dickbraswell

Word for Today:  April 26

Develop an Expectancy in your heart.

See it.  Imagine it.  Think it.  Keep it before your eyes.  See it with the eyes of faith.  “See the invisible and expect the impossible.”     Moses “endured” this way.  When it seemed that nothing was ever going to happen, he “endured” as “seeing the invisible.”   He developed an expectancy in his heart.  He “saw” it before he really saw it.

By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.  Heb 11:27

Everything and all things that have ever manifested in the natural had their birth in somebody’s heart.  Somehow and some way somebody “saw it.”  Dreams come true because dreamers see the dream.   It is in the world of Faith-Seeing that Reality is created.  What you can “see” is what you can get.

God saw before He said.  When He SAW then He SAID.  He had the image in His Heart of Faith before He spoke the Creative World into existence

See it.  Say it.  Expect it.  Receive it.

Heaven is a Place where we all want to go, but most do not know what we will find when we get there.  We have been exposed to some really weird ideas about Heaven.  (Puffy white clouds and robed individuals sitting on them and plucking harps.)  However, the Word is very plain in describing heaven.  It tells us what Heaven is like.  It tells us who is there.  It tells us what it is.  And It tells us how to get there. 

There are three heavens.  The First heaven is the sky where the clouds are.  The Second heaven is outer space where the planets and galaxies are.  The Third Heaven is where God’s Throne is and where God presently dwells.

The part of Heaven Believers will inhabit forever is a city.  It is a city located in the Larger Place called Heaven.  This City is filled with the glory of God and has an outward appearance of beauty and precision and wealth that has never been witnessed by humanity.  It has walls and gates.  And foundations comprised of precious jewels. It is the largest (1500 miles wide) and most elaborate city ever imagined by man.  It has a surrounding wall 200 feet high made of indescribable material that resembles precious stones.  The twelve gates in this great wall are made of solid pearl. The streets in this city are pure transparent gold… nothing like this has ever been seen by human eyes.  The glory of God is of such brilliance that the city has no need of the sun for light. 

There are pure, crystal-clear rivers flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1).   There are great Broadways proceeding from each of the four sides of God’s Throne.  On either side of these great golden broadways there are rows of Trees of Life which bear fruit each month.  There is no sickness, no disease and no death in Heaven…  Eternal Life will be enjoyed by every inhabitant. 

Conditions will exist eternally as they did before the curse caused by the rebellion of Lucifer and Adam.  The inhabitants of Heaven are the redeemed, the faithful angels and all of earth’s original creatures.  The lamb will lie down with the lion.  Death is abolished.  All animals will be herbivorous.   Those there will be allowed to see the Face of God.  His Name will be written on their foreheads and they will rule and assist God in the administration and affairs of all Creation.  They will live with God FOREVER. 

That’s where I’m headed

Word for Today:  April 25

Develop an Expectancy in your heart.

See it.  Imagine it.  Think it.  Keep it before your eyes.  See it with the eyes of faith.  “See the invisible and expect the impossible.”     Moses “endured” this way.  When it seemed that nothing was ever going to happen, he “endured” as “seeing the invisible.”   He developed an expectancy in his heart.  He “saw” it before he really saw it.

By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.  Heb 11:27

Everything and all things that have ever manifested in the natural had their birth in somebody’s heart.  Somehow and some way somebody “saw it.”  Dreams come true because dreamers see the dream.   It is in the world of Faith-Seeing that Reality is created.  What you can “see” is what you can get.

God saw before He said.  When He SAW then He SAID.  He had the image in His Heart of Faith before He spoke the Creative World into existence

See it.  Say it.  Expect it.  Receive it.

Word for Today:  April 24

Life at its BEST.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

“Life” in this verse is the word “Zoe,” a Greek term that describes a quality of life, not a quantity, but a quality of life.  It is the word that describes the very same kind of life that God has.  Jesus is saying here, “I have come that you might have life and that life will be the same kind of life that I have and the same kind of life that God has… ”

This is the abundant life that Jesus has given to you and to me.  It is not simply “living and breathing” or “natural, physical” life, but it is the same quality of life that God has.  The same type of Life God has.  It is the “God Kind” of life.

Can you imagine God being worried?  Can you imagine God being afraid?  Can you imagine God being sick?  Can you imagine God being in a bad mood?  Or having a “bad hair day?”  Can you imagine God being poor?   Can you see God being depressed or stressed?  Or sad, or melancholy or “blue?”

God is not saving up for a rainy day.  God is not getting ready to go to the hospital.  God is not tired out or “wore” out… God is not planning on anything bad happening to Him.  He never has and He never will.  God is just fine.

If God is OK then you are OK.

Regardless

Word for Today:  April 22

My most challenging job is to convince people to believe what God says.

Most are so influenced by what is happening in the world they are oblivious to what the potential is within them.  God tells us some awesome stuff.  Stuff that is truly hard to believe.  Since it is easier to disbelieve than to believe, most are held captive by their unbelief.  No faith.  No confidence in God.  Convincing the Body of Christ to REALLY BELIEVE is our greatest challenge.  However, it is the same problem that folks have had throughout the history.  Isaiah said:

Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?   Isa. 53:

We must come to the place of BELIEVEING what the WORD SAYS instead of what the WORLD SAYS.  Some of the things the WORD SAYS are so “unreasonable” and so “radical” and so “impossible” that it is a real chore to believe them.  It is probably not what we have been taught in our Religious Environment.  It is probably not what is considered “traditional” or even “normal” in the Christian Walk.

Vance Havner once said concerning the Church:    “We have been subnormal so long, that once we become normal, folks will think we are abnormal…”

Man’s “religion” will keep you in bondage.  It will put burdens on you that God never intended for you to bear.  It will ultimately kill you.  Likewise, unchanging Religious Tradition will keep you in bondage.  A refusal to change, simply because you have “always” been this way or have “always” done it like this is dangerous.  It limits the ability for one to receive fresh revelation.  Organized, Mechanized, Man-Managed, church programs will sap your strength, wear you out, do you in and leave you empty.

Be unreasonable.   Believe God.

Word for Today:  April 21

Life at its BEST.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

“Life” in this verse is the word “Zoe,” a Greek term that describes a quality of life, not a quantity, but a quality of life.  It is the word that describes the very same kind of life that God has.  Jesus is saying here, “I have come that you might have life and that life will be the same kind of life that I have and the same kind of life that God has… ”

This is the abundant life that Jesus has given to you and to me.  It is not simply “living and breathing” or “natural, physical” life, but it is the same quality of life that God has.  The same type of Life God has.  It is the “God Kind” of life.

Can you imagine God being worried?  Can you imagine God being afraid?  Can you imagine God being sick?  Can you imagine God being in a bad mood?  Or having a “bad hair day?”  Can you imagine God being poor?   Can you see God being depressed or stressed?  Or sad, or melancholy or “blue?”

God is not saving up for a rainy day.  God is not getting ready to go to the hospital.  God is not tired out or “wore” out… God is not planning on anything bad happening to Him.  He never has and He never will.  God is just fine.

If God is OK then you are OK.

Regardless

Word for Today:  April 20

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 19

Speak to your mountain.

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith…  Mark 11:23.

Your mountain may be your circumstances.  Your situation.  Your sickness.  Your marriage.  Your finances.  Your children.  Your job.  God has equipped you so that you can actually talk to your problems in Jesus’ Name and when you do so in faith, they must obey your command.  Jesus went around talking to things that had no ears.  He talked to a storm.  He talked to a fig tree.  He talked to certain sicknesses and diseases.  He called them by name.  He even talked to dead corpses.   He set the precedent and paid the price so that you and I can do what He did and expect the same results that He got.

demons, devils and bad situations are subject to your “saying.”  Whatever you say to them in Jesus’ Name they must do.  Every knee must bow to the majesty and might of that Name.

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to “feel sorry” for believers who are in trouble.   Do you know why?   Because if they are in trouble, more than likely, they do not know the Truth or have ignored the Truth or disobeyed the Truth.

There is no such thing as “I can’t” in the life of a Spirit Filled, Faith Filled, turned on Believer.  God expects you to take advantage of what Jesus has done for you through His suffering and sacrifice on the Cross.  Have you?  Are you?  Will you?

Your mountain will move over and make room for the Will of God in your life.

If you speak to it

Word for Today:  April 18

It’s not your battle.

Remember, the battle is not yours… it is the Lord’s and He always wins.  Some have faced the impossible.  Others have suffered vicious satanic attacks.  Many of you are right now “in the fire.”  Cheer up.  Your situation will turn around and work for your Good and for God’s Glory.  Your circumstances and hardships and reverses will become doors of opportunity.  You are called to spoil the enemy.  When he runs in retreat he always leaves more behind than he took.

And in nothing terrified (be moved by fear, to be terrified, to be frightened or scared) by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. Phil 1:28

satan works through fear and terror.  The Bible says he “roars” like a lion.  he can roar but he has no teeth.  he can bark but he has no bite.  The devil attempts to frighten you and to scare you and to intimidate you.  Where there is no fear there is no devil.

Perfect love casts out fear and fear has torment… torment is where the devil lives.  satan will try to make things appear worse than they really are.  he will magnify and amplify and exaggerate problems and situations until they seem to be hopeless.  he makes every sickness look like death.  he makes every “good bye” look like “gone.”  he makes every financial pinch look like bankruptcy.  he tries to make it look so bad that you will just give up and quit.  he is a liar and the father of lies.  he cannot tell the truth because it is the Truth that makes us free.  satan binds and imprisons and hold in captivity.

Jesus sets us Free.  Jesus gives us Life.  Jesus gives us Liberty.  Jesus gives us Victory.

It’s His battle and He always wins

Word for Today:  April 17

Sow the seed that matches the need.

Every need has a matching seed.  Find the seed that matches the need and sow it.  One unfailing principle of God’s Word is the principle of Sowing and Reaping.  You will never have a need if you practice sowing according to God’s Word.  You do not have a “need” problem… you have a sowing problem.  Seed does no good as long as you hold it.  It must be sown… put in circulation.

If you need joy… sow joy.  If you need healing… go pray for someone who is sick.  If you need encouragement, go to some discouraged individual and speak encouragement to them.  If you need finances… give into the Kingdom.  And be sure that the soil you choose to sow in is good ground.

Finally, prepare for the increase.  Plan Big.  Think Big.  Talk Big.  Expect Big.  Believe Big.  You are the key.  God allows you to set your own limits and fix your own boundaries.  You initiate and heaven shouts Amen!  You begin and Heaven confirms.  You loose on earth and God looses in Heaven.  You bind on earth and God binds in heaven.

You begin and God finishes