the Kingdom of God.

The world we live in is influenced by principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12).  This is a principle that those in the early church were well aware of.  However, the Message that motivated those experiencing the trials and tribulations of such an unfair and unjust environment was a Message of great encouragement.  It declared that even though times were tough, they were Overcomers.

This is one of the recurring themes of New Testament Theology and it is a contemporary Message of encouragement to us as well.

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world

Word for Today:  May 17

Do you have a need?

• Are you hurting?
• Is something in your way?
• What mountain are you facing?
• What valley are you in?
• Do you feel the pressure?
• Are you in a bind?
• Are you caught between a rock and a hard place?
• Are you stressed?
• Are you sick?
• Are you bound?
• Are you sad?
• Are you discouraged?
• Are you disappointed?
• Have your hopes been shattered and your dreams destroyed?

Where ever you are, God is there.

Whatever you are facing God is there.

However you are hurting, God knows how you feel.  He wants to help you more than you want help.  His great pleasure is to give you the Kingdom and get you out of your place of pain and disappointment.

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32

His Kingdom is a Kingdom of Peace and Rest and Healing and Abundance and Fulfillment and Satisfaction.  God’s Pleasure is to see that you receive and enjoy all the benefits of your Salvation.  That’s what He has provided for you.  That’s what He wants for you.

That is His will for you today

Word for Today:  May 15

God is so much bigger than we can imagine.

What He can do far exceeds our ability to understand and comprehend.  He is greater than the greatest, bigger than the biggest and more powerful than anything or anybody we can imagine.

John speaks of the “streets of gold” when he attempts to describe the splendor and opulence of heaven.  He is limited by the words at his command to describe what he sees in the spirit.  Did you know that the “streets of gold” are nothing more than the “garbage dump” in heaven?  The earthly streets that John knew about were littered with garbage in his day.  The inhabitants of the city would throw their trash and garbage into the streets and the traffic of human feet and the paths of plodding animals would pack down the garbage.  The streets in John’s day were the garbage dump.

If Heaven’s Garbage Dump is solid gold, I cannot begin to imagine what the houses and lands and habitations of the redeemed will be like.

Do you have a need?  Any need.  Big need.  Small need.  Few needs.  Great needs.  Many needs.  If your answer is “yes,” name your need.  Does it have a name?  What is it?  Call it out.  Give it a name.  Tell yourself what it is.  Tell the devil what it is.  Tell God what it is (even though He already knows.)  Is it a health need?  Is it a financial need?  Is it a marriage or family need?  Is it a spiritual need?  Is it an emotional need?  If you have a need, then God has the supply… and God is Able to get His supply to your need… AND HE WILL.

Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, (Jesus) and given him a name which is above every name:

Therefore, the Name of Jesus is ABOVE the name of your need.  And it is subject to that Name.

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

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 is Able to meet your need TODAY.

Word for Today:  May 14

God has a plan.

God has a purpose and a design for all things.  As long as His plan is followed, His purpose and His design will come to pass.  When you by pass the Plan you by pass God’s purpose and God’s design.  When you work the Plan you flow in God.

A builder has a blueprint.  He follows the blueprint and it results in a completed structure that meets all the required specifications.

A cook has a recipe.  When the recipe is followed and all the instructions are obeyed, it results in a successful and delightful dish.

God has a Book.  It is the Bible and it is His Word.  When you abide in His Word and follow His Word, you have His Will and His design.  It is a winning will.  It is an overcoming design.  It is a FAIL-SAFE success system.

Read and follow the Instructions

Word for Today:  May 13

Be Faithful.

Reinforce your determination to hold fast.  To stand.  Do not let the attacks on your faith prevent you from KEEPING ON.  The one thing satan really wants to do is to make you give up.  Through the years, I have seen saint after saint weaken and fall because they did not persevere.

You can be faithful.  There may be many things you cannot do, but you can be faithful.  Just because your faith is under attack is no reason to ease up, let up, back up, cave in or quit. This is the VERY time you and I need to make our most positive and determined stand.

Be faithful in your personal relationship with Jesus.  Be faithful in your daily faith walk.  Be faithful to your church.  Be faithful to follow the Word of God.  Be faithful in prayer.  Remember: the Word requires that good stewards be found faithful.   1 Cor 4:2.

Expect good things to happen any minute.

Keep your faith out for something.  Even though you get shot at and hit… keep believing for something.  Look for answers.  Expect results.  Do not be moved by the fact that you don’t see or feel anything.  Living by faith is living in expectance.  It is to be prepared for the harvest of the seeds you have sown…  Look for the increase.  Believe for the increase.  Expect the increase.

The woman with the issue of blood expected something to happen when she touched Jesus.  She pressed through all kinds of doubt, danger and hindrances.  She knew something good would happen when she came in contact with Jesus.

Live in expectancy