dickbraswell

Word for Today:  May 11

Begin today with a positive attitude.

Never think weakness or failure.  Believe right and think right.  Your attitude will determine the condition of your faith.   The “artificial horizon” attitude indicator in an aircraft will tell the pilot what attitude the plane is in as it flies through the air.

Your attitude will indicate your thinking, your seeing, your saying and your doing.  Attitude is your present position.  Where are you now?  What is your attitude today?  How are you thinking?  What are you saying?  What are you expecting?

To fix damaged faith, reset your attitude to agree with the Word of God.  And the Will of God.  Flow in the direction of God’s leading.  Be sensitive to the Voice of the Holy Spirit.  Be deaf to the cries of the carnal man and to the vision of the natural eye.  Be encouraging.  Be encouraged.

See the best, talk the best, think the best and expect the best.  Be positive.

Because what you expect is what you usually get

Word for Today:  May 9

Faith eyes

It is our old human nature that really wants to “see” results.  When we do not see re­sults, the natural tendency is to get discouraged and back off of our faith stand.  Remember, we walk by Faith and not by sight.   Walking by faith means that we see the “invisible” with our faith eyes.  When we see the invisible, we can do the impossible.  The Believer really “believes” when there is no natural evidence.

 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)  2 Cor. 5:7

God is working in our behalf even when we see no results.  Our miracle is on the way.  Our answer is coming.  The great temptation is to “look” for something and “hope” to “feel” something in order to keep on believing.

Keep on believing and in God’s time you will not only see it but feel it as well.

We are promised that we will “reap in due season if we faint not…”  Gal 6:9

This is the unfailing promise given to us by our unfailing God.

Use your faith eyes because

What you see is what you get

Word for Today: May 8

Power’s evidence.

The Power of the Holy Spirit so prevalent in the New Testament is, unfortunately, not a present day reality in the majority of churches.

Signs, wonders and miracles are not the real evidence of Holy Ghost Power.  The evidence of the Power of God is:

• Changed lives.
• Sin, repented of and removed.
• Love and forgiveness prevailing toward those who have wronged us.
• Clean living and holy thinking and right doing.
• Caring more for prayer and fellowship with the Father than for personal pet pastimes.
• True Worship, Joyful Praise and Strong Word Preaching and Teaching.
• Desiring God more than anything else… seeking Him and crying out to Him and longing for Him.
• When everything that offends is cut away and put down… when all our Idols are smashed and reduced to dust.

The Power of God always causes SOMETHING to HAPPEN.  God’s Power produces results.

We don’t need more education or super-star preachers.  We don’t need bigger and better buildings or more efficient organization and more talented administration.  We don’t need more professional choirs and musicians and more skilled worship leaders.

We need the Power of God

And ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you… Acts 1:8

Word for Today:  May 4

The prerequisite for seeing.

You will never “see the Invisible” until you are born of the Spirit.  The natural man cannot discern the things of God because they are spiritually discerned.  You cannot walk by faith unless you are Born Again.

The natural world burdens the heart of the natural man and its problems load his soul.  He can only see things as they are and he cannot look beyond the natural and see the invisible.

Nicodemus was religious.  Nicodemus was educated.  Nicodemus was righteous.  Nicodemus was seeking God.  Nicodemus was moral.  Nicodemus was LOST and he was BLIND and he could not SEE the INVISIBLE.  He would have made an excellent church member, but he was limited by lack of sight.  Jesus said, except a man be Born Again he cannot see…

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Joh 3:3

If Jesus said it, it must be important.  He wants you to be able to SEE the INVISIBLE and DO the IMPOSSIBLE.  Apart from the New Birth this is will never happen.

Many who are saved have difficulty “seeing.” It is hard for them to “forsake” and “endure.”  They are continually knocked down and overwhelmed by the enemy.  They are overcome more often than they overcome.  They are subject to worry, fears, doubts and discouragement.  They are depressed and done in.  They are unhappy constant victims of violent mood swings.  One day is good.  Then ten are bad.  One victory is won, then fifteen are lost.  Ground that has been gained is constantly being lost and retreat is the only way out.

We need to receive Power.  We need an encounter with the Holy Ghost that gives us the ability to resist the devil and win the battle, see the invisible and do the impossible.

John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:  Lu 3:16

Word for Today:  May 3

Be willing to wait.

Don’t be impatient. You don’t have to rush God. The production time of the Word is programmed in and it is as dependable as God is dependable. What is programmed will come to pass. In due season you shall reap if you do not faint (Gal 6:9).  Waiting will develop your patience and James tells us to let patience have her perfect work, that we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing… (James 1:4).

Here is the hardest thing to do in Word production. It is not hard to sow. It is not hard to believe…. But it is next to impossible to wait, with patience, until God will produce in us the “wanting nothing” condition. God HAS SAID that we would “reap in due season IF we faint not… “

In Hebrews the Word declares: “For consider Him (Jesus) that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds…’ (Hebrews 12:3).

“Contradiction” here is anything that appears to disagree with God’s Promise. It is the “High Thing” that exalts itself against God that Paul writes to the Corinthians about.

The contradictions are what cause our patience to waver. When we see those things that seem to make God and His Word out to be a lie… these are the things that attack our patience.

Consider HIM… lest ye be wearied…

Word for Today: May 2

God established the family.

The first human He made was a Man

He was a Husband and Father.

The second was a Woman

She was a Wife and Mother.

The first children were biological Sons

The first family was given the awesome responsibility of “replenishing” the earth.

The family is more important than the church.  The family is more important than “religion.”  The family is more important than being “spiritual.”  The family is more important than anything God planned for the welfare, protection and propagation of the human race.

The family was established before the church.  It was on earth and functioning before Israel became the Chosen People… the nation through which God would send a Savior and redeem the world.

There is a Biblical pattern and plan for the family… It is simple and it is clearly stated in the Scriptures… One man.   One woman.  One time.  Forever.

The plan is defined and explained in the Word as follows:

• Husbands… love your wives. (Eph 5)
• Wives… submit (yield) to your husbands… (Eph 5)
• Children… obey your parents…. (Eph 6)
• Families… serve the Lord. (Jos 24)

…but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Simple.  Plain.  Unquestionable.  Imperative.  Fundamental.

Word for Today:  May 1

See what you are believing for.

The farmer wants to harvest a crop.  So he begins with seeds.  The farmer will look at the seed package. The seed package has a picture of a healthy, fully matured, producing plant on it. That is the goal the farmer is shooting for…. a healthy, fully matured, producing plant.

When he plants the little seed, he can already see in his heart what the healthy, fully matured producing plant looks like. He sees hundreds of them. They are all lined up in neat rows and they are unrestrained and unrestricted … no fungus, no bugs, no imperfections … he sees the PERFECT FINISHED product IN HIS HEART.

To increase your crop see what you sow.  See it in its COMPLETED, GOD-CREATED form. See it with your eye of faith.

“Take heed (blepo: to see) what you hear, with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you; and to you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath (the Word) to him shall be given, and he that hath not (the Word),from him shall be taken even that which he hath … And He said, So is the kingdom of God… Mark 4:24-26.

We are told to walk by Faith (believing) and not by Sight (reasoning).

When we walk by Faith, we see with our Faith Eyes the finished product.

Just like God created it to be

Word for Today:  April 30

It’s time.

“IT is finished!” It is done. It is settled. It is established. It is accomplished. It is MINE. God says so. The Word declares it. I believe it. Therefore I will be glad and rejoice in it. I will praise Him. I will worship Him. I will thank Him. I will show Him my appreciation.  It is Done.

Now, it’s time. It’s time for you and me to move out of our complacency and comfort and begin to take back what the devil has stolen. It is time for us to be aggressive. To be on the offense. Not the defense, but the offense. If we are satisfied to remain in our comfort zone… in the place we now are, we are turning our back on God.   We are limiting the Holy One of Israel.  We are slandering God and His divine purpose and plan for us.

Are you ready?

Will you demonstrate the Power and the Glory of God?  Will you do whatever it takes?

Where do you start?  Right where you are.  When do you start?

NOW

Word for Today:  April 29

Seize the opportunity you have TODAY.

Jesus was leaving Jericho headed for Jerusalem.  He was on His way to die and He would never again pass that way.  Blind Bartimaeus did not know that, but it was still the truth.  Who knows when our last opportunity will come?  Who can tell when our Day of Visitation will expire?

If all the blind and halt and lame had known that Jesus would never pass that way again, they would have lined the streets and pressed in and mobbed Jesus as they sought for their miracle.

I wonder how many have missed their miracle because they ignored a present day opportunity.  I believe that God has prepared this brief message just for you.   And He has purposed that you would read and heed it today.

Some need forgiveness.  Some need healing.  Some need deliverance from sin.  Some need the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.  Some need fellowship with other Believers.  Some need to get to a place where they can hear from God.  Some need a miracle to deliver them from a desperate situation.

Jesus is passing your way.   Right now. I want to believe He will pass your way again, but I have no guarantee of it.  Nor do you.  Don’t be like the hundreds that missed Jesus while He journeyed through their city.

 Seek ye the Lord while He may be found… call ye upon Him while He is near…  Isa 55:6

That is NOW

Word for Today:  April 27

What God wants.

God wants His Kingdom to come in the earth.  God wants His will to be done in the earth.  God wants the same things that are happening in heaven to happen on earth.  This is the prayer that Jesus prayed in Matthew chapter 6:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven…

This is what God wants.

This is why you have a purpose in life.  This is why you can do all things through Christ.  This is the reason for the existence of the Church.  The Church is here to bring God’s Kingdom from heaven to earth.  If we are not bringing God’s Kingdom from heaven to earth we are not doing what we were born again to do.

The Christian Faith is not a salve for the guilty conscience.  The Christian Faith is not a passive religious experience to make people “feel” good.  It is a dynamic declaration of victory to the powers of darkness and a furious fight to take enemy territory.  The Christian Faith… especially the Spirit-Filled Christian faith is Warfare. We are fighting the Good fight of Faith.  The battle is the Lord’s and the Victory is ours.

Any time. Every time.  All the time.